Michigan is VERY far from Washington DC, which is why we wanted to get an early start for our drive to #minionthemack2015. Brandy was the furthest away, but she arranged to ride home from happy hour the day before and spend the night at Ali’s house. That made me the furthest out! I’d been working in Tallahassee and wasn’t due to fly into Baltimore until late the night before. Originally, I’d agreed to meet Brandy, Mark and Ali at their house at 7 AM, but because I was super excited to hit the road, I suggested we back that up to 6 AM. I didn’t take into account the amount of time I’d spend driving home from Baltimore, unpacking, repacking, and loading the car. That’s probably why I set my alarm for 6 and then took my time rolling out of bed!

Ali called me at 6:15 to ask if I was up yet and reminded me the meeting time was 6 AM and I suddenly remembered that I was the one who pushed the time up! I grabbed my shit and managed to carry it all down four flights of stairs in one trip without tripping. I sent my ETA to Ali on Waze, put the top down and zipped out of the parking lot. I cut a lot of corners and may have exceeded a few speed limits, but I was at her house by 6:30.

Our next stop was at Alex’s house. We were supposed to meet him and Melissa there at 7 AM. Those of you who know me understand that I hate to be late, so I may have exceeded all of the a few posted speed limits, but I did make it to Alex’s house at 6:59!

My passengers, particularly those in the back, were pretty vocal in expressing their opinions about riding in the back of My Precious topless at excessive speeds, but I made it in time!

Ali and Mark transferred their stuff to Melissa’s car and then Alex decided to drive his own car. Mark decided to ride with him instead of in Melissa’s Countryman. I just wanted coffee! We left and as Alex drove past Starbucks I asked Brandy where he was going (she always knows what’s going on). Brandy said Alex had mentioned gas (but I didn’t need any yet) so I quickly pulled a U-turn and whipped into the Starbucks lot. Melissa pulled in behind me. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she needed coffee too!

Ali was riding with Melissa as far as Detroit where she was picking up a loaner MINI. They had coordinated outfits.

We got our coffees and we all went back out to the car where we learned Alex had also gone to the bank. That was fine with me since it gave me time to apply my lips and eyelashes. Finally everyone was ready and we headed out to our final stop, a gas station at Point of Rocks to meet Rey as well as Krystal and German (and their teenagers).

First stop for gas on our way to #minionthemack2015

They were waiting for us when we arrived. Everyone there filled their tanks and we took off. Our first destination was Troy, just north of Detroit.

It started raining right after we got off the freeway so we put the top up and Brandy took over so I could sleep.

We made it through Maryland and into Pennsylvania and that part took forever!

I completely slept through this tunnel, but Melissa was riding behind me and thankfully she didn’t!

Pennsylvania is a VERY long state. We stopped for lunch at a Panera somewhere in Pennsylvania and then drove through the rest of it.

Lunch at Panera somewhere in Pennsylvania.

Not long after we got to Ohio we picked up a stray MINI heading in the same direction. It joined our caravan and when we stopped at a rest area, we all got out to chat! Linda and Andy Hartman from Pittsburg were also on their way to #minionthemack2015! Their red MINI was super cute with white dots and bonnet stripes.

Rosie was named after the mascot for their daughters robotics team, Rosie the Riveter! I love a good MINI story that involves education!

Linda and Andy were driving straight thru so they headed out and we continued on our way.

One of the cars that attempted to take pictures of My Precious as I blew by!

As we neared Detroit we picked up a couple more MINIs.

Mystery MINIs we picked up along the way. Turns out they were driving straight through though they did stop to meet us and say hi.

They stayed with the group as they took off for the restaurant where we were meeting some friends from Detroit Tuned but Brandy and I detoured to the hotel because we wanted to check in and freshen up before dinner. Also, the Embassy Suites offers a reception each night and it’s important to stay hydrated.

When we got back to the restaurant we were late, but they still hadn’t seated our party so we stood around and chit chatted with everyone for a while. Brandy and Melissa and I were eager to get back to our hotel room and relax so we decided to skip the dinner and go back to the hotel.

Best view in the building. My Precious is down there!

When we got back we ordered some sandwiches and a bottle of wine. Things were going swell until the super helpful waiter came back to refill our glasses. He accidentally knocked the bottle over and a lot of it ended up on my white Passport MINI tshirt.

He felt really bad and brought the manager over who offered to dry clean it and have it ready for me the next afternoon. I explained we were driving north at 8 AM so they took the wine off our bill and brought us a massive slice of chocolate cake.

We took the remaining wine and cake up to our room to avoid any other spills and then Rey arrived. He was staying in our living room so we polished off the wine and called it a night. Besides, we were all eager to get to the #minionthemack2015 and wanted to sleep while we could!

Almost like Christmas Eve, we wanted to go to sleep so it would get there sooner!