April 23 - May 9 Scottsdale

Our stay in Scottsdale was planned to be a few days to a week, primarily in order to catch up with a few friends. My friend from Detroit, Bubba, moved to the Phoenix area seven years ago and has a great house, yard and pool in Scottsdale. He was kind enough to allow me to park the trailer in his driveway and give us electricity while in town. He was a great host. The Scottsdale Beer Museum with the wall of fame (which we got to sign) in his garage is sweet. We did a few minor projects around his place, including switching six tires one day on his old Chevelle’s. We also exchanged a ton of music and I got many of his live recordings.

Spent most of my time seeing Bubba, Ian Wilson and his new friend Barb, Jen Brown and Bubba’s neighbors Brad and Mandy. Watched one Wings game with Kevin Vaughn.
We had a ton of fun around Scottsdale. I caught up with some former co-workers for lunch on two occasions.

Ate/drank at a ton of places including Dos Gringos, The Upper Deck, Ruth’s Chris, George and Dragon, Stingray, The Breakfast Joynt, Lucille’s BBQ, Postino’s Winecafe (for brunch/sangrias with Jen and her friends Favi and Nafeesa), Capital Grille, Zinc Café, Four Peaks Brewing Company, Yucca Tap Room, Sleepy Dog Brewery, Roka Akor, and The Good Egg. We also went to Brad and Mandy’s Kentucky Derby cookout with crab legs and some of Louisiana’s finest fried catfish nuggets (from my freezer) and a Salsa and Guacamole cook-off party at Bubba’s friend Jeff’s place.

Surprisingly with going to all those places I only had a cockroach crawl out from under the bar onto my arm late night at one of the ‘nicer’ and higher end establishments. It made for a bit of a scene being chased down the length of the bar and behind the hostess station until I stomped it. The manager was beside himself with what to say. Lucky for him I’ve been in Florida so cucaracha’s are a more of a regular thing than I care to remember.

Bubba made sure we saw a ton of music while I was in town, including Grace Potter and the Nocturnals at McDowell Mountain Music Fest (miracle a ticket in the lot), The Love Me Nots at George and Dragon, Greyhound Soul at Hollywood Alley , Mojo Farmers and Dry River Yatch Club at Hoodlums Record and a jazz trio at Cazimirz with Jen, Ian and Barb. Bubba really wanted to see the new Phish 3D movie so we went to that on the last showing.

One night Ian came over and we headed to Bubba’s friend Gary’s place where we parked and caught the light rail into downtown Phoenix for the First Friday Art Walk. A lot of people and a widely varied cross section of society to see at an art walk. There were a lot of musical performers and DJ’s on the streets. A fun atmosphere, although slightly unusual for an art fair, for sure.

I found.357 hollow point bullet lying in the parking lot of a laundry mat across the street from a police station. After much debate, I gave the bullet to Bubba’s neighbor, Brad, to pass along to his brother-in-law who is a big hunter living in Show Low.

Sunny unexpected got knocked in the pool at Bubba’s one night while skimming it. She was a little shocked at first from going in and I’ve never seen her in a pool before. I calmed her down and called to her to the steps. She swam right over, climbed out, shook off and ran around the yard like a mad dpg trying to warm up. She ran and ran even after I dried her off with a towel.
Sometimes when going out we would ‘block’ Sunny in the kitchen at Bubba’s. She never failed to amaze us at her escape artists abilities. Once we found her sleeping on the couch, every other time she was in Bubba’s bed! Smart dog I guess…

After several weeks on the road, it sure was nice to see people I know and that are my age. It was great to catch up and reconnect connect with friends! In particular seeing Ian was very nice since we hadn’t spent time together in many years. He seems to be in a very good place. Seeing Bubba was also great. He is still the same Bubba with a huge heart and tons of passion. Most interesting was reconnecting with Jen. We had a mutual friend in college and hung out some back in the day but not a lot. Turns out we have many common views, experiences and attitudes. Her French bulldog, Wembly, and Sunny got along fairly well (except when Sunny was trying to hog all the treats!). It was unexpected and great to further cultivate our friendship.
Seemed like between Bubba working days, Jen nights and Ian’s flex schedule one of them was always doing a great job making sure we were doing something fun. Big thanks to all.