As many of you might have already known, I am a fan of almost anything related to automotive. I may not be too technically knowledgeable, nor am I a completely hands-on type of enthusiast, but I love the simple idea of a stylish box on four wheels. I'd like to believe that I have quite a wide background of the automotive world, albeit on the more affordable side, and definitely not the too-ridiculously-fast-and-expensive driving machines.
As a little child, my toy collection mainly consisted of Matchbox cars or airplanes. My interest in cars was jump-started by Tamiya's Mini 4WD, or "mini-racers" as what we called it, back when I was in fifth or sixth grade. My brother and I would spend our savings on these seemingly fast and small racing machines, and if we were lucky we could get either our parents, our grandfather or our uncle to buy us some go-fast parts and accessories. As we grew a bit older, my brother and I started getting bored with the mini-racers. Next on our "we-want-that" list were RC cars. Tamiya also has a bunch of them, but those were out of our reach. What we got instead were Nikko RC cars... definitely not the fastest, nor do these have the most accurate control, but the Nikko RC's were the best dirt-cheap RC our parents could afford. Those Nikko RC's were like Tonka RC's that you could get from Walmart or Toys 'R Us.
The interest became even stronger when my uncle bought an old Land Cruiser, the FJ-40, and modified it for competitive off-road. My uncle and his friends dropped in a Nissan SD33, pulled out from an old Nissan Patrol; lifted the FJ on some fabricated lifting blocks, springs, and shackles; and completed it with a slew of adapted parts from various vehicles. On non-racing days, we would take it on a drive through one of the many mountain trails around my uncle's hometown.
My fascination with automotive slowly shifted towards on-road cars when my uncle and his friends retired from off-road racing. My brother and I would try to frequent car shows and drag races in a city where there is not even a proper drag strip. We would rave about modified EG's and SiR's (we were in the Philippines back then, thus the JDM models), and CRV's set-up to put most mobile DJ's to shame. Ricers we were, but only by principle, because we were kids back then and car ownership was impossible at our age.
I have always dreamed of owning a formidable off-roader, or a fast car, but sadly I still haven't had the privilege of getting my hands on either one. I have come to realize though that being an enthusiast isn't necessarily about owning the fastest car or the toughest truck, but more about the passion of designing, manufacturing, selling, fixing, detailing, or driving ANY car.
I love driving, thus I have decided to start this Drive Log on my blog. Recently, my previous vehicle, a Nissan Frontier, got traded in for a more practical daily driver for getting around the city and for road trips.
Meet our new 2013 Mazda CX-5.
This car will be the main focus of the Drive Log. I will be posting photos and routes of long drives. First up is a trip on the day my wife and I took ownership of the vehicle. With 12 miles on the odometer, we decided to drive to San Antonio to meet with family members, going home to the Rio Grande Valley from Austin, for dinner. Impulsive, I know.
Instead of coming back home to Houston after dinner, we ended up driving back down to the Valley. Photos from day two will be posted on a separate entry. For now, I will leave you with a photo of my old Frontier. I kinda miss it.
Route info:
I-10 - west
Palmetto State Park
I-410 - north
I-35 - north
Big Easy Cafe (dinner)
I-35 - south
Downtown San Antonio, TX
I-37 - south
Hwy 281
McAllen, TX
