Pat and I have, over the last few years, attended many Miata Run events in Oregon, Washington and Utah, and loved them all.

The events I am talking about involve hundreds of hours of member volunteer activity to organize.  Booking the resort and scheduling the dinners and planning a half dozen runs for the various Miata couples to enjoy is a serious commitment.

Our Vancouver Island club members have gone to most of these runs over the years,  and we are often asked why do we not host an event on the Island.   Good question, but there is an issue in our geography.  We are a long narrow island with some great drives like the drive to Tofino, but with no loop drives.  It is basically up and down the island with a whole bunch of roads that just go in and out to locations such as Gold River.  Really no central resort that we could use to host an event.

A Miata run should have a run out on a loop and return to the centre resort where the next day you do a different run.  We have done some great events in Central Washington and Oregon that include runs through lava fields and wine country or along cliffs.  They are interesting in that they have many different routes that all return to the host resort.

I love Paradise, but most of our drives, while they have great views of the Beaufort mountains on one side and views over the Salish Sea towards the snow-capped mountains on the mainland, they are one-way and return on the same highway.  Truthfully, you are mostly driving with green forests of Cedar and Douglas fir on each side and the occasional mountain views, but it is the same view in reverse on the return trip.

Anyway, last year I agreed to organize a club run that would start here in Courtenay and end up with a BBQ.  It is part of our experiment to see if we could ever host an international event.

Pat and I have been testing runs for the last two months that start at the outskirts of Courtenay and meander through the paved country roads between here and Campbell River.

Today we finally settled on the route.  It is not the high-speed, curvy route that some Miata drivers will want, but it is picturesque.  Narrow lanes where the trees almost overlap overhead and the farm houses and fields look like those you might see in England.  At one point we drive past a ranch that raises Bisons, where we can pause to see them grazing.

We now have about 10 cars in this run and we will end up in our back yard for a BBQ and celebration.  If the weather is right this could be great.