Category Archives: Arizona

The Fountain

When we set up at a new location, I try to avoid dropping the trailer if I can. Dropping the trailer adds extra steps to the process. I have to put the trailer into position, disconnect the trailer, stabilize it, then pull out and pull in again to park the coach. When we leave, I have to line the coach back up with the trailer and connect it again.

In Sunday’s post I mentioned that our site was nominally 50′ in length, but we managed to get our 56′ overall length in without dropping the trailer. You might wonder how we did that.

We parked our rig diagonally in the site parking area. The right front of the coach is on the right side of the parking space. The left front of the coach is near the edge of the roadway.

Front of coach hugs the right side of the site

The left rear of the trailer is all the way to the left of the parking area. This opens space for our grill and a sitting area.

Trailer is positioned on the left rear of the site

The rear of the trailer extends past the parking space. That’s how we shoehorned a 56′ rig into a 50′ long parking space.

Rear of trailer overhangs the end of the site parking space

Yesterday, Donna worked on editing the latest iteration of her book. This should be the final edit and then she’ll review the page layout. While she was working, I took Mike Hall’s Jeep out for a tour of the area. McDowell Mountain Regional Park is quite large.

Our site, at 2,060 feet above sea level, is at the high point of the developed areas of the park. All roads from here descend into arroyos or valleys.

I drove out to the end of the main road and back. There’s a lot of wide open space here. Desert and mountains are all you can see to the north and east. On the west are more mountains. To the south we can see the town of Fountain Hills.

Wide open vista to the north east

Later I drove into town. The town of Fountain Hills is located east of Scottsdale. It’s bordered by the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and the Salt River Pima – Maricopa Indian Community.

Fountain Hills was conceived by Robert McCulloch. In 1970, he built a pond with a large fountain, a year before he famously reconstructed the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City. The fountain sprays from a large, concrete water lily sculpture in the pond. The water is driven by three 600-horsepower turbine pumps. The water is pumped at a rate of up to 7,000 gallons per minute.

The plume of water can reach a height of 560 feet under ideal conditions. When it was built, it was the highest fountain in the world. Today, it ranks fourth highest. The city operates the fountain at the top of the hour, from 9am to 9pm for about 15 minutes. Most of the time, only two of the three turbines are utilized and the spray reaches a height of about 330 feet.

The center piece of Fountain Hills

When it was built, many people wondered why McCulloch would build a pond and fountain out in the desert. He purchased the land, which was previously a cattle ranch, in the late 1960s. The man had a plan. He began construction of a master planned community. In 1989, the city of Fountain Hills was incorporated. Today, the population of Fountain Hills is around 23,000 people.

This morning there’s a low overcast and the temperature is relatively cool. Yesterday the thermometer hit 80 degrees. Today’s forecast calls for upper 70s with a cooling trend dropping the daily high to the upper 60s by the weekend. This should be good weather for Donna’s duathlon on Sunday.

Spiders and Snakes

Yesterday, I showered early. I used the public showers here at McDowell Mountain Regional Park (MMRP). There’s no lack of hot water. In fact, the water was hotter than I like, but there’s no adjustment. You push a button and the shower starts. The water sprays for a few minutes, then shuts off. If you want to continue the shower, you push the button again.

I was preparing for a rendezvous with Andy King and his wife Donna, Carole Sue Bringas and Carole’s cousin, Diana. Carole and Diana had been visiting friends in Prescott and were heading back to San Diego. Andy King hasn’t seen Carole since the 70s or early 80s. Andy found a restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch near I-17 and the 101 loop on Bell Road.

I left here around 9am. I took the 29th Avenue exit from the 101 loop. I should have taken I-17 south to Bell. 29th Avenue meanders a bit. I noticed the low gas light was illuminated on the instrument panel. The gauge was on empty. I thought either this Jeep is a real gas hog or it has a small tank.

I found the restaurant and walked in just after our 10am meet-up time. I found Carole, Diana and Andy, who were just being seated. Donna King joined us a few minutes later, she had been walking their dog. My Donna couldn’t make the breakfast – she had a bike ride and run scheduled with her friend Beth who is doing the duathlon with her next Sunday.

We enjoyed the breakfast and swapped stories for an hour and a half. Then it was time to say our goodbyes until next time.

Andy, Carole and me

I checked Gas Buddy and found a station down the street at Fry’s. Regular was only $3.23/gallon! I filled the Jeep’s tank – it only held 11.5 gallons. No wonder the gas gauge seems to move so quickly.

When I returned, there was a good sized snake on the road in the park. Unfortunately, it had been run over by a car and it was dead. Back at our home, Donna was getting ready to go out for the afternoon with her best friend, Julia, from her days in Fountain Hills. Donna took the Jeep and drove to Fountain Hills.

While Donna was out, I decided to hike and look around the area. There are 65 miles of hiking, mountain biking and equestrian trails at MMRP. I took a slow stroll on the Granite Trail. I made about a two-mile loop. I walked slowly, looking for wildlife. I saw several quail and other birds. I found a lizard. I was hoping to see something more interesting like a snake or tarantula. I didn’t find any this time.

Tarantulas have a fearsome appearance, being large, hairy spiders. They usually aren’t a danger to humans, although they can bite if provoked. They’re venomous, but there’s no record of a tarantula bite being fatal to a human. I saw one crossing the road once near Florence. It was as big as my hand! I’ve only seen one other wild tarantula in the desert. Tarantulas reach maturity after 5 to10 years, depending on the species. Males rarely live much beyond 10 years. Females have been known to live 30 to 40 years.

Granite Trail – look closely and you’ll see mountain bikers

Last evening, I dialed in the Dish Network and watched the NHRA drag races from Wildhorse Pass Raceway. Donna cooked up chicken with saffron cream sauce and peas served with herb chicken tortellini.

Chicken with saffron cream sauce and peas

In a post last week, I complained about Microsoft pushing an update on my computer and forcing a restart. I’ve since figured out how to change that setting. Today, I’ll have add to that complaint. This morning, as I type, I keep getting double letters when I don’t mean to. I had this issue before and had to go to keyboard settings and adjust the sensitivity. I went back into my settings and found everything had been reset to the Microsoft default. I guess when the update was installed, the settings were changed. Arrrgh.

Today, I’ll get up on the roof to see if the tree branches I drove through in the Fountain Hills detour did any damage. Other than that, I have no plans.

Snootful of Nitro

Alright, we need to catch up a bit. Friday morning was a move day. I started out by riding the scooter a few miles to our friend’s house. Great guy that he is, Mike Hall very generously lent us his Jeep while we’re at McDowell Mountain Regional Park (MMRP).

This is fortunate for us. MMRP is a little off the beaten path and we’ll spend the next 10 days here. While I was picking up the Jeep and leaving our scooter in Mike’s shop, Donna was preparing the coach for travel.

On my way home, I stopped at Senor Taco and bought a chorizo and egg breakfast burrito. These burritos are so huge, one was more than plenty for both Donna and me.

We completed our pre-flight tasks and got ready to exit Apache Wells RV Resort. Our neighbor was kind enough to assist me with positioning the trailer. Now that we have a wheel that we can put on on the front jack, we take advantage of that and maneuver the trailer to a position that makes it easy to hitch up. But in this case, we had to roll it over gravel and up onto the concrete pad.

Once we were hooked up and ready to hit the road, Donna took the wheel of the Jeep and followed me on the 25-mile drive to MMRP. I expected an uneventful drive, but we ran into a snag in Fountain Hills.

We were driving down Saguaro Road when unexpectedly a detour sign appeared. At the next intersection, the road was closed and I had no choice but to turn right. This led me down a narrow road with cars parked on the right. I had to hug the curb of the center median on the left. Unfortunately, the city has been remiss with their tree trimming. I passed under a few trees that were hanging less than 12 feet above the road – these trees scraped the roof and roof accessories of our coach. I’ll assess the damage later.

We found our way through the detour and made our way to MMRP. When we entered the park, I made a wrong turn so we circulated the park a couple of times before we found our site. Eventually we were ready to back into site 37. Donna and I looked the site over and discussed our options. After pacing off the dimensions, we decided to try backing the trailer and coach in at an angle that would allow us to keep the trailer hooked up.

It wasn’t easy, but we managed to situate our 56′ length into a 50′ site without dropping the trailer. We had two bravos, one from a couple that was leaving the park and watched while they waited for us to clear the roadway, and another from our new neighbor across the road.

The only problem now was the Jeep. We filled our site and still needed room to park the Jeep. Our neighbor across the street came to the rescue. She told us we could use the excess space in her site to park. Her motorhome is smaller and she doesn’t have another vehicle. That’s the beauty of this lifestyle. Most people are so friendly and willing to assist.

Jeep slightly overhanging our site

There was a bigger concern though. I saw fluid in the road where we just were. Looking in the engine compartment, I saw the fluid came from the coolant overflow line. This is puzzling. While I was backing in, the engine was idling. Diesel engines tend to run cool at idle. So why would the coolant tank puke a little coolant while we were parking? I’m sure I’ll ponder this question many times in the middle of the night.

Friday night I slept soundly. It’s so quiet and peaceful here away from from the city. Donna and I woke up feeling well-rested. I needed to get up and at it. I unloaded Donna’s bicycle from the trailer and pumped up the tires for her training ride while she made bacon and eggs for breakfast. After we ate, I took a quick shower and then drove out of here in the Jeep.

I drove to Mike Hall’s place, 30 miles away. Our plan was to go to the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Drag Racing event at Wildhorse Pass Raceway (formerly known as Firebird Raceway). We then drove to Scottsdale to pick up our friend, Lindert Hartoog.

On the way I realized that I didn’t bring my Opcon eyedrops with me. I’m having an issue with pollen allergies and my eyes are itching and watering. After we picked up Lindert, we stopped at CVS pharmacy and I bought Opcon-A eye drops. This turned out to be an epiphany. The Opcon eye drops I had were a couple of years old. The new, fresh eye drops were so much more effective. I wouldn’t have thought that a year or two would make that much difference.

We finally arrived at the race track. I remember this place as Firebird Raceway, not Wildhorse Pass Raceway. I used to ride track days here on my MV Agusta and Ducati motorcycles when we lived in Mesa. In 2008 and 2009 I was the crew chief for G2 Moto and we raced here frequently. We were moving the team towards an AMA berth, but I left in 2009 to follow my career with Volkswagen in Michigan.

Mike, Lindert and I had fun roaming around the track and pit areas.

Mike Hall next to John Force’s Funny Car

Lindert hooked us up with a guy he knows. His friend, Ray Problem (no, Ray’s not a problem, his last name is Problem) comes to the NHRA event in Phoenix every year. He pays to have his motorhome trackside near the finish line. General Admission tickets for Saturday’s qualifying event cost $38. But Ray had us covered at his site for $40 including beer, lunch and snacks. Vendors were selling beer for six dollars a pop, so this was a good deal.

Our host, Ray

Oftentimes, while I’m gassing up the scooter or whatnot, people ask me about our scooter. When I tell them it’s a Kymco, they say what? I have to explain that it’s a Korean company that makes millions of scooters worldwide. I mention this because Kymco is high profile at NHRA events. They had a big display and many teams had Kymco scooters in their pits.

Kymco scooter display

One of the things I love about NHRA events is the access. Your general admission ticket is a pit pass. You can wander the pits and see what goes on behind the scenes.

Funny car without the body in the pit

Tony Pedregon’s car getting an engine rebuild

Al-Anabi top fuel dragster funded by Middle Eastern money (Qatar)

Tony Schumacher’s ride

My friend, Lindert, had a blast shooting photos of all the action. Behind Ray’s motorhome, a scaffolding was set up. This gave us a great vantage site for the races.

Lindert shooting photos from the scaffolding

Back at MMRP, Donna rode the duathlon course for her race next Sunday and found it more challenging than she remembered. She lived in Fountain Hills when we met and rode it often back then. I think she’ll do fine. She needs to taper this week and take it easy.

One more thing from the track. Before we left, I saw a T-shirt that resonated with me. It has chemical equations for nitro-methane fuel that reminded me of Breaking Bad. I had to buy one.

Breaking Bad?

Today, I’ll be meeting up with Carole Sue Bringas and Andy King for a late breakfast. It’ll be fun to spend time with old friends again. Carole Sue made the trip from San Diego to visit people in Prescott and we’re taking advantage of the opportunity to hook up again.

Struttin’

One of the things that took me by surprise when I started blogging about eight months ago is the number of spam comments that get posted. I wrote about this before. I’ve added software that quarantines comments that appear to be spam. This software is very effective and filters out about 100 spam comments per day.

Some spammers will work around the software though. One guy started adding comments that appeared to be genuine. The comments would pertain specifically to the content of the post. After having his comments approved several times, the spam software saw him as a trusted contributor. Then he spammed me! I was really disappointed by this. All of his comments have been removed.

I like receiving comments on posts. The spammers make it difficult though. It’s frustrating at times, but we’ll hang in there. Please add comments if you wish, but please – no spam.

Yesterday, I started on my project of the day as soon as I finished my blog post. It was a project that appeared simple enough, but my track record has proven that even the simplest task can run into complications.

The doors on the basement storage compartments on our coach have struts that are gas springs that assist in raising the door to its open position and then hold it open. Gas springs are cylinders filled with an inert gas (usually nitrogen) to a specific pressure. The gas pressure extends the shaft of the strut. On the passenger side, just ahead of the entry door, we have a large, pass-through compartment with a big door.

Large pass-through basement compartment

There are two struts (gas springs), one on each end of the door. This is the bin that we use the most. Things that we need on a daily basis are stored here. It’s convenient as it’s right next to the entry door. The opening is large, making it easy to retrieve things.

The gas springs on this door were a little weak. The door wouldn’t fully open on its own – we had to lift a little to get it open. Sometimes it wouldn’t hold fully open and the door would come back down a few inches. It makes sense to me that this door would show wear on the gas springs. It’s the largest, heaviest door and it gets the most use.

I found a thread on the Alpine Coach Owner’s forum about these gas springs. It turns out that these aren’t standard parts. They were built specifically for Western RV. One post had contact info for a company in California that built the SPD gas springs and supposedly they had the parts. I tried calling the number listed, but it was no longer in service.

I did a Google search and came up with a company in Maumee, Ohio called Associated Spring Raymond (ASR) that carried SPD gas springs. The part number on our struts is SPD-GS-6711. Their online catalog didn’t list this part number.

I called their customer service number to see if they had a part that had similar specifications. Gas springs come in different lengths, diameters and spring rates (pressure). When I told the woman at ASR customer service that I needed to replace SPD-GS-6711 gas springs, she told me they had an exact replacement part. The only difference was their part had a nitride coated shaft but other than that, the specifications were the same. She said it’s a non-standard part that’s not listed in their catalog. The part number is GSNI-6711. Bingo! I ordered two.

Old gas spring strut on top, new one with black nitride shaft on bottom

The spring pressure of the struts is very high. I tried to compress the gas spring by hand and couldn’t get the shaft to move at all. Fully extended, the length of the shaft is about half an inch longer than the dimension between the two mounting points when the door is fully opened. The strut mounts near the pivot point of the door, leveraging the weight of the door against the gas spring. This is the reason for such a high-pressure specification.

Gas spring strut on compartment door

When I woke up yesterday morning, I was lying in bed thinking of how to get the gas spring compressed to enable me to mount it. I came up with a plan.

I removed one of the gas spring struts. I installed the new gas spring strut on the upper mounting point on the door. Then, I used a foot long section of 4×4 wood that’s normally a wheel chock for our cargo trailer as a lever to compress the gas spring from the bottom. Once I compressed it enough to align with the bottom mounting point, I snapped it in place with my free hand using channel lock pliers.

It worked perfectly. I repeated the process on the other side. For once, I had a project done with no complications. I was finished with the job before Donna left for her 11am dental appointment! Now, when I open this compartment, it fully extends itself and stays open.

After lunch, I scootered Donna to her eye exam appointment on Brown Road, about two and half miles from here. She hasn’t had her eyes checked in three years and was pretty sure she needed a stronger prescription for reading (she was right). She opted to walk home from her exam. I completed a few errands before stopping at Red, White and Brew for a cold one. I had Kiltlifter, a locally brewed Scottish style ale from Four Peaks Brewing.

Last night, Donna prepared prosciutto wrapped scallops and sliced summer squash. I grilled the scallops and squash. Donna served the scallops over steamed spinach with a lemon vinaigrette. Yummy!

Grilled prosciutto wrapped scallops and summer squash

Today, I’ll start preparing for our move to McDowell Mountain Regional Park (MMRP). Our friend, Mike Hall, is lending us his Jeep for the weekend. I’ll ride the scooter over to his place tomorrow morning. The plan is to leave the scooter in his shop and drive the Jeep back here. Then I’ll finish our preparation for the 25-mile drive to MMRP. Donna will follow me there in the Jeep. I don’t think I’ll post tomorrow as we’ll be busy.

Water Log

Yesterday’s virtual tour of our coach turned out to be a popular post. By the end of the day, we had 322 visitors take the tour!

Yesterday, I finally got around to a project I’ve been meaning to do for more than a week.

The fresh water hose from the spigot to our coach has an inline water filter. This filter prevents sediment from entering our fresh water system. It also has activated carbon to neutralize odors and remove chlorine. This filter simply screws on to the end of the hose. I need to replace it after about 90 days of use.

Under the sink, we have another filter for the purified drinking water tap. Western RV specified a proprietary filter design for the Alpenlite trailers and Alpine Coaches they built. This filter is bacteriostatic, removes heavy metals and chemicals and generally improves the taste of the water. This filter should be replaced annually.

When we were in Quartzsite, I took a picture of this filter and showed it to vendors, trying to find a replacement. I was told it’s a special design and no one has them anymore. I searched online and found The RV Water Filter Store. I’ve taken to liberty of copying the description of the filter they offer for Alpine and Alpenlite owners:

Alpine and Alpenlite RVs are outfitted with water filters that are non-standard, and until now, owners had difficulty finding a reasonably-priced replacement unit. We now have a well-built solution to this problem. Our replacements are 2 1/2″ in diameter and about 8″ long. They are made of granular activated carbon and they include KDF. Our units actually contain more filter media than the factory units, so they should last longer. We sell these filters with or without the brass fittings needed to hook them to your plumbing system. If you are handy, you can remove the fittings from the old filter and install them on the new one. If you don’t want to fool with changing fittings, buy the unit with the fittings included.

I think I’m fairly handy, so I ordered a filter without the fittings. It arrived a few days later. Yesterday, I shut off the water supply and opened the faucet in the kitchen to relieve the water pressure. The filter is mounted against the wall under the kitchen sink.

Old water filter

The filter has quick-connect brass fittings. All I had to do was pull the brass sleeve and the fitting released the filter. Then the filter will unsnap from the mount. I placed towels under the filter to sop up water that would drain out of the line and I was able to release the couplers.

Old filter with quick release couplers

I used a 9/16″ wrench to remove the fittings from the old filter.

New filter without couplers

I sanitized the fittings, wrapped the threads with Teflon tape and screwed them into the new filter.

New filter with couplers installed

Easy stuff, so why all the procrastination? Getting the new filter in place was the hard part. I told Donna I need to grow longer arms. To install the new filter, I had to pull the sleeve on the brass fitting and insert the filter coupler before I released the sleeve. This required both hands at the back of the cabinet where the water lines are. My arms aren’t long enough to reach both hands back there. I had to squeeze my head and shoulders between the sink drain pipes and the shelf in order to get both hands back there.

I needed longer arms to do this

After flailing about under the counter, I finally managed to get the filter installed. Job done.

Later, Donna asked me to soak a cedar plank in water for a few hours. Meanwhile, she prepared steelhead trout with a miso rub. If you’ve never had steelhead, it tastes a lot like salmon and is usually more favorably priced.

Steelhead trout spiced and ready to grill

I fired up the Weber Q and let it pre-heat. I adjusted the burner to medium and placed the cedar plank on the grill. I closed the lid and let the grill do its thing.

About 18 minutes later, we had steelhead trout grilled to perfection!

Ready to serve

Donna served it with coconut basmati rice and steamed broccoli. She continues to feed me well!

Cedar planked Steelhead served with coconut basmati rice and steamed broccoli

Cedar planked steelhead trout with coconut basmati rice and steamed broccoli

Yesterday, the UPS driver dropped off a package for me. Today, I’ll have another project to tackle. Again, it’s one that seems simple at first glance, but I expect a challenge.

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, I’ll earn a small commission. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

The Posse

In some areas of the country, the winter of 2013-14 will be one to remember. I’ve heard from friends back in Michigan how the snow has piled up and they continue to get slammed. I guess timing is everything. Donna says we picked the right time to sell our snow shovels.

In the southwest, we’re experiencing a very mild winter. Temperatures here in Arizona have been above historical averages. I don’t know if the weather is an influence, but the citrus crop is abundant this year.

Yesterday, we started with fresh picked grapefruit. The white grapefruit grown here in the RV park is very sweet – almost like a ruby red grapefruit. The rind is thick with pectin and the grapefruit can be easily peeled.

Fresh picked white grapefruit

Donna went out for a run in the morning. She covered almost seven miles. I futzed around while she was out. I retrieved my camera bag from the basement and started charging the batteries for my Canon DSLR. I checked the oil level and tire pressure on the scooter. Mostly, I caught up on a few blogs I follow.

After Donna returned and showered, we ate a light lunch outside. We decided to take a ride on the scooter out to Saguaro Lake for ice cream. On the way to the lake, we stopped at Phon D Sutton Recreation Area and visited Mark and Emily. We ended up sitting and talking with them for more than an hour!

They have a hummingbird feeder attached to a window of their fifth wheel trailer. The hummingbirds are constantly feeding. They are fairly tame, using the feeder while we were standing just a few feet away. Our hummingbird feeder sees some action, but nothing like theirs. I think it may be due to all of the choices the hummingbirds have here at the RV park. Not only are there multiple feeders to choose from, there are also many flowering plants and fruit trees.

We left Mark and Emily and continued our ride on the Bush Highway to Saguaro Lake. Donna and I each had a cup of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup as we watched the boats on the lake.

Saguaro Lake

When we pulled out of the parking lot, there were a couple of motorcycles and a Can-Am BRP three-wheeler (one of those bikes with two front wheels and one in the rear) in front of us. More motorcycles pulled out behind us. At the stop sign at Bush Highway, a guy on an old Suzuki Intruder with un-muffled straight pipes pulled up next to us and said, “Are you riding with us?” Donna said, “No.” The guy said, “How about letting our posse pull on through?”

No problem. We followed them onto the highway. The last rider in their “posse” was riding a Harley with ape-hanger handlebars. I thought he was going to ride off the road into the desert as he struggled to get his bike around the left turn. They were a squirrely bunch. The guy who asked us to let them through passed a car on the right shoulder at one point.

When we reached the stop sign at Ellsworth, they rode straight on Bush Highway. I made the left on Ellsworth, just to get away from them. We rode over Usery Pass and turned west on McDowell. On the way home, we stopped at Basha’s grocery store. Donna bought shrimp and some veggies. She also caved and bought Girl Scout cookies from a stand in front of the store.

When we returned, the batteries for my Canon 10D were fully charged. I took photos of the interior of our coach. Donna whipped up a great guacamole and we had chips and dip for an appetizer.

For dinner, I grilled the shrimp and zucchini boats that Donna prepared. Zucchini boats are made by slicing a zucchini in half lengthwise. Then, the zucchini is hollowed out. The pulp is sauteed with onions in olive oil, and then you add garlic and panko bread crumbs and continue cooking until the bread crumbs brown a bit. After removing from the heat, she adds shredded mozzarella and chopped mint. The mixture is placed back into the hollowed zucchini half and topped with grated parmesan cheese and black pepper.

Grilled shrimp and zucchini boat

Today, I want to go to the pool and read. It was a little breezy this morning, but the wind has died down. I think we’ll be in for another warm day. I’ll try to get some guitar practice in – I finally put new strings on my ES-339.

A few of our friends have been asking to see the interior of our new home on wheels. Maybe I can post some shots tomorrow.

Tomorrow we’ll step inside

Swap Meet Shopping

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day. Donna and I aren’t too big on Hallmark holidays, but we celebrated. Donna’s Valentine’s gift to me was a full body therapeutic massage. I was badly in need. My gift to her was dinner at Got Sushi.

When we lived in Mesa, Got Sushi on the corner of Power and McDowell was a place where we frequently dined. Being half Japanese, I’m very particular about sushi. We found consistently good sushi at Got Sushi when we lived here. Yesterday, not so much. I guess things change. The maki (rolls) left something to be desired. The spider roll was too heavily battered. It also had too much sauce. It should have just a light drizzle, but it was covered in sauce. The volcano roll also was too heavy on the sauce.

Sushi maki plate

The nigiri and sashimi were quite good though. So, it wasn’t not all bad. All in all, we enjoyed our meal even though the maki was a little disappointing.

Sushi nigiri plate

When we returned home, I fixed myself a cocktail. Last weekend, when we went out to dinner with Howard and Sara Graff, the topic of vodka came up. Sara and I are fans of vodka martinis. We both are also fans of Tito’s vodka, made in Texas. Sara brought up a new vodka she likes. It’s Polish vodka called Sobieski. I asked if it was potato vodka (it’s not). This led to discussion of Russian vodka versus Polish vodka and grain vodka versus potato vodka.

Vodka originated in Poland during the middle ages. In Poland they make vodka from potatoes or grains. Russia started producing vodka late in the 14th century and typically Russian vodka is made from grains.

It’s more difficult to make vodka from potatoes than grains. Grains are easier to handle and store. Potatoes can be bruised and spoil. But, when good vodka is made from potatoes, it’s superior to my palate.

I’ve tried Sobieski vodka before. It’s not high on my list of favorite vodkas. My all-time favorite is Chopin, made from potatoes. Too bad Chopin is so expensive. Yesterday, while I was at Basha’s grocery, I saw Luksusowa (pronounced Look-soo-so-vah), a Polish potato vodka. I hadn’t tried it before, so I bought it.

Back to last night’s cocktail. I made a vodka martini with the Luksusowa. What a find! This is very smooth vodka, it makes a great martini and it’s very affordable. I would rate it 4.5 stars on a scale of five.

I’m very late writing today’s post – for one thing I had to wait while my computer installed updates that the good folks at Microsoft thought I urgently needed. While I was working on my laptop, a pop-up announced that my computer will restart in 14 minutes to complete an important software update! No option to restart later or cancel the restart. I guess the folks at Microsoft know what my priorities should be. End of rant.

This morning, Donna went for a 35-mile bike ride with her friend, Dara. While she was out riding, I rode the scooter over to the Mesa Marketplace Swap Meet. I remembered this large flea market from when I lived near nearby in 2005. I rode down Ellsworth to Baseline and turned east. I thought I knew where it was, but I began to have my doubts.

The old neighborhood has changed. Where open land was, now there were housing developments and condos. Shopping centers that I didn’t remember seeing before were on the corners. The swap meet used to be easy to find – it stood out on a barren landscape. I crossed Crismon Road. This used to be wide open, but now it is filled with housing. I thought this was where the swap meet was.

I rode another mile east and found it, just west of Signal Butte. It’s almost hidden by the housing developments there. I couldn’t miss it though. There was a long line of cars trying to get into the parking lot. The parking lot is huge. The marketplace has structures with permanent metal roofs and tent-like walls.

One of the hallways in the Mesa Marketplace

It’s similar to the big tent in Quartzsite, but I would say it’s five times as big. There is a mile and a quarter of covered shopping halls with about 1,600 shops. It’s open Friday through Sunday from 7am to 4pm. I was looking for a couple of inexpensive tools. They have everything you can imagine for sale there, and some things you probably never thought of.

Clothing for sale

Fresh vegetables

I roamed through a couple of hallways before I found what I was looking for. Tables covered with tools! I bought a mechanic’s mirror (a small mirror on an expandable wand), a mechanic’s magnet and some hemostats.

The table of tools I was looking for

These aren’t the type of tools I would use frequently and I didn’t want to spend much money on them.

While I was roaming around, I found a digital clock that not only displays the time, it also displays the date and day of the week. It also has an ambient temperature display. We’ve been wanting a clock/thermometer, so I bought it for $10. I also got a good deal on socks and a couple of T-shirts.

Today the temperature might reach 90. I think a trip to the pool will be on the agenda.

Fruitful Day

Happy Valentine’s Day first of all!

In yesterday’s post, I mentioned my dental issues brought on by head and neck radiation. Some readers that aren’t aware of my history may wonder what that’s all about. Around Christmas 2001, I was diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer. It had spread into my lymph system. In January of 2002, I started an aggressive course of treatment that included surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. I kept a journal of that experience, but for now, suffice to say I survived. Maybe I’ll tell more of that story another time.

Yesterday, I saw our neighbor perched precariously on a step ladder. He was trying do something to the slide topper over his living room slide-out. I casually stepped outside and said, “Good morning.” After we exchanged pleasantries, I asked him what he was doing. He told me there was a window shade that’s supposed to extend from his slide topper. In case you don’t know, a slide topper is a canvas top that unfurls as the slide-out extends. It keeps leaves, rain or other debris from the top of the slide-out. You wouldn’t want that stuff on top of the slide-out when you retract it. The motorhome is new to him and he hadnot tried the window shade before.

I asked him if he wanted to use a taller ladder. I got my Werner MT-17* Multi-ladder out of the trailer. Once we had that set up, he could easily reach the slide topper. I watched him try to get the roller to extend further and release the shade. The roller looked like it would spin, but the arms that need to extend the shade wouldn’t budge. He kept pulling at it. When something like this happens, I usually stop and look things over instead of trying to force the issue. I looked at the arms that were supposed to extend and support the window shade. I asked him if he thought the plastic sleeves on the arms were locks, maybe they need to be slid into a position that unlocks the arm. He tried moving the plastic sleeve and voila! The arm unlocked and he pulled the window shade into position. Neither of us had seen this style of topper/shade before.

Topper extends into a window shade

It’s always nice to learn something new. After we got his window shade in place, I thought I should extend our shades as well. The weather guessers said that the day would be clear and sunny with the temperature rising into the 80s. They had it right!

Our shades are separate from the topper. This is the more usual configuration.

Window shade separate from topper

Donna knocked off work around 3:30pm. We put on our bathing suits, I filled a small cooler with cold beer and we walked to the community pool. It felt good to take a swim. The last time I was in a pool was last September when we swam with the grandkids in Washington. We lounged beside the pool and read in the sun. The sun felt good after swimming. My swimming trunks dried quickly.

After an hour or so, we headed back home. We made a stop at the fruit stand on the way. The fruit stand here in Apache Wells RV Resort consists of several tables covered with bags of citrus fruit free for the taking. Right now, the trees in the park are producing so much citrus that the bags are overflowing the tables onto the sidewalk. We grabbed a bag of white grapefruit to take home with us.

Bags of citrus fruit

Last night, I grilled chicken sausage stuffed with feta and spinach. Donna served it with green beans and smashed garlic potatoes. Delicious!

Chicken sausage with feta and spinach served with green beans and smashed garlic potatoes

By the way, our friends, Emily and Mark Fagan posted more great photos of the Salt River and Tonto National Forest in their blog, Roads Less Traveled. They even included the shot Mark gave me for our blog banner and a link to our blog!

Today will be another warm one. I think another trip to the pool will be in order.

Mystery Panel

Tuesday was a lazy day. The weather was beautiful – the temperature hit 76 without a cloud in the sky. I went for a walk, then I set up a chair under the awning and read. I’m reading City of Falling Angels by John Berendt. It was published in 2005. It’s a non-fiction description of the fire that destroyed the Fenice Opera House in Venice, Italy in 1996. It’s really well-written and the story grabbed me.

Yesterday, I started my day early. I had an alarm set for 7am. I haven’t used an alarm for a while. I slept fitfully all night. The pollen counts here are high. I have severe pollen allergies. When the pollen count is high I often sleep poorly. Anyway, the reason for my early wake-up was a dental appointment. I had a 7:50am appointment for a check-up and cleaning.

My original appointment was at 8:40am. The dental office called on Monday and asked to move my appointment earlier. I don’t know why I agreed – I’m retired and have no need for an early morning apointment! The check-up revealed a small cavity under a gold onlay. The fix for that is to remove the onlay and replace it with a crown. Cavities were a rare issue for me until I had head and neck radiation treatment in 2002. The radiation damages the tooth enamel and that’s when problems start. The radiation also affects saliva production, which also promotes tooth decay. I try to be diligent in my tooth and mouth care, but it seems like it’s a losing battle. I’ve had a lot of work done over the past six or seven years.

After a poor night’s rest and early dental appointment, I decided another lazy day was in order. I didn’t post to the blog. The afternoon was warm with the temperature rising to 80 degrees. I put the awning out and sat outside to read.

Later, I pulled my Gibson ES-339 out of the basement and set up my amp-stand. I haven’t played guitar in weeks. I played for about 40 minutes. I need to put new strings on the guitar. Maybe that’s a task for today.

There was another thing on my mind. In our bedroom, between the side of the bed and the wardrobe, I found a strange seam in the carpet.

Seam in carpet

I thought this was curious. When I looked closely, I found a tag next to the bed. Pulling on the tag, a 20″ by 14″ panel came up. It was heat shielded on the bottom. Below the panel was a metal plate.

Heat shielding and plate under carpet panel

Now I wanted to know what this mystery panel was for. The metal plate was held in place by four screws with #2 square drive heads. I put a #2SD driver in my electric screw driver and removed the panel. It revealed the rear of the engine and transmission bell housing. I don’t think you would ever need this access unless something catastrophic occurred. It would be most helpful if you had to remove the exhaust manifold, the turbocharger or the complete engine. My curiosity was satisfied. Good-to-know information, but I hope I never need to use this access.

Access to rear of engine

Andy King, my friend going all the way back to junior high school days, stopped by at 4:30pm. I haven’t seen Andy in a long time. I think we figured it to be 36 years. The funny thing is, he was living in Gold Canyon, just a dozen miles or so from our old house in Mesa when Donna and I lived in Arizona. Neither of us used Facebook back then and we were out of touch with each other. We only connected recently with Facebook.

I gave him the nickel tour of our place, then he drove us to the Handlebar Grill and Pub in Apache Junction. This place is very unassuming. It’s on Apache Trail (Main Street) near Ironwood. From the street it looks like a dusty dive bar. It isn’t. There’s a nice outdoor patio and inside, the tables are covered with table cloths. The service is great and they cook a lot of their food over a wood-fired grill. They also have a great selection of beer on tap.

Andy’s wife, coincidentally also named Donna, joined us there. We had a great time enjoying the company, burgers and beer. The two Donnas split a bottle of wine. Entertainment was provided by The String ‘Em Up Band – a local bluegrass band. Andy was a regular member of this band, but now he sits in occasionally. He broke out his Fishook Dobro and joined the band for their second and third set.

Andy and I flanked by our Donnas

Andy takes center stage

It was a fun-filled night. Andy drove us back to Apache Wells a little after 9pm. We plan to get together again soon.

Today, the weather is forecast to continue the warming trend. We should see a high of over 80 degrees today and near 90 by Saturday. Maybe it’s time for me to hit the pool. But hey, it’s a dry heat. It’s not hot here until the thermometer hits 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

Nick of Time

We had beautiful weather yesterday. The sky was clear with a gentle breeze and the temperature reached 75 degrees. I went out for a walk, then got to work on the belt replacement project.

When I inspected our coach, I noticed some small cracks in the serpentine belt on the engine. I knew I would have to replace the belt sooner or later. The serpentine belt is flat, a little over an inch wide and has eight ribs. It’s driven by the crankshaft pulley, which has grooves to match the ribs. The belt drives the coolant pump, the alternator and an accessory drive on the engine (I’m not 100% sure, but I think that drive runs the compressor for the air suspension). A spring-loaded tensioner maintains the proper belt tension. If this belt breaks, you must stop immediately or the engine will quickly overheat and destroy itself.

The other day, I was looking things over in the engine compartment. I saw a crack in the serpentine belt that was alarming. When I last shut down the engine, the belt stopped in a position that revealed this crack where the belt wraps around the coolant pump pulley. I had to replace the belt sooner, rather than later.

Crack in belt

I spent a lot of time on the Internet trying to find the correct replacement part number. There was conflicting information. I found a part number for a Dayco belt in the Alpine Coach Owner’s Manual. Cross-referencing this part number, I found it was interchangeable with two other part numbers I found posted on the Alpine Coach forum. This is what was confusing me, but then it started to make sense.

I removed the belt. To get the serpentine belt off, I needed to remove the A/C compressor V-belt first. This entailed loosening the compressor bracket to create slack in the belt to remove it. This was easier said than done. Getting to the bolts on the bracket wasn’t easy.

A/C compressor

Once I had the A/C belt off, removing the serpentine belt was easy. The tensioner mount has a 1/2″ square hole in it. I used a 1/2″ drive ratchet with a short extension inserted into the hole to twist against the spring and release the belt tension. Once I did that, I popped the belt off the alternator pulley.

Serpentine belt tensioner

With the old belt in hand, I found the Cummins part number on the belt. This number was different from the part number in the owner’s manual and the online search. I went online and pulled up replacement cross-reference numbers again. The Cummins part number corresponded with the same replacement part number I had before.

I took the old belts with me and rode the scooter a few miles to NAPA Auto Parts. My online search showed the NAPA on Main Street had both belts in stock. The NAPA-branded belts are made by Gates, right here in the USA. I bought both belts and returned to install them.

The new serpentine belt was rather stiff. I threaded it through the pulleys, starting at the crankshaft. I placed the belt against the alternator pulley. Now, all I had to do was twist against the spring on the tensioner and place the belt over the alternator pulley. Easy, right?

With no belt, the tensioner was resting against the stop. I had to work against the spring and move the tensioner through its full travel to get enough slack to place the belt over the pulley. I reached down into the engine compartment and pulled on the ratchet. This was like doing an extended arm bicep curl. As I placed the belt over the alternator pulley, it came off of the coolant pump pulley. The belt wasn’t cooperating due to being new and stiff. I repeated the process over and over with the same result. My right bicep was getting sore. Finally, on about the tenth try, it went into place. In hindsight, I should have replaced the short ratchet with the long 1/2″ torque wrench in my tool box for added leverage. If I had my old tool box that was stolen by those Dirty, Rotten Thieves, I would have used a long breaker bar.

I took a short breather before installing the V-belt on the A/C drive. The belt I bought for the A/C compressor is a heavy-duty NAPA Fleetrunner Green Line model. This is top of the line, designed to withstand hot environments. These belts are used in commercial applications. I felt that spending a few extra bucks for a heavy-duty belt was worth it. I didn’t want to have to do this job again any time soon.

A/C compressor belt

Getting the A/C belt over the pulleys turned out to be a tough assignment. The old belt had enough wear to have the compressor mounted halfway up the adjuster travel. Belts can stretch a little, but what really causes the need for belt adjustment is wear along the sides of the belt. The pulley groove is a V profile. The side of the belt tapers from the outside to the inner circumference at a 38 degree angle. As the sides wear, the belt rides deeper in the pulley. To get the new belt on, I had to move the compressor all the way to end of its adjustment.

I had to loosen the bolts further. The compressor was stuck against the mount. I couldn’t see the bolts on the back side of the mount – it was all tactile work. I had to reach up and work with my arms outstretched. I’m glad I don’t do this sort of thing for a living. The A/C belt took me longer to install and adjust than the serpentine belt. I’m guessing I’ll need to re-adjust it after a short time as it seats in. The serpentine belt is self-adjusting.

Later, after I cleaned up, Donna and I rode over to the Red, White and Brew. We were meeting Mike Hall and his wife, Jodie at 4pm. We sat at the bar with them and talked. John Huff was there also. Donna ordered mussels vin blanc – it was her favorite dish when we used to come here. I had a chicken quesadilla with chipotle mayo dipping sauce. I washed it down with a Mirror Pond Pale Ale from Oregon.

Last night, we watched two more episodes of Breaking Bad. I don’t see this ending well for Walter, but I don’t want it to end at all.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Arizona

The Fountain

Spiders and Snakes

Snootful of Nitro

Struttin’

Water Log

The Posse

Swap Meet Shopping

Fruitful Day

Mystery Panel

Nick of Time

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