Updated: 5000 Mile Trip, Porsche Parade or Bust!
07-02-2012, 01:35 PM
#1
Rennlist Member
Thread Starter
FINAL UPDATE: 5000 Mile Trip, Porsche Parade or Bust!
See below for our first update
Tomorrow my wife and I will be hitting the road for a 5000+ mile round trip adventure to the Porsche Parade in Salt Lake City, UT. We will be taking the northern route (I-80 mostly) through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and finally into Utah for our trip there. On the way back, we'll be heading down through Moab, UT and along I-40 (New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia) and the Blue Ridge Parkway back to the Washington, DC area.
We're taking both of our Porsches, the 1986 951 and the 1992 968 Cabriolet.
My intent is to use this thread to document our trip across country and while at Parade.
Also, I'd like to solicit the support of fellow Rennlisters in case of a mechanical breakdown. If you live near I-80 or I-40 and wouldn't mind assisting a fellow Rennlister in a time of trouble, PM me your info and I would be forever grateful.
We're going to have our Rennlist information on our cars, so if we see you at Parade make sure to say hi here!
This is going to be easily the longest journey either of our cars have ever taken and we're really excited about the drive, the people and seeing parts of the country we've never seen before.
Looking forward to seeing some of you out there on the roads, if you'll be heading the same ways, send me a PM and let's see if we can set up a caravan.
-Aaron/Ramius665
UPDATE
Well, we woke up at 0400 to depart no later than 0500 and as you can see by the picture we were pretty tired to start. We were incredibly lucky and the nasty weather in the DC area kept quite a bit of the traffic off of I-495. We managed to drive 30 miles around I-495 in about 30 minutes which might have been a personal best.
Once we got onto I-270, we saw a few Porsches heading West but none of them kept up with us. Apparently Jerome was one of them. Small world!!
We turned a ton of heads, especially once we got onto I-70 and I-76 in Pennsylvania. I would routinely check my side view mirror and see someone screaming up in the left lane, watch them slow to look at my wife in her 968, accelerate to catch up with me, shoot me a glance and then keep going. While it was mostly guys in big sedans, we did see a couple in a Bentley Continental GT.
Pennsylvania's Turnpike was pretty uneventful, nice roads, nice rest stops and generally nice people. Haven't had a bad experience in PA yet. Got some interesting pictures from the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel too.
Ohio was another story entirely. Driving across I-80, we started to see storm clouds on the horizon past Cleveland. My wife was getting a bit warm with the top down so at our next bathroom break we put the top up. Thank God we did. I took a few pictures while driving that don't even come close to showing the carnage that we were driving through. I'm originally from Oregon, I've driven in some nasty storms with driving rain but this took the cake. We were able to do 40-45 mph safely but even then seriously considered pulling over and waiting the storm out. I stole a glance at the doppler radar on my phone and it looked like things would clear up if we could just get to Toledo. I think it took longer to get to Toledo than it did to get across Pennsylvania. It definitely felt like it.
After a solid 11 hours of driving (and mostly at/around the speed limit) and an hour or so worth of bathroom breaks we finally arrived in South Bend, IN. I'm not a huge Notre Dame fan but finding a hotel right next to the campus seemed like good enough reason to stay there.
So, to recap. Maryland cooperated, Pennsylvania was nice and Ohio's weather sucks.
Tomorrow my wife and I will be hitting the road for a 5000+ mile round trip adventure to the Porsche Parade in Salt Lake City, UT. We will be taking the northern route (I-80 mostly) through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and finally into Utah for our trip there. On the way back, we'll be heading down through Moab, UT and along I-40 (New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia) and the Blue Ridge Parkway back to the Washington, DC area.
We're taking both of our Porsches, the 1986 951 and the 1992 968 Cabriolet.
My intent is to use this thread to document our trip across country and while at Parade.
Also, I'd like to solicit the support of fellow Rennlisters in case of a mechanical breakdown. If you live near I-80 or I-40 and wouldn't mind assisting a fellow Rennlister in a time of trouble, PM me your info and I would be forever grateful.
We're going to have our Rennlist information on our cars, so if we see you at Parade make sure to say hi here!
This is going to be easily the longest journey either of our cars have ever taken and we're really excited about the drive, the people and seeing parts of the country we've never seen before.
Looking forward to seeing some of you out there on the roads, if you'll be heading the same ways, send me a PM and let's see if we can set up a caravan.
-Aaron/Ramius665
UPDATE
Well, we woke up at 0400 to depart no later than 0500 and as you can see by the picture we were pretty tired to start. We were incredibly lucky and the nasty weather in the DC area kept quite a bit of the traffic off of I-495. We managed to drive 30 miles around I-495 in about 30 minutes which might have been a personal best.
Once we got onto I-270, we saw a few Porsches heading West but none of them kept up with us. Apparently Jerome was one of them. Small world!!
We turned a ton of heads, especially once we got onto I-70 and I-76 in Pennsylvania. I would routinely check my side view mirror and see someone screaming up in the left lane, watch them slow to look at my wife in her 968, accelerate to catch up with me, shoot me a glance and then keep going. While it was mostly guys in big sedans, we did see a couple in a Bentley Continental GT.
Pennsylvania's Turnpike was pretty uneventful, nice roads, nice rest stops and generally nice people. Haven't had a bad experience in PA yet. Got some interesting pictures from the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel too.
Ohio was another story entirely. Driving across I-80, we started to see storm clouds on the horizon past Cleveland. My wife was getting a bit warm with the top down so at our next bathroom break we put the top up. Thank God we did. I took a few pictures while driving that don't even come close to showing the carnage that we were driving through. I'm originally from Oregon, I've driven in some nasty storms with driving rain but this took the cake. We were able to do 40-45 mph safely but even then seriously considered pulling over and waiting the storm out. I stole a glance at the doppler radar on my phone and it looked like things would clear up if we could just get to Toledo. I think it took longer to get to Toledo than it did to get across Pennsylvania. It definitely felt like it.
After a solid 11 hours of driving (and mostly at/around the speed limit) and an hour or so worth of bathroom breaks we finally arrived in South Bend, IN. I'm not a huge Notre Dame fan but finding a hotel right next to the campus seemed like good enough reason to stay there.
So, to recap. Maryland cooperated, Pennsylvania was nice and Ohio's weather sucks.
Last edited by ramius665; 07-22-2012 at 02:20 PM. Reason: Update
07-02-2012, 04:32 PM
#2
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Join Date: Jun 2009
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You're going to love Blue Ridge/Skyway Drive. I took my 944 on it last year, and what a blast! Fun roads, and absolutely beautiful scenery! Have fun, and take lots of pictures!
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07-02-2012, 08:58 PM
#8
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Thread Starter
We're bringing enough tools to fix most problems on the highway. Because you never know what might happen, that's why I've asked for help from the forum!
07-02-2012, 09:50 PM
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Wow. That's a long way for you. I'll be making this trip but coming from Ca. I'm expecting to put 3k miles for the week. For you it's just round trip. You're not including the tours.
Have fun and hopw to see you there.
Have fun and hopw to see you there.
07-03-2012, 02:14 AM
#11
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Aaron,
I sent you a PM a few days ago. We're leaving St Louis on the 5th and we may be on I-80 or south of you on I-70.
If you get a chance, shoot me a text with your number. We have not decided on our route just yet.
What day will you be going through Lincoln NE?
If we don't catch you we'll see you in UT.
Cheers,
Dave
I sent you a PM a few days ago. We're leaving St Louis on the 5th and we may be on I-80 or south of you on I-70.
If you get a chance, shoot me a text with your number. We have not decided on our route just yet.
What day will you be going through Lincoln NE?
If we don't catch you we'll see you in UT.
Cheers,
Dave
07-03-2012, 01:40 PM
#12
Drifting
Oil Filter, Tools, DME relay, Electrical tape, wire strippers, some 14 guage wire, roll of duct tape, can of wd-40, bag of rags, fire extenguisher (both cars), tire guage and a great big smile for the adventure ahead. I love road trips. When I bought my latest (3rd) 944, I drove it from Santa Fe to SW Florida in 3 days. Joyful trip with my fingers crossed. 
07-03-2012, 06:54 PM
#14
Rennlist Member
Bring lots of tools. One of everything. If I could manage a broken timing belt repair in a Howard Johnson's parking lot in the middle of nowhere, then I'm sure you'll be alright! Sounds like an awesome trip though... drive safe and post lots of pictures!
