all things to all men
A certain set of circumstances left me alone on a weekend with just her. Although it was the tail end of spring, the weekend weather looked sunny, constant and warm. The backlog of weekend tasks at home looked daunting but uninspiring with yard work topping the list. It just seemed like it was time to revisit the best way to enjoy being alone. Solitude on four wheels in the mountains was for me always spiritually uplifting and I was craving it ever since she took over my garage.
The only thing that stood between me and the nearest mountain roads in West Virginia was the vast expanse of the United States and particularly troublesome state of Ohio. But there really wasn’t getting around it. To cut through boring straight and regulated interstates during daylight seemed like an utter waste of time. So right after work on a Friday, I packed a toothbrush and a change of clothes and left for West Virginia 300 miles away.
As soon as I approached the south eastern part of Ohio, things became interesting. On my GPS I saw much too many twisty lines along the interstates to ignore them. As the sun set, the darkness and the twisty roads came calling. I turned off the darned interstates onto OH Route 250 as the sun disappeared over the horizon.
Wish I could tell you how glorious a Porsche feels when the roads turn, when gradients change and when double yellow lines give way to dotted overtakes. In that semi moonlight darkness the xenon lights shined brightly on a road ahead that was inviting and daunting. Alone with her, with no souls around, we finally understood what she and I always wanted. It didn’t take much for a car like her and a romantic like me to find peace in higher revolutions per minute and lateral forces. The curves suggested polite speeds but we weren’t here to be polite in sports mode.
Later that night, I finally reached West Virginia and both she and I needed some rest. So we found ourselves a hotel and settled in for the night.
key to everything
Sleep was but a minor distraction from the WV route 250 to Hundred, WV that lay ahead that morning. I didn’t have much time to wonder why a town was called by that name as we carved through smooth roads. Uphill I went with reckless abandon as the camber helped the 911 swing her ass around. Downhill I tempered with brakes only because I wasn’t sure if the oncoming traffic would take a barreling blackness like her bleakly.
At Hundred, I turned west, towards Hannibal, OH in search of the hyped OH-536. It was called the ‘tail of the dragon’ of the mid-west. As I turned northwest on that road, all doubts went away. The road was narrow but steady. The car was humming but fast. I was attentive, but at peace. There was harmony in the world. I asked myself I should I push it even further. I wondered if there was a cop around the corner. I realized that asking about the existence of God wasn’t worth the effort and only remotely scientific.
non-stop fun
Ohio as a state was redeeming itself. Road after road, I continued grinning within. Until about 150 miles in, she needed fuel and I food. At a gas station, in the small town named Woodsfield, OH, I got myself a gas-station-chicken-wrap. The attendant said she liked my car and I wasn’t sure if she knew what it was. Outside, teenage boys loved the fact it was a manual transmission and asked me how much it cost. I couldn’t bring myself to tell them what love costs. It felt like I was cheapening the affair.
stare
After lunch, I started making my way north back to Michigan delaying joining the interstates as much as I could. I still had a five hour drive ahead of me. That left me just about my time to be grateful and accepting of a reality of a Porsche 911. The marketing hype, the demographic of 911 owners and the arrogance of the Porsche dealerships are all major turn offs. But to find a car that is a grand-tourer on interstates, a beast on a race track and a mountain carver on demand all at once is a rarity. And to have her look this good at a rest stop parking lot is an extremely satisfying feeling. This feeling you carry to your sleep and dreams as she ticks over in the garage, happy.
Good one. I enjoyed the blog.