I haven’t written a post in over a week. It’s not just due to laziness on my part – I’ve been busy and family matters have me out of my usual routines. My step-dad, Ken, is still at Ramona Rehab Center in Hemet. It’s a little under two hours of driving time to get there if the traffic is flowing well. With a traffic jam or two, it can take three hours each way. His condition seemed to be improving, but then things changed. I finally got a report on the doctor’s findings.

He has a lung tumor of about 3.3cm in the left lobe. This is why he has fluid in his lung. I suspect he may also have additional tumors in his abdomen. At his age, 88 years old, no doctor is willing to risk surgical procedures – he probably wouldn’t survive an operation.

I’ve made several trips up to Hemet over the past week and half. The plan was to move Ken out of the rehab center on Tuesday, October 15th – tomorrow. Donna returned from her trip to Vermont last Wednesday night and she drove up with me on Saturday. We made a couple of stops to check out boarding care facilities. We found one we liked in Winchester – about 15 or 20 minutes away from the neighborhood Ken lived in. The boarding care facility is a normal looking residential house in a newly constructed neighborhood. They can accommodate up to six patients and have two attendants on duty 24 hours a day. After looking at the home, we drove up to the rehab center and faced some bad news.

Ken’s condition had worsened. He has a bacterial infection commonly called C. diff. It’s contagious and they won’t be releasing him until it clears up. I didn’t know this on Saturday – the test results came in on Sunday. I paid the admission fee and pro-rated care fee for October at the boarding care home on Saturday to make sure he had a private room available when he’s discharged from the rehab center. It won’t be happening tomorrow though.

Meanwhile life goes on and I had a few interesting days. On Thursday, my friend Gary Stemple invited me to go fishing with him and another friend of his named Duane. I bought a one-day California fishing license at Dana Landing at 3pm on Wednesday afternoon after returning from a trip to Hemet. I told the girl at the counter I needed a one-day license for tomorrow. I also needed a one-day Mexican fishing permit in case we crossed into Mexican waters. She told me I had to get the Mexican permit online.

When I got back to the park and started to search for the Mexican permit, I noticed the California license she issued me was for one-day but it was for Wednesday! Who would buy a license at 3pm and have it expire at midnight? I told her it was for tomorrow. I went back and she issued a new license without any further hassle.

Donna came home from the airport close to midnight Wednesday night. It was a long travel day from Vermont. I was up at 4am to go fishing. We left Harbor Island in a 24-foot center console fishing boat at sunrise. The first stop was at the bait barge where we filled the live-well with live anchovies.

The fishing turned out to be a bust. We got skunked, although we fished hard at the nine-mile bank and also near the Coronado Islands of Mexico. There was a lot of naval activity outside of San Diego along a couple of shipping lanes. We saw a few Littoral-class combat ships. These stealth warships are futuristic looking and a bit scary.

Another ship passed by us and I couldn’t figure out what it was. I think it was some kind of support ship for underwater research. It had two submersibles – the orange shapes you can see in the photo – and a weird open two-level deck.

When we headed south toward the Coronado Islands, we rigged three lines for trolling. I drove the boat as we trolled slowly – about 4mph. Gary napped on the bow seats while Duane took a nap on the aft bench. As we approached the islands, I saw what looked like a powerful go-fast boat come around one of the islands and head toward us. Something about it made me think this wasn’t good. It was speeding on a heading to come directly to us. When it was about 500 yards out, I could see a number of men on board – at least a dozen. And they had guns.

As they came closer, I told Gary to wake up – we have armed Federales coming. I put the boat in neutral and wound my line in. I told Duane to wake up and start reeling his line in – we were going to be boarded. As their boat came alongside about 10 yards, I could see they were Mexican Federal agents with automatic weapons and body armor. They came around behind us and ran over two of our fishing lines, cutting one of them.

One of the men on board started yelling at the boat driver and had him back away. They floated about 30 yards beside us with all eyes on us. Duane asked me if he should get his passport and permit out. I told him to keep reeling his line in and keep his hands in their view. I didn’t want him to reach inside his backpack.

Once Duane had his line and lure in, they seemed satisfied that we were merely gringo fisherman. The guy that yelled at the boat driver seemed to be in charge. He gave us a thumbs up and called out, “Okay?” Gary replied, “Bueno.” They drove away without boarding our boat! How weird is that?

As we headed toward the islands, I spied a fin cutting the water about 100 yards away. Gary drove toward it. It was a large shark – we think it was a mako based on the color and it was about eight feet long. We gave up fishing around 3pm and headed back to San Diego Bay.

As we entered the bay, two go-fast boats came toward us and passed off the port side about 50 yards out. They had flashing lights and each held eight or 10 special forces troops – probably Navy SEALS from the Coronado North Island base. Then two more flew by followed by two more pairs – making a total of eight boats.

Gary continued cruising at about 25mph toward the gas dock and Harbor Island when we noticed a go-fast boat with flashing lights coming up on us from behind. We thought one of the special forces boat had turned around to follow us. Then we heard the whoop-whoop of its siren and we slowed to a stop. It was a Coast Guard Patrol Boat with three, 300-horsepower outboard engines! Two officers boarded our boat. It was a routine safety check. It went smoothly – we had all of our gear and paperwork in order. This was the first time any of us had been boarded by the Coast Guard.

On Saturday morning, Donna and I drove Midget-San to the British Car Day show at Spanish Landing Park on San Diego Bay across from the airport. It was a nice show with the cars organized by marque representing various car clubs in the area.

There were several Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprites. My first car was a Bugeye that I bought when I was 15 years old.

The original Mini was a very small car sold under the Austin or Morris nameplate. The current versions are much larger cars. In the photo above, you can partially see a Clubman wagon with wood trim in the background.

There were several DeLoreans on display. Although DeLorean Motor Company was an American company, the cars were built in North Ireland, making them British cars.

This old MG was interesting. The bonnet not only covered the motor, it extended beyond the firewall to expose the steering column and control pedals. It looks like it might have been a bit drafty on the legs and feet.

We saw Paul Konkle’s 1962 MGB racecar. Paul is the owner of British Car Repair where I had the axle/hub seal replaced on our Midget.

Paul raced the previous weekend at the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) Nationals at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. He brought home a gold medal!

We had to leave by 11am to go north to look at boarding care facilities which brings me back to the start of this post.

Gary invited us to join him on Sunday and drive up to Carson for the Chargers game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football. Gary has season tickets and Donna was our designated driver. There were so many Steeler fans visiting southern California at the game, the vibe in the tailgating area was hostile. I’ve never experienced such a negative atmosphere inside the stadium at a Chargers game before.

The weather here in San Diego continues to be outstanding. Last week was a little warmer than usual with highs reaching the mid-80s. The week ahead should have highs in the low-to-mid-70s and overnight lows around 60 degrees.