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Go Final Drive of 2006
December 3rd, 2006
| When: | Sunday December 3rd 2006 |
| Where: | Delaware and Lackawana Cutoff |
| Contact: | Atwell Haines - carbuff@lotusowners.com
(973) 927-3765 |
| Info: |
The Fall That Would Never End worked to the benefit of us Lotus Drivers. Over Thanksgiving we threw together our Final Drive of 2006, a somewhat familiar route through the tunnels of the Delaware and Lackawana Cutoff, as it carves its way through the Pequest Valley. The days are short in December, so I thought it would be nice to have a Destination, and chose the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg, NJ as the terminus of the Drive.
December Third was the date, and several hardy Lotus drivers (and two "DeLorean Dudes") met in Panther Valley for the start of the trip. It was unfortunate that GPS mappers don't recognize P.V. in this electronic age. Luckily a nearby Seven-Eleven provided the address for the GPS-ers and the Drive was ON. (AS a side benefit, the Shell station at P.V. had a wonderfully low price for premium!)
Once into the route the morning pre-check, we found that a pesky road department had put Speed Tables (a.k.a. sleeping policemen or speed bumps or traffic-calming devices) on one part of the route, so a last minute re-route had to occur. It was not problematic, as the extra routing only added a mile or two to the route (and offered a few curves in the bargain).
Otherwise it was an exceptional drive…it was not terribly cold, and most sane people were in the malls doing Christmas shopping. Sure, there were a few slowpokes with evergreens on their roofs, but for some reason the Driving Gods were with us, and the slow locals either soon turned off or actually pulled aside to let us pass. That NEVER happens!
Fifty miles of driving fun later, we arrived at the Sterling Hill Mine. The two-hour tour was fascinating, and the fluorescent minerals were beautiful. We got MANY compliments about the mine tour, so for 2007 we will attempt to find "destinations" for all our NJ drives.
The day ended at a local restaurant, The Fone Booth (sic), in Franklin. It was a fitting Final Drive of the year.
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