It's the desert...

 

I did not go through it on a horse with no name (America, 1971), but I did get out for a ride today.  Joan was looking to do some leisurely (meaning: me not tagging along) grocery shopping... a good time for me to get out on a solo ride.

I went west on the Interstate from here, then north on the Sun Valley Parkway - it's the divided 4-lane road that runs along the west and north side of the White Tank Mountains.  Stopped for a desert photo...

Breezy and cool (in the 60s), but sunshine and blue sky.  And, riding.  Beats not riding.  :-)

Together again...

 

There have been a bunch of "Together Again" songs over the years.  If you said, "Buck Owens, 1964," you and I have very different musical tastes, but you get 20 bonus points.  If you said, "Janet Jackson, 1997," you and I still have very different musical tastes, but you, also, get 20 bonus points.  If you said any of the other artists who put out a song by that name, you get 5 bonus points, and you can "self-police" whether you got it or not.

Joan and I got out on the bikes for a ride today.  It's been about 2 months since we've ridden together.  No destination, no schedule.  Along the way, she did text Steph, and we rode to their house to visit with them for a while, then out for lupper at a Mexican place.  Lupper?  Yeah: late lunch or early supper.  Good food.  Even better company.  And some time with the grand-cats and Blaine, the service dog in training.

When we got home, before taking Ruf for a walk, I had to re-set the clocks on our bikes... mine is easy, with pretty simple technology.  Joan's Xmax is like Mission Control and takes the right button pushes for the proper amount of time, then another button press for another set amount of time... "Are you sure you can't just transpose the time?"  She calls me her Bike Valet, since I handle this sort of thing, get her bike out for her (and put it away); checked tires and oil on both bikes before we headed out.  It's in my contract as Trophy Husband.  ;-)

Psssst - hey, buddy - wanna buy a guitar?

 

I got together with my long-time friend and music partner, Mark, yesterday.  Besides bringing equipment that I will be using to play music with Mark and his friends (they get together all year), I brought some stuff to sell: two guitars, an amp, and two 12-channel mixers.  Mark has an account with Reverb, plus there's a bigger Craigslist market here... Mark will get it listed locally and on Reverb, I'll do the same on the guitar forum where I participate.

I took photos while he did some research on what similar gear is selling for.  Here's a look...

Taylor 522ce 12-fret (all mahogany):

 Epiphone SG Prophesy (with Fishman Fluence Pickups):

Roland Street Cube amp:

Beringer 12-channel digital mixer...

Yamaha 12-channel analog mixer:

It wasn't all about getting the gear photographed and ads put together - we also enjoyed some time making music.  It is always a delight when Mark and I get the chance to play together; having done this since we were sophomores in high school, we really know each other's style and are able to pick right up where we left off.

 

A local celebrity...

 

The weatherman from Channel 12?  No.  Rufus the cat.  When I took him out for a walk yesterday late afternoon, 3 women came out of an RV across the street and up a few sites... "We heard about this cat that walks on a leash.  Is he friendly? (yes)  Can I pet him? (yes)"... one woman was particularly loud and screechy (technical auditory term), something Rufus does not like, but he dealt with it.  Before those 3 were done taking a turn petting him, two more women came out from another RV: "Oh, he is so handsome!  Our friends were telling me about this cat that walks on a leash - can I pet him?"

He put up with being adored, standing in the middle of the street... until a truck came towards us.  I said, "Come on, Ruf, let's get out of the street."  He immediately marched to the side of the street then sat down... to a chorus of women saying, "Oh, my goodness - he understands!"

"He's a smart boy.  Well, it's time for us to get some supper,"... (Rufus already had his, Joan and I were going to Steph and Dan's place to grill some burgers)... he again marched to the front door of our motorhome checking back once in a while to make sure they were still looking.  They were.

Joan calls him "your chick magnet."  This morning, while Ruf and I were out walking, a guy came up to us: "I heard about this cat - how did you train him?  I'd like to take my cat out on a leash, but he won't do it."  It's not just the ladies that are fascinated with the big furry boy.  Another guy walking by said, "That is a BIG cat - and he walks really good on that leash!"

Truth is, they wouldn't know how good he walks, because we haven't gotten more than a half block or so from the motorhome since we've been here... because someone comes up to ask about him on every walk we take.  And he patiently sits while they get their questions answered.

Later this morning, on another walk, the guy with the "quivering bulldog" came by, this time with his wife along.  Rufus walked up to the dog, and it once again shook like a nervous little girl.  The wife said, "My husband said that's what the dog did yesterday, but I've never seen it before.  He must be afraid of your cat."

"Rufus is a good boy (take a drink, Earl) - he won't hurt your dog," I chuckled.

On the way here, I took Rufus out for a walk at each of the RV parks we stopped at along the way.  He didn't attract much attention.  I don't know what the difference is in this place.  We frequently get smiles or seconds looks while walking at home (unless he sees one of his dog friends), but this has been a bit more than that.

Get yer motor runnin'...

 

Joan was up and out early to go to the grocery store.  In the day that we've been here, road construction blossomed on the street right in front of the entrance to this RV park.  You can only make a right turn out of here now, and the street we need to get to in order to get anywhere is to the left.  It adds a bit more time and miles to get to the store... unless you U-turn just past the construction.

When Joan got back, she made us breakfast.  I have been anxious to do some griddling, but it has been too cold in the mornings; hopefully, that changes soon.

Later, a discussion of going out for a ride... Joan was a bit wore out from the drive and getting set up, so she sent me off solo.  I didn't have a destination in mind, just wanting to ride.  I cruised by Steph and Dan's house, to get an idea of how long it takes to get there: close to a half hour as opposed to the 5 or 6 minutes it would take from that RV park that is closer to them.  I did ride through that park, out of curiosity... last summer, they told us they were already full for February and March this year... Yeah, I wanted to see for myself.  They are pretty occupied, but without going through the whole park, I came across at least 15 empty sites.  But, once again they decided you can't have a cargo trailer there, so even if they had something available, we would have passed.

I rode through some of our favorite roads in this part of town, through the Pebble Creek area, west on Indian School, and through Verrado.  It was a nice ride - the afternoon temperature was 70 to 72º, mostly cloudy, and a light breeze.  A good temperature to be able to wear a jacket.  It just felt good to be riding.

We're going to get together with Steph and Dan for "Burger Friday" at their place, with me as the guest chef.  Plus, it will be the first that we've been able to see the grand-kitties.

Peaceful...

 

Most RV parks are.  Peaceful, that is.  This one is not.  The toddler in the travel trailer next to us is a screamer.  And apparently is wearing little Frankenstein boots as he stomps back and forth the length of the trailer.  It sounds like a bass drum.

The traffic going by on this main street by the entrance is plentiful and loud.  Well, to be fair, an Amazon electric delivery truck went by that was quiet.  Most of the others are generous in sharing their music with anyone within a one block radius.  Since this isn't a 55+ park, there are a lot of working people in here, living in their RV.  So, morning and afternoon drive times are busy and loud.  I am surprised by the number of Harleys with loud pipes and stereos blasting.  That has to be doing a number on their hearing.  I appreciate a nice "rumble" from a motorcycle (mine is quite quiet, by choice) - this is way beyond a rumble.  It appears that these guys leave for work, come back from work, go to a bar or restaurant, then come back, then go out again, then come back again.  This is only based on being here for about 30 hours, so it may not be a pattern.  Or, it may be.

Rufus is not keen on walking far because of the loud pickup trucks that go by.  But, he did get to meet a bulldog today... the owner said, "I don't know what he will do," when I asked if his dog was cat friendly.  He quivered like a quaking aspen as Rufus got close to him.

Joan did laundry this afternoon after we got back from lunch.  We had walked by the laundry when we were out this morning, and it didn't look bad.  She said, "Mornings will be the answer - it was busy with people getting off work, and most of the dryers had clothes in them that people hadn't come back for.

So... peaceful.  Not.  After one day, we're both inclined to say this will be our one and only stay here.  We'll be looking at 55+ parks again.

I need to get out on my motorcycle.  ;-)

 

This is different...

 

An easy drive from Tucson to the far west side of the Phoenix "Valley," Buckeye to be more specific.  The 202 Bypass eliminated a lot of I-10 traffic through Phoenix.  Not a surprise to us, but road construction on I-10 for about 15 miles, centered on Buckeye - it went from 6 lanes on each side to 4, then down to 3, and finally 2 lanes.  Mostly.  It's a lot of traffic to funnel into those two lanes.  We got down to about 15 mph for a couple miles, then it picked back up to about 45 mph.  We'll know to avoid that stretch of I-10 as we come and go.

You can tell it is the first of the month by the number of RVs on the road today.  Most parks have monthly rates, and that seems to get people to check in/out on the 1st of each month.  Like "musical chairs" for RVers in search of a place to stay.  When I booked this place last summer, they only had a couple sites left for this time period.

We got into the RV park just before 2:00; it took about 20 minutes to get checked in.  When I first scheduled at this park, the lady on the phone stressed that "this is a family park, not a 55+ park, so there will be plenty of kids here."  That's just part of it.

The other parks we have stayed in here have been 55+.  They have all been quiet.  I wasn't prepared for the noise level here, and it isn't just the kids.  We are in a site close to the entrance to the park... there are scads of loud pickups and Harleys coming and going.  Multiple times it seems.  The 5th wheel across the street behind us had 5 young teens running in and out while we were setting up... oops, make that 8 young teens.  And they are not quiet at that age.  Now to be fair, maybe it is the neighborhood hang-out and they don't actually have that many kids.  The travel trailer next to us is a young couple with one toddler... there is a constant "thump, thump, thump" coming from it, as the kid runs from one end of that trailer to the other.  Hopefully, he will wear himself out and go to sleep early.

It took us about 3 hours to get set up: Joan put out and staked down two patio mats; I set up utilities, we switched the cargo trailer from bike hauling mode to "garage mode;" uncovered the e-bikes from the rack on the back of the Equinox, took them down, and got them set up; removed that rack.  Joan got out patio chairs and tables while I took Rufus for a walk.  He got to meet a pitbull from down the block named Hades... yeah, that doesn't sound intimidating at all.  Another couple ooohed and ahhhhed over him.  He likes the attention.

Getting the site set up...

The sites here are close together.  There is one site between us and the main road in the park (with all the noisy traffic).  I was hoping a big motorhome or 5th wheel would pull in there, to give us a "sound block" from that traffic.  Nope, a very small conversion van is our neighbor; and from what she said, she is staying here for the same amount of time as we are.

A little after 5:00, Steph and Dan came by to welcome us here... and brought along Blaine, the black lab pup that they are working with for Guide Dogs For The Blind...

It was good to see them.  And fun to meet Blaine (he kind of disappears into Dan's black coat, but he is there).  We sat outside and visited until they had to leave... and I had to go inside because it is damn cold in the desert when the sun goes down.  They have busy lives, but we will all make time to spend together.  This park in Buckeye is about 15 miles from Steph and Dan's house; the park we used to stay at is about a mile and a half.  But, we crossed that park off our list due to stupid management policies (foremost: they don't allow you to have a cargo trailer on your site... well, they did allow it, then didn't... then did, then didn't... then, did, but we had to go into the "overnight area" where the sites are way close together... and then now they don't allow monthly stays in that "overnight area).  So, rather than give that other park our money, we are trying this one... we'll see how this works out.

And now settling in for the evening.  With some heat running.  All three of us are tuckered out.