drivetofive

Odometer (Legend):  523,196

Daily Distance:  462 Miles

And we’re off!

It’s been 14 months since I “daily” drove my Acura Legend; I spend most of my seat-time in my 2013 Acura ILX and I’ve had boat-loads of fun with it.  But for this particular occasion, the 9th annual National Acura Legend Meet felt like a fitting opportunity to blow the cobwebs off that old tried & true ride for an old fashioned cross-country trip.

Loaded up and ready to hit the road, I went to work for 1/2 day.

I’ve often described that it feels a bit like putting on an old shoe to get back into my Legend.  It just “fits.”  Perhaps that’s because over the course of the 428,000 miles I put on it over the last 10 years, the driver seat is molded to my shape of my buttocks?

As I was giving my colleague at work the low-down on what to expect while I’m out of the office, our conversation on the phone went something like this:

• Melissa:  So where is it you’re off to this time?
• Tyson:  I’ll be in North Carolina on Friday night & Saturday night
• Melissa:  Oh my gosh.  You’re… flying… this time, right?
• Tyson (grins):  Umm, nope.

At this point even though she was in Rhode Island and I was in Arizona, I could picture her eye-rolling gesture just as clearly as if she’d been standing in front of me.  Some people will simply never understand the beauty of a good road trip.  Here was my ‘beginning’ mileage for this trip.

The first few hours of my drive were on the scenic back-roads of northeastern Arizona, including this piece of the “Beeline” Highway 87.

Summer thunderstorms, though, would soon put a damper on those perfect roads.  Luckily, the Legend’s Michelin Primary tires are fresh.  They handle the wet better than any other tire I’ve tried.

Once I arrived in Holbrook, I finally got on a “real” interstate.  I would be spending the next 1,300+ miles on this same interstate.  Guess it was time to start getting cozy in that driver seat.

Here’s a welcome change from the high-revving 2.4 liter ILX 4 cylinder.  The Legend, by contrast, lugs around at 2,500 RPM, barely giving the 3.2 V6 a workout.  Consequently, it’s a quieter ride.

Interstate 40 traffic was minimal as I made my way toward the AZ/NM state line.

And the clouds parted just in time for me to catch some sweet patterns in the sky.

Speaking of colors, how about a bright orange Check Engine Light in my face?  This popped on at 522,989 miles.  I’m 99% sure it’s related to a recurring fault with the EGR (Engine Gas Recirculation) system.  Performance was unaffected and I’ve seen this one before.  It seemed odd that it would show up randomly over 200 miles into my drive.

Welcome to New Mexico!  I’ve stopped here too many times already, so it was a fly-by this time.

Dine & dash at the Arby’s in Gallup, New Mexico.  I’m glad to have that half-bra to save my fresh front end paintjob from getting needless rock chips.  I probably should’ve taken the time to install the bottom piece, too.

Not much to see here!

After my dinner stop, that pesky CEL never came back on.  Soon I was seeing Albuquerque city lights!  That little red dot toward the top right of the picture — that’s the moon, believe it or not!

Just about 30 miles from ABQ I rolled into the small town of Moriarty.  I fueled up the Legend and now it’s time to relax for the night.  I paid $3.69 for 90 octane – which apparently is considered “premium” fuel here.

Checking in and checking out for the night!

The one thing that’s really killing me this trip is the “loss” of time due to the crossing of time zones.  Since Arizona is on Pacific time (we don’t observe Daylight Savings) and North Carolina is on Eastern, I’m losing a full 3 hours.  I guess it’ll make the return trip feel like a breeze since I’ll be gaining them back and chasing the sun.

I’m going to make an attempt at doing as much of this tomorrow as I can.  Come along for the ride.

This entry was posted on August 21, 2013 at 8:42 pm and is filed under Legend, NALM, Road Trip. 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.