[DeTomaso] 2011 Summer Summit Brief

Mon Jun 6 16:19:47 EDT 2011

The weather was perfect, not a drop of rain or a flake of snow, 60 degrees
each night and
up to 90 degrees each bright and sunny day.

We all arrived safely at the homes that were rented for the event.
I think's it's safe to assume that everyone was impressed with their
accommodations in Asheville.
Out host real Estate manager and the project developer came by on Friday
evening with 4 bottles of wine
(which went unwasted) and gave us all a very low key overview of the
facility.

We then headed into the nearby Village and dined at a combination
Greek/Italian Rest which was quite good
with both cuisines from all reports.

We all departed for a long nights rest for an early start on Saturday.

Once I figured out that the perimeter road shown on the Project map was not
yet complete,
we turned around at a construction dead end and turn a mistake into scenic
review of the community,'
nice way to start the day.

We left and headed to top off the cars with gas and took over a Shell
station, rather appropriate
since all of the Panteras were Yellow and Red.  From there we cruised over
to Mickey's D's for a fast
breakfast and headed Northwest to our first destination, Deal's Gap and them
"Tail of the Dragon"

We congregated at the station/restaurant/gift shop and chatted for a moment
and then made our first run.

318 turns and 11 miles later at the scenic overlook all I saw were smiles as
we stopped before heading back
to the beginning.

With a bit more confidence ( now that the road had been run ) we headed back
at what seemed like a faster
pace and again, no problems.

In fact, that went for all weekend, 4 approx 40 years old cars, all driven
from 325 miles to over 1,000 miles just to
get there and then thrashed around Hot Wheels cars in the hands of a 3 year
old little brother covered in Grape jelly
and peanut butter, and not a single mechanical issue all weekend with the
Panteras.

We then ate lunch at Deal's Gap and made one last run on the Dragon before
proceeding to the
Cherohala Skyway and the Snowbird Pass, We make several stops along the way
to take in the scenery and even once
to drip hot feet into a cool mountain stream.

It was a very long day and we drove several hundred miles ( more than 200,
less than 350 ) over the 12 hours we were
rolling along. Rather than go directly back to our homes, we selected P.F.
Changs and had a Asian Feast reliving the day's
driving.

It was a long night and on the way back we took over the same Shell station
to top off for the next day's activities.

Sunday morning came and we found out that our breakfast restaurant selection
was closed on Sunday's ( bummer ) and we ended
up at a Belgian place, W- af-fle H ou se where the good was still quite
tasty.

>From there were head to Biltmore House and Gardens where they allowed up the
exclusive privilege of parking up by the house
itself at the base of the Rampe Deuce, a great location for awesome photos.

The rest of the day was spent touring the house and gardens and from there
were drove to Antler Village on the property and
ate dinner at Credric's ( like an English Pub/Restaurant ) then several of
the attendees went on a tour of the winery and headed back
to our homes.

Later that evening we gather to swap photos, watch in car camera videos and
say6 our good-byes until next year.

There will be a next year and I'm counting on at least 20 of you folks to
join us in 2012.

There will be much more to add to this by others I'm sure and we will all be
posting more photos and video of the event.

We didn't have Europe, but we did have what is sure to the be the best
accommodations of any Pantera gathering anywhere on earth, we ate
Greek, Italian, Asian and English dishes, drank California wine and English
Cider, used Middle Eastern Gas in out
Italian/ American / German cars and had a great weekend!

It was great to meet everyone and once again declare that "You meet the
Awesome-est people  in a Pantera"

Michael Shortt

-- 

Michael L. Shortt
Savannah, Georgia
www.michaelshortt.com
michael at michaelshortt.com
912-232-9390

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