Hey Rob, keggers at Huckleberry trail was one of the better memories of those fire road cruising days huh? One time I remember well was when I raced Robert K. from the Blithedale Canyon gate all the way to Huckleberry in my '48 Willys pickup hauling the kegs and several revelers,when we got there I realized that a stray rocK thrown by a tire had punched a hole in my gas tank, had to bum some chewing gum from some of the ladies & put a makeshift patch on the tank, after parking the truck so the gas wouldn't drip out.
That key to the fire road gates was an A730. I had one also. Yes we used to swim in the tanks. We knew the pump program times on the tanks above M.V. At 2:00 pm the pumps would come on and we would get undernieth them and " Ride the Jets " almost to the bottom. In order to access the tanks we climbed up the ladder , but one summer day a MMWD truck pulled up while we were in the tank , so we had to climb down on the backside on the turnbuckles that banded the wood tanks together. It was scarry, but we all escaped- what a blast !
Partying On Mt. Tam??!! You scoundrels!! Top 'O Summit in CM was one of our favorites as well. "The Spot" that you mentioned was called "The Rock" by us. Very rare to see cops up there. Way too gruelling of a drive. At one point, some clever, enterprising chap placed a large mirror on the rock, aimed it just so a huge, blinding reflection would hit the football field at Redwood just at the right time to f*ck up sixth period P.E. Yeah! At this point, there were gates on the fire roads, but someone within our group managed to lift a set of master keys from an unattended water district truck. There was one key that opened every gate in the distict! So we pretty much had total access. Moonlight Ridge-Runnin'! You betcha! The same key also unlocked the steel covers on the ladders of all the water tanks, and the top hatches. Pretty wierd swimming in a huge, dark tank. There were big float valves, just like inside yer terlet, that you could push, and big torrents of water, from a 10 or 12 in. pipe would gush in. Tons 'o fun.
Speaking of partying on Mt Tam, I remember when there were no gates on the fire roads so you could go anywhere on them. Full moons were magnificent. We used to cruise an old Citroen that raised and lowered hydraulicly. And the VW's were perfect. That I really miss.
A secret (you all know) place I still walk up to is at the top of Summit Ave CM where you walk to the right uphill about 50 yards then down between bushes and there is a rock with one of the sweetest views in Marin. We called it "The Spot" how original is that ?
I remember the COOP bottle shop. The nice clerks there would sell me beer when I was in high school. Every Friday was " porto day " We would buy a bunch of different imported beers and go up to the top of Mt. Tam and schwag bier and boast " Lumbo "
OMG! I think about the Italian Ices that we used to get at the Co-Op--that and the make-your-own peanut butter. I've tried to place where it was--I remember it being where the Safeway is now (but I'm 40 and my memory is not that great!) but now that you say it was where BP is now, it's all coming back to me.....
I used to love Coop! My mom would take me there to shop when I was little and I always remembered the daycare room with all the toys. I never got to go in, but I would stare in awe at all the goodies!
Does anyone remember or have any pictures of the CooP? It used to be in Corte Madera like 30 years ago...now the Book Passage is there...I totally forgot about this place until I was recently in Canada, where they still have CooPs...