POLAR BEAR 2023
When - Sunday, January 1, 2023
Arrive: 10:30 a.m.
Drivers' Meeting: 10:45 a.m.
Depart: 11:00 a.m.
Where - Weis Market Parking Lot, near the Weis Gas & Go, 1625 PA-100, Fogelsville, PA LOCATION
Group Leaders - David & Janice Sell (610-442-8054)
Louie & Corrina Draxler (484-788-3810)
Join the gang for our annual top-down celebration of the new year (according to Iva, this event was first done in January, 2005, so this is the 19th running of the Polar Bear Drive)! This will be a clean-roads-only event. We will meet in the Weis Market parking lot, near their Gas & Go facility, off PA Route 100 in Fogelsville, PA. The route will take us along fun roads in Berks, Schuylkill and Lehigh Counties. There will be a "comfort break" at about 1 hour into the drive and a second one after about another hour. The total drive will take about 3 to 3 1/2 hours.
We will end the drive at the Hometown Breakfast Bar & Grille (a.k.a. Hometown Diner), in Breinigsville. Obviously, there will be no outdoor seating for lunch. Also, a severe outbreak of COVID later this month could affect our decision.
Be sure to let us know if you will be staying for lunch!
To avoid common handling of materials, we will email the directions to participants, for home printing, and we will eliminate the usual paper sign-in sheet. Since the sign-in confirms your agreement with LVMOC’s standard Waiver and Release, we will consider your post to this event thread, stating that you intend to participate, to be your “electronic” signature, indicating your agreement with said Waiver and Release (copy available on request).
We are limiting the number of cars on this drive to either 15 (one group of cars) or 30 (two groups), depending on the participant response. We want to ensure a safe, enjoyable drive with minimal waits for regrouping, and we are giving participation priority to paid LVMOC members. We will use FRS radios for communication. Be sure to arrive at the departure point with a full gas tank and an empty bladder!
Attending:
- David & Janice (Lunch x 2)
- Mike & Angela (No lunch)
- Matt G. (Lunch x 1)
- Randy & Wendy (No lunch)
- Michele K. & Dave P. (Lunch x 2)
- Jeff & Haley (No lunch)
- Mike C. (Lunch x 1)
- Ron L. & Nancy (No lunch)
- Alan & Zoombie (Lunch x 1)
- Louie & Corrina (Lunch x 2, maybe)
- Jordan W. (No lunch)
- Beth & Gary (Lunch ?????)
- Tony B. (No lunch)
- Jerry & Wanda (Lunch x 2)
- Fred & Marie (No lunch)
- Iva (Lunch x 1)
- John P. (Lunch x 1, weather permitting)
- Dawn & Tom (No lunch)
- Glen & Tracy (Lunch x 2)
- Brian W. (Lunch x 1)
- Igor & Ewa (Guests, now new LVMOC members!)
Waiting List (and List of Pessimists 
):
Silver 2011 NC PRHT Grand Touring (actually Janice's car)
Oh yeah count me in for lunch too.
- Brian Wowak
1991 BRG SE #3716 of 4000 "Brigit"
Are we doing 1 or 2 groups? I can tail if needed for a second group.
We may run two groups, Mike. Thanks for your offer to tail!
Silver 2011 NC PRHT Grand Touring (actually Janice's car)
Wayne and Comet need to bow out
have fun
Silver 2011 NC PRHT Grand Touring (actually Janice's car)
I just got home an hour ago at 4:25am. driving from the Whitehall to Scranton and back for the NYE show was as bad as it gets without it being ice or snow. Couldn’t see and pouring rain.
BUT - the rain has pulled out of the area for the most part, but the roads will be quite wet in the morning, there will also be areas of drizzle and fog at and after sunrise in certain pockets, especially those in the low lying areas - but then it should dry out once the sun is higher in the sky and looks like a high temp of about 52-54 F.
Since it’s now 5:30am it looks like I’m just going to stay awake, doing laundry now and moving stuff by the car.. then I have another show today at 2PM in NJ- oh me.
Jordan F. White, M.S.
2012 Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT 6MT AWD (NB summer 2024!)
@triviawayne awww I was thinking of bringing Cooper. Sorry you can’t make it 🙁
Jordan F. White, M.S.
2012 Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT 6MT AWD (NB summer 2024!)
Heavy rain yesterday is exactly what I was counting on the clear the salt off the roads
- Brian Wowak
1991 BRG SE #3716 of 4000 "Brigit"
Yep, I think there will still be cinders in the more off beaten roads tho. But this def helped.
Jordan F. White, M.S.
2012 Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT 6MT AWD (NB summer 2024!)
Thanks to all who participated in this annual event (its 19th running)! 22 Miatas and their crews came out for the drive, with at least one member un-mothballing his car just for this day 😀.
The weather gods smiled upon us once again, with abundant sunshine and mild temperatures 🤗! Yes, we had to deal with a lot of cinders on the road in many places, but that's typical for this season. I think I can guarantee that the roads will be cinder-free for the Club's annual Un-Polar Bear Drive, in July!
I particularly want to thank Louie and Corrina, for leading one of our two groups of cars, and Jeff & Haley and Matt for capably serving as the "tail" cars for the groups. Also, thanks to Janice, my "navigator", for keeping me on-course, not only for the drive but for the two pre-runs during the previous week. And, a big thanks to the folks at the Hometown Breakfast Bar & Grille for accommodating our gang at our after-drive lunch 👍!
We welcomed new members, Igor and Ewa Fedasz, who joined us for their first LVMOC event. And, this drive marked the introduction of a new LVMOC-branded driving maneuver: the "Louie U-ie" (maybe not the best spelling)! In fact, it has been said that there were three of them during the route 🤨! Who says we don't innovate?
Again thanks to all for making this another successful and fun New Year's Day activity!
David
Silver 2011 NC PRHT Grand Touring (actually Janice's car)
Also, a big thanks to member John Pitino, LVMOC's "cinematographer", for posting his videos of the event on the LVMOC Facebook link 👍! Good stuff, John!
Silver 2011 NC PRHT Grand Touring (actually Janice's car)
It was a beautiful day indeed! Felt more like the Un-Polar Bear drive. Haha
Thanks to you for creating this drive with some great roads to drive and to everyone who assisted with pre-runs.
We had a great time and are looking forward to many more this upcoming year!
2016 ST Ceramic Metallic GT aka Ghost
Special thanks to Dave for creating this drive and making it a great day. Thanks for everyone who showed up for our top down 1st Run of the year!!
2014 Club 2.5L "Punisher Edition", 2017 RF GT
Speaking unpolar like - it’s 7:22pm in January and it’s 62 out. This is nuts
Jordan F. White, M.S.
2012 Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT 6MT AWD (NB summer 2024!)
Was a wonderful polar bear run! These runs with the club are great. And thanks especially to Dave and Janice for leading us through the twists and turns!
ZOOMBIE - just keeps on truckin'
