The few days before I flew home for the holidays I did some site seeing around the Phoenix area.
I was heading out from my hotel to go hike Camelback Mountain again when I came upon an Old Town Scottsdale – it’s original name was “Orangedale”. I decided to stop and walk around. I walked around the town most of the day, going in and out of all the different shops. I grabbed lunch at a local sandwich shop. Fun little town, and a nice change from riding or hiking.
The next day I was following my GPS and it kept taking me around in circles. After about the third time around I decided to go my own way thinking the GPS would recalculate. The only thing it did was keep telling me to turn around, turn around now. I finally just shut it off and went whatever way I wanted. When I was getting down to about a 1/2 a tank of gas I decided to stop and fill up along with figure out where I was. While I was on my phone figuring out where I was I had a gentleman say “it’s a lot warmer here then where you are from”. He had looked at my license plate! We chatted for a little bit and he told me of a park just up the road. It was Thunderbird Conservation Park. I decided to get a hotel near the park thinking I would come back the next day and do some more hiking. I would be checking into the hotel that was going to take me to the airport the next afternoon.
After I got checked into my hotel I started checking out what was in the area and found Papago park that had a neat look through rock that you could hike up and around. Once I got there I found it was right near the Botanical gardens I had been to and the zoo. The park was busy with hikers, bikers and families enjoying the park. There was some beautiful ponds with palm trees. I noticed a few people were fishing in the ponds (not sure if they caught anything). I saw ducks, turtles and a heron on the banking, just a very peaceful place. Off in the distance there was a pyramid, when I hiked over there it was Arizona’s first Governor and their families. George W. P. Hunt was the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 10th Governer setting a national record. The pyramid looked down over the city, park and zoo.
After my day at Papago Park I checked into my hotel and got my laundry done and repacked everything so I could drop my bike off to be stored while I’m home for the holidays.
The next day I road over to the Harley shop only to find it was closed – ugh….. They had their Christmas party and the owner gives them the following day off. Other than that, they are open 7 days a week. I panicked as I was flying out the next day. One gentleman was there working and after talking for a few minutes I found out that the service department opens at 7:30 am. If I got here right when they open I would have time to make it to the airport and make my flight – phew…..
My hotel was about 50 minutes away, so I needed to leave early knowing that morning traffic would be heavy. I ended up waking up at 3 am – I justified it by saying it was 5 am at home. I left the hotel at 5:30 am knowing that if I left later it would make me late. I got to the shop about 45 minutes before they opened. I went to a DD and had a muffin and coffee while I waited.
Oh, I also had to sign up for Uber and schedule a pick up. I did all that the night before, but wasn’t sure if it was working. I got notification that they got my request but that was it. I asked a younger gentleman at the shop if I was doing it right, and I was. Shortly after I asked him I got another notification that my request was schedule – phew!
Besides the shop being closed the day before, my trip home was smooth. My kids were outside when I landed and we headed right home. It was cold, thank goodness the car was warm as my winter jacket was at the house.
Love and Light to you All!
MyIronHorseJourney 