It’s so pleasant to wake up to sunshine
and birds singing. Upon waking, I can
see the sunlight through the little opaque vent on the ceiling of the trailer;
I’d guess it’s not even an 8x10 section but that little bit of sunshine sure
lights up the interior of the trailer. Of course, one’s head must be out from under
the sleeping bag to be aware of it.
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This morning, #35 caught Kim up at the
clubhouse again. I have a new name for
him…Chatty Charlie. Of course, these
names only play out in my head. In all
fairness, he’s just a guy with a lot to say and no one along with him to say it
to. I have to say it sounds like he has a wealth of information stored in his
head….and even so, I simply don’t see how he doesn’t know the oranges are
grapefruit. I’ll have to find out his
real name before we leave…and for all I know maybe Kim knows it already. I greet him in passing and this morning we
talked about the birds in the cactus but I haven’t engaged in any of the
chat-a-thons, just witnessed them at a distance. 😊
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I knew from last year that a couple of
tall saguaros up by the clubhouse are used as nesting sites. Several times this year I'd already seen a bird sitting on the lower cactus, watching the hole
and chirping. So I’ve been keeping my eyes open and my camera close on my trips
up to that area. Today I was rewarded
with a shot of one waiting and the other one sticking its head out of the hole. And then oddly enough, as I was trying to get
what I thought was the female sitting on the cactus, the male swooped in. I’ve watched enough nature shows to know that
I was seeing these two birds mating, so I just started taking pictures. One out of five shots was clear and
focused.
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We didn’t get very far from camp when I radioed Kim
that I had to stop and check for my purse; I couldn’t remember putting it in
the saddlebag. As I was getting off my
bike, he was already turned around and heading back. Thanks to our communicators, I could tell him
that no, I didn’t have it and where he could probably find it in the
trailer. So I was just sitting,
listening to music, watching for him in my mirrors. I glanced up at the road ahead and saw a
roadrunner walk into the road and then mill around the center line. Camera! Camera! I thought….and stealthily got
off my bike to get my camera out of the saddlebag. Just as I was turning it on, he meandered over
to the side of the road and into the weeds.
Drat!! Even though it was a roadrunner sighting, it was another missed
photo op!
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We had supper plans with Kim’s friend
and astronomy mentor, Bryan Shumaker and his wife, Linda. They live in Boyne
City but winter for a short time in the Tucson area. In order to get a ride in, we just chose to
wander. Ended up going east on Hwy 79
out of Florence…the same route we had taken a couple days ago except in
reverse. The other day after we left the
Tom Mix Monument, I got a glimpse of a sculpture near a driveway that intrigued
me but there was another pressing matter that had to be attended to so we
didn’t stop. Kim asked me later what it
was; I told him it was up high and due to our quick pass by, I thought it was a motorcycle rider on a chopper and the back
wheel had the sunburst of the Arizona flag, but I wasn't sure.
So today, I radioed Kim that I like to get a picture if we came across
it. Of course, we were traveling in the
opposite direction but the sculpture was elevated and really, how hard can it be
to see an elevated sculpture? And while
I thought it was between the city of Florence and Tom Mix, I kept looking even
as we cruised past the monument area. (I
did notice that the crusader and his trailer were gone.) Further on down the road, no sign of it and I
was beginning to think of it as a ghost rider that had ridden on already. We had planned on riding to a certain road
then heading south to the frontage road along I-10…but I asked if we could turn
around, just in case we had missed it…then we’d be looking going in the same
direction as when I had first seen it. So
back we go…four eyes peeled for a motorcycle in the sky. I was relieved when I saw it again…not as
close to the road nor as elevated as I’d thought. What mattered is that I hadn’t imagined
it…that there really was a rider in the sky. 😉
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Our plans to be back to the camp by 2
p.m. to get showered, shaved and in the truck by 2:45 didn’t go exactly as
planned. We got back at 2:40…not taking
a shower wasn’t an option so that meant I had 5 minutes to shower and be back
at the truck? I don’t think so! But I made record time...we were on the road
by 3:02 p.m. It was just over an hour
drive to Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa…we were meeting Bryan and Linda between 4 and
4:30. Made it just before 4:15 p.m. 😊 Because Kim
and I went to Organ Stop last year, we put it on our ‘Must Do’ list for this
trip also. This is from an Aug. 21, 2014 article by Kylie Gad on azcentral.com….14 fun facts about Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa (although
I’m not listing all 14 facts, just the ones that tell about the organ):
4. Organ Stop’s Mighty
Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ boasts nearly 6,000 pipes.
8. The organ console, which
controls the pipework, percussions and lighting, has 1,074 individual keys, buttons
and switches.
9. The Mighty Wurlitzer is a combination of
pipe organ pieces put together. When Organ
Stop opened in Mesa in 1975, it began with a rebuilt organ from the
Denver Theater. Many sets of pipes and
percussions have been added over
the years. In 1995, Organ Stop moved
from its location near Dobson Road and Southern Avenue to a new, larger
building at Stapley Drive and Southern to accommodate the growing size of the
Wurlitzer.
10. The oldest set of pipes
was built in 1918.
11. Four Spencer turbine
blowers provide air flow at 14,000 cubic feet per minute to power the pipes.
12. The largest pipe is over
3 feet wide, over 36 feet tall and weighs a ton. Literally. The smallest pipe is a quarter of an inch in diameter, 7 inches tall and
weighs just 4 ounces. These two pipe
produce tones ranging from four octaves below to one octave above the standard
treble clef music scale.
13. “Chattanooga Choo Choo”
is the most-played song in Organ Stop history.
Its old-fashioned steam locomotive sounds have been played more than 55,000
times.
14. The Organ Stop Mighty
Wurlitzer is valued at over $4 million.
That’s a lot of pizza.
It was as fun to watch the organ being played this time as it had been the first time. And
bonus! The pizza is delicious! The organist
took requests and said if he knew the song, he’d play the song. He said he had 3 more songs before he took a
break….first he asked if there were any Cubs fans in the house. Yes, there were and four of them were sitting
at the table with us. He went on to say that after 8 months of requests, he
finally sat down and figured out an arrangement for Go, Cubs, Go. Applause and noise erupted as he launched
into it and it didn’t take long before singing could be heard along with the
music. An oddly emotional moment. Then he played the Canadian anthem, which had
the Canadians standing and singing. But
when he played The Star Spangled Banner, everyone was on their feet and the
singing was even louder. Very cool ending to a good evening with friends.
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Imagine sitting in a trailer, enjoying
music while typing away on the computer and looking over and seeing an inch
long cricket crawling up the wall….a cricket, whose job is chirping, in the
very place where you would be sleeping in a few hours. Simply unacceptable so I sprang into
action. My attempt to snare it in a
paper towel didn’t pan out so when it disappeared just over the edge of a piece
of trim, I banged on the wall hoping to make it fall or at least be scared
enough that it wouldn’t chirp tonight.
Time will tell....
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Well, I found out sooner than later
that Plan A for Project Eliminate Cricket didn’t work.
He came flying or hopping from the area where I saw him last and landed
on the cabinet door in front of me.
Since I was sitting down with the computer on my lap, my next best
option, as I saw it, was throwing my shoes at it. They’re big enough, he’s big enough and maybe
about 3 feet away, surely I could hit him. Nope, Plan B didn’t work, either. So Plan C involved me attempting to catch him
while he jumped around, which ended up herding him out the open door, which is
probably how he snuck in in the first place.
Success!!
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Rode about 120 miles today
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