@Ryan (formerly) in NorCal wrote- "@Robert M has planned a legendary route through the central coast. Here are just a few of the sights you'll drive through on our adventure. Unreal.
If you're on the fence about joining us this year, this should make the decision easier."...
Beautiful shots, Ryan. The drive will be nothing short of epic, Robert!
Robert M posted:27 rooms booked so far. Because it's early the hotel is still giving the reduced rate. As we get closer to the deadline the special price may not be available.
@Dan Stewart has booked a room.
Yay, Shannon will be joining us!!
I mean, yay, Dan and Shannon will be joining us.
@Robert M Ha, Ha, Ha...if you can't see it from there I will show you my one finger salute I am giving you when WE, yes WE arrive in SLO 
Dan Stewart posted:Robert M posted:27 rooms booked so far. Because it's early the hotel is still giving the reduced rate. As we get closer to the deadline the special price may not be available.
@Dan Stewart has booked a room.
Yay, Shannon will be joining us!!
I mean, yay, Dan and Shannon will be joining us.
@Robert M Ha, Ha, Ha...if you can't see it from there I will show you my one finger salute I am giving you when WE, yes WE arrive in SLO
I’ll have to see it in my rear view mirror. Bwaaa Haaaa
@Robert M sent you PM.
aircooled posted:I hear Paul is coming too ! Are you both driving your cars over here ? I won't have a car by then so I'm debating on attending this year. I will be donating a set of Wind Wings again. Your car would look even better with a set of them to go with your WSW tires. Maybe you'll get lucky at the drawing ! ......Bruce
Hey, buddy...
Looks like Paul and I will both be trailering over, and saving all that mileage for the California scenery...
And I hope I AM lucky at the drawing — your wings are terrific!
**NEWS ALERT** Deja Vu All Over Again
As of Friday morning, March 8th, Hwy 1 is closed 25 mi. south of Carmel due to weathered related road damage (buckling). CALTRANS gives no estimate as to when repairs might be completed, and the PCH reopened to traffic. Any of you/us who have been looking forward to driving this route from Monterey south to SLO should have a backup plan "B" in place. If June comes around with Hwy #1 still closed, that Plan "B" will certainly become Plan "A".
Remember: Don't kill the Messenger!
Thanks @Napa Paul. Looks like it's the same stretch as the giant Mud Creek landslide in 2017.
Here's a link where we can stay up to date on conditions:
[IN THE CENTRAL CALIFORNIA AREA]
IS CLOSED FROM 10.2 MI NORTH TO 11.6 MI NORTH OF RAGGED POINT INN
(MONTEREY CO) - DUE TO EMERGENCY REPAIRS - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE
I don't see the Carmel closure you mention here, so maybe that's already cleared up.
I've done plan "B" a few times, in and out. It's not so bad. I was already planning to sneak back up this year, just for the climb. It's worth it.
PCH is clear again (at least the part we care about).
Just in case, let's bookmark this link for the next 91 days: Current State Route 1 Conditions
I nominate Ryan and Paul to monitor the road conditions.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, @Terry Nuckels, but I think Paul is a better fit for this role. His eagle eyes spotted an "Hourly Update" feed I missed — and the result is not favorable: Mud Creek area is still closed.
New Bookmark: http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/Hourly
HIGHWAY CONDITIONS REPORT AT 0945 HRS ON 3/9/19
SR 1 IS CLOSED FROM 10.2 MI NORTH TO 11.6 MI NORTH OF RAGGED POINT INN (MONTEREY CO) - DUE TO EMERGENCY REPAIRS - MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO USE AN ALTERNATE ROUTE
"Local" news has also picked up the story: https://www.mercurynews.com/20...ek-south-of-big-sur/
The good news is that Caltrans has 90 days to fix it. I'm rooting for them. They're only predicting 1-day to fix. But acknowledge the big landslides happen when the area starts drying out. That's what we'll have to watch for.
Worst case scenario: we jump that lil' pothole!
That first photo of the buckle in the road looks like a typical pothole in any-town, CA since our fearless leaders in Sacramento have redirected, ahem, stolen, most of the road tax money for high speed rail and have neglected repairing our roadways for more than a decade.
The 1 is open again. I'll believe this until @Napa Paul tells me otherwise.
Turning numbers into nouns by putting an article in front is peculiar to So. Cal. You are from Chicago where you take the Dan Ryan Expressway. Or in N.Cal you take I80. Only other place I can think of that treats numbers as nouns is the UK. As in take the M1. When I spend a lot of time in So Cal I succumb to the habit. For this trip we will be taking Hwy 1. Below SLO it is the 1 or more likely the PCH.
This and other worthless pieces of trivia can be yours for a couple of beers.
That's hella complicated.
I believe this all started in the early days of the So Cal freeway system. All freeways were given names and most still have names today. For example The Pasadena Fwy, The San Diego Fwy, The Golden State Fwy, etc. At some point they became so numerous people shorted the names to numbers but keep the article in front. Imagine navigating LA as an outsider, looking for names without the aid of GPS. Now that is complicated. Given the average speed on The 405 you will have plenty of time.
I've always thought that a peculiar local vernacular as well, Noel.
Putting "the" in front of the highway number always sounds like football payers who played for "THE Ohio State University", as if there were two and I might get confused otherwise.
In the Midwest (Chicago included) we take "Highway 101" or "101". If it's got a name (like "the Dan Ryan", for example), it'll sometimes get used with "the" in front of it.
Otherwise, we're "out on 74", but never "out on the 74".
Ginny & I were just on that stretch of road 3 weeks ago when we were cruising VanGo (our '89 Vanagon) on Hwy 1 up to Big Sur. Huge area of landslide repair still in progress. We were still able to enjoy some spectacular scenery. 
Click on pics to enlarge...
California highway vernacular...
^ Most excellent.
