Yes actually John, Liz and UJ crossed the US border, traveled to Edmunds WA to spend some R&R with family.

Today, Friday they drive to Vancouver WA / Portland OR area in prep for a drive Saturday with the Portland Area Triumphs.

The 21st they head out of Portland, OR over to HWY 101, down to Eureka California.

The 22nd, probably some crooked road driving on the Matole Road / Kings road to Bodega Bay for an overnighter.

The 23rd should then be down 1A from Bodega Bay, over to Santa Rosa and Calistoga to the Silverado trail to Silver Oak and Stag Leap vineyards, Down to Napa, over to Novato or Petaluma, the Marin French Cheese farm, to Point Reyes National Seashore and Lighthouse, back over to 1A, down to Stinson Beach, maybe an overnighter before heading over the hill to 101 and up to Corte Madera on the 24th.
The 24th John does a presentation for the Lions Club, then it is up to TTSCC until the 28th in Monterey where Susan and I will meet up with John, Liz and UJ.
Then some Anniversary celebrations for John and Liz - 5th Wedding if you recall from the TVT a while back, then the Gran Finale Drive the 30th down HWY 1A to SLO.

There will be a Gran Finale Toast at the Embassy Suites the evening of the 30th in the Hotel Lounge during the Managers reception!

Be there if you can!!

Please let me know - I'm trying to coordinate
things here.I'd like to take John & his Wife out to
dinner,but I need to know details.Where are they
planning on staying in the Eureka area?

- Doug

Good to know all is going well. Thanks for the update, Glenn.

I finally talked to John tonight.Liz is not doing well.
I'm hoping to meet up with them next week.

- Doug

Food poisining in Florence,Oregon?
I knew SOMETHING would happen to avoid
coming to our area!It never fails.
I do hope that Liz is allright.

- Doug

Well Liz was resting yesterday and feeling slightly better, today they were planning the banzai run down 101 to get close to the North Bay area.
John was out gathering comfort meds to help nurse Liz back to health when I talked to him yesterday.
Unfortunately they will not be able to take my planned route through Napa or out to Rt. Reyes National Seashore as John has to be in the North Bay Area tomorrow for a Lions Club presentation.

Sorry Doug, just they way it goes sometimes. I'm sure you would not want to host guests who were not feeling up to par. Maybe John contacted you as he passed through Eureka today?

Cheers!

No,he didn't call.I didn't want to bother them,
but ended up calling him around 5PM.He didn't say
where he was,& his cell phone was breaking up so bad
that I couldn't understand what he was saying.The calls
got dropped every time (I tried 3 times).

- Doug

They got into Eureka about 8:30 pm, crashed - exhausted at the hotel and left early this morning.
John sends his apologies, and his cell phone battery was almost dead!

Hello All,

6 days and counting to Triumphest / North American Triumph Challenge 2009,
and the ...

Triumph Trans America Charity Drive 2009 Gran Finale DRIVE!

The plans for the Gran Finale Drive and arrival to SLO are coming together. Currently the Gran Finale Drive will depart Monterey at about 9:00 am. Arrive by 8:30 am as stated below.
If you did not see the post from TTSCC, here it is again:

>Wednesday morning, 9/30: Meet at the Rio Road Shopping Center in Carmel at
>Highway 1 and Rio Road at 8:30 a.m. Final TTACD tour departs Carmel at 9:00
>a.m. and proceeds down Highway 1 to Triumphest/VTR at San Luis Obispo.
>Scenic photo stops and comfort stops along the way. Lunch in Cambria. We
>expect this caravan to get huge as we approach San Luis Obispo. If you don't
>make the 9:00 a.m. departure, it won't be difficult to catch up with us. If
>you are already in SLO, please head north and join us for the end of the tour.
>
>Wednesday afternoon, 9/30: We expect to arrive in SLO at 2:30 p.m. (to be
>verified), and we hope for a Grand Reception as we enter the parking lot of
>the Embassy Suites. We will post updates about this final tour.

For the Embassy Suites Inn SLO group side of things, this gathering is very informal since I am driving south from Monterey. This should be two groups:
1. Drivers wanting to make the CAMBRIA lunch stop should plan of being in front of the hotel to depart no later than 10:30am Wednesday 30th September for the drive north on Hwy 1A to make the LUNCH STOP in Cambria. Just look for Triumphs lining up and assemble and ask those folks if they are driving up to Cambria to meet the Gran Finale Drive..
2. As the details of the 2nd rendezvous point are finalized for the two groups, teh 2nd has been set at Morrow Bay at the Lila H Keiser Park on Hwy 1 and Atascadero Road exit for the late group, after the Cambria Lunch stop. Anyone wishing to Rendezvous at the Morrow Bay rendezvous point should depart the Hotel about 1:00 pm. I have no idea what is available for parking at that park, but I would recommend this group line up on the Hwy 1 A On Ramp to merge with the south traveling group as they come down 1A

I will make a call to someone in the group at the Embassy Suites when we are about 30 minutes from the rendezvous points on Hwy 1A, first before the lunch stop, and then for the second group when we are leaving Cambria.

As to "Grand Reception", well this is of course my own typical "informal" arrangement - nothing formally tied to Triumphest organizers by specific request, just a "California Happening". I am planning to leave the Gran Finale group on 1A about 15 minutes ahead to set up a video camera and clear the area in front of the Hotel for the arrival. There is a "Special" parking spot in front of the hotel under the arrival banner for "Uncle Jack", so once UJ gets parked, we will have an initial gathering of everyone who is interested in that immediate area in front of the Gran Finale Banner, make some brief announcements and thank you's (since this is "California Happening" style, then it may become a spontaneous party - bring your coolers and chairs), announce the "Gran Finale Toast" will be held in the Hotel Atrium Lounge about 5:30 pm to coincide with the Managers Reception where we will pop the cork on some special STTAG fluifs. If you are staying at the hotel, make sure you get your free drink info through the hotel if that was advertised, and for all TTA Host organizers who have been on the contact list, SEE ME PERSONALLY and introduce yourself!!

Cheers!

--
Glenn Merrell
TSN Admin
http://www.triumphstag.net
mailto:StagByTriumphtriumphstagclub.org

Glenn,

I'm curious - if the meet in SLO isn't until the
30th,why is John in such a hurry to get down there by
this weekend?I'm still really bummed that I wasn't able
to meet him in person.

- Doug

Doug,

Have a look on the Route Plan on the TTA web site for this week's schedule - I updated yesterday. You can probably take a ride this weekend and meet up with him in the Bay Area - like tomorrow at the VA hospital Show n Shine in Meno Park. Take your Anglia!

Besides, I don't think you would wanted to have hosted Liz for a dinner when she was turning green, puking and nauseated.

John, Liz and UJ will be hosted in the Bay area from the 24th ( Lions CLub Presentation and LARGE charitable contribution) 25th (club Drives and Museum), a Show and Shine at the Menlo Park VA Hospital Saturday the 26th, a rest day the 27th, Drives and Museum stops the 28th by Triumph Travelers Sports Car Club. Then in Monterey the 28th - 29th. The 29th is John and Liz Anniversary, so that is a rest day for them.

John, Liz and UJ do not depart for SLO until The GRAN FINALE drive, which is next Wednesday morning, departing Monterey at 9:00 am, arriving at SLO approximately 2:30 pm.

Glenn,

I would have been overjoyed to meet/help them
in any way.I live in an out-of -the-way place to
the rest of the people on this Forum.When anyone
does come to this area,something always seems to
make it so I avoid contact.
I'm a nobody.It's always nice to meet a
somebody like John,who was there,in "the day".
These are the people that I have the most respect
for.How often do you get to meet a celeberity com-
ing thru your little town?
Sorry,but I had my chance,& missed it.

- Doug

Message from Glenn about the website:

"Hello All,
It seems John needs to renew the domain name triumphtransamerica.org.uk but needs to retrieve his registration information from home in Evesham. This may not be for a week, or if John and I can sort it out in the next day or two, it will be back up then.

Sorry for the delay."

More news from Glenn:

Hello All,

First, Uncle Jack has not yet sold. We are planning on putting up our very own auction site on the TTA Web site in the next week.

Accessing the TTA web site:
For the time being, the new link to the TTA Web site for the next few days will be

http://www.triumphtransamerica.org/public_html/

Once the transfers and updates are complete, you should be able to use http://www.triumphtransamerica.org which drops the "dot UK"

As John needs to renew the domain name triumphtransamerica.org.uk when he arrives home to the UK in a week and a half, this is a stop gap to get people back on to the web site.
We hope to have both URLs pointing to the TTA site completely soon.

Sorry for the Inconvenience.

--
Glenn A. Merrell
TTA North American Drive Coordinator 2009 www.triumphtransamerica.org

Okay, so "next week" came and went. Sorry.

After talking with John Macartney while he and Liz were cruising on the Queen Mary II voyage home to the UK, I thought I would wait until they returned home, got the URL renewed and forwarded to triumphtransamerica.org so all the old links floating around the world in emails and on web sites are working again.

I hope John can get this accomplished, in-between trips to Oxford to keep tabs on his eldest son Nicholas who seems to be in very poor condition in the hospital with multiple organ failures and flesh eating bacteria taking a portion of his leg.

We all know where that priority is, besides I am performing the 15k mile services on Uncle Jack, cleaning, primping, polishing, and a list of other things, getting ready for some photographing and a video for the auction site.

We lost some momentum with the old web site URL expiring at a critical time and now trying to get the photos back in display on the TTA site.

The correct URL for hence forward will be
Triumph TransAmeriCa Web Site http://www.triumphtransamerica.org, with the old dot UK URL being forwarded to the new URL.

Stay tuned, and spread the word that UJ will be on the auction block very soon!
The lions share of the winning bid will go directly to charity, which means a tax deduction slip comes directly to you from the charity. Think about it! When was the last time you bought a Triumph and could write off 80% of it on your taxes?!?!

Cheers!