When I woke up it was still early and very, very dark. I grabbed my stuff and stumbled out to the car and discovered I’d lost a wink smiley cover and the light it was covering! The other light was  intact,  but it was also impossible to take out without tools.

Man down!

I threw my stuff in the car and made my way to the track since I knew somebody there would have the tools I needed. I was fourth to arrive began by cleaning my wheels and windshield while I waited for someone with tools to arrive.

Sunrise at the track.

Catalina arrived not long after me and her copilot figured out I’d need a screwdriver to remove the bulb that was intact. Thankfully Dallas had one. After I removed the light and finished making My Precious pristine, I wandered over to the breakfast area. Charlotte knows how to work a theme, the napkins and utensils were served in shop drawers!

Looks good. Tastes good too!

I wandered around the vendor tents and picked up a free t-shirt and some other goodies. They had positioned the bus perfectly so I stopped to record my current distance.

320 miles of fun!

After all the raffle prizes were called, we all headed back to our cars.

Since Catalina and I had arrived so much earlier, we were going to finish our laps and then pull over and wait until everyone else was finished and hop in front of them. They were MUCH farther back so it was like sitting on the sidewalk and watching a parade roll by. Everyone waved and lots of people honked as they rode by. When the rest of DCMM pulled up, we reorganized and tried to hop back in line but the cops were trying to stop traffic and held us in place for a while. Even sitting in the sun on a hot summer day was fun, because MINI!

Ali and Mark took the lead and I wasn’t too far behind them. The cops provided rolling street closings for the first 20 miles and then lined up to wave to us as we rolled out of town.

Photo break somewhere along the way in North Carolina.

We drove a bunch of twisties and had a blast and then eventually Mark found a place we could stop for lunch. Another Countryman had joined our caravan and they pulled in to eat as well. We invited them to join us and scored some sharpies and a few NorCal MINI buttons!

Christine and Mike and their grandson provided Sharpies and great conversation. Most of the fun of this rally has been seeing old friends and making new ones!

Lunch for nine takes a while and while we had a fantastic time chatting, we had fallen way behind schedule!

Virginia again!

We ditched the suggested route and got on the freeway to try to make up some time. Sadly we arrived at the Surprise and Delight too late for whatever they were giving away, though we still found a way to have a bit of fun.

The DCMM gang takes a big seat!

I drove from there to my sister’s house to spend the night at her condo. She was in town to hang out with me so we went out to dinner at Supper and Lunch.

Supper and Lunch knows their way around a big salad!

We found a car wash and gassed up to be ready to rally. Next stop Baltimore!