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A lot of my spirited runs as everybody knows are all basically in southern California in
and around the mountain roads, within a two, three hundred mile range of downtown L.A.
Generally that whole environment is high desert, dry, arid. Here in Raleigh, North Carolina,
everything's undulating, everything is amazingly lush and green. We're here in mid October,
the leaves are starting to change and it's one of those, being out in California for
so long, in southern California, you really lose track of time. Because it is somewhat
of a season-less environment, where it's pretty much the sun shines most of the time. There's
not a really tremendous amount of difference whether you go for a drive in February or
you go for a drive in September. Maybe it's a little bit hotter but the environment is
the same. The landscape is the same. Been a long, long time since I've been in a green.
Lush environment, driving a car. It's just amazing how green it is here.
Basically I'm on what I like to call my southern charm and hospitality road trip where for
the first time I'm actually driving my favorite 1971 911T car number 277 on some really exciting
fresh new roads in a new environment that I've never driven on before.
I actually got to drive my favorite car, number 277 on VIR, which I believe is a 1.6 mile
tight twisty track. It was just great to experience a different track in a different environment.
The majority of tracks that I've driven, they're all essentially tracks that are out in the
desert, the high desert, dry and dusty environment. VIR is a complete opposite. It's in a completely
tranquil setting, very lush, rolling hillside and the track is phenomenal.
I'm also here to attend the first time of the North Carolina museum of all Porsche By
Design seducing speed event. I've never seen Porsches in a museum. The last car I saw in
a museum, ironically, was an E type Jag and that was in London. I think having an environment
like the North Carolina Museum of Art where Porsche was on hand to display a lot of their
historic cars enabled people like myself that don't really visit museums to actually see
an environment that is not a traditional museum environment. Obviously I often talk about
Porsche is its own design aesthetic, especially the 911, an iconic car that's really not changed
much of its DNA in fifty years. It was just like the perfect setting of car design in
an art museum. It's not very often I drive this car in the
rain. It's been slightly drizzly and damp all day. I actually bolted on a set of windshield
wipers that I happened to have in the trunk of my car. It's just been a great, great change
of pace. I'm so glad that I'm here with my car, as opposed to driving around in a rental
car. Just to be at one with my favorite car on these open roads which are new to me and
just the whole landscape of old, old buildings. You see these great old decaying farm houses
and barns, that some are abandoned. There seems to be a lake on every property. It's
just a really different landscape that is fresh and exciting. It's a landscape that
you don't see in California or at least in southern California. That's the great thing
about North Carolina. It's really just a great place to be.