SA: AK>AZ Day 4 - The Road Home
 

Greetings from....Home. Spoiler Alert! We made it. And I took a day to play - and clean the NW USA off the RX. :D
Another great early morning start, motivated by the lack of any sort of Diner or a cup of coffee in the micro-village of Marysvale, UT. At 6000 Ft, it was chilly. And the Beloved was none-too-pleased about start-up with temps near freezing in the AM. Oh, she will start, instantly in fact, but by-gawd, she will be damn fussy about it. 89 runs right thru town and after a gentle drive to warm up I was on the road and up to speed. At least at these temps there was no need for the "accessory radiator" (aka in car heater) to be engaged to keep the engine temps moderated. And (pic) the dawn light revealed NO traffic on the road. At. All. Once again, Hwy 89 was mine.

Open country gave way to the Canyonlands of Brice and Zion, and the road took delightful twists and turns around the highlands and valleys. It was waaaay past tourist season with modest local traffic that prob had no idea just what zipped around them and off to the next set of curves. Delightful. (pic)

Kanab, UT marks the end of the canyons. Here I was greeted by the expected radar trap set to welcome anyone careless enough to think canyon roads are for anything but sight-seeing. Which I happened to be doing at that moment. ;) I was now in familiar country, with the red rocks of southern Utah filling my view. 89 stretches out before me here, but the vistas are worth it, even if the road turns annoyingly “normal”. (pic)

Lake Powell marks the Arizona border (pic) and I slide into the flow of traffic headed to Flagstaff 80 miles on. Here traffic turns to roads full of shoppers and folks trying to get somewhere for the weekend. I hop over to I-17 at Flagstaff, opting for its 80mph limit and avoid - ironically- the last leg of 89 "A" as it turns into a shorter canyon-run into Sedona. Why? 1) there is construction delays on the Canyon drive, and 2) its a Saturday. EVERYone wants to be in Sedona on weekend, and traffic backs up for miles crawling thru this particular canyon route. I can pick my time to drive it at my leisure. I want to get home...

And finally I do, enjoying the neighborhood drive for the first time in my little RX. (Not the same vibe in the family subaru wagon!). It really dawned on me at that moment just what I - "we"- had accomplished. To pit my little obsolete 37 year-old car with the funny motor against all this... praying many-a-time that I would not end up stranded in some backwater roadway, far from anyone or any part that might get me back on the road!...3786 miles from Fairbanks, Alaska. These are amazing, amazing little cars (but you know that!). To get here. Arizona. This is the new stomping grounds. Route 66. California highways and byways. Desert and deserted back country roads to be discovered. Can't wait.

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska
Arizona

Welcome home Stu and congratulations on the beginnings of your next chapter!

Stu, what a journey. Thanks for sharing the ride. That stretch of 89 North of Kanab, UT is incredible. For anyone within a 100 mile radius, you need to add the trip to your bucket list. Small little towns every 10 miles, with twisty roads, meandering river beside it, occasional stands of pine trees. It's close to the entrance to Zion National Park.

Glad to have you permanently in AZ! Welcome!

What an amazing journey and incredible story! I really enjoyed reading about your trip and seeing the pictures along the way!! That trip is really a testament to how great these cars are if they're properly maintained. They will run for many many years and miles near trouble free. How many miles are on your 7 now? Nice not to have to worry about snow anymore and you'll be able to drive the car year round which will be great!!

Thanks gents! Glad the trip was enjoyed by you all. Hope you have the opportunity to do something similar. Absolutely incredible roadways and scenic byways waiting for us in this great country!
And Its great to be, well, a LOT closer to the rotary community, as much as I still love Alaska. Arizona's car culture is, of course, fabulous. The machines I see tooling around here on a Sunday are amazing...
Dave my Little Red Bastid has some 100k miles now. on the original 12A.

cheers from Sedona
Stu Aull
80GS
AZ

I love the pics and the story, thanks for posting!

Welcome, Glad you made it home safe

in a week I push my luck running to/from LA for 7Stock...

;D

Stu Aull
80GS
AZ

No Sweat Stu. You'll be surrounded by friends and a "FEW" backyard rotary mechanics. What could possibly go wrong? :) See you soon!

pack your Tow Rope in the FD Tim!!

Stu

Stu, you moved to AZ? Or just wintering there? Excellent pictures! I'd love to drive my SA across the desert!!

Not to thread hijack, but my God its good to see you posting again! If you have been and I missed it, shame on me. But it seems like a lot of senior members are no longer around and its great to see another posting again!

Hey, Stu - it was nice to finally meet you on the road to SevenStock last weekend, and also great to see your SA22 on the freeway. It brought back a lot of memories of my own 1980-LS - my first car. Jeff made a comment about how us 1st Gen's were doing well on the climb out of Indio as the RX8s were starting to get hot going up that grade. My temp gauge never moved (KoyoRad?).

A fantastic showing for SS, and I was proud to be parked near you during the event. After the raffle, I saw some of the red-shirt guys come by with acrylic awards for Best 1st Gen, and was hoping they'd be putting it on your car. Alas, it went to the white turbo FB next to me. So close,...

Take care, and will be watching for your car around the streets of Phoenix,

Yes I am still around. I don't post much because I don't drive the RX-7 much. Sadly, too because it is my favorite vehicle in my fleet. I don't use it much because of how I have it stored in my garage. It isn't easy to get out, and also a lot of times even when the weather allows for it I have my kids with me, and even with the rear seats in the 7 it isn't something I feel comfortable driving with an 11 year old, and 15 year old if we all need to go out in it. This summer in fact the RX-7 was at a friends storage building all summer due to the fact that I wanted to get my father/son project car in the garage to do the necessary repairs. The project took the place of the RX-7. I didn't like it not being around I can tell you that.

Thanks for the welcome back, even though I never really left, just stopped posting much. FYI I have a bunch of parts for 79 RX-7's I'd like to sell if anyone is interested. I parted out 2-3 of them, so I have a bunch of stuff. Let me know.

Congrats Stu on the move!! My youngest son has a great love of AZ even though he's never been there. He tells us all the time that he's moving there someday.