Thinning out...

Not my hair.  Well, not what I'm talking about with this post anyway.

The RV park is thinning out.  I've noticed there is a process: things that have been scattered around the patios get picked up; the RV gets washed; tow vehicle electrical connections are getting lubed.

While Joan is doing laundry today, I washed the coach... yep, we're "in the process"... some WD-40 on the electrical connections.  Arranging things in our storage.  We'll keep the patio intact until Saturday.

Getting close.

Been a while since we've done that...

Really?

I'm talking about setting an alarm.  In fact, we had to put new batteries in Joan's alarm clock - I can't remember the last time we needed to set it.

The reason for the early morning (up at 6:15)?  Thanks for asking.  It is Career Day at Steph's school, and we're off to tell them about being a whale watch boat captain.  Not sure what will be the most interesting part for 6th graders: how they play with their food, or the poop-sniffing dogs that researchers use?

Four speakers for each grade, K through 12.  Hope we can find a parking place.

:-)

-----------------

This was very well organized: the speakers went to the library and there were kids with your name on a sign (like at the airport), waiting to escort you to the room where you will be making your presentation.  Of course, Steph had us assigned to her room, so that would not have been necessary, but the kids like to volunteer for that greeter/escort duty.

Once in Steph's room, we had a few minutes to kill, while she gave her homeroom instructions.  Nothing for me to set up, since the presentation was on Steph's classroom computer.  Three sessions for each speaker, 25 minutes each.  Steph gave me last minute "don't say this or that" instructions, the bell rang, and the kids were off to their choice of speakers.

I felt pretty good that this session filled up first - didn't want Steph to be disappointed.  She had the intro slide up when the kids came in...

I told the kids a bit about the San Juan Islands, a brief talk about the exceptional wildlife viewing there, about our tours, then onto the whales!  Some of the kids were familiar with Sea World and Shamoo, but I think it was eye-opening to them to find out how small the Southern Resident Killer Whale population is.

I had enough material to go more than an hour, so I tried to cater the 25 minutes to what the kids were interested in.  They had plenty of good questions.

A five minute break between sessions, while kids rotated from one room to the next.  Steph was looking relieved as the 3rd session got underway... I hadn't embarrassed her.  Towards the end of the last session came the question of: "How do you tell the male Orcas from the females?"

I could see the "Oh, no!" look on her face - pretty sure she was mouthing "Don't say what I think you're going to say..."

I pointed out the differences in their dorsal fins.  ;-)

Steph asked, "Could you tell them about how the research boats get DNA from the Orcas?"

"Certainly!"  I pulled up the image of the research boats and talked about the poop-sniffing dogs and how they gather whale poop to study.  That may have been the highlight of that particular talk.

It went well.  The kids were great, and the sessions were short enough to hold everyone's attention.  Mike, Steph's principal, thanked us on the way out (we've known Mike since he, Steph, and Dan taught at the same school when they first started).

An early start to the day, but our work was done around 10:00.  I took my Honey out for breakfast.  Plenty of time for some shopping that Joan wanted to do, get a car wash, and still be home before 1:00.

Yeah, time for a nap after that early morning.  ;-)


--------------

Changed my mind - some guitar time on the patio, with Rufus allowed to explore without his leash.  Don't worry - he wouldn't go far, and if he tried, we'd be right there.  It is getting very quiet in the RV park - about half empty, with more leaving each day.  It's that time.

Oh, and the patio time...

Playa...

Not talking about a Mexican beach - this is play-ya, as in "player."  No, not making time with the ladies, this is about Rufus the cat, and how he likes to play...

Joan has been saying that Rufus is a Daddy's boy - he does like to sit by me (and sleep by me at night), but Joan has been playing with him.  The favorite toys are still the rope and the ribbon, and he goes for them...

The camera motion wasn't intentional - the boy is fast.

With our days here running out, we decided to get another scooter ride in today.  We took off from our RV park, heading west to Buckeye...

Lots of new construction on the way to Buckeye.  We stopped at Firehouse Subs (tasty) before making a clockwise circumnavigation of the White Tank Mountains.  While at Firehouse, a family sat behind us... Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, and 3 rowdy boys.  There was a constant ruckus - all 3 boys looked to be less than 5 years old... there was crying, hitting, food throwing, screaming ("He threw my chips on the floor!  Whaaaahhh!").  I said to Joan, "Yeah, I think I'm OK with not having grandkids..."  ;-)

We decided to take I-10 west for a few miles to get to the Sun Valley Parkway that goes around the west and north side of the White Tanks.  We were mixing it up with a lot of semi traffic... the PCXes are capable of doing 65 mph... a bit of a wind out of the southwest and some uphill... we were a few miles per hour short of that.  But, we made up for that speed loss by holding on for dear life from the buffeting of those passing trucks.  I couldn't get a photo while mixing it up the Interstate traffic, but here we are heading off on the exit ramp...

It was probably 5 or 6 miles on the Interstate; only felt like 100.  ;-)  Off of the Interstate and onto Sun Valley Parkway...

In spite of what that sign says in the photo above, we were not in Idaho.  You can see the White Tank Mountains in the background...

It is a 4 lane divided highway, and not much in the way of traffic...

The desert scenery...

It has been dry around here.  We have been here in years past where the desert is a lush green and the cacti are in full bloom.  Not this year.

In the photo below, those are Saguaro cacti awaiting a new home in the development at Sun City Festival...

You can see the cactus below, with the wood supports holding it up while it tries to "dig in"...

Towards the end of that parkway, we did see a couple barrel cacti with a wimpy bit of bloom...

Some yellow flowers (weeds?) in the median...

Not a particularly colorful spring in the desert.  Coming over the hill, and you are back in the civilization in Surprise...

And thanks to irrigation and sprinkles, plenty of greenery...

Another 15 miles and we are back to the coach.  A bit of patio time with Rufus before we head to Steph and Dan's for supper.  A nice day in the desert; good ride.

Stealerships...

That's what my scooter forum buddy Jerry calls the big multi-brand dealerships in the Phoenix area.  My experience has pretty much duplicated that.

Last night, I saw a new, non-current (2016) Suzuki Burgman at one of those dealerships for $2999.  IF it could be bought for somewhere near that price, it would be a good deal over the $5495 price of a current model new.

So, today, we went out and about on the scoots...

We avoid the Interstates with these scoots, but we get close.  ;-)

Nah - the RV park we are in is just south of I-10, so anywhere we go north means going under the Interstate.

So not to speak directly about where we went to look at the Burgman 200, I'll just say it is a multi-brand dealership... named Ride Now, located on Bell Road in Surprise...

The first person to greet us was a nice young man who was mostly a dirt rider - he knew they had a Burgman 200, he knew it was a scooter, and that was about it.  Joan and I spent some time poking around the scoot...

The price on the bike was only $500 higher than what was listed online.  When I pointed that out, the young man told me, "We will honor that price."

I asked, "Without all the bullshit fees?"  He looked down at his feet.  I asked if we could get the key to check out the storage.  It took them 10 minutes and a lot of scurrying to come up with the key.

Wanting to know about the maintenance, I asked about battery access.  He went to the shop to bring a tech out to answer us... and came back alone.  "He said it is somewhere under where your feet go."  Joan looked it up on the internet

I told the young man that we should probably talk price and reminded him of my feelings about all the over-inflated fees.  "We'll treat you right," he said.

Another guy came out to look at my PCX for a trade and said, "That is in really nice shape."

"Yep, we take care of 'em."

I went back inside to look around the Burgman some more; Joan had a seat at a table.  Another 10 minutes and a 3rd guy came out to "do the dealing."

When he put the sales sheet down on the table, I looked at the bottom line and asked, "Did you forget about my trade-in?"  I was being facetious - even though I told them I didn't want to play the "stick 'em with big fees, then show 'em how you'll discount" game, that's what they were going to do.  Not wanting to publicly shame this person, I'll just say his initials are: Brian, with a lot of tattoos and a bushy beard.

Before he could start to explain all the over-inflated prices, I said, "We're done here."

"Wait, wait - let's talk about this.  This is just a starting point..."

I took the sheet and started going over each bullshit item: "Did you really pay that much to get it shipped to you?  Wow, you guys really got ripped off; that is more than twice what it really costs.  Almost $400 to set it up?  How bad are your mechanics that it takes them that kind of time?  Sales tax and license have to be paid - but it Texas, not in Arizona.  Let's just say that one is close.  A $395 document fee?  You want me to pay for your secretary to type up the sales sheet?  She must be getting paid $800 per hour!  Oh, and that is YOUR JOB to write up the sale and do the paperwork.  Apparently, you think I am stupid?"

He said, "I don't think you are stupid..."

"Well then, YOU must be stupid.  'Cause there are only two of us at this table, and one of us is definitely stupid, and you don't think it is me - so it must be you.  Listen, Brian, I don't want to be combative, but this is a terrible way to try to do business."

He said, "I didn't mean to make you mad..."

"I'm not mad, Brian.  Well, OK, I'm a bit peeved that you think ANYONE goes for this crap, but mostly I feel sorry for you that you have to lie and try to cheat people as your job."

They wanted $1150 dollars and my scooter MORE than the advertised price of their scoot.  A total of $4145 difference... yes, on a scooter priced at $2999.

"Wait - that's just a starting point.  Now you make me an offer..."

"I told you I don't want to play that stupid game.  If you could have done better, you should have come to me with that.  NOW, you say you can give me a better price?  So, you were willing to cheat me if I didn't complain about it?  I was willing to go $2 grand difference, on a bike that you've had sitting for a couple years, and trading my very desirable scoot, which you would be able to sell easily.  IF you came to what I was willing to pay originally, I would not do business with such a lying cheating bunch.  So, we're done."

He said, "Give me 30 seconds."

I said, "That's about the amount of time it will take me to walk out your door and to our scoots.  Don't waste your time."

As we were putting on our helmets, he came out the door and said, "We'll go $2500 difference."

"Not with me you won't."

He started telling me that he has a $30,000 Harley that is only worth $11,000 to this dealership... I said, "That should teach you something about working for an outfit like this."

"Oh, well," he said, "ya can't get every sale."

"I can't believe you can get ANY sales with this crap."

Joan decided to jump in when she heard what they were originally asking for a difference: "So you want to charge us almost $1800 to take his trade in?  That's crazy."

"Yeah, we discussed this," I said, "more stupid than crazy."  ;-)

We left.  On the bright side, it was a nice urban scooter ride today.  We stopped at Mickey D's for some ice cream and a chance to talk about this stealership.

Heading for home...

Last Sunday family meal before we roll...

A week from today, we plan to start rolling east.  Whenever we are here, we do a family meal on Sundays with Steph and Dan.  Steph and Joan did the cooking - a beef roast today.  A good meal to have in honor of my Mother - today is her birthday; she would have been 97.  She would always make a roast when we would visit.

Joan surprised them today with another sewing project: a stuffed fish (like the one she made for Rufus) that matches the cat pad she made for them...

It goes great with the black leather furniture and red accessories they have in their living room.

We also brought a couple "puff balls" for the cats - a red one and a green one.  Pretty sure I'm the only one who thought about marine navigation with those.  ;-)

Before eating, Steph and I worked on a Powerpoint presentation for the Career Days sessions I'll be doing at their school this week.  I didn't know if there would be any interest in a Whale Watch Boat Captain presentation in the middle of the desert... Steph said it was the first to fill all three sessions... she may have been lobbying for me.  I know she likes to hear the whale stories.

I gave her plenty of images to select from, and working together, she made a nice looking Powerpoint presentation that will go along with my talk.

Before you can play...

... you have to have some security.  Know that food and shelter are there; and you have people who care about you and watch out for you.  It seems that Rufus is feeling pretty secure with his place in the family - in the last week, he has shown plenty of interest in wanting to play.

His favorite toys are the scratchpad/track ball from Steph and Dan.  He plays with the ball, he scratches the part in the middle, he even lays on it.  But, when he needs to burn off some steam, nothing beats the ribbon.  Jumping, swatting, pouncing - he has good eye-paw coordination and will play until he is worn out.  It starts out with a flurry of fangs and claws...

And, goes on until he says we're done...

We play up and down the aisle of the motorhome, but he can't get much speed built up in this snug space.  We have told him about "home," but the coach is what he knows right now... and he has settled in comfortably.

He lets us know when it is time to play: he will come up beside you and whack you on the hand, like playing tag... time to get the ribbon out!

Shopping around...

"My Momma told me (themp), you better shop around..."

If you said, "Smokie Robinson and the Miracles, 1961", you get 100 bonus points.  Yes, the Captain and Tennille also covered this song in 1976 - no bonus points for that guess.  ;-)

While Joan did some retail shopping, I checked out some scooters:

The new Yamaha Xmax 300...

It was less comfortable than I thought it would be.  A bit snug feeling on the leg room, while also a bit tall for my reach.  The same dealership had a Burgman 400, which I wasn't expecting to like...

Yeah, they're both white, and to the non-scooter fan, they probably look alike.  The Burgman was a better fit for me.

When I picked Joan up from her shopping, we went to look at Vespa scooters.  I have found them to be classic, but dated, in the looks department.  Joan liked the color on this GTV 300 (the V stands for "Vintage")...

The salesman invited us inside, where they had a bunch more Vespas on the second floor; we both liked this one...

A Vespa GT Super 300.  It was surprisingly evening more comfortable than the Yamaha or Suzuki.  Of course, the salesman wanted to "give us some numbers"... from the base price of $6899, they tacked on almost $2,000 in "fees."  Sales tax I understand - you have to pay that.  The delivery and set up fees were way over-inflated.  There was a $395 document fee; that is the price they want you to pay for them to do the paperwork to sell you the bike.  "You want to charge me almost $400 to write up the sale?"

The stock answer: "That's our policy."  The sales manager didn't say so, but it's also their policy to hit you with these stupid fees and then tell you that they will "discount" that a bit.  No, we didn't buy the Vespa.  Cute, though.  I may "shop around."  May not.  I really like my Honda PCX... I just haven't "looked around" in a few years.