This message is being sent from The Atrium hotel in Irvine, Orange County, California after the Awards Banquet on Saturday, August 24th.

Four days have swept by and the meet will conclude tomorrow with a two stage rally...time/distance and then observation. I have a tentative arrangement for a navigator, who will need to be comfortable with some basic metric conversions related to distance speed. As MMW entry #71, my rally start time is 71 minutes after 8:30 a.m., or 9:41 a.m. More on that later...

After arriving in Carmichael last Tuesday, Kent Summers and I sorted through car parts in his considerable collection, welcomed a chap looking for help in selling his Mini pickup, took the new Mini Cooper into adjacent Arden for a late lunch at the Opera Cafe and returned home to visit with the family.

Jim Sadowski arrived late in the afternoon from San Jose to borrow Kent's trailer to take his Moke to LA. He is an exceptionally athletic paraplegic, who disassembles motor vehicles for the recycling of serviceable parts.

Mike Ross also arrived with a trailer in tow with his incomplete Mini pickup to be "finished" next day and to load the Orange Ogre Vintage Racing 998 Mini for the haul to Sacramento. Mike joined me as an overnight guest in Carmichael.

On Wednesday morning, the first task was to run for fresh brewed coffee since the coffee maker had died Tuesday morning and two days without was not acceptable. Work began on Mike's truck as he wanted to install and plumb in a new fuel cell, sort and paint exterior door hinges, install doors and sort his ignition wiring. His new red/white paint job provides a snappy look to the well used pickup.

As always, the pickup's completion took longer than anticipated. We did not leave Sacramento until 3:30 p.m. for the 732 km./446 mi. haul to Irvine. The delay meant that we would arrive at the infamous "Grapevine" north of LA, where the Tejon Pass summits at more than 4,100 feet, in the cool of the evening. The delay also allowed Pooh and Mouse (the Summer's new Mini Cooper) to be washed. Pooh also had spark plugs pulled cleaned, gapped and reinstalled...and a quick check over.

We had 5 Minis in our little caravan, two on a trailer and three on the road. Equipped with short range radios, we would be able to deal with travel circumstances as they developed. After an uneventful stint of 372 kms./226 mi., we stopped for an hour in Kettlemen for fuel and dinner.

Pushing on, the "Grapevine's" steep ascents were taken after dark with Mike and the truck/trailer combination pulling 35 mph uphill amongst the semis. Pooh fell in behind with Mouse bringing up the rear. Amanda (Piglet) Silverstein in her borrowed White Mini "Tinny" Wagon (no wood) watched its 1380 engine temperature soar and lit out uphill to cool off a higher speed. With the radios buzzing she was able to listen to our progress and connect over the summit.

Dropping down into North Hollywood, we traced the I5 to Fwy. 55 and on to Mac Arthur Blvd. to The Atrium hotel...arriving at midnight. We averaged almost 100 kmh/60 mph for the freeway run. Everyone was ready to hit the sack including Mike who accepted my offer to overnight in the hotel rather than push on an hour to pickup his co-registrant and then rush over to the Meet site to "finish" the pickup. [There was no time to email updated text.]

Friday, August 23rd was Day One of Mini Meet with the Autocross (Solo II, Slalom) Racing and Funkhana pulling participants away from the vendors and Minis for their "runs". The events were held at the Orange County Fairgrounds just a few minutes from the hotel via either the 405 (San Diego) or 55 freeways. Weather was clear, warm and suggested a good sunblock, despite the ample shade from a reasonably well treed area where the vendors were set up and lunch was served.

Pooh was prepped for the Autocross by a complete unloading, carb adjustment and quick check over. Pooh was entered in Class D and finished 7th (and would also have finished 7th in Class C). In fact a blanket could have been thrown over most of the top cars. Pooh might have gone faster with more air in the front tires... (Will do at PIR.) The team putting together the MMW Video mounted a digital video cam in Pooh for two runs...one focusing on the driver, the other looking forward. Will be interesting to see and critique the full clips. Could be instructive...maybe humorous.

There were a number of well sorted Minis and motivated drivers. SCCA Solo II experts provided outside safety supervision for the event which involved the usual technical checks of each Mini entered. Mike's "finished" pickup entered the autocross lists and its bigger engine pulled well against strong competition in Class C. Terryl Summers drove the Orange Ogre 998 vintage race car, her daughter Tori drove her late model 'Goliath' and son-in-law Ray drove 'Matilda' the Cooper S. Amada who drove in the Autocross but who "did not go fast just to jam on the brakes", took First Place long wheel base in the Funkhana and Third Place in Custom Minis.

The rest of Friday was spent visiting, swapping lies, searching parts offerings...and ordering a T-shirt with an image of Pooh's backside listing during the Autocross to go on the back under the message "See Ya!" We ended the day with a group dinner at The Atrium.

Today, Saturday, August 24th, Day Two of Mini Meet dawned clear and warm, again demanding sunblock. The 'car show' was held at the fairgrounds, with many additional Minis joining the 'show'. 177 Minis (136 old and 41 new) were on display. With ongoing vendor booths, 230 lunches being served, and the public also having access to the site, it was a busy place.

At 3 p.m., cars started to move for placement for the panoramic group photo. When the photographer arrived, he asked that the field be 90 degrees to align with the sun and eliminate shadows. The deeds done -one picture without people, the other cars and people - allowed Mike Smith and I to hoist a Canadian Flag to remind everyone that MMW 2003 will be held in Victoria B.C. next August.

Mike Smith, President of the Victoria Mini Club, had an opportunity at the end of the banquet to extend a personal invitation to drive north in 2003. I extended greetings from the Vancouver Mini Club and assured all that it was a terific drive to B.C.'s capital city. Hopefully, they believed, as Pooh and I collected the 'Farthest Distance Driven Award'.

There were lots of prizes, capped by two sets of Yokohama tires, one a set of 10" A008s, the other any tire set up to 18" wheels! These capped almost $8,000 worth of draw prizes, which were well distributed. I was the winner of a package including a $50 gift certificate from Seven Enterprises now located in California, a carton of 104 Octane Booster and a Yokohama shirt. Kent Summers and I will scoot up I80 to Seven in the new Mini Cooper on Wednesday to scout the possibilities.

Lots of kudos for the MOALA Meet Committee and volunteers, because the Meet all came together and worked. The Rally ends the Meet program on Sunday, August 25th. Now, I'm off to bed as it's already 1:28 a.m. PDT!

Cheers!

Rick Higgs (and Pooh of course)

Pooh, E-mail:  mhabc@telus.net