MC2 Magazine Motoring Journal Day 14

Sunday, September 3

From Washington, D.C. to Jersey City, New Jersey
176 Miles today, 4441 miles from Monterey

From Sports Stadium to Ice Cream Stand to Amusement Park in One Fun-Filled Day

Crossing a quiet, peaceful Washington early on a Sunday morning, we made our way to RFK Stadium for our departure to Jersey City and the official wrap party for the MTTS Road Trip, scheduled to start at two o’clock.

Taking off up Interstate 95, we took the longest line of MINIs of the trip, some 200 cars, around Baltimore and Wilmington, then right through Philadelphia. There’s no experience like being on an Interstate at cruising speed and seeing MINIs filling your rear view mirror three abreast as far back as you can see.

After Philadelphia, some party-hearties headed straight for the Hudson River wharf facing the Manhattan skyline, but more than 50 MINIs exited to follow the Delaware River to a MINI cruise-in at Nuts Drive-In at Washington’s Crossing, courtesy of the N.E. MINIs Club.

Once off the Interstate, we found a bucolic road, with the sun once again shining down on our constantly changing band of peripatetic band of MINI Motorists, on this day led by Alison, Dan, and Linda from the Northeast MINI Club.

We pretty much overwhelmed Nuts Drive-in, but the wait for food was more than easily filled by the opportunity to find out where folks were from, and make new friends. A casual look across this parking lot showed cars from Maine to Florida, Virgina to California. Not quite your average Sunday afternoon Ice Cream Run.

And in any gathering of MINIs, there is always at least one example that stands out. This modded MINI was an effort by the owner to create "functional bling" as he described it. Look for a full photo feature on it in a future issue, as both the editor and publisher were impressed by the quality of workmanship on the car.

By four o’clock we had swamped the forecourt of yet another mid-town hotel with our MINIs. A quick glass of champagne and group picture awaited the 52 Motorists who had made the entire trip, and then we were all on the waterfront, where we found an amusement park, complete with ferris wheel, had been erected to celebrate the end of the trip.

All that remains is a quick blast over to Lime Rock Race Track in Connecticut tomorrow for those who want to cross the line and finish the great race that started on the Laguna Seca Race track more than two weeks ago.

Journey Notes and Photos by Gary Anderson

Tomorrow, Labor Day, the diehards will be making the very last leg of the Tour,
going from Jersey City to Lakeville, Connecticut where BMW and MINIs are
the featured marques at the Rolex Vintage Festival at Lime Rock Racetrack.

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