Bucket list item achieved: attend the annual Bear Mountain MR2 Cruise event in New York.
This had been on my list for several years to attend in any of my old Toyotas and never thought I would actually own an MR2 until the opportunity to own one fell in my lap two years ago. Now I had a better reason to go, plus it was the 25th annual event so it was great timing.
Jimmy had just picked up his supercharged AW11 only two weeks prior to the trip. It was not completely assembled when we picked it up but we had finished it in time with no real miles accrued for testing and shakedown before starting the journey crossing multiple state lines for three days.
Took a three-day weekend to log almost 750 miles round trip to Newburgh NY to join about 110 MR2s from all over the country and Canada. The attendance was a bit smaller than usual due to Hurricane Ian threats but the rain held off for the main event.
On the way north, I met a group of around 30 cars in Maryland and we all went up together for an overnight stay in Mahwah, NJ.
Two of my buddies and I actually won trophies; I got the “Little MR2 That Could” aka “beater” award.
The car did amazing. After a complete shell swap and basic maintenance, it had no issues the whole weekend and I was surprised that it was actually suitable as more than a “sunny day only” car dealing with the rain.
We did get to see the BBQ half cut trailer!
