Anthony Coyne
Fort Lauderdale, FL @elferusa
Model 997.2 CARRERA S Year 2009 Acquired FEBRUARY 2021
It’s been madness here. We drove the 911 from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Minneapolis, MN so Alfie (our dog) could have a life-saving second craniotomy. And then we drove back again. Around 4,000 miles. Four huge sessions in the car between 12 and 18 hours. A couple of issues back I reported how we rushed him to the emergency room following an horrific cluster seizure. A high dose of medication had kept them from returning but that can only last so long, so we drove up to see his neurological team who did imaging confirming what we all suspected – the tumour had regrown. Well, it’s gone again now, and he’s enrolled on a new clinical trial. However, the new trial involves visiting the University of Minnesota every six weeks. We will be doing some travelling over the coming months! The next visit will be in December, snow will be on the ground. I doubt even a die-hard 911 fan like me will attempt to drive the Porsche for that one. Maybe I will see how the weather looks nearer the time.
Oddly it really isn’t that bad a car for what we are doing. Alfred sits in the back on some blankets really close to us which he likes, as do we because it is easy to reach around and check on him. We are also getting a bit more confident at spotting patrol cars, and with the help of Waze are able to unleash a little more of the flat six to eat away at the arrival times. The game is to take the estimated arrival time when we set off and try to match it despite our stop times (which Waze and Google don’t allow for). If it sounds boring, spending hour after hour on US Interstate roads, you’d mostly be right, but interesting things do happen. I will share the most outrageous. As we crossed from Kentucky into Tennessee, late at night, we stopped at the ‘Welcome Center’ rest area just across the State line so we could give the dog his medication and take a pee. These places always have a dog walking area but the location of where they are varies so you have to look for it. I saw a sign with a dog on it, walked over and saw it was saying the area was to the left, so I headed over to it and stood next to the sign with Alfred that declared we were in the right spot. At this point an overly officious security guard came over and told me where the dog walking area was. The area I was already in? Tired, and a bit annoyed by this person I told him I didn’t need his help to know where the area was – I was already in it. I’m sure you can picture it unfolding, but what I wasn’t expecting was to be told to get back in my ‘fancy car’ and leave. His words, or at least some of them, included this gem; “I will put you on the ground and hog-tie
you, boy”. Anyway, we got back in the car while he cracked his taser off a few times for additional encouragement – not that I needed any.
I doubt this 997 has ever been so dirty. It has now passed 100k miles, and unwashed in 5k. The service light came on while heading to Minneapolis. I called Harper Porsche of Knoxville who serviced the car back in March, and they kindly squeezed me into their workshop at very short notice so the car could be sorted on the way home. They seemed very impressed that I’d managed almost 14,000 miles since I saw them last. I asked them not to wash it as I want the satisfaction of the before and after by my own hands. There is also something very satisfying about it looking the way it does, caked in brake dust and road grime. It looks like a central London car – except the wheels have still not been kerbed. Renée deserves a gold star!