by Doreen Pankow

Backroads Drive to Boccali's

By Doreen Pankow

It was a beautiful Saturday morning and eighty-seven members and guests met in Camarillo, excited about the opportunity to drive their Porsches on some fun, twisty, back roads. After the driver’s safety meeting, I led the group on the 50-mile drive to our destination in Ojai, a town first made famous by the 1937 movie Lost Horizon. Ojai is set in a valley in the Topatopa Mountains and the city has a village-like center dotted with art galleries, health spas, and New Age shops.

Our forty-seven Porsches—a variety of colors, styles, and models—made an awesome sight as we drove through the Santa Rosa Valley into Moorpark. We regrouped along Spring Road and then sprinted through the twisty curves on Stockton road and down the steep descent on Balcom Canyon Road. We then took Mountain Road into Santa Paula where the passengers breathed a sigh of relief and could relax for a moment.

On Hwy 150, we enjoyed more twisty turns as we traveled past huge ranches and then enjoyed some beautiful green vistas as we approached our destination. As we arrived at Boccali’s Pizza & Pasta restaurant, we were directed into their parking area after making a tight right turn from the highway. An array of picnic tables and colorful umbrellas were set up on the lawn to accommodate our members and guests. Everyone appreciated the opportunity to stretch their legs as they went through the serving line where delicious salad, lasagna, pizzas, pasta, garlic bread, and beverages were ready for us.

By the volume of conversation, it was obvious everyone was enjoying each other’s company and the opportunity to get to know several of our new members. SBR photographers Randy Fishwick and Bill Hallier took a lot of group and individual photos throughout our lunch and Gary Krueger took photos as we came down through the sweeping curves into Ojai (see cover photo).

Many thanks to those attending for your continued support and participation on this drive as our events wouldn’t be any fun without all of you!

Opposite page, lower right: The gathering at the starting point. Photo by Randall Fishwick. This page, left to right, top to bottom: Trip organizer extraordinaire Doreen Pankow: "start your engines!" she says. Photo by Bill Hallier. Line up on Spring Road. Photo by Bill Hallier. Boccali's parking for the group. Photo by Bill Hallier. Steve Columbus, Beverly Mills, and Claire Fishwick. Photo by Randy Fishwick. Lionel and Dori Neff. Photo by Bill Hallier. Junior member Miranda Mansfield and mom Monique with Boccali's famous strawberry shortcake. Photo by Bill Hallier. Newlyweds Tara and Patrick Konrath. Photo by Bill Hallier.