MINI meander, five years on

On November 16th 2002, I joined a total of 11 MINIs on my first ever MINI drive from MINI of Peabody to Woodmans in Essex … see this posted-after-the-fact weblog entry for pictures.

Now, five years (and 1 day) later, a group of us did it again – and one of the MINIs was even present at both drives (owned by Jayson & Karen)! As in 2002, we started from MINI of Peabody, who were kind enough to provide coffee & muffins for us! They also offered a discount on merchandise – and yes, I purchased a few things 🙂

Then, with everyone signed up and directions in hand, we headed off first south to Route 128, then east towards the Atlantic Ocean … First stop was at West Beach in Beverly, just to make sure we hadn’t lost anyone!

We then continued along route 127 which runs along the Atlantic coast, through Manchester then round Ocean St, which is a great curved beach & road and a perfect place to stop for pictures! Cool weather, especially when the wind blew, but beautiful clear blue skies and pretty nice in the sun 🙂

Onward and in to Gloucester, where the cut bridge opened just as we were crossing it, stranding some MINIs while a tall-masted yacht sailed through! But then everyone got together again, parking on Stacy Boulevard for pictures at the Man At Wheel statue:

After that we looped around Bass Rocks before heading across two rotaries and over to Essex to Woodmans for a huge deep fried lunch!

Many thanks to MINI of Peabody for hosting us, and to everyone that joined us on the meander – from 5+ year owners, right up to 1 week owners!