Santa Cruz Woodies A Chapter of the National Woodie Club
The Santa Cruz Woodies held its annual spring cruise on National Drive your Woodie Day which fell on Saturday, May 19th this year. A large group of us met at California Surf City Coffee in Aptos to kick off the cruise on what was invariably one of the best cruises we’ve taken in the past few years.
Over 25 Woodies and approximately 60 people attended the all-day event. Current club President Cathy Stefanki Iglesias and her husband, Club Founder and Vice President, Don Iglesias led off the cruise in their 1949 Mercury. Their Mercury wagon is the feature car used for this year’s “Woodies on the Wharf” poster.
The next stop on our cruise was the Giant Artichoke Fruit Stand in Castroville which is the artichoke capital of the world. Many of us took photos next to the Giant Artichoke to commemorate our time at this iconic car/truck stop.
After the stop at the Giant Artichoke, it was on to Highway 68 past Laguna Seca Raceway where we met up with more woodies joining the cruise. After a few more miles we ended up in front of Pacific Grove High School where we were met by club member and local resident Jeff Froke. Jeff was driving his beautifully restored 1925 Chevrolet Depot Hack (the car has been in Jeff’s family since he was 9 years old and his father, who was a physician, received it as payment from a grateful patient). Jeff secured free entry for all of us into Monterey’s Historic 17 Mile Drive at the Pacific Grove Gate. Many thanks go out to Jeff.
From the gate it was a short scenic drive to Bird Rock which is a promontory in the Monterey Bay where during spring and summer nesting cormorants, sea gulls and pelicans cover a large rock outcropping. At one time Bird Rock was just for birds, but after its coating of bird droppings (guano) was mined for fertilizer, seals, sea lions and sea otters moved in – or so the story goes. This particular stop was a big surprise for the many foreign tourists who were visiting the area. Due to the abundance of photos being taken of our cars we lingered a little bit longer to spread the club’s Aloha. 
Next is was off to lunch it was off to lunch at Baja Cantina in Carmel Valley. The restaurant was gracious enough to reserve dedicated, roped-off parking just for our Woodies. Reservations had been made for the group and we were served a Mexican buffet which included Chicken and Veggie Fajitas, tortillas,Pico de Gallo, beans, rice and non-alcoholic beverages.
After a great lunch and some ice-cold Margarita’s, we motored off to our final stop which was just up the road in Carmel Valley Village. The Moto Talbott Motorcycle Museum houses a unique collection of vintage motorcycles and bicycles. In 2015, after 33 years of hard work, Robb Talbott sold Talbott Vineyards, and began devoting all his time to the concept of the Moto Talbott Collection, a 501 (c)(3) non-profit devoted to preservation, restoration, and education.
The museum has accumulated more than 140 motorcycles from 12 countries plus some rare bicycles. To someone who grew up owning and riding various British, Japanese and Spanish motorcycles in the 70’s, for me, this was like going to Disneyland for the first time as a small child. A large part of the collection is devoted to motocross, enduro, trials and flat track bikes from manufacturers like Bultaco, Montessa, Ossa, Maico, Rickman and Husqvarna. Not to leave out other makes Robb also has many early Japanese bikes from Hodaka, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Honda and Yamaha. He also had racing bikes from Ducati and pre and post-war motorcycles from Rudge, BMW, Harley, Indian, BSA and Triumph in addition to all kinds of racing memorabilia. Of course, everything in the collection is either restored or in near perfect original condition. After we toured the nicely decorated two-story building we finished off the day with fresh apple and berry pies from Gizdich Ranch along with root beer floats out on the patio. Robb Talbott, our host, was generous with his time and made the effort to explain the history of many of his motorcycles.
A big Mahalo goes out to Arlene and Joe Solis for planning and coordinating the day’s outing. Unfortunately for them they lost the clutch in their Morris Minor Traveller woodie during the 17 Mile Drive portion of the cruise. Joe had to head home with the car on a flatbed while Arlene was rescued by Jim and Malinda Alves and made it through the rest of the day while still managing to salvage the pie and ice cream.
We had a number of first time spring cruise and new club members on this cruise and everyone agreed the day was very spectacular.
We hope to see many of you in Santa Cruz on Saturday June 23, 2018 when Santa Cruz Woodies will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the club’s founding and the 24th edition of Woodies on the Wharf.
Start planning now to attend the Silver Anniversary (25th) of Woodies on the Wharf to be held on Saturday June 22, 2019, when Santa Cruz Woodies will be pulling out all the stops for this very special anniversary weekend.
Aloha
Phil