All my friends helping me have a happy birthday!

The last day of any vacation usually brings me down, but how can you be sad when you are about to caravan down the Dragon with some of your favorite people? And after all the fun all week, I’d totally forgotten it was my actual birthday! In fact, I might not have remembered at all except that my cabin mates did and they all sang Happy Birthday to me!

We had a lot of packing and cleaning to do. Melissa and I offered to cook breakfast. I made pancakes and homemade syrup. Melissa cooked bacon, eggs, and hash browns. Hilary did the dishes and all of us chipped in to pack the gear and load the cars. Krystal and German arrived to join our cabin just in time to join us for breakfast. Poor Haemish got there a little too late!

We loaded up and headed out. Our first stop was the general store so we could take a group photo and upload it before we hit the road.

Sad to go, but I’ll be back! See you at the MOTD14

We were going home by way of the Dragon. I heard it was quicker, I know it was more fun!

Tigger chasing My Precious down the Dragon!

There are 318 curves on the 11 miles that make up the tail of the Dragon. I never did have time to count them since they were whizzing by so fast, but it felt like 318 curves, for sure!

Tigger chasing My Precious down the Dragon!

The only cop we saw was at the very end and thankfully I had slowed way down before we got there. We met up with the rest of our gang and took off. We stopped for gas in a small town along the way and after everyone gassed up we all took a minute to update our status.

Wifi deprivation leads to binging.

Originally the plan was to stop at a rest area and have a picnic with out leftover food on the way home. We pulled into a Subway along the way to pick up some sandwiches and the blissfully cool air conditioning caused us to rethink our plan. We decided to stay in and eat instead.

Minis Take the Subway!

When we got ready to take off again, I was delighted to learn that Krystal wanted to ride with me! While her husband German is a super nice guy, the lure of the carboy cannot be denied! I was super excited she was joining me since she was not only taking over the radio duties, she was also DJing and I was ready to switch up the playlists.

Krystal plays the jams, takes the selfies, mans the radio, what more do you need?

A few hours later and Ali let us know she was feeling really tired. Krystal offered to ride with her. I was terribly sad to see her go, but it was for a good cause! We stopped at a gas station and made the switch.

A bunch of mean Minis

By the time we got to the 66 we started to run out of steam. I mean I guess that’s what happened because our convoy slowed way down. I can’t hear much on the radio when the top is off and I’m singing at the top of my lungs. But suddenly the cars behind me started to pass me. Sadly I waved goodbye to Haemish, and then Hilary, and Melissa and Craig one by one as they passed me by.

When we got to Arlington Mark and Ali began to pull away to drop Krystal off. I waved goodbye and headed home but I haven’t ever had as much fun, and my bar was set pretty high! Joining the DC Metro Mini club was the second best decision I have ever made.

MOTD13 was 1,624 miles, 1,010 friends, 699 Minis, 5 days, and 1 birthday cake.