Category Archives: MTTS2016

MTTS 2016: Day 14 Las Vegas, NV – Palm Springs, CA

Today was awesome because we went to eat breakfast and then went to see the Hoover Dam and then drive on Route 66.IMG_9044It was so cool because we were listening to the soundtrack from a ride called Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land inside Disney’s California Adventure theme park while driving on the real Route 66.IMG_9084That evening we went to the Air and Space Museum and my dad won a JetBlue flight which is really cool. The next morning (technically day 15) we had the last event for MTTS 2016 at The Thermal Club in Palm Springs.IMG_9185 It was so fun because us kids were shooting each other with water guns while the adults had fun on the race track.IMG_9175 Overall, it was a fun trip. Thanks for following along with me and my dad. Bye for now 🙂

MTTS 2016: ROAD DEBRIS AND COWBOYS

The journey back from MTTS 2016 has not been as smooth as the actual MTTS event for us.  Apologies for the delay in posting the last couple of days of the actual event – Christian was wiped but he should have the post uploaded soon!

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In the meantime, check out a note I sent to my family about what took place on Monday as we were trying to go visit them in Texas on the way home…

Today proved to be an interesting challenge on our journey back home… It started off great as we drove along the musical road on Route 66 and then headed towards Texas. As we were approaching the Texas border in Clovis, New Mexico, we ran over a chunk of concrete that was being tossed around on the not-so-well maintained Clovis roads. The impact ended up bending my 2 passenger side rims which resulted in both tires losing air pressure. Luckily there was no damage to the actual car other than the wheels/tires and thankfully there was a Day’s Inn across the street that I was able to pull into and set up a make shift triage pit stall for Clark.

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The rear tire lost all air pressure in a matter of minutes but the front tire was able to keep about 15 pounds of pressure. With only 1 spare, my goal was to put my spare up front and move the less damaged wheel to the rear. Sounds easy right? Well one of the bolts on the rear wheel appeared damaged somehow which made it almost impossible to remove. After an hour of messing with it, I decided to call MINI Roadside assistance for a tow to the nearest Discount Tire. Only issue is that the tow would have to wait until 8am the next morning since Discount Tire was about to close. No problem – we were at a hotel right? LoL

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Anyways, the tow was scheduled but then something amazing happened. I asked a hotel guest who was standing outside for assistance to see if he had any ideas on trying to get the lug loose in its current condition. He gave it a shot and quickly came to the same conclusion I made – that lug was messed up lol. He then told me he is staying with a friend who is a mechanic and has his tools!!! BOOM!!! His buddy George came out with some real tools (I was using the crappy lug wrench that came with the car jack Kit). After quite a bit of effort on his part, he finally was able to get the lug loose and I had 40 minutes to get to Discount Tire. So I put the less damaged wheel on the rear and filled it up as much as I could with my portable air compressor. We arrived at Discount Tire with about 20 minutes to spare and they worked on putting a new wheel on the rear and swapping one of the good tires to it.

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We then decided to drive as far as Lubbock, Texas for the night (we are on our way to visit my parents in Round Rock, TX). When we got to our hotel (Staybridge Suites) we were given a room right away. This is where things get funny… We walk into our room only to find some cowboy boots on the counter and a real cowboy in bed watching TV!!! He looked at us with a puzzled face and yelled a few obscenities lol. We quickly left the room and went to report the situation to the front desk and had them assign us a different room!! Wow – what a way to top off an already weird day!!

Anyway…. We are ok and that’s what matters. Our travel plans were delayed a day, but we sure made some memories lol.

MTTS 2016: DAY 13 – PARK CITY, UT – LAS VEGAS, NV

Today we saw a jet-powered Tow Mater on a race track at Rocky Mountain Raceway and it destroyed this old car that was broken. After that we got a magnet at the surprising delight in a ghost town in Leeds, UT and went to Las Vegas.IMG_6288We were staying at the Bellagio which was from a movie called Ocean’s Eleven. The first thing we did was go to the buffet which was AWESOME. Then we went on this cool curved escalator and then went to another hotel. We made our way back to the Bellagio and watched the fountain show which was really cool. After that we went to bed.

MTTS 2016: DAY 12 – CHEYENNE, WY – PARK CITY, UT

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Today was an awesome day because after the morning event in Cheyenne, we stayed at one of the best hotels in the world – Staybridge Suites in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The Cheyenne morning event was alright but the hotel in Utah was awesome. It had a waterside, arcade, and a basketball court. While my dad went to MINI of Murray to get an oil change, I went on the water slide around 10 times and it went SUPER FAST. Then I went to the arcade and I won a ball from the claw machine. Then finally I went to the basketball court to shoot some hoops. The hotel had free dinner also. Overall, the hotel was awesome.

MTTS 2016: DAY 11 – Sturgis, SD – Cheyenne, WY

Today we went to Mount Rushmore which was awesome.  Their were a bunch of stairs to climb so it was so tiring going up. I did parkour there too.

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After Mount Rushmore, we saw a cool billboard with an Alpine mountain coaster called Rushmore Mountain Coaster. When we arrived, we found out that the coaster was not complete yet so we could not ride which was horrible!  So then my awesome dad decided we could go on their zip line instead.

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After the zip line we went to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Surprisingly, it was not finished either!

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Then we went to Car Henge which is like Stone Henge but with cars.

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After Car Henge we went to this really cool rodeo which was awesome. I did parkour on the hay bales there also and that was fun.

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MTTS 2016: DAY 10 – Sioux Falls, SD – Sturgis, SD

Today we went to the Sioux Falls convention center and then we drove off for a scavenger hunt.

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The first thing we did was go to Porter Sculpture Park.

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Then we went to the Corn Palace and then we went to this other place called Al’s Oasis.

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Then we went to this old town from 1880 but we didn’t make it in time for the scavenger hunt check-in, but we scanned it later from a pit crew member.

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Then we went to this place called Wall Drugs and ate donuts. Finally we went to the Knuckle Saloon to end the night.

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MTTS 2016: Day 9 – Minneapolis, MN – Sioux Falls, SD

Today was cool because we went had breakfast in Minneapolis and then we went to Paisley Park, where Prince recorded a few of his songs.

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We then went to Minnesota’s largest candy store.  I got candy necklaces, a blue raspberry soda, and some raspberry lemonade which was awesome!

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After the candy store we went to lunch and then we had a night on our own so we went to the Falls Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

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The waterfalls were pretty cool too. After that we went to eat dinner and then we went to bed at the hotel. That pretty much summed up my day.

MTTS 2016: Day 8 – Green Bay WI, Minneapolis, MN

Today was a very fun day because we went to Mall Of America (MOA)! In the morning we went to this cool fairground and they had the best pancakes ever. The guy making them even threw them on my plate which was cool. IMG_8382After the fairground we went to a hay field to take a picture and then we went to the worlds largest talking cow.

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IMG_8088Then we went to MOA and IT. WAS. AWESOME. It has a theme park inside of the mall and even better, it’s Nickelodeon themed. So the theme park is called Nickelodeon Universe. Nickelodeon is a TV channel with a bunch of cool shows so they made an indoor theme park. The first thing we did was not in Nickelodeon Universe. We went on this other ride in MOA called Fly Over America. It is a Soarin type ride that is in Epcot at Disney World although surprisingly the mall’s version was better than Disney’s version. Even my dad agreed.IMG_5702The reason we went on the Fly Over America before Nickelodeon Universe is because they have this thing where if you buy an unlimited pass after 5 in the afternoon you save around 10 bucks. So after we got the wristband for the unlimited rides, we went on a roller coaster called the Pepsi Orange Streak. It was so cool because it went around the entire park.IMG_9691After that we did a spinning ride. Then we went on this CRAZY one. Then we went on Ghost Blasters and we ate dinner at Bubba Gump. Then we went on a few more rides but then we had to go. That was my day and IT. WAS. AWESOME.IMG_8127

MTTS 2016: Day 7 – St. Ignace, MI – Green Bay, WI

Today we went to the Little Bear Ice Arena for breakfast. We then drove by the snowmobile museum and picked up a free ice scraper even though we live in Florida and it does not snow at all but thats ok. Then we made a surprise visit to my cousins and we gave them a bunch of toys as a thank you for supporting the Defy Hunger challenge.

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That was really fun. After that we were sad to leave but we had to go to the evening event.

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Now before I say these words, multiply them by 100. “Long Line.” The food line was HORRIBLE. It was so long we just decided to go eat at the place across the street. I wanted to go to a Wawa but oh well. So that pretty much sums up our day.

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MTTS 2016: Day 6 – Detroit, MI – St. Ignace, MI

Today we drove from Detroit to St. Ignace. The first thing we did today was go to a race track called M1 Concourse that no one has ever gone on before which is pretty cool because we were the first ones.

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After the track we drove to a cupcake shop where I got a free vanilla MINI cupcake and my dad got a chocolate MINI cupcake.

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We then drove to St. Ignace and we went over the Mackinaw bridge which was awesome.

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We took a ferry to Mackinaw Island where we ate dinner at this place called the SeaBiscuit Cafe. I had a grilled chicken sandwich and my dad had some fish. We then went to an ice cream place called Sanders. I got strawberry ice cream and I also got a gummy worm chocolate pretzel which was BEAST MODE!!! (Beast Mode = Awesomeness).
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