The Road Goes On

Some stories are about cars.

Some are about the roads we travel, the places we discover, the ridiculous things we do along the way, and the memories we collect. And some stories are really about the people we shared them with.

This one is about my lifelong friend. My university chum. My GTS Chronicles partner-in-crime.

Today, I’m having to write something I never imagined I would write. Andrew has passed away from cancer, at only 58 years old.

There are some people who come into your life for a while and then vanish, and then there are others who become part of the fabric of it. He was one of those people. We have known each other for most of our lives (since university), and early along the way our friendship became intertwined with cars, roads, adventures, laughter, and an awful lot of conversations that probably made considerably more sense to us than they would have to anyone listening in.

The GTS Chronicles is one of those things. Two guys trying to capture something interesting (we thought), full of our ramblings and mistakes as we tried to get our hands on our cars. Turned out it was never just about the cars. It was about the stories. The anticipation before a drive. The excitement of finding a great road. The stops along the way. The photographs. The debates. The little details that only two car obsessives could possibly care about. The sharing of the experiences. And the memories.

Now that, crushingly, he is physically gone, there is a comfort in knowing that he is going to continue to be part of my life, regardless. Every time I wash the Boxster. Every time I walk into the garage and see that Carmine Red paint. Every time I drop the roof, turn the key and hear that flat-six come to life. Every time I drive a road that makes me smile, I know I will think of him. And I suspect I will hear his voice in my head, too, probably offering an opinion I didn’t ask for, followed by a laugh.

The thing about losing someone who has been part of your life for so long is that you don’t simply lose the person. You lose all the future things you thought you’d do together. And that's a really painful thing. Truly awful. But I have to remember that you don’t lose everything. You keep the stories. You keep the photographs. You keep the laughter. You keep the adventures. And, most importantly, you keep a little bit of the person inside you.

He has left his fingerprints all over my life, and all over the GTS Chronicles too. They're there, trapped in print and image and sound and video, and in the cherished memories. So this isn’t a goodbye. Because the Chronicles continue. There are still roads to drive. There are still cars to wash. There are still stories to tell.

Every time I climb into that Boxster, there will be a little piece of him riding along with me. For the rest of the way.

Miss you, my friend.

Our travels on the road will continue.

~ Luke