INVASION OF THE MINIS! (Did anybody give the shop owners a heads up? )





I didn't have time to take shots while driving this time. Anyone? Anyone?

 

Kinda like one long group with 2 sub-groups.

Maxicooper was the 1st leader.
I swept for him.
Mr.MellowYellow followed me and acted as leader for second group.
minirab swept the whole group. ( except for someone in a Z4 who was persistent in following us )

Most of the time, we were able to stay together as one big circus train.

Traffic wasn't too bad and we had very few lights to foul things up.

 

Yep, traffic was kind of flow, actually.

We can keep the pace pretty close to what we expected.

__________________________________________

Please find some interesting pictures taken at the orchard.

Pictures courtesy of Al March, thank you for your kind contributed.

 

Here are a few from the drive...






On our way home, we stopped at Target. This pulled in as we were getting ready to leave.

 

Great pics, Maxi and Greencactus!

CCC777 I love those eyes (in the 'Cooper')

Does anybody think that the SUV next to Cricket in that last photo looks like a manatee?!

 

We would like to add our kudos to Chris and the team for putting together another great run. I couldn't believe how smoothly it went with that many MINIs. The changes in the route from last year and hitting the Cozy before the pickin' worked perfectly. Well done.

Great to see so many new faces. From the show of hands, it looked like eight or ten people were on their first run. Hope you all had fun and we will see you at some upcoming events.

 

Looks like someone's doing some serious compensation.

More like a man-a-tiny.

 

I really wish I could have made this run. The worst thing was I was heading south on 270 waving to all you lucky motors heading north. I think I spotted at least 4 or 5 DCMMers.

Thanks to Chris, I have the route so now I just need to pick a day and make the run. Driving solo just isn't as much fun as in a line with 30 other minis. Maybe everyone will get bored at the autox next saturday and we can have a do over.

 

Thanks to Maxicooper, Mr & MrsMellowYellow, Wolf617 and Minirab for the work involved in making this such a fun run through the Maryland countryside.

 

good job, all.
I wish I could have gone on the drive, but I was glad to see some of you at Pryor's. I wish I had gone straight to the Cozy so I could've seen more of you...
I'm glad everyone had a good time and that there were many new faces.

 

Well, that was a great day of motoring! Nay! It was a great weekend of motoring!

For those of us that hung out Saturday with Spitfire Mike at the Model Airshow and then took in Maxicooper's Running with the Cherries...it was a great weekend all around.

My one regret is that with so many new folks attending, I hardly got to speak to any of you all. Sorry about that and I apologize to those of you that I didn't introduce myself to. We'll meet at the next event.

I do have plenty of photos to share but I have to pick out the good ones out of the 300 photos Bev took. Let me say that she did a great job with navigation, working the radio and hanging on for dear life. On top of all that she still took a bunch of great photos that I'll upload when I get a chance.

Thanks to Maxicooper for putting on such a great show even though he was under the weather. Hope you're feeling better, Chris!

Glenn

 

I love the one group with subgroups concept and this arrangement worked absolutely perfect.

When I did my run for the picnic, I had Maxicooper in the middle to steer people in the right direction. Knowing that I had someone familiar with the route (he came out and ran it several times with me) gave me the confidence to push ahead despite not knowing what was going on behind me since the radios didn't always work.

I'm hoping we gave him that same confidence in knowing that we were all working together to keep everything flowing.

Rab and Bev did a great job communicating as did Bill and Chris. Great job all around guys!

g.

 

Great pictures, Laura, I really love to look at the line of MINIs motoring together like this.

 

Here are some photos from the cherry picking at Pryor's Orchard.

1) The orchard set aside parking for us in a grassy area.




2) Nice setting.




3) Oops, didn't notice the Black Walnut tree until we were about to leave. Luckily no humongo nuts dropped on our cars.




4) Walking into the orchard.




5) Bev hits the trees.




6) Bev shows off her bounty.




7) Christine climbs high into the trees for the best cherries.



g.

 

great run!... great people! ...nice pics!

thanks everyone!!

 

Glad to you can make it.

Actually, it was nice too see lots of female MINI drivers at the event.

I even heard a rumor about some kind of "a secret society of female MINI drivers".

 

It's hard to pick a message to quote from. Maybe the long thank you note, since there are so many thanks and kudos in order. . .

I'm one of those 8 or 9 newbie hands and this was just plain FUN! Many, many thanks to Chris and the team for fabulous planning and execution. Since it was my first run, I have no comparisons, but this was everything I had hoped (except I didn't make it to the car wash first. But with such a big group, it was easy for Ms. Jake to hide.)

Thanks to everyone in the group for the warm welcome. It was a true pleasure to meet you all. I look forward to more.

Thanks for the pictures, too. Can't believe I forgot my camera! ~~ Karen

 

It was very nice to meet you, Karen. I'm glad you wrote because I couldn't remember your NAM name See you at the next run

 

Uh-oh - you found us out. I was telling MrMellowYellow that since there seemed to be more female drivers on this run, that we should form a secret society of the DCMM for female drivers. In fact, I intended to drive yesterday until I found out we were leading the faster group! I'm not that brave.

Besides, I had to help MrMellowYellow navigate, work the radio, snap photos, and hang on for dear life. Does anyone else's hands and fingers hurt from gripping the door handles so hard to hold on, or is it just mine? Also, we couldn't turn Duran Duran on the iPod to drown out my screams because I had to work the radio - that was a bummer.

It was great meeting new people and seeing familiar faces. Great job organizing this, Maxicooper. Thanks also to Rab, Bill, and MrMellowYellow. We make a great team.

~Bev

 

Well at least you got to hold on for dear life in warm seats.

 

Many thanks to Chris and crew for setting this run up! Though I've been a member since 2005, this was actually my first run and it was a blast (especially the "fast" group during the first leg of the trip. I can't remember who said it, but my favorite quote "Hey, if the MINI in front of you can take that hairpin turn at 70, so can you!" ). I honestly have to say I have a much greater appreciation for my MINI right now, as crazy of a driver as I think I normally am!

I also want to give a sincere apology to whomever it was that I may uh... may have tailgated on the run. Since it was my first run, and I didn't have a co-pilot, I was very nervous about losing the group and leading a line of MINIs astray! Sorry about that, and I will try to be more courteous next time.

 

We saw you and your wave.....I never expected a wave on a divided highway so you caught me off guard I tried to get a wave off but I think I was too late.

 

Thanks everyone !

Leona will have some photos to post so check back

 

Leona just happend to get this link from a friend last week....quite funny...there's a commercial that runs before so bear with it

http://www.hulu.com/watch/16417/satu...-eyes-gardener

 

Funny!