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The 2nd annual Galveston Wash, Wax & Cruising MINI Style Galveston, TX will be held the weekend of April 13th, 14th, and 15th 2007.
This is a Rain or Shine event
The scheduled for the weekend events are:
Friday, April 13th:
6:45 PM Caravan departs from the La Quinta Inn and Suites in Seabrook, TX for Top Water Grill in San Leon, TX
7:30 PM Dinner at Top Water Grill
Saturday, April 14th:
8:00 AM Wash and Wax at the La Quinta Inn and Suites in Seabrook, TX
10:15 AM Caravan departs from La Quinta Inn and Suites to meet at meet up on Hwy 45 for the 10:50 AM Caravan to Galveston.
10:50 AM Caravan from Kohl’s / Wal-Mart Parking lot on Hwy 45 and El Dorado departs for Galveston.
11:45 AM Arrive at Sonic Drive Inn on Galveston’s Seawall for lunch
12:50 PM Depart Sonic Drive Inn
1 PM Arrive at Shriners Hospital
1 PM Arrive at Cherry Hill
For those that do not wish to motor to the Hospital you can proceed directly to “Cherry Hill” for the Ferry Line up.
1:15 PM Depart Shriners Hospital
1:25 PM Arrive at Cherry Hill
1:30 PM Depart Cherry Hill to proceed to the Ferry Landing
2:30 PM Hopefully will be at Crystal Beach
4:45 PM Prize Giveaway
5 PM Depart for Ferry
6:30 PM Regroup to proceed to dinner
7:30 PM Dinner at Chabuca’s Steaks & Rotisserie
10:50, 12:50, 1:30, and 5 are “locked” times, the rest are flexible which most depending on traffic and ferry wait time conditions.
Sunday, April 15th:
8:30 AM Caravan departs from La Quinta Inn and Suites to meet at Waffle House for Breakfast
9:30 AM Caravan departs from Waffle House for San Jacinto Monument and Battle Grounds / Fred Hartman Bridge
10 AM Arrive at Battle Grounds; Tour Monument and Battleship, those that wish can eat at the park, or decide on a place to eat after leaving from park.
There will be several designated spots for a MINI line up to take group photos. The use of FRS radios will be used when the caravans are rolling, so if you do not have one it is high recommend that you get one. The FRS channel that will be used will be 40.
Please feel free to leave anytime during the day long event as I know this is a long event. I had giveaways last time and yes, I will have giveaways again this time, however, please keep in mind you must be present to win any of the prizes given away at the raffle drawing that will be held prior to departing from Crystal Beach.
If you are going to WAX (www.zainostore.com) your car you are welcome to show up before 8 AM! I suggest you having your WAX on your MINI probably no later than 8:45 AM to give you plenty of time for the wax to cure and for you to be able to buff before we depart to meet the 10:50 AM meeting spot.
This event was first held last year, April 2006. There were 18 MINIs, which was not bad considering the way the weather started out in the morning, RAINING and not the kind of car washing or beach weather one would want. However by the time we got down to Galveston the clouds broke loose and we had plenty of sunshine. If the weather would have not been the way it was there would have been a stronger showing from the previous responses that were received prior to the event! FYI: The caravan crossing via the ferry was able to take up one and half lanes out of the 6 lanes on the Ferry for the crossing over to Crystal Beach.
There was one MINI from the Dallas area and another that came over from the San Antonio area, this is by no means a Houston Area only event! Lodging is at the La Quinta Inn and Suites in Seabrook, TX for those that would want to stay overnight.
Again, please share any comments and our suggestions as the planning of this event is in the early stages of being planned. A web page, MINIFunDrives.com for this event is up.
The driving routes should be posted to the website by the evening of 4/4/07.
Are you coming??? Please visit the website for more information and please let me know that you are coming so we can be better prepared for the events.
the Hampton Roads Club MINI successfully achieved setting a worlds record of 77 MINIs on the Jamestown/Scotland Ferry last November as mentioned by Kris (GBMiniGirl) at the Houston MINI Motoring Society monthly January meeting.
MINI world record - 77 MINIs on the Jamestown/Scotland Ferry On Sunday 12th November, 2006 the Hampton Roads Club Mini attempted to set a Guinness World Record by jamming as many MINIs as possible on the Jamestown/Scotland Ferry for the noon crossing.
The MINI Cooper owner’s group organized the event to benefit the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters and raised $1000 in total. They also drove away with a new world record by fitting 77 MINIs on the ferry. However, rumor has it the club are confident Pocahontas (the largest ferry in the fleet) will hold over 100 vehicles….look out for another record attempt sometime soon.
I think 100 MINIs on the ferry would be possible if more owners were aware of the event, but your monthly reminders at the HMMS meetings and the 150 visitors/members on MetroplexMINI.org may not be enough.
How about posters at MoM and MotW (San Antonio, Dallas?) or event spotter cards to get the message out?
Scott, you are correct, Metroplex MINI, and the clubs are not enough to get the number of people involved needed to pull this off but are a great place to start! I have sent information to all Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana MINI dealerships. Likewise I'm posting notices on several other MINI related sites.
I have contacted non MINI related vendors for assistance. The main purpose for the vendor support is to get funding assistance to produce T-Shirts for the cause. Additionally I'm also asking for assistance in helping with prizes like last year. I am asking for MINI related prizes, and even items like the Apple Ipod Nano, although it isn't a MINI related item, it is TINY! We had a really nice digital camera that was given away last year and the same sponsor is going to contribute a camera again this year. Just like last year, anyone that shows up will get a drawing ticket for the prize giveaways held at the end of the drive.
I have investigated the steps needed to take care of registration processes for the chance to break the worlds record.
I heard back from Red Bull, and yes they will be back this year with their Red Bull MINI cooper. (That so cool!)
I will have post cards printed for the February HMMS meeting for anyone who is interested in having them to be used along with any type of spotter cards you hand out. The post card will have the event date and the event website for the event. The website is MINIFunDrives.com and does have links to the various MINI interest sites.
Everything is slowly picking up pace and falling into place for this event.
Monday I spoke a contact with the Shriner’s Hospital’s main operations based in Tampa, Fl. The contact took information and i have received the approval to go forward with the charity cause.
I spoke with the "Captain" of the Galveston Ferry operations and I'm a tad bit disappointed:
Here is what I found out:
1. They have reduce Ferry staff workers
2. Due to the limited personnel there is a reduced Ferry (2) schedule on the weekends. I noticed the last couple of times while in Galveston.
3. Reduce Ferries means longer wait times, (20 to 30 minutes) in between Ferries.
4. Due to staff limitations, they cannot assist with any special assistance with the boarding process than what they would normally do for other traffic.
Therefore some creativity will be needed to contend with the limitations:
1. Will need to enlist the involvement of a law enforcement agency, preferably Galveston County Sheriff department, the City of Galveston, or Texas Highways department. This involvement would be for the main purpose of escorting us from a staging area outside of the ferry’s normal staging area directly to the Ferry’s staging area.
2. Utilize the road that is just before the landing like we did last year for lining up, this would be the non ferry staging area. Having an law enforcement officer(s) escort they could stop traffic for us to enter the ferry line incase the line is beyond that turn off.
3. Will ask the police escort to direct all none MINI traffic behind us needed to fill the ferry preceding our boarding. This will allow us to be first to board a Ferry.
4. Change the whole route and have the main event time start earlier and have the route bring us from the I-10 East side through Bolivar and across the ferry into Galveston. This route would probably run the risk of less participation as the route would be a lot longer, reduce the amount of time spent on the beach, impact possible dinner plans, impact the ability to do the Sonic Drive in on the Seawall. So this option really isn’t one that I’m keen on but I know would be questioned as a possibility by some. More importantly this would not allow us to have a fairly restrictive planned scheduled of timed events, such as being at the hospital at a particular time for the presentation for the charity.
I have contacted several contacts I know to see if I can find find officers that could volunteer their time to give assistance with the task at hand and have not been successful. The City of Galveston has been contacted and they sounded positive, I'm waiting to hear exactly how they can assist. If you know of anyone or have suggestions that can help with this matter please PM me.
The key to success at this moment depends on having some type of escort as mentioned above.
Nice website (www.MINIFunDrives.com), Ronald. Professional looking graphics. BTW, I got your cards. Thanks.
As you know information about the lodging, event schedules has been posted. The route and other guide information will be posted next week.
I have received FIVE $50 Exxon gift cards for the drawing, THREE HP Photosmart E327 digital cameras, and Sonic Drive-In is giving a $25 gift card.
I have not heard back from any of the MINI dealerships in the Texas area that I've contacted.
A letter about the event was mailed out the first week of March. There are spotter cards that have been made and are being distributed throughout the Houston area by several people when they see a MINI.
T-Shirt design is being done by the same guy that is doing the T-Shirts for the MINIs on the Dragon.
I have heard from people of course from the Houston area, and as well from the Corpus Christi, Lake Jackson, San Antonio, and the Dallas areas that are planning to come.
Responses are coming in, if you are coming please let me know by e-mailing info@watt-family.com.
If you are coming please besure to visit the website WWW.MINIFunDrives.com for more information. Also please let me know by e-mailing me if you are coming and to what part of the events you plan to attend. Knowing how many to plan for will help cordinate the different events, especially the dinner arrangements.
The shirts came in on Wednesday for this weekend's event! They look great. I have posted a sample photo of what the shirt looks like on the website. Due to the lack of sponsorship for the production cost of the shirts, they are going to be sold at $16. $10 of that will still go to the hospital, the remaining $6 will help defray the production costs of the shirts.
Also, the Route Guide for all the scheduled events in PDF form is available on the site. If you haven't been on the site the schedule has been posted for several days on the site. There are links to the restaurants for Friday and Saturday which includes their menus.
I spoke with a member of the Shriner's motorcycle riders group and looks like they are going to pitch in and help out with escorting us when we get to the point of getting on the ferry on Saturday.
The event is looking promising now, weather looks good. Remember there is a short driving event on Sunday if you are interested. The site has all the information.
If you know of anyone that wants to still sponsor, pitch in money or prizes please have them get in touch. I received some items Tuesday evening from Moss MINI Motors. We've have about ten or so items to give away, all of the prizes are pretty decent. $50 gas cards, digital cameras from HP, some vendor t-shirts, and other items.
One last favor, PLEASE PLEASE, if you are coming or know of someone coming I really would like an e-mail response to info@watt-family.com with info of which parts of the events they are planning to attend.
