Category Archives: Beer

Food and Brew

The temperature in Coeur d’Alene has been above average for several days. Yesterday was no exception. The high was in the mid-80s and I think the humidity was above 50%.

When Donna was at the salon on Thursday, her hair stylist told her about the Kootenai County Farmers’ Market in Hayden. It sounded good, so I looked it up. It wasn’t as far away as I thought – only a few miles up the road at the intersection of US95 and Prairie Avenue. Speaking of Donna’s hair stylist, here’s a photo of Donna’s new look.

Donna’s new hairdo

We rode the scooter and found the farmers’ market. It was set on the corner, shaded by mature trees. The vendor booths were wooden structures, all painted and well maintained. It was clean and inviting – a nice marketplace.

Entrance to the farmers’ market

Vendor booths

We wandered around and we sampled some of the food offered. I bought some aebelskiver, which are Danish pancake balls, with huckleberry topping and whipped cream. I’d never had them before. It was a delightful snack.

There was a stage with live music in the center of the market. Two guys with guitars played a wide variety of music, mostly classic rock. They were pretty good.

These guys were good

We bought a few items. Donna bought blue cheese and a jar of marinated labneh (pronounced LOB-in-ah) made from raw milk at a local farm. We sampled the labneh – it’s great on crackers. It’s made from Greek yogurt which is strained to remove the whey. It has a sharp, slightly sour flavor.

Locally made marinated labneh

I also bought spicy hot dilly beans. They will be great in a bloody Mary! From the same place, we bought a jar of honey maple dressing and marinade. We sampled it on a small cup of salad. It makes a great salad dressing, but I think it will be really good as a meat marinade for grilling. Donna also bought some baby bok choy and garlic scapes.

On the way home, Donna spotted a brewpub less than a mile from the park. We didn’t know about this place before. We always headed south into town and hadn’t ventured north.

Later, we went back and checked out Paragon Brewing. It’s a British inspired pub, serving traditional British pub plates and beers brewed in the northwest. It opened in May of this year, so it’s only been open for two months. Maybe that’s why no one mentioned this place to us. The brewery is under construction. They won’t have their own beer on tap until some time in the fall.

Donna had a pint of McCall’s lemon/ginger hefe brewed in McCall, Idaho. I tried an IPA from Worthy Brewing in Bend, Oregon. Both beers were a treat. Donna said the hefe was refreshing. The Worthy IPA was well-balanced with no over-the-top hoppiness. We ordered food while we sat at the bar and chatted with the bar maid.

I had fish and chips. The key to good fish and chips is the batter. The batter they make at Paragon does the job well. It’s light, but tough, not flaky. It came with aioli mayo for dipping.

Fish and chips with aioli mayo

Donna ordered a traditional British meal called bangers. Bangers are British sausages often served with mashed potatoes. Donna’s bangers were served with a beer glaze and potatoes gallette made with layer upon layer of thinly sliced potatoes, baked as a pie. Her plate also included a tasty side dish of polenta.

Bangers plate

The service was great – it’s a really friendly place. Very clean, good beer selection and excellent pub food. I’d give it five stars on a scale of five. When they get their own fresh brew on tap, it can only get better.

Today, the temperature is likely to reach 90 degrees. Donna is going out for a long bike ride. I plan to ride down to the park again. I’m starting to think about the road ahead. We’ll leave here early Tuesday morning.

Dodging Showers

It’s Saturday morning. I’m behind on my posts, so I’ll catch up on the last two days. Not that there’s much to say except that rain really hampers our activities.

It rained on and off on Thursday so Donna and I spent most of the day indoors. We walked in the park during breaks in the showers. Donna decided to make blueberry muffins from scratch. She doesn’t bake very often, but when she does, the results are outstanding. She gave a few of the muffins to the couple that manage the RV park. The guy made a point of stopping by our site to tell us that they were the best blueberry muffins he’s ever had. He said, “The blueberries exploded in my mouth!”

During one dry break in the weather, we walked down the road to the Safeway store. Donna needed some fresh produce and I picked up locally brewed Outlaw IPA. On our walk to the store, we passed an old VW bus that’s set up as a shaved ice kiosk. The windy, rainy weather had pulled the banner off the front. The VW looks to be driveable, but it’s been parked in the lot since we arrived. They were busy on Wednesday when the sun was shining.

Hawaiian Lion Shave Ice

We had street tacos for dinner on Thursday. Donna reheated some leftover pork tenderloin, sliced and drizzled with mojo garlic sauce and served it with shredded cabbage and avocado on corn tortillas. It really paired well with the Outlaw IPA. After dinner, Donna made her famous black bean brownies.

Taco plate

New neighbors pulled in Thursday evening. Three rigs lined up next to us. It appears to be a family reunion. There are two 5th wheel trailers with Alberta, Canada plates and a smaller travel trailer with Idaho plates sandwiched between them. It seems as though Grandpa and Grandma have the smaller travel trailer. The big 5th wheel trailer next to us is a Raptor triple axle toy hauler pulled by a big Ram 3500 dually truck. The woman who drove it in was supremely confident in her driving skills and jockeyed it through really tight quarters. I was impressed.

The rain returned with a vengeance on Thursday night. I was awakened several times in the night by rain drumming on the roof. We were out of bed by 8am. The rain had let up. I suggested a quick walk to the Broken Egg restaurant down the street for breakfast. I wanted to get out of the coach while we could. Donna was game and we headed out. The Broken Egg serves breakfast and lunch until 2pm daily. The breakfast portions are huge and very tasty.

It started raining on our walk back. Again, we had a day of variable and unpredictable weather. Actually, it was somewhat predictable. We knew it would rain – we just weren’t sure when or how hard it would rain. It rained off and on throughout the day without really drying out in-between.

Our plan was to grill chicken kabobs and have the Hutchinson family join us for dinner. I kicked back inside and read a book, keeping an eye on the weather. Donna spent a few hours writing her monthly organizing newsletter which included suggestions for rainy day organizing projects.

Around 3pm, I sent a message to Allen Hutchinson, telling him that we needed a Plan B. The weather wasn’t conducive to grilling and dining outdoors. We decided to meet at the Fish Market on Kathleen Avenue at 5:15pm.

Our timing was impeccable. It wasn’t raining as Donna and I walked to the restaurant. We arrived at the same time as the Hutchinsons. The restaurant wasn’t crowded and we put our orders in. They serve great seafood in sort of a fast-food fashion. You order at one counter and pay. When the meal is ready, you pick it up at another counter. As we placed our orders, a long line of patrons formed behind us. We just beat the dinner crowd. I had the daily special – sushi maki (spider roll) and a poki plate (ahi tuna). Donna had a steamer platter – two pounds of steamed mussels and clams in a garlic beer broth. The food was great. Allen, his wife Crystal, and daughters Gwen and Elsa had a variety of sushi and poki along with steaming bowls of miso soup. For dessert, Donna brought along some black bean brownies for the Hutchinsons to take back to their hotel.

Allen, Crystal, Elsa, Gwen and Donna enjoying dinner at the Fish Market

Allen and I worked together in Michigan. He and his family are here in Coeur d’Alene for the Ironman Trialthlon this weekend. Allen is an Ironman. This will be his third full-distance triathlon – 2.4 miles swimming, 112 miles bicycling and a 26.2-mile marathon run – all in one day! We saw his first triathlon in Lake Placid, New York where he finished in an astonishing 11 hours and 40 minutes. He finished before I could reach the finish line to congratulate him! I’ll be sure to be at the finish line this time.

One of the beauties of living a nomadic lifestyle is the ability to plan routes and layovers to meet up with friends and family around the country. We’re excited to witness another Ironman event and grateful for the opportunity to cheer for Allen and visit with his family.

Today, the weather looks to be variable again, but much drier than the past two days. Tomorrow should be clear for the race and warmer weather is predicted for the coming week. I want to get out on my bike and ride down to City Park to see how the Ironman course is shaping up.

Up Early

Maybe it’s a case of wanderlust. I don’t know. I woke up at 4:30am. An hour and a half later, I got out of bed. This isn’t my usual routine. Lately I’ve been sleeping in. Donna is usually the first one up while I linger in bed.

Yesterday, while Donna went for a bike ride, I finished my clean-up job on the coach. I polished the wheels, replaced the lug nut covers and treated the tire sidewalls with 303 Aerospace. It’s looking good!

Looking good!

Later, I scootered Donna over to Barnes and Noble. She worked on her book project again at the Starbucks there, utilizing the free wifi and enjoying a latte. I intended to go to a self-serve car wash to wash the scooter. I forgot to bring microfiber cloths along to dry the scooter though, so I scrapped that plan.

I came back to the RV park and organized the trailer and loaded the scooter. The trailer is set to go. When Donna returned, I grilled a pork tenderloin that she had marinated earlier. Paired with a Lagunitas IPA, it was scrumptious.

Pork tenderloin with sweet potato and broccoli

This morning, I’ll dump and flush the tanks, then it will be time to kick the tires and light the fires. We’ll head west on MT200 to Missoula. I know there’s some road construction on MT200, but I think it’s the best route for us.

The alternative is I-15 to Helena, then I-90. I think MT200 will be more scenic and we won’t have to climb Mullan Pass and McDonald Pass. I’m ready to say goodbye to the ubiquitous prairie dogs and cottontail rabbits in Great Falls. It’s time to move on!

Summer Solstice

Yesterday was the summer solstice. It marks the day with the longest period of sunlight. It would be more correct to call it the northern solstice, as it’s the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere. The southern hemisphere enjoys a summer solstice between December 20-23, depending on how the calendar falls in a given year.

We enjoyed a beautiful midsummer day. There were few clouds in the sky and the temperature reached a comfortable high of 74 degrees. More of the same is forecast for today and tomorrow.

Donna took advantage of the agreeable weather with a bike bike. She rode south on Fox Farm Road, along the Missouri River. She found a route she really enjoyed and put in 23 miles.

While Donna was out riding, I went to the office and paid $10 for the privilege of washing our rig. I started on the roof and then did the cargo trailer. I used Rain-X car wash with carnauba on the roof and trailer. I used NAPA (Mac’s) car wash on the rest of the coach. The Rain-X car wash left fewer water spots than the NAPA product. Next time I’ll use Rain-X on the entire coach. I spent over three hours washing the coach and cleaning all of the glass. It was 3pm by the time I finished and had some lunch. I was too whipped to do the wheels.

I scootered Donna over to Barnes and Noble, which is a mile from here. After being cooped up in our coach all week, she wanted to get some work done in fresh surroundings. She took advantage of the free wifi at the Starbucks inside Barnes and Noble. I came home and kicked back inside with the Formula One qualifying I recorded for Sunday’s race in Austria. It was great to see Filipe Massa take the pole position. Later, Donna walked home.

Last evening, a couple from Australia, Dave and Meredith, pulled into the site next to us. They flew from Australia to Washington State and bought a Ford truck and fifth wheel trailer. They plan to tour the USA and Canada over the next 12 months. What an adventuresome couple. This is their first RV experience and they’ve jumped into the deep end!

We chatted with them for a while. Dave wanted to buy beer, so I rode with him in his truck and showed him where the store was. I picked up a six-pack of IPA as well. Donna and I enjoyed happy hour snacks and drinks outdoors.

Donna enjoying happy hour

Today, after I watch the Formula One race, I’ll polish the wheels, put on the new lug nut covers and treat the rubber with 303 Aerospace Protectant. This is a great product to protect against UV degradation. I use it on the tire sidewalls and the lens covers on our coach. Some headlight lens covers can be damaged by UV rays and turn yellow.

New lug nut covers go on today

I also need to organize the cargo trailer and prepare for travel. Tomorrow morning, we’ll pull out of Great Falls. We’re heading for Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, which is nearly 400 miles away. We’ll break the trip into two days, stopping in Missoula, Montana. We’ll probably stay overnight at the WalMart there.

Last week I neglected to post a photo of a great meal Donna prepared. She has the convection oven down and is getting the induction cooking down as well.

Cornish hen and roasted potatoes

I don’t know if I’ll post again before we reach Couer d’Alene.

Rain Falls in Great Falls

We were shut-ins for most of the weekend. Thundershowers and rain damped our enthusiasm. During a few of the breaks in the precipitation on Saturday, we walked laps of the park.

Adventure Caravans assembled another tour group here at Dick’s RV park. They’re joined by another tour group called Fantasy Adventures. This filled the RV park again. We had a couple of quiet days in between the groups. While the park was fairly empty, the wifi worked great. Now that it’s full, the wifi service is spotty. I don’t know the details of these tours.

Yesterday, we had a break in the rain showers. It looked like we would have dry conditions for a couple of hours before the next bout of thundershowers. I pulled Donna’s bicycle out of the trailer and pumped up her tires. While I was filling the tires, I found the front Presta valve was broken. I replaced the inner tube. After I pumped up the rear tire, the thumbscrew on the Presta valve broke off! I put a cap over it and Donna was able to ride. The valve will fail the next time I pump up the tire though.

Inner tube with Presta valve – Google Image

Donna rode 3 miles out to Broadwater Bay Park where her bicycle race starts. She rode the race course which is 25 miles. The climb up Eden Road was tougher than she anticipated with several steep climbs and long uphill pulls. After the turnaround, though, coming back on Eden Road was faster than she thought it would be. It’s a grueling course, but her elapsed time overall was close to what she expects to do in the race.

The rain showers returned before Donna made it home. She rode in the rain from the Central Avenue bridge. While she was out, I caught the Moto GP race on Dish Network and squandered my chance for a bike ride.

Later, we had another break in the weather. I rode the scooter to pick up a few groceries. While I was at it, I bought a six-pack of beer. It’s a beer from Bayern Brewing in Missoula, Montana, called Dump Truck Extra Pale Summer Bock. There are so many craft breweries nowadays and countless styles being brewed. It’s fun to try something new, but I would prefer to experiment at a brew pub where you can order a sampler flight. I had no idea what an extra pale summer bock would be like. It turned out to be a fairly strong (6% ABV) lager with the yeast contributing to a bitter finish.

Last night, I was able to fire up the grill and grill fajita-spiced chicken thighs before the rain started up again.

Today’s forecast calls for about a six-hour window of sunshine before we hunker down for another 48 hours of thunderstorms and rain. When we looked into Donna doing the race here, I remember reading that the average rainfall for Great Falls in June is two inches. It’s their rainiest month of the year. So it’s not like we didn’t expect to have some rain. But it looks like this rainy weather will clear up later in the week.

After I dump and flush our holding tanks this morning, I want to ride my bike east on the River’s Edge Trail. While I’m out, I’ll buy spare inner tubes for our road bikes.

The Road to West Yellowstone

We’re at the Buffalo Crossing RV Park in West Yellowstone, Montana. Here’s how we got here.

We pulled out of the Salt Lake City KOA on Tuesday. I stopped at the Pilot/Flying J Travel Center and topped off our tank with 52 gallons of diesel fuel. From there, we hit I-215 and merged onto I-15 which took us past the Great Salt Lake all the way to Idaho Falls, Idaho. We took a break at the welcome center after we entered Idaho. We picked up a free Idaho road map there. I like our GPS, but I still like to have paper maps as well. We had crosswind from the west most of the day on the 215-mile drive.

Northern Utah was wide open and the traffic was light. The speed limit in rural northern Utah was 80 miles per hour! Donna didn’t see the first speed limit sign and didn’t believe it when I told her it was 80 mph. A little while later, she saw a sign and snapped a photo.

Speed limit on I-15 in northern Utah

We weren’t traveling anywhere near 80 mph. I stayed in the right lane with the cruise control set to 62 mph. I posted about tire pressure and tire failures before. Another cause of tire failure is excess speed.

Most trailers, including cargo trailers, travel trailers and fifth wheel trailers, are equipped with tires designated as “ST” type tires (Special Trailer). ST tires have higher load ratings than passenger car (P type) or light truck (LT type) tires. However, ST tires are rated at a maximum speed of 65 mph. Many people do not realize this and tow at speeds that exceed the tire’s rating. This can cause the tire to overheat. Over time, an overheated tire will fail. It may take hundreds of miles, but it will fail. Most people will blame the tire for the failure because they don’t understand the design limitation.

Our cargo trailer is equipped with load range C, ST type tires. I may exceed 65 mph momentarily to complete an overtaking maneuver on the highway, but I don’t drive at sustained speeds over 65 mph. The tires on our coach have a H load rating and a maximum speed rating of 75 mph.

We often see vehicles pulling trailers blow past us at speeds in excess of 70 mph. We also see boat, cargo, and RV trailers on the side of the highway with tires blown out. Tire Rack® has an excellent article about trailer tire load and speed ratings here.

On Tuesday afternoon, we pulled in to the WalMart parking lot in Idaho Falls. Donna phoned ahead and secured permission for overnight parking. We found a level spot on the southwest side of the lot. Donna shopped for groceries. I bought some real beer, not the 3.2 stuff they have in Utah. While Donna was shopping, I returned to the coach. The wind was blowing at 25 – 30 mph from the west. The coach became engulfed in a dust storm. Dust came in an open window and every crack or crevice it could find. I moved the coach to another spot, out of the direct path of dust blowing from a field.

Yesterday, while Donna slept in, I had breakfast at the Subway shop in WalMart. Donna was still recovering from her trip to Phoenix and needed a few hours of extra sleep. We pulled out of WalMart a little past 10am. We merged onto US20 and drove through farm land.

North of Ashton, Idaho, we quickly gained 1,000 feet of elevation and entered the Caribou – Targhee National Forest. Road construction slowed us down through a couple of sections in the national forest. We could see the Teton Mountains to the east, in Wyoming, at times. It was beautiful country. The leaves on the aspen trees were a pretty shade of green against the darker evergreen trees.

We pulled into West Yellowstone just past noon yesterday. For a town with 1,300 residents, it’s a hopping place. Tourism fuels the economy. There are hotels, restaurants, two grocery stores and bars. Of course it also has the obligatory tourist traps with collectibles and T-shirts. The Chamber of Commerce has a large parking lot with bus and RV parking. Tour buses stop there throughout the day.

When we drove up to the chamber parking lot, we were confused by the Buffalo Crossing RV Park sign in front and the RV parking. We pulled in and parked. We didn’t see an office for the RV park. We saw the RV park with RVs in it to the south, but we couldn’t access the park from the lot we were in.

We pulled back out on the road and drove past the IMAX cinema and found the RV park entrance. There wasn’t any signage. All afternoon, after we set up, we saw other RVs make the same mistake as us. They need to put up a sign at the actual entrance.

View from the driver’s side of our coach as we set up

It was raining off and on as we were getting settled in. The temperature was in the 40s. Later, around 5pm the sun came out as the skies cleared. It warmed up to the 60s as predicted. This morning we have blue skies and abundant sunshine. Donna and I are going into Yellowstone National Park on the scooter and plan to do some hiking there.

Jordan River Trail

Salt Lake City is a bicycle-friendly place. In addition to designated bike lanes on many of the roads, the city also has a series of paved paths. Some of these paths are multi-use, meaning that some sections are shared with pedestrians or inline skaters.

To the east and north of the city, the Bonneville Shoreline Trail provides a hiking and mountain biking path, currently over 100 miles long. It’s too far from here for me to take the mountain bike on it.

Yesterday, I rolled out of the park on my mountain bike. I rode up the street to a small park, called Cottonwood Park. I found the Jordan River Trail there. This is the multi-use path that Donna rode on Tuesday. Once I was on the path, I came to the narrow, wooden bridge that Donna told me about. It’s just wide enough for a single rider to cross.

Bridge on the Jordan River Trail

As the name implies, the Jordan River Trail runs alongside the Jordan River. As I traveled north, the path mostly stayed on the levee on the east side of the river. It crossed over wooden bridges to the west side in a few sections.

The banks of the river have trees and lush vegetation. It was pleasant riding in the shade of the trees. There were a lot of birds on the trail and in the trees – robins, doves, magpies, finches and mallards in the river. I saw a large turtle sunning himself on a log in the river.

Jordan River Trail on the east bank

The trail crossed the river as it ran through the Rose Park Golf Course, then it crossed back again on a wide, wooden bridge.

Along the way, the path crosses a few city streets. Most of the crosswalks are controlled. You stop and push a button on a post and within seconds, the traffic is stopped by stop lights. The traffic is held for about 15 seconds, allowing you to cross safely.

North of the golf course, I came up to a boardwalk over a wetland area. The boardwalk had a sign restricting its use to vehicles under 10,000 pounds and no horses. The boardwalk was well-maintained and easy to cross on my mountain bike. I imagine it would be a little bumpy on a road bike. The boardwalk curved to the right after a quarter of a mile and rejoined pavement.

Boardwalk section on the Jordan River Trail

Another mile or so up the trail, I saw a sign indicating that I was entering the Chevron Section. I’m not sure what the significance of this is. As I rode along, I heard what sounded like off-road machinery. I continued onward and came upon a moto-cross track.

The Jordan River Off-Highway Vehicle State Recreation Area was on the west side of the river. There were several riders circulating on the motocross track. I stopped briefly to watch them fly over the jumps and slide through the turns. The track could’ve used a visit from a water truck – they were kicking up a lot of dust.

Moto-cross by the river

Flying Moto-crosser

I rode on until the trail became the Legacy Parkway Trail and turned around. The ride back was easier as the wind was in my favor. It seemed like the ride north was on a slight incline, but it must have been the wind. The Jordan River flows to the north along here, so an incline doesn’t make sense. The round trip ride took me about an hour and twenty minutes.

I had visitors last evening. Brett Miller and his wife, Cheri Alguire, came to the park. I last saw them when they visited us at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego (see this post). We’ve kept in touch as they prepared to hit the road as full-time RVers. They actually completed the move into their 5th-wheel RV on Monday, but had to leave it at the RV park in southern California on Tuesday to attend a conference here at the Salt Palace.

We drove downtown in their new Ford crew cab to a restaurant called Sala Thai. I love Thai cuisine. We ate family style and ordered pad tai with chicken, drunken noodles with pork and pad phed with seafood. Served with a bottle of Singha beer, it was delicious. Brett and Cheri unexpectedly picked up the tab! Thanks again!

Brett, Cheri and me at Sala Thai

The warm weather returns today. The weather guessers are calling for a high of 88 degrees. I think I’ll leave the mountain bike in the trailer today. Maybe I’ll take the scooter downtown and kick around.

Salt Lake City

On Sunday, I enjoyed the Monaco Grand Prix on Dish Network while Donna went out for a bike ride. She battled windy conditions, but enjoyed her ride. In the afternoon, I cleaned the windows, checked tire pressures and packed the trailer in anticipation of Monday’s 50-mile drive.

Monday morning, Donna did her usual job of securing things inside the coach, while I dumped and flushed the holding tanks. While I was disconnecting hoses and power, Donna drove the rental car back to the Heber City airport. I saw a pair of airplanes, flying in formation overhead. They had smoke generators on, I was expecting to see some kind of show, but they only made a couple of passes before landing. It was hard to tell what they were, but the radial engines and long silhouettes seemed like Yak 52s. I forgot to mention the plane that flew above us on Saturday. It was a Pitts biplane practicing aerobatics. Fun to watch!

I learned something about the HWH hydraulic system that operates our jacks and slide-out mechanisms. A guy posted an old service bulletin on the IRV2 forum regarding complaints of false “Jacks Down” alarms while driving. I’ve had this happen a couple of times. It’s operator error. The bulletin advises not to turn off the HWH control panel when the lights indicate jacks are stored. If you turn off the panel, the solenoids close the hydraulic valves. Fluid may still be trapped in the jack rams. The fluid can heat up and expand while driving, moving the ram and triggering the alarm. You’re supposed to leave the panel turned on. It will shut down automatically three to six minutes after the “Jacks Stored” light comes on, allowing all of the fluid to drain from the ram. Good information! I thanked the person posting the service bulletin as it applied to my coach.

Once I had the jacks up and slides in, I did my walk-around inspection while the engine warmed up. I drove over by the airport where Donna was waiting to be picked up. We drove through a residential area. When we reached US40, I was disoriented. I turned right on US40 and quickly realized we were heading southeast, the wrong direction. I glanced at the seven-inch screen on our Rand-McNally RVND7720 GPS and saw an easy way to correct our heading. A couple of 90-degree turns later, we were on our way.

Once we were out of Heber City, US40 begins a long climb. We pulled the grade at 50 – 55mph in the right lane, but had to swing into the center lane of the three-lane highway to maintain momentum past slow-moving trucks. Some heavily loaded tractor trailer rigs could only manage 30 – 35 mph up the grade. We drove past the Jordanelle Reservoir near Park City, then descended to the Junction of I-80 at Silver Creek.

It was another long grade up I-80, finally topping out at 7,025 feet above sea level before we began the descent into Salt Lake City, which is at an elevation 4,226 feet. Nally (our GPS) directed us to the Salt Lake City KOA, near the airport. It seems a little strange to have a large KOA campground in the heart of the city. It’s a matter of convenience for us. We’re right by the airport, with light rail service stopping next to the KOA. Donna has a flight to Phoenix tomorrow morning for a conference. She can take the rail to the airport. The KOA is nicely laid out and well-maintained, as most KOA parks are. We’re packed in tight though.

Site 1012

Salt Lake City is laid out on a grid. Temple Square is the center of the grid. The street numbers indicate the four quadrants from the grid – northwest, northeast, southwest, southeast. We’re located at 1400 West North Temple Street, 14 blocks west of Temple Square. The first street to the north of Temple Square is North Temple. The first to the west is West Temple. The first to the south is South Temple. A pattern is emerging, but the first street to east is Main Street. From there, each street is numbered with the numbers increasing by 100 for each block. Street blocks in Salt Lake City are larger than in most metropolitan areas. Here, there are seven blocks to the mile instead of the usual 10 blocks per mile.

Salt Lake City is bicycle-friendly, with many bike paths. From here, we can ride on a path along the Jordan River north to Farmington, Utah. There are paths to the west going to the Great Salt Lake. Donna studied the bike path map this morning and took off on her bike. She’s getting more confident in her orienteering skills. Traveling to new places and learning new routes has helped her sense of direction.

Last night, we grilled bacon wrapped tenderloins and veggies. Donna baked a potato to serve with it. The grilled zucchini, mushrooms and onions were so tasty.

Bacon wrapped tenderloin, grilled veggies and baked potato

Sadly, my supply of good beer ran out with the last bottle of Dubhe Imperial Black IPA. Ironically, I bought this beer at Cost Plus in Arizona, but it’s brewed by Uinta Brewery right here in Salt Lake City.

Dubhe Imperial Black IPA

There are 10 state-run stores in the greater Salt Lake City area that sell full strength beer, wine and liquor. Grocery stores and markets can only sell watered down beer. I’m in luck though – there’s a state store within walking distance of the KOA.

Today is Donna’s birthday. We’ll celebrate this evening with dinner at her choice of restaurant. We’ll take the light rail, so no need to worry about being within stumbling distance of the park.

Crawfish to Crater

Yesterday, Donna made the two-mile mile trek to rent a car at the Heber City Airport. It wasn’t raining by the time she left at 10:15. We wanted the car so we could go to the Crawfish Festival at the Homestead Resort near Midway, Utah. The weather guessers called for an 80% chance of thundershowers in the afternoon, so we didn’t want to ride the scooter to the event.

Before we left for the festival, I tuned in the Formula One qualifying at Monaco. Monaco is a special race. The course runs through the streets of the principality and is steeped in racing history. The track is so tight and twisty, the drivers have to be very precise. If you don’t qualify on the front two rows, you’re just racing for points, because you won’t be likely to win. Overtaking at Monaco is very difficult.

Around 2:45pm, we drove up highway 113 through Midway and found the Homestead Resort. Going to a crawfish festival in the shadow of the Wasatch Range in Utah seemed a little bit strange to me. They had tents, a stage, serving and dining tables all set up on a large grass lawn, next to the crater. I’ll tell you more about the crater later.

People enjoying the food and music outdoors

We found a table under cover. It hadn’t rained yet, but we didn’t want to chance sitting at a table without cover. There was a man, sitting alone at the table and he welcomed us to join him. His name was Jeff Bradley. He’s from Boulder, Colorado. Jeff told us he was staying at the resort with his wife, Marta, while she completed her SCUBA certification. He said many people come here to complete the deep-water dive portion of the certification in the crater. Marta would join us later, after her session was finished for the day.

The Homestead Crater is often mistaken for a caldera. It’s a dome 55 feet high and 400 feet across the base. This dome was formed by a geothermal hot spring over the course of 10,000 years. As the hot, mineral-rich water bubbled up through the surface of the earth, it left mineral deposits. Over time, these deposits piled up like an ant hill and created the dome, formed of travertine. Inside the dome, there is a pool of warm water, 65 feet deep. The water temperature stays at 90-96 degrees year ’round, as 135,000 gallons of water flows through the pool inside every day.

Originally, the pool could only be accessed by rappelling down through opening at the top of the 55-foot dome. In the 1990s, a tunnel 110 feet long was blasted through the north side of the dome. A wooden deck was built and the pool was opened to the public 1996.

SCUBA certification has a deep-water requirement. In many areas, people dive in lakes to obtain certification. However, many lakes are frozen or very cold for most of the year. That’s why the 90-degree water of the crater is so appealing for SCUBA certification. People also come just to soak in the warm, mineral-laden water.

Donna and I walked in the tunnel to the deck to look at the pool.

People floating in the crater pool

Donna at the top of the Homestead Crater

View to the northwest from the top of the dome

We enjoyed a beer while we talked with Jeff. Beer is a sore subject in Utah. Jeff is used to the micro-brew scene in Boulder. In Utah, there are micro-breweries, but the strange alcohol laws require watered down brew to be served in most places. The beer was what we used to call 3.2 beer. Beer in the US used to state the alcohol content as a percentage of weight (ABW). Nowadays, alcohol content is stated as a percentage of volume (ABV). The Utah beer is 4% ABV, which is equivalent to 3.2% ABW.

A band started playing on the stage as Donna went to fill a couple of plates of food for us.

Bandstand at Homestead Resort

Gumbo and crawfish

While we ate, we found out that Jeff is an author. He wrote travel books about his home state of Tennessee. Currently he is a fundraising writer. He and Donna talked about publishing and the state of the industry. Jeff was also interested in hearing about our nomadic lifestyle.

Another couple, Dean and Becky joined our table. They live in Salt Lake City, but also have a house on the ridge above Midway. Dean is originally from Anchorage, Alaska. We exchanged a few Alaskan stories. I used to travel there a couple of times a year for business and fishing in the ’90s. Dean plans to retire next year. He wants to buy an RV, probably a travel trailer, to make trips to Alaska. Dean and Becky are going on a trip to Peru 10 days from now. It sounds like a real adventure. They’ve hired a guide and will climb Machu Picchu.

Becky is a school teacher. Her friend and fellow teacher, Carmen, joined us with her son, Michael. She is from Louisiana and knew how to handle the crawfish. Basically, we pulled the tails off and peeled them. There isn’t much meat there, but it’s fun and they were tasty.

Jeff is hidden behind Donna, Dean, Becky, Carmine and her son Mike sit across the table

Jeff is hidden behind Donna, Dean, Becky, Carmen and her son Michael sit across the table

We quickly filled a bucket with crawfish shells

Carmen is a member of a club for Louisianans living in Utah. I wasn’t expecting to hear that! While we were eating, another Louisianan stopped by our table. I didn’t get his name, but he graduated from high school with Carmen. Small world. No one could answer the question – why a crawfish festival in Midway, Utah? We found out this was the third annual event though.

After a couple of hours, the party was going strong. Donna and I went for a walk. We saw a canoe filled with live crawfish crawling around. By the way, Jeff and I both agreed that these were called crawdads when we were kids.

A boatload of live crawfish

They also had BBQ chicken thighs and andouille sausage on the grill and pots of seafood gumbo and chicken gumbo.

Grilling chicken and sausage

Crawfish ready to serve

The threat of rain never materialized. By 5pm, the sun was shining and it warmed up nicely.

Donna and I climbed the steep stairway to the top of the crater. The view was great. The pictures from the top of the crater are at the beginning of this post. On the way the back down the steps, I took a picture of the serving tent.

Food tent at the festival

I’m posting this late today, because I watched the Formula One race from Monaco this morning while Donna was out for her bike ride.

Tomorrow we’re moving to the KOA in Salt Lake City. Dean and Becky gave us a few tips on restaurants and entertainment in the area.

*Here’s a link for more information about the Homestead Crater.

Unexpected Finds

Donna and I rode the scooter to the City Market in Fruita on Monday. She stocked up on groceries – mostly produce. We had a full load of goods when we rode home. Afterwards, I rode to the Liquor Barn and replenished my beer and vodka supply. I don’t want to deal with it while we’re traveling through Utah. The alcoholic beverage laws in Utah are so restrictive, and it’s expensive there. I spent most of the afternoon getting the trailer squared away and loading everything in it.

I was up early Tuesday morning. Donna had set an alarm for 7am. However, someone in the RV park fired up his Harley (equipped with straight pipes) and let it run for five minutes at 6:15am. Really considerate. I got up at 6:30am. I’d already dumped and flushed the holding tanks the night before. We had everything buttoned up and fired up the engine a little before 8am.

We made a five-mile loop through the area before pulling into Diesel Services, Inc (DSI) – right across the street from the RV park. I did this to get the transmission temperature up before they drained the fluid. Hot automatic transmission fluid (ATF) drains faster and more completely than cold fluid.

I dropped our trailer in their lot and then went inside. The service manager, David, had me back our coach in front of one of the service bays. The shop was full of commercial equipment being worked on. So Andrew, the mechanic assigned to the job, had to work on our coach on the ground in front of the service bay.

Old ATF filters removed from transmission

Andrew rolled under the coach on a creeper and recorded the serial number of the transmission. He did this to ensure that the right filters would be installed. DSI gets the filters from an Allison wholesale distributor nearby. He drained the fluid and removed the old filters. Andrew didn’t mind me watching him work and we talked as he went about his business. He told me the old fluid looked and felt like the TranSynd® synthetic fluid. The old filters looked good – there was no visible sign of debris. In the future, I’ll have fluid analysis performed to ensure that the fluid is good and no contaminates are present. Certain contaminates can indicate failure of various components.

The new filter kit included the filters, cover gaskets and new O-rings. Andrew did a thorough job of removing the old gaskets and cleaning the sealing surface. Once the new filters were installed and drain plug replaced, he began pumping TranSynd® ATF into the transmission. This led to a moment of confusion. The filter kit indicated that 16 quarts (four gallons) were required to refill the transmission. The Allison wholesale distributor said to put 17 quarts in. Overfilling the transmission would not be good. If it’s overfilled, the ATF gets aerated and foams, reducing its ability to lubricate and cool the transmission. Once overfilled, the drain plug would have to be removed and replaced before too much expensive ATF is drained out.

Andrew cleans the filter covers and preps for installation

Andrew pumped four gallons of fluid into the transmission. We waited a few minutes for it to reach the sump, then I started the engine. At high idle, I put the transmission into gear and cycled it between drive, neutral and reverse to pump fluid throughout the transmission. Checking the ATF level can be a bit tricky. The dipstick is marked for checking cold and has another mark for checking when hot (the fluid expands with heat). The dipstick showed the fluid level to be inbetween the two marks. This seemed about right to me. Andrew and David agreed. The transmission was neither cold nor completely up to operating temperature. I paid the bill, including $42 for an extra gallon of TranSynd® ATF to take with me.

We stopped at the visitor center in Fruita, parked the coach and walked to El Tapatio for lunch. Then we drove west on I-70 into Utah. We stopped at the visitor center in Utah near Thompson Springs about an hour later. This is a nice stop. The center has attendants who can answer questions and they gave us a Utah road map. There are hiking trails leading off into the hills behind the center.

While we were stopped, I checked the ATF level, now that it was fully up to temperature. The level was low. I added about a quart of TranSynd® and we got back on the road. Our next stop was at Green River. Our plan was to check out a boondocking spot there, just outside of town. It sounded good – within walking distance to restaurants and a brewery.

When we pulled into the parking area, which looked to be an old, out-of-business gas station, the lot was fairly level. However, it was right next to the highway and railroad tracks. It was also totally exposed and the wind was blowing hard. To cap it off, there was a construction crew across the street with heavy dirt-moving equipment. It smelled like they uncovered a tar pit. We decided to move on northbound on US6. Before we moved, I checked the ATF again. Still low. I added another quart, bringing the total volume to 18 quarts. The transmission level is now at the full mark. I confirmed the ATF level by checking it electronically. The Allison shifter is electronic and it can check the fluid level through sensors. Apparently, we had a very good drain of the ATF. It’s always hard to tell how much fluid is still in the transmission before refilling.

The driving was tiring. We battled gusty wind all day. The wind was coming from the west, shifting to the south at times. On I-70, it was mostly headwind. On US6, it was a cross wind, occasionally shifting to a tailwind. I was tired by the time we reached Price.

We were planning to go to the only RV park we could find in Price, but then we saw a sign for fairgrounds which we decided to follow. We stopped at the RV dump station next to a ball field. Donna called the fairground office and obtained permission to camp overnight. The woman told her that from where we were, we just needed to continue on down the road to the fairgrounds. We drove out of the dump station, east on Fairground Road. We soon found ourselves back in town. Apparently, we were supposed to go the other way on Fairground Road. I turned around in a large parking lot and drove back the way we came. When we got to the fairgrounds, Donna phoned again to clarify where it would be permissible to park. The woman in the office was very nice. She gave us directions and told us we would be fine for one night – no charge. She gave Donna her cell phone number and told her to call if we encountered any problems.

We found a level spot in front of the grandstands. Ours is the only vehicle parked in this area. The restrooms are open. They have running water and are clean. There’s even free public wifi! Off to the west of us, there’s a motocross track. A couple of guys were riding on the track when we arrived, but they left a little while later.

After we set up, we took a stroll. We found another motorhome back in a dirt lot, hidden by a large metal barn. We didn’t see anyone around though. This morning, I saw it pull out.

Today, we’ll move to Heber City. There’s another county fairgrounds in Heber City that has full hook-ups for $15/night. Nice! Our plan is to stay there for five nights before heading to Salt Lake City where we have reservations at a KOA campground.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Beer

Food and Brew

Dodging Showers

Up Early

Summer Solstice

Rain Falls in Great Falls

The Road to West Yellowstone

Jordan River Trail

Salt Lake City

Crawfish to Crater

Unexpected Finds

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