ExperienceCurve by Karl Long

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In a characteristically unpolished video that you expect on youtube the two founders talk about the acquisition and what it means for their users. Chad makes an awkward analogy that this is the coming together of “two kings”, and Steve seems almost embarrassed. Very funny, I wonder if their analyst calls are going to be as amusing and flaky.

getting towed in Houston, TX

Originally uploaded by karllong.

If you were on a 3,000 mile road trip, and your car broke down half way across this great land (to be exact in Houston) how do you think you would feel about the manufacturer of your car?

Here’s a brief chronology of my experience.


2.00: After an amazing chopped beef po boy at Williams Smokehouse in Houston, TX i leave the restaurant nicely satisfied that I have had some of the best BarBQ ever.

2.05: Get in car, throw it in reverse, and am then unable to change gear because the clutch is still down on the floor, and not coming back up

2.05.20: On the phone to Mini Roadside assistance (with a horrible suspicion that I should have enrolled or paid some kind of fee for this 800# in the boot of my car to actually work.

2.06: Get a live person on the phone, takes down my details, calls a tow truck, and lets me know they will cover $750 of expenses if I need hotel, transportation, or food. Well I hope it doesn’t come to that, but at least I know.

2.10: Call Erik and tell him that I probably won’t make it to Austin today

2.50: Tow truck shows up, who’s charged with taking me to a mini dealership, I find out which dealership and call ahead to let them know i’m a very special case and in the middle of a cross country roadtrip, they thank me for the “heads up” but thats all they can do.

3.30: Arrive at the mini dealership, while it’s coming off the tow truck I describe to the service guy what happened, and he thinks it’s probably a slave cylinder in the clutches hydraulic system. He calls ahead to the parts department and tells them to if they have a slave cylinder for my car, and gets them to put one aside.


3.45: Cars up on the lift and the tech confirms it’s a busted slave cylinder

4.00: Guy in golf cart shows up to drop off the cylinder

5.00: I leave Houston with a working clutch

7.30: Drink Margaritas in Austin

Result: I still love my Mini

Caveats: I broke down in a major city with 10 miles of a Mini dealership, if this had happened the day before I might have been in the depths of Louisiana. In that regard I was incredibly lucky, that being said, Mini made this an extremely painless experience that required no signups, no monthly payments (above and beyond the car payment), no ID cards, just my cars VIN number and everything was taken care of.

Big shout out to Momentum Mini of Houston for exceptional service and getting me in and out of there in record time! And of course Williams Smokehouse for their amazing food, and wonderful company while I was waiting for the tow truck.

On my drive to San Francisco i made a slight detour along the gulf coast, to see how things are going. I decided to take Route 90 which is a highway that runs along the edge of the gulf coast, and the major towns it took me through was Biloxi and Gulfport, both in Mississippi. Even a year later the scale of the damage is overwhelming, and my first indication of this was when I got to Billoxi, or at least the major bridge that goes into Biloxi because it was gone, swept away. A slight detour again, and I drive through Biloxi, then Gulfport, and then another bridge gone.

There is a lot of construction going on and there is certainly progress being made, but for every building with work being done there seemed to be ten empty lots, with just a foundation or gate hanging off it’s hinges demonstrating that a house is missing.

Here’s a couple of videos (sorry about the focus, I messed something up)

On a lighter note, I took a friends advice and bought a book called “Road Food” detailing the 500 best roadside or road convenient eateries across America, and it guided me to a heavenly Oyster Po-Boy from the Louisiana Seafood Exchange in Jefferson, LA.

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