Recap - Dunsmuir Railroad Park Event - November 5th thru November 7th, 2021

Your Hosts For The Event:

Christine & Michael Toibin
Simon & Nikki Tildesley

Our group motored together from Pleasanton with an hour stop halfway for lunch lead by Simon and Nikki. Meanwhile Christine and Michael made their way down from Oregon early to double check the routes planned for the group the next day. We all seemed to arrive around the same time to the Railroad Park Resort.

Potluck Friday day went on without a hitch even with the rain coming down on us. Thanks to Simon & Nikki, and Sue & Rich Bennett we had four canopies covering us along with a couple firepits, provided by the Toibins & Tildesleys, to keep us warm. As you can see from the pictures, there was a feast to be had from all the items everyone brought to share. It was the perfect evening to get to know new members who thought this was the perfect run to jump in on all the fun to connecting with many we haven’t seen in a while.

Saturday morning started early with a short drive followed by a little hike to Hedge Creek Falls. The trail to Hedge Creek Falls was very short, but extremely scenic trail leading to a waterfall you can walk behind with a great view of the Sacramento River. I’m sure we would have seen Mt. Shasta too had it not been covered in clouds. Be sure to check out all the pictures and the video done by Pat Lewis.

After this the group was on their own to gas up for the afternoon run, relax a little and get their lunch before we gathered again around 1pm. Before heading out we had some drawings for door prizes and a group picture.

While the drive wasn’t that long in length, it was huge in amount of fun motoring up Everitt Memorial Highway to Bunny Flats. Bunny Flat lies at 6,950 feet in elevation and serves as the primary spot for winter recreation on the south side of Mount Shasta. Bunny Flats didn’t disappoint on ‘winter’ as the area had fresh snow from the night before for the group (20 cars/37 people) to play in and capture amazing pictures.

 

Did I mention pictures? Don’t miss lots more of them via the link below!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/n9V47eK9bViqDwfLA

From playing in the snow, we traveled down to Lake Siskiyou for another nature walk along the Wagon Creek pedestrian bridge. This truly was an ‘over the river and through the snow’ kind of run as navigating down to the parking area at Lake Siskiyou required taking it slow and dodging a few potholes. As I mentioned in describing this part of the run, if I would take Malcolm, our new JCW Mini on it, I think everyone would be fine if they were careful. Luckily no one had a lowered MINI. ☺

It was wonderful to be able to gather in the dining car for dinner after a fun day of exploring the area around Dunsmuir. We had just enough time after dinner to break-down our gathering spot between Caboose 26 & 27 before quite time of 10pm.

And let us not forget Moose and Dirk who enjoyed their road trip as well!!

Sunday was left for everyone to make it back home on their own bringing a close to 2021 Weekend at Dunsmuir. Are you ready for 2022 Weekend at Dunsmuir?

BOOK YOUR CABOOSE NOW FOR OUR 2022 DUNSMUIR EVENT!

Friday October 21st thru Sunday October 23rd

https://rrpark.com/

10 Cabooses are already booked!

Christmas 2021 Holiday Event and Walt Disney Museum - Saturday December 11, 2021

 This is a PAID member run only!

Your hosts for this event:

Gordon and Alison Lee

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE! 

Meet up location - Option 1

Meet up time/Departure time

8:00am/8:30am

For those in SF, East Bay and South - Meet around the corner of the Philz Coffee truck past the reserved parking spaces: on the corner of Marina Blvd. and Scott Street in the Marina. We will take a beautiful drive from the Marina Green over the Golden Gate Bridge and regroup at the entrance to Strawberry Village Shopping Center in Mill Valley. From there we will head over to MINI of Marin.

Route: https://goo.gl/maps/tCVZupxuVhPHzxTJ7

Meet Up Option 2 - 

For those who simply wish to meet everyone at MINI of Marin, meet up time is 9:00.

MINI of Marin

5880 Paradise Drive

Corte Madera, CA 94925

MINI of Marin

The festivities at MINI of Marin - They will be providing us with bagels and coffee for our holiday get together. And to keep in the spirit of the holidays and our visit to the Disney Museum, dress up in your favorite DISNEY character!! Will be a lot of fun and Gordon and Alison will award prizes for the BEST of the BEST before we head into the CITY.

In addition, we will be taking donations to MINI of Marin's favorite local charity which is the San Francisco Marin Food Bank.

The club HAS DONATED $500.00 to support a great cause! Dress up and bring your wallets and donate whatever you wish.

https://www.sfmfoodbank.org/

Departure time from MINI of Marin:

11:00am 

We will head back into San Francisco and head to the Walt Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. We are allowing about 45 minutes to an hour to get there with traffic and park your MINI.

 Parking Lot at Disney Museum

Walt Disney Museum

104 Montgomery Street

San Francisco, CA 94129

Route from MINI of Marin to the Museum: https://goo.gl/maps/WXqwXbJLDiA7LMabA

The Walt Disney Family Museum is an amazing place with lots of excitement and things to do.  We've seen all the great films of Fantasia, Snow White, Cinderella, Peter Pan and so many more. Here's an opportunity to learn how the great Walt Disney started his career as a creator of magical filmmaking. And his life as a farmer and his vision for the future of Disneyland.

Please visit: https://www.waltdisney.org/tix

to order your reservations at the Museum. There will be a maximum of 6 tickets per household in 20 minute intervals. It is recommended that we order tickets AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. This is a very popular museum.

Admission to the main museum is on a timed ticket basis with limited capacities set for each time slot. We would suggest you make your reservation beginning at 12:20 / 12:40 etc. 

Visiting information during Covid19: https://www.waltdisney.org/welcome-back

Mask restrictions:

Handkerchiefs and scarves are not permitted as a mask.

Roaming monitors will keep a watchful eye for the safety of all visitors.

Parking at the museum: https://www.waltdisney.org/visit/transportation

You must RSVP via MotorSportReg:

https://www.motorsportreg.com/events/christmas-2021-holiday-event-disney-museum-norcal-minis-746643

Current EVENT PROTOCOLS:

The following guidelines are our best attempt to secure your safety given what is known at this time. They are by no means comprehensive, and we cannot predict every circumstance. Therefore, we are counting on you to exercise your best judgment throughout the event. Please have an awareness and understanding of the following COVID-19 safety protocols:
• NorCal MINIS asks that anyone who is at higher risk for severe illness, feeling unwell, or who has been in contact with anyone that is sick in the last two weeks to STAY HOME
• In line with State guidelines – people who are fully vaccinated may attend without a face mask. If you are not fully vaccinated – we kindly request that you maintain a face covering.
• NorCal MINIs will encourage everyone to maintain personal hygiene in regards to washing hands
• Club loaner radios will be available at the run. These will be sanitized prior to be handed and out will be sanitized again upon return.
• Any PPE you wish to use must be supplied by yourself. This includes any face coverings or hand sanitizing products
• Participants will be required to Sign Waivers Electronically
• Please be courteous with people who wish to maintain PPE and social distancing. It is their choice to do this and we cannot question their vaccine status
Anyone who continually or willfully violates these guidelines will be asked to leave by a club officer or director.
POST-EVENT PROTOCOLS:
• Any participant that falls ill within 2 weeks after the event MUST contact NorCal MINIs and share a description of their symptoms, related test results and movements during the event
• NorCal MINIs will make every effort to alert affected participants privately of the situation

Ultimately, it is your responsibility to assess the risk to you and make a responsible decision on whether or not to participate. You assume all risks and agree the Club holds no liability if you or anyone in your party should develop any Covid-19 symptoms afterwards by attending a NorCal MINIs event. Participants are required to follow these guidelines; any participant may be asked to leave the event for non-compliance.


Join Today!
Create your MotorSportReg Account to become a PAID Club Member, use the link below:
NorCal MINIs Membership

Instructions for joining MotorSportReg and joining NorCal MINIs can be found in the following document: Instructions

 

Recap - River Road/Carmel Valley Run - August 29, 2021

Hosts: Vickie Casacca and Mick Brown

The August Run to River Road and Carmel Valley Road was held Sunday, August 29th. There were two options for the meetup at the Starbucks parking lot in Salinas, you could either be an early bird at 8am to take part in the Cars and Coffee event held there weekly or sleep in a little and join the group at 9:30am for the driver’s meeting and information from Simon and Vickie.

Vickie had packets of information that included route directions, information about the charity, Salinas Circle for Children, a brochure about Moto Talbott Motorcycle Museum in Carmel Valley and a Trivia Challenge for the run. After explaining how to get your Rally Name using your Mother’s Maiden name and the Street you grew up on or your pet’s name, if needed, everyone was ready to go. Vickie’s rally name is Whitney Bolero and Mick’s is Norris Neville, which are both really fitting.

There were 22 cars that rolled out of the parking lot and the run and Trivia challenge were on. The procession of Minis headed down Hwy 68 to River Road and followed it all the way down to Soledad, enjoying the many agricultural fields and vineyards along the route. They turned onto Arroyo Seco Road to continue the trek, following this twisty road to Carmel Valley Road for the final leg of the trip that included a few single lane sections along the way.

 
The end meetup was at the Carmel Valley Community Park, where Vickie went over the answers to the trivia challenge and collected donations for the 501(c)3 non-profit Salinas Circle for Children, that raises funds for children with special needs in Monterey County. The members donated a generous $400.00 dollars and NorCal Minis contributed an additional $250.00 dollars to this very worthwhile organization.

 Dirk and Friends!!

Everyone who attended the run had a ticket for the draw and received another ticket if they donated to the charity and another one if they got at least 20 questions out of 25 correct on the trivia challenge. Vickie’s favorite question was Mini USA announced August 26 as National WTF Day, what does it stand for? Answer: Wave to Friends, of course.

There were three prizes of a bottle of a local wine from Mick and Vickie’s personal wine cellar and a Mini Hot Wheels car.
After the run the members were free to explore Carmel Valley Village for lunch, wine tasting or a tour of Moto Talbott Motorcycle Museum.

A great day was had by all!

Mick and Vickie

RECAP - Pumpkin Farm Halloween Run - October 30, 2021

Your Hosts; Simon and Nikki Tildesley

Run dedicated to Lauryn Taylor who passed away Oct 23rd after a battle with Cancer. Lauryn was one of our oldest members and has supported the club as well as many MTTS over the years.

Due to the cancellation once again of the original October run to Bear Country, the club put an impromptu drive together. This was a duplicate drive of the pumpkin run we completed in Oct 2020 taking in the back hills of Dublin and Livermore, up over the Altamont Pass before taking in Patterson Pass Rd to Joan’s pumpkin patch in Livermore.

On a cooler Saturday morning 33 MINI’s met at the Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot in Dublin. Some of the people joined the Halloween spirit and had dressed themselves, their dogs and even their MINI’s up for the drive. Dolores handed out some candies and Carol Chin kindly gave out fortune cookies to the attendees.

We headed out as a single group as the drive is quite straightforward and there aren’t too many places to get split up. Larry Anderson helped though being mid car as he drove the route with us last year and knew the roads. David and Anne Sitter kindly took the job of sweeping as the caboose.

For this run – we were once again quite lucky that the number of bicycles was at a minimum. We were just held up in a couple of places by slower moving trucks. So as the lead of the group, I decided to hold back and pull to the side of the road to allow some distance to build so we could get to enjoy our little cars more.

Sadly, we did lose one of the cars on the run as his car started to make some funny noises. David did take a listen and felt it should be ok – but the member decided to split and head home as a precaution. This did not deter the rest of the group driving some of the awesome back roads with very little traffic towards out final destination. My tip to other members – if you haven’t driven Patterson Pass Rd at a weekend – go do it. It is a great drive when you have a MINI.

Upon arrival at Joan’s, we lined the cars up against the fence for one last phot shoot. After that, some people opted to head straight home whilst others took the opportunity to walk the patch and take in some festive spirit.

I think this run is so much fun that we will now make it an annual event and try to visit some of the other pumpkin patches in the area.

Simon & Nikki Tildesley

Check out even more pictures from this great day.

And thank you to all members who posted these pictures on our Facebook page!!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jqcxMJYcYkwH11pa8

RECAP - Annual Meeting and Mt. Hamilton Run - September 25, 2021

Your Hosts; Simon and Nikki Tildesley

The run up to the Lick Observatory is an annual event that we do every year and is dedicated to our absent friends in memory of the members we have lost over the years. The run has become an annual event as it was one of the first runs the club did when it was formed in 2003.

30 Mini’s met at the Lucky parking lot on McKee Road in San Jose for this awesome drive. As the road is twisting and narrow and we had quite a large group – we made the decision to split it into two groups. One which would be for those who like a more spirited drive and those who wish to take things at a slower pace. I was leading the first group and Pat & Michelle Lewis kindly offered to take the second group. After some social time chatting to newer members and observing our cars – the first group set off with the second group running about 5 mins behind.

As this road has been driven many time before by many of the members – we were well aware of the potential to meet up with many cyclists on the climb up the mountain. Luckily on this occasion – we actually did see as many as we have done in the past. This gave the group opportunities to work the gearbox and the handling on their cars.

Unfortunately the Lick is still closed due to the pandemic – we had to bypass it and head straight down the other side. We were fortunate though to find a pull in to take a few pictures and allow one of our members time to clean up in his car after his poor pooch threw up!!! I don’t think the dog was prepared for how twisty the road was. After a short break I got confirmation that group two were a few mins away – so the first group headed out again.

We continued for another hour driving all the fabulous twisting roads towards the back end of Livermore – again stopping for a short photo opportunity on the valley floor. This is one of the most exciting roads to drive but does have some challenges – but everyone (including those who had not driven the road before) kept up with me and had a great time.

Our final destination on this occasion was East Bay MINI in Pleasanton who were hosting us for our annual meeting and lunch. Dolores and my wife, Nikki, had headed out to East Bay separately to the run to get things set up. On arrival we were guided into some dedicated parking spaces and took our seats for our taco lunch and annual meeting presentation and reports. 

My particular thanks got to all the crew at East Bay MINI who once again excelled themselves with their hospitality and especially to Rebekka Murray for her coordination.

After our reports and presentations, the draw was done and we sent everyone home with a little gift of two microfiber cloths and a key ring. All in all – yet another great Mt Hamilton run and a fun drive for all.

Simon & Nikki Tildesley

Check out the pictures from the day:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kjgGjqNPUXD2tmrX9

CLUB ELECTION RESULTS FOR 2022

President -  Simon Tildesley will continue 

Vice President - Rick Sanchez 

Membership Secretary - Michelle Lewis 

Treasurer - Dolores Quintero-Sanchez will continue

Social Media Director - Michael Toibin will continue

Board of Directors

Anne & Dave Sitter 

Gordon & Alison Lee 

Vickie Casacca 

Mick Brown 

Christoph Fritsch 

Anita Weemaes

Pat Lewis

and the following new board members:

Eddie Vergara

Mike Zampiceni

Tasha Hudick

Paige Lane

RUNS FOR 2022 (dates TBD by the 2022 Officers and Board of Directors shortly and will be posted at that time on our 2022 calendar on our website). We will try to even out the north/south locations  and evenly space the day runs between Saturday/Sunday and when overnights take place.

Day Events

Highway 1 Tomales/ Bodega Bay

Monterey County

Napa/Sonoma

Point Reyes/ Marin Peninsula

Mount Uminum/Ulvas Meadow

Apple Hill

Delta (Highway 160) Sacramento Auto Museum

East Bay-Castro Valley-Oakland Niles area

Overnight Events

Central Coast: Paso Robles/ Cambria/San Luis Obispo Back Roads

Big Sur/ San Simeon

Nevada City

Solvang

Other events we usually participate in:

July 4th Parade - Spreckels

All British Car Show - Danville