Four Peak Brewery, Tempe and the railroad

My attempt to get in physical touch with my educational counselor failed today, which gave me some free time in Tempe to try out the brewpub there.

Four Peaks Brewery is localed at 1340 E 8th Street in Tempe, a few blocks east of the Arizona State University campus. There is less of a crowd here and on-street parking is available. The brewery is an old dairy building. I sat at the counter and ordered my usual Hefe Weizen with lemon, and later tried the Koelsch, which at 5% alcohol was one of the stronger Koelsches I've tried. Both were very good. The pints were $3 for Happy Hour.

A few minutes after I arrived a man sat next to me. He was Mike from Mesa, a retired railroad executive. We started talking about the revival of the railroad, especially if gasoline prices continue to rise as they have and analysts are predicting $4 a gallon by May. I know I will cut back on my consumption, and I know that many other things will be cut back, not just by me but by many others: going out to eat, weekend get-aways, charitiable donations. If the railroad could revive itself as an affordable alternative to travel, we could see more raillines sprout up, and not just urban high-speed lines. I would definitely support the railline. I would love to travel up to Montana via the railroad.

Mike also turned out to be a strong supporter of recyclable materials, something I don't see enough of, especially by executives. I had taken a bucket full of glass to Luke AFB where I dropped them off at a "all recyclable items" bin that are located all over the base. Whenever I travel to Phoenix or Tucson I take my glass bottles with me, because glass is not recycled in Sierra Vista and the city recycling program is still in its infancy (like many other things the city does).

Mike ended up paying my tab; the server automatically added both of our meals on one bill. (Why would she do that? Neither Mike nor I asked for our bills to be combined). "Well thank-you for allowing me to take you out to dinner" said Mike, and a few hours later we departed and went our separate ways.

The sun was setting as I left Phoenix on my way south toward Tucson. Too late to see much else of the city, and after two phone calls to both Mom and Kevin, I wanted to hike Picacho Peak, something I could have done today had I not wasted time at the Veteran's Service Office, so I pulled into the park and found a spot in the non-electric sites. The quarter moon barely helped me see as I pulled in. It was a quiet site, but the trucks on the nearby interstate were quite loud, the noise sounded like aircraft taking off. My plan was to hike to the peak first thing in the morning before resuming my drive home.