By Bruno Ferraro
My wife Chris and I were eating dinner in May of this year with Vinny Criscione and Nancy Dickenson reminiscing about our great fall trip in our Porsche 992’s. In late October of 2023 we did a 1980-mile trip to Savannah, Charleston, the Blue Ridge, Tail of the Dragon, Nashville, Navarre and back home. It was the first time Chris had been allowed to travel since her bone marrow transplant the previous year. Where are we going this year? This was the topic of our dinner conversation. How about we go visit my cousin in Hiawassee Georgia? He and his brother have Corvettes and love to drive in the mountains. Then we can spend a few days in Asheville, NC to visit Nancy’s 94-year-old aunt and see the glass art show at the Biltmore. After that, do some of the Blue Ridge Parkway back to Hiawassee to do a little more of the mountain roads. So, that week I made hotel reservations and travel plans with my cousins.
This all changed when Hurricane Helene hit Asheville and the surrounding area. Vinny calls me and we quickly change plans. I said to Vinny, “Man plans, and God laughs”. There were no issues getting refunds from the Biltmore and canceling hotel and dinner reservations as the floods seriously impacted both. In the meantime, Chris and I got an invitation to a late October wedding in San Antonio, Texas. So, we decided to go to see my cousins in Hiawassee Georgia to drive the mountain roads then head to Chattanooga since none of us had ever been there. Then Vinny and Nancy can drive home, and Chris and I can continue onto Texas. We decided to start our trip in Atlanta and drive cars on the track with the Space Coast PCA. Vinny reserved a 911S and I reserved one for Chris and another one for me. Man, this will be fun. We would leave on October 11 and drive the Porsche Atlantic Experience on the 12th. Then Hurricane Milton hit. Man plans, and God Laughs, again.
We could not leave on October 11 due to hurricane issues. Nancy’s daughter had evacuated from St. Pete, and I had my boat to deal with. It lives full time in the water and the water which had come up about 8-inches above the dock. We were able to leave on October 12 after dealing with family, property, and boats. “I’ll meet you at I-95 and the Beeline Expressway at 8AM”, I said to Vinny. Off we go.
Just prior to the trip I had Porsche of Melbourne do the 20,000-mile service on Chris’s Ruby Star 992 Cabriolet. I also had new tires installed. I had a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 that Vinny had gotten me ready to install. All went well and the car was driving like a 911 should. About an hour down I-95 Vinny calls me on the phone. “Hey, you have something flopping around under your right rear tire”. I’m thinking that maybe I picked up a plastic bag, so we got off at the next rest stop. Sure enough, part of Ruby was hanging down off the read axel and it was no plastic bag. But the car was too low to diagnose the problem at a rest stop, so we decided to soldier- on. My cousin has a lift, and we will deal with this tomorrow when I can raise the car in the air. Off we go at warp speed.
We saw a lot of damage on I-10 and I-75 left behind by Hurricane Helene. Valdosta Georgia got hit hard too. First stop was lunch in Valdosta at a southern soul food buffet. We were stuffed and happy. Next stop, Hiawassee, Georgia at less than warp speed due to a food coma. The top came down on Ruby as soon as we got off I-75. It was a beautiful day! We arrived around 6ish and were greeted by my Italian cousins. They sound just like Vinny, so all was good. “My car is dirty”, exclaims Vinny for the first of many times saying this. “I can’t drive it like this”!
The next morning, we drove over to my cousin’s custom shop. He does interiors, convertibles, and lots of boats. We put Ruby up on his lift and the dragging part was immediately obvious. The air diverter that feeds air to the rear brakes came unfastened and was bouncing off the road. It was damaged but we were able to clip it back on and all was good. Whew! We had a long way to travel over the next 20 days.
After we fixed Ruby, we were off to drive a 200-mile loop. It was Porsche versus Corvette. My one cousin has a custom C5 and my other cuz has a C4 and a C7 Grand Sport. This was going to be a fun day. The weather was cool and sunny, so it was a perfect rag-top-day. Traffic was light as we drove on Route 69 and 61 into Andrew, North Carolina. Heading north into the Nantahala National Forest on Route 74 we picked up some nice sports cars and motorcycles playing follow the leader. Route 129 took us into Robbinsville N.C and we were all hungry due to our late start this morning having to lift Ruby off the ground to check her undercarriage. Around 2PM we arrived at the Historic Topoco Lodge Resort nestled next to a rocky creek. There we have a delicious lunch next to the river with plenty of like-minded car enthusiasts. In the parking lot were several 911’s, GT3’s and GT4’s, Corvettes, Miata, WRX, Mustang Super Snake and plenty of rice-burners. It was like a mini car and motorcycle show with people headed to and from the Tail of the Dragon. The cars and bikes got alot of attention from the lunch goers. Our lunch conversation focused on how fun this loop is and how it would be a great trip for the Space Coast PCA to do. It would be fun to stay at the lodge overnight and drive the Dragon as part of the loop. So many fun roads in these parts.
After lunch we backtracked 20 miles to Route 143 the Route 165 to Tellico Plains, Tennessee where we picked up 68 south and 74 back into North Carolina. The sun was setting, we had no cell service for most of this part of the loop and the Corvettes were nowhere to be seen. We continued southeast on 74 to Route 19south back into Georgia and home to my cousin’s house in Hiawassee. The Vettes showed up about 30 minutes later. A clear win for Porsche.
The next morning, we washed the Porsches after the frost melted. Vinny refused to drive a “dirty” car to Helen, Georgia as this would be a bad reflection on the Space Coast PCA. The day warmed up nicely and it was another rag-top-day as we drove Route 75/17 into Helen. Another fun forest road with some twisty parts thrown in for good measure. Helen, Georgia was touristy but still fun. We ate German food and desserts, ran into our friend and neighbor from Cocoa Beach and simply enjoyed the sunny day with friends and family.
The next day we drove the short 2 hours to Chattanooga Tennessee to our first stop, Rock City. We did not know what to expect and were pleasantly surprised by how spectacular this was. It is like a “rock-park” with lots of engineered improvements to make it safe to meander the assigned trail. A few times Vinny and I needed to really suck in our guts to squeeze between a few of the narrower passages. After lunch we decided to seek out the local Porsche dealer. You guessed it, Vinny’s car was a little dusty and he wanted to see if we could get them washed.
The folks at Porsche of Chattanooga were happy to see us and welcomed us graciously. They thanked us for thinking about them and offered to wash both cars. While we waited, we swapped stories with the sales staff and discovered many places our paths had crossed. They showed us some nice cars, gave us refreshments, and had some laughs at Vinny’s jokes. The cars showed up clean and pretty, we tipped the staff who made them shine and off to the Hilton to check in.
Chattanooga was a pleasant surprise. We stayed downtown within walking or Uber distance to the aquarium, river boats, restaurants, and carriage rides. We even went on a historic choo-choo train ride to visit a rare train restoration workshop and a train carousel to turn the engine around for our return journey. This place was impressive for any history buff, engineer, or gearhead. They not only maintain and restore their own engines and train cars, but museums around the world hire them to restore their engines and cars at this location. They have many single-purpose tools, some as old as the cars they service.
We had a wonderful steak dinner at Main Street Meats, located in the south side of Chattanooga. Locally sourced meats, produce and craft beers make this a favorite of locals. By the time we finished our meal, there was a line outside the door. We knew the reason and we took an Uber back to the hotel for a farewell nightcap. Tomorrow was Saturday, just a little more than a week after dealing with the Hurricane. Vinny and Nancy were headed for home, and Chris and I were continuing our vacation for another 2 weeks.
Chris and would go on to travel west to see friends and family in Nashville, Tennessee, Heber Springs, Arkansas, Dallas, Fredericksburg (wine country), and San Antonio, Texas (for a wedding). At this point we had driven 2300 miles. After the wedding, we began our way back by way of the Golden Nugget in Lake Charles, and, New Orleans, Louisiana to visit old friends and eat local Cajun food. Then a scenic drive on US Highway 90 along the Gulf Coast to Pensacola to visit more friends and had a reunion dinner with 4 couples. On day 20 we headed home from Pensacola to finish for a total of 3840 miles averaging 25 mpg. Ruby was very dirty because Vinny was not there to make me wash her. Fred, my detailer, would make her beautiful again on Monday, just in time for the Cocoa Village Car Show.
Hey Vinny, let’s go back to Hiawassee next year!
Please enjoy this photo album of Bruno & Vinny’s Excellent Adventure – Photos: Bruno & Vinny’s Excellent Adventure (and the Women Who Love Them)
