And I’m off! I’m debating about how most effectively to share my trip with my readers without overdoing it. For those who subscribe via email, I apologize in advance, because I think I’m going to post once per day, in the evening, with something – even if it’s short and sweet – just to let you all know where I am, the cumulative trip distance, and one or two noteworthy things I saw that day. I’m already getting “pinged” by multiple people for updates so it’ll be easier to just post as I go versus waiting for a gigantic blog download when I get home. Thirty of my friends have access to my to-the-minute location via the iPhone “Find My Friends” app. Stalkers!
Today’s drive was a repeat of one that I’ve taken (and shared) many times before, from Phoenix Arizona to southwestern Utah, so I didn’t make any efforts to document it. Rather, I settled into my “pace” and mentally prepared myself to spend the next couple of weeks watching the miles go by and seeing what the countryside has to offer. I stopped only once on the way here tonight, in Kingman to check work emails before activating the almighty “Out-Of-Office” reply. I also grabbed a banana at the Mobil gas station.
Jason has just now arrived, too, in his Mazda. So tomorrow, we roll out in caravan and begin the long, long journey (that’s the title of a great Enya song, by the way) together to the land of the far north.
I picked up some Canadian cash just in case!
Passing Las Vegas – and staying away from the slot machines
Sunset along Interstate 15 northbound. It was windy today and the air was full of dust.
Check out these snacks my dad and stepmom gave me for the drive! Sugar rush!
Tomorrow (tentative): 9.5 hours drive time with a destination of Butte, Montana.
It was Saturday, May 6, 2006 when my dad and I departed from Salt Lake City to begin a very long journey. For months, I had researched and planned a nearly 8,000-mile road trip across North America and ending in Fairbanks, Alaska. It took us only 4 days to get there.
A decade has passed, and I’m ready to go back. The Legend, which had 220,000 miles back then and has 543,000 miles now, will sit this one out. I’m taking my 2013 ILX. The pre-work began long ago: I have a recent copy of the “Milepost” trip planner in hand. Milepost is known for being the Bible of the Alcan, with detailed turn-by-turn directions. We relied heavily on the book in ’06 as we were unaided by any sort of GPS or smart phones at that time. This year, we’ll have some help from technology but I still want to keep the navigation somewhat “old school.”
The fun begins this coming Friday, May 20th. Joining me for this adventure will be Jason from Las Cruces who is preparing to take his 2004 Mazda 6. It’s tough (impossible) to know exactly where we’ll be stopping each night because there are so many variables in play. Just a couple of weeks ago a piece of the Alaska Highway was shut down due to wildfires, and one such fire in Alberta necessitated the evacuation of an entire town of 80,000 people. Beyond that hazard, there are the inevitable delays due to road construction this time of year, potential weather uncertainty, and general concern of our health and safety. We don’t want to push our limits on daily distance (even though longer daylight hours up north may tempt us to) so that we can stay alert throughout the trip.
For some time now, I’ve been compiling a to-take list. Here’s an excerpt:
3 spare tires. I have a full size 17″ wheel that matches the existing wheels, plus the donut the car came with, plus an extra tire that I saved the last time I had my new set installed.
4 walkie talkies. Battery life under constant use is about 1/2 day. So if Jason and I each carry two and charge them at night, we will have constant communication which is critical especially in areas where cell signal is nonexistent.
1 GoPro camera, 1 Canon Rebel digital SLR camera, and my iPhone for documentation of the trip.
2 iPods (one with about 1,300 songs, and one with over 15,000) plus 3 huge CD cases carrying 64 discs each.
Milepost Guide Book editions from 2006 and from 2015 with step-by-step, detailed travel helps.
2 laptop computers: My personal laptop as well as my work one, so I can check email occasionally as time and Wifi permit. In the 9 business days I’ll be gone, I anticipate almost 2,000 emails coming in.
My “I drove the Alaska Highway. Both Ways, Dammit!” bumper sticker.
Oh, and a valid passport! When was the last time you took a ROAD TRIP that required one?
This afternoon, the ILX got an oil change at Acura of Tempe with 0W20 oil which should be good to last me for the entire length of the trip without having to have it serviced whilst en route. The last oil change prior to this was in February, about 7,500 miles ago. Maintenance minder and trip meter are now reset at 0.00 miles.
It might not be this clean when I get back.
In an untimely fashion, my credit card was compromised over the weekend so I’m waiting for a new one to arrive (quickly) so I can take it on the trip. I’ve already alerted the credit card company that I’ll be traveling through 7 states and 4 provinces in case my charging activity looks suspicious (because it will). Here’s my most “determined” look to pull this trip off without a hitch.
Couple other news bits:
Anybody already read the article about Victor Sheppard who drove his 2007 Toyota Tundra to a million miles?
Toyota is going to dissect his truck! A shame, I say. Keep it rolling.
Here’s a photo from Saturday morning in Phoenix while I had the Legend sedan out for a spin. “Mr. Lucky’s” has been a landmark along Grand Avenue since 1966 when it was built to be Phoenix’s first casino. That plan didn’t go through, but the place ended up being a nightclub for 40 years. Today it houses a furniture store but that crazy (creepy?) sign out front still catches everyone’s eye on a daily basis.
The twins were put back away for the next few weeks.
I got a kick out of this gas station the other day. “Super Plus 2000: New Gas for the New Millenium.” And “millennium” isn’t even spelled correctly. I wonder if I should tell them that Y2K was 16 years ago.
I’m sitting at Gate C25 at the Las Vegas International Airport and I already somehow ate $17 worth (!) of spaghetti and meatballs from the restaurant down the hallway, so why not kill a few minutes on WordPress? I squeezed a little road trip out of this regular work week and it was a fun one.
I’ve been needing to get a few maintenance items addressed on my 1992 Acura NSX for some time now. The Anti-Lock-Braking (ABS) system has been on the fritz, the stereo emits a deafening static noise when you rotate the volume knob, and the small struts that hold up the rear trunk as well as the glass engine hatch have lost their holding power. I can’t complain too much – the car, for the 4.5 years and 24,000 miles I’ve owned it, has required very little in maintenance aside from oil changes. My detailed 100,000 mile rollover post is here.
At 24 years old, some maintenance needs are expected. I reflected on my 400-mile drive last night from Scottsdale, Arizona to St. George, Utah. It’s pretty remarkable I can hop into a car that old – the oldest I own, in fact – and spend the next 6.5 hours driving in complete confidence that it will get me reliably to my destination. And it did. Unlike most cars today, this one isn’t a rolling mega-computer. It doesn’t have GPS. It doesn’t have adaptive cruise control. Heck, it doesn’t even have power steering. But you know what? It’s fun to drive.
Along the way, I enjoyed some of the sights and sounds of northern Arizona: namely, some Route 66 hot spots. Kingman, Arizona is a halfway point on my Phoenix-to-Utah trip. I routinely stop there for fuel (so frequently, in fact, that I have the clerks at the Mobil gas station on a first name basis). But I rarely venture off the beaten path to take a look around at the sights on what used to be the “Mother Road.” Places like this Mr D’s restaurant pay homage to a simpler time, with lots of color and greasy food because fewer people worried about nutrition facts.
Kingman still embraces its Route 66 heritage strongly and cruising along old 66, you’ll see lots of neat architecture that’s probably changed very little in the last 50 or 60 years. An old power station has been converted into a Visitor Center, but sadly it had shut down for the day just prior to my arrival into town. I continued on to Las Vegas, Nevada, stopping just briefly near the shores of Lake Mead for a photo at sunset.
Today, I telecommuted from Utah while paying a few visits to family members. I caught a 5:00 p.m. shuttle bus to Vegas, and I’m about to get on my one-hour quick flight to Phoenix. Speaking of which, they’re about to call my boarding group so I’d better jet – literally. Big week ahead, as I’ll be departing Friday on a nearly 8,000-mile journey to Alaska and back. And I’m taking you with me. So, start packing.
Get your kicks on Route 66
Breakfast with mom
NSX keeping its new friends company: My brother’s 1968 Nova and BMW M3
Three nice looking two-doors in a row. NSX power is far less. But you know which one I’d take on a mountain drive.
Posted in Arizona, Vigor on May 9, 2016 by tysonhugie
Odometer (Legend): 543,149
Odometer (ILX): 163,108
I love it when I can help people find their next vehicle. Just in the last few weeks, I got my mom into a G35, my friend Jack into an RSX, and now my friend Michael picked up a Vigor. Just call me the automotive matchmaker.
Several months ago, a guy named Michael from Tulsa commented on the key-handoff Instagram photo of my 1994 Vigor GS that I’d posted. He mentioned that he wanted me to let me him know if I saw any similar cars/deals.
We corresponded via Direct Message a bit, eventually became text buddies, and then Facebook friends. And finally this weekend, we became friends in real life. All because of a 22-year-old Acura that we both have a soft spot for! As it turns out, Michael’s first car was supposed to be a black Acura Vigor but his dad wouldn’t let it happen. So now many years later, Michael bought one after all. He says he’s going to park it in his dad’s driveway as a surprise.
The car Michael bought is this twin to mine that I blogged about a few weeks ago. This Vigor will be a combination restoration project / daily driver / get-around toy. Michael already has a Toyota Tacoma and Toyota MR2 in his fleet back home in Oklahoma.
Michael, his friend Chris, and I took the Legend coupe & the NSX to breakfast in Tempe, Arizona on a beautiful Saturday morning. This was their first time visiting the state so I felt a duty and obligation to show them some decent food and sights during their very short (< 24 hour) visit to the state. We had omelets at NCOUNTER, then cruised up to the Vigor seller’s house in North Scottsdale.
It took about 30 minutes to get through the purchase paperwork and get on the road in our tandem “Vigs.” Michael was enough to share with me a spare set of “cognac”-colored floor mats since the car came with multiple sets. The seller had also included boxes full of spare parts and a several quarts of Honda transmission fluid. He’d done all his own maintenance over the years so he knew just about every nut and bolt of the car. He kissed the hood just before Michael drove away. That’s how you know someone took good care of their car and will miss it!
Michael sent me an update from the New Mexico state line as he was midway through his 1,025-mile drive home to Tulsa. Here’s a short video documenting his purchase & send-off.
Photo pre-departure
Leaving AZ (for good!) and heading eastward.
I hosted several friends yesterday for a car wash. Every once in awhile, I clear out the garage and driveway and invite people to come over and shine up their rides. I don’t claim to be any sort of detailing expert, but the basics are a piece of cake. We shined up Kevin’s Ford Escape, Ryan’s Lexus IS350, Jack’s RSX, Chandler’s Genesis, Michael’s Mini Cooper, and my ILX. Couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend an 85-degree day.
Oh, and Jack wanted a “douche bag” photo so we had to flex for one.
Here’s a video showing some of the moments.
Nice looking lineup!
Love the color on Kevin’s Escape.
James caught this picture of me at dinner last Tuesday. Legend City!
Finally: Check out this neat paperwork I came across. I can’t remember where on the Internet I found it originally. So the new 2017 Acura NSX is finally on sale, right? I don’t think anyone has taken delivery yet, but the configurator online at Acura.com is “live” and orders are being placed (supposedly). But are people going to be paying OVER sticker price for the car due to high demand? That’s what happened with the original NSX. Look at the next 2 documents. First one is the monroney sticker for a 1991 NSX. $61,600.
But here’s where it gets interesting. Look at the markup this dealership put on the car. Last line item reads: “ADJUSTED MARKET VALUE: $30,000.” Seriously! And remember, this was 25 years ago! A $30,000 markup in 1991 translates $53,032 markup in 2016 dollars. Pretty wild. But clearly they had no problem selling NSXs back then, even at a premium price. Or did they? Were any of my readers in the market back then to know? Chime in.
Here we go! Triple-digit temps have arrived in AZ and they’re here to stay until probably October!
Ever started looking for something and gotten so sidetracked with other discoveries that you forgot what you were looking for in the first place? The other day I was looking for the spare key for one of my cars when I dug up a few oldies from the photo album archives. I figured I might as well share them here.
Here’s a picture from probably 10 or so years ago. When I was born, my family lived in Richmond, Utah. It’s only a few miles from the Idaho state line, at the far northern tip of Utah. The town today has only 2,500 people but thrives as a tightly-knit community of farmers who lead a simple way of life. Richmond is home to “Black & White Days,” which according to the city’s website is the longest-running Holstein cattle show west of the Mississippi. It’s been running for 101 years now!
Here’s a look at Richmond’s location in reference to the rest of the state. It’s up there.
Another photo I dug up was this one, taken 12 years ago when I picked up a 2001 Lexus IS300 in Jacksonville, Florida for my younger brother, Bentley. He’d purchased the car sight-unseen from a dealership’s Ebay auction. I drove the car over 2,200 miles home without ever getting a hotel room. I remember taking power-naps in the back seat a couple of times, but I was on a mission to get home. I was 22 years old at the time. I definitely couldn’t survive on that little sleep if I tried doing the same thing today.
I never even ended up meeting the seller of this Lexus. He had left the key to the car under one of the tires in the airport parking lot. How trusting was that of us? He could have easily left me high and dry on the other side of the country! Here was my route home.
Remember, this was long before GPS, Google Maps, or any sort of electronic navigation aid. I had printed dozens of pages from MapQuest before flying to Florida and I relied on those printouts, plus a huge Rand McNally atlas, to find my way. I did stop a couple of times for photo opportunities, like this shot near Birmingham, Alabama.
This next photo is from August 16, 2003. It was taken in Las Vegas, Nevada. Pictured are four Acura Legends, the first two at left belonging to my friend Jeff Scott, then my car, then my friend Blair’s. Jeff has since sold both of his Legends and currently drives a TL Type-S 6-speed. Blair still has his Frost White 1992 coupe but it’s now highly modified.
This fun one is of one of my four-wheeled toys before I was a car fanatic. It’s our Yamaha Badger 80cc ATV. I felt compelled one day to pull it out onto the lawn for a photoshoot in St. George, Utah at my family’s home.
Coming up next, we have my pride & joy 1989 Honda Prelude 2.0 Si, taken in about 1998. I was in Logan, Utah and visiting a park at the mouth of Logan Canyon on Highway 89 named after a relative (look closely at the wooden sign). It’s called Ray Hugie Hydro Park. Ray served as City Engineer and Public Works Director for 44 years. One of the many projects he led was the development of a $15 million hydroelectric power plant near this location. My Prelude was looking nice!
These next two shots were taken in 2003 in Salt Lake City, Utah at Sugarhouse Park. This was a small impromptu Legend meet-up with my friends Dave and Branson. I haven’t talked to Dave in ages and I don’t have his current contact information. Branson still resides in Salt Lake and has gone through about a dozen cars in the last decade. He currently does still have a Legend though, and it’s a 1995 LS coupe 6-speed in Cayman White.
Nice lighting here!
And finally, a shot from the glory days of my Prelude and mom’s chromed-out 1993 Legend.
Thanks for joining me for another trip down memory lane!
Here are a couple images from modern day. First, the 1993 sedan and NSX switching spots on Monday.
I got my new Michelins installed on the ILX, too. I ran the last set for about 54,000 miles and they still had plenty of life left, but I’m leaving in a couple of weeks on a nearly-8,000-mile drive to Alaska & back so I wanted to have tires in tip-top shape before departure.
My brother made me this awesome aluminum car show stand. It weighs only 5 lbs and can fit inside the NSX trunk.
The next thing I’m figuring out is what to display on top, and how to attach it. Help me brainstorm!
Sometimes the best part about planning a road trip is throwing the plan out the window and winging it entirely. What was intended to be a hiking weekend at Zion National Park with a dozen friends and family members ended up getting rained out and rescheduled. While I had been looking forward to checking out the 14-mile “West Rim Trail” hike, Mother Nature had other plans that included thunderstorms in Southern Utah.
Still, my friend Rob and I made the trip up to see what kind of fun we could dig up. And we found plenty. On Friday we worked from “home,” or in this case, from mom’s kitchen table and Wifi network while she served up waffles, “fruit pizza,” and other snacks to keep us fueled. I only wish my office had such amenities! That evening, we met up with an old friend Josh who I’d known since high school but hadn’t seen for over a decade.
Saturday morning started out with mountain of French Toast at Bear Paw Cafe on Main Street in downtown St. George, followed by a hike on the Red Hill (also called the “sugarloaf”) with Rob. The rain wasn’t yet coming down heavily so we scrambled up the rocks for a view overlooking the community.
Later that afternoon, we visited Snow Canyon State Park off State Route 18. Snow Canyon is a 7,400-acre park just outside St. George city limits that is part of the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. It has nearly 40 miles of hiking trails and was set aside in 1959 as a state park. Snow Canyon is one of my favorite places for automotive photography and videos. Rob and I hiked around the sand dunes for a little while before heading to a family BBQ.
Thumbs up!
For the return trip to Phoenix, I wanted to introduce Rob to some other parts of Utah & Arizona that he hadn’t yet seen, so we opted to circle back to Phoenix via Flagstaff as opposed to back-tracking to Las Vegas where we’d come from. About 90 minutes into our drive we’d reached the 7,900-foot-elevation Jacob Lake Inn, a historic lodge just north of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There’s a small gas station, motel, restaurant, and gift shop on the site. I couldn’t resist the grilled cheese sandwich so we stayed for a bite to eat before continuing on our way. Spy the ILX in the window reflection here!
The Colorado River looked a lot like chocolate milk when we stopped briefly for a photo at the Navajo Bridge along Highway 89A about 40 miles later. The old 1928 bridge has long-since been bypassed by a newer one, but pedestrians are allowed to walk out across it so we did that to get a good view of the river below.
Further adding to the adventure of our return trip was a sign along Interstate 17 just south of Flagstaff that stated “Road Closed 89 Miles Ahead.” Rob took a peek at traffic on his phone and confirmed that things were at a standstill near the Bloody Basin Road exit just a little north of Phoenix. So, we did some quick calculations and decided to make a detour at Camp Verde to Payson, which would add about 30-40 minutes to our trip but most certainly avoid any sort of delay from the road closure issue. That seemed like the most logical plan of attack, so we went with it, and I’m glad we did! Highway 260 from I-17 to the Highway 87 junction was a gorgeous two-lane windy road with very little traffic.
Soon we found our way in a few small towns on the outskirts of Payson, including one called Strawberry. Most homes in that area have log cabin architecture which adds to a cozy feeling in the community. Strawberry is also home to the state’s oldest still-standing schoolhouse, built in 1885, so we had to make a stop there.
“Old school.” Get it? Never mind.
By the time we got back to my place in Scottsdale, it was nearly 6 p.m. and we felt like we’d spent the entire day in the car, but we covered some beautiful ground and enjoyed the road trip! Below are the rest of my photos.
Thanks to PAPA member Larry Edsall for giving me this awesome mousepad!
Dinner with my buddy Josh
This is how long I’ve known Josh: We took these photos of our Hondas together in January 2001. Over 15 years ago! Mine was the red Prelude of course.
Prepare for takeoff!
Breakfast with mom, sporting my NALM shirt of course
drivetofive 