Donna and her teammate Angie raced in the duathlon at McDowell Mountain Regional Park early yesterday morning. Angie ran the first 3.6-mile leg, then transferred the timing chip to Donna in the transition area. Donna had a goal of averaging 15mph over the hilly 25.2-mile bike course. She made the ride in 1:36:40 for an average speed of 15.6mph. Then Angie finished the race with another 3.6-mile run. They were happy the rain held off and had a good time.

Angie and Donna – up at 5am and all smiles before the race

While Donna was at the race, I was thinking about the Filter Minder Air Restriction Gauge I wrote about in yesterday’s post. First I went online and looked up troubleshooting information. I found the Filter Minder FAQ page. It warns the consumer not to judge an air filter’s restriction by visual examination. An air filter that looks dirty may have much filtration life left. Air restriction through the filter remains low through much of its service life, then rapidly increases as the filter clogs at the end of its service life. The large air filter on our Cummins ISL is designed for commercial use which usually entails high mileage in a relatively short time. In a motorhome, high-mileage driving is the exception.

I found a chart on the site that showed typical results over miles driven in non-severe (not dusty) conditions. It can take more than 50,000 miles before the restriction starts to show on the gauge. Of course, they also warn not to change filters on a mileage schedule – always use restriction as the factor unless the filter is in danger of deterioration due to age.

With these facts in mind, I went out to test our Filter Minder Air Restriction Gauge. First, I disconnected the vacuum line from the top of the gauge. I put a short length of vacuum hose on it and applied vacuum. The gauge responded – there’s nothing wrong with the gauge. Then I blew air through the vacuum line between the gauge and the intake tube behind the air filter. The air flowed freely – there’s no blockage. I reconnected the vacuum line at the gauge and crawled under the coach. I disconnected the line at the intake tube and applied vacuum at the line. I stepped out and looked at the gauge. It works fine. There’s nothing wrong with our Filter Minder. Apparently I’m guilty of assuming that the old filter should have shown restriction based on its appearance.

Filter Minder Air Restriction Gauge on our Alpine Coach

The way the gauge works is this – as air is pulled through the air filter element into the intake system, a slight vacuum may be created between the air filter and the turbocharger compressor. As the filter collects dust and debris, it gains efficiency in dust collection. Eventually it starts to overload and the vacuum in the intake between the air filter and turbocharger increases. Once the vacuum exceeds 8 in/H2O the gauge begins to register. At 22-25 in/H2O, the air filter element needs to be changed. Our gauge didn’t move because we hadn’t exceeded the 8in/H2O threshold. That said, our air filter was old and it was time to change it. Enough about air filtration.

Another event took place over the weekend. On Saturday I talked to my step-dad, Ken. I try to stay in touch by phoning him every couple of weeks. He’s 84 years old and lives alone in Sun City (Menifee), California. He told me some unsettling news. He had rolled over a sizable IRA investment into an annuity account. Last year, he took a distribution from the annuity. As he was preparing his tax documents, he realized he didn’t have a 1099-R form for the distribution. In fact, he didn’t have a year-end statement either. He tried to reach the insurance broker who set up the annuity. The guy’s phone was disconnected and could not be reached.

He told me the guy’s name was John P. Slawinski. I did a quick Google search and found that John P. Slawinski of Palm Desert, California was arrested last August on five counts of felony financial elder abuse after stealing more than two million dollars from five senior citizens. Ken confirmed that this was the guy who set up his annuity. The article included a phone number for the Rancho Cucamonga regional office of the California Department of Insurance. I gave Ken the phone number and told him to call on Monday (today) to add his name to the list of plaintiffs.

Later I talked to my daughter, Shauna. Shauna is set to graduate law school May 1st. I told her what happened. Yesterday Shauna called me and said she found out that John P. Slawinski is currently incarcerated and a hearing is set for the end of April. She said she would follow up with the California Department of Insurance to make sure Ken’s claim is properly filed.

It makes me sick to think of scammers preying on seniors and stealing their life savings. Hopefully this guy has some assets that can be seized and liquidated to provide some restitution to his victims.

Last evening, Donna and I went out for Italian food. We wanted to go to our favorite – Roma Cafe Ristorante in the Sun Valley Plaza on Main Street, but discovered that they’re closed on Sunday. So we went to Alessia’s Ristorante Italiano on Higley and Brown Road. We dined al fresco. Donna ordered the Che Calamari plate and I had Strangola. We both opted for cappellini as the pasta. The Che Calamari is calamari sauteed with fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil marinara. The Strangola is homemade sausage sauteed with onions and button mushrooms with parmesan in a chicken broth-based  sauce. We both thought the food was excellent and the service was fine, but it doesn’t top Roma Cafe. We’ll try to have dinner there before we leave Mesa.

The rain in the weekend forecast didn’t arrive until we had a few smatterings after 7am this morning. It’s overcast and blustery out. Now the weather guessers say we should expect heavy rain around noon and it will continue into the night, with clear weather returning tomorrow.