By Aaron Cool Creighton

Publisher

On Saturday, Jan. 28, The Alpine Mountaineer embedded with the Roadstr Highway 18 #6 Car Run to see what they are all about, have some fun and meet new people who share a passion for cars and driving.

We met with Steve Cortez, the local ambassador for Roadstr, a world-wide car enthusiast app. Cortez and his family moved to Crestline about a year ago looking for a nice place to live and have fallen in love with the mountain. He told us about his passion for cars and driving and how he uses the Roadstr app to organize car events.

The Roadstr app is available at Google Play Store and Apple Store. It is a social network for people who like to organize car meets, drives and rallies. Sign up, create a handle and find friends. Cortez is on the app as Chillen so we started following him. He regularly organizes scenic drives on and off the mountain.

Events are set up and drivers can sign up. The idea is that the group keeps tabs on everyone else on the run. If a car breaks down, the other drivers are keeping track on the app and will stop and help. This is a family-friendly activity where drivers look out for each other’s safety. They do not engage in outlaw practices like takeovers and their focus is on the safety of their participants.

The Highway 18 run this time consisted of participants meeting in San Bernardino at Wildwood Park on 40^th and Waterman. They line up their cars and get together to socialize. They talk about their cars and enjoy showing them off.

In this run there was a variety of cars from a Subaru WRX driven by Kathy Creighton to Toyotas, a Camaro, Volkswagen GLI, Honda Accord, Dodge Charger SRT, a rebuilt Chevy Blazer and many others.

These drives are open to anyone who enjoys driving, cars and making friends. It doesn’t matter what kind of car you have – everyone is welcome.  In this case, the itinerary began with meeting at 9 a.m. at Wildwood Park. Everyone spent about an hour milling about, talking about cars and getting to know each other. Then it was off to the first rendezvous spot at the chain up area at Highway 18 and Lake Gregory Drive by Hortencia’s restaurant.

It was time to regroup, take pictures of cars and the scenery, then off through Crestline. We went down Lake Gregory Drive to Lake Drive and then Old Mill to Highway 138. Finally, the run ended at the Vista Point at Silverwood Lake where everyone socialized and discussed why they do what they do.

Cortez’s kids were all there having fun. When asked what they liked about these car runs, they were unanimous in saying that they enjoyed spending the day with their dad, seeing the sites, enjoying the cars and meeting people.

If you have a passion for driving, sightseeing and meeting others with a passion for cars, download the Roadstr app. Follow Chillen (Steve Cortez), drivindaisycr8on (Kathy Creighton) or mountaineer (this reporter) and join in these fun activities.

In addition to car meets and drives, this group sometimes attends car shows and track rallies.

PHOTOS:

Car Club 1

Steve and Caden Cortez during the recent Roadstr car run.

Car Club 2

Kathy Creighton’s Subaru WRX.

Car Club 3

The cars in the recent run up Highway 18 stopped in the turnout by Hortencia’s to regroup and take photos.

Car Club 4

The final stop on the Jan. 28 run was at Vista Point by Lake Silverwood. (Photos: Aaron Creighton)