This year my summer vacation will start in Atlanta when I meet up with over 1,500 of my favorite people and their awesome cars! Mini Takes the States starts on July 9, but I’m already on my way. It’s a long drive from Chicago to Atlanta, so I decided to get an early start by maximizing my holiday weekend and visiting friends and family along the way.

My first drive was a doozie, from my house in Chicago to my sister’s house in Crystal City. I got up early, put the top down, and set out. It was a glorious day in the upper sixties with lots of sunshine.

The first stop I made was a random rest area in Indiana. They had a lot of options, but it wasn’t very pretty.

Making good time on my way through Indiana

I got back on the road. I was enjoying A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore and the beautiful sunshiney day when I happened to notice that the rubber molding Passport MINI replaced a couple of months ago was flapping wildly in the wind. I stopped in Ohio to try to find some duct tape for emergency repairs.

Lovely shops in Ohio that sadly don’t carry duct tape.

When I couldn’t find any I moved on to Pennsylvania. They didn’t have any either so I unpacked my boot and dug around in my decal collection and found some clear contact paper and scissors.

Just like MacGyver! Thank God I keep emergency vinyl decals in the boot. Totally paying off now!

I got back on the road and continued on to Maryland which had the prettiest rest area of the day.

I wish I’d had time to walk on this lovely path!

I arrived at my sister’s house just in time for dinner! Sadly she wasn’t home so I had to fend for myself.

Not a lot of options, but you can never go wrong with chips and salsa.

Six states and the District of Columbia in less than 12 hours. Great practice for my pending cross-country trip, no? Tuesday after work I’ll set out on my next leg, a quick jaunt down the coast to Sandbridge, VA!

The rest of my #MTTS2016 Pre Game Plan