Originally Posted by Campag4life

Mesa is beautiful. I used to travel monthly through there on business. The first time I visited Arizona I was astounded by the geology...how different it is from other areas of the US. Globe is right out of a Hollywood western in terms of native Americans and Flagstaff has wonderful skiing. Even the reservoir lakes are great for water skiing. I used to play a lot of golf there and great golf courses. In the summer that place is an oven however...fries the paint right off the cars in the parking lot...literally. But there are few nicer places to visit like right now where the weather has just taken a cold turn in the midwest.

A quick and poignant story about a good friend of mine who lived there. His name was Ken. Ken was athletic and brilliant and so we became friends. We did a lot of paling around together...played a lot of tennis...rollerbladed and picked up chicks together. He met the girl he wanted to marry who was also athletic and they both rode mountain bikes up a high passage in Mesa to propose to her. When they crested the mountain, she accepted and they both descended together to come down and share their joy with their friends. She traversed the road at the base of the mountain first at the bottom and then Ken came following her lead. A car came fast around the corner and Ken hit the B pillar of the car with his head...he was wearing a helmet which was split in half by the concussion and Ken died in the arms of the girl he just proposed to. It was and still is an incredible tradegy. I will never forget Ken for not only his intellect but passion for life only matched by his incredible intense blue eyes. The irony is Ken was also an expert sky diver and instructor and died in his 30's riding a bicycle.