After almost a week of heavy rain in Albemarle County, our Saturday, August 4 “Drive the Plank” tour led by Tim Messer was welcomed with “Carolina” blue skies and somewhat mild conditions. A total of 39 drivers and navigators participated with 20 Porsches, a Maserati, a BMW Z4, and a Mini Cooper. The participants included Mark & Marty Doherty, Hal & Cyndi Fredrickson, Dan Kuchenberg & Paula Ironmonger, Jason Wavell & Victoria Mason, Tim & Andrea Messer, John & C. R. Odden (John’s Dad), Charles & Genie Passut, Dick Pitini, Bruce Russell, Mark Sackson & Jim Ballheim, Bruce Vlk, David & Nancy Wallace (FSR), Bill & Sara Barony (FSR), Hank & Jolly Weil, Tony Wilson, Charlie & Robin Winzer, Steve Ham, Shannon & Kathy Kennedy, Kevin Sheets, Michelle & Stew Whitehurst, Jeff & Ginger Elmore, Shawn Pharr, and Steve & Penny Heim. What a great turnout for a really fun drive thru the Virginia countryside.
“If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plan” is a lyric from an old country song. It could also have been our theme song for the day. Although the route had been driven three hours prior to the drive, we ran into our first surprise within the first three miles. A full road crew had appeared, complete with dripping blacktop that no Porsche driver would want to drive through. This led to a quick decision to change our route to go around the construction. Many thanks to Andrea Messer for jumping out of the lead car to quickly explain the situation to everyone and Steve Ham for offering her a ride out to Devil’s Backbone.
We were able to rejoin our route three miles later and although the mileage figures were now off, the basic directions held true. We appeared to form a tight group as we headed west along Carters Mountain Road and onto historic Plank Road. Our second major complication happened along Plank Road as a tree branch fell somewhere between two cars within the group. Many thanks to whoever jumped out of their Porsche and quickly solved the problem. Although the tree limb and traffic on Highway 151 caused some separation, we all arrived at Devils Backbone Basecamp and Brewpub safe and sound, hungry and thirsty. Although the pub was somewhat crowded, the food was good and the beer was cold. All in all, it turned out to be a very successful drive on a beautiful summer day. As Hank likes to say, “It’s not JUST the cars, it’s the people.” Mahalo everyone for attending.
