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Slipstream - May 2017

The monthly newsletter of the Maverick Region of the Porsche Club of America

The monthly newsletter of the Maverick Region of the Porsche Club of America

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Treffen Hill Country: A 1,400-Mile Journey<br />

By Peter Wen, Mark Palmer, and Wendy Shoffit<br />

Photos Courtesy of the Authors<br />

ditor’s Note: PCA recently<br />

E<br />

offered their second<br />

“Treffen” experience, this<br />

one located in the Texas<br />

Hill Country. We had quite a number<br />

of Maverick Region members who<br />

participated in the event. What follows<br />

are three perspectives from Peter Wen,<br />

Mark Palmer, and Wendy Shoffit as they<br />

attended this national PCA Treffen.<br />

Peter Wen, 2011 911 Turbo S<br />

Treffen is a German<br />

term meaning “to<br />

meet.” There is no better<br />

place to meet with<br />

your P-car buddies than<br />

the beautiful twisty and<br />

hilly roads west of Austin! Treffen<br />

Hill Country, the first national PCA<br />

event hosted in Texas in over a decade,<br />

took place in our backyard<br />

March 29 to April 2.<br />

Appropriately, for me, Treffen<br />

started with a local meet-up. Fellow<br />

Mavs Mark Palmer and Landon<br />

Stogner met me in Plano to begin<br />

our 250-mile trek to Austin. Mark<br />

brought a pair of walkie-talkies so<br />

we could stay connected on the<br />

road. Navigation and gas pit stop<br />

coordination aside, occasional chit<br />

chat and wise cracks over the radio<br />

made our drives highly enjoyable.<br />

Our host hotel was<br />

the beautiful Hyatt Lost<br />

Pines Resort in Bastrop.<br />

PCA banners adorned the<br />

resort grounds. Porsche<br />

Austin had several beautiful<br />

cars on display. The<br />

thoughtful event organizers<br />

even set up a car wash<br />

station complete with<br />

soap, buckets, and microfiber<br />

towels! Impressive!<br />

And as for food, well, rest<br />

assured we were well fed<br />

over the four-day event.<br />

18 <strong>May</strong><br />

Over the course of Treffen, we<br />

drove well over 900 miles, all over<br />

the Hill Country. From Fredericksburg,<br />

Enchanted Rock, to historic<br />

Gruene, we enjoyed beautiful<br />

scenery, open roads, and most<br />

importantly, each other’s company.<br />

We participated in group drives<br />

with 30+ P-cars. We explored lesstraveled<br />

roads with just the three of<br />

us. Each day was a new adventure.<br />

Cattle guards, oh my! To top it<br />

all off, we even drove on the silky<br />

smooth Formula 1 track at Circuit<br />

of the Americas! Bucket list: check.<br />

Five-days and 1,400 miles later,<br />

I am back home in Dallas. My 911<br />

“1 of 1” and I took our relationship<br />

to the next level. We bonded. I met<br />

interesting people from coast to<br />

coast. I spent time with fellow Mavs<br />

and listened to their stories. It was<br />

a wonderful trip. Hats off to the<br />

National PCA team for a job well<br />

done! PCA: “It’s not just the cars,<br />

it’s the people.”<br />

Mark Palmer, 2015 Cayman<br />

Treffen is German<br />

for “coming together”<br />

and we certainly came<br />

together in the Hill<br />

Country. Every kind of<br />

Maverick Treffen attendees and their Porsches:<br />

Peter Wen, Landon Stogner, and Mark Palmer<br />

Porsche and owner came together<br />

from coast to coast, including Canada,<br />

at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort<br />

for great food, socials and drives in<br />

the Texas Hill Country.<br />

Our days started and ended with<br />

food and in between we drove!<br />

There were planned tours by PCA<br />

to great destinations culminating<br />

with lunch and afterward everyone<br />

Ready for parade laps at COTA<br />

was free to make their way back the<br />

hotel any way they wanted and boy<br />

was that a blast.<br />

Thursday was an amazing day to<br />

have a Porsche. We began the day<br />

with breakfast and a PCA tour to<br />

Fredericksburg. Next was lunch and<br />

then four of us enjoyed the back<br />

roads ending up at COTA. I think<br />

if you ask Peter, Landon or our new<br />

“Ozzie” friend Brad, we had quite<br />

a drive on the back roads.<br />

Once at COTA Pirelli put<br />

on a great event in the<br />

Velocity lounge with food<br />

everywhere and then we<br />

did parade laps until dark.<br />

What a great day to drive a<br />

Porsche and experience a<br />

coming together with old<br />

and new friends!<br />

A trip to Gruene, TX<br />

on Saturday was followed<br />

by a drive on River Road<br />

along the Guadalupe<br />

River with many terrific<br />

photos ops. This is a cool<br />

part of Texas and worth<br />

the drive to visit.

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