That is actually funny. We were in the rally and my wife and I pulled next to a cop. They were like where are all these mini's coming from. We told them what it was for and so I didnt lose the other cars I ran the red light right in front of them. I was like oh well.

 

I agree with what most of the rest of you have said. I live in NH and we have a great contingent of folks from MA, CT, NH, VT, ME, and RI, and these people make MINIs on Top (this weekend!) a blast. I'd have been bummed if I'd made the trip from much further than a couple of hours away. The breakfast and drive to Gloucester were far and away the best parts of the entire weekend. The traffic on 1A did suck, and Gloucester was anti-climatic at best, but getting the escort through the city and into the tunnel rocked.

My girlfriend's a reformed event planner and offered some thoughts on how MINI "should" have done it:
* The biggest strength was the breakfast and rally. Build on that by working out a better – yet not too complicated – route to Gloucester or one or more of the other fantastic little towns in Eastern New England that allows everyone to still thrill in the excitement of blasting through downtown Boston in an escorted caravan of 200+ MINIs.
* In one or more cities, hook up with the local chambers of commerce to give MINIacs options like whale watches, walking tours, restaurant choices, parks, beaches, etc.
* Keep the festival, but in much scaled-back form, with a couple of bands, and many more vendor booths and activities. Maybe a place to get – or have – your car washed. Just a few hours, vs. all-day.
* Still offer the autocross (ok, "spirited, unaccompanied test-drives"), perhaps starting a little earlier than the rest of the festival, so that folks can opt for trading some of their touristy time for that instead.

I was pretty disappointed in MINI of Peabody, too. As the premier dealer in the country, I felt they should have had a much bigger presence there, and done a hell of a better job putting together a good route to Gloucester (or at least Salem; from there, it was quite nice). I don't recall hearing Herb Chambers' name bandied about much, either, which is kind of surprising.

I'm so glad we went; we had a blast and I reconnected with some friends I haven't seen in a couple of years. But there was a ton that MINIUSA could have done much, much better.

 

was the ticket in MA or in Maine?
please let me know who handled it for you, if it was in MA.

thanks

 

It was in MA. I handled it myself. I was told to be in Haverhill at a certain date and time. A state trooper read the offense to the magistrate, then she asked me for my side of the story. She dropped the failure to signal and unsafe lane change charge, and she knocked the speeding down to $100. If I didn't accept that deal, it would have gone to court at a later date.

 

I agree. I was actually surprised that I didn't see anyone from the dealership there at all.

 

Thanks, I know Bloomfield, not far from my place at all! Let me know if you are going to hit up an event anytime soon.

 

Adum
I already had a medallion hanging from my cup holder when they gave me the one on the run. If you'll be at Mini's on Top this weekend I'd be glad to give you one.

I'm just still mad that I spent $150 hotel + $20 parking Saturday night instead of just driving back to CT. (non refundable hotels reservations) I could have gone home around 2:00 no loss... Well I did win a worst entry key chain in the trivia thing worksheet thing...

 

adum,
It's a deal. Would be cool to get together.

 

Many Mini owners are so nice, thanks unfortunately I won't be at MOT but I really appreciate the offer.

I hear you about the hotel room, it was not a cheap weekend! I should of put an aerobed in my clubman

 

Awesome, let me know if you have any ideas and I'll do the same.

 

Say, anyone show up to the Fountains of Wayne concert? I had to leave around 5:30 and by then there were so few Mini-ers. Also, was there a good turnout on Sunday?

I had a blast up there. My first Mini event ever. Got up at 2:30 am down in Jersey, cause I couldn't sleep form the excitement, took my fiancee and drove up. When we rolled into Umass and saw the event setup, we were screaming like school kids to an ice cream truck. (You'd probably scream too if you were driving 6 hours)

Only thing I wish was for there to be more Mini owners swarming the place. I really enjoyed seeing all the unique artwork people did on their cars, (I'm the dark silver Mini with the art nouveau black-red graphics on the side) and meeting you all.

Final question: So will there be an MTTS 2009?

 

So does anyone know where we can view the video of the event from the roof mount camera on the clubman and the interviews from the parking lot?

 

Ya +1

 

[quote=Red Dragoon;2318886]For me, a highlight of MTTS Boston was meeting Chilibomb at the Sat morn rally on Pier 4. Recognized "Sperbie" right away, being CR/W with black bonnet stripes and the coolest sunshade in the windshield. What a wonderful couple my wife and I met.


It's been several days since we were able to respond on this forum as Jeff & I have been motoring up thru Maine (saw 10 moose! ), up Mt. Washington, NH (which is a white knuckle blast! )and now we're at the Catskills and heading back to TN. by Sat! We loved meeting John & Patricia! What a fun loving couple and, of course, thier very cool MINI! Just sorry we didn't meet up after the rally. But after we got stuck in that awful traffic-we decided to forget the big cities and motor all scenic drives all over the NorthEast! We're sure we'll see you at another rally though- like perhaps the guiness world record attempt, or Minis in the mountans! but we'll see you all again sometime!!

 

Sounds like a cool trip, especially with the moose sightings and Mount Washington. Safe motoring back to Tennessee. We were so delighted to meet up with you on Saturday.

CROC 411

 

You saw 10 moose? Wow, I've lived here my whole life and I don't think I've ever seen that many. We did have one in our back yard on Christmas Eve, but we haven't seen him since. Did you check out the full-size chocolate moose at Len Libby's in Scarborough?

You went to Mt. Washington too soon. You should have stayed for MOT this weekend.

 

I've seen a few moose.

It was the one I didn't see that was the problem:

 

Ouch!

 

I've seen a few moose.
It was the one I didn't see that was the problem: -- snid

My sympathies, and hope no one was hurt in that mishap. I have to say, I love the way you put it in your post.

CROC 411

 

No. MTTS takes place every 2 years. If MINIUSA does it again, it will not be until 2010. MTTS takes turns with its European counterpart event, MINI UNITED. MU is set to take place next year in the UK. 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the Issigonis classic Mini. It promises to be a superb event and way better than MTTS '08.

MINI UNITED takes place every 2 years in a different european country:

2005: Misano, Italy
2007: Zandvoort, Netherlands
2009: UK (Actual host city TBA).

 

boston just sucked. thats about all you can say...

 

Dangit. I liked it a lot. Was looking forward to next year!

 

As someone who has been watching this thread in hopes of getting some insight into Chicago. I could be wrong, but I think that MINIUSA has really geared MTTS for the newer MINI owner. Once you've been to MOT, MITM, AMVIV, or MOTD (just to mention a few of the great grassroots events) you can be a little jaded when a corporation tries to be hip. I say that having met someone from MINIUSA at an event who had no idea what MINI was really about. I'm just hoping that MINIUSA is monitoring this thread to figure out that they may need to do a little more of to impress the R50, R53 owner or those of use who participated in MTTS 06 (crazy though it was, it was very community building).

Oh and "Next year" is MINI United in the UK.

 

We saw all 10 around Greenville, ME. and Moosehead Lake. There is this bog about 5 miles before Greenville where we saw 3 at dusk- the next morning (5 am) we saw 5 more there at that same spot. then as we drove around Moosehead lake, 2 more passed in front of us on the road! We know we arrived too early for Mt. Washington, wished we couldv'e stayed-but at least we got to motor up it! It was as just as thrilling as Pikes Peak in Colorado! Just stunning! I'm anxious to hear what people say about the Chicago event! and I still haven't heard of one report of attendees to the Fountains of Wayne concert? AnyOne attend?

 

Wow! As big as those moose were I figured you might be able to just drive under them! That's terrible! Hope your mini will be O.K.