I don’t have a MINI here in Florida, but I still joined MINIs of Orlando tonight for their monthly get-together, tonight at Johnny’s Filling Station (where the burger and fries were worth the wait!)
Early in the year so totally dark and hard to take pictures, even of James’ new Coupe, but I did try …

(and a couple more pictures, if you visit the Gallery)

An early start to MINI of Peabody today, but lots of MINIs there when I got there!

There was even one classic Mini!

I’ve done lots of MINI rallies and this one heads right past work and then down Apple Street (more twisty than it looks on Google Maps!), so I headed off to park and take pictures as the other cars went by …

Soon, Brig passed by in a Coupe, leading the rally, and followed by many other MINIs …

I didn’t catch every MINI (Sony camera apparently has to rest regularly!), but there’s lots more in the Gallery; after a wait, I headed back to the dealership for breakfast and chats with friends (and to check out Ivan’s next MINI!) …

A few Hrach memories, too!

A fun morning – many thanks to MINI of Peabody, and my MINI friends!

It’s Fall again and that means another pretty drive through the Fall colors of Massachusetts, following Sheena to George Hill Orchard and then on to ice cream! Even though it’s late October now, Fall colors also are late this year, and the weather was a comfortable mid-50s, bringing out 6 MINIs (and an Audi TT) – and one benefit of missing Mickey & MINI in Florida is that GPMINI is still up here to join in …

As always, Sheena led us down some beautiful twisty roads (including the obligatory “U-turn”) – which my GP seemed to really enjoy, increasing MPG during the day even while running at higher than normal RPMs

At George Hill Orchard, few Apples were picked – but we sampled the food (hot dogs, cider donuts …) and visited the “Pets”:

Found some Apples, but didn’t pick them!

Then back to the MINIs for a short trip to ice cream at Cold Stone – and Armen got to drive GPMINI!

Cold Stone ice-cream was excellent; my traditional sweet cream ice cream with caramel and banana – which I ate before taking the picture!

Great fun to run in the GP again, and enjoy the company of good friends – thanks Sheena, and everyone!

More pictures in the Gallery (previous years 2010, 2008, 2007, 2006)

I joined another of Sheena’s great drives today, along generally quiet curvy back roads, to a Butterfly farm – today, carefully avoiding many cyclists on the road!

There’s LOADS of Butterfly pics too; head to the Gallery or check out a few here …

A few big caterpillars too …

More pics in the Gallery

On MassMotoringClub (and NorthAmericanMotoring) an ice cream meet has been organized last week and this week, at Heritage Farm in Lowell (about 50 miles away). So Margaret and I headed over tonight, and met for a total of five MINIs (up from two last week!)

Good ice cream, too many choices, and some new MINI friends too …

We headed away as the weather got “interesting” …

(a few more pics in the Gallery)

A great write-up on Autoblog (thanks for the link, Ricardo) …

… The event is called Minis on Top, and the 2011 running represents the 9th year for these passionate fans of the brand … That’s nine years running, without any direct support from Mini USA. Not that the automaker hasn’t been paying attention. In fact, Mini President Jim McDowell has been attending MoT for the last six years. This year, McDowell brought along a KISS-edition Mini Countryman, a Cooper Coupe prototype and a basketful of balloons to toss randomly at other cars. If you’re going to run a fun brand… you’d better be fun yourself, and McDowell seems like the perfect person to helm this ship …

This great picture of GPMINI (and me) was uploaded to Flickr by Alex, and he kindly sent me a higher resolution version …

Thanks, Alex!

Happy to join The Great Ice Cream Run even if for only one day, and see MINI friends Robyn, Ian, Eric, Jak … although the weather was 100% wet! The run had three ice cream stops today, all in Massachusetts, and I met them at the first and joined the drive for the rest of the day, heading home after the final stop at Kimballs. Here are some pictures (or visit the Gallery):

Ice cream and rain at Eriksons:

MINI people:

Wet twisties:

You can’t see the driver

All the MINIs just arrived at Westfield Farm in Monson, MA!

A nice picture summary of the weekend viewable on memolane right now!