The latest car auction took us back to Las Vegas...and with a major creep factor...to Mandalay Bay, the site of the recent shootings. As my Uber driver pulled up to the convention area near the hotel, the median in the street was lined with the crosses of each person shot. Lots of media there, as well as relatives and others who were just curious. From where I entered the building, I could look up at the 32nd floor where it all started. It was surreal...and another reminder just how fragile life can be. Get out there and live it every day, as tomorrow is promised to no one.
Unfortunately, I found nothing to buy. Actually, I'll rephrase that...I couldn't find anything I could afford to buy, or should buy. The last couple auctions had "project" cars and motorcycles. Not this one...only the very high end cars showed up. But I made some good contacts for the next show coming up in January 2018.
After Vegas, we headed to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area to check out the real estate market. There's A LOT going on in Phoenix. As a matter of fact, we found out it's the fastest-growing city in the country. Lots of culture, great food, beautiful homes, more shops than you'll ever need and a wonderful climate (at least for 9 months of the year)...what's not to like? And we did. We explored the whole area, checked out a Farmer's Market, went in a few "Open Houses" for sale near Scottsdale and joined our VRBO host at a car show near his home. This particular car show is the longest-running weekly car show in the country and the McDonald's that hosts it is the #1 McDonald's in the country. Claudia and I enjoyed it, but Tuck...bless his heart...was majorly freaked out by the noise of the street rods and the motorcycles cruising the lanes. And here's an odd fact that we learned while visiting: Much of the areas around the town are on the Indian Reservation...aka "the Rez". At the car show, there were no Phoenix police present...only the reservation police. When we first started watching the Netflix series "Longmire", we had no idea about the relationship between the local, state and federal police and the reservation officers. Guess what...the reservation officers answer to no one on Indian property. They are in complete control. And you know what...they've earned it.
We took a day trip from Phoenix out to Sedona, just to see if we could actually avoid some crowds. We failed. It's a shame that the same federal officials who did such a marvelous job establishing our national parks didn't have the foresight to do the same to Sedona. Had they made it a national park back in the 30's, it would be a jewel today. Don't get me wrong, it's still drop-dead gorgeous, but you have to put up with a lot to enjoy it. We did figure out that there are some 4-wheel drive only roads in the area...and we plan to visit those on our next visit (yes, there will definitely be another).
That's it for now. Cheers!
Wayne, Claudia and Tuck