After the Dam, we made a pit stop at Bristol Motor Speedway. It was amazing to see how many seats they can put around a little (really little) race track. It's even more amazing that they fill all of the seats at about $100+ per seat!!! I was surprised they didn't charge us for taking pictures but the gift shop was open!

We headed back to the campground/hotel to get ready for the BBQ dinner and the Bluegrass band along the river at the campground.

 
Some went to the hotel to...

bleed.

At CMU events, we try to spend as little time as possible in the hotel parking lot, but it does become the best place to fix any broken Minis. This time the featured Minis were a burnt exhaust valve, a stripped out hub (spline on CV), and the blown crazy shaped lower radiator hose. If we gave out awards, it would go like this: First place goes to the overnighted exhaust valve which led to a parking lot valve job. Second place goes to the stripped hub that led to a fully rebuilt upright/hub/bearings with all of the parts being sourced locally from another club member. Last place goes to the newly purchased radiator hose that blew out due to the fact that it was made in China!

The rest of us went to the campground via this beautiful "2 way" road. This road was about a mile long with the mountain on one side and a 100' drop down a steep cliff into the river on the other side. If you went off towards the river, the trees would slow you down before you got wet; it would be a Mini Pachinko machine. The blind corners, mismatched pavement, and dips made this a constant Mini thrill (experience) to drive on. It turns out that at night you can't see the the drop off, even with all six lights burning on high, and while in 3rd gear with the boost turned up (40 degree air temps, wow more power!) you can't feel the pavement changes or dips, and a mile really isn't that long.... At least that's what I hear...