What can you say?

Chris D'Agnolo · 2006-07-25T03:37:29+00:00

Sorry if long.....I finally got to go do a long anticipated driving trip to Phoenix (from Houston!) with my 'lil brother (and his RX-8 :). After much research, I planned a Phoenix / Globe / Safford / Clifton (US 191) / Eager / Show Low / Globe / Phoenix, round trip.Those of you who don't know, US 191 is the DESTINATION of this drive! It's commonly referred to as a 100 mile version of the Tail of the Dragon! Well, I wish I could weigh in on that analogy but I wasn't so lucky.We traveled the 200+ miles to get to 191 (decent roads) and we were probably 15 miles into 'the good stuff' when my clutch started to go south! Ya, not good! So, here I am in heaven and my clutch is completely gone. We hadn't really been working it that hard (mostly second gear thrusts) but I hoped letting it cool off at a tiny pull off might help but.......NOOOOOO, life can be cruel! I couldn't see fluid leaking from the cylinder and the level was good so I was confused (and wishing for this group).Forward (more than 100 miles to civilization) or back (15 miles to semi-civilization, another 25 to kinda-civilization, 200+ back to Phoenix), left little room for debate. Using all the nasty little tricks I know to start (in gear w/o clutch), and to shift my injured car, we hobbled back to the first town where "nobody round here would probably know the first thing bout a Mazda". To the second town where several places could work on them for-in cars but, they were all booked up for a week to ten days and it takes that long to get parts after diagnosis too! Since I was supposed to be heading back to H-town to start a new job two days later........... we decided to limp it all the way back after making an appointment with a really friendly service guy at Berge Mazda in Phoenix for the next day (luckily my bro had purchase / service history there along with the phone #).Crazy thing is, by the time we got back the clutch seemed to be operating normally. I didn't want to put it to any real 'test' but it...

Jul 25, 2006 20 Replies

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abyss 20 years ago

Thanks for the memories

I drove the Coronado Trail (US 666/ US 191) in the summer of 1969 on my return trip to Kansas after my freshman year at the University of Arizona. Driving my MG Midget over this scenic road was a love/hate experience for this Kansas City flatlander. Would love to do the road today in my Miata.

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