Chapter 60: Phoenix Rising

Mid to Late Sept, 1986

Charlie POV:

We quickly fixed Maggie and Sheila up with what they needed.

Since we were flying by the seat of our pants, literally, we decided Bob and I would teleport to a secluded area in the campground that we’d visited last year in Sedona. Then Maggie and Sheila could just pop in behind us.

That worked perfectly and within a minute we were walking toward Bubba’s biker bar. We decided to stop in and grab some coffee.

When we looked up at the clock, it read 6:15 AM. I grinned when the waitress remembered us from last year. We had to remind her of our names but I was impressed that she even recognized us. It probably helped that Maggie and Sheila looked just like Mary and Linda.

I asked the waitress where we could find some maps of Arizona and especially the Phoenix area. She said the gas station a few doors down would be one place. The other place she suggested was the Visitor’s Center but that wouldn’t open until 8 o’clock. Bob decided to run down to the gas station and five minutes later returned with three plastic coated foldout maps. One was the overall state showing all the interstate, US and major state highways. The other two were for Phoenix and to the north, and Phoenix to the south.

We looked at the overall state map while we were finishing our coffee.

We decided the easiest thing to do was to just follow I-17 South all the way into Phoenix where it ended at I-10.

We were looking at the Phoenix and North map when Maggie told us that her parents were considering moving to Sun City, Arizona. That was a newer community specially designed for senior citizens. One of the attractions was you could drive anywhere in the entire city which included grocery stores, gas stations, several mini-malls and the like using a golf cart. She asked if we could possibly fly over it so she could see what it looked like.

Then Sheila giggled and said her parents had heard about another place south of Phoenix called Sun Lakes, Arizona and were thinking about moving there. We couldn’t find it on the map but when she said it was on the southwest side of Chandler we decided it might be worth checking out too.

I was thinking about our parents and how cool it might be if they were to move out here someday. So, the more information we could get that might help with that, the better.

I told them that the destination I was seeking out was just south of the ASU (Arizona State University) campus in Tempe, Arizona. I knew from talking to Al Jeffries that their architectural firm was located in a building just south of University Drive and Mill Avenue. I figured that would be our best bet as far as finding a realtor somewhere nearby.

After leaving Bubba’s, we found a secluded spot and donned our helmets.

Since Maggie and Sheila had never flown with a helmet before we took a few minutes to show them all the cool little ‘do-daddy’s’ it had. (Their words, not mine!)

I made sure to tell them that when using the telescope features that it was very easy to get disoriented. Bob suggested they each hold our hands when they decided they wanted to try it out the first time, just to be safe.

We decided to use our ‘chameleon mode’ to act like a flight suit with light blue on the front and light brown on the back. My reasoning was that because we would be following the interstate, we didn’t want drivers to see us as easily. I wasn’t so much worried about someone above us. I figured light brown would somewhat hide us amongst all the desert landscape in the event a light plane might be in the area.

I didn’t want to fly invisible since we wouldn’t be able to see each other.

We took off and followed highway AZ-179 south until it intersected with I-17.

Maggie and Sheila absolutely loved the view.

Sheila instantly saw what we’d talked about when we said it would be a great place to ride our bikes.

Before we got even halfway down I-17 she ran out of superlatives about riding around this beautiful countryside, which caused Maggie to giggle incessantly.

Maggie declared, “Sheila, you’d think you were a hard-core biker by the way you’re talking!”

Sheila shrieked, “I AM a hard-core biker, Maggie Babes! I never told you how Bob helped me bring my bike up from Florida. Now I’m going to have to sweet-talk him all over again to bring my bike out here so I can use it when I come out to visit!”

Bob reached over and squeezed her hand, “I’m already thinking about some fun ways for you to sweet-talk me with?”

Sheila teased him right back, “Just try not to make me pass out, okay? Although, then again, I guess that wouldn’t be so bad!”

Maggie said, “You should have them bring it out to DC with us. Although, with so much frigging traffic and the fact that it rains all the dang time, you might be right. In the long run you’d probably be able to ride it out here much more than Washington.” She giggled, “Actually, you guys probably need to make sure there’s room for at least four or five more bikes at this new place you’re going to build. I just know that Bill and Bruce are going to want to do some serious riding out here too.”

That comment warmed my soul. It made me realize the rest of our family really wouldn’t be that far away.

I would make damn sure to design a place with plenty of garage space.

As we approached the north side of the Phoenix area I saw a small regional airport off to my left. I knew that was approximately where we needed to head west to see Sun City. Using the telescope in my helmet we followed Beardsley Rd, West to where we saw a strangely laid out subdivision. Much of it was laid out in various series of concentric circles.

That’s when I noticed the big sign that said ‘Welcome to Sun City, Arizona’!

The only thing I didn’t really like about it was, it seemed like the homes were really jammed together. Thinking about it, however, it was still better than most trailer parks. That’s when I noticed something that I really did like.

The place was very clean and almost no one had any grass.

Bob even chuckled, “Oh, I love this, Charlie! Instead of having to cut grass, all you have to do is rake your rocks once in a while. It is kind of strange that there aren’t many trees besides palm trees every here and there”

Maggie giggled, “So that means you don’t have to rake any leaves either. It’s like everything about this place is low-maintenance. I do see a few citrus trees, however. That would be kind of cool to have your own orange, lime, lemon and grapefruit trees.”

After seeing as much as we felt we needed to, we headed back southeast till we saw I-17 again.

As we approached the center of Phoenix I noticed airliners landing from the east and taking off to the west. I knew from the map that we needed to stay the heck away from Sky Harbor Airport.

We turned East about a mile north of the airport and once we were passed the danger zone, we crossed the landing pattern, keeping just barely above the treetops.

We saw what looked like a dry riverbed with a tiny little creek running through the middle of it. We followed the creek which I later learned was the Rio Salado River. Soon we could see ASU’s, Sun Devil Stadium and found a secluded spot to land.

We ‘chameleoned’ into our street clothes and began walking around just checking out the sights. We were told by some friendly people that University Rd was only about a half mile down Mill Ave. Since it looked like there were many stores along Mill Avenue, we decided to just walk and see what we might come across.

It was obvious this was a college town. There were several bars and many specialty shops that catered to college kids. And again, we were impressed with just how clean everything was.

Shortly after we crossed University Drive I saw a stand-alone building. The sign above the door said ‘Jeffries and Associates: Architects and Engineering Services, LTD’. We walked in the door and were immediately greeted by a cheerful, petite blonde lady about 35 years old. I introduced myself and asked if I might speak to Al Jeffries. She pushed a button on her phone and told Al that a ‘Charlie Swenson’ was here to see him. We heard Al ask, “Ask him if he’s the same Charlie that works for us in Illinois, please?”

We were all chuckling and I leaned over to the phone, “Yeah, Al it’s me. I was wondering if we might talk for a few minutes?”

I heard Al chuckle, “I’ll be right out, Charlie!”

The receptionist grinned, “I think I’ve heard about you, Charlie. Aren’t you the one who figured out what that crooked architect was doing and virtually saved the company?”

I felt myself blushing and said quietly, “I may have had something to do with that, yes. It really wasn’t a big deal though; I just did what I felt I had to do. In the end I did have a lot of help, including my brother Bob, here.”

I put my arm around Bob’s shoulder and he flashed his usual goofy grin. Just then Al Jeffries came into the foyer and pulled me into a hug. He then hugged a very surprised ‘Linda’ before asking what brought us all the way out here.

I had to flash a blushing Sheila that she just needed to go with the flow. I could hear Linda, who was in everyone’s heads giggling, telling Sheila, “I think Al really likes you, babes. Just be nice to him, okay?”

Sheila giggled, “I guess maybe you should’ve warned me, babes! That’s okay, Al seems like a nice guy. I’ll deal with it!”

I told Al we were thinking about relocating to the Phoenix area and asked him if he knew of any good realtors.

He looked sad for a second, then said softly, “Sam told me what happened, Charlie. Let’s go next door to my favorite little café and let me buy you all something to drink.”

Just as we were heading out he asked the receptionist, “Lisa, see if you can find one of Charlene Grayson’s business cards. There might be some just underneath your phone.”

She quickly looked on the ledge under the phone and pulled out a card and handed it to Al. Al held his finger up, “Let me call Charlene really quick, her office is just a mile down the road. Maybe she’ll come and join us for coffee?”

I chuckled, “I love a man with a plan!”

It was apparent that Al knew this Charlene pretty well. It sounded more like two friends on the phone than two business associates. He told us she would meet us at the café in about 10 minutes.

Al asked the hostess if we could have a table for six, off in the corner somewhere.

After we were seated. Al, Bob and I asked for coffee while Sheila and Maggie asked for Diet Cokes.

Al asked if Linda and I were planning on returning to work.

He knew of my arrangement with Sam and I told him we would definitely be interested in doing something similar to that here. I didn’t want to go into a lot of details about everything that happened, but just told him we needed to get away from the rat race in Illinois. I then said, chuckling, “We’re also really tired of shoveling snow and freezing our butts off in the winter.”

That got a laugh out of him, “I see you figured out why I moved out here, Charlie! I’ve been out here for five years now and there’s no way I could ever go back to Illinois. I must tell you, the whole East Valley area out here, which includes Tempe, Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert is growing faster than any place else in the country. If you can afford it, I would suggest buying as much land as you get your hands on. Land is still pretty cheap right now but I have a hunch that in the next 15 years the cost per acre could easily increase tenfold or more.”

I told him that Linda and I were planning on designing our own place out here. Furthermore, I told him we were looking to find at least 10 to 15 acres where we could have privacy but yet, not be too far away from civilization. He told me that there were still many parcels, especially around Chandler and Gilbert, where I could buy as much is a whole section of land if I wanted to!

My eyes liked to pop out of my head, “A whole section? Isn’t that like 640 acres?”

He just smiled, “I see you know how the system works my friend and yes, there are whole sections that could be had for a reasonable price. And if you wanted to move just a little farther away, like toward the city of Maricopa, there are whole sections that could be purchased for less than $64,000.”

“Wow! You mean to tell me there’s still land that I could get for a hundred dollars an acre?”

He just smiled and nodded his head. Then he stood up and waved to a very nice, professional looking redheaded lady, who appeared to be about 35 to 40 years old. She was fairly tall, probably about five foot nine, with flowing, shoulder length, copper hair. She had an infectious smile and gave Al a nice hug and a peck on the cheek. Al introduced her to everyone, then ordered her a coffee with cream and sugar.

Al started, “In order to save you some time, Charlene, my friends are interested in buying some acreage to build a home on. A minimum of 10 to 15 acres if not more, and not too far away from, as they put it, civilization. The other day when we were talking, you said something about an old couple who had an eighth section of land with a house right in the middle of it. If I remember right, wasn’t that in Chandler, right along Gilbert Road?”

Charlene smiled, “Yes it was. And it’s still for sale. I think the main reason they haven’t sold it yet is that they’re asking a little bit too much. The house is just an old farmhouse and isn’t in very good shape. It’s also nearly 60 years old, which for out here, is ancient.”

She then looked at Bob and I, “I also have several other parcels you might be interested in if you don’t like that one. The one Al mentioned, however, is in a prime spot for what you’re looking for. It’s only about 2½ miles north of the Gila River Indian reservation, yet, it’s also only about seven miles from downtown Chandler. It’s surrounded by small farms and ranches. The north side of the same quarter section is a peach orchard. To the west and south you have a sheep ranch and cornfields. To the east is a large dairy farm, that fortunately has its cattle pens two and a half miles north. That’s a good thing, because if it were any closer you would be inundated with flies. Thankfully, the part of the ranch that borders the property is just hay and feed grass, so you won’t have any smell to deal with. And before you ask, the nearest pig farm is more than eight miles away!”

Bob looked at me, grinning, “Do you suppose we could take a look at that today? I figure we have to start somewhere and just by the sounds of it, who knows. It might be just what we’re looking for?”

Charlene then asked, “Would you guys like to follow me, or should we all ride together. I have my Lincoln town car with me today so I’m pretty sure we’d all fit.”

I chuckled, “Since we’re all on foot right now, if you could give us a lift, that would be perfect.”

Sheila asked, “Since you said this was in Chandler, how far is it from that Sun Lakes place? My parents are interested in possibly moving there in the near future. They have a friend that’s been talking about it but they’ve never been down here themselves.”

Charlene grinned, “We’re going to be driving right by it! I was planning on going down Interstate 10 and getting off on Riggs Road. It’s only about seven miles from there to the property we’re going to look at. We can certainly take a look if you’d like.”

The drive down I-10 didn’t seem to take very long.

To our left, or east, was the south half of Tempe then the city of Chandler. To our right or west was all Indian reservation. She explained as we drove that nearly 20 percent of the state of Arizona was Indian reservations. They had their own laws and police and while everyone was free to drive through the reservation you were subject to their laws. If you got a speeding ticket or other type of violation, the state of Arizona would force you to pay whatever the Indian chiefs decided as far as a fine was concerned.

Bob asked if they still ‘scalped’ people!