Category Archives: Beer

Breaking the Law

Friday morning started much like Thursday – we were up early and I took Donna to her class on the Spyder. When I dropped her off, she put her jacket and helmet in the front trunk (frunk) of the Spyder.

Back at home, I got to work organizing the trailer – I packed the bikes and the grills and straightened things out. Then I took Donna’s jacket and helmet out of the frunk and rode the Spyder to Costco. When I was there earlier in the week, I saw 33-pound bags of Traeger gourmet wood pellets. I wanted to buy a bag, but didn’t have enough room on the Spyder at the time. With the frunk empty, I had room for the bag.

I made a stop at a Japanese restaurant called Yuki & Song at 122nd and Sandy Boulevard. They had lunch specials – I ordered their teriyaki beef plate. I was surprised to find it came with a bowl of miso soup, salad, tempura veggies, rice and of course teriyaki beef for $8.95! Nice lunch find.

Donna sent me a text and said she would be finished with her class no later than 4pm. I hit the road on the Spyder to pick her up around 3:15pm – I wanted to be there before 4pm and I wasn’t sure how heavy the traffic would be on Friday afternoon on the Fourth of July weekend.

I made good time and got there at 3:45pm. I could see the traffic heading north was heavier – our trip home would take longer as volumes were building. Just before I pulled into the lot, I realized that I didn’t put Donna’s jacket and helmet back into the frunk. Oh no! We generally don’t ride without helmets and Oregon has a law requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets. The Spyder is legally considered a motorcycle.

If I went back for her helmet, it would take over an hour. When Donna came out from her class, I told her about the problem. We decided to take our chances and avoid any freeways on the way home. As we were riding in traffic on MLK Boulevard, I saw a police car on a side street ahead. The traffic was stopped and backed up for an entire block at a stop light. The car ahead of us stopped short to let the police car in. As the traffic began to move, another police car appeared. The driver ahead held up and let him in. Two more police cars merged ahead of us.

I changed lanes and put a large box truck between us and the police cruisers. Instead of changing lanes to move ahead in the traffic, I changed lanes when possible to put more vehicles between us and the police. Being a scofflaw isn’t much fun. We made it home without incident or ticket.

The day before, new neighbors moved into the site next to us. It was Jim and Gayle (Life’s Little Adventures). We met them before at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego. We had plans to get together for happy hour snacks and drinks. Gayle brought tortilla chips, guacamole and salsa and Donna fixed a couple of plates – there was a good spread on our new folding table. We sat and talked for a few hours – it wasn’t dark yet at 9pm. I neglected to take any photos as I was caught up in conversation.

The only photo I have is a bottle of limited release “Summer Style IPA” from Ninkasi Brewing. I don’t know what makes it a summer IPA – it was tasty but typical west coast IPA.

Maiden the Shade summer IPA

Saturday morning we prepared to hit the road. I dumped and flushed the tanks, filled the fresh water, put away the window shades and finished loading the trailer. We hitched the trailer and pulled out of the park around 11:30am. I wondered what the traffic would be like on the I-5 bridge to Vancouver, Washington. The traffic is usually crawling across it. I was surprised to find the traffic light and moving right along on I-5.

We stopped around 1pm in Chehalis to top off the fuel tank at a CFN truck stop and had lunch at Subway. Our destination for the day was the Cabela’s store in Lacey, Washington. We stayed there overnight two years ago and found it to be a good overnight dry-camping spot.

We claimed a spot in the large west lot which was nearly empty. They have signs advising “No Overnight Parking” however, these signs were here before and they allowed us to stay. To be sure I went to the customer service desk and asked. I was told it’s no problem – they have the signs so they can keep people from setting up for more than one night.

Dry camp at Cabela’s

Donna shopped for hours in Cabela’s and found shorts, tops and sandals she couldn’t do without. Since losing weight this past year, she’s had to buy new clothes. But I haven’t heard her complaining.

This morning, Donna went out for a run. I’m watching the Formula One Grand Prix of Austria, then we’ll head up to Arlington, Washington. Our destination is my oldest daughter Alana’s driveway in Arlington. We’ll moochdock in her driveway for the next week or two and spend time with her and our granddaughters.

A Visit to Camas

Our time here in Portland, Oregon is quickly coming to a close. We’ve stayed busy – well Donna’s mostly busy, me not so much. We didn’t get to spend time with everyone we would have liked to visit in the area, but we had a good time with those we were able to meet up with.

On Wednesday afternoon, we rode the Spyder over the I-205 bridge to Washington. We took WA14 east to a small town called Camas. I’ve driven past Camas many times. I used to take WA14 to Washougal to fly radio-controlled airplane tournaments at the Fern Prairie Modelers field there. Camas wasn’t a place we were likely to stop at. Back in the ’90s, the paper mill in Camas made the area smell bad. It was a mill town and I always figured it to be a rough place.

Today Camas has a new identity. Modern filtration has removed the stench from the paper milling process. The town has grown in a well-planned manner. The old downtown, which comprises about five or six blocks is well-kept and lively with shops, restaurants and brew pubs. On Wednesday afternoon, they have a farmers’ market there. We parked the Spyder on 4th Avenue across from the Liberty Theater and walked two blocks to the market.

Camas farmers’ market

We wandered around in our usual fashion then revisited the vendors with items we wanted to buy. Donna bought some produce including Japanese hakurei turnips. We tried a sample and found them to be delicious. Donna intends to cut them up to dip in hummus and also chop them to add to salads.

Our real reason for going to Camas was to meet up with Donna’s friend Krista and her husband Mike for dinner. The traffic getting across the river from Portland to Vancouver is terrible in the afternoons and evenings, so we decided to come over early and hit the farmers’ market first. We had time to try a couple of local brews before dinner at a pub called A Brew at a Time. They had a large selection of beer on tap.

We met up with Mike and Krista at a Mexican restaurant called Nuestra Mesa. This isn’t your run-of-mill Mexican place – they serve refined Mexico City type dishes. Mike and Krista know the owners and told us the place had recently expanded. It’s nice to see a family-run operation doing well. It seems like Krista knows just about everybody in town.

After an enjoyable meal and conversation, we followed Mike and Krista’s car up the hill north of town to their place. They bought a lot and recently had a house built on it. It’s quite the place – about 6,000 square feet or so. Mike is obviously an optimist as he had a large pool built in the backyard – you don’t see a lot of built-in pools in the Pacific Northwest. We had a tour of their beautiful house.

Pool and house to large to fit the frame with my camera-phone

Pool and house too large to fit the frame with my camera-phone

Mike is a sports fan and has memorabilia displayed in the finished basement bar area and his office space. He also had an old soda vending machine – I think it was originally a 7-up machine – restored with a Seattle Seahawks 12th-man theme.

Seahawks vending machine

He had selections of beer in the top section and soft drinks below.

They have stunning views from their upper deck. Unfortunately, using a smart phone as a camera means I don’t have a UV haze filter and it was a bit hazy out.

Columbia River from the deck

Another view from the large deck

I couldn’t get a shot of the view of Mount St. Helens due to the angle of the sun and the haze. We had a good time visiting with them

Donna and Krista

They talked me into joining in the photo

Thursday morning we had the rare event of waking to an alarm clock. Donna had a class – a continuing education course to maintain her certified house cleaning technician status. The class was a certified carpet cleaning technician course held in Portland on Market Street on the east side of the Willamette River.

The class started at 8am. I rode Donna down on the Spyder so I wouldn’t be without wheels all day. We left at 7:30am, which I figured was ample time to allow for traffic. I took us down MLK Blvd. and traffic wasn’t too bad – a few slow downs and stop lights. We were fine I thought until I realized we were too far south as the traffic thinned out and speeds increased while cross streets diminished.

I got us turned around and we came back north and found the place. We were 10 minutes late. I like to be punctual. While Donna was in class all day, I washed the Spyder and set up the Traeger wood pellet fired grill/smoker. I also finished another novel I was reading and made a run to the store.

Donna’s class ended at 5pm, so around 4:25 I headed out. I made it to the class location in 30 minutes and waited a while. The trip back home was awful. The traffic in Portland is terrible. The roads are laid out in such a way that you often have multiple lanes merging down into fewer lanes, causing huge tie-ups. It took us nearly an hour to get home.

Donna in her Great Cycling Challenge jersey

Donna heading out for her last ride in her Great Cycle Challenge

I put a whole chicken on the Traeger while Donna went out on her bike to ride the remaining 12 miles to meet her Great Cycle Challenge goal. I’m writing this Thursday evening, which is a little unusual, but I’m trying to get it done while I have the time. Tomorrow I’ll drop Donna at her class and start preparing for our Saturday departure while Donna’s back in class.

Oregon IPA Quest

Monday was a fairly quiet day for me. Donna wrote the blog post, so I had the day off from that. When I say quiet, I mean as far as activity goes. We seem to find places that are on flight paths wherever we go. Here at Columbia River RV Park we’re on the west side of the Portland International Airport (PDA).

PDA is a joint military-civilian airport and it’s the largest in Oregon. It seems like activity ramps up around 6am. Take-offs from runway 28L pass just to the north of the RV park over the Columbia River. Flights from the busier runway 28R pass well north of here. The commercial flights are reasonably quiet – we sleep through most of the early morning traffic. Some days, military aircraft fly by – F-15 Eagles of the Oregon Air Guard. These are supersonic tactical fighters capable of reaching speeds of mach 2.8 (2.8 times the speed of sound). As such, they have very powerful engines – two Pratt and Whitney F100 axial compressor turbofans with afterburners.

Of course they aren’t exceeding the speed of sound when they fly by here, but the engines roar and you can hear the air parting and rushing back into the void as they speed by. Last week they passed overhead in pairs. This week they’re going by four at a time. It only happens a couple of times per day so I’m not complaining. Ozark the cat stops whatever she’s doing and looks up at the ceiling in the coach whenever they fly by.

On Monday evening, I continued my quest for the great Oregon IPA. This time I sampled a beer from Old Town Brewing called Shanghai’D. It’s a medium bodied IPA and not overly hoppy – more in the English style and very drinkable at 6.5% ABV. Old Town Brewing is a brewery and pizza joint with two locations in Portland. One of their claims to fame is the fact they deliver beer! That’s right, you can call in a beer order within a certain range of their location and they deliver by bicycle.

Old Town Shanghai’D IPA

I picked up this bottle at Walmart. In Portland, Walmart has a sizable selection of craft beers. When I rode the Spyder over to Walmart on Monday afternoon, the traffic on eastbound Marine Drive was backed up in front of the park. I had to wait for a car to clear the intersection as the traffic crept along before I could hit the westbound lane.

I came home through residential back streets as I could see the traffic jam hadn’t unsnarled yet. Later I found out the cause of the traffic. Monday was the start of the Cambia Portland Classic – A Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tournament that runs all week through July 3rd. The classic is held at the Columbia Edgewater Golf Club – just east of the RV park on Marine Drive.

On Sunday’s bicycle ride, Donna had trouble with the left pedal on her bike. She uses SPD type pedals that she clicks into with cleats on her cycling shoes. She likes the SPD type because they allow her to use shoes that are comfortable to walk in. I took a look at her pedal Tuesday morning and saw the problem. A part on the pedal that applies spring pressure to the mechanism had broken off. I took the pedal to a bike shop nearby to see if I could get the part for it. The guy there told me he didn’t have the part, but he thought I may be able to find it at another shop a few blocks away where they hang on to old stuff to take parts from. Then he added that in his experience, the cleat is usually wallowed out when this happens and won’t hold up. I bought a new set of pedals.

After I installed the pedals, Donna and I went for a ride. We followed the trail east on Marine Drive to the I-205 crossing, then turned back. We had a tailwind getting there, which meant a headwind on the way back. For some reason, I developed soreness in my right knee on the ride. I was riding my mountain bike and the upright position makes riding into the wind a real chore. I didn’t ride my road bike because my shoulders and neck got stiff on my last road bike ride.

When we reached the M James Gleason Memorial Boat Ramp and Park, I peeled off the bike path as Donna wanted to ride up 33rd Avenue to get in some more miles and then do some grocery shopping at New Season’s market. I took a look at the beach area on the Columbia River before heading home. For a Tuesday afternoon, it was busy.

Columbia River beach.

The temperature was in the 80s – nice beach weather.

Later, we decided to grill the lamb chops Donna bought from the rancher down the street from the RV park. Donna marinated the chops with olive oil, fresh rosemary and oregano, lots of garlic and lemon zest. I grilled them on the Weber Q. They were great!

Grilled lamb chops straight from the farm

Donna served them with steamed green beans and Moroccan quinoa. Delicious!

Grilled lamp chops with green beans and Moroccan quinoa

I paired it with another IPA I found at Walmart. This one was from Laurelwood Brewing in Portland called Workhorse India Pale Ale. This is a big beer at 7.5% ABV, double dry-hopped and full of citrusy hoppiness.

Workhorse – a big beer

This morning we have overcast skies – I couldn’t see the F-15 Eagles fly by but I sure heard them. The cloud cover should burn off by noon and the forecast calls for a sunny 83 degrees this afternoon.

*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!

Lavender and Cartlandia

Saturday morning Donna and I rode to Spyder to the Hollywood District of Portland and found the farmers’ market there. We parked on Hancock Street right by the entrance to the market. The first thing we saw was a young girl on the street corner playing a violin on the lawn in front of a dental office. She must have been about five or six years old. We listened for a minute and Donna put a tip in her violin case.

Young violinist

The farmers’ market was relatively small. I think the number one offering was berries – there were several stands with an assortment of fresh picked berries. Donna found a few things she needed and we left after an hour or so.

Hancock Street farmers’ market

Back at the RV park we saw a new neighbor with an unusual RV. It was a tiny house on wheels – obviously home-made.

Tiny house trailer

We saw something similar to this in San Diego last year.

Donna wanted to go out for a bike ride. On my last ride, the shifter cable for my front derailleur on my road bike broke. I bought a new cable but I haven’t gotten around to replacing it yet, so my road bike is out of commission. Donna rode hard on Friday and said she just wanted to cruise west along the Columbia River to Smith Lake at the Smith and Bybee Wetlands Area. So, I went along on my mountain bike.

We cruised along hitting 15 mph at times – for me this is fast on my mountain bike. On my road bike I have no problem cruising at 18-20 mph. Smith Lake turned out to be a marshy wetland, not a pristine lake. There were a lot of herons and egrets there, but otherwise it’s not much to see.

Donna wanted to log a few more miles toward her Great Cycle Challenge, so she continued on past the RV park to look for a nearby lavender farm where you can pick bunches of lavender. She chatted for a short while with the owner’s grandson who was raised on the property that backs up to the Columbia Slough.

Slough bordering lavender farm

Lavender farm entrance

Lavender farm

Lavender

On the way back, she stopped at a sheep ranch on 13th Avenue to check out prices on the grass-fed lamb advertised for sale there. When she asked where the sheep are pastured, the sheperdhess told her that they own 23 acres. Donna didn’t have any money on her so she rode home and then back to the ranch to pick up some loin chops.

Meanwhile, I relaxed and read a book. Then I watched the qualifying for the Moto GP race in Assen, Netherlands. The track was wet with light rain falling. It made it an interesting session and I’m looking forward to watching the race today, which I recorded.

At 6:30pm, our friends Ray and Kathy picked us up and we drove to a place called Cartlandia. It’s billed as Portland’s best food cart pod. There are 32 food carts in an open area and also a small beer garden.

Cartlandia

More food carts

We walked through and looked at what the different vendors had to offer. We made our choices at different carts and met up in the Blue Room Bar on site. That’s what a lot of people do – carry their food into the Blue Room Bar where they can claim a table and order a drink to go with the food. Of course I had to try the Springwater IPA brewed onsite.

It’s nice to have friends that are familiar with the area and know what’s happening. A band started playing in the Blue Room Bar a little past 8pm. They started out playing at a reasonably low volume. Then the bass player’s amp died in the middle of a Rolling Stones song. When he changed out the amp head, everyone suddenly got louder. After a few more songs, it was too loud for comfortable conversation, so we moved to an outside patio to talk.

Before we left, Donna wanted to visit the Voodoo Donuts cart. Voodoo donuts are a Portland icon. They’re known for unusual donuts – like maple-bacon bars and also their pink boxes.

Donna and Kathy at the Voodoo Donuts cart.

It was after 9pm by then and Voodoo had sold out of many offerings. Donna bought a blueberry cake donut. Then Ray drove us home and we called it a day.

Today I think I’ll kick back and watch the Moto GP race. Donna signed up for a bike ride that includes a guided tour of backyard apiaries – a bee hive tour. She should get about 30 miles in. It’ll be a warm ride – the expected high temperature today is 89 degrees.

Street Food in Portland

I tackled a minor repair on Tuesday. Most states require trailers with a gross weight of 3,000 pounds or more to have trailer brakes that automatically engage if the trailer accidentally separates from the tow vehicle. Our trailer is equipped with a breakaway switch that activates the brakes if a pin is pulled from the switching device. A length of cable connects the pin to the tow vehicle. If the trailer comes loose, the cable pulls the pin and the brakes are applied.

Breakaway pin and cable ends

The cable has a loop for the pin and a loop on the other end that I connect to the receiver hitch with a carabiner. I’m not sure how it happened, but the cable must have dragged on the ground at some point and wore through, separating it into two pieces.

Steel cable separated in the middle

When I went to Walmart the other day, I saw a fisherman’s supply store. I stopped in and bought some nylon covered stainless steel leader cable and some double barrel crimp connectors.

Nylon covered stainless steel cable and connectors

This made it easy to create a new breakaway cable for the trailer.

New cable assembled with pin for breakaway switch

Pin installed in breakaway switch

That was easy – job done!

In the afternoon, Donna and I rode the Spyder down NE 33rd Drive and found the store Ray told us about. It’s called New Season’s. It’s similar to Sprouts – a store chain we like in the southwest. It’s an upscale store, so you have to shop carefully as the prices can be good or they can be high. Donna had defrosted the refrigerator in the morning and now it was time to restock it.

On Wednesday morning, we rode the Spyder to Beaverton to visit with our friends, DeWayne and Marlo. They live in a co-op housing development which is basically condominiums with shared community areas. Residents sign on to teams to develop and maintain community property. They have shared garden space, community meeting rooms, a woodworking shop and more. DeWayne runs the wood shop and also leads the building repair and maintenance team.

Part of the community vegetable garden

Compost bins DeWayne built

After giving us a tour, DeWayne had a project to work on and I left Donna and Marlo to their girl talk. I rode the Spyder over to the Hillsboro airport where I wanted to check out an aviation museum. When I got there, I was disappointed to see a closed sign in the window. I looked at the hours on the door – it said 9am to 4pm Monday through Thursday. A woman inside saw me looking and came to the door. She pointed at a guy out front spraying weeds.

The guy came over and introduced himself and told me they were in the process of moving the museum to Tillamook. All but one of the flyable airplanes had already been moved. He offered to give me a tour of the remaining aircraft and parts, but warned that things were in a bit of disarray.

I took him up on the offer and we spent about an hour looking at old planes and parts. They have mostly military jet aircraft from the 1950s to the 1980s. The owner has a number of contacts in foreign governments and wheels and deals for airplanes. A number of their aircraft came from Taiwan. They also had Soviet airplanes from Poland and Czechoslovakia.

Twelve cylinder Allison piston engine

Axial flow jet engine

General Electric J79 jet engine that powered many US military jets including the F-104 Starfighter behind it

Me standing on the wing of a Soviet Mig-21

Mig-21

I rode back and picked up Donna a little past noon. It was a short visit for the girls, but they were happy to catch up in person.

Marlo and Donna

Instead of riding the freeways home, I took us down Burnside Street into downtown Portland. We stopped on Alder Street where all the street food vendors are located. There are dozens of food trucks and small stalls lined up over two blocks. We arrived a little after 1pm and missed most of the lunch crowd. After walking down the street and looking over the offerings, we both went for Thai food. It was a tasty lunch on the street.

Street food vendors

After we came home, I retrieved a couple of packages we received at the office. One was a chair that Donna ordered from Bed, Bath and Beyond, but it wasn’t what she expected so it’s going back. Another package was our mail from our service in South Dakota. This package included new license plates for our coach and Spyder. The design on our current South Dakota plates was first issued in 2006. After 10 years, some of the plates are deteriorated and hard to read or have lost their reflective properties, so South Dakota decided it was time to issue new ones.

I took a photo of our new plates and made a discovery. When light is directed at the plate (in this case via the camera flash), a squiggly line appears in the middle from top to bottom. I suppose this is an anti-counterfeit feature.

New license plate design for our coach

Photo with flash reveals a squiggly line

Donna went for a bike ride as she continues to aim for her 250-mile Great Cycle Challenge goal while I installed the plates. After I put the plates on, I had a message telling me another package arrived at the office. It was the Elka suspension I ordered for the Spyder – custom made shock absorbers and springs. I paid for expedited shipping since they came from Canada. I didn’t want them to get delayed in customs and have them arrive here after we’ve moved on. Timing of package deliveries can be a challenge on the road.

Last night Donna made baked shrimp with fennel and feta for dinner.

Baked shrimp with fennel and feta

I paired it with an Imperial IPA from Hop Valley Brewing in Eugene, Oregon. It was delicious – the shrimp I mean.

Alpha Centauri Imperial IPA

We ended an excellent day by starting season two of True Detectives. It appears that season two has no connection with season one – we’re starting a whole new story line with different actors.

After a few days of great weather, rain moved in last night. We have a heavily overcast sky this morning and expect rain off and on all day with a high temperature only reaching the low 60s. I’m chomping at the bit to install the new suspension on the Spyder, but it looks like that will have to wait.

Road Bike Ride

Donna had another article assignment to complete on Monday. While she was doing that, I made a run to Walmart to pick up a few groceries. While I was out, I also picked up supplies for two upcoming projects. When I came home, I found a Yamaha FJR motorcycle at our site. Our friend Ray, who we met in San Diego through Kris and Tom Downey, stopped by. He and his wife Kathy live nearby and knew we were here via this blog. We hope to get together with them this weekend.

I went to work on another project before lunch. The rear end of the floor in our trailer has a metal trim. The original trim was stamped aluminum sheet – very thin and mostly decorative. A while back when I was loading the Spyder, I had a little wheel spin as I was backing in. The tire gripped the trim and tore it away from the floor.

Trim damage due to wheel spin

I cut the damaged portion away and overlaid a 36-inch section of extruded aluminum trim that’s 1/16 inch thick. This is much heavier than the original stamped sheet aluminum and should stand up to abuse.

Extruded aluminum angle trim installed

With that job done, we had lunch and headed out on our bicycles at 2pm. I don’t remember when I last went out on my Orbea road bike. We headed east on Marine Drive and picked up the paved bike path. It’s been a while since Donna and I rode bicycles together – my mountain bike can’t keep up with her road bike. We first met in a cycling club in Mesa, Arizona where we rode together almost every weekend.

My Orbea is a full carbon fiber road racing machine. As such, it handles much quicker than my mountain bike. It felt lively and a little skittish at first. When I ride my mountain bike, I wear hiking shoes and the pedals have small studs that help me grip the pedals. On my Orbea, I have Speedplay pedals that I clip into with special cleats on my stiff Sidi bicycling shoes. To unclip from the pedal you have to twist the rear of your foot away from the bike and it will release. At one point on the trail we stopped to admire the view. I forgot to twist my foot and my right shoe was caught on the pedal. I fell slowly into the weeds on my right shoulder. It probably looked comical, but it wasn’t fun.

After that, I quickly became reacquainted with my road bike and settled into a rhythm. East of the I-205 bridge we stopped to look at Mt. Hood and take a selfie. I’m not too good at shooting selfie type pictures.

Not too good at selfies

We rode about 10 miles east, then turned around. This stretch of the Columbia River has a number of uninhabited islands. We saw people on the island beaches that they reached by boat. We also saw an old shipwreck – a sailboat that must have broken loose in a storm and ended up beached on an island.

Bike path view – Government Island and McGuire Island on the left

On the ride back, we saw an osprey struggling to gain altitude with a large fish in its talons. The osprey was a large bird – its wingspan had to be nearly six feet. The fish was weighing it down but it slowly circled upward and away from us.

We wanted to grill steaks on the Weber Q for dinner, but I realized I was out of propane. I made another run to Walmart and picked up four propane canisters. While I was there, I also found another local IPA to try. It was from Pelican Brewery in Pacific City, Oregon. It’s an IPA that’s brewed with a single hop variety – Ella hops from Australia. They use this hop type in the boil and then dry hop twice with them.

Umbrella IPA

This was solid example of west coast IPA. It went well with the bacon-wrapped filet mignon. While I was grilling the steak, Donna prepared sauteed mushrooms and onions and sides of rosemary and garlic roasted fingerling potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Bacon-wrapped filet with sauteed mushrooms and onions

It’s been awhile since we had steak and Donna said she was craving it. All in all, it was meal fit for a king (and queen). After dinner we took a walk through the RV park and then settled in to watch another episode of True Detective. This series starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaghy really keeps you guessing as to where it’s heading.

Ozark the cat wanted to recline in front of the refrigerator but apparently the floor isn’t comfortable there. She pulled out the little rug in front of our shower and made herself a bed.

Ozark making it comfortable

The weather forecast calls for another nice day with a few clouds and highs in the upper 70s. I have one small project to complete on the trailer. Donna is defrosting the refrigerator – something we haven’t had to do in nearly eight months. After the refrigerator is defrosted, we need to stock up on groceries. We want to check out a few stores that Ray told us about.

Last Day of Spring

Sunday marked the last full day of spring and it was a fine one. We had mostly clear skies and the temperature reached the upper 70s. It was also Father’s Day. I started my day by writing a post, then watching the Formula One race from Baku, Azerbaijan which I recorded.

Around noon I pulled Donna’s bike out of the trailer. She rode her bike to a coffee shop about nine miles from here to meet her friend, Marlo, and listen to a trio of sisters sing and play guitar, violin and cello. Donna was amazed that her entire route was through residential neighborhoods and had bike lanes or bike right-of-way of markings in the streets. That’s Portland for you!

Meanwhile I cleaned some of the dust from Sunriver off the Spyder and rode to Jantzen Beach on Hayden Island (map). Jantzen Beach is a shopping center – Hayden Island is on the Columbia River and is part of Oregon. It’s accessed from I-5, being in Oregon means no sales tax, so Jantzen Beach is a popular shopping destination for residents of nearby Vancouver, Washington.

I wanted to pick up a couple of items, but first I rode to the east end of the island past Hayden Bay where it’s called Tomahawk Island. I was looking for river access, but it’s all private condos, hotels and marinas. I got back on track and went to Staples – I wanted buy laminating kits to laminate our Elks cards. The cards they issued in Mesa are paper and won’t hold up very well. Laminating them in clear plastic will make them much more durable. I also picked up a three foot section of 3/4″ extruded aluminum angle trim for a repair I need to make on the trailer at Home Depot.

It was such a nice day out, I rode past the RV park and continued east on Marine Drive to look around. It was clear enough out to see Mt. Hood in the distance.

Mt. Hood behind I-205 bridge spanning the Columbia River

I went all the way to Blue Lake before I turned around. On the way back I stopped at a small park with river access and a boat ramp. It was called the M James Gleason Memorial Boat Ramp. I parked and took a look around. There was a beach area with people sunbathing and a slew of sail boats, presumably from the nearby Portland Yacht Club or the Rose City Yacht Club.

Beach area and sailboats on the river

There’s a paved bicycle path that runs next to the park along Marine Drive. Donna and I are looking forward to riding this path.

Paved bicycle path along Marine Drive – Mt. Hood in the background

Donna came home from her visit with Marlo a little before 4pm. We decided to get take-out for dinner from a restaurant a few miles away called Pon Thai. I paired my chicken pad thai with another local beer I hadn’t tried before – there are so many breweries in the northwest I doubt if I’ll ever be able to try them all. This time I had an IPA from Burnside Brewing Company.

Burnside Brewing Company India Pale Ale

This IPA is brewed in the English style with a maltiness that isn’t over-powered by hops. It was good, but didn’t stand out. We finished the day with another episode of True Detective. A fine final day of spring.

Today is the summer solstice – the longest period of daylight for the year. We’ll also have a full moon tonight. I’ve read that this is the first summer solstice with a full moon since 1967 – the Summer of Love.

We’re expecting another fine day with the temperature reaching 80 degrees. The forecast says zero percent chance of rain, but I just heard a few rain drops on the roof from a passing cloud. Hopefully that zero percent holds true for the rest of the day.

Deschutes Brewery

We rode to Bend on the Spyder Tuesday. We left the Sunriver Thousand Trails park around 11:20am so I could take Donna to the hair salon for her noon appointment. When people ask us about health or dental care while we’re on the road, we joke that it’s no problem, but finding a hair stylist for Donna can be troublesome!

Blasting up US97 at 65-70mph in 50-degree weather makes it a cold ride. After I dropped Donna off, I went to a motorcycle shop and bought warmer gloves. From there I went to the Deschutes Brewery tasting room, where they have brewery tours. I knew the 1pm tour was fully booked, but I thought I might be able to get in if there was a no show. I also thought I could get lunch there.

It turned out the tasting room doesn’t serve food – just beer tasters, T-shirts and knick-knacks. I sampled four barrel-aged beers that aren’t found in stores and really liked three of the four. I also made it to the tour – three people didn’t show up. They allow 15 people in each tour.

Our tour guide was a native Oregonian from the Willamette Valley named Joy. She was very knowledgeable about beer in general and their operations at Deschutes Brewery. We started the tour with a brief discussion of the four ingredients needed for beer – water, malt, hops and yeast.

Everything you need to make beer

This discussion took place in the employee break room. The break room looked like a small cafe with tall chairs around a bar-like table, refrigerator, stove and food supplies. One of the guys was on break and had made a delicious looking pastrami sandwich. I was wishing I had eaten lunch – it was after 1pm by then.

The break room had a large closet that was converted to a small taproom. Employees are allowed one pint of beer at the end of their shift.

Employee taps

This has to be good for morale! The company believes good beer in moderation is beneficial to health.

We took a look at hop storage. Deschutes only used whole hops, no hop pellets or extracts. They store about three days worth of hops in a temperature-controlled room in 200-pound bales.

Hop bales

They were doing maintenance, cleaning a lauter tun. The lauter tun is a large vat that’s used to strain the liquid (wort) from the grain mash.

Lauter tun maintenance

We walked along a cat-walk above the brewery and looked down at the operation. Things were running at full speed below us.

Cellar process

Fermenters and bright tanks

Although Deschutes Brewing is not as large as the Sierra Nevada operation we toured in Chico, they still make a lot of beer. Their Black Butte porter is the number one selling porter in America, even though they only distribute in 27 states. I won’t go into all of the brewing process steps as I outlined that in the Sierra Nevada post.

Bottled and capped, ready for packaging

It was after 2pm by the time I left after buying a couple of bottles of barrel-aged beer and of course I needed the T-shirt. I rode back to the hair salon to pick Donna up. When I got there I saw a message on my phone from Donna. The hair stylist only accepted cash or checks and Donna had neither. So, I got back on the Spyder and rode a few blocks away to the bank to get cash.

When I came back and picked Donna up, I was famished. We rode over to the 10 Barrel Brewing pub and ordered food along with a pint. From there the ride home was much better with warm gloves. We stopped at the Sunriver Village to fortify ourselves with another pint at Sunriver Brewing. Donna really likes the Sunriver Village. It’s a resort, so almost everyone there is on vacation and seems laid-back and happy.

Back at home, we prepared a whole chicken to roast on the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker/grill. We had a late lunch, so we didn’t start the grill until about 6:30pm. Donna prepared garlic scapes which I grilled on the Weber Q and she also made roasted brussel sprouts in the convection oven. I used the same seasoning blend that I used on the baby back ribs last weekend and the chicken was great!

Dry rubbed Traeger chicken

Grilled garlic scapes

Paper plate dinner

This morning I woke up at 6am. I was warm under our comforter, but I could tell it was colder than usual in the coach. I got up and saw the thermometer read 50 degrees in the coach. I turned on the heat pump but I got the propane furnace instead. Heat pumps aren’t effective when the outside temperature falls much below 40 degrees. Our system has an ambient temperature sensor – when it’s too cold outside, it automatically fires the propane furnace instead of the heat pumps. I looked at my phone and read the outside temperature was 28 degrees. Yikes!

This cold spell is forecast to last until Sunday. We might pack up and move to the Columbia River Gorge for a few nights before we check in at the Columbia River RV Resort in Portland on Saturday. I don’t want to stay in an area that’s as cold as it is here right now.

Biking to Sunriver

We started our Sunday on the pickleball courts. Donna’s friend, Chelsea and her son, Dakota came to learn. They were beginners, but Chelsea had tennis experience and picked up pickleball pretty quickly. There was a broad mix of ability levels at the courts making it difficult to have competitive games, but the cold morning quickly turned into a beautiful, sunny day and we enjoyed our time on the courts.

After pickleball, Donna and Julie decided to ride bicycles over to the bike paths at Sunriver. Julie’s bike is a townie – a cruiser style bike – so Donna thought she should ride my mountain bike as it would be more compatible with regard to pace. I set up my mountain bike and lowered the seat post for Donna, but the bike was too large for her and she wasn’t comfortable. She ended up riding her Trek Madone road bike. They rode to The Village at Sunriver (map) and hit the paved paths there, stopping at various points along the way. They had lunch at El Caporal – a Mexican restaurant at the village. Donna said the food was good. They were out for hours and put in about 17 miles.

Meanwhile, back at the coach I had a task. Our Dometic Penguin roof top air conditioners recirculate air. The fan draws air in from inside the coach through grills equipped with a filter. The air is blown across the evaporator coils which cools it in the cooling mode or heats it in the heat pump mode, then it’s ducted through a series of vents in the roof and sent back to the cabin.

Air conditioner intake grill

Over time, dust and whatnot collects in the intake filters. These filters are sponge-like synthetic material that traps the dust. Periodically I remove the grill covers and wash the filters. That was my big chore for the day.

Sunday’s dinner was pan-seared flank steak. Donna also cut zucchini in quarters lengthwise which I grilled while she cooked the steak. She served the grilled zucchini with a mixture of finely chopped lemon zest and sea salt and we had roasted curry sweet potatoes as a second side.

Seared flank steak, grilled zucchini and fried sweet potato

Seared flank steak, grilled zucchini and roasted sweet potato

It was a simple, delicious meal. We’re still using paper plates to conserve water. Fewer dirty dishes means less gray water production. I opened a bottle of Pyramid Outburst Imperial IPA to go with the steak. Pyramid was an early craft brewer – they’ve been at it since 1984. Their IPA is brewed to style – no gimmicks or latest fads – just good old fashioned IPA made with northwest simcoe and centennial hops.

Pyramid Outburst Imperial IPA

Donna worked at her laptop on Monday. I thought I should take my mountain bike out for a ride. I haven’t ridden it in a long time – I don’t know why I stopped riding. Every time I get back on my bike I remember how much I enjoy being on two wheels.

I followed the route Donna and Julie took the day before through Caldera Springs to Sunriver Village. After stopping at the bike shop at Sunriver for an energy bar, I turned around and headed back. On the way back I rode through some of the paved and unpaved trails that wind through Caldera Springs. Caldera Springs is a community of vacation homes and rental cabins set among pines trees. There’s a creek fed by natural spring water and a couple of man-made lakes. It a beautiful setting and nice place to ride a bike away from any traffic.

Obsidian Lake at Caldera Springs

Vacation home on a spring-fed creek

We left the RV park at 3:30pm and rode the Spyder to Bend. Our destination was Tomo Sushi. On Mondays, Tomo opens at 4pm and their menu is half-price. We pulled into the parking lot for an early dinner a few minutes before 4pm. There were already a few people waiting at the door and a line formed behind us before they opened. Lance told us that he’s waited as long as 40 minutes for a table there.

We enjoyed the sushi but honestly, the prices are inflated so the half-price menu isn’t that great a deal. Two pieces of nigiri was shown as regularly priced at seven to nine dollars. We usually pay four to six dollars for nigiri. The prices on the rolls were a better deal. While we were in town we bought a few groceries and were home by 6pm.

Lance and Boni stopped by last night to say their goodbyes. Julie stopped by this morning. They’re all caravaning this morning along with Mike and Michelle and their respective families to Seaside. They plan to return here after a week. We’ll be here until Saturday, then we’re off to Portland.

This morning I woke to the sound of rain drops on the roof. We had brief showers that lulled me back to sleep. It’s cold this morning and the forecast calls for a high in the mid-50s. Brrr. The weather forecast for the rest of the week isn’t too promising – cool temperatures with a chance of rain.

Today I’ll take Donna to Bend for her hair appointment. While she’s having her hair cut, I plan to shop for motorcycle gloves and maybe pick up an interesting beer or two.

Hot to Cold

TJ drove Julie and Donna to Bend on Wednesday morning. They stopped at Costco, then went to have lunch at Lesa Hill’s house and meet up with friends from their SendOutCards team. They had a salad buffet for lunch – each of them brought various fixings to make salad. Donna brought Jamaican jerk chicken with mango salsa and honey roasted almond topping with cranberries. TJ dropped them off and went to the library to work.

Meanwhile, I did a load of laundry at the park laundromat. I took my laptop and read a Kindle book while the clothes were washing and drying. I mapped out a route to Lesa’s home and rode the Spyder there to pick up Donna at 2:30pm. We wanted to hit the farmers’ market in downtown Bend. The farmers’ market runs from 3pm to 7pm on Wednesdays on NW Brooks Street – a pedestrian street between Oregon Avenue and Franklin Avenue at Drake Park (map).

Drake Park overlooks Mirror Pond and the Deschutes River. It’s a beautiful setting – people were lounging on the park grass and enjoying the breeze off the water. It was warm – in the mid 70s – but not hot.

View of Mirror Pond from Drake Park

Deschutes River

We were mostly interested in finding fresh fruit and vegetables. They had plenty – it was all very fresh but the prices weren’t as good as the farmers’ market in Chico.

Bend farmers’ market

Then we found something we didn’t expect to see there – fresh fish! Apparently it’s brought in from the coast fresh off the dock. I’m not sure exactly where it came from, but the coast is a good four or five hours away. We bought some rock fish fillets – the vendor double bagged them on ice. Donna brought a big plastic tote bag lined with reflective insulation material. We put the fish and veggies in the tote, then we stopped at the Bend Brewing Company for a cold one. I left there with a couple of bomber bottles to go. The prices weren’t as good as 10 Barrel Brewing – I bought double IPA and an Imperial Red. High alcohol beers like these usually cost more to produce.

We headed home a little after 4pm. Donna cooked the fish with a panko batter and served it with broccolini (also from the market) and cherry tomatoes roasted with Lucero garlic oil we picked up in Corning, CA. The fish was excellent – we’ll look for more next Wednesday.

Panko battered rock fish

I opened a bottle of Oregon IPA from Ninkasi Brewing Company to go with it. This is a very good west coast IPA.

Ninkasi IPA

Thursday morning it was downright cold! Donna’s phone showed 39 degrees outside! We went from one extreme to the other. The hot temperatures of the past week are quickly forgotten as the thermometer only hit 70 degrees by Thursday afternoon.

We went to Mike and Michelle’s site at 8am for the coffee talk with the group. Lance and Bonnie were there but TJ and Julie had left with their kids to take their 5th wheel trailer in for service. We sat and talked for a good hour or more, then came home for a bacon and eggs breakfast. I’m loving the homemade English marmalade I bought in Chico and had it on toast.

Donna spent the day working and had a productive afternoon. I rode the Spyder to Walmart in Bend and bought a hot air popcorn popper. We’ve been making popcorn in the microwave oven, but Donna wanted a hot air popper. We popped the last of the popcorn we had on hand last night while we watched a couple of episodes of Fargo. Donna bought fresh popcorn at the farmers’ market and I’m curious to see if it’s much different than the regular store bought popcorn – maybe I’ll find out tonight.

This morning it’s cold again and the expected high for today is only 61 degrees. Donna planned to go for a bike ride at 9am with a neighbor she met here in the park, but decided it was too cold this morning. The temperature was only in the 40s and she doesn’t have adequate cold weather riding gear.

I have a pump-out of our holding tanks scheduled. I’ll hang out until the truck arrives and supervise the operation. I’ve never used a pump-out service before, it should be interesting. Today marks the 11th day since I last dumped our tanks. We’ll be here for nine more days – we should be good until then and can hit a dump station on our way out.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Beer

Breaking the Law

A Visit to Camas

Oregon IPA Quest

Lavender and Cartlandia

Street Food in Portland

Road Bike Ride

Last Day of Spring

Deschutes Brewery

Biking to Sunriver

Hot to Cold

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