Where would your destination be if you and your friends had eight free days and a couple of Porsche Cayennes ready to go? Perhaps the mountains, a new city, or even the beach – or any other exciting destination the Cayenne can take you. To get some real-life insights, Global SUV linked up with auto expert and road trip enthusiast Gabrielle R. DeSantis-Schmauderer to find out how she spent her last eight free days, and it was quite fascinating.
Gabrielle joined a group of professional drivers venturing away from civilization and back. Armed with five Cayennes, their expedition began as they drove from Montana to Alaska. DeSantis-Schmauderer warmly recounts their encounters with captivating wildlife, exploring small villages, and having no cell phone coverage – all constituting what she describes as a rewarding session of “Windshield Therapy.”
However, the highlight of her trip was when she saw the Northern Lights. Gabrielle’s journey covered 6000 miles, and here’s an account of the adventure.
From the Modification Shop to the Icy Roads
Gabrielle is the Director of Marketing at MotorEnvy, headquartered in Miami, Florida. However, this is only a fraction of her involvement in the automotive industry. In an interview with Global SUV, she stated “I have been rebuilding exotic cars for eight years now. I have a really strong background in Porsche Cayennes, and I’m in the process of building a new 955 Overland right now.“
Her strong mechanical background and love for adventure meant she couldn’t turn down an 8-day trip in a Porsche Cayenne when her friend invited her.
The fleet had five modified Cayennes, although Gabrielle was not involved in the modification process. SWAE, a research and design studio based in Montana, who are also the adventure organizers, did all the modifications. SWAE installed limb risers and racks for extra storage on the cars. On the inside, they replaced the passenger glove box with custom 3D-printed electronic and emergency equipment storage racks.
All Cayennes used were Turbo last models with insane performance figures, so the modifications only needed to concentrate on luggage, connectivity, and comfort.
Hands-on Wheel, Foot on Gas, Middle of Nowhere: Windshield Therapy
“Being in a car with 5 other people for 8 days? You just have to be a certain kind of person to enjoy that type of thing. We call it windshield therapy.“
For the trip, Gabrielle teamed up with people with a deep history of eccentric road trips. Among others, she met John Ficarra and Ed Bolian, both previous Cannonball Run record holders. She has also done a Cannonball Run in 42 hours and 31 minutes. The adventure felt like a coming together of hardcore driving enthusiasts, finding fun pushing the Cayennes to their limits on the long drive while making amazing friendships. “We were like a family at the end of the drive,” the road trip enthusiast explained.
Gabrielle has driven all over the United States, but her trip to Alaska felt really different. “When you drive someplace like Alaska, you’re so disconnected from the rest of the world that it feels like a reset. There was this unleashed feeling. When we regrouped at the headquarters, we all agreed that the overlanding experience made us feel really off-leash. It was incredibly refreshing, and I think a journey like this, everyone has to experience once in their lifetime.”
Explaining the feeling, Gabrielle narrated how they drove through a town with a population of 32 people. In some places, they went for hours without encountering another car on the road, affording them the chance to push the limits of their vehicle and driving experience. She didn’t quite enjoy moving from such places with sparse populations and unique experiences to a bustling metropolis like New York City. “I missed not having cell service, and honestly, it felt a little sad to be back in civilization.”
Gabrielle, like every other person on the trip, felt accomplished. For her, she had gone from the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast and touched the Pacific Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. She got to Pluto Bay, the furthest possible north you could drive in North America, and flew back to Florida. She said,
“I was like, I might as well drive to Key West at this point because then, I would have gone from the furthest north to the furthest south. I regret not doing it because, in a week, that’s really cool. That sense of accomplishment that you did something so few people ever get the time and opportunity to do is just very humbling.“
Just When They Gave Up
A trip to Alaska feels incomplete without beholding the captivating northern lights. While DeSantis-Schmauderer and her friends had accomplished a lot on the trip, they all wished the Aurora Borealis would crown their expedition, but it didn’t look like it. “We had lost hope that we would see the Aurora when we left Alaska, and we were like, we’ve accomplished so much it’s okay if we don’t see it.“
But when they drove through the Yukon Territory around 11 pm one night, the photographer wanted to take a shot out the windshield at the moon. She noticed something going on in the sky and called over the CB radio for the fleet to pull over. When they got out, the Aurora Borealis had started over them. “It happened and when we looked up, f**k, there is no better way to describe it. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life,” Gabrielle said.
What’s Next for Gabrielle?
Gabrielle is part of a women’s automotive group called CarFemme. It is an international club with just under 11k members at the moment. And she is looking forward to more expeditions with the group. She is also in the process of buying a Porsche Cayenne. The biggest lesson she learned on the expedition was that selling the Cayenne she once had was a mistake. She said, “I love driving SUVs, and the Cayenne is the epitome of a performance SUV. If there’s one thing I would go back to change, I would have kept mine and brought it along.”
