sadsacnews2014: SADSAC: Cathie's Mystery Ride 16 November

You would have to say that the main mystery for this year's ride was, where are the bikes?
As it turned out we had 17 riders (loose term) arrive at the port, some ready to ride, others not at all. Had the ride started a few hours later we may have actually made it onto the bikes but the system that had dumped over an inch on the district overnight still had the odd shower to deliver.
But our trusty ride leader was not to be beaten and had come up with a plan to visit the venues by alternative transport. So we all organised ourselves into groups for a motorcade around Sale. As the new arrangements meant that the transit times were significantly reduced we had time for a coffee and birthday celebration before we headed off. As I mentioned in my previous post the mystery ride is similar in length to the rally. It turned out that the route was almost the same as well. I suspect though, that this was not obvious to most of the participants from two weeks ago.
On arrival at our first point of interest, Wondela Homestead, we were taken by the image of an historic building being slowly surrounded by the suburban sprawl of the City of Sale. Luckily the owners had managed to provide a reasonable buffer to this sea of roofs. The house itself was most impressive. The period building, with its truckloads of history, had been transformed in recent times to a rather modern building on the inside. Despite some areas being the latest, others still had the air of the original construct.
From here it was only a short run to the Grassdale Homestead. I must say that this building looked far more historic. Cathy had organised for the family owners to join us for lunch to provide some of the history of this building, and also the one we had just visited. There was plenty of room on the old verandah for the group. The eastern one even had a view. The McLaughlin history was really something with narrator, Allan, furnishing the information in what could be called a relaxed style.
Back in the buses and it was off onto the final leg to the port. On arrival it appeared that South America had discovered Sale, even if only for a short leg stretch. The group managed to lure some of our number to join them with the offer of music and dance. I suspect that they would have been released when their bus driver broke up the party to continue their journey. Being my final ride with the club I had to say that it was certainly different. Thank you Cathie for your efforts.