Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hi, everyone. This is Dawn Klemm, and you are on my podcast, Milkweed and Monarchs.
[00:00:08] When we moved back to Michigan, my mom would come and stay with us during most of the school year to help out with the girls. The girls were getting older, but they still enjoyed having my mom there.
[00:00:23] Both Craig and I worked full time, so when they came home, my mom was always there.
[00:00:29] And honestly, that was really good for them. They both really love my mom so much, so it worked out well for everyone.
[00:00:38] But we got back here, and she wanted to go home earlier instead of staying the full school year. She wanted to go home in April, and sometimes she would go home in March, too, depending on how she was feeling.
[00:00:56] But she liked to go home for the Easter season, so.
[00:01:04] And because she did that, she always wanted us to come down to Hillsdale for Easter. And that was great because, I mean, she was here for Thanksgiving, she was here for Christmas. Why shouldn't we go down to Hillsdale for Easter? It just seemed only fair.
[00:01:22] And we enjoyed going down there. It was a good break for me, too.
[00:01:26] So she was so excited to have us. We went to church every Easter Sunday without fail, while she was still living, and until she moved in with us.
[00:01:38] So it became a tradition for the family.
[00:01:42] Well, in 2013, I think we were going down there for. For Easter, and we were excited to go down there. I had gotten Easter baskets for all of my aunts and uncles and filled them with a bunch of goodies, and they were gonna come for Easter dinner. It had been a long time since we'd had her extended family all together, and we were all excited about it.
[00:02:13] And we drive in to Hillsdale, and when you're going down 34, coming into Hillsdale, or 99, the old 99, I should say, there's all the car dealerships, all of them lined up in a row.
[00:02:31] And Craig loves cars. My husband is definitely a car nut, so he's always driving slow by the car dealerships and looking at them while we're going by. I didn't think a thing of it. Right. I'm excited. I've got the Easter baskets for my aunt and uncles, and I'm ready to help her start cooking. We're going to go to church. Everything seems normal to me. Great. I'm excited.
[00:03:01] So business as usual. We get there, and we're, you know, looking at all. She's always got a really beautiful tablecloth on and matching placemats. We're talking about how we're going to put the food out for every everybody she Absolutely was over the moon about me buying all these Easter baskets and stuffing them for everybody. She just thought that was the greatest idea.
[00:03:25] She was really happy because she thought that, you know, you don't know how much longer you have to be with everybody, and what a great way to get everybody together. So she was excited about it.
[00:03:38] So Sunday came. Everybody came.
[00:03:41] My aunts and uncles really loved the Easter baskets. They. My one uncle said, I haven't had an Easter basket in years. This is awesome, Dawn. So I knew I had a gr. A big hit on my hands for doing those Easter baskets.
[00:04:00] We had gone to church, we all ate together, we all hung out together, and everybody had a great time. That then everybody packed up to go home. My mom and I cleaned up, and I'm standing in the kitchen, and Craig walks in. He goes, hey, what would you think about taking a drive out to the car dealerships? I'm like, huh?
[00:04:24] Honestly, the last thing on my mind that day was going to a car dealership. Obviously, they're closed. It's Easter Sunday.
[00:04:33] He goes, yeah, I think I saw something on my.
[00:04:37] On our way into town, and I just want to go take a look at it. I'm like, what? Really?
[00:04:42] How does this even fit into this whole weekend? You know what I mean? But I'm like, okay, sure. Come on, let's go. I'm not gonna deny him.
[00:04:51] So we go out and they to one of the dealerships, and he pulls in. And I'm thinking, what in the heck is he even looking for? What is going on here? And. And there parked in the parking lot was a little Mini Cooper s.
[00:05:12] I didn't even know what a Mini Cooper was at that time. I don't pay attention to cars. I mean, my dad and his brother sold cars my whole entire life. So cars really don't get me that much. Okay? I'm used to them. But I see this Mini Cooper and I'm thinking, what the heck is going on? He's like, I really like this car. I go, what?
[00:05:35] Oh, yeah, I love this car.
[00:05:38] He says, it's a 2009. So it's four years old. It seems like it's a pretty good price for it.
[00:05:45] I'm gonna call him on Monday. I really want to think about buying it.
[00:05:51] Well, the girls had come with us, and they were trying to figure out what we were doing too.
[00:05:57] But they saw that car and they were like, oh, my God, that's awesome, dad. You gotta get that right? So of course, that fueled him either even more. The whole time I'M thinking, where am I? What is going on? I had no understanding that he was even thinking about buying another car. Really. I mean, we were good as far as I was concerned. He had his truck, I had my Mitsubishi. I could haul everybody around.
[00:06:26] Well, why do we need another car? You know what I mean? So anyhow, we carry through the weekend. We end up going home, and on Monday night, I get back from work. I went to work. Monday, I get home, and he says, hey, do you have a minute? I just want to talk to you about something. I go, okay.
[00:06:48] So he says, I called the dealership today. I really like that car, and I want to buy it. I'm like, what? Really? We're gonna buy another car?
[00:06:58] Where the heck are you gonna put it? We got room. We'll make room.
[00:07:02] All right.
[00:07:04] Okay. Says, yeah, we're gonna. We'll go down and get it. They offered me a good price on it, and I really want to buy it. I'm thinking, where are we gonna drive that little thing, too?
[00:07:16] I mean, I got.
[00:07:18] I gotta, like a suv.
[00:07:22] He's got a truck, and now we're going to have a Mini Cooper. I did not understand what the heck was going on at all.
[00:07:32] So we get the car home, and, you know, he's going to use it as a commuter car to work. He didn't have very far to go to work. Neither one of us did. But he was just going to use it as a commuter car. So he didn't have to pay so much money for getting gas. I mean, if we look at gas now, we were paying essentially nothing for gas at that Moment in Time, 2013.
[00:07:56] And the whole time, I was still so confused about the whole purchase. But, hey, life is short, I guess. You got to get what you want to make you happy. That's how I looked at it.
[00:08:10] So once you purchase a Mini Cooper, though, it's like a club.
[00:08:15] I'm not kidding you.
[00:08:17] And we started getting. He did email communications from the Grand Rapids Mini Cooper dealership up here.
[00:08:29] And they started to talk about this event of trying to break the Guinness Book of World Records on the largest parade of mini cars. I know this sounds ridiculous, okay?
[00:08:49] So the largest parade of mini cars ever recorded in the Guinness Book of World records was on May 17, 2009, in London, England.
[00:09:01] And the United States wants to beat that record badly.
[00:09:07] So they came up with a way to do their own parade. And the parade is actually crossing the Mackinac Bridge from Lower Michigan into Upper Michigan.
[00:09:22] So they call it Mini on the Mac.
[00:09:26] So in 2015, we signed up for our first Mini on the Mac.
[00:09:34] And I think that year, oh, my gosh, it was so much fun, I have to admit. They had us all line up in a field on the other side on in Mackinaw City to go across the bridge.
[00:09:51] And then we would end up in St. Ignace over there, and they have a big building over there and you eat lunch and they have all the merchandise. And so they had. I mean, it was really organized. They had a band, entertainment. They did fireworks that night, that kind of thing. I mean, it was a big deal.
[00:10:12] And so we. We got a hotel room that night in Mackinaw City.
[00:10:19] And the next day I was totally amazed. We. We went on a Friday night and Saturday was to be the. The Mini parade.
[00:10:29] And we wake up in the morning. I have never seen.
[00:10:34] I mean, I'm just getting used to the fact that we own a Mini Cooper. But now I see how many other people own Mini Coopers. I never have seen so many Mini Coopers in my life. Not only that, but people really take Mini Coopers seriously.
[00:10:53] I mean, there's Mini Coopers that look like U of M, so they're maize and blue. They're Mini Coopers that look. Look like Minnie Mouse. And they would put long eyelashes on the headlights.
[00:11:08] They go all out to dress up their cars. There's number one, number two. They come from all over the place.
[00:11:20] I saw cars from the state of Washington, Texas. There was one there. From Hawaii. I mean, they come from. From everywhere. New England.
[00:11:32] Tons of people from Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, you name it. You. There's just about every state there. That morning I was like. I was in awe. I don't think I've ever been in more in awe of anything in my life. And they lined us all up in this big, huge field and then they would say, go. And then one line would empty at a time and it was back for. It felt like miles of this. And then we all cross over the Mackinac Bridge and meet in St. Ignace in this big, huge parking lot. And while we're crossing the Mackinac Bridge, they are counting how many cars we had.
[00:12:23] So I think the first year we went, there were 1100, if that seems right.
[00:12:34] Yeah, because 1450 is the record. And I think we had 1100.
[00:12:40] And it was the first year that we had ever done the rally at all in Michigan or anywhere, really. This is where we do it. So this was the first year and we got 1100. Well, that really got people jazzed. Up. Okay. They were excited. They were ready to break the record.
[00:13:00] And they had decided that instead of having it annually, they were going to do it every other year. On the off year they do a rally called Mini Takes the States.
[00:13:12] And every year they do a long part portion of the United States. So you might start in Maine and end up in Florida, going through Virginia and Georgia and all. They have the whole entire map laid out for you. We've never done that.
[00:13:32] It takes. I mean, Craig and I were working full time at, during this time, so we would have to take at least a week off from work to be able to participate in that. And you camp everywhere you go. So we weren't really sure we were completely up for that, but we could definitely keep doing mini on the MEC.
[00:13:53] So we signed up again for 2013 13, and that was the year that we actually had the most Minis. But we still didn't break the record. I think we ended up with like a thousand three hundred and, you know, maybe 50 or 60.
[00:14:15] Anyhow, we still had to get to 1450. And we were, oh, so close.
[00:14:22] Probably 100 short or maybe a little less than 100. And at that time we were convinced, okay, we've got the momentum now. We're definitely going to be able to pull this off.
[00:14:35] Same kind of setup. Then you're over in Mackinac City. There you cross over the bridge into St. Ignis.
[00:14:47] So it was a lot of fun, though. You meet so many people. Even now, even the drive drivers are starting to dress up in costume to match their Mini Cooper. I'll never forget, there was one guy, Where's Waldo? So he's dressed up like Where's Waldo? And the car is the same colors as Where's Waldo? I mean, people go crazy over this event.
[00:15:13] I had a card parked right next to us that was like the golden yellow for the, for the.
[00:15:22] Oh, what do they call that?
[00:15:26] The Minions. That's what it was. Sorry it took me a while to think of that, but the car was that golden color. He had minions all over the inside of his car. He drove by himself from New Hampshire with all these stuffed minions in his car. The car looked like a Minion. I. I'm like, these people are seriously nuts.
[00:15:50] But all that being said, it's so much fun. We're all so excited going over that bridge and we just know we're going to beat the record this time around.
[00:16:04] It is one of the most fun events that I've participated in in my lifetime. I absolutely love it. I enjoy Going there every year. And we've gone every other year since 2013 when we purchased the car.
[00:16:24] So this year we went again and we had another great time. I mean, it was fantastic, actually, last year, because it's on the odd years, and we decided, I don't know, maybe this is going to be it. We've gone 10 years, and we still haven't hit the Guinness book of world Records.
[00:16:45] So I think the.
[00:16:47] The second year that we went was the time we got the most, and we were so close.
[00:16:52] And then after that, it's almost like it lost its momentum. I don't know. They. They always change everything around. So you were getting all the gift bags and all the swag and everything the first couple years, and then the. The third year, not so great, right? Well, it costs a lot of money to give all that free swag out, you know, and you always get a free lunch when you're there, too. You don't pay for lunch because when you register, that's included in it. So, I mean, it's not an inexpensive event.
[00:17:27] And I think we just lost the momentum.
[00:17:32] So the last time we went, we had over a thousand.
[00:17:36] There were a couple of times we had over a thousand or eleven hundred. But the most we ever had was the year. The second year that they put it on, and there were 1300, almost closer to 1400 cars, and we needed to get 1450.
[00:17:54] I'm so sad that they're not gonna. We're not gonna do it anymore.
[00:18:00] It really is a tradition. And Craig had the car.
[00:18:05] He added red rear view mirrors on the sides.
[00:18:11] And then he has a red top on it now. So it's red, white, and blue.
[00:18:16] And it's such a cute little car. It's so easy to drive. Of course, for me, it fits me perfectly. Proud. The car was made for me. Okay. I mean, I really shouldn't even be driving any car, but that's the one car that I absolutely feel completely comfortable in.
[00:18:35] And like so many other things that have gone away, it's a standard. I absolutely love a standard. It's so hard to find a standard car.
[00:18:45] So I grew up on a standard. That was one of the first cars I ever learned how to drive. And it just stays with you. And my husband has a Toyota pickup truck, and his truck is a standard. He bought the only standard truck pickup truck for Toyota in the state of Michigan, and he had to go to Detroit to get it.
[00:19:09] Yes. Obviously, we're a little cracked in the head. Okay. I openly admit that we like standard Cars. My mom was like, why would you want a standard when you can just press the pedal and go. I don't know. I feel like a standard, you have a little bit more control.
[00:19:27] If you're going up and down hills, you know, you just. Just. You can downshift it. I don't know. I feel like you do have a little more control in a standard than you do in an automatic. Just my personal opinion, probably a crazy one, especially from somebody who's obviously not a very good driver.
[00:19:48] But it makes me sad because this year he said, we went last year, he's like, that really wasn't any fun at all. I think it's lost its life.
[00:20:00] I'm thinking about selling the Mini. I'm like, you're gonna sell the Mini?
[00:20:05] What are you crazy?
[00:20:08] Come on, why don't you upgrade? Well, that's the other thing he's complaining about. He could upgrade to a new Mini Cooper. But they're. The new ones are not really Minis anymore. They've made them so much bigger now.
[00:20:24] They're. There's many little mini SUVs. They're not as big as a regular SUV, but they. They're a big car now. So they kind of took the Mini out of the Mini. And I think that's the other reason why he doesn't really want to do it anymore, because it's. It's just not as fun when you have those little cars and you're racing across the bridge. You feel like you're in a race, you know, or you're. You're accomplishing something. But when you see all these brand new ones, you go, that's not a Mini Cooper. That's a lug. Luxury vehicle. Right?
[00:21:00] I know it's a stretch, but to me, that's how we kind of feel.
[00:21:04] So now the Mini Cooper's up for sale. It's a sad day for the Don Qum, but I would say we've had the car for 13 years and, boy, did we enjoy it.
[00:21:20] We absolutely enjoyed every second of. Of having that car.
[00:21:26] And I don't know, I guess we're going to get something else. I don't know what that's going to be. I've been trying to talk him into getting me a Tesla.
[00:21:37] Not that I'm a fan of Tesla. I'm going to be honest. I don't like the whole electric thing. I mean, here I am, I'm ready for a standard, right?
[00:21:45] But am I ready? Not the best driver in the world. So when I think about getting older, maybe the Tesla is the right way to go. You know, you just say to the Tesla, hey, take me down to McDonald's. It's on the corner of such and such. You get in the car and the car drives you there. I don't have to do a thing. All I have to do is give it an address that feels kind of like the Jetsons. You know what I mean? We're going backwards in time. Or maybe the Jetsons is finally coming to fruition.
[00:22:22] Right?
[00:22:24] So, bon voyage to the Mini. This is a ode to the Mini podcast and all the years of fun we had trying to break the Guinness World Record for the largest parade of Mini Cooper cars.
[00:22:48] I hope you enjoyed my story today.
[00:22:51] All true, of course.
[00:22:59] Until the next time.
