In search of a Skanka...

What a beautiful day in the desert!  I saw 90º on one electronic sign while we were riding this afternoon... that may have been reading a bit high, but it was plenty warm.  We have been trying to go different directions, and see areas we haven't seen before.  Yesterday, we went north.  Before that, south.  Today, it was east, then south.

Getting ready to head out...

As you can see: MTGMTT (Most of The Gear, Most of The Time).  From this angle, you can see that these are not the typical "flat floor" European-looking scooters.  There is a bit of a step-through.

From Goodyear heading east, we drove through an industrial area, a few small-feeling towns, a scrufty area, then into downtown Phoenix.  The scooters handled it all fine.  We rode by the office buildings, St. Mary's Basilica, ASU Downtown Campus, then into another older area populated with old motels that used to draw from Sky Harbor Airport.  An area that felt like Mexico, then through some office complexes.  At one of the spring training baseball fields, we turned south.  Yes,  we had a destination in mind.

Before that destination, Joan said she was ready for lunch.  It just so happens that I know of a restaurant that is one of Steph's favorites along this route.  Today is Stephanie's birthday... and since she and Dan are on Kaua'i right now, we figured we'd eat there in honor of Steph...

OK, it's my favorite pizza place in the Phoenix area, too.  We dined at an outdoor table... no view of the ocean, but I did get to gaze upon by scooter babe.

With bellies full, Joan asked if I wanted to stop at the nearby Guitar Center.  There is absolutely nothing I need, so... sure.  We went in and looked through their acoustic guitar selection.  No carbon fiber guitars; in fact, another salesman who has never heard of Rainsong (the largest producer of carbon fiber acoustic guitars).  I played a Gibson acoustic... I had one of these many years ago, but this was just sounded thin.  Next to it was one of Taylor's least expensive models.  I may be biased (who isn't?), but at 1/3 the price, the Taylor felt and sounded better than the Gibson.  Sigh.

Nothing for me here, so we were off again.  A short time later, we were at the destination...

We looked at all the interesting stuff here.  Joan considered this more of a "recon" mission, so all we got was exercise.  50 bonus points if you can name this destination. ;-)

Steph called while we were in the parking lot - perfect timing; otherwise, we never would have heard the phone.  She and Dan just landed after doing a helicopter ride around Kaua'i, including a stop where they got out of the chopper for photos of a waterfall... a very nice birthday surprise from Dan.  It sounds like they are having a great time.

Time for us to head for home.  We stopped for fuel along the way, our first opportunity to get an accurate check of the mileage.  We went 115 miles since our last fill-up.  My bike used 1.15 gallons.  Pretty easy calculation, a nice round 100 miles per gallon.  Joan's bike used 1.08 gallons for the same miles... a whopping 106.4 miles per gallon.  I attribute the difference in mileage to the fact that I weigh a pound or 50 more than Joan.  Neither of us have been babying the throttle.  Peppy and economical - I like that combination!

It was along this stretch that we saw a reading of 90º.  Joan suggested an ice-cream stop.  Pretty and she knows what I like - I like that combination, too!

About 75 miles today, lots of urban variety.  We put the bikes back in the garage and spent some time with the grand-cats.  Back to the 5th wheel and some leash time for Izzy.

Yep, a good day in the desert.