
We got to Sparta and met at the Ship's Wheel restaurant. By the time we left, I counted a total of 22 MINIs. From there, we started the "official" part of the run. Unfortunately, we were not far along, on some nice twisties, when I thought I smelled something a little odd - maybe brakes or rubber burning? But then it faded away. For a few seconds. Coming around a curve I saw a couple MINIs pulling over to the side of the road. I followed suit and we soon discovered our first casualty of the day as whaner had a flat tire. Amazingly, their model happened to have a drop down spare. Things really got on track with the help of maacodale who apparently keeps and entire shop's worth of equipment in his Clubbie. We soon had the donut spare on and whaner was able to head back home for some fixing. The rest of us caught back up with the group waiting at a gas station. After a considerable delay.

From there, it was a run up through some great backcountry roads. I did get a kick out of a pickup truck that was trying mightily to keep pace with the run rather than pull over and the last six or so of us by. He finally turned off though and we were able to catch up.

Upon returning to the parking lot though, we discovered our second casualty when we found MiniCuse had a flat tire. Unfortunately, no spare for him. The good news is we were in town with a cell signal, so he was able to call for assistance. Alas, it was the end of the day for him as the rest of the group headed out.

Time for more twisties. This may have been the most enjoyable part of the run for me as it was largely uninterrupted and I was able to get into a nice groove. Plus, things were finally starting to dry off a bit.

For all the challenges of doing a run in the middle of winter, it was still a great time. Got to see plenty of old friends and meet several new ones. And we will all have tales of a truly unique run.

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