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Thanks to our motorists who braved the winter road conditions and made it out for our final gathering of 2018, the EIM Meet-n-Eat at the Country Junction held on November 17th in Dyersville. It was a blast looking back on all of the fun times and great destinations visited over this past motoring year. Superb food and fellowship, as always.

Congratulations to all of the EIM Recognition Award winners! For those interested in who might have been appropriately recognized (or teased) you may access all of the awards from this event using this link:

EIM 2018 Recognition Awards

Special congratulations to Cindy C., our 2018 EIM Motorist of the Year!

A few photos of this event may be found in our Photo Gallery and are directly accessible using the following link:

Photos from the EIM Meet-n-Eat at the Country Junction, Dyersville, 11-17-18

See you at the Wig and Pen Pub in Coralville next January!
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Eastern Iowa MINIs (EIM) and the Central Iowa MINI Club (CIMC) enjoyed another spectacular collaboration this past Saturday (10/13) as we teamed up for the 16th Annual Iowa MINI Cooper Fall Tour. This year’s drive was designed also as a tour of noteworthy Iowa waterfalls. The route began in Backbone State Park near Dundee, traversed much of the northeast Iowa bluff country, then headed west to the prairie with a finish at Beeds Lake State Park near Hampton. If you count the small, lower falls in Backbone and Dunning’s Creek spilling into the Upper Iowa River, our group enjoyed no less than 12 waterfalls along the way! While the day was a bit on the cool side, given the fact of nearly 10 straight preceding days of rain (and, as it turns out, snow on the following day!) we couldn’t have asked for much better conditions. The sun did make its presence known on occasion, providing for added highlighting of the vivid autumn colors.

Both MINI groups made a great showing and we thank everyone for making it a fun day. We especially thank the folks who came over from the Des Moines area on Friday in order to be ready to go Saturday morning. We hope everyone enjoyed the drive!

Photos of this event may be found in our Photo Gallery and are directly accessible using the following link:

Photos from the 16th Annual Iowa MINI Cooper Fall Tour, Dundee to Hampton, 10-13-18

Looking forward to #17 next year!
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After having just returned from our prior week adventure to the U.P., we were blessed once again with great weather for our traditional trip up to the Wisconsin bluff country orchards as part of our annual Gays Mills Apple Run held on Saturday, September 22. While there was evidence of the prior month historic flooding along the Kickapoo River, thankfully the town of Gays Mills appeared to be recovering nicely and the local area was bustling with visitors and activity. We managed to hit all of our favorite stops including Sunrise Orchards, the Apple’licious Pie Depot, and a returning pit stop at the Potosi Brewing Company. Thanks to all who came along and made the day so enjoyable.

Photos are contained in our Photo Gallery and are directly accessible using the following link:

Photos from the 2018 Gays Mills Apple Run, Gays Mills, WI, 9-22-18
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The EIM to the Lake in the Clouds event, our MINI Cooper adventure to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, just wrapped up this past Sunday after five incredible days of exploration and fun. Mother Nature blessed us with great weather and the sights and sounds of Houghton and the surrounding area couldn’t have been any more enjoyable.

Our Thursday drive took us west to the Porcupine Mountains (known locally as “The Porkies”) with an initial stop at the park’s visitor center. This was followed by the climb up to enjoy the view of the stunning Lake of the Clouds. We then followed the South Boundary Road around the park with a stop and short trail hike up to Summit Peak, the highest point in the park. Lunch in the town of Wakefield was facilitated by the time zone change that managed to get us in the door prior to closing time. The afternoon was consumed by our transit back to Houghton through the emerging fall colors.

Friday found us skirting up the winding roads along the western edge of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The scenic and interesting stops along the way are almost too numerous to mention, but here are just a few: the Eagle River Bridge and Falls, the Jampot monastery-owned shop, Jacob’s Falls, the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse, the beach at Eagle Harbor, the Brockway Mountain summit, and the scenic overlook along Brockway Mountain Road above the town of Copper Harbor. Lunch and shopping in Copper Harbor was followed by a transit south along beautiful, curvy US-41 and then east along Lac La Belle Road along the coast for a stop at Haven Park Falls and ultimately to the town of Gay (and its famous bar) for ice cream prior to our return trip to Houghton.

On Saturday we headed southeast along the Keweenaw Bay towards the town of Baraga and a stop at the Bishop Baraga Shrine. We then did some fun exploring around Silver River Falls located a few miles northeast of L’Anse, and followed more roads south through Alberta and Covington, and then north along Plains Road (until we ran out of pavement!). An early return to Houghton allowed our folks to break off for individual adventures. Among these included a sojourn into the deep bowels of the Quincy Copper Mine, the center of the massive copper mining industry that defined the area from the mid-1800s until the 1940s. We all gathered for our get-away meal that evening at the eclectic Continental Fire Co. in Houghton and toasted our series of fun times and another set of great memories. Thanks to all of the EIMers who were able to come along and be part of this adventure!

Photos of this trip may be found in our Photo Gallery and are directly accessible using the following link:

Photos from the EIM to the Lake in the Clouds, Houghton, MI and vicinity, 9-12-18 to 9-16-18

Looking forward to our Gays Mills drive this Saturday!
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Thanks to all of the EIMers who came out for this year’s Holy Cross Festival and Parade held in Holy Cross this past Saturday. The weather was superb and the parade (including our pre-party at the assembly point and the bountiful feast afterward) as great as ever. Over the past decade of involvement our MINIs have become a Holy Cross Parade staple and enjoyed by everyone.

As always, our heartfelt thanks go out to Linda & Tom R. for their hospitality, for the amazing (as always) local broasted chicken, and for opening up their home to our group. The “Purple Haze” home brew was an extra special treat. Thanks to everyone who contributed their delicious additions to the food selections.

Photos of the entire evolution may be found in our Photo Gallery and are directly accessible using the following link:

Photos from the 2018 Holy Cross Festival and Parade, Holy Cross, 8-11-18
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Congratulations to Jim & Brenda M. from Clinton for taking First Place in the MINI/Mini Category at this year’s Heartland British Autofest held in Le Claire on Saturday, August 4th. This annual event is hosted by the Quad Cities British Auto Club. Way to go!
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Photo credit: Jeff Noe
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Our thanks to all of the local MINI folk who came out on a toasty summer day for our EIM Blue Grass to Wilton Meet-n-Eat held on June 16th. The Corner Grill in Blue Grass turned out to be an excellent lunch venue with a separate room perfectly sized for our group. The short drive over to Wildcat Den State Park was highlighted by our passing the massive (50+) herd of friendly Quad Cities Jeeps on IA-22 headed in the opposite direction. The Pine Creek Grist Mill was nice, shady, and an interesting place to visit. Finally, the recently renovated Wilton Candy Kitchen in Wilton was superb (especially the ice cream) with the new ownership providing massively improved and much welcomed serving efficiency to big groups like ours. It turned out to be a most enjoyable capstone to the day.

Feel free to check out the photos from this event in our Photo Gallery. You can access them directly using the following link:

Photos from the EIM Blue Grass to Wilton Meet-n-Eat, 6-16-18

We’ve added the Holy Cross Festival and Parade on August 11th to our calendar. More fun MINI times ahead!

For any of you headed out to MTTS 2018…be safe and have fun!
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A nice collection of both MINIs and Minis (i.e., new and classic) from EIM and from the Central Iowa MINI Club participated in the Central Iowa British and European Auto Fest hosted by the Des Moines British Auto Club in West Des Moines on June 3rd. The weather was perfect and everyone enjoyed meeting up with old MINI friends and checking out the large assortment of cool cars.

Photos from this event may be found in our Photo Gallery and are directly accessible using the following link:

Photos from the Central Iowa British & European Auto Fest, West Des Moines, 6-3-18

See you in Blue Grass on 6/16!
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