Category Archives: Beer

Ouch, That Hurts

I failed to mention in my last post that Sunday marked the beginning of the Formula 1 and Moto GP racing seasons. The Formula 1 race was in Australia and I recorded it. Fernando Alonso had a frightening crash – it didn’t look survivable but he walked away from it. It proves the safety of the current car design. The Moto GP race was a night race in Qatar. It was an entertaining race, I’m looking forward to the season. Moto GP is being televised on a channel called beIn Sports. I had to upgrade my DISH network programming to get this channel. It looks like we’re in for better coverage than we had on Fox in previous years.

Tuesday was a laid back day. After pickleball, I did exactly that – I laid back and read a book. You can choose to do that when you’re retired. At 3pm, Donna rode the Spyder to her piano lesson. When she came back, I took the Spyder to the Elks Lodge to follow up once again. The guy there told me that my best bet would be to come between 9am and noon to talk to the secretary directly.

After I left the Elks Lodge, I stopped at Lucky Lou’s. I found Mike Hall and a couple of the guys there. We sat together for a couple of brews and talked. On the way out, I saw a Harley parked next to the Spyder. What caught my eye was the front wheel. This bike had a huge front wheel. I’ve never seen a motorcycle with a 26-inch rim before.

Look at the diameter of that front wheel

120/50-26

Donna prepared shrimp skewers which I cooked on the Weber Q. She served them with a delicious baby squash medley with feta cheese and kalamata olive bread.

Shrimp skewers hot off the grill

I had a little trouble grilling the shrimp. The Weber Q ran out of propane a couple of minutes after I put the shrimp on. It was windy out and it took a few minutes to get the grill back up to temperature after I replaced the propane bottle. They came out fine though.

Shrimp skewer with baby squash assortment and kalamata olive bread

The wind had the palms swaying as I shot a photo of the sunset.

Palm trees swaying at sunset at Towerpoint RV Resort

This morning Donna and I played pickleball from 8am to 10am. I took a quick shower and rode the Spyder over to the Elks Lodge. I met the secretary and went over my story of applying for membership a month ago and also our plan to leave the area in April. It turned out my application had been mis-filed. He looked it over and said I should count on being at the orientation on April 18th and the induction on April 19th. So I guess we’ll be extending our stay here in Mesa, Arizona.

When I came home, I backed the Spyder into our site as usual. The wind had moved our awning mat. I grabbed it and pulled it back into place. As I did so my leg hit the end of the hot exhaust pipe on the Spyder. It burned my leg and it’s painful. Hopefully it won’t be too bad. I cooled it immediately but it still hurts. I’ll have to get started on my trailer project anyway while we have cooler weather.

Tiring Day

Friday started out like most days here at Towerpoint RV Resort – Donna and I walked to the pickleball courts at the Sports Complex. We arrived right at 8am and were surprised at the number of people already there. We partnered for a couple of games then split up as the groups mixed. Two hours later, it was time for the 3.5 level round robin.

The guy running the round robin format invited me to stay and play. I had already played at least half a dozen games, but I decided to stay. I was happy to hear that he considered me a 3.5 level player. I think I’m at that level most of the time, but I need to improve my consistency. A couple of other players who wanted to stay weren’t allowed into the mix because their level of play wasn’t proficient enough to be competitive.

The round robin had 16 players. Everyone is assigned a number, then the numbers are assigned to a court. With 16 players, we used all four courts. We would play six games and each game is played with a different partner. It was fun but by the end I was exhausted.

I came home just before noon and had a quick lunch and shower. I wanted to put the new front tires on the Spyder. When I bought the Spyder, I could see the tread on the front tires looked good but I also saw they were the original tires. They had Department of Transportation (DOT) date codes showing 0309 – this means they were manufactured calendar week three of 2009.

DOT code 0309

DOT codes are a federal requirement. The first two digits are the calendar week and the second two digits are the year. If you have tires with a three-digit date code, they were manufactured before 2000 and need immediate replacement! Most experts agree that tire failure rate rises exponentially when the tires reach seven years after the date of manufacture. They don’t need to be used for seven years – they age in storage as well as in use. This link contains a presentation on tire age at a National Transportation Safety Board symposium.

I rode the Spyder over to Mike Hall’s shop. Mike and Jodi are away for a long weekend in California. Mike left me the keys to his shop and also keys to his Jeep. I used a floor jack to raise the front of the Spyder and removed the wheels. With the wheels in the back of the Jeep, I locked everything up and drove away. I stopped at our site and loaded up the new tires I had delivered, then continued on down Main Street to Steve’s Cycle shop. They were busy so I had to wait for nearly an hour to get the tires mounted and balanced.

The Spyder original equipment tires are Chinese made Kenda 165/65R14 tires. Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), the parent company of Can Am who makes the Spyder, markets these tires and tries to scare us into believing they are the only tire that should be used on these three-wheeled vehicles. They charge high prices for tires that perform below average.

The vehicle dynamics of the Can Am Spyder aren’t any different than that of an automobile. It certainly doesn’t require a motorcycle tire as the vehicle isn’t steered by leaning into a turn. The front wheels steer exactly as a car would and the double wishbone suspension is similar to many cars.

The tire size 165/65R14 is an odd size. Bridgestone makes a tire this size. So does Dunlop. The Bridgestones aren’t rated very high for traction and the Dunlop is over-priced in my opinion. The 175/65R14 size is more popular and has a number of tires to choose from. Many Can Am Spyder owners have replaced the original equipment with this size. The diameter of the tire is about half an inch larger – only about a 2% difference. It doesn’t affect the ABS or electronic vehicle stability program at all. I went with Kumho Solus TA11 tires.

The Spyder front fenders are fitted very close to the tire. I had to remove the mudguards and carefully get the new tires in place. It wasn’t easy.

Tight fitting front fenders

The new tires have very positive reviews and seem to grip really well. Looking at the deep grooves in the tread, I think they’ll perform very well on wet roads.

Deep grooves to channel water and prevent aqua-planing

By the time I finished mounting the tires and locking up the shop, it was past 3:30pm. I rode over to Red, White and Brew for a cold one. It was about 90 degrees out and a cold beer sounded really fine.

I came home just in time for Donna to remind me we were going to a pizza dinner at the tennis center. A member of the Alpine Coach Association organized the dinner for Alpine Coach owners at Towerpoint and in parks throughout the area. She had pizza delivered from Papa John’s and provided salad, paper plates and plastic utensils. You meet the nicest people with Alpine Coaches.

Alpine Coach pizza dinner

We sat and told each other stories of our travels and experiences with our Alpine Coaches. It was fun, but after about an hour and half, I needed to put my feet up. All the pickleball action in the morning and running around in the afternoon had me foot sore. My S Health app on my Samsung Galaxy recorded over 20,500 steps!

That’s a lot of steps

The hot weather will continue – it’ll be another 90-degree day. That’s about 15 degrees above average for this time of year. We have a minimalist group meet-up that Donna organized later this morning. Other than that, today will be a rest and recuperation day.

Surprise Party

I’m a little behind so I better post a weekend update. Saturday we headed out on the Spyder to a house on McDowell east of Power Road. Our destination was the location for a surprise 50th birthday party for our friend Mike. Donna and I met Mike and his wife Kim a couple of years ago here in Mesa. They’re originally from Idaho but were living here at the time and were contemplating life on the road. We talked several times at Lucky Lou’s about our experience and the preparations they should make.

They’re full-timers now in their fifth wheel RV. Mike Hall sent me the address for their party at a house owned by Wayne and Carolyn – I can’t remember their last name. We showed up at 4pm and were directed to park out back. Wayne’s house is in an unincorporated area in the desert of northeast Mesa where most of the homes are upscale with large lots. There were several cars already parked behind his place. We met our hosts and found our friends and were introduced to several others before Mike Hall arrived with the man of the hour – the other Mike.

Once the party got started, I saw a few of the guys going with Wayne to his garage. I thought this might be interesting and I followed. His garage is more like a shop with a milling machine, tools neatly arranged on the walls and in tool cabinets and some nice machinery. I wish I had taken more pictures. First up we checked out his ’63 Chevy Nova. This is a serious drag racing car. It’ll turn times under 8.90 and is street legal! He drives it on the street regularly.

’63 Nova in Wayne’s garage

540 cubic inches making 850 HP on gasoline

This bottle will add another 300 HP

Nitrous Oxide bottle, fuel cell and battery in the trunk

The workmanship on this car is absolutely impeccable. I spent about an hour getting to know Wayne and discovering this man’s mechanical genius and fabricating ability. He was considered one of the top 50 custom motorcycle builders in the country a couple of decades ago. In 2001, he traded a custom Harley he built for Kenny Bernstein’s original Budweiser King NHRA funny car from the ’70s. He completely restored the car. He had photos of he and his wife with Kenny Bernstein at a vintage drag meet. He put the car up for sale at the Barrett-Jackson auction with a reserve of $700,000. He showed me a photo of him onstage with the car with the bid screen in the background. The top bid was $675,000 and he turned it down! He said it was a mistake. He sold the car eventually to a collector who remained anonymous – everything was done through lawyers and he was told it would go into a private collection and he wasn’t likely to ever see the car again.

He owned a few shops over the years and was active in racing and also sponsored many racers. He built a bike for Bonneville and recorded a top speed of 196 mph on the Salt Flats – not in a streamliner but on an open bike! He also modified the pump on a jet dragster and increased its performance by more than a 10th of a second. He’s a Barney Navarro/Art Arfons renaissance man! I could talk with this guy for days and not be bored.

We left the party fairly early. I had a few beers over a couple of hours but didn’t want to push my luck on the Spyder. Donna brought fresh squeezed grapefruit juice that she spiked with Deep Eddy vodka. We each had a plate of sloppy Joes and fixings before we headed home.

Sunday and Monday were mostly consumed by pickleball. I’m so hooked on this game. I play for hours, then I need a few hours of rest and relaxation to recover. While I played pickleball Sunday, Donna went for a bike ride. I spent the rest of the day reading a book, then we went to Sprouts for groceries.

Monday morning we both played pickleball in the drop-in session from 8 to 10am, then I played in the round robin until 11:30am. Donna had a dental appointment in the afternoon so I drove her there on the Spyder. While she was at the dentist I made a quick run to Costco for bottled water, then I stopped at the Mesa Buckhorn Elks lodge. I applied for membership there over two weeks ago. My check for the $50 application fee had cleared, but I hadn’t heard from them. It was good thing I checked in because it seems something is awry. I should hear from them in the next day or two and we may have to extend our stay to complete our membership. We want to become members because many Elks Lodges across the country accommodate RVs at very low rates.

After picking Donna up at the dental office and learning she didn’t need a root canal after all, I stopped at my favorite watering hole – Red, White and Brew. I saw a familiar face I hadn’t seen for a while. Tom showed up – I wrote about him and his silver bullets in this post. It turned out he was having a cheater day. He set an intention to lose weight and eat healthier back in December, so he wasn’t a Red, White and Brew regular anymore. We enjoyed conversation for 45 minutes or so – it was great to catch up with him again.

Me, I’m still enjoying my brews. I’m telling myself that all of the pickleball activity offsets it. I get well over 10,000 steps in most days. I picked up an assortment of craft brewed IPA the other day. Four different IPAs from four states – all have a different approach and all are very good ales.

Hop Knot - Arozna., Stone - California, O'dells - Colorado, Fresh Hop - Oregon

Hop Knot – Arizona, Stone – California, O’dells – Colorado, Fresh Squeezed – Oregon

My days of pickleball mornings and relaxing afternoons will come to an end. I’ll still hit the courts in the morning but I have a growing things-to-do list. Parcels should start arriving this afternoon and I’ll need to get to work on the trailer and Spyder so we’re in shape to continue our nomadic travels.

Michigander in Mesa

With the orange blossoms and everything else blooming around here, my pollen allergies are in high gear. I bought Zyrtec last week, but it doesn’t work for me. All it did was make my already dry mouth drier. My eyes were still itchy and burning, I was sneezing and constantly blowing my nose. I went back to my old standby – Opcon A eyedrops, Flonase and neti pot rinses. It’s not perfect, but it’s an improvement.

On Sunday, Donna and I rode the Spyder over to our old neighborhood and visited with our friends Lana and Joel. We sat out back on the patio and had a couple of cold ones while we talked. It was an enjoyable afternoon – until my allergies started getting the better of me. Joel and I discussed updating my operating system to Windows 10. Joel was a beta tester and he’s a computer expert – so we planned for me to bring my laptop over sometime to run the update on their wifi.

On Monday morning, Donna and I played pickleball during the open play from 8am to 10am. Donna went home at 10am but I stayed for the 3.0 round robin session. We had 16 players that presumably were level 3.0 or higher. The round robin format sets up teams to play on all four courts. The games are played until one team scores 9 – no need to win by two points. In normal play, you need to score 11 to win and must win by at least two points. With all four games playing to 9, the games went quick and finished at nearly the same time. Then everyone was assigned to a new team and court with new opponents for another game. We played a total of six games in the session. I already played six or seven games, so it was a long morning of pickleball.

End of day step count

I got a lot of steps in on the court and finished the day with more than 16,500 total steps!

An old friend from Michigan, Bill Frahm, flew into Phoenix in the afternoon. He came by a little after 3pm for a visit. We sat out by the pool and had a cold Four Peaks Kiltlifter Scottish ale and talked. Then we drove in his rental car to Barrio Queen restaurant in Gilbert. This is the restaurant that our friends Howard and Sara Graff took us to a couple of weeks ago. We had the guacamole made at our table again. Donna ordered the California enchiladas and I had chile verde. Bill ordered enchiladas mole. Donna and I had the skinny chola margarita again but Bill was more adventuresome and had a margarita made with jalapeno infused tequila. While we were enjoying the cocktails my friend Pat, who also hails from Michigan stopped by our table.

Donna’s California enchilada pate with black beans and calabacitas

My chile verde skillet

On Tuesday morning, Bill picked up Donna at 8am while I went to play pickleball. They were going to meet up with our friend Deb Spencer (Rolling Recess) and hike the Pass Mountain trail at Usery Regional Park. I didn’t want to hike among all of the wildflowers – my allergies are tough enough without that. They picked a good day for hiking – it was cool in the morning and the temperature stayed in the low 70s all day.

Stones with inspirational words and phrases on a tree burl

Fruits of the Spirit on a tree burl

Along the trail, they passed a tree burl on which had someone placed stones with a set of words that Deb identified as the nine fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

Giant saguaro and Bill on the hike

When they finished their hike, Deb headed home and Bill and Donna headed up to Tortilla Flat for lunch. I rode the Spyder up there to meet them. I wrote about Tortilla Flat in this post. I thought it would be a fun ride on the Spyder. The road has deteriorated so badly that it wasn’t nearly as fun as I’d hoped. Between all the bumps and heaves in the road and the traffic, it was more of a chore than a joy.

When I pulled up at the restaurant I couldn’t believe the crowd. Parking areas were full and people were milling about on the boardwalk in front of the restaurant. I found Donna and Bill and they told me it would be a 35-40 minute wait for a table. What?! At 1pm on a Tuesday? I’ve never seen that many people there before.

A small portion of the people waiting for a table at Tortilla Flat

I decided against waiting that long for a seat in the crowded restaurant. I was sure the service would be hampered by the hordes of people. Bill and Donna could get a table for two quicker than the wait for a table for three, so I rode back down past Canyon Lake and home.

*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!

Drag Racing

On Friday evening, Donna and I went to Red, White and Brew for dinner. We sat at the bar and had a cold one before ordering from their appetizer menu. Donna had her favorite – mussels vin blanc – which are green lip mussels sauteed with white wine, lemon, garlic and butter.

Mussels vin blanc

I ordered a quesadilla with spicy chicken sausage, three cheeses and hatch chile peppers. It was delicious.

After we ate, we decided to swing by Lucky Lou’s and see who was there. We found all the usual suspects – Mike and Jodi Hall, Mike’s brother Brian, Pat, Leendert, Ray and John. Pat, Leendert and I firmed up our plans for the NHRA drag races. Pat would pick me up a little before 8am Saturday morning, then we would drive to Scottsdale to pick up Leendert and head out to Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park – formerly Firebird Raceway (map).

Leendert had made arrangements with his friend Ray. We would join Ray and his crew in the RV section where Ray had his motorhome parked right next to the track near the finish line. For $50 each we got admission, breakfast and lunch and unlimited beer, soda and water all day.

One of the things I enjoy at the NHRA events is the access. Your ticket for admission is also a pit pass. You can wander around the pit area and watch the teams prepare the cars. You meet drivers and crew – they’re all very accessible and friendly. I took a few pictures of the cars and bikes being prepared for the afternoon qualifying sessions. One of the new events here was nitro Harley top fuel bikes.

I won’t go into all of the technical details of the cars – but suffice to say that any motor burning nitromethane is going make huge power and they tend to break parts. The top fuel dragsters and funny cars get a complete teardown and rebuild after every run. That’s right – the engines only last for a minute or two of running time. They get fired up after assembly to make adjustments and make sure nothing is leaking. Then they are started when the cars approach the staging area. They do a burnout to heat and clean the tires. Then they make the full power pass that propels them to speeds over 320 mph in 1,000 feet – it takes less than four seconds.

The guys doing this on two wheels are crazy. They are laid out in a superman position with their arms cradling a nitro-burning grenade of a motor as they accelerate down the 1/4 mile dragstrip to speeds of 220 mph in about six seconds.

Del Worsham’s funny car chassis

Top fuel dragster

Funny car chassis – wheelie bar on the rear

Nitro Harley chassis

Nitro Harley ready to run

Although there’s nothing to compare to these nitro-burning contraptions, I also enjoy watching the Pro Stock class. These cars are very sophisticated. They’re powered by gasoline burning 500 cubic-inch V8 engines. This year they’re using fuel injection – in the past they used carburetors. Most of the teams are secretive about their set-ups and often cover the engine or intake manifold with towels in the pit area.

Pro Stock car – note large intake snorkel and towel over intake manifold

Mike Hall and his brother Brian showed up around 10:30am and joined us.

Mike, Pat and Leendert in front of the big screen at the finish line

We had a fun afternoon. It was hot out – the temperature reached 88 degrees. I stayed hydrated with plenty of water in the morning and cold beer in the afternoon. Ray’s crew cooked up fixings for breakfast burritos in the morning – scrambled eggs with cheese and sausage and hash browns wrapped in a toasted flour tortilla. In the afternoon cheeseburgers and hot dogs were on the grill served with potato salad.

Cheeseburgers and hot dogs on the grill

While I was at the races, Donna planned to ride the Spyder over to Sara Graff’s house. She and Sara would drive to Singh Farms – a local working farm that has a farmers’ market on the weekend – and meet up with their friend Stevie Ann. Donna’s plan was dashed when she reached Gilbert & Brown. Gilbert Road was closed for the Phoenix Marathon as were the main roads north of Brown. The only way Donna could get to Sara’s house would be to backtrack and get on the Loop 202 freeway. She wasn’t dressed for a blast down the freeway at 70 mph. After exploring her options, she gave up and told Sara she wasn’t going to make it over there.

A funny thing happened in the morning while I was on the way to the races. Sara’s husband Howard sent me a text telling me to let Donna know that Sara was in the shower and would call her back. Apparently Howard saw the missed call from Donna on Sara’s phone. He sent the text to me because he didn’t have Donna’s number in his phone. I, in turn, sent the message to Donna. I thought Donna would wonder how I knew she called Sara and how I knew Sara was in the shower!

I walked more than 11,000 steps at the races yesterday. That and all of the pickleball I’ve been playing lately left me with a little soreness in my feet and stiff joints. I think I’ll take it easy today – read a book and try to stay cool as the temperature will be in the upper 80s again today.

Up Against the Wall

I’ve written about the RV community and how we have made many new friends. We find ourselves in the same areas at the same time every now and then and it’s fun to get together and reconnect. On Tuesday we had a different experience. Blog reader Michelle Zenkovich and her husband Matt were visiting Mesa, Arizona. Michelle messaged me and we arranged to meet up at 5:30pm at the Beer Research Institute (BRI).

Donna and I rode the Spyder and arrived a few minutes early. Matt and Michelle were already there and had a table. After introducing ourselves we sat together and ordered beers. Donna, Michelle and Matt each ordered a flight of four four-ounce samplers while I went for a pint of 48OG IPA brewed onsite.

Matt, Michelle and Donna at BRI

After a bit of conversation, we ordered food. Donna and I split a machaca taco plate.

BRI machaca taco plate

Matt had the machaca tacos also while Michelle ordered the southwest poutine.

Southwest poutine

We ate and talked until 7pm, then it was time to head for home. I’m sure Matt and Michelle were jet-lagged after a long day of travel from West Virginia.

On Wednesday morning, I hit the pickleball courts early. They weren’t as crowded as last week and I hardly had a break between games. I ended playing 12 games and I was getting a little sore.

Towerpoint RV Resort had a free lunch scheduled for newcomers at the courtyard by the swimming pool. Donna and I attended and had a plate of sliced beef – I think it was a tri-tip – that was overcooked and tough. If it wasn’t for the mashed potatoes with a generous serving of gravy, I don’t think I could’ve choked the meat down. I’m exaggerating, of course. It wasn’t that bad and you can’t beat free lunch! We also had green beans and a salad with it. We met other park visitors along with the activities director and chatted for about an hour.

After lunch, I went to the hardware store to buy clips to hang some things in the trailer. Our new trailer is taller than the old one. This gives me plenty of room to mount things on the walls instead of stacking everything on the floor.

Kayak paddles and washing brushes mounted on the trailer front wall

I’ve been looking at cabinets to mount on the side walls and a solution for securing the bicycles. I have a mountain bike and a road bike and Donna has her road bike. In our old trailer, I tied the bikes to the roof bows and suspended them. I’d like to find a way to either hang them from the side walls or even mount them securely to the floor. They would be much easier to load and unload and I have the space to do that now.

I shot a couple of photos to give a sense of the size of this trailer. The external dimensions are 24′ 8″ overall length, 8′ 6″ wide and 9′ high.

Trailer tight in our site

Close fit by our neighbor’s place

It will be interesting when the time comes to leave Towerpoint RV Resort and tow the trailer out of here. We won’t leave until April 15th. Hopefully some of the sites around us will be empty by then, giving us more room to maneuver.

I got another seven games of pickleball in this morning. Later, I’ll drop Donna off for a hair appointment. While she’s there, I’ll head over to the Elks Lodge in Tempe and see about joining. Our friend Dave Hobden sponsored us and I have an application. Elks Lodges usually have RV parking and inexpensive hook-ups. This will give us another alternative for places to stay while we travel about. It’s another sunny, beautiful day. The forecast calls for warm weather and sunny skies with no rain in the next 10 days.

Trailer for Sale

It’s been a busy week but we’re settling into a routine here at Towerpoint RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona. I rode the Spyder out to TrailersPlus on the west side of Phoenix off of I-17 Tuesday. It was a 38-mile blast on the Interstate each way. The trailer I had found online there turned out to be the one I want. I looked at several trailers online, then stopped at two dealers to see them up close before going to TrailersPlus. I made a deal on a 8.5 x 20 foot Interstate car carrier. Then I had to figure out how I would pick it up. I certainly didn’t want to pack up the coach and drive out there with the motorhome just to haul the trailer back here.

A couple of friends were willing to help. John Huff said his wife would lend her truck to Mike Hall if he could drive out to pick up the trailer. Mike was willing, but he has a family ski trip in Show Low planned for the weekend starting this afternoon when he gets off work. TrailersPlus is holding the trailer for me until tomorrow, so I needed to find another way to get it.

I asked my friend Howard Graff for a favor. That’s what happens when you own a truck with a towing package – people ask for favors. Howard said he could do it tomorrow morning. Problem solved. Next I had to figure out what to do with the old trailer. My plan is to empty the old trailer in our site this afternoon. I can stack the stuff at the back of our site. The weather is dry and no rain is expected in the near future. I got permission to move the empty old trailer to a lot on the north side of the RV park while I find a buyer for it.

I ordered an Ultraguard cover for the Spyder from Amazon and it arrived on Wednesday. I want to keep it covered to protect it from the elements which here in Arizona includes the intense sun.

Spyder under cover

I also ordered a new rear tire for the Spyder. The original equipment tire is a proprietary tire made in China by Kenda. These tires don’t hold up very well and don’t offer the highest grip level. There are alternatives in the size 225/50R15 with higher speed ratings, better wear and higher grip levels. I went with a Kumho Ecsta made in South Korea. It’s a better tire at half the price of the BRP-sourced Kenda. The tire arrived Wednesday and so I needed ti find someone to mount it. This wasn’t as easy as I expected. I checked at Steve’s Cycle on Main Street where I had the front tire on the scooter replaced last fall. They weren’t equipped to lift a Spyder. They suggested I go to Apache Motorcycles on Power Road – the local Can Am dealer.

I had a dental appointment on Thursday – I was cavity-free for about thirty years. Just routine cleaning, no issues. After head and neck radiation treatment for cancer, my teeth don’t hold up very well. I’m always having work done now. After my dental appointment on Power Road, I stopped in at Apache Motorcycles to see about getting the tire mounted. The guy told me he was booked a week out, but he could do it a week from Saturday. Then he told me he would charge $200 labor! What?! I said, “I’ll get back to you on that.”

Later I met up with the guys for a cold one at Lucky Lou’s. Mike Hall and I made a plan to pull the rear wheel at his shop next Friday and we can take the wheel and new tire to a tire shop nearby to have it mounted. Another problem solved.

I’m back at it on the pickleball courts. They have four courts here at Towerpoint RV Resort and it’s not enough. There’s such a long line waiting to play, I only got four games in on Wednesday after two hours and on Thursday, I got five games in two and half hours. Donna hasn’t joined me on the courts yet. She spent the first part of the week following a Shakeology Three-Day Refresh which is a strict diet of nutrient-dense shakes, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats. My oldest daughter Alana became a Beach Body coach after losing 45 pounds last year and gifted the package to Donna. Donna’s lost 20 pounds doing her own thing since May. She decided to try the refresh after over-indulging the past week at the Alpine Coach rally. She’s happy with the results.

After starting the week with high temperatures in the mid 80s, we had high thin clouds and cooler weather on Thursday. Donna and I enjoyed a happy hour together outside in camp chairs. We have yet to set up our outdoor living space – we’ve been waiting on getting the new trailer.

Happy hour outside

The high clouds made a colorful sunset.

Sunset and palm trees at Towerpoint

No pickleball today. I need to get cracking on the trailer project. I need to buy a new mount rated for 10,000 lbs. and a 2-5/16″ ball. Then I’ll empty the old trailer and clean it so I can put it up for sale.

Tight Squeeze

The weekend weather was true to the forecast. The temperatures reached the low to mid-80s which felt nice in this dry climate. I had a task to accomplish on Saturday. Our generator was showing 855 hours of run time. It was due for an oil and filter change at 850 hours, so I didn’t want to wait any longer – especially since we’ve been running the generator for a couple of hours in the morning and few more hours in the evening each day while we were dry camped at the Lake Havasu City rodeo grounds.

While I tackled the generator service, Donna went for a hike with some of our Alpine Coach friends. It turned out to be a good thing I got to the generator service when I did. When I opened the trap door to the compartment where the oil filter is located, I found a mess in there. The oil filter seal had a small leak. The filter had worked loose. I’m not sure how that happened – I installed the filter myself. I was sure I had tightened it properly, but I must have made a mistake. The filter is up inside a small compartment and you have to install it by feel while lying on your back underneath it. I was extra careful to be sure I tightened the new filter more than half a turn after the seal made contact.

The big event for Saturday was the Cowboy Barbeque. We had tickets – $10 each – for the dinner. They had a bandstand and a few dozen tables on a large concrete patio behind the rodeo grandstands. They also had a beer bar featuring ales from a local brewery called Mudshark Brewing. This was a fund raiser for the rodeo association.

Live music at the barbeque

We had a choice of chicken or beef tri-tip for the entree. I chose the beef while Donna went for the chicken. We also had a tossed salad, beans and garlic bread with it. It was very good and a fun time. Donna brought her hoops along and did some hoop dancing to the music before we ate. She even persuaded a couple of guys in our group to give it a try.

Ed working the hoop

You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, pictures can also be deceiving. Ed looks like a hoop master in the photo. He actually got one revolution of the hoop – that’s when I snapped the photo – before the hoop fell to the ground. But he gave it a good try!

Saturday night sunset in the desert

After a spectacular sunset, we watched fireworks again. Saturday night’s show was the biggest of the weekend.

The wind picked up on Sunday. Donna went for a group hike up Picnic Table Mountain – the name comes from the picnic table someone carried – presumably in pieces – up the rugged mountain trail. I ran a few errands including grocery shopping with a list Donna gave me.

The wind really increased as the day wore on. Our Alpine Coach Association happy hour and dinner was cancelled due to the wind blowing tables, chairs and mats away. Our wagon master, Dave Guhse, served roasted chicken halves with potato salad and broccoli slaw on paper plates at his coach. We lined up, got our plates and retreated back to our individual coaches to eat dinner out of the wind.

The day before, the guys surreptitiously got together to put icing on cupcakes one of the women in the group made. After dinner we retrieved our cupcakes and gave them to our valentines. I missed the photo opportunity before Donna ate the cake decorated with a pink heart shaped icing topped with a dollop of purple icing. Donna had a valentine gift for me as well. It was a red ale from Alesmith called My Bloody Valentine Ale.

My Bloody Valentine Ale

Before dinner, I spent the afternoon rearranging the trailer to make room for the Can Am Spyder. It took some doing but I managed to make enough room. The tricky part was backing the Spyder into the trailer. I rode it in reverse up the ramp. There are spring-loaded cables on each side of the ramp door. These cables are about 61″ apart from each other. The Spyder is over 59″ wide at the front wheels giving me about 3/4″ clearance on each side. With Donna and our friend Dave Hobden watching the wheels and cables and guiding me, I got past them without scraping the wheels or fenders. But then I had a problem. Backing slowly past the cables I had to open the throttle to provide enough power to get up the ramp. The rear wheel lost traction and fishtailed off to the side. I rolled back down the ramp and repeated the procedure three times with the same result each time.

I told Donna I needed her to get on the back seat of the Spyder so I would have enough weight over the rear wheel for traction. That did the trick. The next issue was getting her out of the trailer – the Spyder completely blocked her in. She was able to climb over the front suspension without doing any damage. In the photo it looks like there’s plenty of clearance for the Spyder. The interior width of the trailer is 68″, giving me about four inches of clearance on each side. The challenge was getting past the cables and through the 63″ door opening.

Spyder shoehorned into the trailer

The wind didn’t abate after dark – if anything it grew in intensity. I slept fitfully as gusts made noises. I got up in the night to roll up the bedroom window awning. We both got out of bed tired the next morning. The poor night’s sleep coupled with the weekend activities caught up with us. We made our final preparations and said “until next time’ to our Alpine Coach friends and headed out a little after 10am.

A row of Alpine Coaches getting ready to depart

We headed south on AZ95 toward Quartzsite, then followed AZ68 to I-10 east. The wind diminished – we had mostly a tailwind all day. The trip was a little over 200 miles. I stopped at the Pilot/Flying J in Avondale and took on 65 gallons of diesel fuel at $1.78/gallon – the lowest price we’ve ever paid for fuel since hitting the road in 2013.

We checked into Towerpoint RV Resort in Mesa Arizona (map) where we’ve booked a two-month stay. After dropping the trailer in our site, we were set up quickly. After a full week of dry camping, it’s good to be on full hook-ups again. I dumped and flushed the tanks first thing before showering and making a run to Red, White and Brew for a cold one.

Today Donna has a dentist appointment this morning. She’ll ride the Spyder (her inaugural ride) over to the dentist on Power Road. When she comes home, I’ll be off trailer shopping. I’m looking at 8.5 x 20 enclosed car carriers.

Reeper Test Drive

Sunday was Superbowl Sunday. Most of the day was like any other day. The weather was warm but windy. Donna and I rode the scooter up to The Shops at Lake Havasu Mall to take another look at the Reeper utility task vehicle (UTV) I wrote about in my last post. I had done some research and found the Reeper to be one of the most suitable UTVs for street use. I also confirmed it can be licensed and street legal in our domicile state of South Dakota. When we arrived at the mall, the parking lot was empty. The three-day expo was Thursday-Friday-Saturday, not Friday-Saturday-Sunday as I thought.

Donna did a little sleuth work and after a couple of phone calls, was able to track down the guy selling his Reeper. She made arrangements for us to take another look Monday afternoon.

I treated the sidewalls of our tires with 303 Aerospace protectant. I really like this product. It’s easy to use and blocks UV rays from deteriorating the rubber sidewalls. I usually apply it every couple of months.

As the time drew near for the Superbowl, Donna prepared a snack tray. They were mostly healthy snacks – she made fresh fries by cutting jicama to dip in her homemade guacamole, plus cut up celery and carrots. She also roasted garbanzo beans and prepared asparagus spears wrapped with boursin cheese and prosciutto.

Snack tray

The Superbowl opened with Lady Gaga singing the national anthem. I’m not a fan of hers but I thought she did a wonderful job. The game turned out to be very entertaining with strong defensive performances by both teams. At halftime, I opened a bottle of IPA and did my best to ignore the show.

Trestles IPA from Left Coast Brewing

Donna made adobo-seasoned baked chicken wings which was basically our dinner as we snacked through the second half of the game.

Adobo-seasoned baked chicken wings

I was happy to see Peyton Manning take home the trophy.

Monday was a move day. I spent the morning loading the scooter and grill and making the trailer ready for travel. We were only going about 10 miles to the rodeo grounds on the south side of Lake Havasu City, but everything needs to be secure regardless of the distance we travel. Donna went out for a three-mile run as I was loading.

I filled our fresh water tank and dumped and flushed our holding tanks. We’ll be dry camped for the next week so we want to have all the water we can hold on board and full holding tank capacity. The rodeo grounds open for dry camping the week of the Winter Blast Western Pyrotechnic Show. We’re here with the Alpine Coach Association group. We were pre-registered so checking in was quick and painless. We were escorted to site D5 – basically chalk lines drawn in the dirt lot. We were too long with the trailer to fit in the space allotted, so I had to drop the trailer and park beside it. The site slopes from the driver to passenger side but I was able to get the coach level with the HWH hydraulic jacks.

Rodeo grounds site

After we were set up and ate lunch, we rode the scooter over to Arizona Motors, about a mile away from here. That’s where the Reeper was. We talked to Doug – he works there and is selling his Reeper. After a while, Doug and I went for a test drive. The UTV wasn’t as powerful as I expected – it accelerated much slower than I thought it would. Then I took Donna for a ride in the side-by-side two seater. She was not prepared for the noise and amount of wind. It has a full windshield – and windshield wipers – but no side or rear windows.

We thanked Doug for his time and test drive but also said we weren’t sure if it’s the right thing for us. We’re still on the fence.

When we came back to the rodeo grounds there were seven or eight Alpine Coaches here. I expect more to arrive soon. I grilled bacon wrapped filet mignon for dinner. Donna served it with spicy chipotle sweet potato fries with parsley mayo for dipping and steamed asparagus.

Bacon wrapped filet, spicy chipotle sweet potato fries with dipping sauce and asparagus

I paired it with pale oat ale from Lagunitas Brewing – a great beer.

Equinox pale oat ale

We finished the day watching a couple of TV shows. It’s very quiet out here so far. It won’t be once the fireworks start on Thursday. The forecast calls for temperatures to reach the 80s all week. We’ll be putting some hours on the generator.

London Bridge

After spending days indoors writing various articles and reviewing one of her books for an upcoming reprint, Donna decided it was time for a break. The weather was much nicer Friday with an afternoon high of about 70 degrees.

We rode the scooter to town. Donna got a tip for a good place to stop for lunch at the Barley Brothers Brewery and Restaurant by the London Bridge. There’s quite a story behind the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City. In 1958, Robert McCulloch bought 3,353 acres of land along the east side of Lake Havasu at Pittsburgh Point. This is the same Robert McCulloch that was the CEO of McCulloch chainsaws and also the creator of the community of Fountain Hills, Arizona – I wrote about that in this post.

This area of arid desert land wasn’t very useful at the time. It was a long way from any major cities and didn’t attract visitors. About the only thing here was an old Army Air Corps field and runway. The federal government deeded the 13,000 acres of land around the airfield to the state of Arizona. The state in turn deeded the land – reportedly free – to Robert McCulloch for his promise to develop the area.

McCulloch needed a way to attract attention and bring people out to this desert on the Colorado River bordering Arizona and California. His real estate agent, Robert Plumer, heard about an old bridge in London that was for sale. The bridge originally spanned the River Thames and was built in the 1830s. It could no longer support modern traffic and had to be replaced. Plumer convinced McCulloch to buy the bridge and transport it to Lake Havasu.

What he actually bought was the exterior facing stonework of the original bridge. A new reinforced concrete bridge was built in the same shape as the original. The original stonework was carefully removed and numbered from the old bridge. It was transported via ship to Houston and ground transport to the desert. Reconstruction began in 1968. The granite facing was clad to the exterior of the new bridge in the desert. At the time, the bridge didn’t span a body of water. It was erected over a wash leading out to the Pittsburgh Point peninsula. Once the bridge was competed in 1971, the wash was dredged and filled with water creating an island on one end of the bridge. The bridge was a successful lure and brought people to Lake Havasu where real estate agents started selling property. Today the population is estimated to be over 53,000.

London Bridge under construction in 1971 – file photo

Aerial view of the bridge from 2011 – file photo

Instead of blasting down AZ95 on the scooter, we took a more scenic route down London Bridge Road (map). The thing is, London Bridge Road doesn’t take you directly over the bridge. You have to cross back over AZ95 in town to get to McCulloch Boulevard North which is the road that crosses the bridge.

Once across the bridge, the first building on the right is the Island Mall. It houses a few boutique stores, Shugrue’s Restaurant and Barley Brothers Brewery. We parked and walked down to the waterside at the bridge. It’s beautifully landscaped with nice walking paths. There are boat docks and boat tour tickets can be purchased for a tour of the lake.

London Bridge view from waterside path

Tour boat unloading passengers

The tour boat we saw had an interesting hull. If you click on the picture above to enlarge it, you’ll see what appears to be a flat bottom under the familiar shape of the bow.

After taking a short walk along the waterside, we went up to the Barley Brothers Brewery and Restaurant. Donna and I ordered glasses of oatmeal stout – Donna had a pint and I had the large 23 ounce pour.

Donna at the Barley Brothers Brewery with stout

Donna at the Barley Brothers Brewery with oatmeal stout

The beer was good but I thought it had a lingering bitterness that I don’t expect from oatmeal stout. Donna ordered a plate of mussels in a broth and I went for the pastrami sandwich – it was really tender, thinly sliced pastrami with apple slaw, swiss cheese and thousand island dressing on rye. It was yummy! The portion was big and the sandwich was rich – more than I’m used to eating, but I managed.

The view from the brewery was great.

View from Barley Brothers Brewery

After the big lunch, we went down to the rodeo grounds to scope out the area – we’ll be moving there on Monday. Then we went grocery shopping. Donna had quite a list of things she needed to prepare hors d’oeuvres for tomorrow’s Super Bowl game.

Today the temperature should be well into the 70s. We’ll get out and enjoy the nice weather.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Beer

Ouch, That Hurts

Tiring Day

Surprise Party

Michigander in Mesa

Drag Racing

Up Against the Wall

Trailer for Sale

Tight Squeeze

Reeper Test Drive

London Bridge

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