MINI Takes The States 2014 is over.  The excitement of travelling with so many MINIs and partying with so many wonderful people is now just a head full of memories, but they’re memories that will last for a very long time.  I keep going on about what an incredible group of people the MINI community is, but clearly that’s what leaves such a lasting impression every time we do a MINI event.  And along with the warmth and openess we’ve felt from so many of them, there is the sense of fun and adventure.  I have never met so many people that are willing to jump in their cars and drive so many miles for the pure enjoyment of driving and connecting with other like-minded enthusiasts. MTTS went from San Francisco to Boston in sixteen days, but many people drove from quite far to get to SF and then drive all the way across the country.  It was not uncommon to hear about people driving 7000, 8000, or more miles over the course of many weeks.

Having never done an MTTS before, we decided to keep it short – and it’s a good thing we did.  We were wiped after three days and only 675 miles!  We drove to Bethlehem on Friday in a small Massachusetts caravan of blue MINIs – Barb and I in the Clubman, Art and Joyce in their Cooper S, and Ian and David Hamilton in their Roadster.

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Once in Bethlehem we checked in to our hotel, gawked at the MINI tour bus and all the other MINIs in the parking lot, dumped our stuff in our room, had a quick glass of wine with Joyce and Art, then headed over to SteelStacks for the evening event.  SteelStacks is on the site of the former Bethlehem Steel plant, and it was really an experience going there.  Having succumbed because of the much cheaper (price and quality) raw materials and products from Japan, Bethlehem Steel started to decline in the early eighties and finally shut down steel production completely in 1995.  The derelict buildings remain along with the massive blast furnace towers and associated structures.  Those towers are quite a sight to see – especially when lit up at night.

The property now houses an arts center, educational facilities, multiple concert stages, a casino, and the usual array of shops and restaurants.  The big event of the year is Musikfest, which is a ten day event with somewhere around 500 concerts – and MTTS happened to be rolling through during the event.  When we arrived we were guided to a large parking lot reserved just for the MINIs, and once parked we wandered around checking out all the cars and talking to various people that were hanging out and waiting for the party to start.

What was so striking about the whole thing, and a number of people commented on it, was seeing the massive buildings and the blast furnace towers standing silently hundreds of feet in the air as a background to what is a very different city today.  The death of the American steel industry felt so much more dramatic when thinking about the scale of the whole thing and what it must have been like with all the noise and smells that must have been so overwhelming when Bethlehem was the world leader in steel production.

We wandered around, ate, drank (and surprisingly, I now have a real taste for Yuengling!), listened to music, and hung out with friends until going back to the hotel and collapsing.  And after only a few hours of sleep we were back at SteelStacks for the morning party and rally send-off.

The drive to Boston was long and grueling, and there were quite a few wrong turns, rough roads, and traffic tie-ups (Thank you, Waterbury CT – we will hate you forever), but there were also some really great parts – traveling in caravans with lots of other MINIs, enjoying a few twisties on some very nice side roads, and seeing the reactions from others when they came up on gangs of very unique little cars.

Arriving in Boston was a similar drill – dropping off our stuff at the B&B before heading over to the evening event in the Seaport District.  We hung out and had a few beers with friends at the Atlantic Brewing Company before heading over to the Institute of Contemporary Art.  Again, another fantastic evening event with food, drink, music, and hundreds of MINI friends.  The next morning was the farewell event on Pier 4 with lots of smiles, laughter, tears, and even a marriage proposal – a guy who is very well known in the MINI community and had done the entire coast to coast run with his girlfriend brought her up on stage, and as he was taking about her and leading into the proposal, a bunch of people snuck up behind them holding up signs to clue in everybody in the crowd.  Stephanie had no idea what was going on behind her, but we all did.  She accepted Mike’s proposal and not a single eye was dry.

During the closing proceedings, David Duncan, Regional VP of MINI USA, was talking about the event and some of the things that made MINI Takes The States so special.  One thing that really resonated with me was that he said when you buy a MINI you aren’t just buying a car.  You are also getting a family.  It’s really true.

After all the goodbyes we headed for home happy, exhausted, and looking forward to seeing a wildly wagging dog tail.  And not driving anywhere for a couple of days…

Yup, we’ll do it again in 2016…