VaMike

I was driving by PMOA yesterday, top down, and stopped short at the light to let a BRG roadster on a test drive out of the drive in front of me. As we both waited the better part of a minute facing each other and less than 20 feet apart I waved out the top, out the side, gave them a goofy grins - nothing <eyes roll>. Will keep it up. Glad to hear persistence eventually wins them over! ...Mike

Wow. Nice!

Congrats!

Just walked back to Rigsby after finishing brunch at La Casa in Foxchase (on Duke in Alexandria) to find a silver R59 had joined him. Nice! No custom tag or badges but I tagged him with a card. There were parking spots available other than this one in the back of the lot, so I'm pretty sure Silver made a point of sidling up. ...Mike

Hey Steph, thanks for the clarification. Lisa, hope you don't mind that we stole a pic with your Mini - beautiful! Look forward you meeting you sometime soon. ...Mike

Yes, I think his name is Brian, but I haven't met him yet.

We saw UKSWAG in the BJ's parking lot next to PMOA and had to stop for a pic. Beautiful classic Mini!

I took Rigsby to the touchless wash on Duke this evening. On the way I passed a woman on S Pickett in a black R56 "DEX" with bonnet stripes who saw my wave and gave a nice smile back. At the car wash I fell into line behind a nice orange R52 that could have been related to Tigger! I was about eighth in line. While we waited the driver walked back to say hi and asked if she could see my boot. I opened it up and out popped Tav! She said, "So, that's what happened to the back seat!" We had a nice chat that made the wait seem shorter. She wasn't aware of the club so I gave her a card. ...Mike

Just spotted in LA area near the beach: Blue hard top/black stripes with tag "GOLDN" ...belonging to Gracie Gold. (via NBC coverage) Gracie was driving her MINI away from the camera at the top of Apolo Ohno's interview with her, shot in Los Angeles prior to the games. It aired for the second time about 8:15pm tonight. You might be able to find it online. ...Mike

Hey! Yes that was me! You discovered my morning breakfast spot (Panera), though I was running a bit late today. I usually sit next to the front window. Feel free to come and drink coffee with me! Every once in a while I will see another CR S Roadster parked in this same lot in front of Staples. I've tagged it before but I don't think the owner wants to come out and play. We must be persistent! …Mike

Had a great time this morning - especially the double loops through the capital roundabouts and tourists! Thanks everyone. Looking forward to next weekend's dinner now! ...Mike

I have an extra walkie if someone needs it. I'll also bring some extra Quick Detailer and micro fiber cloth if anyone needs it. Miguel won't be able to attend with Mickito because of work. :-(

The Land Rover I had before Rigsby had a set of Hella off road lights - loved the way they looked both on and off. At the seven year mark the solid state high current relay that controlled them failed. The lights simply wouldn't turn on. I passed inspection for a few more years before one inspector told me he would fail the vehicle unless I put covers on the lights even though they wouldn't come on under any circumstances. Glad I kept the covers in the back! I popped them on and passed. I keep Rigsby's driving light covers in the boot side storage just in case. ...Mike

Driving west on Eisenhower around noon today with the top down we spotted a light blue clubby with bike racks coming from the other direction. We gave a big wave with hands out the top and got an enthusiastic wave back. We definitely get better responses with the top down. Still waiting for someone to throw beads! ;-) ...Mike

Rigsby found two pals in the Hoffman Theatre parking lot this evening. "Room4T" looked very nice with the carbon scoop! Miguel wants to put white stripes on Mickito like those on the countryman.

So, I've got an update on this: I had a very good experience with East Coast Collision in Alexandria. The place is run (owned?) by the two Fastekjian brothers, both of whom worked with me. If you take the Blue line through Van Dorn you've passed the back of their shop, just before the station. Everything went smoothly, from the estimate, through handling all the insurance paperwork for me, to also handling a door ding repair at separate cost at the same time. I decided to have the work done while I was on an oversees trip. They worked with me ahead of time to make arrangements for Miguel to drop Rigsby off (we live within walking distance) and timed the work so Rigsby was ready to pick up the morning after I got back. The work was great - the bumper and door look just like new. A day or two later I was out running errands and as I walked up to the car noticed some chili red overspray on a small part of the undercarriage that could only be see at a distance/angle. I dropped back by the shop unannounced and one of the brothers came out to cleaned it off himself while I waited (all of about 5 minutes). They "get" that I'm semi-obsessed with this car and were able to deliver. I have to say that I didn't expect them, or anyone, to be able to do this. I was ready to be disappointed in some aspect, but these guys nailed it. I don't know how they might handle major repairs, but on these two minor ones I think they did a great job. ...Mike

After a nice dinner at Los Toltecos on Duke Street Friday evening ( I know several club members go there) I returned to find someone had backed into Rigsby and damaged the right rear bumper. A nice couple eating on the deck took note of the license plate of the car that hit Rigsby before it drove off. The Alexandria Police were able to track the driver down and get the insurance information. The driver's insurance company is State Farm and they have identified East Coast Collision as a prefferred shop. A few weeks earlier someone gave Rigsby a small ding (through the paint) on the right door that I want to get repaired at the sometime, though at separate cost. I've been told already by two shops that this will require painting the door and rear fender to match paint. Has anyone had experience with East Coast Collision? Any thoughts on the quality of their work? Thanks! ...Mike

Nice! He looks like Rigsby's evil hard top twin :big grin: Can't wait to see it in person! ...Mike

We are definitely looking forward to this! Mike, I've also been shamed into fixing my own weather station's wind sensor :-) http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KVAALEXA30 Weather/MINI geek nirvana would be receiving a weather radar overlay on the MINI nav system! I may try configuring wunderground RSS in the MINI Connected system before Sunday's run just to have something new for my navigator to play with :-) ...Mike

Welcome MB! Hope we can get Rigsby and Phineus out on a run together sometime! ...Mike

The 3Ms and Rigsby will see everyone on Sunday! Looking forward to it! ...Mike

Sounds awesome! What day is this again? ...Mike

In certain situations Rigby will decide to really talk to us with a definite Bang instead of a pop. It's not jolting but the first time it happened with the top down while driving under a bridge it really got my attention, as well as everyone else's ! We love the snaps, burbles, pops and bangs which all go away immediately when the Sport mode is deactivated. We have to be careful when driving at night into our condo property :-( You can force a good pop or bang by running up the RPMs while in gear and then decelerating without shifting or going into neutral. On the Spring Run I could get a good bang in the power transition/over run when I passed over the top of a steeper hill - sometimes combined with slightly and briefly lower G's <g> ( vertical twisty?) Think "bang" as you would go over the top of a roller coaster. The faster I came off the accelerator the more pronounced the pop or bang. That is the fun part - I didn't have to be going fast to make it happen. It seems the loudness is related to the delta v and sudden power drop rather than constant speed. I'm definitely digging this feature! ...Mike

Was likely not Rigsby near that building, though you might spot us near Vienna or Tyson's. Home is in Alexandria. We got our new personalized "RIGSBY" plates this week, so we should be easier to spot! ...M

We will be there!