[ba] Bay Area meeting this Saturday 3/24, Pleasanton

[Buchholz, Steven]

First, my apologies for being so tardy in getting this out ... I wanted to
get it done before the weekend, but was not able to do so.  A handful of
urquattro fans in the SF Bay area decided to try to put a meet together so
that we can give Paul Lethbridge a proper sendoff before he has to leave for
Tennessee.  The word is in from a number of those who expressed an interest
in attending ... from their input this coming Saturday was the only option
that all could make ... and it would need to be Saturday afternoon.  Here is
Paul's suggestion for a meeting point ... I think it is an excellent idea,
good central location and easy to find ...

> Best place to meet that is real easy to find near Pleasanton is the Dublin
/
> Hacienda strip mall. It's right off I580, take the Hacienda Drive exit.
> There's an large Regal IMAX theatre at this intersection located in the
> mall. We could meet in the mall parking lot behind the shell gas station
> this is about 250 yards from the I580 exit ramp. 

... I am not really familiar with the area so I just checked out Mapquest
... I think I found the Shell station and the theater ... they actually
appear to be closer to the Tassajara road offramp, which is the next ramp
east of Hacienda Road.  In any event, either ramp looks like it would work.
If you are coming down I-680, get off onto the ramp for I-580 east.
Hacienda is the first offramp after getting onto 580, and I believe the
merging lane from 680 becomes the offamp lane for Hacienda.  If there is a
problem merging at Hacienda just go up to Tassajara.  In either event you
will want to stay on the south side of I-580.  

Paul mentioned a couple of restaurants we could drive to after we have
gathered, one Mexican restaurant and another Indian.  We could also take a
drive through rural Tassajara road up to Blackhawk plaza ... a place we went
to a few years back.  I am pretty flexible in any event.  

So, let's shoot for gathering around 1PM behind the Shell station and then
comparing notes, figuring out what we're going to do and hitting the road
before 2PM.  If you think you'll be able to make it let me know via direct
e-mail and I'll try to get a feeling for how many to expect.  If you have
any ideas for a destination, I am all ears!  I like the roads out there like
Tassajara, and I know there are some nice roads through the hills toward
Hayward as well.  Some friends of mine and I took our motorcycles around the
backside of Mt. Diablo to Clayton, which was a fun time, but I think it
would be a bit long for an afternoon jaunt.  If we wanted to do more of a
picnic we could go to Del Valle Park ... that might be a bit ambitious given
the date though ... 

Oh, I almost forgot ... while this meet came about as a result of some talk
on the urquattro list, I do want to make it clear that anyone is welcome.  I
do hope that we'll have at least a half dozen urys in attendance ... perhaps
more.  If I can find my envelope of audifans stickers I'll have them there
too so we can try to help support Dan Simoes run the servers we use for
these lists ... 

Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)