Edge

Small update - I found what looks to be a slightly longer (but more fun!) alternate route - about 2.5 hours of driving each way and ~112 miles. I'm going to try to put some bathroom breaks in the middle each way also, as I realize not everyone can drive that far without a pitstop.

So I hinted a month or two ago that I may be organizing a run for MOTD this year. It turns out I have been too busy to organize an official run (MOTD registration, RSVPs, etc.), but I have decided to go ahead and do a practice run for it anyway - work out the kinks, and maybe make it a "real" run next year at MOTD 15 (in 2017). The run would basically be from Fontana Village to the new Bold Rock Hard Cider location in Mills River, NC, which is a little bit south of Asheville. It would involve lunch either at the cidery (if they serve food) or somewhere nearby the cidery, and of course cider tasting. The fastest route from Fontana to the cidery is 105 miles and about 2 hours driving, according to Google Maps. I may experiment with adding a bit more distance and time to that to make it more "fun" (backroads vs. highway), but finding the right balance of drive time vs. curvy roads may be tricky, because with a 2 hour each way drive, plus lunch & tasting, it would pretty much be an "all day" drive. So Susan and I are planning on doing a "practice run" for this on Thursday @ MOTD (May 12). Many (most?) of you probably already have plans for the daytime there (e.g. I know Ali will be doing photo shoots as a vendor), but for anyone who doesn't have daytime plans on the Thursday and wants to join us, you are most welcome. The plan is very casual. I may make a simple route sheet - but right now it's all about exploration and getting a feel for whether it would be a viable organized run next year.

No, Mosaic district in Merrifield. Close to Gallows Rd & Lee Highway.

I for one am very happy that there's a Nando's closer to home now - their grilled corn on the cob is to die for! :eating:

Susan is likely going to come down on Wednesday to meet up with us and stay the rest of the week (and ride back with me). She's not sure yet if she will drive her own car down or if she'll take a coach/bus to Knoxville (where I'd pick her up). Is anyone else planning to drive down on Wednesday? I know she would much rather caravan or carpool with someone for the trip if possible. Unlike me, she's an early bird, so she could easily leave early if that is preferred. As for me, I'm driving down on Sunday, but not likely as early as Ali has indicated. I see no reason to sacrifice sleep in order to get there by 3pm. I'll more likely leave 9 or 10am.

What may have happened is that Sherri accidentally changed the time zone for the event when she posted it. That would cause this. It would say "6:00pm to 9:00pm" or "7:00pm to 10:00pm" in that time zone (3 hour block), but 10:00pm-1:00am in the Eastern time zone. No biggie, Ali's edit has clarified it.

Note that if the time is corrected, all RSVPs will be wiped out and everyone will have to RSVP again. This is by design in the RSVP system, because when the time changes, there are no guarantees that people who said Yes can still go.

10pm-1am? :-O

That was fun, in spite of the cold. Thank you all for coming! I think the reverse route worked out pretty well! ...especially the "more spirited" section right after lunch. :motor:

We're here at Target! ...and in spite of the gloomy weather, it's not snowing, so we're still on!

I will have a few extras with me.

:top: The route sheets are all printed... so I'm ready if the weather is!

I should clarify - the event is still on unless I post here otherwise (or say so at Target tomorrow morning). It would have to be a pretty clear safety issue for me to cancel. I'm not skittish - but I'm not stupid, either!

Flurries won't scare me, even though I'm on my summer tires. However... anything more than that, unfortunately we will cancel. Some of these roads are just too twisty to have much fun in snow. :embarassed:

Welcome to the DCMM forums! We hope you stick around, and like it enough to consider joining as a cul... er, I mean club member! EDIT: Oops, I see you just did. Heya! :itsme:

So out of curiosity I did a count of (intersection) left turns vs right turns between the original route and the new "reverse" route... sure enough, the reverse is an improvement! Original route - 31 Lefts, 23 Rights "Reverse" route - 22 Lefts, 31 Rights It seems to suggest an even smoother run.

I would definitely get your emergency brake inspected. In theory, it should be enough to prevent your car rolling on every hill. I too park in gear though, for added protection. On really steep hills, I tend to park in 6th gear instead of 1st, figuring the really tall gearing would make it even harder for gravity to do its thing if something happened to the parking brake. In any case, I think an inspection of your ebrake handle and the bowden cables is warranted (in addition to the rear brakes themselves).

Yeah - but the event is happening, rain, shine, warm, cold, windy or not. We've done it in the pouring rain before! I really wish we could have done April 23 - that would have been perfect - but unfortunately it was out of my hands since the main chef @ Griffin Tavern will be out of town.

Susan and I did the practice run this past Sunday, trying out the "reverse route"... it worked very well! There didn't seem to be a lot of places where the group would get separated, and there were more right turns than left ones than the usual direction... so - let's try it! If you've been on the Spring Fling a bunch of times before, I think you'll find this one quite interesting. See the sights from a completely different perspective! Looking forward to seeing you there. :motor:

Hey Lawrence! Good to "see" you again - but sorry about the circumstances. You have to have the lowest mileage R53 I think I've seen in years! This would indeed be a great pickup for someone who wants to own one of the original new MINIs, and the unique driving dynamics it brings. Let me know if you'll consider parting with the OEM outdoor car cover separately - the 1st Gen ones are hard to come by, and I've been thinking about trying to find one. Which one is it?

Audrey - I don't think walnut blasting is as much of a big deal on 1st Gens as it is on 2nd Gens... but I'm not an "expert" on it. At the very least, a good Seafoam party would be really helpful for those of us with aging MINIs.

Speaking of, I actually have a set of lightly used Koni Yellows for 1st Gens that I plan on selling... I just haven't gotten around to posting them for sale yet. Ross - if you decide to go this route and are interested in them, let me know.

RSVPs are OPEN! It might be this Saturday, but it's probably going to be this Sunday. I won't know for sure until Friday afternoon which one.

If it wasn't Easter Sunday, we'd definitely be interested - but it is. Have fun and take lots of cool photos!

Okay, OKAY! Done.