drivetofive

Odometer (Legend):  527,207

Odometer (ILX):  56,713

Trip Distance:  537 Miles

Confession Time:  When I was 8 years old, I got carsick and threw up Hawaiian Punch in the back of my aunt Jodi’s SUV.  It made a mess of my Cabbage Patch doll, and to this day my family has never let me forget about it.  It took a couple of decades until I could stand to drink HP again.

Curvy roads don’t agree with my stomach — unless, I’ve discovered, I’m the driver.  On Saturday morning I put my Acura ILX’s suspension to the ultimate handling test on some of the tightest twisties and hairiest hairpins of any road I’ve ever driven.

The roller-coaster ride is called Highway 191.  Formerly known as US 666 – the “Devil’s Highway” – it’s famed as one of the all-time favorite driving destinations in the southwestern United States for motorcyclists and sports car drivers.  This weekend’s trip took me and 5 friends to the eastern part of Arizona, where the White Mountains are just undergoing the transition from summer to fall and the leaves radiate vivid color.  This was the third time I’ve driven Coronado Trail and with each visit I’ve been in a different vehicle and had a vastly different experience.

On Friday afternoon, Paul stopped by in his 2013 Acura TL SH-AWD.  He accompanied me as copilot for this journey, while my other friends Mike and Matt followed along in a 2012 Volkswagen GTI 6-speed.  Our ascent from the Phoenix desert floor of 1,100 feet to the town of Payson at 5,000 feet meant we needed plenty of grunt to climb the grades.  Thankfully due to the gearing of the ILX, my cruise control held me at highway speed in 6th gear on the Beeline Highway while rarely needing to downshift.  We spent the night in Springerville, Arizona where my friend Jason had arrived from Las Cruces, New Mexico earlier in the evening.

Saturday morning greeted us with the brightest of blue skies and with crisp 32-degree ambient temperatures.  For the first time since last winter, I donned a hooded sweatshirt for insulation from the chills.  After chowing down on some breakfast, the open road awaited us.  Over the course of the next several hours, we dipped from over 9,300 feet down to 3,400 feet in elevation over some technical, narrow roadways.  This was a both-hands-on-the-wheel driving experience.  Follow along on the journey via the photos and video below!

Paul did a pretty nice job of taking this ‘selfie’ of us while we made our way up Highway 87 to Payson.

Matt and Mike reviewed the menu at Buffalo Bar & Grille in Payson, Arizona.  A sign on the wall read:  “Rednecks Welcome.  All Others By Appointment Only.”

We had Highway 260 almost entirely to ourselves as we headed east from there toward our nightly destination in Springerville, about 2.5 hours away.  When we arrived, the ILX was again reunited with Jason’s silver Accord.  I’d last met up with Jason on our drive to Denver, Colorado a couple of months ago.

Cozy in the America’s Best Value Inn.  For $78, the place did not disappoint!

I was somewhat prepared for the chill that greeted us the following morning.  Jason resorted to using a microfiber towel to clean the ice off his windshield.

It had been quite some time since I turned my ILX seat heaters to “HI” setting and cranked the heater to full blast.

For us Arizonans, frost on the car is a rare sight.

My favorite part about staying hotels and motels is the breakfast buffet.  This waffle and OJ hit the spot.

On the way out of Springerville, we laid our eyes on some of the town’s highlights, including Rusty’s Meat Shop.  Note that Rusty’s is also an official Trophy Elk Contest Scoring Location.

There was a classic car show going on nearby.  Probably the biggest event this town of 1,700 had seen in quite some time.

Ready to drive?  Here we have our contenders:

• 2013 Acura ILX 2.4 6-speed
• 2012 Volkswagen GTI 6-speed
• 2004 Honda Accord 3.0 6-speed

The ILX had the GTI beat in the horsepower department by just one measly horse.  The GTI’s powerplant is a 2.0 liter, 200-horsepower turbocharged inline 4.  Jason’s Accord reigned supreme at 240 horses from its 3.0 V6.

As we got underway and headed southbound on Hwy 191, we were quickly alerted (multiple times, in fact) that this route is not snowplowed on nights, weekends, or during snowstorms.  Basically, if you’re caught in a blizzard during any of those times, you’re out of luck!  Thankfully, our weather conditions were perfect.

Our first pit-stop was about 25 miles down the road in Hannagan Meadow.  This grouping of log cabins was established in 1926 and remains today as a resort-type destination with cabin rentals around $200/night.

The cars lined up for a photo-op, looking photogenic despite some bugs on the front ends.

That blue Acura hoodie happened to match my shoelaces perfectly.  I promise I didn’t plan it that way.

We took a peek inside a couple of the rental cabins just for fun.  They’d make a great place to escape for a weekend.

It was a good thing we were fueled up because it would be about 120 miles until we saw any form of civilization.  This was the warning at the top of a map we picked up at Hannagan Meadow:

Back on the road!  Up until 1993, Highway 191 was actually Highway 666 – thus the reason it has been referred to as the Devil’s Highway.  It’s also now known as “Coronado Trail” – named after a Spanish conquistador who followed this route between the years 1540 and 1542.

Views are spectacular, but the narrow road offers very few places to pull off and enjoy them while sitting still.  This happened to be one of those locations.

We stretched our legs and pulled out the cameras for a few shots.  I smelled burning brakes and/or tires when I approached Matt’s VW.  I think he was having a little too much fun with those curves.

This shot of the ILX also shows Jason’s Accord’s headlight.

Left to right, our group:

• Jason, from Las Cruces New Mexico
• Tyson
• Paul, originally from Michigan
• Matt, originally from Pennsylvania
• Mike, originally from Minnesota

One of my favorite signs along the entire stretch of road is the below “10 MPH NEXT 11 MILES.”  These curves mean serious business.  I think Paul might have regretted riding with me when I took a few of the corners at an aggressive rate of speed.  My fresh Michelin tires provided plenty of bite, and the ILX’s close-ratio 6-speed transmission was a breeze to flick through the gears with minimal effort.  I found body roll to be very minimal and weight transfer to be very predictable.  The ILX was engineered for optimal performance on roads exactly like this one.

One more pit stop for some Mega Stuf Oreos and trail mix.

This scenic overlook gave us a dramatic look at the beautiful eastern Arizona landscape.

A gigantic tarantula seemed to be enjoying the view, too.  Here, the guys were following it.

I turned over the ILX to Mike for a piece of the drive.  He commented on how smooth the transmission was.

Meanwhile, Jason let me take the wheel of his Accord.  At 139,000 miles, the suspension still felt tight and the car delivered power at RPM ranges that vary greatly from my ILX.  It’s a great touring ride!

The last piece of Coronado leads sharply downhill toward the mining town of Morenci.

The Morenci mine is the largest copper mining operation in North America and is operated by Freeport-McMoRan.

It was awesome to stand at the rim of this massive man-made canyon and soak in the scenery.

Highway 191 treated us to a tunnel as we made our way through the rest of the mine.

Clifton, Arizona is a town stuck in a 1913 time warp.  That’s when most of these streets along the former main street were constructed.  100 years later, it has an eery ghost town feel to it.

We feasted at PJ’s Mexican-American Restaurant.

Mike, Matt, and I opted for the Mexican food and it was top notch.

Note that PJ’s offers a “daily rate” for folks who want to sit and drink coffee all day.  Just $9!

And finally, after looping back to Phoenix, Paul and I unloaded the ILX.

Thanks for joining me on yet another fun-filled Acuradventure.

Odometer (Legend):  527,023

Odometer (ILX):  54,672

Trip Distance:  257 Miles

Time to ditch the roadways and head for the skies!  This past weekend, some friends and I set out for the Pima Air & Space Museum near Tucson, Arizona.

Pima Air & Space Museum, where history takes flight, is one of the largest air and space museums in the world, and the largest non-government funded aviation museum. You’ll see more than 300 aircraft and spacecraft including many of the most historically significant and technically advanced craft ever produced, both from the United States and throughout the world.

We left a few vehicles parked at my house for the day:  Paul’s TL, Jake’s Wrangler, Matt’s 370Z (not pictured), and Ian’s Lancer (not pictured).  Instead, we took the ILX, an RS5, and an IS300.

It was a parking lot in my driveway as we were preparing for departure.

“RS Robigus” (Brad’s RS5) led the way to Starbucks so we could get some breakfast before heading out of town.  At 450 horsepower, I’m lucky the RS5 didn’t leave me in its dust.

From there, we made our way to the south end of Phoenix where Interstate 10 would take us the 110 miles or so to Tucson.

Our only pit stop along the way was for a bathroom break at Picacho Peak.

The RS5 looked menacing in my rearview mirror with its LED daytime running lights.

Approaching the PASM entrance on Valencia Road just south of Tucson, we could already see the tails of some of the aircraft on display.  The museum covers 127 acres.   It started out as a storage location for about 30 aircraft and has continued to grow ever since.  It first opened up in 1976 with 48 aircraft on display.

I’d passed by here a few times in the past, but never taken the time to check it out.

When we arrived, we were greeted by 3 other friends who were local to the Tucson area:  Nick, Kurt, and Mike had driven over to meet us.

Kurt recently picked up this gorgeous 1993 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo convertible.  The Nissan “Z32” bodystyle ran from 1990 through 1996 and I feel still looks great today.

We gathered around to check it out.  This car is rare in its configuration as a convertible, but even more rare when you consider the odometer:  there were only 50,257 miles on it!  That’s just 2,500 miles per year.

My ILX is 20 model years newer, yet already has 4,000 more miles on it than Kurt’s car.

The later model Nissan wheels will soon be traded out for some aftermarket wheels that Kurt has already picked out.

The leather interior looks amazing for its age.  It’s easy to tell that this Z has been garage-kept.

Meanwhile, Nick’s heavily modified 300ZX (GODZIRRA!) joined the party as well.  Nick’s car was featured on Drive to Five back in March.

First stop in the museum was a gift shop where we paid our admission fees.  The rate was $15.   From there, we were on our own to explore the 4 hangars and many acres of grounds outsides.  I’ll highlight a few of the exhibits that caught my eye during our self-guided walking tour.

This silver & red North American F-107A first flew in September 1956.  It’s capable of a top speed of 1,295 miles per hour and has a “service ceiling” of 53,200 feet.  Notice the overhead jet air intake, making this a unique design.

Undersea aircraft wreckage has always fascinated me, and the museum had a display featuring remains of a “Martin PBM Mariner” It sank in Lake Washington near Seattle on May 6, 1949.  It wasn’t brought up from the bottom of the lake until 1996, and by then it was so weakened that when they went to grab it by the tail section, the aircraft ripped apart!  There are still pieces of this plane sitting at the bottom of Lake Washington.

Here I’m standing in front of a Fairchild A-10A Thunderbolt II.  This one was referred to as the “Warthog” by its pilots and crew.  It was used in the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War and is basically a flying tank.  It has a rotary cannon capable of firing up to 4200 rounds per minute!  Don’t get in its way.

Many of the aircraft were “manned” with mannequins to show how occupants would have been seated inside them.

There were plenty of attractions at PASM besides planes.

My favorite plane on display was this McDonnell Douglas F-4E Phantom II.  This has an internally mounted gun for air-to-air combat and it was in service from 1967 to 1992.  It’s capable of 1,485 miles per hour!

This little Beechcraft Model S18D had capacity for 8 people and was capable of being flown from skis or floats as well as conventional landing gear.

Some interactive displays taught us some fundamentals about flying.

Next, we headed outside to where dozens of other aircraft awaited us.  For $6, we could have taken a tram tour but we opted to take advantage of the opportunity for some exercise instead.

Below is a B-52G Stratofortress from 1958.  This one weighs in at nearly half a million pounds.  Most of the planes outside were sitting on flat tires.  It made me wonder how long it’s been since they’ve been used.

Most of the aircraft being displayed were on loan from the US Air Force.

Jake’s favorite feature was this old army Jeep.  It was a 5-speed manual and had only a 4-digit odometer.  As I recall, it showed mileage in the 6,000’s.  It was actually manufactured by Ford.

This was my favorite exhibit overall:  The “Hoppi-Copter.”  It’s a one-man helicopter with a 20-horsepower motor that powers two counter-rotating sets of blades, strapped to the back of the pilot.

Can you imagine coming in for a hard landing with this thing?  Here’s a little more info from the display:

The greatest weakness of this design was its use of the pilot’s legs as landing gear.  If he stumbled during landing or take-off, the blades would quickly turn into thousands of potentially lethal splinters as they pounded themselves to bits into the ground.  The idea was quickly abandoned, but not before the Hoppicopter made about 20 flights.

Yikes.  I’ll pass on taking that one for a spin.  Don’t even try pronouncing this sign.  Fluegelschwenkbereich!

We had a great time at the museum, and we were ready for a break from all that walking.  No group drive would be complete without some delicious food to top it off, so for that we headed to Sushi Garden on Broadway Rd.

Parking in color sequence, because that’s just the way it worked out!

The $9 lunch buffet hit the spot!  Oddly, though, the buffet featured potato salad and Jell-O.  At a sushi restaurant?

Meanwhile, we picked up a straggler.  My friend Josh arrived in his silver 2008 BMW 328i 6-speed.  He’s been featured on the blog before with his turbo white Acura Integra.

We had one more stop to make before leaving town.  Our group headed up to one of Tucson’s well known landmarks, Sentinel Peak.  I had last visited this area in May.  Sentinel Peak is home to a giant painted “A” on the side of a hill in reference to the University of Arizona which is located in Tucson.

Toward the top of the peak, the road becomes a twisty one-laner with no guardrail.

The view was great from up top!  Our vehicles ranged in model year from 1990 through 2013.

The ILX is still performing well!  It accommodated me and two passengers for each leg of the trip.  Ian (former Civic Si 6-speed owner) noted that the ILX was quite a bit quieter than his Civic had been.  We enjoyed the 7-speaker sound system and XM radio.  Now, if only we could get the 90’s on 9 station to stop repeating the song “Waterfalls” by TLC so frequently.

Kurt showed us a few landmarks from around the Tucson valley.  Somebody remarked, “Tucson looks a lot nicer from up here than it does at ground level.”

Paul was contemplating something very deeply here.

We took a group shot before a fuel stop and heading home our respective directions.  Left to right:  Ian, Jack, Tyson, Nick, Kurt, Paul, Brad, Jake, Matt, and Josh.  Not pictured:  Mike, who was off hiking up a nearby hill.

Thanks to those who joined in for the fun!

The Legend got work commute duty today and I rolled 527,000 miles on the way home.

Odometer (Legend):  526,888

Odometer (ILX):  53,722

Trip Distance:  287 Miles

Let’s go underground!  This tagline from Roadside America best describes my Acura ILX destination this past weekend:

Shelter for Indians, possible site of lost bank robbery gold, and a name that perhaps raises expectations too high.

That’s about the gist of this offbeat landmark cave about 22 miles from Tucson, Arizona near the teeny town of Vail.  On a rainy Sunday morning, a few friends showed up with this wide assortment of luxury vehicles.

• Jack’s 2002 Lexus IS300
• Michael’s 1997 BMW 740iL
• Ryan’s 2006 Acura TL
• David’s 2000 Volkswagen Jetta (not pictured)

The rain didn’t keep us from undertaking a freeway drive to Tucson on Interstate 10 eastbound from the Phoenix area.  I was glad to have my new Michelin Pilots installed on the ILX.  Traction was good and I had plenty of control.  Ryan rode with me, Jack and David took the IS300, and Michael and Alex took the 740.

About halfway to Tucson, the rain finally let up a little and we made a fuel stop at Picacho Peak.  Michael’s 7-series is in phenomenal shape for being 16 years old and having over 1/4 million miles on it.  He takes a lot of pride in his BMW and it shows.

The ILX only took about 10 gallons of fuel to fill it up, and we were on our way yet again.

Soon, we knew we were getting close when we saw signs announcing our arrival near Exit 279.

We made it!

The attendant at the ‘ranger station’ collected $5 per vehicle for our entry into Colossal Cave Mountain Park.

We were welcomed with a fun, twisty one-lane road as we made our way toward the parking area.

The park offered a lot of amenities that we didn’t explore, including a museum, picnic areas, horseback trail rides, and a butterfly garden.  Ryan admired the ILX design and said that his favorite features were the steering wheel design & the seat comfort.

Nice looking lineup here.  The BMW and Lexus are chrome-free, while the front end of the ILX has plenty of “bling,” especially thanks to those new grille inserts I added to the front bumper with a chrome strip on them.

We walked directly to the gift shop to pick up our tour tickets for $13 per person.  This was the view that surrounded us in the parking lot:  Beautiful desert landscape dotted with saguaro cacti.  It made me wonder what it would’ve been like to be the first person to discover a cave in this area.  That’s what happened in 1879 to a man named Solomon Lick.  He was searching for stray cattle and discovered the opening to the cave.

We used this map to orientate ourselves with the various attractions.

As it turns out, there are various tours that can be taken of Colossal Cave.  The blue line was our ‘basic’ tour which lasted about 45 minutes.  There are other tours offered that are much more involved, including one that requires scaling a ladder and wearing a hard hat.  We didn’t feel quite that ambitious.

Michael and Alex looked exceptionally excited to be there.  The opening to the cave was once much smaller than it is today; it required crawling on hands and knees when it was originally discovered.

We climbed up and down various sets of steep stairs while we were inside the cave.  During the early 1930’s, the Civilian Conservation Corps created a pathway through the key areas of the cave and installed a handrail wherever necessary.  Lights have been placed in various places to illuminate the way.

Colossal is a “dry/dead” cave, which means that it’s no longer growing new stalactites (growing from the ceiling) or stalagmites (growing from the floor).  We weren’t allowed to touch the formations with our hands.  Those formations had took thousands of years to form, and the oils from human skin can cause permanent damage.

This formation was called the “silent waterfall.”  It’s easy to tell that this used to flow heavily with water that deposited calcium which over time created permanent rock icicles.

The cave was used between 900 and 1450 AD by the native Indian tribes of the area.  They left many remnants of their existence, including tools, weaponry, and other artifacts.  Parts of the ceiling show smoke stains, so we also know that they built fires inside.

Our total hike was about a mile and it was pretty easy to navigate with the help of our guide.  We had to duck our heads and watch our step several times.  The cave temperature averages 70 degrees year-round so it was comfortable, albeit humid.  Jack looked happy to be there.  “Go Detroit Lions!” he says.

The below landmark within the cave is called the “witch.”  The long, pointed rock resembles a nose, while the head clearly shows an eye socket and open mouth.  It is said that early cave adventurers used this formation to identify their location.

This device was measuring various conditions within the cave including temperature & humidity.

Within the cave also lies a mine shaft.  This was used to extract bat guano during the late 1800’s and also later used by the CCC to haul in the flagstone rocks that were assembled to make the floor that we walked on.

Here, I was standing in the “balcony.”  There was a 40-50 foot drop off behind me.  Early spelunkers had to lower themselves down into that area using ropes, but later a more developed trail was created that goes to those deeper levels of the cave.  The lowest point of our tour was about 70 feet below ground level.

When we exited the cave, our eyes were blinded by the sunlight.  They were blinded even further when my friend Will pulled up in his absolutely stunning pearl white 2011 Cadillac CTS-V Coupe.  I had to get my sunglasses out of the ILX before I could even open my eyes fully to look at it.

Will’s recent acquisition replaces his former “Red Jewel” Camaro SS.  The CTS-V is powered by a monster 6.2 liter Eaton-supercharged V8 engine delivering 556 horsepower.  Yes, you read that right.  This Cadillac has over double as many horses as my Acura ILX does.  Can you say “giddy up”?  I won’t challenge him to a car tug-of-war anytime soon.

Starting at $65k, the pricetag on one of these is also high enough to buy two Acura ILXs.

Pictured here are the car’s glossy obsidian black center console and “glide up” touch-screen navigation system.  In here, Will has access to a 10 GB hard drive for music storage, iPod connectivity, pause-and-play live radio, integrated rear vision camera and Bose surround sound system.  Entertainment galore.

This car even has a G-meter to measure and remember lateral acceleration!

Without even planning it, we had lined up the cars in descending order by horsepower.

• Cadillac CTS-V:  6.2L V8 – 556 horsepower
• BMW 740iL:  4.4L V8 – 282 horsepower
• Lexus IS300:  3.0L I6 – 215 horsepower
• Acura ILX:  2.4L I4 – 201 horsepower

We’d worked up an appetite after our underground adventure.  Lunch was at a place on Oracle Road in Tucson called Guero Canelo.  It’s famous for hot dogs, but the “caramelo” (basically a quesadilla w/ meat in it) was absolutely delicious.

Headed back to the Phoenix area, Ryan and I had a Legend sedan sighting at Tangerine Road.  This is a 1991 Golden Glow Pearl LS.  It’s a rare one-year-only color.

Michael’s BMW turned over 280,000 miles just east of Tucson on Interstate 10.

By the time we got back to Scottsdale, the blue skies were back.  Ryan’s 2006 Acura TL was looking fantastic and he takes great pride in keeping it that way.

Thanks to all who joined for the road trip, either in person or via the blog!

Odometer (Legend):  526,843

Odometer (ILX):  52,922

Trip Distance:  120 Miles

Let’s hit the road in the 2013 Acura ILX for a little sightseeing around the Phoenix area.  Buckled in?  Okay, good.  Anybody who’s followed Drive to Five long enough knows I’m a sucker for anything that’s “world’s largest.”  I’ve seen a giant firecracker, massive chili pepper, and plenty of muffler men.  But how in the world did I never know that this 39-foot-tall monstrosity was nearly in my own backyard?

My friend Chris and I set out on a mission this morning to find some offbeat destinations, and we succeeded with ease.  Northeast of the Phoenix metro area is the small town of Carefree, an upscale residential community bordering Scottsdale.  Its motto is “Home of cowboys and caviar; where the old west meets the new.”

Other notable street names in this community, fitting for the name of Carefree, are Easy Street, Tranquil Trail, and Ho-and-Hum Roads.  But my destination this morning was Kachina Road, because it’s home to this masterpiece.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t all that exciting but if you’re into kachina dolls, this must be something quite special!  I rowed my 6-speed gearbox just a few miles to the southeast and entered the center of Carefree.

What in the world could that sculpture in the background be?

You’re looking at America’s largest sundial.  This copper structure stretches 62 feet and points toward the North Star.

A smaller sundial is mounted on a rock at the base of the larger one.  A plaque contains some instructions on how visitors can use the sundial to tell time.

Here’s the inscription from the sundial:

Solar engineer John Yellot and architect Joe Wong designed the sundial for K.T. Palmer in 1959. It stretches 62 feet and points to the North Star. Solar local time is 27.7 minutes behind Mountain Standard Time and the hour markers are adjusted to compensate. The town of Carefree added copper cladding in 1990.

There was also a sign asking people to please not climb the sundial.  Anybody else see those sneaker skid marks?  Looks like someone’s succeeded in getting at least halfway up it.

Nearby, an overhead water feature drizzled just enough water to cool us off in the 100-degree heat.

No road trip is complete without some quality grub.  For that, Chris and I headed north on Interstate 17 (which was swarming with highway patrol for the holiday weekend).  Thanks to my friend Kyle, I’d learned of a great restaurant just 45 miles north of Phoenix in Black Canyon City.

Its name is Rock Springs Cafe, and it’s been around since 1918.

Settlement started here as early as 1860.  The first commercial development started around 1918 by a man named Ben Warner.  A completed restaurant, general store, and hotel was opened in 1924 and for many years this place served as the only telephone and post office for many many miles.

Chris and I enjoyed the history lesson, but we cared more about something else:  the food.

There’s no shortage of advertising for Rock Springs Cafe’s most famous menu items, which are its pies.

In all, 19 flavors were available to us.

After a hearty turkey sandwich lunch, I opted for the chocolate cream pie.  It was so smooth.

Smiling faces because the pie was every bit as tasty as advertised.

A refill on premium and the ILX brought us home in no time flat.

Hope the holiday weekend is treating everyone well!  There’s a lot more going on around here but I’m saving that for another post in the next couple of days.  Thanks for coming along on this morning’s drive.