I should not have written that...

... "Corona virus" comment yesterday.  I have come down with something.  May be the flu, more likely a cold... hopefully not: a man cold.  One symptoms for that: this is the worst cold anyone has ever had.

That shit ain't funny.

We had plans to meet at a music festival today with Mark and Cindy.  Not going to happen for me.  I really don't like being the one who has to cancel.

I especially don't like being the one who is sick.  Damn, another symptom of the man cold.

You would have thought...

... I had the Corona Virus.

No, I don't.  I do feel a bit lousy, no doubt due to being around those juvenile germ factories for 4 days out of the last week.  Sore throat and sinuses draining.  Nothing bad enough to stop me from getting out and about.

We did our grocery shopping this morning... and in the words of the child philosopher from the Shake 'n Bake commercials of the 60s: "And I helped!"  Well, mostly I push the cart around and look for fruit that you can't really tell what it will be like.  But, I do push the cart back to the cart corral and help carry bags in from the car.  Then, I put Rufus on a leash, and he and I get out of the way while Joan puts stuff away.  Part science, part art, part voodoo, for where things go in this compact space.  Above my pay grade.

We had talked about getting out on the scoots this afternoon, but Joan had second thoughts: one of those thoughts was that I should lay down and take it easy.  Another of those thoughts was her getting into her next quilting project... which, by the way, is quite cool and reminds me of someone in this motorhome who is adored.  What?  No, not me - someone of the feline persuasion.

I decided to get out and about on the scoot.  No destination.  I found myself pulling into the Pebble Creek gated community.  The guard at the gate, sized me up on my Vespa and asked, "What can I help you with?"  I asked about seeing their model homes.  I could see what he was thinking, but he let me in, anyway.  I went to the model homes, and they have nothing I would be interested in... or could likely afford.  I asked about smaller square footage offerings, and the lady at the desk said, "We do have The Villas - they are an "attached" home (her emphasis)... and I found out they are what we normal folks would call a duplex.

She gave me directions to get to The Villas model homes... this is a large development and apparently they got their lot/street layout from a Spirograph design (remember those?): not much in the way of a direct way to get anywhere that I could see.  I followed the map and managed to stumble onto the Villas models.  I went inside a two bedroom model and met "the ambassador" inside.  I think they hired a Christopher Walken impersonator... Matt was from New Jersey (he even sounded like Christoper Walken); his job is to have a live person in the model home, probably for security's sake.  We visited for a while.  I tried to keep the conversation about the community, he wanted to tell me about his kids... one of whom is married and has two kids, the other isn't married, but lives with her long term boyfriend - "Kids these days"...

I looked around a bit - nice place; a very open design and good size rooms.  I thanked Matt for his time.  Even though other people came to look, I don't think he wanted me to leave.

From there, I rode around the Spirograph streets, mostly looking for a way out.  I finally pulled up our RV resort on Waze and eventually got out.

Heading back, I decided to stop at the new Harley dealer along the way.  Like most Harley dealers these days, it is a large building with high ceilings and plenty of glass (so you can see some of the Harleys lit up at night).  As I pulled into a parking spot, an employee who was outside saw me and averted his gaze...

 

I went inside, carrying my riding jacket.  I was greeted with: "Welcome back!"  Probably something they are told to say to anyone who is wearing riding gear.  I looked around at bikes - there's something you don't see everywhere:  Harleys that are marked down from full list price.  And, they had a LOT of bikes.  Even though I can now toss a leg over a motorcycle again, I didn't try any on for size... really, I am quite content with my Vespa.

I did walk back to their footwear area... no riding boots in a wide width.  And you know what they say: wide feet... well, probably something about needing wide boots.  It wasn't a long stay at the Harley dealer - they didn't have any Hollywood impersonators.  (Insert your own "impersonators on HDs" joke here.)  Nice place, though... and did I mention: a LOT of bikes?

It wasn't a lot of miles, but it was nice to get out on the scoot.

The Finals...

Our last day with the Gravity Cruiser project.  Today was the finals - there were a total of 12 teams in this last competition, out of over 40 that started.  The competition was held in the multi-purpose room, on the stage.  Steph visited with Ken (the main guy for this from GM)...

Joan was the score-keeper, I was getting teams line up and ready to roll their cars.  The 4 guys from GM either staged cars or did the distance measuring.  The cars shoved off, one by one.  Each team was allowed two runs.  The premise was: one teams runs, then retrieves their car and re-stages it, while the second team runs.  That premise went by the wayside when some of the kids couldn't get their cars re-staged in a reasonable time.

When all was said and done, three teams emerged victorious...

Photos by yours truly, so Steph would have photos for their yearbook.

Put a fork in me - I'm done.  ;-)

The kids gave us thank-you letters when it was done... fun to read.  Apparently, we had an effect on them with this project... or, Steph told them to say that.  ;-)  For some of these kids, English is not their first language, so we both appreciate the time they put into writing the notes.

Tango...

It takes two.  But, this boy makes three.

We had our day with Mark and Cindy again; Joan and Cindy both made more progress on their guitar quilt projects, Mark and I made music.  No photos of either.

Mark took a few minutes to hook an interface to his Macbook Pro, and we tried out some computer recording.  It is a different animal compared to using the Spire Studio... Mark was intent on showing me some things, but it will need to be a hands-on for me.  Kind of an "old dogs, new tricks" sorta thing.  No question it will be a steeper learning curve, since the digital audio workstation has about a zillion more options.

We left Mark and Cindy's earlier than usual - Steph and Dan were scheduled to have a visitor at their house, and we wanted to be there to meet him...

As you can see, he is a ginger; medium hair, 9 months old.  He has been with a foster home for 4 of those months.  He seems friendly and social, and can really use a forever family.

Playful.  A bit of a cliche', but: bright-eyed and bushy tailed.  He is a handsome boy, but looks pretty small compared to their two big cats (Siberian Forest Cats) and Rufus (who is the largest of those 3).

They briefly introduced their other cats, one by one, to Tango.  He was friendly.  Alfie was curious.  Tasha wasn't sure... let out a hiss or two, but wasn't aggressive to the new kid.

This is a "trial period."  I saw the look on Steph's face.  Welcome to the family, Tango.

Detention...

We were in Steph's classroom again today.  I am calling this the semi-finals of the Gravity Cruiser projects.  The goal: get three runs in, with the longest distance (first and second) in each class going to the "finals" on Thursday.

The guys from GM will award a First, Second, and Third place for the entire grade... no "participation trophies."  I think Steph's group will have a strong contender for the longest distance.  We'll see how it plays out on Thursday.

While we were doing the semi-final distance runs, we continue to encourage the kids.  Frankly, some of them "get it," and some don't.  On each of the first place finishers in the different classes, I told them, "You are in first place.  You can have three runs, but I would suggest you consider not changing anything, and only doing a second or third run if another team catches up to you."  They all did additional runs.

"Why suggest they not keep trying for a better run, Jim?"  Thanks for asking.  At this late point, the fragile cars are all showing signs of being handled.  They just need to hold together until Thursday.  Any changes at this point, may actually decrease performance (the reason for all the previous testing).

A significant achievement: every single team in her classes had movement today.  That hasn't always been the case: as we closed in on these semi-finals, some of the cars hadn't moved, or simply fell over (due to bad balance with the construction).

The "detention" part: no we didn't get in trouble.  They were having a problem with the bells signaling end of class, and end of the day.  We didn't get out before "the big rush."  So, we sat in Steph's room until the crazy traffic moved on.  It got real quiet in that room, with just Joan and me in there.  ;-)  Not that I was ever in detention when I was a kid... just joking about having to stay after school.

More Change...

Back to Mark and Cindy's today.  Mark and I started off with a trip to Guitar Center, where he was swapping out a studio monitor speaker.  We took some time to look around after Dumb and Dumber on staff there finally got Mark's swap taken care of... and interesting mixer that could be useful for recording, and Mark played a couple bass guitars.

When we got back, Mark asked about the Little River Band concert... that evolved into us working on one of their songs: Cool Change.  I've been playing that for a long time, but it is quite different with a nice piano part worked in.  We spent the rest of the afternoon working on that.

In the meantime, Joan and Cindy were busy with their guitar quilt projects.  Cindy had stitched down quite a bit of hers, so Joan was on deck for doing that part of her project...

Those are the only photos I got today, but the stitching around the guitars adds to the 3-D look of the project.  I am impressed!

Time for a "Cool Change"...

If you said, "Little River Band, 1979," you get 100 bonus points.  If you said, "Cool Change is the name of your current boat," you get an extra 200 bonus points.  If you said, "You're going to see Little River Band live tonight," you are psychic, and I would like the winning PowerBall numbers, please.  ;-)

Yep, a double date tonight, going out with Steph and Dan.

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The Concert:

We had supper in downtown Phoenix on the way to Talking Stick Casino, where Little River Band was playing.  We got to the casino early enough to do a bit of gaming before going to the Grand Ballroom, where the concert was being held.

Steph and Joan both picked up some merch (T-shirts, I speak the lingo) on the way in.  We've seen LRB and Styx in this venue before, so we knew what to expect;  Even with a full house (and this was Standing Room Only full), everyone gets a good view.  We found our seats and settled in...

Stephanie made the comment that "She feels young with this crowd."  Little River Band has been around for 45 years, so most of their fan base is our age or older.  Directly in front of us, this lady (who looked to be older that we are) was shopping for a Ramones T-shirt...

Little River Band started 10 minutes late.  By rock 'n roll standards, that is almost early.  ;-)  We had picked up ear plugs for all of us on the way here, but they weren't necessary: the sound was well-balanced and not too loud... and they rocked right out of the gate...

Their harmony and musicianship was great.  The bass player, Wayne Nelson, has been with the current line-up the longest.  None of the founding members of the band are still a part of it.  In fact, there have been legal battles over who actually owns the name.  Some have called this line up of the band "a tribute band, since none of these current members were around during the band's heyday in the 70s.

All that aside, they sounded great tonight, and Nelson did a great job fronting the band and keeping the crowd excited...

They played for about 90 minutes - did most of the 70s and 80s hits, with a couple newer songs (from the 90s and early 2000s).  Nelson did joke that "the newer songs are when people take a pee break."

It was a nice night out for the 4 of us.  Steph joked about the "old time music," while we (I) challenged her to come up with any great current music that she enjoys.  She played a couple John Mayer songs in the car on the way home.  Yeah, I'd rather listen to Little River Band and spend some time... Reminiscing.  (Get it?  ;-) )

Perspective (again)...

This morning, the local Arizona weather weasels were calling it, "windy."  Well, there is plenty of dust in the air.

In Arizona: 13mph = windy.
In south Texas: 13mph = nearly calm.

We helped in Steph's class again today.  They are getting down to the wire on their Gravity Cruiser projects, and a few of them had cars that wouldn't move.  Others hadn't gotten in a decent test.  Today, we got them to the point where everyone's car moved  Most of them who were already moving we getting better distance.  And, that is the point.

Next Tuesday, they will have their classroom competitions.  Thursday will be their school competitions.  We offered our help on Tuesday, and had already committed to Thursday, for the finals.  "Committed" is a good description.

Just for fun, Joan built another car last night...

No, it won't be used in the competition - Steph can use it next year as an example of another design.

Joan was tuckered out after our time with the kids yesterday.  Today was my turn: my ass was dragging by the time we finished.  The previous rule was: one adult had to be over-seeing each team testing in the hallway.  To get through all of them that were ready to make their final tests, I was doing up to three teams at a time... I had 'em going different directions and starting from different points.  Only one head-on collision.  ;-)

Rufus was ready for some patio time when we got home...

Cruising, on a Thursday afternoon...

Sung to the tune of "Groovin'" by The Rascals... "couldn't get away too soon."  ;-)

Yep.  Gravity Cruisers again today.  Some teams are doing quite well - if they can keep their cars together, they should place in the competition next week.  Other teams... let's just say: they wouldn't know gravity if it hit 'em in the head.

The GM volunteers have figured out that doing testing (in the hallway) means they don't have to find ways to encourage the builds on the teams that need a bit more... um, encouragement.

Joan and I spent almost all of our time in the classroom.  We are getting down to the wire, and there are still some cars that haven't had a successful test run.  Slow... sure, let's say I'm referring to some of the cars.

Progress...

Another day with friends Mark and Cindy.  Mark and I completed a couple recording projects (more on that later), Joan and Cindy have their quilt projects assembled...

The next step will be sewing and quilting.  I am looking forward to see how that all happens.

Joan took some more photos of Mark and me...

As I get the recordings uploaded to SoundCloud, once again, we'll have current photos for those files.

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https://soundcloud.com/captainjimb/show-me-the-way-v2

An acoustic cover of the Peter Frampton song, Show Me the Way.  Mark on piano, organ, bass, synth flute, and background vocal.  Jim on lead vocal, guitar, and hand percussion.


https://soundcloud.com/captainjimb/all-my-loving-v11

A cover of one of my favorite Beatles songs, All My Loving.  Mark on piano, organ, bass, synth sax, and background vocal.  Jim on lead vocal, guitar, and drums.

Desert Scenery...

I have mentioned that the desert has a unique "beauty" about it.  I'm spinning that the best way I can... I like greenery, swaying palm trees, rugged mountains, golden sand beaches, sparkly water; the desert is rugged.  Some of the floral and fauna can be interesting, especially Saguaro cacti.

We have been looking for other places to ride, and found a website for Arizona motorcycle roads.  Most of them are not close enough to the Phoenix area for an easy day-trip, but we did find one that runs north to Wickenburg, west of the White Tank Mountains.  It was rated high for curvy roads and scenery... worth checking out.

Heading out from our RV park, riding west to hook up with I-10...

We got on the Interstate at Buckeye, riding west.  The scoots did fine keeping up with the flow of traffic.  I didn't take any photos until we were pulling off at Exit 103...

Looking at the map, it looks like we will have to endure some straights to get to the good riding.

A solar farm...

This sign made me sad...

If there are cattle free-ranging around here, there isn't much for them to eat.  The scenery...

Yes, that is an actual curve above.

Low mountains...

Oh, look - another curve...

And, back to the straights...

About 40 miles in, we got to the good riding: curves and desert scenery...

Apparently, AZDOT is concerned about people running off the road around curves, after those miles of straight-away...

The best part of this ride goes through some Federal land, that apparently allows boondocking...

Not sure who they were referring to with that "Dips" sign.  And then, we were rolling into the town of Wickenburg...

We rode through town, then headed back to the Valley of the Sun via Hwy 60.  We stopped at a rest area along the way, to re-hydrate and have some snacks...

Back to Hwy 60...

A mostly 65mph speed limit that eventually leads us to Loop 303.  We pulled off the 303 at Bell Rd, planning to take some surface roads back to our motorhome.  And then, this called out to me...

Oregano's Pizza and Pasta.  And I will vouch for the pizza being especially tasty.  More of my creed: Live to Ride, Ride to Eat.  ;-)

It's about a half hour ride back to our RV park from there.  Another lovely day in the desert, and a fun day on the scoots.

Patio time with Rufus when we got home.