Hmm. I guess I forgot to hit "send" on the airport parking and never completed the transaction.  I still found a very good deal on parking at a hotel 2 miles away and it has a free shuttle.  There isn't really anything cheap about having to fly out of this area.  You either drive 2-1/2 hours for a cheap price or you pay through the nose to fly out of a local airport.

I'll drive the 2-1/2 hours, thank you and save the $350 plus dollars.  I would have had to pay for airport parking regardless, though if it were the next city over airport landlords likely would have given me a ride.  No ill feel there.  No onto attempting to finally get this shuttle business from PHX to mom's house settled.  You know, it takes a while to find the best deals sometimes. Not always, but a lot of times you realy have to spend a bit of time perusing numerous websites before the "magic" occurs and you find the deal.

My goal was to take a free hotel shuttle to a destination near mom's house, but I am arriving late and I doubt free shuttles will be going that late.  I have some friends I could call for a ride but it's too late to impose on them like that.  So, I'll pay the shuttle fee for round trip - which that particular airport shuttle runs 24 hours a day - and likely I will stay at a hotel anyway for I am really not interested in keeping mom awake til' 1 am for my arrival.  I can stay at a cheap motel near her house, call her for a ride and that will just have to work.

Flying out of Dallas, airport parking fee and shuttle fee I'm at $210.  Add $30 of gas for the drive.  Add $45 for cheap hotel and I'm at $285.  All of that combined is still $200 cheaper than flying out of any airport near hear and I still would have encurred airport parking, shuttle in phoenix and hotel stay if I opt for that.

I'm still a bit peeved about Nathan and his decision to cut off the exhaust muffler and also rolling that 4 wheeler.  The exhuast muffler is going to cost some money to replace,It's noisy and I want it fixed.  I would put on a used muffler if I could find one and save some money.  I haven't tried raising the handlebars back up yet.  Other than those 2 things, though, that 4 wheeler is still in good condition and runs great.  The other one I have ordered the parts for  I replaced some of them but other parts still in transit.  Nothing expensive. U joints, brakes, tie rod ends and a few other minor things.  I just know that if you let things go, more things go wrong because of letting things go.  It's far cheaper to just fix it as soon as things happen.

A Motel 6 for $60.  Gag.  Oops. Mama just told me different, lol.  She has no plans to stay awake but will leave the light and door open (which I think is dangerous for her but she is being stubborn, I won't arrive there until around 2 am).  so I will save the hotel money and take the shuttle directly to her house.  Which is better, actually, for me because going back, when I arrive in Dallas at an ungodly hour, I undoubtedly am not going to want to drive home.  I will spend the motel money then instead.  In fact, I will likely do a priceline or similar when I am at her place and see if I can find a good deal on a decent or even good hotel and treat myself.  I am a fan of Marriots and there is one near DAL.  But, I don't have to have a Marriot, lol, just if the price were right.  Weekends are always more expensive.  Just one of those things, though, at that late of an hour I would rahter have it already booked and an address to drive to from the airport instead of trying to look around.

So yeah I'm getting excited about this trip.  I am going to visit an old friend - old as in high school buddy from the late 70's to early 80's.  He ended up in prison at one point but he has completely changed his life, is happily married and was a good friend then and still is now.  No, I'm not going to judge him for his life choices, we all make mistakes, we all probably inentinoally have done things that we knew were wrong and did it anyway.

Today.  Well, I got up, went to a few places around here looking for tires, then to Napa to get my brakes for the big 4 wheeler I had ordered, over to Chili's to eat some  lunch, get a fresh haircut, of which I wasn't happy with even though I tried to get her to cut it the way I wanted it - and then back home to find the next door neighbor kid and his buddies wanting to "talk" to me.  It's always about the 4 wheeler.  The one that is drivable, not the one I have up on jacks waiting on U joints.  I'm not going to let them use that one anymore, I am fixing everything on it and it's mine to use and perhaps the landlords when we finally are able to go out on a riding adventure.  The one they are using now is much more geared for their liking.  Regardless, they were talking baseball of which I am very knowledgeable about and then we got into their world of already having had signed up for a league and starting soon.  Well show me what you got.  What do you know about it? Umm, I coached it for 10 years?  lol.  Ohh, really? Will you teach us?  They ran to the house, got all of their gear, came running back over and then after 2 seconds of watching them - realized they didn't have a clue.

Throwing, pitching, fielding, catching.  Didn't even see the bat swing, we never got that far. They were throwing the ball and trying to catch it to their side instead of getting in front of it. They were waiting for a popup to come down and then try to grab it from the ground instead of running to it and positioning themselves underneath the ball to catch it.  They were standing to the side of a grounder instead of getting in front of it and getting the glove down on the ground.

Y'all afraid of that ball.  NO WE AREN'T!!! Oh, yes, you are.  How do you figure Mr. Ben?  That's what they call me and I do like the respect part of it.  They aren't ghetto talking, foul language mouth filled trash talkers.  Very respectful and that part I can deal with.  You won't get in front of the ball, anytime it's coming at any of ya you move out of the way. Your coach, whoever you end up with, is not going to like that.  At all.  So i just started barking out orders as I used to in Little League since that's what they wanted and they started getting it.  Yeah, you're going to get hit with the ball here and there, that's part of the game, toughen up, deal with it, field or catch the ball, that's. that.  Encouragement was also offered, of course, and they immediately started improving and one of them admitted he "was" afraid but he "isn't" anymore.

Pitching mechanics were non-existent, but I didn't expect anything since they have never been trained.  I am half tempted to take them  out ot the nearest ballfield and start really dealing with them since they are serious about it and want to learn.  For it is a foregone conclusion they have no real batting skills and I have a very good eye and know how to teach batting mechanics.

But right now, it's all about this trip.  Mom "corrected" me on the hotel and that's fine. She decided I am going to drive her Tundra - pretty nice truck thank you very much. Last thing on the agenda is the shuttle to her house since I can eliminate the hotel now.  Well, that's enough for now.