Hey gang, hope you can join us for the capstone event on our 2009 schedule! [Please RSVP by replying to this post so we can get a good count.]

We plan to meet for lunch at the renowned Breitbach's Restaurant in Balltown, IA on Saturday, November 14th. Lunchtime will be at 11:30 am, but feel free to arrive a bit early so we can park together out in front of the building and admire our MINIs together. This will be a great opportunity to reminisce about the fun times we've had together over the past year, give a little recognition to a few noteworthy folk, and share ideas for 2010 events. After lunch we'll plan to relocate our MINIs a couple hundred yards down the road at the Balltown scenic overlook for some photo ops.

Of course, half the fun will be getting there and coming home! While there is no planned drive as part of this event, the area around Balltown boasts some of the best motoring roads in the state. You'll want to include US-52, C9Y, or any of the other local paved roads in your route. Ad hoc departure rendezvous with other MINIs near your home for companion motoring to Balltown are encouraged.

It's been exactly one year (as of this post) since the second fire at Breitbach's. For those not familiar with the recent history of the establishment, this recent video clip from the James Beard Foundation Awards is a wonderful primer:




Lastly, this image gives you some sense of the summertime view from Balltown, looking northeast towards the Mississippi River:




Hope to see you there!

 

Maria, Lolly, and I plan to attend. Lolly is getting tired of being a truck, and wants to see some roads

 

Daryl and Leo will be there.

 

saying tenativly yes

 

Pam and I will be there.

-Larry
REDMINI

 

Tom & I will be there.

 

We will be there

 

Add us to the list

 

Denny & Sandy will be there

 

We plan to be there
Tim and Jan

 

Tim,Do you mind if we tag along

 

We would be happy to meet up where-ever when-ever. PM me with any suggestion
Tim

 

I haven't met any of you yet, but Faith and I (Tom) are planning to be there. I've only had the Cooper about 4 months, and loving it.

 

Welcome to the group Tom & Faith. Always happy to have new members.

Larry & Pam
"REDMINI"

 

I will not be making this one..... i have to work that morning .

 

Sorry Miah...weekend work is the pits.

For the record, Bill and Alyce (bsteig) emailed and are planning to be there.

Also, those who participated in the EIM Border Skirmish Drive last year might remember running into a JCW owner named Tony while we were having lunch at Doc's Blue Moose in Spring Grove. Tony emailed me; he and his wife Jess are planning on joining us too.

Looks like we're going to have a nice group!

 

Me plus three (4) to join the festivities.
Tim, can I meet up with you & Mike? Let me know the where & when.

 

I am not going to be able to make it actually heading to the Dells for the weekend to have a little bit of a get away from everything...


Take care and happy motoring!!

 

You guys have a good time. I am sure you all need a little escape.

 

Lisa is working that morning so we won't be making it out for this event. :(

 

The plant that I work at just went down, I will most likely be working 12 hrs a day this weekend, and won't make it to Balltown. I'll meet you some other time.
See Ya Later,
Tom and Faith

 

We'll have monthly wintertime Meet-n-Eats after the holidays, so hopefully we will have the chance to meet you then. Stay tuned.

Weekend work is just wrong. 12-hour days of it...

 

Our new house's garage is already at capacity, so I am looking to sell the Dunlop Winter Performance tires/wheels that I got for Molly. Her younger sister, Lolly, came with all-season tires that should be adequate here in Coralville.

If anyone going to Breitbach's is in the market, please let me know, and I will bring the tires along.

 

I should stop being amazed that MINI people are the nicest people around, because that's just MINI people!

Thank you Gary M. for all the awards and planning that you did and do! We all appreciate it. You help make these events always FUN.


If anyone wants to see Skinny Gary directing MINI traffic, you're welcome to look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxmd8rHr4Y4

 

Video Daryl! Opportunistic once again!

Hey gang, just wanted to thank everyone for coming out today. It was great to have such a fine showing of MINIs! Glad we were able to give Mike Breitbach our lunch business. They sure did a nice job with the latest reconstruction.

Many thanks to Daryl for getting the EIM calendars going. Also, my personal thanks to Larry for his kind words, and to Paul, Gary S., and David for their thoughtful generosity.

Tony, glad you made it down from Spring Grove to join us; sorry it cost you an extra $70 courtesy of that Iowa LEO. Sure enjoyed the great run together coming in on C9Y.

I did too much yakking and not enough picture taking today, but in any event here are a few for your viewing pleasure:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gmm57/s...7622803729976/

As a recap, here's a summary of the '09 EIM awards presented today:

Most Infatuated with Blue MINIs Award - Gary and Linda
Most Dependable IL-Based EIM Members Award - Tim and Jan
Most Fanatical MINI Family Award - Bill and Alyce
Most Devoted to the MINI Cooper Brand Award - Fred
Most Opportunistic Photographer Award - Daryl
Best & Most Serendipitous First EIM Rendezvous Award - Denny and Sandy
Best MINI Travel Story Award - David
Best New Mirror Caps Award - Paul and Nora
Best Online Presence and Webmaster Extraordinaire Award - Rob (will mail)
Best Performance Modifications Award - Brian (will mail)
Best Emergency Navigation and Leadership Award - Larry and Pam
"Best in Show" Award - Mike and Maria
Best Event Host/Hostess Award - Linda and Tom
Best Volunteer Spirit Award - Daryl
Comeback Motorer of the Year Award - Mike

Stay in touch everyone!