AMVIV9

Bummer on that chaos and the snubbing.  Las Vegas has never really impressed me for much of anything except the evening light show that The Strip itself presents.

Reno before it gets hot would be a good run!  Staying offI-5 of course...




Edited by SMOG - June/20/12 at 8:23pm

Next Spring??? 

Lee & I could use it as a jumping off point for a trip east, how far east I am not sure yet.

I was thinking of going into Colorado and then north and come back across the Rockies in Canada.  Banff, Lake Louise, etc.

The Palace Station simply isn't a nice hotel. I understand why they keep the event there but the hotel itself could use a facelift. In years past we've stayed at other locations. Kind of a PITA to get up earlier to drive over to the Palace Station to start a run but sometimes it's worth it. Except for the fact the Palace Station is really good to the MINI groups (like blocking off the top floors of the garage and good security to watch over the MINIs), the food/drink in the hotel is good, the rest of the experience I'd rather not deal with. They even tried to put me in a smoking room this year. They did correct it and moved my luggage, which was nice, but not the welcome I needed after 4 day drive.

Were you in a tower or courtyard room? The courtyard rooms always seem to have issues. We've stayed in suites and stayed in the tower. Except for them trying to give me a smoking room this time around we've not had issues with the rooms in the tower. Also, their suites, not really worth it.

I'll second your comment about the runs. They give you a start time and a route, everyone leaves together, and at some point you realize you may or may not be with a group anymore. After a lot of thought I don't entirely fault the event for this. It could be a little better but they never know if they will have 10 cars or 100 cars show-up. Organizing runs without knowing how many will participate is very difficult. At least this year I did see a very strong attempt to make sure people had cell phone numbers to call if they got too far off track and needed assistance. From the few runs I've done, everyone does make it to the destination and I think that ultimately should be the point of these runs. That part of the world is flat and not real exciting to drive on so the stops are the destination, not exactly the drives themselves. I think they could be executed better but really don't think they are doing a bad job with what they have. I'll admit, I don't go to AMVIV for the runs. In fact, last year, I didn't do a single run and still had a great time. This year I tried to do one but threw a CEL <sigh>.

Can you better explain being "snubbed"? Feel free to PM me.

I'd be interested in a route to Reno. Keep me informed of your plans.

I guess I am spoiled. When it comes to motoring as a group, the key would is group here it is not a drag race from point A to B and we hope you get there.  Changing routes at the last minute and diverting from the scheduled route is also not good. My number one complaint is when the Lead car doe not even have a Radio. PS Mini on a normal bases is able to run 40 to 50 cars in a caravan with no problems. Maybe groups should not paint pictures with big shoes if they can't fill them. I also don't think much of the car show where it was a presented as a casual event for charity. Not a full blown show where some of the cars that won where professionally detailed and polished with mommy and dads money.

As far as Palace Station, the little hunting lodge we stayed at in Field Oregon was cleaner then the big time city Hotel. But as far as Palace station its self you get what you pay for so with that said its hard to argue 35 bucks a night.

Reno, We stayed at the Grand Sierra Hotel and resort, Great place and everything you want including a bowling alley and Movie theater.  June was only in the 90's with a breeze it was really nice. We just missed a big rat rod car show weekend. If there is real interest in this with some work and nailing a date down we could do something like a Silver run to Reno.

oh, also would add that we have stayed at the Palace Station all but one time when they had the event at another Palace casino on the North side of Vegas. I'll admit the rooms were nothing special (especially in the courtyard), but we really just used the rooms as a flophouse anyway becuase we were out of them except for sleeping anyway. The time they held it at the other Palace casino the accomodations were great as it was a new casino, but it was dead. Nobody there and no night-life. Having it at the Station on the strip was much more fun and more to do for sure.

For those new to the world of motoring here is a good read. http://www.psmini.org/forum/uploads/kulmini/2007-07-12_184010_Tips_on_Touring.pdf

Do all three in a big loop :-)

Look like 663 for 2 for 4 days with passes to the race.