DWA! Rally From Home South
I woke up the morning of October first and grabbed my bed sheet with the eyes cut out, it’s Halloween season and the morning of Driving While Awesome’s “Rally From Home South”. With great weather ahead, a group of eclectic cars gathered at the sleepy downtown entrance of San Juan Bautista to tackle an expert route mapped out by the guys. Although the event is a rally by name it’s certainly not a rally by nature, allowing a mix of Radwood and modern cars that have one thing in common: sense of occasion. Elbow bumps all around while the group gathered supplies and got excited about the powerhouse lineup, most notably: a widebody VR6 Scirocco, mint condition Alfa Romeo GTV6, legacy swapped beetle, and Z-Car Garage’s very own test mule - Mrs. Butters. Some much-needed social interaction and one coffee later, the clock strikes 8:45am and it’s time to hit the road for approximately 300 miles of Central California carving.
Groups have an organic way of forming themselves on drives like this. A natural division of power and momentum happens without much moderation, but my favorite part of these events is perhaps when that’s not the case. A smattering of new and old metal left the gravel lot and took a beating up the transit section of a mountain pass. Potholes the size of your head littered the road and a few sections were lightly populated with commute traffic in the other direction, but what goes up must come down. About 45 minutes later, the shaded and rough asphalt gave way to downhill sweepers with a view. Tall yellow grass layered the mountainside and off to the right was a vista of flat and desolate central valley farmland. Exhaust noises bounce off the hardscape and into the open windows of my car as sweat drips down my balls. I missed this so much.
My thirst for coffee was turning into a hankering for tacos as we came into King City for lunch. Mechanical failures happen to be a commonplace on these rallies, but the first leg was something akin to a round with Tyson. A nasty combo of weather, road conditions, and bad luck had a few of us scrambling to auto parts stores for impromptu repairs. Weather apps showed scorching 102 degrees and for those without A/C, it was an oven. The group lost some wheels and tires, towed Drew (@vanderlayindustrys) due to a transmission failure, scanned a few CELs, and managed to swap out an alternator belt on Will’s (@dustysnowman) 993… roadside. Once again, the DWA! community showed up in full force to ensure as few mechanical casualties as possible. I couldn’t imagine another group I’d be more comfortable breaking down with.
The final leg was a crowd favorite. From King City to Laguna Seca, I spent the second half of my day chasing down a Porsche 968, BMW 2002, and E36 M3 in my Integra. Eyes glued ahead, there wasn’t much time to take in the scenery around while admiring those car booties. Trees and some more familiar bay habitat began to spring up during the most epic run of the day. Without seeing anyone outside of our group for close to 30 minutes, a pull-over was in order. Under a canopy of trees, we sat for a couple minutes and absolutely regretted that the drive was a few hours short of a wrap. Almost everybody made it to the turnout at Laguna Seca, while the 2002 on our romp decided to burp out the entire coolant tank on the side of the road. Now that the Bavarian was officially air-cooled, we scooted to Dunes State Park for DWA’s first ever “Evening Engines”.
Fashionably early, we welcomed the entire rally group into a small beachside lot over the course of an hour. Seeing some of DWA’s regular guests and members come together was a treat. No matter who you asked, there seemed to be a rally favorite vehicle among us… From the gravel lot in San Juan to the Dunes, everybody was enamored by Thomas in his 1958 Beetle. The car sits on a set of 911 Fuchs and sports a weathered light green coat of paint with hints of patina and plenty of the “Thomas Illick” design touches. Honorable mentions include DWA’s first polestar, Peter B in the tow happy 993, and Kurt K in what’s probably the cleanest 1991 Camaro RS I’ve ever seen. Regardless of the Wildfire smoke, this rally served as one of the most invigorating breaths of fresh air you could take amid a global pandemic. After six months of no Morning Motors, this parking lot shindig served as a reminder to every participant why the DWA! community is so strong: we drive it, we break it, we fix it, and we drive it again… together.
