Woodies at the Rock

Those of you who attended Woodies at the Rock 2017 undoubtedly will agree that this year’s event was another great show for the history books. The annual Harbor Festival in Morro Bay has grown substantially over the years with street vendors now covering the Embarcadero from Wavelengths Surf Shop to the other end of the business district. The weather, while threatening to be unbearably hot in the early morning, turned cloudless with warm but not-too-hot sunny weather in the afternoon when the ocean breezes finally kicked in.

We started the weekend with a bunch of us meeting up in Morgan Hill led by our substitute wagon masters,  Jim and Sue Vickery. Joe and Janice Cosgrave had to cancel at the last minute; please keep their family in your thoughts and prayers. JoAnn and I joined the Vickery’s along with the Alves’s, and the Nakamura’s. Also joining us were  new members Richard and Rita Skillman owners of a 1946 Mercury woodie which is not yet roadworthy. 

The caravan continued down to the Salinas In-N-Out Burger where we were joined by the Solis’s, and Carl Biggs and his fiance Margaret. Unfortunately, we had our lone breakdown during the trip when the brakes on Carl’s 1942 Mercury locked up and he had to be towed home where he switched to his daily driver for the trip down. Our lunch stop was at the Paso Robles Inn where we joined up with the Lloyd’s, the Yugo’s and Toni Wilkerson.  After lunch it was down to the Bluebird Inn where we met up with the Dias’s, Jim Cuny and Rick White. 

Others who joined in the fun and were in Morro Bay over the weekend were the Stecks, SCWC President Dorma Baker with 1^st Man Roland, the Siracusa’s, Mick Carolan, Mike Lady and the Benson clan.

Friday evening, we started the weekend off with adult beverages and snacks on the patio of the Bluebird Inn. After the women came back from shopping, we took a short walk down to our perennial favorite Cambria restaurant, The Sow’s Ear, where we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and great conversation. Later that night, some of us enjoyed the new fire pit that the Bluebird has installed in front of the hotel.

On Saturday morning we took a leisurely drive down to Morro Bay and parked the Woodies at Wavelengths Surf Shop. After saying our good mornings and wiping down the cars,  we headed over to Dorn’s Original Breakers Café for a fantastic breakfast.  After breakfast we broke off into small groups to shop, explore Morro Bay, walk the Embarcadero and attend the Harbor Festival. 

Floyd Smith was working his magic by shaping a long board in the parking lot at Wavelengths and Roland Baker got into the act by attempting to shape the board, but no one does it like Floyd.

Also joining the fun was National Woodie Club (NWC) President “Malibu” Bill Sampson and his wonderful wife Rosemary. We have to give Bill a little razzing here as rather than driving their woodie up to the show, Rosemary drove her Porsche 911 Carrera and then they managed to park it in the front of Wavelengths Surf Shop so everyone would notice.  Bill, you know we’ll never let you live this down. Our NWC President arriving to a chapter event in a Porsche instead of a woodie. 

NWC Aloha Ambassador Mickey Christianson and his wife JoAnn were unable to attend but they were there in our hearts and spirit.  A big shout out to both of them.

Next it was over to the Benson Family BBQ to enjoy a great BBQ chicken dinner. The food was delicious but the highlight of the evening was the wonderful olallieberry cake we had for dessert. I could have eaten half of the sheet cake but cooler heads prevailed. With the evening coming to a close we thanked our generous hosts, said our goodbyes, and drove off into the night to get back to the Bluebird Inn.

For those of you who have never made the drive down or up to Cambria and Morro Bay you’ve missed a great show and even better time with good friends. My wife with our daughter and her boyfriend made a long weekend out of the trip.  We explored Cambria and took the tours at Hearst Castle in San Simeon, which was a first for us. I can highly recommend this fascinating place to visit. It is well worth spending the extra time.

We hope to see many of you at our next SCW club event, which will be the Santa Cruz Downtown Holiday Parade on Saturday December 2, 2017.

Until then get out and drive your woodie.