I can't believe I've got the record on this thread. 30 states so far.
Earlier this summer my son & I took an 8600 mile, three week cruise from Philly down to the Gulf, out to San Diego, up the left coast and across the Plains with a few zigs and zags across.
We kept count of MINIs along the way and saw 34 in all, 8 in San Francisco. Sometimes we went for 3-4 days without seeing one other MINI! The car ran perfectly and we found some great MINI highways in the mountains of Wyoming.
We went through 28 states on the trip plus I've been in NJ and NY with the MINI.

 

octane guy,
Make sure you go to Glacier and Yellowstone... I live in RI and went to school in Montana. My now wife, then girlfriend and I drove out and back several times together including one monster week road trip like this: (each line is a day!)

1)RI->Chicago ~1,000 miles
2)Chicago->Colorado Springs ~1,000 miles
3)CS->Zion Georgous....
4)Zion->Grand Canyon
5)Grand Canyon->Hoover Damn->Las Vegas
6)Las Vegas->Death Valley->Yosemite->SanFransisco
7)SanFransisco->Drove through a redwood->Redwood National Park/Forest
Redwood->Mt.Rainer
9)Mt.Rainer->Bozeman MT (Home of Montana State)

All Told that trip was 9 days and 5,500 miles and 18 states...!

With states visited at:
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New York
Pennysilvania
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Iowa
Nebraska
Colorado
Utah
Arizona
Nevada
California
Oregon
Washington
Idaho
Montana...

also that same car (96 subaru outback) has been too
North Dakota
South Dakota
Wyoming
Minnesota
Vermont
New Hampshire
Maine
Massachusetts
Wisconsin
for a total of 27 states and 130,000 miles before it got traded on my WRX....

I have been to all but 12 states in my life....
I love the US and I love traveling to all different parts of it....

I hope to do a weeklong road trip next summer either in the MINI or WRX to get the 10 states I'm missing that I can drive to in a week.... AK and HI will be for airplane trips I think.... HI for sure, but I don't think the MINI would appreciate the trip to AK...

Ben

 

Sorry about that being SUBARU states, and not MINI, but our MINI was bought 2 weeks ago and has only graced the fine states of:
Massachussets (dealer's state)
Rhode Island (home)
So I wanted to share my longer personal list for fun.... The wife and I are getting one of those magnet sets with all the states, and then we are going to set it up with all the states we have been to and work our way through the list....

MINI will get a long list I'm sure, and we can't wait it's just that when we were in school we traveld there and back which got a lot of states, and we had a bit more free time to cross off some others....

working for a living sure does cut down on the free time...

Ben

 

Thanks Ben for the tips!!! They are on my list. Wow, you are a well travelled guy! I was going to say, that you must have just started school last year if you drove all those states in your MINI.

 

>>Hi, I'm doing the Memphis, TN to Los Angeles, CA trip next week. Any tips? I plan on not taking a direct route through Texas, but rather hit the northern states including South Dakota (for Mt. Rushmore), to Montana, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, back to CA (got to go through Vegas the wife says--in all some 10-12 states.
>>
>>1.) Did you bother to keep your car clean during your road trip? How?
>>I'm thinking of getting an Auto Glide car blade to dry it off, but buy a bucket and soap in TN (since I'm flying there, don't want to carry too much stuff)
>>
>>I'm already taking an Alpine CD Changer, a GotMINI armrest, Custom Whalen Shift Machine ****, and lots of other stuff on the plane with me!
>>
>>2.) Where did you stay along your trips?
>>
>>3.) Did you spend a day in each state or just drive through?
>>
>>Thanks a lot!!!!

Hi OctaneGuy!

I just took my car through car washes a few times on the first trip, that was it. The most important thing is probably to remove bugjuice asap, since it does nasty things to paint, ,but on the whole I'm sorry to say, my car is my daily driver, and I cannot afford the time to keep it spic and span. It's a dirty car that gets driven!

On almost all of my trips I just drive until I feel like stoppin and then find some place to coop up!

Many of the states I hit I just drove through, I have to admit. Does that count?

Recomendations: like jacobsen1 said: yellowstone and glacier are great choices! I also did Yellowstone a few years back while on a Subaru trip!
On my recent MINI trip I did Dinosaur National Monument in Utah along Highway 40. Great stop, and a great highway. Nice twisties near Denver, and some good solitary stretches where I tested the top speed of my car :smile:

Enjoy your trip!
Markus

 

Hi Markus!

Thanks! It's nice to see what **really* happens on these roadtrips! I've got it all planned out in my fantasy head to not run it throught machine car washes for fear of damaging my paint, and take along my own portable car wash, as I know my white wheels will be black very quickly!

But then reality is setting in, that I just want to get my car back home in one piece, without any speeding tickets, and having the best time of my life doing it!

Richard

 

0, My mini has been to 0 states!!!

ARGH, when will the bloody boat arive?

LOL

 

 

Montana is great, and I recomend Glacier to anyone who likes corners... (All of us)

Road to the sun....

Also go to Cooke city north of Yellowstone. The road there is one of the best around, but be bear aware, cause there are grizzlies up there, a lot of 'em too.

As for another MT tip, take a radar detector, cause the roads are very straight at times, and without cops around you can "safely" see how fast you are comfortable going in your MINI. The speed limit used to be "resonable and prudent" until too many out of staters killed to many locals by being foolish. Corvette drivers were especially bad. Every weekend they would zip through the state and get in trouble.... but I did pass a cop at 109mph (governor at 110 in an outback) without being pulled over.... My WRX was a fast car, let's just say.... but be carefull and don't do anything with others around. Taking your life in your hands is one thing, but don't risk others.... Also be very warry of MT drivers. They love to pull out in front of you on 2 lane roads out of their driveway, and change lanes to pass a semi right as you get there on the interstate.... something to watch for, they seem to never understand how fast other cars might be going (legally I might add), or they just plane don't look.....

Have fun, and say "HI" to the big sky for me would you. I really miss it sometimes. Then I look at the "big pond" in my back yard and realize RI is good for something too, just not skiing, or anything else mountain related....

Ben (<- Misses Montana, but won't admit it)

 

>>Hi Markus!
>>
>>Thanks! It's nice to see what **really* happens on these roadtrips! I've got it all planned out in my fantasy head to not run it throught machine car washes for fear of damaging my paint, and take along my own portable car wash, as I know my white wheels will be black very quickly!
>>
>>But then reality is setting in, that I just want to get my car back home in one piece, without any speeding tickets, and having the best time of my life doing it!
>>
>>Richard

Forgot, another recomendation for that first trip:
don't do the big highways, take the side roads, take some fun roads,
MOTOR!!!!

 

Markus and Ben

Both great advise. I'm certain I'll be using my NAV to seek out those alternate roads!

Now what's the secret to passing a cop at 109mph and not getting pulled over?? Was your girlfriend naked or something???

Btw, what does MT stand for?

 

The (former) Speed Limit of "Resonable and prudent" will let you go by a cop at 109mph...
He had his radar on too....

The naked girlfriend (now wife) might help though, I should try that now in RI...

MT = Montana

or say it phenetically (spelled phenetically??) M.... T....

eMpTy

because thats what it feels like out there....

Have fun, I'm jealous....
Ben

 

With me as its owner, it will only be driven in Southern California.

 

Well let's see...California to Hawaii and then back to California. Bought the MINI from a dealer in Hawaii so Hawaii might not count. This fall got a trip planned to the midwest so should cover a few states on that trip.

 

Holy Cow...30 states already!

I've never even been to 30 states...I just counted it up and I've only been to 21 in my entire life! Of course there are states that I'd rather visit again than go to a new one...

My MCS has only been to two...OR and WA. Maybe it's just because we grow 'em bigger out west!

 

Only been to 3 states so far, NY, NJ and PA, but heading for NH, ME and Canada (NB and NS) in about a week. Actually, I'm only posting this to say hello and to test out image posting. If you see a pic here, I figured it out! :smile:

 

Clover,
now that you're back, will you set a new record here on this thread?
M.
:smile: