KUDOs to Barbara and the Atlanta MINIs group for the best meet and greet ever! Great people, well organized, and good parking, everything needed for a MINI event!

Having MINIUSA show up driving the Orange Cabrio knocked me out! Who knew our little meet would attract such a big gun? Thanks to Mark of NAM for inviting him. :)

Queen B's rally was wonderful! It was my first timed rally, I came in with a respectable score and am still married to the Fuzzy One. ;) So I feel like a winner.

Even with as big an area as the bottom of the dam, we still almost didn't fit all the MINIs! I counted 148 there, and more arrived later that day. I don't think we hit the 250 MINIs estimated, but I wouldn't be surprised at 200!

I didn't mention all the events, but every one was fun! :D

Some pictoral proof:

More pics:

And even more pics. The first picture is the people who run Tail of the Dragon website, they showed up at the meet and greet to get a few pictures:

Kudos to everyone involved in the planning and organization of all the events during Dragon 2004! Although I couldn't stay for all of them I had a blast at the ones I was able to make. This is turning out to be a big-time event! We had what, maybe 75 cars last year and now we're up to 200+! Wonder what the number will be next year.

Great folks, great runs, great vendors and great fun! For all those folks that didn't make it (start planning now!), although it’s the road that draws folks to the area, it's the social side of this that makes it fabulous!

Is it time to start the thread for next year???

AprilWhine...when did you do your count?

I counted about 5 minutes before we left the dam and there were 117 Minis (counting the orange cabriolet). 4 Minis left before I counted and 5 Minis arrived after the count (I don't know if they were the same Minis or not). That brings the total to, at most, 126 (my son counted independently and arrived at the same number).

Since the dam picture was moved to Friday morning, several people who had to work on Friday are not counted (a Saturday morning photo would have been better IMHO). I counted 104 Minis in the Fontana Village area during the cook-out. My guess would be we added 30 ~ 40 Minis that were not at the dam for a possible total of ~165.

Last year's "official" count was 64.

All in all, a tremendous increase for our second year.

NOTE: one other observation, it looked like about 60 - 70 % of the Dragon Run 2003 veterans returned.

The 148 count included cars that were at the dam, but left early. Two other friends did a count also, and we came within three cars of each other. :) Like last year, I don't think it's possible to get an accurate count.

I agree that a lot of people who couldn't take off work missed the dam picture. Too bad, it really should have been scheduled for Saturday morning.

And I am so remiss! http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/sprachlos/speechless-smiley-029.gif

Biggest thanks have to go to Dave and Jason! Without their vision in organizing the first Dragon Run, none of this would have been possible!

So, Jason and Dave, THANK YOU!

http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/ernaehrung/food-smiley-004.gif

We have had SSSSOOOOO much fun since Thursday. :D :D Thanks to all who organized and participated. MINI owners are great!!! I hope everyone has safe and happy trails home.

Here are a few of our pictures.

My Cooper and his convertible dreams

Hotelcalif snapped our picture during the Parade. He went ahead to pick out a spot for picture taking and was not at the official picture...so add one more MINI :)

Hotelcalif on his stealth bike at the end of the Parade.

and Atlanta MINIs Scott gives the bike a go.

and a few more pictures

The group on the run to Highlands stops at the drive under waterfall (Bridal Veil Falls) that you can no longer drive under because a boulder fell off the side of the mountain.

The Rock!! I bet that made a sound whether anyone was around to hear it our not.

The view from behind the falls.

The midnight Crazies halfway through the midnight run waaaayyyyyKOOL. Thanks Koolmini! :cool: :cool: And whoever thought of the glow necklaces... it sure added alot.

The Dragon thread was locked after I posted my pictures so I'll move them here, to the official aftermath thread. :)

On behalf of the AtlantaMINIS I'd like to thank everyone who came to our Welcome Dinner at the Tapoco Lodge. We had 135+ people attend the dinner this year, and I hope everyone had a good time. I'd also like to thank the following for making the weekend the success it was. My apologies if I leave someone out:

Mark Ferguson and North American Motoring - Mark was instrumental by working with MINIUSA in getting the Cabrio there and a list of things too long to mention here. Thanks Mark!

hotelcalif and queen B - Great job on organizing the rally and Highlands drive. We had a blast!

MINIclo and BabsWife - the chili cookoff was a lot of fun. We appreciate you putting together a great evening.

triumphrider - although I didn't participate in the Mountain Madness run, our members who did say it was a great day of motoring and appreciate you organizing the event.

AprilWhine and minicoopersgirl - Our internet friend who got us all together!

I'd also like to thank the following vendors and sponsors who donated prizes for the raffle at our Welcome Dinner:

Rspeed
MINI Mania
Motor Swag
Threshold Motorsports
Mile Marker
Moss Motors
Tire Rack
Groit's Garage
Graham County NC Travel and Tourism Authority

See everyone next year!

Barry Johnson
Founder, AtlantaMINIS

Great Pictures.:)

200+ Mini's that's some turnout.;)

Thanks everyone for a great time. Amie and I enjoyed meeting all of you and seeing some familiar faces. Look forward to the next big Mini event.

Brain

What a great weekend! It was nice to have been able to meet some of you in person. :D The name tags were a great idea so we could put a face with the screen names.

A huge thanks to all that were involved with putting on the activities. Looking forward to next year already. (Thanks Queen B, I will surely have an S for next years now!! ;) )

BTW, did anyone notice that the "STORES OPEN" in Deals Gap this morning? (the midnight group will understand, hehe)

Didn't take any digital pics, so will have to post those later. :(

BTW, did anyone notice that the "STORES OPEN" in Deals Gap this morning? (the midnight group will understand, hehe)


:D I'm really glad to hear the sign went back to normal ! We do want to be invited back y'know!! :D

:D :D If you can't figure it out....this picture of one of the perps should give you a better idea. :D :D
I bleeped it to protect the innocent.

What a great weekend! It was nice to have been able to meet some of you in person. :D The name tags were a great idea so we could put a face with the screen names.

A huge thanks to all that were involved with putting on the activities. Looking forward to next year already. (Thanks Queen B, I will surely have an S for next years now!! ;) )

BTW, did anyone notice that the "STORES OPEN" in Deals Gap this morning? (the midnight group will understand, hehe)

Didn't take any digital pics, so will have to post those later. :(

Glad you guys made it home OK !! Thanks again for taking a car home for us.Saved us from an extra trip today and driving the red car on its so called race tires was NO fun.

By much request here are the photos I took from the Dragon. I have to say the whole trip was a blast. Well worth the many hours in the car to get there!

Anyway, here are some of my photos from this past weekend's events. I was one of the guys on the turns taking photos during the Dragon Parade. I'd especially like to thank everyone for NOT running me over!

Can't wait until next year!

2004 Dragon Photo Collection (http://drivinghamster.smugmug.com/gallery/109729)

My first Cooper rally and it was fun. :D Meet some super nice people ate some great food.Wished I had more time off and next year I will take more time to enjoy this rally.

The Chile Cookoff was just the best.Thanks to everyone who helped with it.I am still full. :D :D

To everyone who attended the Mountain Madness Run thanks.It took longer than I thought it would.50 Coopers was just to much to keep up with on such a long trip.If we do this next year we will split up into smaller groups.The Bald river water falls was not on the trip but it was well worth seeing.I am glad we decided to take the time to check it out.I hope everyone enjoyed lunch.That was one long stop.But it was nice to relax for a while.Running behind we did not get up to Brasstown Bald.I am sorry about that. :( Half the people split after lunch and we picked up the pace the rest of the trip. :red: :red:

The parade across the gap was great.I was afraid that it would be a slow moving process.We got in the lead group and it was fun.

I hope everyone had as much fun as Betty and I did.Thanks to everyone who made this possible.

WoooHOOOO what a friggin blast you guys!

Throw out next years date someone so we can plan now!!!!! :) :) :) AprilWhine??? :p

To all of ya'll that planned the events, you did an outstanding job...too many to mention!!! And thank you to those who led the unofficial fun runs, what a wild wonderful time we had!!!

We left the Mictrotel at 9:39am and arrived at our house at 7:02pm...drove in some bad rain, luckily missed the nasty rain that hit this area later last night.

OMG sooo many pics, where do I begin?


Smokyyyy it was great to see you (again) :p got lots of new toys to play with, George you are pretty as ever...even without make up...Willyeeeee, next time book a room so you're not stuck on the floor near SnoreMan :D :o :p Melindalu you are BRAVE :eek: :p HotelCalif on that tiny Duc was way cute! Sam J!!! we loved having lunch with you and learning about true BBQ!

I wanted to hug everyone :( but people ran from me :D

Thunder Road almost made me puke...thank goodness we were in RedPanda and Ace's MINI :D with a sunroof

My pictures have all been posted at http://www.kredal.com/images/mini/dragon

Someone should try counting the MINIs in the panoramic picture, and figure out how many fit into that front parking lot area at Fontana! (:

a few...on last day, shopping at Highlands with RedPanda and Ace...last stop BBQ and Microtel watching Keith's driving school vid...

a few...on last day, shopping at Highlands with RedPanda and Ace...last stop BBQ and Microtel watching Keith's driving school vid...
Foxy haircut MP.:cool: ;)

Foxy haircut MP.:cool: ;)


:p lmao Mo, ty :o ,you commin over to this side of the pond for next years? We'll treat ya reeeeaaaal special ;) :D

few more...

aHA, Jane and Darren from England stopped by the Microtel as they were passing and noticed all these MINIs...Jane appoached MINIMiller saying she had the same model back home, then we were floored when we thought she bought it from Derek Woodman MINI, anywho...that was just an awesome chance meeting and I think she was homesick for hers...

Jane and Darren standing in front of our MINI from England :p :) :cool:

did anyone else go Geocaching or check out the footbridge and lollygag in the river? that was really fun, super relaxing! :p

:o Special message sent to Soggy from above :D

:)

MP, that looks like you all had fun, Sherry even got a Convertible to play with too ! :D

Hair looks :cool:

Great pictures, everyone! We also had a great time (with the exception of the motion sickness my wife ended up with) and met a lot of great people. The pictures we have are here (http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/minicoopers06/album?.dir=/d907) and anyone who would like hi-res versions should just send me a PM.

:D

My pictures have all been posted at http://www.kredal.com/images/mini/dragon

Someone should try counting the MINIs in the panoramic picture, and figure out how many fit into that front parking lot area at Fontana! (:



Great pics! Looks like we were right behind you on the highlands drive home! Sorry for hogging the space in front of the falls, I didn't even think that I should have moved to let other people into that spot :( .

Travis