Active Record Rspec Query Interface Errors - ruby-on-rails

Question

I'm working through an API for Rails and have been fumbling how to set up the associations, the spec, and the controller for my Get route. The goal - As a user I want to get all the notes closest to my location that have not been viewed. I know the viewed? logic is off, as is the Query Interface in the Recipients Model and Nearests Controller.
Here's the Error Rspec is giving me:
Failure/Error: note1 = create(:note)
NoMethodError:
undefined method `recipient_id=' for #<Note:0x007fd2a40e1400>
Here's the spec:
describe 'GET /v1/notes/nearests?lat=&lon=&radius=' do
it 'returns the notes within the given radius' do
near_note1 = create(:note, lat: 37.760322, lon: -122.429667)
near_note2 = create(:note, lat: 37.760322, lon: -122.429667)
lat = 37.771098
lon = -122.430782
radius = 10
get "/v1/notes/nearests?lat=#{lat}&lon=#{lon}&radius=#{radius}"
expect(response_json).to eq([
{
'id' => [near_note1.id, near.note2.id],
# 'lat' => near_note1.lat,
# 'lon' => near_note1.lon,
'note_text' => [near_note1.note_text, near_note2.note_text],
'photo_uri' => [near_note1.photo_uri, near_note2.photo.uri],
# 'expiration' => near_note.expiration.as_json,
'viewed' => [near_note1.viewed?, near_note2.viewed?]
},
])
end
end
Here is the controller code:
def index
#notes = Note.near([
params[:recipient_id],
params[:lat],
params[:lon]],
radius: :APP_CONFIG['radius'],
units: :APP_CONFIG['units']
)
end
Here are the Factories - Notes
FactoryGirl.define do
factory :note do |u|
sender_id {FactoryGirl.create(:user).id}
recipient_id {FactoryGirl.create(:user).id}
lat 1.5
lon 1.5
note_text "MyString"
photo_uri "MyString"
expiration Time.zone.now.utc
end
end
My Models:
User Model
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
has_many :notes
validates :first_name, :last_name, :pw, presence: true
validates :email, :username, :devicetoken, presence: true, uniqueness: true
validates :email, length: { minimum: 8 }
end
Note Model
class Note < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :user, foreign_key: 'sender_id', class_name: 'User'
has_many :recipients, foreign_key: 'recipient_id', class_name: 'User'
validates :sender_id, presence: true
validates :lat, presence: true
validates :lon, presence: true
validates :note_text, presence:true
validates :expiration, presence: true
reverse_geocoded_by :lat, :lon
end
Recipients Model
class Recipient < ActiveRecord::Base
belongs_to :note, foreign_key: 'recipient_id', class_name: 'Note'
def get_recipient
Note.find(:all, params[:note_id])
end
def viewed?
end
end