On Sunday, May 4, 2014 Porsches and Pastrami met at Brixx Wood Fired Pizza to give our usual host Gary Hagar of Durty Nelly’s Pub a chance to take a vacation and to test a new venue that might be able to accommodate larger crowds for future events.
About a dozen people showed up for Dave Lasch’s Concours Judging Clinic in hopes of gaining tips to prepare for Shenandoah’s upcoming Richmond Porsche Meet on May 31. Afterward, about 35 Porsche enthusiasts gathered on the Brixx patio for some socializing and a great lunch.
Sherry presided over a drivers meeting and explained the route we would be taking through southern Albemarle County on our way to the Satchidananda Ashram (affectionately known as Yogaville) located on the banks of the James River in Buckingham County. Talking Head’s “Road to Nowhere” playing over the stereo seemed like a fitting theme as I set off on my first-ever fun run headed to an ashram an hour south of Charlottesville.
Fifteen people were eager to make the group drive. Though once underway, maintaining a continuous Porsche phalanx through the four traffic lights between Brixx and getting on US 29 South proved impossible. I watched the car in front of me just make it through a long yellow light, but the light was firmly red by the time Tom Jeffrey and Harriet Nettles in his 911SC and I made it to the intersection. With the main group far ahead, our two-car chain maneuvered through the interstate traffic to the Scottsville exit.
Route 20 South headed toward Scottsville is a rolling two lane road flanked by younger homes interspersed among elegant, quintessentially Virginian farms. This curvaceous road, also known as the Constitution Highway, is well worth following from its source in Dillwyn all the way to Wilderness on the outskirts of Fredericksburg.
With the SC right behind me, we finally caught up with the string of Porsches, but there were a few minivans preventing the perfect line of German cars that appealed to my obsessive-compulsive proclivities. Eventually the family-haulers veered onto side roads on their way to wherever, and I found myself directly behind a fellow 986S driver who had wisely lowered his convertible top, too. We managed to get six Porsches in succession, and two more made their way in their own mini-convoy.
A few miles north of Scottsville, Sherry and Jim led the group off of Route 20 and onto a succession of back roads. The smaller roads with their tighter curves and pitching hills made for an exciting detour away from the more direct and docile route to Yogaville. As I look at the map of the ground we covered, it seemed much shorter driving it than the map suggests now as I write about the journey. Needless to say, winding through the twisties with the top down, the Boxster’s intake snarling, and the SC behind me accelerating sonorously made the miles exceptionally pleasurable.
My incredulity that there was an ashram nestled in the Buckingham County countryside melted away once we arrived at Yogaville’s well signposted setting high above the James River. We were met by Jeeva Joseph Abbate who served as our guide during the 90-minute tour of Satchidananda Ashram’s three important spaces. A handful of us boarded one of the Ashram’s vans while others in the group elected to drive themselves around the grounds. Our guide chauffeured us to the original building the founding Swami used for convening groups. It looked like a comfortable brick ranch house from any neighborhood. But the view over the James and towards the Blue Ridge mountains proved that we weren’t standing in just any ‘ol spot. The vista was stunning. Our guide used that opportunity to share some tenets of Integral Yoga and the teachings of the founding leader Sri Swami Satchidananda.
Our next stop was at Nataraja Shrine, an outdoor temple honoring several Hindi gods and goddesses. Again, we were all inspired by the expansive views from the bluffs above the James River. From our vantage point, we looked down onto the Lotus Shrine, which is an elaborate circular structure that “celebrates the unity behind the diversity of the world religions.” The Lotus Shrine is an impressive structure — even more so with a few Porsches in the parking. Our tour ended after having a few moments to appreciate the peacefulness in that space, which is sacred to many.
Sherry and Jim led a troupe off to dinner at Tavern on the James in Scottsville, but I had to make my way back home all too soon by a more direct route. My first fun run with the Porsche Club was a big success, and I look forward to making future runs, good excuses to drive down roads that seemingly lead to nowhere.
