Helen

[Steve Harrison]

The Helen event was the best four days I've spent in a long time.
The best description I can give is picture a huge group of 356 nuts getting together and trying to out-nice each other,...and all of them succeeding.

Hats off to the organizers too, they covered the big stuff, and the details,...even arranged for gorgeous weather to boot.

Lots of drivers, lots of drives. No tight agendas, unless you count the not to be missed outdoor cookouts, pitch perfect live band playing really good mostly period appropriate tunes wafting over the field, campfire, and even the silver lining of the beer taps running a little slow, (Curt toiled valiantly to solve that ,..) But heck, it made us ration haha, kept the party going,...and that's good because we were all having WAY too much fun anyway,.. 8)

Thanks fellas.

[David Jones]

Times 2 on what Steve said. I did however have a little glitch on the way home. I had reprogrammed my GPS for "shortest route" It apparently cannot distinguish between paved and unpaved roads. If anyone else tries to run "Joe Brown Highway in NC up past Hiwassee dam. Do not try it. It is a dirt road and pretty much goes nowhere. The paved road to it and past it are a blast but it did add an hour to my trip. Good to remember that the time spent behind the wheel of my 356 does not come off my lifespan. I only covered 1100 miles round trip some of it with three adults aboard. Much less than some but apart from my throttle pedal fragmenting the car performed as one would expect. The throttle pedal by the way was a repro part so Porsche cannot be blamed for the spot welds giving way.

[C J Murray]

Helen was great! I moved 1 keg from the gas taps to the hand pump tap and volume drinking was restored! Curt and George and all the volunteers were fantastic! I was named the Official Complaint Chairman but somehow there were ZERO complaints! That's how good a job the guys did. Thank you all!

Jean and I drove 740 miles home today in 11.25 hours including 2 stops. The car never missed a beat.

[George Bryan]

Many thanks to all who enjoyed the third GA mountain party. We had, by reported accounts, 64 cars on the road for DY 356 Day (not all drivers were on the Helen 100km but chose to explore out on the road and meet up at the winery. That was cool with us). Long distance driver, Tom Olson, from Whidby Island WA, hung in there and is heading home.

Kudos to all who drove their cars in all the driving events including the Sunday Helen 100Km run to the wine. Special shout out to all those who drove their cars thru Atlanta traffic and back for the PORSCHE experience.

We appreciate all who attended, volunteered to do some of the odd jobs that needed done, and just helped keep the true spirit of our event in motion. Congrats to all winners in our dirty car sneaky award events at Porsche & Yonah.

Thanks again to our many sponsors. Special thanks again to those who stepped up and volunteered to help with the chores of keeping things tidy and tight. In addition to the fun, we raised over $1000 to send to the American Cancer Society from our badge and poster auction. Thanks to all bidders who made that possible.

Anyone who has pictures that would like to contribute to our photo album, please mail them to Janis Croft jlcfog@gmail.com

Hope everyone had safe travels home. Yes, the T shirt design was by accident and thats our story and we are sticking to it. IF there is a 2017 Helen, we'll let you know....maybe...doubtful...possible...IF... dunno...

Thanks,
George, Curt, Leonard, & Frank

PS If anyone has a video of "Waylon & Willie", please send it to me email. My daughters camera gronked and I'd like to have a copy of the "performance".

[Cliff Hanson]

Helen was great! I moved 1 keg from the gas taps to the hand pump tap and volume drinking was restored! Curt and George and all the volunteers were fantastic! I was named the Official Complaint Chairman but somehow there were ZERO complaints! That's how good a job the guys did. Thank you all!

Jean and I drove 740 miles home today in 11.25 hours including 2 stops. The car never missed a beat.

That's an average speed of 66 mph, including stops! You were cranking on, even for good roads.

[David Jones]

Pictures of the group at the vineyard.

[Hermage Coward]

My thanks to George, Curt, Leonard, Frank and the ladies in their lives for all their hard and great work. It was a most enjoyable weekend even though I had a couple of car problems, a broken starter and shift coupler that came loose. That happened on Friday afternoon Atlanta traffic but for some reason it would go into gear in time to get out of the way of the other crazy drivers. It finally gave up at the start of drive to the winery. We stopped in a parking lot and fixed the problem. Thanks to my Bendix crew that gladly pushed the car every time needed.

Again a big hand to the crew, sponsors and those who pitched in to help.

Fred

[DonCichocki]

Guys,
It was my 1st trip to your gathering in Helen and I had a wonderful time, many thanks!
Regards,
Don

[Jeffrey Leeds]

+ 1 for all the prior complements. Another milestone for great 356 memories and a very high bar has been set for future events.

Jeff

[Alan Winer]

On behalf of all the Florida Owner Group attendees, I would like to express our appreciation for the incredible event, George, Curt, Frank and Leonard organized. What a great experience to see all the 356s and spend time with other owners. We Florida flatlanders are grateful for the opportunity to drive great curving roads at altitudes above 10 feet sea level.
Alan Winer
President Florida Owners Group (FOG)

[Ron LaDow]

George, if this is telling stories out of school, you get to raise my dues!
G. Dunn and wife Patricia left Helen on Sunday in the C Cab; are in El Paso this evening, hoping to get together with yours truly and darlin' wife Nine for a Thursday night dinner in SF, leaving to get to Rennsport for, say, lunch on Friday.
He's gotten an intermittent miss on one cylinder (as far as he can tell), but if that were the worst problem I had after driving X hours per day in the southern heat with a wife by my side, I'd be singing the praises of joy!
Is anyone else doing the transit? Is there an iron-butt award?

[Steve Harrison]

I got to see the green machine in person this time, sat in it, started her up even.
(I gave him grief at the Fontana event for being a 'laggard' for not driving his car, haha)
His response?..."I'm the kind of guy who takes his engine out to clean it". We laughed.
George should be rightly proud of the trip he bit off,...that's a long drive in a small car.
And it really did look, and sound, nice.

[Jeffrey Leeds]

Ron, the Iron Butt award has to be permanently retired to Tom Olson.

He left Washington State weeks ago (4 weeks?) to come to the Helen Event and is now on the way back to the West Coast for the next Big Thing. We are all in amazement of his travel prowess.

This not to ignore all of the other Members travel accomplishments - but we all pale in comparison.

Hope that George's issue is solved by a fresh tank gas, and their progress continues unabated from here.

Jeff

EDIT: Tom spends so much time behind the wheel that he has a Carbon Monoxide warning device attached as a "dash plaque". Worth thinking about especially for closed cars.

[C J Murray]

George, if this is telling stories out of school, you get to raise my dues!
G. Dunn and wife Patricia left Helen on Sunday in the C Cab; are in El Paso this evening, hoping to get together with yours truly and darlin' wife Nine for a Thursday night dinner in SF, leaving to get to Rennsport for, say, lunch on Friday.
He's gotten an intermittent miss on one cylinder (as far as he can tell), but if that were the worst problem I had after driving X hours per day in the southern heat with a wife by my side, I'd be singing the praises of joy!
Is anyone else doing the transit? Is there an iron-butt award?

George has been through a lot these past few years with his car and the club. I hope he has a great big smile on his face for the entire trip!

[C J Murray]

I apologize for not calling out Leonard and Frank by name. Actually, many people pitched in with so many things so I apologize to all those people as well. I should thank the weather channel too. I think we had the maximum amount of fun possible. Oh, and the winery where we had our lunch was fantastic. Can anybody post a picture of the building and the grounds? Striking!