Rhode Island

Posted on by Ian C.

I spent the day in Rhode Island!Yes, you can spend a whole day in that small state 🙂

New MINI dealership InSkip MINI held their “Motor Tober” event today, so I visited to see what it was like … InSkip is at least twice the size of MINI of Peabody or Herb Chambers MINI – but it was very strange to walk in to a MINI dealership and not be greeted by anyone … admittedly I know most people at both my “local” dealerships, but there was no receptionist at InSkip, no Motoring Advisor said “hi” … maybe it’s different on a non-event day?

However, I was greeted by MINI friends Pete, Keith, Sheena and Ron, who had also decided to drop by InSkip before heading over to the main Rhode Island event of the day … So we drove in “convoy” across Rhode Island (which didn’t take long), to Pat & Angela’s home:

 

Pat, you might remember, was seriously injured earlier this year, and is finally back home after months of hospitalisation and physical therapy, to a rebuilt house now suitable for his wheelchair bound life. And just like week, he and his long time lady Angela got married – so today’s visit was a combination “Welcome Home Pat” and “Congratulations” day, with an ENORMOUS amount of food! Pat & Angela had many friends visit today, both from the MINI community and others … everyone had a great (and filling!) time, chatting, eating, and playing a game of “pass the baby”!

 

Many thanks Pat & Angela for inviting me to join you in your celebrations – and best wishes Pat for continued improvement in your health. Thanks too to MINI friends Pete, Sheena, Brian, Keith, Jock, John, Rick and Laurie … it’s great to have suich friends!

Sun, Apples and Sundaes

Posted on by Ian C.

Unlike last years Apple Picking Sundae drive, this year we were super-blessed with blue skies, sun and temperatures above 70! It was a brilliant day weather-wise and scenery-wise, with Fall foliage near peak; the company of many friendly MINI owners – and Margaret – made the day better still!

Like last year, we all met at PapaRazzi on route 2, an easy-to-find point from which to begin driving great back roads in the area:

On the road, we enjoyed many Fall foliage lined roads – much quieter too once I pulled past Keith’s MINI and followed Sheena 😉

When we arrived at George’s Hill Orchards, we parked all the MINIs and then headed off to various entertainments … Margaret & I headed up to the top of the hill with Jock & Hannah, making a bee-line for lunch. Unfortunately bees (well, wasps actually) headed there too – we had to eat indoors instead of enjoying the weather, but that’s better than sharing with wasps! After lunch though, the view from the top of the hill was worth enjoying:

 

We then strolled back down through the orchards (with many apples sadly fallen due to recent hail), and visited the “Petting Zoo” – the goats especially were very friendly and keen to be petted, to Margarets great pleasure:


And in the distance, hiding in the trees …

 

Then it was time to call everyone back, ready for the next destination … but first, more pictures:

 

And the next destination was Colonial Candies, with DIY ice cream sundaes (at least, you get to apply your own toppings); and after ice cream, loads of sweets available to choose from too 🙂

 

What a great way to spend a “bonus” October day! Thanks Sheena, Margaret, and everyone, for making today such fun!

MINI2 is down!

Posted on by Ian C.

This is rarely seen: unplanned downtime on MINI2! I’ve seen planned downtime, where the administrators put up a notification while they’re doing some maintenance or upgrade … but this is more serious:

mini2down

The above message appears if you try to access any forum link. If you try a direct link to www.MINI2.com, you get a WordPress database error. Hopefully Paul will have MINI2 all sorted again by morning …