Mr. Toad's Wild Ride

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Delius Restaurant hosted their annual bus trip to the "wine country" today. As usual we had a great "buffet" breakfast before boarding our bus at 9:00 to start our journey.

Unfortunately its seems there was a "huge" mix up on what size of bus that was ordered for 37 people. In rolls a mini bus that is like the ones that they shuttle people between hotels and airports. It held 27 people and had no restroom. After conferring with the transportation company which said they could have another bus to us in an hour, Dave decided to keep this one and take two additional vehicles .

Off we went down the freeway towards Solvang. The seats were narrow, no padding and the suspension system on this "bus" was non existent. This was starting out to be a very "non-enjoyable" experience.

Arriving in Solvang many hours later (it seemed like 24) we went into "Trio" which is the tasting room for 3 labels, Curran, Badge and D'Bruno. This was the highlight of our trip. Kris Curran and Bruno D'Alphonse were waiting for us and provided a very nice "seminar" on their wines and winemaking. Very informative, generous pours of wine and a Laurel & Hardy banter between the two of them (they are married). They also offered a 30% case discount on their wines today. Obviously we took advantage of that.

Next stop was Stolpman Vineyards. We stopped here to have lunch and originally were going to the tasting room in Los Olivos afterwards. But they brought the wines to the vineyard. I am a big fan of Stolpman wines but this was an ok stop but no where near the Trio stop. Their pours were small and they were not to fast on giving seconds. I overheard someone remark "why don't they leave the bottles on the table" . The only higher end wine they poured were the Hilltops Syrah. The rest were the wines they have made for the tasting room. I did like a white wine that I had not had before and when I am up in the area in September I may check it out some more. Personally I liked it better than the L'Avion, which is a blend of Marsanne and Rousanne.

Lunch was ok. I getting real tired of the same sandwiches that have been served for the last several years. The salads were very good along with the homemade potato chips. Hopefully if there is a trip next year Louise will break out of her rut.

We loaded ourselves into "Mr Toads Wild Ride"and went to Dierberg for our final tasting. The wines were nice but all they did was pour for us and no one talked about their wines. We left there at 5:15. We were due back at 7:00 but no way was this going to happen.

We made a stop around Ventura area to use a restroom. After everyone was loaded back on the bus the driver made an announcement that he could not drive anymore and had to park the vehicle. His boss had called and said there was a problem with Dave's credit card going through and until it was straightened out we were going nowhere. That seemed extremely ridiculous as the vehicle had to driven back to its base at LAX anyway so why waste time sitting and not moving. And besides what business waits until late in the day after the business transaction takes place to run a credit card ? It should have been run before the vehicle was dispacted in the am. I offered to put the charges on my credit card just to get the damm vehicle moving again. The company was having a hard time getting hold of Dave . His cell phone kept going to message. Finally someone called the restaurant and had them get hold of Louise and Dave finally got it straightened out the the transportation company. Eventually we were on our way.

We returned at 9:40. I got my wine and left. At this point I was "pissed off".

No only was the whole thing a fiasco from the beginning. The driver drove like a idiot. 70 to 80 miles an hour. Crossed the solid double lines to get into the carpool lane. Drove with one hand and held his cell phone with his other hand while he talked (a lot). Carried on conversation with the person sitting in the other front seat. When we returned to the restaurant I would have thought that Dave and or Louise would be there and get onto the "bus" and apologize for the the day. There were 27 of his customers on that damm thing and no one from Delius was with us. They were in nice comfortable SUV's. Dave did come up and talk with a few people after we unloaded. Most of us just left as fast as we could. Not only did we have a "harrowing ride", we were held hostage for a period of time. My back was screwed up for a week afterwards with all the swaying and jarring.

This was not an experience that I want to repeat. And in hindsight we would have been better off to wait for a larger bus and drop Dierberg from the itinerary if needed. This whole mess could have been avoided if Dave when he saw that the bill for the bus was a lot less expensive than last years would have taken that as a red flag and checked it out to see why. He also delegated the task to Fred his floor manager to reserve the bus and did not double check to see if everything was done correctly . Fred had never done this before but he should have asked questions about the size. You can't shove 37 people into a vehicle made for 25. Also the contract should have been read when it was received. Always double check and don't assume. The bus company was downright stupid not to run a credit card before a dispatch. And the bus company was stupid for not asking why a mini bus was ordered for a trip to Solvang. As Forrest Gump said, "stupid is as stupid does" or something like that. My employer has a saying, "treat everyone behind you as stupid so you can cover yourself".