drivetofive

Odometer:  494,910.2

After a Friday of clock-watching at the office, I set sail on a weekend adventure to the north country yet again yesterday.

I’d been meaning to snag a picture at this sign the last few times I drove past it in Wickenburg, Arizona.

These Arizona sunsets just never seem to get old.  I had Highway 93 to myself for most of the northwesterly drive toward Las Vegas, Nevada from the Phoenix area.

Las Vegas!  I visited a few friends at the Westin Hotel who were celebrating my friend Jim’s 30th birthday.  This was taken on Flamingo Road approaching Interstate 15 from the east.  Happy birthday, Jim!

Finally I had a late-night arrival into Utah, finally calling it a night around 1 a.m. local time.

Today’s drive to Logan was “only” about 400 miles, or 6 hours.  I got an early start and chowed on some Mickey D’s breakfast from Fillmore, Utah.  The one thing that always surprises the passengers in my car is that my $42k Acura does not have any cupholders.  In the manual transmission-equipped 1991-1995 Legends, the pop-out cupholder was deleted from the lid of the center console. As a result, I end up finding other means – usually by holding a drink in my lap or balancing it inside the center console like I did with my orange juice this morning.

In Salt Lake City, I visited my friend Branson at his workplace – CU Auto Sales.  Branson’s 1995 Legend LS coupe has been featured on this blog before when he allowed me to use it as a “loaner” car during a weekend trip to Utah over the 4th of July weekend this year.  It’s minty and has only around 142k on the odometer.

Next up, I said hello to my friend Jeremy who recently took delivery of  brand new Acura TSX Sport Wagon.  Jeremy and I grabbed lunch and he tossed me the keys to the wagon so I could drive for the return trip.  I loved the TSX!  It was quite a change for me to look down at an odometer with only 600 miles on it.  Open wide!

This thing is cavernous!  Here’s my Vanna White pose inside the cargo area.

Finally I paid a visit to the grandparents in Cache Valley (Logan, Utah) – near the Idaho border at the far north end of the state.  The rains came down heavily in Sardine Canyon but the Michelins handled it well.  Grandma loves it when visitors take “laps” around her house while driving on the grass!

At the entrance to the south end of town on Highway 89-91, there’s an old drive-in movie theater that was painted over and serves a billboard for the university where I attended school in 2004-2005.  Go Aggies!

The rains cleared tonight and I got a clear view of the great mountains that surround the valley.

I guess the Utah sunsets aren’t half bad either.

I’ll make the return trip to Phoenix tomorrow.  The Legend is running like a champ but I’ve made an appointment to have the suspension looked at again this coming week.  There’s some significant noise coming from the front end on abrupt bumps and I have a feeling the upper controls arms are to blame.  I’m also contemplating biting the bullet and having the brake rotors changed since they’re well overdue.  I was hoping to keep this last 5,000 miles of the Drive to Five fairly maintenance-free but let’s see what my mechanics have to say about that this week.

Had to use the heater tonight for the first time since last winter!

At this point, I’ve personally put 400,000 miles on this car since I bought it in March, 2003.  It’s been a fun ride!

Odometer: 490,025

TOP TEN COUNTDOWN now in effect! 

It’s all downhill from here.  The big 4-9-0 was achieved on Interstate 17 southbound in Glendale, Arizona this afternoon near the Thunderbird Road exit.  I’d been returning from a trip to my homeland.

If a bridge existed over the Grand Canyon, I’d probably have a lot fewer miles on my car than I do today.  The Great State of Utah is where my roots lie and where all my family currently resides, so I end up going around the nat’l park frequently.  The Legend could drive itself to Utah on autopilot from just about any direction.  I typically visit my hometown in the southwestern corner of the state at least once a month – a roughly 400 mile, 6 hour trip from the PHX metro area each way.  After leaving Los Angeles on Saturday morning, I set out northbound to UT instead of eastbound to AZ.

The trek through the Mojave Desert from the LA area to St. George is a breeze.  It only takes one freeway, I-15, to get from A to B.  I hadn’t driven this stretch of road in several years so I took the chance to appreciate a couple of my highlights on this particular trip:

Between the desert cities of Barstow and Baker, California, lies a road known as Zzyzx.  I captured this image while holding the camera out of my open sunroof.  Besides being a fun word to look at, the road does have a bit of history.

Credit to Wikipedia for the following background:  The name Zzyzx was given to the area in 1944 by Curtis Howe Springer, claiming it to be the last word in the English language. Springer made up the word’s pronunciation “zy-zicks”. He established the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa in 1944 at the spot, which was federal land, after filing mining claims for 12,000 acres surrounding the springs. He used the springs to bottle his water and provide drinks for travelers through the hot desert.

In light of the fact that I captured a picture at the World’s Largest Firecracker last weekend, I had to make a pit stop at the World’s Tallest Thermometer on Saturday.  This particular engineering marvel is significant because of its announcement of Baker, California as the gateway to Death Valley.  It was also the first backdrop I ever used during a photoshoot with my Legend.  I made a stop here on my drive home to Utah after purchasing the car in San Jose, California on the night of March 27, 2003.  Here is the picture from that day many years ago.  Pic of a pic = poor quality.  This was back in the olden days of 35mm film.

And the current version from this weekend.  Thankfully the car looks largely the same even after all those miles.  It certainly runs just as well.

The thermometer is the most prominent feature of this town of around 700 people.  It stands 134 feet tall – a number significant because that was the highest temperature recorded in Death Valley (see my blog post from last weekend!).

Hidden among my cargo for this trip was a set of 17″ Toyota wheels that I had picked up in AZ for my brother to deliver to him.  This is far from the first time my Legend has doubled as a pickup truck.  When I managed to fit four full size SUV wheels including tires into my 2 door car last week, the look on the seller’s face was priceless.

Quick shout-out to my friend Jeremy who drove to St. George this weekend and spent a little bit of time with me and my family.  He’s the one who encouraged me to start this blog in the first place.  He’s got pretty good taste in cars too and is as loyal to Lexus as I am to Acura.

Before the Phoenix return trip this morning, I stopped for a quick picture on the hill overlooking town. The DIXIE painted on the side of the sandstone ledge denotes this area as “Utah’s Dixie” since it was settled in the 1800’s by Mormon pioneers who were sent to the area to grow cotton.  Look extra closely at this picture and you’ll see some adventurous people rappelling – one atop the rock, and another inside the “D.”

The most prominent building, to the right of the frame, is the Mormon temple.

Despite the opening of the Hoover Dam bypass bridge, there’s still a traffic bottleneck in that area on summer weekends and today was no exception.  I hit about a 15-minute delay but otherwise today’s return trip to PHX was most enjoyable.  My favorite stretch of “straight line” road lies just south of the dam access road (laugh it up, I said dam road).  It’s Hwy 93 and it leads you to Kingman, Arizona on a 60 mile journey where you literally can just leave your steering wheel positioned straight ahead and not touch it for the duration.  Boring to some, but I find it a great chance to set the cruise control and just space out a little bit to some good music while watching the desert fly by.

I’m often asked if I have any predictions on where or when the 500,000 mark will roll around.  At this point, I’m really not sure!  Looking ahead to the next 10,000 miles, I don’t anticipate any major roadblocks to getting me there.  Mechanically there are only a few things on the car that I’d say may need some attention.

• That clutch – I keep saying it – continues to perform but is definitely not happy about it.  It will be a real feat to milk another 10k out of the original.  In the meantime, my left leg gets a workout.
• Brake rotors.  They’re original too!  Per my records, they were machined at 37,409 miles by Pleasanton Acura and then machined again at 89,784 miles by Precision Auto Repair.  I’ve never touched them during my ownership which started at 95,000, but have done a few sets of pads along the way.
• I still haven’t changed the multi-crack windshield but at this point, I’d rather just roll around with the old one as long as I can.

I’ll close out with a sunset pic from last week at my home.  Arizona has the best sunsets!  Onward to 500,000.