The Adventures of Fric and Frac: Adventure 219: Covered Wagon RV Park/Phoenix, AZ/Post W

By Sunday, our shadows will be long gone.

The morning, bright as a newlywed's hope, started really well for me. I whipped the Wylie Cager like a fresh batch of meringue, showered, shaved, studied Spanish, and spent a couple of hours working the form. What a great routine, though to be honest, I don't always win the morning game. Our plan for adventure was to explore another section of Phoenix's grand canal, which we did, but not before a very pleasant interruption from Jim and Rita Valentine. They called, wanting to see where we were camped. You'll know that we've become almost at home here in Phoenix because we gave them clear, concise directions that included specific street names and landmarks. When they arrived, we gave them the nickel tour of Frac (They were dutifully impressed), and then we took them to lunch at our favorite Mexican Restaurant, the Atoyac on Glendale and 19th. The young lady behind the counter greeted us warmly, this being our fourth visit this month (It's even possible we'll make it for a breakfast burrito before we leave). Lunch was excellent and the company was even better. We spent an hour or so talking about family from grandchildren to grandparents. We had planned on calling the Valentines before we left, but they beat us to it, and their timing couldn't have been better. We went our separate ways after lunch. Judy and I went straight to our newest starting point for a bike ride: Cortez Park. Phoenix has several of these city parks that have water features. They are man made lakes, that curve around in a serpentine manner like a carnival ride for lovers. I expected to see a few giant white swan boats filled with smooching couples, but none were visible. These water features are stocked with fish, and most have some sort of bridge system or walking path. I do think Encanto Park, the biggest of these parks does rent boats, but I doubt the smaller ones do. This one, located on 35h avenue just above Dunlap, looks as though it caters to young families. Besides the water, there are play fields and colorful play gyms in prominent places. After a short ride on the side walk bridge across the canal, we took the underpass and were on our way west. We rode about six miles out to Thunderbird road (12.1 miles round trip). The canal path is paved, mostly smooth, free from debris, and most importantly, free from cars. Another nice feature is the system of underpasses built at every major street. It is our understanding that canals criss cross Phoenix in both directions like the x/y axis graph they used to torture us with in Algebra class. After our ride, we went to our last Tai Chi class. David was at his best tonight. We left, confident in the knowledge that everything we do is "wrong", and secure in our commitment to strive to become "nothing special". The last comments are just barely tongue in cheek. The form requires a lifetime of study. Even the most experienced master is wrong quite often. And by far the most sublime aspect of the art of Tai Chi is the striving to become "nothing special". Most of us fight our bodies. We fight our natural movement. We make things harder than they need to be. We let our "Monkey Mind" dominate us with worries, troubles, and concerns-most of which are out of our control The form is about simplicityLife can be as simple as it can be good, and for us life is good, especially today.

Jim and Rita jibber-jabbering in Frac.

Tres tacos carne asada y arroz y frijoles.

Hot Rod of the day: '53 powder blue two door coupe. You can't see it, but it has a custom venetian blind protecting the rear window and a pair of white fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror. Cool white walls and fender skirt, too!