drivetofive

Odometer (NSX):  106,150

Trip Distance:  424 Miles

Hey, that odometer below can’t be real can it?  Sorry Gabe, I think you’ve tampered with it!  Though the number sequence makes me think of a catchy tune I once heard.

Seems one of my cars has been doing some road tripping without me in recent weeks!  Whilst I was enjoying myself on my travels to and from Atlanta recently, my friend Kyle took the ILX south of the border on a little weekend trip to Mexico.  His destination was called Puerto Peñasco, or, in English:  Rocky Point.  It’s a small beach town on the shores of the Gulf of California in Mexico that can be reached in about 4 hours drive time from Phoenix.  It is, in fact, our closest beach (getting to San Diego’s Pacific shoreline takes about two hours longer).

Thanks to Kyle’s contribution to the ILX’s adventures, the car has now traversed every country in north America this year.  You’ll recall that back in May, my friend Jason and I drove our cars to the Arctic Circle north of Fairbanks, Alaska.  If you plot a route on Google Maps from the Arctic Circle to Rocky Point, it comes in at just fewer than 4,000 miles one-way.  Heck of a road trip!

Kyle took a few photos to share with me, including shot of a fuel-up at “Why” just before crossing over the international border southbound.  You can read more about my visit to Why from 2013 at the hyperlink.

Arrival at the beach

Crossing back into the U.S. of A:

And getting a foam bath.  Thanks Kyle!

I have a couple weeks’ worth of miscellaneous news to catch up on here, I guess.  I had to hit the ground running at work after having been gone for 5 business days on the Atlanta trip.  Luckily, my coworkers were patient with me while I got caught up.  Last weekend was a nice relaxing time at home.  I hit the yard with my new Honda lawnmower on Saturday morning and washed cars that afternoon.

Thanks, Mark, for sending me the November 2016 issue of Automobile Magazine with a feature on the 1992-93 Integra GS-R!

My buddy Mirel bought a new car that I helped him transport.

6-speeders:

I’ve had lots of company at my house, including Jenn & Tiffany:

And Brian:

The cars got a bath in the backyard.

And Jeremy and I took the Legend sedan to brunch.

This past Friday morning, I buzzed up to St. George, Utah in the ILX for a family visit and a marathon event.  Yesterday, I took a swing at my tenth full 26.2-mile marathon run.  Having run only a few 3-milers this entire year, my training was lacking to say the least.  But I committed to this back in April and as I boarded a school bus in the morning at 4:00 a.m. to drive me up State Route 18 to the start line, I thought to myself, “Am I insane?”  I think many of the people on the bus had the same thought process.

It became painfully clear at about the midpoint in the race that I was not adequately prepared, but I pressed on, using a jog / walk alternating method to get me through the course.  I never came to a complete stop or took any breaks, but just rather kept moving forward at a semi-consistent pace.  Luckily, the St. George Marathon is primarily downhill in nature so I was able to let gravity help me along.  My finish time was 4 hours, 54 minutes which is on the slow side for my competitive age bracket, but I was just grateful to finish in one piece!

A few more pics from my weekend follow here.  First, checking out grandma’s old Quasar video camera.  We dug it out of storage.  The date of manufacture is June 1985.  Anyone remember lugging around one of these?

Visiting with my nephew Beckam:

And my niece Viv.  That’s her kitty “Marie” but we call her “Pizza.”  You’ll have to ask Viv why.

Race morning!  With mom at the start line.

Start line with our friend Jed.  My shorts (no, not a skirt!) look highly reflective.

This marathon participant is a “legend” in her own way.  Deb Zockoll is the only St. George Marathon runner who has now competed in all 40 runs in the event’s history.  She is an inspiration to many!

Closing in on Mile 15 with Snow Canyon State Park in the background.

Looking surprisingly fresh when I ran past Grandma and Aunt Jodi around Mile 24.

Grandma’s sign:

Taking a minute during my run to greet a few of my younger fans, Vivienne and Beckam.

Best motivation ever!  This is what I most looked forward to at the finish line.

Final standings:

Quick pose with Tanya.

Thought this was pretty cool – an old Caddy parked at the “Field of Screams” haunted corn maze in St. George.

Sending congrats out to my dad who rolled 200,000 miles on his 2010 Hyundai Sonata this weekend!

He sent the picture to me and my two brothers.  He said he’s shooting for 500k.

My friend Jack described my garage as “spearmint gum”  I wonder why!

And today, I got to drive home in my 1992 NSX from Utah.  It had been since May that I last drove it.  The odometer turned 106,000 miles somewhere between Kingman and Wikieup.  I was reminded of how much I enjoy that car!  Best of all, it has a fresh leather interior thanks to my brother’s workmanship.  I’ll post interior pictures of it soon.

I-40 in Kingman, Arizona.

Turnoff at Burro Creek Campground along Highway 93.

That’s it for now!  You’re all caught up.  Have a great week.

This entry was posted on October 2, 2016 at 4:30 pm and is filed under ILX, NSX, Road Trip, Running, 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.