Rotary Tour to Baghdad*
Rotary Tour to Baghdad*
This Thanksgiving Weekend, we in Arizona are giving thanks to whoever invented pavement, then decided to slap it all over the desert landscapes of the SW. I hope a few photos and words here might offer some vicarious enjoyment to our northern brothers (and sistas) who are staring at winter at their doorstep knowing that driving-days are coming to (or have come to…) a close.
The Desert Datsun clan of Phoenix invited members of the RCCAZ to join in their 5th annual Bagdad (no, not THAT *Baghdad*…) Run. Tim/RCCAZ1 organized a nice representation of all 3 gens of RX7 with his amazing, unmolested sonic bronze early-production SA, followed by Dale G. and his white FC and Rich B.’s beautiful red Touring FD. It was us and maybe a dozen+ vintage-to-fresh-off-the-lot Zs, and even a beater-Celica and MR2 Toyotas to round out the field.
We departed west Phoenix at 10AM with a straight shot west on Hwy 74. And I mean straight. I was scratching my head a bit for the first hour + wondering when there was going to be some sort of curve in the road between here and California! Things finally started to get interesting when we left weekend traffic behind us at Wickenberg out onto the gentle curves of AZ96 was it rolls towards Las Vegas. The signs and turnout to AZ97 and Bagdad were easy to miss! More than one of our party shot past the entrance and I know I had to hit the binders to make the turn. But, wow! What a road!
Completely empty, AZ97 was a fresh-paved roller-coaster of twists, turns and blind rising corners that made you wonder why anyone would want to drive anything without a stick and 3 pedals (and maybe 2 rotors…) Some 20 sports cars seemed to formed a continuous chain of metal and rubber undulating across the desert landscape.
AZ 97 “T”s into AZ96, and a left turn there took us to our midday lunch-stop at the end of that road:
Baghdad (home Town of Bagdad, AZ). Founded in 1882 as a Copper mine. With a population of 2000 it is still an active mining town and a surprising oasis up in the desert mountains. Our destination was the Diner On Main, which is decked out in the full 50’s chromed road-side diner trimmings. They had kindly reserved one end of the diner for us all and we all spent 90 minutes enjoying burgers, fries and sticking our noses into everyone else’s engine bays.
The post-lunch run took us East on AZ96, which wound like a Sidewinder thru high plateaus and mountains. The Traffic gods blessed us with empty roads - again. And it can be said that most of the 30mph curves were regarded as a ‘suggestion’.
Kudos Desert Datsun-ites for sharing this piece of heaven!
It was pretty surreal…giving Thanks indeed.
Stu Aull
80GS
AZ
The Desert Datsun clan of Phoenix invited members of the RCCAZ to join in their 5th annual Bagdad (no, not THAT *Baghdad*…) Run. Tim/RCCAZ1 organized a nice representation of all 3 gens of RX7 with his amazing, unmolested sonic bronze early-production SA, followed by Dale G. and his white FC and Rich B.’s beautiful red Touring FD. It was us and maybe a dozen+ vintage-to-fresh-off-the-lot Zs, and even a beater-Celica and MR2 Toyotas to round out the field.
We departed west Phoenix at 10AM with a straight shot west on Hwy 74. And I mean straight. I was scratching my head a bit for the first hour + wondering when there was going to be some sort of curve in the road between here and California! Things finally started to get interesting when we left weekend traffic behind us at Wickenberg out onto the gentle curves of AZ96 was it rolls towards Las Vegas. The signs and turnout to AZ97 and Bagdad were easy to miss! More than one of our party shot past the entrance and I know I had to hit the binders to make the turn. But, wow! What a road!
Completely empty, AZ97 was a fresh-paved roller-coaster of twists, turns and blind rising corners that made you wonder why anyone would want to drive anything without a stick and 3 pedals (and maybe 2 rotors…) Some 20 sports cars seemed to formed a continuous chain of metal and rubber undulating across the desert landscape.
AZ 97 “T”s into AZ96, and a left turn there took us to our midday lunch-stop at the end of that road:
Baghdad (home Town of Bagdad, AZ). Founded in 1882 as a Copper mine. With a population of 2000 it is still an active mining town and a surprising oasis up in the desert mountains. Our destination was the Diner On Main, which is decked out in the full 50’s chromed road-side diner trimmings. They had kindly reserved one end of the diner for us all and we all spent 90 minutes enjoying burgers, fries and sticking our noses into everyone else’s engine bays.
The post-lunch run took us East on AZ96, which wound like a Sidewinder thru high plateaus and mountains. The Traffic gods blessed us with empty roads - again. And it can be said that most of the 30mph curves were regarded as a ‘suggestion’.
Kudos Desert Datsun-ites for sharing this piece of heaven!
It was pretty surreal…giving Thanks indeed.
Stu Aull
80GS
AZ
Last edited by 7aull; Nov 26, 2017 at 11:22 AM.
Great post Stu. It was a wee bit warm, but other than that, a great day. 340 miles logged by the time I returned home, or approximately 10 percent of the miles I've accumulated over the past 3 years of SA ownership, but well worth the trip. Arrived home with 43,997 miles on the odometer. To give folks an idea of the drastic drops and dips on some sections of the drive, a few of our Datsun 240 drivers had to pull over due to bottoming out and losing exhaust hangers, which led to one unfortunate dragging muffler. Yea, it was one day where "stock" ish ride height worked in your favor. I'm personally psyched to have Stu and his incredible wife Maureen fully relocated from AK to AZ. Nothing like new car friends to rekindle your passion for driving!
Thx again Stu for your most excellent recap of the day!!
Thx again Stu for your most excellent recap of the day!!
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84SE-EGI helpy-helperton
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,584
Likes: 542
From: Phoenix, AZ
No big deal, Sir! I actually got a taste for road-trippinv again after the SS20 run. Turns out my driveshaft front U-joint seems to be just fine and something else was rubbing under there. I have yet to locate it, as it stopped making noise.
regardless, looked like a great turnout.
regardless, looked like a great turnout.