Tour du Nord IV - February 2008

[NHRef]

Our Intrepid Travelers (as of 2/8):

Benzamg
geowit
MinorRoadsKill
NHRef
OldPaint
Uptick and Co-pilot

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How far North, Northeast or West will the Intrepid MINI Travelers go in February 2008?

Back to Newfoundland? Undaunted by 100 mph winds and 35' seas, we'll make it to St. John's in 2008 come Hell or High Water!

Can't get further East unless we take a Freighter to Greenland . . . Which is shrinking, BTW, and should be visited soon!

Can't drive to France . . . The ferries don't carry cars in winter or summer (darn).

Back to Radisson? They still have yet to see a MINI convertible there in the Dead of Winter and with the temps at -31 degrees F . . .

Or, how out to the Great Lakes?

What do you say???

Added 12/16/08 - Trip dates will include President's Day holiday weekend. The holiday falls on Monday, Feb 18, 2008.

[LePew]

St. John's. We have a score to settle with the Cabot Strait.

[NHRef]

Folks,

If we're away on the weekend of Feb. 18th then we will miss the MOP Clubman Open House.
road

Or, perhaps, we can take one for a midwinter road test . . .

[MinorRoadsKill]

This evening, my car disappeared under the snow. It make me realize that I hadn't taken my thumb out and posted a poll. Looks like someone beat me to it.

Anyway, here are the 3 trips proposed at our meeting last February, all detailed now at arcticmini.com

Trip Short List

The shortlisted trips are:
Great Lakes Circle Tour
Return to James Bay - Moosonee and the Train
'Return' to St. John's Newfoundland.

Since 'Great Lakes' doesn't appear in the poll, I would ascribe it to 'other'.

For the record, I'll be pleased to go on any of the trips.

Enjoy!

Ross

[geowit]

Wow, the lack of responses is underwhelming. Have we all lost our Nordic spirit?

[Oldpaint]

I'm looking forward to it. Put on my snow tires a few days before last weeks storms and I figured out what went wrong with my recharging of the radios in the car last year. I've also been trying to tempt Nick into coming along again. I think he regretted not making the 2007 trip.

[NHRef]

Who's planning to join us?

Let me know and I'll add your names to the first post.

From what I could gather from earlier conversations, the list includes Dave , George , Joe and Ross.

What about you?

[Oldpaint]

The preliminary discussion thread is now closed!

[LePew]

Recently learned that I may be on extensive business travel in February. So it is Not Looking Good for me at the moment.

[NoNo]

I have thouroughly enjoyed our past excursions, but sadly, I'm going to bow out this year. The budget just won't allow it and I have some other trips I want to take with my 2 weeks. But next year I'll have 3 weeks to play with!

[NHRef]

And miss out on all this?

Newfoundland - WOW! Who Knew

Here are a few tidbits of information that you may never have known before:


Newfoundland was . . .

The first province to respond to Titanic distress signal.

The first to vaccinate for smallpox.

The first to host a transatlantic flight.


The first to have wireless communication in the world.


The first place to discover proof of the theory of continental drift.

Newfoundland has . . .

The oldest street in North America.


The oldest city in North America.

The oldest rock in the world.

The oldest continuous sporting event (Regatta Day rules! )

The largest university in Atlantic Canada.

The most pubs per square foot in Canada (George Street)


The longest running radio program in North America.

Caught the world's largest invertebrate (giant squid)

[olYeller]

I am OUT for this year as well. The planning fell too late for this one and I have other commitments for the long weekend. My wife wants to come next time and kick Chuck out of the passenger seat. :O Maybe Moose Factory next year.
Good luck to all of you conquering the Ferry and, ultimately, St. Johns. I'm sure there will be great tales of dashing through the snow and hopefully no tales of vomiting or burned eggs.

Good luck Pete, OldPaint and Ross, I look forward to Photos.
Cheers,
Blaine

[NHRef]

The poll is closed and the clear winner is the trek to St. John's Newfoundland.

My suggestion is to follow the same basic trip plan as in 2006 (minus the back-and-forth in the Cabot Strait).

Basic outline is:

Thursday, Feb. 14 - drive to Calais ME
Friday, Feb. 15 - drive to and stay overnight on board ferry (North Sydney NS)
Saturday, Feb 16. - drive to and stay in St. John's
Sunday, Feb 17 - sight seeing in / around St. John's
Monday, Feb. 18 - return to and stay overnight on board ferry
Tuesday, Feb. 19 - return home / optional side trip to PEI or wherever

More details can be found on Ross' site: ArcticMINI.com

What do you think?

I only know that 8 people took the poll. Who is planning on Conquering the Cabot Strait and Driving to Easternmost North America?

[Oldpaint]

NHREF,

I have to check at work about taking the 20th off, since that day might conflict with a trade show, but the other days should be OK so sign me up.

[benzamg]

...Just returned from the Southernmost point in the Continental United States... looking forward to reaching the Easternmost point in North America this time around.