Category Archives: Beer

Ozark Takes a Walk

Some mornings I wake up well before sunrise. Maybe I need to use the restroom. Maybe it’s a loud car or other noise. Sometimes it’s Ozark the cat moving about on our bed or scratching in her litter box. Some of the time I fall back into a slumber filled with dreams and I’m not really sure if I was ever awake or not. Does this ever happen to you?

Yesterday morning, I heard Ozark in her litter box. I drifted back to sleep only to wake up to the sound of Ozark in her litter box. This repeated countless times. Donna was out of bed before me. When I finally rose, she said Ozark needs to go to the vet. She said Ozark was climbing into her Clever Cat litter box every five minutes but didn’t seem like she was able to urinate. Something was clearly wrong.

We looked online for veterinarians nearby. At 8am, Donna started calling for an appointment. She was able to obtain an appointment at the Hemet Animal Hospital at 10:15am. We worried that Ozark might have a urinary tract blockage. I looked at Google maps and it appeared that the hospital on Girard Street was between 11,000 and 12,000 feet away – a little over two miles. Donna thought the best thing to do was to carry Ozark in her crate and walk there. Rather than carry the crate like a briefcase, she used our laundry basket – which has a shoulder strap – to carry the crate.

This turned out not to be the best idea. The basket was awkward and kept hitting Donna’s leg, so Ozark was getting bounced around. And the distance was badly underestimated. The scale of the Google map or the key to the map weren’t correct. It turned out to be 3.7 miles – a long walk. They were late, but they made it and the vet was still able to see them.

The vet diagnosed a urinary tract infection. Ozark didn’t have a blockage. In fact her bladder was nearly empty. She was just feeling an urge due to the inflammation of the infection. She was given medication and sub-cutaneous hydration – $162 later they were on their way home. Donna called a taxi for the ride home. Ozark came home with prescription medications – one was a sedative to keep her stress level down. She seemed to respond to it well at first, then she acted a little hyper. After a while she settled back down.

Ozark resting on the sofa

One thought about the cause of her condition may be stress due to a change in diet. Before we left San Diego I went to Petsmart to buy cat food. They didn’t have what she usually eats so I bought the next closest thing (same brand, different formula). We’ve been blending the last of her usual food with the new formula. Cats don’t like to switch foods. So yesterday, I went to Petco and bought her usual stuff. The vet also recommended hydrating as much as possible with canned foods and broth in her usual food as she recovers.

Later I accomplished a task that needed to be done. I cleaned our battery banks with baking soda solution. Our house batteries are flooded wet cell 6-volt golf cart batteries. Flooded lead acid batteries are well-developed and proven technology. However, they can gas and produce acidic corrosion while charging. The corrosion can be a real pain as it attacks connectors and the battery tray. Baking soda neutralizes the acid, but over time the acid builds up again. I’d like to get away from this cycle and replace our house batteries with absorbent glass mat (AGM) batteries. They don’t vent acidic vapors and corrosion isn’t an issue. The problem is cost – I would have to spend north of $1500 to replace our house battery bank with AGM batteries. Our friends Mark and Emily Fagan wrote all you want to know about batteries in these posts.

Donna defrosted a tri-tip steak she bought at Trader Joe’s in San Diego. I looked around online to figure how to prepare it. We were introduced to tri-tip steak about a year ago on New Year’s Eve when Debbie Bednarski had one for our New Year’s Eve dinner on December 31, 2014. See this post.

I lucked out when I cooked the tri-tip back then as I had no idea what I was working with. Tri-tip is associated with Santa Maria, California – the barbeque capital of California in Santa Barbara County. I read that tri-tip is a west coast thing although it seems to be gaining acceptance in other parts of the country. After looking at a few recipes, I had a plan to cook the tri-tip on the Traeger wood pellet grill.

I dry rubbed it with Brooks Brown Sugar Bourbon Rub and let it rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. The Traeger made the rest of the cook easy. I think it came out fine – juicy with a pronounced beef flavor. Donna thought it could’ve been a little more tender. I cooked it to about 130 degrees internal temperature and let it rest for about 20 minutes in a loose foil tent. Maybe I could’ve taken it off the grill five minutes earlier.

Tri-tip ready to rest in a foil tent

Sliced tri-tip

Tri-tip plated with baked potato and zucchini saute

I know I go over the top at times about our dinners. I want readers to understand we’re not out on a camping trip – this is our lifestyle and that includes eating well.

I paired the dinner with an IPA ale from Bootlegger’s Brewery in Fullerton, Calfiornia. It’s an IPA style beer brewed with rye – maybe we should call it a Rye-P-A. It’s a very good ale with a creamy-frothy mouth feel.

Rye-P-A

This morning I plan to hit the pickleball courts for some fun and exercise, then become a couch potato as I watch the NFL Conference Championship games.

Gray Skies at Jojoba Hills

On Wednesday morning, our last full day in San Diego, Donna joined her friend Johanna for a bike ride up to the Torrey Pines Glider Port. While she was out, I cleaned our site, packed the awning mat and folded the chairs. I cleaned the Traeger wood pellet fired grill. I checked our tire pressures – something I always do before we travel. When Donna came home from her ride, I took her bike to the trailer and hung it up.

Our friends Tom and Kris Downey (Open Road 365) generously offered the use of their Chevy Equinox to haul things out to the trailer. But before I started hauling stuff to the trailer, I had to scooter to Pacific Beach to CVS Pharmacy. During my last check-up before Christmas, Dr. Ryan put me on a new prescription. It’s a daily medication. I picked up the initial 30-day supply at CVS, then added the medication to my CVS-Caremark mail-order plan. I received an e-mail Tuesday from CVS-Caremark telling me they would fill the mail-order prescription with a 90-day supply in three to five days.

We’ll be bouncing around for a few weeks and I don’t think I’ll have mail forwarded until the middle of February. I’ll run out of my meds before then. I told the woman at the pharmacy about my dilemma. I was certain the insurance wouldn’t cover another 30-day supply when they just approved a 90-day supply. She looked up the out-of-pocket price for 30 capsules. It was $142. She had my contact info and said she would talk to my insurance company and call me later. She called me about half an hour later and said she had it worked out. She asked the insurance company for a vacation waiver to refill the prescription as my meds wouldn’t catch up with me in time. They approved it! When I went back to CVS and picked up the prescription there was no co-pay – it cost me zero instead of $142.

With the dilemma solved, I went to Tom and Kris’ site to borrow their car. I made two trips to the trailer and had everything except for the Traeger packed – it’s too bulky to put into the car. I returned the car, then I walked the Traeger out to the trailer and it was job done.

Just before sundown, our friend Hans Kohls (Metamorphosis Road) stopped by. He told us Lisa had a cold and didn’t want to infect anybody so she stayed home while he came by to bid us farewell. Hans brought a cold bottle of IPA from Green Flash Brewing. It was billed as a tropical fruit style. It tasted more citrus to me than anything tropical. The hops were typical IPA – I think it was Cascade, Centennial and Simcoe hops. I opened a bomber bottle of a limited release ale from Lagunitas called Hairy Eyeball. This was a malty, almost sweet beer with 9.1% ABV and 56 IBUs. It was tasty – Donna even liked it, but I think one is my limit on this beer.

Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball

With the gear already stowed in the cargo trailer, I had a leisurely morning on Thursday prepping to leave. I hooked the water hose I use for flushing to the flushing valve for the black water tank and dumped it. While it was flushing, Ray stopped by and started talking to me. I shut the dump valve on the black tank and opened the gray water tank as Tom arrived and joined the conversation. The gray tank took about six minutes to empty – then I realized I hadn’t shut off the water supply to the black tank flushing valve. I was filling the black tank with water while we talked! I ran over to the spigot and shut it off. We have a large black tank – 89 gallons, so there’s no way I could overfill it in six minutes. But I was a little flustered none the less. Getting distracted while performing a chore like that can have disastrous results.

We fired up the Cummins ISL diesel at 11:15am. When we were lining up to hook up the trailer, I couldn’t hear anything Donna was saying over the handheld Cobra CB radio. I checked the radio and it indicated low battery. Donna could hear me – there was enough battery power to receive a signal but it takes more power to transmit. There wasn’t enough current to transmit so I couldn’t hear her. The radio takes seven AA batteries and they lasted for about two years. Not bad.

We drove north on I-15 to Temecula and on to the Jojoba Hills SKP park near Aguanga (map). I told Tom it takes about an hour to get to Temecula. I was right – we got to Temecula in about an hour, but I didn’t account for the stoplight-to-stoplight drive through Temecula and the 13-mile drive down CA79 to get to the RV park. It was about an hour and half total time.

We checked in to the boondocking area – no hook-ups for five dollars a night. We’ll spend two nights here before we move on to the Golden Palms RV Resort in Hemet, about 30 miles from here.

Setting up in a dry camping area is quick and easy. I pushed a button to extend the jacks and level the coach. Then I worked three switches to extend the slide-outs. Job done. Donna loves this place. It’s one of the cleanest and well laid out parks in a beautiful setting. The amenities are great. I gave a little background on this park in this post.

It was cold Friday morning. The temperature was in the 40s. We’re a little more than 2,000 feet above sea level here. Around 9am, we braved the cold and went to the outdoor pickleball courts. We had fun and played for two hours before retreating to the coach. From the boondocking area, it’s a bit of a hike to the pickleball courts – uphill all the way. The trail is nice though and a new waterfall was added since our last stay here.

The trail heading back to our coach

Our boondocking site hidden among the trees

The new waterfall

Another view of the upper part of the ‘falls

We spent the rest of the afternoon with the generator running and the heat pumps on. The skies are overcast and the temperature stayed in the mid-50s. Tomorrow we’ll move on and hopefully find warmer weather.

*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!

Hello Fresh

You probably heard that San Diego, along with most of California, was slammed with El Nino driven storms this week. We had heavy rain on Wednesday, lashing down at times as hard as I’ve ever seen it rain here. There was a short break in the weather in the morning. Donna took advantage and went out for a run. I made a break for it on the scooter and picked up beer at Keil’s. My timing was not so good – it started raining again as I left the store. We spent most of the day indoors.

Donna sent weekly Hello Fresh deliveries to her parents for Christmas. Each delivery includes recipes plus all the ingredients needed to create three healthy, tasty meals for two. Members get a discount code that they can share, so Donna used it to order a box for us. (We got $40 off the regular price of $69 and that gave Donna’s parents a $20 credit on their subscription – their discount code is DQVHHL – you’re welcome to use it!)

On Wednesday evening, she prepared the first meal – a skillet chicken pot pie.

Hello Fresh recipe and pre-measured ingredients

The pot pie was different from the commercially available pot pies at the grocery store. It didn’t have a pie crust – it had biscuits similar to dumplings.

Chicken pot pie recipe ready to serve

It was good and the ingredients were fresh. I thought it was a little heavy on the thyme. Although they claim it’s a meal for two, the portions for this recipe would be very large if we served it that way. We usually eat smaller meals, so we ate a little more than half and had leftover pot pie. I paired a special edition beer – it was collaboration between Sierra Nevada Brewing up in the bay area and San Diego’s Stone brewing. They brewed an IPA, split it in half and barrel aged them. Half of the batch was aged in a gin-infused bourbon barrel, the other half went into a rye whiskey barrel. Months later they brewed a fresh batch of IPA and blended all three beers together. It was an interesting ale. It didn’t have a heavy bourbon presence – I think the gin-infused barrel cut that a bit. It wasn’t overly hoppy. It seems like a lot of work to make a beer like this. I liked it but it didn’t leave a lasting impression on me.

North by South IPA

We had a break in the rain on Thursday morning. I looked at the hourly forecast and the weather radar and told Donna we might have a passing shower around 9am and heavy rain around 11am. Donna walked to Enterprise to rent a car. She timed her walk to arrive there ahead of the showers and it worked out. She wanted a car to get to her appointment to have her hair cut.

The 11am rain prediction was true. Donna came home around then. I used the car to go play pickleball at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center. Donna stayed home to work on her blog post. We’ll have the car through the weekend. Originally we planned to pull out of here on the 8th, but I extended our stay until the 14th. I’m glad we didn’t have to pull out on a stormy day and hit the road.

On Thursday evening, the rain abated and we went to the Offshore Tavern and Grill for their holiday party – not sure why they decided to schedule it for after the holidays, but they did. All drinks were three dollars and free hors d’oeuvres were served by the wait staff walking around with trays. One of the appetizers was prime rib bruschetta with horseradish sauce. It was delightful. I also ordered a poke plate made with sushi grade ahi tuna for us.

Poke plate

There was quite a crowd and everyone was having a great time. We were lucky to get seats at the bar, but after an hour or so, we decided to head for home about 8pm. Back at the park we found new neighbors two sites down from us. They invited us to join their campfire. We enjoyed talking, sitting by the fire and imbibing adult beverages.

Neighbor’s campfire

On Friday morning, we awoke to abundant sunshine! It was a welcome sight after days of rain. California needs the water and the rain was a good thing. The snow pack in the local mountains and Sierra Nevada range will be a big help in the spring. Donna and I drove over to the Ocean Beach Recreation Center for pickleball. We always have fun there. We met a couple, Scott and Norma, that are full-timers staying here at the Mission Bay RV Resort. We hope to get together with them soon. Norma stopped by in the afternoon and invited us to visit around 6pm. I had to take a rain check as we already had plans for our friends, Bud and Mona, to visit us in the evening.

Donna made the second of three Hello Fresh meals Friday night. She made sage-butter pork chops with roasted broccolini and citrusy potato salad. It was very good. Donna is having fun with the new recipes.

Sage-butter pork chops

With this meal, I tried another Stone special release in the Stochasticity Project line. It was called Grainiac and the grain bill included 2-row pale malt, white wheat, grouse malted millet, grouse malted buckwheat, carrarye, golden naked oats and triticale. It was definitely a malty brew somewhat reminiscent of their Arrogant Bastard ale.

Grainiac

Bud and Mona came over around 6:30pm. We sat outside and talked. As always, when we spend time with good friends, the time flies by. We chatted for a couple of hours before they had to leave. Mona had to be up early for work.

Bud, Mona and Donna

We wanted to go see Hans’ band, The Sand Devils, play at a club in North Park. But we weren’t up to it by 9pm, so we stayed inside and watched an episode of Penny Dreadful.

We have clear, blue skies again today. The temperature is below average in the low 60s. There’s a chance of rain around midnight. We’ll have to get out and enjoy the sunshine!

Floods and Earthquakes

Monday was a laid back day. Somehow the morning got away from me. Donna went out for a run around noon. I got out and walked laps around the park to stretch and get some fresh air. I knew I would be spending a lot of time inside the coach this week.

The weather is being affected by the El Nino condition in the Pacific Ocean. I’m sure most of us have already heard references to El Nino. It’s a warming trend of the waters in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The warmer waters are found all the way up the coast here in California. This week, the storms associated with El Nino that were anticipated by all of the weather guessers are materializing.

Storm clouds moving in

Out on my walk, I saw the first of the series of storms that will hit us this week rolling in. We had heavy cloud cover all day and a few showers.

On Monday evening, we joined our friends, Hans and Lisa (Metamorphosis Road), for dinner at their coach. We started off with sampler glasses of beer. I opened a Hop Highway IPA from Belching Beaver Brewery. We poured about four or five ounces each. We followed that with another IPA from their refrigerator – the name of that one escapes me. For dinner, Lisa prepared lemon pepper pasta with spicy shrimp. The pasta came from Trader Joe’s and it’s really good. Donna brought roasted cherry tomatoes with fresh herbs for a side dish to go along with LIsa’s garlicky green beans and mushrooms. I neglected to take any photos once again. So you’ll have to trust me that dinner looked as good as it tasted!

After our meal, we shared a Voo Doo American stout from Left Coast Brewing with a dessert of fresh fruit salad with pineapple and blood orange and some chocolate stout cookies Lisa made. We talked and also listened to a documentary on surf guitar. Hans plays guitar in a surf band called The Sand Devils. We came home around 8pm and watched the final episode of Mr. Robot.

The rain started falling in earnest during the night. On Tuesday morning, Donna sat down to write an article for Quill – an online office supply company – and had to meet a deadline. The night before, we made plans to go to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center (PBRC) with Hans and Lisa for pickleball. Donna had to bow out to finish her article. I joined Hans and Lisa at 11:45am and we drove to PBRC in their truck.

There was a break in the rainfall as we drove there. While we were inside on the pickleball courts, we could hear the rain pouring down and drumming on the roof. I think the weather curtailed a lot of outdoor activities for many people, so they came to PBRC to play. At one point, I counted 16 people on the court and 17 people waiting to play. We worked out a more efficient rotation on the courts and things moved along smoothly. We all had fun playing.

On the way home, we saw palm fronds on Grand Avenue. The storm had torn them away from the palm trees that line the street. Back in the coach, the rain fell heavily at times – some of the heaviest rain I’ve ever seen in San Diego. Donna continued to work all afternoon.

For happy hour, I opened a bottle of Shipwrecked IPA from Mission Brewery – they’re in San Diego by the airport at the foot of Washington Street. This is strong ale at 9.25% ABV but it’s smooth and very well-balanced. It’s one of easiest drinking double IPAs I’ve tried.

Shipwrecked double IPA

There was a short break in the weather right before sunset. On Facebook, I saw several videos of flooding in the area, including videos of dim-witted drivers entering flooded intersections and stalling their cars. Driving a car into water deep enough to reach the engine’s air intake can cause severe damage. The water enters the combustion chamber where air is normally compressed. Water isn’t compressible – something has to give so it usually results in bent connecting rods and an expensive repair bill.

This morning we were awake but still in bed around 6:45am when the coach started rocking. I asked Donna if she felt it. It was an earthquake. Later we found out it was a 4.5 magnitude quake centered in Banning, California – about 100 miles from here. That’s the second earthquake here in the last week or so.

Right now we have mostly cloudy skies with a break in the rainfall. This will change by this afternoon when the next storm rolls in from the Pacific. I have a things-to-do list for indoor projects. I’ll try to knock a couple of items off the list today.

Like Christmas Again

Saturday went as planned – after I posted to the blog, Donna went for a bike ride and I took my quadcopter over to De Anza Cove Park across from the RV Resort entrance (map). I practiced hovering, flying away from me and back and also flying from side to side. It takes a fair amount of concentration to keep it under control. Hovering requires constant throttle adjustment as the ‘copter will climb or drop with any change in wind or if I make a right-left or forward-back correction. The four rotors that create lift for the ‘copter also control the heading by making small speed adjustments thus tilting the platform. A half hour was enough so I walked back to the coach.

The day before, UPS had dropped off three boxes for Donna. When she returned from her 20-mile bicycle ride up Rose Canyon Trail to University Town Center and back through Clairemont, she wanted to open the boxes. They were sent from an editor at Family Circle magazine who is looking for product reviews from cleaning experts for the April 2016 issue.

I opened the smaller box first and we found it packed with household cleaning and laundry products. The next box had a lightweight Oxo broom and dustpan set with an extendable handle. That box also contained more cleaning products including a soon-to-be released shower and tub scrubber from Oxo that Donna said is a cleaning dream come true. The last box held a Shark Rocket AH452 lightweight vacuum cleaner with powerful suction. It’s a new product and I didn’t find this exact model online, but it’s similar to this one on Amazon. It was like Christmas all over again – opening boxes and finding surprise items inside.

Donna still had Sheila’s car, so she took a trip to Vons and Trader Joe’s to get groceries. We expected the weather to deteriorate by the end of the weekend, so she wanted to stock up for the week. She bought a nice five-pound whole chicken at Trader Joe’s. I prepped the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker/grill and we teamed up to season the chicken. It’s much easier if one person lightly rubs the chicken with olive oil, then holds and rotates it while the second person applies the seasoning inside and out. Donna did the first part and I shook the seasoning. I used the last of the Traeger chicken rub on the inside and back of the bird then applied Sweet Rub O’Mine.

I roasted the whole chicken on the high setting on the Traeger. The Sweet Rub O’Mine has a lot of sugar in it which caramelizes and helps attain a nice crispy skin. In the photo it looks like the skin is burnt. It isn’t, it’s just the caramelized rub. The chicken was flavorful with no burnt taste at all.

Traeger roasted chicken

Dinner plate with a wild rice blend with dried cranbeeries, pecans and scallions.

Chicken breast and wing with a side of yummy rice and steamed green beans

Donna whipped up an absolutely delicious side dish. She added dried cranberries, pecans and scallions along with some orange zest and orange juice and honey to a wild rice blend after cooking. The chicken was moist and tender. I paired the meal with a bottle of Voo Doo American stout brewed by Left Coast Brewing in San Clemente.

Voo Doo American stout

This is a dark, full-bodied, malty stout with flavors of chocolate and coffee. It’s strong at 8.0% and balanced at 39 IBUs.

Sunday was a lazy day for me. I put away a few things we had out in preparation of rain in the forecast. Donna went out for a four-mile run. Then she took down the Christmas decorations and stored everything away in a basement compartment. I spent the rest of the day watching the last week of regular season NFL football.

We made stacked enchiladas for dinner. I cut about a pound of leftover brisket across the grain then diced it. Donna put enchilada sauce in the bottom of a pyrex casserole dish then added a layer of corn tortillas. Then she poured more enchilada sauce over the tortillas and added the brisket meat and cotija cheese. This was followed by another layer of tortillas, sauce, meat and cheese. Then the top layer of tortillas was put on and covered with sauce, cotija cheese and white cheddar cheese. Foil was placed over the casserole dish and it was baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. It made a great meal and I’m looking forward to reheating the leftovers.

After the last game of the day with the Minnesota Vikings prevailing over the Green Bay Packers – thus winning the NFC north division – we watched a couple of episodes of Mr. Robot. It’s a USA Network series that we’ve enjoyed watching. We have one more episode left in season one.

The rain predicted came overnight. It’s cloudy but fairly warm at 60 degrees this morning. Our friends Hans and Lisa (Metamorphosis Road) arrived here at the RV park yesterday. Tonight we plan to join them for dinner and sample a few beers. I have another bottle of Voo Doo and some IPAs. The rest of our week will probably be low-key. There are a series of storms lined up in the Pacific that will bring periods of rain each day in the coming week.

Brisket Obsession

On New Year’s Day, I fired up the Traeger to cook the brisket I bought last weekend. Smoking a perfect brisket has become an obsession. Brisket isn’t like most cuts of beef. The brisket comes from the pectoralis muscles between the cow’s front legs. There are two muscles – the pectoralis minor which is often called the flat and the pectoralis major which is called the point. A layer of fat separates the two muscles and the grain in each runs perpendicular to the other.

The most tender cuts of beef comes from muscles that don’t perform much work. These are found along the back behind the shoulder and in front of the hindquarters. Brisket does not come from this area. The brisket is a hard-working muscle and can be tough and leathery if it isn’t prepared properly. The flat is very lean with a fat cap and the point is often marbled with fat and also has a fat cap.

Many people like their steaks medium rare. This is usually achieved with an internal temperature of 130-140 degrees Fahrenheit. You don’t want to try this with brisket. The muscle fibers in the brisket are separated by connective tissues called collagen. Brisket needs to reach a high enough internal temperature and hold that temperature long enough for the collagen to break down into a liquid form. This is what makes a tender, juicy brisket. But, if you overcook it, it can become dry.

Here are some photos I lifted from a forum that shows undercooked and properly cooked cuts of brisket.

Black arrows point to collagen in undercooked brisket

Undercooked – the connective tissues will make this meat tough and chewy

The arrows point to voids where the collagen has broken down to liquid

The arrows point to voids in this well-cooked brisket where the collagen has broken down to liquid

Another example of well-cooked brisket with the connective tissues broken down

Most barbeque cooks shoot for an internal temperature of 195 – 205 degrees Fahrenheit for their brisket. I use a few techniques to achieve this without burning the meat to a crisp or drying it out.

On New Year’s Eve, I removed the USDA Choice brisket point from the refrigerator and prepped it. I trimmed it (the butcher at Keil’s already did a good job of trimming) and seasoned it with Brown Sugar Bourbon Rub from Brook’s BBQ in Oneonta, New York.

USDA Choice Certified Angus Beef brisket

I wrapped it and put it back in the refrigerator to sit overnight.

On Friday morning, I fired up the Traeger and put the brisket on at 9:30am.

Brisket on the grill – Traeger set to “smoke”

I left it on the smoke setting for two hours. The pit temperature was only about 170 degrees. The smoke setting doesn’t use the temperature sensor in the grill, it feeds pellets based solely on time. It feeds pellets for about 15 seconds, then shuts the auger off for 65 seconds. This creates a cool, smokey fire. After two hours I set the grill temperature to 180 degrees. This activated the temperature sensor and the pellet feed was controlled by actual temperature achieved.

An hour later, an instant read thermometer showed the internal temperature of the thickest part at 130 degrees. I reset the grill to reach 225 degrees. I spritzed the meat a few times with a mixture of beer, apple cider vinegar and Worcestershire sauce in a spray bottle. This was my mop sauce. After an hour at 225 degrees, the internal temperature of the brisket was 155 degrees and a nice bark had formed on the surface.

I removed the brisket from the grill, double wrapped it in foil and returned it to the grill. I also sprayed plenty of mop sauce inside the foil. After two and a half hours, I lifted the lid and checked the internal temperature of the thickest part of the brisket – it was 208 degrees.

I took the brisket off the grill and with the foil still covering the brisket I wrapped it in an old towel and put it in the microwave oven. I wanted to continue holding a high internal temperature without exposing the meat to external heat. The confined space of the microwave oven was a perfect place to let it cool slowly.

After 75 minutes in the microwave, I unwrapped the brisket on a cutting board. I let it cool for about 20 minutes to firm up, then sliced the meat across the grain.

Brisket unwrapped

Moist, tender slices

We retrieved about a cup of au jus from the foil wrapping. Donna put the cup of jus in the refrigerator to separate the fat. As it cools, the fat solidifies and can be skimmed off. The remaining juice makes a great dipping au jus.

We picked up bakery rolls the day before. Donna sliced the rolls and we made brisket sandwiches. Delicious!

Brisket sandwich on a cheese bakery roll

A bottle of ale to go with the brisket

That’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about smoking a brisket. We have a lot of leftover meat. I plan to use the leftover brisket to make beef and cheese enchiladas.

Today we have nice weather – clear blue skies and the temperature should reach the mid to upper 60s – a carbon copy of yesterday’s weather. There’s no wind so maybe I’ll fly my ‘copter while Donna takes a bike ride. That’s what we did yesterday while the brisket was cooking.

Seventeen States in 2015

Happy new year! Wow. Our 2015 was a great year, full of fun and adventures. We rang in last year with our friends Debbie and Bruce at Hidden Shores on the Arizona side of the Colorado River near Imperial Dam. We traveled through 17 states plus Washington D.C.

Our travels took us to Texas where we visited with my middle daughter, then up the middle of the country to Minnesota where Donna competed in the Senior Olympics. From there we went east through the upper peninsula of Michigan and down to the Detroit area to see old friends. From there, we headed to upstate New York where we spent a month with Donna’s family before turning south. We visited Gettysburg before going to D.C. to see my youngest daughter, then came all the way across the country to finish out the year in San Diego.

In addition to seeing friends and family and making new friends along the way, one of the biggest highlights of our year was crewing for the Hearts A’Fire hot air balloon team at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. Also, along the way, we picked up a feline passenger otherwise known as Ozark the traveling cat who has added much joy and entertainment to our lives.

WordPress sent me a link to my blog stats for the year. Although I originally started this blog so my family and friends would know where we were and what we were up to, it’s grown far larger than I ever imagined. We had more than 68,000 visitors to the site from 111 countries – most were from the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Yesterday I took advantage of the nice weather and flew my quadcopter. I went to the clubhouse area where there’s a paved area enclosed by a chain link fence. I was alone in there and didn’t have to worry about hitting anyone with the ‘copter. I kept it at an altitude of eight to 15 feet above the ground and practiced moving it away from me and bringing it back and going side to side. I changed out the battery pack and flew for nearly 20 minutes. On the way back to the coach, I flew the ‘copter again at the grassy area next to the security shack. I wanted the security supervisor, Thomas, to see me fly it – he witnessed my failure with the first ‘copter.

I have three fully charged battery packs and plan to fly it again today. Once I’m fully proficient, I’ll try video or photography by linking my Samsung Galaxy phone to the ‘copter camera.

Last evening, Donna prepared an appetizer plate and we went to visit with our friends Kris and Tom Downey (Open Road 365). I carried the appetizer plate with a martini in my other hand to begin our New Year’s Eve celebration. Tom made bacon-wrapped cheese crackers on his Traeger smoker/grill. They were really tasty!

New Year’s Eve appetizers

Since Kris has limited mobility at present with staples and other assorted hardware in her ankle, Donna offered to cook dinner at their place. She made a kale salad using a recipe she got from Lisa McGuire (Metamorphosis Road). She served it with steamed lobster tails, curry roasted sweet potatoes, and eggnog bread and we enjoyed a delicious dinner. I switched to craft beers with dinner and after dinner, Tom poured eggnog and Irish Whiskey.

We played Yahtzee and watched the telecast of the ball drop in Times Square at 9pm our time. We had a great time and I completely forgot about taking pictures. We left Tom and Kris around 10pm and came home. I didn’t make it to midnight – I was in bed by 11pm. I’m sure Sea World had a spectacular fireworks show, but I missed it. It’s okay, we’ll see plenty of fireworks at Lake Havasu next month.

We have lots of sunshine on this first day of the year. I have the brisket I bought last weekend smoking on the Traeger. Donna is heading out for a bike ride. I’ll hang out to keep an eye on the brisket. We’re looking forward to some yummy sliced brisket sandwiches later.

Our plan for 2016 is pretty loose. We’ll stay in the western states and make a trip to the northwest to visit my oldest daughter and granddaughters. We wish you good health and much happiness wherever you are and wherever you go in 2016.

A Dip in the Bay

Saturday was a low key day. Donna went out for bike ride with our pickleball friend, Johanna. They rode out to Dog Beach on the north side of Ocean beach and back – about an 18-mile ride including a loop around Fiesta Island. I made a run to Keil’s grocery store up on Clairemont Drive (map). I had a few items on my shopping list and while I was there I took a look at the meat counter. To my surprise, I saw a Certified Angus Beef (CAB) USDA Choice grade brisket point cut. I’ve never seen a point cut at the grocery store before. It was well marbled and looked really good. I think I’m becoming obsessed with smoked brisket. I walked away from it.

On Sunday morning, my brisket obsession got the better of me. I rode the scooter back to Keil’s to get the CAB USDA Choice brisket point. I didn’t see it at first and thought someone had scooped it from me. Then I found it behind a stack of tri-tips. I’ll cook it later this week – maybe on New Year’s Day.

Speaking of brisket, we had about a pound of meat left from the Christmas dinner gathering. Donna cubed it and whipped up a pot of homemade chili on Sunday. It was delicious! I spent the day watching NFL football.

The weekend was windy and chilly with the temperatures only reaching the low 60s. This has been a cold start to winter in San Diego. Monday morning dawned with clear skies and no wind. I figured it was time to assemble the quadcopter Donna gave me for Christmas and try it out. I didn’t bother with it all weekend due to the wind.

Some assembly required

I think I’m a fairly handy guy, but assembling the quadcopter was easier said than done. The manual was obviously translated by someone with a rudimentary grasp of the English language. Not only were the words and word order strange, the sequence of the instructions were completely random. The manual left out an important notice – the rotors must be put on the proper shafts. There are two rotors marked “A” that must rotate in clockwise fashion while the other two rotors are marked “B” and must rotate in a counter-clockwise direction. The manufacturer corrected this omission by adding that instruction to the side of the box the quadcopter was packed in. Reading through the manual was almost comical – all I could do was laugh about it and figure out what to do as I went along. Here are a couple of statements verbatim from the manual:

The materials and specification mentioned in this instruction manual or the parts inside this package is for reference only. Our company won’t be responsible for any adaption of the outer package. Nor shall we keep our customers informed in advance. Any information updates or changes, please be subject to our website.

When the quadcopter flies, it should maintain 2-3 meters from user or others, avoiding from crashing into others’ head, face or body when it lands.

The company has the right of final interpretation of this instruction manual statement.

The nomenclature in the manual varied. One line of instruction said to install the stands:

Twist the wide screws to locking the stands as figure (2).

Figure 2 didn’t show much. I didn’t see any stands and when I looked at the exploded drawing of the parts, it became apparent that the stands were called landing legs in the drawing. I found them under the rotors in the packaging. There was a packet of screws – I had to sort out which screws to use for the landing legs and which to use for the blade guards.

I worked it out and the had the quadcopter assembled after about 45 minutes. I charged the batteries for three hours.

Ozark inspecting fully assembled Syma X8W quadcopter

While I was doing this, Donna went for a massage. She was walking back to the coach as I headed out to try my hand at flying the quadcopter. We met before I exited the RV park. She asked me where I was going. I told her I wanted to be away from the RVs while I learned to fly this thing – I wanted open space and I didn’t want to fly into someone’s coach. She suggested the beach area, then said, “No, too close to the water – you should go the grassy area of Mission Bay Park.”

I went to the storage area past our cargo trailer. The lot there was mostly empty and I had a paved surface to lift off from. I have a lot of radio control experience. In the ’90s, I flew radio-controlled airplanes competitively in the International Miniature Aerobatic Club (IMAC). I was a two-time IMAC National Champion. I also piloted radio-controlled power boats in the ’80s. I knew this would be different, but how hard could it be? Modern copters are fairly stable due to electronic gyroscopes. I knew I would have to adjust the trims to get it stabilized. I figured once that was done it shouldn’t be too hard.

I went through the start-up sequence and lifted off. With the ‘copter about 10 feet high I started adjusting the trim. The copter was sliding to the left and moving away from me. It continued to climb as I adjusted the trim. At 20 feet of altitude I cut the power back – it fell like a rock! I powered up as it dropped and it touched down softly and sprang back up in the air. As it climbed it was still moving to the left and away from me. I added right trim and pulled back on the stick as it was heading away. I paid too much attention to the trim and allowed the ‘copter to fly too high. It was unresponsive as I reduced power and tried to get it to come down and fly back toward me.

It was 80-100 feet high. There must have been more wind at that altitude. Instead of sliding to the left, it went to the right. My stick commands didn’t do anything. The ‘copter was completely unresponsive. It headed out over De Anza Cove. I was frantically trying to get it to turn and come back over land when the rotors stopped turning. For some reason, the power shut off. I watched it fall like a rock and hit the water with a plop about 100 yards from shore.

I stood there with my jaw dropped for about a minute, then I sprang into action. I took off my shoes, shirt and pants and ran into the bay in my undershorts. I swam hard. I was within 20 yards of the ‘copter when it sank. I swam until I thought I was at the spot where it went under and dove down. The water was much deeper than I thought and I had to come back to the surface for air. I caught my breath and dove again. This time I was near the bottom but the visibility was only a couple of feet. I surfaced again, breathing hard. I was getting cold. The water was cold and the air temperature was only about 60 degrees.

I resigned myself to the fact the ‘copter was a goner. It seemed like a long swim back to shore. I retrieved my keys from my pants and opened our cargo trailer. I grabbed my clothes and dried myself off in the trailer, shivering all the while. I went commando and dressed in the trailer and walked back to the RV park. Thomas the security guard witnessed the whole thing. He didn’t give me too hard a time about it.

When I came back to the coach and told Donna what happened, she didn’t believe me. She thought I was telling a tall tale. My clothes were dry so she couldn’t see how I could’ve gone into the bay. I pointed to the wet undershorts hanging outside and explained how I undressed before jumping in.

We had plans to meet up for happy hour at Dave and Shannon’s site around 3:30pm, then go over to SD Taproom on Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach. It was nearly 3:30pm by then and I needed a shower. About then it started to rain. Donna exchanged text messages with the group while I showered. The plan had changed – we would skip happy hour in the rain and go directly to the Taproom. Hector and Brenda picked us up and we rode with them to Pacific Beach.

The SD Taproom is a nice pub with a rotating selection of craft beers. We sampled a few and ordered appetizers. Donna and I went for an order of wings and two grilled fish tacos. We split the wings plate and each ate one of the large fish tacos. They had a cask of Belching Beaver Hop Highway Ale brewed with Alpine Brewery Rye IPA (Nelson). This was a delicious collaboration.

After eating, we moved two doors down to the Barrel Republic. Barrel Republic has a unique set-up. They have 44 beers on tap plus about eight wines. You open a tab by giving the bartender a credit card and ID. The bartender gives you a wrist band with an electronic chip. There are several shapes and sizes of glasses on shelves. The taps are electronically controlled. You select a glass, then find the beer you want. Putting your wrist band on a sensor next to the tap activates the tap. You pour your own – as much or as little as you want. The tap measures your pour and you get charged by the ounce. The beers ranged in price from around 55 cents per ounce up to 99 cents per ounce. There’s a small screen over the tap that shows you how much you poured. There’s a limit on how much you can pour for yourself – I think it’s around 32 ounces. When you finish your beer, you leave your glass on the bar and get a fresh glass if you want another beer.

The bar at Barrel Republic – the sign says Freedom to Pour

Electronic taps at Barrel Republic

More taps

We sat at a table and told a few stories. It was a hoot. It was the last night at Mission Bay RV Resort for Dave and Shannon and Iain and Kate. They’re heading out to Anza Borrego State Park to boondock in the desert where they will ring in the new year.

Donna, Dave, Hector, Iain and Kate at Barrel Republic

We’re still thinking about extending our stay here. Hector and Brenda will be here for a few more weeks.

We made it home in time to see the overtime win by the Denver Broncos. One week left in the NFL regular season.

Holiday Happy Hour

Sunday was a fun day! Donna went out for a bike ride around 10:30am and put in 18 miles. While she was out, I took the rental car to Vons grocery store in Pacific Beach. I picked up a couple of IPA beer bombers and a case of water. The holiday traffic was intense. It took me 10 minutes of circling the parking lot at Vons to find a parking spot.

When I left to go to the store, it looked like the New York Giants were getting blown out by the Carolina Panthers. When I came home, the score was 35-28 Carolina – it was 35-7 when I left. Carolina came through with the game-winning field goal after New York tied it up at 35-35. What a game!

The Chargers played what may be their last San Diego home game at 1:25pm against the Miami Dolphins. It appears likely that owner Dean Spanos will move the team to Orange County. The Chargers played tough defense and played well in all phases of the game for a change. Javontee Herndon returned the ball well to set up good field position and the offense put up 30 points while a beat-up Miami team was held to 14.

With the game almost over, I headed over to Kate and Iain’s site where a large happy gathering was in progress – Donna was already there. Almost everyone there was a full-time RVer and most of us are also bloggers. Everyone brought a dish to share and we sampled a few beers. I brought a Belgian style sour from Bruery Terreux – a small Orange County brewery. Here’s a statement from their site:

Our sour beers reflect our love for the traditional beers of Belgium and beyond. Fermented and aged in oak barrels along with wild yeast and bacteria, these tart and funky beers are a throwback to historic, countryside brewing techniques, but with a bit of a California twist.

I brought cups and shared the beer with Hans, Paul, Iain and Kate and a couple of others. Although not everyone is as enthusiastic about sour beers as I am, everyone who tried it liked it. The particular bottle I brought is called Rueuze and the label describes it as Earthy-Sharp-Funky. It’s aged in oak barrels and I found it to be light-bodied and sharp with a green apple flavor. It was delicious in my opinion.

750ml Bruery Terreux Rueuze

We hung out and talked, enjoying the company, good beer and food until around 6:30pm. It was a fun gathering but it was getting cold out.

Sunset – photo courtesy of Hans Kohls

Our happy hour group of blogging RVers

We’ll return the rental car today. The weather will continue to be on the cool side with highs in the 60s. There’s a 70% chance of showers tonight, otherwise it should be dry and partly cloudy for the rest of the week.

Great Brews with New Friends

I posted to the blog late yesterday. Today I want to add a few lines about new friends and a great evening. I mentioned having a plan to meet Iain and Kate Gilbert (The Scenic Route). Around 4pm, Donna and I headed over to their site. I had a few 22-ounce bomber bottles of beer and Donna had a plate of carrot sticks, pickles and sopressata sausage.

We hadn’t met our hosts Iain and Kate before, but we messaged each other on RVillage. I didn’t know if they liked different beer styles but I thought they might since Iain mentioned hearing our names while having a brew with Hans and Lisa (Metamorphosis Road).

They have a 27-foot Airstream travel trailer. Their site is one of the premium view sites on the bay with a view toward the marina at Campland on the Bay. Their Airstream has a panoramic rear window, making this a great view from inside the trailer. It wouldn’t work as well with our coach since all of the sites are back-in only and we don’t have a rear window.

We sat outside and chatted while Iain worked on getting the cork out of a bottle of Saison Dupont. This is a Belgian farmhouse ale that I’ve had before and it’s quite tasty. The cork was stubborn but Iain was persistent and eventually it came free. We split the bottle four ways and toasted “cheers” and enjoyed the beer and snacks as the sun was setting.

Donna, Kate and Iain

Iain is originally from Scotland while Kate hails from England. They’ve lived in the USA for more than 15 years though and are US citizens. They left the corporate world to travel in their RV and also spend time abroad. Their next destination will be Malaysia where they’ll spend a few months. Kate authored a book “Happy Campers” about their transition into full-time RVers. Donna and Kate have had common experiences as copywriters and self-published authors.

After we had the saison, I opened a bottle of beer from Avery Brewing in Colorado. It was a special Anniversary Edition Ale called Twenty Two. The story behind it starts in Belgium in the Beersel municipality in Flemish Brabant. The brew master at Avery had a wild ale there that he thought was the best. He brought a couple of bottles back to Colorado and used them to cultivate the wild brettanomyces drie yeast. This beer is fermented with this wild yeast. I expected the beer to be a sour ale and told everyone that’s what it was. Donna passed on the Twenty Two and had a Boatswain chocolate stout. Kate, Iain and I shared the Twenty Two. It wasn’t sour at all. It’s hard for me to come up with a description. It was smooth, slightly malty and we all liked it. Donna even tried a sip and thought it was good.

Avery Twenty Two

After sunset, the temperature fell quickly. We moved inside their Airstream to continue our conversations. Earlier in the day, Donna prepared a casserole that she intended to heat for dinner. We decided to share the casserole with Iain and Kate, so I walked back to our coach and retrieved it. Kate heated it in their oven and made a salad to go with it. Our happy hour turned into dinner. This was the first time Donna made this ground beef, macaroni and cheese casserole and unfortunately it was on the bland side. Donna is such a great cook, I hope Iain and Kate don’t think this was typical of the dishes she serves! Donna thinks she went too light on the salt and would add more cheese if she makes this casserole again.

After thoroughly enjoying our time getting to know each other, we called it a night around 7:30pm and headed back to our coach. They’ve invited us to join them again on Sunday when they’re hosting a happy hour with some other neighbors. Hans and Lisa will come over then too. We also made tentative plans for a group Christmas dinner.

Once again, we’ve met some great people sharing the nomadic lifestyle and we look forward to meeting again in the next few weeks and sometime down the road.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Beer

Ozark Takes a Walk

Gray Skies at Jojoba Hills

Hello Fresh

Floods and Earthquakes

Like Christmas Again

Brisket Obsession

Seventeen States in 2015

A Dip in the Bay

Holiday Happy Hour

Great Brews with New Friends

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