We were hungry, it had been mentioned by Texas Dr. Gary, and it was close at hand (we were still afoot), so we headed for Italian dining at Luigi’s, a block from the riverfront. As soon as we entered, I knew we had made the right choice as a large poster greeted us of the Ruth Orkin image of “An American Girl in Italy”, a legendary photograph made in 1951 and discussed back in 2011 on my HHR photoblog. Luigi staff were conversant about the image and eager to discuss the backstory, too.
Our waiter, Kristoffer, provided useful intelligence on Washington wines (and led Herman to procure and pack a couple of bottles for his flight home). A good time was had by all, but we had to tote uneaten excess back to our room.
Never had been in Spokane before. Grabbed a few views while driving around seeking the hotel and getting a bit of the lay of the land. Stretched our legs walking around a few blocks as evening approached, with Herman striking up conversations at almost every step. Two Spokane residents impart some tips and intelligence on the local scene.
Photographers Abound
Malerie & Anthony
Herman and the Cruze
When we went to the hotel for check-in, I was sidetracked — still belted in and doing “windshield photography” — by, of all things, birds flying about around the hotel entrance.
Of course, there were the cars. Rather disconcerting to see such an unusual proportion of cars representing the Porsche marque, seemingly everywhere. We spotted a small group on a side street, polishing and fussing with their cars, so we stopped to talk. Turned out to be a five-Porsche family from Texas, a surgeon named Gary with his 2014 Cayman, his orthopedic surgeon daughter with a mid-80s 911 SC Targa, and the others just driving off — they had convoyed all their cars from San Antonio and Austin. Then we encountered a gentleman from Orange County who was hosing off his travel dust from his late model Cabriolet, very similar except in color to the one Herman left behind in Kansas City. And on and on.
First Porsche Sighting
First 944 Sighting
From Kansas, Nearly 20 Years Old
No Comment
Gary From Texas
Gary’s Wife and Cayman
Orange County CA Cabrio
The Famed Race Course
An SC, Around 30 Years Old
Cayman and SC
A 944 Lurking Behind a Hotel
Darkness Descends on the 944
Now, having been in town less than a couple of hours, it is time for Sunday dinner.
Herm flies in to Boise from Kansas City, then drives a rental Chevy Cruze in the dead of the night, landing in LaG City, where I meet him on Sunday to flee north. We take a slight detour and travel Old Hwy 30, then cruise through the Indian reservation on the edge of Pendleton, and then hit the freeway to the Tri-Cities, with a stop in Kennewick for lunch.
Herm Findis His Other Glasses
From Old Hwy 30
Cabbage Hill From Hwy 30
Herm Points, Then Shoots
The Chevy Cruze Conveyance
Overlooking the Valley From Hwy30
On the Way to Kennewick
Claire of Kennewick, Patient Waitress
Herm Contemplates the Menu
Somewhere in WA
Somewhere Else in WA
Still in Rural WA
WA
WA
WA
WA
A Mustang Passes Us
More WA
And here is a pano of one of my favorite Old Hwy 30 curves, high above the valley. This is a “secret” route that my Porsche friends, Kevin and CJ, like to traverse briskly with our cars. (Depending on how you are viewing this post, you may or may not be able to see the full resolution — the original panoramic that this is based on has dimensions of 100 inches wide — that’
s over 8 feet, you know — and 18 inches high; available upon request) but this scaled down version should be expandable to at least 24 inches by 4 inches.) Yes, Herman is jealous of our driving roads, saying that the like is almost nonexistent for the times he wants to “exercise” his Porsche.
Herman — I think you have met him before, like here — is a long-time friend I first met when we attended college together in Warrensburg, Missouri in the early 1960s. Although I can’t seem to locate any relevant pics I made from that period, I do have this scanned image (that I converted to B&W from the fading Kodachrome original) he sent me from Paris in 1964 (on the trip I was supposed to join as well, but … well, that’s another story):
But I was able to quickly lay my hands on a couple of shots made when I spent some saloon time with him (where? Kansas City?) in 1974.
So, back to the current adventure. The destination was Spokane, WA, because we had decided to attend the annual Porsche Parade, sponsored by the Porsche Club of America. To learn more, take a look at the previously-published epilogue for this series,
This past week I traveled with an old friend who likes to talk to strangers and tends to be curious about everything and everybody. Which, of course, adds greatly to the fun of travel. Not only greeting everyone he passes, it seemed that he was able to begin a lively conversation with anyone, from hotel and housekeeping staff to waiters to shop clerks to police on the street to dogwalkers, often within minutes extracting brief life histories and even laughter. I was reminded of this when almost the first piece of the day I read from my Quartz newsletter came up, and can be seen at this clickable link:
Guess I’m gonna have to start a mini-series of posts to document this week’s “Spokane Adventure”. Old college (CMSU, Warrensburg, MO) friend from 1963-64, Herman, flew out from his home in Kansas City to join me in a road trip to Spokane, WA, the unlikely venue for the 2017 staging of the annual event known as the “Porsche Parade”, a nine- or ten-day celebration of the Porsche automobile, sponsored by the Porsche Club of America (largest Porsche fan group in the known universe) and by Porsche of Stuttgart, Deutschland, itself.
The event rotates between places like Vermont and Michigan and Indiana and Miami and wherever — sort of like the Olympics; I heard that one was also staged in South Africa — but we never expected it to happen within striking distance. The original plan was for Herman to drive his 2005 911 Carrera S cabrio out here and join my friends and me as we all convoyed up into eastern WA (maybe even via Rattlesnake Canyon) driving our respective Porsches. But Herman had some foot surgery, so decided to fly and get a rental car (with automatic trans), and my local driving buddies ended up unable to participate.
So, I will introduce this little series with a photograph that Herman sent in the aftermath, when we returned to LaG City and dropped in to see Janet and unexpectedly stumbled upon the briefly visiting Boise contingent. The following is a photograph that Herman took and referred to as “Two Pretty Girls”.
Photo by Herman G. K.
More to follow, backfilling over the past week. Probably everything will be presented in reverse order …
MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art) has restored and published a short but wonderful travelogue of New York City originally created by a Swedish film crew in 1911. See it here.
Despite high winds, falling snow and a blizzard advisory, Kim walked Charles the Great this morning, and I joined for another session this afternoon after the air had calmed a bit. But it was unpleasant enough to compel me to find alternative visual inspiration. So digging through old Kodachromes, I find these from a December 1971 trip to Death Valley, taken somewhere in the Owens Valley on the way:
