President's Poker Run

What is a Poker Run? A good one takes you on a nice drive, stopping along the way to get a random playing card. At the end of the event, the person(s) with the best poker hand wins.

On Saturday, September 9th, 2000 Robin George, the current SAMOA president put on an excellent poker run. Not only were the roads excellent for Miata's but he included CD's and Cassettes with music to match the character of the roads. A total of 40 some people participated.

Everyone met in Placerville. Robin took off early with the checkpoint works so they could get set up before the cars arrived. The checkpoint workers handed out the playing cards and gave hints on how to get to the next checkpoint. We were working the first checkpoint, where we passed out CD's in addition to the playing cards. Genny was also handing out banana bread to those that needed a snack. The music and driving instructions started at the base of Marshall Road in Coloma. The checkpoint workers would space out the cars leaving so that you could run at your own pace.

Right off the bat, Robin challenged us run up Old Prospectors before the first song ended. The route then continued up into the pines of Georgetown where the second checkpoint awaited.

The route continued up Wentworth Springs road to Stumpy Meadows Reservoir. This is one of my favorite roads. It's smooth, wide, with nice turns and beautiful views. If you've never been up that way, it's worth the trip.

Over the Stumpy Meadows levy and onto the narrow National Forest roads. Not too far down the road was the third checkpoint. This was at the place where we needed to turn so no chance of getting off course. More forest roads and we get to the forth checkpoint. One of the nice things about this area is that the roads are in good shape (mostly) and there is very little traffic. You're up in the foothills where the scenery is great and the temperatures are a little cooler. The route confined to French Meadows Reservoir and on to yet another great Miata road. A side note: French Meadows does have camping on the lake for those that are interested.

The fifth checkpoint was at Big Tree Grove off Mosquito Ridge Rd. Another side note: there is a short hiking trail (about a 1 mile long) that goes through the Big Trees. From here, we continued on Mosquito Ridge to Forest Hill. This road runs along the Forest Hill ridge on one side, drops down to the canyon and goes back up along the other side. Great road. The finish was in Forest Hill where we had lunch and divvied up the poker pot between the two highest hands and the lowest.

This type of event takes a lot more work than a typical "fun run". In addition to creating the route, Robin and Jennie had to find the music, make CD's and cassettes, line up checkpoint workers, and organize the playing card distribution. If you want to see more of these types of events, get involved, there are lots of people that will help.