We Are Whole!

Pepster and Hopps have arrived, and the group is complete. We have also moved into our rented house in Old Town Scottsdale. No special guests today, just golf, drinking, and nonsense.

As always, all times are local. And Pepster notes that it isn't Pacific time, it is Mountain Standard Time. As Sinickal notes, it is still 3 hours behind real time...

Thursday (March 31st)

06:35 - Wake up and get coffee. Mom is once again cooking bacon and sausage. Find out that once again, the parents are leaving us at the house. So much for spending a couple of days with them.

11:15 - Tony and Sinickal leave the parents’ house to check into the AirBnB we rented in Old Town Scottsdale.

11:19 - Tony and Sinickal realize that they have forgotten to grab an extra set of golf clubs for Tony. Pull a u-turn in traffic, on a two lane road, and in front of two police officers investigating an accident.

11:35 - Back on the road and see that it was a really bad accident!

11:50 - Now on the highway and five motorcycle cops traveling together at very high speed pass us. They look like C.H.I.P.S.

12:12 - This. House. Is. Cool…And it has a 4' tall gun safe. Tony and Sinickal decide that we have to keep Hopps away from this room.

12:25 – Sinickal and Tony decide to get a drink and some food before Hopps lands.

12:27 - Hopps texts that his plane has landed. Damn no time for food.

12:31 - Arrive at Coachman House for a beer. There is always time for a drink. This place looks so different when it isn't decorated like a Christmas present.

Today

Holiday Season

12:45 - Leave to pick up Hopps at airport.

13:09 - Hopps! He is a little miffed [Ed. Note:  Shocker!]  after an apparent mishap with his golf bag. It took an awful long time to arrive. Tony and Sinickal realize that this is just American Airlines, and are somewhat angry that they didn’t have another beer.

13:42 – Group arrives at Orange Tree Golf Resort for a 13:45 tee time. Yeah, we are late.

13:46 – While checking in with the pro shop, we hear our name being called to the first tee. Of course, Hopps is at some bar on the wrong side of the resort buying beer.

13:50 – We race to the first tee and meet our 4^th player, Mike. He is the golf pro at Talking Stick Golf Resort. He is in for one hell of a round with us. Mike claims that he will be fine. Just wants to drink beers and swing the club. We realize that he will fit right in.

14:45 - Hopps goes birdie - birdie on holes 5 and 6. He appears to be catching fire…and then Hopps shows up to the golf course

17:00 - Good, non-eventful round going on when Mike lets us know that we can come out to play Talking Stick as his guests this weekend. Hook-up!

17:55 – We exchange numbers with Mike. Sinickal is ecstatic.

18:35 – Group heads back to the house where Hopps discovers the gun safe. Sinickal and Tony quietly look in. Uh oh.

18:50 – Group heads into Old Town for food, and decide to start at Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers. Because we really wanted cold beers AND cheeseburgers.

19:02 – We meet Rob of Rob's Mini Limos on the top floor of a parking garage in Old Town. He runs one of the golf cart services in Old Town. He brags that his cart can go up to 50 mph, so he can drive pretty much anywhere in the city. He gives us his card, and tells us that he can pick us up and drop us off any time we need him. Looks like we may have private limo service for the week…well, golf cart service

19:15 – We are comfortably seated at the bar. We really DID want cold beers and cheeseburgers!

19:40 – There is an announcement in the bar that team trivia starts in 20 min. Tony notes that we have 18 minutes to eat and get the fuck out.  Would have been a different story if Pepster was here.

20:15 - Hopps and Sinickal are watching the Women's 3-point shootout as if it were the Super Bowl. We have a problem.  And no – we did not have money on it.

20:17 – There is a woman named Jessica January competing. We thought the television had been changed to one of the Vivid Video channels.

20:28 – Her jumper is wet! She just beat the dude! He will never play another meaningful minute of basketball in his life.

20:32 – Take a golf cart back to the Coachman House. We have the golf cart stop at an ATM for Hopps. Standing at an outdoor ATM on a dark street corner, Hopps turns and screams this one gives out fifty's! Tony and Sinickal remind him that AZ is an open carry state

20:39 – The first round of Golden Tee begins. Tony notes that he hasn’t sweat yet today. It must just evaporate. Welcome to the desert.

20:58 – A Bonnie Raitt song comes on the jukebox. A blonde woman appears from seemingly nowhere and begins singing to us. Just weird.

21:40 – This is a workmanlike evening so far. Not a lot of interaction, just drinks and bar visits. That just ended with our entering Bottled Blondes. This is going downhill. Fast.

22:02 – A woman walks by with two tiaras. When asked by Sinickal why she is carrying the tiaras, she responds “I wanted it to be my birthday, so some random guy bought it for me. Do you want it?”

22:09 - Hopps  "I am deep enough to know how shallow I am."

22:35 – We are trying to work our way back toward the car and stop at Dierks Bentley. The bar, not the band. Sinickal is so glad that this is Scottsdale, land of 60-year old children, and not Kansas City where this bar would just be creepy.

22:59 - Pepe has landed. Now we have to figure out how to get him.

23:02 - Hopps "I gotta find a way to get a golf cart street legal in Quincy MA "

23:40 – Pepster is in! We are whole! And, he looks thirsty.

23:58 – Back to the Coachman House. We are trying to wake Hopps up and thought that some Golden Tee would help. This is not working.

00:39 – We decide on one more round of beers, but Tony is done and Hopps is trying to be done. Pepster is screaming "I will drink theirs."

00:53 - While watching a Bulls – Cavaliers rerun, Sinickal realizes that one of the Lopez brothers plays for Chicago. Pepe notes that it is the bad one.

01:23 – We are going to call it a night. On to Day 3.