Really, it's the desert...

After 3 days of mostly sitting inactive, the scooters got to play again today.  We decided to continue our "Live to ride, ride to eat" ways, and went out for breakfast.  Not just any ol' breakfast place, mind you, I took my Honey to...

They were packed - there was a young lady at the door taking names.  It wasn't a long wait, and sometimes you just feel the need... the need for grease.  In that photo above, the bike on the left isn't one of ours... but we still wave at the Harley riders.  ;-)

Bellies full, it was off for some necessities.  Joan's favorite place to shop these days...

We picked up another set of rachet straps for the bikes for the ride back to Texas.  Joan always has a coupon - we don't buy anything at HF without a coupon.

Off to the desert.  OK, you really don't have to go far for that, 'cause this whole place is a desert.  Or sure, they water and irrigate, but without that, it's the desert.  We rode through an area southeast of us, in our quest to see places we haven't seen before.  We've driven through a part of Estrella Mountain Ranch in the past; this time we rode all through, 'till we ran out of road.  It wouldn't be the desert without Saguaro cactus...

And "cacti" - it was one of the vocabulary words in Steph's class this week...

Nice riding, hardly any other traffic out on that far.

The housing industry seems to be turning around in the Phoenix area.  We saw on the local news that home sales are up 11%, and there are new homes being built again...

This is a very nice housing area.  And something you don't expect to see in the desert...

Not exactly "open water," but there is a small lake (pond?) that does allow non-motorized water craft...

Only for "Resident Members", though.  Ah, I am drawn to the water.

Joan likes the road that runs past PIR (Phoenix International Raceway), so we covered some familiar territory, too.  It runs past a park and golf course, so we get to see some greenery there, too.  And here and there, there are some cactus flowers in bloom...

We ran north, then west, to stay off the heaviest traveled roads, making our way back home again.  Supper with the kids tonight.

We have discussed how having the scooters has made a real difference in our enjoyment of the desert.  We like staying off the freeways; sometimes we actually go less than the speed limit (when the traffic is light).  At one point, I said to Joan, "I can smell cookies baking!"  Some of the neighborhoods we drive through have flowers blooming, and you smell those as well.  The sight, sensations, and smells are different when you're on two wheels.