"I Did Fun."

Not a lot to report for the week of work.  Lots of problems to solve around the office and more people are getting to know me and I’m getting to know them.  Tonia has been busy cooking me many good suppers and getting the house organized.  

Once again we tried to bike to the countries largest municipal park called South Mountain.  Last time we tried we just didn’t go, this time we got going around 8:30 am Saturday and made our way through the maze of the downtown’s one-ways and construction.  Once we got on the bike lane of Central Ave we moved at a pretty good pace.  Here’s a pic of our destination: the mountains in the distance.

Here’s Tonia rocking along behind me.

We hit a roadblock when we suddenly ran out of bike lane and were forced to turn around only a mile and half from where we wanted to be.  The road was just too busy to ride without the comfort of a bike lane.

We turned around and headed back home with Tonia setting the pace. 

When we were getting close to downtown Tonia noticed my tire was a little squatty.  We pulled over and sure enough I had a flat.  Luckily from my experience with Dave on a ride through Sabin I was prepared with my hand pump, tube and tire tool.  After a quick change we were back on the road.  We road home and sure enough what ever was in the tire was still there and I was flat again as we rolled into the house.  I took the tire off and found the tiniest little bastard sticking into the tire enough to flatten the second tube.  Not sure what it was but I had to use a tweezer to get it out.  I put in a third tube complete with self sealant, thanks Brian!  All in all it was a 14 mile loop.  Not too bad for Tonia’s VT training.

Tonia has gotten a job walking dogs for Fetch PetCare so she went off to training and I chilled around the house.  She hasn’t gotten any assignments yet, but I’m sure it will be cool to see different area’s of PHX.  When she got home we went to eat at Red Robin and I can only say, “That place never disappoints!”

Sunday I rode to my office on my own just to get a feel for how long it will take.  It took about a half hour to get there and I was in pretty good shape.  I rode home hard and shaved ten minutes off my time.  Once home Tonia and I chilled for a bit then took off to Papago Park to do some mountain biking. 

Papago is rated mostly with beginner tracks and easy rides.  Tonia and I bounced around a bit and still didn’t ride a third of what the park had to offer.  It was only about 6 miles we rode but Tonia rode all the down-hills and most of the climbs.  A few of which were very technical and covered with loose rock and sand.  We took it easy and Tonia’s quote was, “I did Fun.”  I assume it was a combination of I had fun and I did good. 

Here a few pics of what we saw on the ride. 

 

Till next week.

Tonia ate Fish!!

It’s been a week since my last post and I’m trying very hard to stay consistent.  I don’t know how long I’ll keep up but I’ll do my best.  Since Big J left we haven’t done nearly as much as we did prior to her coming, or while she was here.  We spent a lot of time cleaning and moving around boxes.  Sadly, since the sun sets by 5:30 or 6 there’s not a lot outside you can do after work.

Once the weekend came we took a bike ride over to the downtown farmers market and picked up some fresh cherry tomatoes, and a spaghetti squash.  Not to mention some awesome pickles pickled with peppers (yes I picked a peck).  They didn’t have that much zing when we tried the smaller samples at the market, but when we got them home the zing really came out.  Tonia was a bit taken aback by them.

Around mid-day we took our first road ride together.  Tonia and I took off to try and ride to my office so I can start commuting to and from work.  After a few turns down some very questionable neighborhoods and working through some construction we found our way.  Round trip was around 15 miles.  It’s not that far but neither Tonia nor I have ridden much lately so we were both a little spent.  We were going to go on another ride Sunday but it never happened.

That night Tonia decided it was time to break through her fear of eating fish so she prepared an awesome meal of grilled Salmon with garlic and herb couscous and a salad of romaine, artichokes, hearts of palm, and red peppers.  It was delicious with a bottle of Homewood wine and we enjoyed it out on the patio in some very moderate temps, I think they were in the high 70’s or low 80’s.  At any rate Tonia ate and enjoyed the Salmon.  No gagging!!

As there seems to always be something going on in our odd little downtown neighborhood there was a block party that we walked through and once again got to enjoy the oddities.  Didn’t take many pictures other than this huge monster truck that was sitting in the street.  It’s kind of dark but its pretty cool.

Sunday we didn’t do much but arrange some furniture.  So there’s not much to report there.  I’m going to try to ride to work this week so we’ll see how that goes.

Till later.

We're Here.

Once again I must apologize for the length of time it has taken me to blog. As you will see there has been a lot going on.

First of all we are fully moved from the state of North Dakota and are in our new home in AZ. The house has not sold, so we are renting down here until it does.

It was an adventure filled trip with the Camry on a car hauler with all the bikes loaded on it. It was a grueling drive of 1700+ miles. The real drag was that the Trailblazer only got 10 miles to the gallon the entire trip. I’m pretty sure we bought a barrel of gasoline by the time we got here. However, I was pleased at how easy it was to get dog friendly hotels. All the Comfort Inns and all the La Quinta Inns are dog friendly and don’t even ask for extra fees to keep them.

Mario handled the trip okay and had no trouble getting exercise considering we were always stopping for fuel.

Once we got to Phoenix we went about exploring our new surroundings. We're living in a loft downtown and loving all of the culture around us. So far we have seen a Halloween parade.

We went past a place that makes some crazy bikes including one made from an old push mower.

And a Heartless Bastards concert at the Rhythm Room.

After our stuff showed up and we buried ourselves in boxes Big J showed up and stayed for five days. It was way too short of a trip, but we were glad to get her while we could. We made sure she was able to experience as much as possible, but she seemed just happy chilling out. We did however go to First Friday which is like a street fair and art show in downtown Phoenix. It’s held every first Friday of the month.

Saturday we went to the downtown Phoenix Farmers Market and bought some all natural cleaners made by locals. So far they haven’t disappointed. We took Jordan to the Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall where Jordan found a pair of $400 jeans she really liked. She didn’t get them.

We went to the Zoo on Sunday and had a good time looking at the animals.

Monday night we had a nice dinner and watched the Illusionist which is a fine film.
One Tuesday we saw Big J off and were sad to see her go, but loved the time we had. I’m sure it will be no time before we are up to visit her or she is down again. I’m pretty sure she was happy to miss the snow and cold while enjoying the 80 degree temps down here.

That is about it for now, but I promise to update much more regularly in the future. Now that we are in Phoenix I know we will have to do more so everyone can keep track of us. Please comment so we know you're out there. Next update in a week.