Fall Colors Tour 10! October 22, 2011

[WestCoastSVX]

The weather is slowly starting to show signs of turning here in the Pacific Northwest and fall is right around the corner. And for us SVX owners, that means it’s almost time for the Fall Colors Tour! This year marks a special occasion as it is our TENTH consecutive year! To my knowledge, the only other annual SVX event that has run this long is the Reading meet back on the east coast (they had their 12th this year).

Since we already ran the original FCT route last year, I figured I’d pull out another classic route from the archives. This year we’ll be revisiting the popular Whidbey Island route from the historical Spring Classic tours. This route was last driven by a very small group on the last Spring Classic back in 2007, almost 5 years ago. It’s a fantastic tour with great driving roads and incredible scenery that can be appreciated rain or shine.

I can’t believe it has been a year since we all drove together, at last year’s Fall Colors Tour. Time flies, and other than a couple of social meets, not much has been going on. Let’s take this chance to get together, check out some cool cars, and actually DRIVE!

When: Saturday, October 22, 2011 10:00am - 5:00pm.

Where: Tour starts in Burlington, Washington in the Fred Meyer parking lot.
920 S Burlington Blvd. Burlington, WA 98233
From I-5 north or south take Exit 230 (Burlington/Anacortes)
Head east (towards Burlington) on Rio Vista Ave.
At about 1/3 mile take a right on Burlington Blvd.
At 1/2 mile take a left on Cascade Mall Dr.
Take 1st left into the shopping center.
At the 4-way stop, go straight into the Fred Meyer parking lot. We can gather near the corner where the Starbucks is.
There are gas stations between the freeway and here, PLEASE fill up before getting to the meeting point at Starbucks.

Who: As usual, all are welcome! We want to mark our 10 years of tours with a big showing of SVXes, but also invite any former SVX owners who have joined us on tours in the past to come out too. This route is very scenic and will have lots of interesting stops, so if you have potential passengers that aren’t really into the car thing, they should enjoy themselves as well.

What: A scenic driving tour through some of the most popular tourist locations of the Pacific Northwest. The tour will be about 6 hours, including several extended stops at various points of interest, lunch, and photo opportunities. Don't forget your camera!

The island in general is a top Washington tourist attraction and if you are travelling a ways to attend, it may be well worth making the trip into a mini-vacation with an overnight stay in one of the fine inns. I can give recommendations.

Sign up: We always like to have an idea of how many to expect ahead of time, plus it helps us make sure everyone has arrived before we head out on the tour Saturday morning. Copy the latest sign up list in the thread and repost with your name and how many will be in your party. Thanks!

UPDATE! This last summer the state started the Discover Pass program. The passes are $10 for a day for unlimited access to WA state parks and lands. $30 buys you an annual pass, but must be registered to one car. Just a heads up if you happen to have an annual pass registered on your SVX, be sure to bring it as we will be stopping in 3 State Parks on the tour. If you do not have one, you can purchase a day pass/annual pass or find more info here: http://www.discoverpass.wa.gov/. You can also purchase a pass at any of the parks we are stopping at, just be sure to bring $10 cash. Remember, one day pass will cover your parking at all 3 parks.

It is up to you whether you want to have a pass or not, I am not suggesting either way. I will say the first two stops will be brief enough that they might fit into the "free parking for restroom breaks" exception. But the last one is planned as an hour stop and when we did the pre-run the ranger checked cars twice in that time period. For what it's worth, these stops are well worth $10 total in my opinion and the money goes directly to maintaining them.

If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to ask! Hope to see you there!