It’s noon on Thursday, May 4, and I’ve just finished loading my 997.1 Carrera S for a long weekend of driving and camping with friends at the 2026 DWA Camping While Awesome Rally. First stop: Cayucos, California, by way of Big Sur and the famed Pacific Coast Highway.
Founded nearly a decade ago in Santa Cruz by childhood friends Lane Skelton and Warren, later joined by Art Sees, Driving While Awesome! has become one of the pillars of California car culture. The same group also created Radwood, the once-small gathering celebrating period-correct '80s and '90s automotive culture that now draws enthusiasts from around the world.
DWA! rallies began from a simple problem: none of them owned cars eligible for the established vintage rallies in California, so they created one of their own. Somewhere between a road trip and summer camp, DWA! events are built around long days on great roads, late nights around dinner tables, and the kinds of conversations that only happen after hours behind the wheel together. This edition just happened to include camping.
I arrived at Morro Rock in Morro Bay shortly before 8 a.m., cappuccino in hand, and was immediately greeted by my friend Joss Lumens and his wife Heather beside their 1975 Pontiac Trans Am, both dressed in period-correct attire. The tone for the weekend was set before the drivers' meeting had even begun. This was going to be fun.
Our first day's route would take us through Santa Margarita, Pozo, and the Carrizo Plains before eventually crossing Highway 58 toward California's Central Valley. The eastern section of Highway 58, just before Taft, is one of those roads that seems engineered specifically for drivers: fast sweepers, blind crests, perfectly cambered corners, and long sightlines unfolding through dry golden hills.
The morning pace was relaxed. At least at first.
Somewhere in the Carrizo Plains, a friend in a 1973½ 911 Targa pulled over behind me with a fuel-related issue. I turned around to check in, and after a brief roadside diagnosis, it became clear he'd need to wait for the support vehicle and hope for a quick repair.
A few minutes later, Art arrived with a small group in his newly finished BMW E30, now powered by a Honda K24. With the Targa situation under control, I merged into their pack as we pointed east toward Highway 58.
Art led the group with me tucked in close behind, followed by a pair of 993s and a tiny Peugeot dancing in the mirrors behind us. The roads emptied. The foothills approached. The relaxed rhythm of the morning disappeared instantly.
Left. Right. Crest. Compression.
The kind of road that pulls your entire focus through the windshield.
Adrenaline narrowed my vision. Every braking point, every camber change, every corner exit became crystal clear. The 997 came alive beneath me. Crisp downshifts. Steering feeding information through my fingertips. The nose settling into each turn before seemingly endless grip carried me out the other side. I had entered driving nirvana.
By the time we descended into the valley floor, my leisurely first day had transformed into something far more memorable.
The following days brought more of the same: incredible roads, late-night conversations, and new friendships formed somewhere between fuel stops and campfires. There was dirt driving, too, thanks to Michael Gideon, and I discovered I need much more of it in my life.
Even now, sitting on my back porch beneath the coastal redwoods of Central California, I can still picture the faded yellow lines of Highway 58 rushing toward the windshield. The smell of dry grass. The heat rising off the pavement. The sound of Art's K24.
More than anything, though, I remember the people.
Thank you to Lane, Warren, and Art for creating something that continues to bring enthusiasts together in such a genuine way. And thank you to V6 Ranch in Parkfield for hosting us.
If you ever have the opportunity to join a DWA rally, take it.
