The Pre-Cruise
For the kickoff, on Thursday May 12, I organized a sunset photo op in San Francisco at the Palace of the Legion of Honour. The fountain proved a great gathering spot for the 15 cars that showed up from around the Bay and as far away as British Columbia and Idaho. But the real reason I picked this spot was just around the corner.
From this vantage point one can watch the sun set on the Golden Gate Bridge. And the San Francisco weather, which can be fickle in May cooperated by giving us a gorgeous view.
Back in the late 50s this same spot was chosen for the first Volkswagen advertisement featuring the Karmann Ghia coupe and the brand new cabriolet. Richard brought this ad along to show us and we all had little trouble visualizing ourselves being in that spot so many years ago.
We finished the evening by driving down to Jeff Gillaland's house in Sunnyvale where we had a chance to get to know each other.
The next morning Sunnyvale VW sent us off with coffee and donuts and a few other goodies. We stopped in San Luis Obispo for lunch where we added a few more cars. Tom Reay had arranged for us to meet at Margies Diner for lunch and after lunch a local news truck showed up and interviewed me. Mary called up a friend in the area and were able to get it recorded for posterity. And then it was off to Barber VW in Ventura where we were served dinner. The next day KGPR hosted us for a Karmann Ghia show and shine before we all took off en mass for a cruise down to the Pacific Coast Highway to Santa Monica Volkswagen. Here we met up with Herbie and and got our first glimpse of the media hoopla that would follow us across the country.
Show 'n Shine @ KGPR
