The Last Phoenix Down Down
In a final effort to say goodbye to all of our friends in Phoenix, we decided to let them come to us so we didn't have to chase them all down. We invited as many people as we could to our second favorite gay bar in town, Charlie's. It was such a fantastic whirlwind of memories, laughs, goodbyes, two-for-one drinks, gifts, and mostly love.
Two of our best friends, Justin and Alisia, created a gift fund for Leah and I. They gave us almost $900.00. I was very taken back when Justin gave a toast to us and announced the gift. It was so unexpected, and even more appreciated. Our friends are the absolute best. Justin suggested we keep those funds separate from our normal stash and choose a specific country/city to spend this money in, and imagine that we're living that experience with all the people at our party or contributed to the gift. I told him no. I told him I'd keep the money in savings as a "Get Tyler Out of Prison" fund.
Ilija got us an aged bottle of Scotch Whiskey, Regi gave us a few travel belts, moleskin notebooks, a sarong (he taught me to wear it 6 different ways and also how to use it as a defense weapon), Will gave us random currencies from around SE Asia (which the bar wouldn't accept in exchange a round of shots), and of course the all the money Justin and Alisia rounded up.
Because the party was on a Thursday night, most people didn't stay out too late, but there are always exceptions. A dozen of us went to another bar, The Rock, for a more intimate party. This was a mistake. The entire bar smelled like barf and the only escape was the patio, which smelled of smoke. Shots helped.
The night ended with a handful of us going to Denny's for breakfast. I haven't done that in a VERY long time. There's nothing like country fried steak and a coffee at 3am.
Our last order of business was to make sure our house was completely cleaned out and load everything we wanted to keep into the back of my truck. It was a pain in the ass to do all of that while sweating our beer and Jameson. It was also very freeing to downsize so much that our lives fit into the truck. We pulled out of the driveway and parked in front of the house for a few minutes. We had a good cry session as we reminisced. Lots of parties, kitchen and casita remodeling, our first home together, sleeping with ice packs in our bed, hosting hashers, a violent rescue dog, and of course a SWAT team catching a few crackheads hiding in our yard. Ahhhh memories.
As we drove up the 17 towards Flagstaff, it really hit us; we're officially on the adventure we'd been talking about for years.
We're staying the night in Flagstaff with Pete, and then heading to Vegas to help celebrate the 30th birthday of Leah's best friend, Adelina.
Tyler