So about a year ago I got the crazy idea I would go on this long road trip with the sole purpose of getting out of Texas and look at rocks across the states. I'm about to graduate and figured I should see in person what I've been studying in books for the past 5 years. Plus, the Mini needed to be broken in.

In a period of 13 days I traveled 5,892 miles, using 195.6 gallons of fuel, had 10,970 ft of elevation change, and went through 7 states.

The full photo album is here:

-->Click Here<--


These are some highlights with the Mini:

11,000 ft in Montana



Yellowstone!




Odd octanes in Montana



I could smell the politeness



The dirtiest the Mini ever got that I have proof of:



OMNOMNOM grasshoppers in New Mexico:



Arrival in St. Mary's, Montana, I slept real good that night.



This part of Colorado was TERRIBLE



Moab, Utah



4,000 Miles worth of dirt, bugs, honey (I murdered a lot of bees), and before I spent $14 trying to get it all off in Salt Lake City, UT.



Worst State ever, right before New Mexico



Lots of stuff given to me at Mini in Salt Lake (ECU got reflashed here)



All in all I had an absolute blast. The Mini ate up the miles like a champ. It was a really great road trip vehicle. That said, pretty sure my rear shocks are on their way out. My suspension didn't like all the gravel roads I traveled through the course of this trip, particularly in Utah. I averaged 30.1 mpg going between 80-85 with the box loaded up top. The most expensive gas I saw was $4.63 for premium and the cheapest was $3.46.

My one complaint was the gas tank size. In some of the remote parts of Wyoming and Montana, range anxiety was most definitely a thing. Also there were no Mini dealers up there. Somewhere along the trip the Mini developed a really bad misfire right around the time boost hit. So the ECU was flashed in Salt Lake City. It had 8 stored faults related to the fuel system, so I'll keep an eye on that. Oh and just rolled 10,000 miles yesterday. Thanks for looking! I'll update more a bit later.

-J.T.

 

Oh and here's the route I took. Obviously did a lot more driving off of this main course than the recommended 4,800.

 

Lucky man, such a beautiful country.Here in Belgium we calculate everything in maximum 150 miles. And for the fuel here = over 8 $ a gallon.

 

Nice pics!
The roof-box adds a lot of fuel-consumption, especially if it is bigger than the car!

 

no rattles ?

 

Awesome, what kind of rocks did you see?

 

Amazing photos and story behind your fast and long journey. Thanks for sharing. You are one brave soul for getting your car that dirty. I would have a melt down, especially over long stretches of gravel roads. But never the less, it is all about the enjoyment and experience, and that is very important, especially in your MCS. Lucky for you, ENJOY and all the very best. ��

 

The joy of a long road trip is lost on most people nowadays! I went on a 3,500 mile, 4 day trip last year and had a blast. But nobody (wife, kids, friends...) wanted to put themselves through that "torture."

 

Great report!! Did you bend a wheel on your trip on some of the rough roads?

 

I've done most of that trip multiple times. North of Denver up into Glacier is some of the most beautiful country on Earth! Driving through Montana was a blast. Had the cruise set on 110mph and was passed by a big dually like I was standing still.

 

Thank you for posting such great pictures. Sounds like a wonderful trip.

One question, as there were two of you how did you find the combination of "in-car" and roof carrier for storage? On the assumption that you needed the roof carrier to carry camping equipment, had you been on that long a trip but using motels instead of camping, could you have made it without the roof carrier and just relied on trunk and or second row folded down?

Again, congratulations on actually taking the kind of driving trip about which so many others only dream.

 

Great story and pix, thanks for posting.

 

JT,

Wow!
Thanks for the awesome pics and story!

There are 2 types.
One who dreams about such ride and the other who rides such dream.
You are the latter!

 

What dreams are made of! What was wrong with Idaho? I just did the much shorter ride from Lincoln, NE to Columbia SC for a job. Nice riding through the Smokies since I'd never been there. MINI ran great until I got here. All better now

 

What an adventure and wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing.
Why didn't you like Idaho?

 

Did you take Beartooth Pass from Red Lodge, MT into Yellowstone? One of the best drives possible in a MINI! Dodging all the motorhomes can be fun.

How about the Million Dollar Highway in SW Colorado? Looks like maybe you missed that.

I killed as many grasshoppers during a recent trip thru NW Nebraska. Took a while to get them picked off.

 

Awesome, we just got back from a trip of similar length but we camped the entire way!

Here are some of the rocks I took pictures of:













Glad to hear about other (young) people out seeing our beautiful country!

 

Thanks for all of the kind words!


The sunroof, omg the sunroof. Something actually is wrong with it at the moment. It doesn't want to close, you sort of have to trick it into happening.


All of the above really. I was after mostly mineral specimens, which I found, but I saw rocks from 2 billion years old to ones (I think) about 30 million with all types and classifications in between there!

No the 18"ers are fine. I took my time, went slow, and read the road the best I could. Now there was one road the poor thing was literally rock crawling, but I managed to get out of that without any bangs, scrapes, or damage.

Actually all of my stuff fit just fine in the hatch area without the seats being folded down. I do backpack camping so I pack light. I had all of my food, stove, tent, clothes, etc packed neatly in there.

Twas my dad who was using the roof box. He accompanied me on the way up and that box was full of his stuff that he ended up not even using! So I most certainly think you could get away without it, especially a 18 cubic foot one.

Flat, nothing to look at, speed limits were slow, and there were cops everywhere. Also overheard a father talking down to his daughter in a restaurant in Idaho Falls "because she was a girl and girls aren't capable or smart enough to do what men do". That whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

See above.


I took it to Red Lodge from Yellowstone on the recommendation of a person I camped next to. Then circled around on the Chief Joseph highway to get back. I could have spent a whole week looking at rocks along that road. So many neat things!

Yeah I did. I was on a tight timeframe so I didn't really get to explore Colorado. :/

Oh and the grasshoppers were terrible. I had to manually pick every single one out of every body crevice and hole on the front end. The pressure washer at the carwash wasn't strong enough to blast them out, especially around the fog lights!

 

Hello glucklich21,

Could you please open the album permission on your Facebook?

Thanks,
shao77

 

@ gtmotor........just BREATHTAKING.......!!!!.,,,,,,WOW....GREAT PHOTOS.....thanks for sharing.......really amazing....you captured the best of the best.

 

What's especially nice about your trip is that it will stay with you forever. Good job!

 

Thank you for sharing the story and pics! Looks like you had a fantastic time, and you will have the memories for a lifetime

 

I add my thanks for your sharing, and my respect for the adventuresome spirit which propelled you!

Cheers,

Charlie

 

I'm already planning another trip up there for this coming summer now that I know where I would like to visit.


Thought it was, give it a shot now.

 

Are the West and the East halves of the route both in the mountains?