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The Charm of
Backcountry
Driving
SDVSA hosts its 2002
East County
Tour
By Goran Freske and Jeff Perry
On April 21, 2002, the San Diego chapter of
Volvo Sports America hosted another East County Tour. This annual spring event, which features motoring explorations
of backcountry roads and destinations throughout the eastern region of San Diego County, is the creation of
Roadmaster Mark Jankowski. Through his pre-drive investigation and expert planning, Mark provided
those fortunate enough to attend with another enjoyable drive that rivals all that have come before.
In keeping with the tradition of past events, the tour began at the club's customary north county starting
point; the Chevron Station at the intersection
of I-15 and Via Rancho Parkway in Escondido. As the 10 a.m. departure time was almost upon us, and all in attendance
began preparations to leave, that ever
elusive writer, Volvo expert, and 1/64 scale racer,
Sven Olafsbrosson, drove up in his running '58 PV445 - complete with white powered coated mag wheels and 4-wheel disk brakes. The arrival of the PV445 could have offered the opportunity for two of SDVSA's three most special vehicles to be together; however,
David Hunt drove his newly acquired '66 122 sedan, thus leaving his '56 Volvo P1900 behind. Incidentally, the third vehicle of this trio is a Volvo TP21 (see
1800 NEWS, Oct. 2001), a four-wheel-drive military radio and command car owned by
Richard Pattee.
In her PV544, Mark and Diane Jankowski led the caravan of Volvos, and Japanese Volvos, east on Hwy. 78
through the San Pasqual Agricultural Preserve as the aroma of orange blossoms filled the air.
Dynamic coordination of the group was accomplished through two-way radios in the lead and trailing
vehicles. This may be a first, the entire caravan
of Volvos made it through a single iteration of the traffic signal at Highways 67 & 78, in Ramona.
As the vehicles were progressing onward on Hwy 67 through the northern reaches of Ramona, Mark headed the caravan east over Old Julian Hwy. A mile later, Mark's wise path selection became self evident - this was a twisty road. Very few of our participants had traversed this road before, and, with little competing traffic, it was a terrific drive.
The maroon 1800S stood out like a jewel from the rest of the "riff-raff" in the parking lot, as we drew closer to Dudley's Bakery in Santa Ysabel, Evidently,
Bob Skoog, in
Del's beautiful car, had decided to "head us off at the pass." Sadly, "Sven" and Bob couldn't join us for the rest of the tour, due to prior commitments. After we gorged ourselves on delicious freshly baked rolls and stocked up on loaves of sandwich breads, the caravan headed north on Hwy 79.
Pretty soon we came upon the broad vistas of the Lake Henshaw valley -- and caught up with a gaggle of convertible Detroit iron. They were apparently on a "blooming desert" tour, since they headed east on Hwy S22.
Northbound 79 takes a westerly heading out of Warner Springs, and just after the bend, we ran into a beehive of
activity at the Warner Springs Airport. One of the few glider (sailplane) operations in Southern California, it was established in the early '50s. As we were watching the gliders being towed up to altitude, coming in to land, and soaring effortlessly like eagles above the surrounding mountain tops, we couldn't help feeling a pang of envy.
By this time, the pang of hunger took control, however, as we followed out trail master into the little town of Sunshine Summit. Mark had forewarned the owners of La Cocina -- the only restaurant in town by the looks of it -- that ravished Volvinos would descend on their establishment. After a short wait, a long table was provided for us, and we indulged in really decent and surprisingly inexpensive Mexican food. Many outrageous Volvo tales were spun around the lunch table, as well as a wealth of useful technical information.
Most of our members that live in the north county, and our intrepid participants from the OCVSA,
continued west on Hwy. 79, which, eventually, joins up with I-15. A few of us went back to further investigate points of
interest we had passed earlier on this excellent tour of discovery.
Thank you Mark, as Mr. Dave Hunt so eloquently put it, for allowing us to
"explore the charm of backcountry driving at its best."
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