It’s like being on the island, mon.

In the other Portland.

https://share.delorme.com/dammralliers

for our first ferry crossing tomorrow, the tail of Hurricane Somebody is whipping up the waves. Bay Ferries cancelled Monday’s run from Portland to Yarmouth. 

Looks like we have to drive into Nova Scotia. How dreadful!

Getting There
Targa Newfoundland starts September 10th, in St. Johns. That’s 4200 miles from Portland.

As Mr. Porsche once said, “These cars should be driven“, so trailering or transporting is not the plan. But taking a week to drive across country – while it sounds attractive – won’t fit within our time-off budget.  fret fret fret  Saved!  Our friends Diana & Eric were available and interested in a (practically) coast-to-coast run, and they’ve already picked up the car and headed out for the Atlantic.

Targa Americana

Telling a story with pictures and words is as old as language. Diana & Eric lay things out with a bit more pizzaz.

Prologue: Seattle To Portland

Sneaky Eric is bringing me a car-part. You can see it in the paper sack amongst their luggage.   Thanks man!

Escape From I-5

The West

Web-based tracking:  https://share.delorme.com/dammralliers

So Garmin acquired Delorme, including the latter’s ‘InReach’ service.

 

I was formerly a Magellan man, ever since some mid-Nineties angst about ownership of data and what the GPS hardware vendors would allow you to do with the hardware that you bought from them

when I was trying to add another two pounds of ground coffee to a 3# can that already held 1+. He said,

What you need is some vibratory compaction,

revealing another of the myriad hidden facets of his knowledge. He proceeded to lift-and-drop the can, up about an inch off the countertop, and then down! with a sharp impact. The granules shifted with each strike, scrambled loose by the shock — but drawn downward, relentlessly, by Terran gravity. Their rough edges collided, slid, and skipped, and the mass settled just a bit with every hit.

After a dozen repetitions, the 3# can held 3+ pounds of grounds.

My current container is not so round nor regular as a can. It’s the frunk of the 996; and I need to get all of this into that confine:

• FACTORY-INFLATABLE-SPARE
• FACTORY-JACK+LUG-WRENCH
• TIRE-PLUGS
• AIR-COMPRESSOR
• LUGNUTS
• OIL-FILTER+WRENCH
• NITRILE-GLOVES+HAND-CLEANER
• TOOLS+FAB-SUPPLIES+FASTENERS
• FLOOR-JACK
• JACKSTAND
• TORQUE-WRENCH
• IMPACT-GUN+CHARGER
• QUART-OF-0w40
• SPARE-798A+798A-MOUNT
• ELECTRICAL-KIT+DURAMETRIC
• TARP
• GLASS-CLEANER+PAPER-TOWELS
• STICKERS+MAGNETS
• CG-LOCKS
• HELMET
• TOW-STRAP+SHACKLE
• WARNING-TRIANGLES

After less than a dozen repetitions of unpack-repack, the hood does close. It’ll be interesting to see how things have settled when we meet the car in Boston in three weeks.

Fabbed mounts for the fire extinguisher, axle sensors, rally computer, and the spare tire. Ran cables. Stuck Velcro. Zipped zipties.

Ready

Kinda chilly at 6500 ft

The 996’s flat-six motor is mounted behind the rear axle. To lower the the car’s C.G., the motor’s mounted low. And, to make it light, the motor’s made mostly of aluminum.

This all means that when you (or the previous owner, heh) backs the car up into a parking space and scrapes the curb, the lowest, rearest aluminum edge on the motor (the edge of the oil pan) is going to give way when it meets the concrete.

 non-discriminatory scrapage (both sides) 

Yeech.

I started scheming on a UHWM polyethelene sheet to cover the pan, but — whatyaknow? turns out Porch has an accessory bottom plate that pretty much bolts on.  I took the weazy way out, wabbit.