Last Friday was spent sitting on a “Flixbus” heading from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas. My purpose was be an additional set of critical eyes and a return driving companion for my son. His intention was to buy an Audi SQ5 in Nevada. The bus ticket fit his budget as last minute one-way airfares were nuts- especially considering that we may have needed to return the same way, if the car was not what it was expected to be. The risk of it being a bust had been minimized by a true PCA “It’s about the People” story. Prior to our visit a Las Vegas Region PCA member had provided tremendous assistance before we made the 500 mile trip. But that cool story is for another edition of this monthly tome.
It’s shaping up to be a banner year for PCA members around the zone. If there’s any year to really plan ahead and lock in your calendars EARLY, this is it. In addition to the stellar bucket of activities which support you in your “local” regions, there are big events emerging that will require that you actually enjoy a few more miles in your Porsche.
Walking the dog last week, I noticed that a neighbor had left the garage doors open. Noting the cars in the stalls, including a familiar 911 C4S Cab, another car caught my eye. It was a white Infiniti QX60, a small sport crossover. The reason that it caught my eye was the familiar Porsche “Cayenne” logo on the back, painted in white to match the car.
PCA and Switzerland Sometimes this monthly letter stares back at me from a blank page. At times I’m challenged to come up with a topic that I think might be […]
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Authors in our Midst!
This monthly letter is being
dreamt up during “Speed Week” at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Scheduled to start
last Saturday, it looks like the shortened week will begin tomorrow, a Tuesday.
The delay is thanks to two thunderstorms last week. Salt needs time to dry in
order to become safe again for racing. Such are the narrow parameters needed to
run the safest possible event for those who want to set world records. But
thinking about one of the more unique records at Bonneville reminded me of a
former Zone Rep, Sean Cridland. (Sean still holds a world record from “speed
skiing” while strapped on the roof of a car at 162 MPH on the salt). And
thinking about Sean reminded me of yet another newly minted author in our
midst, Chris Lennon. And that finally led me to take stock in the overall level
of talent that’s scattered throughout our regions. Let’s start there, and we’ll
work back to Sean and Chris!
My personal version of “Car Week”
Monterey has “Car Week” every
August. Never been. It’s on my bucket list as an enthusiast. Sometime after I’m
no longer a zone rep, I’ll get there. For now, in an effort to manage domestic
tranquility, I need to be very careful how much time I put into auto-enthusiasm.
Commitments to the “job” have me on the road a bit supporting PCA. Adding additional
“non-PCA” car stuff to the calendar typically requires a calculated approach
and some forethought into the anticipated “but why would I be interested in
that?” question. So when HER friends were arranging for us to join a week-long
June walking tour of London, I was pleased that this vacation would help
balance things out. But then Julie
asked, “Do you really want to travel all that way and spend just 7 days? So with
a limit of about 12 days as a total trip length, due to a desire for Max the
Berne-doodle to recognize us on our return, we looked for a 3-4 day additional
excursion to “add on” to the London trip. Portugal? Italy? Southern Spain?
Nope, not enough time to do any of them justice. Soooo……I meekly suggested,
“what if we went to Stuttgart and hit the Porsche factory”. Expecting to maybe
get smacked, I was shocked at the resoundingly positive response. As it turns
out, a trip to the Ford F-150 factory near Dearborn a few years back had left a
very positive impression. Who knew? And so, perhaps pushing my luck, I asked “what
if we spent 3-days and also hit the Mercedes, BMW and Porsche museums as well?”
AND…fly into Munich and do a bit of Autobahn driving, too? Sold! The trip was
ON!
Prior to this role, I had no reason to ponder where the Rocky Mountains came to an end as you head south in the US. In 2017, when I took this zone rep “job”, I would not have guessed that a majority of the regions were not either east or west of those mountains, but instead, south of them. Now that I’ve flown over and driven around them, I get it.
West of the Rockies!!! I grew up in various eastern seaboard states, spent most of my working years in the mid-west, and am now “retired” to the mountain west. With […]
Smooth sailing in the Rockies!!! This whole letter is really about the eastern slopes, the “front range” of the Rocky Mountains, where the club took me during the last month, […]
