A few of us from KSport USA decided to join the members of azht.net for their annual cruise to Sedona, AZ. Sedona is a beautiful little city located about 2 hours north of Phoenix. The picturesque location boasts of red rocks and green trees that surround the city. On our way up the mountains, the KSport Camera Car (KSport Shipping Manager Jose Barrazas daily driver Altima) was busy snapping pictures of everyone. With over 700 images captured, I’m sure there’s at least one good shot on my memory cards. Somewhere between Phoenix and Sedona, we passed a pristine 1965 Rolls Royce. Of course I got a few shots of the Rolls with some Hondas!
The First Location- Sedona
Every year, AZHT members meet in North Phoenix, and caravan to Sedona. Previous years were strictly Honda/Acura only. However, a decision to extend the invitation to any and all car enthusiasts brought in a flux of new friends. Everything from Civic Wagovans, to Evos, and even a few VIP-Styled Lexus showed up. Once in Sedona, everyone meets at the same park to show their cars, BBQ, and play a little soccer. This year was no different, until the Sedona Police Department showed up. Apparently, what we were all celebrating, they weren’t too happy about. AZHT saw the biggest Sedona run ever, totaling over 250 cars.
Most cars had 2, some cars had 3 people so you can imagine the sheer volume of people that had descended upon this small community. The Department of Parks and Recreation, in fear of a lawsuit, decided that we were too large of a group for ANY park in Sedona. As a result, we were asked to leave. One of the officers did us a favor, though, by calling a neighboring city and asking their police department if they would allow us. Sure enough, the City of Cottonwood was willing to risk having droves of Import car enthusiasts roaming their streets. So, off we went to Cottonwood.
On to the Second Location- Cottonwood
Subsequently, we saw a handful of people leave before they could announce the new meeting spot. Therefore, this made the Cottonwood meet much smaller. We went from over 250 cars, to under 40. This was okay though, because it made for a more organized group. The Cottonwood meet took place in a parking lot adjacent to a community skate park. As soon as all the cars showed up, kids came over. One of them asked if I knew “why everybody came here?” I replied “it’s a car club and we drove here from Phoenix”. He couldn’t have been older than 13 and didn’t understand because then he asked the question “Why?” I made an attempt to explain it again, but ultimately I told him “because we had nothing better to do today”. Surprisingly, he was quite pleased to hear this.
Hangin’ with the Kiddos
It was obvious he and his friends were eager to look, but didn’t know if we would allow it. Everyone assured them it was ok, and shortly after we had kids ranging from 10 to 16 rolling around on skateboards and bicycles within our group. An AZHT member actually grabbed a skateboard out of the back of an EF hatch and hit the bowls and boxes with the kids. After about an hour, the ice cream man came through to work the skater kids out of their allowance. I’m sure when that white van with the generator hangin off the back came around the corner, it was like winning the lottery. Before they knew it, there was a large group of adults and children waiting for ice cream.
After that, a child from the skate park said he knew me from grade school. He was probably still in 3rd grade, which I kindly pointed out, but that didn’t stop him. He also claimed that we were best friends. I met him half-way by asking him to do a kickflip for some ice cream. These kids gotta learn how to work for their money!
Moreover, after an attack by a ravenous swarm of bees, and a nice ice cream break, we made our way out of Cottonwood towards Jerome. (Ok, so it was one bee…. but still, its scary.) Shortly after leaving the skate park, a Nissan GTR joined our group out of nowhere. It gave us a little fly-by, played with a turbo CRX. Then, it ran away when the Supra wanted a turn.
Jerome, Arizona
The AZHT Annual Sedona Cruise ended with a pass through Jerome, Arizona. This is an awesome little place, full of history and probably a few ghosts. It was once a mining town. But, now Jerome is a tourist destination. It features original Wild West Era buildings, a few bars, and a ton of art. In addition, it also happens to be in a canyon, which means some of the most exciting roads in Arizona. Our caravan consisted of a Honda S2000 (Owned and driven by Jeremy, of UMS Tuning), an NSX (Owned and driven by Nick, of KSport USA), the Almighty Altima, a Toyota Celica All-Trac, 3 EG Honda Civics (All set-up for NASA Road Racing), and a 700+ WHP Supra.
As you could guess, the Supra couldn’t keep up in the twists, the NSX stayed up front, and surprisingly the Altima didn’t do too bad. I couldn’t help but get giddy each time I heard the All-Tracs Blow Off Valve. It was one of the best sounding BOVs I’ve heard on a 4 cylinder. Of course, once we hit the ground level of the Arizona desert, the Supra had to stretch its legs and spool up that big turbo a little bit. The ride back to Phoenix was a relaxing way to end an action-packed day. I was able to remind Jose to either swap his spring rates back, or turn his damping down. In conclusion, the AZHT Annual Sedona Cruise was a success.