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I have noticed a common "thread" having spent the past few days looking over the forums here as a "mini newbie"... and that is the copious free time mini owners and future owners seem to have. Perhaps more surprising is the willingness of future owners to spend that free time tracking our incoming minis. Well, this posting is proof positive I have found Graceland here with you all.

I am new to this forum so it's possible someone has already figured this out. Being an American, this is geared for us in the states, but not without relevance to mini lovers world-wide. In fact, I was hoping you guys in GB could lend a hand to tell me if I'm right on with this or if maybe I've had one too many while looking this stuff up.

Here is what I found... utilizing Google Earth, you can take a virtual world wide tour from the life giving assembly plant in Oxford where you can make out the bonnet strips on the, well, bonnet of out going minis, to the majestic shores of Southampton where the docking ramps are down ready for mini loading (don't forget to spot those bonnet stripes), to the lush and hectic Panama Canal (for those of us on the West Coast), to the three mini-friendly ports in the states, and finally your own unique trip from port to your overly eager drive-way.

Here are some tips for your own tour. First, of course, download your own copy of Google Earth at google.com if you don't already have it. Forgive me here, I haven't figured out how to paste the Longitude or Latitude for you guys to plug in, so I'll walk you through it. Once loaded and running, zoom on in to our friends there in the Eastern Atlantic. Zoom in again on Oxford (west, northwest of London). Now, Oxford isn't big enough, apparently, for a detailed satellite photo but the factory luckily is outside of town. Look southeast (past the Old Black Horse, past the Original Swan, towards Cowley) for a square building just inside the line of the detailed section of the terrain (it is next to the Oxford Cricket Club and you'll see a big outdoor track nearby). Zoom in closer to that big square building sitting off by itself, close enough to see those beautiful minis. Not too many red ones going out. While you're here, take a look around Oxford (beautiful place) utilizing the blue stars for pictures from the ground.

Next up on our tour... Southampton, due south of Oxford on the coast. Once you're overhead of the town, zoom into the bottom of the "V" of the port (you'll see what I mean). At the end of the docks you'll see all sorts of cars waiting for boarding. Look among them for the minis. You'll see them (tons, it seems, on the roof of the parking garage and a few packs around it too). On either side of the pier are the Wallenius Wilhelmsen ships (Otello, Aida). It is my understanding those are the ships that doing the heavy lifting around the world for BMW. Their ramps are down ready for loading.

From here you can type in your respective ports of call in the states (New Jersey, South Carolina, and California) and do the same zoom in, search and rescue operation. I'm not 100% certain on any of this, so I welcome the corrections (those in GB, be gentle, I mean no harm). At the very least, it's a lotta fun poking around the planet. Just something I thought I would share and offer something to do while passing the time waiting for good things in small packages.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot my mini hand shake... Cooper, silver, black bonnet strips, black top, chrome exterior/interior, sunroof, and total bliss standard. Expecting delivery end of May. Anything you boys in GB can do to help speed things up, I'd appreciate it.