PA (Bucks County) Covered Bridge Tour: Saturday July 28th

Bucks County PA Covered Bridge Tour *** Note change of starting location*** Saturday July 28th Meet 7:15am Driver's Meeting 7:45am Depart 8am Sharp! Meeting point: Lambertville Municipal Court 25 S Union St, Lambertville, NJ 08530 http://www.google.com/maps?q=25+S+Un...wloc=addr&om=1 Post now to let me know whether you're coming along!

Sounds great! Schedule permitting (and it does right now), I will be in attendance.

Count me in. The last two were not only fun, but challenging for both driver and car!

Whoo-hoo! The boys are back in town!!

I'm not too sure about your drives. Your last drive cost me 2, count em, TWO door latches!!! :lol

What?!?! what happened? Were you holding on too tightly around the curves?

It might have been when I backed it around that first corner. I'm not sure exactly what the deal was, I'm sure it had nothing to do with the drive but first the passenger latch failed, then the drivers latch. Weird.

Well, get them fixed in time for the next drive.

That sounds like a lot of fun. Have yet to do any type of meet and greet with my new car. I have an '06 Boxster. As of right now, should be there!

Glad to have you along!

I should be there too

Well, I just got back from a PCA event and it looks like we should have a good number of our local PCA showing up - seems that covered bridges are popular.

Okay - I have a first draft of the covered bridge tour... it's pretty rough right now and needs some work, but the hard part is done. The next step is to drive it and fix all the problems that I already see. If all goes well and all the bridges are open we'll manage to cover 10 of the 12 bridges. I'm not expecting all of them to be open, so I'll be happy if we get 7 or 8 in the final draft of the tour.

I've posted this event on FerrariChat.com. Although the guys who hang out on this website seem to prefer showing their cars rather than driving them, I'm hopeful that one or two will dare to participate in this event.

Sounds great Wayne. Looking forward to it!

Man, I'm jealous, I love bucks county!

So how is it that you know these ferrari guys, is that your garage queen?

As much as I love Porsche, I also have a passion for Ferrari. I belong to PCA, BMWCCA, and FCA (Ferrari Club of America). There's no Ferrari in my garage yet - i'm completely happy with my 911.

That's good... otherwise we'd have to send you to the back of the line next time we drive together.

Maybe I'm on the wrong board.

Didn't you say your brother had a Ferrari?

Two of them. A '73 246 GTS fully restored with 16K miles and a '67 330 GTC coupe unrestored with 9K miles. You can see neither of us drives much

WOW - those F's are nice! No wonder your brother wasn't interested in my lowly C2! As for the "driving" thing, do you think it is genetic?

Tim, your C2 is gorgeous and in perfect shape. It's just that if a car has more than 10K miles on it, usually neither of us is interested. That should answer your question - what we have is clearly a genetic mutation BTW, I've got the bug again - I'm buying an everyday car for work - an '08 Audi S4. Should be ordering in next 1-2 weeks. I've had 2 of them in the past. Drove a 335xi manual and did not like it AT ALL. Wallowy suspension (same as my wife's 328xi), vague rubbery shifter (unlike other BMW's I've had), and soft as hell clutch. Car is significantly less $$ than S4, but I was really disappointed after driving it. Honestly, I like my wife's 328xi steptronic better!

Phil - thanks for the compliment! I already know the answer to this question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Why not make the C4S your daily driver?

Simply put, Tim, it would make me too crazy to use it in the winter, leave it outside, in hospital parking lots, etc. I just can't do it. Yeah, you already knew that.

Of course, we all have our own preferences, but.....the 330 GTC (and the 275 GTC that preceded it) are among the most beautiful Ferrari designs ever. Perhaps in the top three. Let's see, the top three would be the 308/328 GTB coupe (Magnum drove the spider version, the 328 GTS), the 275/330 GTC coupe, and the 360 Modena coupe. All of them near-perfect designs.

My votes would be for the 288 GTO(probably my favorite car of all-time) and the 512 Berlinetta Boxer. BTW, I hope to make the drive on the 28th but no guarantees. I get home from vacation several days before that and I would bet that my honey-do list will be long. Not to mention all of the work I will need to catch up on.

Agree on the 330 GTC and 275 GTB and GTS. My brother had 2 308's, both '76's which were carburetted, which he sold. IMO, the older Ferrari cars were the most beautiful and clearly the most collectible. He also owns a '65 E-type coupe, which used to belong to me, which is restored to 100 points and has won a number of regional and national JCNA concours events. You can find a picture of that car here: http://www.degarmoltd.com/currentinventory.asp

Phil - does your brother use Rennlist? Just curious, 'cuz if he does, I'd like to know his Screen Name so I can start giving him a hard time about not driving his cars!

Nice cars Phil! I go away for half a day and this place turns into Ferrari lover's heaven! You should have come wih me today - I was at the NHRA qualifiers at Englishtown - now there are some serious cars. I never knew a car could cause an earthquake until I saw, felt and heard those nitro cars roll.

No Porsches - at least not at this point - yeah, he's had a 911T and 911S from the '70s both of which were sold. The black/red 911S was incredible and really over-restored. It won an early Porsche Parade after he sold it. Nope, he didn't drive those either, so no Rennlist for him at this point. As much as I like you Tim, I want to keep my good relationship with my brother, so I'm not giving out any of his screen names! Be satisfied with harrassing me

All - I ran the first half of the covered bridge tour today. We are going to have to change the starting point from Washington Crossing to the Lamberville location that we have used previously (see the update above). Sorry for the inconvenience, but I think it will make for a better drive for us.

No problem on the change in the starting location. See you in Lambertville on 7/28.

Tomorrow? What am I forgetting? When I started the drive I found out that the starting point was too far from the first bridge, so had to be changed. The roads I drove today were very nice and quiet - tree lined - perfect for us. Of the 5 bridges we drove, we'll be able to visit 4 of them. The lead up to the last one was a steep incline only wide enough for one car, so we had to scretch that one from the list. Of the 6 remaining bridges, we know that one is closed, but that still leaves us with a potential of 8-10 bridges, which I think will give us a good drive.

BTW, if anyone has posted details of this tour on other forums, I'd appreciate it if you could also make the appropriate changes - I'd hate to see someone show up at Washington Crossing and have all of us up at Lambertville.

I changed my post, which now refers to 7/28 instead of tomorrow. I was confused (as you can plainly see). Actually, I'm going on the Chesapeake Region/PCA fun run tomorrow that starts in Mount Airy, Maryland. If any of you are interested, the last two have been great.

Funny. Yeah, I'd like to go on that one, but this weekend is packed. I only got half of the drive done, as we ran out of time before having to head home for something else. I need a time dilation field.

For the 7/28 event, I've updated the postings on 968Forums.com and FerrariChat.com, by correcting the start location from Washington Crossing Historic Park to the Lambertville Municipal Court Building.

Are you going to the bridge on Wismer Road? If so, you're probably going past my house. If that's the case, I'll have no choice but to show up in my state of disrepair/needing to get to the paint shop.

Yup, we drove by there yesterday.

I think I can make it - Look Forward to it...

Glad to have you along. From the part I saw yesterday I think it we'll have a pretty drive.

As we have just gotten our 98 Boxster, this will be our first driving function. I went to school in Doylestown, lived in Lahaska and visit as often as we can. What a great excuse to do it again. Lovely area. See you all soon.

A recent article on Bucks County covered bridges courtesy of VGM911. http://m.usatoday.com/detail.jsp?key...c=na_ne&full=1 I'm appauled to find out that the reason that Knecht's Bridge was closed on our last tour is because some kids tried (unsuccessfully) to burn it a few days before our drive. Thankfully it sounds like the bridge is open again and ready to receive us next month - the drive up to the bridge was one of my favorite parts of our last drive.

Wayne - has Phil committed yet?

I need to be committed. You guessed it, I'm on call again this weekend, so no covered bridge tour for me. But, I'm told that Curt P will be there with his lovely Seal Gray 997S. Next time, promise!!

Excuses, excuses. Tim, when we finally get him to commit to attending you have to drive up here just to see it. Glad to hear that Curt will make it... he'll love some of the fast straights that we'll be using.

There are now 4 great lies that men tell: 1. The check is in the mail! 2. Yes, I'll respect you in the morning! 3. I promise I won't c^m in your mouth! 4. Next time, promise!! Phil - Seriously , it's too bad you won't be able to make the drive. It sounds like it will be a blast.

Tim, I'm disappointed and really wanted to do this run - weather's supposed to be perfect this weekend in PA, too. When I do finally show up at one of these events, you can bet Wayne will tape it for posterity.

It's not this weekend. It's July. Ahhh....time to schedule it in.....

You are correct! Good news - I'm old and confused. Bad news, I'm not only on call this weekend (June 29th) but the weekend of July 28th as well. Sucks.

Aww, come on, you're making this up! Carry on shirking your responsibilities and I'll be routing the drive by your place so that we can stop by and taunt you. Having done half of the drive already I'm really excited about this one... long straights, tree lined roads, at least one amazing hill climb, some curvy bits... all the good stuff of the previous drives, but with more of those pretty bridges that teenagers like to burn down when they're bored.

Wayne, I wish I was making it up, but alas, it's the truth. Promise

Tell Curt that he has to cover for you, so that you can come and play with us.

I agree. I currently have an 05 Audi S4, great car. I recently test drove a 335 and wasn't impressed.

Well, we completed the drive this afternoon. Looks like we'll visit 7 of the 11 Bucks County bridges. Getting the second half of the drive to come together proved harder than I expected. Nonetheless, I still think that this will make for a good drive. Now I have to write up the route and see how many miles we covered by connecting the dots.

Sounds like another good run is in the works. Can't wait!

Well, we drove the final version of the covered bridge tour today. I think it has turned out pretty well. 80 miles, 7 covered bridges, several state parks and some good mixed terrain roads. We'll have fun with it.

I think we drove by your car today - we saw a plumb (?) colored 944 parked at the side of one of the hoiuse we drove by on Wismer. Looked good to me! Hopefully we'll see you on the drive!

im going to attempt to get that Saturday off, unfortunately being in the auto biz, Saturdays off are usually for weddings and funerals..lol

Not related to this drive, but I figured that you guys might be interested in this one... The Riesentotoer PCA region has a drive organized from King of Prussia, PA down to Chesapeake City, MD on August 18th. I know there are guys here that love to drive with other Porsches, so I thought I'd post it here. The drive is open to PCA members and the details are as follows: Chesapeak Cruise Touring event August 18th (Rain date August 19th) Registration limited to 30 Cars. PM me and I'll pass your registration along, or put you in touch with the organizer (this is not one of mine). I'll be there, so hopefully you can join us. Leave King of Prussia, Crate and Barrel parking lot 9am. (get there early). Lunch at the Tape Room, home of delicious steamed crabs. Chesapeake City's historic area is on the national historic registry, as well as Maryland's historic registry. The city has shops featuring antiques, collectibles, clothing and craft. There is also the canal museum, art gallery, and summer concerts, Chesapeake city was built on the banks of C & D, canal which links the Chesapeake bay with the Deleware river. __________________

Bump! Hope to see you next Saturday! Here's a summary of my earlier posts... i) Arrive with a full tank of gas. There is a gas station in Lambertville, but I don't know if it's open early, so you should fill up somewhere on the home stretch close to Lambertville. Remember to empty your bladder at the same time! ii) If you have 2 way radios, bring them, as we'll have them and can all tune into the same channel. iii) Arriving early is good. Looks like we'll have a good turnout, so getting there early gives you time to stand around talking with others and admiring the cars. I aim to be there nice and early. iv) bring a camera and take lots of photos. I think I'll also be rigging my camcorder into the car to enjoy the ride. v) If you have a map that covers upper bucks county, PA, then it will not hurt to bring it. The directions we've pulled together (I think) are pretty good, but on the off-chance that you get separated it will be good to have members of the group with maps. vii) The route is designed with fast stretches, as well as slower (curvy) fun stretches. These speed differences will naturally spread out the group and allow you space to have fun. The run can be done without a navigator if you stay close to a car with a navigator, but it's best to have someone in the car directing, as I'd hate to see anyone get lost. viii) The PCA is kindly sponsoring this run, so please come and find me when you arrive and sign in. This will get you a copy of the route and have you sign a PCA waiver that covers the organizers in case something bad happens. Those that are coming in from a distance and would like the route in advance can PM me the day before and I'll send it to them to allow them to familiarize themselves with the maps. Should be a fun day, a good turnout and plenty of photo ops.

I have a favor to ask. In case we have a large number of people show up for this run I'd like to have a back-up group leader. In the event that we have more than 35 cars show up, I would split the group into two and stagger the two groups on the same run, but have them separated by 5-10 minutes. We would need some who has a navigator to run the second group and would not mind stepping in at the last minute if we need you. I can send you the route in advance so that you can get a feel for it ahead of time. PM me if you're interested in helping out. Thanks!

sorry for the last minute add here, but it looks like I finally have a Saturday free of kids sports commitments .. so I'd like to come down for the ride ..

Glad to have you along! I remember how you couldn't make our first drive when we switched the day due to rain.

Hey!! Wait a minute... I'm a member over at FerrariChat, and not all of us have show queen cars! If I can make this run, which I'm gonna do my best to do, I'll be bringing the Boxster, not the Dino. Primary reason? Creature comforts. The '72 gets awfully hot in the summer, A/C is minimal, etc, but the Boxster (which I now have almost 100 miles on!!) is top down, bridge appreciating fun. Although, under the right weather conditions, the Dino could be coaxed out of the garage. Hope to see you guys there. Dave M.

I think I will be joining you. How many cars are you expecting?

Glad to have you join us. To be honest I have no clue how many will show up. The feedback has been good, so I'm expecting a good turnout.

Any volunteers for backup group leader in case we need one? The route in now done - whoo-hoo! Glad to have that all written up.

Looking forward to the drive! Expect a handful of Cayman's this time around...

I am going to make it, my 356 is still not complete, so I will be bringing my 993

I think that we're in for a good mix of Porsches. Hopefully the weather holds out for us.

We don't typically organize a lunch stop at the end of the tour, due to the unpredictability of the number of attendees, but we have had a kind invitation from a couple of PCA members who are willing to host us at their house. If there is an interest we can make this happen. Please let me know ASAP (PM or email) to give us an idea on whether we should do this. There's the option for pool time if you want to bring along your swimwear. I know that some travel distances for these drives and want to get back on the road home, but we thought we'd float the idea to see the response.

i'm always up for lunch

Well, as well as the option I listed above there are also a deli or two in the area that might work that appear to have parking.

I will see you on the 28th.

Well, I'm looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday morning. With this being a covered bridge tour we'll be playing connect the dots. To help get into the spirit of things I thought I'd post the bridges and the order that we'll be taking them so that those of you wilth GPS units can program the waypoints in. The website below gives the location of the bridges: http://www.ohiobarns.com/covbri/pa/buck/pabuckcb.html We will be visiting them in the following order: 1) Van Sant 2) Loux 3) Cabin Run 4) Frankenfield 5) Erwinna 6) Sheard's Mill 7) Knect's We will be finishing at Tinicum State park, the same place that the previous runs have finished up. For those that are interested we have made arrangements to be hosted afterwards at the home of a couple of PCA members and we will be able to order food in for lunch and mingle some more and hang out by the pool (for those that are interested you are welcome to bring swim gear).

This is still going, rain or shine, right? Come on sun shine!!!

Looks like I'm comming too. Can we get a roll call?

We're going ahead with the drive tomorrow. There is currently a 30% chance of showers in the morning, but it doesn't look like anything serious. Sunday will be worse weather, so we got the better of the two days. Annoying considering the forecast for Saturday was good up until Yesterday evening... clueless forecasters! If the weather is not good by the time we finish, then we might have to bail on the option of lunch. I was going to detail my car today, but considering that it might get wet tomorrow anyway I'll probably just clean off the bugs from the front bumper and leave it to be detailed afterwards.

Yep. Same here. Can't wait already. It'll be fun either way.

Yup, this will be a nice drive.

I'm 10 minutes from our starting point and its 90 degrees, clear blue skies right now - local forecast says it should be 68% cloud cover and thunderstorms. These guys just guess......see you in the morning!

Yeah, I know, they're totally hopeless. I have high hopes for good weather tomorrow. 30% chance essentially means that things will be good. I just wiped down the front end of the baby, so we're nice and clean, shiny and bug free again.

Considering we're supposed to get stormed on tonight and my college house doesn't have a garage, I'm just parked under the bridge across the street. Its the best I can do since I just washed the car this afternoon. Lets hope we get all the rain tonight and there's none left for tomorrow. It worked!!!

great job putting this ride together .... some sweet cars came out!

Thanks Art! Glad that you enjoyed the drive. it was great to meet you and you car! Many thanks to those of you that turned out for the drive today. It was wonderful to see you all and your cars. We especially had a lot of fun with those of you who joined us for lunch - we will have to do that again next time. The weather held out for us and the feedback on the drive was that it was our best so far. It's going to be hard to top some of these roads! If you have photographs that you would not mind sharing please send me an email or PM and I'll give you an email address to send photographs to. Once I have photos from everyone I'll post them to a website for everyone to see. Thanks again and I hope to see you all again for another drive in September or October!

Count me in for a fall foliage ride! Couldn't make today's ride due to some previous obligations. By the fall, I'll have my aluminum pedals in to try out! And, if this route is the best, why not just repeat it? It couldn't get boring if you only do it a few times a year, right?

For some reaon I didn't get to take that many photos today, but here are some of mine, plus a link to more. Please, please please send me copies of yours if you can. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wellardmac/

hi clif with the club coupe, i had hoped to come out today but mom's in town and didn't have the heart to leave her. any chance of getting a copy of the tour?

Clif, Sorry that you couldnt make it. Don't worry, we'll run the tour again - maybe in the fall when the foliage is changing.

Right now I'm thinking of a drive in September. I'm usually too busy in October to organize a drive then to coincide with the foliage, plus there are too many other conflicts on our local PCA calendar. Right now I have Sept. 28th in mind. I'm hoping to take a drive into NJ this next time. Just have to get recommendations from people as to good roads in the Princeton area that might work for us. Doesn't have to be that area, but ideally we need quiet and pretty roads, curvy is good, no police patrols is even better.

More photos from Yesterday The first batch is from Greg & Donna Desrosiers (2001 Boxster S - Speed Yellow) http://www.flickr.com/photos/gd_007/ and Sinclair (sand80) with his lovely 911 that ended up separated from us and parked at the other side of Lake Nockamixon.