Yesterday, I showered early. I used the public showers here at McDowell Mountain Regional Park (MMRP). There’s no lack of hot water. In fact, the water was hotter than I like, but there’s no adjustment. You push a button and the shower starts. The water sprays for a few minutes, then shuts off. If you want to continue the shower, you push the button again.

I was preparing for a rendezvous with Andy King and his wife Donna, Carole Sue Bringas and Carole’s cousin, Diana. Carole and Diana had been visiting friends in Prescott and were heading back to San Diego. Andy King hasn’t seen Carole since the 70s or early 80s. Andy found a restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch near I-17 and the 101 loop on Bell Road.

I left here around 9am. I took the 29th Avenue exit from the 101 loop. I should have taken I-17 south to Bell. 29th Avenue meanders a bit. I noticed the low gas light was illuminated on the instrument panel. The gauge was on empty. I thought either this Jeep is a real gas hog or it has a small tank.

I found the restaurant and walked in just after our 10am meet-up time. I found Carole, Diana and Andy, who were just being seated. Donna King joined us a few minutes later, she had been walking their dog. My Donna couldn’t make the breakfast – she had a bike ride and run scheduled with her friend Beth who is doing the duathlon with her next Sunday.

We enjoyed the breakfast and swapped stories for an hour and a half. Then it was time to say our goodbyes until next time.

Andy, Carole and me

I checked Gas Buddy and  found a station down the street at Fry’s. Regular was only $3.23/gallon! I filled the Jeep’s tank – it only held 11.5 gallons. No wonder the gas gauge seems to move so quickly.

When I returned, there was a good sized snake on the road in the park. Unfortunately, it had been run over by a car and it was dead. Back at our home, Donna was getting ready to go out for the afternoon with her best friend, Julia, from her days in Fountain Hills. Donna took the  Jeep and drove to Fountain Hills.

While Donna was out, I decided to hike and look around the area. There are 65 miles of hiking, mountain biking and equestrian trails at MMRP. I took a slow stroll on the Granite Trail. I made about a two-mile loop. I walked slowly, looking for wildlife. I saw several quail and other birds. I found a lizard. I was hoping to see something more interesting like a snake or tarantula. I didn’t find any this time.

Tarantulas have a fearsome appearance, being large, hairy spiders. They usually aren’t a danger to humans, although they can bite if provoked. They’re venomous, but there’s no record of a tarantula bite being fatal to a human. I saw one crossing the road once near Florence. It was as big as my hand! I’ve only seen one other wild tarantula in the desert. Tarantulas reach maturity after 5 to10 years, depending on the species. Males rarely live much beyond 10 years. Females have been known to live 30 to 40 years.

Granite Trail – look closely and you’ll see mountain bikers

Last evening, I dialed in the Dish Network and watched the NHRA drag races from Wildhorse Pass Raceway. Donna cooked up chicken with saffron cream sauce and peas served with herb chicken tortellini.

Chicken with saffron cream sauce and peas

In a post last week, I complained about Microsoft pushing an update on my computer and forcing a restart. I’ve since figured out how to change that setting. Today, I’ll have add to that complaint. This morning, as I type, I keep getting double letters when I don’t mean to. I had this issue before and had to go to keyboard settings and adjust the sensitivity. I went back into my settings and found everything had been reset to the Microsoft default. I guess when the update was installed, the settings were changed. Arrrgh.

Today, I’ll get up on the roof to see if the tree branches I drove through in the Fountain Hills detour did any damage. Other than that, I have no plans.