The Great Ice Cream Run 2015

Save the Date: July 26 - 30
Final Destination: Mackinaw City, Michigan

Welcome to The Great Ice Cream Run 5 (TGICR5), another Tar Heel MINI Motoring Club (THMMC) adventure dedicated to MINI owners who love motoring and who love locally made ice cream!

The Great Ice Cream Run 5 is back! For 2015, the ice cream run will be heading to a new destination, Mackinaw City, Michigan. At the end of the run, our group will join up with other MINIacs for the MINI On The Mack event in Mackinaw City.

In addition to the awesome motoring and at least 2-3 ice cream stops daily, we will be visiting the New River Gorge, the Air Force Museum and the Ford Museum along the way to our destination.

You can do the entire run or just join us for a day or two as we pass through your area.

 

Please find tentative TGICR plan below.


Day 0 - Saturday July 25th, Driving day to Staunton, VA. Greet & Meet at hotel. Dinner: Rowe's Family Restaurant, Ice cream: The Split Banana

Day 1 - Sunday July 26th, Staunton VA to Charleston WV: Visit New River Gorge (walk under the bridge and drive Fayette Station Rd.) Ice cream: King Tut Drive-In and Ellen's Homemade Ice Cream

Day 2 - Monday July 27th, Charleston, WV to Dayton, OH: Drive along US 52 Ohio River scenic byway. Ice cream: Buona Terra Gelato, Aglamesis Brother and Graeter's Ice Cream

Day 3 - Tuesday July 28th, Dayton, OH to Dearborn, MI: Visit US Air Force Museum (4 hrs). Today will be all highways driving. Ice cream: Dietsch Brothers Findlay, OH, Mr. Freeze, Perrysburg, OH.

Day 4 - Wednesday July 29th, Dearborn, MI to South Haven, MI: Visit Ford Museum (4 hrs) then a short drive across to South Haven, MI. Ice cream: Bella Creamery @ Portage, Sherman's Ice Cream. Sweetwater's Donut Mill looks really good too. Also South Haven lighthouse looks interesting for sunset photos.

Day 5 - Thursday July 30th, South Haven, MI to Mackinaw City, MI: It will be our longest drive of the week. Motoring on scenic roads along Lake Michigan from Manistee to Mackinaw City. Ice cream: Hometown Creamery, Moomers and A&W Drive-In Frankfort, MI.

Day 6 - Friday July 31st, Free day, possible day trip St. Ignace to Marquette and do lunch at Vierling. Some people will be heading to the Soo Locks, Sault Sainte Marie at US/Canada border. You can do ferry to Mackinac Island or sunset cruise or do whatever you like. It is your free day.

Day 7 - Saturday August 1st, MINI On The Mack sponsored by MINI USA and MINI of Grand Rapid

 

See THMMC forum for lodging information

 

Registration Opens March 1, 2015!!
Stay Tuned! We'll put up a link to registration when we go live!


You'll be able to order your T-Shirt during the registration process!

 

Registration for The Great Ice Cream Run 5 is open on MSR!!! Just hit the link below to start the registration process.

The Great Ice Cream Run 5 registration

 

I'll try to persuade you to make a trip through Grand Rapids instead of Portage/Kalamazoo...Jersey Junction in East Grand Rapids is an ice cream institution. There was a contest last year for the best ice cream shop in Michigan...Jersey was on the list. It was an "M-Live" contest...I'll see if I can look it up. Several interesting ice cream shops in Grand Rapids, which is also "Beer City" due to the number of micro-breweries.

 

Thanks! I've passed your suggestion on to the route master.

 

Looks like an excellent route.

It looks like your Day 3 route will be pretty short. If you want to inject some classic 50's-era ice cream parlour flavour to the trip, definitely consider Ray's Ice Cream in Royal Oak, MI. Very likely a whole bunch of MMMC'ers would want to meet up with the group.

The night in South Haven, MI will indeed be very scenic. The sunset on the lake is gorgeous. Also FYI, you'll be only 5 miles away from Gingerman Raceway. Would make for fun photo-ops. Since it's a Wednesday when you'll be there, you can probably coordinate with the track staff to get a group photo on the pit-straight or something fun.