Yet Another Update

Well, it's been almost two weeks since the last post, and we haven't too many more plans for "The Bonneville Run" yet, but we're also almost at the point where we could sort the rest out once we land. At the moment, there are three of us going on "The Bonneville Run", and at least 8 other West Australian's that are heading to the United States at the same time. We'll be catching up with some of these guys and girls in Los Angeles, and all of them at Bonneville.



Kate and I have decided that we would like to spend at least one night in a "Wigwam Motel", and the one major thing we've done since the last update on "The Bonneville Run" is to book a room at one of these historic motels. The Wigwam Motels are part of a chain of motels that used to be spread out along the length of the historic Route 66. These days, only 3 Wigwam Motels remain, and only one of these is anywhere near where we'll be on this trip. Wigwam Motel number 7 is located in San Bernardino, on the eastern outskirts of Los Angeles, and it will be our accommodation on our last night in LA, as it will also allow us to travel outside of peak traffic times. If you're interested in staying a night at Wigwam Motel number 7, in San Bernardino, then check out their website and don't forget the discount code on their rates and reservations page.

And The Countdown Continues With Four Months To Go

We are now just under 4 months from flying out for the United States. We're also at the point where we have enough organised that if we didn't do any more before we left, we could just wing it and we'd be fine. However, thats not my intention and we're going to be doing a lot more planning over the next month or so, as what is my intention is to at least have all our accommodation booked at least 2 months before we fly out.



Lately, I've been spending a bit of time looking at photos of San Francisco, trying to find some more places I'd like to visit and try to get some interesting shots of. Some of the places I've found so far include the ruins of an old military installation on Bakers Beach and the remains of the bath house at Sutro Beach. We're also intending to visit the former Nike Missile Site in Marin Country, which is just over the Golden Gate Bridge.



I'm not sure if k8 wants to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge again, but if the opportunity is there, I'm certainly up for another chance to take some more photos like the one above. The view from this engineering masterpiece is just amazing.

We Know Where We Are Staying

OK, so the title is a little extreme, we know where we're staying in Bonneville, we're still working out the rest of the trip. Yesterday morning I got a tip from a mate that The Red Garter hotel and casino in West Wendover had a very limited number of rooms remaining for SpeedWeek 2010. They're also the casino in West Wendover that does not have an online booking system, perhaps the two are related, perhaps not.



After a short phone call this morning, complete with the standard accent issues that come up whenever I'm on the phone to the US, I managed to secure a single queen bed room for the nights we're in town, and immediately tipped off Darrell, who is travelling with us, and within about five minutes, he'd also booked a room at The Red Garter.

Tickets Are Booked!

Just a quick update, as k8 and I have now booked our flights to California. We have not yet booked any accommodation, but the major part of the trip is now confirmed. If anyone is planning on joining us, or doing their own thing around the same time, you could do a lot worse than the specials Air New Zealand have on at the moment. We paid au$1519 each, including all taxes and charges, even the credit card surcharge. For reference, the price before taxes and charges, as thats what everyone quotes, was au$1378. The best price available on qantas.com.au for the same trip, same days, is currently au$2400 return.



We are leaving Perth (Australia) in the evening of the 31st of July, we spend 12 hours in Auckland the next day, and after crossing the international date line, we land in San Francisco around 1pm on the 1st of August. We fly out of SF about 9pm on the 4th of September, and spend about 9 hours in Auckland this time, before landing at home in the evening of the 6th of September (which also happens to be my birthday)

Where We're Going and How We're Getting There.

It's looking a lot like we're flying out of Perth on the 31st of July, spending approximately 13 hours in Auckland before flying out again and landing in San Francisco on the 1st of August, spending a couple of days in and around San Jose recovering, then heading out on the road trip...



First stop is Yosemite, where we'll be spending a night, then heading down to Bakersfield, probably spending the night there.

After Bakersfield it's a relatively short drive to LA for a few nights, then off to try to follow some of the old Route 66 out to Barstow 'on the edge of the desert' and up to Death Valley, where we plan to stay for the night before heading for Vegas for a few days, including a day trip out to Hoover Dam.



After Vegas, it's up to Wendover, on the Nevada-Utah border, for SpeedWeek at Bonneville. We'll probably be at Bonneville for about 4 or 4 days before heading west, heading through Sacramento and back to San Francisco and San Jose.

We're planning on getting to Bonneville on either the 13th or the 14th of August (the 14th is the first day of racing on the salt). We're also planning on getting to the GoodGuys show at Pleastanton on the 27th to 29th of August.

Aside from that, we intend to fit in a couple of day trips up to San Francisco and down to places like Monterey and Santa Cruz.



We should be flying back into Perth on the 6th of September (my birthday - at least this one will be longer than 4 hours, last time we crossed the international date line on my birthday and skipped forwards a day at about 4am)

Welcome to "The Bonneville Run"

The Bonneville Run is a trip being planned for August 2010. The basic aim of this trip is to fly in to San Jose and embark upon a road trip that travels a number of US states and places us at the Bonneville Salt Flats for SpeedWeek 2010.



Along the way, we intend visiting San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Death Valley and the Hoover Dam, as well as stopping in to a number of speed shops along the way.

Also, we had a good time at John's Char Burger in Livermore last year, so will head out there again on a Friday night, probably coinciding with the GoodGuys Pleasanton show.



Further details will be added shortly, so please keep checking back for more info, and if you want to be involved, more information on that will be coming soon too...