Hosts: Vickie Casacca and Mick Brown

The August Run to River Road and Carmel Valley Road was held Sunday, August 29th. There were two options for the meetup at the Starbucks parking lot in Salinas, you could either be an early bird at 8am to take part in the Cars and Coffee event held there weekly or sleep in a little and join the group at 9:30am for the driver’s meeting and information from Simon and Vickie.

Vickie had packets of information that included route directions, information about the charity, Salinas Circle for Children, a brochure about Moto Talbott Motorcycle Museum in Carmel Valley and a Trivia Challenge for the run. After explaining how to get your Rally Name using your Mother’s Maiden name and the Street you grew up on or your pet’s name, if needed, everyone was ready to go. Vickie’s rally name is Whitney Bolero and Mick’s is Norris Neville, which are both really fitting.

There were 22 cars that rolled out of the parking lot and the run and Trivia challenge were on. The procession of Minis headed down Hwy 68 to River Road and followed it all the way down to Soledad, enjoying the many agricultural fields and vineyards along the route. They turned onto Arroyo Seco Road to continue the trek, following this twisty road to Carmel Valley Road for the final leg of the trip that included a few single lane sections along the way.

The end meetup was at the Carmel Valley Community Park, where Vickie went over the answers to the trivia challenge and collected donations for the 501(c)3 non-profit Salinas Circle for Children, that raises funds for children with special needs in Monterey County. The members donated a generous $400.00 dollars and NorCal Minis contributed an additional $250.00 dollars to this very worthwhile organization.

Dirk and Friends!!

Everyone who attended the run had a ticket for the draw and received another ticket if they donated to the charity and another one if they got at least 20 questions out of 25 correct on the trivia challenge. Vickie’s favorite question was Mini USA announced August 26 as National WTF Day, what does it stand for? Answer: Wave to Friends, of course.

There were three prizes of a bottle of a local wine from Mick and Vickie’s personal wine cellar and a Mini Hot Wheels car.

After the run the members were free to explore Carmel Valley Village for lunch, wine tasting or a tour of Moto Talbott Motorcycle Museum.