winter 2013

The year started off with January's spate of car auctions - I attended Barrett-Jackson and Russo Steele.  As you can imagine, lots of vehicular beauties to ogle and drool over.  Then later in the month was the Phoenix Open golf tournament.  It was great weather to watch golf and the people watching was fun as well!  This month also included a couple of day runs with the car clubs I belong to, which is always a fun way to spend a day.

Then, as we had a number of winter storms roll through, the mountains had loads of snow, and I bought a new pair of ski boots to reclaim the slopes as my own.  Happy to say that after 5 years off, it only took a little while to regain moderate form.  I was able to get up to the slopes twice in February; would have liked it to be more, but time and money did not allow.  Hey, there is always next year! Also, we took a quck jaunt up to see the Arabian Horse show as well as the Prada del Sol Parade.

March brought NASCAR weekend at PIR, and spring training for the Royals.  I got to see 5 games this year, and it was nice to hang in the sunshine, quaff a brew, and watch the Royals play.  Sundays in March also provided for some good, free music at the Sunday A'fair in downtown Scottsdale, and as usual, did not disappoint with it's diverse acts.  That, along with several art fairs, and a trip to Palm Springs to watch the tennis tourney for my first time ever made a hectic, but great lead into spring.

the rest of 2012

It was a fairly quiet fall and end to 2012 -  not too many trips, just stayed local and regional for the most part.  I got in a few bike rides including a day trip to Payson to enjoy the HD with some friends.

 In early November I went to Las Vegas for a return trip to Bikefest, then followed that up with another trip in late November to the 2012 SEMA show.  Quite the spectacular industry show that never disappoints. 

 A quick trip home to see family over Thanksgiving week, and it was back to enjoy the sunshine and weather we love here so much, including the Tempe Art fair in early December.  A few holiday parties completed the year, and off we go to 2013!

Per usual, too many pictures to post here, so take a look at them all thru the 'my photos' link!



RMMR

Over Father's Day weekend, I finally got to take my Mustang on a road trip I had been wanting to do for years.  This involved heading up to Steamboat Springs, CO, for the annual Rocky Mountain Mustang Roundup, a great car show nestled up in the hills of Colorado.  I spent the first day on a drive up through northern AZ and then through Moab, UT, and finally arriving in Grand Junction, CO, for the night. Alas, the trip took longer than expected, though, as I blew a tire on a lonely stretch of road south of Moab. After waiting two hours for the tow truck, this culminated in a ride via said tow truck the rest of the way into Grand Junction, not only making for a long and frustrating day but making me miss dinner with an old college friend that lives there :(  After that, though, the rest of the trip was fantastic, as were the Mustang people I met over the next several days.  I even took a trophy in my class -  a first for me!  On the way home, I drove through Durango, CO, and was treated to even more stunning mountain views, and one last night in the cool mountain air before heading back into the AZ heat.  A grand trip to be sure!

May trips

Well this past May I took a couple of new trips just for a change of pace.  In the middle of the month, I used a Groupon and headed to Temecula, Ca, for a chance to discover their wine country.  A beautiful area and the cooler temps made it a perfect weekend escape !

Then over Memorial Day weekend, Caryl and I headed to a little town in southeastern New Mexico, Silver City, for their annual Blues Festival.  We left on Friday and took an extended route over there, heading up into eastern Arizona through the mountain pine country, then took a scenic road down alongside the mountains into New Mexico.  The only down part of this day's drive was to see the massive forest fire burning thousands of acres of pristine land in New Mexico as we drove along SR181.  Once we arrived in this pretty little mountain town, though, all cares were left behind as we enjoyed  cooler weather than in Phoenix, and two days of great blues in the city park - for free no less!  All in all, very neat new additions to the places I've been able to visit.

Auctions, and Art Fairs, and NASCAR.. oh my!

Well this 'winter' brought the usual spate of things to do, and the weather was drier plus a bit warmer than usual, so that made it easy to want to participate. January was full of high-end car auctions - I attended both Barrett-Jackson and Russo/Steele, and they did not disappoint. That with a little MIZZOU basketball, plus some motorcycle riding seemed to fill the month. I even got to do a little racing myself as I wheeled an Indy trainer car around Firebird Raceway.

February brought more basketball watching, as MIZZOU mad a number of appearances on TV due to their high ranking, and some golf & people watching at the Phoenix Open. I got to see the GooGoo Dolls at the Bird's Nest, which was a nice treat, while entertaining friends in from KC. The strong beer festival was also 'on tap', and then a couple of Sundays relaxing to music @ the Sunday Affaire helped end the weekend, as well as more art fairs.

Then as the month ended, it was time to rev up racing season. I was fortunate to be able to adapt to the ever-changing time frame for the Daytona 500 - what a wild one! Then, this past weekend headed out to PIR to watch them live for the spring NASCAR race with friends. For the next month, all thoughts turn to baseball as spring training commences. I will head out today to take in a Royals game in the 80 degree sunshine - play ball !

Happy New Year !

The year ended with a bang: my usual Christmas Eve gathering, then friends Dave & Mona came in from KC for a week, a NYE party and LOTS of college football. The weather has been even better than usual, and now settling to our normal 60s temps for January.

This allowed us to take in a ride on the Desert Belle, a tour boat that allows to you to see some of the desert beauty from the water side on Lake Saguaro.

The holiday season

Well, after returning from MO for Thanksgiving, it has been the usual holiday rush to get a tree, decorate, and do that holiday shopping. Oh, and of course, hit several holiday parties. With a few holiday happy hours behind me, this is an event-filled weekend. Parties on Friday & Saturday night, and then one this Sunday afternoon will leave me glad for the new week to start so I can rest! This week also includes some final planning for my traditional Christmas Eve Open house, and then friends arrive from KC to enjoy holiday weather in AZ! Party pics will intertwine this blog as they happen - Happy Holidays everyone!

Las Vegas races

I finally got to the NASCAR truck race I had planned on going to some 2 years ago, but was delayed due to the motorcycle accident. This year LVMS had reconnected the truck race with the IndyCar series as I had seen in 2005. A great weekend overall, with the weather being sunny but almost too hot, and a surprise as some friends were traveling through and attending the race as well. This made for a good time except for the tragedy that ended the race weekend. 12 laps into the IndyCar race, a huge wreck took out 15 cars and sadly ended the life of one of the drivers - Dan Wheldon. The rest of the race was cancelled, and it is a solemn reminder how tenuous the grasp we have on life can be.

I returned home and searched through my memorabilia to find I had a ball cap which had been signed by Dan Wheldon in 2005, the year he won the championship. That means all the more to me in light of the tragedy that occurred.