GCG senior staff have completed the most harrowing leg of their VMware road trip: a 149-mile stretch of switchbacks, scooter-sized roadway, and bovine obstacles between Bodega Bay and Leggett, CA on State Highway 1. In defense of our route choice, it didn’t look so bad on the Verizon Navigator

However, what seemed a little curvy on our hand-held screen turned out to be a combination of twists and turns that would kill a snake. We knew this wasn’t I-5, or even US 101. But we also knew we were driving a car built for a challenging road (320hp, twin-turbo, AWD, all-wheel steering, small, sporty, and red). Our first sign of trouble came when, just as we entered the curves, we saw a Lotus Elise coming toward us. Its driver had a look on his face that could only be described as shocked. There was fear in his eyes and perhaps even a hint of drool (vomit?) running down his chin. How could we see his eyes? We were going through the first set of curves at about 12 mph, with tires squealing.

Up the road at a beach byway, our gauntlet half-complete, we met a couple driving a Porsche 911 Carrerra4 (a very serious car) and compared our experiences with theirs. While we felt that our sports car was handling like a medium-sized garbage truck on this road, their high-end rig felt to them like a cheap family station wagon. Oh well, the beaches were beautiful – some consolation for averaging 30 mph for 5 hours. Should you follow in our path, watch out for the free-range cows grazing alongside the shoulderless road. As for the locals in giant pickups who know the road well enough to stay on your tail just salute and let ‘em by.