On 14 July 2002, a Sunday morning, I drove ZeeBee the short distance from Ann Arbor, MI to Auburn, IN. The occasion was attend a Porsche parts swap meet, across the I-69 from the Kruse Auto Auction facilities there. It was an opportunity to drive with a few of my SE MI Auto Cities Gruppe of the 356 Registry, and meet some of the Ohio Tub Fanatics and other mid western Porsche aficionados.

There were several Boxsters there and one of my BRBS-III colleagues from Michigan, Greg Laporte, who is now (regretfully) Boxster-less and was at the Swap meet with his young son, in his red Porsche 968.

The map to the right shows (in blue) that I drove the Interstates (solo, early in the morning) til I reached the NE Indiana lake country. I then headed a bit west on the hilly and curvy roads there to reach IN SR-327, which is a very nice country road on which tp bypass the southbound I-69. The return route (in red) avoided the Interstate Highway system and used state and county roads to thread our way back to Ann Arbor. The weather was warm and great for top-down driving.

The high point of my experiences on this brief outing was getting a check ride in Harry Burnstine's 356-A Carrera. While I own a 1986 Porsche 911 Carrera, to me that name will always ring most true when applied to the 1600 gear-driven twin overhead cam four cylinder aircooled engine in the 356 class racers and cars.

It was but a brief, 15 minute ride on and off the nearby I-69 (between exits 129 and 126). Harry touched three digit speeds for a only short time, but the auditory experience of the high revving engine and the 'seat-of-the-pants' feel of longitudinal and lateral acceleration made it a memorable event.

To capture it in a photographic image is really impossible, but I asked Harry to drop me off at the roadside, on the approach to the swap meet site and then to drive past me while I exercised the 4 frame/sec. firing rate of the Nikon D1. Ho obliged and this is one of the better representative photos.

On the return, two of my 356 Registry colleagues (red 1964 C Coupe and white 1955 Pre-A Coupe) and I (Zenith Blue 2000 Boxster) made a patriotic trio caravan on the county roads and state routes back to Ann Arbor, MI. We ostracised the 356 Registry friend (1963 Aetna Blue Cabriolet) who drove his dark green Explorer to cary the parts (for sale and purchased).

We stopped at Hal's Garage.