Day 9

Day 9 - July 27, 2014 - Golden Gate Field Berkley, Ca. to Reno, Nv. - MINI Wedding Day!!

This day is going to be epic. To start with, La Sara and I were up bright and early and ready to go. We said goodbye to Coco in Alameda and set out for Golden Gate Field in Berkley, the morning meetup to start the rally for MINI Takes the States. Our anticipation is electric! The air is cold out, with a breeze coming right off the Pacific Ocean and the San Fransisco Bay. But can we feel it? NO! It's MINI Takes the States! We stopped quickly to get a photo of Tycoon with the bay in the back ground before we start our "Chowder to Chow'dah" cannonball run. Ok, I took a selfie too.

 

We arrived to a madhouse! Over 700 MINIs had arrived to attend the kickoff morning meetup.

Tycoon found her spot in the pack and La Sara and I set off to get our MINI swag and some food. MINI USA had brought in several food trucks that were cooking us all breakfast, they had set out massive amounts of coffee, water, and tea. As I was about to go get in to line at the food trucks they announced they wanted the "Coast to Coast Crew" over at the beach to take a photo of all of us going the whole way. Sara got in line for the food and I got into the mob for the photo. This year there are more people going the whole way than ever before! Over 450 MINIs going from coast to coast. I spotted a Philly MINI member, Mike Marzo, in the crowd!

Once we had completed our photo, Sara and I browsed some of the MINIs that were in attendance.

 The Peeps MINI, a sponsored MINI

 The OUT Magazine MINI, a sponsored MINI

 Our WiFi F56, whenever they stop they create a hotspot for people on MTTS

 This one is for my Mom who loves pink MINIs

The Chive MINI!

Despite having their F56 broken in to in San Fransisco the night before, the guys with MINI Goes All Around were there and ready to go.

After browsing the vast collection of MINIs we were called over to a makeshift skate park where our MC for the trip had a surprise for us. Tony Hawk was going to skate over MINI's as they drove through the pipes as our send off!! Go TONY!!

Last night I was contacted by BuzzFeed who is following the whole route and asked if I would be part of a documentary they were shooting covering the whole event. So after the excitement of Tony they quickly interviewed me before we all ran for our cars.

Then we were off to our MINIs! Get in, hurry, lets go and do this! Can you tell we are excited. It's really happening!

Off we went. On to the freeway and headed East! The route that MINI USA had designed for us took us in to Sonoma, Nappa and wine country. Sara and I decided we absolutely had to take a few pictures of Tycoon with the vines.

While driving I decided that the baby vines that were all over the place had little voices that were very high pitched. And they said "come back and drink me in 5 years". It was a pretty funny moment for Sara and me. There were a few little hiccups along the route. The directions MINI gave us were vague at times and some people had a hard time following them. There seemed to be MINIs zig zagging all over Nappa at one point. Sara and I got lucky, we made it to the turn for Liberty Road first and boy did we get lucky. It was an AWESOME twistie road through the hills and boy did we rip it up! It was a blast, we had smiles plastered to our faces. After the twisties we were coming to the outskirts of Sacramento and saw this sign and knew we had to stop and take a picture. YOLO.

 But since we were one of the few MINIs who followed the route and made it, we ended up being on of the last ones to Niello MINI in Sacramento for the lunch stop. So we pulled a pit stop, grabbed a quick box lunch (which was yummy) made a potty break and were about to get back on the road when a possible disaster presented itself.

We got a message from Sami, the bride of our MINI wedding that was supposed to be tonight, they were broken down on the side of the road with a malfunction code!! Sami said they were going to try to limp back to Niello MINI so Sara and I decided to hang out for a few to see if maybe we could end up piling them in to Tycoon. A few minutes later they called and said they had managed to clear the code and thought they could limp to Reno, we left to try and catch up. We flew through the Donner Pass headed towards Nevada as Sami and Brian and their MINI Brooklyn limped along with no turbo. We caught up with them at the Nevada border.

Brooklyn, Kowalski, and Tycoon drove straight to the wedding site from here to quickly try and set up and drop off some things for the wedding before heading in to Reno to try and get the bride and groom ready on time! Turns out the bride ended up being about 45 minutes late. Oops. But really, the wedding went off perfectly, despite the problems. And Brian and Sami are MARRIED!!

Post wedding bliss everyone drove, all be it a bit late, to the evening event hosted by MINI at the National Bowling Museum in Reno. This has to be the biggest bowling alley I have ever seen in my life, and it was filled with MINIacs. I was a bit exhausted, so was Kyle who decided In N Out was in order. But we hung out for a bit and watched the bowling.

We really didn't think we would see Sami and Brian after the wedding, but they surprised us as we were about to leave the evening event.  I caught them mooching :) And then we all went and found the Reno sign.

Phew, was that really one day? It sure feels like it was much longer. But what a great first day. Tomorrow will be a busy one as well. BuzzFeed has asked to follow me for half of the day to document some of Tycoon, Sara and my adventures.

I'm really trying my best to update the blog the day of but with all the photos and trying to get things posted I don't think I have gone to sleep before midnight one day yet. Who knew this blogging thing took so much time and work? But I hope you guys are liking the pictures and the stories. Keep checking back and follow us on Facebook and Twitter by searching the hashtags #TycoontheMINI and #MTTS2014 plus then you can see some of the other photos people from the road are taking.

Goodnight!

Day 8

Day 8 - July 26, 2014 - Winnemucca, Nv. to San Fransisco, Ca. MINI Takes the States begins!

So today was a long day. I started out from Winnemucca, about 140 miles east of Reno and drove all the way to San Fransisco for the start of MINI Takes the States. I made sure to get out early because I wanted to get there and meet with Sami and Brian, the MINI couple who met through their love of MINIs and is getting married in Reno while on the trip. I get to take their wedding photos! So I set out to find some decaf. And found a little shop, Global Coffee, that just said "Espresso" on the outside. Expecting something much less than a true coffee bar I walked in. I believe the first words out of my mouth were "Oh my God it's a fucking oasis".

 The cops that were sitting in the corner thought that was really funny. This was a coffee shop you would expect to see in a major city, not in the middle of the Nevada desert along the so called "loneliest road". So after grabbing and iced decaf and some cinnamon mini scones I set out. The drive was easy through Nevada.Traveling through the desert, I saw some salt flats. It appears that the locals like to write messages and names and what not with rocks on top of the salt. The desert water towers I guess you could say.

 After the desert came Reno came the Donner Pass and then in to Sacramento and California traffic. Ugh.

After sitting in about an hour of traffic I finally made it to the outskirts of San Fransisco and Mecca. That is right, the sighting of the first In N Out burger!!

 If you don't know what In N Out is you have not lived. It makes Five Guys look like McDonalds. And animal style is the way to go. Trust me.

I arrived in a cute little town called Fairfax shortly after seeing Mecca. It really is the epitome of "crunchy" California. Adorable little organic restaurants, plant stores that sell only native species, 25 mph signs galore. But in this place I found Brooklyn the MINI!!

This means that Brian and Sami are not far. Brian and Sami met when Brian posted something in the MINI Countryman Owners Lounge on facebook and Sami was the first to comment. The rest is history, love, marriage and who knows, a baby carriage?  Brian and Sami asked me to take pictures for their wedding in Reno on Sunday at the second MINI Takes the States stop. So we had a quick chat about the plans, talked a few details, had a Pellegrino and then I went in search of food and a car wash for serial bug killer Tycoon. Food was the first priority and Rose Vally Restaurant delivered!

A portobello mushroom sandwich with roasted peppers and mozzarella, with a side salad of kale, tomatoes, green beens and some long grain rice. OMG, this is where they crunchies have it spot on. Dag gone that stuff is good.

So Winnie fed and kicking the crap out of me I found a brushless car wash. I thought for sure with the carnage on the front of Tycoon there was no way they were going to be able to get her clean. So she waited her turn.

While I was waiting I was reminded I was in California. Look closely...Why...

Anyway, so I was pleasantly surprised when Tycoon came back sparkling clean and bug free. They really did do a great job. I went back up to see what Sami and Brian were up to and guess who I found! Kyle and Kowalski! It was officially a Countryman reunion.

After visiting and chatting for awhile we decided it was time to go take some pictures of the cars at the Golden Gate Bridge and then head in to the city for the kickoff party for MINI Takes the States. We motored down to the Golden Gate Bridge, having a blast in our MINI Countryman caravan. Honking and revving engines in tunnels like we were kids. The locals seemed to think it was kind of fun as well and at times joined in and waved. I guess when you have over 700 MINIs invade your town it is kind of obvious we are all together.

We arrived at a great location just below the Golden Gate Bridge just as the fog was rolling in to the bay. It was perfect, the light was just starting to turn golden and the fog was just starting to cover the top of the bridge and it was just gorgeous.

After blowing our minds with beautiful pictures, Sami, Brian, Kyle, Hannah and I made our way in to the heart of San Fransisco for the kick off party of MINI Takes the States at San Fransisco MINI. Hannah took this picture of Tycoon and me crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. I may have edited slightly.

 Now this party, let me tell you, this was the party to end all parties. Almost 1,000 people packing in to a double decked MINI dealer in down town San Fran. The party was complete with British character actors, kick ass food, a Countryman turned DJ, a flip book maker, and to top it all off...TONY HAWK!!! Tony just became a spokesman for MINI since he bought his own Countryman a couple of years ago and has become just as obsessed with his as we all are with our MINIs.

 selfie with Tony Hawk!

 Kyle and Hannah both on their phones...

 Waiting to get in at San Fransisco MINI

 Brian and Sami, everyone is excited for the wedding tomorrow!

 registration

 DCMM Member Melissa getting registered

 Kyle talking to the MINI film crew while Hannah photobombs

 Brian and Sami

 Little guy looking at the DJ booth

 The mayhem

 A mini

 Our MC while on the trip

 MINI Corporate rep.

The flip book maker

 The miniest motorer

The group of us mingled at the party, ate some food, those of us who could drink had adult beverages, those of us preggo or under 21 stuck with water and sodas. Around 945 Sami, Brian and I decided that we were going to try and go take pictures of Tycoon and Brooklyn on Lombard Street. Lets give it a shot, if it's shut down it's shut down. But hey, at least we tried. We went up the steepest hills you have ever seen. Now, in a manual car this can cause a certain amount of anxiety if you know what I mean. I admit it, I coasted through a couple stop signs here and there. But lets keep it real, the alternative could have gotten ugly really fast. It turned out great! Lombard was open! So Sami drove Tycoon for me and Brian drove Brooklyn and we got great shots of the cars at night on Lombard Street, the curviest city street in the U.S.

Just as we were finishing up at the bottom of Lombard street La Sara called and said her plane had landed early!! OMG MINI! So I sped through the city of San Fransisco to get the to the airport to pick up my navigator for the next week of motoring.

After all of this I found out some good news and some bad news. Bad news from one of my favorite MINIs on the trip. The MINI Goes All Around guys from Germany who are taking their new F56 all around the world had their MINI broken in to and bags stolen out of the back. Their back window was smashed in and almost $2,000 stolen along with a leather bound hand written journal of their trip. So that was a bit discouraging. But the good news is that another of my favorite MINIs, 4 Guys 1 MINI, who had broken down 3 days earlier in Wisconsin, made it to the party just as it was ending!! So happy that everything got fixed on their hardtop Cooper and they made it in time to check in.

To end the night La Sara and I drove to Alameda to crash with her Coastie friend Coen "Coco" at her apartment. We stayed up until almost 130 in the morning just chatting and laughing until I about crashed.

So tomorrow WE MOTOR!!