A Car Club.
Joining one of these has been a goal of mine for a long time, but I finally took a serious chance on joining one after I got my 2000 Subaru Impreza. If what I have read on the internet is to be believed, a Subaru Club should be a very open and welcome place.
Through the magic of Facebook, I found this and sent in a request to join. A few days later, I was accepted. In the beginning, I read previous posts, questions and replies, to get a feel for this group. I was liking what I was seeing.
I credit them as an indirect recommendation to take my Impreza to a local speedshop called Classified Motorsports to get the thermostat taken care of, but there was something missing, mostly due to this whole COVID-19 pandemic, in person meetings.
It has been just about a year since I had the opportunity to go out and mingle with other car enthusiasts and I was yearning to have more adventures in reality. Trust me, hours and hours of YouTube videos and/or asking questions through the use of the written word doesn't even come close to being there for real.
I jumped at the chance for two reasons, to meet up with real people and to gauge the Impreza on a long, but fairly close to home trip, since getting the thermostat replaced. The time and meeting place was set and 10 days passed by that felt more like 10 years. Seven cars and thirteen people gathered and I felt like I was part of a family. Other than a few posts on the Facebook page, these people never really met me, but I felt and talked like I was among old friends.
After less than an hour, we all hit the road.
The planned route was to be 167 Kilometers (or 104 Miles for you other folks) long, during the height of the day temperatures (32°C or 89.6°F) in a car I have owned less than three months and traveled no further than 50 Kilometers (or 32 Miles) as it's longest trip.
As a group we through the City of Vernon, hung a long left and made a stop in a small town called Falkland (94 Kilometers or 58 Miles from our starting point) for a washroom break and refreshments. The Impreza was problem and worry free (even the air conditioning was working, to my pleasant surprise).
From Falkland, it was just highway cruising through the curves and rolling hills towards Kamloops. Other than seeing the terrain change to a more desert like environment from the greener, more temperate zone of Kelowna, there isn't too much to tell about this part of the trip.
And we made it, to some parking lot downtown Kamloops.
Despite the working air conditioning in the Impreza, the early Summer sun was beating through the windows and I was just exhausted (thanks to my Irish heritage, I don't do well in direct sunlight for long periods). My son, who take pictures and video was feeling "heat beat" as well.
I don't know if I misunderstood what the "end plan" was, but when we left the parking lot downtown for a placed called McArthur Island Park, I was expecting a crowd of other Subarus to be there to meet us. Instead, it was the same group that left Kelowna and joined with two others we pick up from Falkland.
The day was getting hotter as the sun was closing on it's apex and I decided to give it another 30 minutes of waiting. The time had come and gone, so I told the organizer of this cruise we were going to head back. He thanked us for coming and we left with some mixed feelings.
Although I got to hang out with some real people who were passionate about their Subarus, I was hoping for more (and somebody else who had and brought a first generation Impreza, which is what I have). The big bonus for me was the fact the car performed flawlessly, the only issue was the heat gauge climbing up fairly high, but then drooping down to the mid point.
A few hours later, we made it all the way home and with high anticipation for the next event, whenever, wherever that will be...
