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Need a little excitement in your life this Fall/Winter? How about an Austin THC-Unaffiliated Un-Conventional Tour?? Un-Conventional because it is manifestly Unlike anything a Convention would put on and will be kept strictly Austin Funky.
As you know we are Alfa driving fools. We drive them here, we drive them there, we drive those Alfas everywhere. And we thought we’d plan a couple of short multi-day tours in Texas when it cools off a bit, if it ever does this year . . . . And we thought it would be cool to have some local Alfisti join-in.
Two spots we’d thought of visiting as end-points were:
• Davis Mountains State Park Lodge (Fort Davis NP, Balmorhea SP, etc.) - ~ 400 miles each way
• Palo Duro Canyon environs (lots of interesting places nearby) - ~ 500 miles each way
• There may be places of interest closer by that do not take a long full-days drive of interest to folks.
The general plan is to take a full day driving out via smaller roads, stay at/near the destination a full day (2 nights), and return on day 3 via a different route. Personally I’d expand this to 4-5 days to be able to stop and ogle more stuff enroute and stretch the sciatica. This worked well on the Alfa Convention Pre-Tour. That tour (4 days, 860 miles) had 2-3 interesting stops per day. I know folks work but I've taken vacation time for far stupider things. That tour also had small ~6 car groups which were an ideal size.
Some Rules (see "fine print" below):
Rule 1 – there are no rules.
So don’t be a lurker here and chime in on what, if anything, you’d like to do with this. If this does not interest you, we’ll be doing it anyway; you can follow along on the blog. But it would be nice to share the fun and misery with a small group. Cheers, Bruce
------------------------------------------------------------
The Fine Print:
The "fine print" guidance, subject to enforcement at the Tourmeister’s sole whim:
• Driving an Alfa is required; this is not the Hyndairomreo Club. Sorry. If you do not have an Alfa that could make it reliably, that sucks. Get to work on the PM now if you want to go and not be thoroughly embarrassed. Only Larry would be allowed with a Fiat as he has sufficient Alfa cred. (Note: At any time you should stock 500 gallons of water, 200 slim Jims, and 50 boxes of Cheeze-Its, and your Alfa should be ready and fueled up, in case of Armageddon or the Rapture. I want to go through the pearly gates in a 105 Alfa.)
• Input from participants and other lurkers is absolutely welcome. End-points, good routes, route stops and eateries are cool. If we don’t use it, you can plan your own tour.
• A small fee will be collected to make a tour sticker for your car, it will be black, with a Texas Lone Star, some red and blue bars, and a blinking Longhorn, and some words, including Alfa Un-Conventional Tour. I hope . . . If not, I pocket the fee for an open bar some night.
• You will be responsible for booking your own accommodations. I don’t anticipate a big enough group to attract any discounts. Interested and committed folks will be informed of details by e-mail. This post is for general banter.
• Kids are not a good idea. We may end up one evening at a Texas honky tonk throwing beer bottles at some Japanese punk grunge band, with our ladies dancing on the tables. I just don’t want the kids looking up their skirts.
• So far there is no mechanic subscribed. I will have duct tape and bailing wire, and aspirin. If your car dies along the road, we will leave you after you have made suitable emergency contacts. If there are snakes, coyotes or wolves, we will leave even sooner. If there are tarantulas on the road, we will talk with you from the car. Refer to point #1.
• You must eat one beef meal a day. This is Texas. We’ll try to eat at roadhouses, chuckwagons, BBQ and Mexican food restaurants. Texan fare. To opt out of the beef requirement, you must have the daily squirrel special.
• The Tourmeister will not carry spares or emergency supplies. Carry your own. If you need bandaids, Advil, water, or Depends, bring ‘em. This is not a nanny tour. I will bring 1 pint of gin (Tanquery), a quart of tonic, a lime, and sufficient ice for small emergencies. Anything that can not be handled with that, call 911 or go to any local 24 hour Emergency Stop, or visit a bar. Consistent with this, some places are “dry”, so BYOB. Don’t come running to me for panty remover at 9 PM.
• As a small nod to Texas, you should bring a cowboy hat. No other duds or boots are required. Spurs are optional. This is for the big Go Texas Alfas banquet night.
• You may propose new “guidance” but only if you are going, lurkers need not apply.
• Speaking of lurkers, and trolls, and posers - in no way will mrmom be allowed to go. He is clearly several cuts above our station in life and just does not get Austin Funky. If this post put you off, you’d better consider staying at home and watching C-Span, or polishing the Porsche.
• This tour is meant to be open for full-fledged THC members.
• There is no guarantee of any weather outcome, especially in Texas. Just ask Dean.
• If it is successful it will not be done again. We do not want to increase anybody’s expectations that we are anything but "indolent slackers" here (except for John & Kim that is who work really hard, and a little from Sherm)
As you know we are Alfa driving fools. We drive them here, we drive them there, we drive those Alfas everywhere. And we thought we’d plan a couple of short multi-day tours in Texas when it cools off a bit, if it ever does this year . . . . And we thought it would be cool to have some local Alfisti join-in.
Two spots we’d thought of visiting as end-points were:
• Davis Mountains State Park Lodge (Fort Davis NP, Balmorhea SP, etc.) - ~ 400 miles each way
• Palo Duro Canyon environs (lots of interesting places nearby) - ~ 500 miles each way
• There may be places of interest closer by that do not take a long full-days drive of interest to folks.
The general plan is to take a full day driving out via smaller roads, stay at/near the destination a full day (2 nights), and return on day 3 via a different route. Personally I’d expand this to 4-5 days to be able to stop and ogle more stuff enroute and stretch the sciatica. This worked well on the Alfa Convention Pre-Tour. That tour (4 days, 860 miles) had 2-3 interesting stops per day. I know folks work but I've taken vacation time for far stupider things. That tour also had small ~6 car groups which were an ideal size.
Some Rules (see "fine print" below):
Rule 1 – there are no rules.
So don’t be a lurker here and chime in on what, if anything, you’d like to do with this. If this does not interest you, we’ll be doing it anyway; you can follow along on the blog. But it would be nice to share the fun and misery with a small group. Cheers, Bruce
------------------------------------------------------------
The Fine Print:
The "fine print" guidance, subject to enforcement at the Tourmeister’s sole whim:
• Driving an Alfa is required; this is not the Hyndairomreo Club. Sorry. If you do not have an Alfa that could make it reliably, that sucks. Get to work on the PM now if you want to go and not be thoroughly embarrassed. Only Larry would be allowed with a Fiat as he has sufficient Alfa cred. (Note: At any time you should stock 500 gallons of water, 200 slim Jims, and 50 boxes of Cheeze-Its, and your Alfa should be ready and fueled up, in case of Armageddon or the Rapture. I want to go through the pearly gates in a 105 Alfa.)
• Input from participants and other lurkers is absolutely welcome. End-points, good routes, route stops and eateries are cool. If we don’t use it, you can plan your own tour.
• A small fee will be collected to make a tour sticker for your car, it will be black, with a Texas Lone Star, some red and blue bars, and a blinking Longhorn, and some words, including Alfa Un-Conventional Tour. I hope . . . If not, I pocket the fee for an open bar some night.
• You will be responsible for booking your own accommodations. I don’t anticipate a big enough group to attract any discounts. Interested and committed folks will be informed of details by e-mail. This post is for general banter.
• Kids are not a good idea. We may end up one evening at a Texas honky tonk throwing beer bottles at some Japanese punk grunge band, with our ladies dancing on the tables. I just don’t want the kids looking up their skirts.
• So far there is no mechanic subscribed. I will have duct tape and bailing wire, and aspirin. If your car dies along the road, we will leave you after you have made suitable emergency contacts. If there are snakes, coyotes or wolves, we will leave even sooner. If there are tarantulas on the road, we will talk with you from the car. Refer to point #1.
• You must eat one beef meal a day. This is Texas. We’ll try to eat at roadhouses, chuckwagons, BBQ and Mexican food restaurants. Texan fare. To opt out of the beef requirement, you must have the daily squirrel special.
• The Tourmeister will not carry spares or emergency supplies. Carry your own. If you need bandaids, Advil, water, or Depends, bring ‘em. This is not a nanny tour. I will bring 1 pint of gin (Tanquery), a quart of tonic, a lime, and sufficient ice for small emergencies. Anything that can not be handled with that, call 911 or go to any local 24 hour Emergency Stop, or visit a bar. Consistent with this, some places are “dry”, so BYOB. Don’t come running to me for panty remover at 9 PM.
• As a small nod to Texas, you should bring a cowboy hat. No other duds or boots are required. Spurs are optional. This is for the big Go Texas Alfas banquet night.
• You may propose new “guidance” but only if you are going, lurkers need not apply.
• Speaking of lurkers, and trolls, and posers - in no way will mrmom be allowed to go. He is clearly several cuts above our station in life and just does not get Austin Funky. If this post put you off, you’d better consider staying at home and watching C-Span, or polishing the Porsche.
• This tour is meant to be open for full-fledged THC members.
• There is no guarantee of any weather outcome, especially in Texas. Just ask Dean.
• If it is successful it will not be done again. We do not want to increase anybody’s expectations that we are anything but "indolent slackers" here (except for John & Kim that is who work really hard, and a little from Sherm)
