by: Dean Lewellen

At least a dozen Arizona Region members and their associates will be traveling a thousand miles north from Phoenix to Boise, Idaho in late July to participate in the annual, week long Porsche gathering known as "The Porsche Parade". This year's Parade will be number forty-seven in the sequence of consecutive yearly happenings which can be traced back to the inaugural meeting held in 1956 at Gaithersburg, Maryland and hosted by the Potomac Region, the founding region of the Porsche Club of America. Eighty-five Porsches were entered in that first event at a cost of $13.00 for PCA members and $15.00 for non-members, and, sixty-four PCAers were recorded as entrants--what a bargain! Legend has it that an actual parade of Porsches or at least a conga line of the cars wove and drove through the streets of the host city, thus coining the phrase, Porsche Parade, which has become the enduring title for PCA's annual convention of cars and people. An actual parade of Porsches through downtown Boise will be a resurrected feature at this year's Parade. This marks the first time since the 31st Parade in 1986 in Portland, Maine, that a "parade at a Parade" will be part of the program. Attendees should be aware that this year's Parade Through Boise (PTB) will occur on Friday morning, August 2nd, and will limited to the first 250 street-legal Porsches entered in the event--a small but necessary concession to Boise's Finest who will monitor the flow through the downtown streets.

Let's begin with some information found on the Internet about the expected journey and stay in Boise in late July and early August. First, Mapquest.com defines the distance from downtown Phoenix to downtown Boise as 1000.33 miles with a driving time of 21 hours and 16 minutes routing through Flag, Page, Salt Lake City, Twin Falls to Boise. I have traveled these roads several times enroute to Seattle and now that the Olympic construction in SLC is complete, it should be a smooth sail north. An overnight at the Little America Inn in downtown Salt Lake City is a good stay on the road. Second, the elevation of Boise is 3000 feet and the August 1st temperatures historically average 90F daytime and 56F nighttime--should be and feel about like Sedona/Prescott in August.

Next, review the equipment list for travel which was the initial "From The Motor Pool" subject in the September 2001 issue of GOING PLACES. If your September issue can no longer be found, this article is available on the Arizona Region website in the Motorpool section found on the home page. In that article, I misspoke by saying to carry a roll of 2-inch masking tape--I really meant to say carry a roll of 2-inch duct tape, which is an invaluable resource for many emergencies, and, a super lint picker-upper for the concours crowd, as well. After living with this misstatement for eight months, I have now come clean, but after more thought about it, the masking tape is probably a good idea to have along, also. The Driver's Education Preparation article in the November 2001 issue of GOING PLACES is a good checklist for long distance travel as well. A copy of this article is also available on the Region's website.

The meat and potatoes of the Parade will be the events and activities involving you and your Porsche. Imagine a Phoenix Flight, a Cinco de Mayo or a Fiesta del Porsche multiplied by about six and you will begin to visualize the competition content of a Porsche Parade. The Concours takes all day Monday to complete the judging with the preparation going on 24/7 for several days prior to Monday morning placement. The Driving event takes three days to complete all the class runs (they are planning to complete the autocross in two days in Boise-good luck). The TSD rally takes most of Tuesday to complete and score. There is a Technical Quiz on Porsche model groupings on Saturday morning. There are events like art shows, walking rallies, a golf tournament, RC racing, Technical Sessions, a huge Goodie Store, Workshops for committee chairpeople, a Rally School, a Web Site Seminar, a Newsletter Seminar, a Memorabilia Swap Meet, a Driver's Ed Seminar and more. You should have no fear of entering as many Parade events and activities as you and your associate can schedule (you just can't do everything). Lots of folks enter events at a Parade they would never consider trying at their home region. The serious competitors will rule anyway, so go out and have some fun with your old and newly acquired friends. You will meet new people at a Parade, some of whom will remain forever close. The last big events are the Worker's Party (great door prizes) and the closing Victory Banquet (more great door prizes).

The host region for the 47th Porsche Parade is the Silver Sage Region of Zone 6. They will receive lots of help and support from their neighboring regions in Zone 6, PCA National and elsewhere in the country with the production and execution of the events and activities during this Parade. Of some historical and perhaps some trivial interest, the Silver Sage Region last hosted a Parade, the 16th one, in 1971 in Sun Valley, Idaho. In 1971, the Parade Chairman was a fellow by the name of Mick Williams, who became the President of PCA during the late 1970s and early 1980s. At the close of the final Victory Banquet on Saturday night, Mick ended the affair with a short, anonymous offering called "An Irish Prayer". People were so moved and taken by the words which were so profoundly appropriate to many, that Mick was called upon to close the final Victory Banquet at every Porsche Parade following 1971 until his untimely death due to cancer in the early 1990s. Leonard Turner, Panorama Chief Photographer and PCA Policy Committee Chair, has closed every Parade since Mick died with this short prayer and will do so in Boise, I'm sure. With your indulgence, the message that means so much to many PCA'ers follows:

May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
And the rains fall softly upon your fields.
And, until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

That says a lot in a few words and says it all for a lot of us. Thanks, Mick.