We invite you to join us for a motoring tour that will take us first north up the Missouri River Valley through Nebraska and then down through the Loess Hills National Forest in Iowa, ending in Omaha for dinner.

Our first stop will be the Black Elk Niehardt Park in Blair Nebraska. As we near the park, we'll cruise through Dana College grounds in Blair. We'll take a few minutes to enjoy the monument near the college grounds and maybe snap some photos.

We leave Blair and head for Winnebago Nebraska, to visit Ho Chunk Village and see Honoring The Clans Sculpture Garden featuring twelve life-size statues symbolizing each of the twelve clans of the Winnebago Tribe. We'd like to take some time here to check out Woodland Trails Art Center which features the arts and crafts of the Winnebago Ho-Chunk and other Woodlands Tribes. Visitors will find this an intriguing change from the more common southwest style of Native American art.

What? Too much looking at stuff and not enough motoring you say? Ok...hold on.

After leaving Winnebago we'll motor up to South Sioux City to cross the Missour River, grab fuel if we need it and begin our southern progress into the hills and valleys of north western Iowa, following some very windy and turn filled two lane roads up and down the Loess Hills. Is a three and half hour trip up these gear grabbin roads more like what a Mini Cooper should be motoring on? Enjoy.

Time permitting, we'll stop and check out the Ranger Station at the Loess National Forest near Pisgha. The Loess Hills are one of two places in the world you can see this natural occurance. The hills are formed of wind blown silt deposits from glaciers 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. Varied wildlife and plant life thrives in these hills.

What to Bring List: Your Awesome Mini Cooper, FRS/GMRS 2 way radios, and some munchies and drinks for the ride, and a camera perhaps for those Mini Cooper photo moments.

We have it mapped out as almost 6 hours with a starting point of Dodge Park in Omaha including some stops. We will have printed maps available for each Mini Cooper motoring the route.

The trip is planned for March...yes we're bold...March 13th. Now if mother nature slams us wtih a blizzard, we'll see if we can do it the 20th of March. Otherwise, rain or shine on the 13th, we go.

So we'll leave Dodge Park, Omaha Nebraska at 11:00AM, and be back before 6:00PM for dinner in Omaha. In Dodge Park meet up near the old public boat ramp, first photo below, the red dot is in a parking lot.

We will have printed maps available for each Mini Cooper motoring the route.

Let us know if you're planning to make this. We need to know for reservations for our dinner party. We'll see if we can arrange dinner at Tussey's.

Starting Map below:




Full Map Below:

 

Thanks for putting this together, WildThang! Looks like a fun day. I took my sig pic at the pull-off south of Pisgah, at the top of what the locals call Miller's Hill. With any luck, the snow will be gone by then!

 

Hey tancred, that is a sharp MCS!

So you're bringing that huh?

 

Does the invite stand for a new mini owner and my wife from Council Bluffs? We are excited to come if it does! I think CORN is the most active mini club nearby, so we hope to get to meet all of you. I work in Omaha so maybe I can rate an honorary membership...

 

Moltenhalo you're more than welcome to join us!

Congrats on being owned by a Mini Cooper...or....LOL!

 

Awesome! Count us in! This will be a great way to see some of Nebraska and Iowa we haven't seen before. We're from the Missouri ozarks, so still learning the area.

 

Sounds great also. Done the Loess Hills a lot on the bike, might be different in the Mini. Count me in.

Mike...

 

Gosh, I'd love to go on this, but I have to work Saturdays. Have fun, please take and post pictures!!

 

I will make the attempt to drive out from Central Nebraska to join up with you. I will also check to see if the MINI-ha-ha group knows about this over on their forum page.
Thanks for taking the point on this. I have always wanted to do this but could never get out there. See everyone then.
Hey tancred that does look great. I had not heard that you went for the S

 

It's a bit of a hump for the folks over here on the eastern side of IA, but I'll make a point of posting a link to this info on the MINICooperIowa Yahoo! page frequented by a bunch of the Des Moines area MINIs. There might just be some prospective participants in that group.

 

Zyamfier: Lookin foward to meeting you and seeing your MINI!

Gil-galad: Thanks for spreading the word about this to those in your area, and Come On Over!

 

Looks like a great route!

These are some of the same roads thru the Loess Hills we covered in the MINI Cooper Iowa Fall Tour a couple years back. Those of us who were on that tour can personally vouch for the beauty (and curvy roads) of this area.

Looks like a great event!

ShadowFax also cross posted in our MINICooperIowa Yahoo Group -- hopefully that will inspire some of the Iowans who don't frequent NAM to join you.

 

It would be great to meet some fellow Iowans!

 

Sounds like fun. I'll check with the wife and our agendas.

 

I'm hoping the weather will be better by then. I would like to pull off the Blizzaks before the ride just to keep from wearing them out sooner for that long of a drive.

 

My wife and I tested the route this past weekend.

The Nebraska side is an easy ride, scenic, decent roads, and we stopped in Winnebago to see the monumnent to the Ho Chunk Tribes. Very cool. Life size statues, and the art store has some beautiful pieces of art. A good place for a photo of the group we hope.

While on the way from Winnebago up to Macy we passed a field with some hills and a valley, and in a dead tree in the bottom of the valley where we saw seven mature Bald Eagles and one immature. Quite a site to be sure, about 100 yards off the road. Just before we saw those, we stopped at a wonderful scenic overlook that looks out over the Missouri River. If time permits, we'll stop there for a few minutes.

Once we cross into Iowa and get back on the two lane roads, get ready to grab the gears. Good to decent roads, and we even found a couple spots to get fuel on saturdays.

Well...we're ready!

 

Sounds great; can't wait! Here's to good weather!

 

One of the shots of the Bald Eagles we saw. Wished I had my tripod...

 

That is a great shot.
I played around with the google map and made a map that can be explored and manipulated.

View Larger Map">
View Larger Map

 

I spoke with my better half and it looks like it's a go!

 

Great eagle photo Wild Thang! I know they watch for, and keep a count of, raptors from the viewing tower at Hitchcock Nature Center, just off the highway from our route, north of Crescent IA. Thanks for putting a map together, Zyamfier.

 

Zyamfier, thanks for messin with the map! Google map works pretty good for me, but some times it gets a mind of it's own and wont' do what I want it to do, so I sorta put off finishing that up.

One more thing Zyamfier, we have noticed you have a tear drop trailer, what brand is it?

Rainman, glad you two can make!

 

This looks like a blank load of fun! If the Red Bomber is back from the ICU we will bring both, if not the Blue Bomber will make a run. If I run into (figuratively) any MINI people up here I will tell them. Hopefully the snow gods will be tired and hibernating in March. Fortunately, the Bombers have done surprisingly well. Very impressed and happy with their perfromances in the snow

 

No problem glad to do it. My teardrop is custom built by Mike at Lassenview custom teardrops in Shingletown, CA. He builds at most 2 a year. Here is his website. http://lassenviewcustoms.teardrops.net/
Oh yea and my favorite picture.

Click the pic to get the large size

 

That is a nice pic. Just a warning, if you do make it I'll probably have a bunch of questions about it.