Saturday was a perfect day for a Porsche tour. Thank you Ted for organizing such a fabulous event – every detail was immaculately planned.
We met at the Windmill Market in San Juan Bautista for our drivers’ meeting. The start of our tour took us east towards Hollister and then south down Highway 25. Things got interesting when we turned on to the Panoche Rd/J1. Let’s just say that the bumpy roads were a good test for our Porsche suspensions.
Finally, we reached our rest stop at the Panoche Inn – a welcome respite along a little traveled road. It was a nice, funky place with dollar bills tacked to the ceiling by patrons. From here, the roads were smoother. We passed by a huge solar farm en route to Interstate 5 which led us to our destination in downtown Los Banos. Paul made sure that everyone arrived as planned.
The Wool Growers Restaurant is a family style French Basque Restaurant rich in tradition and history. We were served soup, salad, baked beans, french fries and lamb stew along with our entrée such as steak, tri tip, lamb or chicken. Janice served cookies to go with the ice cream.
After lunch, Ted treated us to a couple of goodies – a cute Lamb stuffed animal toy (his daughter made the custom tags) and a couple of wool dryer balls. How perfect is that!!!
Victor gave the group a brief overview of the Basque people who live in an area straddling Spain and France along the Pyrennees. He shared the wonderful story of how his family came to the Los Banos area and the role that the Wool Growers Inn played in the local culture. Interesting to say the least…
All in all, a perfect day for a Porsche tour. Again thanks, Ted.
Click on the image below to view the PHOTOS taken by Vega and Rich.
