March 27, 2014

Dateline Cape May, NJ  March 28, 2014

There must be something significant about this date, otherwise I would not be writing a page in my blog about it.  March 27, 2014 was the date that MINI USA opened registration for MINI Takes The States 2014.  The opening of the registration site was delayed and there was a lot of chatter on Facebook about the late opening.  Finally, the site opened and Rich got himself, Carol and me registered, we are ready to go.  The red line on the map below is my planned route to San Francisco, while the blue line is the MINI Takes The States route I will be following from San Francisco to Boston.  Rich took the picture, so don’t blame me if it is hard to read.

Carol was also busy; she told me that all the reservations for the hotels are now completed, except for two nights in Wisconsin.  What difference does it make to me?  They will be in a nice bed and I will have to give up my comfortable garage in Cape May to sleep in a parking lot under the stars.  I am getting psyched to get going on the adventure and stop planning. 

A Belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dateline: Cape May, NJ   February 13, 2014

In my last posting I said that I would post pictures of me and my sister Salt ‘n Sand decorated for Christmas time.  Rich got sick and I tried to post the blog, however when I tried to type all my fat tires got was “werty or ghjkl” so I had to wait for him to get better to do this.  Salt ‘n Sand with her “thin” propellers could type her own blog, but I can’t, so I need him.  Don’t worry he only types what I tell him.

Well here we go.  Here is a picture of Mr. & Mrs. Claus taking me out for a ride at Christmas.  I did not get to deliver all of the toys that I wanted as Rich and Carol could not make the PhillyMini Deck the MINIs Rally, so I could not help the Clauses.   It was nice that they could stop by Cape May for a photo.

Salt ‘n Sand, my sister, was decorated for the holiday.  Here is a picture of her, she is pretty----but I am HANDSOME.

While Rich kept me in a garage since before Christmas I was able to see a really pretty sunset and Carol captured it with a camera.  I think it is pretty cool.

The Delaware Bay was full of icebergs a few days this winter.  Rich was able to capture this picture of the small icebergs at the sunken ship where the Delaware flows into the Atlantic Ocean.  In the distance you can see anchored freighters that are waiting to be lightened or their turn to go up the river.  The ice was not solid enough to prevent the navigation of steel hulled ships.  As a side note the Delaware River is tidal, so it was neat to see the icebergs flowing upstream when the tide was coming in. 

Rich and Carol are getting closer to their trip across the US to meet up with “MINI takes the States” in San Francisco and then drive to Boston.  They have gotten there route planned for the trip out west and have made most hotel reservations.  My view is that some sections of the route will be boring, but I told them to get their act together and find some alternate routes so that I can flex my suspension.  They went back to work and are almost getting there.  I will keep beating up on them so we can have a great ride.  REMEMBER “IF THE MINI IS HAPPY, THEY WILL BE HAPPY!”  They tell me that we will be stopping at some really cool places, Including Mt. Rushmore, Yosemite, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and Sequoia National Park.  I will be traveling through 25 different States and two countries.  Rich bought a GoPro camera that he will mount on my front bumper so I can capture some video footage of the twisting roads that I will be traveling on. We will also be stopping in Milwaukee to go to the “MINI Meets West” Rally.