[Tommy]

It's been 25 years since I lived in the Phoenix area. There used to be a huge cruise-in almost every Saturday night at a large shopping area in Scottsdale, I believe. It was a fun event because you would see a very wide variety of new, old, restored, hotrodded, and other cars. Do they still have that event somewhere around Phoenix?

I was in my 40s then and my family was stationed at Williams AFB. We arrived late one day after a long drive from Texas. Tired and hungry, we asked someone at the base where to find the nearest McDonalds. He pointed us to Mesa. When we walked in to McDonalds it was like stepping into an episode of the Twilight Zone. There was a small crowd in the dining area and every single person including every worker behind the counter looked to be more than 70 years old. It was if every teenager who normally works and eats at McD's had been aged 60 years in an instant. It was a profoundly surreal experience. ... Of course we soon got used to being the yougest people in every restaurant we visited. .... Yes, there were plenty of retired people in the Phoenix area and the winters were wonderful.