3000 Miles in 11 Days!

3000

Yep, that's how far we've gone in our MINI this month through the 11th. It has taken me more than a few days to recover enough to write this post. The Sports Fan is still working on that one. Of course he drove 2900 of those 3000 miles. The spoiled princess here only drove 100 while he was tired. I'm not sure. He may have just said he wasn't tired anymore when really he was tired of my driving more than he was of driving his car himself! It's kind of weird to drive someone's car when they're in it with you. I feel more comfortable driving CoopahS when I'm alone. Of course, I am totally comfortable with the Sports Fan driving Jeepy, too. But if I have to drive him, I'd rather do it in Jeepy. How many people do you know with a 10 year old car who still love it as much as they did ten years ago?

Me. Me. Pick meeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I still adore my Jeepy.

OK, where did we go? From the 1st to the 3rd, we were in LA for MINIs Take The States, sponsored by MINI USA. We went on some runs, met a bunch of fun MINI owners and enthusiasts, and got to drive all of the new MINIs on a pseudo auto-cross course in the parking lot of the Rose Bowl.

We came away from that with one thought. We like our own MINI better than the newer ones! The turbo lag is disconcerting when you are used to immediate response from a super-charged engine. The power steering has changed and it tries too hard to be intuitive instead of being responsive. It is like it is trying to think ahead of you instead of just reacting in the fastest possible way imaginable. They've had to raise the hood a bit to comply with some European traffic laws having to do with the people you might be running over with your car. We don't like it. The headlights no longer raise up with your hood so that your MINI can howl at the moon when parked on top of a mountain in the dark. Instead, they peek out of holes in the hood. We don't like it. The back end is raised up ever so slightly. We don't like it. If I wanted to look at the mufflers, I'd look at the many badly modded Honda Civics with big-ass old wings on their back decks and Folgers cans bolted underneath. You see them all over Phoenix. Unfortunately, you hear them before and after you see them!

That being said, we had a great time and while I might enjoy the amenities of living in Los Angeles, I hope to hell that I never have to drive on the freeways there. Those people are seriously in need of agression and death-wish therapy! The smog is prettier in Denver... or even here in the hot place.

So then we came home and the Sports Fan hit the office for two days while I attended morning and night classes at Art Unraveled as detailed in a previous post. Don't make me repeat myself!

On Wednesday morning, bright and early, much earlier than I really wanted to be going, we were off to meet up with other Rat Packers and M.A.D.M.E.N. for a drive up to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, our intermediate destination. Obviously, the dryer didn't want us to go either since it was refusing to dry our clothes and I ended up staying up all night to tend it. When we got up in the morning, the Sports Fan took one look at the jeans I wanted to have dried and draped them over the Coug' out in the garage and set a fan to blow on them. How disgusting is it that they were drier faster than if the dryer had been working properly! (The dryer is fixed now and I'm shocked by how quickly things dry now that it is working properly again. I hate it when things go out slowly and don't scream, "I'm broken. Fix me!")

I've driven over the Res a few dozen times. I don't need to see it. I slept pretty much through that part. I woke up long enough to take a photo of the speedo just outside Kayenta when CoopahS turned 90,000 miles.

We paused in Cortez, Colorado long enough for a potty break and to buy snacks and purchase lottery tickets. (Note to self: check lottery tickets to see if the Sports Fan has to go to work tomorrow!) We finally got into Pagosa just before supper time. It was early enough to find a yummy dinner with our pals, Jon and Patty from the M.A.D.M.E.N., at Chato's, a Mexican restaurant we discovered a few years ago in their opening week. I had a big ole Margarita and a yummy chimichanga with some killer salsa. All I needed was to finish off a Hershey bar I'd started earlier and kick back with a Diet Peach Snapple and my email back at the hotel after hitting the hot tub for a bit. Great day. I love days on the road with the Sports Fan and our CoopahS!

I can't emphasize enough the joys of driving with a small group of 7 instead of the monster group of 30 we had with us on the same trip last year. It was nice not to have to worry if everyone made the turn. We could see that they had! Restroom breaks didn't take an hour or more. It was nice.

Let me just say that most cops KNOW that they are screwing up your day and most of the ones who have screwed up mine in the past were at least polite. As an opening line, "Bad day to be the leader of the pack, huh?" doesn't fit into my definition of polite. Especially with the penalty that came with it. It's right up there with people who would post a photo of their acquaintances dealing with this POS cop in my book. Of course, having friends who would pitch in to help pay the frieght sure makes up for it, as does having friends who are verbal in their appreciation for all that The Sports Fan does for the Rat Pack. (Here he is with the other two people who work really hard to make sure that MINI owners have fun motoring, Dee and Scott, with the club banner shown in their Cooper Cards booth at MTTS.)

Eventually, we got to my favorite spot on earth, Copper Mountain, Colorado. When I die, just sprinkle my ashes under the L lift in Union Creek at Copper. Seriously. Do it. Sprinkle Mr. Jaspy there with me, okay? He's in that box on my desk.

We liked our condo. We liked the temperature (under 70 most of the time!). And we loved being with all our MINI pals from all over. Jon and Rick and the MINI5280 folk do a ton of work setting up MINIs in the Mountains for all of us to enjoy and we do appreciate it. Of course, they have a fantastic dealer in Ralph Schomp MINI. Shelly of Ralph Schomp does a ton to make sure that they have whatever they need to make the event work. Plus she is a really sweet gal, fun, funny, friendly, with a really good understanding that MINIs are not just cars. They're a lifestyle.

If you think that your MINI is just transportation, we're sorry but we have to take it away from you and re-home it with people who can appreciate its personality and exactly what sort of impact owning and driving a MINI has on your life.

And the mileage ain't bad. ;-))

Friday saw us on the road to Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) with a hundred or so other MINIs. By the time we got to Ward, CO, we got tired of their breaks and decided to go on ahead on our own. We don't want to wait in no steenkin' lines for the bathroom! Instead, we forged ahead to Estes Park and I took the photo in the last post of the Sports Fan in front of the walkway along the Big Thompson River behind a Starbucks. We met the baker down the street who has a MINI and didn't even know that MITM was happening. (How do these MINI owners fall through the cracks??? We met a ton of folk in LA who didn't know that MINI clubs existed! The SoCal MINI Maniacs may have a few more members by now!)

For our first date in 1997, the Sports Fan and I drove my rental Taurus through RMNP on the first day it was open that year, at the end of May. Stopping at the top of the peak on Trail Ridge Road was interesting and proved to me that my body obviously does not handle oxygen well. (So naturally I lost no time moving to 8600 feet!) We stopped again lower on the other side of the mountain to take a hike up one of the trails. On subsequent visits, we haven't been able to pin down exactly which trailhead is the one we stopped at that day. We think it was Green Mountain Trail now but until I get my knee working better, we can't hike up it to find out.

We've driven Jeepy through the park a few times, but this was our first time through with CoopahS. I think the little guy appreciated the trip. He sure handled the altitude well. We often attribute this to the larger intercooler that the Sports Fan acquired from a guy in Austria who bought the remainder of the larger capacity intercoolers from the folks who made them for MINI for the Works car... or was it the GP? Whatever, it is one of the many mods thoughtfully made to our CoopahS by the Sports Fan and it works great for us.

Below is a photo of the two guys who work hard to make MiNis in the Mountains a terrific and fun event for everyone who takes the time to motor on up to Copper Mountain, CO in August, Rick and Jon from MINI5280, the Colorado MINI club. You can see some of the awesomeness of Copper's summer mountain splendor.

Sue, Marilyn, Jodean, Patty

The views certainly show you why America The Beautiful was inspired by the vista from Pike's Peak, just a little ways south of Copper. I hope you all get to experience those views for yourselves one day. Pictures don't do it justice.