drivetofive

Odometer (Legend):  553,378

Trip Distance:  755 Miles

I’m at it again!  You know this drill – I’ve done it every year since 2005:  Hike it across the country in my rickety old Legend coupe, hang out for a couple of days with people who have the same Acura addiction, and come back to reality.  We might as well call it a support group or a rehab organization but there’s no doubt about it:  I need my annual fix!

This year, California’s capitol city of Sacramento is hosting our group.  This marks the second time in recent years that NALM has been held in the Golden State, since our 2014 event centered around the Los Angeles area.  Sacramento is a pretty painless and simple trek for me from Phoenix, Arizona:  Straight out west on Interstate 10, then hooking up with Interstate 5 northbound.  Easy peasy – roughly an 11-hour drive door-to-door from my place.

On Wednesday afternoon, I snuck out of the office by around 2:00 and hit the highway.  My only stops were in Quartzsite for fuel and then Palm Desert for a Yoo Hoo beverage and a bathroom break.  Miraculously, the freeways on the northern perimeter of Los Angeles were free-flowing and my speed barely dipped below 65 miles per hour all the way until I arrived at my nightly destination at a Motel 6 in Sylmar, right near the intersection of the 210 & 5 freeways.

The car performed phenomenally and I was reminded many times of why I didn’t mind putting 500,000 miles on it.  Thursday morning, I cruised up I-5 another 5.5 hours or so, stopping only for a quick Taco Bell breakfast at 9:30 in the morning in Buttonwillow (don’t judge!) and then to use a rest area just prior to the split between Interstate 5 and Interstate 580.  By the time I arrived at the La Quinta, the Legend group was already out on the road – bound for Lake Tahoe – so I checked in, left a bag in my room, and went out to do a little sightseeing.

Oh, and one cool thing?  My Legend sedan is here too.  It was driven up by my friend Alex who flew in from Phoenix on Tuesday evening.  So for the third time, that car is attending a NALM that I didn’t drive it to (preceded by Chris’ trip to LA in 2014 and James’ trip to Houston in 2015).  It was pretty cool hopping on Highway 50 westbound and being behind my own car!

This evening, that car served as a pizza stand while a few of us congregated in the parking lot to shoot the breeze.  Later we rolled over to attendee James’ shop where some were washing their cars.  Below are a few more pics as things got underway out here.

Alex arriving at my place in Phoenix Tuesday evening

Headed out to grab a bite in the TL

Alex sent this picture of my sedan at the CA state line bright and early Wednesday

Departing after work

Next stop, the City of Angels

By this time, Alex had arrived in my car and sent this pic

Later that evening, he raced the car

Stopping for fuel in Palm Desert

Big ol’ steer off Hwy 58 in Buttonwillow, CA

“Power Market” in Lathrop, California has a UFO halfway-embedded into its roof,

The interior of the station has the other half of the UFO, as well as a myriad of green aliens flying around in purple saucers near the ceiling

Made it to Sac-Town!

Dave from Seattle brought his immaculate 1994 Legend GS 6-speed

Only 99,350 on the odometer!

Park where I was hanging out this afternoon in El Dorado Hills

Check out that T-shirt!  It shows the 1st and 2nd generation, sedan and coupe bodystyles

Much more to come tomorrow!

This entry was posted on June 8, 2017 at 11:11 pm and is filed under California, NALM. 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.