drivetofive

Odometer:  11,490

There are a lot of people like me who take driving/roadtrip adventures way more seriously than the average person.  I love it when I learn about fellow road warriors from around the globe, and I tip my hat to anyone who dares to set out on long-haul travels in a car that’s beyond 100k, 200k, or 300k miles regardless of what make or model they’re driving.   Take a few minutes and stop by this website documenting one couple’s impressive travels in their 4×4 SUV.

Over the last nearly 28 years, Emil and Liliana Schmid have taken their 1982 Toyota LandCruiser FJ60 through 172 countries and driven 414,000 miles.  It’s currently undergoing a restoration effort (for the second time, since it had some prior work done in 2006), but will come back for more world tour action soon.

While the odometer may not read as high as my 1994 Acura Legend, the list of places that this LandCruiser has been is staggering!  I’ll be lucky if my car even gets to ride a ferry over to Hawaii for a lap around an island (a forever dream of mine).  Here is a gallery of Emil and Liliana’s pictures by date & location.

I extend my congratulations and support these inspirational folks on their continued journey!  Keep on rolling!

Ian’s New Ride

I met up this week with my friend Ian who used to own a 2012 Honda Civic Si.  He’s recently traded it for a gorgeous 2012 Mitsubishi Lancer.  I took the car for a spin and was impressed.  Ian’s new car has a mere 1,262 miles on the odometer and still smells fresh.  Not to mention, it’s got a rockin’ Rockford Fosgate sound system.

Congrats on the new set of wheels, Ian!

It’s been a record-setting summer in Phoenix.  I know the below *can’t* be accurate, but the ILX told me it was 121 degrees outside when I got in the car after work on Tuesday to head home.

MT Mania

How smoothly can you shift a manual transmission?  On Wednesday I took a work colleague, Paul, to lunch in the ILX.  We’ve gone out at least 3 times before in my car.  We were getting back on the road after bagel sandwiches at Einstein’s and he remarked, “I just realized, this car’s a stick shift.”  It hadn’t even registered to him that all these times I’ve been manually shifting my own gears.  I had a similar comment once from someone who rode in my Legend with me.  I guess if you’re a pro at rowing, the car rides as smooth as an automatic.  Paul’s 27 and doesn’t yet know how to drive a manual.  I’m determined to educate him.  Save the manuals!

Welcome to the Acura family!

Derek and Danielle are friends of mine from high school days and have newly joined the ranks of proud Acura owners as of this past weekend.  Derek contacted me with some questions on a 2002 Acura 3.5 RL that they were looking at locally in Salt Lake City, Utah.  At around 250,000 miles and 10 years old, its newness may have worn off but I assured Derek that based on my experience, the RL is good for twice that many miles (and beyond).  They ended up striking a deal with the seller.  Congratulations Derek and Danielle, and thanks again for considering me as a resource for your car purchase!

ILX Photoshoot in Tempe, Arizona

My friend Kevin and I took the chance this week to meet up for a few ILX pics since he hadn’t yet seen the car in person.  Kevin and I love road tripping.  He rode with me on my first leg of the Morristown, NJ trip last summer – from Phoenix to Oklahoma City.  He’s a walking encyclopedia when it comes to road history (among other things).

For this week’s photoshoot, Kevin and I met up at sunset time at the Tempe Town Lake Marina.  The “lake” (though really just a dammed-up section of the Salt River) is home to many athletic events each year and offers a nice refreshing visual break from the desolate desert that surrounds us in this area.

Kevin shot these with a Canon EOS Rebel TI 2 with the kit lens.  Most of these were taken at around 25 MM.  Nicely executed!

Over the hood of the ILX in this one is Sun Devil Stadium – home of the Arizona State University Sun Devils.

Thanks, Kevin, for the pictures!

Kevin’s a Honda guy too, having owned his 2006 Accord since it was new.  He’ll be celebrating a milestone very soon as his Accord “officially” gets broken in at the 100,000 mile mark.  He’s at 98,500 or so now.

The Hayden Lakefront Condominiums and business complex, seen across the lake from us, has gone up in recent years as one of Tempe’s premier business districts.

The two bridges seen here were developed to cross the Salt River as the primary avenue to travel between Phoenix and Tempe in the 1930’s aside from using a ferry.   The bridge to the west (completed in 1931) was once a two-lane road until the second bridge to the east was built in 1994.

Then:

And now (photo credit – Bridgepix).

Mill Avenue is the main artery through Tempe, is so named because of the giant flour mill that was one of the very first structures in the city when it was constructed in 1874. (Photo credit – Wikipedia)

On a related note, the City of Tempe is excited next month to offer a grand opening of a park, picnic tables, and interpretive museum around the facility next month.

I’ve taken my Legend to this area a number of times for pictures.  Following are some pictures from July 2007 when it had 297,000 miles on it.  I had the “EDM” (European Domestic Market) clear marker lights on it at the time and was still rolling around on Utah license plates.  The car today looks largely the same otherwise!

The building seen here across the lake was my workplace at the time:  the corporate office for US Airways.

Nothing like a spectacular Arizona sunset to finish the day off right.

In the following Legend video from my YouTube channel, the segment from 2:07 – 2:20 was filmed with my “sticky pod” suction cup camera mount attached to the passenger side of my car while driving southbound across the Mill bridge at dusk in October 2008 at 345,000 miles.

For anyone who’s interested in seeing more pictures of the bridges, here are some other incredible images captured by photographer Mike Olbinski of both spans.

Thanks, Kevin, for helping out with the pictures!  Little did he know that I’d snapped this picture of him.

For those who may not have seen it, Acura released the last in a series of YouTube segments about my ‘discovery’ of the ILX, from the date on June 12th when I picked up my car at the local dealership after having them accessorize it.  Check it out!

Have a great weekend everyone.

This entry was posted on August 17, 2012 at 4:17 pm and is filed under ILX, Reader's Ride. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.