“ Nows the time to go for all the gusto you can grab
You’ll have plenty of time to be low key , when you’re laid out on the slab”
Smart man , that Weird Al Yankovic.
I woke up this morning and thought what am I doing? This is springtime in Arizona, it’s absolutely perfect out, let’s go riding! So I fired up old faithful and headed out to the spring trading facility for the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals baseball teams.
Today the Royals were playing the LA Dodgers, tomorrow the Rangers will be playing the Cleveland Indians.
Spring training is a really big deal in Arizona, with six stadiums in the Phoenix metro area. When I was working for the post office I had a chance to go inside where the players work out , and I can tell you they spare no expense on these facilities, they’re beautiful.
Leaving there I head west to the White Tank Mountains. My destination straight ahead.
When I was a boy, this mountain range was way way beyond the edge of Phoenix. My dad used to take me deer hunting and camping here. Urban sprawl has put it on the edge of town and now the mountains are protected and part of the county parks system, this being the largest.
Just inside the front gate is a visitors center.
The air is super fragrant, the whole desert is in bloom right now. This is a creasote bush, if you’ve ever been in the desert after a rain , and thought how good the air smells....this is the culprit.
I follow the road up into the mountains. There are deer, javelina, desert tortoises and mountain lions that call these mountains home.
There are really nice hiking trails and horse trails and even mountain bike trails all through these mountains.
Oops, I must’ve veered off into Texas....
There are also the ruins of the ancient Hohokam Indians here and there are many easy to find petroglyphs.
I left the White Tank Mountains with one more destination in mind. Luke Air Force base. The new F-35’s have been thick as mosquitoes around here lately, they fly all hours of the day and night. I wanted to get a photo of F-35’s taking off behind my bike.
That’s the control tower behind me, and the water tower for the base. I’m on a little farm road that runs behind the base, the runway has been marked in red.
I’ve been here many times, hardly any traffic and an unobstructed view of the runway. But wouldn’t you know it, today no activity. Ah well, I still enjoyed the ride! All in all a wonderful outing.
Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in things we cannot control and let worry rob us of our happiness in the here and now. I’m a slow learner, but I’m trying.
Later, Bob
You’ll have plenty of time to be low key , when you’re laid out on the slab”
Smart man , that Weird Al Yankovic.
I woke up this morning and thought what am I doing? This is springtime in Arizona, it’s absolutely perfect out, let’s go riding! So I fired up old faithful and headed out to the spring trading facility for the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals baseball teams.
Today the Royals were playing the LA Dodgers, tomorrow the Rangers will be playing the Cleveland Indians.
Spring training is a really big deal in Arizona, with six stadiums in the Phoenix metro area. When I was working for the post office I had a chance to go inside where the players work out , and I can tell you they spare no expense on these facilities, they’re beautiful.
Leaving there I head west to the White Tank Mountains. My destination straight ahead.
When I was a boy, this mountain range was way way beyond the edge of Phoenix. My dad used to take me deer hunting and camping here. Urban sprawl has put it on the edge of town and now the mountains are protected and part of the county parks system, this being the largest.
Just inside the front gate is a visitors center.
The air is super fragrant, the whole desert is in bloom right now. This is a creasote bush, if you’ve ever been in the desert after a rain , and thought how good the air smells....this is the culprit.
I follow the road up into the mountains. There are deer, javelina, desert tortoises and mountain lions that call these mountains home.
There are really nice hiking trails and horse trails and even mountain bike trails all through these mountains.
Oops, I must’ve veered off into Texas....
There are also the ruins of the ancient Hohokam Indians here and there are many easy to find petroglyphs.
I left the White Tank Mountains with one more destination in mind. Luke Air Force base. The new F-35’s have been thick as mosquitoes around here lately, they fly all hours of the day and night. I wanted to get a photo of F-35’s taking off behind my bike.
That’s the control tower behind me, and the water tower for the base. I’m on a little farm road that runs behind the base, the runway has been marked in red.
I’ve been here many times, hardly any traffic and an unobstructed view of the runway. But wouldn’t you know it, today no activity. Ah well, I still enjoyed the ride! All in all a wonderful outing.
Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in things we cannot control and let worry rob us of our happiness in the here and now. I’m a slow learner, but I’m trying.
Later, Bob
