What Next?

Winter storage.

That time of year is just around the corner, the days are short, we’ve started having morning frosts, and while the salt trucks aren’t out yet, it can’t be that far away.

It’s different this year, for obvious reasons. I’m putting two Porsches away instead of one. There will probably be only one thing left to do with the Cayman in the spring. And then that last remaining practical connection to our shared adventures will be gone. 

There are all sorts of road-trip clichés about the journey being more important than the destination, enjoying the ride, and how the best memories are made along the way. There’s even the old standby about life being a highway.

They all feel just a bit too trite right now. 

The journey is better when it’s shared?

Absolutely. Except when the person you’ve spent the better part of 40 years sharing those journeys with is no longer around.

The road goes on.

Sure. It just doesn’t seem quite as interesting without him in the Cayman ahead of me.

There are plenty more roads to explore?

No doubt. But that’s not really the point, is it?

It’s all a bit hollow right now. Perhaps it’s good that winter is almost upon me. The temptation to try to go out and enjoy the roads and the car gets put on the shelf for a few months.

I’m hoping that a bit of time will allow spring to be a somewhat similar anticipation. That after several months in the dark, I’ll be looking forward to cracking the garage door open, blinking in the sunshine, and taking the Boxster out again. Even though the adventures will be different, I’m hoping a bit of time allows the feelings to be a little less raw.

I’ve been thinking a lot about The GTS Chronicles and that shared journey, which just can’t continue anymore. Not in the same way. There’s a difference between preserving something and perpetuating it, and I think The GTS Chronicles has reached its final chapter because it was a wonderful story worth telling in the first place.

Andrew would appreciate me not trying to manufacture more chapters in The GTS Chronicles just for the sake of keeping that story alive.

I think perhaps the right thing to do is mark The GTS Chronicles as a very special dual adventure that has come to an end. A really sad end. You can recognize that something has ended and still feel thoroughly crappy about it, right? The fact that it ended in such a terrible way doesn’t diminish the value of the story itself, right?

The GTS Chronicles was always our story, and I think it’s time to acknowledge that we’ve reached its final chapter. There will be other adventures, other roads and other stories, but this particular one belongs to Andrew and me. 

The GTS Chronicles will live on as an epic tale of humour, frustration, annoyance, hope and great joy. A collection of memories I’ll never forget.

Not every story needs another chapter. Some are worth remembering precisely as they were.

So when spring comes, I’ll carry on doing the things we both wanted to do: getting the most out of our automotive pursuits in ways that we felt were appropriate for the history we shared and the cars we drove.

At least I hope so.

~ Luke