Category Archives: Beer

Dinner in the Desert

After 94 days in San Diego, it was time to move on. I began preparations Saturday morning. The rainy weather finally abated, giving me an opportunity to pack everything in dry conditions. Our neighbors, Hans and Lisa, helped me out. We loaded the Traeger smoker/grill and Weber Q in the back of their truck and they dropped me off at the trailer on their way out of the park. This was a great help as dragging the grills out to the overflow lot isn’t fun.

I watched the NFL divisional playoff games in the afternoon. During halftime and between games I was able to get the rest of our outdoor gear packed and stowed the windshield cover.

Sunday morning I filled our freshwater tank and dumped and flushed the holding tanks – that’s how I like to roll. You never know what might happen out on the road, so having plenty of fresh water and empty holding tanks gives me peace of mind. We had the trailer hooked up and hit the road around 9:45am.

We made the familiar run on I-8 east over the Laguna Summit. There are three summits on this route – all of them over 4,000 feet above sea level. This is a significant climb – we started out only a few feet above sea level at Mission Bay. When we drove over passes in the Rocky Mountains that exceeded 9,000 feet above sea level, the elevation change was about the same because the high plains around the Rockies are about 5,000 feet or more above sea level. So, if you start at 5,000 feet and climb to 9,000 feet, you’ve achieved about 4,000 feet of elevation change.

The main difference is the thinner air at those high elevations – engines produce less power in the thin atmosphere. When we stopped at the Buckman Springs rest area near the Laguna Summit, Donna found the elevation change had an effect on her new pantry containers. The lids were sealed when we were at sea level. On top of the mountains, the pressure differential in the sealed containers versus the atmosphere caused the lids to pop off.

As we proceeded east in the desert past El Centro I noticed a column of smoke rising to the south of us. I was puzzled by it. This area, southwest of the Imperial Dunes, is barren desert. The smoke column was huge – it would take a fire bigger than a football field to create such a column of smoke. Donna shot a picture of it through the windshield.

Puzzling smoke column

Later I looked online for any news of a fire or explosion or anything that would have created this and found nothing. Distances over the flat desert can be deceiving – it may have originated in Mexico as we were near the border.

Our destination for the day was near our usual stop on BLM land east of Imperial Dunes. We usually go to a place that has free dispersed camping and set up by a rock garden that someone created in the desert. This time were going to a different spot. We planned to meet up with Jeff and Deb Spencer (Rolling Recess). They were camped on the BLM land a few miles from our usual spot and we were able to find their rig.

I usually park at least a quarter of mile away from other RVers when we’re in this area. However, this time our plan was to join Jeff and Deb for dinner so we parked near their fifth-wheel trailer. They were out when we arrived – they had spent the day in Algodones, Mexico.

This is a very quiet spot with nice desert views. The sunsets and sunrises in the desert can be spectacular.

View from our doorstep

We set up around 1pm and I tuned in the satellite dish to watch two more NFL playoff games. The games on Saturday were a bit lopsided. Sunday’s games were the opposite with close battles decided on the final plays.

Jeff and Deb came over to our coach for dinner. Deb brought a flavorful bean and chicken soup. Donna made a spinach salad with a horseradish dressing. It was excellent fare and we enjoyed the conversation – although I was somewhat distracted at times by the football game on TV.

I usually rave about the beers brewed in San Diego – particularly the IPAs. I had one called Mongo from Port Brewing and have to admit it disappointed me. The balance was off, it was too bitter and piney. I guess they can’t all be winners on my palate.

Piney IPA

Jeff told us the story behind a little memorial monument under the desert scrub trees by our site.

Memorial

It was made by a guy that had camped here with his 15-year-old dog. The dog ran off into the desert chasing deer and never came back.

Jeff and Deb had recently camped near Ajo, Arizona. Jeff told us about memorials found in the desert there – they marked places where illegal immigrants perished in harsh desert. While they were there they saw illegals and drug smugglers in the early morning hours crossing the desert.

The camp host at one place they stayed at would leave bottled water out overnight for the illegals. But she also notified the Border Patrol when they took the water. There’s more activity along the Mexican border than many people realize.

Today we’ll move on to Mesa, Arizona. I plan to drop our trailer at our friend, Mike Hall’s house. Then we’ll take the coach to RV Renovators on Main Street. Hopefully they can repair the damage caused the by the encounter with the suicidal buck in Idaho without too much of a delay. They estimated about two weeks to get the work done. We’ll see how that works out.

 

Donna’s 15k Race

We had beautiful weather on Friday to kick off the weekend. While I was out and about on the Spyder, I stopped on East Mission Bay Drive to shoot a photo of the sunset over De Anza Cove. This was a much different view than the one I shot through the window of the Coaster in my last post!

Sunset at De Anza Cove

Donna and I rode the Spyder over to Lanna Thai restaurant at 6pm to meet up with Chris and Sherry Nirschl. I’ve known Chris since my high school days. We were also roommates in Colorado back in 1976. We last got together with Chris and Sherry two years ago – the time flies by.

Donna, Sherry, Chris and me

Lanna Thai is one of our favorite restaurants and it’s only about two miles from Mission Bay RV Resort. As usual, I went for the pad Thai plate.

Chicken pad Thai

Thai cuisine demands Thai beer – so I paired it with a glass of Singha lager.

Thai lager

It was fun catching up with them. Now that we’re short-timers – we plan to leave San Diego on Sunday, January 15th – we’re trying to touch base with as many friends as we can.

Donna was up early Saturday morning. She was running in the Resolution 15k race and had to be at the starting line by 7:15am. The race started at Tecolote Shores – part of the Mission Bay Park system south of the Hilton hotel. She picked up a Deco bike rental in front of the RV park and rode it two miles to the start area where she dropped it off. I slept in and didn’t get out of bed until 7:30am.

Sini sent me a text message at 7:45am asking if I wanted to walk with her over to the course and see if we could find Donna at the race turnaround point in De Anza Cove. I hadn’t even had a cup of coffee yet, so I told her I would go later.

After coffee and breakfast, I estimated Donna’s position on the race course – her Garmin tracking app wasn’t working right so I couldn’t track her progress on my laptop. I rode the Spyder to the boat ramp parking lot – I thought she should have already passed this point but would come back by after the turnaround.

I saw someone that looked like Donna heading toward the turnaround and rode the Spyder to the north end of the lot. It wasn’t Donna, so I turned around a started riding south. There she was – she was past the turnaround and heading back south. I paced along with her for the length of the lot, then I rode down to the lot north of the Hilton. I caught a photo of her passing by there.

Donna about eight miles into the race

Then I rode to the road closure near Tecolote Shores and found a place to park. I walked out onto the race course and Donna caught up with me within a couple of minutes. I ran with her for about a quarter of a mile to give her encouragement. Then I peeled off the course and ran across the grass to the finish area – I didn’t think it would be appropriate for me to run along the final stretch to the finish line.

Donna averaged 10 minutes/mile covering the 9.3 mile course in 93 minutes and placing fourth in the females aged 55-59 group. Her original goal was to try to beat her personal record of 1 hour 28 minutes set 20 years ago. But her best time on a long training run was closer to 10 and a half minutes/mile. So she felt really good about the race. At the finish, she picked up a goody bag provided for the competitors and decided to hang out at the vendor tents. She was able to get a free chiropractic session and picked up lots more goodies before walking back to the Deco bike stand and riding the two miles home. Meanwhile, I returned and tuned in the Dish satellite to watch the wild card NFL playoff games.

The weather remained gorgeous all weekend. I squandered the beautiful weather as I was glued to the playoff games. The games went pretty much as I expected with all of the home teams winning. Home field doesn’t mean an automatic win – last year all of the road teams won the wild card games. But this year, I thought the home teams were the stronger of the match-ups.

Sculpin IPA for the game

On Saturday night, we planned to go to a party in La Mesa where Hans Kohls’ band was playing. We decided to pass though. We were concerned that it might not be the best idea to make the run back down I-8 on the Spyder in the dark after the party. As it turns out, Donna was pretty wiped out after her race, so we opted to stay home.

So, the weekend of blue skies and mid-70s temperatures were wasted as I stayed indoors most of the time watching football. This morning it’s raining again and the temperature will only reach the low 60s.

Last week I saw an iconic RV. We didn’t really think of them as RVs in the ’60s, but this VW type 2 camper van with a pop-top is a recreational vehicle.

VW pop-top camper van

The owner fired it up as I was walking by. He said it had a “big motor” but didn’t elaborate. I assumed it was a typical air-cooled engine with big bore pistons and maybe a stroker crankshaft – it didn’t sound like anything radical. He pulled out of the Offshore Tavern & Grill parking lot, then parked it on the street in front of the tavern. He said a group of VW vans was coming, but I had to leave and didn’t get see any more of them.

Hopefully the rain will clear out this afternoon. I have a few things that need to get done this week before we head east. I’m getting the hitch-itch and I’m looking forward to a change after three months here.

 

 

Goodbye 2016

A series of storms lined up off the coast of southern California. The rain forecast for New Year’s Eve was accurate. It rained in the morning, then cleared up – the temperature only reached 60 degrees and it didn’t dry out before the rain returned in the evening. The high winds in the forecast never materialized though.

A lot of RVs were in the park to celebrate the New Year. You can usually watch the fireworks display at Sea World across the bay from Mission Bay RV Resort. Donna and I felt bad for the people who came here with plans to sit outside and take in the show with friends for the New Year. Instead, rain poured down from low clouds and everyone stayed inside. You wouldn’t see any fireworks even if you were outside.

On Saturday afternoon, Sini wanted to go to the store to buy a bottle of wine as a gift for her friend. I hitched a ride with her to buy Bloody Mary mix and beer. We went to Vons grocery store in Pacific Beach. This store is almost always busy – even more so around Thanksgiving and Christmas. I wasn’t prepared for the New Year’s Eve crowd there. I’ve never seen the store so packed with people. Every cash register had a line of people waiting to check out that extended into the aisles.

Donna and I decided to lie low on the last night of 2016. We usually go out or join friends to celebrate, but we stayed home this year. I made Bloody Mary’s for happy hour. Donna cooked lobster tails she bought at Sprouts. They were small tails, so we had two each.

Lobster with stuffed mushrooms and broccolini

She served it with mozzarella stuffed portobello mushrooms and sauteed brocolini. It was a nice meal to end the year.

I opened a special bottle of beer that I’ve held onto since we were in Santa Fe, New Mexico. We visited the Santa Fe Brewing Company and Donna bought an oak barrel -aged sour ale for me there. Sour ale is an acquired taste, but I like them occasionally. Sours are usually relatively expensive. This was a 750ml bottle – the size of a standard wine bottle – and I think Donna paid about $30 for it.

Santa Fe sour ale

Sunday the rain moved out and we had clear weather. It didn’t warm up though, the high was only 59 degrees. Donna and her sister, Sheila, went for a run on the trails at Torrey Pines down to the beach and back. Then they went to Pacific Beach for a late brunch.

All of the 32 NFL teams had their final game of the season on New Year’s Day. I spent the day inside watching three consecutive games. There were a few twists – Kansas City ended up winning the AFC West by beating the Chargers while Denver whipped on Oakland. And on Sunday night, the Green Bay Packers won the NFC north by beating the Detroit Lions.

Also Sunday night, Dean Spanos fired the Chargers head coach, Mike McCoy. The Chargers have had two poor seasons in a row, with multiple injuries hampering the team both years. I don’t know if any coach could’ve done much better than McCoy. The team started the year with a 53 man roster – as did everyone else. Twenty of the of the original players on the roster ended up on injured reserve – unable to play. Not just any twenty, but mostly starters and key players like Keenan Allen, Jason Verrett, Brandon Flowers, Brandon Mebane, Melvin Gordon and on and on. Andre Williams played running back – I think he was the eighth running back for the Chargers this year. He never had an NFL carry before but managed to gain 87 yards rushing in the game.

Firing the head coach won’t fix that. I wonder who’ll take the job. I also wonder if Dean Spanos will move the team away from San Diego. I commiserated vicariously with McCoy by opening a bottle of IPA from San Diego’s Saint Archer brewery. This is a very good IPA made with five varieties of hops.

Saint Archer IPA

A lot of the weekend warriors started moving out on Sunday. At least they were able to pack up in dry weather. Another Alpine Coach moved in across from us in the afternoon – bringing the total number of Alpines to four in the park.

This morning we woke up to rain drops on the roof as another batch of clouds came over. There’s a 20% chance of rain in the afternoon although it isn’t raining as I type this. The mass exodus continues and the park should be relatively quiet for the rest of the week. I don’t have any special plans for the day – I’ll watch some college bowl games and maybe download another book to my Kindle.

Getting Healthcare While We’re Covered

With the year rapidly coming to a close, Donna and I needed to finish up on routine health care while we still have coverage. After January 1st, we’ll join the ranks in ACA healthcare market place. For us, it basically means we’re self-insured for all but the most catastrophic events. I already posted my rant about the un-affordable debacle that Obamacare created.

On Monday, we both had appointments with Dr. Tim Van Kirk at Eye-Tech for eye exams. Donna’s prescription hadn’t changed, I had a slight change for reading. This exam included a baseline retinal photo showing the current state of the health of our eyes. My left eye is completely healthy with good color in the macular area, nice blood flow and no sign of leakage or diabetes.

Retinal photo of my left eye

My right eye is a different story. I’ve been blind in my right eye since I had a motorcycle racing accident at Spokane Raceway Park 14 years ago. The accident was pretty serious and I sustained a number of injuries including Terson’s Syndrome from head trauma that affected my right optic nerve. The retinal photo looks healthy for the most part – it’s not quite centered correctly because I couldn’t see the target for the photo. The area around the optic nerve – the circular light spot in the photo – shows the damage.

Right optic nerve damage

These photos will be useful in the future as they establish a baseline and can be used for comparison if anything changes. The eye exam was very comprehensive and took over an hour for each of us.

I made the usual Monday happy hour stop at Dan Diego’s and found another Belgian ale on sale for three dollars. This one is distributed by a French Abbey, but it’s brewed at a monastery in Chimay, Belgium. It’s an amber ale, 6% ABV and very tasty.

Mont Des Cats amber ale

I liked the Maredsous I had last week better, but it sold out.

For dinner, Donna made turmeric chicken and served it with Israeli couscous and steamed broccoli. This has become a favorite dish.

Turmeric chicken, Israeli couscous and broccoli

On Tuesday morning, I had another healthcare appointment. It was time for my annual check-up with Dr. Ryan in Point Loma. Everything went well – I just have to wait for the results of blood work – but I feel good.

Tuesday turned out to be a gorgeous day. We had blue skies and the high temperature reached 77 degrees! The wind was light and variable. It doesn’t get much better. I noticed the sail boat which is usually moored in De Anza Cove was gone. The guy that owns it takes it out every few weeks and spends a day cleaning it once a month.

We have three Alpine Coaches clustered together here at Mission Bay RV Resort. One is in the site next to us and one is across the street. They’re both front-door double-slide models while ours is a mid-door triple-slide.

Alpine Coach neighbor – we’re on the left.

In the afternoon I climbed up on the roof of Sini’s coach and took the air conditioner shrouds off again. Some water leaked through the A/C intake grills on the ceiling of her coach. These grills are directly below the A/C evaporator housings. I looked around and didn’t see anything obvious. We sealed a seam on the evaporator housing with silicone, but I’m wondering if there’s a problem with the seal below the unit where it sits on the roof.

On Tuesday night, Donna made mini meatloaves in muffin tins. They were good – she served it with blue cheese smashed red potatoes and sauteed zucchini, peppers and onions.

Mini-meatloaf plate

At sunset, clouds moved in. I wasn’t expecting this. Rain started falling around 9:30pm. It rained off and on overnight and it’s overcast this morning. This wasn’t in yesterday’s forecast. Now the weather guessers are calling for a 40% chance of rain by evening – this will put a damper on the happy hour gathering we were invited to with friends here in the RV park.

Today is the winter solstice – meaning that the sun is at its southernmost point in the sky. It’s the shortest day of sunlight in the northern hemisphere. The actual solstice occurred at 2:44am local time when the north pole was tilted at its farthest point from the sun. Days will start to get longer beginning tomorrow. It’ll be a few months before the longer periods of sunlight bring warmer weather though.

The Coldest Month

We had some weather here in San Diego on Friday. A cold front blew in Thursday evening and brought rain with it. The weather guessers said the rain would start Friday, but it started Thursday night. Over the next 24 hours or so, nearly an inch of precipitation fell. Southern California needs the water, but that was a heavy rain storm by local standards.

The cold front lingered over the weekend although the skies were clear and sunny. The thermometer hovered around 60 degrees for the daily high. Overnight lows were in the mid to upper 40s. It seems unusually cold to me, but looking at the almanac, I see the average high temperature for December is 65 degrees and the average low is 48 degrees – making December the coldest month here on average.

I looked back at this blog to December of 2015 and found it was cold last year too. This week the forecast calls for a warming trend with highs reaching the low 70s before another cold front arrives for Christmas weekend.

We had planned to drive up to Menifee in the rental car on Saturday to have lunch with my step-dad, Ken. He called me in the morning and cancelled saying he had some kind of stomach bug and wasn’t up to company or lunch. We’ll go up there next weekend.

In the afternoon, Mission Bay RV Resort had their annual holiday celebration. They decorated the little grass park area by the snack shack and served pulled pork with beans and potato salad – $7/plate.  We went over there with Sini around 4pm and claimed a table in weak sunlight. We were joined by our friends, Kris and Tom Downey (Open Road 365). There was a guy on a small stage in a white suit and gloves and hat with his face painted white. He would alternate between standing still as a statue and playing guitar and singing. He must have been freezing.

We sat together and talked while we dined and were amused by the attempts of a crew to start fires in portable fire pits. They were trying to light large pieces of wood – logs that had been split into halves and quarters. But without kindling, it wasn’t going to work. They started with newspaper, which burned hot and fast, then went out with the logs barely smoking. Then they tried cardboard – with about the same result. A guy came over with a propane burner on a long tube – it looked like a mini flame thrower – and I think he was successful after several minutes on one of the fire pits. They wanted to cook s’mores over the camp fires. We were cold and cut out of there a little past 5pm.

Donna picked up a few beers for me while out shopping. On Saturday night, I watched the football game on NFL Network and had a seasonal beer from Port Brewing in San Marcos – a town I where I bought my first house in north San Diego County – called Santa’s Little Helper. It’s an Imperial stout. Whenever you see the word Imperial in a beer description, it means it’s a strong ale. This was true for Santa’s Little Helper – it’s 10% alcohol by volume (ABV). It’s a bit heavy with notes of coffee and chocolate.

Santa’s Little Helper

Sunday was another day of NFL football for me. I watched the Kansas City Chiefs lose a heartbreaker when Tennessee kicked a field goal on the last play of the game. Then I tuned in the Chargers game. My Dish Network receiver started losing the satellite signal intermittently for a few seconds. Then the downtime got longer and longer. During the second half, it lost the signal completely. I spent about an hour and a half chatting on the computer with their technical support trying to figure out what was going on. I missed the entire second half of the game. The Dish technical support was no help at all – he had me doing the same tests and checking the same settings – which I had already done before I called them – over and over again.

I followed the play-by-play on my laptop and commiserated another last-minute loss with an IPA from Stone Brewing that Donna bought for me. It was one of their “Enjoy By” series of ale. These ales are meant to be drunk immediately, not stored or aged. Some big, high-gravity, high alcohol beers are better when aged – just like wine. This IPA had an ABV of 9.4%, but it was meant to be enjoyed by 12-25-2016. It was an unfiltered IPA with a pale hazy appearance. It was a good beer, but I think the “Enjoy By” releases are gimmicks rather than a specific brew process.

Enjoy By IPA

Today we have clear blue skies. The temperature is supposed to reach 70 degrees this afternoon. Donna and I have eye exams scheduled – other than that I have no plans for the day.

A Better Site

Donna’s left shoulder has been giving her trouble since she took a fall at the ice skating rink in Santa Fe, New Mexico in mid-September. She hadn’t fallen on the ice in years, but some kids on the rink distracted her and she caught an edge and fell. Donna’s sister, Sheila, is a physical therapist. Wednesday morning Donna had an appointment to see her to have her shoulder worked on. Meanwhile, I continued preparation to move from our site for one night.

We were in no hurry – I planned to move only about 20 miles away to the Elks Lodge in Chula Vista. I tried to contact the lodge to confirm site availability, but they didn’t open until 1:30pm. I wasn’t too worried about it – their web site said they had plenty of room and had never turned an RV away. I thought about the lodge in El Cajon, but when I phoned them I was unpleasantly surprised by the rude person on the phone. She told me she couldn’t guarantee space for us and they don’t take reservations – I would have to show up and take my chances there. This is common practice at most Elks Lodges, but they’re usually quite friendly and tell me if they think they can accommodate us.

I parked the Spyder in our trailer which we left in the overflow lot at Mission Bay RV Resort. The drive to Chula Vista was easy and the midday traffic was light. The Elks Lodge is located on a terraced bluff on the south side of Telegraph Canyon Road. They have 27 sites with hook-ups and also provide dry camping. I wanted a dry camping spot – no need to hook up for an overnight stay. The camp host directed me to a level area of the lot and said I would be fine there. We had a nice view of trees and shrubs on the hillside but also had road noise from Telegraph Canyon Road which is a busy thoroughfare.

Door step view at the Chula Vista Elks Lodge

After putting the jacks down and slides out, we walked to a shopping center about half a mile away. We found a Chinese restaurant there and had lunch. The portions were large and we both brought half of our meals home in box containers.

Later we went into the lodge for a cold one. As usual, the lodge bought a second round for us since we were first-time visitors there. Back at the coach, I opened a bottle of beer Donna bought for me. It was an interesting IPA from Modern Times – a local San Diego brewery. The beer was pale and obviously unfiltered. It was tasty but the mouth feel is what set it apart more than anything.

I read the label and saw it was made with Simcoe, Oregon Horizon and Amarillo hops. Oregon Horizon was a new hop to me. But then I saw what made this IPA different. The grain bill was pale malt (barley), white wheat and oats. Wheat and oats in an IPA is different for sure. I like this beer.

Modern Times IPA

Ozark the cat liked the change in surroundings. She spent a lot of time looking out the screen door at whatever was in the shrubbery. She also spends a lot of time in her window mounted shelf-bed.

Ozark in her favorite place

We pulled out of the Elks Lodge around 11:30 am. I made a detour on the way back to Mission Bay to stop at the Chevron station on East Balboa Avenue on the west side of highway 163. They have diesel at a reasonable – for California – price and I know I can get our rig in and out of there. There aren’t many places to get fuel for a big rig in the San Diego area.

It only took 35 gallons to fill the tank, but I knew I would want to boondock on our way to Arizona next month and we would need plenty of fuel for the generator – it won’t deliver fuel from the tank to the generator if we’re below 1/4 tank. It was also a good idea to do this while I didn’t have the trailer behind us.

Back at Mission Bay RV Resort, we were assigned to site 115. This is a much better site than 120 where we spent the last two months. In 120, we had trees that dropped foliage into our site, not to mention the birds that roosted in the trees every night and left their calling cards. The trees also blocked my Dish satellite reception. Site 115 is open with only one small tree.

I reactivated the Dish Network service and have great reception once again. I also replaced the filter elements in our water filtration when I set up. We have a two-canister filtration system. The first canister has a 10″ spun polypropylene sediment filter that filters down to five microns. This removes any sediment like sand or rust particles. The second canister has a fiber block carbon element that removes cysts and chemicals.

The sediment filter lasts about four months of full-time use. You can visually see the filter loading up with sediment. The second filter lasts six to 12 months. It can’t be visually inspected so I replace it after two sediment filter changes or every eight months or so.

We have a third anti-bacterial filter on the water dispenser at our kitchen sink. I need to replace this one as well. It lasts two to three years. It’s a bit of a chore to change, so I haven’t been too anxious to get after it, but it’s on my “to do” list before we leave here.

Spun polypropylene sediment element – old on the left, new on the right

Fiber block carbon elements

Since it was Thursday, I made the usual stop at Dan Diego’s for a cold one with the guys. Mike, the bartender, had special pricing on bottled beer again. This time I tried a Belgian Blonde Ale that was outstanding and priced at $3/bottle. What a bargain!

Maredsous Belgian blonde ale

I watched the Thursday Night Football game back at the coach. Rain moved into the area before the game ended. The rain continued through the night and it’s raining off and on as I type this. The weather guessers say the rain will move out of here this afternoon.

Dinner Without Donna

Donna had a busy day Tuesday. She hammered away at her book deadline and also had to prepare for her trip to Atlanta. She had an early flight scheduled out of San Diego to appear on television programs aired via satellite in a number of markets across the country from a setting in Atlanta. She was speaking as an organizing and decluttering expert.

She took time out in the afternoon to go with Sini for a manicure. When they left, I headed over to the Offshore Tavern and Grill for a couple of cold ones with the guys. Around 5pm Donna texted me saying they would be done in five minutes.

I found a table for us and they joined me at the tavern for dinner. Having dinner out would allow more time for Donna to finish packing for her trip. Sini ordered the taco Tuesday special and said it was good.

Taco Tuesday special

Donna and I went for our usual – the poke (poh-key) plate. This is sushi grade tuna served over chopped cabbage and scallions with Asian dressing and fried won-ton wrappers with sliced avocado on top. It was delicious.

Poke plate

On the way out of the tavern I saw a cool Volkswagen Beetle from the early 70s. These used to be a common sight around here.

Cars like this were once a common sight

Wednesday morning Donna was up and out of here early. The forecast called for warmer weather, but it didn’t happen. We had a low overcast ceiling and cool temperatures most of the day. The high finally reached the lower 60s once the clouds departed around 3pm.

The Ocean Beach Recreation Center was closed while they refinish the flooring, so I didn’t get out for pickleball. In fact, I didn’t get out at all. I spent most of the day reading a book

Before I met Donna, I was single guy for five years and mostly cooked for myself. I had a few favorites I would make, but nothing like the dishes Donna prepares. Over the last 10+ years we’ve been together, I’ve been completely spoiled. I handle the grill, but other than that I don’t cook much.

Wednesday night I was on my own for dinner. Donna anticipated this and bought a frozen chicken pot pie at Trader Joe’s. I like pot pie and I can handle cooking one. I even know how to run the microwave/convection oven now! I preheated the convection oven to 400 degrees. Then I wrapped foil around the rim of the pot pie so it wouldn’t burn the thin crust there and popped it in the oven. An hour later, dinner was ready.

Chicken pot pie hot out of the oven

Dinner is served

Of course a meal like this deserves a good brew. I paired it with Duet IPA from Alpine Beer Company located in east San Diego county.

Duet IPA

Today I plan to play pickleball in the morning at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center. This afternoon I should do some maintenance work on the Spyder that I put off yesterday. We have clear skies and it should be a warmer day, so I can’t use the cold weather excuse.

This evening’s dinner plan is pizza delivery from our favorite place, Mountain Mike’s. Donna should be home by 7pm.

 

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter

I mentioned in my last post an electrical issue Sini was having with her coach. On Sunday morning before we left for the Chargers game, she told me most of her outlets weren’t working. I took a quick look and checked for tripped circuit breakers on the 120-volt panel, but didn’t find any. I checked the breaker at the pedestal and it was fine. Then I noticed her microwave/convection oven had power. She told me at least one outlet had power as well. This led me to suspect the ground fault circuit interrupter, but I didn’t have time to deal with it.

Ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) are required anytime a 120-volt electrical outlet is placed near a water source such as a wall in the bathroom or kitchen near a faucet and sink. The GFCI senses the amount of current running through the two legs of the outlet. Modern outlets have two different size openings that match the blades of the plug on the end of a power cord. One blade is larger – that’s the neutral side. The other is the hot side. There’s a third opening that’s round and it’s the ground lug.

The alternating current running through the neutral and hot leads should match. If there’s a discrepancy in the amount of current between the two sides, it means current is finding another path to ground. This could be a very dangerous situation. If you are using an electrical appliance and it gets wet, it’s possible for the water to conduct electricity from an un-insulated connection to your body and then ground through your feet. This could electrocute you and result in death. The GFCI senses the discrepancy in current and acts as a breaker to shut off the power supply.

Many GFCI’s are wired to receive the incoming power and pass it along down the circuit to other outlets and appliances. Since all of the power running through that circuit runs through the GFCI first, it provides protection for all of the outlets and appliances connected downstream of it.

When your RV has 120-volt power to some outlets or appliances but not others, the GFCI is suspect. I tried to reset Sini’s GFCI with the reset button on the face of the outlet. It wouldn’t reset. This could mean there’s a short to ground somewhere along the line or it could be a bad GCFI. A new GCFI costs under $20, so I made a run to Ace Hardware in Pacific Beach and picked up a new one.

I shut off the power supply at the pedestal and removed the old GFCI – it only takes four screws to remove the cover plate and GFCI. Then I loosened the wire receptacle screws on the sides of the GFCI and pulled the wires out. The wires are very stiff solid copper. Sini’s GFCI provides power to the bathroom outlet and two additional circuits. So, it had three neutral wires with white insulation and three hot wires with black insulation. Additionally there was a bare copper ground wire screwed to a lug on the bottom of the GFCI.

I wired up the new GFCI and closed the breaker at the pedestal to restore power. It didn’t work. This had me scratching my head. I spent the better part of an hour trying to trace the circuit – without a schematic – to find the problem. Nothing made sense to me. It should’ve worked.

Finally, I decided to start over. I shut off the power again and removed the new GFCI. I carefully separated the wires and had Sini restore the power. With my Fluke multimeter, I measured voltage on the neutral and hot wires. Then I realized what the problem was. Sini shut off the power again. When I removed the original GFCI, the wires were very stiff and I thought they remained in the same position. I wired them to the new GFCI and didn’t give it much thought. But here’s the thing. The GFCI has two silver screws with stab-in receptacles on one side for the neutral wires and two brass screws with stab-in receptacles on the other side for the hot wires. One set of neutral and hot receptacles is marked “Line” the other set is marked “Load.” One neutral wire and one hot wire has the incoming 120-volts from the power pedestal. These wires must be connected to the line receptacles. The other two neutral and hot wires going to the rest of the circuit must be connected to the load receptacles.

I must have inadvertently switched the line and load neutral wires when I wired the GFCI. This won’t work. The strange thing is the new GFCI has an indicator lamp. When it’s green, it means there’s voltage available and all is good. If it’s mis-wired, it should show up red. I had a green light all the time. Anyway, I rewired the GFCI and turned on the power at the pedestal.

GFCI wiring

GFCI wiring

I hit the reset button on the GFCI and it clicked like it should and we had power down the circuit to all receptacles. Yay! It should have been a 15-20 minute job, but I spent over an hour because of a careless wiring mistake.

Later, when I turned on the Monday Night Football game Sini brought over a six-pack of brew from Mother Earth Brewing called Cali Creamin’ ale. It tastes like cream soda. I sipped one at the start of the game, but I’m not a big soda drinker and I think one is my limit for this style of ale.

Cali Creamin' Ale

Cali Creamin’ Ale

We had cool weather yesterday with the temperature in the low 60s. There was a chance of rain, but it never appeared here at Mission Bay. Today the forecast calls for more of the same before it warms up again. I plan to play pickleball this morning and do some Spyder maintenance in the afternoon.

Donna has a busy day working and preparing for a trip to Atlanta tomorrow. She’ll be up early tomorrow for her flight and she’ll return Thursday night.

 

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Tailgate Birthday Party

When I made my usual happy hour stop at the Offshore Tavern and Grill Friday, I shot a quick photo of one of the regulars. Lawrence is originally from England and he likes to stop at the pub for a couple of pints almost every day. What’s remarkable about him is that he’s 95 years old, sharp as a tack and gets around fine. Maybe the folks at Sierra Nevada Brewery are on to something when they say beer is good for your health.

Lawrence

Lawrence

Donna went out for a longer run on Saturday. She’s on a training schedule to run a 15k race in January. She ran seven miles and then rode a city bike 5 miles back to the park. Later, Donna, Sini and I went down to Seaport Village. Donna bought a Chargers shirt there and we went to the Top of the Hyatt bar on the 40th floor of the hotel to take in the views and have a drink. I shot a few pictures, but taking photos through glass windows really doesn’t do it justice.

View to the northwest

View to the northwest

View to the south

View to the south

Looking directly west across the bay, Coronado Island and Pacific Ocean

Looking southwest across the bay, Coronado Island and Pacific Ocean

Donna and Sini relaxing

Donna and Sini relaxing

Saturday night Donna made chicken tikka masala for dinner. It was a new recipe and it came out tasting very much like an authentic Indian restaurant version.

Donna working her majic at the kitchen counter

Donna working her magic at the kitchen counter

Chicken tiki masala

Chicken tikka masala

Sunday was Sini’s birthday. To celebrate, I bought four tickets to the Chargers versus Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. On Sunday morning, while Donna was out for another run, I borrowed Sini’s car and bought a snack tray at the grocery store. We left just before 10am and drove downtown to pick up her son, Beau.

We arrived at Qualcomm Stadium around 10:30am and met up with some friends from my high school days. We tailgated with Gary Stemple and Rosemary Neff (nee Burns) and a few others. Beau brought an assortment of craft beer and Rosemary had Sculpin Pineapple IPA from Ballast Point Brewing where her son works. Gary grilled chicken kabobs that he picked up from Siesel’s Market and Rosemary made an arugula salad with beets and goat cheese. Everything was delicious!

Rosemary, Gary, me, Donna and Sini

Rosemary, Gary, me, Donna and Sini

Mitch Pelegrin is San Diego’s most well known Chargers fan. He’s at every game in the northwest end zone with his face painted. The TV cameras always seem to find him. He had his tailgate party set up a few parking spaces away from us.

Mitch Pelegrin and me

Mitch Pelegrin and me

We had a good time but the Buccaneers prevailed over the home team.

Donna was the designated driver and dropped Sini and Beau off downtown where they were going to watch the Seahawks game and have dinner. We came home and zoned out after a long day of fun times.

The weather was fabulous yesterday – the temperature reached the 70s with calm winds and clear skies. Today will be cooler with a 20% chance of rain showers this evening. At some point, I’ll have to take a look at Sini’s coach. I think she has a bad ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI). This is cutting out power to several outlets, including her TV. I’ll probably have to make a run to the hardware store to pick up a new GFCI and install it.

 

Epic Fail in the Closet

I decided it was time to get busy on Wednesday. We’ve been here at Mission Bay RV Resort for about six weeks and I had a number of projects on my list that I hadn’t tackled yet.

First up was a repair to the closet hanger rod. The hanger rod is a 1-1/4 inch wooden dowel six and half feet long. It has a support in the center made from wood that the rod passes through. The support is suspended from the ceiling where it’s attached with wood screws.

The weight of the clothing on hangers puts a heavy load on the rod. When we’re driving down the road, bumps can put a lot of strain on it. The hanger support broke once before and I repaired it. It broke again, but this time the hanger rod support pulled free of the ceiling. The wood screws securing it had stripped from the wood.

Hangar rod support pulled from ceiling

Hangar rod support pulled from ceiling

I thought I could use inserts in the ceiling and re-attach the support with screws. I envisioned a plastic insert with large, coarse threads that would bite into the wood in the ceiling and provide a sturdy material for the screws to attach to.

I went to the Ace Hardware store in Pacific Beach where the friendly hardware man helped me out. When I told him what I had in mind, he said he didn’t think the type of insert I was talking about would work. He said they’re designed for drywall and he didn’t think they were strong enough to thread into wood. He suggested a steel insert and machine screws to make the repair.

Threaded steel insert and machine screws - original wood screw on bottom

Threaded steel insert and machine screws – original wood screw on bottom

I removed the support and installed the inserts. This took longer than I thought it would – getting the inserts to thread into the wood was a real pain. I could see that the drywall type wouldn’t have worked. When I screwed the support back in place with the machine screws I gave it a tug. The inserts pulled out of the wood. Failure!

By then it was 2:30pm and I had to get cracking on the Traeger. The night before I had purchased babyback ribs from Siesel’s Market and prepped them. We planned on having company for dinner and I needed to cook the ribs on the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker/grill. We invited Sini and her son Beau, John and Sharon Hinton (On the Road of Retirement) and their daughter, Katie, who is visiting.

I had the ribs ready a little after 5pm – I’m fine tuning my rib preparation and think they’re coming out pretty darn good. Donna made cornbread and Asian coleslaw, Sini brought a tossed salad and John and Sharon brought green beans with sesame seeds. Sini’s son Beau had to take a rain check due to a meeting that came up.

It gets dark early so we had electric candles and a lantern on the table. We enjoyed the food and conversation – and beer. Not only does it get dark early, it really cools off after the sun sets. It was probably about 60 degrees, but it felt cooler. Around 7:30pm everyone was ready to move inside and retreated to their respective coaches. I neglected to take any photos.

On Thursday, I came up with plan “B” for the closet. I made a drawing and a list of goods. I rode the Spyder to Home Depot where I found lengths of 3/4″ x 1-1/2″ oak boards. I had them cut to the lengths I needed. I also bought some 2″ #6 wood screws.

Instead of suspending the center support for the hanger rod from the ceiling, I was building a post that would support it from the closet floor like a crutch. I drilled pilot holes where needed in the wood, then fastened it together with the wood screws. I like to scrape the screw threads across a bar of soap before I screw them into the pilot holes. This provides dry lubrication and makes the screw thread into the wood easier.

The crutch type support was made with two 47″ lengths of oak board attached together with six-inch lengths of oak board. The original support is 3/4″ wide, so putting the six-inch pieces of 3/4″ oak between the two 47″-long boards spaced them apart perfectly to fit the support. It’s not the most elegant solution, but it’s sturdy as a rock now.

Not the most elegant

Not the most elegant

Rock steady

Rock steady

12_1clst5

With that job done, I showered and headed over to Dan Diego’s for a cold one with the guys. Dan Diego’s features local brews on tap but they also have a large selection of imported bottled beer. They have a lot of Belgian beer made in monasteries – these beers tend to be strong, flavorful and expensive. Some of them run $10 for an 11.2 ounce bottle. They aren’t big sellers for them – probably due to the price. The management decided it was time to move some of the inventory, so they put together special pricing on about a dozen bottled beers.

One of the specials was Duvel Tripel Hop. This is a tasty, strong ale and they had it priced at $3/bottle. I couldn’t pass it up.

Duvel tripel hop

Duvel tripel hop

After a couple of cold ones, I came home to watch Dallas versus Minnesota on Thursday Night Football. After the game Donna relaxed with a couple of mindless TV programs. She’s been pushing hard to meet her book deadline and had a few other assignments as well. She laid back and Ozark the cat joined her.

Donna and Ozark kicking back

Donna and Ozark kicking back

Ozark gets closer

Ozark gets closer

Today we have sunny, blue skies and the temperature should reach the low 70s. I have a couple of chores to attend to, but nothing too heavy. Life is good.