Mom’s Visit, Half-Marathon, Vigor Bumper Refinish, Future Classic Car Show & Special Guests
Odometer (Legend): 558,577
Odometer (Integra): 245,989
My guest room is fully booked this month — if it seems I’m light on travels, it’s because I’m hosting all sorts of company. And I wouldn’t have it any other way! Now if only I offered free breakfast & a fitness center.
Mom flew down from southern Utah for an annual tradition: The Rock & Roll Half Marathon which starts & ends in Tempe, near Arizona State University. We have the whole routine down to a science: Where to have brunch the day prior, what to wear, where to park the car, and even where to meet at the conclusion of the race. Because – let’s face it – we already knew that mom was going to beat me to the finish line by a solid half-hour or more. And she did.
I missed out on the North American International Auto Show this past week. In case you missed it too, there were some big announcements from Acura with the debut of the all-new 2019 RDX sport utility vehicle. AND – drumroll please – the Type-S name is coming back!
That same day, I had “Ultimate Finish” – a mobile bumper repair/repaint operation – come over to the house and re-shoot both bumpers on my 1994 Vigor GS. I must say, for having been a driveway job and completed from start to finish in a matter of 6 hours, it turned out phenomenally. They charged me $300 per bumper.
I attended the third annual Future Classics Car Show on the upper parking deck of the Scottsdale Quarter shopping center. It was quite the grab-bag of vehicles, but that’s what makes the show interesting. James took his 1999 Isuzu VehiCROSS, Kyle his 2005 Pontiac GTO, and Scott his 2012 Mini Cooper. I was in the 1992 Integra GS-R. None of us went home with any awards but we enjoyed hanging out with fellow gearheads for the evening.
The following evening, I had a couple of special guests arrive.
Peter Cunningham, President of the NSX Club of America (NSXCA), and Donald Osborne, auto appraiser extraordinaire, came over for a VIP visit to my humble car collection. We went to dinner nearby at a Casa Añejo. Meanwhile, my roommate picked up my friend Chris from the Phoenix airport. A few years ago, we started the tradition of Chris visiting Arizona each January for a several-day visit which centers around attending the Barrett-Jackson collector car auction. I’ll have more on that in a dedicated next post!
Chris put a few miles on my cars while I was at work the next couple of days, including taking an 800+ mile drive to southern Utah and back in a single day. He’s a little nuts, but I guess that’s why we get along so well. Destination #1 was Monument Valley, one of my favorite places. He also hit up Four Corners and spent a little bit of time in Colorado and New Mexico. As in, probably a footstep’s worth of time in each! My car was dirty so I spent a good chunk of the afternoon today getting it cleaned up. I decided to film a walkaround video since a few had asked for a current one. Ask and ye shall receive.
Below are a few more photos of the last few weeks’ activities. Have a great evening!
Picking up mom at the airport
Pasta prep
Dinner crowd at my place
Saturday morning in downtown at the marathon expo
View from the patio at our brunch spot: FEZ
Tyson, Kevin, Adam, Jon, Tia, Rob, Julio at brunch
Doing a little yard sale-ing with mom (she’s in the sideview mirror proudly holding up a new red dress she purchased for $5)
Mile 10 of the marathon on Sunday morning, with the clock already showing just under 2 hours elapsed.
Finished! And headed home.
Departure back to Utah, dropping off mom at the airport
Peter Cunningham signing my guest book at the house
Donald Osborne, Chris, me
Airport run in the Legend sedan to pick up Kevin from Georgia
Tyson, Kevin, Chris
Chris’ post to the 5,000-member “ALOE” group on Facebook. It stands for Acura Legend Owners & Enthusiasts.
Breakfast at Zookz on Camelback
Chris heading out to Carefree to see the world’s largest sundial.
Chris and Kevin enjoying a relaxing evening in my backyard.
More to come, soon!
drivetofive 
January 22, 2018 at 12:55 am
Wow, that’s some big crowds at the Hugie household! Good on Tia for whipping you in the half marathon. You’ll have to put in some decent training for next year to actually give her a bit of a challenge. The Legend looked great after that coat of wax – the old girl certainly scrubs up well!
January 22, 2018 at 6:55 am
Haha, not so sure about giving mom a challenge but I’d be thrilled to just match her finish time or pull off something in the sub-2-hour range. I think I ended up around 2:27, which is pretty slow for an age division (late 30s) as competitive as mine! Hope you had a great weekend, Adam. Looking forward to your next adventure.
January 23, 2018 at 5:45 am
Whipping him? Ha. I can always count on besting Tyson when his training regimen consists of three 3-mile runs within the two weeks before race day. And thanks for referring to the Legend as “the old girl” rather than me. 🙂
January 23, 2018 at 6:13 am
Ha! And those 3-mile training runs have never let me down.
January 22, 2018 at 5:03 pm
The bumper work on the Vigor was worth every penny. Looks great!
January 22, 2018 at 5:06 pm
That’s what I said! It’s pretty astonishing what they were able to do right in my driveway, over the course of a day! Now I just need to schedule them to come back and do a few more of my cars, haha.
January 22, 2018 at 6:42 pm
The bumper work came out terrific- $300 is great, especially since you don’t need to leave the comfort of your own home! Looking forward to watching the Legend walk around later.
Looking forward to someday getting my name in that guest book!
January 22, 2018 at 8:20 pm
I’ll reserve a special spot for you and DH in the guest book, Tim! Door’s always open.
January 23, 2018 at 5:41 am
I think back about how flawlessly our weekend unfolded! Like you mentioned, I think we have our traditional weekend down to a science! Thank you again for being my taxi, host, and son, seeing to all my needs (sun and soda) on a Saturday afternoon. Sometimes just chilling is enough.
January 23, 2018 at 6:13 am
That’s the way to do it. I did the same this past weekend for a friend visiting from Canada. Camp chairs, a Diet Coke on ice, and Alexa in the backyard.
January 23, 2018 at 8:33 am
Mama T and the Sedan and the Vigor and NSX… Is this HEAVEN?!?!
January 23, 2018 at 8:37 am
Haha, seriously. It was a great few days! We were just missing YOU!
January 29, 2018 at 8:23 am
Pasta party, Coupe report, marathon and good company…sounds like a good month so far! I’ve never heard of a mobile bumper repair outfit. Looks like the Vigor came out like new! Sedan is looking great as always. 🙂
January 29, 2018 at 8:24 am
Thanks Jason! I know, so much catching up to do when I slack off for a few weeks in between posts. More updates to come!