2012 Island Fall Colours Run
October 21, 2012
I try to schedule the Fall Colours Run for later in October hoping to catch the trees at their fall best. But now we also have to take into account the apparent influence of Global Warming. October had started off sunny and dry like most of the last three months and the trees were showing only a traced of colour change. Then about mid month we started to get some wetter weather, more typical of the fall and winter weather of the southern end of Vancouver Island. Towards the end of the month, the damp weather continued and the day before Sunday 21 Oct there were conflicting forecasts for our final Island event of the year. But true to form, when we arrived at our favourite Tim Horton’s starting point there were patches of blue and bits of sun poking through.
I nipped inside for my morning cuppa and by the time I was back out the door two more Volvos, and 84 245 belonging to Lars Junkers and Jennifer Oaks and a gold ES with driver Lorne Knuston and navigator/daughter Anna were parked beside our 61 P1800.
You couldn’t miss Mark Pacey’s midnight black S70 judging by the sound from the exhaust. Mark usually drives with his laptop on the passenger’s seat so he can adjust the engine output to suit! Chris Blasé arrived in his white 850 followed shortly by twin yellow 1800 ESs belonging to Mike and Joan Tomczak and Peter and Pavla Landsman. The three ESs drew admiring glances from a number of people lined up for the Time Horton’s drive through.
Just before pulling out of the parking lot a quick call to Gord Rumley at the Genoa Bay Restaurant confirmed our numbers and Gord confirmed the weather up island was mainly blue skies and sunshine. Our route north was a mix of easy city streets, a challenging twisting hilly section, some nice open highway with salt water views, and some gently winding country roads where the fall colours were in full bloom. We had started out with good spacing so as not to obstruct any traffic by traveling in a close convoy. At least that was the theory. Drivers and navigators were briefed to follow their own instructions and to remember that the car ahead may be more lost than you are. It all worked well for the first half of the trip. But as time wore on and folks were slowing down to enjoy the colours; we started bunching up until a group of five was pretty well together. Knowing the route, Lucy and I opted for a short break for call of nature for me and a cool refreshment for both. I think the others took the hint and on the last five kilometers to the restaurant through a beautiful pastoral valley we didn’t see another car in our group. Joining us from up island Bill Paitson arrived in a “non-Volvo” entry from Nanaimo and Bob and Edna Pellow in their 82 240 down from Parksville (they were planning a trip to Victoria anyway and timed it to include their own southbound version of a Fall Colours Run, meeting us at the designated lunch stop). All in all we sat 13 to lunch but I’m not triskaidekaphobic so it didn’t really bother me.
The Genoa Bay Restaurant is a bit of a well hidden secret. The view from the dining room is gorgeous – seascapes, mountains in their fall palette, lovely yachts (both power and sail) and of course, an excellent menu of gourmet meals. There was a lot of catching up on news, sharing stories about the drive and enjoying the Genoa Bay’s wonderful food. After lunch we gathered in the parking lot to finish our stories, decide on a route home and finally, to say farewell until next year. The weather and scenery had provided a beautiful day for a drive and a wonderful finale to this year’s Vancouver Island activities.