Just wanted to let everyone know I've emailed the folks on the
Owners Lounge that list WV as their home... and have already
received a couple replies.

Lynn and Karela... if you've found this thread.. Welcome aboard.

Of the 20 folks I attempted to contact , I had 6 email adresses
returned as undeliverable. Not too bad considering the age of
most of the posts.

One of the names is located just down the road from me here
in Hurricane. I believe she works for Hurricane High School.
I hope she finds the board... would be nice to have another
MINI here in Hurricane <g>.

Oh , one other thing. Just got thru placing an order for Detailing
supplies thru Detailers Paradise. Finally broke down and ordered
a Porter Cable to take a little of the work out of polishing and waxing.

If you need any detailing supplies.. pick up a NAM calendar and
save 15% thru the end of this month at DP. Heather will take
good care of you, and you can save some serious cash.

Seems like a good excuse for us to have a Car Wash / Detail party
sometime soon. If everything comes in on Friday I hope to practice
using the PC on my RX7 this Saturday. (That way , I'll have experience
before I try using it on a MINI.) If any of the locals have used
one in the past and would like to give me a few pointers... it would
be appreciated <g>).

 

Sounds like we may have to plan a get together soon... Any info on delivery date yet?

 

Best I can tell my MINI is floating somewhere off the coast
of Nova Scotia by now. Figure if it makes it in to New York
this week , should be in Cincy by April 4th , with any luck.

When I pick it up I'm leaning towards taking a slow, leisurely
drive up to Cleveland from Cincy to check out an outlet mall
my wife and I enjoy. Then circle back to my home in Hurricane.

Figure if I do things right, I can knock off about half of my
break in miles that weekend.

Maybe we could do something as a group (even if it's just a
few of us) on Sunday April 12 or 20th?

I'm open to suggestions. I think we need to arrange a conference
call <g>... or find a Chat room so we can all get together
semi- in person <g> and plan something out...

 

Ok folks... looked at a calendar and am working on the assumption I'll be a
Mini owner the first weekend of April.

With this in mind, Who all in the sound of my keyboard is up for a brief sojourn
thru the hills and valleys of West By Gosh Virginia?????

If I have a car <g>, I'm tentatively planning heading out of the Charleston Area
up towards the New River Gorge area via Rt. 60.

Ok... here's my idea.
1. Trying to be able to tie in the Huntington Contingent (MiniEsq , Snyper etc
with the Charleston Contingent (GonePostalWV, WVPhoto, and various others
I'm trying to get to join up is easy. We could all meet up somewhere in Charleston,
maybe at the State Capital. Head up Rt. 60 to Hawks Nest State park.
For the Huntington folks , that = about 100 miles total. Right at 2 hours.

2. BcSki , your the next part of the equation if your interested and able.
You'd be doing a solo run (unless you find anyone up your way wanting to join you.
(We're not vehicle snobs... if they can keep up with you , bring them along <g>)
Snowshoe to Hawks Nest is 116 miles and approx. 2 hours 15 minutes.

3. We meet at Hawks Nest... maybe have lunch and get to know each other.
Show off our cars a bit. (No worrys if they are dirty... we'll have been driving
a couple of hours <g>) and from there... maybe pick a destination to head to
as a group. An hour out more or less, doesn't matter.

4. This gives us a chance to drive some as a group.
After that , we can split up and head our merry ways back to our points of origin.
If you happen to take a different way back home... that's even better.
New and different twisties for us to enjoy later <g>.

All told , should take less than 8 hours total , If we started out by 9 we'd be
home by dark.

This is just a suggestion. Nothing is carved in stone... cause it's all just a product
of my tiny little mind <g>. Yays or nays? Pros and Cons? What's everyone think?

Oh, and anyone from a different area than Snowshoe, Charleston , and Huntington...
we can figure out timing to get you all to Hawks Nest as well <g>. Mapquest
is our friend <g>.

 

sundays are always best for me..

i work every saturday.. sux

 

Yup, unless I take a vacation day, Saturdays are pretty much
out of the question for me as well . My schedule rotates, so
I do manage to get off every 5th Saturday for a long weekend,
but that's it.

What are your thoughts on the 13th? Does that day seem
workable to you? I'm thinking we should try to do something
as a group before May and early vacations start kicking in...
and this could be a start of a good "Driving season" for everybody.

Again , every thing in the above scenario is subject to change.
Just seems like a workable plan that would allow for a good drive
with maximum participation from our spread out group.

Oh, and something I meant to mention the other day. When I
emailed the folks from the owners lounge one of the folks that
responded, Karela, works in Charleston as well.

Turns out , she may have hit the MINI motherload for us.
In her parking building... not sure where it is yet, there are
a total of 4 different MINI's that park there daily <g>.

I'm thinking this may be the "herd" I've spotted driving around
Charleston that I've not been able to track down yet. Gives
me hope there's more of us out there than we know <G>.

 

This sounds like a great plan. Although I have been in WV a year, I haven't had time to see any of the state. (these are the hazards of being a workaholic) Sundays are good for me also.

I can do April 13th, 27th, May 4th, or 11th. I may be able to get some buddys from my last resort near Charlottesville to come over with their cars to join in. (they love twisties in their cars..not minis though.) I have heard about Hawks Nest and been wanting to head over that way.

I can host a get together at Snowshoe at some point also. If anyone wants to make a weekend of it I have plenty of room.

 

I have to start every reply with "Assuming I have a MINI" <g>, but I think
even if we can't get a large group together... we can go ahead and plan the
thing for whoever wants to go. (Subject to changes of course).

BcSki... have you played around with Mapquest any? They have a great
Beta version they link to that allows you to set multiple stops on a route.

I've used this to get their suggestion, for instance as the best way to get to
Snowshoe by way of Hawks Nest <g>. By using this beta your able in
many cases to get away from the Interstates , and find better roads.

Also, using Mapquest and the aerial view helps you to scout out good driving
roads as well. Let's you have a birds eye view of what to expect. It doesn't
help with the road condition.. but does show where the curves are <g>.

Snowshoe later in the year sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe we can see
what interest we can get in earlier in the year runs, and go from there.

(In case no one can tell... I'm going nuts not having my MINI yet... <g>)
My wife is about to institute a "5 MINI comments a day" sanction on me.
She's tired of hearing about it <g>.

 

Thanks for the info on mapquest beta. I just checked it out and will be using it a lot this summer!! count me in for the 13th.

Minyuette, are you going to the April 6th DCMM run? I am heading up the day before to see freinds and golf. Anyone else heading to that one?

Also, I assume most of us are planning on attending the Guinness World Record attempt this summer... That will be a great get together for us also.

 

Forgot all about that world record try...
Need to see how it falls on the calendar. Would love to make
it over to that myself <g>.

Oh, and glad you liked the Mapquest beta. Makes planning
runs so much easier.

 

Is WV big enough for a part two?

 

Our state looks kind of small on a map....
but if you were to pound this sucker flat... taking into
consideration all of our hills and valleys, we'd probably
be about the size of Pennsylvania , at least <g>.

 

Hmmmm.... May be worth the risk..... Calm yourself; I'm kidding.

 

Virginia already tried that, didn't work.
(And I'm pretty sure Ohio wants to. Not to mention Kentucky <g>.)

 

let me know how your Pc work turns out, I was planning on buying a kit as well and working some of the swirls in my black paint. just kind of wavering on if I would get satisfactory results for the money.

on a different note, I'm without my MINI for at LEAST one week. He is having some warranty work done in Cincy. I thought I was going to get a MINI, but they were out...a lady left with the last MINI clubman just as i arrived. So i got stuck in a bmw 328i. Its def. a comfortable ride, but its boring. Everyone at Cincy is Incredibly nice, and seem to go above and beyond helping me out, and my car didnt even come from them, I'm actually the 3rd owner. I took it to them Saturday. and they said they would need to keep it until monday. I told them thats fine, but i live over 3 hours away and could only pick my car up on the weekend. I was told that it was fine, and that as long as they had my car, I could have theirs with no charge. In the future, if I am ever shopping for a new MINI or BMW, they will def. get my business

 

Ok....so I've been off the forum for awhile. It's not you guys - I was out of town visiting my parents for Easter and they have the slowest dial-up on the planet. And yesterday was just too busy at work....

Anyway, here are some thoughts I have (trying to get caught up)....

I'm all for a washing/detailing party. My poor Mini is covered in dirt and I haven't had a free Saturday or Sunday warm enough to wash her. I use the Zaino stuff, BTW. It's great!

I bought my Mini at Cincinnati Mini and they are GREAT! I had more dealings with them than I wanted (I actually wrecked my first Mini...that looked exactly like the Mini I have now....within a few months of getting it.....) but they are really easy to deal with! They get from me!!

Most importantly....the run....

I think it looks great! The Route 60 up to Hawks Nest route from Charleston is a great run! I've been a passenger more than once while my boyfriend took his Audi TT up that way.....and, despite being more than a bit carsick, it was fun. I figure the carsickness was just a sign of some good twisties! And I figure I'd be better if I was driving. (I hope) I've checked my calendar and it looks like I'm free but I'm still up in the air about being out of town for work the week before. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can make it....and that GonePostalWV's Mini is in by then!

Oh, and while I'm getting caught up here....

I think something around Snowshoe later in the summer would also be great! As I said earlier in the thread, I'm going to be there with a bunch of Audi TT guys the weekend of July 25-27 so that would be a good weekend for me (wink, wink) but I'd be happy to make a second trip later. Also, as an idea for a future run....my dad is the mayor of a little town in southeastern Ohio, right on the river (maybe 1 1/2 hours from Charleston).....he's working to set up a route through the curvy roads up that way to bring in some cars and motorcycles for a runs. I think he's caught the bug from me and my boyfriend. I'll keep you guys posted but we could get some special treatment up that way if we wanted to try a run up there later.

 

I was wondering where your staunch, albeit misguided, protection of the history of WV was.

 

your comments are not needed. thx.

ANYWAYSSSS.....i saw two minis on my way to work today. a blue cabrio on 64 near 29th st. exit. Also saw a PW cooper going towards cabell hospital on hal greer boulevard. Of course i see this many cars on a morning that I am in a bmw and not my mini.

 

Was just thinking we should get some kind of a "Hi Fellow Mini Driver"
cards printed up. Maybe something simply telling about NAM, and a
local contact number for when we see new MINI's parked somewhere.

(Your spotting two MINI's today reminds me of something that happened
to me last night.)

Coming home from Sam's club last night around 6:30 or so pulled out of
a light about 3 blocks from my house. Got caught by the next light, and
told my wife "Notice what's two cars in front of us?"... a nice BRG MINI <g>.

Needless to say, the pursuit was on. Well, at least for 3 blocks when my
wife asked what I thought I was doing <g>. Figure the guy was wondering
what the fellow in the Honda Accord was doing racing to catch up to him.
(While obeying all speed laws.... racing was a euphimism <g>, of course.)

I figure I'll see him again down the road. Will have a note handy in my
glovebox to "tag" him with info about our group <g>.

 

Cards would be great. I left notes on two Minis in Huntington but I didn't hear back from either. I was disappointed but, on the other hand, I'm not sure how I would react to a handwritten note like that left on my car (ok, I would be thrilled because I love my car that much but I know not everyone is like me). A more official looking card might make a better impression....

 

And while I'm on here (sorry, guys, it's been a busy week at work that has taken me away from the forum) -

About the run -

I'm still making sure that I'm not traveling too much for work to make it but, after some discussion with my boyfriend (who does the run thing and the autocross thing and the track thing....and drives like that pretty much all the time anyway), I have one question -

How fast are we planning on taking these twisties?

I love taking my baby Mini around the bends but I have to admit that I don't have the skills or the guts to take it too fast yet (I can't keep up with my boyfriend, for example). I blame it on almost 15 years of driving cars that were only slightly better than pieces of crap. I don't want to hold anyone back on the run, though. Anyone have any thoughts?

 

Just noticed this thread and though I don't live in West by Gawd Virginia anymore, I did for a year in the late 90's. We lived in Lewisburg. Those incredible twisties on 219 going north to Marlinton and beyond ought to be amazing - if you're the driver.

 

Assuming I have a MINI. (There, got the disclaimer out of the way <g>.)

I'm looking at this as a fun run. I'm used to driving a sports car (RX7) , but
with this being my first time in the hills with a MINI I'll be taking it easy.

Lord knows if I get a ticket my first week out I'll never hear the end of it.
Plus I'm going to have a copilot along who'll be sure to let me know if I'm
going to fast <g>. (I think I'll black out the big dinner plate speedo first
thing <g>.) I love my wife, but I think I need to show her the posts
concerning the inherent inaccuracies of our speedometers...

If he makes it, I figure we'll let Snyper go first <g>... looking at the pics
of his car, I wouldn't want to be in his way <g>.

Thing to remember is we're not on a track. Always drive however your
comfortable , based on your ability and the conditions of the road. I'll
probably attack some turns more aggressively than others... but that's
the thing about a small car to me. Sometimes it's how you take the turn,
not how fast.... if you know what I mean.

I figure we'll make sure that everyone knows where we're going. I should
have portable radios for 4 or 5 of us if we need them... If we get seperated,
we can meet up at Hawks Nest... or someplace else.

Of course, if one of us needs to pull over ... I'd reccomend the trailing car
stop to make sure there's not a problem...

I'm hoping this run can be more of a "get to know you" kind of thing.
We can hopefully see more than 5 MINI's in one spot... something that's
unusual here in the Mountain State , and just have fun.

Sound good?

Curious as to who all's up for it. (Tentatively of course , since things
happen <g>)

 

Forgot one important thing.

No worries about letting work interfere with your posting <g>
Life takes priority over the interwebthingy...

Well... maybe with the exception of folks with over 10K posts <g>.

Heck, I'll be posting a lot less when I get back to work...
Log in when it's convenient to you. I'd reccomend just use this as
your escape from "Lawyering" <g> if you can.

 

My comments were not to you, so don't worry about them.