R50/53 MINI Las Vegas Meet (Long)
#1
02-10-2004, 09:49 AM
The photos will come later. But first, here's a report on the Meet.
We were a caravan of four cars, all from the North Bay area, which met in Bakersfield. Mycrobe and Cooprd (owner's license plates) "homed" in on Larry and myself while we were chattering on our FRS radiios (aaah, thank goodness for those gadgets). We decided that Larry, with his electric blue MCS and SATNAV system would be the lead car. Once beyond the Tehachapi mountains, we zoomed on at 75-80 mph and arrived in Vegas at 6:30 P.M., about 10 minutes off our original schedule. That is fantastic scheduling for a 500 mile trip, and speaks wonders of the SATNAV system, which computes distances and time in "real time."
The Stardust Casino/Hotel dedicated a specially barricaded area in their parking lot for the 100 or so MINIS, and the next morning we were ogling each others' cars and accessories.
On Friday, on our own, we made a run to Hoover Dam (Boulder dam). The first of several official Runs took place also on Friday; this one was the run to Mt Charleston about 30 miles northwest of Vegas. The MINI caravan, after some confusion over the crazy downtown Las Vegas interchanges and heavy lunch hour traffic, made it's way to the ski resort where we climbed to 8650 feet elevation. We didn't stop for photos, as 5 of us got separated from the rest of the group, and there was limited parking at the base of the ski run. My first experience with driving over slushy and snow dusted roads (more on that later).
The same evening we had a great buffet dinner a the Aladdin Casino restaurant. I meet MiniClo for the first time, as well as some other familiar MINI owners.
Saturday's run to Red Rock State Park was a scenic drive along Blue Diamond road. It's a beautiful ride with sweeping vistas of the broad, sagebrush and cactus draped, valley. In this dry, high desert environment, there was even a Lost Falls (a mere trickle, but there was the much advertised icicle formation on the redbud bush below the Falls). In the park we were on our own (a good idea) and my wife and I stayed longer for the s ights and photos before driving back to Vegas alone. Since we got back to Vegas late, we missed the Meet and Greet in Sunset park (hope someone else can fill in here bout that meet).
I departed Vegas early Sunday morning for the ride home, watching an occasional MCS zoom past with the thumbs up signal. The MINI looked soooo dashing on the highway.
In summary:
The weather was perfect (sunny and crispy cool. 50's and 30's respectively days and nights). Burt's Beeswax Balm would have come in handy, together with a lot of hand lotion moisturizer, since the high desert air is very dry.
Organizational support from the casino and vendors was great, with nice packages.
Attendance was large and enthusiasm was great.
Ride routes were well chosen...as good as it gets.
Food was great (why go to Denny's when you can pay the same $ for buffet at the casinos?)
Downtown traffic (especially The Strip at night) is very heavy. The interchanges are horribly designed. It is like spaghetti haphazardly strewn about.
One minus point was the route map: they should be more detailed.
About driving in snow: my black fenders and skirt picked up a gray look which the ordinary sheepskin wash mitt did not remove easily. The inside of the fender wells are dirty and grayish (slush? road salt?). The exposed plastic pats needed a good coat of vinyl protectant to restore the black color. I spent half an afternoon cleaning up the car, inside and out.
We were a caravan of four cars, all from the North Bay area, which met in Bakersfield. Mycrobe and Cooprd (owner's license plates) "homed" in on Larry and myself while we were chattering on our FRS radiios (aaah, thank goodness for those gadgets). We decided that Larry, with his electric blue MCS and SATNAV system would be the lead car. Once beyond the Tehachapi mountains, we zoomed on at 75-80 mph and arrived in Vegas at 6:30 P.M., about 10 minutes off our original schedule. That is fantastic scheduling for a 500 mile trip, and speaks wonders of the SATNAV system, which computes distances and time in "real time."
The Stardust Casino/Hotel dedicated a specially barricaded area in their parking lot for the 100 or so MINIS, and the next morning we were ogling each others' cars and accessories.
On Friday, on our own, we made a run to Hoover Dam (Boulder dam). The first of several official Runs took place also on Friday; this one was the run to Mt Charleston about 30 miles northwest of Vegas. The MINI caravan, after some confusion over the crazy downtown Las Vegas interchanges and heavy lunch hour traffic, made it's way to the ski resort where we climbed to 8650 feet elevation. We didn't stop for photos, as 5 of us got separated from the rest of the group, and there was limited parking at the base of the ski run. My first experience with driving over slushy and snow dusted roads (more on that later).
The same evening we had a great buffet dinner a the Aladdin Casino restaurant. I meet MiniClo for the first time, as well as some other familiar MINI owners.
Saturday's run to Red Rock State Park was a scenic drive along Blue Diamond road. It's a beautiful ride with sweeping vistas of the broad, sagebrush and cactus draped, valley. In this dry, high desert environment, there was even a Lost Falls (a mere trickle, but there was the much advertised icicle formation on the redbud bush below the Falls). In the park we were on our own (a good idea) and my wife and I stayed longer for the s ights and photos before driving back to Vegas alone. Since we got back to Vegas late, we missed the Meet and Greet in Sunset park (hope someone else can fill in here bout that meet).
I departed Vegas early Sunday morning for the ride home, watching an occasional MCS zoom past with the thumbs up signal. The MINI looked soooo dashing on the highway.
In summary:
The weather was perfect (sunny and crispy cool. 50's and 30's respectively days and nights). Burt's Beeswax Balm would have come in handy, together with a lot of hand lotion moisturizer, since the high desert air is very dry.
Organizational support from the casino and vendors was great, with nice packages.
Attendance was large and enthusiasm was great.
Ride routes were well chosen...as good as it gets.
Food was great (why go to Denny's when you can pay the same $ for buffet at the casinos?)
Downtown traffic (especially The Strip at night) is very heavy. The interchanges are horribly designed. It is like spaghetti haphazardly strewn about.
One minus point was the route map: they should be more detailed.
About driving in snow: my black fenders and skirt picked up a gray look which the ordinary sheepskin wash mitt did not remove easily. The inside of the fender wells are dirty and grayish (slush? road salt?). The exposed plastic pats needed a good coat of vinyl protectant to restore the black color. I spent half an afternoon cleaning up the car, inside and out.
#2
02-10-2004, 10:04 AM
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#3
02-10-2004, 12:57 PM
Randy's Mule was there, m7's mini's were there
another company i beleive aqua something... had there turbo cooper out there
the stage III mini mania car was there also.
I didn't get to ride in any of these, but they all sounded awesome!
there is a video of the mule at http://www.djkaotix.com/AMVIV/movies
his is the 1st video (he did earlier burnouts but i missed them)
another company i beleive aqua something... had there turbo cooper out there
the stage III mini mania car was there also.
I didn't get to ride in any of these, but they all sounded awesome!
there is a video of the mule at http://www.djkaotix.com/AMVIV/movies
his is the 1st video (he did earlier burnouts but i missed them)
#4
02-10-2004, 05:47 PM
>>there is a video of the mule at http://www.djkaotix.com/AMVIV/movies
>>his is the 1st video (he did earlier burnouts but i missed them)
Looks like you all took over vegas, wish we could've been there.
>>his is the 1st video (he did earlier burnouts but i missed them)
Looks like you all took over vegas, wish we could've been there.
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