Video from the salt flats

just in case you didn't see, the local news station sent a helicopter to shoot the crazy little european cars.

video from ksl.com

Home again, home again

More photos and fun stuff to follow, but in the meantime, some statistics:

Total miles: 3735

Highest elevation: something around 12,000 feet

Highest speed: withheld

Highest temp: 105

Lowest temp: 52 and foggy along PCH

Most MINIs in a single photo shoot: around 300

Number of times across the Continental Divide: 6 (well, we only saw 5 signs, but since we're here, I'm assuming we missed one. Elevations ranged from 6000 to 14,000 something.)

Wildlife spotted: the seals at Ano Nuevo, two kinds of deer, elk, and one tame rabbit. Didn't see moose or bighorn sheep, but I'm sure they were there.

Strangest moment: descending on the wrong "big red barn" for our MINI-sponsored peach stop. The wrong farmer Bob kindly gave us a tour of his peach farm and packing plant, while his field hands took pictures of all the funny little cars parked in front. The right big red barn was about a half-mile down the road.

heading home

we're all done - approx 2,400 miles down, and 1250 to go before we get back to Sonoma...



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Group Photo Charlie-Foxtrot

what happens when you get too many MINI owners in too small a space?

this is the lower of two parking lots:


an the upper parking lot:


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More pictures?

check out my flickr stream at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidrperry


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Location:Winter Park, CO

While we're gone...

We have a trusted friend taking care of the kitties. We also have a webcam that watches them... (this is my favourite shot so far)


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10603

I think this is the highest point of our road rally. my terrible math tells me we were about 2 miles above sea level.

we stopped in Frisco, CO (elevation 9,042) for lunch.


Miles is enjoying the view, but he is breathing much harder in the thin mountain air :(

Tonight we stop in Winter Park, CO and meet up with folks from MINIs in the Mountains for a cruise through downtown.


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Location:the rockies

tragedy strikes Miles!

as we're washing the salt off of Miles, his passenger side vent grill suddenly detaches...


it's a grill just below the windshield wipers and back from the bonnet:



so, I call MINI of Murray, the local dealer, to see if they have a spare. They do, so we grab a bite to eat, at Noodles & more and we encounter our first Coke Freestyle machine (but it was out of Coke!).

at the dealer I also pickup a RUBBISH bag from the MINI accessories catalog, fit the replacement piece and head out.

by now, we're convinced that we're at the back of the pack, only to see the support van barreling down the Interstate behind us!

high point for today: 7,477'

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Location:the car wash

car wash time

so, after racing across a dry salt lake (which is actually moist-ish) - we had to get all the salt off of Miles. MINI had provided us with directions to a car wash in SLC, so we wandered to S 2100 E & N 1300 E (or something like that) in Salt Lake City.



see that white cakey stuff? Salt. Salt is bad for cars, and the amount of salt we picked up was amazing (will post more salty pictures later).

Then it was off to Grand Junction, CO
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Location:Salt Lake City

Wednesday

today has been a long day... up and out of our kitschy hotel by 7am. headed west (homeward bound) on I-80 for about 120 miles until we got to Bonneville Speedway.

Then we headed back to Salt Lake City, and the car wash (salt is not good for Miles)


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Day 4(?): Las Vegas, NV to Salt Lake City, UT

Let's start with some statistics for today:

High of 95° in Southern Utah desert
Low of 61° in Cedar City, UT
Current miles Miles is from home: 1243
Highest altitude attained on trip so far: 6600 feet
Number of gas station attendants that have asked "how do you like your MINI convertible.": 1

And now for the pretty pictures...







MINI assigned us a task of visiting the landlocked lighthouse in Cedar City, UT and taking a picture. Must remember to upload to flickr, too!







This is Miles' first trip to a real TacoTime (in that it has the classic sign) - also in Cedar City







The Utah desert, from an off-ramp during a change in drivers.







Clouds on Miles







A route map for the rally (we skipped Phoenix to hang out with the cool kids in Los Angeles)







Salt Lake City not only has great BBQ (Sugarhouse Barbeque), but it also has an incredible wealth of roadside attractions...

Tomorrow were up at dark o'clock to go drive on the salt flats...

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Location:Martin Luther King Jr Blvd,Salt Lake City,United States

The real road trip begins

Today the real road begins - because, after all, driving to Vegas isn't really a road trip from LA. But today, there will be new roads and new places.

And hopefully it will cool off. Drive-off temp: 86.

Vegas, baby!

A selection of photos from today's travels...




The Prospectors in Jean, Nevada




MINI-only parking




...and the view from the front door of our hotel.

Numbers for today: low of 70°, high of 102°
Miles traveled with Miles: 280
Best thing Amanda ate: glass made of frozen spring water imported from New Zealand (at minus5°)

Desert MINI of Las Vegas do throw quite a lovely party, btw.

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Location:Las Vegas Blvd S,Las Vegas,United States

Coop at the San Francisco Kick Off party

Coop took us to Day 0 of the West Coast leg of MINI Takes The States 2010.

Here are a couple more pictures of the MINI Cooper Countryman S (say that 3 times quickly...)














... and here's Coop outside with the support vehicle:







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Location:Treasure Island, San Francisco Bay

Day 2 (ish)

Since the MTTS route is a little, umm, convoluted (I mean, we drove to LA to get to Colorado?), we're skipping the side trip to Phoenix and taking a day to play in LA.

But, we still did the drive-off, so that Joe could see what the excitement was about.

Weather: Perfect 70 degrees or so, with just a hint of fog.

Miles covered: Under a hundred, but not by much.

Best thing eaten: cake donut with sprinkles. (total guilty pleasure)

Starting elevation:

MINIs as far as the eye can see.

Tomorrow: Vegas.

Brrr! It's foggy on the coast...

Day 1 was uneventful, in part because we've covered these roads before. But Highway 1 is always a fun ride, with fantastic photos ops.

Review:
Miles covered: 500ish
Temperature range: 54 around Big Sur, 83 around Calabasas. Much more 55 than anything over 70 - the fog was so thick on the coast, that there were points where we couldn't see the ocean from the cliffs.
Best thing eaten: asparagus quiche from Big Sur Bakery.
Starting elevation: 52 feet (so sez the MINIvan)

Day 1

Today's drive off is cold! 55 degrees... See you in LA.

I got me some bling, yo.

MTTS2010 - Day 0

Wait, how can a road trip have a day 0? Well, in this case, our road trip starts tomorrow, but Mini Takes the States kicked off tonight with a launch party on Treasure Island. A MINI Countryman launch party, that is. That doesn't sound terribly interesting to you, but to us ridiculous fanboys, it was the first chance to see the big MINI.

A whole new world

As we finish getting ready to hit the road tomorrow morning, I'm realizing how different it is to travel than it was just a few years ago when we last took a long road trip. Last trip, we relied on a book (the heavy kind made from dead trees!) for restaurant recommendations, I had to use a wireless card in my laptop to find a hotel, and I was emailing photos from my Sony phone to the blog to keep people updated. I remember parking outside of hotels with free Wi-Fi to get internet access on my laptop. Oh, and we used an atlas (more dead trees) as our road map.

This trip, I'm pretty sure that the only thing I need for the travel part, is my iPhone. Maps, distances, restaurant information - it's all right there. I've checked out places to eat, but instead of transcribing the information, I just need a list of names - Google will do the rest. We're bringing a laptop for work, and to store excess data (photos and music), but that's pretty much just an extra.

Much like the laptop, we'll also bring an atlas, but that's just because I like to have a paper map to browse. We certainly don't need one to get us where we're going, and it's definitely not going to help us find the hotel. But at the end of the day, the paper map has a certain nostalgic romance to it - it's as much a part of a road trip as a Hostess cherry pie, bad music, and roadside attractions.

Oh, that reminds me, I have to download the Roadside Attractions app. It really is a whole new world.

On the road again

Taking the blog off of hiatus as we get ready for the 2010 Mini Takes the States rally. This year, we're caravaning from SF to LA to Vegas to Salt Lake to Denver.

Follow us along the way, as we head down Highway 1 next Saturday, with the requisite photo opps along the coast and at the Madonna Inn, on the strip in Vegas, and across the mountains to Denver.

Our planned route:

Friday - Kickoff party on Treasure Island. (Coop gets to go to this one.)

Saturday - SF to LA, via Highway One.

Sunday - Skipping the MTTS detour to Phoenix and spending the day in LA, eating milkshakes, going to movies and generally celebrating Joe's birthday.

Monday - Catching up with the Minis in Vegas, and checking out the new City Center resort. It's been ages since we've been to Vegas, so we're looking forward to it.

Tuesday - Vegas to Salt Lake, with a stop at the waterslide in Cedar City.

Wednesday - Salt Lake to Grand Junction, CO.

Thursday - Grand Junction to Winter Park

Friday - short hop from Winter Park to Denver

Saturday - Hang out for some of the MTTS Festival, then get back on the road to the west. Not sure how we're getting home (or when, really).

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