EOQ Adventures. Q1 Drive on the horizon.

[R.Murphy]

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE as of MARCH 30, 2021:

EOQ Drive will be Sunday April 11, 2021.
Malibu, CA
To keep ourselves safe from the Covid and to avoid the local law enforcement who are presently trying to crack down on all of those 100 car takeovers that keep happening, we will be sticking to some of the more northern roads (Yerba Buena, for instance) and our lunch break will be picnic style at Paramount Ranch. They have cleared away all of the burned buildings and trees from the 2018 Woolsey Fire, and the picnic areas out in the loop created by the old Turns 6, 7, and 8 of the old roadrace course should be ideal.

Meet up time, route info, etc to follow. Just mark your calendar. We are set to go. (MEET UP INFO AND ROUTE IN POST #6 BELOW. SCROLL DOWN.)


PREVIOUS INFO: SoCal weather being what it is, we are almost always able to have a good drive. That's really not the concern, of course. At the moment, I'm watching the ICU numbers to see if it's a good idea to move forward with planning a Covid-Safe drive e̶i̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ a̶t̶ t̶h̶e̶ e̶n̶d̶ o̶f̶ t̶h̶i̶s̶ m̶o̶n̶t̶h̶ (̶M̶a̶r̶c̶h̶ 2̶8̶)̶ o̶r̶ f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶ w̶e̶e̶k̶ i̶n̶ A̶p̶r̶i̶l̶ (̶A̶p̶r̶i̶l̶ 4̶) APRIL 11. It was far too dangerous in December to take the chance, but new infections appear to be declining and ICU capacity is improving.

We proved last summer and fall that we could do a limited-exposure, pandemic-safe drive without putting people at risk. Hopefully, our EOQ Group can do it again.

Details will be updated as we have them. But for now, assume you should bring your own chair and your own lunch for wherever we choose to stop. MASK is mandatory. No mask, no drive. If you get out of your car, you must have your mask on. When we break for lunch, please remain at least 6 feet away from anyone with whom you do not share a home.

[R.Murphy]

72 and Sunny.

[R.Murphy]

EOQ Drive will be Sunday April 11, 2021.
Malibu, CA
To keep ourselves safe from the Covid and to avoid the local law enforcement who are presently trying to crack down on all of those 100 car takeovers that keep happening, we will be sticking to some of the more northern roads (Yerba Buena, for instance) and our lunch break will be picnic style at Paramount Ranch. They have cleared away all of the burned buildings and trees from the 2018 Woolsey Fire, and the picnic areas out in the loop created by the old Turns 6, 7, and 8 of the old roadrace course should be ideal.

Meet up time, route info, etc to follow. Just mark your calendar. We are set to go.

[R.Murphy]

A quick peak at how Paramount Ranch has changed. The Old West Town is gone. They have cleared all of the burned movie sets and most of the dead trees. The only bits remaining of the sets are the old Church (some may recognize if from West World) and the old "train station" building. If those mountains look familiar, it's because those are part of the same mountain range you see the helicopter from MASH fly in over. This isn't the exact spot, but we are within a couple of miles or so of the actual MASH set.



We will have plenty of parking space.




(I'm only kidding about the helicopter being there. It is NOT up there.)


.

[R.Murphy]

Lots of mulch from the trees that had to by cut down after the fire.


View from the old train station building deck toward the parking area and the National Park Services Ranger station and equipment buildings.



And a bit of history about the road racing course.
.

[R.Murphy]

Sunday, April 11, 2021 at 8:30 AM PDT – 2:30 PM PDT


We meet at 8:30am. We roll PROMPTLY at 9am. Malibu has had to crack down on "car club" groups lately who have been doing stupid take-over events and they WILL ticket if we hang around too long.

Meet up point is at the parking lot for a bus stop on Civic Center Way in Malibu.



Please be considerate of the neighbors and the church near where we are meeting. Keep the noise down. Approach this location from Malibu Canyon Road, drive to the road closed signs, turn left onto Vista Pacifica, then left into the driveway, and left into the parking lot. Here are the GPS coordinates for it: 34.0369384, -118.6988714

Bring: 1) Full tank of gas. 2) Sunscreen. 3) Water. 4) MASK for ALL participants. 5) FRS walkie-talkies if you have them. 6) A camp chair and your own lunch. We will stop where there are picnic tables and bathrooms, but you may want to have your own chair since these tables could be in use.

If you get out of your car for ANY reason, PUT YOUR MASK ON! No exceptions.

Our path will take us North on PCH. We will turn right on Latigo Canyon, right onto Kanan Dume, left onto Mulholland Highway, right to continue Mulholland and Decker Canyon, left to stay on Decker Canyon and all the way down to PCH. At PCH we will turn right and head to Leo Carrillo state beach and enter the parking lot on the right. We will drive straight at the visitor info booth and continue underneath PCH to the beach side toward the furthest possible parking area where we will stop for 15 minutes to stretch, enjoy the view, then take off before we have to pay for parking. (Bring $3 just in case!)

From Leo Carrillo beach, we will continue north on PCH. At Yerba Buena Road (you’ll recognize it because it’s immediately after Neptune’s Net) we will turn right. Follow that as it becomes Little Sycamore Canyon Road and then dead ends into Mulholland Highway. We will then turn left, and then left again to stay on Mulholland. When Decker splits off, we turn RIGHT to stay on Mulholland, then left at the next stop sign to stay on Mulholland. We will make a left onto Kanan Dume Road, go about 5.7 miles, then turn right onto Cornell Road. We will stop for picnic lunch at Paramount Ranch. Masks can come off while eating, of course, but go back on when we are done.

After lunch, we will head back to Cornell Road, make a right, and then a left onto Mulholland Highway. Right onto Malibu Canyon Road to Piuma. We will turn left on Piuma Road. Turn left on Schueren Road. That becomes Saddle Peak and we turn right at the stop sign onto Tuna Canyon. Bottom of Tuna Canyon is the end of our drive.

Any questions?

[R.Murphy]

A video of Tuna Canyon from our October drive.

https://www.facebook.com/10007472/videos/10113121131718751/

(here is a still shot)

[4U2NV]

The Malibu drive is always a lot of fun. We are spoiled with all the great canyon and scenic roads, Mulholland, Decker Canyon, PCH, etc. Looking forward to seeing everyone on Sunday!

[R.Murphy]

Yes, I do feel lucky to be situated close to some really fun roads.

I am REALLY happy that we will be able to do this drive AT ALL. Even with Covid precautions, there are parts of the country that are having such a hard time of it right now, and I feel bad for them (just as I hope they felt bad for us during our worst times too). We certainly had our crazy spike here and I'm glad it is over. While cases were spiking here, there was absolutely NO way I would have felt okay trying to organize an In-Real-Life group anything. But things are improving as more and more people become vaccinated. The problem with the new case spikes is that it often means ICU numbers increase and, even if you aren't worried about catching the virus, you probably don't want to be engaging in activities which risk sending you to the ICU (like car crashes), seeing as the staff there have their hands full with covid-19 patients. It's the same reason why I didn't organize drives anywhere in a county where I knew first responders were dealing with wild fires in years past. They are busy and the time they might have to take dealing with anything that might happen on one of our drives is time taken away from saving people's lives across town.

So yeah, we are very lucky to be able to do this. It sucked when we had to look at the numbers and make the hard choices. My biggest worry right now is making sure the 20-40 year-olds who attend our meets keep their masks on and are careful because, whether they realize it or not, they are the category most at risk right now. The new cases aren't the people who have been vaccinated. It's the people who have only just been made eligible to get vaccinated or who are still waiting to be eligible who are at most risk.

[R.Murphy]

Weather for our upcoming Sunday drive:
72 and sunny.

[R.Murphy]

Really looking forward to tomorrow. Route sheets printed, sign-in sheet is on the clipboard, goodie bag is filled. We are ready to have some fun. Don't forget your masks and your lunch. Here are a few last minute reminders...


>> Please arrive promptly at 8:30am.
>> Route sheets will be on the windshield of my car (the yellow S2000) or somewhere near there. Grab one when you arrive.
>> The church nearby is doing "drive-in" mass services starting at 8am, so let's keep the noise as LOW as humanly possible so we don't disturb their prayer time. PLEASE resist the urge to arrive with a flourish of beautifully loud downshifts.
>> We will roll in two groups: Yellow Group and Silver Group. Yellow is more relaxed. Silver might be less relaxed. Silver rolls first. Yellow will follow about 5 minutes behind silver.
>> We ROLL at 9am. NO IFS, ANDS, OR BUTS. We can not wait.


EOQ Drive Malibu PART ONE:

Exit parking lot toward Malibu Canyon Road.
Malibu Canyon Road – LEFT go .3 mile
Pacific Coast Highway – RIGHT (traffic light) go 3 miles
Latigo Canyon Road – RIGHT go 10.2 miles
Kanan Dume Road – RIGHT go .6 mile
Mulholland Highway – LEFT (traffic light) go .9 miles
Mulholland Highway – stay RIGHT go 2.4 miles; Westlake/Decker/Mulholland – LEFT (stop sign) go 6.6 miles
(stay on Decker Road – straight/left at stop sign)
PCH North – RIGHT for 2.2 miles
Leo Carrillo State Beach entrance (beach access) – RIGHT Drive to the Entry Station: you want to go to the farthest out lot nearest the beach. Continue straight past guard shack and as far down toward the beach as you can go.
Stretch Break/Photo Op – 15 minutes. Exit same way we came in.
PCH North for 1.9 miles
Yerba Buena Road – RIGHT go 11 miles (becomes Little Sycamore Canyon Road)
Mulholland Highway East – LEFT (stop sign) go .4 mile
Mulholland Highway East – LEFT (stop sign) 1.9 miles
Mulholland Highway East – RIGHT (NO sign) go 2.4 miles
Mulholland Highway East – LEFT (stop sign) go 1 mile
Kanan Road (traffic light) – LEFT go 5.7 miles
Cornell Road – RIGHT go 1.9 miles
Paramount Ranch Entrance – Right. Park near ranger station and the bathrooms.
PICNIC LUNCH BREAK. Walk across the bridge toward where the western town used to be. Picnic tables and shady area near the old train station depot film set. About 1 hour here for eating, relaxing, walking around. Meet back at the cars about an hour after the second group arrived at the ranch.


EOQ Drive Malibu PART TWO:

Exit Paramount Ranch and turn RIGHT onto Cornell Road.
Mulholland Highway – LEFT go 3.2 miles
Las Virgenes/Malibu Canyon – RIGHT (traffic light) go 1.7 miles
Piuma Road – LEFT (traffic light) go 6.5 miles
Schueren Road – LEFT go 5 miles (becomes Saddle Peak Road)
Tuna Canyon Road – RIGHT (stop sign) go 4.2 miles to PCH
>> End at bottom; park on right NOSE IN ON ANGLE