Many thanks to Danny Ellison for organizing last night’s club event where over 30 Corvettes of Bakersfield members enjoyed an evening of Corvette Camaraderie at Firehouse’s Friday Night Graffiti.
Click on link for more pictures on our Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/158760832@N02/albums/72157710789147991
Much thanks to John and Cher for putting on a great run to Ventura and Camarillo. Our adventure began with a pitstop at the Santa Barbara Pistachio company on 3380 Hiway 33 in Ventucopa. The Santa Barbara Pistachio Company is well known as “the Original Home of the Flavored Pistachio”. The naturally tree ripened organic pistachios are grown in Santa Barbara County in a farm solely owned by the Zannon family. This wonderful little business had the best tasting flavored pistachios.
As we proceeded on our way to Ojai, an incident happen to one of our fellow travelers. Stephan and Rachel, prospective members of COB, ran over a rock and bent their oil filter leaking oil all over the road. Not a very good memory too have on their first run. Fearing their oil pan was cracked, they called a tow truck and were towed back to Bakersfield. Thankfully, it was a minor fix and they proceeded to become full-fledged members of Corvettes of Bakersfield.
The rest of the gang proceeded to Ventura to the Aloha Steakhouse right on the Ventura Pier. The service was outstanding and the food… delicious! A funny incident occurred when we were enjoying our meal in that there was a rumor that a man was sitting on the bench observing the ocean in the nude. After much debate Tina Pucilowski decided to go out and see for herself if he was, actually, nude. Of course, he wasn’t. He was wearing khaki colored shorts and everybody had a good laugh about it.
After the meal, some members headed out to the Camarillo Premium Outlet Shopping Center to look around and shop. Others decided to split up and go sightseeing or visit friends and even spend the night in the Central Coast.
Click on the COB Flickr link for more photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/158760832@N02/albums/72157710788644802
We had another full house at our monthly meeting tonight. We are preparing for our Camarillo run this weekend and making big plans for our Annual Wine Run to Paso Robles and our Vettes for Vets car show to be held on November 9th benefiting four of our local veteran charities. A nice video of our run to Greenhorn Grill was presented by Danny Ellison and was enjoyed by all. Annie Bailey supplied the snacks tonight consisting of deviled eggs and drinks and fruit salads. Tony Sparano also brought some cookies. Congratulations to raffle winners: Brad, Tony (twice), Myna, Michael R., Tom, Matt, Kathy and Mike. Boy did we have a lot of prizes. A big thank you to Dale for supplying the raffle prizes.
For more photos, click in this Flickr link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/158760832@N02/albums/72157710783932696
We had a very nice, more like warm, afternoon at the Corvettes of Bakersfield monthly gathering at Chuy’s. 14 Vettes, a couple of non-members included, were lined up nice and pretty and as the evening wore on, things were starting to get a lot cooler. After a nice meal at Chuy’s, we had some delicious root beer floats. Thanks to Chris and Liz for bringing the root beer floats for all of the members to enjoy. Ice cream is becoming quite a popular treat for our gatherings; it is very well received. Daylight is also becoming apparently shorter and everything started to break up by 8:30 PM.
For more photos, click on this link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/158760832@N02/albums/72157710782645433
What can I say… who wants to sit outside in the shadeless parking lot in 107° weather to bake in the sun? We are tough, but we like to be in air-conditioned comfort so we sat inside the Firehouse restaurant and had a few beers, tacos, pizza and sandwiches at the weekly Firehouse Grill Cruise-in. 17 brave and hardy souls endured the creature comforts and finally went outside to sit in the parking lot in the, then, 97° temperatures. Thanks to Danny and Liz for shuttling over to the Smart and Final close by and coming back with some ice cream drumsticks. What a treat! We sure know how to have a great time. As the night went on, we enjoyed each other’s camaraderie and the slowly cooling temperatures while planning our next moves.
For more pictures of this event, click on our Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/158760832@N02/albums/72157710782207533
Ridgecrest may be rumbling due to earthquake aftershocks, but it was also rumbling due to some beautiful vehicles cruising through on Sunday, July 21, 2019—including three from Corvettes of Bakersfield!
Last month, COB received an invitation from Ridgecrest Corvette Club’s Kyle to join them on a cruise from Ridgecrest to Kernville. Dale and Cathy in a C7, Ron and Bill in a C6, and John and Cher in a C5 made the run and had a great time with some new friends.
John and Cher traveled to Ridgecrest on Saturday after Friday’s C8 Reveal Run, planning to meet up with the group on Sunday morning at the cruise’s meeting spot; Beansters Espresso in Ridgecrest.
Early Sunday morning, Dale, Cathy, Ron, and Bill assembled at the Broken Yolk on Brundage in Bakersfield to head to the meeting spot. They had a scenic and fun early-morning drive through the Tehachapis and across the desert. Their route included curvy and hilly Garlock Road, which passes by Garlock Ghost Town. This little 1800’s town provided water for cattlemen and freighters wishing to avoid the potentially treacherous washes in Red Rock Canyon. There’s not much there now to see, especially passing by at highway speeds…but it is a fun road to drive.
They met up with John and Cher at Beansters and everyone got a chance to enjoy some good coffee and baked goods while sharing some fun stories of their journeys to Ridgecrest!
Kyle from RCC arrived and joined the COB group. He said that he invited several more car clubs to join the cruise—not just other Corvette clubs. As a result, there was a nice variety of vehicles that started showing up for what would become a fourteen-car caravan. There were several Corvettes, a couple of Mustangs, a Maserati, a Fiat, and a Toyota truck, driven by some fun car enthusiasts.
The caravan left Beansters and proceeded east on Highway 178 to the southern Sierra Nevada mountains, through Walker Pass and down to the Kern River Valley, travelling around the north side of Lake Isabella on Sierra Way to Kernville. There were great views of the lake along the way. The caravan’s destination was Ewing’s on the Kern Restaurant for lunch. The group sat on the patio overlooking the mighty Kern River. Both the lake and the river were beautiful and many people were out enjoying them.
After a delicious lunch and great camaraderie, most of the caravan continued around Lake Isabella on Highway 155 for a photo opportunity at French Gulch. Afterwards, the COB group split off and proceeded west down the Kern River Canyon on scenic and winding Highway 178, heading back to Bakersfield. But, the run wasn’t over yet…
Realizing that the best way to end a great run on a hot summer day would be ice cream, the group decided to stop at Rosemary’s Family Creamery on the way home! Linda also joined the group there and the fun continued.
After a great day of driving, camaraderie, and food, the group dispersed, looking forward to the next event.
Special thanks to Dale for coordinating the run, and to Kyle and RCC for the invite!
John S.
For more pictures, Click on this Flickr link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/158760832@N02/albums/72157710017888482
