Give us your ideas and thoughts on future events!

Also what is a good saturation of events for next year, monthly bi-monthly?
More less ?

How much do we want to use other groups events
for example Madison has an event do we want to piggy back on them and others and only have say 3 events of our own?

Just a feeler of sorts

 

In addition to big events that take a lot of planning and organizing as you are doing now, I think it would be great fun to have mini MINI events from time to time in various locations, like we did in Coralville. We could spread the fun around Eastern Iowa and get to know new friends that aren't able to make a bigger event.

 

I agree fully

The winter is going to be the biggest challenge to keep together and try to gather new members. But the way the last few Decembers have gone in Iowa we may still have events up till then?

Jan Feb are pretty much off limits and probably just planning and getting your car ready for next year!!

 

A couple of bigger events like this Saturday drive seem reasonable. My problem this time is we already had another trip planned, so planning further ahead, if possible, is appreciated. I also like the idea of smaller meetings just to get together and appreciate each other's MINI.

Also, knowing what other groups in neighboring states is helpful.

Thanks for the work organizing this group!

 

I couldn't agree more. I think what would be great is if each month next year we have Sunday night drive-ins in various towns including Coralville/IC, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Dubuque and so forth. That way we kind of spread around the amount of distance each time to drive instead of having some people drive farther than others. Another thing that would be really fun and would need planning soon would be a group of those who want to go to the Tail of the Dragon event in the spring in Deals Gap North Carolina. I know it would take a lot of planning but if we had people start talking about this now it could take off. Just a suggestion. See you all on Saturday!!

 

I would love to do a spring trip to the Dragon but the wife probably cant get the time off work (school worker)

bummer

Maybe Next time mini in the mountains comes up in fall

 

Sounds like IJ84 and mixers are striking a common chord, one with which I think I'm pretty much in agreement. Post-winter, I think looking toward some sort of weekend gathering about once per month, at least in these early formative stages of our group, is a reasonable target. My own schedule, such as it is, probably can't absorb too much more than that on a regular basis.

We could look at occasional motoring events interspersed with restaurant dinners, visits to state parks, etc. -- things that don't take too much planning and are easier for folks to accommodate. The Sonic rendezvous was a great example of a simple get-together that was a nice success since it didn't require a big time commitment to either plan or participate in. The other advantage of the non-motoring events is that some folks--like my wife--are more likely to come along (she loves to explore new places but her stomach has a definite dislike for the lateral g-forces I tend to generate. ) These events could also include meeting at places of natural or historic interest in eastern IA (as long as there's always some kind of food involved. ) These simpler events also tend to be successful even if only a subset of group members are able to attend.

The big urban-area MINI groups have an advantage in that a majority of their members live within a 50-mi radius and it's easier to form up on an ad-hoc basis. For us, there will always be folks who will need to travel several hours to join an event, no matter where we go. Granted, it's always fun to do it in the MINI, but it is a significant time commitment that we always need to acknowledge. I know my little corner of the state up here probably has the best twisties in Iowa but is a long haul for any folks coming from down south.

Other random thoughts:

- Definitely need to look farther ahead (at least a couple of months) for the major motoring events to give people planning time

- Need to keep an eye on the neighboring MINI groups, particularly Madison, Chicago, and the IA Yahoo! folks, for event opportunities (meet more new people and avoid the planning/execution burden)

- MITM was the second week in August this year. Since it's in the summer and with school-related schedules, this might be the best target for organized participation in a national event -- but a "onesie" could always go and wave the flag for us at the Dragon!

- Agree with D3m0N that we shouldn't get too aggressive about trying to schedule events in Jan-Feb...it would be a crap shoot weather-wise. "Meet and eats" would be okay; no great loss if it gets snowed out

So, that's just about enough obtuse, stream-of-consciousness babbling...

As far as the next event goes, anyone know of a fun place to meet and eat in the CR-IC area or the Quad-Cities, say, the 8th or 9th of December?

Let's start hammering this thread with brainstorming ideas!

 

Wouldn't a Eastern IA MINIs group photo on Snake Alley in Burlington be totally cool?

 

I had that thought a few weeks back while looking for something twisty in Southeast Iowa, and made the trip to Burlington. It amounted to 30 seconds on rough cobblestone in first gear, downhill only. We stopped in at the vistor center at the river, enjoyed gazing at the river for a few minutes. Not a great day trip for the oldsbears.

 

Well, I was only thinking of it as a quick, opportunistic group photo op folded in as part of a broader event. There must be other interesting things to see down in that area!

 

*listens to the sound of crickets chirping...*

Destination ideas?

Hello?

Bueller?

...

 

A dozen MINIs parked bumper-to-bumper on Snake Alley would look very cool with a telephoto lens from a good vantage point.

We do have some nice bean field stubble and turkey barns around here . . . The few twisties I know of are gravel, and Molly doesn't like gravel

Maybe I'm just blinded by the clouds of combine dust?

 

Well
Drives
Lake MacBride area has some nice roads and parks
Lake Red Rock area (maybe an event closer to the DesMoines MINI's)
Meetings:
Tiffin Ice Cream (Tiffin Iowa) Big parking lot and good food and deserts...
Donalee's Irish Pub in downtown Iowa City (we could take over a floor of the parking garage)

 

About all there is down here is River Road between Montrose & Keokuk, then River Road in Illinois from Hamilton to Nauvoo.40 mi. round trip from Ft. Madison. Just a few curvy parts & right on the river, but it's all we've got here.Nothing to get excited about, there's the dam @ Keokuk (bald eagles in the winter), Mormon Temple in Nauvoo. Burlington's got some curvy streets in town . That's the southeast corner of Iowa for you Sorry that's all I've got.

 

Ace, so good to see you posting in our forum!

What if we slid south toward the Hannibal area? Any interesting Mark Twain-related sights to see? Also, MO-79 between Hannibal and Louisiana certainly looks promising from the 20k-ft Google view... It would be a long hump for me, but I'd sure make the trip to join up with my IA MINI mates.

All ideas are good ideas!

 

What about a MOD / Detail day?

 

MOD days could be nice for those of us not so familiar with modding the mini.

In any case my suggestions:

Drive in Nights( randomly held across Iowa at Sonic's and Bee Bops Old School car Meets)

Spring Car Show (Held about every year at the Fairgrounds in Davenport, A large mini showing would be pretty neat)

MacBride Cruise (Previously Mentioned but in Fall it's pretty nice and the roads around there have some nice twisty's)

Galena Runs (I love the drive from Dubuque to Galena if you missed it from the Chicago event I suggest you do it sometime)

AutoCross Events ( Not all of us want to push our MINIs to this Extreme but it would be fun to attend one with the group and have a large MINI showing at one of the GRR SCCA events)

I am definitely up for a RedRock drive as mentioned before and about anything. Lisa and I enjoy lots of little trips on weekends when were not wiped out from the week so I'm sure well be up for a lot of various things.

 

I would be up for the scca thing even if it is just to go and watch

I would however like to attend a performance driving school but seems most are out of this area..

 

I shall go scouting the quad cities for some twisties!
There are some nice roads out where we live- and some very pretty landscapes. We also have Scott County Park which would be fun to have a picnic at sometime next summer??
Dad and I will just have to go exploring!

 

I remember the subject of MITM coming up at Wig & Pen. I think I may pencil in these dates on my calendar, just to keep me thinking about it. It would sure be cool if we could get a group together to make the trip!

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=111177

Hope you're all staying warm.

 

While everyone else was in bed this morning sleeping off their New Year's Eve parties, I decided to roll out early and slipped north of the IA-MN border for a little twisty reconnaissance action.

I found some really fun state and county roads--all paved--in neighboring Fillmore and Houston counties, generally between the towns of Preston and Houston. Lots of possibilities! I've got many of the good spots mapped out, now I just need to see if I can weave it into a viable candidate route.

I took several pics and placed them in my Gallery (<- click here) for your enjoyment! The roads are actually much better than they look in these pics (copious amounts of sand/salt and some snow were covering the pavement in several places).

Here's a peek at one pic, just to whet your motoring whistle! Happy New Year!

 

Spring is such a long way off

 

Location of this road please! Wanted to Buy Spring Weather! Now!

Looks awesome. I didn't manage to roll out of bed till almost 2pm today. Lazy bum, and for that I was granted a two foot drift of snow in my driveway! YEAH!

 

HR, the 10 mph switchbacks were on CR-13, starting about a mile west of the town of Houston. Two other pics in my gallery (one looking through the trees back down the ridge at the climbing road and one looking up at an approaching switchback with double-arrow) were taken about a mile further up the same road.

Other pics were taken along CR-27 east of Rushford (another nice twisty), MN-16 and CR-21 south of Lanesboro, and MN-43 between Rushford and Mabel...and there's still a lot of promising-looking roads in Houston County waiting to be explored!

 

I am soo looking forward to spring -5 this morning -30 with wind chill