I want to wish all of you a happy Thanksgiving! Donna and I have so much to be thankful for. We appreciate our good health, family and friends. Our lifestyle on the road has allowed us to visit our families and make new friends along the way.

The weather continues to be fantastic here. The days are clear and warm to about 70 degrees in the afternoon. After sunset, it quickly cools to the lower 60s. Mornings are high 50s and lower 60s. It’s 61 degrees as I type at 9am.

Tuesday I rode the scooter up to University Town Center. This is a large shopping mall east of La Jolla near UC San Diego. I went to Sears and looked at tool sets and tool boxes. After I returned home, I went online to Sears.com and ordered some tools and a tool chest. This way I don’t have to find a way to haul the heavy tools – they ship for free via UPS right to our site.

I took the scenic route home, along the coast. I stopped in Pacific Beach at the farmer’s market on Bayard Street. Every Tuesday, they close Bayard between Garnet and Grand Avenue and set up the market on the street. They had lots of fresh produce and locally made jams, jellies, salsas and other sauces. There was also fresh seafood.

Pacific Beach farmer’s market

I sent a text to Donna asking if I should buy anything. She didn’t get my message – she was working at her laptop outside while her phone was on the table inside. So I looked, but didn’t buy anything. It was a good thing – our refrigerator is full.

Yesterday we were up early…well, early for me. Donna set her alarm for 7am. We needed to be out at 8:10am to scooter over to Shelter Island. We joined Emily and Mark Fagan at their sailboat, Groovy, at the Kona Kai marina. They were moving their boat to a marina at Harbor Island where their yacht broker is located. They have their Hunter 44 sailboat up for sale. We came along to enjoy the ride and lend a helping hand. The slip at the Harbor Island marina was narrow. Mark and I manned opposite sides of the boat and kept the hull from hitting the pier. Actually, Emily didn’t need much help as she expertly reversed the 44-foot sailboat into place.

We enjoyed a nice ride across San Diego Bay.  Along the way we saw an amazing sight. Two women in a Zodiac boat were training a dolphin in the open water. We think this was a US Navy Marine Mammal exercise. The dolphin would dive, then leap into the air. After repeating this performance a couple of times, it swam next to the Zodiac. The women would stroke and pet the dolphin and give it a fish treat. Then the performance would start over again. Google “US Navy Marine Mammal” for more information.

I managed to catch the dolphin in mid-air with my phone camera

We had a great time enjoying the boat ride and visiting with Emily and Mark. We plan to have them for dinner one night before they leave and look forward to meeting up again down the road after they return to the full-time RV lifestyle. They have a blog with excellent photography and well written posts at roadslesstraveled.us. They’ve spent the last three and a half years cruising the coast of Mexico in Groovy.

As we cruised along Shelter Island, Emily pointed out boats moored near the shore. People live aboard these boats. Living aboard a boat full-time is a challenging feat.

Boats moored along Shelter Island

Emily secures Groovy in the boat slip

Donna poses next to Groovy

After we returned, I rode the scooter to Trader Joe’s for some last-minute items Donna needed to prepare appetizers for our Thanksgiving meal. She’s making roasted garlic white bean dip and smoked trout pate. We’ll take them to her sister, Sheila’s house where we’ll celebrate Thanksgiving today.

Cloudless sunset over Mission Bay last night