So against the appreciated advice of NMgokart, I purchased a Mini Today!

So far I'm having a blast, and here's the story I write from my hotel room this far.

After negotiating with a used car dealer for a few days, I finally got them to where I wanted to be, and signed the deposit on a '06 Mini Cooper S JCW, Royal Grey. You may remember this from an earlier post "should I buy this Mini?"

So I woke up at 4AM this morning, got on a 2 hour shuttle to Denver, and flew to Vegas, ran through the McCarran airport to catch the shuttle to St. George, UT (made it by minutes), and I was on my way.

The salesman I have been working with picked me up at the drop, and we drove to the dealership. After checking out the Mini, and a quick test drive (looked great, except the tires were more work than they said), I tried to negotiate a little more, due to the tires. I managed to get $100 more off. That doesn’t sound like much, but they really worked with me, and I honestly believed they didn't have much room to move. And this was by far not a "sleazy used car salesman" type of joint. They have a Used Ferrari something or other inside for sale for $200k. Really sweet. It had a Plexiglas trunk so you could see the big *** motor..... OK, back to the Mini.

So after I handed them the check, I asked "OK, so now that you have the $$, how much did you pay for this thing. The manager looked it up, and said, $700 less than what you paid ($23,600 out the door), and we have the salesman a $200 commission. I was feeling pretty good. They left me with a full tank of gas, and bang, I’m outta there!

So I'm on my way to begin my journey back to Colorado. I looked at the map, and planned my route.

So I hopped on I15, North, Exited Hwy 9, and was on my way to go through Zion National Park. What a Sweet Drive. Once on 9, it was all fast twisties, with some nice open straight-aways. When I got to Zion, I happily paid the entrance fee, and then the fun really began! First of all, the views and rock formations were amazing. I've been to ALOT of places in the US, and this was by far in the top 3 on the "this is freaking amazing" scale. I tool the Scenic loop" detour in Zion got to the end, did a little hike, and then was back on my way heading NE.


This road was amazing, all uphill, fairly steep grade, with tight hairpins that looped over one another. Left, right, straightaway, left, right, straightaway. You know the kind. 30 MPH turns in-between 60 MPH throttle blasts. And every now and then, you can see the road you came up on 500' below you. Of course there's no guardrail.

There's a really cool tunnel that goes through the mountain. I think 1.5 miles long, narrow, 11' high, and DARK, and it has little "windows" cut in every now and then, so you get these little peaks looking out into the canyon.

Up to this plateau, and the 1 lane (each way) highway flattens out. Time to open her up. 75 in 6th, 5th gear and hammer down, I'm really digging the supercharger whine, slide back to 6th and look down,... 105 and she feels tight as a drum, and still pulling strong. Ok, that’s enough for now, and slowly back her down.

Continue on Hwy 9, cursing at around 80, to Hwy 89 and head north. This little road is so nice. Super scenic, fast, no traffic. Pass through some little towns. You know those towns that pop up in the middle of nowhere. 80 MPH to 40 MPH blink 3 times, and you’re through it. Virgin, Orderville, Glendale, Hatch, Pengutich, Circleville, Junction, Marysville, Then.... I-70.

Well, fun's over. Steady 75MPH on the Highway. Lots of cops, but still quite scenic. A quick bite in Richfield, and I’m back on the road. Getting dark now, so time to try out the headlights. Wow those Xenon's are nice. Hummm, what's this little toggle do. Pow! Fog lights light up the night. So a steady cruse to Green River, UT, and I’m ready to sleep. It's been a 16 hour day!

Tomorrow the journey continues...
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Love the narration!!! Sounds like a dream come true!!!
Now honestly, WHERE are the pictures of your new MINI in Zion?!?!?!?!?!

 

Sounds like your having a lot of fun with the new MCS JCW, nice choice, I remember that thread you made! It's a great way to get to know your new car, and you'll have a lot of many memorable memories with the new MINI! Drive Safely, and Motor On!

 

Hammer down!

 

Gosh I remember the beautiful scenery out there! You invoked memories of when I moved from Colorado to San Francisco in 1999. My friend Ian Frechette did a good job of capturing dialog and pictures from that trip. Linky has lots of good pics.

Congrats on your new MINI.

 

Yes I remember your original thread...im glad to hear you got what you wanted, at the price you wanted, and that you get to have an amazing run back home

Have fun, be safe and please continue this story it's very exhilarating :D

 

I've been on that road around Zion and remember the tunnel. Too bad it was way before I had a MINI to really enjoy it. Sounds like you did.

 

Love finding a fellow JCW owner. One time my wife and I were at Yosemite, and using Gromit. We were in the tunnel leading towards Glacier Point. Long, straight, uphill, and lights spaced evenly. No one was in front of us, so I jumped on it. The lights flashing by, and the end of the tunnel rapidly approaching.... We exited into the blast of sunshine, and I yelled out, "Launch Vipers!" If you remember the old Battlestar Galactica, you'll understand.

 

Congrats on the new Wheels!

 

I love the way you tell a tale, congratulations on the new MINI have fun be safe.

 

Sounds incredible! Enjoy your mini!

 

OK, Just got home (not really, I wrote all this 20 minutes ago, and lost it, so here's the rewrite.

One thing I forgot to mention was while in Utah, north of Zion, there are all these little towns where the speed limit goes from 75 to 40. These are small, poor towns, so to prevent speeding; they have an old Ford Bronco painted up to look like the highway patrol, with a dummy sitting in it. There's a setup like that near here. It's cool, because it makes people slow down, but no one gets a ticket. Well, I went by this one in this little town, and something inside the car caught my eye. I had a good look as I was driving slowly by, and someone had put a wig on the dummy and added REAL RED lipstick and makeup. The cop dummy looked like a hooker. Ironic, I thought, for Utah.

For those interested, the Ferrari at the car dealership was a 2006 F430. For sale, email me if you want the link.


So the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. Eastern Utah is pretty flat and straight, and I did manage to get her up to 109, but mostly a steady cruse at 85-90.

Inside Colorado, the scenery begins to change. First its snow covered book cliffs and canyons with scrub forests. It's really kind of a high alpine desert out there. Then into the farmland and winery's near palisade. Grape vines put away for the winter. Black cows out in the snow covered fields, all with mountain backdrops.

I've done this drive 100 times to mountain bike out in Fruita, and it was so much better in the MINI. Note to self, order roof rack.

Then into Glenwood Canyon, a curvy elevated, split highway. Interesting info here:
http://www.mesalek.com/colo/glenwood/index.html

Up and down Vail Pass, through Officers Gulch, and home again.

Someone asked in the previous post, where were the pictures if the MINI in Zion. Well, I didn’t bring a camera. Lesson Learned. But after reading the post, I remembered my phone has a camera on it, so here are come crappy camera phone pics for you to enjoy.

Tomorrow I need to hunt down some snow tires and rims.

Thanks for listening.
Jay Out

P.S. My wife is wondering why I took a bunch of pictures of a bunch of roads. She dosen't get it yet.

Eastern Utah
Western Colorado
Western Colorado Again

 

You have to upload the picture to a site then you can post them, they aren't showing! If you need help PM me!

 

More Western CO

 

Western CO Again

 

White River

 

Gypsum, CO

 

Glenwood Canyon

 

Vail Pass

 

Almost Home

 

This is about the best "just got my car and took it for a drive" experience I have ever heard. I know it was used and therefore well broken in but you have inspired me to take some time off and break mine in properly once the arrival date gets here.

 

Lived in Colorado Springs for many years, and made the trip north up through Utah many times (to Washington State). Played with the twisties in a Fiat 124, no where near as fun as the Mini, but thanks for triggering those wonderful memories. Enjoy your new ride!

 

http://www.minifini.com/ShopDetail.aspx?id=8

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