Poor MINI showing
 

Sorry I haven't been around for awhile. I've been bummed that a lot of the MINI owners in the Sioux Falls area aren't very receptive to a group. It left me a bit disheartened. Some owners don't even wave when i drive by. I thought that was in the MINI hand book? Oh well. If you are from the area and want to join just respond here and we can start with some sunday drives and coffee. If you are not from the area I would love to still here from you too. Tell me some stories from any travels thru the state of South Dakota and if you are ever in the area and want to go for a drive I will try to muster up at least a few of us!

We'll adopt you here in DC. :-)

Naw, join us here in Colorado!
Actually my son is looking at Augustana and will be taking some test there in February so I might be driving him up. We drove up there last March and spent a couple of days. Very nice town, though sadly lacking in MINIs; never saw a single MINI while we we there. During spring break last March I drove my college scouting son from here to Norman, OK to Tulsa to Sioux Falls to Lincoln and back looking at OU, TU, Augustana and NU. Nice 2,300 mile drive over a week with some good top-down motoring (except the $160 speeding ticket in Kansas).
So feel free to join MINI5280 and be sure to come to MITM in August!

Thanks for the open arms in DC. I wish I could get a club going. You never know.
MiniMayBee- If you have any questions about the schools or Sioux Falls I'll be glad to help. I can give you and your son a MINI tour of the town if you like!
Thanks again for making me feel better! I will keep trying to get this group going!

Hey you can always join us down here in Nebraska anytime you want. Look here. Really come out and join us with our BMW brethren.

This is really REALLY surprising to hear in South Dakota. First I wouldn't expect there to be very many MINI's in South Dakota, but still. Second, EVERYONE waves regardless if they are in a MINI or not. Third, as an Aberdonian I would love to go to Sioux Falls and hang out. I am in Vegas now though so that isn't very realistic. :grin: I hope to drive to Aberdeen this summer to play some golf with my dad, but we'll see how that goes.

Sorry there isn't much activity there, man!! That's really disappointing to hear. Just enjoy your Mini! :thumbsup:

Hey Mj 11,

I know what you mean, I live in Sioux City and I have almost given up on the wave thing and there are a few mini's around here. I drive to Sioux Falls every now and the so I'll be happy to get together.

Just email me whenever you come to town. I don't log on here as much because of the poor showing. We'll get coffee and go for a drive. It might be only 3 cars but maybe we can start something.
:nod:

Well three cars is better than one or none! Wish I could get something going here (SE Idaho). There aren't many MINIs here either, and a sighting is few and far between. If you weren't so far I would be more than happy to join you! Good luck!!!

My son has decided to attend Augustana College in Sioux Falls. I'm not giving him my MINI mind you, but we may be up from time to time to visit (check-up on :sly: ) him.
I'll be sure to phone ahead and perhaps meet-up with some other MINIs while there.

Sounds Great! I would love to get a few people together for a drive.
He will like Augie. I went for 1 year, then decided to go to a bigger school. Mainly to get out of the same town as my parents. Not that i didn't like them, I just wanted to leave town for a bit! Sioux Falls is a great town. Not happy right now thou. If it snow again I think I might scream!!!

Huge flakes here this morning - spring; when the snow flakes get really big you know it can't be too far off.
I'll be sure to let you know when we head up there.

mj -

Don't forget about us; we're not too far from you. :nod:

We've had modest success getting our group going over the past eight months and I'd be happy to share our experience with you sometime if you're interested. I'm sure we have some of the same constraints, principally the fact that our "market" is not specific to a single, major metro area with a MINI dealership and is spread out over a pretty broad geographic area. We have active participation from MINIs ranging from Ft. Madison (south) to Decorah (:grin:; north) to Des Moines (west) to Rock Island, IL (east) -- that's about 30K square miles! We do benefit from the fact that Cedar Rapids / Iowa City is right in the middle and the source for the largest percentage of our participants.

As spread out as we are, we seem to keep things going in a positive direction by managing our expectations (e.g., didn't try to force anything over the dead of winter, avoid packing the calendar too much), trying to keep most of our meeting places centralized, encouraging outreach (waving, tagging, decals, sharing links to our website, etc.) and leveraging events planned by our MINI friends in surrounding areas.

Don't lose heart -- those MINI enthusiasts are out there and it only takes a few die hards to get the ball (or should I say, the MINIs) rolling. :thumbsup:

Thanks for the info! I will keep you in mind when we get going more and will contact you. Thanks again!

Join us in Minnesota!
 

Hi mj_11... Just floating around the midwest forum and spotted your post. Please know that you and any of the SD folks are more than welcome to join the Sota Minis for any of our events. Since we are only four hours away a weekend trip would definitely be doable. :thumbsup:

And don't let those non-wavers get you down. It happens to me all the time. I just keep right on waving. It's such a thrill when someone actually does respond its worth the times when they don't. :nod:

www.sotaminis.com

Well we dropped off our son at Augustana this past weekend. Saturday 700 miles up from Denver. Sunday unload at 8:00 AM, move-in, lunch and back on the road by 2:00 PM.
Saw a nice CR/W MCS in the parking lot on campus (room 222 in the dorms). They must have had considerably less then we did since we used the Pilot and packed it floor to ceiling.

I can't believe I've never visited this forum before. I'm near DC now but I was born and raised in Sioux Falls (didn't leave until I left for College) and my immediate family and hundreds of close relatives live there. Seems like every time my folks call to chat they mention seeing more MINIs, so I'm a bit surprised you can't get a group together.

Next time I come out to visit I plan to drive the MINI (if I don't fly instead) and I'll definitely look you up.

Yes I am seeing more and more MINIs and I keep on waving. No one from our area is on this forum though. I'm hoping soon I can get some together for a breakfast and a fall drive. I'm also going to go to the Hills with the NE group next spring so I will try to get an attachment on here soon. So if you are out there and want to join in the area here's your chance!

Hi mj_11, When you come to the Black Hills, let me know and I can show you some of my favorite drives if you would like. I live in the Rapid City area and am always up for a run through the Hills.

Are you going to the 5280 event in May? I'm trying to make that happen! Sounds like a lot of fun!

Hey, mj_11. We just bought our MINI and would love to meet other such lucky individuals. And son-of-a if we don't live in Sioux Falls, too. If you are still reading this thread I hope we can get together and take a drive.

I am really surprised at the little activity on this site. Let's step it up and enjoy each other.

lol move out to Cali! :)

I WANT TO MOTOR!!!
 

I really want to have fun in the MINI. But, it seems that other MINI enthusiats don't want to have fun with their MINIs. That's the only thing they are made for: driving fun. I think alot of the people here take their MINIs too seriously, and don't want to cavort with the MINI drivers that do want to have fun. I have seen more driving around, I just don't know if they are the fun MINI drivers or the stuck-up, snooty MINI owners.

I've noticed that it's the same in MA. I was shocked to see a couple in a convertable in Leominster wave yesterday.