Final thoughts and pictures for MOTD 11

Well is was once again a great trip, no complaints besides some not so great weather the last couple days. While no boring it was a bit mellow this year. Especially at the fire pit, not nearly the amount of people as previous years. I will admit to being guilty of helping decrease attendance by having a fire at a cabin instead of joining in at the pit. I thing more small groups do this now.

Here is a link to all the pics. MOTD 11 pictures

Last day

Didn't get the chance to past yesterday. It was a good day. Had some good bbq brisket. Did a little drive to Robinsville. The brewswap as usual was a fun time.  Jim McDowell president of MINI USA took some surprise pictures with my camera while I was in the washroom. He is a cool guy.
Raining on and off today and cool, it's a chance to relax.

Obsession

May 3, 2013 00:27

I was just walking back to my cabin. There was a small group of people washing their cars. I washed mine today but after midnight just seems insane.

Good day today but technically didn't really do anything. I didn't even leave Fontana village. For the second year in a row we had a fireworks show. It was quite good, and very loud but in a good way.  I took some long exposure shots, they look decent on the camera screen. Hope they look good full size.

My view

This is what I am staring at right now.

The Skyway

May 2, 2013 8:35

Not much to report. Ended up spending a good portion of the day doing the Cherohala Skyway loop. It was fun. Hoping my pictures turn out well. Almost had an incident though. When driving in a group, just because the car ahead goes does not mean you can go. I was lead car, we wanted lunch it was a tad last second when I spotted a little dinner. I knew I could change lanes and turn. The last car in our caravan (# 4) cut off a transport truck going for the turn. If you can't make the turn your group will wait.

When we got back I pretty much just hung around the village other than a couple of dam runs.

Here are a couple pictures of my GPS showing our elevation and the temperature at the start and one of the highest overlooks on the Skyway. While understand why the temp goes down, it's just neat to feel it happen.

First day at Fontana

April 30, 2013

I made it to Fontana at noon. It was a pleasant uneventful drive. I quickly located some friends and joined them for lunch. I took a quick drive to the top of the dam. I really want to get some nice pictures this year. I think I got a few, unless it obviously bad I generally can't tell until I see them on a large screen. I did try several long exposure shots of the dam lit up at night.

Pretty much just hung out for the rest of the night. I am sharing the bunk bed room in my cabin. It's a bit scary when buddy on top moves around up there. I do have a tip for everyone. If you forget your razor, don't bother with cheap gas station razors. They don't work except for causing pain to which they are very good at. Thankfully I found a replacement cartridge in my bag. No handle but much much better than the cheap crap.

Aside from a grocery run, I have no real plans today.

Mostly using my camera for pictures but here is a phone pic.

Screw the weather man

May 1, 2013 00:29.

Well I am still having a great time. This morning I went to Robinsville to get groceries. It was a but foggy out. Being a mountainous area at one point you climb pretty high. At this higher elevation the fog had cleared. I stopped at the lookout. The view looking down at the fog was amazing.

I returned to the cabin at made some breakfast for my cabin mates and I. Country eggs Benedict, basically eggs Benny on a biscuit. After breakfast my cabin mates were heading to town for their supplies. I hung around Fontana for a bit then decided to go explore. I had planned to check out a road that has a great overlook but could not find it anymore. Oh well found a very nice area instead.

Got back, made my make pie for the spaghetti dinner and lounged around the village with various people. At dinner, our host Kattie whom had requested the maple pie missed out. I really should have saved her a slice. The rest of the evening was once again spent hanging out with various people, new friends were made.

As for the title of this post well it's simple I just don't care anymore about the forecast. Just before heading out we were told it would be around 21 and rainy. Today was 25 and mostly sunny. This forecast changed a few times before I even got here. Sure I care what the weather is, today was great, rain would have sucked. The thing is forecasts simply aren't accurate enough and for an event such as this well I am here anyway. I might as well not get worked up over weather I can't change especially if it does not even go as predicted.

MINI's and a Subaru

Well my MINI vacation has involved quite a bit of work on a Subaru. While this was not planned it has been an interesting development. Making cars faster is always a good thing even if at times the project was a tad frustrating.

Tomorrow I head out to Fontana. Apparently I stuck at estimating my arrival time but I think I should be there just after lunch if I don't stop too long in Maryville.

First day

Offline post: 27 April, 2013.

Today was the first full day for my MOTD 2013 trip. The day started quite early. I woke up just  before 4:00 this morning. I was on the road by. 4:40. The 604KM trip to Shepherdsville took a little under six hours, I made it without any stops. Nothing to more to report on the way down, it was uneventful.

Having left so early,  I arrived much earlier than planned. Still not sure how I figured out an ETA of 13:00 by leaving at 5:00, oh well. Having arrived around 10:20 my friend was not home. I texted him, he was running errands. I was hungry so I grabbed some lunch. When my friend, Aaron got home I returned to meet up with him. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, attended a local MINI event and I helped him and his wife put  what will be quite the powerful engine back into her Subaru. It was a good day. It is now just after midnight, after twenty hours I am ready for bed.

It has begun

Made it to the first destination. Not much to report. Back a bit sore, I will buckle into the harness tomorrow that helps.

Dragon Time

First update in a very long time.

It's Dragon time. I will be heading out shortly for my annual pilgrimage to Fontana Village to attend MOTD (MINI's On the Dragon).

The first leg of the trip will be short. Heading to Windsor for the night. The Beer Store in Sarnia is unable to get the beers I want for the Brew Swap, an even where people swap beers. I wanted some La fin du monde and Trois Pistoles but neither is stocked here nor were they willing to get me some (insert my I hate the LCBO/Beer Store rant here). Windsor has some so I might as well save myself a bit of time in the morning and I get to Spend some time with my friends Phil and Tina.

 Tomorrow I head out to Louisville bright, well it will still be dark and early.

Not sure how often I will update due to not so reliable WIFI but I will attempt to blog every night and save the entries until I have a good internet connection.