And now, the end is near...

If you said, "My Way, Frank Sinatra, 1969," you get 100 bonus points.  If you said, "Lyrics written by Paul Anka," you get 500 additional bonus points.

We are gearing up to head to school today.  No scooter riding.  Today is the school competition for the Gravity Cruisers; Joan will be the official score keeper/tallier, I have been tasked with getting the teams ready for the starting line.  The GM guys will be measuring and officiating.

In the past, the kids have been fired up for this; expecting more of the same this year.  The competition and awards presentation will likely last until school is out.  Then, the anticipation of seeing who did, and didn't, practice for the guitar class.

Updates later.

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And, they're off!  Some faster and further than others.  The top 8 teams get to compete in the finals (2 from each class).  The crowd is fired up...

The cars are ready...

Let the competition begin.

In the end, a team from Steph's class took top honors...

I could say it was probably because of the excellent volunteer coaching they had.  But, I'd only be saying that because it's true.  ;-)

Since the kids weren't hyped up enough, there were cupcakes and juice for the celebration...

And, a folder with about 50 or 60 thank yous for Joan and me, from Steph's classes...

After school, another guitar lesson.  Apparent that only one kid actually practiced.  So, we went over how to tune a guitar (again) and practiced playing some chords (again).  And played part of one song (again).  For most of them, this class time is the only time they pick up their guitar.  It hit me that maybe they don't know how to practice... "Play this "e" chord, then switch to an "a" chord.  Let's do it again.  And, again.  Do you feel it is coming together any faster?  Good, now strum faster.  And switch.  And switch.  This is how you practice!"

"Tired of playing these two chords?  Let's throw a "d" chord in there!  Listen: we're making music!"

Or, noise.  There's a lot of noise.  😁

Once around...

Another beautiful day, more time on the scoots.  Yeah, we're probably trying to make up for lost time.  I suggested we drive around the White Tank Mountains, Joan said, "There's a new Oregano's on Bell Road - how's that for lunch?"

Yep.

She checked out the Maps app to see if we could find a road other than the Interstate to get to Sun Valley Parkway (that goes north and west around the White Tanks.

Heading out, suburban secondary roads...

Plenty of new homes going up in the West Valley...

A bit of highway on the way to Buckeye...

You may not think of Arizona for agriculture; if you irrigate, you can get two crops in per year...

The image above is one of the many dairy farms in this area - you can smell the dairy air!

The road changed to chip seal as we made our way west...

You can see the mountains ahead, so we are getting close; and then: gravel...

Joan pulled out her phone to find us another way around.  Gravel is not my friend when on the scoots.  They are great around the city, and even through the twisties.  But I do not like gravel, Sam I am.

We made our way south, then west, then north again, eventually connecting with Sun Valley Parkway and the highway that takes us around the White Tank Mountains.

In the middle of nowhere: a golf course...

Developed for Sun City Festival, another Del Webb development about 15 minutes west of the city of Surprise; it sits out with desert all around.

More through the desert, and then, we were back in civilization...

Our lunch stop at Oregano's...

The food was good and the place wasn't packed; must be new enough that everyone doesn't know it is here.  After lunch, we headed for home, picking a north/south road that was new to us.  On our ride today, we passed about a dozen motorcycles heading the other direction (most on that highway by the White Tanks)... every single one of them waved.  I think, like us, they were just happy to be out in the nice weather!  About 2 miles from the RV resort, there was another scooter coming our way... a Vespa... I waved... he didn't.  I've heard those Vespa riders can be snooty.  (Yes, that is a joke).

We did about 80 miles on the scoots today.  Just happy to be out and about, burning fossil fuel.

Proof that I was there, too...

Git Yer Motor Runnin...

Last night, Joan said to me, "Let's take the scoots across town for lunch tomorrow.  The Old Spaghetti Factory.  Sound good?"

She had me at "Let's take the scoots;" the Old Spaghetti Factory was an easy lock.  Yeah, I'm in.

With the crap weather we have had most of the past month, today was sunny, and a slow climb into the low 70s.  Perfect scootin' weather.

We ride differently, depending on where we are.  We can get away from civilization fairly easy here, but you have to go a long ways to get to hills and curves.  We tend to do "urban cruising" here... taking the secondary roads to get across town... and Phoenix is big in population and square miles.

Gearing up...

This is what secondary roads look like in the western suburbs, other than during more typical drive times...

Quite pleasant riding.  Decent road surfaces.  As you get closer to downtown Phoenix, the traffic thickens up and you have to watch for potholes, as well...

Google Street View out working...

Stupid Driver Tricks...

The red car was making a U-turn amid 4 lanes of traffic.  Riding 27 miles to the restaurant, you go through different neighborhoods...

Lots of small Mexican restaurants.  Tire shops - notice the Llantera sign in the distance in the middle of that photograph; often accompanied with "taller"... that has nothing to do with anyone's height, it is Spanish for "tire shop"... we passed a bunch of them.  Mexican restaurants have their own cooking smells, and you notice that when out on the scoots.

Getting closer to downtown, the neighborhoods change again: the gentrification, with apartments being renovated for those who want to live near the hub of the downtown area...

Then, arriving at our destination...

Yes, I have a fondness for spaghetti.  These folks have some interesting sauces: Joan had spaghetti with Italian sausage and meat sauce, I had the meat sauce and Mozithra cheese with browned butter.  Tasty!

Using the restrooms before getting back on the scoots, this sign seemed a bit sexist to me...

Offended?  Nah, it is humor... and humor is always funnier when there is truth in it.

We took a different route home.  Still on secondary roads, we know which roads go through; the Agua Fria Watershed runs mostly north/south near Hwy 101, and not all roads pass through it, so you have to be selective.  More interesting neighborhoods and businesses to check out as we rode through.  There was a stoplight discussion of ice cream... yeah, I'm in.  A stop at a Culver's that was only 4 or 5 miles out of the way, where we each had a sundae.  We won't need supper.

On the way home, we stopped at Steph's to pick up a couple packages delivered by Amazon.  One of the packages is another guitar seat; hopefully more comfortable than the one I last tried.  Alas, the box was WAY to big to strap on the scooter, so once we got home, I went back with the car.

Some assembly required.  This one is a completely different design from the last one... half the price and at least twice as comfortable (if you could quantify comfort)...

Yes, that is the assembly instructions on the table behind the seat; I do read the assembly instructions.  Most of the time.  With the seat assembled, it was time to give it a try...

This one is a keeper!  The seat portion of it looks less cushy that the previous one, but you can actually sit back against the back rest.  The height is adjustable.  The legs fold up, but to make it smaller (for travel), I will have to remove the seat portion (two large knobs that unscrew by hand).

I like it.  :-)

Looking at the weather forecast, it looks to be quite nice for at least the next week or so!  It's about damn time!

Well, that was easy...

The guitar class?  No, but that wasn't bad.  There was some discussion about practicing... "Yeah, I practiced for a while?"

"And by 'a while,' you mean you looked at your guitar as you walked by it?" I asked.  😆

I think I may have guilted a couple of them with the last class.  Whatever it takes to get them to practice.  Since I could see that a couple of them had improved since the last class, I made it a point to have them show the non-practicers how that chord should look.

And, at the end of the class, we played a two-chord song.  Well, I played a two-chord song slowly, and they tried to keep up... "Practice those chords and the changes will come faster for you - see you Thursday!"

We'll see how that goes.

While at Steph's school, I checked the tracking and saw that my replacement Bose PA had been delivered.  Great, now I just have to get to it before any "porch pirates" abscond with it.  Yes, it was there when I got to Steph's house; I loaded it into the car and took it back to the motorhome.  Plugged it in and tested out all the settings on each of the channels: good to go!

I put the old one in the box the new one came in, taped it up, and took it to the UPS Store.  It is slick when you have the info ahead of time: I pulled up the scan on my phone, the young lady in the store scanned it, printed the shipping label, and gave me a receipt.  Bose paid for the return shipping, and all I had to do was get it to the UPS Store.  Easy.

I have to give a big ol' kudos to Bose: they made it very easy for me to get the replacement (they trusted that I would send the original one back) and get the get the old one sent back to them.  No doubt they will do the minor repair and sell it as a refurbished unit.

Just the beginning...

Dan has been doing great with the guitar learning.  Today, he and I made a guy-trip to Guitar Center so he could pick up a few accessories: strap, stand, more picks.

Yep, just the start.  I hope I have not led him down a slippery path.

My kid is still feeling lousy, so I am keeping my distance... talking to her from the doorway to her room.  Joan was planning on making a roast today for the 4 of us.  The coach smells great with all the cooking smells.  Unfortunately, she will be putting into containers for them and Dan will come pick up their "meals on wheels."

The plague...

Our daughter has a cold... or bronchitis... or the flu... possibly the plague.  My heart feels for her, but (even though I have had a flu shot) I don't want to get too close.  Generally when we are here, the four of us go out for lunch on Saturdays.  Not today, but we did invite Dan to join us, and he also got a meal to take back to her.

I'm sure the crappy weather hasn't made things any easier on her.  And being around a bunch of germ factories 5 days a week.

After lunch, I went with Dan back to their place for his next guitar lesson.  Just the opposite of the guitar class at Steph's school, Dan has been putting in the practice and it shows!  He has the chords down that we have worked on, and he learned a song on his own, from the internet!  I am excited for his progress.  We worked on that song, another song, some individual note picking, and a couple more chords... including his introduction to bar chords.  Kudos to Dan for working at it!

Before going out for a late lunch, we spent some time on the patio with Rufus; he has been cooped up inside for the last few days because of the weather.  Even though it was chilly today (got up to 58º), it was sunny.  It felt good to be outside, for all 3 of us.

Photo documentation...

It's a start.  :-)

Customer Service...

A good example!

I saw on a guitar internet forum that the Bose PA I have may have a battery issue.  It is a nice compact PA that runs on AC power or on a built-in battery.  It is an impressive unit, especially for its compact size.  I generally use it plugged in, but I did notice that the battery loses its charge faster than I expected.  Not when using it, but when the unit sits, not being used.

I called Bose to see if it was something I should be concerned about.  After confirming the serial number, the Bose Support rep told me they would be giving me a new unit and providing a call tag for mine so there will be no cost to me to ship it back.

Impressive.  We have other Bose products, but this is the first time I have contacted their Service/Support.  I had heard they excel in customer service... I have to agree with that.

Gray...

My hair?  Well, yeah, but I was speaking of the weather.  Solid overcast and rain all day.  In fact, this morning, we had about 30 seconds of smaller than pea size hail.  It was 49º when we left to go to Steph's school just before noon, and 49º on our way home at 4:00.

The second to the last class for the Gravity Cruisers - today was all about getting as many test runs as possible in.  There were some triumphs (3 girls who couldn't get their car to go at all previously, and ran almost 7 meters today) and defeats (a couple cars that made good distance last week, couldn't match those previous runs).  Tomorrow, they will pare it down, and the top 2 or 3 contenders in each class will compete for school honors next week.

The guitar lesson was definitely more gray than sunny: they had a 4 day break (Friday through Monday), so this was the first lesson in a week.  Apparently, no one (besides me 😎) practiced at all.  The skills they acquired in the first two lessons were gone.  It was like starting at the beginning.  Fortunately, my income for this is not based on their performance... zero dollars, whether they put in the effort or not.

One kid said, "We want to learn some songs."

"I am right there with you - I was hoping to show you some songs today.  But, if no one can play the chords we learned last week, it just isn't possible to play a song."  I showed them a simple 3-chord song... "Maybe we can learn this next class if you practice the chords?"

I had to chuckle to myself... I haven't figured out a way to play songs on the guitar without actually playing the guitar.  ;-)

Back to the coach after an early BBQ supper, the local news is all about the weather: heavy snow in northern Arizona, but even parts of the Phoenix area, like Scottsdale and Cave Creek, had a dusting of snow today.  I wore my flannel-lined jeans today.  (sigh)

Old friends...

No, they're not old - they're our age.  ;-)

We had lunch today with friends, Mark and Cindy; I've known Mark since 10th grade (different schools) when we started playing in a band together.  Years later, after we had both been in different bands, we did a duo together as the "house band" in a rowdy bar and then in an upscale hotel lounge.

Our lives have gone different directions, but we always seem to get together, even if it is every few years.  They are the kind of friends where you just pick right up again.  We talked about what we have been doing, our families... mostly just catching up.

We met at a restaurant midway between us... and over 3 hours went by while we were visiting.  Seemed like we were just getting started.

Hopefully, we will get the opportunity to get together with them again while we are here.

Super Snow Moon...

Look - in the sky!  It's a bird!  It's a plane!  It's the Super Snow Moon!

The full moon tonight is the biggest full moon of 2019, putting it into the "super moon" category due to the proximity of the moon in it's current orbit.  It is not, however, wearing a cape and a big red "S" on its chest.

And, Snow Moon?  I probably don't have to explain, but... winter.

And, now the moon looks on this clear night in the desert...

Pretty bright out there, although the image above was shot on manual to see all the detail.  Really, it's bright.

It isn't going to snow here in the Phoenix area tonight, but the low is going to be around 32º.  Yeah, freezing.  In the desert.  Where it isn't always hot.

Oh, and...

;-)