Yellowstone and Grand Tetons Epic drive and meet 2013

First item: I have gotten some flak from people on the different forms for putting this on as well as asking people to only post if they were going or at least seriously interested. I am not being paid to do this nor am I asking for money. I am doing this because I love to drive and seem to be one of the few people out in the community willing to take on such a headache. All I ask is if you are going to post on this thread, please be serious about attending. Just posting to say "say not for me" or "to far" makes the thread long and does not add value. Thank you.

Second item: There is no way I can please everyone for this event and nor am I trying to do so. I have done my best to make an event that balances the areas I felt were important.

1. Being able to see the sights you have not seen as well as take your ride on a drive you normally would never do.
2. Being able to drive the car in a fun manner at some points to “stretch its legs”.
   
3. Make a successful event that we can have move across North America to see the sights.

Dates of the event

June 24-28 – for meet and group activities. If you include driving to base camp it would be June 22nd – June 30th possibly depending on location you are starting from.

Base camp will be West Yellowstone. There is plenty of lodging, parking and activities for a hopefully big group. I will be working on group rates at the first of the year for everyone.

• June 24th, 2013 - Yellowstone park North loop
• June 25th, 2013 – Yellowstone park South Loop
• June 26th, 2013 – Beartooth Pass drive. (This will be the drive day and will make for some great roads. This will be a LONG day, as we will cover some miles)
  
• June 27th, 2013 – Leave West Yellowstone and travel to Jackson WY
  - Explore Grand Tetons during the day on the way to Jackson WY
• June 28th, 2013 – Explore Grand Tetons

In an effort to help facilitate getting people in touch with each other to arrange caravans, I have made a form that I will use to populate a Google document. I am the only one who will see this as a FYI.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...eW9RcFlhQUE6MQ

What will we be doing there?

We are in the oldest national park in the world so we will be seeing the sights and doing some walking around. In addition, a few others and I are trying to arrange some group photo shots at the parks attractions. I have included one day for just pure driving for those who are interested.

What will this cost me to go?

You will be responsible for fuel, lodging, food, park fees and anything else you might want to do. The only fee that is 100% for sure is the $25 for a 7 day pass which allows you to see both Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

If I get enough people interested, I could have some removable decals made to be placed on the side of the car to be like we are on a rally event. If you want me to look into these costs, let me know on the form above.

This sounds LAME!

I know some of you have posted you hated Yellowstone and would just do the Grand Teton or you just want to hall *** around all day seeing what your car can do. Sorry this is not the place to do that. The best explanation I can say why this is not lame is because you are going on a ROAD TRIP, which to me has always been a reason to go to places. This also is a continental wide event that hopefully will be the first of many more to come. Therefore, if you still think this is a lame idea then I wish you a safe summer in your adventures.

Currently I have four cars from Sacramento area 100% going. In addition, I know of a few in Montana that will be attending. This means we have about eight cars ranging from BMW, Audi, Ferrari and Lotus already attending.

If you wish to email me directly my email is norcal.drivers@gmail.com. Please make sure to let me know you are asking about Yellowstone as I organize many drives for the NorCal enthusiasts.

Cheers

Adam

Here are some sample images of the visit my wife and I did in 2011 in our 2006 E90.

 

Yeah, that is too far for me to drive. At least next year. And if all goes as expected, the schedule would interfere with driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. Sorry you think that not going to a location that you consider a "bucket list" place does not qualify me as someone who enjoys motoring in their MINI. The many adventures and places I've been say otherwise.

 

I think you are taking this a tad to personal.

98% of the people that will see this post will not go for (reason). That is fine but the intent was many people talk about going to places so this is the nudge to move them there. There are a lot of owner, (sounds like you excluded) that do not take their car longer drives for the adventure of doing the drive. If you have plans to drive else where then enjoy and glad to see you are using your car.

 

Well, if you are going to get on your soapbox, you should expect some brickbracks. Maybe doing that is not such a good idea when announcing an event. Plus, I figured I would go ahead and get the obligatory "too far for me" post out of the way for the thread.

 

......wow..

 

HAHA this is the forums, bricks come with the territory lol.

I posted to make sure people knew this was for a drive and to keep the thread on topic. Not diverge away with a lot of people going "i can't make it", or "wish I could". If you feel hurt by the post, that was not the intention but I stand by what I said. If you don't want to go, as I said enjoy your drive as it sounds fun.

 

Yellowstone is on our radar. We've made a commitment for next year's road trip but if your big show works well and you decide to do it again in the following years, sounds like fun and we could incorporate it into our really big trip wish, a detailed visit to NorCal and beyond.

 

I'll consider it, I've always wanted to go and this is a good reminder. :-) Hopefully they will move AMVIV back to earlier in the year, when it is a tad cooler in Vegas, then we could go to both!

 

Dates are not yet locked in for 100%. All I know at this point the drive / meet will be either end of May first part of June. Final dates will be posed at the first of the year as that is when we need to lock things in. I will keep every one posted. Right now planting the seed and for people to either pencil it in or at least think about it.

 

I've been thinking about a Yellowstone trip for a while now. I might be interested in this.

 

We drove from Texas to Yellowstone last July with my parents, sister, nieces and nephews in the Winnebago. It was my Dad's dying wish. We'd seen it a couple of times as kids. He passed away from pancreatic cancer last November.

Yellowstone is truly a spectacular place, and for us, filled with so many memories.

As I drove the big RV along wind roads with my parents, wife, children, sister, niece and nephew, I often thought, "this would be fun to do in the MINI."

Shortly after buying the MINI in 2008, my wife, daughter and I did an ill-advised trip from Texas to Colorado in the MINI. It was great! The next big MINI trip will likely be solo or with a single copilot. Who knows when, but someday for certain the opportunity will arise.

 

We are penciling it down, thinking? You might do it for sure late May or June due to kids in school and graduations, just a thought! Trip sounds fun.

 

I have been to Yellowstone in my MINI before and this will be a great trip. Fantastic scenery. Time to do it again!!

 

We did Yellowstone in 2009, it took us 3 days to get there and it was well worth it. There are cars there from all over, I got a collection of pictures of plates. I think the furthest was from Maine, though Florida would be a close second. Don't seem to have any from North Carolina though.

Edit to add: Pictures of Yellowstone: http://btwyx.com/Yellowstone/

 

I know late June would be better for the kids but I am trying to find all points of the triangle. Crowds, weather, family. We will see how it flushes out on the other forums as well.

 

Just a update to all. I am working out the details for the event and welcome any suggestions or ideas. PM me with them so i can review them all to finish building us a game plan.

 

My wife and I just did this trip from the Ozarks in 9 days. We threw in mount Rushmore , crazy horse, devils tower, the popcorn palace in Mitchell SD, Cody is awesome, spent 2.5 days in Yellowstone then south through the Tetons and as a bonus we went on through Laramie and down to Estes Park and the Rocky Mtn. National Forest. She has a 07 MCC and I the 08 hatchback. We could get more stuff in mine so it won out. Also the 08 is a 6 speed vs. her 5 speed. There is a difference! We cruised across South Dakota and Wyoming at 80 and never saw trooper for 7 days of the trip. My car is the base model and handled the trip beautifully! Got 35 mpg over the 3400 miles. We've only had mini's for about 6 weeks and have had a couple problems with hers but dealer fixed under warranty. To my knowledge there are no mini dealers in South Dakota or Wyoming so service your car and enjoy this trip it is amazing! We saw 5 other minis in Yellowstone but only talked to one owner from Kentucky. Saw about 15 or so others and a white over silver followed me about 60 miles thru Nebraska on our way back. Anyways fun cars fun trip! We are planning many mini vacations. I would like to tour Italy from the heel to the boot top! I suppose you could rent one there. Anyone ever done that one?

 

What an epic journey! I'm glad it worked out well for you.

 

I'd be interested in this trip as well. I'd also be interested in meeting up with anyone heading south for the meeting date in Yellowstone. I'll be coming from BC, Canada.

Cheers!

 

I wanted to bump the threads as well as get some update everyone on the feedback I have gotten.

1. Recommendation to drive through beartooth pass. This would a full day of driving there and back but looks like it is well worth it. http://www.beartoothhighway.com/roadMaps/index.html for more information about the drive.
2. Spend only 1 day in Yellowstone hitting the major sites. I am working on a photo-opp at Old Faithful but this is a long shot. If we are able to pull, it off there may be a cost in order to secure event insurance, which fingers crossed, will allow us to have the shoot. If not we will find another park venue.
3. Spend two days in the Grand Tetons as a group seeing the sights.

That is the current update on planning. Dates are still being figured out as we are trying to be in and out of all the areas before the crowds. Mid / Late June still looks to be the target date as this will avoid the major crowds.

I will post again once I have some more updates.

 

All sounds good so far. The dates might be a bit of a challenge for me as I plan to bring my daughter along for the trip. Her school year ends the end of June. So, either she misses the last few days (which might not be good) or she misses a week mid-June before school ends (which is probably better).

 

Just wanted to bump the thread and let everyone know I should have the full details for this event in the next few weeks. I have been getting feedback from people as well as trying to find the right balance for people that have been to this area before and people who have not.

Stay tuned

 

Yellowstone and Grand Tetons Epic drive and meet 2013

First item: I have gotten some flak from people on the different forms for putting this on as well as asking people to only post if they were going or at least seriously interested. I am not being paid to do this nor am I asking for money. I am doing this because I love to drive and seem to be one of the few people out in the community willing to take on such a headache. All I ask is if you are going to post on this thread, please be serious about attending. Just posting to say "say not for me" or "to far" makes the thread long and does not add value. Thank you.

Second item: There is no way I can please everyone for this event and nor am I trying to do so. I have done my best to make an event that balances the areas I felt were important.

1. Being able to see the sights you have not seen as well as take your ride on a drive you normally would never do.
2. Being able to drive the car in a fun manner at some points to “stretch its legs”.
   
3. Make a successful event that we can have move across North America to see the sights.

Dates of the event

June 24-28 – for meet and group activities. If you include driving to base camp it would be June 22nd – June 30th possibly depending on location you are starting from.

Base camp will be West Yellowstone. There is plenty of lodging, parking and activities for a hopefully big group. I will be working on group rates at the first of the year for everyone.

• June 24th, 2013 - Yellowstone park North loop
• June 25th, 2013 – Yellowstone park South Loop
• June 26th, 2013 – Beartooth Pass drive. (This will be the drive day and will make for some great roads. This will be a LONG day, as we will cover some miles)
  
• June 27th, 2013 – Leave West Yellowstone and travel to Jackson WY
  - Explore Grand Tetons during the day on the way to Jackson WY
• June 28th, 2013 – Explore Grand Tetons

In an effort to help facilitate getting people in touch with each other to arrange caravans, I have made a form that I will use to populate a Google document. I am the only one who will see this as a FYI.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...eW9RcFlhQUE6MQ

What will we be doing there?

We are in the oldest national park in the world so we will be seeing the sights and doing some walking around. In addition, a few others and I are trying to arrange some group photo shots at the parks attractions. I have included one day for just pure driving for those who are interested.

What will this cost me to go?

You will be responsible for fuel, lodging, food, park fees and anything else you might want to do. The only fee that is 100% for sure is the $25 for a 7 day pass which allows you to see both Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

If I get enough people interested, I could have some removable decals made to be placed on the side of the car to be like we are on a rally event. If you want me to look into these costs, let me know on the form above.

This sounds LAME!

I know some of you have posted you hated Yellowstone and would just do the Grand Teton or you just want to hall *** around all day seeing what your car can do. Sorry this is not the place to do that. The best explanation I can say why this is not lame is because you are going on a ROAD TRIP, which to me has always been a reason to go to places. This also is a continental wide event that hopefully will be the first of many more to come. Therefore, if you still think this is a lame idea then I wish you a safe summer in your adventures.

Currently I have four cars from Sacramento area 100% going. In addition, I know of a few in Montana that will be attending. This means we have about eight cars ranging from BMW, Audi, Ferrari and Lotus already attending.

If you wish to email me directly my email is norcal.drivers@gmail.com. Please make sure to let me know you are asking about Yellowstone as I organize many drives for the NorCal enthusiasts.

Cheers

Adam

 

I've been wanting to take a trip of this sort!

I picked up my MCS last month and drove from Tampa to Key Largo and back. Then from Tampa all the way to North Dakota, where I'm now stationed (Military).

Adam, thanks for putting this together as I know it's a pain in the **** to try and please everyone. I will definitely go as long as I have no military obligations. Once dates are in, I'll request leave! Hope to meet a few of you out there!

 

Hope you can make it.

And thank you for your service sir