Day 10 - July 28, 2014 - Reno, Nv. to Wendover, Ut.
I am exhausted, but it doesn't matter because I'm still so excited. Sara and I were up bright and early to go to the morning meet up at the Atlantis Hotel Parking lot in Reno. I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep. I was up super late trying to update the blog, then talking to my sister who needed a hug (I wish I could have been there to give her one), and then being woken up by Momma Kirk at 530 who keeps forgetting about the time difference I think. This is most certainly one of the hardest parts about the trip, life goes on back home but without me. When you want to be there to help and comfort and just give a hug when someone needs it, you aren't. You are being a bit selfish and doing your thing by driving across the country. Who does that? My regretful thought for the day.
The morning meet happened very fast and we were about to get back in our cars when I saw Brian still trying to figure out the problem with Brooklyn from yesterday. Mike, from Philly MINI and Helix Motorsports was trying to run some diagnostics, but in the end the big guns needed to come out. MINI mechanics with MINI Roadside assistance to the rescue. An intercooler hose had popped off and that was the root of Brooklyn's problems. Oddly enough this wouldn't be the first MINI Countryman to go down today. On our trip today we passed Fred and his Brilliant Copper Countryman on a pull off. To us it looked like he was camping for lunch, we beeped and kept going. Unfortunately, we found out later that he was broken down and waiting tow or Roadside Assistance. About 10 hours later they came and figured out he had the exact same problem as Brooklyn. Today was not a good day for Countrymen. Eight out of twenty in the MINI Countryman Owners Lounge on Facebook broke down. Of course MINI USA tried to save everyone, but at that rate, there just aren't enough mechanics to chase us all over the state. So a few, even now at 1205 in the morning are trying to catch up to us in Wendover. Don't take this as MINIs not being reliable cars, on the contrary, you have to remember how hard we are all pushing them at the moment. The cars that broke down were all East Coast cars that had driven hard cross country to get to the start.
Back to the morning. I bailed out of line early to meet up with the BuzzFeed crew, get gas and get on the road. The guys were looking to stop and do an interview somewhere near the middle of the state, around the flats in the middle of the desert along Highway 50. We motored out of Reno following them in their volcanic orange F56, they set a pretty good pace at around 90mph. Outside of town around Sparks, NV I noticed a huge uptake in the amount of notifications for police near an overpass. I warned them they may want to slow down. Thank goodness, because as we rounded the bend we saw a State Trooper on the overpass gunning and as we went under 5 others just waiting in line on the ramp picking off MINIs left and right. It was a total and utter MASSACRE. In total I can't even count how many MINIs received Motoring Awards today courtesy of the Nevada State Troopers. The running joke of the day is that we need to carry donuts tomorrow on the run. Even the CEO of MINI USA got caught. OOPS. However, it's not as bad as two people who ended up getting arrested out in the middle of the desert on Highway 50 who were caught going over 100mph. That is an automatic arrest and possible confiscation of the vehicle. Yeah, their day did not end well. So perhaps everyone has learned their lesson for the day, yeah, I don't think so.
Once out on Highway 50 we found a great spot for pictures and to set up for the interview. Sara and I took a selfie with Tycoon of the mini salt flats we found before setting up for the BuzzFeed interview. They guys interviewed me for about an hour, asking all kinds of questions. About Tycoon, about why a MINI, why the MINI family great, what we like about MINI etc. By the end I think I was dripping it was so hot out there, and maybe, just maybe I was a bit nervous. I got back in the car to grab a drink of water and without realizing it, dumped it all over my lap. Whelp, that skirt is done for the day, hence the costume change in pictures. The guys motored with us shooting video of us driving and let me tell you, they are willing to go all out to get the shot! Hanging out of windows, standing in sunroofs. They do it all!
We broke away from Buzzfeed around lunch time and continued on Highway 50 until we got to Austin, Nevada. A really quaint little town that looks like something out of a western movie. Right about this time we hit torrential rain storms which continued for about 2 hours or more. This is where Tycoon saves the day. I had slowed down due to the heavy rain, but didn't realize that there was a groove worn in to the road that was accumulating water. I hit it, All4 to the rescue. I think that if my All4 had not kicked in I probably would have been off the side of the road or at least pulled a good 180 or 360. Gotta love Tycoon. She popped that power to the back wheels and evened us right out in seconds. I ended up driving down the center of the road to avoid the massive river running down my side of the road.
Along the way, Sara broke out the pop rocks she had bought earlier in the day. If you want to hear two grown women laugh like idiots, give one of them pop rocks. We sounded like a bunch of eight year olds cackling.
We also saw lots of animals, cows, horses, prairie ponies, a coyote (or fox, we couldn't quite tell), lots of furry roadkill. I do believe Sara yelled at one point, "Oh my GOD, those horses are about to DO IT".
We finally made it back to the main highway at about 430 where we came in to the gas station on basically fumes and found Kyle and Kowalski sitting there. We filled up and off we went again. This time Sara drove so I could try and work on some pictures for the blog since I was so far behind. We hit massive storms all over again almost the rest of the way to Wendover. But as we arrived the golden evening sun came out to greet us at the Wendover cowboy. We met up with some of the MINI USA photographers and grabbed a quick photo before heading to the Wendover airport for the evening event. It was held in an abandoned hanger. This is the same airport where they filmed Con Air, the movie with Nicolas Cage. We chowed on some great sliders, salad, and yummy mac and cheese. Oh and the carrot cake for dinner. Did I mention cake? Being exhausted we decided to just take a few quick pictures at the airport and head to bed.
Tonight we stayed in the Rainbow Casino Hotel because, again, it was cheaper than paying for a campsite. When we got to our room Sara and I about died laughing. It is so overly retro it's almost intentional. The two queen beds have a united head board of black velvet running the length of the room. The walls are dupioni silk made to look like wood paneling. The opposite wall to the beds have floor to ceiling mirrors, we most certainly won't be lacking for room to put makeup on tomorrow. All the furniture is uber lacquered teak with black trim. It is a pimp paradise! I think I'm ready to get back to my tent...
And yet again, still not asleep before 1am. I really hope someone is reading this thing!
Goodnight!
Oh and P.S. I told Melina that I wouldn't let this slide... out in the middle of no where pit stop for her. :D
I am exhausted, but it doesn't matter because I'm still so excited. Sara and I were up bright and early to go to the morning meet up at the Atlantis Hotel Parking lot in Reno. I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep. I was up super late trying to update the blog, then talking to my sister who needed a hug (I wish I could have been there to give her one), and then being woken up by Momma Kirk at 530 who keeps forgetting about the time difference I think. This is most certainly one of the hardest parts about the trip, life goes on back home but without me. When you want to be there to help and comfort and just give a hug when someone needs it, you aren't. You are being a bit selfish and doing your thing by driving across the country. Who does that? My regretful thought for the day.
The morning meet happened very fast and we were about to get back in our cars when I saw Brian still trying to figure out the problem with Brooklyn from yesterday. Mike, from Philly MINI and Helix Motorsports was trying to run some diagnostics, but in the end the big guns needed to come out. MINI mechanics with MINI Roadside assistance to the rescue. An intercooler hose had popped off and that was the root of Brooklyn's problems. Oddly enough this wouldn't be the first MINI Countryman to go down today. On our trip today we passed Fred and his Brilliant Copper Countryman on a pull off. To us it looked like he was camping for lunch, we beeped and kept going. Unfortunately, we found out later that he was broken down and waiting tow or Roadside Assistance. About 10 hours later they came and figured out he had the exact same problem as Brooklyn. Today was not a good day for Countrymen. Eight out of twenty in the MINI Countryman Owners Lounge on Facebook broke down. Of course MINI USA tried to save everyone, but at that rate, there just aren't enough mechanics to chase us all over the state. So a few, even now at 1205 in the morning are trying to catch up to us in Wendover. Don't take this as MINIs not being reliable cars, on the contrary, you have to remember how hard we are all pushing them at the moment. The cars that broke down were all East Coast cars that had driven hard cross country to get to the start.
4 guys 1 MINI at the morning meet up
Once out on Highway 50 we found a great spot for pictures and to set up for the interview. Sara and I took a selfie with Tycoon of the mini salt flats we found before setting up for the BuzzFeed interview. They guys interviewed me for about an hour, asking all kinds of questions. About Tycoon, about why a MINI, why the MINI family great, what we like about MINI etc. By the end I think I was dripping it was so hot out there, and maybe, just maybe I was a bit nervous. I got back in the car to grab a drink of water and without realizing it, dumped it all over my lap. Whelp, that skirt is done for the day, hence the costume change in pictures. The guys motored with us shooting video of us driving and let me tell you, they are willing to go all out to get the shot! Hanging out of windows, standing in sunroofs. They do it all!
We broke away from Buzzfeed around lunch time and continued on Highway 50 until we got to Austin, Nevada. A really quaint little town that looks like something out of a western movie. Right about this time we hit torrential rain storms which continued for about 2 hours or more. This is where Tycoon saves the day. I had slowed down due to the heavy rain, but didn't realize that there was a groove worn in to the road that was accumulating water. I hit it, All4 to the rescue. I think that if my All4 had not kicked in I probably would have been off the side of the road or at least pulled a good 180 or 360. Gotta love Tycoon. She popped that power to the back wheels and evened us right out in seconds. I ended up driving down the center of the road to avoid the massive river running down my side of the road.
Along the way, Sara broke out the pop rocks she had bought earlier in the day. If you want to hear two grown women laugh like idiots, give one of them pop rocks. We sounded like a bunch of eight year olds cackling.
We also saw lots of animals, cows, horses, prairie ponies, a coyote (or fox, we couldn't quite tell), lots of furry roadkill. I do believe Sara yelled at one point, "Oh my GOD, those horses are about to DO IT".
We finally made it back to the main highway at about 430 where we came in to the gas station on basically fumes and found Kyle and Kowalski sitting there. We filled up and off we went again. This time Sara drove so I could try and work on some pictures for the blog since I was so far behind. We hit massive storms all over again almost the rest of the way to Wendover. But as we arrived the golden evening sun came out to greet us at the Wendover cowboy. We met up with some of the MINI USA photographers and grabbed a quick photo before heading to the Wendover airport for the evening event. It was held in an abandoned hanger. This is the same airport where they filmed Con Air, the movie with Nicolas Cage. We chowed on some great sliders, salad, and yummy mac and cheese. Oh and the carrot cake for dinner. Did I mention cake? Being exhausted we decided to just take a few quick pictures at the airport and head to bed.
Tonight we stayed in the Rainbow Casino Hotel because, again, it was cheaper than paying for a campsite. When we got to our room Sara and I about died laughing. It is so overly retro it's almost intentional. The two queen beds have a united head board of black velvet running the length of the room. The walls are dupioni silk made to look like wood paneling. The opposite wall to the beds have floor to ceiling mirrors, we most certainly won't be lacking for room to put makeup on tomorrow. All the furniture is uber lacquered teak with black trim. It is a pimp paradise! I think I'm ready to get back to my tent...
And yet again, still not asleep before 1am. I really hope someone is reading this thing!
Goodnight!
Oh and P.S. I told Melina that I wouldn't let this slide... out in the middle of no where pit stop for her. :D
Haha!! I thought clandestine pee pictures were just a guy thing! And bravo for posting it. Beware of the payback! - Tim Hanson
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