Fontana Dam.

Wow. This is a look over at the dam from a distance. What a monument to human engineering. Go do the tour and talk to the TVA retiree employees in the visitor center, they are very nice. A cool place to be, this is minutes from the dragon. Nice place mon. Real nice.

Time for a bath at MINIs on the Dragon 2007!

Here my ride is fresh off the dragon getting a bath next to a car called Darth Vader! This the the washing station next to the general store in Fontana Village. I just finished using Detailers Paradise http://www.detailersparadise.com/_system/_advancedstore/qryDefault.asp wash and Hydro http://www.detailersparadise.com/_system/_advancedstore/qryproductlist.asp?categoryid=F559-D192168000050-S370-M20060425132517 on my MINI and it is great stuff! I have a trunk full of these products in this picture. Heather was setup in the tent behind this picture selling the wares...I left some currency in that tent...good stuff! Nice (pretty) lady!

Hard Rain on the Dragon!!!

It rains? Well my garage queen gets rained on for the second time since birth. Ouch. I am on the Dragon what am I supposed to do? Let's drive baybee...All of my lights including my rear fog lamp are on. The final killboy picture... I really like this one...we have Van Halen and Led Zeppelin on the sound system...fairly loud!, the rain sensor wipers are working perfectly, the Dunlop runflat tires have a grip that surprises me in this downpour, let's rock. This is living! Thanks to killboy for the pictures!! This one is great! My suggestion is go find a picture and buy at least one of yours from these hard working folks. They are the best. Here is a link to a portion of this ride in the rain. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2405066246533501034

Ah the Curves of the Dragon...

Killboy.com rocks....as do the curves of the Dragon!

Rain on the Dragon....

The Killboy photos http://www.killboy.com/about.html are very awesome..If you were on the dragon you need to go look for your photos! Very high resolution and very nice....I like them so much I am going to put three up here....Here we are motoring by at a fairly high rate of speed!

I Got Your Sign Right Here!!!

I pulled over to get this shot. These signs are a sports car lovers favorite. A MINI owners dream.

On the Dragon!!!

In the rain...the fog rising off the Smokies in the distance my MINI has been rocking the curves on the Dragon.
Poor Garage Queen, she has never been in the rain since being born in Oxford. No fear I will rub her down with the finest micro fiber cloth 'till dry.
This car rocks! Not a slip, not a sound except an exhaust note, we ran the Dragon, and it was top shelf. Nuff said. Life is damn good. I love this car.

Highway 129

A wet day for a sign picture...yes I did the Dragon in the rain! And I have video....

Tapoco...our waitress at the Mountain Bistro in Fontana is getting married on July 7th. She lives in Tapoco. Get this...the ceremony is on 7-7-07 at 7 PM. Good luck! For the uninitiated, Robbinsville to the right - many miles away - has cell service and a working ATM!!! Wireless internet!! Civilization! Whew.

Current Beauty Queen of NE..

Everyone on NAMM http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/motd-home

knows who this is....I snapped a picture of her car because it was so cool...check out that color and those seats! Very nice. A quick story, she sold me a new M7 strut tower brace and ended up holding it like a bunch of flowers....a natural pose...oh...go read this...http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100856&highlight=detroit+tuned

Vintage British Baybee!!!

Man when I look at this engine I see this imprint of a memory I have of my old 1275 MG Midget engine. Except sideways! I lived under that car for several years...so I know these bits real well. Nice ride. I just had to take a picture of it. As I have said before I will get some photos of that Midget up here in the future...I have a ton....

My Lightspeed Bike....

Just for grins I will show you my titanium Lightspeed frame bike hand built by a guy I work with. It is very cool. Now I have a matching beer opener! I have some other front shocks for it but that red one is the coolest looking!

My Trek road bike is below on the rack. Since I am a huge fan of Le Tour de France and Lance Armstrong I have to have a Trek road bike. http://www.letour.fr/

Of course they have a drug testing problem over there..seems they can't quit tainting the samples, our Americans have kicked their ass so long the French are just looking for excuses to exclude them from winning! I won't elaborate but all our boys are clean and the French can't stand a winner from the West. Ride on America, let's go win it again. Thanks Lance and Floyd Landis. http://www.livestrong.org/site/c.jvKZLbMRIsG/b.594849/k.CC7C/Home.htm

MOTD Lightspeed Titanium Beer Opener Story....

OK here is a picture of my new titanium lightspeed bike frame beer opener. It is very cool and the story is quite funny...to me at least. I am standing in the parking lot of the Fontana Garden units and looking at my cooler Thursday afternoon. I realize that I want one of the cold New Castle beers in my cooler. It hits me...I didn't bring my opener! OMG...I always bring a corkscrew opener with me on trips...I missed this time! So I walk over to the adjacent unit and stike up a conversation with a guy who may have an opener as I think about what a loser I am for forgetting a vital piece of equipment like this! The guy has a small Swiss army knife but alas, no opener. Suddenly the door of the next unit opens and a guy comes out towards his MINI in the spot in the front of the door. I am grasping for straws as the sweat is dripping from my bottle in my right hand at this point. My throat is feeling dusty and I need to forget the miles I just put on my four tires for the day. I ask "Hey how are ya...do you have a beer opener?" He says "You are kidding right?" (In this German accent which I notice right away) I say "NO!" I am thirsty! He laughs and pulls this belt out that looks like an ammo belt for an AK-47 or something. It is full of openers. I laugh and say...it must be fate that brought us together. I notice the lightspeed sticker on the back glass of his MINI and the plate reads MOSKITO. We shake hands, I get my opener and hand him some cash as he tells me that these openers are made from recycled lightspeed bike frames! http://www.litespeed.com/ I say "Well cool I have one of those! " "I gotta have this opener!"

Check out the picture...it is engraved and the backside has a perfect beer opener. Everyone I showed it to was loving it. I know I do...want one? Just ask for my new pal Herbert. Here are his two web sites. http://spitzbube.blogspot.com/

http://www.guerrillacomm.com/

The Dragon Brew Swap!!!

The Dragon Brew Swap was a blast! And yes I have the t-shirt! OK so this picture doesn't capture all the tons of beer that was there but I got a cool shot of some beautiful participants! (Where is my wife? ...must be off trading for some fruit-flavored something) Here we are getting ready to trade some beer! I had a ton of beer from all over the place! North, South, East, West! Microbrew City....Woohoo...much fun!!!

Front Row at the MOTD 2007 Drive In!

The early shot of the parking at the drive in!! Man they came in early for the show! A packed house before the sunset! Cool...are we having fun yet?

MOTD Drive In!!!

Before I say anything...credit for this photo goes to jibeho on the http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88930&page=2 site.

A very nice picture of the Drive in event sponsored by Tar Heel MINIs!!!

http://www.tarheelminis.org/ and Michigan MINIs http://www.michiganmini.com/

The Vendor Area...

The Vendor Area at MINIs on the Dragon...this is a thin slice and there are tents left and right...we are overlooking the hill down to the softball field from just behind the Adventure Center. That is Dan Zipkin http://grassrootsgarage.com/ , one of the best MINI mechanics around working on the blue MINI in the center.

If you look in the distance you can see the Drive In Movie setup for the showing of "Cars" which by the way raised over $2000.00 for a local charity Camp Carefree!! Woohoo! http://www.campcarefree.org/ This camp is very close to my house in Eden. I have to take a moment to say that many people contributed to raising this money. First...Mark Vogler, the founder of the Tar Heel MINI Club. http://www.tarheelminis.org/ He is the man as I know first hand that he worked very hard for many hours to pull this event off. Thanks to his cool daughters too...they worked hard!! Many club members helped...including my wife Julie who sold a ton of raffle tickets! She can do it!

I should mention Ann and her car Madge who worked hard to move the Drive In T-shirts too...but she won the raffle Supercharger pulley at the end of the movie from Grassroots Garage so I will leave her out...LOL!

I will also mention that the Michigan MINI Club....those folks sold some popcorn!! Thanks ya'll!! http://www.michiganmini.com/

A very nice event for a cool charity. Nice work all! Let's do it again next year!

MINIs Everywhere....

Looking back up the hill there are MINIs everywhere. Wall to wall....Nice.

Meanwhile Back at the Village...

Here we are cruising towards the General Store looking at the softball field in the background. Look at all the MINIs and the different license plates from so many states!

The Tree of Shame!!

Everyone has heard of it when you come to the Dragon....This tree is full of parts from "Body Surfin' " the Dragon. Quite a novel idea. I like it. I have several pictures but it would take a while to show you how many parts are in this tree....ouch. No MINI parts...cool.

The parking Lot is Full of MINIs !!!

The store at the base of the Dragon. http://www.tailofthedragon.com/dragon.html

This parking lot is swarming with MINIs and motorcycles....

Tail of the Dragon!!

Here we are at the base of the Dragon in the parking lot. I thought this was cool so here is the picture! I saw this same car later in the rain! Poor old tail was wet....Good thing there was no salt on it! Nice ride by the way....

The Road to the Powerhouse...

Here I am parked at the entrance to the Powerhouse Road in front of all that soaring rock wall. Wow the pictures here are very cool. I gotta' get that bug off my windshield....

Here is a link to a video of the road near the site of this picture. The best part is something I said as I approached a hard turn..."Hey Ya'll...Watch This!" http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1149875877670139780

Fontana at Last!!

The TVA Fontana Dam sign just below the village. http://www.tva.com/sites/fontana.htm
Man this place has some serious water and mountains! The curves are to die for! The scenery is incredible. I stopped here to see the sheer rock face carved so many years ago to build the dam. This sign is at the turn off to the Powerhouse road, the sight of the group MINI photos that are captured here each year. Very nice...

Trooper Escort on I-40 !!!

The caravan on I-40 West gets passed by North Carolinas finest in the left lane. (click the picture for a larger view) You can see the car up ahead of the blue MINI in front of me! Of course we would never exceed the safe speed on the highway! Did I mention that the FRS radios work great?

The Caravan to MINIs on the Dragon 2007!

The caravan is rolling Thursday morning! Our first stop is the Hickory exit on Interstate 40 to pick up a MINI or two from the area south of us. We are headed to MINIs on the Dragon 2007 http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/motd-home and this will be fun.

The Line-up in the Parking Lot.

Here is a line-up shot of all the cars who showed for our lunch meeting. There were a few more later after this picture was taken. I really like the new wheels on the grey MINI right behind Mark in this shot. You know whose those are....nice wheels man.

As for this week...MINIs on the Dragon 2007!! More to come on that one. Standby.

Stripes!!

Founder of the Tar Heel MINI club http://www.tarheelminis.org/ , Mark Vogler, applies some stripes to a chili red MINI in a parking lot in Greensboro last Saturday. We had a gathering to "pass the torch" for the new officers in the club. There was a nice crowd and we had great fun as always eating and talking all things MINI.

First Tire Rotation!

Here is a shot of my first MINI tire rotation. You can see the 17mm socket for the lugs and various breaker bars and ratchets. The torque wrench is there and my MINI manual says 88.5 foot pounds is the correct torque settting for these wheels.
Note my old Craftsman floor jack which dates back to my MG Midget days. Soon I will share some pictures of that adventure! Long story...
Note...the Red Bull in the picture is not a requirement for MINI tire rotations unless you are my age in which case it is a good idea to have an energy drink around to perform any manual labor....

A Final Shot of the New 2007 MINI!

Man I had some fun last Sunday. Thanks Flow Motors - your people are great! It is almost a week later and I am still smiling. All I can say is this. If you are considering a new car this new MINI is one awesome automobile! I love the turbo and the new styling. This car puts a taxidermic smile on my face. Take my advice. Go drive a new MINI. I'll see you on my next MINI adventure. Be safe and have fun!

Here is my 2007 R56 Fun ride next to my R53!!!

A blue "S." Ahh... OK let's tell my story of last Sunday afternoon. I was late getting over to Flow MINI. I have a busy schedule so I managed to get over there (over an hour away) by 4:00. I knew the event was over at five so I had to work fast. I signed up for a ride and in no time I was sitting in this blue beauty. Honestly I thought I would not really like this car. I was wrong. I love my 2006 and always will love the retro-styling but this generation is the future of the brand. I really like the new styling and technology. I am such a BMW convert these days.

Here is my comments for what they are worth. This car is new. I am skiddish about first year-model cars of any type. I will say this. This car is better than the early first generation MINIs. It is truly an evolution of the past and the best of the current technology. I really believe I will own one of these as my car ages.

OK I am dying to tell you my story so here goes, enough of that stuff you can read in the car magazines...First Joe Culp was our lead car, check him out here...http://www.flowmini.com/Our-People.aspx Joe is a wild man!! A true MINI guy! He had this first generation MINI with a small number "1" on the back glass. I lined up behind him in my blue 2007 "S"...there were 2 other MINIs behind me. As I adjusted the mirrors and tried to figure out how the new seats worked I waited for the traffic light to change so I could feel the car out. Finally I got the seat tilted forward to a comfortable position...yes this car is a little different. The light is green! Woohoo! I press the gas pedal and I feel the new engine for the first time. YES! The turbo is kicking some serious ass! Man... what can I say. The boost is awesome. the torque is obviously very strong. A we merge on to I40 I am on the back of the lead car. I am not going to let Joe get away from me. Suddenly I feel really young and my face is getting that wide smile going. OMG what a car! Can I say that again? Can I hear an AMEN? Woohoo!! We hit the first exit ramp and I try to drift the car in the extreme curve. None of that for this auto. I am way up the speedo and not even sweating the handling. I am all over Joe and by now I am laughing my ass off. This was the best thing I have done to drive over here and try this car out.

We hit the off ramp end and come to a stop sign. I finally see the two MINIs behind me catch up. We eaze though the low sped zones until we see a "Euro-round-a-bout" My new crazy friend Joe holds his hand up and does a circle with it. I smile. I know exactly what he wants to do. We have the right of way. There are several "ons" from connecting roads but we are going to put on a show for the "un-initiated" We made at least four circles at about as fast a speed as you could do through that circle and we were putting on a real show for the people sitting there watching. Everyone just stared! It was so funny! Like a movie or something. Everyone was smiling and I think I was crying it was so much fun. OK people, this was a "MINI moment." As we exited the round about we sped towards the S curve ahead and I knew my test drive was winding down. Damn this car is great. I pulled in next to my car to take a picture or two. What a car. What a car. Life is good baybee.

The radio is on and I am ready to ride....

As I set my mirrors and tuned the sound system I am almost ready to ride in a new MINI. My heart is pounding. Woohoo! Check out that start button! Verray nice!

A random interior shot...

A random interior shot for your viewing pleasure.

Lounge Leather....Oh Yeah Baybee!!

OK there is one item I don't have on my car that I would love to have. The 2007 " lounge leather seats." OMG I really like the way these seats look. (insert drool) This is the way an English car should look. AND...they feel absolutely great. Better than leatherette for sure, not to say leatherette seats are bad...any MINI seats are better that none at all! (Yes I went for leatherette myself and they are not all that bad..still wish I had that English panther leather) If you strip your car down to put your money in your 401K you should at least treat yourself to these seats! You deserve them! They feel soooo good and they ooze class. Nuff' said.

BIG OEM Exhaust!!

Did I mention the big factory exhaust on this 2007 model car? Yeah they got it right this time.

Oh I forgot...I Found a spare under this car!

I thought this was a cool shot so check it out!

An Awesome Powerplant!!!

OK so I made my decision to buy the 2006 S with the supercharger. I love my car and the supercharger whine. In fact I have owned quite a few Mercedes Benz products, Rice-burners (I still own a Toyota Land Crusier and no it is not for sale) , English roadsters, American this and that, and of course so many Volkswagen sports products..I really don't want to elaborate. Fact is this MINI makes me feel damn good everytime I sit in it. OK it is the BEST car I have ever owned in several ways. This 2007 Turbo MINI engine you see in my picture is a real winner. I will tell you more in the next post or two.

Meanwhile back in the shop!!!

Here is a very nice MINI on the rack getting the once-over for a lucky new owner. I like the fact that Flow invited the Tarheel MINI club out for an exclusive 2007 test drive and a chance to look at cars even on the rack in the service bay. OK prospective buyers take note. You are not just buying a car. You are buying many things and one of them is a chance to hang with some real nice people who love the car they drive. The dealer in Winston-Salem will take care of you and you will have fun. Nuff said yet?

A nice view under the hood....

Many changes this year. More to come on that in a minute....

Mondo Exhaust...

Man I really like the new exhaust on the Coopers. I guess the design people caught on to the aftermarket craze of "big-old-honkin' " exhausts we all want on our cars. Finally, no more OEM beer cans...but I still like the factory note.....and the aftermarket one. In fact I have never met a MINI exhaust I didn't like...unless it has a buzz or rattle, in which case you need to buy more beer for your mechanic...

New R56 2007 MINIs at Flow in Winston-Salem!

Check this out...as you probably know by now the R56 2007 MINI is now in the dealer showrooms across the country. I am reading all kinds of web logs and literature outlining all the changes. Last Sunday was my first look and all I can say is WOW...can I say that again? WOW! I love this Yellow one.

Ready for the Trip Back Home!

The last picture of the trip. My car waiting for a driver to head home. With Mabry Mill in the background the sun is going down and it is time to head home from a really nice 68 degree day in the middle of January. Wow what a nice day in more ways than one.

Small World! Me and Dan Zipkin !!

As we headed towards our final destination for the day which was Mabry Mill http://www.brptrails.com/brp1762.htm I ran into someone I had never met but talked to several times on the phone. Dan Zipkin. Talk about small world...both of us were over two hours from home! Dan runs a shop that MINI owners all over the country know as Grassroots Garage. http://www.grassrootsgarage.com/ Dan had his family up for a picnic and we just happened to come by at the same time! Dan is the man in all the German car and MINI performance worlds so give him a call for help with your street or track car. I plan to get some help from him with my car as I add some mods. Can't wait!

Julie likes the Wine!

My co-pilot says all the wine is good! Our favorite was the "Black Dog" and a real surprise was the "Sweet Mountain Laurel" which I thought would be too sweet for me. But I really like the muscadine flavor. Tastes just like the local grapes in our region. I just this past Summer picked some mucadines from my kayak on a local lake while paddling. I like my Italian Chianti but there are plenty of great wines at Chateau Morrisette!

Two Nice Guys at the Chateau!!

Here are the guys who served us during the wine tasting this afternoon. They are holding a a real nice bottle of 2003 Reserve Tannat. http://www.chateaumorrisette.com/index.php?pr=wine The guy on the right is Kyle and if you zoom the picture you can see Robert Longo is on the left. Robert took us on the tour and really knows his stuff. He is also found at the restaurant up the hill at times as well. They have some great wine at this winery and I took several bottles home with me in the boot of the MINI. Thanks guys, we'll be back soon.

Oak Barrels as Far as the Eye Can See....

We were just a bit late for the start of the tour but we joined "in-progress." Here you can see a 'whole bunch" of wine in barrels. We took a look at all the tanks and packaging equipment. Check out the dog paw prints on those barrels... A very cool tour indeed. I am getting thirsty, where is the bar?

Refreshment Anyone?

My MINI right in front of Chateau Morrisette Winery. http://www.chateaumorrisette.com/
More on this in a minute. Let's go inside in the next post.

Looking back at some Fun!

My co-pilot of 28 years took this picture from the passenger seat this afternoon using her new Sony digital camera Santa brought her. Awesome roads and picture!

Lovers Leap, Virginia

Today we ventured up to Virginia to visit Lovers Leap and ultimately the Blue Ridge Parkway. As you can see in the distance there are some mighty twisty roads up there to motor on. Just down the hill is a real fun run in a MINI. Plan your trip now.

gomotoring.com !!

My pal Mark Vogler told me a couple of days ago that he had added my blog to his site http://www.gomotoring.com/

Very nice of him..Thanks Mark!

Go check this site out as it is full of very cool links to other web logs and MINI related stuff. I really like how the site automatically updates as posts are added to blogs.

Attached below is an excerpt from his "about" page:

Operating since 2004, GoMotoring.com was originally started as an easy way to keep track of some of the more prolific MINI Cooper news sites and weblogs. Since then GoMotoring.com has grown to include listings from not only MINI Cooper weblogs but also news and message board sites. Recent additions include headlines from some major automotive news outlets.

Jimmy Z MINI !!!

This is one cool ride. The Jimmy Z MINI commissioned by the clothing chain Aeropostale. California cool...the best of both worlds, a MINI and a Woody! Gotta' love that surfin' life! The whole story can be found at
http://info.detnews.com/joyrides/story/index.cfm?id=650

An Interior Picture per a Request.

Here is an interior shot per a request from a distant friend. Many folks ask me what the grey anthracite interior looks like so here is a photo to help understand. When I ordered my car there were hardly any cars on the lot so I sort of ordered off what I saw on the MINI web site.

A couple of things to mention for the un-initiated. I have the OEM chrome option. I really like it. I drove a convertible with the chrome and it sold me.

Also I want to mention the coco mats that Santa brought me for Christmas. http://www.cocomats.com/ I love these retro looking mats. They feel great and are perfect for the MINI. They come from Charlotte, North Carolina so I had them in just a few short days after ordering. The customer service is A-1 and the folks on the phone are great. The fit is as good as OEM on these mats. They are made just for the car. They are very thick I really like the way they "pop" the interior with the black color and grey dots. Excellent.

Next the OEM cup holder. Perfect for a large Starbucks cup I use on the morning commute to work. I have to have my fresh coffee on my dark commute everyday!

OK I know the steering wheel is upside down. I took this picture in my garage and the wheel was locked. Call me lazy for not straighting it out!

I tripped 2009 miles this morning. The car is somewhat "more loose" than it was brand new but I feel like we have a ways to go to get the real effect of engine break-in. I haven't revved my car very hard. I have pushed a few 4-5000 shifts in the first 3 gears but only after 1,500 miles. No red lines for me baybee...Trust me I want my car to last and I do not want to abuse it. I am averaging 26.6 MPG. EPA highway is 32 so I feel this is a combination of driving with the fun meter on the high side and probably still going through a break-in.

One of the things I really like about this car is the anthracite headliner. I almost didn't order it and saw one at the last minute. The headliner and all the trim is totally black. It really sets off the two sunroofs. I love the way it feels to look through the glass roof surrounded by the dark interior on a sunny day.

Oh yeah there are people who are all the time asking..."What is a Euro-parcel tray?" Well there is one in my car. I bought it before I got the car because BMW USA decided to quit selling them in the US for some DOT reason best I can tell. Whatever the reason it is tough to get one now in the USA but in my humble opinion they are very nice. Notice I have my sun glasses case down there as well as a green mile marker zero can cooler. This car is tight on storage space and that shelf is a real pleasure to have.