Some trips start when you turn the key. This one started when the Porsches got loaded onto the transport truck.

For Porsche Parade 2026 in Lake Placid, I decided to do the sane thing on the front end and the slightly questionable thing on the back end. I shipped Skipper, my Racing Yellow 718 Boxster GTS 4.0, up to New York with Reliable Carriers, then planned to drive her all the way back home to McKinney, Texas after Parade.

That sounded brilliant when I booked it.

It still sounded brilliant when I saw the Porsches loaded up and heading toward Albany.

It sounded a little more interesting when I was staring at roughly 1,800 miles of weather, traffic, Buc-ee’s, hotel parking lots, oil level warnings, and the general joy of choosing the long way home in a two-seat Porsche.

But that’s the point.

If I wanted easy, I would have stayed home.

Getting the Porsches to Albany

The first chapter was getting our Maverick PCA cars shipped up to Porsche Clifton Park near Albany, New York. Reliable Carriers handled the transport, and Porsche Clifton Park took delivery of the cars for us.

Seeing Skipper sitting there in New York, in good company with other Porsches, felt a little like summer camp drop-off. The cars got there before we did, lined up and waiting for their people. Another truck arrived too, so our cars had plenty of company and were already making friends before we showed up.

Special thanks to Porsche Clifton Park and their GM Christian  and Service Manager Jacob for taking delivery of the cars and giving them some TLC before we arrived. That made the whole thing easy.

Porsche Albany also handled one very important piece of business before I picked Skipper up. They replaced my worn Yokohama AD09s with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires before I arrived. That turned out to be a very good call with the weather and mileage ahead.

And before anyone starts clutching their torque wrench, don’t worry. I still have fresh AD09s mounted on my Apex 18-inch wheels. The fun tires are not gone. They’re just waiting for the right kind of bad idea.

For this trip, though, the Michelins made sense. The PS4S is hard to beat for a long road trip with rain, changing temperatures, mountain roads, and a whole lot of highway. Maybe not as sharp as the AD09s when things get spicy, but a much better choice for crossing half the country without turning the drive home into a weather report with consequences.

Of course, getting myself to New York was less elegant. My flight through DFW was delayed for a couple of hours, because apparently no trip can begin without an airport reminding you who is actually in charge.

Eventually I made it to New York, reunited with Skipper, and the real trip began.

Albany to Lake Placid: The Backroads Were the Whole Point

The easy thing would have been to leave Porsche Clifton Park and take the fast route north to Lake Placid.

We did not do the easy thing.

We pointed the cars toward the twisty backroads and turned a simple drive into an all-day Adirondack warmup. The route took us through small towns, rolling countryside, Vermont detours, lakeside stretches, and enough two-lane roads to make the whole shipping decision feel instantly justified.

The crew was small and perfect. I was in Skipper, Pat and David were in their white Boxster named Sweet Pea, and Kevin and Jen — who normally drive a red Cayenne — were in a rental for this run.

Three cars, just enough radios, and a route that made the trip take about twice as long as the direct highway drive.

Worth it.

We ran from the Clifton Park / Albany area through places like Greenwich, Cambridge, Granville, Poultney, Lake St. Catherine, and eventually back into New York near Crown Point and Port Henry before making our way into Lake Placid. A motorcycle accident forced a major detour and some backtracking, but even that became part of the story.

Adirondack Road Trip with Pat, David, Jen and Kevin

I barely took pictures because I was focused on leading the little caravan. That’s usually how I know the drive was good. I wasn’t thinking about content. I was watching mirrors, curves, road signs, traffic, and the next stretch of pavement.

The Adirondacks and Vermont are sneaky like that. One minute you’re just trying to get somewhere, and the next minute the road bends just right, the trees open up, the mountains show off a little, and suddenly the destination can wait.

Porsche Parade Check-In and the First Adirondack Loop

Once we got to Lake Placid, Porsche Parade officially started doing what Porsche Parade does best: turning ordinary parking lots into candy stores.

Check-in was at Saranac Lake High School, and the place was packed with Porsches of every flavor. I picked up the Parade goodies, took in the scene, and waited for Craig to arrive. While he went through check-in, I did the very glamorous Porsche Parade thing and had a couple slices of pizza.

Then we went driving.

Because of course we did.

We headed toward Whiteface Mountain with the idea of driving up the toll road. It rained the entire time, which gave the roads that moody Adirondack look and gave Skipper another chance to prove she is more than just a pretty yellow thing with stripes.

At Whiteface, it was $25 per vehicle to go up. We were perfectly willing to pay, but the ranger told us the summit was completely fogged in and we wouldn’t be able to see anything. Easy decision. We thanked him for being straight with us, turned around, and kept driving.

We made one real photo stop in Wilmington when I saw the sign. Nice stop, decent photo, not sure it was worth pulling over for, but sometimes you take the shot because the car looks good and the road has been working you over in all the right ways.

The roads around Wilmington, Jay, Keene, and Lake Placid have the right mix for a Porsche. Elevation changes, wet pavement, mountain curves, small-town scenery, and enough rhythm to make you forget you’re technically “just out for a drive.”

Concours, Toy Story Porsches, and Parade Weirdness

One of the best parts of Parade is that you never really know what you’re going to see.

The Concours had the usual beautiful machinery, but the Toy Story-inspired Porsches stole a lot of attention. Buzz Lightyear was cool, but I’ll admit it — I think I’d rather get a Woody.

Some cars are polished to perfection. Some cars are built to make people laugh. The best Parade cars usually do both.

That’s what I love about these events. Yes, Porsche people can be serious. Sometimes very serious. Painfully serious. But then somebody rolls in with a Toy Story theme and suddenly everybody remembers this is supposed to be fun.

The PCA Tour to Ausable Chasm

One of my favorite drives of the week was the PCA Tour to Ausable Chasm.

My nephew Mikey rode with me as navigator, which made the day even better. There’s something special about having someone in the right seat who gets to experience the road with you. A good navigator is part route manager, part lookout, part passenger-side hype man.

The official tour had a great vibe. Not too aggressive, not boring, just a nice group of Porsche people enjoying mountain roads and scenery. We ended at Ausable Chasm, hit the trails, grabbed lunch, and let the official tour wrap there.

But four of us were not quite done.

So we caravanned back to the hotel on our own and enjoyed a more spirited drive. That return leg was one of those drives where the car, the road, and the group all line up. Nothing stupid. Nothing dramatic. Just a proper Porsche rhythm through Adirondack roads.

Fort Ticonderoga: Fifteen Porsches and One Good Outbound Run

The Fort Ticonderoga drive was another highlight.

We had a group of about 15 Porsches on the outbound drive from Lake Placid to the fort. I captured OBD data and GPX files for that outbound route only, which gave me a fun look at how the car performed during a real-world group drive.

That kind of data is catnip for a Porsche nerd. Speed, temperatures, engine behavior, throttle inputs, load, and all the little details you don’t really think about while you’re driving. You feel the car doing its thing, then later the logs tell you what was actually happening.

The drive itself was a great mix of scenery and pace. Group drives are always a dance. You’re managing spacing, watching the car ahead, keeping an eye on the car behind, staying on route, and still trying to enjoy the road. With 15 Porsches, it becomes a rolling little parade inside Porsche Parade.

I also managed to do a little mobile-office nonsense in the parking lot with my computer and Starlink Mini. Because apparently even at Porsche Parade, work will find you if you let it. Skipper got mountain roads. I got emails. Fair trade, I guess.

The return was on our own, which was just fine. Sometimes the best part of a group event is peeling off afterward and letting the day breathe a little.

Five Days of Driving and a Quart of Oil

After several days of driving like this, Skipper told me she was thirsty.

The oil level dropped to minimum, and I added a full quart to bring it back to max. Given the kind of driving we had been doing — mountain roads, spirited sections, long days, heat, elevation, and plenty of time enjoying the upper half of the tach — I wasn’t shocked.

A 4.0 flat-six being worked properly can use some oil. That’s not drama. That’s just mechanical honesty from a car that has been asked to sing for its supper.

Still, it was a good reminder before the long drive home: check the car, trust the car, but don’t ignore the car.

Leaving Lake Placid: The Long Way Back to Texas

After Parade, the civilized option would have been to ship Skipper home.

Naturally, I drove.

The drive from Lake Placid back to McKinney was roughly 1,800 miles, and the weather forecast looked sketchy enough that part of me wished I had brought my 992.1 Carrera 4S instead. All-wheel drive, more comfort, more GT energy — that car would have made a lot of sense.

But Parade had also reminded me why I brought the Boxster.

We had several beautiful days where driving topless through the Adirondacks was an absolute blast. Roof down, flat-six behind you, mountain roads ahead, and that little voice in your head saying, “Yes, this was the correct bad decision.”

So I pointed Skipper south and started working my way home.

Somewhere in Tennessee: Buc-ee’s Chaos and Mustang Magnetism

Somewhere in the middle of Tennessee, where proper rest stops are usually about as rare as an empty left lane, I found my second Buc-ee’s of the day.

And this one was absolutely packed.

Easily the busiest Buc-ee’s I’ve ever seen.

So I did what any reasonable Porsche person would do. I parked Skipper at the very far end of the lot, away from everybody, minding my own business.

Naturally, two beautiful Ford Mustangs found me and pulled in right next door.

Apparently even in Tennessee, the good-looking cars know where to gather.

Also, for the first time in my life, I saw a line for the women’s bathroom at Buc-ee’s. That’s when you know the place is really stuffed.

I’m from the land of Buc-ee’s and BBQ, so I have rules. Buc-ee’s is great for a lot of things. Snacks, drinks, clean bathrooms, road-trip nonsense, and enough branded merchandise to make you question your life choices.

But BBQ?

No.

You don’t mix Buc-ee’s and BBQ unless you live north of the Mason-Dixon line and just don’t know any better.

Forest City Holiday Inn and the Parking Lot Win

After Buc-ee’s, I kept rolling and eventually pulled into the Holiday Inn in Forest City for the evening.

That stop turned out better than expected. There was a Popeyes Chicken across the street, which is exactly the kind of thing that feels like a major victory after a long day on the road.

But the bigger win was the parking.

I managed to park Skipper between two beefy Germans. That’s the kind of hotel-lot security system I can get behind. Nothing says “sleep well” like tucking your Porsche in between a couple of sturdy German chaperones.

It’s the little things.

Back Home and Covered in Road

By the time I made it back to McKinney, Skipper had earned a proper rest.

After an 1,800-mile drive home from Porsche Parade, she needed some TLC. I gave her a quick cleanup with my own chemicals to knock the worst of the road off until Cady Mobile Detailing can give her a proper deep clean.

That car did everything I asked of her.

She got shipped to Albany, got fresh Michelin PS4S tires before I arrived, reunited with me at Porsche Clifton Park, carved through the Adirondacks, crossed into Vermont, ran Parade tours, handled rain, drank a quart of oil, survived hotel lots, drew Mustangs at Buc-ee’s, and carried me all the way home to Texas.

That’s a pretty good week.

Porsche Parade is technically an event. A schedule. A registration packet. A concours. Tours. Banquets. Parking lots full of cars. People in name badges talking about option codes.

But for me, Parade 2026 was really about the roads between all of that.

It was the transport truck leaving Texas.

It was seeing Skipper waiting in Albany.

It was knowing Porsche Albany had already handled the tires before I picked her up.

It was taking the long backroad route into Lake Placid instead of the boring highway.

It was rain on the way to Whiteface.

It was Mikey navigating through the Adirondacks.

It was the Fort Ticonderoga group drive.

It was sitting in a parking lot with Starlink Mini trying to squeeze in work between Porsche things.

It was choosing the Boxster even when the 911 might have been the smarter choice.

And it was the long, messy, wonderful drive home.

I could have made it easier.

But easier would have missed the whole point.