Mini's in the ALPS 31 Aug thru 3 Sep
 

Daflake started it rolling around in my head. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...=93232&page=12
So I think I'm going to have to throw it out there for the rest of the Germany/Italian Mini drivers.
I'm planing a trip to Lego land this summer and would probably be able to weasel the wife into a side trip. However will I do that? :grin: LMAO
Open for debate...

Plus, I caused a HUGE side track in the pully party thread, sorry... I'll abuse y'all in this thread. :eek2:

Oh sure, blame it on me.... :roll::razz:

I think I will blame it on you! :grin: LMAO

There is a group of MINI owners that have done a trip through the alps for the past three years...they are currently in the middle of this year's trip, The Grand Dolomites Challenge.

http://www.miniturismo.co.uk/

Good luck, have fun and take many photos! :thumbsup:

I was thinking of the Italian, Austrian, and Gremany borders for this Alps run myself. Kind of fits in line with living in Northern Italy. :grin:
There is some WICKED Dragon-like runs there, just more fun!:eek2:
It's like comparing roller costers at Six Flags and Hershey Park... both are nice but there is always a winner. :lol:

The Dolomites plan sounds fantastic -- definitely some ideas there worth stealing.

So, AbuOrnery -- when is this happening? What's the route?

(Oh, and I mentioned, very casually, to the wife, "We might do a pulley party for Poppa Bear and then make an Alps run" and her response was something akin to Billy Chrystal in The Pricess Bride, "Have fun storming the castle....")

:lol::lol::lol:

Awesome roads there, for sure. I'm a big (in stature and spirit) cycling fan, and they always find some great roads for the big stage races... My wife rode through that area several years back with her family and had pics of some of the roads, switchbacks, the works - su-weet.

Have fun storming the castle...

Uh, guys?

I've been wandering through the region, via Google Earth, and we're going to need a long weekend for this one.

No doubt about it -- at least 4 days. Two days of travel and two days of upper body work out.

When abu says something like this, be afraid. Be very afraid!!! Can't wait to see the routing. Anyone chucked out any dates yet?

Cheers!!

Since I am the rookie here, it's my job just to throw out ideas. Like I said, I didn't start this one. :grin: *cough* Daflake *cough* :razz:
Since I have never been on a run before, I submit to the experts on the route. I'll help with the planning. :nod:
I just have to take my son to Legoland somewhere in that process. :eek2:

After July 12 please! :lol:

OK, a long weekend is needed and if Austria is included stickers for the cars.

I want to zoom past Heidi and see if I can flip her dress up! :roll::razz:

Stickers for CH also, if I recall correctly.

There's the 15 June weekend, but I know I'm going to Le Mans that weekend.

There's a 3 day weekend in AUG (17-19), but that's also Rallye Deutschland in Trier and Nitrolympics at Hockenheim -- again, I know where I'll be that weekend.

31 AUG to 03 SEP?

That would be a great way to cap this summer off. Plus it would give me a month with Ornery so I can learn how to drive again. :razz:

Could you sneak up to the LegoLand area on 30 AUG? Maybe punch out early or drive up after work? It's got to be a good 400+ miles. Come up Thursday night, hit Legoland in the morning and early afternoon on Friday (or, for Poppa Bear, drive down from the Netherlands), drive to the Alps that night. Saturday, Sunday, drive like mad. Monday morning sometime, you peel off and head south and we go north.

Trouble
 

I think you guys are going to get me in trouble with this... Looks like the wife will have to drive the family car up to Legoland. :grin:
Judging by the :roll: I got from the non-better half, I'll only get one day of motoring.
But I have almost two months to work on her. :razz:

If that's the case, we need to make this into a Black Forest run or something. It'd be a lot of miles just to get from Günzburg (where LegoLand is) down to the Alps -- more miles than we'd get to drive up in the Alps themselves.

No, we need a couple of solid days alone, just drivers, cars, and Alps.

HA!
 

Wife just told me she's going back to the states in July for a month. :sad:
Oh well, looks like I have to keep myself occupied... However will I do that? :roll: :razz: :lol: :lol:

14 July -- Black Forest and car muesum!

No promises on that one. Ornery is supposed to be here on 12 July. Hate to make plans and have no Mini. :impatient

My Proposal for MITA
 

For the record, I am not volunteering for a damn thing. I'm working on this, because I want it to happen. Any Chiefs want to step forward, please do - just send me an invitation when the time comes.

Here is my proposal:

31 August through 03 September 2007
Minis in the Alps
Davos, Switzerland
And here's the long awaited MITA KMZ file for Google Earth.

31 August: Get your ass to Davos, via Lichtenstein if you can. Ornery, get your ass to Legoland. If you arrive early in Davos, make the schlep down to Piz Bernina on your own or with other early arrivers.

01 SEP: Ornery, complete family requirements, get yourself to Davos (I don't expect we will see you, and that you'll arrive after dark. Drive safely.). All others, it's off to the Matterhorn; bring your "E" tickets (see the Google Earth file for details).

02 SEP: We're all hitting the Dolomites (as suggested). Lots of up and down. Route and checkpoints are in the Google Earth file.

03 SEP: After breakfast, we all head out our seperate ways. If mine are truly brass, I'll drive home, bottom to top, through the Black Forest.

Now, to field the questions I know you're going to ask:

1. Why Davos? Many reasons.

• With Ornery (and / or others) likely to be trying to catch up for some of this, I wanted a base camp for us.
• And, selfishly, I don't want all that crap rattling around in the back of the car -- get to the guest house, unpack, come back and drink that night.
• Davos is centrally located -- I want DaFlake and Poppa Bear to have an equal chance to do this -- if the whole run went West to East or E to W, someone would have an enormous drive up front or at the end, just to get there (and then they'd be tired when the fun really started) or to go home (which could pose risk issues).
• It's easy to get to. We'll all be able to haul ass down the A7.
• And, lastly, there's a psychotic marathon that is run from Davos, so I know that the web is littered with information on guest houses in the area (which will make logistics easier, and no, the marathon isn't that weekend).

2. This is going to be expensive, isn't it? Well, gas will be. Not sure about the guest house. Food and drink we can bring -- I personally know that daflake has a few racks of beer set aside for fellow Mini owners and driving enthusiants. So, yeah, some parts (like gas) will really, really suck, but deal with it.

3. My wife / kids / gimp wants to tag along. Is that ok? No problem. If they whine and complain and you miss some or all of the drive because of it, I will mock you. Publicly. If you're cool with that, yeah, sure, bring the gimp.

4. What are the corporate sponsors kicking in? Yeah, right. If we're lucky, NASA will kick in some of those space diapers the astronauts wear, and we can all pretend that we're really just driving to Florida to stalk a rival astronaut lover.

5. Will there be a grille badge / t-shirt / furry thong? Hey, if you want to put something together, anything is possible. Have the gimp do it, I say.

6. Is there really a Google Earth 12 Step Program? No way. Not even. How can anyone have a problem with the almighty GE?

7. Does Minis In The Alps 2007 have a motto? Perhaps "The Psychosis Knows No Limits" would be fitting. What the hell are we even thinking, talking about something like this?


So, what say ye? Is it time to ask for kitchen passes and to put in for the vacation days?

So any of you military guys have any strings you can pull to get me and Blimey on a C5A or something to hop over for that week? :nod:

Bastards.

:mad:

HOLY CRAP!
 

The Google Earth file looks GREAT! :thumbsup: So much fun wraped up in a nice little package. :nod:
I'm still in awe over the route, I'll have to get back with you on what to call it. :eek: :eek2:

I vote for:

Minis in the Alps 2007
Now with more cowbell!


And I'll even bring mine.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1416/...dbc9da.jpg?v=0

How awesome would that look, hanging from the rearview mirror? Of course, we'd have to spend the weekend listening to Blue Öyster Cult and putting extra umlauts on everything.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1222/...74ec4d78_o.jpg

-- Äbüzävï

Sounds good to me. :) THe Mrs and I may actually head that direction early to scope out the roads and make sure all is good to go. If we decide to do this, I will let you know.

Also, we need to have a lot of stops for photo ops... ;)