Thursday, June 05, 2008

GrupoRAV4's Subic Fun Run


A convoy of RAV4s on the road? Why not! And that's exactly what we did last Saturday en route to Subic. True enough, the line of RAV4s traversing the expressway is a sight to behold. Add to that the numbered bond paper that was placed infront and at the back of the cars, to make lining-up in sequence easier and ensuring that those in the convoy would indeed standout from the other vehicles in the crowd. It would have been better though if there were ribbons tied to the side mirrors to make the convoy more distinguishable, but the identical vehicles was enough to steal the show.

So...what does one do on a fun run, actually? I was at a loss at first but as it turns out, it's just similar to an outing planned by a group of friends. Except that this assembly of sorts was fueled by the group's fascination about anything RAV4 and I think (with emphasis on the "i think") that some of these guys haven't even met in person at all. This is just an assumption since I saw some of them shaking hands just like introducing one's self when meeting someone for the first time.

For this particular fun run, the group prepared an itinerary with the following activities:

6:00AM - Meeting @ Petron NLEX
7:00AM - Depart Petron
7:20AM - Stop at Total or Shell NLEX regroup
8:00AM - SCTEX Expressway
9:00AM - Subic International Raceway (orientation); Need 750 pesos and helmet / swimming @ Camayan just in case walang gusto mag-circuit
11:00AM - Zoobic Safari/ Ocean Adventure / Extreme Adventure
12.00NN - Lunch @ Boardwalk
1:00PM - Shopping @ Royalle
2:00PM - Carting, Horse
3:00PM - Freetime
4:00 or 5:00PM - Go back to Manila

As with any other plan, there were quite a few flaws with this one, but none that would spoil the fun for everybody. First off, we got to depart Petron at 8:30AM instead of 7AM as planned. Hence, we only got to do one activity in the morning which was running the circuit (sorry guys but I don't really know the correct term for this Ü) at the Subic International Raceway. If racing is your thing and you love the smell of burnt rubber, then I strongly recommend that you try this one which seems like an adrenaline rush from what I've heard from my brother and the rest of the gang.

We were all hungry and sweaty by lunch time so we specifically wanted some place airy (with airconditiong if possible) to eat so we ended up at Pancake House in Subic (of course!). Afterwhich, we went to Royal Subic (I can't remember the name exactly...memory gap...hehe) for a bit of shopping and cooling off since it was really just too hot outside. When we were done, we went to Zoobic Safari, which we were supposed to have gone to earlier in the day. It was already almost 4pm when we got there and the tour apparently lasts for about 2 hours. Since we (my family and I) had to be back in Manila by 8pm to pick-up my older brother from the airport, we weren't able to join the group at Zoobic Safari anymore. Too bad since we were looking forward to seeing what Zoobic Safari has to offer. Anyway, there's always a next time, but little brother was a bit miffed about it, which is understandable. I, on the other hand, was actually looking forward to the Extreme Adventure part of the itinerary, which seemed interesting after having read the printout lying around the house together with the above itinerary. As it turns out, the group wasn't able to do that either (i'm really not sure since the events that happened after we left are a bit hazy to me...obviously...Ü). Well I guess we'll just have to do that some other time.Ü

All in all, even if we (my family and I) didn't get to join the group in all the activities, I had fun seeing and checking out new things, mingling with other people, and learning a lot about cars, RAV4 in particular.Ü By the way, for those of you wondering, I was just a 4th wheel in this day trip seeing as it's actually my not-so-little brother who's a ka-GrupoRAV4.Ü So, who are the 2nd and 3rd wheel? My dad and mom of course, who enjoyed this day full of activities as much as we all did.Ü So...if you own a RAV4, then I suggest you sign up and join http://www.gruporav4.com/ and learn anything and everything that has got to do RAV4 and meet fellow RAV4 enthusiasts.Ü

2 comments:

badbadz18 said...

zoobic safari lasts more than 2 hours... went there 06.24 and we spent 3.5 hours there. but it's very much worth it. ^^

Candy said...

Well, I guess we made the right choice that day. We arrived Manila just in time to pick my brother up from the airport.

Thanks for the head's up! At least we now know what to expect when we DO visit Zoobic Safari and tour the place.Ü