October 27 - 28
Or
November 3 - 4

Those are really the only weekends I have left open before the snow flys!

What would we like to do

Poker Ride?
Just a Ride?
Scavenger Hunt? (thinking route with predetermined digital pictures that have to be taken with your MINI in the PIC)
Picnic?

Is there enough interest any of those 2 weekends?

 

Yo D3m0N -

I could make any of those days work except Nov 4 (daughter's birthday). 27 or 28 October would be optimal.

I'd opt for keeping it relatively simple for our first go...perhaps one of the scenic routes near the river with an overlook or two for photo ops. My other recommendation is to include food in the intinerary () but make it a planned stop at an indoor establishment--either lunch or supper--since a BBQ this time of the year could be miserable for many if we happen to land on a cold, blustery day.

We could scope out your proposed loop between Dubuque and McGregor--it would minimize the distance folks would need to travel to join us.

What do you think?

 

Nov 3-4 is good for me, or just October 28.

 

Any week should be fine for me, and I agree with keeping it simple and eating indoors Hope we'll see everyone soon!

 

^^ Maria, do you got North Scott then if you live in Long Grove? Random question.

In any case 27th early in the day might work, we were thinking of holding a haloween party that weekend so if we do we probably wont be available.

 

D3m0N:

Looks like the group thus far is zeroing in on Nov 3 as the best candidate day...

I'm intrigued by the potential of the roads heading north out of Dubuque along the river. Specifically, I see a good chance for views and twisties on C9Y to US52 to X56, looping on Mississippi Road north of Gutenburg, with another potential twisty loop on Keystone Road just south of Pikes Peak State Park. Not sure as to the surface condition of these roads, however. Sounds like some exploratory motoring is in order.

I might just have to do a quick turn along this route next Saturday morning for group reference purposes...

Have you firmed up any other route ideas?

 

Yes M!N! COOper, I do in fact go to North Scott and live in Long Grove! How'd ya guess? Nov. 3 works fine for us- just tell us times

 

I have my fingers crossed for November 3, too. I won't have to cancel or rearrange my schedule if that's the date.

 

Dan here from the Yahoo group. I have been trying to post for past four days and I just finally got approved. I have an '07 MCS Dark Silver with Black Stripes, 17" Crown Spokes, Premium, SPort, Cold Weather and Bluetooth. November 3rd sounds great to me. I'll just try to stay updated on here with everyone's postings. By the way I live in downtown Cedar Rapids.

 

Nov 3rd is looking good to me as well

 

Welcome to EIM Dan!

 

So, I'm heading out to do some route reconnaissance tomorrow morning...

Will be starting in the Effigy Mounds - Marquette area about 0730 and working south along the Mighty Mississippi (probably the reverse direction of what would comprise an organized drive). The bulk will be along X56, a little of US52 near Guttenberg, and C9Y but I'll be doubling back in several places to check out some really promising looking side loops. Hope to make it to Dubuque around lunch time. Will try to circulate some useful feedback to the group in the next day or so.

I'll keep my eye out in case any of youz MINI mates are also out motoring tomorrow...should be a great day!

 

Did you discover a good route?
73

 

Ended up putting 440 miles on the MINI today. The trees along the river are really spectacular right now...wish they could hang in there for a couple of weeks...

My original plans didn't live past the first 15 minutes -- when I reached Marquette I found out that US76 and X56 were closed for construction from there all the way past Pikes Peak State Park. So I had to circumvent by taking US52 down to Garnavillo and then head east on C17. I tried to cut back up north on X56 to see how far I could get (as it turns out about 8 miles, until I came to the barricades on the other side of the closure).

C9Y and Balltown Road between Dubuque and Millville were fantastic--scenery and curves --so I think I'll try and make this the core of this route. Right now I'm thinking about starting in Clinton, up US52 to Dubuque, C9Y to Balltown (I found a great place for lunch there), C9Y to Millville, US52 to Guttenberg, west through Garber to Elkader and then loop back through Garnavillo on C17/X56 and finish up at the park along the river in downtown Guttenberg. Mostly a scenic drive, with some twisties here and there to add some fun.

I plan to work up the route and bounce it off you and D3m0N to see what you guys think. If acceptable, we'll be ready to recruit for the 3rd!

 

Sounds great! I'm sure some of the MINIs from the Yahoo group would like to join in. May I post the tentative plans there? The 3rd is only two weeks away!

 

That's great!...and you might also mention that we'll have a whole lot more details available within the next couple of days. It'll be a dedicated thread in this forum once it's put together.

Hope you can make it!

 

Is C9Y good pavement? That word "curves" grabs my attention. Maybe we could just go back and forth on this section until the troopers show up

 

Yep...it has a good surface. That was one of my criteria. I explored a couple of side loops that had some decent stretches of twisties but there were sections that were so rough that I gave up on them. They were beating me to death. Just not worth it. I know my '05 will probably need motor mounts replaced at some point, but no sense accelerating the need!

 

Really looking forward to this ride!!!!



Looks like a good route