Thanks to all the organisers for a well planned and well thought out event. Louis and I haven't had this much fun since year 2 (we've been to all 5). I think everything ran like clockwork. I should have had a sign for the pet bags because now our dogs are in toy heaven! The dog bags raised $45 for Rosie's place ($3 of every bag went to Rosie's).

Everything was great!
Ian and Margaret thanks for all the tireless work.
Theo and Carol thanks for everything (Louis thanks you for the soda, did we pay you for that?)
Michael and Pam thanks for moose hats (try as I might to avoid it :D) and great job on the MCing
Richard excellent as always (even picking up Jason's slacking;))
Mike and Ariane (sorry if I spelled it wrong) you guys do a fantastic job on fundraising and setting everything up.
Ricardo-thanks for trying to get me excommunicated (and for wearing your name tag)
Jason-thanks for the great directions and asking if I was normal:D
Harvey and Terry-thanks for keeping us company in the tent
Thanks to the food people-you guys did great
a big thanks to anyone I didn't name there are so many that help out that my tiny brain can't hold that information (it's too filled with all the useless information for the trivia contest)

It was great to see everyone there, and great to meet so many pooches! It was nice to see old friends and to meet some new ones. There was one biker lady that came up to me and said they had a MINI but no computer and wanted to know about the meets. I gave her all the info and she's going to borrow a computer to find meets because she said it was fantastic.

To think this was all because of a car! Louis and I wouldn't have a lot if not for that car in the garage. We would still live in Maryland (we moved here because of the people here and because of the car). We would still live like hermits (never coming out of the house but to work and get food). We wouldn't have the great friends that we have if not for that car in the garage.

The only strange thing about MOT was that I didn't see Dan. I fully expected him to walk around the corner at any minute. Louis and I commented at breakfast, we miss Dan. It was really touching the plaque you gave to his Mom and his sister.

We also missed Pat! We love you Pat and there will be a package for you real soon (just got to get to the post office) His big booming voice and the way her wore that "My human took me to MOT" bandana.

Hugs and kisses to all our friends!

and they say never to meet internet people in person!:D

Speaking of supplier, did anyone here by any chance mistakenly leave an Igloo cooler with several bottles of Black Dog Ale by my MINI Sunday morning? I cleaned out the cooler, and dried it on my porch, and the beers are sitting in my fridge. I refuse to drink them until I find out who their rightful owner is. Did anyone have this particular beer this past weekend?

Oh yeah, that...

Someone left it in my room after the drunken debauchery. I went hunting Sunday morning, and only found your car and Sheena's so I left it in the hope that you'd remember whose it was. Of course, a little note or heads up might have helped that along... sorry. So, do you remember? Or for that matter, do you remember who was even there? (For all the rest of you, feeling left out, we invited anyone who was standing around when the after-party shut down. Sorry you couldn't make the after-after-party.)

Maybe Pete or Brian? Or who was that quiet guy sitting by the TV?

I'd say enjoy the beer and hang on to the cooler.

Oh yeah, that...

Someone left it in my room after the drunken debauchery. I went hunting Sunday morning, and only found your car and Sheena's so I left it in the hope that you'd remember whose it was. Of course, a little note or heads up might have helped that along... sorry. So, do you remember? Or for that matter, do you remember who was even there? (For all the rest of you, feeling left out, we invited anyone who was standing around when the after-party shut down. Sorry you couldn't make the after-after-party.)

Maybe Pete or Brian? Or who was that quiet guy sitting by the TV?

I'd say enjoy the beer and hang on to the cooler.

It may be Brians cooler....???? i'm not sure, things are hazy.....did Josh bring one? the kid was Chris.......I'll check with him...I got to say Richard...you throw one Hell of a party

Will do! At least now I know where it came from!

thank you thank you thank you!!!

My hubby & I are first timers and had so much fun! Thank you Yellow Hats and everyone who made it a great time. Next year we'll know more about what to do. We've wanted to come since 2005 but always had weddings to go to (including ours). Glad we could make it and so happy the weather was amazing. Can't wait until next year!

-Jen & Cole

2005 purple haze cooper s

What a great weekend !!!

Like the man said ... " In the end you will find it less about the cars than the people who inhabit them. "

And that's always what MOT has been about and smiles abound !!

http://http://www.mini2.com/galleries/data/500/thumbs/MOT_07_067.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/galleries/data/500/MOT_07_067.jpg)


http://http://www.mini2.com/galleries/data/500/thumbs/MOT_07_001.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/galleries/data/500/MOT_07_001.jpg)

http://http://www.mini2.com/galleries/data/500/thumbs/MOT_07_099.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/galleries/data/500/MOT_07_099.jpg)

http://http://www.mini2.com/galleries/data/500/thumbs/MOT_07_113.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/galleries/data/500/MOT_07_113.jpg)

http://http://www.mini2.com/galleries/data/500/thumbs/MOT_07_030.jpg (http://www.mini2.com/galleries/data/500/MOT_07_030.jpg)

Nice pictures, Jeff.

Some pics more pictures - If you all haven't looked at enough :D
click - MOT (http://web.mac.com/m2smith/iWeb/Site/MOT.html)

Are you a UU?

how many UU's does it take to screw in a light bulb?


none, they're too busy arguing about the existence of the light bulb. :p

how many UU's does it take to screw in a light bulb?


none, they're too busy arguing about the existence of the light bulb. :p

I think you have it backwards. I think they're more accepting to everything so or course a light bulb exists if you think it exists.

Now I know MoT was great - But a religious experience?(inner voice - not religious - UU)
All my nieces and nephews went to UU camp and they told me this one:
How many UUs does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

None.
They screw in sleeping bags in the Church basement.

Speaking of supplier, did anyone here by any chance mistakenly leave an Igloo cooler with several bottles of Black Dog Ale by my MINI Sunday morning? I cleaned out the cooler, and dried it on my porch, and the beers are sitting in my fridge. I refuse to drink them until I find out who their rightful owner is. Did anyone have this particular beer this past weekend?

It wasn't a mistake. :) Those were mine. You couldn't tell by the dog-themed beer?? *sigh* I'm honestly not sure if the cooler's mine or my housemate's, so I should probably arrange to put it back on the fridge where I found it at some point. ;)

I had an absolute blast at MoT this year. My only regret is that I couldn't spend more time hanging out; my late arrival Friday night and early departure from Richard's boozefest on Saturday couldn't be avoided. That kind of revelry is exactly what I was looking for. Yeah, it's a silly little clown car, but you all are the coolest bunch of clowns I know!

Mad props (Nashua representin', yo!) to gbmini, rfinprc, snid, snek, snot (ok, maybe not), bwroofchex and the irresistible no chex, bethandlouis, and countless others that gave unselfishly of their time, money, and sanity to make my first MoT a smashing success. I'd also like to give a shout out to our dear departed motorists burning rubber in the great MINI in the sky for seeing that we had such awesome weather. Beer's on me when I see you guys next.

A few select pics from the batch I uploaded last night (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/sets/72157600395561858/):
http://static.flickr.com/1386/567388295_f126c74439.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/567388295/in/set-72157600395561858/)

http://static.flickr.com/1197/566988644_a90f21957d.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/566988644/in/set-72157600395561858/)

http://static.flickr.com/1338/567371677_e64cc55872.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/567371677/in/set-72157600395561858/)

http://static.flickr.com/1078/566996186_aeb1862c86.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/566996186/in/set-72157600395561858/)

http://static.flickr.com/1266/567380761_9eebc0919e.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/567380761/in/set-72157600395561858/)

http://static.flickr.com/1366/567000004_23d8793460.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blalor/567000004/in/set-72157600395561858/)

I've done much of the back-end processing for photos last night so I can start editing them individually. I'll have a gallery posted tomorrow, but here are the first few:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1211/567159042_a1ac2827ac.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1440/567546697_c735964495.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1413/567546869_97d93fc9cb.jpg


Josh, there absolutely will be a ballon and/or rocket cam attempt next year. You can bet on it.

I didn't even have the time to try the kite, although I did monitor the fact that there wasn't much wind anyway. Plus someone else was there with a much better setup, a kite 4x the size, and a real radio remote-triggered camera....and she couldn't get that off the ground either. I should have brought it to the cape run, where I know I'll have enough wind!

It wasn't a mistake. :) Those were mine. You couldn't tell by the dog-themed beer?? *sigh* I'm honestly not sure if the cooler's mine or my housemate's, so I should probably arrange to put it back on the fridge where I found it at some point. ;)


LoL - Ok, ok. Now it all makes sense. I can now drink it the beer in peace without worrying about where it came from. ;) If you need the Igloo back ASAP, let me know, and let's figure something out.

LoL - Ok, ok. Now it all makes sense. I can now drink it the beer in peace without worrying about where it came from. ;) If you need the Igloo back ASAP, let me know, and let's figure something out.
Thanks, man. No hurry, just so I can say it's not lost. :)

...All my nieces and nephews went to UU camp and they told me this one:
How many UUs does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

None.
They screw in sleeping bags in the Church basement.

Now that sounds more like them.

So at 8:30PM on Saturday night I found myself at 6288 feet above sea level looking for a ride to the bottom of Mt. Washington, in New Hampshire. I was covering the photo duties of the "MINIs on Top" event this weekend. 250+ MINI Coopers start at Loon Mountan ski resort at 8AM and make an all day rally, over the Kancamagus Highway, to Bear Notch Road and eventually to the top of Mt. Washington for sunset. I took over 2GB of photos for the national BMW Club magazine, Roundel. By the way, if you've never driven the "Kanc" or Bear Notch road, do it, trust me.

After a long day, a ride to the top from MINI owner Pete Basiliere, and a great tour of the Mt. Washington Observatory I had full 2GB memory card, so I went looking for a ride down. Since I was on two wheels I figured a head start on the ride home would salvage the last few minutes of daylight, golden time for a motorcyclist in critter country. I found a ride to the bottom with the Mt Washington Stage Coach drivers and observatory staff, characters to say the least. We had a lot of laughs and it turns out the driver was a big F1 and racing fan, so we bored the women on our ride for the entire 20 minutes. Once back at the base I jumped on the back of my R1150GS and headed south at 9PM. I dodged all kinds of critters on the way home, including a grazing female moose in Franconia Notch, all kinds of ground varmints (both alive and dead) and about a half dozen un-helmeted Harley Davidson "riders" that had no regard for the double yellow line. Luckily, I have two giant PIAA flood lamps on the front of my Beemer that turn night into day, these lights probably saved me from something bad. Oncoming drivers didn't agree on how cool they were but without the glow of a nearby city it was just too dark up in north country to have it any other way. My BMW's alternator got a workout... High beam, low beam, two PIAA floods and my handgrip heaters were all on "high." I finally rolled into Newburyport at 11:30PM.

What I had forgotten prior to my departure, it was the final weekend of New Hampshire "Bike Week", a northern version of Daytona's fest of the same name. Over 400,000 riders come and turn the entire state into a playground for two-wheeled mayhem. There were so many riders that most of the gas stations I rolled into on the way home had paper bags over their pump nozzles with "SOLD OUT" written in black Sharpie. I was a bit nervous as it was getting late and half the gas stations I passed were closed. The ones that were open had no gas, or if they did, 87 octane only. BMW Boxer Engines don't like anything but 93 octane fuel. Low octane fuel results in the dreaded "ping" under acceleration, not good and potentially damaging to the internals. Finally, with the low fuel warning light on, in Ossipee, NH I found a station that had 91 on tap. Not great but it kept the dreaded pinging away. After a fill-up of $3.45 a gallon fuel and a de-bugging of my helmet visor I was back on the road. By the way, and interesting and disturbing fact, once I figured out the reason for all the bikes on the road, that morning I decided to keep a mental tally of the amount of riders I saw that had helmets on. Get this, I had to see at least 3500 riders, I could count on both hands how many had helmets on. Most considered safety gear as a T-shirt and shorts. Amazing. Needless to say I got some funny looks as I was dressed from head to toe in fully certified motorcycle safety gear, with not one inch of skin showing. I did look dark and menacing however, so not too many comments were thrown my way. :0)

Once home I had a nice snifter of 4 Copas Anejo Certified Organic Tequila (plug for my friend Brad that runs the distillery outside Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico) and a cold Fat Tire Ale. It really hit the spot. Physically I was fine, but mentally frazzled. I have never had a brain shut down quite like this one. It was a struggle to talk about the day's events with Hilary as my brain just wanted to stop thinking. I did however, and managed an good hour of debriefing on both of our day's events. Hilary (my wife, a professional cake maker) made "THE cake" this weekend, probably her best effort so far, I only wish I had been home to see it. Photos don't do it justice I'm sure but from what I saw in those photos, it was quite amazing. Think of a miniature version of the Beverly Hills Hotel, only edible. We should have the cake photos up on the site today.

So 345 miles of constant peak alertness takes its toll, especially after almost three hours in the dark. Soon after our conversation I was flanked in Shih-Tzu and down for the count, TV remote in hand. I woke at 6AM the next day still fully dressed, TV blaring, on the couch in the same position I fell asleep in… the dogs hadn't budged either.

Anyway, the photos from the event are up, some stunning views up there, New Hampshire is really one of my favorite states. We are lucky to have this all in our back yard...

Link to all the photos: Douglas Mahar : photos : MINIS On Top 2007 - powered by SmugMug (http://www.dugmar.smugmug.com/gallery/3015370)

Doug Mahar
Turner Motorsport

http://dugmar.smugmug.com/photos/163740705-M.jpg


http://dugmar.smugmug.com/photos/163733308-M.jpg


http://dugmar.smugmug.com/photos/163753903-M.jpg


http://dugmar.smugmug.com/photos/163770867-L.jpg


http://dugmar.smugmug.com/photos/163735054-M.jpg

Beautiful pics, Doug!

:cool:Superb photos! Many thanks from a vicarious viewer.

a cold Fat Tire Ale

Might I ask where did you manage to find some Fat Tire?

Why do UUs sing hymns really slowly? They're reading ahead to see if they agree with the words. :D

I found a website filled with UU jokes. Not sure the reasoning behind all the UU jokes but I do think they're quite funny.

Q: Why did the Unitarian-Universalist cross the road?

A: To support the chicken in its search for its own path

UU jokes (http://stoney.sb.org/uujokes.html)

So, a family of UUs moved to a small southern town, and the locals burned a question mark on their front lawn.

It wasn't a mistake. :) Those were mine. You couldn't tell by the dog-themed beer?? *sigh* I'm honestly not sure if the cooler's mine or my housemate's, so I should probably arrange to put it back on the fridge where I found it at some point. ;)


Sorry about the cooler, Brian. I didn't notice you walking in with it -- the other item you walked in with was way too distracting.

" It is show-and-tell day at school, and all the children are requested to bring in an item which illustrates their religious beliefs. David stands up and says "This is a star of David and I am a Jew". Dorothy stands up and says "This is a crucifix and I am a Catholic". Jimmy stands up and says "This is a coffeepot and I am a Unitarian".

Might I ask where did you manage to find some Fat Tire?

One of the benefits of working for a professional race team is that your big rig driver drives west of the Mississippi River 2-3 times a year.

If you're in Boston, the Sunset Grill also has it in bottles. Don't ask me how, but they do.

Sorry about the cooler, Brian. I didn't notice you walking in with it -- the other item you walked in with was way too distracting.
What, the camera? I thought the video was good, but how could it distract you from beer? :D Ain't no thang. I'd actually asked Robert to make sure the beer got finished off, but he apparently let me down.

I've never seen it in Sunset's book, er menu...but I suppose I'll ask. Maybe they secretly hide it in the back.

thank you thank you thank you!!!

My hubby & I are first timers and had so much fun! Thank you Yellow Hats and everyone who made it a great time. Next year we'll know more about what to do. We've wanted to come since 2005 but always had weddings to go to (including ours). Glad we could make it and so happy the weather was amazing. Can't wait until next year!

-Jen & Cole

2005 purple haze cooper s

Jen: How did we miss each other??? I thought that I was the only purple sedan there. I'm in central mass also and we've got a day run coming up at the end of July. check it out.. http://www.mini2.com/forum/new-york-new-england-region/141865-mamas-berries-bbq-iii-saturday-july-28th-2007-a.html
Hope to see you there.
TiNY:biggrin:

Speaking of near hits - There was a Blue/White MINI from Holden with a Wachusett RHS sticker in the window. Pam noticed the address packing day and I saw the car pulling out of theT&C but I was unable to find out who ever you are! - From Holden and Wachusett grad too - Small car /Small world.