An Almost Triple Play

After a week in Vegas where I was pretty much confined to my hotel (the Golden Nugget) for some training and then had to endure the red-eye flight back, it was great to be back home.  Even though I only got back in town shortly after noon on Saturday, the thought of getting in Mr. Mini Wuf and doing some motoring was something I was looking forward to.  The only question, what to do with my family who I had been missing quite a bit?  That was solved when my kids decided they wanted to go along for a ride.

So it was off to Mimi's Cafe to meet up with other Mini owners celebrating the third anniversary of the Tar Heel MINI Motoring Club with a Dine & Dash event.  Lunch was held at 1:00 p.m. which I unfortunately was not able to attend.  We did get out there shortly before 3:00 p.m. for the Dash part of the day.  In the photo gallery, you can see several pics of the Minis lined up in the parking lot.  This was kind of special for me since this occurred right in my neck of the woods as I live right next door in Graham.

Paul (aka Blimey) and Lee (aka Eepers) each had a short message for those in attendance about what they think sets THMMC apart and makes us unique.  Likewise, everyone was very appreciative of Mark (aka Twister) for founding the club.  As a newbie, I can say that I have been most impressed with the club and everyone associated with it.  Help is a mere post on the forum away and in person, I think everyone truly enjoys being in the company of fellow Mini enthusiasts.  I think one sign that may be telling were my kids, who thought everyone was "fun" to be around.

After the short "meeting" it was off on the Dash, which constituted a run down some backroads of southern Alamance County and into Liberty.  From there, the plan was to take Old Liberty Road over to Asheboro.  As someone described it, Old Liberty Road is one of the better rides in the central/Piedmont part of the state and a favorite haunt of many motorcycle clubs.  At least, that was the plan.

We ran into a little hiccup when a turn was missed.  When I saw the signs for I-85/I-40, I knew something was wrong.  So after some adjustments, and some U-turn maneuvering, we finally managed to pick up Old Liberty Road just south of Liberty.  The cool thing is, even with the detour, it was still fun to just be out motoring, especially with other Minis.  Dare I say it was the epitome of the Mini 'tude?

Old Liberty Road itself was a blast.  Not as "technical" as the Hwy. 66 Bullfrog Run I went on last month, it was still a great twisty road.  The squeals of delight from my girls made it sound like they were on a roller coaster in the back seat, just having an absolute ball.  I have to guess it was a success as it has been a steady drone of, "when can we go again Daddy?" from all three kids.  We even had a little excitement just before hitting Asheboro where a State Trooper had pulled some SUV.  I understand he might have given those behind me even more of a jolt as he cleared from that about the time they were coming by.

What about the triple play you ask?  Well, first of all this event was to celebrate the Third Anniversary of the THMMC.  Second, this fell on the weekend of the three-month anniversary of owning my Mini.  It surely would have made a true triple play had this been my third event I attended with THMMC.  Alas, it was only the second.  Barring something last minute (as in, I can figure out how to attend one of the many events THMMC has scheduled), it looks like the third event will be the upcoming Blue Ridge Parkway Tour with the THMMC in the middle of June.  That one will be a vacation for me and my wife and I am really looking forward to it.

Below are some pics from the event.  The "in transit" pics may not be the best as my son was trying to operate the camera and struggled with getting up high enough.  But I'm sure he thought he was doing a great job and was having fun doing it.

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