And off we go…!!!

This is my first attempt at "blogging", so bare with me as I find my way through all this..!

I'm hoping to document the fun and excitement of MINI Takes the States, 2014.  For those of you unfamiliar with MINI Takes the States (MTTS), I'll try to explain what I know about it…lol!  Every two years, MINI USA hosts a cross country road rally.  The event is typically 2 weeks long, with a stop in a different city each night.  MINI owners/drivers can join in and drop out wherever they want.  They can do all or part of the rally for the same registration costs.  It is not a "race", but rather a fellowship, of sorts, where like-minded, fun loving, light hearted MINI drivers gather together from Point A to Point B to Point C, etc, stopping along the way for all kinds of fun things.  Two years ago, it went from New York to Los Angeles, and I was lucky enough to participate from Albuquerque to Scottsdale to L.A..  It was so amazingly fun, I made up my mind right then to do the entire trip the next time (which is now!)

So here we are…me, my copilot (for the first half of the trip), and BlackJack (my MINI).  We left my Bosque Farm this morning around 8:30, and headed out on a more scenic than direct route to San Francisco, the starting point for MTTS 2014.  It has already been an adventure even on this first day!  We stopped in Tuba City, Arizona to see some fossilized dinosaur tracks, crossed the Colorado River over Navajo Dam (enduring the 112 degree heat!), took an unexpected detour near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and arrived at our first night's stop in Kanab, Utah, a quaint little tourist town, gateway to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon.  Let the fun begin!!