Saturday, May 15th, 2004.
0920 hours. Anita and I pulled up at the McDonald's in Rochester to the sight of 3 Carbon Black M5s parked in a corner of the parking lot, with Justin's newly acquired and beautiful 325i parked alongside. I am waved into an empty space and slot in between Kevin's(kevinno) and Stacey's(STamulinas) cars. I have not yet met Stacey and Jeff(emma5), but I already felt as if I was "coming home". A Ford Taurus backs out as if on cue, and Anita slots into position. Then Rowland(MPWR1) arrives in his beautiful, modded beast. 6 M5s together in the same place and time on a beautiful morning in Minnesota. Truly a historic and breathtaking sight.
Maps and supplies distributed, and radio channels synchronized, our M5 squadron heads out. We seemingly take over a local Holiday station where tanks are topped off with 93 octane at $2.05/gallon. As we roll south we joke about how we must appear to other motorists as some sort of Secret Service detatchment! On the divided portion of Highway 52 we pass in pairs and threes from the back of the M5 train to the front. What a truly glorious sight as wave after wave of beasts stretch their legs on the open highway.
The divided highway gives way to two lane black-top as we head into the Richard M. Dorrer Memorial Hardwood Forest and Amish country. The bucolic Minnesota countryside is bathed in sunlight, and is finally resplendent with various shades of green foliage once again.
We descend into the town of Lanesboro on MN16, after several nice corners and a hairpin curve, and enjoy an early lunch at Das Wurst Haus to atmospheric polka music and great conversation. Everyone is anxious to drive even more challenging and twisty backroads, so we move out quickly. After a short blast on the very short but beautiful Cty 31 we stop and visit the State Fish Hatchery for the kids.
County Road 21 is a wide and well paved backroad which consists of a series of high speed left and right sweepers leading from the Root River Valley up a coulee to a rolling plateau.
We blast up the coulee and make a U-turn at the plateau.
Anita then takes the lead as we make a spirited run down the coulee. Jeff is right on her tailpipes as the two of them put some distance on the rest of us. At the bottom of the run we turn around again, and Jeff heads the M5 charge up the hill again. We are flying! There is essentially no traffic, but the radio suddenly crackles: "I've been hit!
Mayday! Mayday!" I see a large cloud of dust and feathers suspended in the air up ahead, and Jeff's hazard lights blinking. The group pulls over to the side of the road behind Jeff, and we all jump out to survey the damage. A large, black bird, possibly a crow, had darted out from the woods to our right and directly into our path. The impact is unavoidable. The hapless bird strikes Jeff's windshield, badly cracking it.
We are all shocked and utterly devastated by the accident. Jeff remains extraordinarily composed, and calmly says: "I'm done for the day". The adrenaline high of just a few minutes ago is now replaced by profound sadness, and we all suddenly feel very tired. I take a moment to try and salvage the situation by taking some pics of our cars by the roadside, against a beautiful backdrop.
With heavy hearts we bid farewell to Jeff and his boys, and solemnly saunter along the next 10 miles until we reached MN43, a narrow backroad that winds through some very nice wooded hills and descends into the little village of Choice.
We turn around and head back up the hill and descend back into Choice before pushing on, with a different car in the lead on each run.
Crossing over Maple Creek on that beautiful and narrow iron girder bridge we blast up the next coulee to yet another rolling plateau, and head East along County 10 and County 13. The descent into the town of Houston on county 13 is highlighted by two 2nd gear hairpins made even more challenging by a coating of dust. Talk about understeer!
As we head into Houston we are greeted by a group of young kids of 6-8 years on a street corner. A little girl among them gives us a long thumbs up salute as we roll by
Obviously a young lady with taste way beyond her years.
The rest of the afternoon passes as in the blink of an eye. Endless curves along picturesque backroads, through rolling meadows and farmland and woods, to limestone bluffs and river valleys.
Our group has dwindled to just 2 M5s as Stacey and I finally make our way West with the setting sun. We take a leisurely pace and unwind with a nice supper at The Old Barn Restaurant before heading back to Rochester, where we are treated by Justin to spectacular ice cream at The Coldstone Creamery. As my wife, son and I make our way back to Owatonna in the light rain and falling darkness I reflect on an eventful day filled with great fellowship and deeply satisfying roads/scenery, as well as intense driving. I pull into my hometown BP station to fill up as the OBC indicates 14 miles to empty. The end to a glorious day.
A sincere thanks to all for making the time and effort to create something very special and truly beyond words. It is days like this that will long remain with us and will always be magical...that is until the next drive.
Special thanks and acknowledgement to Justin for his fine photography and hard work. It must have been sheer torture to ride with us the whole day while your beautiful 3er sat in the parking lot back at the Creamery.
Our Adventurous Day In The Minnesota Bluff Country (long, many pics)
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