Strawberry, Arizona
Odometer: 493,608
It’s fitting that when I shuffled the mix of 85 road/car-related songs in my “Drive to Five” playlist this morning (thanks Amber!) the song that came on first was “Freedom’s Road” by John Mellencamp. It’s a commemorative 9/11 anniversary and I spent 5 hours today in the car reflecting on the last 10 years while on a quick lunchtime road trip to the scenic nearby mountains.
I ate at The Early Bird Restaurant in Pine, Arizona. The buffalo chicken sandwich with a side of cottage cheese is highly recommended. It is quite a change to eat at a place where the server calculates the total due for each guest check using an actual old-school calculator! That was the case here. “Katie” obliged for a photo prior to my departure. Great staff!
You know it’s going to be good food when there’s a sign announcing “Never trust a skinny cook!”
Among other destinations in this wooded area is the state’s oldest standing schoolhouse, in Strawberry. It dates back to 1884.
On the way back to the Phoenix area, I pit-stopped for a couple of quick car photos off Highway 87.
“Windmill Corner Inn” – in Strawberry. The motel office is located inside the windmill.
I was fueling up with $3.65/gal 91 octane at Shell on the Fort McDowell Indian Reservation near my home and noticed that Shell’s latest promotion carries a similar slogan to my 500k quest. In this case, the “five” refers to a 5 cent/gallon promotion of some sort. At any rate, here’s my worn out 1994 Legend key that while looking completely useless still does the trick.
Yesterday, I had the car’s oil change and a full alignment performed by Acura of Tempe. The alignment was pretty far out of spec since I had the rear upper control arms changed at about 487,000. The technician recommended having the front upper control arms done sometime in the near future. There were no additional comments, but I received another one of the 140-someodd service reminder stickers that have been placed at the top left corner of my windshield and I was sent on my way for the next 3,000 miles. Here is a shot of my car in the service bay for alignment.
Until next time!
drivetofive 
September 12, 2011 at 12:45 am
It’s so nice to take a Sunday drive vicariously through you! I did not venture more than 0.5 miles from home base this day. I guess if you’re planning a trip north next weekend, you’ll log another thousand or so miles… getting ever so close to the 50K goal. When are you going to post a reward for the closest guess to where and when? The who is a given: Mama Tia will be shotgun. 🙂
September 12, 2011 at 5:33 am
Glad you enjoyed the drive. I don’t know what to offer, if anything, as a reward for good guessers! You can certainly have shotgun!
September 12, 2011 at 2:36 am
80s in Seattle today, and the Bronco and I spent the day at XXX Root Beer in Issaquah. Had a SUPER Root Beer float and remembered the NW Summer meet where you were interduced to XXX Root Beer! Keep on driving!
September 12, 2011 at 5:34 am
I still wear my XXX T-shirt on occasion! Loved that place. I bet the weather was gorgeous up there today. I’m sure the Bronco turned plenty of heads too. Nice way to spend a Sunday.
September 12, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Great pics, Tyson!
I spot an infringement case here. Can we trace your use of the phrase “drive to five” to a point in time earlier than Shell’s use of the nearly identical “drive for five”? Granted, the preposition is different, but that might not matter. Maybe we can get you free gas for the life of your next car…if only you knew a good lawyer.
September 12, 2011 at 3:29 pm
Scott, thanks for looking out for me! Yes, in fact, I can trace my use of the phrase back to March 21st when I started this blog with the drivetofive address. Shell came out with the Drive for Five promotion on May 3 per this press release. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/launch-of-new-shell-drive-for-fivesm-credit-card-saves-consumers-money-92653424.html. I’m not too worried about it, but it’s interesting how that happened! Thanks for reading the blog and glad you enjoyed the pics from this weekend’s adventure. I need to get back out to DFW soon!
September 15, 2011 at 9:54 pm
Guess who is coming to meet Trixie this weekend!
September 15, 2011 at 10:14 pm
Yes! Trixie will meet her counterpart that’s 17 years older and has 823 times as many miles!
September 19, 2011 at 4:16 pm
Follow me to Atlanta and we’ll get you to that 500,000 mark! I’m looking forward to an Arizona sunset on Friday.
rich
September 19, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Rich, you’ll love the sunset! Glad you are bringing a quality camera with an empty memory card – you’ll but it to good use. The drive to ATL is tempting. Would sure be fun to caravan.
February 5, 2013 at 12:08 am
I like what you guys are up too. This type of clever work and reporting!
Keep up the amazing works guys I’ve included you guys to my blogroll.
February 5, 2013 at 6:22 am
Thanks for following along! Glad you enjoy it.
March 28, 2015 at 9:44 pm
So after your text, I had to come read it for myself… we even went to the same restaurant. Too funny! Although, I had the rack of ribs – which was delish! 😛
March 29, 2015 at 5:39 am
Haha, following in my footsteps (tire tracks). That place had good food.