Spring Charity Tour To Mt. Equinox/Skyline Drive
On the weekend of May 16th and 17th, seven couples from the Connecticut Valley Chapter joined a group of about 65 other participants and 35 additional cars on a tour to Manchester, VT and a drive up the Mt. Equinox Skyline Drive Toll Road. The event was the brainchild of Neil Platt of the Candlewood Valley Corvette Club, a group that we joined last Fall on a day trip to the new Monticello race track that included a Poker Run. This event included members of various Porsche online forums, the Hudson Valley Region of the Porsche Club, a couple of Audis, VWs, and Mustangs, as well as the aforementioned Corvettes and our group. In addition to having fun, the purpose of the event was to raise some money for the Disabled American Veterans (the Corvette Club’s charity of choice) and ALS (our charity). Because the groups were from various areas of CT and Eastern NY, there were multiple starting points. We left on Saturday morning from Enfield, CT and reconvened in Greenfield, MA, where we had hoped we would pick up some additional participants from our Western MA membership. Sadly, none of them joined us and we only had our small group of six cars complete the tour (one member having gone up on Friday night to make it an even longer weekend). Since the group was so small, we voted to stop at a diner in Wilmington, VT that Sheila and I had stumbled upon when we did our reconnaissance run to plan the route. It’s one of those local places that had us striking up varied conversations with the local characters during our visit, which included a great lunch at a very reasonable price. We continued on to Manchester, where everyone was on their own to check into their motel, do some factory outlet shopping and then make their way to The Inn at Willow Pond, one of the event’s lodging points, for an informal car show. The Inn is owned by Steve Bauer, a Porsche race driver and he had his racer on display as we arrived. There were prizes (both gag and small trophies) for such things as best BMW, Corvette, Porsche, Other, and the car you would most like to drive home, as well as dirtiest, oldest, most likely to get a ticket, etc., etc. So, it was all great fun, with the group voting for their favorites and the organizers deciding the rest. Among the BMWs, Andrej Gaspari won the oldest car at the event for his Golf Yellow 1974 2002, edging jerri and Willy Wiley, who drove their ’76 ’02. Unfortunately, Dave and Nancy Scofield received recognition for the dirtiest car at the event, while Lance and Cathy Johnson’s Z3 M roadster took best BMW honors. A Porsche Turbo took the award for the car you’d most like to drive home. The winner thanked all who voted for him and kiddingly said, “If all those who voted for me would write their names down, I’ll be sure to contact you when I get ready to sell it.” After the show, we had a barbecue at the Inn at Willow Pond and then everyone retired to their motels. On Sunday morning, Innkeeper Bauer led the group on a spirited drive over some of Vermont’s more fun, and less traveled, windy roads that ended at the base of the Skyline Drive toll road. During this drive, Sheila and I recalled a CVC tour from many years ago when Jack Jones led us to Kingston, NY on a Fall Tour and the “Wurst Place in Town” for some great German food. Keeping in mind that the Vermont Tour benefited ALS research and the fact that our Chapter has chosen this charity because this disease claimed the life of longtime member Marsh Wilson last February, I reminisced with Sheila about sitting with Marsh at the dinner table on that tour years ago and Marsh, having been slowed down by a member (who shall remain nameless to avoid embarrassing them) that was not driving as quickly during the day as Marsh would have liked, asked if the member had ever driven in a BMW CCA Driver’s School. When the member replied in the negative, Marsh said, “Maybe you should!” With that in mind and also recognizing that Marsh was the one who had organized the Chapter’s Vermont Tours in the past, this is where it got really spooky, because in a matter of seconds after mentioning this story to Sheila, we passed Wilson Lane. Then, later on the same drive, we passed Marsh’s Tavern. Apparently, Marsh was trying to tell us that he approved of the current tour and wanted to thank us for raising some money for ALS. Having now arrived at the toll road, we each drove up the challenging drive to finish with a picnic lunch at the top, a drive back down and then our farewells as everyone headed home on their own. The only thing that would have made it a better weekend would have been more participation. We all had a great time, but would have loved to share the fun with more members. Bob Morin |
