Bessie stopped over in Sheboygan for ice cream at Cruisers. As we drove in, we instantly knew we were in Harley territory by the orange and black accents everywhere. The parking lot was never void of any Harley-Davidson motorcycles. We enjoyed Hot Ham and Cheese sandwiches and fried cheese curds for lunch. Afterwards, we had 89 cent ice cream cones filled with delicious ice cream. Dreamsicle hit the spot and tasted just as I had imagined. Afterwards, we went to Kohler-Andrae State Park to sweat off some of those lunch time calories. View photos…

MINI Takes the States Chicago had a lot of potential. If it weren’t for a few technical difficulties, I think I would have had an awesome time. Oddly enough, the major fault was spending too much time in the MINI. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but being lost in the wrong side of town during rush hour traffic isn’t anyone’s cup of tea. Compounded with parking lot conditions on the highway caused by construction and vacationers the next day, I quickly lost my sanity and judgement.

My lack of judgement resulted in nearly running out of gas and paying $4.23 for a half gallon of 98 octane gas. My lost sanity resulted in searching hither and thither for gas late at night, abandoning my navigator, Jenny, for a short while and missing the Blues Traveller concert completely.

We did have some fun with the many activities presented to us by MINI. I only wish I had the time to try them all. I managed not to kill myself on the go-karts and ended up with my best lap time of 35 seconds. I’d like to say hello again to all the wonderful people I met. Also, hello to all the people I never got a chance to talk to. Oh, but for a little more time to spend with all the great MINI owners last weekend! View photos…

I’d also like to thank MINI and all their sponsors, affliates, employees, etc. Thank you for bringing this all together for us. A special thank you goes out to the team who helped track down some petrol to fuel my starving Bessie. And hello to the credit card team! I forgot to ask if there’s an annual fee on that MINI credit card. I’m so easily swayed by free stuff!

Don’t know what I’m talking about? Visit the MINI Takes the States website at: http://blog.minitakesthestates.com/.

Fate brought us together. Bessie was in good company with three other MINIs at Superdawg in Chicago, Illinois. Our chance meeting was brought about by the reputation of Superdawg’s food. They are known for their special recipe hot dog, which is difficult in a town that seems to have a hot dog stand on every corner. Jenny and I already had lunch, so we indulged in cool treats. Jenny had a Black Cow, which is like a root beer float. I had a square strawberry ice cream cone. The food was delicious and the atmosphere truly unique! View photos…