Laguna Seca Recreation Area, CA

Once part of Fort Ord, Laguna Seca (dry lagoon) is now home to the Mazda Raceway, a campground, and a firing range.  It’s located a few miles inland from Monterey, in an area of steep hills.  The road to the campground and Raceway has a 16% grade, not VW van-friendly I’m thinking.

Priscilla, the converted bus, was parked across from us a couple days.

Some readers will get the connection of the bus name to a 1994 movie that was a hoot. 

The pix above and below were both taken from our campsite.  The Raceway is 1/2 mile north of us, picture taken at 10X zoom; one car on the track, one coming out of the pit area.

The Raceway is the real deal, a professional 2.2+ mile course with 11 turns and a steep stretch that has an 18% grade.  Grand Prix, CART, INDY car, Superbike, etc races are held here, plus numerous specialty events like the Aston Martin Festival later this month.  

Looking west towards the coast and Monterey you see upscale homes and a golf course.

Fort Ord proper, where all the buildings are located, is a few miles north of us.  The Fort was an army base from 1917 to 1994, when it was decommissioned. My brother, Gerry, did his basic training there in 1963.  Groundwater cleanup efforts started 25 years ago and have many years to go.  Several decades of careless use of motor pool solvents and lubricants, fire control chemicals, etc, left plenty of nasty stuff behind. We visited there yesterday and were briefed on the cleanup efforts.