The countdown has started. One week until the first annual, Protege 5 mountain drive.

It starts off at ten o'clock at the Denny's Restaurant on Highway 69 in beautiful Prescott Valley, Arizona.

We will be leaving Denny's and heading north on Robert Rd. Taking a scenic tour through a residential area.

Next we will head north on the scenic Highway 89A. Traveling up Mingus Mountain you will be able to look back get an over view of Prescott Valley. At points the road will be shaded by the tall Pinion Pine trees. When you reach the other side of the mountain you will see spectacular views of the Mogollon (mugy-on) Rim.

The two lane highway winds its way into the historic mining town of Jerome. There are many little shops and several Mom & Pop restaurants. My favorite is the Jerome Palace home of the haunted hamburger.

After lunch we will continue north on Highway 89A and pass through Cottonwood. Then head to the beautiful red rocks of Sedona. Guys bring your girlfriends or wives because there are tons of shops for them to look at.

After Sedona we will continue north through Oak Creek Canyon. We will pass the famous Slide Rock recreation area and continue to Flagstaff.

Once in Flagstaff we will decide from there.

Once again you are cordially invited to the first annual Protege 5 mountain drive.
It is held the first Sunday in June starting in Prescott Valley, Arizona and ending in Flagstaff, Arizona.

All Mazdas are welcome to attend.


http://members.cardomain.com/rednecks_r_us

 

FRS radios would be pretty cool so we could communicate as we drive. Just a suggestion

I only have a cell phone and a hand held CB radio.

See ya,

Bill

 

Here are the responces I have gotton so far.

azeli73----I'll be there!

ZZOOOMM----I will be there---2003 Orange Mazdaspeed Protege

PatrickP5----I'm in.

Zero----I'm down for the 1st pending the wife's schedule

andy_guerriero----I'm down for June 1.

slooper----I'm all up for it!!

 

Can someone give me directions for Sunday? I just want to make sure I make it.

 

ZZOOOMM,

Take I-17 north. go about 60 miles give er take until you see signs for Prescott. You will exit I-17 at Cordes Junction and take Highway 69 north. You will pass through a couple of small communities along the way. Continue on Hwy 69 all the way into Prescott Valley, its sbout 30 miles. When you reach the town Denny's is on the left side of the highway.

I will be there early and parked on the east side of Denny's. You'll be able to see my bright blue MP5 from the road.

You can also do a search on msn maps and directions. Go to driving instructions and get a map from Prescott Valley AZ to Jerome. then get another map from Jerome to Cottonwood. Then another from Cottonwood to Sedona and finally Sedona to Flagstaff.

See ya on Sunday

 

Thanks I appreciate the help. see ya there

 

It was an awesome day. The weather was perfect.

Five of us met for the drive at Denny's.

We all met up around 10 AM. We waited for everybody until about 10:30 or so.

There was ZZOOOMM's orange MSP, AZELI73's black MP5,
PATRICKP5's dark mica blue MP5, my laser blue MP5, and JCON7487's tan 94 Protege.

The 5 of us left PV and headed towards Jerome. We got stuck behind a newer Mustang GT that couldn't drive if his life depended on it. Let me put it this way, when we stopped at a lookout point to take pictures the Mustang stopped to.

His rear brakes were actually smoking. He rode the brakes the whole way.

We had lunch in Jerome and then went through Clarkdale and Cottonwood on the way to Sedona.

Sedona had some beautiful views of the red mountains but there wasn't any available parking for our pack of Proteges. So we continued through Oak Creek Canyon.

After reaching Flagstaff we kicked back in front of CHILLI's for a while before heading our seperate ways.

We will do this run again next year as an official second year of the Protege 5 Mountain Drive. The first Sunday of June 2004.

But we plan to get together this winter and do it again. It was too much fun.

Pictures will come later.

See Ya,

Bill

 

Pro 5 Mountain drive


Here are some pictures that azeli73 posted from our road trip.

I hope the link still works. I'm still learning.

 

More pictures of the road trip on page 2


Later,

Bill

 

This run was a lot of fun, I love that drive by pic of my car that Bill took. I can't wait to do it again. Thanks to everyone.