I wanted to share with you all my experience at the Overcrest Rally for 2021
This was, beyond a doubt, the best automotive event I've ever been to. Even now looking back it's hard to take it all in and unpack, so I'll just start from the beginning. 2 years before the event. Get comfy, grab some popcorn, because this is a doozy.


Prelude:
A couple of friends of mine, Kris and Jake, run a podcast called Overcrest. It's an automotive-based podcast and generally has automotive topics. Both of them have long hood 911's so Porsche comes up frequently. I've known Kris forever, we were in each other's weddings, etc. We've also been doing fall drives together for quite some time, so it was no surprise when they wanted to plan a rally for the podcast and their listeners. It was 2019 and I helped a bit with some of the graphics.

The 2019 rally was a great local rally, it picked up several nice roads on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota. This was the last year I had my 914 at the rally, and it was the year I overcooked my brakes and had a little "off" that sent me home with my tail between my legs but more or less unscathed.

In 2020 they wanted to do a national rally, but they knew they weren't there yet. The two pulled in another friend, Jeff, to help them along. The year was thought of as a stepping stone to get to the point where a national audience would take them seriously. So it was a 2-day rally, planned and plotted out. Cool swag, and really thought out. I attended, but at this time my 4-cyl was dead and my 6 was yet to be built, so I drove an Audi TT that I rented using Turo. Again, it was immensely great for a local rally. It drew some audience from outside the midwest, but not much.

For 2021 they took the plunge and made it national. Part of making it national was holding it in a location that would better reflect their aspirations. So even though they are Minnesota-based, the rally start point was in the south of Utah, weaving into Arizona then north and ending in Mt. Pleasant, Utah. Kris, (the organizer I've known forever) has a lot of experience in the area and they made the film "Das Ziel"  Give it a watch, it's excellent and kind of sets the tone here.

YouTube- Das Ziel

Now, I've had my 914 project going for years. My build thread is here -

build thread

 The 1911cc chewing up a rod bearing nearly 2 years ago, and I already had the 6-cylinder case at Ollie's for machining so I wasn't going to put any time or effort into the 4-cyl. Still, a 6-swap for someone who has never done a 6-swap takes time and money. It grew in intensity in the 8 months before the rally, increasing in stressfulness until it reached its peak with me 2-day shipping a new set of rear brake calipers just a few days before I was set to leave. I had a total of 500 miles on the 6-swap, oil changed, valves adjusted, and rocker shafts checked. The brakes were swapped and bled only a couple of days before.

Down. To. The. Wire.

I'm not exactly made of money, so shipping my car to or from Utah was not an option. It's 3 easy days of driving to get there from my house, then a 2-day rally, and 3 easy days back. I was planning an extra day pre-rally in case of mechanical issues, or to explore Monument Valley for a day before everyone else got there. So in all it was a 9-day road trip on a 500-mile engine.

Monday, September 20th. 8am

With rain and possible hail in the forecast, I left home. Each mile was a success as we managed to weave in and out of weather systems, never getting much more than a splash of rain on occasion. When I made it out of Minnesota I was a little shocked that I hadn't had to stop to fix anything. I told myself that once I got to the first night's destination, Hershey, Nebraska, that I would be able to relax. Well, it made it without a hiccup. It was supposed to be 10 hours, but between the stops and rests it ended up being nearly 12 hours exactly. We took a route through Minnesota and into Iowa and Nebraska that avoided the major interstates and so thankful that we did. Driving 35 through Iowa and then I-80 through Nebraska is soul-sucking.

I was traveling with two others. Kris in his 1972 911T hotrod (short stroke 3.2 IIRC) and Chad in his 1983 911 SC.



We connected with our friend and one of the event organizers Jeff with his 911 Targa in Merna, Nebraska, and paid a visit to his mother's gravesite. From here we split up, they were staying in North Platte and I was in Hershey.

Tuesday, September 21st 

The 4 of us connected in North Platte for fuel and coffee and then hit I-80. The 914 was running great, but I wasn't comfortable doing 80-85 between big-rigs quite yet, so I told the guys to move on and I'd be a slow-poke. Planning to meet back up in Denver for lunch. The sun was out now and the car was running well. 

At one point on this stretch, I noticed the oil pressure was now hovering just above 60 when on the highway. I seemed to remember it being closer to 90 on previous drives. Slightly concerned I messaged Kris, who said he was at 90, but didn't know what was normal. I exited the highway to evaluate, and a quick Google search told me that it was generally accepted that anything over 10lbs per 1,000 rpm was ok. With that peace of mind, I hit the road again.

As I neared Denver I messaged the group to see if they had already found a place and eaten. My initial calculations put them about 40 minutes ahead of me. To my surprise, they were now 20 minutes behind me. Kris had pulled off to swap jets.









We found a cool spot in the RiNo district for sandwiches and photos, and then once again split up. I was going to pay my sister a visit since we were going right through town. After a nice visit and a video-call with my wife and 4-yr-old daughter I started out once again, this time on 285 heading south-west out of Denver. It turned out that Chad had broken off of the pack as well and was heading the same way, so I connected with him and made our way to our lodging for the night in Salida, Colorado.
This was my first experience with the 914 at any elevation.

Home is about 900ft above sea level, and I didn't do any jet swaps, so most of the time my car was running rich and underpowered. We arrived in Salida for the night, tired but excited.

Wednesday, September 22nd 

Once again, my route was taking me in a different direction than my travel buddy. Chad was heading to Crested Butte while I was planning on going to Durango and then right into Mexican Hat, Utah. We parted ways as I began my first fully-solo travel day. 


Driving through these stretches alone was a beautiful and emotional experience. I was so pleased with the car, it was so good to me. I was able to take some time to stop and smell the roses and snap some pictures, and when I arrived in Durango I was tired but happy.

6 years ago my wife and I took a Southwest road trip in our first-ever NEW car, a 2014 VW Jetta. We spent a day in Durango and took a ride on the historic narrow-gauge railroad. It was a great trip and I wanted to swing in, if only for lunch. After refueling with some delicious fish tacos I set out again, destination: Mexican Hat.



The roads became more challenging the closer I got to my destination, there were some amazing twisties and some climbs that left my 2.2T chugging a bit. Then some high-speed blasts through a narrow 2-lane road in the desert. And finally, I pulled into Mexican Hat. I was happy to see a couple friendly faces. Jake, the other half of Overcrest, was there in his 1970 911T, and a new friend Tom in his Volvo 242 that was swapped with a Corvette engine and a Ford 9" rear end. Tom had brought his family along as well. Shortly after another friend showed up with his Kia Soul, the official gear hauler of the Overcrest Rally. It was a few hours later that Kris and Jeff arrived.

We were technically a day early. Most of them were there to prepare everything for the next day. But that evening we spent together at "Hanks Swingin' Steaks" where meals were cooked outside over a wood-fired grill, on a contraption that swung the grill back and forth. The restaurant was very laid back, and a liquor license issue meant that it was BYOB. Thankfully a gas station across the street was VERY well stocked.

Thursday, September 23rd 

This was my off day, I didn't have anything on my schedule apart from check-in at 4pm. I explored Monument Valley and gave the 914 a full checkup. At this point, I added a little engine oil, but trans oil and brake fluid were both perfect. Wheels, suspension, and motor were all healthy. After lunch I helped prep the goody bags and then went out to the Mexican Hat Rock for the start of registration and check-in.





The bags were choice. The rally had title sponsors of Hagerty Insurance and Nokia Tire, as well as Rallisa, a car rally/group drive app. I'm going to detail a bit here not because they're sponsoring this post, but because it was a great working addition to the rally.

The app is made possible by the organizations that host group drives. They work with Rallisa to develop a route with waypoints, similar to what you can do with Google maps. The difference here is that it's one click to bring it up, has an unlimited number of waypoints, and for IOS users you can see in real-time where everyone else is from your group on the route. 

The goodie bags included some nice items too, not the typical t-shirt. The theme of the rally was "Sportscar Vacationland" and had custom embroidered corduroy hats,  custom brass belt buckles, a fold-out paper map of the routes, meatball numbered stickers (numbers were assigned first-come-first-served), a postcard with artwork and branding from Overcrest,  and some typical stuff from the title sponsors.



4pm rolled around and people started to roll in from all over the country. Florida to L.A. to Oregon. And of course several from the Midwest. Two young guys made the drive straight through from Minnesota, 22ish hours, in a Mazda Miata. In all there were around 80 cars.

There were cars of all shapes and sizes. It was an application-based registration, so not anything was accepted, but there was plenty of variety. Everything from a Keen Project 911 Safari to an RWB 911, to a Corvette-swapped Volvo to a Kia Soul. And we were all there for an adventure. That night we packed into Hanks Swingin' Steaks and had a ball.

Friday, September 24th

The first day of the rally.

The start point of the rally itself was 30 minutes away. and we had to be there ultra-early. It was planned, the sun rose over monument valley as we were all in attendance at the pre-drive meeting.

One guy, Jesse Bohan with the red RWB 911 who is also a 914 fan, snapped this pic of my car.



There were three possible route options. Route 1 went east through Moki Dugway, then north and along Hogsback Ridge to the finish in Escalante, Utah. It was slated to have a slight amount of gravel roads. Route 2 went the same way, only cut off and had a major gravel section. Route 3 was the fully-paved route that went Southwest into Arizona and then north through Dixie National Forest and Red Canyon. All routes finished at Escalante where we ate and drank and hung out in a pre-arranged lot to tell stories of the day.



I chose the fully paved route. With a build so new I didn't want to shake anything loose and be stranded. Besides, I don't have any of the GT stiffening plates. The route was fun but long. The app estimated it at 8 hours long and by the time I got to the best section of the route (Dixie National Forest) I was exhausted and chose to bypass it and head to Escalante.

Saturday, September 25th 

The second day of the rally.


  Today there were 2 routes that started out from Escalante. A:West and B:East. They looped around and connected for the final leg to the finish. I chose B because it went across the Hogsback Ridge which I had missed the day before. This was the most beautiful and challenging day of the drive and everything I could hope for in a Utah rally.







The finish was a drive-in theater in Mt. Pleasant Utah. Overcrest arranged a private film festival showing a number of shorter films. For instance, the 000 Magazine David Donner v Pikes peak.

The full film fest is watchable here, it was broadcast live as we were there in person.

YouTube - Overcrest Film Fest



It was AMAZING watching the sun go down and all of these cars from all walks of life making their way in, the atmosphere was so great, relaxed, and triumphal as if we had all been to battle and back. After the Film fest they started an old-time movie Duel from 1971. I was beat and didn't stay for that, but instead made my way back to my AirBnB for the night.

Sunday, September 26th 

With the rally itself completed everyone made their way out of town, back to their home states around the country.  I headed north, along the route I had taken into town, jumped over the mountains, and made a pit stop in Price Utah where I found an Oreilly Auto Parts that had my oil, a filter, and were generous enough to let me change the oil in the 6-cyl behind their place. With the checkup complete I again set out alone, headed for home. 



My route took me north through some MORE amazingly beautiful countryside and into Wyoming where I hopped onto I-80 around Rock Springs. At this point I stopped for fuel and was greeted by a gentleman at the gas pump.

"What year?"

It's the classic foot-in-the-door conversation starter for gearheads. We got to talking and he told me all about the old 911's he had, and his adventures with a 240Z blasting through Wyoming. It was a good break, we parted ways and I set out towards Rawlins, Wyoming. On my way, as the sun lowered behind me, I found an exit and was able to capture the sunset in solitude. 





Once I landed in Rawlins I got a message from Jeff, the guy with the gray Targa, that he was 30 minutes out. We set the schedule to connect in the morning.

Monday, September 27th & Tuesday, September 28th

In the morning I set out North to meet Jeff in Casper, Wyoming. He got an early start and had a business call to do while waiting for me there. Once we left Casper we went north again to I-90. We crossed the border into South Dakota and once we hit Sturgis we jumped onto 34 which took us in a more direct and more barren route to Pierre, South Dakota where we spent the night and prepared for the final leg home to Minnesota. 



I pulled into my driveway around 3:15pm and immediately the void hit me in the gut.


The trip was finished.


The thing I had been working like a crazy man for, for months, done. The vacuum that was there was pretty substantial. Of course, I was so excited to see my wife and daughter, but I was sad that the adventure was over. In the month before the trip the stress of the build, paired with work deadlines looming for both my day job and my night job, had become so high. The drive, itself, was a remarkable payoff for the hard work in the most monumental way. But now I was just depressed.


It took the rest of the day to get out of the funk. Even now, 2 days later, it's bittersweet to think about. It was a high that I may never be able to match, purely because of the juxtaposition of the stress and worry I had in the weeks and months leading up to it. All the miles, alone in my car, gave me so much to think about, to self-diagnose, and stories to remember.

This adventure was the most important and impactful trip I've ever made. It was over 3400 miles on a new engine, through rain, sweat, dust, and tears. Hot 91 degree temps to cold mornings with all of my sweatshirts on. $30 steaks to gas station veggie cups. Lonely highways and parties bursting with camaraderie. 

And I can't wait until next year.

Man thanks for posting this.

Great story. I just passed through Monument Valley couple of weeks ago.

Great story.

Thanks for sharing that Glen. What a cool adventure. It’s relatable in only that I’ve visited a few of your stops. BUT I was lacking a 914 when i was there. Settling for a Jeep.
So cool to be in your own creation of hard work.
Awesome stuff. Hope you do it next year.

Excellent!

Those are some million dollar photos! Thanks for posting.

Totally, totally incredible Glen. Was thinking about you and your 914 all week.

And I hope to add mine to the rally one day…

Thank you so much for posting this!

Great stories, great photos, thanks for sharing!

I LOVE a Great Road Trip. ''





Well done fellow traveler. Well Done.