Driver with MINI and RDU control tower

Back in January a handful of us THMMCers made it over to the new Flow MINI Raleigh when they first opened.  Things were still being constructed at that time.  I’ve also been over there a couple times for some service the past couple months as they’ve been in a “soft opening” phase.  But the big day finally got here - the official Grand Opening on May 15, 2010.

Co-pilot with MINI and Snoopy's sign

The day’s festivities started early with a scavenger hunt in the Raleigh area.  We gathered at Flow MINI Raleigh at 8:30 a.m. to receive our clue packages and we were sent off.  For this hunt, my co-pilot was my son William.  Our first goal was the Observation Park at RDU.  Luckily for us, we were traveling with a pack of MINIs on 540 over to the airport and the lead MINI knew where they were going.  After finding the answers to some trivia questions and getting a pic of the control tower, it was off to Crabtree Valley Mall.

Co-pilot with Shimmer Wall in Raleigh

At the mall we probably picked up some time as we were supposed to find some MINIs in the mall.  William had been there a few times with his Nanny, so he knew right where to go.  After that, we shot over to North Hills Mall where a British Car Show was gearing up.  Got a pic of William with a classic and counted classic British cars.  Also, we got to see a Tesla out there.  We then shot over to the original Snoopy’s on Old Wake Forest Road - a location I knew well since it is across the street from an auto shop that my father worked with.

Sax playing monkey at Cup A-Joe

After that, we headed downtown for pics and clues at several locations like the Executive Mansion, the Capitol Building, the Museum of History, Mordecai Park, and one of the convention centers.  From there we headed over to the Farmer’s Market.  I really hate going over there during these scavenger hunts as it is always very frustrating trying to find the vendor that has your next clue.  We then rode over to the NCSU campus for some info at the Bell Tower and then Cup A Joe.  I got to see the new streetscape project on Hillsborough Street.  That really makes things different compared to when I went to school there.

Co-pilot with painted horse at Horse Complex

We continued on out of town with stops at the Vet School, the Hunt Horse Complex, Carter-Finley Stadium, and finally the Museum of Art, before heading back to Flow MINI Raleigh.  We didn’t win the scavenger hunt, but I felt pretty good as we found all the clues, answered all the questions, and got all the pics we were supposed to get.  And at one point, William even noted that “this is fun.”  Flow provided us with some lunch and we checked out some of the MINIs (they have a nice convertible S in Chili Red).

Scavenger Hunt Winner with Flow folks

Near the end of our time there, we got to talking with the balloon lady.  She wasn’t having much luck as there were very few kids there.  After politely declining her entreaties to make a balloon, William finally relented and agreed to let her do a little face painting.  We figured she would just do a little something on his cheek.  But no.  She did a full on paint job over his entire face, making him look like a wolf (including eyes painted on his eyelids).  We got a good laugh out of that and I noted for William that he had made the balloon lady happy to finally have something to do and we noticed another young boy who got his face painted after seeing it could be done.  So that was a little bit of happiness he brought to two people at a small cost to himself.  So that was a nice little life lesson to close out the day.

Flow MINI Raleigh did a good job with the grand opening.  The scavenger hunt was fun, we got some free food, and got to spend some time seeing other THMMCers.  And I got to spend some time with my son doing something fun and a little bit offbeat.  Be sure to check out the photo gallery for all the pics we had to get as part of the scavenger hunt as well as some others.

Last week TWISTER from the Tar Heel MINI Motoring Club sent me something interesting that his daughter had received.  It seems she was stopped at a vehicle checkpoint over the weekend.  No problems for her, but whatever agency(ies) was(were) conducting the checkpoint was handing out some flyers.  She managed to send a pic of part of the flyer to TWISTER as shown below:

License Plate Law Flyer

As you might be able to tell, it was noteworthy in that it shows a pic of a MINI.  And as TWISTER accurately surmised, it was none other than my MINI WUF.  You can find the original pic here on the blog.  You’ll note that they blacked out one of my badges - it was the one reading “HUMMER ESCAPE POD”.  Not sure why they wanted to black that out, but left all the FLOW MINI info.

I can’t see the entire flyer and haven’t been able to find the agency that produced it (though I do know it was not the NC Highway Patrol).  So there is a chance I am wrong on this, but it does not appear they gave proper attribution for the photo per the CCL I use.  And just basic etiquette would suggest you’d contact the person to at least let them know you are using their pic (and/or ask permission as may be appropriate).  I guess they may be picky about license plate frames - copyright law, not so much.

So without the attribution, my contribution is anonymous.  Yet my MINI has some little bit of fame (maybe 10 seconds worth - long enough for recipients to toss the flyer).  Maybe I can add this to my photography portfolio, no?  In the meantime, make sure your license plate frame is good to go in NC!!!

The Hanging Rock - yes, I hiked all the way up there to get this pic

On Friday, June 12th and Saturday, June 13th I did something quite a bit different.  Went and attended a “retreat” for some men from my church and other guests that was put on by my Pastor.  The retreat consisted of a camping trip up to Hanging Rock State Park.  It is a little scary I suppose to think about it, but it has been a few *decades* since I last went camping.  As a little kid was the last time, though I do have some fond memories of attending a Boy Scout jamboree one summer.  I think it must have been down around Fayetteville as there were some military vehicles around and we found all kinds of “brass” in the field where we were camping (keep in mind that to us kids, brass was very interesting; not so much after target practice and you have to police it all up).  I don’t count all the times I camped out in front of Reynolds Coliseum to get tickets to basketball games while I was attending NCSU.  Although probably as cold as it was a few times it should count as “camping”.

Luckily, Pastor Mark and some of the other guys were all prepared with the equipment needed for a successful camping trip.  I get the feeling they must have been before.  (Aside in my head:
“You think?”)  So all I had to do was bring some drinks, a sleeping bag, some bug spray, and clothes.  I ended up using a sleeping bag my son got for Christmas as part of a tent set he received.  As I discovered, the sleeping bag was about paper thin.  Just enough to keep me warm from the cool night air, but absolutely no padding to help combat the hardness of the tent pad I was sleeping on. (more…)

Mr. MINI WUF in front of the Washington Monument

Last week I had to go to Washington, DC, for some job training.  Travelling is not a big part of my job and it is usually always related to training.  DC is not somewhere I go outside of my job.  I think the last time I was there was a trip with my wife early in our marriage.  So, we decided to take this opportunity and go up there together.  A sort of mini-vacation.  And by taking the Mini, it would also be a Mini vacation.

I decided to use Google Maps to plot out a route up there that would not use the Interstates.  This added about an hour to the length of the drive.  But it had the benefit of letting me find some twisty backroads to enjoy, avoiding the frustration of Interstate traffic, and the opportunity to find a Roadside America attraction. (more…)

VIR - My first visit to this track and the first time for my Mini on a track

Today I got to take my Mini, Mr. Mini Wuf, on a new adventure - a trip to Virginia International Raceway.  After missing out on several Tar Heel MINI Motoring Club events in September and October due to other priorities, it was good to get out with other club members for some motoring.  It was also nice to get out for some fun in the Mini after its trip in for some surgery after my deer strike a few weeks ago.  Alas, it will be a while before I can get stripes installed while the paint on the new hood cures.

The THMMC turnout (until I left and Minified showed up for the afternoon).

The event was the Holiday Laps event at VIR.  They hold this event as a fund raiser to help the Salvation Army.  For a $25 donation (or equivalent in toys or perishable food) you could take your car out on the track for about a 20 minute session.  I didn’t really bother to keep count, but I think that translated to about 6 or 7 laps.  I ended up paying for two sessions.  As it turned out, I also had to take my son along with me as he developed a fever overnight and could not go to school.  Needless to say, I think he had a better time with me at the track.  The downside was it cut my day at the track short as I had to leave to get him to the doctor.

Paleo showed up to take the whole family for a spin around VIR

The other challenge for the day was the weather as rain moved into the area on Thursday and the forecast was for it to last all the way through Saturday.  It was a drizzly mist for most of the ride up Hwy. 62 to the track with some moderate showers along the way.   I figured it would catch up to us at the track eventually, but it never really got bad out there.  In fact, for the first session, at points the track was showing signs of drying.  Light to moderate drizzle took care of that by the second session.

The Mustang club was very well represented (this is only a portion).

I have no point of comparison, but I think the weather may have kept the crowd quite a bit smaller than anticipated.  While I was at the track, there were a total of 7 Minis present and Minified from the THMMC was on her way in as I was leaving.  The RX-7s and RX-8s had a pretty good turnout as did the Miatas.  Probably the biggest group was the Mustang club.  So many, they got a mention over the loudspeakers and pretty much formed a “group” all by themselves.

For the first session, I was following MidnightDave and RudyT

In addition to the donations to get a turn on the track, some raffles were also going on.  One of these was for a chance to take a ride in a McLaren Can-Am racecar (more on that later), there was supposed to be a chance to go for a ride on a motorbike, and you could buy turns in an Ariel Atom with a professional driver.  I know MidnightDave from the THMMC did that and maybe RudyT as well.  Helping handle all these was a crew from WAKG 103.3, a country music station.  My son’s favorite station has been 93.1 The Wolf, but he might have changed now after this event.  A little side note - while waiting in line for our second session, we were right next to the WAKG van while they were broadcasting from the site.  So we had it on in the Mini and we could hear it over their speakers.  It was like a super stereo effect for me (maybe not so much for my son who was on the far side).

Up the esses we go!

So what about the on-track experiences?  For the first session we had a pretty big group - maybe 20 to 25 cars.  At that point, it was only MidnightDave, RudyT, and myself present (and in fact MidnightDave had already done a run earlier), so we got lined up together.  As it turned out, we were in the first half of the field.  Which was good as about three cars behind me there was a slower vehicle that held up the back half of the field.  Felt kind of sorry for a yellow Corvette and a Cobra that were stuck back there.

Yikes Dave! That's not the right way!

About the third lap maybe, we had an interesting little incident as MidnightDave spun his car on the track.  I’m not sure exactly what turn it would have been, but it was just before we started up the main straight.  Fortunately for him he kept it on the track and me and RudyT were able to get stopped in time (as were those who ended up coming up behind me).  One plus to the incident was that it gave us a chance to wind things out a bit as we set off to catch the rest of the field.  For the run, I think the highest we got was about 90 mph for just a second or so on one of the straights.

Max is loaded up and ready to head out in the McLaren Can-Am

My son and I then spent some time looking at some of the vehicles that were out there and cruising through the pro shop.  He especially liked the Cobra and the Rent-A-Racecars.  One that was interesting to me was a BMW 1 series that I spotted (pic in the gallery).  We also went and watched the Ariel Atom turn some laps.  I also took the opportunity to get some pics of some of our THMMC members out on the track during one of their sessions.

Max comes roaring down the straight in the Can-Am (sorry about the blur - I really need to learn how to focus or buy an AF/VR lens)

Just before the lunch break, I decided to head out for my second session.  As we lined up we ended up with only 8 cars in the group this time.  Max Headroom was in the group this time, a couple cars ahead of me.  The track was a lot wetter this time, but we were still going about as fast as earlier.  In fact, I think the pace car decided to wind it out just a tiny bit during a couple of our middle laps.  This meant I was able to get it up to 100 mph at one point during this run.  We also saw another spin, this time by one of the RX-7s just before we started up the esses.  Unlike MidnightDave, he ended up going off track, but not into anything.  And just like earlier, he was two cars in front of me, so we got a pretty good view of things.

Upon returning to the paddock area after the second session, the PA announcer was calling for none other than THMMC’s own Max Headroom who had won one of the rides in the McLaren Can-Am.  So, my son and I went and watched him get in that and head out on the track for (what I’m sure were) some extreme thrills.

Thus concluded the day at VIR.  It was a blast for me to get the Mini out and be able to wind it out a bit.  Obviously, with it being a paced event further slowed by weather I was nowhere close to being on the edge.  Of course, the downside is that I am even more interested in being able to attend something like a Phil Wicks Driving Academy so I can really see what I can do in the Mini (or is that what the Mini can do to me?).

As usual, there are more photos in the gallery.

Our hotel had the requisite bear statues.

OK, I suppose I am part of the club now.  What club you ask?  Why the Dragonslayer Club!!!  Yes, as part of my Labor Day weekend activities, I had the opportunity to take Mr. Mini Wuf for some motoring on the infamous Dragon.  I’ll touch on that some more in a bit.  Even though the Dragon is often the goal of many a pilgrimage, it actually served as a punctuation mark for a much longer drive.  Dubbed “Blimey’s Tour of Terror II”, our motoring for the day on Saturday, Aug. 30th, included runs from Canton, NC, down to Highlands, NC, a loop through South Carolina and Georgia, up to Robbinsville for some lunch, and finally some Dragon slaying and a little run down Hellbender on the way to Fontana Village.

The start was foggy, but it burned off quickly.

As is often the case, getting to the starting point was the first adventure.  In my case, I had to leave late Friday.  I commute everyday up and down I-85/I-40 and while it is a boring drive, the relatively short distance and my Mini at least makes it tolerable.  I was not looking forward to a four hour drive down to Canton.  My suspicions of trouble were almost immediately confirmed upon merging from the Durham Expressway onto I-85 where there was a massive traffic jam, apparently caused for no other reason than all the people trying to merge down from 4 lanes to 2.  I also came up on a wreck in Greensboro right after it happened (LEO was not even on the scene yet), but that didn’t delay me too much. 

Heading into Highlands I caught an LEO going the opposite direction.

Between Statesville and Hickory I came upon another massive traffic jam due to some construction barrels in the road (though I never saw any problems with the road or any construction going on).  So I made it, but I did discover two new chips in the paint on the front of my Mini as a result of that drive.  They join a windshield chip I gathered later in the weekend. (more…)

It has taken a while, but I am finally getting around to a writeup regarding the latest Tar Heel MINI Motoring Club (THMMC) event that I was able to attend.  Unfortunately, my photos really came out horribly for this event.  Not sure what setting I messed up - I thought all I did was switch it to no flash, but obviously something else happened.  Many of them, especially once we got out on the drive, were way overexposed.  Any way, you can see what I’ve uploaded in the gallery.

The ride itself was titled the Meet & Motor & Beer Tasting event.  It started out with everyone meeting at the Sonic Drive-In in Holly Springs, NC.  After a quick bite to eat and some time to socialize, it was off on a ride.  The route was a modified version of one the club had done previously known as the Tour de Steamplume. For those not familiar with the area, it is a nod to Progress Energy’s Harris nuclear plant (although having grown up in the area and being around when it was built, I’ll always know it as Shearon Harris).  At the end of the motoring bit, most everyone stuck around to tour the Carolina Brewing Company brewery in Holly Springs. And after that, a last minute itinerary change included a late lunch at Xios Greek Restaurant.  I did not stick around for the last two parts.  I’m not a beer drinker, so the CBC tour was no loss, though I would have enjoyed some good Greek food.  Alas, my kids were waiting for me to get back to the lake so we could do some jet skiing (kind of like a Mini on the water).

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Some vacations are the kind where you go and relax and whenever you get back to real life, you are all rested up. I have a vacation like that coming up this next week when the family heads for the beach. Yeah, there will be the occasional “effort” given to do things like go on a bike ride or a long walk. But mostly it is just laying around, catching a few winks, etc.

Other vacations are like the one I took this past weekend with the Tar Heel MINI Motoring Club (THMMC) where I returned to real life worn out and needing a post-vacation vacation. And what was this event that left me so tired? It was the inaugural Blue Ridge Parkway Tour for the THMMC (I use the term “inaugural” loosely as this could be a one time event, though there are rumors a “second annual” event may be in the works). The plan was to get a bunch of Minis together and traverse the entire Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP henceforth) from the northern end in Waynesboro, VA, to the southern end in Cherokee, NC. And this would all be done over the course of three days.
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After a week in Vegas where I was pretty much confined to my hotel (the Golden Nugget) for some training and then had to endure the red-eye flight back, it was great to be back home.  Even though I only got back in town shortly after noon on Saturday, the thought of getting in Mr. Mini Wuf and doing some motoring was something I was looking forward to.  The only question, what to do with my family who I had been missing quite a bit?  That was solved when my kids decided they wanted to go along for a ride.

So it was off to Mimi’s Cafe to meet up with other Mini owners celebrating the third anniversary of the Tar Heel MINI Motoring Club with a Dine & Dash event.  Lunch was held at 1:00 p.m. which I unfortunately was not able to attend.  We did get out there shortly before 3:00 p.m. for the Dash part of the day.  In the photo gallery, you can see several pics of the Minis lined up in the parking lot.  This was kind of special for me since this occurred right in my neck of the woods as I live right next door in Graham. (more…)

As readers probably know, last fall I got a new Nikon D-SLR camera and have been enjoying working on my photography craft.  One of the things I’ve been thinking about doing is creating a portfolio (or more likely, portfolios) of my work.  Although I’ve taken an abundance of soccer and vacation photos, I don’t have much else.  A few sunrises and sunsets maybe.  Of course, there is a lot more I’m interested.  First up is my interest in capturing lightning.  I’ve started dabbling a bit with some moon shots.  And there is a lot of other stuff I’d like to get around to eventually.

In some research I did on how to go about building a portfolio, one “tool” for doing so is a project referred to as “picture a day” or PAD.  Doing a picture a day seems a little daunting to me.  But I suppose over the course of a year, it does give one a lot of opportunity to practice different photography skills.  So, though I’m unsure about how I’m going to approach, I’ve decided to jump right in starting on Feb. 01, 2008.

The next step was to figure out a way to share the growing portfolio for the 2008 PAD.  I was recently getting my eyes checked and my doctor uses Flickr for his photos.  So I was just about poised to figure out how to create a link or otherwise integrate Flickr with the ToTehMoon site.  That plan hit a snag yesterday when it was announced that Microsoft had made a bid of $44B to purchase Yahoo! The problem with that is Yahoo! owns Flickr, so if the deal goes through, Microsoft will own Flickr.  Since I try to avoid all things Microsoft, Flickr is no longer a real good option (even though there is some question as to whether the announced deal would receive regulatory approval - they are the #2 and #3 search engines and their merger would put like 95% of the search market in the hands of two companies - Google and Microsoft).  So I did some searching and found the NexGen plugin in for WordPress.  It lets me create photo galleries and albums here on the ToTehMoon site.

I am still working on some other issues - trying to get wireless to work on a laptop, trying to figure out why the remote desktop connection to Strategic Innovation laptop is not working, etc.  Hopefully it won’t take long (like sometime today) to get the next photo up.  I probably will finish watching The Fantastic Four.

Anyway, you should notice the link to the 2008 Photo A Day page.  I doubt I’ll blog about every photo I take.  But at least the first probably deserves a little mention.  It seems like such a mundane photo - the gas price sign when I stopped to fill up on the way to work.  But it helps chronicle the time when the project started and begs the question - what will it be a year from now, at the end of the project? As the year progresses, I’ll see what kind of skills I’m able to develop.  For instance, right now I’ve been struggling to get good action photos of my kids playing basketball.  It is a challenge as the gym is not lit very well, which makes it hard to get the shutter speed fast enough to capture the action.