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Quick Overnight Trip to Hollywood, California

Posted in California, ILX, NSX, Road Trip on September 9, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 534,436

Odometer (ILX): 140,832

Trip Distance: 796 Miles

Happy hump day!

It wouldn’t be a proper 3-day holiday weekend if I didn’t try and squeeze a little roadtrip in somewhere. A friend of mine who I hadn’t seen for about a year and a half was playing at the “WeHo Sports Festival” at the University of California – Los Angeles campus and I took the opportunity to cruise out to LA and meet up with him for a night on Saturday. WeHo is short for West Hollywood, and the WSF event attracted a total of over 2,000 athletes competing in 10 different sports. My friend, Jeff, had flown in from Calgary, Alberta, to play soccer.

The 400-mile I-10 westward voyage on Saturday morning was uneventful and even a little boring – my only two stops were for fuel and snacks at 339th Avenue in Tonopah, Arizona, and then again at Washington Street in Palm Desert, California. I did roll 140,000 miles though, so that was exciting.

I found my way easily to the UCLA campus off Highway 405 and Sunset Boulevard. UCLA has over 43,000 students, making it nearly twice the size of the student body of my undergrad institution in Utah. The campus itself sits at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains and covers 419 acres of land. I thought it was very well laid out and clean.

Unfortunately, Jeff’s team didn’t perform all that well but I still enjoyed spectating from the sidelines in 80-someodd degree weather. It’s the first time I’ve been able to use my cheapo $6 foldable camp chair that’s been rolling around in the trunk of my ILX for the last six months. After fighting Highway 101 traffic for about 45 minutes en route to our hotel (welcome to LA!), we met up with our other friend Jack, then enjoyed a night out in Hollywood glamour (or lack thereof, in our case). I talked a little about Hollywood during my blog post from last August when I attended a party out there.

On Sunday morning, Jack and I wandered from our hotel down Hollywood Boulevard to the TCL Chinese Theatre. On the way, we crossed the “Walk of Fame.” Even by 10:00 in the morning, the streets were already bustling with selfie-stick-wielding, foreign tourists. For a minute, I felt like I was on The Strip in Vegas, because there were guides passing out pamphlets and trying to sell me on a $49 tour of the city. I respectfully declined (I had to get my car out of the paid parking lot by 11:30).

The Walk of Fame consists of over 2,500 pink stars embedded into the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard. Each one contains the name of someone famous, and I recognized the names of a few actors, musicians, and directors as we wandered around. About 20 new stars are added each year.

TCL Chinese Theatre dates back to 1926 and has been home to hundreds of movie premiers over the years. It’s currently home to the third largest commercial movie screen in North America. But what brings thousands of tourists to the facility every year is the concrete out front: Here, you can see over 200 handprints, footprints, and autographs of famous people that have been immortalized on the ground.

Beverly Hills, 90210: It’s a location that’s been made famous thanks to TV and movies, and it’s pretty posh for sure. Driving along westbound Sunset Boulevard, you see posters alongside the road frequently saying “STAR MAPS!” and encouraging you to pull over at some roadside stand and get a guide to (I’m guessing) where the movie stars live. I didn’t take the time. Even as I type this entry, Weezer’s song “Beverly Hills” is stuck in my head. I was surprised to learn that the median income there is only about $90,000 – I might have expected it to be at least in six-figure territory.

As has been widely publicized in the news, California is experiencing a huge drought right now, and the impact is even hitting the folks in Beverly Hills. The streets’ medians have had their sprinklers shut off, allowing the grass to die off and turn gold. I saw a huge billboard along one of the interstates that said, “Let Your Grass Go California Gold” with a photo of a dead/dying lawn.

I rolled home Sunday afternoon, exhausted from such a quick adventure: Arrival in LA at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, departure at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday. Would you expect anything else from me? In & out. Places to go and people to see. Thanks for joining!

A rare sight of traffic freely flowing on northbound, 8-lane, Highway 405 in Los Angeles

Meeting up with Jeff at the UCLA campus

Route (really round-about route, suggested by my phone) to our hotel from UCLA

Anddddd, of course. Parked traffic on the 101 freeway thanks to an accident.

ILX street parking

Wandering past the Hollywood Wax Museum on Sunday morning

Following Jack’s red IS300 on Hollywood Boulevard – and he happened to be next to an ILX

Spotted a Prius towing a U-HAUL trailer on eastbound I-10 on my way home. I wonder how many MPGs he was getting.

Coming up soon: The Legend coupe and the NSX are heading to Torrance, California this weekend for a special event at Honda Headquarters. You’ll read about it here before too long!

In preparation, I hauled 2 new rear tires over to Discount Tire for install…

Rolled 101,010 miles…

And fueled her up!

21 Comments »

Saturday “NSXPO” Planning Drive: Palm Springs to Idyllwild, California

Posted in California, NSX, Road Trip on August 30, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (1993 Legend): 178,323

Odometer (ILX): 139,512

Trip Distance: 657 Miles

Did you know? We’re only about 6 weeks away from what’s slated to be the biggest gathering of Acura NSX owners in history. NSXPO 2015, scheduled for October 8-11 in Palm Springs, California, sold out in only 8 days with 250 registered attendees. These people are coming from all across the country – as well as internationally – to celebrate the NSX’s 25-year anniversary with fellow enthusiasts.

There were just fewer than 9,000 Acura NSX models sold in the United States during the car’s 15-year production run. That makes them pretty rare (for comparison, Honda sells over 30,000 Accords in any given month), but NSXPO has been a tradition for over 10 years now and continues to draw a crowd.

One of the activities during our busy 4-day event schedule will be a 100-mile scenic drive through the San Jacinto Mountains just southwest of Palm Springs on the “Palms to Pines Scenic Byway.” The drive loop is comprised by 3 main roads: Interstate 10, Highway 243, and Highway 74. I’ve already taken a “test drive” of this loop (last year) but wanted to give it another go now that we’re getting close to showtime at NSXPO.

There are many logistics to be fine-tuned. Have you ever tried taking a group drive with even just a few cars? Someone needs to stop for fuel. Someone gets stuck at a light. Someone takes a wrong turn. Things can get turned around in a hurry. Now, expand the scope to involve upwards of 200 vehicles. There are special considerations were are taking, even potentially including police escorts. We want the driving event to be fun AND safe for all attendees.

On Friday evening, I drove out to Palm Springs via I-10 westbound and arrived in time for dinner with my good friends Scott & Sandy. On Saturday morning, I met up at the NSXPO host hotel, Agua Caliente Resort, with the following folks:

Scott in his red NSX – 47,000 miles
Rahul in his red NSX – 96,000 miles
JC in his yellow NSX – 98,000 miles
Les in his black NSX – 138,500 miles
Chris in his burgundy TSX Sport Wagon – 15,000 miles
Me in the silver ILX – 139,000 miles

Newest car in the bunch, and I still had more miles than anyone else! Chris rode along with the rest of us and even took a turn at the wheel of Scott’s car. Unlike last October’s test-drive, we decided to take the loop counter-clockwise this time. That meant our first leg would be via I-10 westbound to Exit 101 for Hargrave Street which connects to HIghway 243.

The highway narrowed to a two-laner as we started making our way up the grade. For being a Saturday morning, I was surprised how little traffic there was. I was also surprised how polite the other drivers were about pulling over to the turnouts when they recognized faster moving traffic (us) in their rearview mirrors. Road conditions were great and we had fun with our mildly-aggressive ascent up the mountain. Les became concerned about a fuel smell at one point and we took a break to investigate. He ended up continuing on and his NSX was fine for the rest of the day, however.

We dined at Jo Ann – a burger place in the center of bustling Idyllwild. Parking was a bit of an ordeal, even for just 5 cars, so we decided it will be best for NSXPO purposes if we tell our 200+ participants NOT to stop there for food or drink, but to continue onward. Les & JC headed back toward Banning & Orange County, while Scott, Chris, Rahul, and I continued on to the junction with Highway 74 and descending back into Palm Springs.

For a time, I got to ride in Rahul’s car and it was a real treat. Rahul’s NSX is special because it’s a limited-edition 1999 “Zanardi” edition, custom designed by Alex Zanardi, professional race driver from Italy. It’s one of only 50 cars that were built in that configuration – with fixed roof, upgraded suspension, unique wheel design, and other enhancements over the stock NSX. Rahul’s car is #16.

Here’s the numbered plaque behind the seats:

Continuing down the mountain:

Last stop on my Palm Springs visit was a check-in at Scott’s warehouse/museum. We happened to line up 6 Acuras outside and it seemed only fitting to take a photo. I got to drive his immaculate 1988 Legend L coupe with only 81,000 original miles on it, as well as his latest acquisition, a 1996 Subaru SVX with only 52,000 miles on it. Both cars drove amazingly.

Drive time home to Phoenix was about 4.5 hours and despite some extreme weather I made it with time to spare. Check out this dust storm I drove straight into, just west of Buckeye, Arizona on Interstate 10.

Here’s what it looked like from inside the storm.

Thanks for coming along for the ride, and enjoy the rest of these pics!

Short video of our Acura lineup at Scott’s:

Friday night arrival at my hotel on Indian Canyon Road

Parking in Idyllwild

Photo by Chris – getting ready to head back out after lunch

1992 & 1999 NSXs

Chris, Tyson, Scott – looking straight into some very bright sunlight

Lineup of Acuras at Scott’s storage facility

I suggested to Scott that he acquire the following cassette tapes to play in his 1988 Legend.

Rick Astley, George Michael, Whitney Houston… this is a star-studded lineup!

I agree with this graffiti on I-10 near Desert Center, California. Enjoy the drive!

Sunset in my sideview mirror to close out a great day. Thanks again for coming!

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Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah: Peter’s 200,000-Mile TSX Party

Posted in ILX, Milestones, Road Trip on August 24, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 534,427

Odometer (ILX): 138,509

Trip Distance: 1,112 Miles

On any given week, I would guess I receive about a dozen “odometer” related pictures from friends and family. Recently, a few of those were Ruben’s Honda Pilot hitting 180,180 miles with 90 degrees on the outside temp, Ian’s Volkswagen Jetta GLI hitting 33,333 miles with 111 degrees on the temp, and Ivan’s Acura RL hitting 270,000 miles. Have I trained these people or what? Someday I’m going to compile all of the submissions into a massive blog post in order of mileage.

I think the Mac-Daddy of all odometer achievers has to be Alex from Florida who has sent me next two. What are the chances he could pull both of these off in his Scion xB?

78 miles per hour
87 degrees
78,887 miles on the odometer

Then:

28 miles per hour
82 degrees
82,228 miles on the odometer

Clearly these took some pre-planning! Alex is the man.

Special recognition goes out to Josh from Idaho who captioned this odo shot with “Counting. Like a Boss.” His 2005 Acura TSX recently rolled the 456,789-mile mark with 123 on the trip meter. Nicely done, Josh.

Make sure and follow Josh’s pages for TSX Travels on Facebook and on Instagram to keep up to date on his progress toward hitting 500,000 miles on his car!

Speaking of TSX milestones, today’s feature is right along those lines. We’re here to talk about my friend Peter’s 2004 Acura TSX 6-speed that passed the 200,000 mile mark on a weekend road trip in south-central Utah.

Named for Mormon pioneer Ebenezer Bryce who settled in the remote area in 1874, Bryce Canyon was named a national park 1928. It receives about 1.4 million visitors annually and covers about 36,000 acres. Despite its name, Bryce is in fact not a “canyon” because it wasn’t formed from erosion from a central stream. Rather, it was formed by “headward” erosion which has to do with an origin moving away from direction of stream flow. Can the geologists in the blog-reading audience please chime in and explain this to those of us who are clueless?

Peter picked Bryce as the destination of choice for his 200k celebratory road trip. The first leg of our trip was to St. George, Utah where we’d be meeting up with seasoned road-tripper Jason from Las Cruces, New Mexico (Driven for Drives) and also joined by James Lee of Six Speed Blog. Peter and I departed from north Phoenix in the early afternoon on Friday in two silver Acura sedans: his TSX and my ILX.

Our timing was sheer perfection, as Peter & I arrived at my mom’s place just minutes before Jason got there (Jason had started his 8-hour driving day out in Grants, New Mexico). Mom had lasagna, salad, and fruit ready for us to satisfy our appetites. It wasn’t until about 4 hours later that James arrived in a 2015 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid which he was road-testing for the week. Mom had to get in on the action by pulling her 2010 Volkswagen EOS into the mix for our 5-car photoshoot on Saturday morning.

We set sail northbound a few minutes later in 3 sport sedans: The ILX, the TSX, and the 6. We had about a 130-mile one-way drive to the entrance to Bryce Canyon ahead of us.

Thanks to the elevation gain from St. George to Cedar City, the temperature dipped down out of the 90’s – a great reprieve to those of us who’ve been enduring triple digits since May. By the time we headed east on Highway 14 toward Duck Creek, Peter only had 10 miles left to spare until the big 200,000 mile mark. We knew already that the road would not have much of a shoulder to pull over on, but we decided to press on and see where the milestone would happen anyway.

Peter kept me posted via walkie-talkie as his TSX crept closer to the rollover, and we pulled over just briefly for a few shots at the exact location where it happened. Couldn’t have asked for a nicer backdrop!

200,000 on the dot:

The happy owner!

It was time to rip through the gears and continue our ascent. Once we finished climbing Cedar Mountain, we’d arrived at a little over 8,500 feet and the temperature was a brisk 69 degrees. You’d better believe I had all 4 windows down and the moonroof open to savor every second of that environment. After some enthusiastic twists & turns in Highway 14, we stopped briefly for a bathroom break at Duck Creek Village. The place was crawling with off-road enthusiasts and at least a hundred ATVs lined the main street with shops & a small cafe.

From there, we connected with Highway 89 and headed north for about 25 minutes until arriving at Scenic Byway 12, one of Utah’s most famous stretches of road. We started seeing frequent signs about Bryce Canyon so we knew we were getting close. There were two small tunnels along the way. We opted to take all 3 cars into the park @ $30 each which was kind of a poor financial move, considering the 4 of us could have easily piled into one vehicle. But for the sake of completing the road trip, we all wanted to have our own cars inside Bryce Canyon for any potential photo-ops.

I summoned everyone for a pow-wow in the Visitor Center parking lot so we could pull out our maps and figure out the next stops. I proposed a visit to Sunset Point just a little bit down the road. As soon as we found parking there, we walked out to the edge of the cliff and beheld a huge expanse of red rock formations for as far as the eye could see. It was stunning to say the least.

The sandstone towers are called “hoodoos” and were formed by years and years of erosion. That erosion is, in fact, still actively taking place. The National Park Service recommends making follow-up visits to the park because the terrain can change in just a short matter of time. I noticed a trailhead that said there was a 1.3 mile loop we could take. We all had a pretty good amount of energy to burn off from sitting in the cars for the last couple of hours, so we headed down into the canyon on the tight switchbacks that descended at steep elevation. The base of the canyon reminded me a little of Antelope Canyon due to its sheer walls and cooler temperatures.

Here you can see a piece of a trail weaving down into the depths of the canyon.

The not-so-fun part was climbing back out of the canyon, as it took only a few minutes to realize the grade was steeper than it looked, and we hadn’t packed any water with us. We definitely broke a sweat. Thankfully, we were just a 2-minute drive away from the historic Bryce Canyon Lodge and its restaurant. The Lodge was completed in 1924 and is a National Historic Landmark. It was one of 4 lodges built in the Union Pacific Loop Tour. I sampled the Grand Canyon Club and it was delicious.

From our dining table, we could see a thunderstorm brewing outdoors and within a few minutes, it was pouring rain outside. The open windows brought in a breeze of fresh mountain air and it was better than any scent Glade has ever produced! We didn’t even care that the rain would put a damper on the rest of our park visit. We decided to check out Rainbow Point, the highest point in the park at 9,105 feet. The road through Bryce extends for another 15 miles south beyond the Lodge, and we took it to its end.

Thunderstorms are serious business in Bryce Canyon. Lightning strikes have claimed the lives of four visitors in the last 23 years! Rain (and even a little bit of hail – in August!) kept us from venturing too far out at this viewpoint, but we did enjoy a couple minutes from this area. Kind of like Clark Griswold at the Grand Canyon.

We did a little car-key switcheroo after that, and I drove both Jason’s 6 and Peter’s TSX. The Mazda, at 167,000 miles, drove as smoothly as could be. I enjoyed the V6 power and the 5-speed transmission. Peter’s TSX is a sport-tuned masterpiece: The gearbox has a short-throw shifter making gear changes extremely quick and precise. Handling has been enhanced thanks to a professionally lowered suspension. The car drove tightly despite its 200,113 miles!

Jason split ways from us at the Highway 89 / Highway 14 interchange, and Peter, James, and I went back up over Duck Creek on Cedar Mountain in a torrential downpour. Road conditions got so dicey I had to slow way down and keep the wipers on full-blast. Oh, and my wiper blades on the ILX SUCK! They’re the originals – and Peter pointed out to me earlier in the day that the rubber has become totally detached. I’m adding that to the list of things to address in this week’s “B1” maintenance service appointment.

Back in St. George, it was time to spice things up a bit so we took mom’s red EOS to dinner. I decided to show the guys my favorite pizza joint in town: Pizza Factory. It did not disappoint! And the following morning, we headed out in the TSX, ILX, and Sonata for Phoenix by way of Las Vegas on our return drive.

Thanks to all who made this fun weekend adventure possible, and a huge CONGRATS to Peter on passing the 200,000 mile mark. Here’s to many more! Video of a few weekend highlights here:

The rest of my photos are here. First, my Lunchables.

Peter in the sideview mirror.

I have Jason & James “tracked,” location-wise, so I was able to see where they were.

Dinner at mom’s place on Friday night in St. George.

Photoshoot!

Location of Peter’s 200,000 mile mark

Duck Creek Village along Highway 14, east of Cedar City

Peter’s TSX wears two of these stickers proudly!

Red Canyon, just east of the Highway 89 / Highway 12 junction

Your truly – acting as tour guide

Peter and James making their way down the trail

Sweaty hikers but feeling pretty accomplished

Obligatory warning about not falling off the edge of the cliff

Warning sign at eastern entrance to Highway 14 which would take us up Cedar Mountain

Silver sedans after driving through the massive mountain thunderstorm

Back in blue sky country, headed to dinner in the EOS

James took a spy shot of this 2016 ILX passing me on Highway 93 on the way back to PHX

Thanks for joining!

28 Comments »

Sunday Drive to “PHOENIX” Marker, and Some 2016 NSX Sightings

Posted in Arizona, ILX, NSX, Road Trip on August 12, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 534,350

Odometer (ILX): 136,770

Trip Distance: 67 Miles

Lots of cities & towns across America have letters or numbers painted on mountainsides nearby to represent something symbolic. My hometown in southern Utah has a huge white “D” on the hill since St. George is “Utah’s Dixie.”

But, there aren’t many towns that have an entire 7-letter word spelled out in massive 100-foot-tall letters! For anyone who’s driven nearby on Loop 202 or northbound on Ellsworth Road, you’ve probably seen this view (you’ll have to click/zoom at top left):

Located on Usery Mountain in Mesa about 20 miles east of Phoenix, a giant “PHOENIX” marker is made of rocks that have been painted white. It took a Boy Scout troop over 5 years to assemble them in the early 1950’s. Most of the information that I found stated that the marker served as a guide for aircraft at the time, similar to the concrete arrows found across America.

Unfortunately, access to the PHOENIX sign is a little tough right now. I made it almost all of the way there and then ran up against a metal gate with not one, but 3 padlocks attached to it. Those, along with the plentiful “NO TRESPASSING” signs, kept me from trying to get any closer.

I did the best I could to capture a photo with my car, of course.

From there, I looped around toward Saguaro Lake on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

I promise, I was having a good time!

These cliffs at sunset are brilliant. I need to get back out there at the right time of day.

Sending some hearty congrats out to TWO friends who’ve joined the ranks of “Bellanova White” Acura TLX ownership in the last week or so. Ed in North Carolina went with the 2.4 liter. Here it is parked next to his roommate’s 3.5 RL:

And Ira in Oregon traded his TSX 6-speed in on a new 3.5 liter TLX SH-AWD.

A stunning purchase if I do say so. Well done, guys!

Let’s have some NSX Talk for a minute. This guy Sheldon has a mileage achievement to share that’s pretty dang impressive. His NSX has logged 400,000 miles!

Tuesday was a special day for the Arizona NSX fanclub since we learned that two production-spec NSXs were headed our way as part of a testing shakeout during the “#AcuraNSXOnTour” campaign. My sources had told me to be at the Acura of Tempe dealership between 3-5 p.m. So, I drove my own 1992 NSX to work, thinking I’d leave directly from there to head to the dealership in the afternoon. What I didn’t anticipate was extreme weather:

My poor car saw rain for the first time in my 3.5 years of ownership. Oh well! As my friend Mike said, “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like it’s going to melt or anything!” Very true, Mike.

The arrival of the 2016 NSX models was delayed, and the ETA was pushed back to 7 p.m. An anxious crowd of about 20 people started assembling at the dealership around that time. Current NSX owners comprised the majority of the group, though most didn’t have their NSXs with them.

One attendee was a guy named Stewart from Fountain Hills who has never owned an NSX but who was specifically invited by dealership management who is interested in getting one. He’d better get in line! I don’t know how many cars will be allocated to each dealership, but I heard that there will be only 8 NSXs produced per day at the Ohio assembly plant.

By 8:30 p.m., I’d waited 90 minutes and the NSXs hadn’t arrived. I had to take off because I was already late for a dinner engagement. I received a text message just minutes later from my buddy Jhae who was still waiting – I’d missed the arrival by just a teeny bit of time. No worries, I stopped by this morning with my friend Kelvin and we had the cars all to ourselves inside the service bay.

The red one looked clean, but the black one had clearly spent a lot of time on the road. It was covered in dust and the front end was buggy.

Still, I’d take one! Would you choose the red or the black?

Hope everyone is having a good week. Before you go, check out these awesome roads in a short “Dream Roads” video put together by Infiniti! I’m determined to visit some of these.

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15-Year Class Reunion: Roadtrip to Utah

Posted in ILX, NSX, Road Trip, Utah on August 3, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 534,196

Odometer (ILX): 136,373

Trip Distance: 852 Miles

I flipped randomly through the pages of my hardbound high school senior yearbook from 2000 a few minutes ago. The book fell open to a page with a bright red 3.5″ IBM disk inside (and no label). What’s on that disk? The world may never know, because I have no way of reading it.

It was around that time when Sprint announced the first nationwide wireless data service. A web phone – can you imagine? And here probably 75% of you are now reading this blog post via your smart phones. Times have changed.

It’s hard to believe a decade and a half have passed since I departed the hallways of Pine View High School in St. George, Utah as a graduating senior. The year 2000 was a pivotal time in our history: the new millennium. Though Y2K turned out to be a lot smaller of a deal than we’d anticipated, it’s still fun to look back and reminisce. And that’s exactly what I did with some classmates this past weekend in my hometown. Who could forget Lou Bega’s “Mambo Number Five” or Sisqo’s “Thong Song“? They’ve been stuck in my head since the late 90’s.

I was a bit of a nerd back in those school days. I admit, I was a member of the “Magic Club,” except, we were too cool to even call it the Magic Club. It was the “Illusionists Society.” Seriously. Aside from that, I participated in my share of car club events, Honor Society get togethers, and that sort of thing. I think at the end of it all, I was only a B+ grade away from having a perfect 4.0 GPA and becoming one of our 7 or so valedictorians during commencement. I may never forgive my Chemistry teacher Mr. Page for giving me that B grade. Haha.

Can we talk about those frosted tips again? (see bottom right)

The one redeeming thing about me during that era was my cool car. I made #6 on the list of the coolest cars at Pine View. My brother made #5.

A lot of the messages inscribed by friends on the insides of the cover of my yearbook have “car” references, as it’s a well known fact that even in the late 1990’s I was very obsessed with anything automotive. My pride and the joy – as I’ve already well-documented here on the blog – was this 1989 Honda Prelude 2.0 Si. 15 years later, I still have the rear emblem from the trunk lid in a box somewhere.

My favorite message was this excerpt’s from Ben Braten’s long paragraph:

… What I’m trying to say is, I want your car. I mean, it’s not like I soil myself or anything when I hear it purr, or lose temporary bladder control when the chrome blinds me due to the combination of the contemptuously bright St. George sun & the precociously reflective properties of the chrome… I do go on! But anyway, I just want you to know that no matter how much nicer your car is than mine, I’ll still think you’re cataclysmically HIP and all that jazz…

The PVHS Class of 2000’s 15-year reunion festivities were broken into two separate events: A family-friendly BBQ on Friday evening at a park, and an adults-only roller-skating activity on Saturday afternoon. I attended both. I think my ILX was one of only a few sedans in the parking lot at Pine View Park in Washington, Utah. For as far as the eye could see, minivans and SUVs dominated by a long shot. That’s because most of my classmates are on their 3rd or 4th child by now.

“I see you’ve been traveling a lot.” “I can’t keep track of you!” Those kinds of comments were recurring themes brought up by classmates in the inevitable Q&A with me that ensued when we started catching up on the 15 years that have passed since I’d last seen some of them. It was great to reconnect, and my hat goes off to Sr. Class President Brad for his diligence in setting up our reunions every 5 years.

It wouldn’t be a Tyson Trip if there wasn’t a little bit of ‘car stuff’ sprinkled in to the weekend. As I’d shared recently on the blog, my younger brother Payton recently picked up a daily-driver 1993 Legend L coupe 6-speed. I swapped him cars for a day just so I could get a feel for it. First stop on Saturday morning was to say hello to Blair who was working in his yard. Blair’s a long-time friend of mine who drives a Kinetic Blue Pearl Acura TL Type-S.

I also spent a couple of hours hanging out with my friend Cody who’s a fellow member of the Legend family. He and I got a few photos together of the “twin” Cashmere Silver Metallic Legends. Both cars in the below photos are 1993 “L” models and stick shifts. The chances of getting these two identically-configured cars together for a photoshoot were just too slim to calculate!

The interesting thing about driving these cars back-to-back is just how strikingly different their personalities are despite being nearly identical from the outside. For starters, the powertrains are different. Here are some quick perspectives on each Legend after a quick drive in each.

Sedan: 200-horsepower, Type I motor, 5-speed manual transmission. Low-end torque with this setup is plentiful and ready. Cody’s clutch felt light and smooth. The car revs freely and and cabin exudes a comfortable feel. This cream puff is a step back into 1993, right down to the fresh smelling interior.
Coupe: 230-horsepower, Type II motor, 6-speed manual transmission. This is the high-speed highway cruiser. My brother confirmed that it’s capable of hitting 60 mph in 2nd gear. The clutch is aftermarket and a little on the notchy side. The Type II takes awhile to get to optimal rev range. The ride is a little more abrupt and the seat bolsters are designed with more lateral support.

Selfie with the cars

Cody’s sedan has only 77,000 miles on it.

Cody’s interior

Payton’s coupe has 136,000 on it.

Payt’s interior

The last bit of automotive fun that I had on Saturday was a first-ever drive in an automatic transmission Acura NSX.

Cody’s neighbor, Nate, owns a Midnight Purple Pearl NSX-T with the 3.0 liter V6 and 4-speed automatic. Per the NSX Production Numbers reference sheet on the forums, this car is only 1 of 6 ever produced! For reference, my 1992 Formula Red with black interior 5-speed is 1 of 421 — a lot more common! See the arrows here in my diagram.

Overall impressions of Nate’s NSX were very positive — while I’d heard nightmare stories about how Acura had “de-tuned” the powertrain and sacrificed performance in the automatic-equipped models, I still thought it accelerated nicely and I still loved that characteristic growl of the motor from behind the cabin. The shifts were smoother than I’d expected (perhaps because I’m used to the “whiplash” Legend 4-speed automatic of the same era).

I didn’t play around with the shift paddle “manual” mode at all – I was too busy enjoying the open-air cruising. This was also my first time driving an NSX Targa with the top off. It takes just the quick release of a latch on either side of the top to remove it for easy stowage in a compartment above the engine. Thanks to Nate for the quick test-drive!

Here are the rest of my photos from this quick trip to southern Utah.

Approaching Las Vegas at dusk on Thursday evening, about 4.5 hours into my drive

Rolling past the Las Vegas Strip and resisting the urge to throw $20 on red

Morning view from mom’s back deck, Friday

Heading out to get some pics with Cody in the twin Legends

I’m impressed: Cody owns a cassette tape! I don’t think I even have one anymore!

Legends

Another pic from the NSX test-drive.

Veyo, Utah for part of the class reunion festivities

View overlooking the city of St. George, Utah

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Drive to Five Review: 2016 Acura ILX Tech Plus

Posted in Arizona, ILX, Road Trip, Vehicle Reviews on July 26, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 534,140

Odometer (2013 ILX): 135,215

Odometer (2016 ILX): 6,399

Trip Distance: 306 Miles

I’ve already had over 3 years of experience in road-testing Acura’s entry level model which debuted as a 2013 model in mid-2012. I can say with a certainty that over the last 135,000 miles, my ILX has been a real peach to own and maintain: Zero unscheduled maintenance, flawless performance and it still handles as nicely as the day I got it. But, as can be expected, inevitably automakers have to go back to the drawing board every few years and make updates to their vehicles to keep them at the forefront of technology and design trends.

Enter the newly-refreshed 2016 ILX to join the TLX and RLX sedans in the Acura sedan family. It was November 2014 when Acura first showed us the production-ready 2016 ILX at the Los Angeles International Auto Show which I attended with the Redline Reviews crew. Unveiled in stunning Catalina Blue in A-Spec trim, the ILX was a sight to behold.

Notable changes for the ’16 model year include both cosmetic and performance enhancements. Gone is the base model’s weak 150-horsepower motor, and now standard across all ILX models is the 2.4 liter, 201-horsepower 4-cylinder engine. It’s the same one that my ILX has, and which came standard on stick-shift-only models from 2013 through 2015.

The sad news is that the manual transmission, with its sheer perfection in its crispness and precision, is now eliminated as an option. For 2016, all ILX models will have an 8-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, carried over from the car’s larger TLX midsize sedan sibling, which I’ve already reviewed. I’m a die-hard 3-pedal manual guy, but that new automatic left me impressed. More on that later.

Before even seeing the refreshed ILX itself, it only takes one look at the key fob to know what great lengths Acura went to on improvements. Gone is the “chrome” plated unit that gets chipped and ugly within months of normal use. Now the fob is a hard black plastic that feels quality and looks like it will endure the test of time much better.

My test model was equipped with three different package options, including (but not limited to!) the following:

Premium Package:

Leather Sport Seats
XM Satellite Radio
Auto-Dimming Rearview Mirror
Blind Spot Information
Rear Cross-Traffic Monitor

Tech Package:

Navigation System with Voice Recognition
ELS 10-Speaker Sound System
GPS-Linked, Dual-Zone, Automatic Climate Control

AcuraWatch Plus Package:

Adaptive Cruise Control
Collision Mitigation Braking
Road Departure Warning
Lane Keeping Assist

All of the above brings the tally up to $33,820 including destination and handling.

Where to Today?

To put this new ILX to the test along with my “old” ILX, a few friends and I (okay, 16 of us!) headed for the hills of the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona to a place where I’ve visited multiple times in the past – Mount Lemmon Scenic Byway.

In attendance were a wide variety of cars — ten of them, in fact: Two ILXs, a Mini Cooper, a GTO, a 370Z, a TL, an FR-S, an RS5, a 300ZX, and… a Corolla to round things out nicely! Brock’s orange Mini 6-speed was the cutest crowd pleaser of the bunch. Did you know it’s powered by only a 3-cylinder motor? If I’d taken my 1994 Acura Vigor on this drive, we would have had 3, 4, 5, 6, AND 8 cylinder motors all present on this 300-mile Saturday cruise.

No road trip is complete without proper fuel, and for some reason my friend Peter has a tradition of buying these orange-flavored Hostess Cup Cakes every time we take a drive together. He shared one with me. Thanks, P! Breakfast of champs.

Interior

Getting even more settled into the cabin with its “Graystone” colored leather appointments, I started to take note of the many things that were different from my personal car. Sun visors are made from the same fabric as the headliner, rather than from vinyl. There’s now a two-setting memory seat function with controls on the driver’s door panel.

The instrument cluster has a higher resolution display between the gauges and a lot more available information. The bezel around the cupholders on the center console are now a painted finish rather than chrome, keeping the reflective sunlight from beaming occasionally in the driver’s face as it sometimes does with my 2013 model. Even the seat belt buckles are a new design that’s easier to grab!

Love that rear camera which uses a much larger screen and with higher resolution than the one I’m used to looking at.

Overall fit & finish felt great, as is expected from a premium brand. I do wish the plastic lower part of the door panels was more resistant to scuffing, as my ILX at 3 years old is showing fairly significant wear there from getting in & out of the car.

Exterior

You’ve already seen those brilliant “Jewel Eye” headlamps which I adore, but the whole front & rear ends of the ILX have been reworked to give it a more aggressive performance vibe. The grille has been tweaked slightly and the ILX now has a new set of 17″ shoes. An optional “A-Spec” package offers 18″ wheels and fog lamps which further heighten the curb appeal.

My favorite thing about the outside of the car is the LED turn signals.

Driving Experience

Amenities and handsome looks aside, the driving experience is really of greater importance to me. Clearly the 201-horsepower, 2.4 liter 4-cylinder motor is a bulletproof powerplant, having logged well over 100,000 miles on mine without skipping a beat. Direct-injection is a new addition to that motor for 2016. For a lightweight car like the ILX, that kind of power is more than sufficient to get forward momentum at a brisk rate. I didn’t get the chance to have a flat-out drag race between my ILX and the 2016, but they feel right on par with one another in terms of acceleration.

Right off the bat, it’s easy to tell just how civilized the 2016 ILX has become compared to its predecessor. Where my ILX 6-speed revs at nearly 3,500 RPM at 80 miles per hour, the new ILX 8-speed only works the motor at a little over 2,000 RPM. This translates into a substantially quieter cabin thanks to diminished engine and exhaust noise. You can actually carry on a conversation in there!

Mount Lemmon was bustling with bicyclists and tourists as is typical on a Saturday, but the 26-mile stretch from Tanque Verde Road all the way to Summerhaven at 8,200 feet gave us dozens of curves to evaluate our diverse group of cars. When you’ve got a lineup of sports cars in your rearview mirror and you’re in the lead, you feel the pressure of setting a pace that’s fast enough to be fun but conservative enough to be safe. Both ILXs are well suited for canyon carving.

The 8-speed automatic transmission is a revolutionary dual-clutch unit, carried over from the Acura TLX model. Shifts are lightning fast and to be honest, I couldn’t believe that it got into 5th or 6th gear by the time it got to the end of my residential street! Eight gears sounds like a lot, but I was pleasantly surprised at how little “gear-hunting” the car had to do when commanded to accelerate. A drop of the throttle beckons near-instantaneous response from the powertrain as it downshifts.

The general consensus on the ILX was a hearty thumbs up in pretty much every regard. Donald, who owns a 2009 TSX, said the car felt more nimble than his car. Peter, who drives a 2004 TSX, said he was most impressed with the response from the transmission, especially in Sport mode. I have to agree with him. During descent from Summerhaven, the car would effectively hold its gear, avoiding the need to get on the brakes frequently. We stopped briefly during our descent to enjoy the view of Tucson from “Windy Point” rest area.

Safety Tech

The technology advancements in the new ILX are extensive, ranging from not only the “fun” stuff like the rocking, 10-speaker ELS stereo, to a full suite of safety features. The lane departure warning does a really nice job of accurately reading the road, the adaptive cruise control is a convenient way to “set it and forget it” with regard to speed maintenance, and there are six airbags in the cabin. All of Acura’s sedans are rated as top safety picks by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Final Take

While the ILX didn’t have the bloodthirsty growl of Kyle’s 400-horsepower GTO or the on-rails handling of the FR-S, in my mind it hits a bullseye in purpose and function. It’s a comfortable cruiser on the highway – quieter, more refined, and better appointed than the prior iteration. Yet it still has a thirst for a twisty mountain road and feels right at home with its Michelins gripping a tight hairpin on a mountain pass like the Catalina Highway. For anyone in the market for a fun-to-drive sports sedan, I’d give this one a nod of approval.

Here are the rest of my photos and a very short walkaround video!

402 combined horses at my command!

Graystone interior

Driveway duo

Sunset in Scottsdale, Arizona

Pre-roadtrip with staging at Chevron

Arrest-me-red Scion definitely was a crowd pleaser

Midpoint on the drive – Picacho Peak, at the Shell station

A few scenes from around Tucson

ILXs at a stoplight side-by-side

Brunch bunch at Viv’s Cafe off Catalina Highway in Tucson, Arizona

Kyle’s GTO getting ready to lead the pack upward from Windy Point rest area

Enjoying cooler temperatures at higher elevations north of Tucson

Matt’s 370Z NISMO getting surrounded by ILXs

Can I please have these LED taillights for my car? I wonder if they’re plug & play.

Rest area

Descending from Summerhaven

Photo-op!

Back to Tucson we go

Following Peter who was at the helm of the 6-speed 2013 ILX

Rounding up the gang for lunch post-drive

Still having fun with my “new” old Vigor, by the way! This week it got a valve adjustment, new distributor cap, and a full detail.

19 Comments »

San Diego, California Weekend Road Trip

Posted in California, ILX, Road Trip on July 16, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 534,065

Odometer (Legend Sedan): 146,991

Odometer (ILX): 134,665

Trip Distance: 734 Miles

I bet you didn’t know that the “official” Center of the World is actually in the middle of the desert about 10 miles west of Yuma, Arizona.

Detail on that sign:

Located in the far southeast part of the state, Felicity, California has a pretty bold claim to fame. The unincorporated community is home to a population of two along with a number of odd architectural buildings, including a pyramid that’s claimed to be the center of the world. Among the attractions is this 25-foot-tall section of the original Eiffel Tower staircase. It leads to nowhere and serves no purpose other than to attract people like me, and that’s pretty much all it’s done since it was planted there in 1983. This little roadside attraction is just one of a handful of sights to see along the Interstate 8 corridor.

How are real estate prices doing in your neighborhood? A median house in San Diego, California costs just a little over $700,000 (as of May 2015 data). If it wasn’t for the insane cost of living there, I’d consider relocation to that area. I can’t think of a more perfect climate – 263 sunny or partly cloudy days per year, average temperatures ranging from 55 to 72, and beach proximity within a stone’s throw. I was lucky to reside in San Diego County from 2001 to 2003 as a volunteer representative for my church, and I’ve returned to visit many times in the dozen years since. This past weekend, I took a few friends along with me for the ride.

Drive time from Phoenix to San Diego each way adds up to about 6 hours after you’ve made a couple of bathroom or fuel stops. For the most part, our route took us parallel to the Rio Grande River which forms the international border with Mexico. In fact, at times, it’s possible to look south from Interstate 8 and see the fence in the distance which separates the two countries.

Aside from our quick detour in Felicity, we were stopped once at an agriculture checkpoint just past the California state line and again about 50 miles from San Diego at a Border Patrol stop. Otherwise, it was smooth sailing. James was at the wheel of the ILX as we descended from Jacumba to the sea level elevation and watched the exterior temperature dip accordingly. It’s been quite some time since I was able to ride around in my car with windows down & moonroof open.

The “sunny San Diego” nickname didn’t hold true for us, as Saturday was filled with gushing gutters and intense thunder while the clouds unleashed from about 11 a.m. until at least 5 p.m. Still, we had a good time enjoying the sights & sounds of the bustling Hillcrest area around University Avenue and we found a few great places to dine, people-watch, and make a few new friends.

Thankfully, on Sunday morning it was back to business as usual and the clouds retreated long enough for us to enjoy some al fresco dining on the front patio at Huapango’s on 5th Avenue & Pennsylvania (best breakfast burritos in town!).

Thanks for coming along, and here are the rest of the photos from our quick weekend SoCal tour in the ILX.

Here’s the pyramid at Felicity. The center of this pyramid – which we didn’t enter due to it being after-hours – is said to be the official center of the world.

Proof! Established in 1985.

This seemed a little ridiculous. The distance from our hotel to a friend’s hotel was .4 miles. But when I plugged it into Apple maps on my iPhone to get directions, it gave me a 3.4 mile route, taking every possible roundabout way rather than just straight down the street. Sometimes “smart” phone technology is the dumbest way to go.

My car at the Best Western parking lot. Everything was so green compared to the desert landscape I’m used to.

Sunday morning, headed to brunch at Huapango’s.

Back to the car for our return trip eastbound.

Easy drive, straight out I-8 to Maricopa County, Arizona we went (via El Centro).

More time in the passenger seat for me. Good chance to enjoy the scenery and play around on my phone!

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The 90’s Are Back

Posted in Blog, ILX, Legend, NSX, Road Trip, Vigor on July 12, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend Coupe): 534,030

Odometer (Legend Sedan):

Odometer (Vigor): 104,384

Odometer (NSX): 100,807

Odometer (ILX): 133,489

Total Combined Miles: 1,019,680

Time warp. If you drove down my street last night at 7:40 p.m., you would have seen me standing on a step ladder in the middle of the street to capture a picture that embodied the essence of 1990’s Japanese car design. The Vigor, Legend, and NSX parked on my driveway were three of the four vehicles marketed by Acura Division of Honda Motor Company in the early 90’s under the “Precision Crafted Performance” slogan. I’m pretty sure the neighbors were peeking out from behind their blinds and making fun of me.

Some 20-plus years after they were introduced, each of these vehicles have aged well and are well on their way to becoming classics.

Ranked in order of price here, the Vigor was $28k, the Legend, $41k, and the NSX $65k when new. That’s $134,000 worth of cars, that I paid a total of $36,500 for. Did I get a deal or what?

In the background here were two “hiding” Hondas – my neighbor’s black Accord and my 2013 ILX.

Thanks for putting up with my craziness but this was a photoshoot I’d been wanting to do for some time now.

Today I have a grab-bag of features to share – no real “theme” but rather just a a few updates on what’s been going on this past week.

Automotive journalist Jeff Koch who did the photos for my Hemmings feature last November invited me to check out a car he was testing. It’s this 2015 Dodge Charger Hellcat in “TorRed” paint job. It’s an absolute monster of a car, with a 707-horsepower V8 engine that left me grabbing for a handle when Jeff gave it a little gas on the Loop 101 onramp.

Even just while parked outside the pizza joint where Jeff and I grabbed lunch, the Hellcat drew a crowd of Mopar fanatics.

Sometimes I wish I had 700 horses at my command, but then I realize that my 201-horsepower ILX is getting 34.8 over miles per gallon. I’ll take the fuel economy. You all know how much I drive.

On Thursday, my friends Chris, James, and I went over to check out a sweet custom home owned by our friend Shelly. Look at that lineup of garages! Real estate goal of mine, for sure.

Meanwhile, I’ve made some great progress this week with my “new” 1994 Vigor GS. I had to laugh when Chuck from Acura’s Public Relations team in Torrance, California made a comment on my Instagram post about picking up the Vigor. “You own more cool Acura cars than we do — and we’re Acura, for crying out loud!” Well, Chuck, come borrow the keys any time!

I had a few visitors this week coming to check out the car. One was Joe who drives a 1995 Legend LS.

One was my friend Armando who drives a sweet Subaru SVX.

And one was Phil who drives a 1992 Legend LS. Thanks to all you guys for stopping by!

The Vigor got some detailing this week. I took to the undercarriage with a high pressure wash so I could clean out 20 years’ worth of dirt & gunk that the car had accumulated during its lifetime in Colorado. Then I hit the paint with a hand-wax of Meguiar’s carnauba wax and buffed it off with a microfiber towel. It turned out nicely.

The interior doesn’t need much but I’ll probably condition the leather soon.

Exhaust tip polish: Before & After

Freshly painted wiper arms in black satin Rust-Oleum.

Oil change and full inspection at Acura of Tempe (couldn’t resist a photo with a new TLX)

And looking pretty shiny now.

Ben from AutoNation where I purchased the car sent me a follow-up email. It’s clearly a “form” email, but I had to laugh at how he offered to help me understand how to operate the “technology.” Thanks, Ben, but I can handle 1994 technology just fine!

In other Acura news, my younger brother Payton picked up a sweet ride for his daily driver. He’s now in a 1993 Legend L coupe 6-speed with just 135,000 on the odometer. He sent me this text earlier in the week to share the news.

After some fresh window tint and a quick wash, he had it looking great already. Congrats Payton!

Yesterday, a few friends and I went to Sedona for a day. It’s a nice escape from Phoenix – only about 120 miles each way – and offers cooler temperatures and nice landscapes all around. I’ve blogged about Sedona multiple times, including most recently in a Toyota & GMC pickup truck comparo back in May. James captured this photo of the ILX northbound on Highway 179.

Scenic viewpoint in Sedona

Couldn’t sit here long – parking not allowed along that stretch, and the lot was full with tourists!

Dating back to 1993, this McDonald’s on Highway 89A is the only one in the world with its arches painted turquoise instead of yellow. The city mandated the color change in the interest of preserving the “desert” color scheme of the town. Even the homes blend in. Here I’m with Jack and Donald, two of my road trip partners. Thanks to James from Six Speed Blog for taking the photo.

Rolling back into Phoenix on Interstate 17 southbound

And lastly: I don’t know where or how this photo was captured (and it wasn’t by me!) but isn’t that new NSX sweet?

Have a great week!

36 Comments »

200-Mile Run in Utah: “Wasatch Back” Ragnar Relay Race

Posted in ILX, Road Trip, Running, Utah on June 22, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 533,769

Odometer (ILX): 132,222

Trip Distance (Drive): 1,434 Miles

Trip Distance (Run): 194 Miles

You’ve got to be kidding me – 200 miles? Who would be crazy enough to run that? Not me. Well, unless I had the help of 11 other people to slice up the distance into smaller pieces.

That’s the concept behind the Ragnar Relay Series. First launched in 2003, the Ragnar races have expanded to include 15 different events in various locations across the country. This past weekend, I joined forces with some friends and family members to compete at the 13th annual “Wasatch Back” Ragnar Relay which started on Friday morning in Logan, Utah, and ended Saturday afternoon in Midway, Utah near Park City. The race’s name comes from the fact that the course runs along the back (east) side of the Wasatch Mountain Range, a section of the Rockies that borders the Salt Lake City area.

I took yet another jaunt to the Beehive State aboard the ILX for this occasion. In the 10 years I’ve lived in Arizona, I’d guess I’ve taken the drive to Utah at least 7 times per year. So, this is a well-known route for me. I left the car at my friend Jeremy’s place in Sandy, Utah and carpooled with my mom & stepdad the rest of the way to the race’s starting location in Logan, a couple of hours north.

My mom and aunt Jodi acted as team captains for us. Our team was code-named “Athens 2 Sparta” in a tribute to the first marathon – undertaken by a guy named Phidippides in 490 B.C. during the Persian/Greek War. He was sent as a messenger due to his running speed and endurance, often completing distances of 140 miles or more. He eventually died from exhaustion after one particularly taxing route! We hoped for a dissimilar fate.

There were 946 teams registered. At 12 people each, that’s 11,352 people. Plus two drivers per group, so that’s another 1,892 people. We are talking about over 12,000 people engaged in this craziness. Although, I guess I should mention – not all teams chose to go out with 12 participants. Any team considered “ultra” had 6 or fewer people on it. In other words, the people in those groups were running twice as frequently (and therefore, twice as far) as “normal” participants. I can’t imagine what would compel anyone to do such a thing!

Race Time

Due to the volume of people involved in this event, start times were staggered in waves. We reported at 9:30 a.m. as instructed on Friday, June 19th, checked in, showed the race administrators that we had appropriate safety gear, and watched a short instructional video. My mom was our first runner for our 10:30 a.m. start. We had to send our all-star out first to get us off on the right foot! It was perfect weather for a run and she took off in a flash.

My three assigned legs were as follows:

Leg #4: 4.3 Miles, Net Elevation Gain 127 Feet, est 2:00 p.m. Friday
Leg #16: 5.9 Miles, Net Elevation Loss 922 Feet, est 3:00 a.m. Saturday
Leg #28: 2.7 Miles, Net Elevation Gain 320 Feet, est 1:00 p.m. Saturday

When the rest of us we weren’t running, six of us (5 runners + our driver, Mark) rode along in a rented black 2015 Chevy Suburban (“Van 1”) and provided “support” to our team member who was on deck. I spent most of my time in the back seat trying to avoid motion sickness as we frequently did U-turns and re-routed to find our way around. A second Suburban (“Van 2”) carried the other six members of our team and started after Van 1 members had each completed their first leg. Logistics confusing enough yet? As a first-timer to this event, I was amazed at how seamlessly it worked.

Despite only being 4 miles long, the fact that Leg #4 was a slight uphill and took place in the hottest point of the day made it a doozy for me. I was relieved when I finally saw my team members at the next exchange and I happily chugged a chocolate milk after passing the baton (which was in fact just a 1980’s-esque bright orange slap bracelet) to Damon who picked up the next segment after mine. Poor Damon ended up running 8.8 miles on an uphill, dirt road, while eating the dust of vans passing by! Torture.

We got up over Avon Pass and back to pavement in the tiny town of Liberty, and then we made our first “big” exchange when Van 2 took over. Meanwhile, Van 1 had about 6 hours to spare. We traveled to our next starting point in Morgan, Utah and sprawled out on a grassy field near the high school while having our lunches. I rolled out my sleeping bag and did my best to rest my eyes but it didn’t do much good. Mom tried the same.

It was a little after midnight when mom took Leg #13 and started our van off again. I was already exhausted when Jeffrey passed me the torch a little before 3:00 in the morning. I had been standing at the summit of State Highway 65 near East Canyon Reservoir and trying to jog in place to keep the blood flowing and to keep from getting cold. Once I finally got rolling, I’d forgotten all about the temperature. I had a momentary emergency when my “taillight” clipped to my reflective vest fell off and lost its battery, but my van quickly came to my rescue when they drove past. This was my attempt at a picture.

The next 6 miles were bliss: Steady downhill grade, perfectly clear night with the brightest stars I’ve ever seen, good music, and refreshing temperatures. A remix of the Cranberries’ hit “Zombie” was just what I needed for motivation at 3:05 in the morning when I took this screen shot. Good song!

That was a refreshing way to spend the morning and it definitely helped wake me up. Once again we filed through our segments and tried in vain to catch shuteye when we weren’t the ones pounding the pavement. Soon, the sun started peeking over the horizon and Day 2 had begun. We arrived in Coalville, Utah at North Summit High School for our next group break. They were selling hot showers for $2 and pancake breakfasts for $4. I gladly paid up! After that, we rolled our sleeping bags out onto the floor of the gymnasium and shut our eyes for a little while.

My last leg was along Highway 248 where I awaited my turn to take the bracelet and run with it. I was standing in parking lot at beautiful Jordanelle Reservoir and should have been enjoying the view, but instead my eyes were transfixed on a massive hill ahead of me — one that very soon I’d be attempting to run up. It seemed like an eternity before Jeffrey came down to pass me the reins, but he finally did and I took off as briskly as my legs allowed me to.

Water bottle sloshing in hand, I did my best to keep a consistent pace up the grade, but I had to slow it down to a power-walk a couple of times to keep from overheating. My van waited for me at the top of the hill and my mom threw a water-soaked cloth around my neck. That gave me enough motivation to press onward. It was an amazing feeling to finally crest the summit and be able to see the next exchange location within view. I gladly passed Damon the bracelet and felt a huge sense of relief, having completed my last part of the relay race.

It was several more hours before our “Van 2” team members finished their parts, and I wasn’t able to stick around to see them at the finish line at dusk, but they shared the good news that our team, Athens 2 Sparta, had completed the 194 miles in 34 hours, 10 minutes. That put us in 278th place out of 719 co-ed teams. Top third placement – not too shabby!

This was one of the most challenging physical things I’ve ever done, probably second only to the 26-mile Grand Canyon hike I did a few weeks ago. But the neat thing about the Ragnar concept is that you’re a member of a team, and each person contributes something to the overall outcome. It’s a lesson in working together to achieve a common goal, and feeling great about it when you’re done. Huge thanks to Mark, Nicki, Jodi, Tia, Ben, Jarrett, Isabelle, Roxie, LaReen, Damon, Jeffrey, Muriel, and Jandi from my team for playing a part in this!

I enjoyed my 10 hours of reflection on that topic while driving home to Phoenix. Now, if only I could’ve taken a team approach to the 256 unread email messages that were waiting for me at the office on Monday morning. Sigh.

Here’s a short video with just a few scenes from the race. Thanks for coming along for the run!

Rolling northbound with mom on I-15 in central Utah on Thursday morning

Drive-by at the Utah State Capitol while in the truck with mom & Todd

Decorating our rental Suburban with writing on the windows and our “Athens 2 Sparta” team name

Checking in on Friday morning at the Utah State University stadium in Logan

Watching a safety briefing video

Saddled up in the Suburban while one of our runners takes a turn

A friend sent me this screen shot shortly after we got underway. This race is serious business.

My first leg, a 4-miler on pavement from Paradise to Avon, Utah

The exchange where I handed off the reins to Damon who was runner #5

Waiting for Damon to finish his leg on Avon Pass

LaReen taking her turn on the dirt road now

Back on solid ground, arriving Liberty, Utah

Photo-op with mom

Passing Pineview Reservoir while driving to our next exchange point

“Mormon Muffins”? What would that be?

Here they are. With honey butter!

My view upward while lying on the grass in Morgan, Utah and resting

“M” on the hill stands for Morgan

Daybreak the next morning in Coalville, Utah at North Summit High School

Pancakes never tasted so good

Next exchange, sitting next to Aunt Jodi

Isabelle, Jandi, Jodi, Jarrett – from our “Van 2”

Dying!

I loved the clever names that some people came up with for their vans.

“Ready, Set, Sweat, Regret.” “Kiss our swass.”

“Shitter’s Full.” (name that movie)

“Run? I thought you said rum!” (and notice the tally marks below where they were marking their “kills” – all the people their runners passed along the way)

“Cropdusters.”

Near Park City, Utah, at the final exchange to Van 2

Finish line pics courtesy of my cousin Nicki

9 Comments »

Weekend Cruise: Round Valley, Arizona in the White Mountains

Posted in Arizona, ILX, Road Trip on June 15, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 533,734

Odometer (ILX): 130,675

Trip Distance: 462 Miles

Annnnnd the Phoenix oven is now fully pre-heated! Just looking at the 10-day forecast makes me break a sweat.

There’s only one logical solution: Get out of town. And that’s exactly what I did this past weekend, along with 3 other friends. The destination of choice this time was the White Mountains, a range in eastern Arizona near the border with New Mexico. While Phoenix sits at a little over 1,000 feet in elevation, the town to which we’d be heading, Eagar, has an elevation of nearly 7,000 feet. And along with that added height comes a 10-day forecast that’s a lot less intimidating (think: High temps in the 80’s).

From my place on Saturday morning, three of us including James from Six Speed Blog headed out on US Highway 60 through the “East Valley” part of the Phoenix area. We made a fuel stop at the Chevron on Idaho Road and then continued eastward to the small mining town of Superior where we met up with Jason of Driven for Drives who had come out from Las Cruces, New Mexico to join for the drive. At this point, our caravan of 3 cars now consisted of the following:

2016 Mazda 6 Grand Touring: 2.5 liter 4-cylinder, 184 horsepower; 6-speed automatic
2004 Mazda 6: 3.0 liter V6, 220 horsepower; 5-speed manual
2013 Acura ILX: 2.4 liter 4-cylinder, 201 horsepower; 6-speed manual

After grabbing a Red Bull and Moon Pie at the Chevron gas station in Globe, we played musical cars and I got to pilot Jason’s 2004 Mazda 6 for the next stretch. For being 11 years old and having 164,000 miles on the clock, the 5-speed Mazda was a solid ride. Jason recently upgraded to an all-leather interior. Bradley and I couldn’t figure out how to pair his audio system to our iPhones, but it didn’t matter because Jason had Linkin Park in the 6-disc changer to keep us company.

We pit stopped at the base of the Salt River Canyon which I’ve blogged about a number of times before. (Acura TLX Review, Christmas Day trip to name a couple). From the river level, there are two massive bridges passing overhead. We climbed back up to the parking lot (got my cardio in for the day) and did another car swap. This time, I got to take control of the Mazda 6. Ringing in at a pricetag in the low $30’s, I must say the new 6 offers great bang for the buck.

The styling is attractive from any angle. Projector headlamps and foglamps offer supreme nighttime visibility. The leather stitched pieces on the dashboard exude a premium feel. And the car comes up with a head-up display – all of which are class-leading amenities for a vehicle in this segment. From a performance perspective, the 2.5 liter needed to be coaxed a bit on the grades, and the transmission seemed slow to shift when prompted, even with the paddle shifters. Even so, the car scoots – and even with a 36-horsepower deficit compared to its older sibling, we found out that acceleration time is pretty on par: Mazda is delivering V6 power with 4-cylinder fuel economy.

We had lunch in Show Low at Licano’s and then headed out toward the small towns of Pinetop & Lakeside. There’s a special place I needed to see at the intersection of Highways 260 & 73: Hon-Dah casino. Oh yes – of course we stopped in to check the place out. Jason tried his had at the 25 cent slot machines and scored a $15 gain after James had lost $20 in a matter if minutes. Ha! I don’t know why it’s called the Hon-Dah casino but maybe the folks on the White Mountain Indian Reservation are Honda fans.

A jog southward on Highway 273 took us past the Sunrise Ski Resort (which had closed for the day just minutes prior, or we probably would have taken a chair lift ride to the summit) and then through some scenic, rolling, grassy hills. It took about 20 minutes until we met the intersection with Highway 261 near Crescent Lake. There was so little traffic out there. I made the comment at one point, “If I worked in car advertising and ever needed to shut down a road for filming, this would be the one.” Highway 261 was full of all the right curves in all the right places. I captured 9 minutes of GoPro footage where you can see just how isolated, yet fun, this road can be.

Want to drive that 9-minute distance with me in only 34 seconds? Here you go.

Eagar and its neighboring town, Springerville, comprise what the locals refer to as “Round Valley.” The population of the two cities combined is fewer than 7,000 people and there are only two stoplights. It’s a neat town and the people are friendly. When we told the front desk agent at Best Western that we wanted to go see a movie, she said, “Make sure you see Gloria. She’s the owner and she’ll take good care of you.” Now that’s hometown hospitality!

We did decide to catch a new release at an old theater. The El Rio theater, formerly known as the Apache theater, opened in 1915. Even after 100 years, the place was well-kept and had a great vibe to it! Last year, the theater was converted from 35mm film to digital projection after the community raised enough money to keep the theater in business. Movie tickets were $6 concessions were dirt cheap too! $5 for a soda and a large popcorn. I could get used to prices like that. Oh, and the movie? Jurassic World. Highly recommended.

I had a great time enjoying a drive in the hills with a few friends and hope you did too. Here are a few pics.

Fueling up in Globe with the two Sixes and the ILX