drivetofive

Odometer (Legend):  531,438

Odometer (ILX):  91,696

Trip Distance:  390 Miles

Just a half hour after eating the biggest plate of chicken enchiladas of my life, I was already regretting it.  The road I was carving up in my 2013 Acura ILX was so curvy, it was making me nauseous.  After 8 or 9 miles of zig-zagging up the side of one of Arizona’s tallest mountains, I got stuck behind a slow-moving pickup truck.  Joe, from the passenger seat, said, “Good, maybe my lunch will go back to my stomach now.”  Ha!  I guess I hadn’t been the only one holding my breath and hanging on for dear life!  At least it wasn’t like that time when I was 8 years old and lost my lunch in the backseat of my aunt Jodi’s SUV.

Arizona Highway 366, also known as the “Swift Trail,” climbs southern Arizona’s Mount Graham in the Pinaleño Mountains at 10,717 feet in elevation.  It’s open from May through November and was designated a state scenic parkway in 1993.  There are some great resources online about this road but due to its remote nature, I’ve never been able to make it over there and check it out until yesterday.  Here’s one very detailed write-up, with the following excerpt:

The Swift Trail, with twenty-nine paved miles and the remainder gravel, begins seven miles south of Safford on U.S. 191. Turn southwest on Arizona Highway 366 and ascend a gently sloping bajada studded with creosote, mesquite, and acacia trees toward the looming Pinaleño Mountains.

The temperature can (and did, for us) vary by up to 30 degrees from the base of the road to the summit!  “It’s like driving from Mexico to Canada in an hour and a half,” said one author.  Joe and I watched as we passed 4,000; 5,000; 6,000 foot signs.  This road maxed out at over 9,000 feet!  The landscape changed dramatically, too.  The desert floor gave way to taller trees and every curve offered a new viewpoint of the valley below.  Guardrails?  Non-existent.  This was a two-hands-on-the-wheel driving experience.  With exception for shifting gears, of course, because in my case there were plenty of high-RPM shifts through 2nd, 3rd, and 4th gears to power up the steep grade and keep the momentum.

Just check out this road!

For this experience, I was joined by a few friends.  I present to you, the contenders:

Tyson’s 2013 Acura ILX 2.4:  201 horsepower

Paul’s 2013 Acura TL SH-AWD:  305 horsepower

Matt’s 2014 Infiniti Q50S:  328 horsepower

Our day started out in the Phoenix area with a quick breakfast stop at the Krispy Kreme store on Superstition Springs Road in Mesa off US 60.  No road trip is complete without appropriate fuel, right?  Or in this case, a sugar rush.  From there, we made our way eastward through the mining towns of Superior, Miami, and Globe.  Miami, Arizona is the “Copper Center of the World”  (or at least that’s what their entrance sign below said).

About 80 miles from Globe, we arrived in the small town of Safford.  The best Mexican place in town, Casa Mañana, was bustling with hungry midday lunch traffic, but we enjoyed the menu and hospitality before heading southbound on Highway 191 toward Swift Trail Junction.  There, we’d be taking Highway 366 all the way to the summit of Mount Graham, some 29 miles later.

Matt and Alan took the lead in the Q50, Paul and Peter followed suit in the TL, and Joe and I brought up the rear in the ILX.  I knew I’d be making some photo and video stops along the way and didn’t want to hold the other guys up.  Besides, did I think I was going to be able to set the pace with a full 100 horsepower fewer than either of them had under the hood?  No thanks!

Still, I gave the ILX tires and suspension a pretty good beating.  The rev-happy 2.4 liter spent most of its time in the 3,000 to 5,000 RPM range as we made our ascent.  After our short delay behind the slow pickup truck (and after our stomachs had the chance to settle just slightly), Joe and I zoomed back to an exhilarating pace and made our way up the switchbacks.  Finally, we made it to the end of the paved road where the other guys had already started taking a few pictures.  Despite the fact that the temperature at the base of Graham was 100 degrees, we were now in 67 degrees and enjoying it immensely.

I couldn’t resist exploring a bit down the dirt road ahead, so we followed that for a couple of miles which led us to a campground.  The downhill return to Safford went quickly – so quickly, in fact, that I could smell burning tires and brakes.  My sweet tooth got the best of me and I succumbed to a pit stop at “Taylor Freeze” for a root beer freeze in the town of Pima.  A phenomenal Arizona sunset closed out the day as we returned to the Phoenix area.  In all, the drive took us about 9 hours round-trip including the breaks and the lunch stop.  Another adventure in the books for me — and for all of us.

Thanks for being a part of it!  Here are the rest of the photos and a short video.

Peter and Joe up front in the ILX

Lunchtime!

Those “creamy enchiladas.”  I think there was an entire tub of sour cream on this plate.

It’s almost as if my ILX and Paul’s TL were having a fight and didn’t want to park next to one another.

Starting the ascent up Highway 366

Made it to the top!  Or, at least where the pavement ends.

Three Japanese luxury sport sedans

Venetian Ruby is a great color on that Q50

Quick stop at the campground after doing a little off-roading (sorry, Matt & Paul!)

Back to the highway we go

Photo op at scenic viewpoint

Just can’t get enough of these Arizona skies

Cars were looking good!

Fuel stop in Thatcher, Arizona at Shell

Taylor Freeze.  Stop there sometime for a shake or malt!

Odometer (Legend):  531,295

Odometer (ILX):  90,167

Trip Distance:  372 Miles

When my friend Chris from Maryland was planning his visit to Arizona, he said, “I want to see a saloon.  Take me to an Old West town.”  I knew exactly which destination would fulfill those wishes:  Tombstone.

Just a day after arriving from our trip to Los Angeles for the National Acura Legend Meet, Chris and I again hit the highway in search of a new adventure.  And this time, we traveled back in time 135 years to a town that they say is “Too Tough to Die.”  It’s a town of legends (get it?) and history that fills volumes.

Compare to the May 2011 picture, when I took the Legend there.

Our first stop was the Boothill Graveyard.  We took a self-guided tour and noticed that most of the headstones were marked “UNKNOWN.”  The ones that did have names on them were mostly dated from the late 1800’s.  Here’s one example of an inscription we found on a headstone:

Here Lies George Johnson, 1882

He Was Right, We Was Wrong

But We Strung Him Up, and Now He’s Gone

We parked the ILX and proceeded to walk around in the muggy afternoon weather.  Tombstone’s history dates back to 1879 when it became a boomtown thanks to the nearby silver mine.  During those years, a guide educated us, the town’s population soared to around 10,000 residents, which was even greater than the population of Los Angeles at the time.  A series of destructive fires in 1882 wiped out over 100 businesses.  Additional fires in the mines themselves, depletion of ore, and the falling price of silver led to the decline of Tombstone.  Today, it’s home to only about 1,300 people and the town survives primarily on the tourism industry.

On October 26, 1881, a historical gunfight took place in an empty lot behind the O.K. Corral.  Lawman Doc Holliday and 3 other officers fought it out against 4 cowboys who were suspected of murder.  Thirty shots were fired, resulting in injury or death for everyone involved except for Wyatt Earp.  Earp lived on until 1929 when he died at the age of 80.  Chris and I watched a gunfight reenactment and got our photo afterward with some of the actors.

The main road through town, Allen Street, is closed to car traffic.  However, carriage rides are available and the town is very pedestrian-friendly.  Chris and I went to the Crystal Palace Saloon for lunch.  The “shroom and Swiss” hamburger was phenomenal, but my favorite item on the menu was the fried ice cream for dessert.

This courthouse cost $45,000 to build in 1882 and still stands today with a visitor center in the lobby.

Heading north from Tombstone, I decided to change up the trip a little bit and do a little ghost towning.  My friend Leif had once told me about a townsite called Fairbank off Highway 82 in southern Arizona, and I happened to notice how close we were to it thanks to my Garmin Nuvi GPS unit as we were departing from Tombstone.

Just before a border patrol checkpoint, Chris and I veered west into the San Pedro Valley and about 8 miles later we arrived at what was once a bustling railroad town in the late 1800’s.  In 1890 and 1894 the area flooded.  An earthquake in 1897 altered the course of the San Pedro River, knocked railroad tracks out of place, and devastated some of the structures in the town.  It’s almost as if Fairbank was destined to be a ghost town from the very beginning.  Fairbank has been abandoned since the 1970’s and today amounts to just a few decrepit structures and a 1920 schoolhouse that was restored in 2007.

Heading on in via a very short, perhaps 1/4 mile, one-lane dirt road.

Parked at the gate to the townsite.

Chris heads on in.

This building was once a post office and mercantile.

The signs posted on these buildings say that they are condemned due to being unsafe.

We didn’t take the time to hike all 1/2 mile to the San Pedro riverbed, but I enjoyed the green vegetation and it was a nice change of scenery from the rest of the surrounding desert.

Continuing on Highway 82, I had my first experience with geocaching when Chris and I started heading north on Highway 90.  Geocaching is defined as a recreational activity in which participants use a global positioning system (GPS) to hide and seek containers (“caches”).  Chris downloaded a geocache app to his iPhone and started guiding me on where to make some turns so that we could find it.  I took this picture of the ILX just before Chris (in the background) hit the jackpot.

Hidden within the chain link fence’s post in this residential neighborhood was a small container attached to the lid.  Once we unscrewed the lid, we found inside a small plastic bag with a folded piece of paper and a pencil where we would fill in the date and our names.  It’s like a treasure hunt!  I had a blast.

Nice view of Newman Peak just east of I-10 near Picacho on the way back to the Phoenix area.

We turned over 90,000 miles right around there!

Thanks for joining on the trip!

Just a couple more parting shots today – first, Chris had free reign of the NSX on Tuesday while I was at work, and he found a great road called South Mountain where he took this picture overlooking the Phoenix downtown area.

Later that day, he drove himself to the airport in the Legend coupe.  Having owned a 400,000 mile 3rd generation Prelude Si, he has an appreciation for cars with higher mileage.

And finally, a well deserved shout-out to my friend Alex.  Despite the fact that his Acura Legend did not even have an engine or transmission installed in it just a couple of weeks ago, he got his car together in time to drive it all the way across the country:  from Warm Mineral Springs, Florida, to Los Angeles, California, for this year’s NALM.  Not only that, but he’s now on his return trip (5,000 miles into it, currently in Chicago) and a couple of days ago passed through my hometown in southern Utah and sent me this photo at the state line.  Keep on trucking, Alex!

Odometer (ILX):  84,278

Odometer (Legend):  529,778

Sometimes a driving adventure presents itself when you least expect it.  I had just finished up a walk-through at a rental home in Waddell, Arizona on Thursday afternoon for a cousin who’s moving to the area from Pennsylvania.  Pulling out of the subdivision on Olive Avenue, I looked to the west and saw the 4,000-foot White Tank Mountains in the distance.  I had two hours to kill until meeting a couple of friends for dinner, so I decided to see where that road would take me. (See red pin at left on the below map)

The four-laner went down to two lanes a mile or two before I approached the entry gate at White Tank Regional Park.  Entry was $6 and I saw a sign stating “Ice Cold Water $1,” so I grabbed one of those as well from the nice senior couple that was working the booth.  “I’m a first timer,” I said, “What is there to do in here?”  The man told me that the park has 28 miles of hiking trails.  I glanced down at the ILX external temp readout and noticed that it indicated 108 degrees, then responded, “Hiking?  Not on a day like today!”  He just shook his head and rolled his eyes, “You’d be surprised.  We have a ton of locals out there right now.”

I headed on into the 30,000-acre park and proceeded along the winding, two-lane paved road that had dips and curves giving my suspension a workout.  The landscape was dotted with hundreds of towering Saguaro cacti and a few jackrabbits scampered across my path as I worked my way through the park at 25 to 35 miles per hour.  The road went 3 miles along the base of the mountains until it hit a roundabout, where I looped back.  I took a side loop on the return trip via Ford Canyon Rd which became Waterfall Road.  Despite the temperatures, I did take the opportunity to hike around long enough to get a few stray cactus needles attached to my socks.  Ouch.

White Tank is definitely a place I’ll be visiting again for some hikes when the weather cools off.  It’ll make a nice backdrop for some automotive photography, too.  Glad I was able to find it!

These massive Saguaro cacti are probably centuries old.  According to the National Park Service, the Saguaro must mature to 100 years in age before it even begins to grow an “arm”!

You all know I’m big on dates & anniversaries.  Yesterday, June 12, was the 2-year anniversary of the day I took ownership of the ILX from John Watts of Acura’s Digital Marketing team.

The car had just 16 miles on it.  It’s been a fun ride so far!

Have a great weekend!

Odometer (Legend):  529,490

Odometer (ILX):  79,440

Trip Distance:  358 Miles

I’m such a gigantic sucker for tourist traps.

• America’s largest sundial?  Check.
• World’s largest chile pepper?  Yeah.
• World’s largest firecracker?  Saw that too.

How did it take me this many years to succumb to the temptation and check out “THE THING”?  I’m not sure, but I finally took the opportunity to visit a roadside attraction that I’ve passed by dozens of times.  It’s located along the remote reaches of Interstate 10 in southern Arizona, in the desert landscape between Tucson and El Paso.  I took my 2013 Acura ILX for a day-trip on Saturday to see what this place was all about.

Leaving the Tucson area eastbound, motorists are assaulted right away by bright yellow billboards in rapid succession, advertising this so-called “Mystery of the Desert.”  It’s enough to make you wonder, “What in the heck is it?”  And that’s exactly what the entrepreneurs who run “The Thing” want you to do!  By the time I arrived at Exit 222 for Johnson Road about 40 miles later, I had counted upwards of 15-20 billboards with various messages luring me in.

You really can’t miss this place.  Just when you start zoning out as the interstate makes its way through some rocky outcroppings, your eye is caught by the giant yellow structure.  There might as well have been a fishing line reeling my ILX into the parking lot because I had taken the bait big time.  I plunked down $1 cash and told the cashier, “One adult admission please.”  The man pointed to a door against the back wall and said, “Go through the door.  Follow the yellow footprints.  The Thing is in the third building.”  And off I went toward the entrance.

I thought that the entrance door would lead me into a dark, enclosed room of some sort.  My eyes were blinded when it instead opened up to the outside.  The adventure just kept getting weirder.  Yes, there were yellow painted footprints on the sidewalk ahead of me, so I followed the cashier’s instructions to see where they’d take me.  It felt like some sort of treasure hunt.  Each of the 3 buildings was a giant warehouse of sorts with artifacts on display.  The first had a couple of antique cars (1932 Buick and a 1937 Rolls-Royce), each covered up in a thick layer of dust.

I picked up my walking speed a little bit.  “What is this stuff?  Take me to The Thing already!” I thought to myself.  I paused just momentarily to check out a few other things.  Mannequins, an old phonograph, various vintage pieces of furniture, guns, and Indian artifacts.  Cool, but I wanted to see The Thing.  Continuing on I went:  Building 1, then outside, then Building 2, then outside, then, I entered Building 3 at last.  A colorful banner told me that I’d arrived.  I felt like Clark Griswold when he finally spotted the perfect family Christmas tree.

There it was.

“It’s A Wonder!”

Yes, indeed.  So, there was The Thing in all its glory, enclosed in a cinderblock vault with a plexiglass cover over the top.  So, what was it?  I think I’m going to be a tease and let the secret remain.  Hahaha!

I grabbed a mushroom Swiss hamburger at the Dairy Queen attached to the gift shop before heading back toward Phoenix.  It felt great to finally know what The Thing was.  Here are the rest of my pics from the trip!

Pit stop in Benson, Arizona near Tombstone

Sandstone rock formation on I-10

Exiting at Johnson Road where The Thing is located

From the outside, the warehouses at The Thing are painted vivid colors.

I followed the dirt road around toward the Big Rig parking because I wanted the full experience.

Hype?  Yeah, lots of it.

In we go.

Souvenirs galore.  Yes, this place is a definite tourist trap.

Here are those yellow footsteps.

Building #1

The 1937 Rolls.  Sign reads:  “This antique car was believed to have been used by Adolf Hitler.  The Thing is, though, it can’t be proved.”  Clever.

More footsteps leading to the next building.

This one felt like a museum.

Edison phonograph.  “Plays Cylindrical Records,” the sign said.

What the heck?  A bedroom set in this building.

Post-tour lunch @ DQ.

And back to Phoenix I went!  Drive time was about 2.5 hours each way.

Thanks for joining!