This year, our annual trip to Monterey for the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion was made a bit more special, having taken my own truck up as opposed to the comfy leather seats of a new BMW. There are upsides and downsides – but in any case, it was the first journey, or first major trip, in the truck. It was the first test of reliability after working out the kinks and getting it road worthy, and as hoped, the truck conquered the 700-mile (1100km) trip without missing a beat.
In continuing with upsides and downsides, fires have been ravaging the Californian landscape this year, torching homes, businesses, and lives alike. In fact, the flames got close to home this year, pushing us towards evacuation. While the fires can be helpful for the soil, and more importantly, trees like the redwoods, the only selfish upside we can draw from the blazes is that during our trip, the scorched woods outside of Lake Cachuma made for a picture-perfect backdrop. We, of course, pulled over and did what we do best.
