How does a Tour come together? Suggestions by Peachstate members for destinations and routes are often the basis for a tour. Peachstater Mitch Williams suggested this tour to Chattanooga, TN to visit his good friend Corky Coker. Corky, President of Coker Tire, has his own automobile and automobilia museum. An added bonus, by going on April 21, was the Coker Tire Cruise In. Cruise In is a block party for cars. Live music, food, cars, what self respecting car guy can resist such a tour?

Saturday, April 21, dawned grey and overcast with a 20% chance of showers. Would anybody show up? My first tour as committee chairman was going to be a disaster, after all nobody drives their Porsches in the rain. To my great relief, Porsches do come out in threatening weather. Thirty-six Peachstate members in 20 assorted Porsches gathered at the Diner at North Point for breakfast and final instructions. The Peachstate members participating in the tour were Andy and Alice Anderson, Karl and Lynne Bealke, Joe and Grace Briguccia, Lewis Broyles, Grady Goodwin, Steve Grumbach Don and Linda Hand, Jason and Rhoda Hill, Tom James, Wendy Jones, John and Adrienne Jentz, Wilson and Brian Jones, Al Meredith, Rod and Andee Ochs, Don and Chris O’Neil, Tom and Vicky Parker, Ken Plavets, Dave and Meredith Poole, Charley and Debbie Remaley, Grant Salmon, Danny and Cathy Saxton and Steve and Telia Weaver. Waved off by our president, Andrew Douglas, 20 Porsches took the “green” and headed north on GA 400.

Our first stop was at GA 53 to rendezvous with 2 more Porsches driven by Marty and Debby Marsell; Nelson and Teague Mattern. After a short break, we were off to find the twisties of GA52 at Dahlonega all the way to Chatsworth. A short photo op stop at the Cohutta Overlook turned comical. There are no restroom facilities at Cohutta. Suddenly a large contingent of males dashed into the woods leaving bewildered females wondering what they were supposed to do. No, it was explained this was not the scheduled rest break so we gathered the strays and headed rapidly in that direction. No, we didn’t get the group photo.

Next stop was the McDonalds in Chatsworth. This was the real rest stop and all took advantage of it. Smiles returned. By now the schedule was blown to bits. We were running an hour and a half behind, it was 3:30PM and we were supposed to be at the Big River Brew Pub in Chattanooga for lunch at 2:00PM. Nobody was starving or upset so I stopped worrying. So far, the drive had been fantastic and everyone was having a great time. Schedules, we don’t need no stinking schedules!

A short drive up I75 to Chattanooga was uneventful. Parking at the Pub that had been simple on the recon trip a week earlier on a Wednesday was not the same on Saturday. It was crazy, every car for itself! Schedule, what schedule? Somehow all cars were parked and we trickled into the Pub. This led to small groups being served and finishing lunch at different times. So, instead of arriving at Coker as one large group, we trickled in as small groups. Coker, true to their word, directed us to our reserved “Porsche Platz” and we were there. You guessed it, no group photo.

Cruise In was everything it was advertised as: Live music, street vendors, Hot Rods, Show Cars, Classic Cars, a couple of Porsches for sale, Corky’s museum. So what that we were an hour and a half late. It didn’t matter; everyone that attended had a great time.

By: John Jentz