Category Archives: Alpine Coach

Mono Lake, Hot Springs and Sparks

June Lake was gorgeous and we wouldn’t have minded spending a couple more days there. But, with snow in the forecast we packed up and got away Wednesday morning. We left Oh! Ridge Campground around 10:30am. We took the scenic route completing the CA158 loop through town and past Grant Lake. This section of the road is typically closed in winter. It was a beautiful drive.

We headed north once again on US395 and made a stop north of Lee Vining at the Mono Lake Visitor Center. This is a nice center – it’s practically a museum. I think it’s the nicest one we’ve seen since we stopped at the Missouri River Visitor Center on I-90.

Mono Lake is unique in that it’s fed by at least six mountain streams, but has no outflow. The 45,000-acre lake is about 13 miles long and nine miles wide. Lake water levels are kept in check by evaporation in the dry desert climate. Minerals concentrate in the water which is highly alkaline.

In 1941, the city of Los Angeles struck again. They diverted water from four of the streams feeding the lake. This caused the lake level to drop by 50 vertical feet and further concentrated the minerals in the lake, doubling the salinity. This affected the ecosystem. Brine shrimp are found in the lake and are an important food source for two million migratory birds.

In 1978, the Mono Lake Committee was formed to save the lake. They eventually won a legal battle before the California Supreme Court in 1983 and the City of Los Angeles was ordered to replenish the water it had taken from the watershed.

Mono Lake view from the visitor center – Paoha Island on the right

The alkaline water has high levels of calcium. Fresh water enters the lake from subterranean sources. When the fresh water from these springs mixes with the calcium rich lake water, it forms columns of limestone called tufa. These towers take centuries to form and once the lake level was lowered, many of them became visible above the surface.

Tufa towers near the shore

We saw signs advising that Tioga Pass from the eastern Sierra to Yosemite was closed due to snow. The alternate route was a loop north by Lake Tahoe – a six-plus-hour detour!

This vehicle in the parking lot would get over the pass

After we left the visitor center, we climbed another pass on US395 and topped 8,130 feet above sea level at the Conway Summit. Our travel day was short – we drove about 50 miles to Bridgeport and checked in at the Bridgeport Reservoir Marina and Campground. Our site had us right on the reservoir.

Our windshield view in the evening

After lunch, I unloaded the Spyder and we took a ride out to Travertine Hot Springs. These natural hot springs were only a few miles away but it entailed a slow ride up a bumpy dirt road. We found one bathtub sized pool with very hot water where the road ended. We hiked down a well-used trail and eventually found a place where there were a few interconnected larger pools.

On the way back, we climbed a razor back ridge that had a large crack running down the center and I shot a couple of photos.

The pools are at the end of the ridge
View of town from Travertine Hot Springs

Bridgeport has a population of about 600 people and sits at an elevation of nearly 6,500 feet above sea level. Although the town is small, it has a brewery. We stopped at Big Meadow Brewing on Main Street for a cold one. Although they’re small with only a 7.5-barrel system, they had excellent beers on tap.

Sunset at Bridgeport Reservoir

Donna prepared tortilla crusted tilapia for dinner with sauteed corn, spinach and onion.

Tortilla crusted tilapia

Our original plan was to spend one night at the reservoir, replenish our fresh water and dump the tanks in preparation for more dry camping in Carson City. Donna found a casino there that allowed five nights of dry camping in their lot. Then we discovered that the information was outdated. The city had passed a no camping ordinance and the casino no longer allowed it. A similar ordinance was passed in Reno. However, the casino operators there argued that RVers were an important source of business for them. In typical hypocritical government policy, the city agreed not to enforce the ordinance at casinos. This apparently isn’t the case in Carson City though.

Glassy water at the marina in the morning – the fishermen were loving it
Jetty protecting the docks

We changed our plan – flexibility is our motto on the road. We decided to head to Sparks and go to the Sparks Marina RV Park. We’ve stayed here twice before – both times Donna had flights out of Reno so she really hasn’t spent much time here. It’s a nice park with pull-through sites that they advertise as 65 feet long. In reality they’re no more than 60 feet and we overhang a bit at both ends, but it works without having to drop the trailer.

While I was dumping the tanks at Bridgeport, I found a problem. Our Rhinoflex sewer hose had sprung a leak. I cut the bad portion of hose off and re-installed the fittings. I could see that the hose was becoming brittle. A few years of desert sun will do that. On the way to Sparks, we made a stop in Gardnerville at Walmart and I bought a new hose.

Donna found pickleball at the Evelyn Mount Community Center about eight miles away from the RV park. We played there Friday morning from 9:45am to 11:45am. The level of play was advanced and we had a good time – we’ll go back again.

Last night, Donna cleared some leftovers from the refrigerator. She sauteed cabbage and added the leftover pork tenderloin with apples and onions, rosemary garlic roasted potatoes along with asparagus. She finished it off with a balsamic reduction and it was tasty!

Leftovers dinner

The weather forecast here in Sparks is favorable with daily highs around 80 degrees and overnight lows of about 50. There’s no rain expected in the next several days. We’ll hang out here until Thursday – I took advantage of the weekly rate. We haven’t figured out what our next move will be yet.

June Lake

We had leisurely morning on Monday. Donna walked down to Schat’s Bakkery and bought a fresh baked croissant for me and some swiss pecan cookies for the road. I think it was around 10:30am when we hit the road. Just outside of Bishop, US395 begins a long uphill grade. We were climbing for about 10 miles. At one point, I geared down and slowed to about 40mph. Although the engine coolant temperature was well under control at 195 degrees, the oil temperature was rising, so I used gear reduction to ease the load on the engine. We topped out over 8,000 feet above sea level at Deadman’s Summit.

We thought about checking out Mammoth Lakes, but the weather forecast wasn’t favorable there. Also, although it’s a beautiful area, it’s geared toward ski tourism and a little too trendy for our style. We drove about 60 miles up US395, then exited at CA158 toward June Lake and found the Oh! Ridge U.S. Forest Service campground.

After a conference with the workers at the gate, we decided to take a look at a few sites. We were able to easily drop the trailer in one of three overflow parking spaces and set up in site 91 about 50 feet away from the trailer. With my newly acquired Interagency Senior Lifetime pass, we paid $27.50 for two nights here – half price. We’re at an elevation of about 7,220 feet above sea level. The mountain peaks surrounding June Lake are covered with snow.

View of the lake from the road by our site

Donna and I rode the Spyder into town – it’s only a couple of miles away. June Lake is a small town with only a little over 600 full-time residents. The number of businesses belie the small population though. There are a number of eateries, motels, cabin rentals, a couple of pubs and a brewery!

We stopped at the June Lake Brewery and each ordered a flight of four samplers. The beer was good, but not outstanding. The brown ale for example was over-hopped and had a slightly bitter finish that I don’t expect to find from this style.

The town is nestled between June Lake to the north and the smaller Gull Lake to the south. It’s a cute town – it reminds me a lot of what Big Bear, California was like in the early ’70s. It was a gorgeous day – blue skies and the temperature was near 70 degrees. We rode back to our site and enjoyed the sunshine although the afternoon wind picked up.

This is bear country and numerous warnings are posted on the grounds. Each site is equipped with a large rectangular safety box for storing food. They’re about four feet high, four feet deep and five feet wide. They’re easily large enough for a big cooler and other stuff. Tent campers are advised to keep all food locked in the box.

Bear-proof food storage box

On the way back, we drove down the lake access road. There are two beach areas and a couple of tour buses filled with what appeared to be students were stopped there. The kids had set up a volleyball net on one of the beaches and were enjoying a game in the sun

June Lake view from the access road

We’re dry camped here as we have been since leaving San Diego a week ago. Long-time readers may recall that I replaced our house batteries with Lifeline advanced AGM batteries last year when we were in Vermont. These batteries were pricey, but I have to say they were well worth the expense. They’ve been completely maintenance-free. I no longer have to watch electrolyte levels or perform periodic cleaning with a baking soda solution. The best thing is how strong they are. I still top up the battery charge by running the generator for a couple of hours in the morning and evening when we dry camp, but they usually hold 12.5 volts or higher.

In the afternoon, Donna took a hike up the hills surrounding the campground and shot a few photos.

View of our site from the ridge to the northeast – our coach is just left of center
Looking north from high on the ridge – you see Mono Lake way in the distance
Looking down at June Lake from the ridge

Monday evening I was puffing a cigar out of the wind while puttering around in the trailer. It was still light out – sunset is after 7:30pm and it doesn’t get dark here until 8:15 or so. Our trailer is on one of three paved pads just wide enough for a car or the trailer. While I was in the trailer, a silver Dodge Ram 1500 pick-up truck pulled up in the dirt alongside the trailer. It crept forward until I could see the driver through the trailer door. When we made eye contact, he hit the brakes and threw it into reverse and backed away. He then proceeded to drive out of the area by going the wrong way out of our one-way loop.

By then, I had figured out the guy was casing the trailer and thought he had his lucky day when he saw the door was open. He didn’t count on anyone being inside since there weren’t any vehicles in the area. Our coach – about 50 feet away – is the only vehicle in our loop. I walked over and asked Donna if she saw the truck. She had and noticed New Mexico plates. I added the second tongue lock to the trailer and made sure it was locked up tight. I wouldn’t want another episode with Dirty, Rotten Thieves.

Tuesday morning Donna started her slow cooker filled with pork tenderloin, apples, cinnamon and onions. She left it running all day while we made another run to town. We had lunch at the Tiger Bar and Cafe. I had a French dip and it was very good served with beer-battered French fries. Donna had the cheeseburger minus the bun and she plated it over a garden salad.

After lunch, we drove around town and checked out the two marinas – one on June Lake and the other on Gull Lake. Both lakes are known for great trout fishing. Fishermen make up most of the tourism here although there is also a ski area outside of town that draws winter visitors. It’s not as trendy as Mammoth Mountain, but the bartender at June Lake Brewing told us that it brings in a fair share of skiers.

Did I mention how strong our batteries are? Donna had the slow cooker running off the inverter for six hours before the voltage on the battery bank went below 12.5-volts. At 12.3-volts – more than a 50% charge still in the bank – I fired up the generator to recharge them. The pork tenderloin was so tender it fell apart on my fork. Donna served it with steamed asparagus spears and garlic-rosemary roasted potatoes on the side.

Pork tenderloin with apples, cinnamon and onions

We have another nice day in the forecast. Tomorrow is supposed to be not-so-nice. A cold front bringing rain and snow – yikes, the “S” word – to the area is supposed to arrive by midday. We’re pulling out today ahead of the storm and going about 50 miles away to a campground in Bridgeport right on the reservoir there. We’ll be on a full hook-ups and I’ll dump our holding tanks and replenish our fresh water supply there. On Thursday, we plan to head into Nevada and spend a few days – or more – dry camped at a casino in Carson City. The weather forecast looks fine there. That’s one of the perks of our nomadic life – if you don’t like the weather, leave!

Owens Valley

I closed my last post saying we’ll move on toward Bishop. Friday morning we headed out of our boondocking site near Inyokern and drove north on US395. This is a good road – divided highway with two lanes in each direction at times. Other places are undivided and parts are two-lane highway. The traffic is generally light and the surface reasonably smooth.

This route took us up the Owens Valley. This area is mostly arid nowadays, but it wasn’t always that way. The Owens Valley is bordered on the west by the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada range. On the east, the White Mountains – also called the Inyo Mountains – form the boundary. The once fertile valley is fed by water runoff from the mountains.

In the early 1900s, unscrupulous politicians and bureaucrats working with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began surreptitiously buying property to acquire water rights. William Mulholland had a plan to build an aqueduct to divert water from the Owens Valley to the Los Angeles basin and allow future growth. They took water from the Owens River and sent it through the aqueduct beginning in 1913. Owens Lake at the time was 19 miles long and eight miles wide. By 1926, Owens lake was a dry lake bed. It fed one third of LA’s water supply and the lake was desiccated.

The 1974 film Chinatown starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway is a fictional account of the water wars in the Owens Valley. Today, some water has refilled portions of Owens Lake, but it’s still mostly dry and in 2013 was declared the biggest source of dust pollution in the USA.

After a couple of hours, we made a stop in Big Pine. We found ample room to park our rig next to a small city park in town. There was an information center at the corner of US395 and CA168. This center was about the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. We also looked at the campground next to the information center, but decided to move on.

Ample parking in Big Pine
Horses in a pasture on the edge of Big Pine with snowy Sierra Nevada peaks in the background

I topped up our fuel tank with $200 worth of diesel fuel in Big Pine. In California, $200 buys about 50 gallons – California has some of the highest fuel prices in the country.

We came to Bishop and found parking at the Vons/Kmart center. It was posted “No Overnight Parking” but after buying groceries in Vons, we asked about it. We were told we wouldn’t have any problems. So we set up for the night. Bishop is at an elevation of just under 4,200 feet above sea level. There are peaks all around reaching elevations of 10,000 feet.

Later that afternoon, we walked about half a mile to the ranger station and I bought an Interagency Senior Lifetime Pass for $80. This will get us into national parks for free and give us half price discounts on forest service and BLM campgrounds.

We thought about taking the Spyder up to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest but we heard at the ranger station that we were likely to encounter snow at 9,000 feet. And, in any event, it would be a cold ride. The ancient pines – the oldest living trees in the world – are above 9,800 feet.

We changed our plans and went to the Laws Railroad Museum. Laws is a small community about four miles from Bishop on Route 6. The highway, US6, crosses the country from Bishop, California to Provincetown, Massachusetts. We love to travel on these old highways.

The Laws Railroad Museum is really a re-creation of a ghost town. Many old buildings from the area were relocated on the 11-acre property. A couple of the buildings were made from lumber re-purposed from old barns and warehouses. We took the self-guided walking tour and found it to be scenic and interesting.

There’s a great deal of mining history in this area. Everything from talc to gold was mined here – including the biggest tungsten ore mine in the world.

Donna checking out a mine entrance
Various ore samples from mines in the area
20-mule team wagons

These 20-mule team wagons were the heavy haulers of the day bringing borax from Death Valley mines to the railroad spur 165 miles away.

Horse drawn hearse
Old engine number 9
Laws railroad station

By the time we finished strolling through the museum, it was nearly 1pm and we were hungry for lunch. A place called Schat’s Bakkery was highly recommended and we went there. I can tell you, the recommendation was well-warranted. They have outstanding sandwiches made with bread they bake on site, delicious cookies and pastries of all kinds. If you are ever in Bishop, this is a must stop.

You must stop here

Sunday was Cinco de Mayo and our 13th wedding anniversary. We celebrated by going to dinner at Astorga’s Mexican Restaurant. The margaritas and food were good and they had an excellent eight-piece mariachi band.

In the afternoon, before we went to dinner, I should mention the visit I had from the Bishop Police Department. A police officer stopped by while I was outside reading a book in the shade. He wanted to let us know that overnight parking wasn’t allowed in the city. I told him I saw the signs, but got permission from the customer service in Vons. I told him we would leave if necessary. He was a nice guy and said it was a gray area really as the parking lot is private property. He also said his shift was over at 6pm, so he wouldn’t know if we were here overnight. I took that as tacit approval and we stayed.

Today we’ll continue northward on US395 and see what we find at Mammoth Lakes or June Lake or maybe Lee Vining. The daily highs here in Bishop have been in the 80s with very low humidity. As we go north, we’ll gain elevation and can expect cooler temperatures. Rain showers near the mountains are always a possibility.

Into the Quiet

As usual, I put off a few errands and chores until our time at Mission Bay RV Resort was nearing its end. Monday morning it rained. There were sprinkles and periods of drizzle until late afternoon. I left the Spyder covered and didn’t get to the hardware store as planned.

Tuesday morning was misty with light drizzle. I hopped on the Spyder and took a chance of a shower and made a run to Costco. I also straightened a few odds and ends in the trailer. Time was getting short – we had to hit the road Thursday morning. Donna ran a few errands on her bicycle – she rode her beater bike to the post office in Pacific Beach and stopped at the store. She also washed screens and inside windows. I took a break and went to Offshore Tavern and Grill for my final taco Tuesday of the season.

Wednesday was time to get down to it. I had to pick up a prescription in Point Loma and also stopped at the hardware store in Ocean Beach. I repaired another “D” ring in trailer and finished organizing it. I checked tire pressures on the trailer and coach – all were good. I had drained our fresh water tank on Monday so I refilled with fresh city water. By the end of the day, I felt like we had it under control and just needed to transfer a few final items to the trailer and load the Spyder.

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard stopped by again. Mr. Mallard had some fine nylon mesh netting wrapped around one leg. I tried to entice him close enough so I could remove it, but once he got within two feet he became wary and I couldn’t get it off of him.

If you look closely you can see the green nylon mesh

Wednesday evening Donna made baked shrimp with fennel and feta. She served it over spinach and orzo for me and zoodles (zucchini noodles) for her. She made enough to have leftovers. We also have leftover pizza chicken that will come in handy on the road.

Shrimp with fennel and feta

I dumped and flushed our holding tanks Thursday morning – empty holding tanks and full fresh water tank is how we roll. By the time we had everything packed away and rolled out of site 142, it was past 10am. We drove to the overflow lot and transferred things like chairs and the Weber Q grill to the trailer. I hooked up the trailer and loaded the Spyder. We pulled out of Mission Bay at 11:15am.

I was ready to leave behind the noise, traffic and the hustle and bustle of the city. We’d been in large metro areas for the last seven months with only a couple breaks in he desert. In San Diego – like Mesa, Arizona – there are aircraft overhead almost constantly. In addition to light general aviation aircraft, helicopters frequently fly over Mission Bay. This year we even had a blimp fly over the RV park.

A blimp passing overhead

This year, we had an abundance of families with young kids in the park. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but a few of the kids were overly rambunctious and loud. It was tiresome and a few of the regulars we know here also commented on the noise levels.

Our route was a familiar one. After a short ride up I-5 we hit 52 east to I-15. This took us north out of San Diego County to Riverside County. The traffic was light and we breezed along. There are several steep grades along the way but we didn’t have any issues. We took the 215 fork and passed through Menifee where my step-dad Ken lives. From there, I knew we would be running the gauntlet getting through Riverside and San Bernardino .

The traffic became much heavier and we had a few slow downs and stoppages. I strived to be in the proper lane for our route well before any forks or ramps on the route. We rejoined I-15 and climbed Cajon Pass. This is a long steep grade. Trucks use the two right-hand lanes to climb the grade – slower trucks to the far right. Sometimes a large truck will use the number three lane to overtake. The interstate is six lanes wide here.

I remembered a time back in 2007 going up this climb on my Moto Guzzi Breva 1100 motorcycle. I was on my way to a motorcycle race at Willow Springs. As I was going up the hill, a truck swung into my lane ahead of me going at a much lower speed. I took a quick peek over my left shoulder and moved into the clear lane next to me. As I did this, I hit something in the road. I felt the bike jolt and heard a loud clang.

The next thing I knew, I lost traction with the rear tire and started going sideways. I thought maybe I had a flat tire. I lifted my butt out of the seat and corrected the slide. The bike continued to fishtail as I slowed and moved through the right lanes. I was fearful of getting too far sideways and being thrown off the bike in a highside crash. Surely I would be run over if that happened. I made it to the side of the road and got the bike stopped. It was smoking and I smelled hot oil. That’s when I figured out what happened.

I had run over a piece of metal on the road and it flew into the oil filter on my engine. It cut through he filter housing and engine oil was pouring out onto my rear tire.

Slashed oil filter
I made it to the shoulder
Oiled rear tire

I had roadside assistance and a guy picked me up. He took me and the bike to an auto parts store nearby. I bought an oil filter, some oil and a can of brake clean. I repaired the bike and cleaned the tire as best as I could and got back on the road.

Oil spot next to the freeway after we loaded the bike

I don’t have any harrowing tales of Thursday’s crossing. We came over the summit and soon hit US395. It’s been a long time since I’ve been through here and I could hardly believe what it’s like now. US395 was just a two-lane highway that crossed the desert to the Sierra Mountains last time I was on it. Now, the city of Victorville has bloated to the west all the way to US395. There were busy intersections with stoplights. I was determined to press on until we could find some solitude.

We found it about an hour later on BLM land south of Inyokern. We found a level, secluded area far enough from the highway that we had no road noise. The quiet in the afternoon and into the night was awesome. It also got very dark with bright stars twinkling in the night.

A secluded area
Very quiet

The weather was fine – a dry 80 degrees or so. Donna had chicken stew in the crock pot all day while we drove and it made for a nice meal. Overnight the low dropped to the 50s – it was perfect for sleeping with the window open and not a peep to be heard.

Today we’ll move north near Bishop and see what we can find there.

San Diego ShakaFest

Donna and I were sitting outside of the coach enjoying the fresh air and sunshine when we had a couple of visitors. A pair of ducks casually walked into our site. I dubbed them Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. I gave them my best duck call and they turned toward me and walked past us under the picnic table.

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard stopping by

They pecked around our site, then settled in by the tree while Donna had her lunch a few feet away. I don’t know how these ducks became so tame, but they had no fear of us whatsoever.

Donna has her salad while the ducks make themselves comfortable

Did I mention the weather? We’ve had sunny skies and temperatures reaching the low 70s all week. Nice.

Yesterday we could hear music coming from the park on the north side of De Anza Cove. When I walked out to retrieve something from the trailer, I could see vendor tents and hear Hawaiian music.

Vendot tents along De Anza Cove

Donna and I took a walk over there. We found the San Diego ShakaFest – a Na Koa Kai Canoe Club event. They describe the ShakaFest as a fusion of Hawaiian culture, arts and athletics. They had a youth-only canoe regatta as one of the events and also had music and traditional dances.They’re a non-profit organization and sponsor many youth activities.

ShakaFest schedule
Vendor area
Outrigger canoe used in the regatta
Paddlers from the canoe ran up the beach under paddles held high by club members
Youth Hawaiian dance troupe
Hawaiian culture in San Diego

After spending some time at the ShakaFest, I had a job to remove from my “to do” list. It was time for the annual wheel bearing grease job on the cargo trailer. Our Interstate trailer came equipped with Dexter Axles and EZ lube hubs and bearings. The recommended interval for renewing the grease in the wheel bearings is 12 months or 12,000 miles. We’ve never towed it 12,000 miles in year, but I stick to the 12-month interval.

The EZ lube bearings make it a relatively easy job to do. The axle spindle has a passage drilled through the center. Another passage is drilled perpendicular to this, intersecting the center drilling at the rear of hub, just inside the inner wheel bearing seal.

The outer end of the spindle has a Zerk fitting to pump grease into the bearing. The grease travels through the spindle to the rear of the bearing where it’s contained by the inner seal and then travels through the bearing. This forces the old grease out of the front of the bearing. It’s important to spin the wheel while you’re pumping the grease – this distributes the grease throughout all of the roller elements. If the wheel was stationary, the grease would only travel through the drilled channel into one part of the bearing and only force the old grease out from one area of the bearing.

I jacked up the trailer one side at a time and pumped in the new grease. It’s not a hard job, but it’s a messy one. As the old grease comes out around the spindle, it collects around the grease gun nozzle and needs to be wiped away. I had the job done in less than an hour and now it’s good for another year.

Rubber cover sealing the outer hub and bearing, covering the Zerk fitting
Cover removed exposing Zerk fitting the center of the axle
Forcing the old grease out can get a little messy

Last Thursday, Donna prepared a new dish. It’s a traditional Peruvian recipe called lomo saltado. This is made with thinly sliced flank steak, chopped tomatoes, peppers and onions. It’s served over french fries. Delicious.

Lomo salado plate

Yesterday I had a notification that an Amazon delivery was scheduled to arrive in the afternoon. At 4:05pm, a delivery truck stopped at our site. I walked out and asked the guy if he had something for site 142. He looked a little confused and said “Yeah, but I left it at the front office.” The thing is, the office closes at 4pm on Saturday – if he left it there, he must have given it to them as they were closing. Then he drove to our site. What? This didn’t make sense to me. I walked down to the office to confirm they were closed and it was locked up tight with no one around. I still can’t figure out why the guy dropped off the package, then drove to our site empty-handed. Oh well, I got the package from the office this morning.

There’s a 60% chance of rain showers tomorrow morning. Other than that, the week ahead looks good weatherwise. We’re pulling out of Mission Bay RV Resort on Thursday. Our tentative plan is to head up US395 to the Indian Wells-Inyokern area, then continue up to somewhere around Bishop, California. Our plans are pretty loose at this point. We know we’d like to be in the Seattle area by the end of June to visit my oldest daughter and two granddaughters.

Full Spa Treatment

After the full-adult dose of Belize, it took us a couple of days to recover. But, recover we did and we’re comfortably back into the full-time RV lifestyle. Easter week was not the best time to make our re-entry – it’s traditionally a very busy time here at Mission Bay RV Resort. With kids having the week off from school, the park fills with weekend warrior families. By Friday, the park was packed and there were more kids on bicycles, skateboards and scooters than ever. It was okay though – most everyone behaved well and the park quieted down at night.

We met some new friends two sites down from us – Jeremy and Erica Cohen from New York. They were here for a week with their two kids in a somewhat unusual circumstance. Their friend set up his Fleetwood motorhome in site 140 and left it here for their use. They flew in, rented a car and moved into the motorhome for the week.

Saturday night the park had an Easter parade for the kids. Most of the kids adorned their bicycles with LED lights on the wheels – they were selling them at the snack shack – and followed a golf cart through the park.

Kids Easter parade – photo without flash
Kids Easter parade – photo with flash


As expected, the park began to empty on Sunday – many people had arranged for a late check-out and didn’t leave until well past noon. By Monday afternoon, the park was less than 50% occupied.

Our neighbor in site 143 has a 2003 Monaco Diplomat. He hired the guys at Elite RV Service and Detail to detail his coach. They worked on it for most of the day on Monday. His coach has half-body paint, meaning that all of the white parts are gel coat. Gel coat can oxidize and it’s really hard to get the luster back, but they did a great job and his coach came out looking practically new.

Donna said our coach could use some love. I ended up paying Elite RV for the full spa treatment. We had the coach detailed including polish and wax of the full-body paint job. It took four guys about four hours to get the job done and it wasn’t cheap, but the coach sparkles now.

Full spa treatment

This week we’re back on track again with pickleball in the mornings and I hit happy hour at Dan Diego’s Monday afternoon.

Westmalle Belgian dubbel at Dan Diego’s

We’re also back to eating good, wholesome home-cooked meals. Monday night, Donna prepared a salmon filet which I grilled. She served it with onion marmalade (onions cooked with olive oil and apple cider vinegar in a foil packet on the grill) over arugula. Very tasty!

Salmon with onion marmalade over arugula

The weather has been agreeable here since our return. While not as warm as Belize – there the daily highs were in the 80s and the temperature only dropped about 10 degrees at night – we’ve had daily highs in the upper 60s to low 70s, mostly clear skies and overnight lows in the upper 50s.

Yesterday Donna dropped her sister, Sheila, off at the airport. Sheila is still hobbled by a broken leg and is getting around on crutches. She’s off to a seminar in San Francisco, so we’ll have her car for a few days. Today we’re driving up to Menifee to visit my step-dad, Ken, for lunch.

Packing Light

You have to love the climate here in San Diego. Although the daily highs were on the cooler side for the tail-end of last week, we still had highs in the mid to upper 60s. The weekend was fabulous with the thermometer hitting the mid 70s and we had a high of 83 degrees yesterday. Since we’re located right on Mission Bay, we have a cool, refreshing breeze off the water most of the time.

Mesa, Arizona is heating up at this time of year. If we were still there, I’m sure we’d have the air conditioners running all day. One thing about Arizona though, you can’t beat the sunsets. The dust in the desert air makes spectacular, fiery sunsets at times. Here in San Diego, we often have beautiful sunsets on the bay or over the ocean.

Thursday evening, Donna and I took a stroll around Mission Bay RV Resort and I snapped a photo of the sunset. It wasn’t the fiery, colorful display of most sunsets. What was striking about it to me was the blue hue of the sky and water. Also, notice how the sunset is to the northwest of the park. When we’re here in the fall, the sunset is west-southwest.

Blue sunset

On Saturday morning, I took Donna to her sister’s place on the Spyder. It was a short ride, one exit up on I-5 to La Jolla Parkway which becomes Torrey Pines Road. The traffic was backed up for a couple of miles. It turned out there was construction on Torrey Pines Road that only allowed a single lane of traffic through.

Nowadays, most of us understand that the pronunciation of many words around here that are derived from Spanish. For example, La Jolla is pronounced La Hoy-ya. It’s the Spanish double-L thing, like the word tortilla. Back in the 1960s, many people who visited San Diego didn’t know this. At the time, my step-dad, Ken, worked for the city of San Diego as an electrician and he drove a marked city-owned truck. People would see he was a local and often asked him how to get to La Jal-lah. He would deadpan, “Never heard of it!”

After dropping Donna off, I decided to avoid Torrey Pines Road and took an alternate route over the top of Mt. Soledad. It was a fairly clear day so I had to stop at the monument at the top of Soledad. I’ve posted pictures of the view from there before, but here are a few more.

View northwest – La Jolla Shores beach and the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club – Scripps Pier on the far right
Looking north – you can see Scripps Pier and Torrey Pines all the way to Del Mar
Looking east – you can see the 12,000-ft concrete runway several miles away at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
Looking south – southwest – Mission Bay in the center, Point Loma to the right and you can just see the Coronado Islands of Mexico past Point Loma


Today we’re busy packing and making final decisions on what we’ll need to take with us to Belize. Donna made arrangements for Willie, the guy that runs the snack shack here at Mission Bay RV Resort, to feed and take care of Ozark the cat. He’ll come to the coach daily for the week we’re gone. Our flight is scheduled for 9:40pm tonight and I haven’t packed anything yet. I made a run to the bank yesterday and withdrew a pile of cash – they like American dollars in Belize. This will be the first time both of us are away from the coach at the same time.

For our last home-cooked dinner before we leave, Donna kept it simple last night. She grilled chicken and a medley of peppers, onions and corn with sweet potato mash on the side.

Dinner plate

I won’t need to pack much for Belize. The forecast calls for daily highs in the mid to upper 80s and overnight lows in the upper 70s. Shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops are the uniform of the day in this tropical country. I’ll be packing light.

We’re planning to stay off the grid most of the time while we’re down there. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of stories to tell and photos to share once we return next week.

Late Check Out

Our three-month stay at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona went by much too quickly. I can hardly believe we’re a quarter of the way through 2019 already. My final days at VIewpoint were filled with thoughts of the road. I needed to get things together and made mental checklists. There were a few things I had put off and needed to get cracking on. One item was a “D” ring in the trailer that had pulled out – I use it to secure the Traeger so it needed to be re-installed.

The weather over our last couple of weeks in Mesa was much more in line with what we expect there. Most days had clear skies and temperatures reached 80 degrees – we even ran the air conditioners a few afternoons. We had one cloudy day last Wednesday but it didn’t rain and the temperature was a comfortable 70 degrees. The clouds made a spectacular sunset – the fiery reflection off the clouds made it a double sunset.

Sunset reflecting off the clouds

They had an open house event at Falcon Field on Saturday and we wanted to meet Jeff Spencer there, but I knew if I went, I wouldn’t get everything packed and ready to go. So, we missed the event while I cleaned and organized the trailer. I had almost everything put away by the end of the day, leaving only a few items for Sunday morning.

I started Sunday off with the Formula One race in Bahrain. It was good one but the outcome wasn’t so good. Young Charles LeClerc had the race well in hand with a big lead in his second race for Ferrari. Then, with about 10 laps to go, his powertrain let him down as it lost power and he lost about five seconds per lap. He finished third – it should have been his first win in Formula One at the age of 20.

After the race, I finished packing and also dumped and flushed our holding tanks. While I did that, I had the Moto GP race from Argentina recording on the DVR. To get the whole race, I had to cheat a bit. Check out is supposed to be 11am, but I dawdled until noon. It didn’t matter much to anyone – the park is emptying out as the snowbirds head back north. No one was checking in. Another rig on our row pulled out at the same time as us.

I had a little trouble maneuvering the trailer out of our site. I usually pull out of this site to the east, but with open sites across from us to the west I thought this would be a better option. It was, except for the orange tree in our site. It’s more of a bush really. After some jockeying back and forth, I was nearly clear but it looked like I might scrape a few of the sharp branches on the side of the trailer. Our neighbor lent a hand by coming over with a small rug which he and Donna used to hold the branches back, clear of the trailer and we were on our way.

We made the familiar drive on the loop 202 (San Tan Freeway) to I-10 then we crossed through Maricopa on AZ347. This is my shortcut – it’s shorter and faster than following I-10 to I-8. Once we hit I-8, it was straight shot west. We made a stop at exit 67 – Dateland. We bought date milkshakes for a snack and got back on the Interstate. Our next stop was exit 12 in Yuma, Fortuna Road. I filled our fuel tank at the Pilot/Flying J there at $2.89/gallon and also topped up our propane tank with 27 gallons at $2.39/gallon. The last time I filled the propane tank was September of 2017. We don’t use much propane in the coach – it’s mostly used to run the refrigerator when we boondock or occasionally for the water heater.

We made our usual overnight stop in the California desert west of Yuma near the Imperial Sand Dunes. We saw a couple of other rigs boondocking on the BLM public land, but we were more than a quarter of a mile away from anyone. It was very quiet and peaceful

Sunset in the desert

We were rolling down the road again a little past 9am on Monday morning – April Fool’s Day. We had about 170 miles between our boondocking spot and Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego. We only made one stop. I stopped at the Golden Acorn Casino to top up the tank with some of the cheapest fuel we’ll find in the area – California fuel prices are high. I only needed 20 gallons to fill up at $3.69/gallon. I like to have the tank full or nearly so when we are parked by the bay. This takes up space in the fuel tank and doesn’t leave as much air space for condensation to form.

I had completed the Fast Track pre-check in online so we were able to cruise straight to the overflow lot and drop the trailer. Then we backed into site 142 and were set up in no time. We’ll have eight days to get ready for our trip to Belize – we leave on Tuesday, April 9th. Donna is making arrangements for someone to take care of Ozark the cat. I plan to leave our coach hooked up with the water supply shut off while we’re gone for a week.

The weather here is agreeable – it was warm on Monday and hit a high of 80 degrees. Yesterday was cooler at about 70 degrees. We had a rain shower this morning, but we can expect daily highs of 70 degrees for the rest of the month here. Belize is sure to be much warmer.

I’ll close this post with a dinner plate featuring Donna’s Jamaican jerk chicken with mango salsa. She served it with bok choy and black rice.

Jamaican jerk chicken with mango salsa

SMM Three Gun

I’ve become a little lazy about posting lately. I haven’t written a post in 10 days! It’s mainly due to the routine we’ve fallen into here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona. It’s hard to believe we’ve been here for almost three months already. Our routine consists of pickleball games most mornings, tennis lesson a couple of times per week for Donna and I instruct a pickleball class on Wednesday afternoon for players graduating to intermediate level play.

I have happy hour with my friends at Lucky Lou’s a couple afternoons every week. I spend time with some of the guys I knew and hung out with when we lived here 10 years ago. In one week, we’ll be moving on – back to San Diego for a month. With the coach set up at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego, we’ll take a week off and kick back in Belize.

Last week, I finally got the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker grill out of the trailer and prepared my famous babyback ribs. Our neighbor across the street from us, Dick, was a bachelor for the week as his wife, Roxie, had to take care of business back at their home in Spokane. We invited Dick over to have a smoked rib dinner and we enjoyed the company and a few adult beverages. Originally we intended to include our other neighbors, Chuck and Sue from Illinois, but Sue’s brother unexpectedly passed away and they hastily packed up and headed back to Illinois.

There’s an outdoor shooting range up on Usery Pass – a couple of miles up Ellsworth Road. They hold an annual competition there for three gun competitors. Three gun competition is exactly how it sounds – you must be proficient with three types of firearms – pistol, shotgun and rifle. I went to check it out Friday afternoon – there’s no charge for spectators.

Rio Salado Sportsman Club at Usery Mountain

The event is called the Superstition Mountain Mystery Three Gun. Competitors complete various scenarios in different settings called stages – this competition had 12 stages. In each stage, targets are engaged from different positions and distances and the competitor has to transition from one gun to another.

In the picture below, the shooter is knocking down steel plates with a shotgun. He started on the left side of the helicopter chassis and knocked down six plates, then he had to move to the right side to knock down six more plates – he’s shooting at the last plate.

In another stage, the competitor is shooting a pistol at a variety of targets, then he drops the pistol and picks up a rifle as he scrambles onto an inclined board to engage targets 500 meters away with his rifle. This is a long shot! Five hundred meters is about 1,600 feet – well over a quarter of a mile. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking so they have to make the shots as quickly as possible and don’t have time to catch their breath during a stage.

Pistol shooting – judges and time keeper behind the shooter
Transition to 500 meter shot with a rifle from prone position

I had the opportunity to meet a legend in the speed shooting and competition shooting world. Jerry Miculek (MITCH-e-lek) was competing in the Superstition Mountain Mystery three gun event. Jerry has been at the top of the game for as long as I can remember. I think he’s been sponsored by Smith and Wesson for nearly thirty years. He holds several world records for speed and accuracy. He has a TV show on the Outdoor Channel called Shootout Lane that I enjoy watching.

The greatest shooter of all time – the Legend, Jerry Miculek

I had to opportunity to meet and speak with Jerry. He’s truly a nice guy – if you’ve ever watched his TV show, he is just as soft spoken and humble as he appears on TV. Jerry’s 64 years young and still at the top of the game. His daughter, Lena, is also a top competitor sponsored by Sig Sauer – she was the top female shooter in the world in 2014. She wasn’t at this competition – she’s concentrating on Pistol Cartridge Carbine (PCC) competition at this time.

Saturday morning, I competed in a men only pickleball tournament. We started with a series of round-robin play to establish the qualifiers for the semi-final and Championship round. I played nine games of round robin and qualified for the championship round. Unfortunately I lost the in the end and wound up in second place again. It was fun, but I was whipped after 10 games. My S-Health app recorded nearly 15,000 steps on Saturday. You can see from the bar graph that most of them were before noon during the pickleball tournament. I keep my phone in my pocket while I play to record the steps.

14,873 steps!

On Saturday afternoon, we went to a pool party and barbeque at Jeff and Krissy Van Deren’s house. We had a fun time with plenty of good food and drink. The only person in the pool was Mike and Kim Child’s granddaughter Abigail. We said our goodbyes to Mike and Jodi Hall there as they’re heading out for week-long vacation in Jamaica.

Pool party

My post wouldn’t be complete without a dinner plate picture. Thursday night, Donna made Chicken Lombardy. It was absolutely delicious served with forbidden (black) rice and asparagus.

Chicken Lombardy

The weather has been very pleasant although we had a couple of cloudy days and gusty winds last Tuesday. The daily high temperature ranged from 70 to 80 degrees. The week ahead looks a little warmer with mid-to-upper 80s. I’ll have to get busy and finish a few maintenance chores before we pull out of here next Sunday.

Spring Ahead

We had a great weekend. It started with the usual Friday happy hour at Lucky Lou’s but the highlight was Saturday’s lunch. Our friends, Jeff and Deb Spencer (Rolling Recess) organized a lunch for members of Xscapers. Xscapers is a sub-group of the Escapees RV Club. We aren’t really Xscapers – it’s geared more toward young, working full-time RVers. But, we are Escapees members and although I’m retired, we still feel young enough – most of the time!

The lunch meet-up was at the Monastery Bar and Grill adjacent to Falcon Field on McKellips Road in Mesa. The Monastery is a unique place. Although they call themselves a pub, it’s mostly an outdoor restaurant, bar and activity center. The menu has everything from nachos to steaks. They have a full-service kitchen and wait staff – but you can also order your steak, chicken or burger uncooked for about half-price and grill it yourself on grills they provide in the courtyard. They also have a huge beer selection.

Xscapers group at The Monastery
Jeff Spencer in his usual pose


The indoor seating area has limited space, but there’s a bar on the patio with a stage, tables and several outdoor seating areas. There are also two sand volleyball courts and bean bag cornhole games.

Outdoor sand volleyball court at The Monastery

The only people in attendance that we had met previously were Jeff and Deb. We had a good time meeting several new people in the RV community and we’re glad that Jeff and Deb organized this and invited us.

After the big lunch at The Monastery, Donna kept it simple for Saturday night dinner. Simple but delicious! She made an Asian chicken stir-fry that I loved. The sauce she whips up for it makes the dish – it includes soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, chopped fresh ginger and garlic.

Asian chicken, broccoli and mushroom stir-fry

We had another social event on Sunday. It was time for the annual Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort Pickleball Club meeting and banquet. There was a short club meeting in the ballroom at 4:30pm here at Viewpoint to discuss club business. We learned that the pickleball club now has over 500 members in good standing. They had door prizes and Donna won a free membership for next year – a $15 value.

Viewpoint Pickleball Club meeting

The dinner was catered by Buca di Beppo restaurant and they served a great lasagna with dinner salad and bread. The serving line was very slow though as they only had two people staffing the cafeteria-style food service.

The rest of the country set their clocks forward over the weekend. In Arizona, we don’t do that. In the winter months, Arizona time is equivalent to Mountain Standard Time. When everyone else springs forward, Arizona doesn’t change their clocks, but now we’re the same as Pacific Daylight Time. Someone forgot to tell Verizon that. I have my phone set to automatically reset to the local time. On Mondays, I have an alarm set for 6:15 am so I can get up, have coffee and breakfast and be ready to hit the pickleball round-robin match at 8am. Yesterday I got up at the sound of my phone alarm and fixed coffee and breakfast. Donna came out and asked if I realized we were up an hour early. What! I checked my phone and sure enough – the clock had reset to Mountain Daylight Time. Grrr!

The weather was great last week – mostly in the 70s with clear to partly cloudy skies. That changed yesterday. Rain moved into the area and the temperature will only reach 60 degrees over the next couple of days. We expect rain showers to continue through tomorrow morning. By the weekend, the forecast improves with highs in the upper 70s to 80 degrees for the remainder of the month. That’s more like the weather we expect and love in this part of the country at this time of year. This has been and long, wet and relatively cold winter here.