Another gorgeous morning by the lake, we’d slept with the door open so didn’t even have to move to appreciate our camp. When Dan woke up he realised that Cleo probably ate the half-chicken we’d left out by the fire. Sure enough, it was all gone, it even took him a while to find the plastic packaging. We hoped she didn’t suffer too much from splintered bones, she was definitely moving a little slower that morning.
I partook in my morning ritual of rolling out of bed and straight into the lake for a cold swim-shower. Dan soon followed, though he only managed to get knee deep. Taking full advantage of our private cove, we stayed in our birthday suits and baked in the early morning sun. If you’re wondering who this lazy, sun-baking person is writing this blog, it is still me, I’m just enjoying a change of pace.
I continued baking while Dan cooked up breakfast out of the back of his van, using his newly bought propane stove for the first time. We spent the whole morning as nudists, the cook in the kitchen and the writer with her laptop on the banks of the lake. Quite a welcome contrast from my desk at the Tesla factory! Boats went by us, speeding across the lake to find their fishing spot for the day, but far enough away to miss the two naked butts lakeside. All except for one couple on a jetski who ventured into the cove, then upon seeing my naked arse while lying on my front on my towel, quickly made a u-turn. Ha ha.
Our Hawaiian breakfast of rice, bacon and eggs was cooked to perfection, compliments to the chef. Eventually my skin was starting to burn so I donned clothes and we started to pack up camp. After cleaning up and stowing everything, it had warmed up, so I stripped down one last time for another dip before we left. Goodbye lake. We rumbled slowly out of camp along the bumpy road, me giving way to a few quad bikers and 4WD’ers who didn’t have a bike on the roof to worry about. Cleo decided to stay in the car this time so we were set.
Back on the tarmac, I followed Dan to his parents’ place in central Phoenix. After we got off the highway, we were amongst mansions and manicured lawns. It was a rich man’s oasis with wealth spread everywhere. Dan took me on the scenic route along the top of the mountain where the houses nestled in the hill had a spectacular view of the city below. His place was modest, but still a resort. We were greeted by Dan’s Dad, Peter, who retreated quickly into his office after greeting us to do some work. Dan took me through the hallway and to the garage to see our reason for being here: a 49cc scooter, partially in bits. Dan had bought it for $150 from a guy who had constantly had problems with it. He’d ridden it around the block before it went bang and didn’t run anymore. Dan had already checked the fuel and spark but when I looked at the compression by shoving my thumb in the spark plug hole, there was nothing there. Blown gasket maybe? When I pushed on the piston with a screwdriver, it budged and then got stuck. Hmmm?
Dan was off to have a shower and said I should make myself comfortable in his room, but instead, I kept playing with the scooter. Dan ditched his shower and helped me with the pull apart by sitting nearby playing DJ and offering muscles when I needed them. I could almost pull the whole engine apart with a shifter, but with a few more tools and half an hour later, the exhaust was off and we were pulling the head and cylinder off the crank case. The head looked ok, but as soon as I started pulling the cylinder off, I could see a big chunk of metal. I presented it to Dan and pronounced that his engine was fucked. Sure enough, the piston was mostly destroyed and had come detached from the conrod. He was lucky the metal shards hadn’t lodged themselves in any part of the engine and seized it while he was riding. At least it was an easy root cause! We soon found out that a new cylinder, piston, rings and gasket set would only set him back about $70 so he was still winning! It would be such a good runaround to put on the back of the van and in America, you don’t have to register it, just ride it on the footpath since it’s under 50cc!
Fully greasy now and nothing to do until parts were ordered, we washed up and broke for lunch. We cracked a couple of beers and Dan gave me a tour of the garden. It was a beautiful setting that my Mum would love, complete with swimming pool, chairs and table with bright blue cushions and a perfectly manicured desert garden. Dan had even built a neat fire pit out the back which unfortunately had never been used. Peter had left for the gym and offered us some leftovers in the fridge so Dan cooked up his second storm for the day while I had a play on the grand piano in the living room. Luxurious living compared to our normal lives!
We sat on the couch and watched TV over our lunch of pasta, risotto and beers, catching up on America’s news through satirical talk shows. All the while, I petted a large black Doberman with my feet, getting death stares whenever I paused. One Ted talk later about augmented technology and we were done with the TV. Dan had a shower while I made myself comfortable in his room then we switched places. We whiled away the rest of the afternoon playing cards in the air-conditioned comfort of his room.
Wanting to get out of the house, after much googling and planning, we left the house just before 6pm on our way to beers and food. I thanked Peter for his hospitality and we drove through the sunset to Bull Shooters, which seemed much further away than I’d imagined. The carpark was packed, so I figured it was pool comp night or something. Inside the bar that was packed with pool tables and people carrying their pool cues, there was plenty of room for us. At the bar, the poor guy behind it couldn’t understand a word I was saying, not even able to get the word “beer”. Dan gave me a lesson in how to say it in American. We ordered some pizza and scored beers at $3.50 a pitcher, then found ourselves a table and got to shooting. I was expecting nothing different from the last time we played and I was totally right, Dan creamed me. Even when there seemed to be hope, I would continually sink the white ball while he gracefully pocketed ball after ball. He at least conceded the last game to me by sinking the 8 ball. We hoovered into our pizza between shots. It was massive and freakin’ delicious. We laughed at the people around us, dancing to the old school music in their hawaiin shirts. This sort of bar really does draw all sorts of people. On a cigarette break, we met an interesting guy who overheard us talking about kids and he went off on a rant about how we hadn’t lived and didn’t know anything. Hmmm…? Thanks mate, have a good night!
On to our next destination, we stopped at a servo for some beers and I washed Dan’s windscreen. We were off to the drive-in to see a Hugh Jackman movie and I wanted a clean window to peer through! We were cutting it close on time and I didn’t want to miss any of Hughie Jackie so once we got to the theatre, I stashed my bike inside the car (dodgy neighbourhood) and parked it nearby. At the entrance to the theatre, we discovered the price was per person, regardless of the number of cars. It was a struggle to get this information out of the ticket agent, but she eventually confirmed so we drove back out and I got my car so the Astro didn’t have to be left on her own in an unfamiliar place. I hooked my iPod up to my speaker as we re-entered, the entry credits starting to roll on Screen #1. We were parked and comfortable within five minutes of the movie starting. I updated Dan on the crucial plot points and we were set. Beers out, feet on the dash, we were at the drive-in!
The movie, “Logan”, was one in the X-Men series, set in the future. It didn’t really matter, I was seeing Hugh Jackman, but it turned out to be a pretty good movie. It finished around 11:30pm and as soon as it had, another movie started rolling. There was no one around to tell us to get out, so we stuck around! Dan and Cleo had run out of energy, so they slid into the back and conked out while I carried on watching the next movie that came on, called “Life”. Knowing absolutely nothing about it, I was excited to find it was a space movie. When it turned out to be a thriller, I was on edge, not wanting the alien to destroy everyone in the International Space Station. Nightmares tonight for sure! It was all over at 2am and I was wide awake thanks to the movie, despite the late hour. I crawled to the back to wake Dan and he was in another world. After a bit of convincing, we eventually drove out of the cinema and around the corner to make camp. It was an industrial area of some sort but it didn’t matter, it was dark, we were tired.
