6,023 miles

Hit the 6,000 mile mark coming home from the doctor's office this afternoon! Unfortunately the road was bumpy so the picture I took of my odometer didn't come out too good.

Took my old boss to Wendy's for lunch. It was nice.... Wendy's that is. I'll update the blog with his picture as soon as I can.

OK... Last Mission? Your MINI in front of a go-kart raceway! I am never gonna get this done. But I do have an incentive, MINI is offering a trip to England for the most creative submission for this mission! Nice twist! Let me see... I do have OctCooperFest coming up, but it is technically not a go-kart race-way. The mind spins...

Moving on, I have started driving around with the top up! This goes against the 'Always Down' philosophy many MINI 'Vert owners have adopted, but I have noticed that driving with the top up does have its advantages. Sure you miss out on the open air experience... and yes the car feels cocoonish inside, but September has been particularly hot, and the roof goes a long way in keeping me cool and hidden from the dangerous sun rays. Incidentally, I haven't been using the air conditioning, just driving with the sunroof open and the windows rolled down.

Last item; a few days ago, I noticed that Bayonne, NJ has been the featured town in the OL! Yeah! Thanks to me, Bayonne is now on the radar screen of MINI owners everywhere! So I figured, in addition to the small write up I posted on the OL -- too bad you can't read it! -- I have also flickr'ed in some pictures of my town. Sadly, I am not a good photographer and my digital sucks, but the pictures came out OK. I will try to take more. I focused primarily on parks and buildings of interest (churches and bars mostly HAHA!)

5,851 miles

Fifth mission? your MINI with Barbershop (and pole!) in view. I forgot about the mission this morning and so I failed to log in to see what the mission was. Man, I am really out of the running. I could not complete the mission during normal business hours since I took my truck to work... so shortly after I arrived home I swapped car keys and searched Bayonne for a barber shop. It did not take me long, however I had to pass up two really good shops because I could not get my MINI next to the them (street parking and all).

Odd mission... given last week's twist, this one was kind of a 'gimme'. Why? Because OL hunters can reach into their treasure chest of pre-shot photos! There has been much debate on the OL on whether these pre-shot photos were admissible. MINIUSA actually responded and said 'yes' much to the chagrin of us hunters 'doing it the hard way'. Last week's 'just married' picture really forced all of us to climb into our MINIs and speed around town in the early morning AM to complete the mission (imho, the true spirit of a Scavenger Hunt). But the judge's reasoning is that they just want to see pictures of MINI owners out having fun with their cars. Given that, I can understand the use of pre-shot photos. Besides, the pre-shot photos look so much better than the night-shots us 'hard-way' hunters are submitting.

I'm still looking for that amusement park photo!

5,615 miles

Fourth mission? With the words (and hearts) "Just Married" on your MINI's windows, a picture of your MINI in front of a seedy hotel. A young couple "meeting" each other -- they arrived in separate cars -- watched me as I essentially vandalized my car and snapped up a few pictures of it. I wonder what was going on in their minds? Who knows, but in my mind all I kept thinking of was 'this shaving cream better not damage my MINI's finish!' and 'I gotta get the **** out of here!'

The Motel I selected is on Rt. 440 (a truck route... how conveeenient!) called the 'The Plaza Motel'. Seedy for sure!

BTW, the adrenaline rush is way cool! This is something other OL Hunters have observed.

Last item; I left the can of generic shaving cream on the motel's parking lot. D*mn... I could've really used that.

5,447 miles

Awoke at 3:30am to prepare for the third Scavenger Hunt mission. The mission: your MINI in front of an oversized advertisement display. Check out my photo. I took a picture of my MINI next to an oversized blue-collar guy advertising for Wilson Carpets.

There are some serious contenders in this race. With mission two still uncompleted, I have essentially eliminated myself from the pool of potential winners. I don't really care, it is quite fun, and checking out the Scavenger Hunt pictures on the OL is so cool. Given that, I am...

Still looking to complete mission #2; amusement park pic.