SoCal Branch LEAF-Gathering Year 2 - #24c: 25 Aug 2012

[Boomer23]

My wife and i will be in Anaheim (staying across street from Mickey Mouse's home) on May 12 to attend our niece's wedding. I wonder if I can sneak away to attend a LEAF meeting in the morning. Hmmm....

That'd be great, linkim. If we meet on that date (yet to be finalized by Gary), it would be in Cerritos, 15 miles and 18 minutes from The Mouse's House per Google Maps. Sure, you can get away for an hour, at least....

 

[91040]

Rats! I will be working the morning of 5/12 but the 26th looks good.

Maybe you should break tradition and meet in Anaheim? To keep Gary happy, there is an HTB on Katella just west of the mousehouse.

Very active and animated meeting yesterday. Wish I could have heard all the information being shared.

 

[1051]

About 16 or so people, including "gascant" from the SF area,
and "Kat", returned for a dose of "tater triangles" (?).

More description to follow, by others.

How about May 12th in Cerritos and 26th in Santa Ana
for our next Gatherings?

Looking forward to May 12

 

[gascant]

I agree that it would be great if linkim could get to the next meeting--he's a natural for the group.
I remember the Katella exit off the I-5. Didn't make a side trip to Mouseland, though.

The tater triangles: I spent 6 months in the UK, and traveled there often before then. They are definitely part of a full English breakfast. I used to make them with poached eggs on weekend mornings in my apartment. So, someone at HTB has a little culture in their background. Maybe they could be persuaded to include blood sausage, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms?

 

[garygid]

We could arrange to pick up linkim if transportation is an issue.

May 12th and 26th it is.

 

[gascant]

We could arrange to pick up linkim if transportation is an issue.

Yeah, I doubt that linkim's wife would let him rent a flatbed truck and haul his LEAF down to Anaheim for the meeting :lol: But ask him to tell you about his bicycle carrier/trailer hitch that he has on it.

 

[gascant]

A couple of photos from the meeting on 4/28 in Santa Ana:

Garygid demonstrates the updated LCD display in the SOC meter while another group gets conversational

One of the highlights (mentioned above) was the BMW ActivE, shown in the middle of a row of 7 LEAFs (white one out of the picture to the left).

 

[linkim]

We could arrange to pick up linkim if transportation is an issue.

May 12th and 26th it is.

I just rented a car at SNA so my plan is to attend your meeting on the 12th of May. I will be staying on Harbor Blvd at
the Anaheim BW across the street from the mouse house. Now I need to learn some geography to find your meeting site. Will be ICEing it so look out for the emission trail.

Will there be tater triangles on the menu? Probably better than some of what is served at Denny's and IHOP near the motel.

I look forward to meeting you all.

 

[Boomer23]

Linkim, map this route: Take Route 5 north from Disneyland to Route 91 West, to Route 605 South to South Street in Cerritos. I believe that it is less than 16 miles each way. Hometown Buffet is in the shopping center on the northeast corner of South Street and Gridley Road. There's a Starbucks on the corner. Best way to enter the shopping center is to turn left off South Street onto Gridley and then an immediate right turn into the center.

Or if you want to avoid freeways, you could just take Harbor Blvd North from the Mouse's House to Orangethorpe and turn left. Orangethorpe becomes South Street in Cerritos. Take South Street to Gridley and turn left, then right into the shopping center and Hometown Buffet. Only 13 miles.

Looking forward to meeting you!

 

[garygid]

The first post has some directions.

Off 605, the South Street exit is the first exit
South of the 91 freeway.
Take South Street eastward and turn left (North)
in about 3 blocks, as described above.

 

[mwalsh]

Gonna come on the 12th for sure!

 

[linkim]

The first post has some directions.

Off 605, the South Street exit is the first exit
South of the 91 freeway.
Take South Street eastward and turn left (North)
in about 3 blocks, as described above.

Linkim, map this route: Take Route 5 north from Disneyland to Route 91 West, to Route 605 South to South Street in Cerritos. I believe that it is less than 16 miles each way. Hometown Buffet is in the shopping center on the northeast corner of South Street and Gridley Road. There's a Starbucks on the corner. Best way to enter the shopping center is to turn left off South Street onto Gridley and then an immediate right turn into the center.

Or if you want to avoid freeways, you could just take Harbor Blvd North from the Mouse's House to Orangethorpe and turn left. Orangethorpe becomes South Street in Cerritos. Take South Street to Gridley and turn left, then right into the shopping center and Hometown Buffet. Only 13 miles.

Looking forward to meeting you!

Thanks for the directions. I should be able to find the site with your instructions. At our SF BayLEAF meetings we don't have much time for long conversation (although some of the contributors can be long winded), but I suspect with the smaller gatherings you have, there is more time for casual discussion among the attendees.

See you all.

 

[Boomer23]

, but I suspect with the smaller gatherings you have, there is more time for casual discussion among the attendees.

See you all.

Yep, lots of time for jawing, guaranteed.

 

[Boomer23]

Gonna come on the 12th for sure!

Great, Mike, looking forward to it. 1051, too!

 

[Boomer23]

Me and the Mrs took a nice drive up to Claremont for a getaway today in a VW Passat diesel that we got for free from Capistrano VW on a really nice promotion that JeremyW clued me in to (thanks, Jeremy!).

The contest runs through May 15. You can borrow a 2012 Passat SEL TDI for 24 hours with no charge and they'll pay for the gas (well, the diesel). There are no catches and you can win up to $1,000 if you get the best MPG. The prizes for second and third best MPG are $500, and $250. But even if you don't win money, you get to drive a really nice car for 24 hours and see what it's like to drive a diesel.

Here's their web site for the promotion: http://www.capistranovw.com/TDIChallenge" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; You just need to call them up and they'll connect you to the Genl Mgr who is running the contest. The people at the dealership are really nice, maybe because they are a non-commission shop.

I got about 45 MPG on a 120 mile drive and I was pretty impressed with the car. The car they give you is a beautiful black over tan sedan that reminds me of a nice Audi.

I had never driven a diesel before and I have to admit that it got pretty good mileage, at least on the freeway, and the car is really roomy and comfortable.

Anyway, I can't pass up a chance to drive a new car for free for a day. Just thought some of you might feel the same way.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I'm currently in Naples, Italy,,where all the cars are diesel. The pollution from these modern "clean" diesels is bad. I'm tired of breathing it, and really like what California has done for pollution. Looking over the bay with the sun setting reminds me of LA in 1984 with a lingering layer of smog.

 

[linkim]

I'm currently in Naples, Italy,,where all the cars are diesel. The pollution from these modern "clean" diesels is bad. I'm tired of breathing it, and really like what California has done for pollution. Looking over the bay with the sun setting reminds me of LA in 1984 with a lingering layer of smog.

My experience in Italy is there is internal smog from smokers as well. Also the car horn is essential for driving in Italy so the wimpy LEAF horn just wouldn't cut it. At least the LEAF has some "bulk" compared to many of the vehicles so size is not a problem.

Have a pleasant time in Italy. Ciao!

 

[JeremyW]

Me and the Mrs took a nice drive up to Claremont for a getaway today in a VW Passat diesel that we got for free from Capistrano VW on a really nice promotion that JeremyW clued me in to (thanks, Jeremy!).

The contest runs through May 15. You can borrow a 2012 Passat SEL TDI for 24 hours with no charge and they'll pay for the gas (well, the diesel). There are no catches and you can win up to $1,000 if you get the best MPG. The prizes for second and third best MPG are $500, and $250. But even if you don't win money, you get to drive a really nice car for 24 hours and see what it's like to drive a diesel.

Here's their web site for the promotion: http://www.capistranovw.com/TDIChallenge" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; You just need to call them up and they'll connect you to the Genl Mgr who is running the contest. The people at the dealership are really nice, maybe because they are a non-commission shop.

I got about 45 MPG on a 120 mile drive and I was pretty impressed with the car. The car they give you is a beautiful black over tan sedan that reminds me of a nice Audi.

I had never driven a diesel before and I have to admit that it got pretty good mileage, at least on the freeway, and the car is really roomy and comfortable.

Anyway, I can't pass up a chance to drive a new car for free for a day. Just thought some of you might feel the same way.

I should have put a little blurb here earlier, but thanks for the write up! I ended up getting around 45 mpg with 80% freeway and 20% street. I complained that the marginal city mileage really drags down your overall "tank" mpg and was not worth it for me, and I'd rather have rented a Golf TDI, but I conceded that I wasn't the intended market for the Passat. It is a bit of a heavy car (well all luxury sedans are...), so it was quite difficult to hypermile around town when I wasn't on the freeway. If you want to win the contest, drive 100% freeway at a steady speed.

The only other nit pick I have about the car is that the iPod integration was quite flaky with my iPhone 4. I guess I should have used bluetooth but I wanted the charge. Other creature comforts were quite good. You can only really tell its a diesel during initial startup- there's a bit of "chatter" and of course the extra torque "oomf" that you get when mashing the throttle.

Jeremy

 

[gascant]

I'm currently in Naples, Italy,,where all the cars are diesel. The pollution from these modern "clean" diesels is bad. I'm tired of breathing it, and really like what California has done for pollution.

Most of us have been driving clean for around a year now--personally, I've gotten very sensitive to transportation fumes, so much so that I'm very selective about where I take an outdoor table at a restaurant now.

At least the LEAF has some "bulk" compared to many of the vehicles so size is not a problem.

So size matters?

 

[linkim]

So size matters?

Tailgating on expressways was common in Sicily when I was there, as well as splitting lanes to pass on 2-lane roads. So for safety, I think the LEAF is a good size compared to some of the small European cars.