Category Archives: Beer

Wheelin’ and Dealin’

We made a lot of progress this week and have to start thinking about our next move. I mentioned in my last post that a thief stole the MG emblem off Midget-San. Luckily, they didn’t cause any damage, but it bothers me that the person had to know how the emblem was attached to steal it. They obviously opened the trunk lid and pulled the speed nuts off the mounting posts. If they had just yanked the emblem off, the speed nuts would have fallen into the trunk, but there weren’t any speed nuts to be found.

I ordered a replacement emblem from Northwest Import Parts in Portland, Oregon. They were great to deal with. I received an e-mail confirmation right away and they had shipped it via USPS Priority mail on Monday. I received the part along with speed nuts on Wednesday. Speed nuts are just clips that have angled tabs. The clips are pressed by hand over the mounting posts and the angled tabs grip the plastic posts and prevent the nuts from falling off.

Underside of MG emblem with three plastic mounting posts

Holes in the rear deck lid where emblem mounts

I put a thin bead of room temperature vulcanizing (RTV) silicone at the base of the mounting posts on the emblem. This serves two purposes – it seals the holes in the deck lid to prevent any water from entering and it also acts as an adhesive, thus making it tougher for someone to walk away with the emblem again.

Lifestyles Recreational Products in Mount Vernon finally got the ECM and installed it on the Spyder Thursday. They told me their mechanic thought it still ran a little rough. I didn’t understand how this could be, it was running perfectly fine until the ECM failed. So on Friday morning, I went up to their shop and road tested the Spyder. It ran perfectly fine, smooth, good acceleration and no fault codes. I settled the bill and promptly sold the Spyder.

Donna mentioned that this marks the first time in 13 years that she doesn’t have a motorcycle to ride. I thought about it and realized I had one or more motorcycles for the last 20 years and had motorcycles off and on for nearly 50 years. Maybe another will come along in the future, but for now we’ve transitioned to four wheels and Midget-San.

On Friday afternoon, we went to Arlington Velo Sport to pick up Donna’s new bicycle. They received the bike Friday and prepped it and installed the rear rack and special pedals. Donna ordered pedals that are dual-purpose – on one side they clip to SPD-type shoe cleats while the opposite side is a flat pedal for “normal” shoes. The rear rack holds a bag specifically made for it. It clips into place with a quick release mount. The side pouches hold fold-out nylon bags that become extra storage saddle bags. Donna loves the idea of riding her bike to the grocery store and not having to ride home with a full back pack.

The bike is nicely equipped – it has front suspension, disc brakes, three front chain rings and an eight-speed rear cluster. Trek describes it as a City/Trekker bike. It’s versatile and should serve Donna well, whether she’s riding on pavement or dirt bike trails.

Donna bought a bottle of amber ale for me, brewed by Ten Pin Brewing in Moses Lake, Washington. This was a far cry from the lousy ale I had at Ale Spike on Camano Island. The Ten Pin was brewed to style with a smooth, balanced malt character subtly bittered with 35 IBUs. This one is a winner!

We’ve had great weather this week with lots of sun and temperatures reaching the low 80s. Last night, we had rain showers overnight and it’s overcast this morning, but the skies are supposed to clear again this afternoon. Donna’s heading out for her first ride on her new bike. She’s going to stop at the farmer’s market in Arlington and also make a stop at the grocery store.

We’ll be discussing travel plans and figuring out where to go from here. We signed up for an Alpine Coach Association Rally – the Eastern Sierras Rally. We were there in the spring, but weather chased us away and we didn’t get to see most of the sights we wanted to visit. The 13-day Alpine Coach Rally has a number of tours set up and we’ll be able to explore. We’ll be following a similar route that we took on our way up north, but we’ll be going in the opposite direction this time once we hit the Sierra Nevada mountains. The rally starts September 5th, so we’ll have a month to wander as we make our way to the starting point in Carson City, Nevada.

Vintage Trailers and Cars

We’re still here in Alana’s driveway in Arlington, Washington. There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel though – Lifestyles Recreational Products expects to have the parts to complete the repair of the Spyder this week. Then I have to sell it.

We’ve been thinking about ways to increase available space in the trailer. I’ll need room to load Midget-San in there with enough clear space to avoid any damage to the car. After bicycling on Thursday, Donna came up with an idea. We were storing four bicycles in the trailer – her road bike, her beater bike, my road bike and my mountain bike.

I haven’t ridden my Orbea road bike in over a year. Donna isn’t planning to do any more long distance events like RAGBRAI with her road bike. She thought she should get rid of her bikes and replace them with one hybrid road/trail bike. I could get rid of my Orbea since I haven’t been riding it. That would take two bicycles out of the trailer but we would still have bikes to ride.

On Friday, we rode our bikes – Donna on her Trek Madone road bike, me on my Orbea – to Arlington Velo Sport bike shop. We did a little horse trading and ended up leaving both bikes there on trade and placing an order for a Trek Dual Sport 2 hybrid bike for Donna. The bike should be here by the end of the week.

The rest of this post is picture heavy. The weather has improved since my last post. Friday we had a high of about 70 degrees and enjoyed the two-mile walk back to Alana’s place from the bike shop. Saturday was another clear, sunny day with a high in the upper 70s. Donna and I drove Midget-San to Stanwood for a vintage RV (trailer) show. They had over a dozen restored RVs from the ’50s and ’60s on display. Some of the old rigs were very small, but usable for weekend camping.

Beautiful truck and trailer from the ’50s

You could find something like this in every suburban neighborhood in the ’60s

Spartan Aircraft Company Royal Spartanette

This 1951 Royal Spartanette was built by the Spartan Aircraft Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma. These were very expensive travel trailers and were considered “The Cadillac of trailers.” The floor plan on this one was laid out in such a way that it seemed roomier than our coach with the slides out! I wonder what they used to tow this rig?

We had lunch at the Chinese restaurant behind the Spartanette trailer at the Phoenix Pavilion. The food was great. After lunch, we took a drive over the bridge to Camano Island. Donna found free public access to the water on the island. We drove to English Boom Preserve and parked there.

The name comes from the 1920s-1930s when the English Lumber Company logged trees in the area and floated log booms into Skagit Bay here. We were there at low tide and the bay is basically a tidal flat here. This tidal flat is an important habitat for salmon. Smolts swim out of the rivers they were spawned in – mainly the Snohomish, Stillaguamish and Skagit Rivers – and the eel grass along this flat provides cover for them as they grow and enter the sea.

Tidal flat at English Boom – snow covered Mount Baker in the center background

We made a stop at Ale Spike Brewery on the island. Donna liked her porter but I wasn’t impressed with my choice there. I should have known better when the Firechicken Ale I chose was described as red ale – amber. Okay, which is it – a red ale or an amber? It didn’t taste like either one – it was bitter with a yeasty aftertaste. Although the bar maid said it was their most popular brew, I didn’t care for it at all.

After we came home, I went out to the Burger King parking lot nearby. When I lived here in the early 2000s, I had a couple of old Corvettes in the garage. On Saturday evenings, the local hot rodders would gather in the Burger King lot to swap lies and admire each other’s cars. I hadn’t been there in over 15 years, but I wanted to see if they still came out. They did.

A guy I knew named Jan Boyd once owned this car in Darrington – big supercharger

The rear license plate folds up to show off the chrome

The guys there told me there was a big car show the following day – Sunday – up in Bellingham. They said they expected around 400 cars there.

On Sunday morning, Alana’s boyfriend, Kevin, and his sons picked up Alana, Gabi and Gabi’s friend, Kennedy around 6:30am. They were off to the airport for a flight to Hawaii. They’re spending the week on the big island and are looking forward to time on the beach and the golf course.

I made the 50-mile drive up to Bellingham in Midget-San while Donna used Alana’s car to go play pickleball in Marysville. I’m still resting the groin pull – it’s been a bother for months now.

The car show in Bellingham was a fundraiser for veterans. I used to do car shows with my Corvettes – I had a 1965 big block roadster and a 1972 LT-1 T- top. I got tired of the car show scene after a few years though.

At the show in Bellingham, I found myself drawn more to the vintage and unusual cars instead of ogling all of the muscle cars – the Camaros, Corvettes and Mustangs.

Remember the mid-engined truck at Burger King? This is what it was originally like

Fully restored 1950s MGA – it even has the original tool kit and oilers

MGB with a supercharged 215ci aluminum block Buick V8

The 215 cubic inch Buick aluminum block V8 was developed by General Motors and brought to market in 1960. This engine was way ahead of its time. It was lightweight and durable and produced great power. But it didn’t catch on with the American consumer – bigger was always thought to be better. Eventually GM sold all of the tooling and rights to Rover in England and they used versions of this engine into the 1990s.

I talked to the owner of the blue MGA. He had pictures of the car as he found it sitting in a pasture – rusty, missing a rear quarter panel, no hood or grill. He and his son restored it to this condition and he bought the trailer so he and his wife could drive the car from Washington to Reno, Nevada for a week at the Hot August Nights car show.

It turned out his son was the guy with the supercharged Buick V8 MGB in the previous picture. Talented car guy – he can handle all the mechanical aspects, design and fabricate, weld and paint.

This Morris Minor was designed for the narrow roads of England. I think this coupe is smaller than Midget-San.

This Ford built in England is much smaller than its American counterparts. Small ruled the road in England while bigger was better here.

There was a downside to the car show. While Midget-San was parked there, someone decided they needed the MG emblem on the rear deck lid and removed it from the car. I can hardly believe someone would steal the emblem from the car, but there it is. I ordered a replacement and should have it in a few days. Sheesh!

The week ahead calls for rain Tuesday night. Otherwise, we should be in for warm, sunny days with highs around 80 degrees. Donna’s new bike should arrive on Thursday.

Sway Goes Away

We’ve had a couple of interesting visitors here at Richardson Park.

The first was our neighbor who set up in site 39, next to us. His name was Paul Manuel and he came down from Tacoma in his National Tradewinds motorhome. He’s a bit of a traveling minstrel – he plays the flute and attends music festivals around the area. He once owned a deli and now he and his son set up a food trailer at festivals and are known for their Philly cheese steak sandwiches. They also make subs and other fare, but the cheese steak is the most popular menu item and their claim to fame.

He sat on a picnic table in the center of the park and played his flute – he’s very good. Donna went over to compliment his playing and then invited him to visit with us for a while. He has a six-acre hobby farm in southeast Tacoma and invited us to park at his place if we’re ever in the area. He left yesterday around noon, but will return for the music festival in Veneta July 12 -14th.

The other visitor came by around noon yesterday. His name is Mike Justice – a blog follower that has a farm near the park. He came bearing gifts – he brought hazelnuts from his farm that he roasted and seasoned with a barbeque salt and they are delicious. He also gifted us with two bottles of double IPA from Pelican Brewing on the Oregon Coast. I paired it with last night’s dinner of shrimp over cauliflower rice. Nice. Thanks, Mike!

Any time you see the word “double” in a beer description, it means the recipe has been kicked up a notch – just like adding “imperial” to the name. In this case, the beer has a higher gravity with a 9% ABV. Of course, to offset the maltiness of such a high gravity brew, additional hops are used for bittering.

With the afternoon temperature hitting 95 degrees, Donna took a floatie tube to the beach area of the lake and cooled off. I passed on going in the water as I have a small spot of dermatitis on my right foot. I took a short stroll down the path through the woods from our site to the marina area of Fern Ridge Lake.

There’s a nice grassy park next to the marina and a host with a 5th-wheel trailer set up there.

People picnicking in the park on the left – another marina on the right

Richardson Park is surrounded by working farms. There’s everything from hazelnuts to strawberries growing around here. We even have a cherry tree in our site that’s bearing fruit. I could hear a farm implement at the edge of the park and wondered what it was. It turned out to be a hay baler.

Source Engineering phoned in the afternoon and told me the sway bar links arrived. We made arrangements to have them installed this morning at 9:30am. Donna booked another night here, so we’ll move on Friday morning.

It only took about an hour to have the old links removed and new links with new bushings installed. What a difference proper tension on the sway bar makes – much better cornering and a smoother ride.

The sway bar is a “U” shaped steel torsion bar with the lower portion of the “U” flattened and elongated. The lower part of the “U” – a straight section – is attached to the front axle. At either end of the “U,” there’s a mounting point where links join the ends of the sway bar to the chassis frame rails.

Here’s how it works – picture making a sharp right turn. Centrifugal force will cause the body and chassis of the coach to roll to the outside of the turn. In this example, the body rolls to the left, compressing the suspension on the left side while extending the suspension on the right side.

With a sway bar attached to the axle and frame rails, as the chassis tries to roll to the left, the right end of the sway bar is pulled up. Meanwhile the left end of the sway bar is being pushed down. This creates a torsion – a twisting force – on the length of the sway bar attached to the axle. Of course the steel torsion bar resists this force and lessens the amount of body/chassis roll. It greatly enhances vehicle handling.

Today the high temperature should reach the mid-80s. Tonight should be cool with a low in the mid-50s and tomorrow should be sunny with a high around 80. We plan to head out tomorrow morning. The wind is forecast to be fairly calm and it should be a good day for travel.

Oh Hail!

The Rolling Hills RV Park is only a few miles from downtown Corning. The city has a population of about 7,500 people and the town itself is quite compact. We rode the Spyder into town on Thursday and our first stop was the Olive Pit. This is a familiar place for us – I usually make a stop there any time we pass through this area. The Olive Pit, as you can imagine, specializes in olives. They have every type of olive including some unusual combinations. I sampled the blue cheese-jalapeno stuffed olives this time and they were great! They also have a good selection of wines and craft beers.

Donna bought some lime gose beer. Gose is an unusual beer that has gained popularity lately. It’s slightly sour and salty and very refreshing on a warm afternoon. It’s usually brewed to a relatively low strength with the ABV under 5%. I chose a couple of sour beers as well – a nectarine saison and a sour IPA.

We made a stop at the post office where Donna had a general delivery package sent by her sister, Linda. It was an assortment of olive oils and balsamic vinegars from Tarpon Springs, Florida – a birthday present for Donna. On the way out of town, we made a quick stop for a photo op at the giant olive on the city limit at the intersection of South Avenue and Hall Road.

Back at the RV park, Donna prepared a dish called saucy chicken. She sliced chicken breasts lengthwise – she uses the Spyderco Sentoku chef’s knife I bought for her to do this. It works like a charm on slicing chores like this. She marinated the chicken in a garlic-soy marinade and browned it in a pan, then a sauce with white wine, chicken broth, lemon juice, mustard and thyme. It was a bit of a complicated dish. It was tasty and she served it with sweet potato mash made with Greek yogurt.

Saucy chicken, sweet potato mash and asparagus

On Friday morning, we rode the Spyder through Corning and went northeast through the small town of Tehama where we crossed the Sacramento River. We followed CA99 north until we found Bianchi Orchards. We were there to learn something about walnuts and of course purchase some of them.

This walnut tree outside the Bianchi barn/store is over 100 years old

A barn on the property has been converted into a store/gift shop. We learned that more than a dozen English walnut varieties are grown in the area. California has more than 40 varieties in total but the most popular are Chandler, Hartley and Howard.

Chandler walnuts were developed by the University of California – Davis in 1978. The Chandler variety is the most popular and produces a large, well-sealed nut. The meat is a golden honey color. They are very uniform in color with a thin skin on the meat. Some people say they are on the bland side, but I found them to be creamy without any of the bitterness sometimes found in darker walnut meats.

California produces 98% of the walnuts consumed in the USA – 40% of the world’s consumption! The area from Tehama to Red Bluff is mostly walnut orchards, although we did see some pistachio groves as well.

Inside the Bianchi store, they have an interesting countertop/bar. It’s made from a flat-sawn walnut tree trunk. The finish on it is beautiful and somehow they managed to preserve the bark.

Walnut countertop at the back of the bar includes a walnut backsplash

We bought a three-pound bag of shelled Chandler walnuts for $15 – a deal!

Back at the park, I was sitting outside after dinner reading a book and puffing a cigar. I felt the wind pick up and when I looked up, I saw large, dark clouds approaching. No rain was in the forecast but it felt like rain was imminent. I looked at the Radar Express app on my phone. We were being straddled by two storm cells!

I quickly covered the Spyder, moved the chairs and table into the trailer and stayed in the trailer to finish my cigar. Within minutes, I heard sharp strikes on the roof of the trailer. We had hail! It was the size of large blueberries with some of the hail more like cherry size.

This wasn’t in the forecast, but I was glad I checked the radar app and got things put away.

Saturday morning we rode the Spyder back to Chico for the farmers’ market. In the past, we found some of the best produce and unbelievably low prices at this farmers’ market. Donna found the best looking baby bok choy we’ve ever seen and a large bundle was only $2.00!

Saturday evening, Donna lightly coated the fresh bok choy with sesame oil, then salted and peppered it and put it on the grill. Likewise, she prepared some baby bella mushrooms from the farmers’ market by lightly coating them with olive oil. After cooking the mushrooms she added a light dash of salt and pepper. By the way, I find the name baby bella confusing. These small mushrooms are called portabella – but they’re known as portobello when they’re full sized. They’re also known as cremini when small. They are full of nutrients and all I know for sure is these were delicious! Donna served leftover pork tenderloin kabobs over brown basmati rice with the fresh take from the market.

Rain showers developed again after dark Saturday night. We had showers off and on throughout the night and into this morning. We stayed indoors all morning – I watched the Formula One race from Monaco. I have the Indy 500 on the tube now.

The skies are supposed to clear this afternoon although it’ll remain cool – around 70 degrees. Tomorrow should be warmer for Memorial Day. We’ll pay our respects to those that sacrificed all while serving our country. Tomorrow is also Donna’s birthday – which coincides with my youngest daughter, Shauna’s birthday. We have dinner reservations at Timbers to celebrate tomorrow night.

Taking a Pass

We started the week with pickleball at the Evelyn Mount Community Center Monday morning. There were a few unfamiliar faces there and the level of play was very high. The way they rotate players on the courts is a little different – sometimes it results in the same pair playing together for multiple games. Also, some of the players on Monday wanted to play against specific people, so they were re-arranging the order of paddles waiting to play. No one did this to gain a wait time advantage – if they wanted a particular group to play together, they went to the back of the queue.

It was warm on Monday and I worked up a pretty good sweat before we were done at 11:45am. On the ride home, we made a stop at Winco Foods – one of my favorite grocery stores. We only needed a few things and I found an IPA from one of my favorite breweries – 10 Barrel Brewing from Bend, Oregon.

They also had fresh sushi made onsite – something I hadn’t seen at any other Winco store we’ve shopped at. We picked up some for lunch and it was excellent.

On Monday night, Donna prepared fish for dinner. She made walnut-crusted tilapia which she served with coconut-cauliflower risotto and green beans. You might recall a meal I described last week that was similar but it was tortilla-crusted tilapia.

Tuesday was basically a repeat of Monday. We played pickleball all morning and returned to Sparks Marina RV Park. We really like this park – it’s level, very clean and well-maintained and it’s quiet – it also has the best wifi of any park we’ve stayed at. It’s a little on the pricey side though – more than we usually want to pay. I should mention the pickleball at Evelyn Mount Community Center costs one dollar per person each day. The weird rotation on Tuesday had me paired up with the same guy for four games in a row – we played well together and won all four games, so I shouldn’t complain. Donna was partnered with the same guy for three games.

Tuesday evening Donna prepared another favorite meal. It was pizza chicken – that’s not a typo, I don’t mean chicken pizza. Pizza chicken is a dish that uses flat, thin slices of chicken breast in place of pizza dough. She tops it with the marinara sauce, pepperoni slices, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses. When it comes out of the oven, she tops it with kalamata olives, chopped red onion and pepperoncini.

It’s a tasty dish and avoids using dough – Donna keeps flour and sugar out of her meals. She served the pizza chicken on top of roasted spaghetti squash.

I packed a few things in the trailer in advance of our departure on Thursday. Tuesday night we had a change in he weather. We woke to rain drops Wednesday morning – I had covered the Spyder the night before and had the Weber Q grill, Donna’s bike and folding chairs packed away. The rain put the kabosh on going to play pickleball. We would’ve been soaked on the Spyder.

The rain cleared away by noon but the wind really picked up. It was so gusty that I retracted the window awnings! Then I had a special weather advisory appear on my Radar Express phone app. It warned of a series of storms from the Pacific crossing California and into Nevada. Snow was expected on the mountain passes along with strong gusty winds. Travel advisories warned against crossing the Sierra Nevada range in high profile vehicles – high profile is defined as anything over nine feet tall. We’re over 12 feet tall.

I looked at the Donner Pass webcam provided by Caltrans and NDOT. The road was dry and clear Wednesday afternoon, but I took the advisory seriously. We didn’t need to be anywhere, so I went to the office and extended our stay until Saturday. The forecast called for snow and high winds by Thursday morning with the gusty winds continuing through Friday. Saturday promises a break in the weather before another storm comes through Saturday night and Sunday. The new plan is to make a dash over the pass and into California on Saturday morning.

Wednesday evening Donna made another favorite dish – flank steak stir fry with broccoli, mushrooms and scallions over rice. Simple and yummy!

This morning I took another look at the live Caltrans-NDOT web cam on Donner Pass. We made the right call. The road was covered with snow and I watched in real time as a minivan slid out of its lane and came to a stop on the shoulder. We don’t need to drive in that slop. I didn’t see any big rigs crossing the pass. The forecast calls for a wintry mix with gusty wind over the pass today.

The temperature here in Sparks is only supposed to reach the upper 50s today and tomorrow. I’m hoping the expected break in the weather on Saturday holds true.

Exploring Reno/Sparks

After I wrote my last post Saturday morning, we headed out on the Spyder. We rode to the Reno Riverfest – a summer kick-off held at Wingfield Park near downtown Reno. Wingfield Park is an island in the Truckee River, which flows right through town, accessible via pedestrian bridges, two on the north side and one on the south. The Riverfest featured a number of events including a kayak competition, several bands on two bandstands, vendor tents and beer gardens.

Entry was free and a sunny Saturday meant huge crowds in the park. The temperature was around 80 degrees.

Pedestrian bridge on the north side over the Truckee River

We watched the kayaks on the south side for a while. The competitors had to paddle upstream through rapids and maneuver through a series of gates. It looked very technical as they had to quickly change direction to get through the course.

We listened to a guy performing an excellent blues set with just his acoustic guitar and a great voice. He was good!

We didn’t hang around for too long. It was very crowded and Donna had left her I.D. back at the coach, so we couldn’t go into the beer garden. On the way back, we stopped at The Depot Craft Brewery Distillery. We sampled a couple of tasty brews made onsite – they were okay with Donna not having her proof of age. They also have five stills for distilling spirits, but we didn’t try any liquor.

On the way to the Riverfest, Donna spotted a storefront with a sign advertising hand rolled cigars. We made a stop there on the way back. It was Ruiz Cigar Lounge. This is a cigar shop featuring Ruiz cigars – rolled onsite by Marvin Ruiz and also some Ruiz cigars from his family’s factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. Marvin is an interesting and very friendly guy. He moved to Nevada from Nicaragua in 2005. He imports tobacco from his family’s farm and rolls cigars. He learned the trade in Nicaragua, first working at the Padron factory where his father and grandmother also worked at one time. Later he worked for Drew Estate and then Perdomo.

We talked cigars for a while as he showed me his selection and described many of the cigars in the Ruiz line up. I bought one to try, then he surprised us with a treat. He brought out some tobacco leaves and described the different leaves. They were all Nicaraguan from Esteli and Jalapa. He realized I knew a little bit about cigar construction as we discussed different leaf types and methods of rolling the filler.

Then he proceeded to roll a cigar. It was like watching a magician. His movements were quick and precise – he had the filler bunched and rolled in the binder so quickly that there must have some sleight of hand involved. He was almost done with the cigar before I could start snapping photos.

Already rolling the filler bunch with binder leaf

The bunch and binder are hidden by his right hand as he makes a cut with a chaveta – a special type of knife for cigar making

He laid out the wrapper leaf to finish the cigar

Finished cigar – old school style without using any molds

He gave me the Churchill cigar he’d just rolled. How generous is that?!

Off the shelf Ruiz cigar on the right – the shaggy foot Churchill he made for me on the left

I puffed the shaggy foot Churchill after dinner. It was a very nice cigar and I enjoyed it immensely.

On Sunday, Donna rode her beater bike to do some shopping nearby. While she was out, she went to Petco and brought home a surprise for Ozark the cat. Ozark has only been outside of our coach a few times in the four years since she joined us. She likes to sit on the steps behind the screen door or in her window bed to watch the outside world, but she isn’t inclined to go out.

Donna brought home a cat harness and leash. We fit the harness to Ozark and Donna took her out. She seemed to like it. She rolled in the synthetic turf in our site and they took a short walk. I’m wondering if this will encourage Ozark to go out on her own – that wouldn’t be a good thing.

Our site with fake grass at Sparks Marina RV Park

Sunday afternoon, I went back to Ruiz Cigar Lounge and sat with Marvin and shot the breeze while we puffed our cigars. He told me a lot of interesting stories about growing up in Nicaragua as a third-generation cigar roller. Another fellow from Nicaragua came into the lounge – I don’t recall his name – he told me Marvin is a Master Torcedor – a title given to only the most highly skilled cigar rollers. I bought a few more cigars from him.

While we’re back on full hook-ups, Donna is taking advantage by catching up on laundry and preparing some fine dinners. Saturday night she made one of our favorites – chicken enchilada skillet casserole.

Sunday she whipped up coconut cauliflower risotto while I grilled chicken thighs. She served it with steamed spinach.

Grilled chicken thighs with coconut cauliflower risotto and steamed spinach

This morning we returned to the Evelyn Mount Community Center for pickleball. The games we’re all high level and we had fun. We’ll go back again.

The weather here in Sparks, Nevada has been holding up fine. Daily highs are in the upper 70s. It should be cooler Wednesday with a possibility of rain on Thursday. We’re scheduled to depart on Thursday – with any luck we’ll beat the rain. I’m not sure where we’re going next – maybe Susanville, California. I’ll be sure to top off our fuel tank before we enter California – diesel fuel prices are about a dollar less per gallon in Nevada than they are in California.

Mono Lake, Hot Springs and Sparks

June Lake was gorgeous and we wouldn’t have minded spending a couple more days there. But, with snow in the forecast we packed up and got away Wednesday morning. We left Oh! Ridge Campground around 10:30am. We took the scenic route completing the CA158 loop through town and past Grant Lake. This section of the road is typically closed in winter. It was a beautiful drive.

We headed north once again on US395 and made a stop north of Lee Vining at the Mono Lake Visitor Center. This is a nice center – it’s practically a museum. I think it’s the nicest one we’ve seen since we stopped at the Missouri River Visitor Center on I-90.

Mono Lake is unique in that it’s fed by at least six mountain streams, but has no outflow. The 45,000-acre lake is about 13 miles long and nine miles wide. Lake water levels are kept in check by evaporation in the dry desert climate. Minerals concentrate in the water which is highly alkaline.

In 1941, the city of Los Angeles struck again. They diverted water from four of the streams feeding the lake. This caused the lake level to drop by 50 vertical feet and further concentrated the minerals in the lake, doubling the salinity. This affected the ecosystem. Brine shrimp are found in the lake and are an important food source for two million migratory birds.

In 1978, the Mono Lake Committee was formed to save the lake. They eventually won a legal battle before the California Supreme Court in 1983 and the City of Los Angeles was ordered to replenish the water it had taken from the watershed.

Mono Lake view from the visitor center – Paoha Island on the right

The alkaline water has high levels of calcium. Fresh water enters the lake from subterranean sources. When the fresh water from these springs mixes with the calcium rich lake water, it forms columns of limestone called tufa. These towers take centuries to form and once the lake level was lowered, many of them became visible above the surface.

We saw signs advising that Tioga Pass from the eastern Sierra to Yosemite was closed due to snow. The alternate route was a loop north by Lake Tahoe – a six-plus-hour detour!

This vehicle in the parking lot would get over the pass

After we left the visitor center, we climbed another pass on US395 and topped 8,130 feet above sea level at the Conway Summit. Our travel day was short – we drove about 50 miles to Bridgeport and checked in at the Bridgeport Reservoir Marina and Campground. Our site had us right on the reservoir.

After lunch, I unloaded the Spyder and we took a ride out to Travertine Hot Springs. These natural hot springs were only a few miles away but it entailed a slow ride up a bumpy dirt road. We found one bathtub sized pool with very hot water where the road ended. We hiked down a well-used trail and eventually found a place where there were a few interconnected larger pools.

On the way back, we climbed a razor back ridge that had a large crack running down the center and I shot a couple of photos.

View of town from Travertine Hot Springs

Bridgeport has a population of about 600 people and sits at an elevation of nearly 6,500 feet above sea level. Although the town is small, it has a brewery. We stopped at Big Meadow Brewing on Main Street for a cold one. Although they’re small with only a 7.5-barrel system, they had excellent beers on tap.

Donna prepared tortilla crusted tilapia for dinner with sauteed corn, spinach and onion.

Our original plan was to spend one night at the reservoir, replenish our fresh water and dump the tanks in preparation for more dry camping in Carson City. Donna found a casino there that allowed five nights of dry camping in their lot. Then we discovered that the information was outdated. The city had passed a no camping ordinance and the casino no longer allowed it. A similar ordinance was passed in Reno. However, the casino operators there argued that RVers were an important source of business for them. In typical hypocritical government policy, the city agreed not to enforce the ordinance at casinos. This apparently isn’t the case in Carson City though.

Glassy water at the marina in the morning – the fishermen were loving it

We changed our plan – flexibility is our motto on the road. We decided to head to Sparks and go to the Sparks Marina RV Park. We’ve stayed here twice before – both times Donna had flights out of Reno so she really hasn’t spent much time here. It’s a nice park with pull-through sites that they advertise as 65 feet long. In reality they’re no more than 60 feet and we overhang a bit at both ends, but it works without having to drop the trailer.

While I was dumping the tanks at Bridgeport, I found a problem. Our Rhinoflex sewer hose had sprung a leak. I cut the bad portion of hose off and re-installed the fittings. I could see that the hose was becoming brittle. A few years of desert sun will do that. On the way to Sparks, we made a stop in Gardnerville at Walmart and I bought a new hose.

Donna found pickleball at the Evelyn Mount Community Center about eight miles away from the RV park. We played there Friday morning from 9:45am to 11:45am. The level of play was advanced and we had a good time – we’ll go back again.

Last night, Donna cleared some leftovers from the refrigerator. She sauteed cabbage and added the leftover pork tenderloin with apples and onions, rosemary garlic roasted potatoes along with asparagus. She finished it off with a balsamic reduction and it was tasty!

The weather forecast here in Sparks is favorable with daily highs around 80 degrees and overnight lows of about 50. There’s no rain expected in the next several days. We’ll hang out here until Thursday – I took advantage of the weekly rate. We haven’t figured out what our next move will be yet.

June Lake

We had leisurely morning on Monday. Donna walked down to Schat’s Bakkery and bought a fresh baked croissant for me and some swiss pecan cookies for the road. I think it was around 10:30am when we hit the road. Just outside of Bishop, US395 begins a long uphill grade. We were climbing for about 10 miles. At one point, I geared down and slowed to about 40mph. Although the engine coolant temperature was well under control at 195 degrees, the oil temperature was rising, so I used gear reduction to ease the load on the engine. We topped out over 8,000 feet above sea level at Deadman’s Summit.

We thought about checking out Mammoth Lakes, but the weather forecast wasn’t favorable there. Also, although it’s a beautiful area, it’s geared toward ski tourism and a little too trendy for our style. We drove about 60 miles up US395, then exited at CA158 toward June Lake and found the Oh! Ridge U.S. Forest Service campground.

After a conference with the workers at the gate, we decided to take a look at a few sites. We were able to easily drop the trailer in one of three overflow parking spaces and set up in site 91 about 50 feet away from the trailer. With my newly acquired Interagency Senior Lifetime pass, we paid $27.50 for two nights here – half price. We’re at an elevation of about 7,220 feet above sea level. The mountain peaks surrounding June Lake are covered with snow.

View of the lake from the road by our site

Donna and I rode the Spyder into town – it’s only a couple of miles away. June Lake is a small town with only a little over 600 full-time residents. The number of businesses belie the small population though. There are a number of eateries, motels, cabin rentals, a couple of pubs and a brewery!

We stopped at the June Lake Brewery and each ordered a flight of four samplers. The beer was good, but not outstanding. The brown ale for example was over-hopped and had a slightly bitter finish that I don’t expect to find from this style.

The town is nestled between June Lake to the north and the smaller Gull Lake to the south. It’s a cute town – it reminds me a lot of what Big Bear, California was like in the early ’70s. It was a gorgeous day – blue skies and the temperature was near 70 degrees. We rode back to our site and enjoyed the sunshine although the afternoon wind picked up.

This is bear country and numerous warnings are posted on the grounds. Each site is equipped with a large rectangular safety box for storing food. They’re about four feet high, four feet deep and five feet wide. They’re easily large enough for a big cooler and other stuff. Tent campers are advised to keep all food locked in the box.

On the way back, we drove down the lake access road. There are two beach areas and a couple of tour buses filled with what appeared to be students were stopped there. The kids had set up a volleyball net on one of the beaches and were enjoying a game in the sun

We’re dry camped here as we have been since leaving San Diego a week ago. Long-time readers may recall that I replaced our house batteries with Lifeline advanced AGM batteries last year when we were in Vermont. These batteries were pricey, but I have to say they were well worth the expense. They’ve been completely maintenance-free. I no longer have to watch electrolyte levels or perform periodic cleaning with a baking soda solution. The best thing is how strong they are. I still top up the battery charge by running the generator for a couple of hours in the morning and evening when we dry camp, but they usually hold 12.5 volts or higher.

In the afternoon, Donna took a hike up the hills surrounding the campground and shot a few photos.

View of our site from the ridge to the northeast – our coach is just left of center

Looking north from high on the ridge – you see Mono Lake way in the distance

Looking down at June Lake from the ridge

Monday evening I was puffing a cigar out of the wind while puttering around in the trailer. It was still light out – sunset is after 7:30pm and it doesn’t get dark here until 8:15 or so. Our trailer is on one of three paved pads just wide enough for a car or the trailer. While I was in the trailer, a silver Dodge Ram 1500 pick-up truck pulled up in the dirt alongside the trailer. It crept forward until I could see the driver through the trailer door. When we made eye contact, he hit the brakes and threw it into reverse and backed away. He then proceeded to drive out of the area by going the wrong way out of our one-way loop.

By then, I had figured out the guy was casing the trailer and thought he had his lucky day when he saw the door was open. He didn’t count on anyone being inside since there weren’t any vehicles in the area. Our coach – about 50 feet away – is the only vehicle in our loop. I walked over and asked Donna if she saw the truck. She had and noticed New Mexico plates. I added the second tongue lock to the trailer and made sure it was locked up tight. I wouldn’t want another episode with Dirty, Rotten Thieves.

Tuesday morning Donna started her slow cooker filled with pork tenderloin, apples, cinnamon and onions. She left it running all day while we made another run to town. We had lunch at the Tiger Bar and Cafe. I had a French dip and it was very good served with beer-battered French fries. Donna had the cheeseburger minus the bun and she plated it over a garden salad.

After lunch, we drove around town and checked out the two marinas – one on June Lake and the other on Gull Lake. Both lakes are known for great trout fishing. Fishermen make up most of the tourism here although there is also a ski area outside of town that draws winter visitors. It’s not as trendy as Mammoth Mountain, but the bartender at June Lake Brewing told us that it brings in a fair share of skiers.

Did I mention how strong our batteries are? Donna had the slow cooker running off the inverter for six hours before the voltage on the battery bank went below 12.5-volts. At 12.3-volts – more than a 50% charge still in the bank – I fired up the generator to recharge them. The pork tenderloin was so tender it fell apart on my fork. Donna served it with steamed asparagus spears and garlic-rosemary roasted potatoes on the side.

Pork tenderloin with apples, cinnamon and onions

We have another nice day in the forecast. Tomorrow is supposed to be not-so-nice. A cold front bringing rain and snow – yikes, the “S” word – to the area is supposed to arrive by midday. We’re pulling out today ahead of the storm and going about 50 miles away to a campground in Bridgeport right on the reservoir there. We’ll be on a full hook-ups and I’ll dump our holding tanks and replenish our fresh water supply there. On Thursday, we plan to head into Nevada and spend a few days – or more – dry camped at a casino in Carson City. The weather forecast looks fine there. That’s one of the perks of our nomadic life – if you don’t like the weather, leave!

Full Spa Treatment

After the full-adult dose of Belize, it took us a couple of days to recover. But, recover we did and we’re comfortably back into the full-time RV lifestyle. Easter week was not the best time to make our re-entry – it’s traditionally a very busy time here at Mission Bay RV Resort. With kids having the week off from school, the park fills with weekend warrior families. By Friday, the park was packed and there were more kids on bicycles, skateboards and scooters than ever. It was okay though – most everyone behaved well and the park quieted down at night.

We met some new friends two sites down from us – Jeremy and Erica Cohen from New York. They were here for a week with their two kids in a somewhat unusual circumstance. Their friend set up his Fleetwood motorhome in site 140 and left it here for their use. They flew in, rented a car and moved into the motorhome for the week.

Saturday night the park had an Easter parade for the kids. Most of the kids adorned their bicycles with LED lights on the wheels – they were selling them at the snack shack – and followed a golf cart through the park.

Kids Easter parade – photo without flash

As expected, the park began to empty on Sunday – many people had arranged for a late check-out and didn’t leave until well past noon. By Monday afternoon, the park was less than 50% occupied.

Our neighbor in site 143 has a 2003 Monaco Diplomat. He hired the guys at Elite RV Service and Detail to detail his coach. They worked on it for most of the day on Monday. His coach has half-body paint, meaning that all of the white parts are gel coat. Gel coat can oxidize and it’s really hard to get the luster back, but they did a great job and his coach came out looking practically new.

Donna said our coach could use some love. I ended up paying Elite RV for the full spa treatment. We had the coach detailed including polish and wax of the full-body paint job. It took four guys about four hours to get the job done and it wasn’t cheap, but the coach sparkles now.

This week we’re back on track again with pickleball in the mornings and I hit happy hour at Dan Diego’s Monday afternoon.

We’re also back to eating good, wholesome home-cooked meals. Monday night, Donna prepared a salmon filet which I grilled. She served it with onion marmalade (onions cooked with olive oil and apple cider vinegar in a foil packet on the grill) over arugula. Very tasty!

Salmon with onion marmalade over arugula

The weather has been agreeable here since our return. While not as warm as Belize – there the daily highs were in the 80s and the temperature only dropped about 10 degrees at night – we’ve had daily highs in the upper 60s to low 70s, mostly clear skies and overnight lows in the upper 50s.

Yesterday Donna dropped her sister, Sheila, off at the airport. Sheila is still hobbled by a broken leg and is getting around on crutches. She’s off to a seminar in San Francisco, so we’ll have her car for a few days. Today we’re driving up to Menifee to visit my step-dad, Ken, for lunch.

Belize Part III – Onlieenabelize

The trade winds really kicked up over the weekend. Saturday morning it churned the water inside the reef – there were whitecaps where we had calm sea before! We went down to the resort restaurant for breakfast. We both ordered the Belizean breakfast – scrambled eggs with tomato bits and bacon, black bean puree and fry jacks. Fry jacks are fried bread dough that comes out very light with a hollow interior. It’s tasty – I tore it in half and stuffed the hollow core with bean puree and eggs.

After breakfast, Donna and I took an early morning walk up the beach past several homes and boat docks. The beach is considered public land, so homeowners cannot bar access although a few of them piled seaweed and vegetation along their property lines to discourage visitors.

We came back onto the Costa Blu property and walked past the pool. We encountered a few iguanas and lizards sunning themselves. One large iguana lived under the building next door to us and we saw him every day in the garden by the stairs.

Fishing and snorkeling weren’t happening in the windy conditions – Tuff-E-Nuff cancelled all boating activities. We reserved a trip for Monday – a combination snorkeling and fishing excursion and hoped the wind would die down by then. While talking to Hatcher at Tuff-E-Nuff, he recommended a cafe in town called Brianna’s. He said it was a small place and not much to look at, but the food was great and the prices low – not many tourists go there but a lot of the locals do.

We took the golf cart and headed into town. When I rented the cart, the guy at the agency showed me the anti-theft device and told me it was very important to always use it. I made it a habit and saw everyone else with a golf cart did the same. The anti-theft device was crude but effective.

Everyone uses the same anti-theft set-up

We found Brianna’s and ordered lunch – Donna and I ordered the chicken soup special. The soup had potatoes, cabbage, rice, corn, a little pasta and a lot of chicken meat. It was delicious and very filling. Lunch for two with a soft drink was $14US.

I should mention hitchhikers in Ambergris Caye. We gave rides in town to a couple of guys – they weren’t hitchhiking with their thumbs out – they just called out “how about a ride” as we slowly drove by. When we were at Secret Beach, a young mother with a boy about 7 years old and an infant needed a ride. The boy asked us for a lift to town – otherwise they would have to make a five-mile walk. We drove them back to town.

On the way back from lunch at Brianna’s, we made a couple of stops. The first stop was a place on the side of the road called The Truck Stop. It was a cluster of buildings with a bar, ice cream parlor, pizza place and other food vendors. At The Truck Stop, I learned that craft beer had arrived in Belize. A brewery in Placencia on the mainland, south of Belize City was brewing it.

Donna tried the golden ale while I had an IPA. It was okay, but nothing too special. The beer you can count on in Belize is Belekin. Belekin beer is sold everywhere – from grocery stores to road side stands and every bar in the country. When we were in Turkey, there was beer there that was ubiquitous called Efes. In Jamaica, it’s Red Stripe and here it’s Belikin.

The Belikin slogan says “onlieenabelize.” This is a good example of the Belizean Creole language – words run together and are spoken quickly with the emphasis on certain syllables making it hard for a non-native to follow.

Belikin also makes a dark beer they call stout – but stylistically, it’s more of a bock beer. It’s lager, not stout ale and it’s 6.5% ABV. The slogan for the stout is “go deh strong.” Hatcher told me that Belizean Creole doesn’t use suffixes like “ing” or “er” as in walking or stronger. The prefix deh replaces it. So walking become deh-walk. Also, when they say “you,” it’s always singular. If you want to address a group you don’t say “all of you” – it’s unu. No wonder I can’t understand them.

We made another stop at Rojo’s Beach Bar and Grill. The road into Rojo’s was a little tight.

This is why golf carts are the best way to travel

Donna tried a ginger caipirinha there and said it was great. We’ll have to try making it some time – a caipirinha is a Cuban cocktail made with rum, muddled limes and sugar.

Donna conversing with a scarlet macaw at Rojo”s

Back at Costa Blu, I claimed my regular perch at the poolside bar. There was one corner of the bar that was sheltered from the wind and I always sat there so I could puff a cigar with a nightcap. The staff at Costa Blu are all super-friendly and quickly caught on to my habits. It was like they saved that seat for me and always broke out a clean ash tray when I arrived.

The wind continued unabated throughout the night and into Sunday. We headed back to Secret Beach on Sunday – it’s on the leeward side of the island and wasn’t nearly as windy.

Monday morning we had some light rain for an hour or so, but I was happy to see the wind had calmed. We were on the dock at 8:30am and Rafael took us and another couple in the boat to the main Tuff-E-Nuff dive shop at the Wyndham. From there we got on a catamaran with a crew of three plus 10 other people and went to Mexico Rocks. Mexico Rocks is another marine reserve almost directly in front of Costa Blu – we were nearly back to where we started.

A fishing guide took four people at a time on a boat through a channel past the reef to fish. A guy in the first group caught a huge barracuda – they said it was 30 pounds. While the first group fished, the rest of us snorkeled. At Hol Chan, we snorkeled in a relatively tight group with six people per guide. This was to prevent people from getting lost or joining up with the wrong group. At Mexico Rocks, we were pretty much by ourselves so once the guide was reasonably certain no one was likely to drown, we were able to snorkel on our own.

Donna and I went with another couple on the second fishing run. We went outside the reef where the ocean bottom suddenly drops off to a depth of 70 feet or more. There was an old shipwreck on the reef – just the skeletal remains of a ship – the keel and a few ribs and a partial mast. I don’t know the story behind it – the guide thought it had been there for at least 15 years. Maybe a victim of Hurricane Mitch?

After a short while, I had a fish on! It gave a tough fight but I landed it. It was an ocean triggerfish. These are good fish to eat. Triggerfish feed mostly on crustaceans. They have powerful jaws and teeth that can crack crabs and mollusks.

Our boat captain – captain Bob – prepared food in the small galley of the catamaran. They fileted the barracuda and Bob took the fishing boat with another crew member to the beach to grill the fish. They came back and served it in a seasoned broth with sliced potatoes and flour tortillas. It was excellent! They also provided unlimited beer and rum punch.

The sun rises early in Belize. This time of year near the spring equinox and and again in the fall are when they have the longest daylight hours at this latitude. As usual, we were up early on Tuesday and Donna snapped a photo after sunrise.

We had breakfast at the restaurant, then packed our bags. It was time to head back home. I checked us out and we managed to stay within budget – I was wondering how we did on room charges but never really kept track.

We stopped by the cart rental place and a girl from the agency rode with us to the water taxi so she could take the golf cart back.

The taxi was on schedule and took us back to Belize City with a stop at Caye Caulker. One of the deckhands on the water taxi called ahead and arranged for a taxi cab to take us to the airport.

Our flight home took us from Belize City to Dallas/Fort Worth where we caught a flight back to San Diego. The flights were uneventful but we were exhausted by the time we took an Uber ride back to Mission Bay RV Resort. Vacation over and back to the RV lifestyle in sunny San Diego!

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Beer

Wheelin’ and Dealin’

Vintage Trailers and Cars

Sway Goes Away

Oh Hail!

Taking a Pass

Exploring Reno/Sparks

Mono Lake, Hot Springs and Sparks

June Lake

Full Spa Treatment

Belize Part III – Onlieenabelize

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