California Mille, Days 2-4

August 26, 2025 Ovis ObscuraLeave a comment

In Which Our Heroine Recognizes That She Is Terrible At Keeping Up With Running Travelogues And Decides To Stick To Event Reports

This entry has been holding things up for me for a bit. I have other things to tell you about, Dear Reader, but I wanted to make sure I finished up this entry before I moved on. And then the Procrastination and Busy-ness set in…but you don’t need to read about that. On to the Adventure!

And it was an adventure. On Day 2, our lovely Maserati overheated on the way to lunch and had to be towed back to the hotel. That was rather sad. Fortunately, our friends let us ride in the back seat of their Citroen DS!

I adore these people and this car. Riding in the back seat is like sitting on a Mid-Century Modern sofa that’s also traveling via magic carpet. Stunning. And we’d never have had this experience if our car hadn’t broken down!

Another nice thing is that, because we have a car collection, we were able to send the Maserati home and have our Lancia Aurelia brought down to California instead. This does take time, however, so one of the sponsors, Kindred Motorworks, lent us a vehicle so that we could continue the tour on Day 2.

The highly-upgraded classic Ford Bronco from Kindred Motorworks. Air conditioning and GPS included!

So, that was fun. It was a very different ride experience from what we’d enjoyed previously (and after), but I’m glad we got the opportunity to try it out.

An Amusing Sidenote: This was the day that the California Mille folks set up what was planned to be a beautiful photo opportunity for each participant to pose with their cars in front of the ocean. Unfortunately for them, we were fogged in. Unfortunately for us, we got to pose in front of this Ford Bronco instead of either of our pretty Italian cars. (I laughed, and I treasure that souvenir photo.)

By Day 3, we were back in one of our cars – our Lancia Aurelia. (Unfortunately, I seem to have neglected to take any photos of it from the outside.) Suffice it to say that we had a splendid time, and the Aurelia didn’t let us down.

Day 4 brought us to the Finish Line and the Awards Dinner, which was really fun. This was only our second California Mille, and it was so nice to have long-time attendees who wanted us to sit at their table with them. (I’m not used to feeling like one of the Cool Kids.)

And we won an award!

The Swig Family Award, given to people who bring a car that is most in the spirit of the California Mille. (They were impressed that we brought another period-appropriate car when our first one broke down.)

All in all, it was a seriously fun event, and I’m looking forward to going back next year.

This summer has also been full of fun events and travel, and I will hopefully get around to telling all of you about it in a slightly more timely fashion.

California Mille 2025, Day 1

April 28, 2025April 28, 2025 Ovis ObscuraLeave a comment

In Which Our Heroine Attempts To Begin A Travelogue

Today is the first day of the California Mille, a 1000-Mile Classic Car Tour that Alex and I have been on once before. I enjoyed it last time. I would like to practice trying to bring you along on my travels, Dear Reader, in hopes that you might enjoy a few of these moments with me.

The first day is fairly relaxed. We picked up our Swag Bags and put our decals on our car.

Our 1949 Maserati A6, all dolled up and ready for our tour. (There are some other cars, as well.)

We had lunch.

Toki Cooler at The Conservatory in the Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay, CA

One thing about the California Mille is that it is Rather Fancy, so the organizers arrange for the participants to stay and eat in some fairly fancy places. It’s a nice treat – fancy enough to feel spoiled, but not so fancy that I feel uncomfortable and out of place.

We also experienced a truly beautiful sunset.

A beautiful sunset over the California Coast

We met some new and old friends, which is one of my very favorite things about this hobby. People are so kind and so sweet (and so understanding when I can’t remember their names).

Tomorrow, we get to go to Alice’s Restaurant, where you can, apparently, get anything you want (but we’re having pie).

Further updates as events warrant! See you tomorrow!

Travel

ADVENTURE!

September 30, 2015June 2, 2017 Ovis Obscura1 Comment

In Which Our Heroine Remembers That She Has A Blog

I am absolutely certain that everyone else’s year thus far has been just as busy as mine has. Between fire and flood (well, the opposite of flood in my case) and other joys of being a homeowner, plus a few exciting travel adventures, it’s been a rather eventful and interesting time.

I read somewhere that “Adventure is just the result of bad planning.” I think, however, that there are certain adventures that you simply cannot plan for. For instance, you cannot plan for the previous owner of your house to leave no clear indication of where your well might be so that you can find it when the 20-year-old pump craps out on you and leaves you without water for five months while you desperately search for the well, only to find that it is cunningly concealed under a concrete pad in front of the garage. You cannot plan for your middle-aged cat to suddenly become deathly ill so that you must give him subcutaneous fluids daily. (For the worried: He’s made a miraculous recovery. He only needs his fluids about once a week now and is perky and happy in a way he has not been since youth. Everything is wonderful, and the vet is “happily amazed.”) You cannot plan for the company that is pressure-washing your house to have their trailer spontaneously catch fire and burn down your trailer that is sitting right next to it. (Again, for the worried: Everything is fine. Insurance is a fantastic thing, no one was hurt, and the fire was out in a matter of about 5 minutes once the firefighters got there. Also, there was nothing in the trailer except for the race ramps used to get very low cars in there. It might have been much worse. There might have been a car in the trailer.)

Needless to say, this year has been a bit more adventurous than we had hoped. (Or, obviously, planned for.) Things are beginning to calm down a bit, and we have had some (planned) travel adventures, as well!

Alex and I have been doing a good deal more with our local car clubs lately. We’ve been unable to go out of the country (see above), but we have been able to take trips on our own continent. Recently, we went on a trip to the California Redwoods and the Oregon Caves with the Classic Car Club of America. Alex and I had never been to the Oregon Caves, and neither of us had been to the Avenue of the Giants, either. The trip was fantastic, and our car proceeded beautifully, rain or shine.

This is our 1938 Bentley. I love this car. Love, love, LOVE. It’s right-hand drive, brought to the United States from England in the 1950s. Alex drives it. There is no power steering (obviously), so it takes far more upper body strength than I have to wrestle it around at low speeds. Alex and I do agree that, given the option, we might have brought something else for a long road trip, but the experience was wonderful. It’s amazing how well a car of this era can move along modern roads (though you wouldn’t want to take it down the freeway for any length of time).

Here is a redwood tree! (Me included for scale.)

We hope to take more road trips this autumn and next year. As I become a More Confident Driver Of Classics (not the Bentley, thank you), I will be able to help with the driving on some of these trips. I also really enjoy the idea of being able to just throw some things in the trunk of a car and go Adventuring. (A little planning is good, but Spontaneous Adventure is so much fun.)

Perhaps Adventure is less a lack of planning and more just enough planning to be safe, but not so much as to remove the Element of Surprise from one’s travels.

Do you, Dear Reader, have any adventures planned this autumn?

P.S. Here is a photo of Loki, showing off how pleased he is to be feeling better.