We have all made it home..

A note from Dave and Adrienne, so now all of the crew that headed out to Winona for MMEMW2009 have arrived home. Roger arrived back in London earlier in the week.

"We have arrived home safe and sound. After Marcel dropped us off in Lethbridge we stayed with friends for five days. Relaxed a bit and went sight seeing to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump, the Lancaster Air Museum, Fort MacLeod and dozens of antique shops in Nanton. We then borrowed a truck from our friends in Lethbridge and rented another U-Haul and hit the road last Friday. We made it to Princeton where we pulled over for the night. Early the next morning we headed out to Victoria and managed to catch the 11 oclock ferry without any problems. Finally drove up to our house around 2:00 and off loaded Wooster and turned in the trailer. We want to thank Marcel C for giving us the lift to Lethbridge. You are a life saver and an asset to the Mini community. Thanks again Marcel and we are looking forward to seeing you next year at Mini Meet West in Penticton. Also a big hug and thanks to Roy and Pam L of Lethbridge for letting us use their truck to tow Wooster home. Also want to thank Mike and Roger the Hat, Terry and Linda for the support and help getting us to Winona. Also would like to thank Rick Higgs for trying to get us help back to Victoria and all the Mini Maniacs at Winona that helped or sympathized with our plight. Once again we would never have made it back without your support. Thanks again and we will see you at MMW in Penticton next year. "

Next year will be a short trip for us, as Penticton is an easy days drive.. See you at MMW2010! I am off to London in the next few weeks, and will be going to IMM/Mini 50 celebrations with Rog. Mike

On our way home

We left Lethbridge today at 7:00 a.m. and stopped at Princeton at 6:30 p.m. LONG day of driving. I honestly never knew BC had so many darn mountains! Wooster is safely tucked up on his trailer enjoying being chauffeured I think! Picture to follow. We'll be home tomorrow. YAY!

Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump

Tuesday in Lethbridge

We went to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump today. It was great. Had buffalo burgers and a buffalo smokie. From there we went to Fort MacLeod and visited the old RCMP fort and saw a musical ride put on by students dressed up as 1800's RCMP. All very interesting. Talked to Willi on my webcam tonight but I think he has forgotten who we are. sigh!

Leavenworth pictures

Our Motel last night.
Time to go best Motel so far
Rain again, but not to bad. Below the back to the Border.

Leavenworth to Victoria BC 345km

We have arrived home.. a total of 6884 km. Car is still running great and very dirty. I think I got every bug on the road that Murray missed! It will take me a week to clean up the car and get it looking good again.. A great trip..

Rain...

Rain & cloud we just drive through, struck by lighting too, as
radio went into over drive screeching a bang, but we drive on.
Grand Coulee Dam
Eagle down for the kill
Passing the Grand Canyon

Todays pictures...

Leavenworth street..


Rog trying on the diving suit used in building the Grand Coulee Dam
The Dam overflowing down the spillway..wonderful to watch the water patterns

Missoula MT to Leavenworth WA - 634 km

Just back from having a nice cold beer in the local beer garden in Leavenworth, a nice German theme town located along highway 2 in Washington state. We left Missoula this morning with the sky looking cloudy and dark, and ended up driving through multiple storms through the mountains all the way until just past Spokane where we turned off on Highway 2 to head west and up to Grand Coulee Dam. We arrived and wandered around the Grand Coulee Dam area , took a few pics, but decided not to do the tour as the elevator was in repair and the tour did not go inside until the elevator is repaired in late July. After lunch we headed up #2 and stopped in Leavanworth, where we are spending our last night on the road. We will sleep in a bit, and then head for Everett WA, and shoot up I5 to the border, and hopefully catch as early a ferry as we can. We are all glad to see your report Dave and Adrienne that you have made it safe to Lethbridge and have a plan to get Wooster home. Have a safe trip back to Victoria, we will see you when you get back. Mike and the gang!

Arriving in Lethbridge

Lethbridge, Alberta

Here we are in Lethbridge. My trusty TomTom got us to our destination in record time and with no problems. Then Marcel set his to find his way out again. We had Wooster unloaded and Marcel's onloaded in short order, all our mess cleared out of the van and away he went. Pictures to follow. I got a massive load of laundry done. Whew. I was down to my last outfit. We got to sleep in this morning. What a TREAT! ok so sleeping in is til 6:30, whatever, I enjoyed it. I'm now at the public library as Pam and Roy don't have internet at home. sigh! I can get on occasionally for short bursts from a neighbour's connection but it doesn't last long. Anyhoo, Roy has offered us his pickup truck to haul Wooster home so we will take him up on that offer. And then they will fly out in August for a holiday and drive it back home. WOW! What wonderful friends! I think we will stay here a few days. Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump was one of the stops on our original itinerary so we will go there. Nanton was on MY itinerary. An old western town with masses of antique stores and apparently an air museum so Dave and Roy can enjoy that while Pam and I are shopping. YIPPEE! Their son (who lives on his own) arrived shortly after we did and spent the evening talking military talk with Dave. I think he LOVES Mr. Walker!! We were treated to thunder and lightning shortly after our arrival with storm warnings tonight. I think we should push Wooster outside for a free bath! But why get rid of all that protective oil? We had no problem getting over the border in Coutts. We sent Marcel on ahead to say this is my car and that's my van and that's my trailer and that's my manservant driving it. They asked if our car was insured and Dave said the insurance papers were in the car and as the girl was just heading off for a break I'm presuming she couldn't be bothered to haul us over to prove we had the papers. That's it for now. Just wanted to let y'all know we made it safely to Lethbridge and I presume Marcel is already at work. Ciao for now!

Yellowstone pictures

Animals we saw today in Yellowstone or while driving!

1. Bears
2. Marmot (or similar)
3. Deer - doe and two fawns
4. Deer - bloating at the roadside
5. Deer flattened by a truck
6. Squirrel - darting across the road
7. Squirrel - squished on the road
8. Bald Eagle
9. Red winged Blackbird
10. Bison
11 Bison burgers
12. Sheep - fluffy
13. Horses
14. Cattle
15. Ground squirrels
16. Rabbit
17. Dogs
18. Llama
19. Chipmunk
20. Mules or Donkeys
21. I think that was all!
Forgot the following..
Skunk - very flat
Canada Geese - swimming and taking off
some sort of Pelican - floating

Powell WY to Missoula via Yellowstone Park - 701km

A shorter driving distance today as we dropped South and headed through Yellowstone National Park and stopped for several hours. We were able to see Old Faithful, as well as Beehive and one other geyser spew while we were there. We then headed on stopping for scenic shots and wildlife viewing, stopping in Ennis for lunch, were Terry paid $5.50 for a chocolate shake! Roger and I had buffalo burgers, probably from one of the ones we saw in Yellow stone! The car is still running great, although it now sounds like the baffles inside the new muffler are coming loose as the exhaust is starting to rattle, so it will be back to the exhaust place when we get home. I will figure out the millage tonight and post results so far. If we can get Roger connected he will upload a few shots from today as well. I hope you get the van sorted and get back on the road..

Update on mileage.. getting 45.5 mpg so far for entire trip including all around town driving at the meet..

Montana Mini Blues

Drivin' down the highway
Drivin' Marcel's truck
God I got no luck
Wooster's in the trailer
And he's feelin' fine
The differential however
is startin' to grind
I'm stuck in Big Timber
on the 4th of July
Fireworks are boomin'
The van is startin' to fry
I got the Montana Mini Blues

Maybe Rog can set that to music with his new Fender

Dave and Adrienne report in

WE left Murdo at 5:15 a.m. in the blackness and fog. We are now at Bozeman, Montana. Jeff from Seattle met up with us and travelled a long way until we left him at Big Timber in the loo. Haven't seen him since. Sooooooooooooo.............................we have the words to the Montana Mini Blues now. But they are locked in the car. So you'll have to wait. We've had a long hard day and are off to find food. More later if we have the strength. and pics to follow as well.

Ellesworth Air Base & Musuem

B52 + two

Minuite Man Misile

In Bighorn mountains

Over the Mountain and down the other side

Chamerlain, SD to Powell WY, 917km

A long day today as we covered a lot of ground. Too early to see the Murdo museum and we flew by before it was open. I suspect we passed right by Dave and Adrienne while they slept. We then headed on to the South Dakota Air and Space Museum and took a tour of the Minuteman II Missile training site at Ellsworth Airforce Base. We also had a tour of the base. Lunch was in Gillette today, where we also gassed up. The cars are running fine, we averaged 72 mph along the I90, but speed dropped of as we changed to Hwy 14, where we headed up and over the Bighorn Mountain, to a height of 8347 feet, and then down via 8 and 10 degree grades. Some snow left on the sides of the mountains and some great views. Rog is uploading a few pictures as I type this. We are headed to see old faithful tomorrow in Yellowstone National park..on the way to somewhere in Idaho..

Dave and Adrienne report in

Chamberlain? You're only in CHAMBERLAIN??? We're in Murdo at the Super8 and Marcel's in his trailer. Don't ask. I'm a dork! Anyhooooo...............the mini is getting great mileage sitting in the trailer. Not a speck of trouble. We DID have to pull over and move it up a bit in the trailer as it nearly careened off the road the second we hit the I90. oops. There have been a few wiggly moments as big rigs fly past us at unsuitable speeds. But we get even when we hit the miles and miles of single lanes and the cars pile up behind us. Murray and Bruce left us at Rochester to head north to Winnipeg and then at some point along the road we hear they ran out of gas. They were 2 fields, couple of fences and a highway to the nearest gas station so Murray dispatched Bruce off to fill up the gas can. We toured the pioneer auto show GIFT SHOP and believe it or not Dave bought a BMC pin. We are in for an early night as Dave is all set to leave at 4:00 a.m. He's a maniac. He'll have to go wake Marcel up and let him use our facilities and we'll be on our way. I just hope it's light enough for Marcel to get a picture of his mini in front of Mt. Rushmore. Heck, if you're going to see it once in a lifetime, you may as well see it twice! That's it for us! Off to dreamland. Maybe you'll catch up to us tomorrow as we're going about 55 mph. And for the record Marcel is getting about 42 miles per gallon.

The mad hatters

Spam Man

Run out of petrol or what

Porn Palace or was it Corn !!!!!!!!!

Corn Man

On the flip side - Winoona to Chamberlain - 653km

We had an easy start today, packing up and saying goodbye to all the folks at the meet. We made sure Dave and Adrienne and the Cooper S were taken care of as we are splitting up, with Dave headed off with Marcel and Murray, borrowing the trailer and truck while Marcel drives his Mini. What a great guy and fabulous support from the Mini community to help out Dave. We ended up leaving about 9:00, and stopped in AUSTIN MINIsota to the the SPAM museum, as we missed it on the way out due to the Cooper S engine problems. After a rousing song of SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM..etc.. we headed back onto I90 west.. We then stopped off in Mitchell SD to check out the Corn Palace, but they were in the midst of removing all the murals and refreshing with a new theme, so it was not as impressive as it can be..but there was a place for Linda to go shopping.. We headed out and ran into torrential rainstorms, along the way and in the middle of a rainstorm, the VTEC ran out of gas..we were testing to see how accurate the guage was.. so we pulled to the side and top speed up with the spare can, then headed into the nearest gas station to top up the tank and the spare can. Then as we headed down the road in the pouring rain and with my wipers not working, we decided to stop in Chamberlain, a beautiful little town right along the river..dinner done and wipers sorted!

At the banquet the gang from Victoria, plus Rick and Elaine Higgs.

Phill Wicks gave a talk

Mike 2nd in Custom Mini Class

LINDA Wins again with the boys.

Dave who never made it award.. the hard luck award. Has to be something that comes from all the bad luck he has had on the trip!