Ron_H

Well, I'm back from Parade and the US Grand Prix (or rather Grand Fiasco).

Bigs was right about the route through southern Utah being enjoyable and varied. The first two photos are of that road and of Bryce Canyon, where I met a member of the Park Rangers who advised me to be more observant of my speed through the Park. I mentioned Bigs name and he waved me on my way cheerfully. (well, that isn't totally true....).

The third photo are at an obvious location en route; sorry for the shady 928.

The fourth photo is of my camp-mobile at a KOA in Pennsylvania, where I stopped to clean and polish the car. Of course, after I finished late that evening and jumped in my tent to sleep, it began to pour and ruined everything.

928s at Parade is the subject of the fifth photo. There were over 5000 visitors to Parade concours this year, and most were curious non-P car people from around the area; a record for certain. And the sixth photo is the definition of "Lust"; a street driven GT-1 owned by a lucky guy who also has another one as a back up.

And finally, the seventh photo is entitled: "The Cure for the Summertime Blues"
taken somewhere I won't disclose. I happened to be riding in that 928 at the time, so I thought I would snap a photo or two of the festivities. If asked, I will deny I was really there.

Yes, I also have photos of the GP, but most people have already seen the fun and games on Speed Channel. The Ferraris and Bridgestone came prepared to race; Michelin did not.

In addition to Bigs' fine route, another road captured my fancy: I-70 fWest from Denver to Rifle. A "must do" in a 928 with plenty of skin softener to remedy the cracks from constant grinning.

My 928 has 6500 or more miles added to it and I lost the AC somewhere in Nevada on the eastward leg to Pennsylvania, which made it "interesting" to say the least.

Now where is that skin softener.......???

Nicole

There was a Ka Band alert while travelling at this speed? Holy moly!!!

Sounds like you had quite a bit of fun on that trip. Good to know Bigs is so famous; I'll remember that next time I cross through Utah...

Ron_H

No, it appears to be illuminated, but wasn't.

Not so about 20 other times during the trip. The V-1 payed for itself many times over on this trip.

ablose58

Very cool!!!! Sounds like a really good trip. AL

Garth S

Ron, what a great 6.5K - your pics have lit the fires of 'wanderlust', time to get on the road ... too ...

wds928

Ron, it was great to meet you at Hershey. I took about 120 photos, all of which are too large to post here. As I recall, there were 6 928's entered in the Concours and 9 or 10 in the Car Corral. And it was hot, really hot.

SharkSkin

Ron, glad you made bail. I can see you had a great time on this trip... it's always great to see how far clockwise the grin-o-meter can go, eh?

John Veninger

Hi Ron,
Pleasure to meet you in Hershey.
Glad you made it back. So what is the status of the A/C problem?

Ron_H

First, let me thank Bill Sanders for his excellent article describing the AC relay replacement to fix the weak relay in the control unit; I just reviewed the email.
Also thanks to John Veninger who presented an informative seminar at Parade, and also took the time to quickly inspect my AC compressor which seems to have a mind of its own. I stopped at Devek on the way back home and we decided to use Bill's fix on a replacement head unit which I'll get from Jim Bailey. My compressor was also found to have a bent pulley and that explains the screetching noises which John and I experienced at Hershey when the clutch engaged; I guess the belt is slipping, and I will go out today and cut it off before it shreds itself and takes out other belts. The interesting thing about the AC head unit in the car is that the compressor clutch engages without activating the AC button under the head unit. Whenever the bottom slider is placed in the first (white square dot) position, the compressor engages. Go figure, eh? Weird situation, and I think I should toss this head unit.

Yes, Bill it was HOT and HUMID. It was like being in a sauna, and I couldn't seem to get sufficient fluids to keep from having constant thirst. It reminded me of Hawaii where I originated. Not having AC, I became accustomed to the constant HEAT. As I got closer to the SF Bay Area yesterday, the cooling effect of the water (bay) was a welcome change to 4 weeks of heat and open windows while driving. It was 72 degrees yesterday in San Francisco as I passed by; what a relief.

Since the Parade next year is in Portland, I hope to see at that Parade some of the nice 928ers from the East which I met at Parade this year. Why not drive out and visit our part of the world and we'll all do it again. The last Portland Parade in 1995 was a great one, with PIR right around the corner and a club race scheduled again for that week. There also seemed to be more 928s at Hershey than at previous parades; all of you should visit us next year. Heinrich promises to come to that one , but probably must decide which of his stable to drive. Getting to and from the Parade is more than half the fun. It is the purpose for having the 928, which is a superior GT machine.

bigs

Hey Ron!

Good to hear you made it there and back OK! Hope you enjoyed Utah 12 and took the opportunity to stretch the legs of your 928! I especially love the road between Escalante and Boulder, UT. Can't decide if it's best in a Porsche or on a great motorcycle. Nice pics too!

Welcome back.

Ron_H

Yes, that road is a great one, and the town of Boulder intrigued me as well. I stopped to refuel at a little station just at the edge of town, and they had a cabin available. I wanted to stay the night and explore that area the next day, but didn't give in and continued on. That happens alot when I stumble on new places. Down the road a little, a deer just happened to want to cross the road as I was coming along and he also decided to stop and stare me down. Missed him by about a couple of feet. Adventurous for certain. The variety you described certainly was evident and reminded me of the big island of Hawaii. On that island, you can experience roads ranging from desolate barren expanses of lava with nothing alive for miles to tropical rain forest lined roads all in the same day. Of course Utah permits a little more spirited driving.
On the return trip, I simply stayed on I-70 all the way to US 50, so it was not so varied. I also had a conversation with one of your bears, but with a happy ending. Did I ever mention how much I love my Valentine??