Category Archives: Beer

Two Short Moves

I checked our route before we left Twin Arrows Casino and found two Walmart stores in Flagstaff. The closer store was a supercenter on Huntington Drive, but looking at the satellite view, the lot looked like it would be tough going in a big rig. The second store wasn’t a supercenter, but it had an easy way in and out. We’re 65 feet long and I like to know what I’m getting into before I commit to it.

The second store had a Basha’s grocery across the lot. We stopped there and I went into Walmart for water and beer while Donna went over to Basha’s for some groceries. I also bought a sandwich from Subway along with a Subway salad for Donna.

It was only about a 75-mile drive to Distant Drums RV Resort, so we had plenty of time. There wasn’t any point at trying to check in before noon. We arrived closer to 1pm and were checked after a short wait while four coaches ahead of us checked in. We had a long, paved pull-through site and didn’t need to drop the trailer. This is a nice RV park with a small swimming pool and hot tub.

Donna took a hike on the trail across the road from the park. We hiked this trail over six years ago when we stayed here. It doesn’t seem possible that six years have gone by since then, but this blog post proves it.

View of Cliff Castle Casino from 1 1/2 miles up the trail

Wednesday I had a guy from Gary’s Mobile RV Wash come and wash our coach. It needed it and he did a great job – he even polished the wheels to a nice shine.

Thursday morning we pulled out around 10:30am. Again, we were in no hurry as we only had about 70 miles to our next destination – Lake Pleasant Harbor RV Resort on the west side of Phoenix on the Carefree Highway (AZ74). The interstate is close to the Distant Drums entrance and we took I-17 south. Within a few miles, the road climbs out of the Verde Valley. It’s a steep grade for about five miles. At one point, we came up on a slow moving truck. The problem was, there were only two lanes of travel and cars were in the left lane overtaking us at 70-80 mph while we had a truck going 30 mph in front of us.

I had no choice but to slow down. Usually, once you give up the momentum behind a slow truck on a steep grade, there’s no regaining speed. I got lucky this time. I could see clear road behind me and with the transmission in 3rd gear I was able to accelerate and gain speed. I shifted to fourth gear and got up to 50 mph and blew past the truck without holding up traffic or risking a rear-end collision.

We stopped at the Pilot/Flying J Travel Center in Cordes Lake and topped up with about 60 gallons of fuel. We’ll be stationary for a month at Lake Pleasant and I like to have the fuel tank as full as possible when we’re parked for extended periods. This minimizes the air space in the tank and minimizes condensation. Of course, in Arizona, it’s not much of a problem as the air is so dry, but it’s my habit and I mostly stick to it.

They had a Subway shop at the center, so Donna bought another salad and a sandwich for me. It was still early, so we waited until we stopped at the rest area at Sunset Point to eat lunch. We took a shortcut on New River Road to Lake Pleasant Harbor. In hindsight, I should’ve stayed on I-17 to the Carefree Highway because New River Road had rough sections and some construction – besides, it wasn’t much of a shortcut.

Due to Covid precautions, the office wasn’t open – well, it was but you couldn’t enter. I had to call the front desk where they put together a packet for me then a woman came out of the office and handed me our paperwork.

We set up in site 207 which is shown as a 61-foot back-in site. It was a little tricky, but by angling the trailer i was able to cheat our 65-foot length into the site.

Yesterday, we drove up to Anthem to pick up our mail at the post office. We had to have our mail forwarded to General Delivery because this park won’t accept mail for guests unless you book for a minimum of three months. We can receive UPS or FedEx deliveries, but it has to be left at the office. They don’t want deliveries at the sites. Weird rules.

This morning, one of the park maintenance guys stopped by and told me I couldn’t have our coach past the fence line – the sites are bordered by chain link fences. This was irritating – I wasn’t in the street or blocking anyone’s access. The chain link fence line is only 54 feet long – this is supposed to be a 61-foot site.

A neighbor from across the street – who also happens to be a ham operator – came by to give me a hand. We moved the picnic table from the rear of the site and I positioned the trailer at a more severe angle putting us about seven feet deeper into the site and lining up the front of the coach even with the end of the fence.

Speaking of ham operators, after I set up my radio yesterday, a guy named Doug stopped by. He saw my antennas and told me he was a ham. I looked at his site this morning and he has quite the set-up, including a large loop antenna and a vertical that must be 40-feet high. He also has a dipole stretched across his site. The guy that helped me reposition this morning, Roger, is friends with Doug. So, we have at least three ham operators here in the park.

So far, the Arizona weather has refused to let go of summer. The highs have been 105-106 degrees and triple digits are forecast into the middle of next week before we drop into the mid to low 90s. But it’s a dry heat and there isn’t a cloud in the sky.

Tri-tip Delight

Kevin and Alana came by on Thursday afternoon and we went into town to District Brewing on the corner of Main Street and Myrtle Street – across from the park where the farmers’ market is held. The brewery had a variety of good IPAs on tap, but only one amber or red ale and one porter.

We found a table on the upper level overlooking the park and Skagit River. After a round of ales, we moved to an outside table so Alana’s chihuahua, Chico, could join us. I ordered a wood-fired pizza to go and Donna and I enjoyed it back at home.

Friday was mostly uneventful – Donna went out for a bike ride. I went to Lowes and bought supplies to build a new antenna mast. I received an MFJ-2289 Big Ear dipole antenna from Ham Radio Outlet the day before. This monster looks kind of like an old “rabbit ear” TV antenna on steroids. The collapsible whips are 17 feet long! I built a mast and mounted it on a sturdy tripod about 10 feet above the ground. The idea is to get on the 20-meter band and see if I can make some distant single-side-band contacts over the air. I haven’t been successful yet.

As I was messing with the radio yesterday afternoon, I could see clouds thickening and could feel rain coming. I took everything down and put the radio away. Meanwhile, I had a tri-tip on the Traeger wood-fired smoker-grill.

I bought the tri-tip at Winco Foods on Wednesday. It was untrimmed, so I trimmed the fat cap and seasoned it Thursday night. Tri-tip is an interesting cut of beef and has some folklore behind it. The tri-tip cut is the bottom of the sirloin – the tensor fasciae latae muscle in front of a cow’s hip. It’s a curved cut usually about eight or nine inches long and three inches thick in the center, tapering on the ends.

This portion of meat was once used only for ground beef or maybe stew meat. The story goes like this – in the 1950s a butcher named Bob Schutz at Safeway in Santa Maria, California was overstocked on ground beef. So he took a bottom sirloin cut that would normally be ground and spiced it, then put it on a rotisserie. The results were surprising. Everyone found the meat to be flavorful and hearty. With a few tweaks, he perfected the method of grilling over coals and began marketing the “tri-tip” as he called it, as a barbecue cut.

This barbecue meat became quite popular in Santa Maria, which is located in a valley known for growing wine grapes, midway between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. Today, a tri-tip that has been barbecued is known as “Santa Maria Tri-Tip.” It’s mostly a west coast thing, but I’ve heard it has grown in popularity throughout the country. The traditional method uses a simple dry rub of equal parts salt, pepper and garlic powder. I used a commercially prepared rub called “Pappy’s Choice” which has a high salt content. After trimming the tri-tip, I rubbed it, wrapped it in cling-wrap and put it in the refrigerator.

Friday afternoon, I pulled the Traeger out of the trailer and set the temperature at about 220 degrees. I did this by setting the controller to 180 degrees, then adjusting the P-setting to P0. This had the pellets feeding for 15 seconds, then idling for 45 seconds and held it at the temperature I desired.

After two hours in the Traeger, I checked the internal temperature and found it at 130 degrees. I fired up the Weber Q and heated it to 400 degrees. I took the tri-tip out of the Traeger and put it in the Weber for three minutes per side. This seared the meat and toughened the bark resulting from the rub and smoking. This is called a reverse sear technique as most searing methods start with the sear first.

The last trick to serving tri-tip is to cut it correctly. It’s a lot like cutting brisket. You must cut across the grain and pay attention as the grain direction changes. For our dinner, I sliced the tri-tip in 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick slices.

Donna made whole wheat spaghetti with pesto, sun dried tomatoes and asparagus on the side and she also had fresh corn on the cob which she bought at the vegetable stand near here on her bike ride. I pulled the tri-tip off the Weber at about 5:20 pm, just as it started raining. Perfect timing. I let it rest on a cutting board for 15 minutes before slicing. You need a cutting board with channel cut in the outer perimeter – this is one juicy hunk of beef.

That’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about tri-tip. The one I smoked was rather large – about three pounds before smoking. So, we have leftovers and that’s great. I had some with eggs over-easy for a poor man’s steak and eggs breakfast this morning. Donna sliced the remainder into thin slices that’ll be just right for tri-tip sandwiches or topping for a salad.

The rain fell off and on overnight and it’s raining lightly this morning. It should clear up by early afternoon. The thermometer reached 73 yesterday and should be about the same today. Tomorrow and Monday are predicted to be sunny and warmer. I’ll start organizing the trailer today. Tomorrow we plan to visit with Kevin and Alana and our granddaughter, Gabi, and Kevin’s boys, Nick and Kyle. On Monday, we’ll pull out of here and head over the North Cascades to Winthrop.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, 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!

Sending and Receiving

Donna and I met up with Alana, Kevin and our granddaughter Lainey Monday afternoon at North Sound Brewing Company for a couple of cold ones. It’s a little strange getting used to the idea of having an adult beverage with my granddaughter! The brewery is only about a mile from the Mount Vernon RV Park on Memorial Highway. They had plenty of outdoor seating.

Tuesday I had a project to take care of. A few weeks ago, I noticed some strange wear patterns on the cargo trailer tires. One of them looked bad. On Monday, I walked down the street from the RV park to the Les Schwab Tire Center. I ordered four new ST type trailer tires. They said they would have the tires first thing Tuesday morning.

It was a bit of a chore putting the trailer up on jack stands. I used my floor jack and placed two jack stands per side and pulled all of the wheels off. Alana and the grandkids, Lainey and Gabi, came by to go for a walk with Donna. I used Alana’s VW Atlas to transport the wheels to Les Schwab. They had the new tires and got on the job right away.

This was the worst tire – note the shoulder wear and wear bars in the outer treads

This tire had much less wear, but still had excessive wear on the shoulders

Examining the four old tires, I saw they wore very inconsistently. These were Chinese made Rainier brand tires. I always kept the tires inflated to 50psi – the maximum load pressure indicated on the sidewall. The excessive shoulder wear looked like they had been underinflated, but I know that wasn’t the case. The tire guy at Les Schwab asked about inflation of these tires and I told him I always maintained them at 50psi.

The new tires were mounted quickly and while I paid the bill, the tire guy loaded the wheels in the Atlas. Before I left, I asked him what the tire pressure was – he said he set them to 50psi, just like the old ones. Here’s the thing – the old tires had a 6-ply rating – an antiquated rating system. They were more accurately called load range “C” tires. Load range “C” tires are rated for maximum load at 50psi.

The new tires I bought were 8-ply rated or load range “D”. These tires were rated for higher maximum loads. Load range “D” trailer tires are rated for maximum load at 65psi. These tires can carry 300 lbs more load per tire than the old tires, but they have to be inflated to 65psi. I let it go – I figured I could deal with it later before we hit the road.

Before I re-installed the wheels, I checked the wheel bearings for excessive play. I thought maybe if there was too much clearance in the wheel bearings, the hubs might walk back and forth making a slight wobble in the tire, causing the shoulder wear. The wheel bearings were fine. I think the tires were just cheaply manufactured and had inconsistent wear. I had put about 28,000 miles on the old tires.

Later, Donna and I went to Alana’s place. Kevin was working – he’s an paramedic with the fire department and works 24-hour shifts. He does two 24-hour stints with 12 hours off in between, then has five days off. I cooked a salmon filet on Kevin’s Traeger and Alana added boneless chicken thighs. She also made home fried potatoes, asparagus and broccoli.

We visited on the back patio over dinner and had a black-tail doe come through the yard. Lainey had to go back to Pullman where she’s a student at Washington State University. She had to move out of her apartment by Thursday night. So, Alana, Kevin and the rest of the family went to Pullman on Wednesday to help her move. They’ll be back Saturday afternoon. It was getting a bit late by the time we left and we didn’t get back to Mount Vernon until 9pm.

I’ve been playing with my ham radio and I’m getting more comfortable with the program settings and being on the air. I found a repeater located on Mount Seymour which is north of Vancouver, British Columbia. This powerful repeater reaches well into Washington as well as covering western British Columbia and Vancouver Island, Canada.

Without getting too technical, I need to explain something about repeaters. A repeater is a remote station that receives a radio signal and re-transmits that signal at a higher output power. The thing is, it has to receive the signal on a certain frequency, then re-transmit on a different frequency. If it tried to receive and transmit on the same frequency simultaneously, garbled noise would result. The difference between the receive or input frequency and the transmit or output frequency of the reperater is called the offset.

Well, when I found the signal being transmitted by the Canadian repeater, it was transmitting a net or network of users called the Rainbow Country Net. They log in with the net operator at 9am every morning for group discussion. I listened for an hour or so, then the net operator called for anyone that hadn’t checked in to give their call sign, location and name. I keyed the microphone and called in. I was welcomed and told I had a clear, strong signal.

Later, I realized that I had just stumbled upon what I thought was the repeater transmission while I was scanning frequencies. I didn’t have the repeater information, so I hadn’t programmed an offset frequency to transmit into the repeater, I thought I was just monitoring the output. So, what happened was although I thought I was listening to the net from the repeater, I was really capturing the signal going into the repeater and when I transmitted, my signal didn’t go through the repeater – it went directly from station-to-station.

Later, I looked up the repeater online and found the offset. This morning, I joined the net again and told them of my error the day before. The net operator told me he was unaware that I transmitted a simplex station-to-station the day before, my signal was that good.

I had to come up with a way to store the new radio gear. Storage when you’re a full-time RVer is always an issue. I ordered a couple of foam-lined hard shell cases intended for camera equipment to use with my ham radio gear.

I added the Yaesu radio sticker to the large case

The protective cases will make it much easier to store the gear. My radio is made by a Japanese company called Yaesu. I’ve been in a quandry over how I should pronounce the name. Most native English speakers say “YAY-sue.” But that’s not how a native Japanese speaker would pronounce it. They say it with more of a three syllable sound although the second and third syllable are often slurred together. They say “YAH-eh-zu.” YAY-sue sounds kind of country bumpkin to me. Maybe I’ll say a hybrid YAY-eh-zu.

The weather forecast around here seems to change on a daily basis. We were expecting some cooler temperatures, but yesterday we hit 81 degrees and now they’re calling for 85 today. For what it’s worth, the forecast says we’ll see around 80 degrees each day through the weekend.

Shack in a Box

We had a nice visit with family Tuesday afternoon. Donna and I sat out in the back of Kevin and Alana’s place with our granddaughters, Lainey and Gabi and Kevin’s two boys, Nick and Kyle. Kevin and Alana are in the middle of a house painting project and had to run to the store. They arrived shortly after we got there.

Kevin put chicken legs on his Traeger while Alana made loaded baked potatoes, green salad and corn on the cob. We dined on the back patio. It was a good time – I sampled a few of the IPAs they had on hand and all of them were good. We got home just before dark – the sun doesn’t set until around 9pm at this latitude at this time of year.

We drove down again on Wednesday morning and traded Midget-San for Alana’s VW Atlas to drive to Everett for dental appointments. Donna and I had teeth cleaning and check-ups scheduled together at 11am. On the way back, we stopped at Home Depot where I bought a length of PVC pipe and then at Winco Foods where I stocked up on dark roasted Sumatra whole-bean coffee.

We gave Alana her car back and I had a 6-foot length of 1-1/4″ PVC pipe sticking out of the passenger compartment of Midget-San when we drove home. I had all of my new ham radio gear and I only needed to make a couple of cables with PowerPole connectors and assemble an antenna to test out the rig. The PVC pipe would be part of the antenna. I got everything assembled Wednesday afternoon.

While we were at Alana’s, she pointed out her neighbor’s antenna. He has a tower with a ham radio antenna that must be close to 100 feet high. It’s next to a shop building where he parks his boat. I told Alana that the shop must have a “ham shack” inside – that’s what hams call their radio room with all of their equipment. She thought it was pretty funny and said she would have to tell Kevin about ham shacks. I then told her the radio I bought is a multi-band, multi-mode unit that covers frequencies that would usually take two or more radios. They call this type of transceiver a “shack in a box.”

Yaesu FT991A Multi-Band, Multi-Mode transceiver and Samlex SEC-1235M power supply

I wanted to mount the antenna high enough to be taller than the motorhome and trailer. I wish I had made the PVC section longer now – higher is better when it comes to antennas.

After I had everything set up, Alana and Lainey came over for a visit. While they sat inside with Donna, I played with my radio. Since I’m not licensed yet, I could only receive and listen – I can’t transmit until my license is granted. I’ll take the exam Sunday morning.

The Puget Sound area has a radio repeater network called a wide area network. It’s fantastic. By tuning into this network, I was able to listen to a guy in Alaska talk about the major earthquake that hit off the coast up there. A guy in Kentucky was asking him for more information – it was interesting. Yesterday, I listened to a guy at the Grand Canyon and another guy south of Portland, Oregon. This was in addition to local traffic. We found out the reason for the North Cascades Highway closure was due to a rock slide. A guy on the network gave an update – it looks like it’ll remain closed for a few more weeks.

Alana said she Googled “what do ham radio operators talk about?” The answer was “They talk about their ham radios!” I thought that was hilarious, but it’s only partly true.

Yesterday, I drove Donna to La Conner for her hair appointment. The salon is taking great precautions against the spread of coronavirus. They only had two hairstylists and only two customers in the salon at a time. This was her first haircut in about seven months. It took two hours for a cut and highlights.

Later today, we’re planning a run to Costco, then I want to check out a car show a few miles from here – weather permitting. The weather has been cooler than we’re used to. That coupled with the high humidity levels has us feeling a little cold and damp. Tuesday wasn’t bad as the thermometer hit 79 degrees. But on Wednesday it only reached 70 and yesterday was overcast and the high was only 66 degrees.

It’s only 66 degrees now with 62% humidity as I type this. The expected high is only 68 and we have cloud cover again. The forecast looks better – 75 degrees and sunny tomorrow with more sun and 80 degree temperatures as we head into next week.

Not Running Against the Wind

The Fourth of July at the Sweetwater Events Complex in Rock Springs, Wyoming was a real treat. At dusk, several of the neighborhoods around the complex started their own shows. I was amazed at the amount and quality of fireworks people bought and set off. By the time they slowed down, it was time for the sponsored fireworks display over the golf course adjacent to the events complex. This was a first-class show and went on for about half an hour.

Once again, the racers partied on after the races and were noisy well past midnight. On Sunday morning, they all hit the road and we were on our way by 9:45am. Our route took us west on I-80. A couple of miles past Little America, we hit US30 north. This is a nice highway that initially had two lanes in each direction, but eventually turned into a two-lane highway.

US30 took us into Idaho in a stair-step fashion alternating between northbound and westbound. We made our way to I-15 north, then Pocatello where we had reservations on the west side at Batise Springs RV park. This is a small RV park with 12 pull-through sites located next to the creek that becomes the Portneuf River. There’s also a large, covered RV and boat storage lot.

The check-in time was 2pm and we arrived at 2:15pm. Our reservation put us in site #5. After looking at the park map, I could see site #5 was occupied! The office was closed, so Donna phoned the contact number on the office door. She found the attendant – he was cleaning the restrooms. He looked up our reservation, then paid the people in site #5 a visit. It turned out the people in site #5 were scheduled to stay for two more nights, but their reservation had them moving to another site. They decided they didn’t want to move and figured we could set up in the other site.

Luckily we only needed two nights, so it would work out. But what if we had reserved three or more nights? How would they know we could get a site for that long – we wouldn’t want to have to switch sites. I think they should have talked to the camp host and made arrangements to ensure everyone was happy. It turned out fine – we set up in site #12 which is a creek side site.

After we set up Donna, took a hike along the creek trail. I was a little concerned because I saw a “No Trespassing” sign but Donna had read reviews of the RV park that mentioned dog walking and hiking on the creek trail.

The creek trail disappears on a northwest heading through the trees

Eventually Donna came to a gate and had to exit between barbed wire. On the other side of the gate was a sign that read “Absolutely No Trespassing.” She walked back along a road. Later she found out that hiking on the trail is allowed up to a point. There’s a private trout hatchery on property that doesn’t allow visitors, thus the “No Trespassing” sign on the gate.

Monday afternoon, we drove Midget-San back into Pocatello – I took a route that oddly enough is designated as US30. Apparently a short stretch of I-15 is also US30. This road called US30 connects between I-15 and I-86 which also shares the US30 designation all the way to I-84 before US30 branches off again.

Our destination was a nice little brew pub called Jim Dandy Brewing in Old Town. They had good ale and a nice concrete patio for outdoor seating. Tables and chairs were appropriately spaced and we enjoyed a couple of cold ones in the shade outside. The temperature was near 90 degrees, but in the shade it felt cool. There’s very little humidity – we’ve been in eight to 15% humidity since we left Mesa.

I should mention we’re at an elevation of 4,480 feet above sea level here. That’s the lowest elevation we’ve been at since we left Mesa. Fruita, Colorado was close at 4,520 – other than that we’ve been above 6,000 feet everywhere else.

This morning, we planned to head up to Salmon, Idaho. I had the Midget loaded in the trailer last night. But when we got up this morning, the wind was fierce. I looked up the detailed forecast and it showed sustained winds of 20mph+ and gusts well over 30mph all day. Not fun in a big rig – especially one pulling a cargo trailer with nine-foot tall side walls.

We didn’t have to be anywhere, so I made arrangements to stay another night here. No need to fight the wind. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for 10-15 mph wind – much better!

Today’s high should be around 80 degrees and tomorrow also looks good for travel with a high of 80 degrees. Salmon, Idaho should have similar temperatures.

Saturday Night’s Alright

We had quite a weekend here in Cortez, Colorado. On Saturday morning, Donna and I went into town for the Cortez Farmers’ Market. The market is open on Saturdays from 7:30am to 11am. It just opened last week. We didn’t make it there until 10am, but they still had a lot of items on offer and shoppers as well. Everyone was good about social distancing and masks were worn by just about everyone there.

Donna found a few items on her shopping list – and a few that weren’t on the list, including a bag of blue popcorn. When we left, we headed south on Oak Street, which became County Road 25. We were just driving and enjoying the scenery in Midget-San with the top down. It looked like Road 25 would take us to the mountains south of town.

Before we reached the mountains, the road turned to the east. It was a nice drive with houses well-spaced on ranch land. I saw a guy outside of his barn give us a quizzical look as we passed by. I assumed he didn’t see many old British sports cars out here. Half a mile later, I understood his look. A gate blocked the road with a sign saying “Landfill Closed.” This road dead-ended at the county landfill. No wonder he thought it was odd for us to be going this way in a small car.

Despite the long range weather forecast calling for sunny weather, a thunderstorm moved into the area after we returned to La Mesa RV Park. We had a few raindrops and gusty winds. A few RVs pulled into the park for an overnight stay.

Later, Donna and I watched a few episodes of “Shooter” on NetFlix. Before we went to bed, I opened the door and took a look outside to confirm the trailer was locked, then I locked up and went to bed. I fell asleep right away, but Donna said she heard a brief cat fight before she went to sleep.

When we got up Sunday morning, Donna asked if I’d seen Ozark the cat. I hadn’t. She said Ozark never came to bed with her – she usually sleeps next to Donna. Then she heard a cat meowing. It sounded like Ozark and the sound appeared to be coming from outside. Sure enough, Ozark spent the night outside – she was in the generator compartment at the front of the coach. This is only the third time she has left the coach on her own in the last five years. She must have darted out when I checked if the trailer was locked the night before. She was happy to come to Donna and get back inside. She went straight to her food bowl.

Later, we noticed her licking her paws and saw she had injuries. A couple of nails were pulled from her back paws. I irrigated them with hydrogen peroxide while Donna held her and she was okay with it. We’ll have to keep a close eye on her for any sign of infection. I guess Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting!

Our neighbor was getting ready to leave as Donna went out to look for Ozark. She told Donna that a bobcat had come into the park – they saw it come from the field behind us. We don’t know if Ozark tangled with the bobcat or she got into it with another cat that roams the park.

Donna went for a bike ride and followed the six-mile route out to the county landfill. She came back through town and learned that the Wild Edge Brewing Collective was opening for business at 3pm. They set up five tables on the sidewalk – well-spaced – and required masks when ordering or not at a table. We went there to enjoy the fresh air and a cold one or two in the late afternoon.

While Donna was on her bike ride, I cleaned the Traeger wood-pellet fired smoker-grill. I removed the ash from the fire pot and bottom of the pit. Then I used a grill brick to clean the grill grates. I bought a three-pack of grill bricks from Amazon. These bricks are made from pumice and measure about 2-3/4″ x 4″ and 1-3/4 deep. I found this to be a very handy size and easy to use.

Although the pumice bricks are porous and somewhat soft, they are a bit brittle. When I removed the plastic covering, I saw a crack in the brick. A chunk came off one corner. Gently scrubbing back and forth with the brick created grooves where it contacted the grill grates. This soon made the brick “wrap around” the grates to clean the sides. I was able to hold the brick at an angle and use the groove closest to the end to clean further down the sides and under the grate. It was really easy and effective – I’m sold on this method of cleaning the grill. I should mention that I did this with the grill cold. The Traeger has ceramic coated grates and the pumice didn’t leave a scratch.

Grooves in the grill brick – note broken piece from the corner

I should easily get half a dozen or more cleanings from one brick. I bought a pack of three. I’ll keep this one for the Traeger and dedicate one for the Weber Q and have one left over.

Since yesterday was National Bourbon Day, I poured a dram of Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon after dinner. Then opened a bottle of 1792 Bourbon while we watched another two episodes of “Shooter.” The series is a little disappointing – it gets less believable as each episode unfolds. It’s too bad – the books and the original movie were good.

If the weather guessers have it right, we should expect a windy day tomorrow and highs in the mid to upper 80s this week with no rain in the forecast.

Oregon Dunes

After I wrote my previous post on Sunday, Donna and I went out to do some more exploring. We went south through town and crossed the Siuslaw River. The South Jetty area is part of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area in the Siuslaw National Forest. It’s a day-use fee area – you’re allowed to enter and drive through, but you need a $5 pass to park.

The paved road is about 5.5 miles long before it becomes a dirt road. In one section, where an off-road vehicle trail is by the road, there are tall, sharp speed bumps. They’re ridiculous actually. I had to use extreme care to get Midget-San over them without scraping the floor pan. I could see where they had used an asphalt grinder to lower and attempt to smooth the aggressive bumps.

South Jetty is the northernmost section of the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. There are three other locations with this designation within the Siuslaw National Forest – Siltcoos, along the Siltcoos River and beach area, Oregon Dunes Overlook and Tahkanitch.

We drove to the end of the pavement and turned around. We saw a few trails going up the razorback dunes that separate the road from the beach and the Pacific Ocean. We stopped at one and climbed the trail. It was much harder than it looked. The trail was steep. The sand was soft and I sank nearly to my ankles at times. It was also much taller than it looked. I started out climbing the trail too fast and my heart rate immediately elevated. I had to slow down, catch my breath and plod up the trail.

On the beach side of the dune, the face stair-stepped down to the beach. It was much taller and steeper than it appears in the photo.

View from the dune looking back across the Siuslaw River and more sand dunes

Next we stopped at a parking area where people trailered in their off-road vehicles. There was a huge dune next to the parking area and dune buggies, ATVs and motorcycles were climbing up and down it.

It was a lot like the Imperial Dunes area in the California desert west of Yuma – but the sand is finer.

We headed back across the bridge to town. Donna wanted to stop at the Boardwalk Market again and see if there was anything new or interesting there.

The boardwalk in Florence is really a boardwalk – unlike San Diego

While Donna was perusing the market, I wandered away to check out the boats docked at the marina. There was a mix of boats – some fishing vessels, some pleasure craft and a few that looked like live-aboards.

During the day, access to the docks is open. This allows the public to access the fish market on the dock. At night, a key code is needed. I went down and checked out Novelli’s Crab and Seafood market. They had a large pen with live Dungeness crabs. They were mostly sold out of fish.

It doesn’t get any fresher than this – Novelli’s Crab and Seafood

The owners of Novelli’s are commercial fishermen. The fish is literally taken from the boat right at the market.

When Donna finished browsing the market, it was time for a late lunch. We walked a couple of blocks down Bay Street. As we passed our car parked on the side of Bay Street, we saw a girl posing by Midget-San while her friend snapped a photo.

We thought about getting lunch at ICM – a restaurant on the water with outdoor seating on a deck over the river – but their menu didn’t appeal to Donna. We walked to the Beachcomber Pub. I mentioned in my last post that this establishment was opened in the 1960s by the father of our friend, Scott Hicks.

Donna had a salad with shrimp and a bowl of chowder while I went for the fish tacos. The fish taco portions were large and very filling. I paired the fish with an amber ale while Donna enjoyed a chocolate porter. The food was good, but I think the fish and chowder at the South Beach Market in Newport was the best.

On our way out of town, we made a detour to check out the Three Rivers Casino. It’s a fall-back plan if we need to find a place to dry camp for a few nights before we leave. The parking situation there is good with large, marked RV stalls. They allow one night free parking, then you need to earn 50 points per day in the casino to stay for additional nights. I don’t know what earning 50 points entails, we might have to find out.

I needed to get back to our site. I had to set up the Traeger wood-pellet fired smoker grill. I planned to make the babyback ribs I bought at Fred Meyer. I had prepped them the night before – the ribs were well-trimmed already, so I only had to remove the membrane from the bone side and season them with my Memphis-style dry rub. By 6pm, we had yummy babyback ribs for dinner.

Yesterday was a laid back day. I mostly read while Donna did some work on her laptop. I made one trip to the grocery store and gassed up the Midget, otherwise I was a homebody. Donna has been diligent at practicing her clarinet daily. She’s hoping to get good enough to join the orchestra at Viewpoint Golf & RV Resort when we move to Mesa, Arizona at the end of the year.

Some of the trees around here have interesting shapes. The prevailing wind comes from the west, off the ocean. It shapes some of the trees into weird and unusual forms.

The weather has been consistent – warm and windy days with highs around 70 degrees – cooling to the mid-50s at night. Today the wind is supposed to be calm and rain is coming tomorrow. We’re hoping to get a boondocking site at Winchester Bay’s Salmon Harbor Marina on Thursday. We won’t know if one is available until Thursday morning. We hope to spend a few days there and then leave the coast and move east to the mountains.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, 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!

Newport – Seafood City

We pulled out of Tillamook around 11am Friday and continued our journey south on US101 along the Oregon coast. It’s such a scenic drive. We drove past the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge and went through Lincoln City. Back in the early ’90s, we used to hold annual Volkswagen dealer meetings there at the Salishan Lodge – a great full-service resort with a golf course. The route is quite hilly with several short, steep grades and steep downgrades. Most of it is heavily forested on the east side and rocky on the coastline. There are some stunning views from the tops of bluffs.

South of Depoe Bay there’s a steep climb followed by a long descent into Newport. Before we left Tillamook I asked Donna for the address of the RV park. I programmed it into Nally, our Rand McNally RVND7720 GPS. It was a simple route – South on US101 to Newport, but having the GPS is helpful with speed limit warnings and also it will advise us if we are overweight for weight-limited bridges or too tall for overhead clearance.

As we drove into Newport and headed toward Yaquina Bay, the GPS display zoomed in to our destination. I glanced at it and thought it didn’t seem right. I was sure we had to cross the bridge to the south side of the bay, but the route was taking me to the north side. I wondered what Nally knew that I didn’t know.

We went past the Elks Lodge down a steep hill and entered a busy street with apartment complexes. I saw the RV park on the left ahead, but it didn’t seem right. I pulled into the RV drive and had a sinking feeling when I read a sign that said “Dead End – No Turn Around.” What? Who would make an RV park with no way to turn a big rig around.

I figured out what had happened. When we were looking for a park to reserve in Newport, Donna called several places. As we were leaving Tillamook, she looked up the address for the park name she had written down, not realizing that it was not where we made our reservation.

Now I was in trouble. I had to back the trailer into a busy, relatively narrow street and get it turned 90 degrees so I could make a two-point exit. Donna got out and directed traffic. It was more like a six-point turn, but we got it done and headed back to US101. I put the correct destination into Nally and we drove across the Yaquina Bay Bridge and found the Port of Newport RV Park and Marina.

The port has two RV park locations. One is right at the marina and is paved with 50-amp full hook ups. It also has some paved dry camping sites. The other location is a couple of blocks away. It’s an older dirt and gravel park that was once privately owned, but the Port of Newport owns and operates it now. It has 30-amp full hook-up sites and that’s where we managed to reserve a site for a week.

I thought I had enough room to back the trailer in and drop it at our site. I pulled Midget-San out of the trailer and started to back the trailer in. It wasn’t going well – it was a lot tighter than I initially thought and I didn’t have much room to maneuver. A guy came over to help direct me, so I wouldn’t hit a boat trailer across from our site. Then he offered to get his truck and hook up to our trailer so he could position it in our site. I took him up on it and he got it done. Getting back out when we leave on Friday shouldn’t be a problem.

Newport is all about the fishing and almost everyone in our section of the RV park is here for the fishing. All of the guys occupying the five sites in the row across from us have fishing boats at the marina. The bring their boats and RVs here in April and leave them here until October.

The guy that helped me with the trailer is named Vern. He invited me to to come over for a cold one and meet his fishing buddies. They told me they had caught 24 albacore tuna that morning. They have been catching albacore, salmon and halibut.

On Saturday, Donna and I took a ride in the Midget. We drove across the bridge and cruised SW Bay Boulevard on the north side of Yaquina Bay. This is the old harbor district and the narrow street is lined with historic buildings housing seafood markets and many restaurants. From there, we drove to the farmers’ market near the courthouse. Donna bought fresh produce there.

Our next stop was another historic site called Nye Beach. This was a cool, old neighborhood that reminded me of Ocean Beach in San Diego.

View to the north at Nye Beach – that spit of land is Yaquina Head and there’s a lighthouse at the tip

We stopped at a small park with beach access at Nye Beach. To the north at Yaquiona Head, we could see a lighthouse that I would soon learn about.

We drove through the beach side neighborhood south to the Yaquina Bay Recreation Site. This is a public park and it also has an old lighthouse.

The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was only operational for three years – 1871 to 1874. I wondered why that was . We toured the lighthouse and I found out why. It turned out that the lighthouse could be seen from more than eight miles out to sea – unless you approached from the north. The ridge at Yaquina Head obscured the lighthouse and confused sailors.

In 1874, a new lighthouse was completed at Yaquina Head – the one we could see from Nye Beach – so the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse was shut down.

Looking south from the lighthouse – the jetty is the entrance to Yaquina Bay

We reconnoitered more of the marina area by car before we came back home. Later, Donna went out for a walk and found a market nearby that has fresh fish and is also a small cafe. She also found the Wolf Tree Brewery Taproom we were looking for earlier in the day. Apparently, we drove right by it!

On Sunday morning, I watched the Moto GP races from Spielberg, Austria. All three races were superb with lots of action and close racing. In the afternoon, we walked to the lot across from the RV park where the Rogue Brewers on the Bay brewery and taproom is located. It’s a large warehouse type steel building right on the bay. Rogue has been making ale in Newport since 1988.

Donna had a sampler flight of four stouts – she liked all of them but ended up ordering a glass of double chocolate stout. I went for the Dead Guy ale – it was one of my favorites about ten years ago. Rogue also has a distillery here at the marina in another building.

The weather has been very agreeable. The clouds burn off in the late morning or early afternoon and the temperature has been reaching the upper 60s. Nights are cool with temps in the mid 50s. Today we plan to cruise north in Midget-San to Depoe Bay and have a look around. It seemed like a cool town when we rolled through it on our way here. On the way back, we’ll take the Otter Creek Loop – a scenic drive with a small state park. The forecast calls for a high of 71 today – of course we’ll cruise with the convertible top down!

The Goonies

On Tuesday afternoon, we rode our bikes through town. I couldn’t believe how crowded it was – this is the height of the Oregon Coast tourist season. The sidewalks were crowded like a Disneyland street. Bicycles were probably the best way to get through town.

We went north across Ecola Creek on Fir Street then found Ecola State Park Road. The park is on a bluff and the road climbs steeply. About half a mile up the road – maybe halfway to the park – it became steeper with sharp curves. I dismounted and asked Donna to remind why we were doing this. We decided to turn around and go to the beach access at the end of 5th Street.

Another view of Haystack Rock and the beach at Ecola Creek

Although it was cloudy and the temperature was only in the low 60s, there were people on the beach. Not this San Diego boy! We rode back into town and stopped at the bike shop – I wanted to buy a tube patch kit. The store owner was the only guy working there and he had his hands full. One large family was renting bikes while another family was returning rental bikes. When I mentioned the steep entrance to Ecola State Park, he told me that not only was it steep, but it’s dangerous. He said cars whip through the curves on the narrow road. I was glad we bailed on it.

We made another stop at the Tuesday farmers’ market in town. It was smaller than we expected, but Donna bought some produce there. Donna had posted some pictures from her walk earlier on Facebook and a few people mentioned the movie The Goonies when they saw where she was. On Tuesday night, we watched that old movie. Although it’s supposed to be set in Astoria, Bird Rocks and Haystack Rock are prominent in some of the scenes. We thought the movie was a bust.

On Wednesday, Donna took another bike ride, this time to the south toward Tolovana Park. She shot another photo of Haystack Rock.

Haystack Rock on the right, Needles on the left

In the afternoon, we rode our bicycles to Pelican Brewing for a couple of cold ones. Pelican has been brewing since 1996 and they have some great beers. They have three brew pubs on the coast in Pacific City, Cannon Beach and Tillamook.

Speaking of Tillamook, we loaded up Thursday morning and pulled out of Cannon Beach RV Resort. We headed south on US101 – it’s very scenic. We went about 50 miles to the Blue Heron French Cheese Company. This is a country store featuring a deli, wines, cheeses and assorted gifts. It located right on US101, a couple of miles south of the Tillamook Creamery. The property is an old farmstead and they offer free overnight dry camping.

We found a level spot to claim and went inside to check in. They gave us a parking pass and a list of rules. They allow up to two nights of dry camping – no tents. They have farm animals and lots of fowl – chickens, turkeys and peafowl along with goats and sheep. It’s a popular lunch stop for families and lots of kids enjoy the animals. We had a very good lunch at a table inside. The deli service is a little slow, but the food was great.

In the late afternoon, the cloudy skies finally cleared and we had the first sunset we’ve been able to see in days. Today we’ll continue south on US101 to an RV park right at the marina in Newport. We’ll be there for the next week.

Across the Columbia

Sunday was our last full day in South Bend. We rode our bikes across town at mid-day and found Linda’s Fish and Chips on the east end of town. It’s a popular spot and has a large parking area that can accommodate RVs. It’s just a food trailer, but the food is good and the property is nice with a large lawn area and several picnic tables with umbrellas. The view downriver from the lot is nice. We stopped for lunch and ate at one of the tables.

From there we rode across the lot to the bike path to Raymond. The bike path is mostly paved, but there are several short unpaved sections. Donna is loving her Trek Dual Sport 2 – it handles the dirt sections almost as well as my mountain bike. Her bike is faster than mine on the pavement though.

About halfway between South Bend and Raymond, we found a small RV park right on the river. It had about a dozen sites and was next door to a boat shop specializing in catamarans. They had two very large catamarans on the lot – I wonder how they launch these behemoths. They looked like you could easily live aboard and cruise the ocean. I could get used to that!

We stopped at the grocery store in Raymond and Donna bought cereal and bananas before we rode back. We were within a quarter-mile of our coach when my front tire went flat. I must have picked up a blackberry thorn. This close to the trailer I didn’t mess with it on the side of the road, I just walked it back.

Sunday evening, I watched the Moto GP race – it turned out to be one of the least exciting races of the season. I had most of our things packed in the trailer – I only left Donna’s bike and our camp chairs out to pack in the morning. Donna wanted to ride her bike to the market in the morning. Our new set-up in the trailer is working well, but I have a few items I’d like to find a better place to store. This photo illustrates why I wanted such a small car. Midget-San is small enough for me to open the driver’s door and exit without any trouble once it’s inside the trailer. I keep a car cover on it in case anything gets loose in the trailer.

We were on the road again by 10:30am Monday morning. As we headed toward Bruceport on US101, I was behind a few cars that were traveling about 50mph. I kept a distance of about 100 – 150 feet behind the car in front of me and matched their speed. Behind us was a tractor trailer rig. Apparently the truck driver couldn’t see the traffic in front of me and decided he needed to get past me. When I noticed him swinging out to the oncoming lane to pass, I was shocked. There was a downhill curve ahead and he wasn’t going to get past me before we hit it. I braked to 40mph so he could overtake us and get back into our lane. For the next 20 miles he was about 150 feet ahead of us. His dangerous maneuver netted him a two-second advantage.

We cut south on WA4 and WA401 to the mouth of the Columbia River where we rejoined US101 and crossed the bridge to Astoria, Oregon. We had planned a stop there to pick up beer at the Safeway store – I had scoped out the parking situation on Google. We also wanted to walk on the Astoria Riverwalk.

Our timing was impeccable. They were repainting traffic lines on Highway 30 through Astoria and traffic crawled through town. We could have walked the three miles to the store faster than driving there, but that wasn’t an option.

We parked behind the Safeway store by an abandoned building. A travel trailer was directly in front of the building, so we were partially blocking a driveway. The driveway had a cable locked to posts in front blocking access, so I didn’t worry about it.

The Astoria Riverwalk is a paved multi-use trail along the Columbia River. On the south side of the trail, there are a number of office buildings interspersed among townhomes and condos. It’s gentrified and appears upscale.

I think this was a cannery – abandoned now

There were eight cargo ships we could see moored in the Columbia. Most of the cargo ships entering and exiting the river are bringing cargo to Portland from other West Coast ports or the Far East.

With few exceptions, ships entering the Columbia River are required to have a licensed pilot guide it through the treacherous Columbia River Bar. Pilots from Astoria take control of the ships and navigate past the bar. Then a licensed Columbia River pilot takes over for the remainder of the cruise to Portland.

When we got back to the coach, someone had unlocked the cable and managed to drive around us. I felt bad about us blocking it. Donna talked to the guy and he was alright with it though.

From Astoria, we continued south on US101 – it’s a scenic drive down the Oregon Coast. We checked in at Cannon Beach RV Resort around 1:30pm. They have a bit of a branding issue here – in some cases, the RV park is called Cannon Beach RV Resort, other times it’s called the RV Resort at Cannon Beach. In fact, their campsite map and information flyer has both names on it!

We dropped the trailer near the entrance. We decided to leave Midget-San in the trailer. We can ride our bikes to anywhere in town or up to the state park if we want. We have a full hook-up, 42-foot back-in site. It’s paved with a nice lawn area and the park is surrounded by mature trees.

I set up and immediately dumped and flushed our black tank. Over the last two months, I only got to dump it twice and both times, I couldn’t use the flushing system. With that done, Donna told me she was going to try the Dish satellite network. I thought “Good luck with that” as I eyed the trees. Five minutes later, she had satellite reception! The park wifi was also very good – at least at first it was. Verizon signal is not good here.

In the evening, when more users were on the park wifi, it totally bogged down. It was even worse first thing this morning. I’m typing this post on Word Pad, then hopefully I can successfully transfer it to WordPress for publication. I probably won’t try to post again until we move on to a better signal.

We’ll explore on our bikes today – I fixed my flat tire this morning. We’ll have another full day tomorrow before we continue south. This park is a little pricier than we usually like to pay, but that’s the coast in season. When we left Arlington, our first night at Cabela’s was free. Then we had three nights at South Bend for $10/night. So we averaged $7.50/night for the first four nights. Three nights here came to $165 with tax, bringing our total to $195 for a week. That’s an average of $27.85/night. Mixing it up like this keeps costs low. Thursday night we’ll boondock before we hit Newport and another pricey place.

The weather here is much cooler with highs in the 60s. The mornings are cloudy with a marine layer that’s expected to burn off in the afternoons.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Beer

Two Short Moves

Tri-tip Delight

Sending and Receiving

Shack in a Box

Not Running Against the Wind

Saturday Night’s Alright

Oregon Dunes

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, 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!

Newport – Seafood City

The Goonies

Across the Columbia

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*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, 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!

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