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Congratulations to EIM’s very own Steve S. for winning the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Great River Region (GRR) 2011 Soloist of the Year competition in his 2009 MINI Cooper S. Point totals for the year and for each of the contributing events can be viewed here:
http://www.sccagrr.com/results/2011/season/grr2011pax_yep.html
Chalk up another dominating MINI performance. Well done Steve!
Seems like just yesterday when the first sprinkling of local MINI Cooper enthusiasts assembled to enjoy each other’s company and the fall colors — yet here we are in the ninth year of this event! It’s the 9th Annual MINICooperIowa Fall Tour which will be conducted on Saturday, October 29th. Organized this year by our friends to the west in the Des Moines -based Central Iowa MINI Club (CIMC) the drive begins with a lunch stop in Pella at 11:00 am and finishes at the Willis Auto Campus MINI of Des Moines dealership around 4:30 pm, with lots of fun and interesting stops along the way. Specific details of the itinerary are available after the jump below. This is typically the largest gathering of Iowa MINI Coopers throughout the year and we’re always looking for expanded participation by anyone with an interest — and a MINI!
Please let us know you’re coming by one of the listed options using the Read More button below. The CIMC folks need an accurate head count to pass on to the MINI dealership so they can plan for refreshments. More details on the day’s events are also available there. Hope you can join us!
Several of our EIM enthusiasts will participate in this year’s MINIs in the Ozarks (MITO) 2011. This regional event takes place in the beautiful Ozark Mountains in and around Eureka Springs, AR from 20-23 October. The national MINI magazine MC2 is one of the MITO 2011 principal sponsors. The fall colors in the Ozarks should be spectacular at this event.
Everything you need to know regarding this event is available via the official MITO 2011 website: http://www.ozarkmini.com
You can follow along with EIM-specific coordination and planning in our NAM Discussion Thread, including our planned caravan route from Iowa to the Ozarks, through the following link:
MITO 2011 NAM Discussion Thread
Fun and beautiful mountain motoring ahead!
We were blessed with a beautiful autumn day for our motoring adventure to the Gays Mills Apple Festival in Gays Mills, Wisconsin this past Saturday, September 24th. There is nothing much finer than wonderfully twisty country roads tailor made for a MINI surrounded by majestic bluffs blossoming with a vivid mix of early season color. The Festival was a celebratory cacophony of apples and apple revelers…and that slice of apple pizza a la mode was a little bit of heaven on earth! Thanks to all who came out and shared a most enjoyable day together. Thanks also to Denny and Sandy B. who revealed and led us along their favorite local biker routes for our MINI motoring pleasure.
Feel free to browse the fun pictures from the day in our Photo Gallery, directly accessible using the following link:
Photos from the EIM Gays Mills Apple Festival Drive, 8-13-11
Hope to see many MINIs at the Fall Tour on Oct 29th!
Our MINIs are heading back up to the Driftless Region (i.e., “the land the glaciers forgot”) to enjoy some beautiful Autumn motoring and to check out the renowned Gays Mills Apple Festival on Saturday, September 24th in Gays Mills, Wisconsin. All are welcome to join us!
No RSVPs necessary…but feel free to let us know you’re coming so we can keep an eye out for you. Links to do so, as well as more information describing where and when to rendezvous on Saturday morning and other pertinent info is available by clicking on the — Read More — button below.
See you on the 24th!
For the fourth year in a row, our MINIs comprised one of the highlight entries in the annual Swamp Fox Festival Parade in downtown Marion. The perfect weather brought out the crowds in throngs and made for a most enjoyable day.
EIM extends its sincere thanks to Larry H. for once again organizing our parade entry and coordinating the planning, and to both Larry and Pam H. for hosting all of the MINI folk at their home after the parade for great food and fellowship. We also say “thanks and well done” to Tessa V. who represented us superbly in the parade as our Miss Eastern Iowa MINIs 2011. A final thanks to everyone who came out and helped make the day a memorable one.
We’re posting pictures from the parade in our Photo Gallery which you can access directly using the following link:
Photos from the Swamp Fox Festival Parade in Marion, 9-10-11
EIM participation in the Swamp Fox Festival Parade is just around the corner. As a reminder for those who have signed up, the parade is on September 10th in Marion, and our MINIs plan to rendezvous at 8:30 am or earlier at the car wash located near the corner of Grand Ave and South 11th St. Larry and Pam H. have graciously offered to host our group at their house after the parade. Details are located in our NAM Discussion Thread for this event.
Keep in mind that the Swamp Fox Festival extends over multiple days with plenty of opportunities for family fun. You can check out the complete schedule of activities on the Uptown Marion website, accessible using the following link:
http://uptownmarion.com/calendar.html
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As it is every year, our EIM participation in this year’s Holy Cross Parade and Festival in Holy Cross last Saturday, August 13th was great fun! Our MINIs are always one of the favorites in the parade. Once again, the great feast hosted by Tom and Linda R. at their home after the parade was most outstanding and deeply appreciated 
not to mention the morning car wash and all else that goes with being superb hosts. Thanks to Daryl H. for bringing along his stash of decorations. The “MINI Cookies” from Linda were awesome (see pictures) as were Gozer’s new eyelashes! Properly (overly?) satiated, we all lingered out on the patio in the cool weather well into the afternoon, enjoying the company and chatting about all things MINI.
Check out the pictures in our Photo Gallery at the following link:
Photos from the Holy Cross Parade and Festival in Holy Cross, 8-13-11
…and put this in your plans for 2010. See you in Marion next month at the Swamp Fox Festival!
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Bill and Alyce S. and Denny and Sandy B. quite literally “waved the flag” for EIM from within a virtual sea of MINIs out at MINIs in the Mountains 2011, headquartered at the beautiful Winter Park Resort in Colorado from 4-7 August!
Additional pictures from this event are available in the EIM Photo Gallery and are directly accessible using the following link:
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EIM congratulates Steve and Juliann B. for their runner-up finish in Class L at the annual Heartland British Autofest 2011 Car Show held in the Village of East Davenport on Sunday, August 7th. Well done! Thanks to everyone who came out and represented us at this event. We also extend our thanks to the Quad Cities British Car Club for their continued leadership in hosting this annual gathering.
As pictures become available we’ll be posting them in our Photo Gallery at the following link:
