Our trip to South Carolina started off with a bang! Literally. We purchased our first gun before we went to the airport. Because, you know, that's how we roll. We got to the airport in plenty of time, unlike our New York trip, and of course, our flight was delayed because of fog in Atlanta. I absolutely HATE the Atlanta airport. Why does an airport need a subway to get you do a different concourse? I think it means your airport is too big. Anyway, we landed in Atlanta about the time our next flight was scheduled to leave and were very close to running to our gate, but we figured it was probably delayed a little as well. Our flight was scheduled to leave a 1:50 and we arrived at our gate to find it was delayed but it was due to a printer error and once they got the printer fixed, they could print our paperwork and we would board our plane. So, we were thinking, 2:30.
2:30 came and went and no info on our flight. We waited and waited and waited some more. At this point, I am needing to pump some breast milk. So, John asks if there is any news. They say it could be ANY! MINUTE! NOW! and not to leave the gate because we could be boarding the plane soon. Umm.. okay. Hopefully, my breasts won't explode. Did I mention that our gate area was so full, there were no seats and we were literally standing around? Around 3:30 the pilot of our plane comes up to the desk and asks those extremely helpful attendants if there is any new info. They pretty much ignored him too. There was a man who looked like he could snap your neck with his thumb that asked the pilot what was up, turns out, Com Air or whoever runs the planes(I'm not sure how all this works, by the way) has had a computer crash and that is why nothing is printing. Riiight... what happened to a printer error? FINALLY at 6:00 the paperwork comes through and we are able to board our plane.( Guess who STILL hasn't pumped??)
We got to Greenville 4 hours late. A cool thing happened, though. There were some Marines coming back from their tour on our airplane and we were leaving the airport at the same time, they had a welcoming committee of about 7 or 8 Harley's flying American and USMC flags that caravanned around the vehicles the Marines were in. It was pretty cool and made me feel quite patriotic.
We ate a wonderful dinner at the hotel. As well as a wonderful breakfast. BMW puts you up and feeds you when you do a Performance Center delivery. All you have to pay for is getting to Greenville. We spent two hours driving cars that were similar to ours around the test track. We did panic breaking at 40,45, and 50 mph. After that, we did the slalom course, which I wasn't too great at, but it was a lot of fun. You have to steer through a series of cones all while maintaining a certain speed. Then, we did my very favorite, the skid track. They turn the sprinklers on a polished concrete track so it is really nice and slippery and tell you to floor it. We were spun all over that track more times than Julianna Hough on Dancing With The Stars. It was AWESOME! After that, we took a tour of the factory and saw the birthplace of our car. It was so amazing to get to see how a car is made. It is so fascinating. I highly recommend going to your nearest car factory and taking a tour. After that we did the X5 course, which is pretty awesome to see what the SAV's can do.
We then ate a fantastic lunch provided by BMW, and did what they call a "hot lap". Our instructor took us out in an M5 and did the entire course at speeds I can only assume to be around 80-115 mph. It was AWESOME! I looked over at him during one of our trips around the skid track and he was steering with his finger tips. We were doing 360's and he looked like he was cruising down the interstate. After I picked my jaw up off the ground and could actually form complete sentences, we took delivery on our car. They schedule about 2 hours to go over everything. They tell you anything and everything you could ever know about your car.
It is the best experience. If anyone is ever going to purchase a BMW I highly recommend taking delivery at the Performance Center. Here are some pictures from our trip.
John and I outside the Performance Center
Hugging the car
Outside the visitor's center/factory
Our new car!!!!!!
