I’ve made my decision. I’m shipping a Porsche from Texas to Boise for Porsche Parade 2027, then spending six days driving it home through the Rocky Mountains.

I’m just not sure which Porsche.

Originally, I considered shipping both directions. No unnecessary mileage, no rock chips, no interstate boredom, and no spending three days staring at the back of an eighteen-wheeler.

Perfectly logical.

Then I started studying the route home, and my financial discipline went straight out the window.

Apparently, all it takes to undermine 20 years of financial analysis is a photograph of a mountain road with a few good curves.

The Numbers Don’t Lie. But They Don’t Drive, Either.

I approached the decision the way any reasonably disciplined financial professional would. I ran the numbers.

The one-way drive from Dallas to Boise is approximately 1,600 miles. With premium gasoline at $4.75 per gallon, I’m looking at roughly $320–$335 in fuel, depending on which Porsche makes the trip.

Add two hotel nights at $250 each, and we’re already at approximately $820–$835.

Then there’s depreciation.

The Lizard, my Lizard Green 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, currently has 28,505 miles. Driving it to Boise would push it past 30,000 miles, a threshold that can matter to prospective buyers.

The Skipper, my Racing Yellow 2023 Porsche 718 Boxster GTS 4.0, already has 31,800 miles. Another 1,600 miles won’t trigger a major odometer milestone, but nobody has ever offered to pay extra for a used Porsche because it had more miles.

Estimating incremental depreciation is imprecise. There’s no magic formula that tells you exactly what another mile costs. Condition, options, color, service history, and buyer psychology all play their part.

For planning purposes, I estimated approximately $0.40 per mile in depreciation for the Skipper and $0.60 for the Lizard. That’s roughly $650 and $970, respectively, for the outbound trip alone.

Add tires and maintenance, and the estimated economic cost of driving approaches $1,700 for the Skipper and $2,000 for the Lizard.

Enclosed shipping could cost roughly the same, depending on the quotes.

And that’s before assigning any value to three days of my life.

The financial argument for shipping is pretty compelling.

Unfortunately, the finance guy in me has to share a garage with the Porsche enthusiast who thinks spending money on suspension upgrades is a perfectly reasonable retirement activity.

The financial analyst understands depreciation. The Porsche enthusiast understands negative camber.

Guess which one gets the final say?

Not All Miles Deserve Equal Billing

Here’s where the calculation gets interesting.

Driving 1,600 miles of interstate to Boise doesn’t particularly excite me.

It’s transportation. A means to an end. Something to endure between fuel stops, lousy coffee, and the occasional construction zone.

I’ve already driven plenty of highways in my life, including the Rockies. I don’t need another three days of cruise control to prove that my Porsches can handle interstate speeds.

But driving home is an entirely different proposition.

Independence Pass. Cottonwood Pass. Gateway. Ouray. The Million Dollar Highway.

Now we’re talking.

I’ve planned approximately 2,200 miles over six days, taking the scenic route through Utah and Colorado before eventually returning to McKinney.

That’s roughly 700 extra miles compared with the direct route.

And I intend to enjoy every unnecessary one of them.

Because there’s a difference between putting miles on a Porsche and putting a Porsche to good use.

One costs money.

The other costs money, too, but leaves you with much better stories.

Six Days, Five Nights, and All the Curves I Can Handle

The plan is to leave Boise on Sunday, July 18, 2027, after Porsche Parade wraps up.

The first day is mostly about covering ground, ending at the River Terrace Inn in Green River, Utah.

Monday is where things get interesting.

We’ll head east through Glenwood Canyon, turn south toward Aspen, and tackle Independence Pass on CO-82 at 12,095 feet before descending toward Buena Vista.

Our overnight stop is the Surf Hotel, right beside the Arkansas River.

Tuesday brings Cottonwood Pass at 12,126 feet, followed by Gunnison, Montrose, and one of the roads I’m most excited about.

CO-141.

The Unaweep–Tabeguache Scenic Byway runs through spectacular canyon country, with red sandstone cliffs, sweeping curves, and stretches of pavement that look like they were designed specifically to make Porsche owners forget about depreciation.

We’ll spend the night at Gateway Canyons Resort & Spa.

Wednesday is deliberately short. We’ll continue south on CO-141, work our way through the canyon country toward Ridgway, and finish in Ouray.

That leaves time for photography, lunch, exploring town, and perhaps soaking in the hot springs.

Thursday begins with the Million Dollar Highway, US-550 south from Ouray through Red Mountain Pass, Silverton, and Durango.

Steep grades, tight corners, dramatic elevation changes, and some rather conspicuous places where guardrails are absent.

In other words, exactly what I want from a Porsche road trip.

After Durango, we’ll continue into New Mexico, spending the night in Tucumcari before the final drive home on Friday.

Six days. Five nights. Approximately 2,200 miles.

And enough curves to make the extra mileage completely worthwhile.

I’ve laid out the complete itinerary in my earlier post, The Pass Is the Point: Six Days, Five Mountain Passes, and the Long Way Home.

The Lizard or the Skipper? Decisions, Decisions.

Now comes the harder question.

Which Porsche gets the pleasure?

The Lizard makes a compelling argument.

My 992.1 Carrera 4S is a wonderful grand tourer. It’s comfortable, fast, composed, and perfectly happy covering hundreds of miles without making its driver feel like he needs a chiropractor.

It’s also the more practical choice for a six-day road trip, particularly when temperatures climb and the afternoon thunderstorms start rolling across Colorado.

But then there’s the Skipper.

My 718 Boxster GTS 4.0 has that glorious naturally aspirated flat-six, a chassis that loves mountain roads, and one very important advantage.

The roof comes off.

And when it comes to enjoying the curves, I generally prefer taking the top off.

Picture a cool July morning climbing toward Independence Pass, the 4.0-liter flat-six singing behind me, with nothing separating me from the mountains except a pair of sunglasses and some sunscreen.

That’s a difficult argument to defeat with a spreadsheet.

Of course, there’s a small problem.

I’m ridiculously protective of the Skipper.

Every rock chip, scratch, and stubborn piece of track rubber feels like a personal insult. I want to drive it hard at Eagles Canyon Raceway, explore mountain passes, and rack up memorable miles.

I also want it to look like it just rolled out of the showroom.

Somewhere, a Porsche detailer is laughing at me.

The Lizard is probably the sensible choice.

But the Skipper keeps whispering something about top-down driving and 7,800 rpm.

I haven’t settled that argument yet.

Why Not Just Ship It Home?

I could.

In fact, it would probably be the most sensible decision from a purely financial perspective, depending on the final transport quotes.

Ship the Porsche to Boise. Enjoy Parade. Ship it back to Texas. Fly home.

The car arrives with essentially the same mileage it had when I left.

No highway debris. No tire wear. No expensive hotels along the way.

And absolutely no memories of driving through the San Juan Mountains.

That’s the part I can’t get past.

I’ve spent plenty of money making my Porsches better at doing what Porsche engineers intended them to do.

Better tires. Better brakes. Better suspension geometry. Better handling.

What exactly am I saving them for?

The next owner?

That’s an awfully expensive way to preserve somebody else’s driving pleasure.

I’m not suggesting depreciation doesn’t matter. It certainly does. I’ve spent enough of my professional life analyzing investments to know that ignoring economic costs doesn’t make them disappear.

But a Porsche isn’t an investment portfolio.

It’s a car designed to be driven.

And sometimes the return on investment is measured in smiles rather than dollars.

The Freight Is Settled. The Fun Isn’t.

So here’s the decision.

I’ll ship one of my Porsches to Boise, enjoy Porsche Parade 2027, and then drive it home.

Not the shortest route.

Not the cheapest route.

And certainly not the route Google Maps would recommend if I told it I wanted to get home as quickly as possible.

Six days. Approximately 2,200 miles. Five overnight stops. Some of the finest mountain roads in the American West.

I haven’t decided whether the Lizard or the Skipper gets the assignment, although the thought of driving the Boxster through Colorado with the top down is becoming increasingly difficult to resist.

And I’d love some company.

If you’re attending Porsche Parade 2027 and thinking about driving home, take a look at my planned route in The Pass Is the Point.

This isn’t intended to be a high-speed convoy or an endurance contest. Think small groups of Porsches, spectacular roads, leisurely lunches, coffee stops, and plenty of opportunities to pull over for photographs.

Bring your Porsche, your sense of adventure, and a willingness to take the occasional detour.

The accountants can calculate what the mileage costs us.

We’ll decide whether it was worth it when we get home.

Life’s too short for boring roads.