MAIDEN VOYAGE 2020
Butterfield Stagecoach route of 1864
On January 18th forty COCSD members and their guests assembled at the Park N Ride in Lakeside off the I-8 to begin a journey of one hundred sixty miles of back country roads in San Diego County. AT 8:30 the adventure began on the I-8 to Alpine where we exited to old highway 80 and on to Ocotillo. Going the old highway that parallels the Freeway took us on two lane lightly travelled roads through hilly country that are made for fun driving in any
sports car, especially our beautiful Corvettes. On the way, we were interrupted by the urgent unscheduled need for a restroom break at the Golden Acorn Casino. No problem, we adjust for about any need a member or guest has during one of our outings!
Arriving in Ocotillo almost on schedule, we made a planned stop for refreshments and restroom break. That stop lasted longer than planned, only one restroom for forty people. No problem, it turned out a perfect day to be stopped in the middle of the desert in January. The temperature was a non – blistering 65 degrees! Had this happened in July, our event planner would have received plenty of input. While at our rest stop, we witnessed many vehicles on their way by us demonstrating their ability to press the fast pedal! We enjoyed the show.
We again crossed many miles of relatively flat desert roads with no traffic in any direction allowing our caravan to motor very efficiently to our next stop, the Butterfield Stagecoach stop used back in the 1800’s. It was quite thought provoking to think people travelled here via stagecoach in the middle of the desert in 100 plus degrees. We were very happy to come in our air-conditioned cars even though the air was not needed!
The final leg of the journey took us up the Banner grade to Julian where the open road driving came to a screeching end. Our journey to Ramona was not as invigorating as the earlier drive, but very scenic and a very enjoyable change. Our final stop in Ramona was at the Marinade on Main restaurant where they had a special menu ready for us. They had reserved the entire restaurant. The fact that we were 45 minutes late complicated that situation a little, but we all did get seating and enjoyed a very good meal putting a very good ending to a very good COCSD Run!