The Biggest Little 5er Fest 2022 - September 9-11, 2022

[wkohler]

Haha. Some shirts are just crappy and fit weird and these aren't like that. Glad you're registered, Mike. Thanks.

[Kenny Blankenship]

I too have a T shirt question though, it says sizes are for "Real People" But they go to 3XXX. That's bigger than real people, that's at best more like unreal people.

We have an unreal registrant. For reals.

[Kenny Blankenship]

Last week for registration! If you get your registration in this weekend, I still may be able to guarantee a shirt will be available in your size...so REGISTER!!!

OK, finally I'm registered. Things have been busy. Hotel reservations too, not out of sight, but not cheap. I know, I'm shocked, just shocked.

When I went to So. Cal. in July, the hotels where I normally stay (near Ontario Airport) were about $40 bucks more a night than back last November. I managed to find a good place in West Covina...

[tig]

Hola y'all.

I will by flying into the Bay Area on thursday the 8th, picking up Minerva, ensuring it's fixed, and then drivign to Reno sometime on the 9th.

I'll then drive back to Durango starting on Sunday.

Anyone heading to Reno from NorKal want to caravan?

[Mike W.]

I too have a T shirt question though, it says sizes are for "Real People" But they go to 3XXX. That's bigger than real people, that's at best more like unreal people.

We have an unreal registrant. For reals.

Ah yes, I was forgetting about Adam. Here's a pic of him last year in an E30. I know it looks like an E28, but since he's over half the width of the interior and his head is entirely above the headrest it's got to be an E30.

[Keith]

Anyone heading to Reno from NorKal want to caravan?

Mike (mottati) and I are cruising up Friday morning on 680 to 80 from the Walnut Creek area. Haven’t discussed departure time, but it won’t be the crack of dawn, not necessary.
Mike….?

[Keith]

I let Mr. Kohler know, but thought I’d post it here too.
I have an extra 1 King room with sofa bed at the Residence Inn.
I have until the 6th to cancel it, so if anyone is interested lmk & maybe I can get it transferred to your name..
This place is down the street from the park the event is being held & walking distance to many restaurants & things to do.

[vinceg101]

Hola y'all.

I will by flying into the Bay Area on thursday the 8th, picking up Minerva, ensuring it's fixed, and then drivign to Reno sometime on the 9th.

I'll then drive back to Durango starting on Sunday.

Anyone heading to Reno from NorKal want to caravan?

Depending on whether my schedule goes sideways next week (a real possibility after yesterday), Jay3 and I will be leaving his house in Sacramento sometime Friday morning. Aiming to get to Reno around 12-1pm so it is possible you guys can connect with us depending on when you guys get started further west.

[mottati]

Hola y'all.

I will by flying into the Bay Area on thursday the 8th, picking up Minerva, ensuring it's fixed, and then drivign to Reno sometime on the 9th.

I'll then drive back to Durango starting on Sunday.

Anyone heading to Reno from NorKal want to caravan?

hey charlie, yeah my son and i are in walnut creek and will be driving up on friday. What time you thinking of leaving? What time can we check into the house?

[vinceg101]

Hola y'all.

I will by flying into the Bay Area on thursday the 8th, picking up Minerva, ensuring it's fixed, and then drivign to Reno sometime on the 9th.

I'll then drive back to Durango starting on Sunday.

Anyone heading to Reno from NorKal want to caravan?

hey charlie, yeah my son and i are in walnut creek and will be driving up on friday. What time you thinking of leaving? What time can we check into the house?

I just noticed check-in time is 4:00pm so we all have a lot of time on Friday to get there.

[mottati]

I just noticed check-in time is 4:00pm so we all have a lot of time on Friday to get there.

i didn't want to leave that late!

[Keith]

Well, I’m here, this thing still happening.
Don’t see much talk here, so no idea how many are coming.

[Mike W.]

Well, I’m here, this thing still happening.
Don’t see much talk here, so no idea how many are coming.

Yeah, as far as I can tell it's still happening, last update was an hour ago. For whatever reason all the detailed info is by email, so check your mail. Or ping me and I can try to help. But it's definitely still a go, or at least it better be as I've got reservations for 3 days up there!

[Keith]

Well, I’m here, this thing still happening.
Don’t see much talk here, so no idea how many are coming.

Yeah, as far as I can tell it's still happening, last update was an hour ago. For whatever reason all the detailed info is by email, so check your mail. Or ping me and I can try to help. But it's definitely still a go, or at least it better be as I've got reservations for 3 days up there!

[jhh925]

Well, I’m here, this thing still happening.
Don’t see much talk here, so no idea how many are coming.

Yeah, as far as I can tell it's still happening, last update was an hour ago. For whatever reason all the detailed info is by email, so check your mail. Or ping me and I can try to help. But it's definitely still a go, or at least it better be as I've got reservations for 3 days up there!

Yup. Happening. My BBQ will start warming up at 5:30. Email me if you need details. ..... or you can just use the forum emailing feature.

[Mike W.]

Ah, with a bit of a push from RoyW and others, here's a little summary.

Good time, as always. Kudos to Eric for doing the heavy lifting, along with Chris for spreadsheet work and Jens for Friday hospitality. Attendees were...
Eric (of course, he put it on!)
Jens, our kind Friday night host
Jay 3/El Guappo
Mike C,
CEK
Myself, Mike W.
Keith
Chris K
Mike with the E34 M5 touring
Mike's son Joe
George
Deiter. An actual German for our German car event. Been here ~20 years with an E21 323i, purchased here.

Seems like a few more, but still a relatively short list. Dunno why, it was good last year and this year. I didn't take many pictures, I was too busy chatting with everyone.

Pics. First is a group shot, might be missing a couple.
Second is another lineup
Third is up at the Dam where air quality was, uh, lets say, chewy. Well into the "very unhealthy" air quality range. In the background is Mike C with his Toyota since his BMW has been in storage for a while. Good to see him regardless, we go back a while.

Do beware speeding tickets if you're following Eric on a drive, he says he wasn't driving all that fast, and it's true my speedo is 4MPH fast, and I never saw over 95 indicated. Granted, the Tesla that felt blockaded must have been over a hundred when it finally got by, but Mr Q wasn't wasting time. No tickets were involved in spite of my paranoia.

[Keith]

Thanks Mike..yeah, I was gabbing it up myself & forgot about the whole picture taken thing. BUT enjoyed myself until that night when our Residence Inn room was engulfed with smoke.
So was going back & forth with going to Peppermill or heading home. Decided to head home, but stopped at Boomtown for some good old fashion memories of when Dad & I used to go there.
Did not recognize anything, but had a blast for about 45 mins leaving with an extra $400…SWEET!
Got home earlier than expected, mostly because from Donner Lake to about Auburn cruised about 85 to 90 following & passing back & forth with a Lexus FLA…never got over 80 that quick..
Thanks to everyone for putting this together & to Jens & his lovely Wife & daughter for putting on that phenomenal bbq shindig…

Oh & Mike, need to edit that “E24” M5 Touring to E34 M5 Touring.
…

[Mike W.]

Oh & Mike, need to edit that “E24” M5 Touring to E34 M5 Touring.
…

Oops. Done. Yes I know the difference, and I don't even want to think about, let alone see, an E24 touring.

[Keith]

Oh & Mike, need to edit that “E24” M5 Touring to E34 M5 Touring.
…

Oops. Done. Yes I know the difference, and I don't even want to think about, let alone see, an E24 touring.

it was great seeing you, been too long

[vinceg101]

Despite it being a smaller event this year, although I can't really understand why, it still should be considered a success. The core group of board members, other hangers-on and even a few random passers-by, came together to make it memorable nonetheless.

Huge thanks to Eric (Kenny), Chris (wkohler) and Jens (jhh925) for hosting last weekend; a truly tireless and generous effort (an especial thanks goes to the spouses & families of Eric and Jens for putting up with invading their homes and putting up us lot).

Day 1: Thursday 9/8
I left my house in WLA at a normal hour and headed to The Hangar; laughing all the way at all the suckers/saps stuck on the southbound lanes of THE 405 heading into town (they were gridlocked all the way back across San Fernando Valley, no accident just normal morning rush hour). Meanwhile I had my foot into going north at 80mph.
Got to The Hangar and switched cars, did a few last minute road prep things, then got out of there by 9:30. The heat was already settling so I wanted to get out and across the high desert as quickly as possible.
For those of not here over this past month, the entire west was stuck in a massive heat wave where temps in the 100+ were measured in days and weeks not just hours. The two week leading up to this event were especially brutal, so my trip north through the high desert and up California's Central Valley was not overly appealing. I was somewhat shocked to wake up Thursday morning to seeing this in WLA:


The onset of a tropical storm rolling up the coast from Baja; however all it did until Saturday was bring more humidity (but did give us a break from the excruciating sun).


With the car packed, taped and warmed up I was ready to head off north. My route this year was to avoid The Tejon Pass on THE 5 (aka The Grapevine) since the elevation changes are kind of brutal and two lanes were still closed through Castaic from their recent brushfire. So I was heading north into the Antelope Valley toward Mojave and The Tehachapi Pass along CA 58. A pass across the same mountain range as it's sister along THE 5, but has a much less severe elevation change and is lower in altitude (hence why it's popular with trucks, RV's and the Southern Pacific RR).

The drive up was uneventful except for sporadic performance of my AC system (not really the trip and weekend to lose your AC). Still sussing this out and is on my task list for tomorrow. But by 4pm I had to stop and sought cool, dry shelter in a Jamba Juice outside of Modesto. It was probably about 105 outside and felt 20 degrees hotter inside that car.


From there it was a short hop from Modesto to Sacramento, my first stop on this trip under the hospitality of Jay3 (elguappo) and his lovely bride (oddly enough the AC decided to work that entire last leg). Traffic abound on US99 heading into rush hour and greater Stockton, I ended up behind these guys:


Pretty cool to see this outfit whose most famous signature were those two Martin Mars flying boats converted to water bombing wildfire fighting monsters. These things, which are now retired from active service:


Of course, not too excited to see them because of what it means to see these guys around.

Day 2: Friday 9/9
Nothing exciting here other getting on the road (eventually) and heading east over The Donner Pass on THE 80 and down into Reno, NV. All in all it's only a couple of hours to make this hop so we had a stop along the way and had the Ottati's from the Bay Area catch up with us in their E34 M5 Touring for the mini-caravan. Charlie (cek) was supposed to be in this group, but was late getting Minerva from Dinan's shop back in SF, so he was always playing catch-up all the way to the house we rented in Sparks, NV. Dinner that night at Jens' house was a wonderful meal and great to catch up with everyone. Exhausted and full, we all left for a good night's sleep. Nothing else to say about this day.

Day 3: Saturday 9/10, The Event
Pictures tell all. Smoke from the Mosquito Fire outside Auburn, CA along THE 80 was pushed eastward and tinged the air in a brown haze. It got REALLY bad at the end of the day as other above have said; I didn't see relief from it until I got much further south the next day.
Congratulations to Jens' stunning 1988 M5, a well deserved win for Best Five of the show.











Day 3: Sunday 9/11
I was actually going to take my time and stop along the route back down US395 through the Sierra's, but since there wasn't much on the schedule for the event that day and the smoke made staying in Reno unappealing (not to mention work was bothering me to be at my desk Monday morning), I hot-footed south climbing into the mountains.
I did manage to make a stop and see one of my projects under construction in Mammoth Lakes, CA. The owner/builder has been a busy little beaver to get the rear addition buttoned up:



It's hard to imagine given the heat we've been having that in as little as 35 days, this area could be blanketed in snow (Mammoth typically gets 25 feet of snow per season and it starts in early November). Driving around the village and neighborhoods, all you hear are the sounds of Skilsaws and pneumatic nail guns as everyone is scrambling to finish in their very short building window.

After some lunch, I was off trying to get back to WLA before nightfall. The weather was much more dramatic as the remnants of that storm rolled over the Sierras; didn't do much to lower the temps, but did give some relief from the sun (this in Independence, CA):



As I arrived back at The Hangar, water fell from the sky and showed a hint of a rainbow. Maybe an appropriate ending to the trip (that and AC bath I gave myself once I got back into the E39).


See y'all next year!

[1st 5er]

One of these days...

[tig]

What ^ they said about the amazing hospitality of Jens & Eric, and Kohler's hard work.

And +1 about all the great peeps.

I had a blast, and can't imagine a better way to spend a birthday weekend. Thanks for the "cake" and song guys.

Picked Minerva up at Carbahn in San Jose mid-day on Friday after spending the night goofing around in San Fran.

So awesome being able to drive her again. I am pleased with the work they did (the engine is completely rebuilt, plus I had them do a bunch of other things I wanted to be done) and I feel "fine" about how they took care of me. I'll reserve final judgment until I have many more thousands of miles on the car and engine...


These two cars get along well.


So do these, although Minerva's a bit jealous of the slicktop. She does approve of Kohler's handiwork installing the M5 lip.


Requisite shot of a bunch of dudes who met on the Internet talking about cars nobody else cares about. Jens' place is bitch'n.


How many e28'ers does it take to put up a banner?


I "met" Dieter on my drive into Reno. He and I were flying down the pass into town in the smoke giving each other thumbs up. I have never felt any E21 attraction until I saw his Euro-bumpered variant from behind. Yum.




Let's take a photo of all the 5-series engines from the same angle!






I think I'm still blowing smoke residue out of my nose.



Thanks to Kohler for driving from Reno to Vegas with me. It was comforting having someone along just in case something in Minerva esploded (nothing did).

Three asses in one pic.


After Vegas, I headed to St George (Jeebus, that town has grown. Now 100,000 people live there. Wild) and the next day I headed to "Goosenecks" to E28 camp. I almost blew off the edge into the San Juan River in the middle of the night. But didn't.





Was going to camp one more night in the woods on Tuesday, but changed my mind an slept in my own bed instead...

[Keith]

Sorry, if I knew you were taking the same angle shots of the 5 series engines I would've removed my hood for you.:

[Adam W in MN]

Great pictures and updates, thanks for posting them.

[jhh925]

GREAT PICS! I think it was Sunday afternoon - well after the event - that I realized I hadn't taken a single picture. Doh!

It was great seeing everyone. Can't wait to do it again next year.