April 17 -- Paradise of a different sort

When you get right down to it there are so many beautiful places to live -- depending on your desires, the weather at that time of year and luck.

When we were in VA with Linda, the weather was perfect - but they were hit hard before and since with bad weather. We simply got lucky combining perfect setting with perfect weather.

In San Felipe we had that wierd dust storm -- something that no one had ever seen before -- but otherwise, perfect weather, a great location and a bustling local economy.

Here in Peoria with George & Geri, I expect that the weather is more predictable this time of year ... and it's great. Soon, however, it will get hot and G&G will hit the road.

I went out for a ride in the a.m. followiing a route map that George had laid out for a 50 mile ride. It is a great area for cruising and I was back shortly after 10 a.m. We then took the dogs for a walk.

I measured my chain and found that it had stretched about 1/16" -- that is the recommended time for replacement. I'll have to look back through the blogs to see how many miles I got on the chain which was new with the 10 speed upgrade that I did in March. I expect, however, that the sand in Florida shortened its life. I was planning on replacing the chain prior to starting the cross country but was not expecting that I would notice any appreciable wear. Since I was planning on stopping at a Performance Bike store in Scottsdale anyway, I decided to get an extra chain.

After lunch we headed out to Scottsdale -- to the Performance Bike store and the Frank Lloyd Wright house. At PB I bought the aforementioned chain, aerosol degreaser that I could not transport on the airplane and shoe covers in case we really do run into very cold weather. I can take them back if they are unused. As I was checking out the guy at the register said that it was 1:59 and therefore I had just made it under the wire for the 12:00 to 2:00 manager's lunchtime special that day of 10% off -- great !

We then went to the Frank Lloyd Wright house and took the 90 minute tour. It was quite interesting -- I'm not normally a "tour person" but this was worthwhile. Sandy had been there before when we came to Scottsdale a number of years ago for a BA Alliance meeting but George & Geri were there for the first time -- we all enjoyed the day.

Back at G&G's we relaxed a bit; George and I took the pups for a walk then we went out to dinner at NoRTH (yes, the mixed capitalization is correct) -- excellent dinner. Back and George's, we had a glass of one of the desert wines that we had purchased -- the chocolate wine -- well, it was worth trying, and with something else sweet (Geri brought out some pizzelles) it was worth drinking ... but it's probably not something that I would buy again. An interesting novelty -- hey, if you don't try things you'll never have that variety, which is the spice of life !!

On a more sombre note, we heard from Stef that Aaron's grandmother had passed away. They will be heading to Montreal Wednesday morning for the funeral on Thursday and Jeffrey will look after Abby. Abby will be bored in the house by herself, but c'est la vie. She'll be fine -- she is used to Stef's house; Jake is there to play with (Stef's cat).