Category Archives: Bicycle

Like Christmas Again

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

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

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

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

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

Traeger roasted chicken

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

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

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

Voo Doo American stout

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

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

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

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

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

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Brisket Obsession

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

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

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

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

Black arrows point to collagen in undercooked brisket

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

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

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

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

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

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

USDA Choice Certified Angus Beef brisket

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

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

Brisket on the grill – Traeger set to “smoke”

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

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

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

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

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

Brisket unwrapped

Moist, tender slices

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

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

Brisket sandwich on a cheese bakery roll

A bottle of ale to go with the brisket

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

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

A Dip in the Bay

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

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

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

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

Some assembly required

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ozark inspecting fully assembled Syma X8W quadcopter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Electronic taps at Barrel Republic

More taps

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

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

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

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

Christmas Potluck

In my last post, I mentioned my plan to smoke a brisket for Christmas dinner. On Wednesday afternoon, I scootered over to Siesel’s Old Fashioned Meats a few miles away from Mission Bay RV Resort (map). I was glad to be on the scooter – if I had driven a car I would’ve had to park several blocks away as the lot was full and the streets around the store didn’t have any open parking spaces either.

When I went inside, I took a number at the meat counter – I was number 65. I heard one of the butchers call out “Number 48.” I knew this was going to take a while. Everyone was looking for something special for Christmas dinner. There were at least four butchers working behind the counter so things moved along without too much delay. I asked for a large cut of the brisket flat. The guy told me he might be able to get six pounds of flat – I said that would be great.

I saw him come out of the cooler with the largest chunk of brisket I’ve ever seen. He trimmed it and cut away the flat – it was five and half pounds. It was a USDA Choice cut and looked to be a nice hunk of flat (HOF). If you’re interested in learning all you want to know about brisket, take a look at this site.

Thursday morning I scootered over to Vons Grocery store. It was a zoo – nothing like waiting until the last minute to shop. Donna wanted me to pick up some marinated mushrooms and and mixed olives from their olive bar. I also bought Stubbs Beef Rub.

Donna’s knee was sore and she wanted to skip pickleball – bicycling wasn’t too hard on her knee though. She went for a bike ride while I shopped. When I returned, I dressed for the court and went to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center to play pickleball. I played from noon ’til 2:30pm. I needed to get home in time to clean the Traeger and prep the brisket.

Five and half pound hunk of flat

I trimmed a little more off the fat cap – I left about 1/4 inch of fat on the cap side and seasoned the meat with Stubbs. I wrapped it in plastic and butcher paper and put it in the refrigerator.

Thursday night we cheated a bit and opened our Christmas presents. I surprised Donna with a Garmin Edge 500 bicycle computer. It’s basically a GPS for her bike that will record distance, time, average speed, elevation changes and a host of other features. Her Shimano Flight Deck bicycle computer died. I installed the Flight Deck from my bike on hers, but that one went kaput too.

Donna surprised me with a quad-copter drone. Once I get the hang of flying it, I can mount my Samsung S5 on it and record video or shoot photos. I’ll be a spy in the sky.

On Christmas morning, I was up at 5am. With my LED headlight strapped on, I filled the hopper on the Traeger with hickory wood pellets from Pacific Pellets and fired up the smoker/grill. It was dark-thirty out and the moon was setting in the western sky. It was cold and windy and this photo shows the moisture in the air.

Christmas morning moon

I put the HOF on the grill to start the cook at 5:30am.

Seasoned hunk of flat on the grill

I went back to bed but couldn’t sleep. I got back up at 6am and went outside to check the smoker. I left it on the smoke setting which usually gets the pit up to 200 degrees. The combination of five pounds of cold meat and the strong wind had the pit temperature stuck at 135 degrees. I changed the setting from smoke – which feeds pellets based on a timer instead of the temperature probe – to 180 degrees. This activated the signal from the temperature probe. A half hour later the temperature only rose to about 160 degrees. The ambient temperature was in the high 50s with sustained 20mph wind. I turned the grill up to 225 degrees.

I spritzed the meat a couple of times with a sprayer filled with 12 ounces of beer mixed with 3 ounces of apple cider vinegar and a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. At 9:30am I checked the internal temperature of the meat with an instant-read thermometer. It was nearly 170 degrees. I took the HOF off the grill and double wrapped it tightly in foil, spritzing it generously before I closed up the foil and put it back in the smoker/grill. I let it cook for another four and half hours, checking it again just after 2pm. I think my instant-read thermometer reads a little high. I’ll have to check it in boiling water. It showed the internal temperature of the thickest part of the brisket at 210 degrees. This was a little higher than I expected.

I took the brisket off the grill. With it still wrapped in foil, I rolled a towel around it and put a second towel over it. I stored it in the microwave oven to keep it in an airtight, confined space so it would rest and slowly cool.

While I was smoking the brisket, Donna went with our friends Iain and Kate to a church in Pacific Beach where they volunteered to prepare a meal for the homeless. They came back just before noon and started decorating the RV park clubhouse for our Christmas potluck.

Our friend from my school days, Carole Sue Bringas, joined us. She brought two Julian pies to share with the group. We had happy hour at 3pm. Around 4:15pm we set up the food buffet. We had a lot food for a group of twelve people. I retrieved the brisket from the coach and unwrapped it at the clubhouse. After resting for two hours, it was still steaming hot.

Tender, moist brisket

Kate cooked a turkey breast and enlisted Hector to carve it.

Hector carving the turkey while Kate supervises

Carved turkey breast

Sliced brisket

Serving line at the buffet

Dinner table set for twelve

Dinner plate for Donna

The conversation and wine flowed as we enjoyed our Christmas dinner. Donna’s sister Sheila joined us just as we were beginning to eat. Kate and Iain brought traditional British Christmas Crackers. These are cylindrical cardboard poppers – you can see them in the photo of Donna’s dinner plate. You hold one end of the cracker while your partner pulls on the other end. It breaks with a pop and one side has a gag toy in it plus a paper crown. We had fun popping the crackers around the table.

Kate with her Christmas Cracker eye patch and crown

Carole Sue

Dessert

We sat and talked, then we played a crazy game called Cards Against Humanity. We wound things down and cleaned the place up around 9:30pm. The full moon I saw setting in the early morning was rising in the east by now.

Moon rise

Today we’re expecting clear blue skies with the temperature reaching the mid 60s. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. We really enjoyed ours.

Holiday Happy Hour

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

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

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

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

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

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

750ml Bruery Terreux Rueuze

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

Sunset – photo courtesy of Hans Kohls

Our happy hour group of blogging RVers

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

Lost Cat

I’m writing my 600th post on this blog today! I’ve been writing a little less than usual lately – mainly because we’re stationary for an extended period and I haven’t had much to say.

Friday was a blustery day. I used the time indoors to remove the screens from our vents. We have two 12″ Fantastic Fans in roof vents that have screens on the inside. These fans do a great job of pulling fresh air into the coach and circulating it out the roof. Over time, the screens collect dust and need to be cleaned. The screens have eight screws in a plastic ring attaching them to the electric fan. It’s not too difficult to remove them. I cleaned them with 303 Multi-Surface Cleaner and water, using a Brillo bug scrubber to get the stubborn debris off.

At 4pm, we joined Tom and Kris Downey at their place and we drove over to Offshore Tavern and Grill on Morena Boulevard for happy hour. Tom and Donna tried the New English Brewing Pacific Storm Irish Stout while Kris and I settled on Stone IPA. The beers were good! We ordered appetizer plates – seared tuna, mac and cheese, poke and a 50/50 mix of tater tots and sweet potato fries with cotija cheese. We shared the appetizers and it was enough to call it dinner. We talked and enjoyed each other’s company for a couple of hours. I was so wrapped up in the conversation and food, I neglected to take any pictures.

On Saturday afternoon, I scootered Donna to her sister’s house in Point Loma. Donna’s nephew Connor was in a play and Donna went with her sister Sheila to watch it. I walked a few laps of the park and visited with the guys at the security shack while she was away. After the play, Sheila and Connor came over to visit and see Ozark the cat.

Donna wanted to ride her bike on Sunday morning so I got her bicycle out of the trailer and pumped up the tires. She planned a route along Old Sea World Drive to Quivira Basin and back. While she was out, I watched the Chargers game against Kansas City. It was another heartbreaker with the Chargers only needing a yard to tie the game but not being able to get it done before time expired.

We had a visitor for the afternoon game. Debbie Bednarski came down from Carlsbad. She planned to pick up her husband Bruce at the airport around 3pm. I’ve known Debbie since we were in junior high school. Donna made her famous crab cakes and served them over a bed of herbs and spring lettuces. We had a beer and enjoyed conversation while keeping an eye on the Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay game.

Donna’s famous crab cakes

Whenever we have visitors, Ozark the cat enjoys the attention she receives. She’s gregarious and always approaches people when they come into the coach. This was true when Sheila and Connor were here and she snuggled up to Debbie on the sofa as well. Lately, she spends much of the afternoon curled up on the seat in the front of our living room. I’ve read that cats sleep up to 17 hours per day.

Ozark the cat doing what she does best

We had a curious incident with Ozark on Saturday morning. As usual, she was in bed with us when we woke up. We didn’t get out of bed right away. But when we did get up, Ozark had disappeared! Usually she’ll head to her food dish and wait while I clean it and fill it with food. She didn’t come out this time. I figured maybe she was sleeping behind the sofa. After a couple of hours, Donna was getting really worried because this was unusual behavior and maybe Ozark was sick or something.

I got a flashlight and took the cushions off the sofa. Ozark wasn’t under or behind the sofa. I took the lower drawers out of kitchen cabinet to see if she got in there somehow. Nope. I checked the bedroom closet and the small opening in the bedroom slide. No Ozark. Donna was calling her but we didn’t hear any response.

Donna was getting worried – a coach parked a few sites away from us lost a cat recently. They posted signs for their lost cat – it was a stray they picked up in Ohio and traveled west with. I knew Ozark had to be in the coach somewhere. We hadn’t opened the door so it wasn’t possible for her to get outside.

Our bed has two long drawers under it which open at the foot of the bed. Donna pulled open the drawer where she stores our towels and sheets. There was Ozark, nestled in the towels sleeping. It’s a mystery how she got in there. I’m thinking the drawer was left open enough for her to climb in which is something she does whenever a drawer or door is left open. One of us must have closed the drawer without even thinking about it – neither of us recalls closing it. There aren’t any openings in the pedestal the bed sits on where the drawers are located, so there’s no other way for Ozark to get into the drawer. Anyway, she wasn’t lost and we’ll be careful not to leave any drawers open.

Today we have cool weather and warnings for gusty winds and high surf at the beach. The high will be in the lower 60s as it’s been all weekend. The forecast calls for warmer temperatures on Thursday and Friday, then another spell of cool temperatures. The only thing on my agenda today is to clean and refill our hummingbird feeder. We have regular visitors feeding at it and I like watching them.

My hand is much better. I’ve been exercising it with therapy putty and plan to play pickleball tomorrow.

My hand is healing from the surgery

Playing Catch Up

When I started this blog back in July of 2013, the intent was to provide a way for family and friends to follow along as we transitioned from the workaday life and traditional housing to the full-time RV lifestyle. As time went on and more readers started following, I tried to add more detail about what life on the road is like.

I started adding technical content and also tried to illustrate how it’s not just one long camping trip. In fact we rarely sit around a campfire. We shop, clean, and prepare healthy, delicious meals in our home on wheels just as we did in our sticks-and-bricks home. And though our neighborhood changes, we are part of a close-knit community.

My goal is to post consistently. I’ve fallen behind these past few days, so I’ll catch up now.

On Friday morning, I scootered Donna over to the Ocean Beach (OB) Recreation Center to play pickleball. After dropping her off, I went to Costco to buy baby back ribs to cook on the Traeger on Saturday. I came back to OB and picked up Donna at noon. We rode down to the base of Newport Avenue to the South Beach Bar and Grill. We found seats on the upstairs patio giving us a view of the beach.

Friday’s weather was cooler with highs in the 60s and an onshore breeze that brought some clouds and added moisture to the air.

View from the upstairs patio

There was quite a swell coming in and the waves were big. Even higher surf was predicted later in the afternoon. We watched a few surfers as we ate tacos – I had a mahi taco while Donna went for a calamari taco. We washed the food down with a pint of brown ale from Helm’s Brewing located up on Clairemont Mesa. The brown ale was more like a porter – Donna and I liked it just fine.

Helm’s brown ale

On Saturday morning, Donna went for a run. While we were talking the night before, she said she was thinking about entering a 10k run in a few weeks but didn’t think she could run six miles right now. I told her that she could do it – she just needed to reduce her pace from the speed at which she runs three miles. If she set a sustainable pace, slowing if needed, she should be able to go six miles. She mapped out her route to Crown Point then along the Bayside Walk path to the Bahia Hotel – about five and half miles.

She made the distance without walking! At the Ventura Cove parking lot, she rented a Decobike – a cruiser style bike – from the bank of bikes docked at that location, one of many automated rental locations around San Diego. She paid $5 with a credit card for 30 minutes. She had to pedal madly to make it back to De Anza Cove in less than 30 minutes. She docked the bike at the De Anza stand with one minute to spare! She’s planning to do that run again, but she’ll pay seven bucks next time for a full hour of use so she can just take her time cruising home.

While Donna was out, I did a deep cleaning of the Traeger wood pellet fired grill/smoker. Then I prepped the baby back ribs. I was in for a surprise when I opened the packaged ribs I had bought at Costco. I thought that two racks of ribs were vacuum sealed per pack in typical Costco fashion. Nope, there were three racks stacked in the package. I seasoned the ribs with Sweet Rub O’Mine, wrapped them in cling wrap and refrigerated.

Later, after I fired up the Traeger, I found that I couldn’t fit three racks plus a pan of apple juice on the grill, so I cooked two racks as originally planned. I timed the cook so we could sit outside for an early dinner before sunset.

We had company coming – our friends Hans Kohls and Lisa McGuire. We’ve actually only met once briefly at Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve about a year ago. I follow Lisa’s blog (Metamorphosis Road) and they read this blog. So we feel like we know each other – at least we know what we’ve been up to. Donna received a text telling us they were running a little late as Hans was picking up his new Fuji carbon fiber 29er mountain bike. I walked out front to meet them and give them a car pass so they could drive to our site.

Calm water for a sailboat moored at De Anza Cove

I was glad we had a little extra time. All afternoon there was a breeze blowing out of the north. The space between our coach and the Foretravel coach in the site next us created a breezeway which intensified the wind right over the Traeger. The fire pot temperature was normal, but the thermometer in the top of the grill showed we were cooking the ribs about 30 degrees lower than usual.

While the Traeger was doing it’s thing, I took a walk through the RV park. I saw a 45′ Newell in one of the bayside sites. The owners were outside so I asked them if they minded me taking a photo of their coach. Newells are fantastic high-end luxury coaches. This one was a 2009 quad slide model that the owners special ordered – most Newells are made to order. It was a beautiful unit and we talked for about 20 minutes. At one point, their friend who was in the next site asked me if I sold motorhomes. I said, “No, why do you ask?” He said, “You seem to know all of the specifications and everything else about these motorhomes.” Well, I guess I’m a bit of a motorhome geek and study up on them. I looked online and found two used 2009 Newell quad slide models for sale. They were both priced at $899,000. I wonder what they cost new back in 2009? Today a model like that is around $1.8 million.

2009 Newell quad slide

Lisa brought the makings of a kale salad. As she prepared it, Donna kept an eye on the sweet potato fries baking in the oven. I took the baby backs off the grill and loosely tented them in foil. Meanwhile, we opened a bottle of beer they had brought and poured four taster glasses. It was a special release from Stone Brewing called Xocoveza. This is a milk stout that’s supposed be like Mexican hot chocolate. It had cocoa flavor for sure. It was delicious and I think it would be a great after dinner beer. They found it at Trader Joe’s.

Baby back ribs, sweet potato fires and kale salad

I put the third rack of ribs on the grill and let it cook while we ate.

Dinner time at the picnic table with Donna, Lisa and Hans

We had a enjoyable evening with good food, beer and much conversation. We sampled a few other beers we shared together. Hans held back after a couple as he had to drive back to Santee Lakes.

Beers we sampled Saturday evening

One of the beers we tried was really interesting. It was Pinner Throwback IPA from Oskar Blues Brewery in Longmont, Colorado. This is a session brew with 4.9% alcohol by volume (ABV) and 35 International Bittering Units. These numbers are way low for IPA – they are usually a minimum of 6% ABV and from 70 IBUs on up to 100. This beer had the citrusy hop taste of an IPA without the malt body. It was thinner with a strong grapefruit finish. Delightful on a hot afternoon when you don’t want a heavier beer or high ABV.

Later, I took the third rack of ribs off the Traeger. This rack cooked hotter and much faster. When I cut the rack into two pieces to wrap and refrigerate, it was very tender and juicier than the ribs I served for dinner. The Rendevous is a famous barbeque restaurant in Memphis and they advocate cooking dry Memphis Style ribs hot and fast as opposed to the low and slow method used for most barbeque. When I reheated that third rack of ribs by wrapping it foil and cooking in the convection oven for 30 minutes at 275 degrees, they came out super tender and tasty. The Sweet Rub O’Mine doesn’t provide as much bark on the ribs as the Stubbs or Traeger rubs did. I can see I need to experiment with ribs more. Maybe next time I’ll make sure to keep the heat up, then wrap in foil and cook on low heat for an additional 30 minutes.

The third rack of ribs

I didn’t mention the phone call I received Saturday morning. It was my old friend from school days, Sonny Sanchez. We were next door neighbors when I lived on Moraga Avenue in Clairemont. It’s been a long standing argument between us over who moved there first. I think we moved in at around the same time – but I’ll always claim to be there first. Sonny had an extra ticket to the Chargers NFL game and asked if I wanted to join him on Sunday. You bet!

Sonny picked me up Sunday morning and we drove to North Park where we picked up his Uncle Anthony. Sonny had three tickets his boss had given him, so the three of us were going to the game. At the Qualcomm Stadium parking lot, we met up with another old school mate, Gary Stemple. We tailgated in the lot, then went in and saw a disappointing performance from the Chargers. Denver’s defense was too tough for them. We had a blast anyway. Thanks again, Sonny!

Tailgating before the gane - Sonny, Gary and me

Tailgating before the game – Sonny, Gary and me

This morning I was busy. I had to move lots of stuff out to the trailer and pack up. We left Mission Bay RV Park at noon after about three hours of work. We’re at the Sweetwater Summit Campground at the Sweetwater Regional Park. We’ll return to Mission Bay tomorrow. Just last week I found out we can stay at Mission Bay for up to 62 consecutive days now. They double the stay limit for returning long-term visitors. We certainly meet that requirement having spent 7 months there in the last two years!

Grilling in the Dark

Before I started blogging, I had no idea of the amount of spam I would receive. I have software loaded on my WordPress template to block spam and prevent malicious logins.

Spammers typically try to post comments that are nothing more than links to a site they want people to visit. Spam is blocked and sent to a spam folder – I get 80 to 100 spam comments per day. Once a comment has been identified as spam, all future comments from that sender go to the spam folder. If a comment is posted by an unknown author, it’s held for moderation. This means that I have to look at the comment and decide if it legitimate or a spam attempt. If it’s legit, I approve it. The software has blocked over 59,000 spam attempts since I installed it.

Malicious logins are attempts to login as the administrator and take over my site. This is a scary thought – who knows what they would want to do with my site. The software has blocked more than 10,700 malicious login attempts. Having a strong password is important.

Donna’s sister picked her up yesterday afternoon and they drove to her house in Point Loma. Donna’s bicycle was there from Donna’s ride last Saturday. Donna was dressed for a ride and had a route planned out for a scenic ride back to Mission Bay RV Resort. She couldn’t have picked a nicer day – the temperature was in the upper 70s with clear skies. Here are some pictures she snapped on her ride.

On Shelter Island looking across San Diego Bay toward downtown

Sunset Cliffs in south Ocean Beach

Dog Beach in north Ocean Beach looking toward Mission Beach

Bike path heading toward West Mission Bay Drive

Other than a tough hill climb over the point on Talbot Street, she had a pleasant ride (map).

Donna surprised me with a gift the other day. When we were in Albuquerque, she bought it at the vendor area of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. She saw an item that she thought I would find useful during the short days of winter. Donna is really good at thinking ahead and finding useful gifts.

She knows how I dislike grilling in the dark. Working with a flashlight can be difficult if you have to use utensils at the same time. Donna found an LED headlight on an elastic band. I’ve used it a few times this week as it gets dark by 5pm. The headlight allows me to have plenty of light while my hands are free.

LED headlight

Headlight in action

I used it last night to grill chicken. I paired a Stone Cali-Belgique beer with it. Stone calls it a California IPA with a Belgian twist. It’s their usual IPA recipe fermented with Belgian yeast which imparts a spicy flavor.

Stone Cali-Belgique

Other than a few clouds and cooler temperatures in the forecast for tomorrow, we expect the weather to stay nice through the weekend – 70s and blue skies.

Too Much, Too Soon

Donna rode her bicycle to her sister’s house on Saturday. Sheila was out of town skiing in Park City, Utah and left her car keys for us. Donna and I mapped out a route for her to ride that would keep her mostly on bike paths or roads with bike lanes. She planned to ride the old Sea World Drive path to the Sunset Cliffs Boulevard bridge, then follow Nimitz to Chatsworth (map).

She ended up crossing on the wrong bridge – she took the West Mission Bay bridge to the intersection of Midway and Sports Arena Boulevard. It was a good thing we looked at the map together before she went. Once she realized her mistake, she knew what to do to get to Sheila’s house. We had already discussed a few alternatives before deciding on what we thought would be the safest route. She rode to Rosecrans Street and then cut through a neighborhood on Evergreen. This worked out fine and she made it to Sheila’s house in about 45 minutes.

When she came back to Mission Bay RV Resort with the car – she left her bike in Sheila’s garage – we went shopping. We drove over to CVS in Pacific Beach to pick up a few things. While I was there, Donna walked one block west to Trader Joe’s. When I was done at CVS, I drove over and parked in front of Trader Joe’s and walked to Petsmart to pick up cat food for Ozark. After I dropped it off in the car, I went into Trader Joe’s and found Donna at the checkout counter. Very efficient.

We were considering going over to Sardina’s for happy hour – also my last chance to hand in my football picks for the week – but when we got into the car and I began driving home, I realized that I had overworked my hand. It was sore and I wasn’t feeling too good. After unloading our groceries, I hung out at the coach while Donna went up to the La Jolla Village Square to shop for shoes. She also went to Cost Plus World Market and bought tomolives and blue cheese stuffed olives for me – my favorite martini garnishes. Then she picked up some sushi to go.

On Sunday morning my hand was stiff and sore. I think I was trying to do too much with it. After I removed the bandages on Friday, I did passive range-of-motion stretches. I did more on Saturday plus carried bags of groceries. I decided to rest it as much as possible on Sunday. It was a good excuse for me to hang out and watch football.

The RV park was full of motion Sunday morning as all of the holiday weekend crowd packed up. There was a steady stream of RVs exiting the park. By noon, the park went from nearly full occupancy to maybe 30% occupied. It was a beautiful day out with the temperature in the upper 60s and clear blue skies. I managed to get out and walk a few laps of the park to take in some fresh air and get a little exercise. Donna went for long walk-run in the direction of Mission Beach.

Beautiful afternoon at Mission Bay looking west from the RV park

There were good football games on TV all day. The Chargers ended their losing streak by knocking off Jacksonville in the morning. Then I watched a thrilling game in Seattle where they prevailed against Pittsburgh. I also toggled back and forth to the game in San Francisco where the Arizona Cardinals won. There were so many controversial calls in all of the games – I think the NFL needs to take a look at simplifying their rule book. Before the final game of the day in Denver where the New England Patriots lost their undefeated status, I opened a special brew to celebrate the Chargers win.

While we were in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Donna and I visited the Duel Belgian Style Brewery and Taproom. They had outstanding Belgian inspired beers there. I bought a bottle of their Cezanne Magnifique which they describe as a barrel-aged imperial saison. Barrel-aged implies hints of whiskey while imperial always means high gravity – high alcohol content. Saison is a style of ale that is sometimes called farmhouse ale and is usually pale in color and spiced with coriander or zest.

Duel Cezanne Magnifique

The forward whiskey flavor of this ale dominated the palate. I wondered why they called it a saison, other than the color. At 10.5% ABV, it was certainly “imperial.” As it warmed slightly, I began to taste more of the spice flavors that lingered. This is a complex and tasty brew with low carbonation. I think it may be the most expensive ale I’ve ever bought at nine dollars for a 12-ounce bottle.

Today Donna plans to go to Ocean Beach for pickleball at the recreation center. I’ll pass and rest my hand. I have a follow-up with Dr. Leek a week from Wednesday. Once he removes the stitches, I’m hoping to get back to pickleball. Meanwhile we’re making plans to have guests next Saturday for a barbeque. Hans and Lisa (Metamorphosis Road) will visit us here at Mission Bay RV Resort Saturday afternoon. They are currently at the Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve and will be there for a few more weeks.

A Windshield Story

I spent most of Thursday watching NFL football. Mission Bay RV Resort had a steady influx of RVers Wednesday afternoon and more came in for the long holiday weekend on Thursday. There was a large group of people from four or more sites having their Thanksgiving feast at tables set up in the site across from us. They must have been locals as several carloads of people joined them.

Weather-wise, it was an iffy day to dine in the open air. They had their meal early and by the time it started raining around 3:30pm, they had most of their stuff put away. We planned to have Thanksgiving dinner at Donna’s sister Sheila’s house. Her friend, Dr. Jeff Sandler, picked us up on his way from La Jolla at 4pm. We had an enjoyable evening with much conversation and good food. Jeff dropped us off at home around 9pm. I didn’t take any photos – I don’t know why – maybe because I saw so many of the same looking shots on Facebook all day.

Donna bought a bottle of Hangar 24 IPA called Betty for me. Hangar 24 is a brewery located in Redlands, California up in Riverside County. Their Betty IPA is 6.8% ABV with 68 International Bittering Units (IBUs).

Hangar 24 Betty IPA

I enjoyed the bottle of Betty before going to bed. It’s a well-balanced west coast style IPA.

On Friday morning, I got the ladder out from under the coach first thing and removed the front windshield cover. I had an appointment with Pro+Tech to have new windshield glass installed.

Windshield cover off – the crack doesn’t show in this photo

The driver’s side windshield was cracked all the way from the bottom up to the top. Our insurance company, Allied, set us up for glass replacement through a company called Duncan Systems. Duncan Systems arranged to have both sides of our two-piece windshield replaced and sent the glass to Pro+Tech. The guys from Pro+Tech, Dan Oglesby and his son Gabriel (it’s a family run operation), arrived around 9am. They had the new glass in a rack in the back of their truck.

Our new glass has arrived

We had a few rain showers earlier and I was a little concerned about rain coming down while they were working. Dan said he would do one side at a time to minimize the amount of open area while the glass was out. He said he expected the job to take about three and half hours. We put Ozark the cat into her crate while they were working.

They didn’t waste any time and set to work. Our windshield glass is bonded to the window frame with a urethane adhesive. Some windshields are set in rubber moldings. Bonded windshields took over the auto industry in the 1990s. They started by cutting the urethane with special knives – one with a blade folded at a 90-degree angle to reach behind the glass to cut through the adhesive.

Once they had the old glass out, they spent a lot of time cleaning the frame and prepping it for the new adhesive and glass. Dan told me the windshield bonding had failed on three of the four sides of the old passenger-side glass. The windshield was only held in by the adhesive on the right pillar. He showed me where the adhesive had separated from the glass – you could see the dust intrusion. He said the glass probably wasn’t properly prepped. Some urethane adhesives require a primer to adhere to glass. He figured insufficient primer or dirty glass caused the separation. I’m glad I opted to have both sides replaced. I’ve read stories of people having the windshield glass pop out while leveling the coach. We were probably heading for a windshield story.

Once they had the frame cleaned and primed, he was ready to put the new glass in.

Windshield frame cleaned, primed and bead of urethane applied

Old windshield out, frame ready for prep work

Lifting the new glass into the frame

Once he lifted the new glass in place, he used rubber shims on the bottom edge of the glass to center it in the opening. He slapped the glass with an open palm to settle it in the adhesive and work any air bubbles out. Then he carefully masked the body around the glass with painter’s tape. The next step was filling in the void between the glass and body with more urethane. The urethane adhesive he used is a primerless product from Dow Chemical.

Final steps on the driver’s side – urethane filler about to be put in

Ten tubes of urethane were needed for the job

I watched most of the work performed and I’m satisfied that a good job was done. Dan was meticulous throughout each step of the process. If you need mobile auto or RV glass in San Diego, I highly recommend Pro+Tech.

I waited two hours before I reinstalled the windshield cover. Dan said the windshield would set well enough to drive after two hours, but 24 hours is better and the urethane really takes about a week to fully cure. We won’t be moving for another 10 days, so it should be fully hardened by then.

Around 4pm, I removed the dressing from my hand. The nurse at the surgery center told me to keep the original dressing on until Friday afternoon, then I could remove it – just keep it dry and cover with a band aid. The incision hadn’t closed up as much as I thought it would. I haven’t had to take any pain meds since noon on Thursday, but my hand is still swollen.

Incision site on my right hand

Friday evening I grilled chicken thighs on the Traeger. I know it seems strange to have grilled chicken the day after Thanksgiving. Sheila sent us home with turkey and assorted leftovers, but we didn’t have any bread and decided to save the turkey for sandwiches that we can make today.

We had a couple of passing showers in the afternoon before things dried out. It was a cool 60 degrees here yesterday. Today should be dry and a little warmer. Temperatures will continue to warm throughout the coming week and we should be having highs around 70.

Today’s forecast – we’re under the sun where it shows 65

Donna plans to ride her bike to Sheila’s house to check on her cat and pick up her car. Sheila is off skiing in Park City, Utah for the weekend. We can get some shopping done today and return the car tomorrow.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Bicycle

Like Christmas Again

Brisket Obsession

A Dip in the Bay

Christmas Potluck

Holiday Happy Hour

Lost Cat

Playing Catch Up

Grilling in the Dark

Too Much, Too Soon

A Windshield Story

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