Our moon

Went to Rotary today. Small club in at 4000 Central in the Phoenix business district. Pretty old demographic, nice folks. Cashed a paycheck on the way home and signed up for a month membership at YMCA, which is a short walk from our condo.

We went back to Cheuvraunt for dinner. On the walk (!) home we saw this moon smiling down through the palms.

Scottsdale closed?

After another fruitless run at the thrift stores this morning (being wise, Pamela did not participate) we decided to check out Scottsdale in the afternoon. There's an Old West section (we passed), another section of mixed little shops, and an art area. We walked through the last two but were disappointed to find that many shops were closed for President's Day. And a place to grab a coffee and relax we never did find.

We did stop at the Poisoned Pen bookstore, where Pamela bought a couple of mysteries. Pretty cool store, with photos of dozens of writers who have appeared at the store over the years. The clerk, who also works as a librarian, seemed to know everything about the mystery/crime genre.

If you haven't discovered the TV show Men of a Certain Age, check it out. Great show, and you don't have to worry about Jack Bauer getting hung by his thumbs again, or hanging someone else.

Willo and more

We walked to the Willo neighborhood open house this morning. It's a delightfully varied and well maintained area of modest-looking homes built during the 1930s and 40s. I've shown some photos before and here are a few more. The neighbors had an extensive street fair going, a trolley to shuttle visitors around the ten open homes, food and potties. All you could want.

The weather was clear and warming into the '70s. The most memorable home was extensively decorated with Mexican folk and contemporary art (Botero), European paintings and drawings, sculpture and more. The art work covered nearly every wall and, coupled with the paint treatments and vintage furnishings, gave the place a warm and intimate feel.

Another place, a modest Craftsman bungalow on the outside, had ballooned into a six-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath, 3800 square foot dormitory. This one was for sale and on display by the brokers. Price was down from $1 million a year ago to $750,000 or so this year. The work was very nice, except that they had installed laminate flooring throughout. At least it all matched.

Visiting a half dozen homes made for a lot of walking that made my right hip sore. Back home we rested a bit, then headed to Heather and Mark's to see their baby, Ula, and their great 1969 modern-style home. It's been on the Modern Phoenix homes tour and for good reason: they've done a superb job of furnishing and updating the home, while sticking with its spare style.

Here is a shot of Pamela's cousin Debbie with Ula, two photos of Willo homes, and pix of the interior of Ula's home. I'll post photos of the exterior in the future.

What a ride

I'd read about the ride to Prescott before we got down here. When I read that the local Riders Association of Triumph (R.A.T.) group was heading up there today, I made plans to go.

Headed out at about 8 a.m. to meet the group on the I-17 freeway about 25 miles north of the condo. Six of us showed up at the Chevron station. I did a crappy job of getting the names. It was NYSteve, Motoweasel and several other guys. They were riding a Speed Triple, Street Triple, 1050 Sprint, 955 Sprint, Japanese V-twin and my 955 Sprint.

We headed west on 74 for 40 miles of basically straight two-lane highway, saguaros and brush all around, to the US 60 junction, then northwest on US 60 to Wickenburg. Not much there. Then US 93 a few miles to SR 89, which took us past the crossroads of Congress and on toward a significant range of mountains.

You can see the climb up the mountain face from miles away. The road splits into separate uphill and downhill lanes. Zoom in on the section on Google Maps -- it's an impressive piece of road. This must have saved the lives of many a trucker. Road surface was clean and smooth but as we hit the 35 mph curves I quickly fell behind the other riders. Two reasons. First, I'd been warned that the law waits and tickets for the most minor speed infractions. Second, I wanted to not die.

Past Yarnell the road straightened for a while and the landscape changed. We rolled through Peeples Valley, a broad expanse of grass pastures, tidy fences and a few majestic cottonwoods. I figured its likely owned by the same family that pioneered the area 150 years ago. Or some bastard from Microsoft or Goldman Sachs.

Not much farther we headed up again and entered the Prescott National Forest and Ponderosa Park. If I thought the road to Yarnell was twisty, I had a lesson ahead. I've never seen such a succession of canyon switchbacks and cliff-pavement-cliff outside curves, many posted for 25 mph speeds. We were high enough by now that the roadsides were dotted with snow and I had my electric jacket liner working. Saw some actual trees!

In Prescott we grabbed lunch at a brew pub and I caught a photo of the county courthouse and the rider group.

For the trip back the guys decided to do the newbie (me) a favor and route through Skull Valley. The country was more open and the curves were high-speed sweepers. Some of the landscape was lovely, with hummocks topped by weather-rounded boulders. Skull Valley was home to George Phippen (1915–1966), a well known western artist, co-founder and first president of the Cowboy Artists of America. (Wikipedia). We stopped for a break and I got another picture.

From there it was a slog. Back through Peeples Valley, Wickenburg, etc etc. Though my new sheepskin butt pad helped, my rear end was begging for mercy. The whole run was 261 miles. Got back at 3:30 p.m. Pamela and I had a nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant.

Visit to Tubac

Drove south of Tucson to Tubac this morning. The fish hook cactus was in bloom. The Spaniards arrived around 1750 and built a fort at Tubac, which sits below mountains and above a rich river valley. The Spaniards drove out many of the native Indians but were hassled for 100 years by the Apache, very tough people.

Now they have all been driven out by the artists and gallery owners. Tubac is now a desert art colony, and we spend most of the day walking around the Tubac Art Festival. We were surrounded by the gallery customers and art show shoppers, geezers who looked way too much like us.

We also visited the old fortress site and museum. which was interesting. Lots of information about the various waves of people who have lived there.

After lunch we headed back with a stop by Picacho Peak to visit Terry and Sherry Barber, who are camping at the state park on their way to Borrego Springs. Terry is the past Grand Poobah of the Washington Vintage Motorcyclists and they visit the Southwest every winter. Had a great visit, and their new trailer is really cool. Their cat Rusty travels with them.

Slowdown on the trip back north, caused by people gawking at the sight of a pickup truck nearly ripped in two by a train. The dead truck and stationary train were right next to the freeway and people couldn't help staring. Two died. We drove home carefully.

Happiest hour

This afternoon we took our ride on the light rail system, which runs five blocks from us, then southeast to Mesa and northwest to some other place,. It's an hour ride around the whole system and a day pass for seniors costs $1.75. Very smooth, though it didn't pass a lot of places we wanted to stop and see.

We did get off and stroll around Mill Street in Tempe, near Arizona State University. As you might expect in a college town, eateries outnumbered just about every other kind of retail. Stopped into a frozen yugurt place but didn't really like their offerings, then into the ice cream sandwich shop next door. Really disgusting. Perhaps they were surprised when we left. Shouldn't be.

Back on the train, then up to the other end of the line. We stopped at a place a short walk from our condo called Cheuvront. Great happy hour, with serious martinis and an excellent slate of very tasty appetizers/small plates. We had Port Reyes blue cheese and roasted goat cheese/chicken pockets. Both were excellent. This place has now topped our happy hour list.

Friday we roll out early for the Tubac Art Festival, down near the Mexican border south of Tacoma.

Still haven't found a replacement bike. >:(

Oh this lousy weather

Saw a big debate on MSNBC tonight about right wingers Imhofe, Sean Hannity and company claiming the snow storms in DC prove there's no global warming. And based on the lousy weather that stormed through Phoenix today, I heartily agree.

The country has been besieged by terrible weather this week and this surely puts the lie to the claims of the ecofreaks. Here are the 7 p.m. PST conditions in some weather-besieged locations from across the country, chosen at random:

Washington, DC (my home town): 26F, snow
Boston: 30F, light snow
Chicago: 23F
Havre, Montana: 21F
Dallas/Fort Worth: 38F
Everett, WA: 43F

I know conditions are almost unbearable for many of our friends and relatives and just want everyone to know that we feel for you and know what you are going through. Even here in Phoenix this onslaught of Al Gore-denying, global warming-debunking weather has hit us hard.

Today it rained a full 10 minutes. The thermometer struggled to reach a high of 66F, a full 5 degrees below normal. Yes, we feel your pain and share your anguish. Global warming is gone, but not forgotten. I miss it.