Ok, If we are really gonna do this wine thing the we better get a list of potential people and their intersts. So please, a brief post saying you wanna come along and wine and food or just into the drive.


Clo- are you talking about Rouge et Noir? The cheese place, west of Petaluma, there is a little pond right out front, well kinda to the side. It is out in the middle of nowhere. Or maybe some other place? I love cheese!

 

We're mostly into a drive, but up for some wine/food as well... Count us in!

 

and also if you want it to be on one day or two days.

 

I say one day this time, at least thats all I will be in for. I am mainly in for the drive, but I few stops here and there would be cool also. I NEED to go to St Supery, dont fforget that :D

 

Maybe the thing to do is to meet at St Supery (or somewhere close to it) at 10am and leave by 10:30am to head north.

 

That could work. So lets do a quick rundown again.

South and Lower East Bay MINIs meet at the 680/880 junction on Mission Boulevard at 8:00am. There is a large shopping center on the right with plenty of parking for MINIs.

Depart at 8:15 north on 680 to meet up with the GCM guys, San Fransisco folks, and other northern east bay MINIs. Meeting spot here is the back of the Saturn dealership at the junction of 680 and 80. Should be there around 9:00-9:15.

Depart and head North on 29 until we get to St Supery in Rutherford. Meet up with the rest of the folks there and enjoy some wine and driving.

From there it will be up to Zied and Winechic. Could you guys plan a route hitting a few wineries and making sure we get some good twisties in?



Oh and this is all on November 20th... NEXT Saturday.

 

Twisties, Twisties, Twisties!

 

Got a few new things for the car James
M7 Grill, H-Sport Control Arms, Smoked Side Marker (the ones by the "S"), and hopefully the lights Lyle has will be here soon also.

 

Jason, sweet!

What do you have your camber settings at after you put the arms on?

 

hey campos, when did you get the ultimate grill?? I should be getting mine today. Is it an easy install??

Lagston

 

YOU CAN DO IT!

 

I ordered it today so It should be here Tuesday or Wed. According to James the intall is simple... seems like it should be to. My only concern is that on the Moss site for the GrillCraft grill it says "Drilling Required"..... we will see

Not sure what the settings are gonna be yet. I am installing them myself than taking it to my buddies shop to have it all aligned and tuned. I will see what he reccomends. The guy builds and tunes suspensions for a living so Im sure his advice will be worthwhile.

Next month Im gonna get the PIAA Driving lights and maybe a few other small things cosmetically. Starting next year its time to beef this thing up... wheels, BBK or slotted rotors and greenstuff pads, clutch, flywheel, quaife, header, TB, IC..... and FINALLY the SPI turbo. Hopefully get it all done by the end of next year.

 

Guys, I'd be glad to help out if you want. Give me the word. Hey we can do the install in the parking lot of one of the wineries see ya guys

 

That easy? No drilling like it says for the Grill Craft grille on the Moss site?

 

I would love to get solid recommendations of great driving routes and what worked and didn't work, and best wineries to go to. My husband and I are planning a week-long excursion for Sept 05 in our MINI towing and camping in our teardrop (see November 2005 NAM calendar photo). Plan on traveling after Labor Day but before college classes kick in again.

If anyone can recommend a great campground or RV park in the area, I would love advice from a local.

Thanks,
Wendy/GRNSTRk
Seattle, WA

 

Grnstrk,
Send me a pm or email and I will get you lots of information on camping in the area (we are rv'ers too) and areas to tour. In a week you can thoroughly explore the Sonoma and Mendocino coast line and wineries in Sonoma, Mendocino & Napa Counties if you are real aggressive and set your mind to it. There's a lot to see and do

 

WinechicK:

When are you thinking about doing this thing? It sounds great to me--I'll bet we could get more than a few Sacto MINIs together for the trip to Napa County.

My preference would be for a one day event but I'm easily tempted. And I'd like both food and wine to be part of the package!

 

Its going to be on 11/20/04.... And the Sacramento folks (Gold Country Mini) are going to be there... some of us at least.

 

I said this once already, but I think its worth repeating:

Obviuosly this would be primarily a driving agenda, with a couple of stops in each appellation and maybe one full tour each day. This would also require more than 5 days of planning. Realisticly I think that this should be planned as either a spring or barrel tasting event.... on a full 2-3 weekend sometime in the future.

Maybe this weekend's event should be a full and slow wine tour through Napa County only... food, drink, & a tour.

 

I won't be able to participate on 11/20, but hope y'all have a fun time.

I think it was VERY nice of winechic to offer to plan a tour of wineries, especially since she is actually a winemaker! Drink some nice reds for me, friends!



Clover

 

Yup, I agree.... this all happened cuz I just need to go pick up a bottle of wine up there and wanted to see if some people wanted to hit up the roads while I was up there....

I do think its a good idea to make it a larger even, but it would take time to plan it on our side and on the side of people from out of town wishing to attend.

I say this weekend is just a few small stops to do some wine tasting, but mainly some motoring through the twisties up there.

 

Sounds like a plan!!!! I cannot wait. Its going to be fun to hit the roads through there again.

On a random note... Last time I went through the napa/sonoma areas is the same day they found those campers in Jenner. I was right there... Kinda strange eh?

 

Unfortunately, there are not many twisties in Napa County (unless you want to drive up to Angwin), you find them only if you plan on driving into Sonoma County or Lake County from the Napa Valley.

 

Well if you folks want a wild twisty drive I recomend just popping over St. Helena to Milddletown, have some lunch and then back through Mendo or something. Those roads lack straight streches. Lots of Mini fun, I did this over the weekend.

 

when in Lake County, back to 101 via the Hopland Grade... I am planning one of those trips with REME in the spring.