Last month we had the pleasure of working for an entire week on a very fun and unique event. The H.H. Franklin Club, a car club, made up of owners of cars built by the Franklin Motor Company, was gathering for their 41st West Coast Regional Westrek and hired us to follow their group through the region providing lunches for the week. Franklin Club members are car enthusiasts devoted to the preservation of these distinctive American-built air-cooled cars manufactured between 1902 and 1934.
Considered luxury cars in their time, Franklin's feature air cooled engines and scientific lightweight construction. The cars design allowed it to set many records in point-to-point races which revealed its superior handling, durability, economy and speed over the roads of the day.
For this year's Westrek, the group's itinerary would begin in Old Sacramento the first day and on subsequent days make visits to Sutter Creek, Woodland, Folsom, Coloma and Placerville. We first met the group in Sutter Creek where we served lunch to 100 of some of the most friendly and warm folks you'd ever want to meet. Lunch was a "California Style" affair consisting of roasted chicken breast with a dijon-tarragon cream sauce, lemon-herb orzo salad with salmon, penne pasta with sun-dried tomatoes, mixed greens with grapes, pine nuts and goat cheese tossed in our balsamic vinaigrette, and finally, fresh peach crisp.
The remaining lunch stops were in much more casual and rustic settings so the menus too became simpler but no less delicious and satisfying. Wednesday in Woodland featured our signature tri-tip on sandwiches with homemade horseradish and BBQ sauces, decadent potato gratin, green salad with strawberries, pecans and raspberry vinaigrette, and dessert of raspberry trifle with orange pastry cream.
The week ended on Friday at the Gold Bug Mine in Placerville. Again, lunch was a casual affair perfectly suited to the setting of picnic tables and a babbling creek. The group toured the mine and picnicked on pulled pork sandwiches, Carolina coleslaw, classic potato salad, lemon bars and brownies.
All-in-all we had a fantastic week and thoroughly enjoyed meeting and mingling with the members of the West Coast H.H. Franklin Car Club. And last but not least, a special thank you to Bill and Jan Charpier who organized this year's tour.
For more information about this year's tour and the cars themselves, check out the two links below.
www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=83594
www.franklincar.org
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