And so we went to Charleston

Last Sunday the Coastal MINIS motored up to Charleston. 4 cars left Savannah, and 10 joined up with us in Charleston, making a record total of 14 MINIS!!!!! We saw some old friends, and met some new ones. We had one newcomer, Paul from Beaufort drive up with us from Savannah in his brand new 2007 Cooper S.

Our trip was delayed slightly by a truck on fire on the side of I-95 that halted traffic for a little while. By the way, MINI sunroofs are wonderful for observing long lines of stopped traffic. After we finally got going again, we met up with our very patient friends in Charleston. We really appreciate them waiting for us in the hot hot sun! Then we motored over to Davis Island to a very nice restuarant for brunch. Afterwards we headed to a place called Turkey's where they had several imported classic minis. It was so wonderful to see how far our cars have come! For our final stop, Matt and Jimmy took us down the street to Ye Old Fashioned Ice Cream where MINI of Charleston treated us, because it was SO hot. Thanks guys, it was delicious!

Check out Stephanie's slide show!


Our next meet up is going to be on Sunday, September 2nd. Because of Labor Day weekend, we will be staying in Savannah for this one. We're just going to have a low key planning session of sorts. We're going to work on ideas for future trips, logo and sticker designs, etc. We'll still meet at Starbucks, as usual, and probably head somewhere in town for lunch. Anyone is welcome to come! We would love to hear your opinions on what you would like to see happen with Coastal MINIS. :)

Happy Motoring!

The Great Ice Cream Run

With less than a month to go, we are all looking forward to The Great Ice Cream Run coming to visit Savannah on June 9th. 2007. CoastMINIS will be escorting MINI drivers and their cars from their hotels to Leopold's Ice Cream on Broughton Street. More local events will be shaping up in the next few days.

There are going to be a lot of MINIs in town coming from Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachussetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia.

We have a lot of fun stuff planned. Details of which will be released next week.

Next meeting will be usual place, usual time...We will meet at the Starbucks in the 12 Oaks Shopping Center at 5500 Abercorn Street, Savannah at 10am. on June 3rd. 2007

1st Sunday Motoring Motoring May 6th 2007

1st Sunday Monthly motoring heads south this time to Shellmans Bluff. We have tried to make this run before but we eneded up doing a parade of the squares down town and ran out of time. We will stop by the MINI Church in S.Newport then on Shellman's Bluf for lunch at the Hunter's Cafe.

Let's meet at the Starbucks in the 12 Oaks Shopping Center at 5500 Abercorn Street, Savannah at 10am. Details here.

1st Sunday Monthly Motoring March 4th 2007

This month we are hosting a ride to Beaufort, South Carolina, to try to make it equidistant from both Savannah and Charleston and the rendezvous involves food, of course! As you come through Beaufort on Hy 21, you eventually come to the waterfront - Bay Street - turn right here, and drive along Bay Street until you come to the marina on the left. There is adequate parking right by the marina. Lets plan to meet there at 12:30 and then drive over the bridge to the restaurant on Lady's Island.

We are eating at Barbara Jean's Restaurant - there are excellent directions on their site as well as a menu. Their address is 47 Ferry Road, Beaufort, SC 29907 (843) 524-2400

After lunch, the plan is to drive a couple of miles east to Hunting Island, for a walk on the beach!

Let's meet at the Starbucks in the 12 Oaks Shopping Center at 5500 Abercorn Street, Savannah at 10am. Details here.

Now that sounds like a perfect day's motoring to me!

Charleston Run / Intro to MINI World

Last week end's run to Charleston was a real treat. We had a great send off from our usual coffee shop before hitting the highway.
Catherine and Heather, while unable to attend the drive, showed for an early coffee as did Blake and crew. Then Stephanie and I made a small but determined convoy for the trip north with Susan and Drew as passengers.

We stopped on the way (all that coffee!) and arrived in Charleston to find as many MINIs opposite the dealership as there were at the dealership! A truly great turn out from the Low Country MINI people - a total of 11 cars and 18 people. Then off to Sullivan's Island for lunch and then another photo op at the USS Yorktown. There are a couple of write-ups with some great picture on Stephanie's and Matt's blogs. Rumor has it that we will be heading north again next month for a run to Hunting Island..more later.

My friends Susan and Drew came along to 'experience' a little motoring. Susan owns Paragon, a creative services company in Savannah and Drew is the creative director in the firm. They have been very interested in MINI's marketing strategies of recent and the owner enthusiasm that is so prevalent within the MINI community, so they wanted to experience the evangelism first hand. Susan has written a great article that she promises to be part of a series. It was fun introducing an outsider to our ways and I know everyone enjoyed you both coming along.

Now Susan..... you need to get a MINI!

1st Sunday Monthly Motoring February 4th. 2007

With Sunday February 4th coming up I just wanted to remind everyone to come along for an outing to Charleston...

We had a great turnout last month and I hope we can do just as well this Sunday. The Charleston gang have made many trips to Savannah for our Savannah meets in the past so when they invited us to visit them we just couldn't turn it down. They have also put the word out in their MINI community so there should be a good crowd.

For consistency, we will still meet at our usual place, for a quick coffee and will try to depart at 10.30 am sharp - this should get us into Charleston for lunch. Hope you all can make it.

1st Sunday Outing

Great gathering of Savannah MINIs this morning with our best turnout yet!

Eight MINIS showed up this morning with their respective owners for coffee and a run to South Carolina. Again, many thanks to the guys for making the long trip down from Charleston. Welcome to Janel and Brent from Bluffton in a great looking Cool Blue Cooper S Convertible and John from Savannah in a nicely modded Chili Red S and Allison, Susan and Josh- our youngest attendee - in a Pepper White S. We had 3 convertibles, 7 Cooper S and one Cooper.

Stephanie had belated Santa gifts and after coffee in Savannah, we hit the misty highway for the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. Lots of migrating waterfowl and a couple of red tailed hawks, but the alligators were nowhere to be seen. We had a great photo opportunity and then off to the Squatt and Gobble in Bluffton for an early lunch (Matt was hungry!) We had a nice run back to Savannah just as the sun burned off the final signs of the morning fog and started to shine.

Thanks to everyone for turning out and we look forward to getting together for the next one on February 4th.

1st Sunday Motoring Jan 7th. 2007

With the first Sunday of ..not just the month, but the year coming up this week end we will be gathering for our Monthly Motoring outing.

Stalwarts of Monthly Motoring that gather each and every month will be on hand for our first outing of 2007. MINI owners from South Georgia, South Carolina and North Florida are all welcome - details here.

This month's trip will be a drive around the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, which lies on both the South Carolina and Georgia sides of the Savannah River just upriver from the city of Savannah, Georgia.

The refuge was established in 1927 and encompasses over 28,000 acres include tidal freshwater marsh, wetlands and hardwood forrests. Formerly the rice fields of plantations dating back to the mid or late 1700's, the refuge is home to a large variety of wildlife including: alligators, ducks, geese, wading birds, shorebirds and several endangered and threatened species including bald eagles, wood storks, manatees and shortnose sturgeon. The refuge also provides nesting areas for wood ducks, great horned owls, bald eagles, osprey and swallow-tailed kites among others. On my last visit there, we were fortunate enough to see a Bobcat.

We meet at 10 am at the Starbucks at the 12 Oaks Shopping Center in Savannah - full details here.

Monthly Motoring

On a coolish Sunday morning, the stalwarts of Coastal Georgia Monthly Motoring tuned out for a quick run up to Blufton and lunch.

Stephanie, Heather and myself, from Savannah and Jimmy and Matt from Charleston met for coffee before heading off. Stephanie did a good job of documenting the event here. See you all.. and more we hope, ... next month.

1st Sunday Coming Up November 3rd 2006

Savannah MINI owners, don't forget that we have a first Sunday get together coming up this weekend. Details here.

Weekend MINI Outing

A great first gathering of the Savannah MINIS took place this past weekend with a total of seven MINIS.

Stephanie, Chris and myself from Savannah, Mat and James from Chalreston met at the LaQuinta Inn, and drove out to Tybee Island where we were treated to a wonderful sky and a late rising harvest moon. The first chill weather of the year was enjoyed as were plenty of plantains, salza and spiced food. Talk was lively and about MINIS and everyone had a good time. When Stephanie told Matt her MINI car seats were catskin... he looked a little taken a back... of course she was referring to the custom work of Katzkin - and very nice they were too!
In addition to the Saturday crew, we were joined on Sunday by Heather and then Jackie joined in for a few laps of the squares.

We toured the historic district and then headed south down Hy 17 to the Smallest (MINI) Church in America for some group pictures then time ran out for some and we had to part company. Thanks again to Matt and Jimmy for making the trip down from Charleston.

Chris and I continued on to Harris Neck and Shellmans Bluff for lunch.

Thank you all who sent me pictures, they are posted here.
I think a wonderful time was had by all..... lets do something like this again . . . soon !

S. Georgia MINI Trip Oct. 8th. 2006

A number of MINI owners have expressed some interest in getting together one Saturday or Sunday afternoon and doing some MOTORING.

Several ideas have been proposed including a drive to the Golden Isles, a tour through the back roads of south central Georgia, or a ride out to Beaufort and Hunting Island.

So, I thought I would propose the idea and see what kind of feedback I got. I feel it should certainly involve a little driving and although there are so few twisties down here amongst the pine tree lined straight roads of the coast, there are some tasty places to visit.

Maybe it should wind up a great place to eat, say out at the beach or at some particular haunt that you like. It should, of cause, be fun and open to all MINI owners. I have received some emails from people in Charleston who would like to come join us so lets see what we can get organized.

Regarding dates, the following Sat/Sun days look possible.. September 30th. / October 1st., October 7 th / 8th.,

Please let me know your thoughts. you can email me here or leave a comment.