drivetofive

Roadtrip with Dad Part 3: Missoula, MT to Scottsdale, AZ

Posted in ILX, Road Trip on June 13, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 533,727

Odometer (ILX): 130,053

Leg Distance: 1,252 Miles

The third and final chapter of last weekend’s 2,600-mile highway jaunt!

I peeled open the drapes of room 410 to a stunning blue-sky Montana day last Sunday morning. I now know with a certainty why the state gets its name for being “Big Sky Country.” Dad and I enjoyed a hearty breakfast of blueberry waffles in the lobby of the Comfort Inn in Missoula before firing up the ILX for another mile-filled day. My dad’s been a long-time member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) so we decided we needed to check out the world headquarters just north of town. They had a lot of taxidermied (I’m making up that word) animals on display as well as a small theater and a gift shop where we had to spend a few bucks on T-shirt souvenirs.

Leaving Missoula eastbound on I-90, I saw a couple of billboards announcing the “Testicle Festival.” What a name for an event! Apparently this annual tradition in Clinton, Montana draws thousands of people and involves the consumption of animal testicles. I’m serious. Check out testyfesty.com for more information, and book your trip to Clinton for July 29 – August 2 if you want to experience it firsthand!

It seems a little odd that we’d want to tour a creepy old prison, but I get a kick out of urban exploration so our next stop was the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, right off Interstate 90. This facility dates way back to 1871 when it was a territorial prison and it served as the primary prison facility for the state of Montana until 1979. It started out very small but was added onto in the decades that followed.

Even so, there were constant problems with overcrowding despite the additional cellblocks being added. There were 3 riots in the 1950s and a warden was shot in 1959 in an inmate escape attempt. For two more decades after that, the facility struggled with substandard conditions. Finally in 1979, a new prison was built a few miles away and the inmates were moved over. Here is a picture from the early days of the prison.

The first thing dad and I did was visit the “Hobby Shop” across the street where merchandise that has been created by inmates is sold. There were a lot of leather goods, some paintings, and other arts & crafts. Each item had a tag tied to it with the handwritten name of the inmate who made it. We didn’t make any purchases. Next, we walked across the street to a 100+ classic car exhibit in a building next to the prison. Finally, we entered the prison itself for our self-guided tour of the grounds.

There were 20-someodd points of interest in the small leaflet the cashier had given us, and we saw most of them. Most of the cement cells were depressing to look through – tiny showers, dirty toilet facilities, huge metal doors that took a lot of effort to open & close. The coolest part was walking up through several flights of stairs that were pitch black until I turned on the flashlight on my iPhone to guide me. It felt like a horror movie in the making. Plaster was coming off the walls and ceiling and there was an echo with each step I took.

The last stop on our prison tour was a peek inside the Clark Theater, completed in 1920. In its day, it could seat 1,000 people. It was the first of its kind – no other prison in the country had a theater. Severe fire damage in 1975 left it almost to ruin. Today, there is a gallows standing in the center of the room where the seats were once lined up. That gallows was used in the execution of 7 men from 1920 to 1939. Notice that there were 13 steps leading up to the platform with a trap door – symbolic of the “unluckiness” of those who climbed them.

Look in the right hand side of the below picture at Exit 201 for Anaconda, Montana. You’ll see a vertical tower in the far background. That tower is actually a massive, 585-foot-tall smoke stack that was part of the Anaconda Company and built in 1919. It is taller than the Washington Monument, and remains today as the world’s largest free-standing masonry structure. The surrounding buildings were demolished in 1981 after the plant closed, and now the area is a state park.

Just before getting to Butte, we veered southbound on Interstate 15 from eastbound Interstate 90 and headed toward Idaho. Once again it was time for some highway grub by the time we got to Dillon, Montana about an hour later. We decided to wing it on the restaurant choice and took Business loop through downtown Dillon toward what looked like a historic/commercial area. A few options jumped out at us and we went with a place called Papa T’s that was packed with a bustling lunchtime crowd.

I happened to look up the Wikipedia page for Dillon, Montana while we were waiting for our burgers and the article had a historic 1942 picture of the intersection of Bannack Street & Montana Street. “Neat pic,” I thought. “I wonder if I could duplicate it?” So we had a mission after to dinner to find out exactly from which angle it had been taken. The good news: We found the correct location. The bad news: The neat 1940’s architecture from the historic photo has been replaced by boring siding, and most of the decorative rooftop woodwork has been removed. Even so, we got the picture we were after and I’ll post it here for your viewing pleasure.

Same intersection, but 73 years’ time difference:

Even thought we were still absolutely stuffed from lunch, my dad insisted we stop at one more place for food a little ways down the road: Dell, Montana. Dell is really nothing more than a few buildings and a set of train tracks. But the one special landmark that’s been there since 1978 is the “Calf-A” restaurant. Calf-A occupies the building that was originally constructed in 1903 as a schoolhouse. The most popular items on the menu are the pies, and for good reason. I sampled the banana cream and it was amazing.

I had dad take the wheel from there on out. We crossed back into Idaho at Monida Pass (6,811) feet and continued on down I-15 for about the next 200 miles all the way through Idaho, stopping only once for fuel in Pocatello. My step-mom Tanya met up with us a little beyond the Utah state line and I said bye to my dad since he had to work the next morning. Meanwhile, I took the driver’s seat and continued southbound because I still had a ways yet to go before my trip would be over.

I ended up plugging through all the way until St. George at the opposite end of Utah, where I spent the night at my brother’s. It seemed fitting when the Cake song “Going the Distance” came on my iPod a little after 9:00 p.m. (so, 10:00 p.m. Utah time) when I still had about an hour to go and I’d already been in the car for nearly 800 miles that day. I gladly called it a night at my brother’s place.

Monday morning, I knew I had just one final stretch left. But before getting out of town, I paid a few visits including to my mother, my sister-in-law (where I met my 3-day-old nephew Locke), my grandpa, and my brothers. It was an incredible trip and I’m glad I was able to spend it with my dad and see some other family members along the way. Thanks for being a part of it!

Video with some driving scenes and a short slideshow at the end:

Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge from the outside

Antique car collection in a building near the prison

Entering the prison grounds

Locked up!

Bathroom facilities are top notch

Concrete stairways outside are crumbling

Historic 1897 Hotel Metlen in Dillon, Montana. It’s for sale!

Inside Calf-A restaurant in Dell, Montana

Having dad drive for a bit along southbound I-15

Grandpa’s two Avalons: 2006 and 2000

Acura party at my brother’s place – his mother-in-law’s TL, his new MDX, and my ILX

New nephew, “Locke”

Bugs galore!

Until next time!

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Roadtrip with Dad Part 2: Ketchum, ID to Missoula, MT

Posted in ILX, Road Trip on June 11, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 533,697

Odometer (ILX): 130,000

Leg Distance: 318 Miles

Welcome back for Part 2 of this past weekend’s road trip! Part 1 is here.

It was a picture-perfect morning in Ketchum, Idaho on Saturday morning: cloudless and sunny with just enough of a nip in the air to require a light jacket. After a quick walk down the block to a log cabin Starbucks from the Tamarack Lodge for a light breakfast, we hit Highway 75 in the ILX and headed out of town. The two laner was completely ours for the taking – it seemed we had beat the peak RV season and we were out early enough that there was little to no traffic. It became apparent when my ears popped that we were quickly going upward in elevation.

At 8,701 feet, we crossed over the Galena Summit and a whole new view opened up to us as we started our way back down the backside in the Sawtooth Wilderness. The next several miles, we looped back and forth across the switchbacks as dad eyeballed a few dozen antelope out on the mountainside. The highway straightened out a bit when we got to lower elevations and I was able to set the cruise just momentarily at 65 or so. We came up on a sign announcing the exit for Redfish Lake and I’d been highly recommended by my grandpa that we stop there, so I hit the brakes and headed left toward some campsites along the lakeside. Looming ahead of us was snow-capped Mount Heyburn at 10,229 feet.

Following some hand-written notes from my grandpa, I knew we had just a bit longer to go until we’d be seeing a place called Sunbeam Dam along the roadside. I came around a corner at one point and saw smoke rising from the hillside ahead. “Whoa, looks like a fire,” I said. Dad quickly corrected me – I was looking at rising steam from a geothermal ‘hot spot’ rather than smoke from flames. That was enough reason to kill the ignition of the ILX for a few minutes and get a few pictures.

Sunbeam Dam ended up being just a couple of miles further. Originally poured in 1910, Sunbeam Dam caused the Salmon River to become a small lake in that area. A hydroelectric power plant on-site provided power to a gold mine 13 miles up Yankee Fork Canyon. However, only 11 months later, that mining venture had gone bottom-up and the power plant was sold off at Sheriff’s Auction. In 1934, the dam was partially blown up, allowing water to begin flowing freely along one side of it. Today, there’s still half the dam standing.

It was here where we found the starting line to our next adventure. The Yankee Fork Road that took off to the north looked a little bit unimproved but we were determined to head up there and get an up-close look at a historic gold dredge. For the first few miles, pavement was good but the road was narrow and there was no center line. Puddles in shaded areas told us that it had rained a fair amount overnight. In a few miles we met the inevitable “PAVEMENT ENDS” yellow sign and I put the ILX into 4-wheel-drive (just kidding). We continued to sail along at 35 or so miles per hour because the gravel road was well-graded and not all that more uncomfortable than the paved one. Alongside our car we started seeing huge piles of gravel and boulders, heaped up in mounds that were often many times taller than my car.

There was no question when we had arrived at the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge. It’s a metal monstrosity, 4 stories tall, 112 feet long and weighing in at a whopping 988 tons. Since self-guided tours wouldn’t be starting until 10:00 a.m., we had a bit of time to kill, but that was perfect. We looked at our clock and it was around 9:30 in the morning. That meant we had just enough time to go 1 mile further up the road to see a ghost town called Custer.

I didn’t know it was possible to make a speed bump out of a dirt road, but somehow they did. It was actually not so much a bump as it was a huge rut in the road. Luckily I’d seen the sign that said the speed limit was 10 miles per hour so I had time to prepare for it. Custer, once home to a couple dozen structures, had succumbed to the same fate that so many other wild west towns have – it was founded as a mining establishment and at one time was home to 600 hearty people at its peak in 1896.

Only seven years later, the mining business had started to fade out, and by 1910 Custer was already considered a ghost town. Dad and I parked next to the Empire Saloon and went inside to take a look. There was a Forest Service representative there who was very friendly. She pointed to a log-constructed section of the bar down at the end of the room. “That’s an original piece of the actual bar. It’s over 110 years old.”

Today, seven of Custer’s buildings qualify to be on the National Register of Historic Places. We went inside a couple of them, including the schoolhouse which is now a museum and which houses some neat artifacts like the original 1901 dentist’s chair, some desks from the original school, and a tiny scale model in a plexiglass case that shows what the layout of the town used to be like before so many of its buildings were burned down, destroyed, or fell to ruin.

By now it was time to head back to the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge. This engineering marvel was in operation for only 12 years, from 1940 until 1952. When it was put in operation, there was an estimated 11 million dollars’ worth of gold in the 5-mile claim of the Yankee Fork River in which it operated. The dredge was a huge mobile machine that could move (slowly) upstream and use its 71 (8-cubic-foot-each) buckets to dig up land. Then the diggings would go through a number of steps including settlement in “sluice boxes” where the heavier gold would settle to the bottom. The evidence of the dredge’s work remains even 63 years after it last ran – huge hills of gravel and boulders line the entire length of the Yankee Fork Road all the way down to its intersection with Highway 75.

My dad and I took a walking tour of the entire machine and I was amazed at the work that went into it. During its operation, the dredge was manned by only 3 people: one inside the 4th floor control room, and two who were dedicated only to keeping things oiled and lubricated. The dredge was so loud when in operation that the workers had to use a sort of morse code to communicate messages to one another, and it was rumored that the dredge could be clearly heard running from over 10 miles away. By the time the company had dredged its entire claim, it had recovered $1.2 million worth of gold. That’s nowhere near the estimated $11 million that was thought to be available, but still a good chunk of money in 1952 dollars.

We’d started getting a bit of an appetite, so we were glad to get back to paved road and continue our trip along the Sawtooth Mountain Range. The next city of note would be Challis. Gleaming chrome bumpers in the sunlight were visible from many blocks away when we started approaching town. Little did we know – the first weekend of June is when the “Challis Classy Chassis” event takes place, drawing dozens of hot rods and muscle cars for a show on the grassy lawns lining the highway through town.

First order of business was finding a bite to eat so we stepped into one saloon that looked like it might have potential. We quickly decided against that one and ended up going down the road to a place called the Village Inn. But it’s not the Village Inn you’re thinking of. This one was definitely a hometown operation. We had the entire wait staff at our attention. I grabbed a root beer and a bacon burger, along with a side of “famous” Idaho fries that were huge. Idaho is so proud of its agriculture that its license plates say “Famous for Potatoes.” Upon learning I was from Arizona, the waitress asked, “So you guys don’t have fry sauce down there?” I of course know what fry sauce is but I answered her that no, we don’t get a whole lot of that in Phoenix.

We continued on up the road with our sights set on Salmon, Idaho. The main road through town looked a bit like other historic Rocky Mountain towns I’ve seen – brick storefronts and a saloon on just about every street corner. Dad was driving at this point and he knew of a place to pull off and hike into a grassy park along the Salmon River. We wandered across a foot bridge that spanned the mighty Salmon and sat down on the grass on the other side. I couldn’t resist the temptation to take off my shoes and socks for a few minutes and dip my feet in the water to test out its temperature.

I got a little thirsty by the time we got to North Fork, about 20 miles north of Salmon, so we stopped at the all-in-one post office / gas station / convenience store and snagged a couple of Hubert’s bottled blackberry lemonades to take back on the road. “Chains Advised” said a sign along the road, so we knew we’d again be heading upward in elevation as we approached the Montana state line. Sure enough we ascended to a little over 7,000 feet yet again and it was prime time to throw the sunroof open for a little top-down cruising on the twisties after we got a picture at the Montana entrance sign. I took the opportunity to capture a little bit of Go-Pro footage at that point.

Some of the Montana towns we visited felt like they were frozen in time. A store in Darby had a huge sign out front “VCR and Video Rentals.” What? When was the last time you ever needed to rent a VCR, or even saw one in real life? We couldn’t resist the temptation to step into a thrift shop that was just chock-full of a hodge-podge of wares. The woman at the front counter greeted us with a cheery face as she looked up just briefly from her solitaire game. Not computer solitaire, of course. The real kind, with actual cards.

“I could handle living in this town,” dad said of Hamilton, Montana. It seems like just the right size of town: a few stoplights, a Pizza Hut, and a hardware store. What more do you need? Oh yeah – there are mountains galore in the periphery. Snow-capped peaks to the west, green pine-covered mountains to the west, and likely countless herds of wildlife thriving in the wilderness. THAT, I think, was the biggest selling point to my outdoorsman dad. We parked the ILX on Main Street and wandered around for a few blocks. Interestingly enough, most of the shops closed down at 5 or 6 p.m. on Saturdays. I guess most people prefer to spend the weekend nights at home – not a bad strategy. It’s just a huge change coming from the urban Phoenix metropolis where even the dry cleaners are open 24/7.

Dad plugged in our Comfort Inn to his iPhone and let the pleasant voice navigate us all the way into Missoula about 40 miles north. We took off on Reserve Street and headed on toward downtown where our hotel was on Broadway. The view from our 4^th floor room was unbelievable – a perfect vantage point overlooking the Clark Fork river flowing westbound. It felt great to rest for a few minutes before venturing back out.

Dad had gotten a dining recommendation from the attendant at the front desk for the best place in town to eat. It was just 1.2 miles away in the downtown area, just a block away from the river. Tamarack Brewery was the name of the joint, and they gave me a Cobb Salad that could have easily fed 3 or 4 people. The Clark Fork was a popular place for surfing. There were several people in kayaks and with surfboards taking advantage of a huge curling wave along the river. We were able to watch from a wooden deck at the river’s edge for several minutes as the sun began to set.

Speaking of sunset, I couldn’t get over how late it stays light outside up north! It wasn’t sundown until about 9:30 p.m. By that time, we were sitting on log chairs around a fire pit outside our Comfort Inn talking with a nice couple who were road tripping through the area from Calgary, Alberta.

8-minute video from our dredge tour

Morning in Ketchum

Starbucks in Ketchum with log cabin atmosphere & construction

Off we go!

Taken looking east near Galena Summit on Highway 75

Most scenic gas station ever – Stanley, Idaho. Notice “Premium” is 90 octane, and it’s Ethanol-free.

Photo-op along the Salmon River

And a comparison with Josh’s photo that we were matching

Geothermal location between Stanley and Sunbeam Dam on Highway 75

ILX at Sunbeam Dam parking lot

Salmon River Scenic Byway sign

Heading up Yankee Fork Road

Abandoned cabin on Yankee Fork Road

Sign for tours of the Yankee Fork Gold Dredge

Arriving in the ghost town of Custer, Idaho

Dad inside the Empire Saloon in Custer

Signing in to the register. Notice only a few people sign in per day.

Original 1901 dentist chair in Custer museum

Gold dredge informational marker

The dredge sits in this small pond. It hasn’t moved since 1953.

View from the north.

Control room of the dredge on the 4th floor

One of two huge Ingersoll-Rand 7-cylinder diesel engines that powered the dredge

We stuck pretty close to the Salmon all day long

Welcome to Clayton, Idaho. With a thriving population of…

Seven!

Intersection of Highways 75 and 93, where we headed north toward Challis & Salmon

Challis “Classy Chassis” car show

Northbound Highway 93

Getting closer to our nightly stop in Missoula

45th Parallel!

Close-up of the sign. This location on Highway 93 is halfway between the Equator and the North Pole.

Arrival in Salmon, Idaho

Owl Club has a big owl on front – and if you zoom in, you can see that people have shot arrows at it!

Bear statue & fountain in Salmon, Idaho

Shortly after crossing into Montana on Highway 93

Wandering around the shops in Darby, Montana

Candy store in Darby

Restaurant in Hamilton, Montana

It’s light so late!

Arrival in Missoula. Our hotel was near the University of Montana campus.

Dinner spot at Tamarack Brewing.

Did you know there was such a thing as a Ford Tempo All-Wheel-Drive?

Evening view overlooking the Clark Fork River

Evening sunset from our hotel

Come back for the final chapter of our trip next time!

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Roadtrip with Dad Part 1: Scottsdale, AZ to Ketchum, ID

Posted in ILX, Road Trip on June 9, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 533,695

Odometer (ILX): 129,937

Leg Distance: 1,053 Miles

How many states did I drive in this past weekend?

Arizona
Idaho
Montana
Nevada
Utah

Only five. But I covered some serious ground (roughly 2,600 miles) and I had an avid road tripper, my dad, along for most of the ride. Each year, he and I pick a scenic Rocky Mountain destination and set aside a long summer weekend to hit the open road. This time, we decided to check out a few neat little towns along the Sawtooth Mountain Range in Idaho & Montana that came highly recommended (and for good reason, we learned).

I’ve had a fascination with Montana since my elementary school years. Check out this 3-ring-bound, multi-section report I did on Montana when I was in 5th grade in 1993. Notice my teacher’s comments on the blue grading form: “You can be very proud of your effort! I can tell you have become an expert on your state.” Ha! I guess I have had a thing for geography for awhile now.

And can we just have a moment to appreciate my perfect cursive handwriting? Thanks.

This year’s father-son trip started out last Thursday after work when I hit the highway and headed to southern Utah, putting in about 400 miles that night by the time I arrived in St. George. The combination of a late arrival, early wake-up, AND an hour “loss” due to time zone differences (did you know that Arizona doesn’t change clocks to observe Daylight Saving Time?) meant I was red-eyed on Friday morning when I hit Interstate 15 northbound by about 5:30 in the morning, Utah time.

Most of I-15 is pretty mindless and thus the state has seen fit to post speed limits at 80 miles per hour. My only stop was in Cedar City to top off my tank and pick up a banana and some chocolate milk for the road. I did share one special occasion with my friend Chris who follows this blog, when my 2013 ILX surpassed his 2006 Toyota Sequoia in mileage at 127,784 miles. He put together this image to commemorate my/our achievement.

By about 11 a.m., I had traveled the nearly 400-mile south-to-north distance of the state of Utah and arrived in Logan, where my dad and other family members live. We dined for lunch at the historic Bluebird Cafe on Main Street to celebrate my grandpa Russell’s birthday. Then, it was time to head out.

Our drive took us back to I-15 where it meets with I-84 near Tremonton, Utah. I-84 from there to the Idaho state line is pretty barren. You’re lucky to eek out 1 bar of cell phone signal in the 40 or so miles until you get into the Gem State. From there, we made our way westward to the Twin Falls area. I’ve blogged before about that area – specifically when Josh from TSXTravels.com and I met up at Shoshone Falls a little over a year ago. Once we got off the interstate, we headed directly north on Highway 75 and through some rinky-dink little towns like Shoshone and Hailey. It looked like the entire town of Hailey was attending a carnival.

Finally, we rolled into Ketchum (as seen above with a sign that’s tough to read). Along with its neighboring town, Sun Valley, Ketchum is a base camp for skiers, fishermen, bicyclists, and anyone who enjoys the outdoors. It’s apparent that tourist money has helped the community bloom. I picked up a postcard inside the lobby of our motel for the night, the Tamarack Lodge, that listed several dozen annual events that take place in the Ketchum area. Basically every weekend from May through October is booked with some festival or another.

The Pioneer Saloon was absolutely packed on a Friday evening. Luckily, it was only about a 20-minute wait for a teeny table for two in a back room that was quieter than the bar area out front. Our waittress assured us that they were known for their steaks, so I went with a sirloin and it was one of the best I’ve ever had. It was lights-out pretty early because dad and I knew we had a busy day to come.

Come back next time to see where we went the following day!

Photo-op in grandma’s backyard – Logan, Utah

Bluebird Restaurant in Logan, established 1914

Turnoff for the Shoshone Ice Caves north of Twin Falls, Idaho

Check out those boots, pardner!

Much, much more to come. See you soon.

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Grand Canyon 26-Mile Hike: South Rim to North Rim in One Day

Posted in Arizona, Hikes, ILX, National Parks, Road Trip on June 2, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 533,657

Odometer (ILX): 127,082

Trip Distance (Car): 476 Miles

Trip Distance (Hike): 26 Miles

Last week, I was reviewing a GMC Canyon. This week, I’m reviewing another Canyon. The Grand Canyon.

While most of the canyon’s 5 million visitors per year are content to stand at the edge and admire its grandeur from afar, others are not happy until they get down and dirty while trudging across 20+ miles of it. My mom is one of those people, and I let her talk me (and a few friends) into joining her for this crazy adventure inside one of the “7 natural wonders of the world” last Friday. And 4 days later, my legs still scream at me for putting them through it.

I last blogged about the Grand Canyon in April 2014 when my friend Brad and I road-tripped to the Skywalk, a glass platform suspended from the canyon walls at the West Rim on the Hualapai Indian Reservation. But the 1,900-squre-mile national park is vastly different to look at from any of the many different angles, and there are several different hiking paths that lead down into it for those who dare.

Painfully Awesome

My friend Dave was telling me the other day about a bike ride he’d taken that had been especially difficult. He called it “painfully awesome.” That sums up in two words exactly how I’d describe Friday’s 14-hour hike. It was the most physically challenging thing I have ever done. Joined by 5 ambitious friends as well as my mom & stepdad, we set our sights on a “rim-to-rim” excursion. In other words, we would start on the south side of the canyon, hike down into into its depths at the Colorado River, then eventually make our way up the north side. For many months we prepared ourselves physically and mentally for the task, but the actual experience was exponentially more than I was ready for.

On Thursday afternoon, I picked up Kyle, Bryce, and Justin in the ILX for our departure from the Phoenix area. It took us about four hours to arrive at the Maswick Lodge along the South Rim. Highway 64 is a very quiet place at night. It’s a two-laner that climbs through the pine forests west of Flagstaff with little traffic, and no significant services or amenities aside from an occasional lonely gas station. By about 10:00 p.m. we met up with my mom, stepdad, and two other friends and settled in for a somewhat sleepless night.

It’s Go Time

In the blink of an eye it was time for a 4:00 a.m. wake-up call. Right off the bat, anxiety ran high because we were rushed to get to the train station for a 5:00 a.m. shuttle bus. We had to make last-minute decisions on what to throw into our packs, how much water to take, and what to wear. (Some of our gear would be staying in my car rather than making the trip across the canyon on our backs.) The bus took us to the South Kaibab trailhead (elevation 7,260 feet) about 15 minutes away and we hopped out. The sight of the canyon at daybreak is something unreal. Temperatures were cool but not uncomfortable. And then began our short-lived tradition of taking a group “selfie” at one-mile intervals throughout the course of the hike. I say short-lived, because by about halfway through the day we cared very little about group pics; we were focused instead on sheer survival.

With energy in abundance we made our way down the rocky but well-marked trail toward the base of the canyon. “We’re going down there?” I thought to myself as I looked in the distance at the vast expanse of rugged terrain. The trail required a good deal of focus for proper footing, but every once in awhile we had to look up from the ground below and admire the scenery around us. “OOOH AHH POINT,” one of the first signed viewpoints we came across, was aptly named. We zig-zagged our way down thousands of feet in elevation. Right away I discovered an issue with my Camelbak backpack when it started soaking my back and shorts. Somehow I hadn’t sealed it tightly enough and it was leaking like crazy. Eventually I dumped the water out of it and resorted to just using 3 refillable bottles.

Besides having plenty of water, we were adequately prepared with other forms of nutrition. Rustin and Wade had packed what appeared to be an entire deli counter. Sliced lunch meats, prosciutto cheese, fresh strawberries and other delicacies were offered up when we made our first rest stop. Thanks to the downhill grade, our pace was quick at a little over 2 miles per hour. A short tunnel and pedestrian bridge across the Colorado River (which had a milky green look to it at the time) awaited us when we finally got to the bottom of the canyon.

Phantom Pit Stop

By now we were starting to wonder when we’d make it to Phantom Ranch at 2,460 feet. Notably the most “developed” of any place we’d be seeing throughout the course of the day, the lodge there has been a waypoint for Grand Canyon travelers since it was constructed in 1922. It was about 7.4 miles into our hike, and as we got closer, I could only think about one thing: LEMONADE. Inside the lodge, they sell cups of ice cold lemonade for $3.00 each. I chugged one so quickly it gave me a headache. Outside, there was a fresh water spigot for refilling water packs. The 8 of us sat around a picnic table under a shade tree and laid out some food items to refill our stomachs. Rustin pulled out a travel size bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing and we all gave him a look of: “You packed that down here?”

The sound of Bright Angel Creek running nearby was therapeutic in itself. Todd took the opportunity to soak his legs in the chilly water. The rest of us just enjoyed the chance to rest at the picnic area. After so much downhill, for some reason when standing still, my legs felt wobbly. I knew already that for every one step downhill we’d taken, we’d be taking closer to two uphill. And that I dreaded.

Ribbon Falls

The trail ran parallel to the river for many more miles. It was about this time – probably 10:30 or 11 in the morning – when the heat started cranking up. Even though I’d lathered up in SPF50 and I was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, I could feel the sun cooking the back of my neck. At times we had to walk single file and at other times we stood two abreast and held conversations. Several times there were bridge crossings where the trail changed sides in relation to the river. The steady uphill grade started getting the best of me and I now started drinking more water than ever before. I could now see why on average 250 people per year are rescued from the canyon. Dehydration is a very real concern.

My mom had learned of a detour that was an absolute must-see called Ribbon Falls. I don’t think any of us were too keen on adding distance to our already-long hike, but multiple sources had recommended we make time for it. So, when we saw a crudely-carved wooden sign pointing us in its direction, we rallied our energy as best we could and headed toward Ribbon to check it out. We had to cross a stream and hike up some boulders to get there, but in about 20 minutes we came upon the most beautiful oasis I’ve ever seen. Misty water came down upon us from dozens of feet above where it spilled through an opening in the red sandstone. Justin quickly scampered up as high as he could go on the waterfall itself, but all I could think about was ripping my shoes and socks off to dip my feet in the water.

I could have sat at Ribbon Falls for the rest of the day, but sadly we knew we had another 12 or 13 (all uphill) miles to hike before dusk.

Cottonwood Campground

Todd had a great idea for a way to beat the heat when we got a couple of miles into our hike again. We took our shirts off and soaked them in the creek. The feeling of putting on a soaking wet T-shirt or tank top is unbelievably refreshing when you’re sweaty and gross – especially if there’s a slight wind to exaggerate the temporary chill factor. There are, occasionally, water spigots available every few miles on the trail from Phantom Ranch to the North Rim. Hikers have to be careful and plan ahead, though, because it’s possible sometimes for the water to be out of service. We lucked out and everything was in operation during our hike.

The next stop had probably a dozen or so campsites in it. We again took refuge in a spot of shade and refueled our bodies with food & drink. I took the opportunity to dump a grape flavored 5 Hour Energy shot into my water bottle in hopes that the caffeine would give me a kick for the next little while. My legs, feet, and back were screaming at me. By now, our tradition of taking a group photo at every mile marker had long been thrown out the window. Sometimes there was a lot of space between each of us, as each hiker settled into his or her own pace.

The Ascent

It was upon leaving Cottonwood that I really started questioning my ability to go the rest of the way. I knew from reviewing my mom’s pre-printed trail notes that our location at Cottonwood was still 6.8 miles from the finish line on the North Kaibab Trail. But it wasn’t that distance that scared me. It was this:

Cottonwood Campground: 4,080 feet
North Kaibab Trailhead: 8,241 feet

Okay. So, I’m no rocket scientist but that’s 4,161 feet. Vertically. In other words, after having already hiked about 18 miles, we still had almost 7 to go and we would essentially be climbing 78% of a vertical mile. Straight up in the air. My life flashed before my eyes. Would I send everyone onward without me and potentially stay the night in the canyon? Was I going to be one of “those people” who had to get helicopter air lifted out of the canyon on the news? I couldn’t let myself think about failure. I just had to keep taking it one step at a time.

And that’s where I found myself setting my own pace. Kyle, Bryce, and Justin had gone on ahead. I was kind of in the middle of the pack. I set my iPhone (in airplane mode all day to conserve battery since cell service is non-existent of course) on shuffle and let it play music from inside my pocket. That helped steer my mind clear from the task at hand. I passed a couple who was walking the opposite direction. They could tell that I was “spent” physically by the way that I braced myself with a tree while standing to catch my breath. “There’s a water stop about a mile and a half up, right after a tunnel,” the man told me. I thanked him. But I’m pretty sure he lied to me.

That was probably the longest mile and a half of my life. I kept looking for a tunnel that never came. Endless log stairs, rocks to climb over, and switchbacks. I’d round a corner and they just kept coming. “Really?!” was the thought that kept crossing my mind. I’d walk for a couple minutes, then have to catch my breath and keep my heart from coming out of my chest. When I finally saw that tunnel after an eternity of hiking, it almost seemed like a mirage. I went through, plopped down on a rock, and just sat there without moving a muscle for at least a few minutes. The sun had started its descent into the horizon already so I knew daylight was on the way out.

The fat chipmunks at that small rest area kept me company (and ate some of the peanuts in my trail mix) for about 15 minutes until my mom and Todd arrived, and then Rustin and Wade were just a few minutes behind them. We talked for a bit and then decided it was best to press on as daylight would soon be closing out.

Final Stretch

The last 1.7 miles of the hike happened at a snail’s pace. Every so often I would look behind/below me at the huge canyon and get a little dizzy thinking I had just come up from there. At one point I got insanely hungry and dug into a Nature’s Valley granola bar. I didn’t care that it had become nothing more than a packet full of crumbs at that point. I inhaled it, and I downed two more bottles of water that I’d filled up at the rest stop. Keep in mind, I hadn’t used the bathroom since Cottonwood. All that water was flowing right through me as sweat.

I knew I was getting close when I started hearing the sound of automobile traffic overhead. The trail conditions got notably better, and I passed a man sitting along the side of the trail who was waiting for some family members. “You’ve only got 100 yards to go,” he told me. Music to my ears. I made it. And it was the biggest rush of relief that I had ever felt.

Aftermath

It’s miraculous that the 8 of us everyday people made it through such a physically taxing event. We took one last group photo from the bed of Todd’s pickup truck which was parked there at the North Rim. After showering up, we made it to our 9:00 p.m. dinner reservation at the historic North Rim Lodge. I glanced around the table and the look of exhaustion was pretty common. We slept like rocks at our rented log cabin.

On Saturday morning, Justin, Bryce, Kyle, and I got on a 7:00 shuttle van that drove us 4.5 hours back to where my ILX was parked at the South Rim. Each time we stumbled out of the packed van at a rest area, my legs reminded me that they weren’t happy with what I’d put them through the day prior. It was great to get back to the car and settle in for the rest of the trip home. Here’s a picture from when we exited the park on Saturday morning.

We dined at a neat little Italian restaurant in historic Williams off Interstate 40 before heading back to the Phoenix area.

Thanks for being a part of this memorable adventure! The rest of the pictures and a short video follow:

Rest stop near Camp Verde, Arizona on I-17 headed north toward the Grand Canyon

Setting out on our hike

Still wearing a smile, just a few miles into the hike.

One of the group pictures we took for the first 1/2 of the hike

Switchbacks leading down to the floor of the canyon

Another group pic

Rustin and Wade taking a snack break

A few of the scenic views that surrounded us

Wade and Rustin had a lot of energy still at about 6 miles into the hike.

Group shot whilst crossing the bridge

Tunnel crossing – Todd pictured here

View of the bridge

Back on the trail we went

Refreshing lemonade at Phantom Ranch

Speaking of Ranch, here’s the man who packed a bottle of it!

Luckily for us, the pipes were working.

Mama Tia filling up on water before heading out again

Taking a break in the shade along the trail (Bryce, Tia, Kyle)

One of many river crossings

Arrival at Ribbon Falls

Rustin savoring every drop of his Diet Dr. Pepper which he’d lugged into the canyon

On the trail again, just can’t wait to get on the trail again.

A few pictures from the upward climb. You can see the trail about halfway up the hillside.

And another shot of the trail looking back down.

North Rim Lodge as seen on Saturday morning, the day after our hike

Our shuttle van for the 4.5-hour trip from North Rim to South Rim

Arrival back at the ILX which had been parked at Maswick Lodge

Lunch spot in historic Williams, Arizona

Finally, a shout-out to one of my most loyal readers, Conor, who sent me a Hot Wheels NSX to match the real deal!

Thanks buddy!

28 Comments »

Memorial Day Drive to Punkin Center, Arizona

Posted in Arizona, ILX, Road Trip on May 30, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (ILX): 126,950

Trip Distance: 218 Miles

Greetings! How’d everyone spend last weekend’s holiday?

My buddy Lance visited from Dallas for a few days and it seemed only fitting that I treat him to a good old-fashioned Arizona road trip. I rounded up a few other guys and we hit the highway at 10:00 a.m. on Monday morning in my 2013 Acura ILX and in James’ 2011 Kia Forte 5-door SX. After a quick fuel stop at Chevron on Highway 87, we continued northbound to the exit for a teeny town called Gisela. I’d visited the area two years ago but wanted to introduce my 4 friends to the sweet 5-mile road leading there.

The other place I’d wanted to check out was a town off Highway 188 on the way to Roosevelt Lake called “Punkin Center.” Now, there’s absolutely nothing to see or do in Punkin Center. Well, I guess there’s a thrift shop, a little bar & grill, a quaint lodge, and a few locals who looked at us like the foreigners we were when we rolled into town. After staging the Forte & the ILX for a picture in front of the signature Punkin Center sign, a couple of rough looking guys rolling by in a Dodge pickup truck rolled down their window. “You guys gonna drag race?” the driver asked James. James told him that we were. Ha!

The lodge at Punkin dates back to 1912 and is available for $235 for a one-week stay. I might have to plan a longer trip out. From there it was time to head out and grab a bite to eat. I’d found a decent looking place about 30 miles down Highway 188 called Boston’s Lake House Grill. We dined on a cheese crisp with green chile and then some greasy hamburgers. Even better than the food was the audio soundtrack. When Paula Abdul’s 1988 classic “Straight Up” came on the surround sound, our entire table lit up in karaoke unison. The forest service guy with the big mustache in the corner booth may have given us a dirty look at around that time.

After din, we did a car & driver switcheroo – I took the Kia this time – and we completed our loop via US Highway 60 on through Miami, Superior, and into Apache Junction at the east end of the Phoenix metro area. I found the Forte to be quite the impressive little ride. James’ car has only 49,000 miles on it and looks/smells new. The seats were my favorite feature. I haven’t had a car with cloth seats since my 1989 Prelude when I was 17! I forgot how comfortable they are!

Thanks to the guys for joining us, and to the rest of you for tuning in electronically.

Ready for roll-out!

Kevin, Peter, Tyson in the ILX

Taking a break in Gisela

James and Lance discovered they had matching fluorescent yellow shoelaces

Next stop: Punkin Center

Few pics in Punkin Center. It’s like Halloween every day!

Even on a holiday weekend, not much happening here!

Couldn’t resist a couple pictures at the (orange) entrance sign to town

Having way too much fun

View of Roosevelt Lake from Highway 188

Lunch menu at Boston’s Lake House Grill

ILX looking all photogenic on Highway 60 just east of Superio

Peter taking a picture. And people taking a picture of me, taking a picture of Peter, taking a picture.

Goofy kids.

Jump! In the style of those old Toyota commercials (“I love what you do for me!”).

In-car karaoke, courtesy of Lance, Peter, and Tyson.

Next up: Ever wanted an inside look at the Grand Canyon? I’m about to take you from the South Rim, deep down to its base at the Colorado River, and up the north side… via 26-mile hike. My legs are burning from yesterday’s trek but the story was worth it.

Stay tuned.

4 Comments »

Drive to Five Review: 2015 GMC Canyon & 2015 Toyota Tacoma – Tackling Schnebly Hill

Posted in Arizona, Road Trip, Vehicle Reviews on May 27, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 533,651

Odometer (ILX): 126,281

Trip Distance: 269 Miles

As if I didn’t get enough dirt caked in my nostrils the last time I left the pavement (see the blog write-up from March when my friends and I took an Acura MDX off-road), we were determined yet again to explore the great outdoors in the interest of real-world automotive evaluation. This time, instead of crossover SUVs, we took a pair of pickup trucks.

The GMC was finished in Bronze Alloy Metallic, with specs as follows:

2.5 liter Ecotec Inline-4 Engine
6-speed Manual Transmission
$24,915 As-Tested

The Tacoma came in “Inferno” exterior color, with these features:

4.0 liter V6 Engine (236 hp)
5-speed Automatic Transmission
$39,579 As-Tested

Now, certainly this isn’t a “fair fight.” The Tacoma costs 58% more than the Canyon and it’s a good deal more capable in an all-terrain situation. Our intent was not to put these pickups head-to-head, but rather to review them independently of one another and bring up the merits and criticisms of each. The icing on the cake was getting to explore one of Arizona’s many gorgeous regions, that of Sedona.

Contender Details

About that Tacoma: TRD stands for Toyota Racing Development – the company’s performance line (or “in-house tuning shop” as they call it). The division dates back to the 1990s when it was first created with a focus on performance parts for racing applications (NASCAR, Baja racing, and the like). (EDIT: A savvy reader has corrected me – the TRD concept dates all the way back to 1957 and the American division was founded in 1979). Today, TRD goodies have trickled down to the everyday passenger cars & trucks available at your nearest dealership. The TRD Pro package brings in a few special things including upgraded wheels, Bilstein shocks, different front grille / badging / shift knob / floor mats.

Since our test Tacoma was a 2015 model year, it represented the last of its generation. For 2016, the model has been completely redesigned. I already got a closer look at the new 3rd generation Tacoma at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year, but it hasn’t yet gone on sale (estimated deliveries starting in 3rd quarter of this year).

The GMC Canyon and its twin, the Chevrolet Colorado, debuted in 2004 as replacements for the GMC Sonoma and Chevrolet S-10 midsize pickup trucks. The Color-anyan twins are now in their second generation, having gone on sale in 2014 as 2015 model year trucks after a reveal at last year’s Detroit Auto Show. The Canyon comes in three trim levels and is styled similarly to its larger GMC Sierra full-size pickup truck sibling. Our tester was the base model with 4-cylinder motor the manual transmission.

About the Road

Schnebly Hill Road is only about 13 miles long, but due to the rugged and challenging terrain it can take up to 45 minutes to traverse. It drops over 2,000 feet in elevation from its start at Exit 320 on Interstate 17 to where it arrives in the beautiful red rock landscape of Sedona. We were well-equipped for virtually any type of terrain, since both trucks have long-since been proven as capable rigs. Just in case the terrain got a little too tough, James took along a 30-foot-long tow strap. Suffice it to say, at the end of our drive, his first words were, “Dammit, I didn’t get to use the tow strap.” That means both these trucks showed their skill and reigned victorious.

Aside from those 13 rocky miles, we did get another 256 miles behind the wheel of these trucks – on pavement. Our paved route took us on a variety of road conditions, from 75 mph two-lane freeway to 35 mph in-town driving, to a few curvy twists, turns, and roundabouts in the towns of Sedona and nearby Oak Creek. So this evaluation reflects the real world driving experiences of both on- and off-road nature.

Who’s Going?

For this drive, we had just four participants: myself, James, Chris, and Mike. Each is a certified ‘car nut’ and highly qualified to criticize or compliment anything on 4 wheels. We ended up having a blast in the process. After putting the trucks through their paces on a variety of terrains, we dined in style on the outdoor patio at the Javelina Cantina in artsy Sedona. That chicken chimi was one of the best I’ve had. But, this isn’t a food review, so let’s get to the “real” meat & potatoes of why you’re here.

GMC Canyon Review

The Canyon needed to rev out to crest the elevation change on I-17 between New River and Flagstaff, because it only had 200 horses at its disposal. Still, both Chris and I commented at how smooth the gearbox was and how refined the ride was for a $24k base model pickup. There are certainly no frills – the sideview mirrors are completely manual in nature, there’s no sunglass holder… but all the critical pieces are there. The seats were comfy and the ride quiet. I had to take a conference call about NSXPO for about 30 minutes while Chris drove. I had no problem with background noise despite the fact that we were cruising between 75 and 80 mph for most of the time.

As we exited the pavement at Schnebly Hill Road, I got a little nervous for a few reasons. 1) There were clouds in the sky and I knew if we got into a muddy situation, 2WD wasn’t going to do us much good. 2) The plastic front air dam on the Canyon is so low to the ground it makes clearance a concern. And 3) We passed at least three bold “in-your-face” signs explicitly warning us about the rough nature of the 12 miles of road ahead. Was the Canyon up to the task? Without a doubt. Twice, we had obstacles present themselves that required someone to be outside the vehicle guiding the driver. But both times, we made it through with nary a scuff. The biggest challenge – and one that I actually turned the keys over to James for – was when a large set of rocks blocked the road and it was inevitable that low air dam would make contact no matter how we traversed them. With a look of determination like I’ve never seen before, James threw the truck into first gear, gritted his teeth, and powered through. I felt like giving him a round of applause.

The Canyon is a perfect all-around pickup truck. It’s composed and comfortable enough to use as a daily driver without that whole “it rides like a truck” driving dynamic. The stick shift makes it engaging to tool around in. Visibility was good. It was easy to park. And while the cabin was tight – especially the rear seats – the use of space is thoughtful and there was never a moment of discomfort for us in the front.

The Canyon is a winner. I’d drive one.

Toyota Tacoma Review

This truck is so “in your face.” There’s a TRD emblem slapped on just about every panel. Combined with the highly visible front skid plate, Inferno red color, and aftermarket-looking wheels, it’s a truck that looks like it has a point to prove… even when it’s standing still.

Here’s the weird thing about my take on the Tacoma: Even with all that 4×4 garb, I found it more behaved ON pavement than it is OFF. Let me elaborate. At 75 miles her hour, I found it more comfortable than anticipated. The V6 revs effortlessly. The ride is nice, and high level of visibility gives a great sense of confidence. Off road, it’s almost like the suspension has been too stiffened. The truck would probably have handled better with some sandbags in the bed to add a little weight – we felt like the tail end wanted to dance around too much. A little disconcerting to me was how much the steering wheel jerked around while on the rough stuff. It seemed to require a high level of constant re-centering – more so than the Canyon did.

Criticisms aside, the Tacoma TRD Pro succeeds effortlessly at what its engineers designed it to do. It took one look at the biggest road obstacles we encountered and laughed out loud. I remember driving behind it at one point and thinking to myself, “There’s no way he’s going to straddle that rock and not hit it.” And, without a flinch, the truck made it. That high ground clearance was truly a blessing. The Tacoma was extremely sure-footed. Where the Canyon spun its wheels a couple of times on sand-covered rocks, the meaty BF Goodrich tires on the Tacoma gripped like a pair of steel pliers. Look at how the Tacoma’s color make it almost camouflaged in the desert!

Just because I was IN a Tacoma for a good chunk of the day, I started noticing just how many of them there are on the road. Toyota has hit a home run with this truck, and it’s no wonder the platform has been changed so little since its debut in 2004. Resale values are sky high even on well-used models. I remember looking for a used one for my dad and being amazed at what people were asking. So that’s good news for anyone looking for a great return on investment. Bottom line on this one is: It feels like a fun “last hurrah” for the outgoing body style. Toyota has thrown everything except the kitchen sink at it, reflected in the $40k pricetag. Personally, I’d encourage potential buyers to hold off on pulling the trigger until the new 2016 model has hit the streets. It’ll probably be worth the wait.

Thanks for joining for the drive! The rest of the pictures and a short video are below.

Northbound I-17 with some fairly heavy holiday weekend traffic

Passing the Tacoma in the Canyon

Here, knowing that the dirt road is not suitable to most passenger cars, travelers are given alternate route options to Sedona

Last shot of the trucks before we got them dirty

Chris showing how tight the rear seats in the Canyon are. Great for kids, though!

Couple pictures from Schnebly, an awesome viewpoint about 6 miles into the dirt road portion

Tyson and Chris

Canyon in the canyon

Mike and Tyson in the bed of the Tacoma

James, Chris, and Mike, enjoying a few minutes of fresh air before getting back into the pickups

Javelina Cantina in Sedona

I couldn’t not post a picture of the best chicken chimichanga I’ve had in months!

Quick last plug for a friend. Looking for an IMMACULATE and rare Acura Legend? Here you go:

http://stgeorge.craigslist.org/cto/5041571656.html

12 Comments »

“Bill Johnson’s Big Apple” Restaurant – Final Visit

Posted in Arizona, Restaurants on May 25, 2015 by tysonhugie

Busy holiday weekend, travels underway, and you’ll read more about them soon!

But here’s a quick story about a short breakfast meet-up on Saturday morning that might be of interest.

It’s the end of an era: This little neon sign in the front window of a landmark Phoenix restaurant has been turned off for the last time as of yesterday. After 59 years, one of the only remaining “original” businesses from historic Van Buren Street has shuttered its windows and will be paved over to make way for a parking lot for the nearby community college.

You may recall my restaurant write-up about Bill Johnson’s from last year. At that time, I noticed just how quiet the place was, customer-wise. It’s no wonder that with decreased traffic and increased expenses, general manager Randi Beswick said they just couldn’t hang on any longer. It’s sad that the dining tastes of Phoenix residents have shifted away from such a historic and unique place.

Since the final closure date was announced last week, people started coming out in droves to support the restaurant. Upwards of 3,000 visitors per day were willing to wait up to 2 hours for a table so they could enjoy some of Bill Johnson’s BBQ for the last time before the restaurant closed on Sunday. Here were some of the headlines in the news:

The Bill Johnson’s sign has been impossible to miss for nearly 6 decades on the south side of Van Buren at 38th Street.

The building itself embraces the Wild West theme with its cows perched at each end of the rooftop.

On Saturday morning bright and early, I met up with 3 friends to sample the breakfast fare. The restaurant had opened at 6:00 a.m. and I arrived around 6:15. I was able to get seated right away, but there was a steady stream of incoming customers and it wasn’t long until they started having to wait to be seated. Devan, Kevin, and James joined me. Our waittress, Bonnie, told us that she’d worked an 18-hour day the day prior.

This is a letter posted at the entrance to the restaurant.

Menu. I went with the Bill’s Breakfast Omelette.

It didn’t look like much but it was tasty as can be, and it came with a side of wheat toast.

Afterward, it seemed only fitting that we grab a picture of Devan’s silver Acura TL and my Acura ILX with the sign out front.

Thanks for coming along to enjoy some tasty grub with us.

5 Comments »

Press Preview: 2016 McLaren 570S

Posted in PAPA, Vehicle Reviews on May 22, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 533,595

Odometer (ILX): 125,855

It’s fun to dream. Most of us will never own a vehicle with a six-figure pricetag, but that doesn’t stop us from obsessing over them by doing things like making them our smartphone wallpaper backgrounds. I was invited as a PAPA member to get a sneak-peek of the new McLaren 570S model at a dealership last Friday evening at a VIP event for automotive media. The 570S Coupe has a base price of $184,000 and it was unveiled to the world at last month’s New York International Auto Show (photo credit to Autoblog for the above & below). That pricetag makes the 570S the company’s least expensive car sold in the United States.

McLaren’s dealership on Raintree Drive in Scottsdale, Arizona is very simple and unassuming from the exterior. As a matter of fact, I’d driven by in the past and didn’t even realize it was there. Unlike other car dealerships, they don’t need balloons, bright signs, or fanfare to attract people. When you’re spending $200k on a car, it’s a little different purchase experience than tire-kicking at CarMax.

When I arrived, there were hors d’oeuvres and cocktails being distributed by a fancily-dressed waitstaff. The 570S was under a white sheet until 7:45 p.m. when a countdown on the flatscreen TV went from 29 to zero and the cover was pulled off dramatically. We then heard from some McLaren employees including an engineer named Chris Goodwin who played a key role in its development and who told us he’d personally logged “thousands” of miles in the 570S as a means of testing and evaluation. He’d flown in from the U.K.

Like other McLaren models, the new 570S has a mid-engine setup, rear-wheel-drive layout and carbon fiber construction (for strength and light weight). The performance stats on this “baby” McLaren are impressive: Zero-to-60 happens in a flash at just 3.1 seconds. Product representatives told us the car can accelerate to 124 miles per hour in 9.5 seconds and has a top speed of 204 miles per hour. Got a need for speed? Here’s your car. Now, if only it didn’t cost as much as I owe on my home mortgage. You’ll need a $10,000 deposit to secure your spot in line for the car when it becomes available. The dealership doesn’t yet know how many cars they’ll be allocated, and there will be a 4-month wait from the time of order until delivery.

The representative joked, “McLaren has no intention of building an SUV. We are a sports car company. Mid engined, rear-wheel-drive is what we do.” He also went on to emphasize the fact that the brand is not going for high-volume sales and considers itself in a special niche. I was surprised to learn that despite McLaren’s longstanding reputation in automotive racing, the company has only been in the business of making “road” cars for about the last four years. The McLaren name has been around in racing since the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix. Today, the McLaren Formula One team is actually called McLaren Honda. Why? Honda builds the engines! No wonder they’re so successful!

Here are some nitty-gritty specs on the new 570S supercar:

3.8 liter V8 twin-turbo motor
562 horsepower; 443 lb-ft of torque
7-speed dual clutch transmission
Double-wishbone independent suspension
19 inch wheels (285 width rear tires!)
17 available exterior colors

Starting with just one roadgoing model, the MP4, the McLaren lineup of cars now consists of a wide range of cars, from this “entry level” 570S to the $1.15 million “P1” model. The 570S will go head-to-head in the same general price class as the not-yet-on-sale 2016 Acura NSX. Now that’s a drag race I’d pay money to see. Below are the rest of the pics from my visit to the preview event. Thanks for reading!

Bunch of McLarens in the service bay

This one in the showroom is the 650S model

Want it? That’ll be $390,286, please.

Here’s the interior.

A few more pics of the 570S on display

Lots of carbon fiber

Are they still called “Lambo doors” when they’re not on a Lambo?

Interior

Beefy brakes!

And a couple of ‘twinning’ silver 6-speed Acura sedans last weekend for good measure.

What’s up for the weekend here in Arizona? Well, James from Six Speed Blog and I have a couple of 2015 model year pickup trucks at our disposal. And we’re getting them dirty :). More on that next week.

Happy holiday weekend to all.

6 Comments »

Hiking Shaw Butte to Abandoned “Cloud 9” Restaurant in Phoenix

Posted in Hikes, Legend on May 18, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (Legend): 533,559

Odometer (ILX): 125,623

Remember that classic 1985 movie, Goonies? It’s one of my all-time faves. I can’t believe it’s 30 years old.

So, there’s a scene in the movie where some kids go hiking around in an abandoned restaurant in search of buried treasure after finding a map in someone’s attic. Sounds like my kind of adventure, and that’s why I love the movie.

Oh, and I also loved it because of some sweet off-racing scenes with a Jeep Cherokee 4×4.

I get a kick out of “urban exploration.” One of my most memorable road trips ever was when I hiked around the ghost town of Modena, Utah. I’ll never forget the feeling of uneasiness as I climbed rickety wooden staircases and wondered if they’d crumble under my weight. The thrill of discovery, adventure — and sometimes, of getting caught in a place where you shouldn’t be — is fun for me.

A few friends, family members and I (hi, mom!) are planning a 20+ mile Grand Canyon “rim to rim” hike a week from this Friday. We’re insane, yes. But, as part of the training for that, I’ve started seeking out local Phoenix-area hikes a couple of times a week in preparation. My friends Rustin and Wade told me about a 3-miler with a nice 900-or-so foot elevation gain near 7th Avenue & Peoria in north-central Phoenix. We met up at the trailhead last Wednesday after work and set out with Wade’s dogs, Abi & Jackson, leading the way. The path was called Shaw Butte: Trail #306 in the Phoenix Mountain Preserve.

According to the “Health” app on my iPhone, we climbed the equivalent of 68 flights of stairs. I was panting more than the dogs were by the time we reached the summit. The hike was just what I needed to get my heart rate up, and the views were awesome.

The icing on the cake, though, was getting to wander around the remains of an old restaurant that’s been gone for over 50 years now. Cloud 9 opened in the early 1960s as a luxury restaurant for the Phoenix elite. According to one video account, the facility was small and could only accommodate about 30-40 people. In all my googling, I wasn’t able to find a picture of the building from when it was open for business. On November 8, 1964, the building burned down. There are suspicions that the demise of the building may have been related to gang or mob activity, but nobody really knows for sure.

Even when the restaurant was in operation, the road was too rough to be traversed by passenger cars so people were shuttled to the summit by four-wheel-drive vehicles. Today, the location is part of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve System and it’s not likely it would ever be built up again as a commercial business.

The round-trip hike took us about an hour and a half. Here we are getting ready at the trailhead.

Wade takes the lead

Now it’s Jackson’s turn. This is the crumbly road that once led to the restaurant.

Staircase and some old kitchen equipment

This concrete pad is where the tables once would have been. There were glass windows along the edge.

Abi, Rustin, and Wade as silhouettes on the Cloud 9 patio

It would have been a great view from the restaurant – especially at night.

Taking a break with the pups

Sign along the roadway

Photo op. Color coordinated – unintentionally (I promise)

Best thing about the Acura ILX? Huge cupholders that can accommodate gallons of diet soda after a hike.

Now that we’ve worked up an appetite, I’ll do a quick share about a local restaurant that I checked out for the first time over the weekend. This one’s for you, Dave in Seattle! I know my friend Dave is a BBQ fan so I thought he’d appreciate this. It’s Honey Bear’s BBQ – family owned and operated since 1986.

I was one of only 5 people in the restaurant at about noon on a Saturday. Had my share of parking spot choices, and I took an end space as usual. There wasn’t much traffic on Central Avenue.

Inside view – pretty quiet.

Those are some soft drinks you don’t see very often: RC Cola, Sunkist, and Hires Root Beer.

“You don’t need no teeth to eat our meat.” How’s that for a motto?

And here’s that pulled pork sandwich. Delicious, I’d say. The only issue was that the meat was so juicy, it soaked through the bun and I ended up having to eat everything with a fork.

And we’re off to cruise down Central on a full belly.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

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Reader’s Ride: Tim’s Honda Accord Coupe

Posted in Reader's Ride on May 15, 2015 by tysonhugie

Odometer (NSX): 100,449

Odometer (ILX): 125,273

Today, I’m going to hand the mic over to a friend who wants to share his own automotive story. Since this blog launched in early 2011, I’ve been contacted by so many cool people and I love it when they share road trip stories, mileage achievements, or anything else with me. My friend Tim first contacted me three years ago, in April 2012, when he had recently surpassed the 150,000-mile mark in this 2003 Honda Accord EX V6 Coupe:

Since then, Tim and I have kept in touch – including for a window of time when he departed the Honda family for a stint with Subaru:

Now, he’s gone full circle and re-joined the Accord ownership community. Here’s his own write-up, along with a few pictures:

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I watched an interview with Irv Gordon a few months ago, and he said that when he bought his now-famous Volvo, his first weekend was spent just driving his new car, and he put about 1500 miles on it between Friday and Monday. I did not really understand what he was saying until this past weekend. Now, I totally get it.

I owned a Subaru Impreza, and truthfully, I had been tiring of it for some time. The Subaru is a lot of fun in the snow. Unfortunately, it’s not as much fun any other time. It is light and boxy, so it doesn’t handle crosswinds well. You feel the road surface too much, and I have to spend a lot of time correcting the steering as I drive. The alignment is fine and the wheels are balanced, but it’s just a small car that does not do long distances well. I’d arrive at my destinations exhausted. I frequently take trips to Boston, and I’d be a wreck by the time I got there. I knew I wanted something different.

And I missed Honda. I had owned Hondas for almost twenty years, and my uncle had bought my previous car, a 2003 Accord coupe. Whenever I would see him, I’d ask if I could drive my old car. I missed the responsiveness of the Honda V6. I missed the smooth ride that could also handle the twisty stuff. I missed the H on the wheel (no, seriously). So I looked online at the used inventory at my local Honda dealer, Burns Honda in Marlton, NJ. I’ve always had good customer service experiences there. I bought two cars from them over the years, and also had them do all my servicing. I spotted a listing for a white Accord V6 coupe, 2010, with 50,000 miles, so Monday I went to check it out after work. To my surprise, it was already sold. The salesman showed me a red 4-cylinder Accord coupe (2012, I think) that I test drove. It was nice, but it was not what I wanted. I also test drove a 2013 Honda Sport, which disappointed me (see below). I really did not find anything that I wanted on the lot.

So I was standing in the dealer’s lot, trying to convince myself to keep an open mind and perhaps consider the red coupe when the white Accord I wanted drove past, a big “SOLD” sign hanging from the rear view mirror. It was being taken to the service bay for final prep before delivery to its new owner. I watched it go past, longingly. The salesman saw my expression and said,”Hey, listen, we get these in from time to time. If you want, I’ll call you when we get another V6 Accord coupe on the lot.” I left, disappointed.

That was Monday. Wednesday night I got a call from my salesman. They had a gray Accord V6 coupe which had been traded in that earlier that night. Might I want to come up on Thursday and look at it? I’m pretty sure I didn’t even let him finish the question before I said,”Yes, and don’t show it to anyone else!”

I work for a university as an administrator. Thursday I had an all-day meeting on campus. It was a really productive meeting, but honestly, my brain was focused on checking out the Accord. As soon as the meeting was over, I got in my Impreza and drove as fast as I legally could down the NJ Turnpike to get to the dealer. I checked in with the salesman, and he walked me over to an absolutely filthy gray Accord coupe. I mean, forget parking under a tree. This car looked like it had been parked in a forest and left there. “We can clean that! You’ll see! It will look like a different car!” the salesman exclaimed, reading my facial expression.

I looked under the dirt, leaves, sap, and everything else, and I saw that there were no major dents (a few dings here and there, but that happens), the paint was intact, and the carpets and upholstery were in great shape. I took it for a test drive…. two years with an Impreza and its dinky little flat-four engine, I had forgotten the joys of VTEC and the Honda V6. Wow. Just wow. I loved the test drive and knew that, barring any major problems with the deal, this would be my next car.

We went back to the salesman’s desk and hammered out a deal within fifteen minutes. I got what I felt was a fair price on the car and a fair price for my trade-in. I had done research on what both of those figures should be, and the dealership’s initial offer was actually pretty close to what I wanted. It just took a few minutes of talking to finalize a deal that satisfied me.

The only problem was that because it was after five o’clock, and the car needed significant preparation, I wouldn’t be able to pick it up until Friday. I left the dealership at 7:00 pm, with a plan to pick the car up at 3:30 pm the next day. Talk about an agonizing 18.5 hours! I barely slept Thursday night (I was really excited, what can I say). It didn’t help that the dealership gave me a loaner Honda CR-V. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciated the loaner car, but a CR-V will never ever be confused with a sports car. Anyway, at work on Friday, I told my co-workers the news, and they were excited for me. I had them all laughing when I showed them the timer I had set on my iPhone. It was counting down until 3:30 pm. Every so often, someone would pop their head into my office to ask how much time until I got the car, and I would eagerly respond: “Four hours, thirteen minutes!” “Three hours, twenty-eight minutes!” “Two hours, seven minutes!” Finally, at 3:00 pm, I set out from work to go get my next car.

Did you ever see the video for “Last Friday Night” by Katy Perry? Katy Perry’s character starts out as a socially awkward nerd, gets a makeover from her friend, and turns into a gorgeous girl who is the life of the party? That’s EXACTLY what it was like seeing my car, all cleaned up. It came out beautifully. They also did about $1200 worth of work to prepare it, including new brakes, a new tire, oil and transmission fluid changes, some repairs to the exhaust system, and some other minor items. After shaking hands with the salesman and getting the keys, I departed for the Jersey Shore. My family has a house near the town of Cape May, and we had a small gathering there Friday night.

I think I giggled the entire drive to the shore. It’s about an hour and a half ride, and I spent the whole time driving with a big grin on my face. The power from the engine, the responsiveness of the chassis, the comfort of the ride… the car is content to be a long-distance cruiser, and then can instantly turn into a willing dance partner when I want to drive with some enthusiasm. Honestly, I started feeling like Ayrton Senna in the McLaren-Honda MP-4/4 on the streets of Monaco or the back straight of Hockenheim.

It’s a beautiful car, too. Every time I come out to my car, I feel like I want to pinch myself,”Wait, that’s MY car?” Really, I’ve never had this visceral of a reaction to a car before. I’ve liked all my previous cars (even my Subaru). But this is love. This is a car I could easily keep for years and years, and not outgrow or lose my interest. And, as I said in my initial email to you, at the risk of sounding sappy, I feel like I came back home. At the time that I switched to Subaru, Tyson, I shared with you that I felt like Honda had lost some of its mojo. And I still think that there is a problem: Honda had a vibe in the 90’s and early 00’s that I do not feel like they have fully recovered. The Prelude, the S2000, the CL, the NSX, the Integra… all those cars are in the past. But this Accord coupe surprised me. It manages to channel a lot of that Honda-ness that I thought the company had lost. It’s sporty. The engine is a gem. It’s comfortable. Good fuel economy. It comes alive when it’s pushed. The Honda Accord Sport sedan I test drove was everything that is wrong with Honda- too big, too slow, too complicated. This Accord coupe, though, is everything that is right, and reminds me of the Hondas that I owned in the past. Just better.

Anyway, thanks for reading my story.

And it’s good to be home.

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Thanks again, Tim, for sharing this with us! And nice job on proper parking with that new Accord.

Have a great weekend, all!

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