After a two year search I found my Mini this past April on-line, in LA. My wife thought I was a bit crazy having to go all the way to LA to find the car I wanted. Although it wasn't the exact car I wanted it was the best I'd seen in two years- '06 MCS JCW CR/W, stripes, chrono pkg., chrome trim inside and out, Kumhos on alloys, and only 8500 miles. We negotiated by e-mail and I flew down to make sure it was what he said it was. The car was in near perfect shape. After a test drive along the coast highway we made the deal.

The next day I was on the road for the first part of my drive home- destination Lake Tahoe. From I-5 I headed N.E. over the mountains via hwy 14 to Palmdale (91 degrees in mid-April! ). I'd never been this way before so thought, "What the heck." As I'm getting familiar with the car at a comfortable cruise I discover I'm cruising at 90mph- it felt like 70! From hwy. 14 I connected to 395 and followed it north past Manzanar through the Owens Valley on the east side of the Sierras. What a ride, it's beautiful. Climbing out of Bishop I ran into a sand storm! The car was being sand blasted and there was no where to hide- argh! At one point the visibility was near zero and I had to pull over, but still no place to hide. After it cleared I headed north once again- great scenery. I was looking for the turnoff for the backroad to Lake Tahoe so pulled over to look at the map. I hadn't looked at a map previously and there it was- the road was across the highway! It's hwy. 89 over Monitor Pass from Antelope Valley. I'd never been there before and actually found the road to be scary- hairpin turns (great fun) and no guard rails (I'm still learning how to drive this car and it's a thousand feet down- yikes! ). I easily caught up to a suped-up Scion even though the driver seemed to know what he was doing and tried his best to pull away- not! I'd back off to take the corners fast and catch up again over and over- great fun, and basically blew the guys doors off! At the junction of hwy. 88 I turned west (the Scion headed N.E.) and made my way to Luther Pass Road (an extention of 89) and headed north again. That connects with hwy. 50 at Meyers, CA and continues north as hwy. 89. This makes its way north to the Tahoe Keys area near South Lake Tahoe. It's now dusk and I head left to the west side of Lake Tahoe. I've been here many times but never at dusk at Emerald Bay- fantastic. My ultimate destination is Carnelian Bay at the north end of the lake. I arrive ten hours after leaving LA... it's now 31 degrees! A 60 degree difference from Palmdale!

After a day of relaxation at my mother-in-law's I'm off on the second day of my journey. I would normally go the Mt. Rose route (hwy. 431 east to Reno- lots of corners!) but I needed to cover a lot of ground that day- destination Crater Lake, Oregon. So I took hwy. 267 from King's Beach over the hill into Truckee and I-80, then east to Reno. Joining up with hwy. 395 again I head north. An enthusiastic wave from a yellow Mini towing a trailer was a welcome sight. Through Susanville and out the west side I go north on hwy. 44 sometimes called the Feather Lake Hwy. There was some relatively heavy traffic along here- unusual during the week at this time of year. Passing a line of five cars I actually get the car up to 110 mph. The road really isn't made for such speeds and I had to back off. Fortunately it was none-too-soon as I see two troopers in ten minutes- where do they come from and what are they doing out here? At Old Station I turn north onto hwy. 89 and head for Mt. Shasta. Nice road. Beautiful country- Burney Falls, McCloud, then Mt. Shasta. Onto I-5 for a short ways I then turn N.E. onto hwy. 97 at Weed, CA. Back across the mountains to Klamath Falls, Oregon- lined up for Crater Lake. I stop for refreshment and find the forest service station across the street- "I'm headed for Crater Lake and want some info." I said. "You might get there but you'd have to come back here 'cause the road north to Roseburg has too much ice and snow on it." The nice lady ranger tells me. Dang! No Crater Lake on this trip. Now what? The forest ranger tells me all the passes north of Klamath Falls from eastern Oregon to the west side of the mountains are icy and snowy and required I carry chains- yeah, right. I decide to head due west and she directs me to highway 140 West- Lake of the Woods (like Minnesota) back over the mountains to Medford. Another road I'd never been on. It's an easy, beautiful drive. I hit I-5 again and head north. I might as well go all the way to Salem to stay with my Mom for the night. I can't tell you how many times I've traveled this route and it's got some great country to see. The day is getting long and I need to get there so I'm pushing 80 most of the way. Just fast enough I can hit the brakes when smokey shows up. A Honda Accord is pushing me- thinks he's tough- ha, ha, ha! Some of those 50 mph downhill corners go by at 80 - yee haw! And the Accord is left far behind. I finally made Salem 12 hours after leaving Lake Tahoe on my circuitous route. I'm tired. And Mom's hot water heater is on the blink- no shower!

Except for the sand storm the weather had been pretty good. That was about to change. After a day of rest and fixing Mom's water heater (Mom loved the car by the way- she's 78 years old and had to have a ride!), I head north on I-5. Heavy rain and wind all the way. But wait, there's some hail now too! Three times I hit hail. The third time was in south Seattle and it covered the road bringing traffic to a near standstill. Finally the rain lets up near Mt. Vernon Washington- I'm 18 miles from home- and there's 4 inches of snow on I-5 for about a 1/2 mile- now I've seen everything! It was five hours from Salem to Anacortes (80 miles north of Seattle) and I was happy to be home. Under my watchful eye I pulled in to my son's carwash fundraiser and I get my hard working Mini a well deserved bath and she looked good as new... except for the paint chips I got from the sand storm!
I would later touch them up myself after a short consultation with Clint "theminiguy" at Dunton's Autobody (they do great work) and my Mini looks great again.

I've been on many driving trips here in the States and in Europe beginning when I was a kid. This one, my inagural drive in the Mini, had to be one of the most memorable, exciting, and adventurous ones I've ever taken. There are many other side trips that could be taken along this route, some I have taken and some I want to take. Ahhh, yes... too many roads and not enough time!

 

Great Tale! Sounds like an incredibley wonderful journey!

 

Yes it was. You could spend weeks on this route taking many different side trips-- Death Valley, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Mtn. area, many routes between Tahoe and Mt. Shasta, Crater Lake, Oregon Caves, Columbia Gorge, Snoqualmie Falls, North Cascades Highway-- the list goes on and on. Big country! Beautiful places. Diverse scenery. Short trips or long, it's all here.