Yesterday we started out as usual. I posted to the blog while Donna was at her exercise class. When she returned, she had a couple of telephone meetings. I putzed around, then walked to the RV office to see about a refund for the trailer parking. I’d paid in advance to park the trailer in their lot for 30 days. Since it disappeared after 6 days, I thought I should be entitled to a refund for the unused days. They refunded my entire payment.

We rode the scooter over to Shelter Island around 1:00pm. We went to the Kona Kai Marina to meet Mark and Emily Fagan. Donna and Emily connected online through an RV group on Facebook, but had never met in person. Mark and Emily sold their home in Phoenix in 2007 and went full-time RVing. Their RV has been in storage for the last 3 1/2 years while they lived aboard their 44′ Hunter sailboat, Groovy. They cruised the coast of Mexico all the way down to Guatemala. Emily and Mark are photojournalists. You can read about their adventures and view outstanding photography at roadslesstraveled.us. They’re actually selling their boat and returning to their RV.

We had a great time sitting in the cockpit of their boat and talking. We discovered so many similarities between us, it was wonderful. Mark and Emily are avid cyclists. Mark also is into motorcycles and has been riding since he was 16. Emily is a writer, like Donna. They met in a cycling club (just like Donna and I). They have two granddaughters – so do we. We all lived in metro Phoenix at one time. Mark used to live in Sterling Heights, Michigan not far from where we used to live. We visited for nearly 3 hours and the time flew by. We’re looking forward to another visit before we leave San Diego.

Mark and Emily Fagan aboard their Hunter 44′ sailboat

When we left Shelter Island around 4pm, we were hungry. We rode over to the Offshore Tavern and Grill on Morena Boulevard. This place serves outstanding food, not your usual tavern fare. Donna had the poke plate (say poe-key). I had seared ahi tuna.

Poke plate

Seared ahi tuna plate

When we returned to the RV park, we found we had new neighbors. We met Bud and Mona, who are parked next to us. Bud lives about 30 miles from here in Escondido. He’s taking some time off and enjoying Mission Bay. We sat and had a few drinks. Bud has an old washing machine tub that he perched on top of a cut-off 55-gallon drum. He used it as a fire pit. This worked really well. The holes in the sides of the tub allows air to circulate. With plenty of air, the fire burned hot and clean with very little smoke.

Washing machine tub firepit

Later, Mona served shrimp enchiladas that she made. They were delicious. Mona has a couple of stand up paddle boards. She offered to let us try them out. We’ll have to give it a try one of these days.

Mona’s shrimp enchiladas

This morning my youngest daughter, Shauna, picked me up in her car. We drove to the airport where I dropped her off for a flight to Washington, DC. She is a student at Cal Western School of Law. As part of her scholarship, they sent her to Washington to visit Supreme Court Justice, Anthony Kennedy. She will be in the court chambers on Monday to hear oral arguments. I look forward to hearing about it when she returns on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, we have her 2013 Jetta TDI. I think I’ll take advantage of that and look at cargo trailers today.