TT-East 2011: Autumn Driving Tour of New York State

What’s quicker and more graceful than an Olympian soaring down a Lake Placid ski jump? Nineteen Audi TTs and an Audi R8 Spyder snaking through the October mountainside fall foliage of upper New York State back roads during TT-East 2011, of course.

To get there, the Audi TT trip odometers clicked digits faster thn u cn dbl thmb ur txt msg as enthusiasts drove across thousands of miles of asphalt and concrete heading to the Catskills and Adirondacks.

Destination: TT-East 2011 held from Tuesday October 11 to Friday October 14, 2011.

Departures: from Colorado, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Vermont, and, of course, New York, including the Long Island contingent.

Starting in New Paltz, New York, early Tuesday morning, the TTs eventually wound their way to base camp in Lake Placid, New York where the term “Do you believe in miracles?” was coined by Al Michaels seconds before the USA Hockey team won its gold medal.

That was in 1980, Audi barely had a presence in North America and the TT hadn’t even been thought of. In fact, some TT-East 2011 drivers hadn’t even been born yet. Fast forwarding to 2011 it seemed miraculous to have an Audi R8 Spyder and an Audi TTS at our disposal, courtesy of Audi of America.

But first, on our way up from Georgia, we met up with Chris Conners and Alison Gerlach in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with whom we drove to New Paltz after enjoying lunch with Bob Meyers, who had to miss this year because of his house-building project.

TT-East’s Finder-of-Great-Roads, aka Scenic Driver, Evan Sokol cleverly plotted the seasonal calendar timing with much research and scientific study, including past history and weather reports. His efforts paid off big time as he chose a week when the colors of trees dotting the mountainsides compelled a couple dozen cameras and cell phones to click constantly throughout the nearly week-long event.

We wound our way the first day from New Paltz to Oneonta, New York, stopping for a rest and picture-taking break at the Ashokan Reservoir. The roads Evan chose wound around and through the Catskill Mountains, giving us our first look at the inviting twists and turns awaiting us throughout the event.

Our first group dinner that night gave us a chance to reunite with old TT friends and get to know enthusiasts we’d just met. The excellent food at The Farmhouse at Emmons served as a focal point for an enjoyable dinner and visit. The next day we found the roads in and around the Catskills and the Adirondacks enjoyable to drive, and this year some gravel stretches caused by construction work along with intermittent rain posed extra challenges. However, the Audi TTs and their big brother, the Audi R8 Spyder, all managed some fun driving quite happily.

Adirondack Park is a six-million acre patchwork of public and private lands in northeastern New York, designated in 1892 to protect the region from uncontrolled forest clearing that was common in the 1800s. The Catskill Park is a mountainous region with an impressive skyline formed by ninety-eight peaks over 3,000 feet in elevation.

We were delighted to discover that our journey from Oneonta took us to the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, NY. Known as the Smithsonian of the Adirondacks, the Museum houses a varied collection of artifacts in about a dozen buildings, one of which included the Lake View Café where we lunched. We visited the Art Galleries with exhibits about living with wilderness, saw the Adirondack History Gallery, and enjoyed the Outdoor Recreation in the Adirondacks exhibits in the Woods and Waters area.

Then it was on to Lake Placid, our home-away-from-home for the final three nights. This town was the site of both the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games, and much evidence of that abounds in and around the town with many Olympic bobsleds casually displayed on the sidewalks outside the downtown shops and cafes, as well as inside.

For the week, our leader Evan had mapped out about 950 miles of driving roads for us to try and several group drives of about 15 Audi TTs – plus the Audi R8 Spyder and the Audi TTS – took full advantage, even during the rain that interspersed the days. Nice twisty roads, not too much traffic, some spirited driving and much chatter (the euphoria of survival) at the gas stops.

Thursday was a rest day with optional activities. The optional activity we undertook was to locate and have installed a new set of tires. This was after a routine tire check revealed that the inside left rear of our Audi TT was riding on the cords, the rubber having worn away at 10,233 miles from new (major alignment/left rear suspension problem).

No tire stores are to be found in small Lake Placid, but kudos to Tire Rack, who was able to deliver a set of tires to one of their local preferred installers in slightly less than 24 hours after we phoned them.

We missed the long drive Thursday and started the 54 mile Saranac Lakes Sunset drive well after the group, as soon as our new tires were mounted. We actually had a brisker drive than the group, because they had some going-home-from-work-commuters and we had none. We caught up with the group at a planned stop at the Lake Flower Boat Launch just eight and a half miles from our home in Lake Placid, the High Peaks Resort.

Our drive on the final day took us up Mount Defiance to look over the beautiful views of Lake Champlain, Mount Independence, and the Green Mountains of Vermont.

As part of our early Saturday morning goodbye to TT-East 2011 and Lake Placid we stopped for pictures at the 1980 Winter Olympic Games ski jump towers.

Chilly morning clouds surrounded our farewell hugs and handshakes before the Audi TTs headed for home, acres of fall foliage and miles of curvy roads digitally committed to memory cards as well as mentally impressed in the minds of us drivers and passengers.

We must give tremendous thanks to both Melanie Blackadar and Denni Chu of Audi of America for bringing the Audi R8 Spyder and the Audi TTS and, more importantly, for trusting us to drive them vigorously but safely. We all enjoyed driving them and, who knows – last year Audi of America brought a pre-production Audi TT RS to TT-East and this year a brand newly owned Audi TT RS came to play – so will we see a participant with a new Audi TTS or perhaps even an Audi R8 next year?

At our farewell dinner Friday night, all participants agreed that we owe a very special appreciation to Evan Sokol for the great roads he found and for patiently managing to herd us all safely along throughout the event. We also need to thank Peter Grabowsky for handling registrations, plus arranging the accommodations and group dinners.

Our own Audi ALMS TT drive from Georgia to New York and back after TT-East was 2,883 miles including the TT-East drives, averaging overall 54 mph and 28.5 mpg.

Plans are well along for TT-East 2012, an August driving adventure that will likely begin in Virginia and end in Georgia, and we can hardly wait (informal reservations are already half full). Bring your TT, but as always, all Audi enthusiasts are welcome to attend!