And I hepped...

 

That's a reference from the Shake 'n Bake commercials from back in the 70s, where the little girl helped make the chicken by shaking before Mom did the baking.

This morning, there was some running to be done: a package to take to the UPS Store (we missed the driver yesterday, but he left a return tag) and a grocery run to Wally World.  The box being returned held a piece of wall art that was poorly packaged and misrepresented - and by "poorly packaged," I mean: one side of the box wasn't taped when it arrived.  Fortunately, the art piece inside it was scratched and bent.  Fortunate?  Yes, because it was also fugly... a matte finished that showed every scratch and sucked the life and color out of the piece.  I can't believe the seller wants this thing back - they would have been money ahead to say, "Just toss it."  Which we would have done, because... fugly.  And damaged.  And fugly.

The box is just a bit longer than my outstretched arms, so it was ungainly to haul to the car and then into the UPS Store.  And this seller (through Amazon) gets to pay to ship this piece of crap back that they will undoubtedly throw away.

On to Walmart.  Every Walmart is different; oh, they have mostly the same stuff, but the clientele and "feel" of each store is representative of the neighborhood.  At the Walmart in our former home town in Texas, the store clientele changed with the seasons: Winter Texans all winter.  They like to park their carts in the middle of the aisle (generally at a diagonal so it takes up more space) while they visit.  Weekends, it is more Mexican nationals and Valley people, with screaming kids, heading to the beach.  Weekday mornings are a good time to go there.

The Walmart closest to us here is about 3 1/2 miles away.  It is more of a melting pot of ethnic backgrounds.  For some reason, about 73% of the people in there feel the need to be on their phones while shopping... some talking, some just watching videos.  Joan has been there more frequently than I have, but I haven't figured out a slack time to shop... it's always busy.  As I've come to expect, there is the occasional person who looks like they are in their pajamas.  And always a mom with 3 kids, at least one of which has snot dripping off their chin... yes, out the nose, across the lips, and dripping off the chin.  Joan is pleased that the store has, so far, always looked clean.

And I hepped... um, helped.  I took back the first cart because it had square wheels.  The second cart had one wheel that didn't touch the floor - you get a good upper body workout by trying to keep it running straight.  I think Joan had 6 things on her list, yet we managed to spend $86; that's below our average.

One thing we needed: air filters for the air conditioner.  The size we needed was on the top shelf, out of reach.  Joan went one aisle over and brought back a step ladder - a lot faster than trying to round up an employee.  Over on the food side of the store, she was able to step on the front rack of the shopping cart to reach another high placed item - I put my weight on the back of the cart to keep it from tipping while she was on it.  Standing on the cart shifted the wheel alignment enough that all 4 wheels touched, but only 3 of them rolled... an even more intensive upper body workout for the rest of our excursion.

Back home, I still look around when we come in the front door, expecting to see our furry boy greeting us.  Not sure how long it will take to get beyond that.

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Third time's a charm... 

I got out on the CTX this afternoon, with a plan to ride up that twisty road on South Mountain.  Of course, there is still construction and a road closure on a direct road between us and South Mountain Park...

So, a couple miles for a detour, but not unexpected.  What a change from the last two times with this destination: the first was packed with traffic and I didn't bring a camera; the second (on Sunday) was the "Silent Sunday" meaning no motorized traffic on that road.  Today, I had the road almost entirely to myself - never had a vehicle in front of me on the way up or down.

Mother Nature was cooperative, as well: 77º, mostly sunny, light wind around 5 mph.  It was a fun ride to the top of the mountain...

To be fair: not "Black Hills fun riding" - this road from the entrance of the park to the summit is about 6 miles.  The speed limit is 25 mph, 15 mph in the curves.  On my way back down the mountain, I went by 4 other motorcycles going up... pretty sure they were a mile or two above the speed limit, too.  ;-)

Once at the top (as far as the road goes), there is a beautiful view of the Valley of the Sun...

From this vantage point, you can see downtown Phoenix and all the other mountains that define this valley.

There was one other person at the view area when I walked to it - a lady who looked like Sheldon's Meemaw (from the Big Bang Theory, not Young Sheldon).  She said to me, "I saw you pull up on that motorcycle - was that a scary ride?"

"Not at all - in fact, it was a lot of fun."  I took my helmet off so she could see I was about her age and harmless.  She had a definite "midwest accent" and was apparently looking for someone to visit with.  We had a nice conversation: she told me she moved from Kansas (I was right about that accent) to Washington State to be near her kids after her husband passed away.  This was her first time in the Phoenix area and she was enjoying the sight-seeing.  She told me about her grandkids... how she enjoyed picking the youngest up from school... how she feels bad for most kids who don't get parenting like "in our day."  She has a son who is a school teacher, and how stressful that profession has become.  I told her that my daughter and son-in-law had both been teachers and how Joan and I used to volunteer in our daughter's class before Covid hit.  She told me how the limited sun during the winters in Washington was depressing.

Yeah, she had no problem visiting with a stranger.  After, "Well, I have talked your ear off - I better head back to the car...", a 40ish guy came up and said, "Mom, we better get going if we're going to get you to the airport in time..."  I told him it was me talking and that his Mother is a nice lady.  "Yes, she has never met a stranger..."  ;-)  I wished the two of them safe travels and headed back to my bike.  "Be careful on that motorcycle," she said as I walked away; I heard her tell her son, "It was nice to talk to someone my own age."

The ride down the mountain was just as entertaining as the ride up.  Once out of the park, I thought I'd try heading west on the road that was closed on my way here... it was open last Sunday, but not today.  I had to zig and zag to get to another through road and wound up in bumper to bumper traffic on Baseline heading west.  Lane splitting (or: filtering) is now legal here.  I didn't want to ride between the two lanes of stopped traffic that went on for as far as I could see... but I did go for the center turn lane... because only 3 or 4 blocks ahead, I was going to turn left.  That worked for me until I got close to the intersection where I would make my turn - traffic was backed up there in that turn lane, too.

Once onto S 27th Ave, I left the traffic behind me.  It had been a good ride... good for the soul.  Yes, I shot some 360 video (that's where these stills came from), but it will probably be a couple days before I have time to work on that.