Yesterday was overcast and dreary. After I posted to the blog, I scootered Donna over to Great News in Pacific Beach. She had a cooking class there – Restaurant Style Made Dishes Made Easy. That title is a mouthful. This is the second cooking class she’s taken there –  the first one was a Vitamix demo class. She really enjoys the cooking classes. Of course, the classes aren’t free, but I think they make the real money when the students shop for kitchen supplies and utensils. Donna bought ceramic knives and other goodies there yesterday.

Speaking of classes, I forgot to mention Donna’s piano lesson on Monday. She has three more weekly lessons scheduled with her teacher in Ocean Beach. This keeps her motivated and working on new songs on the piano. She’s keeping herself busy with work too. She has a number of projects coming due and worked well into the evening last night.

While Donna was in class, I rode up to Home Depot in Clairemont. I bought drawer liners for my tool box and self-drilling screws to install the wheel chock and more tie-downs in the trailer. I came home and dropped the supplies in the trailer. I went to our site and used bungee cords to strap the shipping box full of hand tools on the back seat of the scooter. I rode back to the trailer and unloaded the box. This worked well, so I grabbed a few more bungee cords and went back to our site. This time I strapped the large cardboard box containing my new tool chest on the back of the scooter. As I was starting the scooter, a guy walking past said “Wait a minute, I need to get my camera!”

It must have been quite a sight. I wish I had taken a picture now. I’m imagining the pictures you sometimes see of people in third world countries with goods piled high on a scooter. It worked fine. I got the 80-pound box to the trailer without any problems.

I took a break and picked up Donna from her class at 1:30pm. I had a quick bite to eat and then went back to work on the trailer.

I spent the next couple of  hours laying out the floor plan for the trailer. With the heavy tool box situated near the front/center, I will place the scooter with the engine centered over the trailer axle. This will allow me to pack other items like storage bins and bicycles around the sides and rear of the scooter. The load should balance nicely. I took some measurements and located the wheel chock so it positions the scooter just right. I was able to place it in a way that I could use self-drilling screws to fasten the chock into a steel cross-member.

I used 3/4″ plastic feet meant to screw into the bottom of chair legs to secure the tool box. I placed the box where I wanted it, then screwed the plastic feet to the floor around all four sides of the tool box – two per side. This should keep the box from moving about while we’re underway.

While I was engrossed in my work, I didn’t notice that rain was falling. At one point, I looked out the door and saw it was wet. The scooter was soaked. I locked up the trailer and rode back to our site in the rain.

Not only was I oblivious to the weather, I’d lost track of time. It was nearly 4pm and I still needed to dump the holding tanks. I had them dumped and rinsed just before dark. With the rain and the work, I completely forgot about my usual Tuesday night beer with guys at Offshore Tavern and Grill. On Tuesdays ,the football pool winner buys a round for all of the other pool participants. That’s two weeks in a row I missed my free beer!

Today the sky is partly cloudy and the temperature is forecast to remain cool. Yesterday’s cold front will stall over the area for a couple of days. After it moves out and we have a nice day or two, another front may come through on the weekend. Our tentative plan at this point is to stay here until December 26th. Then we’ll head east. I’m starting to get the hitch itch. Three more weeks and it will be time to move on.

Today, I’ll cut and install the drawer liners in my toolbox. Then I can start organizing my tools.