Five Scenic Drives Around Houston; An Iconic Trophy, and first look at the Yukon!

Five Scenic Cruises Around Houston

Don Armstrong 0:05

All right. Time enough for driving destinations. Mr. Mars has five scenic cruises around Houston. We didn't know there was one, but I guess we're going to find out.

Mike Marrs 0:13

Okay, Jeff. So there's five places. You know, when we talk about trying to go around Houston and the Houston area, now the Houston area is a pretty big place. And so five of them were kind of hard to find, but we found

Bluewater Highway Coastal Drive

Mike Marrs 0:27

them. So one of them is the Blue Water Highway Coastal Drive. Now, this is a runs uh coast to Houston. You go down towards Galveston and it runs between Galveston and Surfside Beach, actually along the coast. Now you see the beaches, you see the marshes, you see a lot of fishing communities, and you so you get a lot of wide open views along the coast, like you would expect to see. Now you of course you can get up and go early morning and catch the sunrise or stay late and catch the sunset. So it's it's pretty nice, relaxing escape drive. Uh even City Hall here depicted here is is on pilings and uh stuff. The pier in Galveston where you can go and play and have lots of fun with the kids.

FM 149 Through Sam Houston Forest

Mike Marrs 1:09

Now the other thing that we wanted to talk about is FM 149 that goes up through Sam Houston National Forest. Now, there's it's kind of a drive, it goes in between the trees. There's actually three counties that this route goes across. And so you get in, you go up through New Waverly, and you go up through Montgomery in the spring and fall, you're gonna get all the colorful uh leaves in the spring, and the weather changes, and you're gonna get the wildlife sightings that are year-round, you're gonna see uh small animals, and you're not gonna see a whole lot of city traffic because a lot of people to go out on these back roads, they don't want to see that, and so you're looking for fresh air and getting away from the traffic.

Bolivar Ferry And Peninsula Views

Mike Marrs 1:50

The other one that a lot of people are a little more familiar with is the Bolivar Peninsula ferry route. Now, this is a drive across the Bolivar Peninsula, so you can start either on Galveston or you can start up towards Beaumont or actually uh Highland. And you get on the ferry, it's a free ferry ride that goes across from Port Bolivar to Galveston or vice versa. And if you're starting in Galveston, you get on the ferry, you go across, it's about a 30-minute ride. You can see dolphins depending on the weather. You see the bay. Sometimes you get caught out there waiting on the ship to go up the ship channel into the port of Houston. But once you get over on the Bolivar Peninsula, you've got uh a lot of scenic area there. You've got a fort that was part of goes all the way back to World War I, part of the fortification there when they thought we were going to get invaded. And uh you can tour that, but you can also go up a little bit further, you can actually drive on this beach. It's it's considered highway one. There are road restrictions, there's a speed limit and everything else, but you can drive on it. Just be careful of the soft sand and don't get stuck.

Texas Independence Trail Day Trip

Mike Marrs 2:56

Then, whenever you go from there, you go on up to the Texas Independence Trail towards Washington on the Brazos. Now, this is one of six trails that are actually built that was created, uh, not only declared because of the independence of you know, Texas independence in 1836, but because of the World's Fair in 68, the Heritage Society built these different trails that kind of came into the World's Fair, and now they've kept them up. And so this kind of goes up through the farmlands, you got Blue Bonnet Fields in spring, and you got go up through Brenham and Chapel Hill, the historic homes, antique shops. There's a lot of things to go up and see up there through the springtime part of uh the seasons. Now, from there, you can actually take the San Jacinto River and Lake

San Jacinto River And Lake Houston

Mike Marrs 3:44

Houston loop. Now, a lot of people in Houston are gonna be a little more familiar with this. I was aware of Lake Houston, and I've crossed that bridge that goes across it several times, but I wasn't aware of exactly how big it is as we've kind of got it depicted here. So if you're gonna try and go running through this, you're gonna cross over the San Gacino River that feeds down from Gal uh Conroe, and uh you're gonna pass through Umbel, Hoffman, Crosby. You got lots of water views, lots of little towns. And it's uh it's a pretty big drive to go all the way around this lake, and it's pretty scenic, but it's right outside of Houston. So that's that's five places that you can go and take you a nice scenic drive without having to go spend half a day to get

Weekend Plans And Speakeasy Tease

Mike Marrs 4:24

there.

Don Armstrong 4:24

So, what what are you gonna do next weekend to top this?

Mike Marrs 4:29

Um I I I'm working. You've been speakeasy lately.

Jeff Dziekan 4:35

Thinking of it. He's trying to put you on a spot, Mike.

Mike Marrs 4:38

Well, I know he is, but I've got one for the speakeasies. I'm saving. I was saving for a little longer.

Jeff Dziekan 4:43

Why would you save that?

Mike Marrs 4:44

Well, I'm trying to do it. Summer's coming, trying to get some of the family things in that the family and stuff can do because you're not going to take the kids to the speakeasy very many times.

Jeff Dziekan 4:52

Oh, contrary. Before you lose custody. There's that.

Don Armstrong 4:57

Yeah, yeah.

The Borg-Warner Trophy Story Time

Don Armstrong 5:04

Time now for Jeff's Car Culture. The immortality in silver, the Borg Warner Trophy.

Jeff Dziekan 5:10

The Borg Warner Trophy? The Borg Warner Trophy, and it's been uh it's it's been an awesome uh thing to look at. So here we go. Uh the trophy, which has been presented in the winner's circle after every race since 1936, is very large. It's multi-tiered and which bears the high relief sculpture and likeness of each driver that has won the race since its inception in 1911. Inscribed are the winner's name, the year of the victory, and the average speed. The information is alternated with the faces in a checkered board pattern evoking a checkered flag. Including on the base is a gold likeness of Tony Holman, which is the uh owner of the Indianapolis Speedway from 1945 to 1977. Made of sterling silver, Mike, this trophy is just under five feet four inches tall and weighs 153 pounds. The trophy itself is hollow and the dome-shaped top is removable. There's a bunch of stories about kids in the trophy before that, so look online for that. From 1936 to 1985. I bet you somebody's put their weed in that. No, they've been drinking out of it. It's like the Stanley Cup thing, but that's another story for another day. But the trophy itself, well, the uh trophy itself, hollow dome shape for 1936. Okay, we said that. On the top of the trophy is an unclothed man waving a checkered flag because this man is depicted naked after the traditional depiction of athletes and the Greek times and the Greek art. Uh-huh. The trophy is most often photographed at an angle so that the man's arm blocks the view of the figure's genitalia. Does he have that? Genitalia. He's got that. Oh my god. Okay. I had no clue. Well, there goes the winner mobile. There you go. This is not a stick and ball sport. Uh a base was added in 1986 to accommodate more winners, similar to what has been done on the Stanley Cup. In 1991, the trophy went through a thorough restoration in 2004. The first base was removed and replaced with the new, larger base to accommodate more winners, because obviously you can run out of space. Enough space is currently available on the trophy to hold winners through 2033. The actual perpetual trophy or the trophy itself is not given to the winner. It remains at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the museum. The winnering winning drivers since 1988 have been presented with an 18-inch tall freestanding replica of the trophy sitting on a beveled square base. Now on the base, there's actually the image of the driver itself. Officially titled the Indianapolis 500 Champions Trophy, it has been effectually nicknamed the Baby Borg. The Baby Borg is typically presented the following January at the Speedway Reception or sometimes at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, near the sponsor Borg Warner's Headquarters. So Borg Warner's Headquarters. Are they still in business? I believe so. When the winners beg uh began to be added annually after 1936, uh most of the 1970 drivers were depicted wearing open-face helmets. Floyd Davis, who co-won in the 1941 race with Maury Rose, was depicted without a helmet, while Rose was depicted with one. By 1946, most were shown without their goggles. Now the Borg Warner Indianapolis Trophy winner awarded to Ray Keach in 1929, and that's what the first one looked like. So there you go.

Don Armstrong 8:29

Wow, that's what the first one looked like? Doesn't look like anything that we have to do. Is the man naked with a female there? I don't know. He's got his hand back there on a derriere.

Jeff Dziekan 8:39

It could be a Hyundai trophy, you never know.

Don Armstrong 8:41

Oh, that's and there we have it.

Jeff Dziekan 8:46

We're gonna move on. We're gonna move on the pork. All right.

2026 GMC Yukon AT4 Ultimate Review

Don Armstrong 8:59

Timeout for this hour's car review. I had an opportunity to drive the brand new 2026 GMC UConn built in Arlington, Texas, USA. They built all of those big those big suburbans, all of that. The escalate, all that comes out of Arlington, which they just recently expanded to make it even bigger than big, which it is. So it's classified as a standard SUV body on frame or truck. Um it comes in these trim levels the elevation, the AT4, the Denali, the AT4 Ultimate, and the Denali Ultimate. It's three rows of seating, up to eight people, fifth generation introduced in 2021. Um it is really something else. I had the Yukon four-wheel drive AT4 Ultimate. Wait till you hear the price. Exterior features include great big square body, SUV-like suburban type, uh, big grille with the GMC emblem almost as big as the grille itself, slab sides with concentric wheel openings, sharp-looking rear hatch, and lighting. What I liked about it, GM has made it different than the Chevy Tahoe, which would be its counterpart. Um this is kind of like a step up from the Chevrolet line. They use better materials, uh fancier stuff. It's not at the escalade, so this kind of sits in the middle between the Chevrolet version and the Cadillac version. What could use improvement? I don't know. Uh interior highlights. Comfortable, but upscale, rugged seating surfaces. Huge vertical infotainment screen, kind of you see it right there. Yeah, kind of uh a Tesla type lookout. Oh uh dash well laid out with ginormous center console. That's the center console, screens for the second row passengers, and a center screen in the second row for the AC controls. So if you don't like the way mom and dad has got the AC set, you can sit back there and fiddle with it, turn on the heat throughout the cabin and burn them up. Cargo. Uh well, it's huge back there in the back, uh, with the third row down, obviously with the third row up, not as big. What I liked about it, the overall, overall cowboy luxe treatment that this thing gets. What could use improvement? Absolutely nothing on the interior. I wouldn't touch it. They did good. I like the double stitching. I do too. Everything about it is just super. 6.2 liter EcoTec 3 V8 engine, turns out 420 horsepower, 460 pound feet of torque on a 10-speed automatic transmission. Uh tow rating up to four tons. Wow. That's 8,000 pounds if you're not doing the math right. Um now mileage 14 city, 18 highway for combined to 16. I busted the seams at 17.8 miles per gallon over 411.9 miles. What I liked about it? The plenty of smooth V8 power. They ain't nothing like a naturally aspirated V8 engine, in my opinion. Uh, what could use improvement? Offer a hybrid, which I'm sure that they probably will ultimately. Ride and handling, air ride suspension with magnetic shocks. Awesome. What could use improvement? Nothing here either. This thing rides like a limousine. Okay, let's get down to the numbers, shall we?

Jeff Dziekan 12:50

Shall we?

Don Armstrong 12:50

Base trim price, $97,900. That's base trim. Price as tested $103,190. I was gonna go $102. It's just a song. Just sold for $102. Now, the base model price, if you could find one out there, the entry level price of this is basically $70,000, $69.6. Okay, so here are the competitors. If you want to call it a competitor, it's just at a different level because it's a Chevy, the Chevy Tahoe starts at $60,700. The Ford Expedition, I was surprised at this. $577 is where it starts off. And the Kia Carnival, which I had recently, it starts at $37,390. Well, how can you compare the two? Size.

Mike Marrs 13:39

Yeah.

Don Armstrong 13:40

Size. That's that's where it compares. What were you gonna say, Mike?

Mike Marrs 13:42

That's what I was gonna ask. Is that the same size?

Don Armstrong 13:45

It is. It's called a standard SUV. If you remember correctly, I mentioned that in the review of the Carnival that it is classified as a standard SUV, which this is as well. All right, next week I'm gonna review the Land Rover Range Rover. All right. I told you in the tease at the beginning of the show that we had a series of six-figure vehicles that we got to drive, and uh next week we'll review the Land Rover Range Rover. I think that you'll appreciate it. I know I appreciated them letting me borrow it for a week to test drive it. Um It's different. It's different than this, it's different than the Escalade. I mean, it's very English. I say European. Yeah, it's very English, and it maintains that dignity. I was gonna say Where's my gin and tonic? You don't have any tonic blasphemy. Just not a shiple.

Mike Marrs 14:39

You mentioned the differences between the Chevrolet and the GMC. You know, unfortunately, I'm old enough to remember when the GMC was the work truck level. That was kind of like this is the working man's truck. He moved up to the Chevrolet, and now it's kind of GMC is now a little bit more luxury than Chevrolet.

Don Armstrong 14:56

And so since Mike's gonna talk about age,

Next Ride Tease And Contact Info

Don Armstrong 14:59

Mike just had a birthday. He's turning 87 now. So we could wish him a big thing.

Mike Marrs 15:05

Thank you very much.

Don Armstrong 15:05

Well, hey, if you'd like to get in touch with us, send us an email. The address here is info at inwheeltime.com. We are back after this.