Listen in during Dave Stall’s “You Auto Know” show tonight, Sunday, Jan. 29, at 8 p.m. for some Weekend Driver talk. I’ll be calling in about 8:15 for a chat about great roads. KCBQ is at 1170 am or on the web at kcbq.com.

Photo courtesy Philippe The Original

After your trip to the desert (the story in today’s UT San Diego) or our Weekend Driver Classic cruise around South Bay today and you decide to head to LA tomorrow, stop in for coffee at one of the must-visits in downtown LA, Original Philippe’s, before the price goes up by 400 percent.

My pal Elaine Beno, the PR mavin at the Automobile Club of Southern California, sent along a link to this story in the LA Times, that the place that invented the French dip sandwich is raising its coffee price. Seems it has been pegged at 9 cents — that’s right, 9 cents — since the ’70s. On Feb. 2, it’s going through the roof to 45 cents.

Believe it or not, I don’t drink the stuff, but I think that still beats Starbucks… wait, let me run around the corner to the neighborhood outlet and check. Right. The mocha half calf lowfat with a double twist is what, $2?

By the way, a great, fun trip is to jump on the train in San Diego and take it to the classic Union Station in LA, then walk the two blocks for a French dip and jump back on the train and go home. I did that over the winter break. What fun.

The latest Weekend Driver column is in print today and online. Weekend Driver: Train stop to history is in your favorite formats. It’s a trip to the Dos Cabeza train station out in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

Pick up a copy at a newsstand or enjoy online. The online version includes the directions and a link to a Google map with the location.

And be sure to check back in a couple of weeks; we’ll have an extended version here at weekenddriver.com.

Be sure to pick up a copy of UT San Diego (the San Diego Union-Tribune) on Saturday for the next Weekend Driver column, Train Stop to History, in the Wheels section. It’s a great day trip out to an old railroad station in the middle of the desert, a place where folks taking the San Diego and Arizona Railroad from the east or west would have a chance to get out and stretch while they filled up the steam engine with water.

It’s all gone now, except for the tracks and the water tank. A spectacular, lonely spot on the plant only a few miles off of Highway S-2.

There are two back stories here… one of the spectacular Mercedes-Benz ML350 that took me there, and the flat tire the Mercedes experienced on the way out. Yes, I did change a tire in the middle of the desert.

So don’t miss picking up the old print product on Saturday, when in addition to all the other fine stories, you’ll find Train Stop to History.

Here’s a horrible choice… whether to take this Saturday’s brand new Weekend Driver in the UT San Diego or a classic drive from 2006?

Well, that depends on a few things.

• Plenty of time? Head to the desert, where Saturday’s drive hits the sand, in search of the remains of an old railroad station in the desert.
• Four-wheel drive, or all-wheel drive and high ground clearance? Desert it is. The desert trek goes over sand and a short stretch of rocky trail.
• Not enough time to drive to the desert? South Bay offers beautiful vistas, some interesting roads and and a few beautiful views.

Back in 2006, this was called the Charger Cruise, because at the time the team was considering sites in the South Bay. With the recent discussions about downtown, dusting off the old trip puts it in an interesting historical perspective. You’ll cruise by the giant salt mountain, check out some hidden bayside parks, the U.S. Olympic Training Center and find out what’s great about living in the south part of the county.

So, pick up UT San Diego on Saturday to read the newest Weekend Driver and head to the desert. Or read it during your lunch stop along the South Bay Wander.

Well, I need to lose some weight but here I am with Dave Stall and David Davis this morning on KUSI’s Good Morning San Diego. We’re talking about this Saturday’s Weekend Driver column in the Wheels section of UT San Diego. Enjoy the video clip!

Be sure to turn into KUSI’s Good Morning San Diego on Wednesday morning, Jan. 25, about 6:40 a.m., with car guy Dave Stall. We’ll be taking a look at the new Subaru Forester and talking about my upcoming Union-Tribune column, Desert Station. It’s running Saturday in the newspaper and I’ll have a sneak peak with some photos and details on the flat tire I had in the middle of nowhere. Be sure to tune in!

Good story today from CBS Sunday Morning on the changes among the Detroit Three.

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A dry year at Lake Morena

Here’s a really fun trip over some little-known roads in San Diego County… but isn’t that what Weekend Driver is all about? It’s East County Zig-Zag, a loop around the East County communities of Lake Morena, Campo, Cameron Corners, La Posta, Live Oak Springs and Boulevard, plus the Campo Indian Reservation.

If you stay on the freeway, from our beginning exit, Buckman Springs Road, to the ending exit, Ribbonwood Road, it’s just a 15-mile trip on Interstate 8 that blows past in a few minutes at the posted 70 miles per hour speed limit. Taking the side roads, the trip is more than twice as far and, if you’re lucky, it will take the whole day.

Along the route are some of the prettiest oak groves on any drive in the county, a popular and historic lake, vintage trucks and trains, a casino and the real pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, homemade candies.

I originally took this route back in 2003, shortly after the tragic fires. It escaped damage then and in later fires, so it’s really a beautiful drive. Enjoy East County Zig-Zag.

If you’ve got a Garmin, TomTom or iPhone, give this a try if you’re headed up to LA this weekend… or perhaps when you return. Turn off the freeway at Genesee Avenue (headed north) or  Oceanside Harbor Drive (headed south), head on over to the old Pacific Highway and give a GPS guided tour a shot. I have 25 waypoints with tidbits on the original way north. The GPS unit will guide you along and (for now) text pops up and tells you what you’re seeing. Pretty cool! And it’s only $1.99 to download.

If you give it a try, drop me an email or post a comment to let me know what you think. One of these days, the text will be a voice, but that technology isn’t quite here yet.

I have several tours on the Geovative website… check them out.