"BAMA", the "Birmingham Area MINI Association" is planning a Covered Bridge Cruise and Poker Run on Saturday, Dec. 6. This "follow the leader" cruise will leave the parking lot of Brook Highland Shopping Center, in front of Brook Highland Cinema, US 280 in Shelby County, promptly at 10:00am. We will cruise three covered bridges in Blount County, stop for a picnic lunch (bring whatever you like) at a mountain top rock climbing park with a superb overlook, and then visit The Shrine of The Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville. We will then return to the point of beginning for a group dinner at Wing's around 5:00 that evening.

Cruise participants may wish to participate in a $5.00 per hand Poker Run during the cruise. Participants may purchase as many hands as they like. The highest scoring hand will win the entire pot when the hands are called at the dinner at Wing's. Playing the Poker Run during the cruise is voluntary.

The cruise, which will be about 160 miles round trip, will cover 90+ of those miles on twisty, two lane back roads. The bridges we will visit are all listed on the National Register of Historic Places and are something everyone should experience. The Shrine of The Most Blessed Sacrament is one of the most awe inspiring places you will ever visit. Most people do not believe that such a place is in rural Alabama. You will come away awe struck whether or not you are a religious person. Since our group will certainly be 10 or more people, we will qualify as a "pilgrimage" and as such, we will schedule a guided tour of the facilities and an informational talk by one of the Fathers. This will be the highlight of the cruise.

We will be using FRS radios in the leading and trailing MINIs to confirm that we have the caravan together and that no one gets left behind. Feel free to bring your own FRS and join in the "Ratchet Jawin'".

While not absolutely necessary, pre-registration in the cruise is highly encouraged. I'll need to know how many hard copy cruise packets to put together, what size group we will have for the Shrine tour, and what size group we need to make dinner reservations for. Participants can pre-register by posting their intent to participate in the cruise on this message board with the following information:

1) Your eMail address so that I can send you the cruise directions (cue sheets) as well as information about the bridges and the Shrine. (This can be imbedded in your profile). There is no need to post your eMail address if you do not want the cue sheets in advance.

2) How many of your party will be participating in the cruise

3) How many will be attending the dinner / Poker Run payout at Wing's.

You cannot eMail me directly since my Spam Blocker will not recognize you until I add you to my address book. Your Spam Blocker, if any, will need to be set to receive eMail from the following addresses (sorry, but I have several):

greglee@mindspring.com, Greg.Lee@regions.om, greg@ThumbsUpRacing.com

This cruise will be open to all classic and new MINIs as well as those who have MINIs on order. There is no cost to participate except for the optional $5.00 per hand Poker Run.

This cruise is being put together with the help of new member Chip Schwartz. We are logging lots of break in miles on his new S, "Big Slick", while putting this cruise together and verifying directions and mileages.

Greg Lee
"Thumbs Up"

Hey, it's all about the driving anyway, right?

 

Greg, My wife is going to try to adjust her schedule (she has a luncheon that day or somethin') for that day so we can attend, or it may be just me. I have sent out an email to everyone who gave me an Email address for them to check your posting on NAMotoring. Let me know how I can help. Motor on, Harold Clements

 

Sounds like tons of fun! Count me in on this one!

Now it seems that us Alabama/Birmingham MINI and Mini folks are going to have to figure out some way to organize ourselves. "BAMA" sounds good to me as long is it does not offend the Auburn fans (as a recent transplant from Colorado, I have chosen to remain neutral in the Alabama vs. Auburn rivalry).

And I love the idea of our group trip being a "pilgrimage" !!! Just wonderful

As I am a moderator for this forum, I will check with Mark and see if we can add our own Club Forum to NorthAmericanMotoring. Since the entire Southeast is a pretty large area and we might want a specific forum for our local eventsin our state without a MINI dealership (Step up to the plate Tom Williams! )

We had such a great turn out at the first large meet last weekend, and it will be tons of fun to get together this time a motor about.

I'm willing to do some help in organizing. I also would love a trip route in advance so I can program it into my GPS nav system.

Lets Motor Alabama!

 

All particpants will be sent the turn by turn directions in advance. We are still in the process of verifying mileages, etc. All participants will also receive a hard copy of the final cue sheets, as well as other info at the start of the cruise.

Yucc, I'll send you what we have so far, although it is subject to modification. We should lock everything down by Nov. 11. I'll be in touch if we see that we need your help. Thanks.

 

Count us in!!!!!!!!!!

 

We will definately be there. Can't Wait!!
Julie

 

Hey:

Ummm, I guess w'ell be there too!!

 

Just a little news update for Birmingham Area MINI Association:

I contacted Mark Ferguson, the founder/owner of this site and he is going to set up a special club forum for us. He is pretty quick about getting things done, so I expect that we will have our own local club forum here very shortly. Look for it beneath the regional forums in the drop-down forum menu.

I am very excited about having a growing local group of MINI enthusiasts. I am not the greatest manager or organizer, but I can get things done and do have a good bit of time to help with event planning or website maintenance.

Do we have a website? Do you think we need one at this point? I think that the soon to come Club forum here will work for us until we get the ball rolling into the new year.

~Andrew~

 

>>Now it seems that us Alabama/Birmingham MINI and Mini folks are going to have to figure out some way to organize ourselves. "BAMA" sounds good to me as long is it does not offend the Auburn fans (as a recent transplant from Colorado, I have chosen to remain neutral in the Alabama vs. Auburn rivalry).
>>

As a devout Auburn fan, I cant say I'm crazy about the name, but I'm a big boy so I can live with it. (Uncle Harold and I already have this AU/UA thing down pat, and we've only met once.)

_________________
2003 MC BRG/White Roof, Sport and Premium PKGs.

 

I wondered if the Alabama vs. Auburn rivalry would be a problem with the name BAMA

 

Personally, I think anyone who is offended by the name "B.A.M.A." has their head way too far up their own ****. I'm sorry, but the name of the STATE is 'bama. Just seems to make sense since we, the MINI owners, happen to live in 'bama. B.A.M.A. describes who we are as well as where we live. This dual meaning is a plus.

Oh, no! Next the AU tribe will be petitioning Judge Roy Moore to change the name of the state!

Back to the cruise. The route has been changed to include more two lane, more scenery, and more local interest and history.

LET'S MOTOR, B.A.M.A.!!!

 

Thankfully, I am a transplant here from Colorado so I am neutral on the Alabama vs. Auburn rivalry, and it does have little to do with motoring in our MINI's

I like the idea of more 2 lane roads and scenery

 

>>Personally, I think anyone who is offended by the name "B.A.M.A." has their head way too far up their own ****. I'm sorry, but the name of the STATE is 'bama. Just seems to make sense since we, the MINI owners, happen to live in 'bama. B.A.M.A. describes who we are as well as where we live. This dual meaning is a plus.
>>
>>Oh, no! Next the AU tribe will be petitioning Judge Roy Moore to change the name of the state!
>>
>>Back to the cruise. The route has been changed to include more two lane, more scenery, and more local interest and history.
>>
>>LET'S MOTOR, B.A.M.A.!!!
>>
>>
>>
I am much more offended by your post as I am the name of the club. If you had read it more carefully, you probably could have detected the jest in which it was written. And the Roy Moore comment is and was completely uncalled for. I think the name BAMA is 100% appropriate. Harold and I have good natured ribbing going on with the AU/UA thing. Evidently you couldn't take it that way.

 

Anyway, Back to the Cruise. Can we count on JerryTheTiger participating?

 

CRUISE UPDATE

Stephen Jolly has secured some MINI swag that will be given away during our picnic stop. The treasure trove of bounty to be given away is pretty darn good.

Don't miss out. Plan to participate on the 6th.

LET'S NOT SIT AND TALK ABOUT OUR CARS, LET'S ACTUALLY DRIVE THEM..........

 

This was a great cruise. We left on time and returned on time even though we had a wrinkle or two thrown in. We drove through three of Alabama's covered bridges and took advantage of picture opportunities. We also went to the Shrine of the Holy Sacriment, whcih was very interesting and pretty. A great BIG thanks goes to Greg Lee and Chip Swartz for all the detailed planning. We also stopped at a rock-climbing park(Palisades Park) just outside of Oneonta for the view of the valley below, very impressive. We also had guests from Nashville, Rodney and Melissa Golden, who joined us with their MINI. Thanks again to Greg and Chip. HC

 

Thanks Greg and Chip for organizing this event. It was a lot of fun and I'm sure Blount County had never before seen the likes of us!


Where do we go next? I wonder what it would cost to get a couple hours of track time at Barber Motorsport Park? Maybe a tour of the Mercedes M-Class plant would be fun?

 

Someone came up with the idea of a scavenger hunt. I thought that sounded fun!
Julie