The Escape Tour

by Jim LaMonica

The Porsche “Escape” event is now in its second year and is intended to be a substitute event for PCA club members that couldn't attend the annual Porsche Parade. This year the Escape was hosted by the Roadrunner Region of New Mexico and was held in Albuquerque. Since the Parade was in Charlotte this year. Albuquerque, while still a long drive from Riverside was a great alternative.

With a little help from member Judy Halpern the Riverside Region was able to gather 16 members for the drive to Albuquerque. Since we were all departing from different locations in the region it was decided that we meet for the first night at a hotel in Flagstaff, AZ. Amazingly, as I pulled into the hotel parking lot I recognized a car or two from our group and within about 15 minutes everyone had arrived, even though an arrival time was never discussed (I guess we all think alike). We immediately made plans for a group dinner at a local Brew House to get the party started.

The next morning we all started out together for the final drive to Albuquerque. It was a very scenic drive along interstate 40 and along the way we picked up a couple of other Porsches going to the event. A gas and a lunch stop later and we were checking into the Marriott Hotel on the east edge of Albuquerque and removing the bugs from our cars at the wash rack set up in the hotel parking lot.

The first night started out with a dinner at the Anderson-Abruzzo International Balloon Museum where we were able to view the history of hot air ballooning through out the ages and meet all of the other Porsche enthusiasts attending the event.

For the next two days the Roadrunner Region had arranged numerous drives for us to choose from, leaving and arriving at different times and traveling to destinations as far away as Taos and the VLA space radio telescope site. We also attended an informal concours event and a BBQ on the lawn of the nearby Tanoan Country Club. The final night was highlighted with a formal banquet at the hotel with guest speaker Vic Elford and the event was over.

I'm not sure what this means, but...out of the 8 cars attending from the Riverside Region, 3 of us purchased new tires for our Porsche's along the way, and the 4th purchased them immediately after arriving home. Twice a month at our Region's breakfast events in Palm Springs and Riverside we dedicate a time slot referred to as “tire kicking,” it appears that just kicking them is not enough.

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