Cruising North of the SF Bay through wine & beer country, rocky Pacific coastline, redwood forests, inland lakes, & finishing in Davis.
Glass Beach, Fort Bragg
Your Host(s) for the Event
Larry Anderson
Register via MotorSport Registry
https://www.motorsportreg.com/events/fort-bragg-mendocino-overnight-run-norcal-minis-220305
Run Overview
Please note that this is not a normal one-day club run.
On the first of two days of Northern California grand touring, NorCal MINIs will drive through the wine country of Napa, through Cloverdale, cutting over to the Point Arena Lighthouse, and follow the Mendocino coastline up to Fort Bragg. Book your Saturday night lodging in the Fort Bragg area (see a list of possible lodging options below the daily run details), so you can join the group for a second day of driving CA-1 up the coastline just south of DeHaven, before cutting eastward through redwood forests, turning southward through Lake County, past Lake Berryessa, and ending in Davis at the Sudwerk Brewing Company. Over the course of these two epic days, the club will drive the scenic bends and curves of wine country, ocean coastline, forests, and inland lakes.
We'll start our weekend fun on Saturday, June 24, by meeting up at the Starbucks in San Ramon (21001 San Ramon Valley Blvd, San Ramon, CA 94583). After everyone has a chance to arrive and use the restroom, we'll hold our first drivers' briefing of the weekend, and convoy northward on I-680.
General Notes:
Please check your oil, brakes, and tire pressure before heading out. This trip will test all of them! Also, bring windshield cleaning supplies… because where we’re driving, the bugs are definitely out.
Parts of our route go over rough roadways (typical paved but worn backcountry/mountain roads). Your host will do his best to call out the nastier spots ahead of time on the Club radio channel.
Bring some warm clothes. Point Arena, Mendocino, and Fort Bragg have a high probability of being fogged in and chilly, even if it’s warm and sunny on the rest of our route
Please top off your MINI's gas tank and charge the batteries in your radios before arriving at the two Starbucks for the meetups on Saturday and Sunday!
Please have a radio tuned to Channel 7-21 CTCSS to hear alerts during all runs! The Club has loaners if you don’t have your own. Leaders will use the club radios to alert drivers to hazards, so please have your radios or borrow the club radios to listen in.
Saturday, June 24 Run 1 Details (San Ramon to Fort Bragg):
Day 1 Route
https://goo.gl/maps/txz6iL2m5UkWmysX7
Meet-up Location
Starbucks
21001 San Ramon Valley Blvd
San Ramon, CA 94583
Meet-up Time / Departure Time
8:30 am / 9 am
Day 1 Run Details
For our Members who live north/east of San Ramon and would prefer to join us along the way, meet us at the Fairfield Shell station (4450 Central Way, Fairfield, CA 94534). We will be arriving there between 9:45-10:00 AM.
Special Run Notes:
There are both Shell and Chevron gas stations across from the Starbucks where we'll be leaving from. Please fill up before meeting at Starbucks. (Saturday's route can be easily completed with a full tank.)
We will be crossing the Benecia-Martinez Bridge on our way to Fairfield. Traveling north on this bridge requires a $7 toll. The toll booths are automated without a CASH option!!
Please either have a FasTrak electronic toll tag in your car or sign up for a License Plate Account (https://www.bayareafastrak.org/en/tolls/license-plate.shtml) before the run!
After our driver's briefing at the San Ramon Starbucks meetup location, we will line up and head northbound on I-680. After crossing the Benecia-Martinez Bridge and its elevated views of the Carquinez Strait to the left and Suisun Bay to the right, we’ll make our first stop at a Shell station in Fairfield (4450 Central Way, Fairfield, CA 94534). Anyone needing a bio break, or who neglected to fill up before the run can do so here. This is also where we’ll pick up anyone joining us along the way.
Leaving the interstate behind us in Fairfield, we will head north on CA-121, then cut northwest on CA-128 through wine country. Our next rest stop will be in Calistoga at Pioneer Park (1308 Cedar Street, Calistoga CA 94515 - https://visitcalistoga.com/directory/pioneer-park/). Parking will be on the street in front of the park. Public restrooms will be on the left as you walk into the park towards the playground.
Pioneer Park, Calistoga
After our stop in Calistoga, we’ll hop back on CA-128 heading towards Cloverdale for lunch. Parking and meet-up after lunch will be in the parking lot roughly at West First and Commercial Street. Many restaurants are within walking distance on both East 1st Street and North Cloverdale Blvd. Some suggestions for lunchtime dining include the following:
Downtown Cloverdale
After lunch, we’ll rejoin CA-128 for some twisties, on our way to our next stop at Anderson Valley Brewing Company (CA-128 & CA-253). The bathrooms are clean and the beer is divine! This venue has been developed into a destination with many activities and amenities. We will pause for a while to soak up a flavor of AVBC, but we will have to limit ourselves so we can get to our final destination in Fort Bragg at a reasonable hour.
After leaving Anderson Valley Brewing, we'll be heading West toward the coast on Mountain View Rd. (Route-510). The road is single-lane in a few places and is generally very twisty with rough pavement. We'll be taking it easy on the uphill half of this road (no more than 25-30 MPH), but the payoff makes it worthwhile!
Upon reaching the coast and CA-1, we’ll take a brief jog south toward the Point Arena Lighthouse. The Lighthouse Tower is re-opened for tours and the view of the coastline and the Pacific Ocean from the top is breathtaking (as is the stair climb to get there). Lighthouse tours run every 20 minutes; we’ll time our stay based on when we arrive. More information on the lighthouse may be found online: https://www.pointarenalighthouse.com/
There is a $5 admission fee per person.
Point Arena Lighthouse
From Point Arena, we'll be heading north to Fort Bragg. At that point, you are free to head for your hotels and have dinner, etc. on your own. Downtown Fort Bragg has many restaurants to choose from, but keep in mind the town tends to shut down a little early!
Some hotel options in Fort Bragg include:
Seabird Lodge Fort Bragg
191 South St.
Fort Bragg 95437
707 964 8000
Motel 6 Fort Bragg
400 S Main Street
Fort Bragg 95437
707 964 4761
Super 8 By Wyndham Fort Bragg
888 S Main Street
Fort Bragg 95437
707 409 0055
Holiday Inn Express Fort Bragg
250 West State St.
Fort Bragg 95437
707 964 1100
Surf Motel & Gardens
1220 S Main Street
Fort Bragg 95437
800 339 5364
Sunday, June 25 Run 2 Details (Fort Bragg to Davis):
Day 2 Route
https://goo.gl/maps/c2Zc3d8HedvcZkHY6
Meet-up Location
Starbucks
576 S. Main St.
Fort Bragg, CA 95437
Meet-up Time / Departure Time
9:00 am / 9:30 am
Day 1 Run Details
There is a Chevron gas station a couple blocks South of the Starbucks meetup location. Please fill up before meeting at Starbucks. (Saturday's route can be easily completed with a full tank.)
Also please remember to check your oil level, tire pressure and condition, and top off your windshield washer fluid.
Starbucks, Fort Bragg
We'll hold a morning driver's briefing in the Starbucks parking lot before heading up the coast along northbound CA-1 for more Pacific Ocean views. Life's rough, isn't it? LOL Just before reaching DeHaven, we’ll turn East along Branscomb Road to US-101. The first half of Branscomb Road is a narrow, two-way, non-divided road, so we’ll be taking it easy through here. The back half of Branscomb Road is a normal, two-lane mountain road with painted dividing lines down the middle of the road. Our first stop will be at a Chevron station just after we turn South on US-101. Our run host is positive you’ll need to stretch your legs after the morning drive. ☺
CA-1 near Westport
From the first rest stop, we’ll be heading south on US-101 through Willits, then heading East on CA-20, and turning South on CA-29 toward our lunch stop in Lakeport along the shores of Clear Lake. Arriving in Lakeport, we’ll be heading for the 3rd Street Launch near Library Park, at which point you can find a place to park, and we’ll split up for lunch. If there’s no parking available at the launch, there’s ample parking at Park & First along the lakefront. The main Downtown area is on Main Street between 1st and 5th streets, with plenty of restaurants within walking distance. Some lunch suggestions include the following:
Lakeport Boat Launch & Library Park
After lunch, we’ll regroup at the Safeway parking lot just off CA-29 (1071 11th Street, Lakeport, CA 95453), then hop back on CA-29 South towards CA-175 East, heading for Loch Lomond and Middletown. Although Loch Lomond is listed on the route, we will not be stopping there. We will be making a pit stop in Middletown at the Store 24 Chevron (21026 CA-29 Middletown CA 95461), then head East towards Lake Berryessa via Butts Canyon, Pope Valley Cross Road, and Pope Canyon Road. This portion of the drive will have some rough roads.
We’ll poll the group via radio to determine if a pit stop is needed at a rest area on the corner of Pope Canyon Rd and Berryessa Knoxville Road, otherwise, we’ll head down Berryessa Knoxville Road along the southwest portion of Lake Berryessa. We’ll then pick up CA-128 East and continue towards our final pit stop at Lake Solano County Park.
From there, it’s mostly a straight shot along County Highway E6 to Davis, where we’ll be concluding the run at Sudwerk Brewing Co (https://www.sudwerkbrew.com/restaurant).
Sudwerk Brewing Co., Davis
Additional Run Details
Please bring your radio, fully charged, turned on, and tuned to Channel 7, Subchannel 21 CTCSS before you arrive at the start. If you don’t have a radio, ask for a loaner at the driver’s meeting. For radio recommendations, please see https://www.facebook.com/legacy/notes/728353274556164/.
Be sure to turn the “VOX” voice-activated setting OFF, or we will hear the wind from your AC, your conversations, and any noise in your car broadcasting to everyone.
California backroads can be rough, especially after winter storms spawn new and bigger potholes. We will call out cyclists and oncoming traffic on the radios.
There are stretches where local wildlife may be seen on each side of the road. At some point, these animals may decide to cross the road, so please watch out for deer, wild turkeys, etc. trying to get from one side to the other right in front of your car.
We ask that you turn on low-beam headlights - not Auto - to make us more visible to other vehicles either ahead or behind us, including your fellow MINI drivers!
Headlight Switch: Full Manual On