Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
AMVIV 2009, Sort of
A MINI Vacation in Vegas (AMVIV) An annual gathering of MINI owners and enthusiasts in Las Vegas. There is a Boot and Bonnet show (vendor fair) many excursions and tours, a poker run, a banquet, a mixer, and the hi-lite - 300+ MINIs cruising down the Las Vegas strip. MINI come from all over North America. We saw a lot of Canadian plates, mostly Alberta, and in addition to Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, Oregon, we saw plates from Illinois and Florida!
We went last year (2008) with our new MINI and had a great time, this year, well, the outcome was slightly different.
It started at Home. My MINI was due for it's 36,000 service on Friday. I made an 8am appointment at the dealer in Santa Ana. My thought was that it would be in the shop for a couple of hours and I'd be home by noon or at the latest 1pm. We planned on picking up the kids from school at 1:30pm. At 12:15 the service department called me and said that the MINI was about done, it was just waiting for a car wash, should be ready in 10 minutes. At 12:45 I got paged over the loud speaker. I went to the desk and they asked my if I wanted the car washed. I told them that I had assumed that was already done. Another 10-15 minutes. At 1:15 it was ready, the only problem was that somehow other people, presumably not heading to Vegas for AMVIV decided to cram onto the 55 and 91 freeways.
I made it home by 3:15pm. Since I made regular updates to my family, they knew that I was running late...and they waited until I arrived to start getting things done that they wanted to do before we left...I worked at smiling... by 4ish we were on the road but we'd have to skip this year's Friday night mixer, oh well, I have given up cheese for Lent this year, and they usually serve cheese and crackers.
We did arrive in time to head out to LV Strip with 300 other MINIs. That is one of the best events. It's cool to be a part of something like that. Like snowflakes, no two MINIs are alike. It's fun to see every one's interpretation. There were two MINIs that had a StarWars theme, one had a license plate that read MNI YODA, it was a convertible and had a Yoda (I don't want to call it a doll) stuffed character propped up in the back and the other had a plate that read JEDI NT. Having my iPod Touch with us, we started playing the Empire Strikes Back theme blasting from our stereo... the driver didn't seem as amused as were we.
After the cruise we headed to our hotel. The next morning we debated to go on a run that left at 9am into the desert, or an 11:30am poker run. We decided that we would go on the poker run so we'd have some extra time to view the vendor fair and then we could fit in a little pool time. You could assume that it was this decision that resulted in us being in the middle of the intersection the very moment the driver in a Ford Ranger was paying attention to his little lap dog and didn't notice the red light - that had been red for a full 30 seconds or more. I think it was actually DB and Todd's fault of White Roof Radio. As we were lining up for the run, I was planning on stopping in front of their booth to say "HI" and give them a handshake like last year, but they were doing a live broadcast, and I didn't want to interrupt them...yeah, it's their fault! : ) Actually when you look at the big picture, perhaps this really non-serious accident kept us from being involved in a more serious accident. The glass is half full, right?
After picking up our first card at the "Welcome to Las Vegas Sign" which has become an official tourist stop, complete with a parking lot in the middle of the road, we headed to our next stop with our 3 of Clubs. As we approached the intersection there were two lanes of cars in the left turn lanes awaiting a green light. Seeing the red turn arrow next to my green light actually made me slow down to 40 in a 45 zone. From behind these cars to our left came this goldish 1987 Ford Ranger into the intersection. I slammed on the brakes and turned right. The anti-lock brakes did their job, there was no skidding by the MINI, he hit brakes and did skid. I think that if he hadn't hit his brakes and continued through, he would have missed us, but instead, he was there in a flash as we made a hard right turn and the left front of the MINI got clipped by the Ford. It threw us a little bit toward the curb on the right. The MINI came to rest in the right lane of the street we were crossing. Everyone was alright in our car and none of the 6 airbags were deployed. My youngest, Keegan, didn't even know we were in an accident thanks to an iPod and a DS. It's scary to think about us being in my old Honda that didn't have anti-locks brakes and didn't corner as well, I think that e would have hit a lot harder.
Now the REAL FRUSTRATING part starts: Talking to AAA and our insurance. Since the MINI was blocking traffic my next thought was to call a tow truck. I grabbed my trusty AAA card from my wallet and called the "Out of State" phone number on the back. A woman answered and asked all of the pertinent information, then she announced that she was in California and would transfer me to Nevada AAA. After a 10 minute wait on hold, the Nevada person came on line and asked the same questions, but added one more - "Where do you wanted it towed to?" Ignoring her dangling preposition, I told her that I didn't know...but please send someone quickly. Laura was now on the phone with our insurance company, State Farm. Before they would let us ask to where we could tow the MINI they got all the information from us and the other driver, who was, lucky for us, insured. Another MINI driver saw the accident and came back to help. He did a good job directing traffic because cars that were turning left couldn't really see our MINI until halfway through their turn. He kept them from causing more damage. He also gave me his card and told me he had seen every thing. He was truly disappointed for us, I could tell. In a herd of MINIs were were the zebra that the lion caught and ate today, as the others escaped to freedom.
Now back to Sate Farm, when we finally got to the part where we could ask them where we could tow the MINI, they asked us where we wanted to tow it. After explaining that we didn't know the area, she reluctantly started reading a list of places. After each one, we'd ask if that was close? She never knew. So we called the tow driver over and he would tell us how far he thought they were away, and he reminded us that we got 5 miles of free towing and the rest was $9 per mile. He 4th option was the first one that was within 10 miles, Fairway Chevrolet. What? I thought. Take my MINI to Chevy dealer? Yeah, right. With Laura on the phone with her and telling me what she was saying and me transferring the information to the tow driver, it was taking way too long. We got hit at 12:40, it was now 1:30pm but the car was out of the intersection. As the State Farm rep kept giving us addresses, WE had to figure out if it was close or not - Nice. They'll be hearing from us soon. Finally she spat out an address that our driver said was very close. Fine, we'll take it there!
We needed a second tow truck because there were four of us in the car, and AAA must think that only two people should be in a car at a time...
The girls went in one tow truck and the boys in another. The boys were in the truck with the MINI in tow. We made it to the shop in less than 5 minutes, the girls, however, were 20 minutes behind us. Their tow truck driver got lost.
The place we went was closed on Saturdays - did I mention that this happened on Saturday? But luckily there was a guy who said that we could pull it in the shop. It turned out that he was the owner, and his shop was spotless! A very welcome sign. I had visions of a chain link fence and a bunch of rusting cars piled around with a guy named Cletus sitting behind an oily desk. Kind of like one of my favorite scenes from Doc Hollywood after he wrecks his Porsche and takes it to the local shop and the guy looks in the front compartment for the engine.
This guy runs a nice shop and says that he always battles with insurance companies to put new equipment on cars and not used parts from Arkansas. He promised me that I would not, in any way, be able to tell that my MINI had a fender bender. Even though he happened to just pop in to do a couple of chores, he stayed there with us for 2 hours until we were picked up by Enterprise. The next story...
Whenever you rent a car, they will always try to get you to "upgrade" to a bigger car. I called Enterprise soley because "They pick you up"... in about two hours... he suggested that we get a standard size car, I told him that we have been driving a MINI Cooper and we wanted the smallest available. As it turned out, there was only ONE car available! The place was otherwise empty! Progressive Insurance is picking up the tab for the $55 a day rental, sounds cool and all, but we have to drive a Mitsubishi Galant. What does Galant mean? It's a french word meaning chivalrous. Whatever, it's still boring... oops unless you drive a Galant, I'm sure YOURS is nice, --this one, not so much. It's brand new, but looks like it had been driven by Raccoons.
So I will be driving back to Las Vegas some day, hopefully in the near future, but in the meantime, I'll search for a Galant Club with which to socialize...
We went last year (2008) with our new MINI and had a great time, this year, well, the outcome was slightly different.
It started at Home. My MINI was due for it's 36,000 service on Friday. I made an 8am appointment at the dealer in Santa Ana. My thought was that it would be in the shop for a couple of hours and I'd be home by noon or at the latest 1pm. We planned on picking up the kids from school at 1:30pm. At 12:15 the service department called me and said that the MINI was about done, it was just waiting for a car wash, should be ready in 10 minutes. At 12:45 I got paged over the loud speaker. I went to the desk and they asked my if I wanted the car washed. I told them that I had assumed that was already done. Another 10-15 minutes. At 1:15 it was ready, the only problem was that somehow other people, presumably not heading to Vegas for AMVIV decided to cram onto the 55 and 91 freeways.
I made it home by 3:15pm. Since I made regular updates to my family, they knew that I was running late...and they waited until I arrived to start getting things done that they wanted to do before we left...I worked at smiling... by 4ish we were on the road but we'd have to skip this year's Friday night mixer, oh well, I have given up cheese for Lent this year, and they usually serve cheese and crackers.
We did arrive in time to head out to LV Strip with 300 other MINIs. That is one of the best events. It's cool to be a part of something like that. Like snowflakes, no two MINIs are alike. It's fun to see every one's interpretation. There were two MINIs that had a StarWars theme, one had a license plate that read MNI YODA, it was a convertible and had a Yoda (I don't want to call it a doll) stuffed character propped up in the back and the other had a plate that read JEDI NT. Having my iPod Touch with us, we started playing the Empire Strikes Back theme blasting from our stereo... the driver didn't seem as amused as were we.
After the cruise we headed to our hotel. The next morning we debated to go on a run that left at 9am into the desert, or an 11:30am poker run. We decided that we would go on the poker run so we'd have some extra time to view the vendor fair and then we could fit in a little pool time. You could assume that it was this decision that resulted in us being in the middle of the intersection the very moment the driver in a Ford Ranger was paying attention to his little lap dog and didn't notice the red light - that had been red for a full 30 seconds or more. I think it was actually DB and Todd's fault of White Roof Radio. As we were lining up for the run, I was planning on stopping in front of their booth to say "HI" and give them a handshake like last year, but they were doing a live broadcast, and I didn't want to interrupt them...yeah, it's their fault! : ) Actually when you look at the big picture, perhaps this really non-serious accident kept us from being involved in a more serious accident. The glass is half full, right?
After picking up our first card at the "Welcome to Las Vegas Sign" which has become an official tourist stop, complete with a parking lot in the middle of the road, we headed to our next stop with our 3 of Clubs. As we approached the intersection there were two lanes of cars in the left turn lanes awaiting a green light. Seeing the red turn arrow next to my green light actually made me slow down to 40 in a 45 zone. From behind these cars to our left came this goldish 1987 Ford Ranger into the intersection. I slammed on the brakes and turned right. The anti-lock brakes did their job, there was no skidding by the MINI, he hit brakes and did skid. I think that if he hadn't hit his brakes and continued through, he would have missed us, but instead, he was there in a flash as we made a hard right turn and the left front of the MINI got clipped by the Ford. It threw us a little bit toward the curb on the right. The MINI came to rest in the right lane of the street we were crossing. Everyone was alright in our car and none of the 6 airbags were deployed. My youngest, Keegan, didn't even know we were in an accident thanks to an iPod and a DS. It's scary to think about us being in my old Honda that didn't have anti-locks brakes and didn't corner as well, I think that e would have hit a lot harder.
Now the REAL FRUSTRATING part starts: Talking to AAA and our insurance. Since the MINI was blocking traffic my next thought was to call a tow truck. I grabbed my trusty AAA card from my wallet and called the "Out of State" phone number on the back. A woman answered and asked all of the pertinent information, then she announced that she was in California and would transfer me to Nevada AAA. After a 10 minute wait on hold, the Nevada person came on line and asked the same questions, but added one more - "Where do you wanted it towed to?" Ignoring her dangling preposition, I told her that I didn't know...but please send someone quickly. Laura was now on the phone with our insurance company, State Farm. Before they would let us ask to where we could tow the MINI they got all the information from us and the other driver, who was, lucky for us, insured. Another MINI driver saw the accident and came back to help. He did a good job directing traffic because cars that were turning left couldn't really see our MINI until halfway through their turn. He kept them from causing more damage. He also gave me his card and told me he had seen every thing. He was truly disappointed for us, I could tell. In a herd of MINIs were were the zebra that the lion caught and ate today, as the others escaped to freedom.
Now back to Sate Farm, when we finally got to the part where we could ask them where we could tow the MINI, they asked us where we wanted to tow it. After explaining that we didn't know the area, she reluctantly started reading a list of places. After each one, we'd ask if that was close? She never knew. So we called the tow driver over and he would tell us how far he thought they were away, and he reminded us that we got 5 miles of free towing and the rest was $9 per mile. He 4th option was the first one that was within 10 miles, Fairway Chevrolet. What? I thought. Take my MINI to Chevy dealer? Yeah, right. With Laura on the phone with her and telling me what she was saying and me transferring the information to the tow driver, it was taking way too long. We got hit at 12:40, it was now 1:30pm but the car was out of the intersection. As the State Farm rep kept giving us addresses, WE had to figure out if it was close or not - Nice. They'll be hearing from us soon. Finally she spat out an address that our driver said was very close. Fine, we'll take it there!
We needed a second tow truck because there were four of us in the car, and AAA must think that only two people should be in a car at a time...
The girls went in one tow truck and the boys in another. The boys were in the truck with the MINI in tow. We made it to the shop in less than 5 minutes, the girls, however, were 20 minutes behind us. Their tow truck driver got lost.
The place we went was closed on Saturdays - did I mention that this happened on Saturday? But luckily there was a guy who said that we could pull it in the shop. It turned out that he was the owner, and his shop was spotless! A very welcome sign. I had visions of a chain link fence and a bunch of rusting cars piled around with a guy named Cletus sitting behind an oily desk. Kind of like one of my favorite scenes from Doc Hollywood after he wrecks his Porsche and takes it to the local shop and the guy looks in the front compartment for the engine.
This guy runs a nice shop and says that he always battles with insurance companies to put new equipment on cars and not used parts from Arkansas. He promised me that I would not, in any way, be able to tell that my MINI had a fender bender. Even though he happened to just pop in to do a couple of chores, he stayed there with us for 2 hours until we were picked up by Enterprise. The next story...
Whenever you rent a car, they will always try to get you to "upgrade" to a bigger car. I called Enterprise soley because "They pick you up"... in about two hours... he suggested that we get a standard size car, I told him that we have been driving a MINI Cooper and we wanted the smallest available. As it turned out, there was only ONE car available! The place was otherwise empty! Progressive Insurance is picking up the tab for the $55 a day rental, sounds cool and all, but we have to drive a Mitsubishi Galant. What does Galant mean? It's a french word meaning chivalrous. Whatever, it's still boring... oops unless you drive a Galant, I'm sure YOURS is nice, --this one, not so much. It's brand new, but looks like it had been driven by Raccoons.
So I will be driving back to Las Vegas some day, hopefully in the near future, but in the meantime, I'll search for a Galant Club with which to socialize...
Monday, March 23, 2009
It's Time Again
I have been a slacker, I know. I think that I have spent too much time on Facebook recently and have let my blogging responsibilities linger too long. But as I work on our itinerary for WDW 2009 and how to make the City of Victorville more money I will make a better effort, so come back, I'll have something for you soon.
Here's what's ahead:
WDW Planning 2009 - What parks on what days and why. What resort, what restuarant, how long, perhaps a cruise to plan, after all we are already paying for the flight, right?
AMVIV 2009 - Yes that's right, the Coleman's will be heading to Vegas again in the MINI Cooper. Might even add boot stripes this year!
The Lake Arrowhead Hooks - This will be my 4th season coaching Keegan in youth baseball.
Brush up Your Shakespeare - I actually have a singing and semi-dancing part in our church's annual Broadway performance in April.
Project Watch 2009 - Having almost finished the shed and the add-on office, I plan on tackling an expansion of our front deck this summer, hopefully I can finish before the first snow!
Yosemite - We are taking a May trip.
Here's what's ahead:
WDW Planning 2009 - What parks on what days and why. What resort, what restuarant, how long, perhaps a cruise to plan, after all we are already paying for the flight, right?
AMVIV 2009 - Yes that's right, the Coleman's will be heading to Vegas again in the MINI Cooper. Might even add boot stripes this year!
The Lake Arrowhead Hooks - This will be my 4th season coaching Keegan in youth baseball.
Brush up Your Shakespeare - I actually have a singing and semi-dancing part in our church's annual Broadway performance in April.
Project Watch 2009 - Having almost finished the shed and the add-on office, I plan on tackling an expansion of our front deck this summer, hopefully I can finish before the first snow!
Yosemite - We are taking a May trip.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
April 2008 - Petersen Auto Museum & DTD
Did you know that the car Doc Hudson in Disney's Cars was modeled after an actual car? I didn't, but here it is. Laura was out of town so I grabbed the kids and drove to LA for a Daddy Day!
After the museum we headed to Downtown Disney for a photo shoot.
Keegan in front of his favorite store. If you're not sure what to get Keegan for a gift, Legos are always a good bet!.
We had to get the Suburban some bonnett stripes so it wouldn't feel left out by all the attention the MINI was getting.
March 2008 - It's a MINI World!
Saw this on the trip back to Vegas after the Charleston run.
Keegan and Katie peek out of the sunroof before our cruise down the Las Vegas Strip with 500 other MINI Coopers!
AMVIV was the name of the event. A MINI Vacation in Vegas. We drove out Friday night and came back on Saturday night.
I saw Elvis in the parking lot!
Laura took this picture through the sunroof while we were cruising on the strip.
February 2008 Stupid Paparazzi!
I did not want this picture taken. We (the family) were on a sight seeing/fact finding tour north of Santa Barbara. Since I had never been to Lompoc, I wanted to visit. On the map, Lompoc seems ideally located; away from large population centers and right on the coast. I couldn't wait to see the coast from their perspective... I'm still waiting...on the way to the ocean I was too busy looking at the Navi and ignored the gas gauge... One thing that I can say about Lompoc, the tow truck drivers seem to be nice.
Obviously I don't make many mistakes... and my wife thought that she'd better document this one in case I don't make another in 2008. ; )
While we never made it to the coast in Lompoc, we did pull over and watch a train motor by. We were riding our scooters, that's why the kids are wearing helmets.
January 2008
Mesa Arizona, January 2008. John Haines, Garrett Otto and I in the dugout. Each year we play in a fantasy camp tournament in Mesa. (Kelly (Hubatka) took the photo.) I was sick and they pretty much had to prop me up for the first three games, then I sat out game number 4. Garrett, who has torn his body apart by playing years of baseball, is catching or caught up to John and me in the skills department. He can actually throw the ball without wincing, something John and I can only dream about. John's arm is totally toast and probably needs Tommy John. I can probably reach 70 on the radar, but with great effort. While the pains of getting old suck, the brain still doesn't think that I'm old, and I'm having a great time. Netx year we plan on getting Jerry White, Jeff Hubatka, and Tom Johnson out there.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Christmas Break 2007 in Pictures
Christmas Eve, Christmas Day at Home, at the Buecheler's playing Wii, Cousin's soccer tournament, Palm Springs for New Year's, 3-mile hike, putting decorations away.
Snow
Finally! The snow melted enough to take the MINI out of the garage! (But then I pulled it back in and quickly closed the door!)
The weather up here is delightful. The snow has melted enough for decent driving conditions, but there is plenty left for skiing as Laura and the kids took advantage of the $10 locals night skiing on Friday. It got warm enough during the day that we kayaked around the lake on Saturday. We saw not one, but two bald eagles!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
We Evacuated, But we're all ok
View Larger Map
Monday, Oct. 22
Our house is just above the green arrow on Bishorn. The fire got to Brentwood and almost Sandlewood. The large building and field is the Middle School were the Command Post was set. From our window at 6:05 in the morning, we could see flames and massive smoke as 20-30 mph winds came straight at us. Our power was out and it was still very dark so the orange glow was impressive. We were able to get all important papers and pictures into the Suburban as well as a few non-essentials. We got a call for mandatory evacuation from the Sheriff. Got the kids up for a fire drill, we called as many friends on the mounatain as we could remember numbers because with the power out many had not heard anything. We were some of the first ones down the hill and didn't wait in traffic at all. We re-grouped at Chick-fil-a in Redlands, had breakfast and made plans. We are now safely with family in Glendora. We know of at least two friends who have already lost their houses and fear for the worst for another. So far ours has been spared and it looks like the worst has passed us, but for others it's just beginning.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Mammoth Mountain!
That's Katie-11, Anna-5, Keegan-7, and Me. Guess which kid isn't a Coleman? Here we are in the Gondola up to the Summit of Mammoth Mountain. I will be biking down and the others will be taking the gondola halfway down and hiking the rest of the way.
At the summit (Dave's Run) with my bike that almost cost less money than the lift pass. It was an awesome ride down and only two times during the desent did I actually fear for my life. But I lived to blog another day.
Keegan and Katie wondering where I was going.
Our kids with three of the four Buecheler girls (the other Buecheler is a teenager and might have been off brooding) and the Buecheler Dad with his special pal. Randy never leaves home without Pookie.
Randy, me, and Nancy before a big ride. She did pretty well for a girl.
Next up our day trip to Devil's Postpile and Rainbow Falls.
Friday, September 21, 2007
It's Not My Fault
Actually, it's probably not any one's fault. Labeled "The Mammoth Earthquake Fault" most believe that it's actually a Fissure that resulted from a mammoth (pun intended) earthquake several years ago. It was still fun to explore.
This is June Lake, and the Little Mermaid is Katie. I had no idea that the water would be so clear. The water was a little chilly, but that didn't stop the kids from swimming.
That's Laura in her bright yellow Perception Antigua kayak
This is where Laura and Katie dropped off me and my bike. They took the safe gondola halfway down the mountain as I plummeted the entire way down, and lived to blog.
Here's Keegan's mountain top experience.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
The Coleman Family Vacation 2007 - Day 1 - Randsburg
One of the reasons we bought this climate warming 8 passenger Family Truckster 1500 was that it would be a great vacation vehicle. The Suburban did not let us down. With three rows of seats and plenty of storage, each kid was able to rest comfortably in his/her own area code, each equipped with enough ubiquitous cupholders for morning and afternoon juice boxes, while the parents did not hear the three dreaded words of a family intrastate vacation..."He's touching me!"
The first stop of our week long journey was the often over looked town of Randsburg, CA. If I 
remember correctly, Randsburg was a mining town back in it's heyday, and the fact that 'heyday' is singular seems to fit here. I can't remember what they mined around here, but my educated guess would be rust. Our vacation buddies on this trip were the, equally as ubiquitous as the cupholders, Buechelers. While I'm not sure exactly how many there are of them, there are a lot, and they are mostly little screaming girls. One of them is our God Daughter, Emmy. Walking through the town that sidewalks forgot it's easy to imagine just how miserable it might have been to live there long ago, 
but...ah, it's a nice place to visit, and now I can check Randsburg off of my "Why in the world did I visit this place list." 
remember correctly, Randsburg was a mining town back in it's heyday, and the fact that 'heyday' is singular seems to fit here. I can't remember what they mined around here, but my educated guess would be rust. Our vacation buddies on this trip were the, equally as ubiquitous as the cupholders, Buechelers. While I'm not sure exactly how many there are of them, there are a lot, and they are mostly little screaming girls. One of them is our God Daughter, Emmy. Walking through the town that sidewalks forgot it's easy to imagine just how miserable it might have been to live there long ago, 
but...ah, it's a nice place to visit, and now I can check Randsburg off of my "Why in the world did I visit this place list." 
Next, on to Mammoth!
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