drivetofive

Odometer (Legend):  529,008

Odometer (ILX):  70,444

Greetings, fellow roadtrippers.

I decided to break in a new (to me) Nikon D90 camera and get a few sunset pictures of my ILX and a friend’s TL on Friday night.  You first met Devan and his 2006 TL back in October.  The TL is equipped with the Tech Package and finished in a brilliant Alabaster Silver paint.  We think my Silver Moon ILX paint may be just a tiny bit lighter in color than the Alabaster.  Devan’s car has 81,000 miles on it and runs great.  These pictures were taken at Papago Park near the Tempe / Phoenix border.

In the background is “Hole in the Rock” — an area where visitors can hike up to a natural sandstone opening in the rock and admire the view.  After eight years of living in the PHX area, I still haven’t hiked that.

Devan and I both have the ‘Agriculture’ vanity license plate option on our Acuras.  Its black & white design compliments a silver car well.

You may notice that Devan has also done some subtle updates to the nose of his TL with some Plasti-Dip treatment on the front grille.

A closer look:

Face-off.  For having debuted a full 10 years ago, the 3rd generation TL design still looks modern today.

Nice looking pair of Acuras.  I wonder how long it’ll take me to pass Devan up in mileage?

As a professional detailer, Devan takes great pride in keeping his Acura immaculate.  Follow his work on @dnaautodetailing on Instagram or on his Facebook page.  Just view that interior:

Now, usually when I post interior pics, I crop out door jambs because they are unsightly and dirty.  I intentionally left Devan’s pictured here because they are JUST SO CLEAN.

It was a great Arizona evening.  We are blessed with great sunsets nightly.

Finally, a couple of solo shots.  I do love those LED tails on the TL.

The ILX had received a bath, too, so it was looking rather nice in the evening light.

Thanks Devan for meeting up!  Keep rolling that beautiful TL.

This weekend I’ve got family in town and I stuck around the Phoenix area.  My cousin Logan plays for the Williston State College Tetons baseball team, based out of Willison, North Dakota.  I went over to watch his team play a game at Chandler-Gilbert Community College on Saturday.

Perfect weather for a ballgame!

With uncle Dart and aunt Wendy.

I also did a bit more urban exploration.  Many of you will remember last April when I took a drive on Gates Pass in Tucson, Arizona and visited Old Tucson Studios.  On the way back from that trip, I stopped an abandoned Nickerson Farms Restaurant in Picacho Peak, about halfway between Tucson and Phoenix.

April 14, 2013 – Notice the roof of the building still intact, despite having been out of operation since 1979.

March 15, 2014 – The entire red roof of the building has now collapsed and the building is taped off with caution tape.  The entire surroundings are covered in “No Trespassing” signs (unlike last year) so I didn’t dare take a peek inside this time.

Another look from the front of the building

And looking from the south side

If it has to do with abandoned buildings, ghost towns, or anything of that sort, you know I’m interested!  Just point me in the right direction and throw me a camera.

This entry was posted on March 16, 2014 at 6:21 pm and is filed under Arizona, Ghost Town, 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.