Pigtail Run in Arkansas Nov 13-15, 2009

[getsalot]

Anyone else going to MerryMinis.com down near Little Rock? We've signed up and are staying at the main lodge. They are running the Pigtail route. Heard about this run at MITM last month and it's supposed to be pretty fun. The group that is heading it up is motoringamok.com. We are planning on heading out around 11-12noon on that Friday. Let's get a caravan going....

[Minidave]

That looks like fun!

I sent the link to the bride to look at too..........

[Minidave]

OK, we're in!

We even rented the pet friendly cabin so we can take the MINI-poopers!

[S-car-go]

Is the Main Lodge part of the Mt. Magazine Lodge? They have a block of rooms for MINI/Mini people. I am trying to get my wife on board. Sounds like a good time to me. Hopefully I will be posting again saying we're in!

[Minidave]

I believe it's all the same place.....

We booked a cabin so we could take the MINI-poopers with us, if they don't go we might move into the main lodge with the rest of the MINI folk.

Only thing I'm wondering about, if you Google map the run it's 257 miles - in one day - and according to Google, over 8 1/2 hours of drive time! That's a long day.......

I'm going to shoot off a question to the organizers to see if this is right. Although in the description, they do say it's an "all day" run....

There is a shorter version that's only 6 hours drive time.

[getsalot]

Yes, the Mt. Magizine lodge is the main one according to what they have listed on the Merryminis site. Not sure on the mileage of the run though.

[Minidave]

I heard back from the organizers that they think the drive is more like 5 hours, but to plan for the whole day between viewing stops, bathroom breaks, lunch etc.

I still think it will be a fun weekend and I'm looking forward to it, but I'll be surprised if there's much color still left on the trees by mid-November but we've had plenty of Thanksgiving weekends the last 10 years where it was over 70* in KC...... But who knows, it's been a weird year weather wise all summer....... at any rate, if it's snowing and cold in KC and clear down there, it'll be a welcome respite.

[getsalot]

5 hr's... that's like a long dinner..lol. We are in Barrie, Ontario, Canada right now. Drove the mini here via Chicago, Detroit, Niagara Fall's. We're about 1.5 hr's north of Toronto. The pigtail will be a welcomed short trip....lmao. Fixing to turn over 10K mile's n had the mini 3 mo's. Coming back next weekend. Going back a different way so as to not backtrack.

[BLUGOOSE]

Made reservations for a room at the lodge(Magazine). They don't have many if any in the lodge left. Also distance from up near airport to Paris Ark is about 358mi, with a 6hr 04min travel time. We'll figure out when and where to meet if you all want to caravan down there.-Frank

[Minidave]

Cool, Frank! Glad to hear you're coming too..

Yes, let's plan to caravan down.........the drive down is pretty uneventful, just straight down 71 hiway, but the good news is they're got most of the reconstruction done and the road is nice and smooth all the way down. (I just got back from Springdale, Arkansas last weekend.)

I also drove the Pig Trail road this last weekend, and while it's no Dragon in terms of twists and turns, it's very smooth and the scenery is pretty, and the road does offer some interesting challenges. IOW, it should be safe for those who's co-pilot gets a little squeamish in the twisties, and it should be comfortable for our Mini-poopers to go along too.

The lodge looks very inviting, but we chose one of the cabins so we could take the dogs and not disturb others if they get noisey while we're gone having dinner or something....

[cdecker78]

I sat on hold for 25 minutes waiting for someone at the lodge to talk to about a reservation but finally gave up. I will try again later and hope they have a room left.

[Minidave]

I don't remember for sure, but I think we made our reservations online.......if you do talk to them eventually, mention the "Merry Minis" or AMOK (Arkansas Mini Owners Klub) for the discounted price on the room. The Lodge only has 60 rooms, so it's not huge. We took a cabin instead of staying in the main lodge, but it's a bit spendy. Still, it's only two nights.

Here's the link for online reservations...... https://www.accessarkansasparks.com/ser ... sDesk?6035

I noticed they also have campsites if the lodge is full, if you do that.

On the Merry Mini's site there are a number of other lodging choices listed too, but nothing's real close except the one in Paris, which is a 1 Star hotel.......

A 12 o'clock depart time would work well for us, since my wife works nights and is not exactly a morning person, she's usually just getting up at the crack of noon!

[cdecker78]

No rooms left at the lodge except for a 2 room cabin at $330.00 a night. I think I'll just sleep in my clubby at that rate. I may check with the holiday inn express but its an hour away

[getsalot]

I'll take a drive over near belton sometime this week and find a location for all of us to meet up for the drive down to amok.

[getsalot]

Hwy 71, exit J to Peculiar.....Flying J truck stop. I think we should all meet by 10 am Friday morning. Looking at the mileage..that should give us time to stop and eat and get there by the cocktail hour party. Obviously, we would have to leave much earlier to make the noon to 4pm regular check in schedule. But on the otherhand, we miss the insane mad rush during regular check-in too....lol. If you have the 2way radio's, bring them. I'll figure out a channel to set it to before we met up.

[Minidave]

We'll just have to meet you there, Rose works the night before and while the 12 pm lunch meet up was a possibility, a 10 am GTG is right out!

Anyways, we'd have to stop periodically to let the Mini-poopers stretch their legs too, so we'd just slow you all down. See you at the lodge then.......

[getsalot]

Okey doaky, minidave. If it wind's up no one else is wanting/or can meet up, we'll probably leave even earlier to make the normal noon to 4pm check-in time. We'll see when it get's closer to time.

[getsalot]

I received an email a few day's ago that a few room's had opened up at the main lodge.

[getsalot]

OKKKK... last call for caravaning. At this point planning on leaving here early morn to be down there during regular check-in time. Don't forget to bring your radio's. Email say's Channel 7, doesn't list the other number.

[Minidave]

We checked but the available rooms were only for Friday night, so no joy there.

We're going down Thursday afternoon and spending the night in Clarksville, that way we can have a leisurly Friday morning and tour the area some plus see a friend of mine in Russelville. We should be at the lodge by 3 - 4 pm Friday then. If anyone else is going early and wants to caravan down, we're not leaving till 2 pm or so on Thursday afternoon...

If not, we'll see youse guys there!

[Minidave]

We're here at the Lodge and it is fantastic, I'll have pics to post tomorrow....

This is a terrific and well run event, I'd encourage everyone to consider it for next year, when they will have the entire lodge booked for MINI enthusiasts and also the event will be in October, so the foilage will be stunning and the weather warmer (it's still supposed to be 75* tomorrow tho). There are just tons of wild twisty and fun roads to drive here in North Eastern Arkansas, traffic is lite once you're south of the Bentonville triangle and especially when off the main roads.

I'll have more to tell tomorrow, but so far we're having a wonderful time, wish you were here!

[Minidave]

Just a coupla pics, I'll have more tomorrow from Rose's camera....

This is our little cabin in the woods, it had a full kitchen, a fireplace for which they bring you fresh wood each night, and a hot tub on the deck!

Next is a MINI with a special headliner - didn't know this one was an option!

Lastly, we've been here before, apparently....

[Minidave]

This is in the upper lot as we were gathering and splitting off into 2 groups, 1 for the "spirited" run, and one for us normal folks - although I have to say given how fast we ran the normal run, I'd hate to see what the spirited one is like! These folks like to drive!

It doesn't really look it in the pic, but the weather cleared up and it was 75* and sunny all day, couldn't have been prettier!

Although you can't see them all here, there were 35 cars total for the event, 18 went in our run group.....and this from a state that doesn't even have a MINI dealer!

Next year they will have the entire lodge available for the MINI group, so there should be plenty of rooms available, and the club says they'll be getting a discount as well. We've already booked the same cabin for next year as we thought this was just a blast, the club members made us feel very welcome and really looked out for us on the drive - it is a great event and I encourage all to give it a look for next year.

The drive home took just about 5 hours, even tho it was pouring rain for part of the way, but 71 hiway is smooth and traffic was light so it's an easy drive.

[dimini]

Wow... wish I could have been there as that would be very fun.

[getsalot]

Glad I posted the event. Nice to hear you had fun. YESSSS...the sprited run was ridiculously fast. Since we did that run this time, we'll do the wine run or whatever other one they make up. We also signed up for our room for next year before we left. We took a bunch of back road's starting on hwy 23 of the pigtal again and then finally onto hwy 13 out of branson and then 71 around Harrison ..i think it was...lol. Rained so hard at one point we had to pull over and chill at a KFC for a bit. Drive back was 8-9 hour's or so... Drive down straight thru, all freeway, was 6.5 hour's.