Caravan leaves tomorrow. Radinator, coming from CA, already reports brake problems. May need a fix at Fontana, just threw in an extra set of pads just in case....and that beautiful polished aluminum teardrop pull-behind of Jim's will be with us....look for it.

Wanna join?

Tuesday night in Hays, KS (look it up)
KC Baron MINI at NOON Wednesday
Wed PM in StL
Thursday to the Dragon

See you there.

JPS

 

I'll be seeing you at Baron on Wednesday.....

counting down the hours!

Bentley

 

Getting the final things done this morning so I just may head out to somewhere halfway to KC today. See you all at the dealership.

 

Drag'n Wagon

 

I will be at Baron early as I am in St. Joseph tonight. Sleeping in the Drag'n Wagon. Heck I am on the Internet and watching TV in the Drag'n Wagon. Listening to the radio and listening to the IPOD. Who would have thought I could cram all this crap into this little trailer.

I should be there shortly before 11AM
Jim

 

Jim Daniels, Rodney and I are in Hays now, in a nice cool clean new hotel room, with TV and internet. Not too different than you.

We will leave here 7:30, ar Baron by Noon....

JPS

Be clean. We are not. Lots of bugs....

 

Getting hit pretty hard with rain this morning. You may get the bugs off on the way here with the rain. Hope it has moved East before noon. See you there.

 

According to forcasts in KC we will run in to the storms from this morning somewhere around mid-Missouri. Hopefully without the hail that came through KC this morning.

 

[SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]DRAGON CARAVAN

The Saint Louis Contingent will be joining other motorist from the west to continue their trek to Deals Gap, NC

We will meet at the Hardees restaurant at the intersection of Interstate 64 and US 50. (This is in Illinois, the next exit after Fairview Heights) This is exit # 14 it says “O’Fallon Exit”. When you get off the interstate you will see Hardees off to your right. The restaurant opens at 5:30 am for anyone who wants to eat. We will be departing from this location at 6:00 am SHARP.[/FONT][/SIZE][SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman] We have a lot of ground to cover, so we need to hit the road. We are leaving from this location to get on the east side of the metropolitan area so as not to deal with any morning rush hour traffic. If the group is too large, we will split up into two or three groups to speed up “pit stops”, gas stops, and eating.

A few things to remember for the Dragon trip.[/FONT][/SIZE]

• [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Be sure to bring maps in case you get separated. [/FONT][/SIZE]
• [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Bring a two way radio if you have one. [/FONT][/SIZE]
• [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]A good air gauge, but check you tires before you leave.A couple of cans of “fix-a-flat” are a good investment. [/FONT][/SIZE]
• [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]Cell phones typically don't work at the Dragon [/FONT][/SIZE]
• [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]A good flash light, it is dark at night at Fontana Village [/FONT][/SIZE]
• [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]And a smile, this will be a great MINI Adventure. [/FONT][/SIZE]
• [SIZE=3][FONT=Times New Roman]And don't forget the camera so you can bring all those memories home with you[/FONT][/SIZE]

.

 

Someone should toss in a set of rotors as well for Radinator. Believe me, the Dragon without working brakes is not a ton of fun (and I've experienced brake problems TWICE at the Dragon!)

 

and picked up DD and Matti.

ON the way to STL tonite..for Italian...

JPS

 

How large is the caravan as we speak?

 

We're sitting in Nashville (in the rain still...when will it stop raining???) waiting for y'all! Does Fazoli's count as Italian? Since we weren't in St. Louis, that was the best we could do.

 

and we start the trek back. Thanks for the additional suggestion YuccaPatrol, but fortunately my brakes held up. Evidently I didn't drive the Dragon hard enough, but it was awesome nonetheless. Now the long drive back to Cali.

 

Almost home now. I am stopped in KC tonight, service for Trogdor at Baron MINI in the morning. Just the 10,000 mile service. Thanks to all who showed interest in the Dragon Wagon. It was great to meet everyone and travel a distance of over 2,200 miles round trip with a great group. You all made my first dragon one to remember.

Jim

 

Over 2700 miles later, I have arrived back in the Bay Area from the Dragon. I wanted to say thanks to the caravan crew, along with the Pitt Stop gang. It was great meeting all of you. Special thanks goes out to Jonathan, who put this caravan together, and introduced me to a great group of fellow MINI owners. Someday I will make the journey again, as I have the Dragon in my system now.

 

Hey!

I saw your caravan going westbound on the I-40 near Nashville on Sunday morning. Your MINI caught my attention because of the unique matching trailer it was pulling, very neat!

We were heading on the opposite direction on the I-40 as we had departed Nashville earlier that morning enroute to the Dragon. I was driving my '05 MCS CR/W with the Union jack roof flag. I flashed my headlights and waved at the caravan but I don't know if you guys saw me.

Glad to hear you are home (or near home) safe.

We got back to Miami early Tuesday afternoon after 6 days on the road and 2,400 miles roundtrip.

 

Rodney,
Glad you made it home. Glad to hear everything went well.

C4,
That trailer has a lot of ???? factor going down the road. I found that I could not keep up with the group because traffic would slow down around me and cut me off from the group just to get me to slow down so they could see the trailer. One problem with the chrome finish is they can see themselves in the side and forget to drive. Oh well, just the drawbacks to doing something truely original.

Jim