MTTS Day 2/3: The evening event at Sandia MINI in Albuquerque wasn't dampened by the rain. They moved it under a tent, and they had a band and some nice food. I checked in and picked up my badge and goodie bag. Then I ran into Suzanne from Seattle, a fellow native Long Islander and Mets fan whom I'd met on the way to Denver during MTTS 2010. It was nice to see her since the rest of my Sin City Mini folks were not scheduled to join us until Phoenix. The MINI USA people brought several special MINIs with them including a new GP and the ClubVan. MINI USA VP and Chief Motorer Jim McDowell was driving a black MINI convertible which he allowed MINI owners to sign with a gold or silver sharpie! Every inch of it was covered. I just barely squeezed in my name on the bonnet.
They also brought along our very own Paralympic athlete. MINI USA sponsors the Paralympics, so Michael Johnston, a triathlete hopeful for 2016, was going the whole way from NJ to LA and issuing challenges along the way. If you signed up you could swim, bike or run along with him at different stops along the rally route. He had different leg attachments for each sport. He drove the whole way in a Countryman, and was given the title of Motorbassador.
The next morning we lined up to be escorted by Albuquerque police officers out of the dealership lot and onto the freeway for our run to Phoenix. The first hour was pretty much all freeway, but then we turned off onto some pretty nice little roads full of twisties, and altitude changes down through mountain passes. We had a stop at a casino in Payson, AZ where the Dynamic MINI Collective, an AZ club, provided a little goodie bag/desert survival kit. We had just over an hour more to get to Scottsdale where the host hotel and event were taking place. It was a long drive, around 410 miles. We arrived in hot muggy Scottsdale and I retired to my hotel for a nap before the evening event at the Saguaro.
My hotel was really cute. It had hardwood floors in the room! I tried to watch the Mets game on my iPad while I was in there, but it wasn't working and it turned out they were having technical difficulties. The Mets lost. After two hours, I got up and changed clothes and headed over to the Saguaro hotel. They only offered valet parking and I realized this was the first time I ever valeted my car. I avoid it whenever possible. I don't really want strangers getting in my car. But I figured since it was a MINI event, full of other MINI owners and their cars, it would be fine. The party was okay. They offered h'orderves, but we had to pay for drinks, even soda. They had a band which featured a drummer who also worked at MINI of N. Scottsdale in the service department. They were okay, a typical cover band. They had a raffle and the usual thank-you speeches. The Sin City folks arrived from Vegas after an extra scenic drive through the 12 miles of terror. There were about a dozen of us altogether including Agro, Chris, Lisa, Julie, Karen, Mike, Kerry, Toni, Richard, Alia, Tommy, Larry and Dee. Suzanne arrived at the party with her boyfriend Eddie in tow; he'd surprised her by flying down from Seattle. Scotty from the DMC, who I'd also met on MTTS 2010, was excited because we were finally in his territory after he'd spent so much time hanging out with us in Vegas. He had arranged a TV spot in the morning on the local news about MTTS and was trying to get volunteers to show up at the station early in the morning before we left for L.A. I told him I'd try to make it, and I didn't go to bed too late, but the next morning when my alarm went off at 6:00am, I decided it wasn't going to happen. He told me later they had about 40 cars show up so I didn't have to feel bad for not showing, it all worked out.
MTTS Day 4: With the storms passing through all weekend, it was uncharacteristically muggy in Phoenix, so I was glad to be heading out in the morning. We gathered once again at the Saguaro, and picked up our snack and route instructions. This day's drive would be a straight shot on the 10 Fwy all the way into L.A. about 405 miles. We stopped in Indio, CA (home of Coachella) for lunch at In'n'Out Burger, then got to L.A. just in time to check into the hotel and get to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena for the MINICross. I got to drive the Coupe and the Roadster in the MINICross course. It was fun. Then it was back to the hotel to change for the evening event, the big MTTS wrap party at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip.
The location was pretty neat, I had never been there. MINIs filled the valet lots and there was a nice view out over the city.
The HOB restaurant provided a really nice buffet dinner and there was a concert by singer/songwriter Matt Nathanson who provided good music and witty banter about MINIs, his songs, and the audience.
There was also a giant cake shaped like a MINI which Matt commented about continuously as the HOB chef began slicing it up.
I enjoyed this party much more than the one in Phoenix. I did not enjoy the traffic getting off the Sunset Strip however, but oh well. I got back to my hotel in Pasadena around midnight. Only one more event to go.
MTTS Day 5: In the morning I got up and headed out to Gladstones at the Will Rogers State beach in Santa Monic on the Pacific Coast Hwy. There we gathered for the official end of MTTS, at the Pacific Ocean. They provided a breakfast of fruit, yogurt, granola, and muffins. There were more speeches and thank-yous and they announced the sweepstakes winner of an all-expenses paid trip to the London Olympics at the end of the month. That would've been nice to win. But all in all, there was plenty of fun to be had and Rory's first big rally was a great success.
After a quick shopping stop on Melrose, Rory and I headed home. We hit some stormy weather so it took longer because the roads were flooding a bit. We got home around dinnertime and I unloaded my luggage and all the goodies I'd accumulated. George had been by in the morning to check on the turtles and had told me it was stormy in this area too. And it poured down last night and was still raining this morning when I got up. I was glad I took the extra day off to rest up. Back to work tomorrow.
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