MINI Takes the States 2018
Well it is now just about one month since MTTS 2018 ended
and all of the NorCal MINI members headed back towards home. It was another amazing
journey across county like in years past. This year there we TWO starting
points, one in Portland Oregon and the other in Orlando Florida. And NorCal was
well represented on both sides of the country.
We started on Saturday July 14th and all met in
Keystone Colorado on Friday July 20th. The western route headed from
Portland down to Ashland Oregon and then into California to Sacramento. From
there the group drove down to Los Angeles to Flagstaff Arizona and then onto
Santa Fe New Mexico to Durango Colorado and then into Keystone. The eastern
group started in Orlando Florida then to Tallahassee and then to New Orleans
Louisiana to Little Rock Arkansas to Dallas Texas to Oklahoma City to Dodge City
Kansas and then met everyone in Keystone.
The event in Keystone was a two-day adventure centered
around the SKI Lodge area.
As in years past MINI Takes the States always has a charity
that we raise money to support. This year the benefactor was FEEDING AMERICA
which as you know raises money to distribute to local food banks across the
country. This year. MTTS raised enough money to provide well over 1.2 Million
meals and our group raised enough money to provide 27,000 meals. And donations
are still being taken at:
This year the event had more participants than ever. MINI
reported more than 3000 MINI owners attended the event in Keystone with well
over 1000 cars on the road each day. AMAZING!
NorCal was well represented with cars coming from both ends.
About 20 cars represented our club. And most of us went ALL THE WAY .. start to
finish.
Each day started with a morning gathering where MINI
provided breakfast and assorted snacks and drinks. The meet up also had booths
set up each day, folks from Shell, Pirelli, Mapquest, MINI, MINI Financial,
local MINI dealers and others selling the usual schwag!
MINI Corporate kicked off each day with information and
results from the day before and other pertinent info.
MINI provided a route sheet from the kick off location to
the end of day location and the start of the next day. Each day there was a
stopover event that most attended. In addition, everyone could deviate and see
the sights along the way as they pleased. Which as many of you know .. we are a
VERY ADVENTUROUS GROUP. Sights along the way included:
Cape Canaveral Cocoa Beach Florida
The Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock
The Oklahoma City Bombing Site and Museum
Vicksburg Mississippi – Site of a famous Civil War battle
Hot Springs National Park – Hot Springs Arkansas
Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge Southwest Oklahoma
Oklahoma City Dodgers Baseball Game
Texas Stadium – Dallas
Dalton Gang Hideout – Neade Kansas
Boot Hill Museum – Dodge City Kansas
Bents Old Fort National Historical Site – LaJunta, Colorado
In addition to all the great sights .. most important is FOOD and DRINK. Just so
many wonderful places we all found along the way to eat and drink with the
locals. Great barbeque, great beer, great cocktails, great seafood and more.
The greatest part of the journey of which there are many..
our friends we traveled with along the way as well as all the wonderful people
we met along the way that quickly became friends.
Check out all the pictures attached in no particular order.
And here are just a few to tease you into checking out the
album link.
Till MTTS2020
