Roger Sitterly put together a catchy draw to bring out our MINIs for a little rural highway enjoyment. It started like this:

If you don’t know

Whose signs

These are,

You can’t have

Driven very far.

If you can supply the final line to the above jingle, you’ve already guessed what we did in July. If not, try this one:

Slow down Pa

Sakes alive!

Ma missed signs

Four

And five.

So you’ve been given a huge clue in the title, CIMC drove out to go find the Burma Shave signs. “Our Iowa” magazine was in the process of placing one complete set of Burma Shave jingle signs in each county throughout the state. At the time, the closest sets of signs for those of us living in Central Iowa were in Boone, Story, and Marshall counties as none had yet been posted in Polk or Madison counties. No other state in the country had any of these signs posted, though one original set is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. and Roger had seen a couple of sets in various car museums.

The drive took place Saturday, July 23, and again departed from Willis’ MINI of Des Moines.

It was a perfect chance to get some pictures of our cars next to some truly amazing Americana.

What do you think the signs we found said? Maybe…

Spring

Has spring

The grass has riz

Where last year’s

Careless drivers is.

Or perhaps

The one who

Drives when

He’s been drinking

Depends on you

To do his thinking.

Or perhaps it was something else? Come join us at one of our monthly meetings or drives to find out!

Starting at MINI of Des Moines, everyone left at 12:30 p.m for a full afternoon of driving, friendship, and just all around fun. The scenic back roads route provided lots of twists and turns so the MINIs could strut their stuff a bit in the sunshine.

• A stop at the Nation Balloon Museum in Indianola answered the question, “Will a hot air balloon lift a MINI Cooper?”
• We learned that there (are / are not) a few MINIs on the  Trainland USA layouts.
• At the Colfax Ice Cream stop, we discovered the most popular flavor among MINI Cooper owners.
• We wondered what a herd of buffalo at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge thought of MINIs.

The route included: an hour or so at the Balloon Museum,  scenic byways to the Neil Smith Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City, where we saw a short film describing the area and spend about an hour there as well.

There was the “absolute must” stop at Goldies Ice Cream Shoppe in Prairie City, before everyone proceeded to Trainland USA near Colfax. Most people had seen the billboards on I-80 advertising Trainland USA, but few had ever stopped to see it. We were amazed at this great display of electric trains and all their surroundings!

Randy and Deb Anderson were kind enough to put together a wonderful Spring Drive to Pella, Iowa, to enjoy all the tulips in bloom – and before the hordes descended in just a few more days for the annual Tulip Time festival.

Beginning promptly at 10 am from MINI of Des Moines, this meandering drive found everyone in Pella by noon. There, the sights (such as the authentic Dutch windmill and quaint shops located in the Netherlands-inspired buildings surrounding the traditional town square), smells of literally thousands of tulips in bloom, and tastes (Dutch Letters at Jaarsma Bakery!) were enjoyed by all. Once in Pella, everyone was able to enjoy lunch and all the sights at their own pace, heading back home at their leisure.