drivetofive

Odometer (Legend):  532,664

Odometer (ILX):  115,833

Trip Distance:  847 Miles

Most people wouldn’t consider it worthwhile to drive nearly 900 miles for a < 24-hour stay at a destination.  But, I guess I’m not “most people.”  I took off on Saturday morning and headed for my hometown in southwest Utah to spend a little bit of quality time with my family there.  I’ll spare a lengthy road trip recap because I’ve blogged about the route dozens of times in the past, but I did manage to get a few pictures that might be worth sharing.

Here’s the Virgin River Gorge section of Interstate 15.  For about 10 miles, it winds along the base of a canyon next to the Virgin River.  Here’s what makes this very short stretch of road unique, though.  It’s located in Arizona, yet it connects a town in Nevada (Mesquite) with a town in Utah (St. George).

St. George is home to about 77,000 people – at least as of a recent 2013 census.

My brother Bentley and his wife Kyann were very welcoming at their home.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was driving my brother’s fully restored 1968 Chevy II Nova SS.  It’s powered by an LS3 V8 motor and it has a T56 6-speed manual transmission.  The car was dyno-tested a couple of months ago at 416 horsepower at the wheels (so, a little more than double what I’m used to driving daily).  I fell in love with this car by the time I had driven it to the end of his street.  The burbling sound of a V8 and the endless torque made me want to get a little naughty and light up the tires.  I managed to behave myself.

With my nephew Beckam

Interior of the Nova.  The gauges, steering wheel, and radio you see here are all aftermarket.  There’s not much on this car – aside from the body itself – that’s original to the car’s 1968 model year specifications.

Made a couple special visits, including a shopping trip with my 3-year-old niece.

Also did a little route planning with grandpa.  He gave me some tips for a drive to Idaho that I’ll be taking with my dad later this year.  Stay tuned for more on that in the coming months!

Sunday morning’s return drive to Arizona via Highway 89A through Fredonia, Arizona.  The Ship Rock Motel looks to have been abandoned many years ago.  At one point I believe some of the rooms had been converted into apartments but as of today it appears the entire facility is pretty much condemned.

As the road crested to 7,900 feet in elevation at Jacob Lake, there was snow on the sides of the highway.

It was a perfect chance to crack open that moonroof and watch the pine trees fly by.

Arriving Jacob Lake.  This is the junction with Highway 67 which serves as the gateway to the north rim of the Grand Canyon.  I’ll be visiting that area again in late May for a rim-to-rim Grand Canyon hike.

Don’t even think about using a phone on some of the roads in that area.  “No Service” is the only way to roll.

And that reminds me why that piece of road made me so happy.

• No outside worries
• Light traffic
• Nice road conditions
• Great curves
• Perfect weather
• Drink in the cupholder
• Driving barefoot and rowing a manual gearbox
• “Designer Skyline” by Owl City playing on the iPod

Just the open road, some good music, and a chance to clear the head.  My next stop was in Marble Canyon along the Vermillion Cliffs.  I happened to spy a 1991-92 Legend L sedan there.

A few pictures along the road in that area.

Endless hiking opportunities.

Waiting for a gust of wind to topple this fist-shaped rock onto my car.

Hope you enjoyed the pics.  One more announcement while I’m posting this today:  For its 11th Annual Event, NALM is going back to where it all started way back in 2005:  The Lone Star State.

The Houston-based ground team has won the bid and has been selected to host this year’s National Acura Legend Meet.

So, it looks like I’ll be going to Houston from September 24th through 27th to attend this special event.  The planners have a great itinerary planned including a track day at MSR Houston, a dealership open house at John Eagle Acura, and a car show at Mayday Garage.   Here’s a look at where the event has been held in prior years.

• 2005: Dallas, TX
• 2006: Tulsa, OK
• 2007: Las Vegas, NV
• 2008: Chattanooga, TN
• 2009: Branson, MO
• 2010: Salt Lake City, UT
• 2011: Morristown, NJ
• 2012: Milwaukee, WI
• 2013: Asheville, NC
• 2014: Southern California
• 2015:  Houston, TX

Over and out!

This entry was posted on March 9, 2015 at 6:12 pm and is filed under ILX, NALM, Road Trip, 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.