Thank you! I do try my best to keep her looking nice. I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment.
Thanks for the welcome! I was planning on taking her up again this year. However, plans got derailed a bit when my wife got pregnant. No matter how much convincing I try to do, her doctors are opposed to letting a 8 month pregnant woman get whipped around 318 curves at a spirited pace. I did go last year for the first time and had a blast. Met a bunch of great folks. Swapped knowledge with other MINI enthusiasts. Besides being cool little cars, the MINI community is really the heart of MINI culture. Here's a picture while I was parked at the lodge. Earned my first badge!
Congratulations! I take it your first? I don't want to hear any talk of how you need to sale the MINI now. I have 4 kids, all grown now, but I got my first MINI when they were still home. Fun times ahead for you.
Thank you! Everyone is so nice on these forums. I don't know why I didn't join Motoring Alliance sooner? I do appreciate you taking the time to post the comment. It actually motivates me to clean the car today.
Yes, this will be the first kid. I'm more nervous than anything right now. But there is no selling the MINI. My wife and I have worked pretty hard to allow us to have hobbies we both enjoy. Besides the MINI is not my daily driver and we do have other cars that are better for transporting an infant around.
Doctors have to get their priorities right. Jeez... Anyway, good looking JCW and you know...it's the fastest color. Welcome, and we'll see you next year. May everything go well with the birth.
When I got my 2005 MINI Cooper R50, the very first day I removed the backseat and mounted a custom rear harness bar and 3 sets of jr. dragster 5 point harnesses for our sons that were 4, 5 and 6! My neighbors thought I was nuts to be tearing apart my brand new car. A couple of years later, we drove 14 hours to Disney in the MINI! (Not my wife, she flew! Lol). 14 years, 160k miles, 12 MOTD’s, all the MSSD, track days, autox’s and 28 years of marriage, we all are still going strong!
"My neighbors thought I was nuts to be tearing apart my brand new car." I know the feeling. In 2015, I bought a 2005 R52 S with stupid low miles. The next day, after changing the 10-year-old run flats (still had the original nubs) I went to the Dragon and that was the start. Thanks to Chad (DT) Colin (Green Performance), Jan (Rmw), Zach Ta, Dave O., and Mworks garage, I have ended up with a car that is fast, extremely fun to drive, safe and with no problems. It now has 29,750 miles and will probably be for sale in the fall due to medical problems. Boy, has it been a fun ride... PS I have to give my wife credit for staying with me through probably 60 cars, countless late nights in the garage, absences, And a host of other 'stuff' for 46 years. We have keepers Colin
I give my wife credit all the time. After she said I couldn't buy a GP, she ended up picking this one for me. Speaking of the Dragon, when we were leaving our home. She seemed astonished that we fit all our luggage and supplies in the JCW and she said, "All this stuff and the spare tire is there too." I replied,"What spare?" She recoiled, "You're telling me we're going to race around mountain turns in the middle of nowhere with no spare."
Thank you! I do try to keep the car in good shape. She looks better now that I've spent the last few days prepping for an upcoming car show.
While the TOTD and its brutality is the main reason most people go to MOTD, there are lots of other drives that are not so hard on a pregnant woman's body...especially when she is so far along. My favorite drive other than the TOTD is the approx. 50 mile long Cherohalla Skyway, with its sweeping curves and scenic resting points to view the surrounding beautiful scenery. If you have never driven it, it lies between Robbinsville, NC and Tellico Plains, TN, and is a pretty up and down drive...starting down, and traveling up the mountainsides to the top and then going back down the other side. The roadways are spacious and the drive is smooth but not boring.
Yes lots of nice rides in the region. I don't see the dragon itself as brutal. A lot depends on driving style, if you drive like a brute it can be brutal. If I drive it like a rally stage my wife cries uncle & reminds me we are not on a rally stage justa open public road in a car without a cage, no helmets & no 5 point harness'. If I drive my smoothest while still carrying speed she is fine. If you are stupid on the dragon then yes it is brutal. Look at the tree of shame for evidence of that. My take is I wouldn't take my wife if she was expecting & sooo close. There is always next year. 2013jcwmini, welcome to M/A
First welcome to MA - very nice MINI. Sorry you won't make MOTD this year but there will be others. Can't wait to see this one in person... great pics. Now back to putting on my new exhaust.
Our local MINI Club president recommended Cherohalla to us. He said it was one of the best cruises to take even if you don't take an organized run. Depending on how everything goes in the next year, we may do this one. That or I may go up there alone. We'll see.
