drivetofive

Odometer (Legend):  529,301

Odometer (ILX):  78,563

Trip Distance:  1,603 Miles

My grandpa gave me a look of disgust on Monday morning when I pulled into his driveway in southern Utah.  “You’ve got so many bugs on the front of that car, they’re causing wind drag!” he said.  He had a valid point.  I had slain a fair number of insects on my travels of Utah and Idaho over the course of a long weekend.

Last Thursday, I said sayonara to the desert and headed for northern Utah’s Rocky Mountains.  I had a lot time in the driver seat and enjoyed every minute of it.  In honor of hitting 77,777 miles on the ILX, in this post I’ll share seven of the memorable highlights from my nearly 2,000-mile, 4-day adventure.

1)  Driving a 1931 Ford Model A.  The award for the oldest vehicle I’ve ever driven can now go to this 1931 Ford which my uncle recently purchased.

I’m standing here with Russell, after taking my uncle Brett’s car for a drive.  It’s a 3-speed on the floor but the transmission requires a great deal of finesse to operate.  It’s the first time I’ve ever made an attempt at “double-clutching.”  I learned (quickly) that this old Ford does not like to down-shift.  I ground a few gears!

2) Getting up close & personal with a 1.2 million pound steam locomotive.  Ten years after that Ford rolled off the production line, another piece of vintage metal was born.  This Union Pacific steam locomotive was on display in Ogden, Utah when I was rolling through the area this weekend so I stopped at Union Station to take a look.  A lot of other folks had the same idea, apparently.  It was busy out there!

The reason for the excitement was that this locomotive had been parked in southern California since 1961.  It’s now being moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming to be fully restored.  UP 4014 is one of 25 “Big Boy” locomotives built for the Union Pacific Railroad.  It was delivered in 1941 and weighs in at 1.2 million pounds.  This locomotive is so long (132 feet) that its frame is articulated and thus able to better negotiate curves.  And perhaps the most important statistic of all:  From 1941 through 1961, UP 4014 traveled 1,031,205 miles.  That’s my kind of high-miler!

The size of the wheels is more readily appreciated when a young child stands next to them.

Impressive engineering for being 73 years old!

3.  Taking my Grandma and Russell to dinner.  These two are great company.  I provided the shuttle ride to Olive Garden; they covered the bill!  That’s my kind of arrangement.  Grandma made sure our waitress brought out fresh/soft breadsticks.  Before we all headed to the restaurant, I pulled the ILX around to the backyard for a picture.

In we go!

And enough leftovers for at least another couple of meals.

Back to the house.

4)  Trying out the world-famous (okay, maybe just state-famous) restaurant called Angie’s.  Angie’s, in Logan, Utah, serves breakfast all day.  I highly recommend the meat omelet.  But the menu item Angie’s is best known for is the “Kitchen Sink.”  It’s a gigantic banana split-type dessert, served up in a metal mini sink.  Anyone who can finish the $13 item is awarded a bumper sticker that states “I cleaned the sink at Angie’s.”  Someday I’ll attempt it.

Todd, Tia, me

Here’s what that bumper sticker looks like.

Not my picture, but here’s an example of a Kitchen Sink.

5.  Hitting lucky 7’s on the ILX near Brigham City, Utah. If only the outside temperature had been 3 degrees higher, I would have really hit the jackpot.

6.  Paying a visit to a friend who’s an Acura-holic like me.  In St. George, Utah, I visited my friend Blair.  Here, you can see his 2008 Acura TL Type-S in Kinetic Blue Pearl (my favorite color!) as well as his 1989 Acura Legend L coupe.  What you don’t see are his other 1989 Legend coupe and his 1991 Legend coupe which are in the garage.

Fancy!

Blair recently turned 100,000 miles in the TL and he shared a picture with me.  I’m catching up quickly.

7.  Visiting Utah’s original statehouse.   Here’s a little trivia:  Utah’s original capital was actually located in the middle part of the state, in Fillmore, before it was moved to Salt Lake City.  The 1852 statehouse still stands.

A few final photo randoms:

Mantua, Utah along Highway 89-91 in Sardine Canyon leading into Cache Valley.

My friend Ryan who was working on his Honda S2000 (which he later let me drive!).

Quick pic at the 1884 Logan, Utah Mormon temple.

A couple of scenes from Jacob Lake, Arizona (7,920 foot elevation).

What a blast this weekend was!  There’s one more feature story on the way.  Come back Thursday.

This entry was posted on May 6, 2014 at 4:08 pm and is filed under ILX, Road Trip, Trains, Utah. 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.