GoatRun’09: Day 1

GoatRun has been on the calendar for several months and it is finally here! The first day started really early (like wake-up at 3am early) so that I could drive to Livermore and pick-up my Father for the trip to Las Vegas. It turned out that he was going to be in Vegas the following week for work… flying-in on Sunday, but why fly when you can drive with a heard of GOATS!?! The group met-up at a gas station in Tracy at 4:45am and then headed out for Las Vegas.

Total Distance: 537 miles

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Given that I have a radar detector I was given the privilege of driving in the #2 position in line. While we kept the speed close to the speed limit, there is always some added attention created by a line of ~20 GTOs cruising down the freeway. Along the way there was even a CHP officer who was performing a traffic stop who’s head perked-up when we drove by!

The sunrise was great, and was highlighted by driving with a candy colored fleet of GTOs! The radio chatter was also lots of fun (as always). There were several stopping places along the route to Vegas to pick-up more people. For the most part they were quick stop-and-goes (bathroom, fuel, and go) because we had to reach Barstow by 11:45am to meet-up with the SoCal GTO owners.

After reaching Barstow and meeting-up there was a short time for talking. I had my first chance to see the Haddad Motorsports G8 and ask some questions. Unfortunately, by the time we stopped for lunch it was already time to get on the road again (my Dad even ate my half of the sandwich in my car!).

While the drive from Barstow to Vegas included a huge line of cars, it wasn’t very much fun. I ended-up towards the rear of the pack and spent far too much of my time trying to ‘catch-up’ with everyone else. There wasn’t much talk on the radios (I kept changing channels hoping that I was just on the wrong frequency). Eventually the traffic on I-15 slowed way down for a gnarly motorcycle accident… and I was left way behind when the road opened-up again.

There is something strange about driving at uncomfortably high speeds for 20 minutes and not catching-up to anyone. I later found out that most of the pack was driving well over 100mph (some topping out >150mph). I understand that it’s the desert and the roads were empty, but still… isn’t the idea to drive WITH other people? By the time we reached Vegas a few people had caught-up with me and we rolled-in three-wide.

After checking-into my hotel (I stayed at a Courtyard a little ways away from the Palace Station because of the points/free nights) I returned for the meet and greet. There was quite a showing of cars on the roof of the packing structure and lots of people to talk with. I wish I’d talked with more people, but I found myself out taking photographs (which was cool too).

Before heading back to the hotel I joined a few NorCal GOATs for dinner in one of the casino restaurants. Dinner was nothing special (an overpriced piece of steak), but the company and conversation was great. When everyone else headed to the bars (with an overly obnoxiously loud band) I headed to the hotel to work on some photos and get some sleep. It was a very long first day, but lots of fun as well.