8th Annual Halloween “Mystery” Cruise
By Brian Davis
The final IFLBCC driving event of 2022 featured a Fall drive down some of Central Illinois’ scenic back roads to Haynes on Main, Mackinaw Valley winery PLUS a “Surprise” stop at a private collection of cars, neon, trains, toys and MUCH more!
The 8th Annual Halloween “Mystery” cruise began just west of Bloomington, on October 29, where owners of approximately fifteen British vehicles gathered for the day’s Drivers Meeting. Alan Kleinschmidt was the event organizer and led the Drivers Meeting and the drives throughout the day.
Our first destination was a “Mystery” location until that morning. Alan had arranged for our group to drive to an unidentified location where members were treated to a vast collection of vehicles, man cave memorabilia and a train layout with 1,050 feet of track.=
The owner of the collection had his friend act as the Conductor for the various scaled trains that traveled through many villages and Disney themed vignettes. The layout included 92 buildings, 232 characters, 6 monorails and 2400 miniature lights. This beautiful facility was spacious and allowed out group to leisurely browse the collection or sit and visit.
The next stop on our adventure was Haynes on Main, 108 S. Main St., Mackinaw, IL for lunch. It was a beautiful Fall Day, so to add to our experience we traveled along Old Peoria Road and a variety of twisty scenic roads.
Haynes is a wonderful smalltown tavern that set aside a private dining area just for our group. Several members that could not make the start of the drive joined us for lunch.
After lunch, the group continued on to Mackinaw Valley Vineyards for a little taste of the grape. The winery features a large variety of wines for tasting as well as an extensive gift shop and beautiful grounds. After selecting our beverages, the group retired to the large deck that overlooks the expanse of grape arbors.
Late that afternoon we bid goodbye to our friends and IFLBCC group cruises for 2022. We still had our November and December Natter ‘n Noggin to look forward to and to take a moment to look back on all of the terrific Club activities that 2022 had to offer.
By the time you’re reading this the Illinois Flat Land British Car Club will have begun planning our premier event of 2023, the 3-day Champagne British Car Festival. The featured marque for 2023 will be All MGs. We’re delighted to announce that John Twist will be speaking at the Saturday banquet and hosting his popular “Rolling Tech Session” during the Sunday car show at David Davis Mansion.