It seemed for a time, that this wasn't going to happen. We were trying to get several events fit into October and we had so many different ideas floating around that I wasn't sure what the heck was going on. It was decided that we would make an overnight camping trip into the Fall Colors Tour as long as we went south. There was talk of going north earlier in the month, but it would have been a packed weekend of MINI events. This turned out to combine a couple event ideas into a time frame that seemed to work for several people.
We started out at Tiff's new place in Rosemount. For some of us, we also attened the first meeting for MMEW at the square peg in N. Mpls. The food was great and the info was put well into perspective. After that we headed to Tiff's. First I had to make a stop at home, as I left my license and CC there. Turned out okay, as Jody was wanting to score some concert tickets and she was heading to Eagan. We met up with her and motored to Tiff's. Once there we met Mike - great guy! - and toured her new place.
Right before we left, Jimmy remembered he wanted to do my brake light mod, so he got to work...
However, it was time to go, so he quit and we all listened to Tiff as she told us what the day had in store for us.
This was the first event that I can think of, where we actually left on time!
Jimmy needed some gas, so we made a gas stop on the way out of town
The route took us on 52S for pretty much the entire trip. Great scenery and lots of looks from other cars.
There were 9 MINIs in total and for the most part we were able to stay together.
Several members brought 2-way radios, so we entertained ourselves by taking the movie quote thread on the road with us. We had some CRAZY quotes being thrown out, with the majority of them being answered. There were some pretty obscure ones!
Lunch was in
Harmony, MN at a ittle cafe. As we were flooding the place, we realized that they closed in 45 minutes, or 4pm. I'm sure the kitchen staff was pleased to see us all walk in....
Lunch was great and inexpensive. After we filed out, we headed to where we would be staying. BUT, on the way there, we stopped to visit an Amish sale. There were all sorts of baskets, hampers, planters and some jam. Now that I think about it, I wish I would have gotten some of that jam....
I didn't get any pictures of the stuff that was for sale....
The road to the barn.
After we checked in we went to our bunks:
We had two rooms, next to each other. Both rooms probalby slept 15 people or so. We also had a commons area, dining room and kitchen. There were laundry machine as well. The bathrooms were just down the hall. The room we were in was the basement of the barn and had remnants of old chutes and feeders hanging from the ceiling. The heat was all radiant steam and was very comfortable.
Speaking of comfortable:
Chris - The Token Brit, and Brandon had campsites. This is where we spent most of our evening.
TTB showing off his brew named after a British car - an MG wasn't it?
It was starting to get about dusk, so we set out to take some pictures of our MINIs. We followed a dirt road and found a spot.
Just as we got parked, traffic was coming at us from both directions! We were being bombarded by these large diesel trucks on this little dirt road. You'd think it was a major highway or something! So we all took off and found another road. Turns out it was a driveway....Rather than drive all the way up to the house, we all tried to turn around. It was HILARIOUS! It's a single lane dirt road with 3 foot ditches on either side, and most of us are trying to do the Austin Powers thing and turn around a little bit at a time. About half of us turned around, while the othes just backed out. Meanwhile, there's a giant dust cloud around us - good thing I didn't wash my MINI!
We then found this part of the road and took some shots:
Once we got back to the barn, we started up the fire for dinner. We had chips, hot dogs, banana boars, s'mores and more. It was awesome.
Roger drove up from Iowa to hang out with us. He also brought some kick arse brownies.
THEN IT WAS TIME FOR CHUBBY BUNNY!
Tiff, Mike and Jimmy were out pretty quickly. I think Tiff and Jimmy made it like 4. However, TTB was proving impressive as he continued to add marshmallows - 4, 5, 6. then it got pretty funny and things started getting out of hand!
Is he laughing or is he swallowing the juice?!
and finally he concedes!
The rest of the night was spent cleaning out our mouths of marshmallows and getting closer and closer to the fire as it got smaller and smaller while the kids found things to do in the dark.
Soon we all went to bed, ready for tomorrow's adventure. Most of us slept okay, while it looks like Brandon got a little chilly.
When we woke up, it was a beautiful chilly morning. Clear skies with lots of birds chirping. When I went outside, I could hear cattle over the hills talking to each other. I have some pics of my morning walk
here.
Breakfast kicked butt! We were treated to "eggs in a bag" and campfire donuts. It was the coolest breakfast evar! For the EIAB, you take all your ingredients (eggs, cheese, sausage, peppers, onions, bacon bits, sald and pepper) and dump them into a plastic bag, seal it and bix it all up. Once it's mixed, let it sit in the hot water until cooked. Then VIOLA'! You have breakfast - fantastic! Rob demonstrates:
All done!
We also had powedered sugar and cinnamon sugar campfire donuts:
After we cleaned up, we headed out for the 2nd days' drive, which was supposed to include caves. We headed back to Harmony and found a car wash. Rob had quarters, so we speed washed all the MINIs!
After that, Chris I headed home. Tracy and I had an appointment for our anniversay event which was rescheduled due to inclement weather ON our anniversary. Going home was a blast! Chris and I spent TONS of time in the opposite lane making passes and great time. Once out on the 2 lane hwy, things were much easier. We parted ways and wondered what the rest of the group was doing?
_________________
