Silver Falls Drive Recap

It’s Monday morning, the day after our September 2006 drive to [url=http://www.silverfallspark.org/]Silver Falls State Park[/url]. The sound of hard rain pounding on my roof tells me how lucky we were to have a warm, sunny day for our outing. Especially since the days leading up to the drive made it look as if my Seven would stay in the garage in favor of our family sedan, which actually has a top. In shakedown drives preparing for this trip, I got caught in a downpour on Thursday, and another Friday (slow learner). Dale Fillmore was along for the Friday drenching, and the only things we had that stayed dry were our shoes. That’s a different story all by itself. Fortunately, Sunday gave us blue skies and dry roads which made for a great drive. The rain earlier in the week seemed to clean the air because visibility was incredible. See photos of the trip in the Gallery[url=http://www.grandpriximports.com/]Grand Prix Imports[/url] in Wilsonville was the gathering point for the start of our drive. They were wonderful hosts as we wandered through their stock of Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Aston Martins, GT-40s and other exotic cars. While the men salivated over cars, one of the women’s first questions to my wife, Donna was, “Are those new earrings?” Imagine being surrounded by the most exotic cars in the world, and the first thing you notice is a pair of earrings. After a few chuckles, Nadya Boone helped me refine the saying, “Men are from Indianapolis and Women are from Nordstrom’s.” Seriously, Matt Crandall of Grand Prix Imports graciously offered the use of his facility for the starting point of our drive, and this became the first of several trip highlights.

From Grand Prix Imports, we drove to the [url=http://www.co.clackamas.or.us/dtd/trans/info/ferry.htm]Canby Ferry[/url] which crosses the Willamette River. All but two of our cars got on the ferry, so it took two ferry rides to get the entire group across. Jon Lexau expected a longer ferry ride than just a couple of minutes so I think he’s planning a trip to the San Juan Islands just to get a longer ride – well, maybe not. Once on the east side of the river, we were only minutes from our lunch destination. Canby’s [url=http://www.seasonsgrill.com/]Season’s Grill[/url] offered great food and service, and did a super job of accommodating our group. The restaurant was to be the staging area for the second, 1:00 pm starting point, however car trouble prevented two cars from making it in time. Because they were trying to catch up to us, we delayed our start until about 1:20 PM to help them close the gap.

The road between Canby and the [url=http://www.oregon.com/covered_bridges/bridges/gallon.cfm]Gallon House Bridge[/url] was a mix of curves and straight. My car had a speed governor named Donna, so cornering was not as spirited as it might have been, and the top speed stayed pretty close to the posted speed limit (most of the time). There were other speed governors; such as the three different Subaru drivers who were obviously afraid their cars would slide into the outback if they took corners too fast. Yes, all three were Subaru Outbacks.

The Gallon House Bridge, built in 1916, is one of Oregon’s oldest covered bridges still in daily use. We used it for another photo opportunity, shooting pictures of each car as they exited the bridge. From there we continued on into Silverton, and met the two cars that couldn’t make it to the one o’clock start in Canby. Even though they missed the bridge and ferry, at least they were able to join us for the trip to Silver Falls State Park and a somewhat spirited drive back to Silverton. I had originally planned our stay there to be a quick rest stop, however it turned out to be a great social gathering; lots of discussion amongst drivers, and lots of interested bystanders. It was cool to see a bunch of Lotus cars all lined up together in the parking lot.

From Silver Falls, we continued south on Highway 214 until the Drift Creek Road cutoff back to Silverton. From there, we split into smaller groups that took the shortest route back home. Some took 214 North to Woodburn and I-5, others took 213 North toward Oregon City (with a stop at Marquam Hill Winery).

All in all, there were eight cars: two Elise’s, two Europas, one Westfield 7, one Locost 7, one MGB-GT, and one Honda Hybrid. The two women in the Honda had their windows rolled down for most of the trip, and I’d swear I could hear mouth noises like varooom – varooom. If it weren’t for lipstick, I’m sure they’d have gotten chapped lips. At every stop, they yelled through open windows: “We’re a Lotus too.” I guess Martin Luther King Jr. wasn’t the only one with a dream.