PNW Oppo Meet Summary

[jminer]

This past weekend I drove up to Oregon to meet with my fellow Internet wierdos. It was excellent and I highly recommend it if you get the chance.

I took Friday off and headed north. I got a bit of a late start but left the house around 10am. It hit 100 in the central as I drove through it so my black seats sucked. The drive is also quite boring until you hit Mt Shasta.

I took a detour to get closer to the mountain for that pic

From here the drive started to get much more beautiful and less boring.

I didn't take any more pictures until I got off the interstate and was wandering through state highways on the way to my campsite for the night.

It was raining, but Oregon is pretty.

My campsite was a small forest service site with no services outside of a pit toilet and a few other quiet campers. It was nice, I'd definitely come back.

I got there about 9 at night and rolled out my ground pads in the back of my Tiguan and went to sleep.

There was still a couple hours driving left so I hit the road about 7am and was planning on taking back forest roads to get to the highway but they were tougher than I anticipated.

It was stunning and enjoyable but I didn't have the time to travel that slowly so I turned back around and take the paved roads.

While heading towards 101 I saw a sign that said 'covered bridge' and followed it.

I was not disappointed.

The drive up 101 was good with little traffic and excellent views.

Then we met up at Tillamook air Museum. As I drove towards the parking lot I started to recognize cars. @CB was spotted first in his mustang.

Some random pics from the museum.

After a stop at the creamery for delicious pizza and a cooler full of cheese we headed to camp.

I got distracted along the way and reaaaalllllyyy wished I'd brought my fishing pole.

Camp was stunning.

We ended up further North than I'd expected to be and needed to be at work Monday morning so I decided to boogie about 9pm and head south instead of tackling the whole 14 hours in one day.

The ride home wasn't great because on Sunday across most of Oregon and northern CA it alternated pouring rain and strong wind so it kinda sucked.

In summary I drove 1,600 miles, 24.5 hours running and averaged 29.5 mpg. The Tiguan handled it all quite well (other than the black leatherette in the heat).

All in all though the trip was excellent and I loved meeting everybody! I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

[CB]

@jminer it was great meeting you and I’m glad you made it!

[MidEngine]

@jminer Admire the dedication of the Oppos to follow through with camping in spite of the downpour. Great photos!

[WhoIsTheLeader]

@MidEngine said in PNW Oppo Meet Summary:

camping in spite of the downpour

In my limited experience, this usually makes things more memorable and not all that much worse. He, rinds me of a Calvin and Hobbes strip.

@jminer Is this the Tiguan's first real big trip? I admire the commitment to taking the scenic route even when it didn't pan out.

[davesaddiction]

@jminer

Fantastic! Jealous.

[jminer]

@CB said in PNW Oppo Meet Summary:

@jminer it was great meeting you and I’m glad you made it!

Right back at you!

[jminer]

@WhoIsTheLeader said in PNW Oppo Meet Summary:

@jminer Is this the Tiguan's first real big trip? I admire the commitment to taking the scenic route even when it didn't pan out

Yes, it was. I've done 3-400 mile days in it before but this was the first big trip.

If I'd had another hour before the meet I'd have stuck to the gravel and really enjoyed it but I'd have been late as hell.

[jminer]

@davesaddiction it was an excellent trip. I have zero regrets other than wishing I'd taken Monday off too so I could have hung out longer.

[Mark Tucker]

@jminer Looks like fun! I was hoping to be able to meet up with you all in Tillamook, but the timing was absolutely wrong. Next time...

[adamftw]

The MQB Tigs are so underrated.

Thanks for posting pics!

[jminer]

@adamftw it's not perfect but I'm definitely enjoying it so far. I do need to figure out what to do about the seats. The sun out here is brutal and black leatherette is way more of a problem than I thought it would be.

[adamftw]

@jminer apparently seats will swap across the MQB platform. It would be ace with some tartan cloth GTI seats.

[jminer]

@adamftw that's an interesting thought. Even with airbags in the seat and such? I haven't swapper seats in anything since those became common.

I was going to talk to an upholstery shop about recovering them.

[adamftw]

@jminer MQB VWs are like legos. You can bolt up Golf R suspension and exhaust and rear subframe stuff like the swaybar and control arms to the Tig. If the connectors are the same, it'll all work.

[Huzer]

@jminer That is sooooo green. And soooo wet. Very much what we don't get in CO, but it does remind me of many a camping trip in northern NY.

[MidEngine]

Wish I could have joined you guys, even with the torrential down pour it looked like a great deal of fun.

[Mr.Ontop]

@jminer Are you anywhere near Tahoe? I'm headed up there the last week of the month.

[jminer]

@Huzer it was excellent. It reminded me a lot of southern Missouri, just a little greener and wetter but with much bigger hills and a ln ocean so I guess not that much.

It was refreshing to get rained on compared to the near desert for 9 months of the year I live in now.

[jminer]

@Mr-Ontop said in PNW Oppo Meet Summary:

@jminer Are you anywhere near Tahoe? I'm headed up there the last week of the month.

Tahoe is about 3.5 hours away from me. I need to, but haven't gone there yet. Peak tourist season isn't probably when I want to do that though.

[Mr.Ontop]

@jminer Me either, but it's the time I've got, and I live 15 min from the beach, so I thought something different would be nice.