Some of you know me well enough by this point to know that I could wax on (poetry questionable) about a few roads. Some of those posted already are splendid, although I haven't driven all of them. I've spent quite a bit of gas on the PCH 1 between Carmel and Moro Bay and agree that from Big Sur, going south, you can have some spectacular vistas. Unfortunately, as the guy behind the wheel, I'm a little preoccupied. But, here are a couple stories:
My dear (and recently departed) friend had just lost his girl friend from a death that was as unfortunate as the one he suffered a few years later. He was pretty depressed. I had shipped one of those little red italian cars from NY to LA for the express purpose of driving back and forth on PCH 1 for days in the off season. I convinced him to join me. We had a ball, stayed at the Post Ranch (highest recommendation) and just spent the days driving and the nights star-watching, eating (and he plundered their wine and liquor). On one jaunt, we got behind a stoner in a VW microbus with pyschodelic colors and a surf board- i am not kidding- and the guy just wouldn't get over in one of the lay-bys; there are few safe places to pass. We finally did managed to get around him. When we got back to LA a few nights later, we pulled into the 4 Seasons, the car was filthy and we looked pretty rough. I noticed my friend's handprints firmly etched into the road grit on the roof of the car- he had clung on for dear life on a few of those twisties.
Other roads- coming out of Palermo, heading up to Mt. Pelligrino in the driving rain, fog, at each curve, the italians wisely cobbled the road bed. Do you know what a lousy english roadster with a rigid rear end does on a curve like that? At the top, we were shrouded in clouds. You couldn't see anything.
Mt. Etna in Siciliy was similar, except the smoke was apparently from an active fissure in the volcano. We were told- nothing to worry about- if it really erupted, we'd have plenty of time to make a run to the bottom and beat the lava. The pictures on the wall of the commissary didn't reassure me, though, nor did the video that played on an endless loop while we were drinking our espresso-
One last road, not far from me- there is a cut-off up near Bear Mountain that takes you through the back '40' of West Point- it's basically empty military training fields, with a clear line of sight for miles. Some people have been known to try high speed runs on that stretch, but what interests me is beyond that. Right after the back gate to West Point is a seasonal road that is gated and shut down during the winter. When it is open, it clings the cliff, cuts through a stone tunnel, snakes along the edge of the Hudson and has a look out point over Bannerman's Island, a famous old armory out on an island, built to look like a castle, and now largely in ruins. (It blew up from stored ammo years ago). The road then plummets into a forest and you come up in a small town, Cornwall, that time forgot.
The Grand Corniche coming down into Monaco can be a little scary, particularly if you are not in a little red car from Italy.
Roads on my list: the Dragon's Tail, and of course, the 'Ring in Germany.
My dear (and recently departed) friend had just lost his girl friend from a death that was as unfortunate as the one he suffered a few years later. He was pretty depressed. I had shipped one of those little red italian cars from NY to LA for the express purpose of driving back and forth on PCH 1 for days in the off season. I convinced him to join me. We had a ball, stayed at the Post Ranch (highest recommendation) and just spent the days driving and the nights star-watching, eating (and he plundered their wine and liquor). On one jaunt, we got behind a stoner in a VW microbus with pyschodelic colors and a surf board- i am not kidding- and the guy just wouldn't get over in one of the lay-bys; there are few safe places to pass. We finally did managed to get around him. When we got back to LA a few nights later, we pulled into the 4 Seasons, the car was filthy and we looked pretty rough. I noticed my friend's handprints firmly etched into the road grit on the roof of the car- he had clung on for dear life on a few of those twisties.
Other roads- coming out of Palermo, heading up to Mt. Pelligrino in the driving rain, fog, at each curve, the italians wisely cobbled the road bed. Do you know what a lousy english roadster with a rigid rear end does on a curve like that? At the top, we were shrouded in clouds. You couldn't see anything.
Mt. Etna in Siciliy was similar, except the smoke was apparently from an active fissure in the volcano. We were told- nothing to worry about- if it really erupted, we'd have plenty of time to make a run to the bottom and beat the lava. The pictures on the wall of the commissary didn't reassure me, though, nor did the video that played on an endless loop while we were drinking our espresso-
One last road, not far from me- there is a cut-off up near Bear Mountain that takes you through the back '40' of West Point- it's basically empty military training fields, with a clear line of sight for miles. Some people have been known to try high speed runs on that stretch, but what interests me is beyond that. Right after the back gate to West Point is a seasonal road that is gated and shut down during the winter. When it is open, it clings the cliff, cuts through a stone tunnel, snakes along the edge of the Hudson and has a look out point over Bannerman's Island, a famous old armory out on an island, built to look like a castle, and now largely in ruins. (It blew up from stored ammo years ago). The road then plummets into a forest and you come up in a small town, Cornwall, that time forgot.
The Grand Corniche coming down into Monaco can be a little scary, particularly if you are not in a little red car from Italy.
Roads on my list: the Dragon's Tail, and of course, the 'Ring in Germany.
