Category Archives: Bicycle

Back to the Doc

I took it easy Sunday. I soaked my feet in a pail of warm salt water and let my bare feet dry. The infection that had been treated two weeks ago returned and was spreading across the top of my feet. To make matters worse, the contact dermatitis on my arms never fully cleared up and it was making another appearance.

I put triple antibiotic ointment on my feet and used hydrocortisone cream on my arms. It didn’t bring much relief. In fact, the ointment seemed to make the skin infection on my feet worse.

I tried to find the Indianapolis Moto GP race on the campground cable network. It turned out the race was being televised on Fox Sports1 and the campground cable service didn’t carry that channel. I didn’t want to download the race on my computer because I was near the end of my data cycle and a 2+ gigabyte download would put me over the limit and cost $15-$20 in extra charges. So I went to Crash.net and followed the race on their race day coverage. The page updates every minute or so with lap-by-lap descriptions and an occasional still photo. It was an interesting way to follow the race which turned out to be an exciting one.

By the end of the day, it was apparent to me that I needed another visit to the doctor. So on Monday morning, I went to the Hudson Headwaters Health Center in Warrensburg (map). When I checked in, I was informed they won’t bill my insurance – I would have to pay upfront and seek reimbursement from Cigna. What a mess health care insurance has become.

I was checked in quickly and waited only about five minutes before I was taken to an exam room. A nurse spent a few minutes checking my vitals and going over my history and current issue. Ten minutes later, I was seen by a doctor. He told me the contact dermatitis was a reaction of my immune system. The pollen contact on my skin provoked an allergic reaction which my immune system interpreted as an attack. This in turn led to release of histamines which creates the redness and itching. I think I got that right – I’m no expert. He prescribed a much more aggressive course of Prednisone for the dermatitis. I have three days of high dosage followed by seven days of tapering off. For the skin infection on my feet, he wants me to wash them twice a day with antibacterial soap and pat dry, then let them dry out without socks or shoes as much as possible. He also prescribed ten days of Keflex oral antibiotics.

When I picked up the prescriptions, the people at the pharmacy were great. The girl at the counter looked up my insurance information and I was charged a grand total of 24 cents for both medications!

While I was at the pharmacy Donna sent me a text telling she was out for a 28-mile bike ride. Later I learned she rode right past me at the pharmacy.

I spent the rest of the day hanging out in the coach with bare feet and reading a book. Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night with searing stomach pain. It felt like a hole was burning through my stomach. I chewed on a couple of antacids and drank some water. Eventually the pain was reduced and I went back to sleep. I don’t know if it was due to the high Prednisone dose or the antibiotic, but I think it’s the medication that caused the stomach issue.

I haven’t been sick in well over two years – not even a cold since we’ve been on the road – until this skin condition surfaced a month ago. I hope it goes away for good once I complete the 10-day cycle of medication and I can go back to being my normal healthy self.

It’s raining this morning and the rain is forecast to linger most of the day. Looking at the weather radar app, I believe it. There’s a huge system to the west of us slowly moving eastward. I’ll lie low again, keep my feet dry and read another book. Donna is going to meet her friend Karen for lunch and spend the afternoon with her in Westport, NY.

Dry and Dusty

Today started out the way most mornings have lately. Ozark the cat becomes active shortly after sunrise. She leaps off of the bed and runs full speed to the front of the coach. She flies onto the driver’s seat and bounces up to the dashboard. She runs across the dash then jumps onto a narrow counter next to the co-pilot’s seat before hitting the floor and beating feet back to the bedroom. She runs past the bed onto the raised floor by the closet and jumps on the bed to complete her lap. Then she repeats the performance without pausing. This goes on for several minutes as I try to return to dreamland. Eventually she slows down and stays on the bed. I usually manage to doze off again until she starts walking over us.

This morning, as I was trying to go back to sleep, I thought about how many nights I’ve spent in an RV. I don’t have an exact count because I can’t remember the date we started sleeping in our coach in the driveway after we sold our bedroom furniture. I know it’s been somewhere over 750 consecutive nights in our RV though.

We first hit the road on July 23, 2013. That puts us in our 25th month of full-time RVing. During the last 25 months, we’ve covered 17,000 miles and visited 20 states. We’re often asked how long we intend to stay in our RV. Our standard answer is, “We don’t know, but we’ll know when we’re done.” The truth is, we feel like we’re just getting started. There’s so much to see and do. Every place we’ve been has something to offer.

Yesterday was a low-key day. I had a chore to tackle. Our battery banks were very dirty from driving in the rain and driving on dirt roads. Dirt build-up on the battery cases can cause voltage leakage across the terminals when the dirt absorbs moisture. I was also having a problem with a poor connection on one of the starting battery posts. I hosed down the batteries, then scrubbed with a stiff nylon brush dipped in a baking soda solution. This cleaned everything and neutralized any acid build-up. I removed the cable connector from the post that was giving me trouble and cleaned the post and connector before reinstalling it. All is well now.

I think I need to clean the batteries more often

Dirt roads left a lot of dust on the batteries

I also unpacked my mountain bike and pumped up the tires. I took a ride through the park over to the beach area on the Schroon River. I’ll probably go for a longer ride today.

In the afternoon, I prepared four half-racks of baby back ribs. When I bought the ribs at Oscar’s, they had them cut into half-racks. I cooked whole racks before. To prepare ribs, you first remove the tough, thin membrane on the bone side of the ribs. If you don’t do this, the spices won’t penetrate on that side, plus you’ll have a tough, chewy side to the ribs. I spiced the ribs with the rub I bought at Papa Joe’s in Michigan. I like dry-rubbed Memphis-style baby back ribs.

I cooked them on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill. After two and a half hours, I turned the heat down to low heat and cooked for another half hour. I thought they would be fine but they turned out to be over-cooked. I think having them cut into half racks made them cook faster. Oh well, it was a learning experience.

Baby back half-racks on the Traeger

Yesterday was International IPA Day, so I paired the baby backs with Saratoga IPA brewed in nearby Saratoga Springs.

Saratoga IPA

This IPA was more to my liking than the others from this area that I’ve tried. I know you can get good East Coast IPA, like Dogfish Head from Delaware, but I’m sampling local brews.

The forecast calls for a warming trend with the thermometer expected to hit 80 today and move well into the 80s over the weekend. It’s been dry and dusty in the campground. Next week, I’ll try to sneak a wash of the coach.

Indian Lake

After posting to the blog and doing a few chores, I loaded Donna’s bike in the back of Tommy’s truck and we piled in yesterday. We drove through Warrensburg up US9 to NY28. We followed NY28 which runs along the upper Hudson River up to Indian Lake, a distance of about 45 miles (map). By the time we got there, after making a stop at the train station in North River, it was noon.

The plan was to drop off Donna and her bicycle at Indian Lake and she would cycle back to the Lake George Escape campground. We decided to find lunch before she made the ride back. We ended up at the Indian Lake Restaurant and Tavern. The place has an interesting history dating back to the 1800s when the bar was located in Princeton, New Jersey. In the 1930s, the bar was going to be demolished as Palmer Square was being constructed. The bar was bought, disassembled and reassembled at Indian Lake.

Bar history – click to enlarge

Donna waiting for lunch at the bar

Donna ordered a tandoori naan bread pizza with cheese, artichoke and chicken. I had the fish sandwich. The food was excellent! I paired my sandwich with a locally brewed IPA from Paradox Brewery in Schroon Lake called Beaver Bite IPA. It was average at best. I’m still searching for a locally brewed IPA in the east that matches the flavorful offerings of West Coast-style IPA.

Beaver Bite IPA on tap

We dropped Donna off outside of town at 1:15pm and she started her ride back. Her route would take her back through North River and Wevertown before she headed down US9 to Warrensburg. I expected her to ride for about three hours.

As we drove back, Tommy took a detour at Thirteenth Lake Road. We drove a few miles, then turned into the Siamese Pond Wilderness Area. It covers more than 100,000 acres and, like all designated wilderness areas, prohibits motor vehicles. We made a short hike down to Thirteenth Lake and had a look around.

Thirteenth Lake in the Siamese Pond Wilderness Area

On the way in, before we hit the wilderness boundary, we passed the Barton Garnet Mine. They offer tours of one of the largest garnet mines in the world. They’ve been mining garnet in the area since 1878. The mine tours started in 1933 and you are able to find and keep garnet stones you find on the tour. Garnet is the January birthstone and the state stone of New York.

When we came back onto NY28, we were almost to North River when we saw Donna cycling up ahead. I was really surprised to see her that far from her starting point. She had some long downhill stretches and was making good time.

We stopped at Oscar’s Adirondack Smoke House where I bought two racks of uncooked baby back ribs. I plan to cook them on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill on Thursday evening.

After Tommy and I returned to the campground, I went out and explored the place. Around 3:20pm, my phone rang. It was Donna. She was in Warrensburg and said she just rode past the Top Foods store and didn’t remember seeing it when we drove through earlier. I told her she was on track and would see her turn at Horicon Street by the Chinese restaurant a little ways down the road. She made it home about 25 minutes later.

Last night, Donna prepared turkey burgers with special sauce – a recipe she got from Karin Von Kay. Donna met Karin when we were in Des Moines and they exchanged several recipes. The special sauce had an Asian flavor profile. I put a grill mat on the Traeger and cooked the burgers. Linda joined us for dinner. She put pretzel rolls on her grill and toasted them. The turkey burgers with special sauce were outstanding.

Turkey burger with special sauce on pretzel roll

This morning, Ozark woke us up by walking over us. She would walk over the top of Donna, then stretch and reach over to me before walking up my belly and onto my chest. She gently bites and chews my fingers. I think it’s her way of saying it’s time to get up and feed me and pet me.

Yesterday’s temperature reached 83 degrees. The forecast calls for highs in the upper 70s over the next couple of days before we reach the 80s again. I don’t have a plan for today. There are a few chores I should do and maybe I’ll get my mountain bike out and kick around.

Potluck With Friends

Although a few dark clouds passed overhead yesterday, no rain fell and the weather radar app didn’t show any precipitation in the area. So around 11am, I rode the scooter to Papa Joe’s Gourmet Market and bought three racks of baby back ribs and some “Rub with Love” dry pork rub.

I removed the thin membrane from the bone side of the ribs and applied about one and a half tablespoons of dry rub to each side of the racks. I piled them together, re-wrapped them in butcher paper and put them in the refrigerator around noon.

Our friends Bill and Cindy Davey arrived just as I was firing up the Traeger wood pellet smoker/grill a little before 2pm. It was hot and very humid outside – upper 80s. We sat and visited for a while, then Bill unloaded their hybrid electric bicycles. These bikes have electric motors and 48-volt lithium-ion batteries. I took a spin on Cindy’s 1,000-watt bike. You can let the motor do all the work by twisting the right hand grip or you can pedal with motor assist. I pedaled away, then increased the power assist on the controller and did a quick, effortless lap around the campsite area. Bill’s bike has even more power with a 1,500-watt motor.

Around 4pm, our friends Keith and Julie Burk showed up with their daughter Alayna. Keith and I worked together from 2009 until I retired and had a lot of fun times together.

More old friends arrived and we tried to find shade for all the chairs. Everyone sat and talked for a while, then at 5pm I took the ribs off the grill. While I was cutting the ribs, the rest of the feast – pasta, salads and fruit bowls – were spread on the picnic table. The potluck was on.

Visiting in the shade

My friends and former colleagues Allen Hutchinson and Justin Rose showed up in time for the food. Justin and his wife Jen just got back from a week-long trip to Chicago with their two young sons in tow. I think we had about 15 people around the table by then.

Justin, Keith and Ironman Allen

The food was fabulous, the baby back ribs were a hit and once again, the Traeger made it easy. The beer flowed along with conversation. It was fun catching up with the guys and hearing stories about life back at the office. I haven’t thought much about work since I retired two years ago. Back then, I said the only thing I would miss is some of the people – and that’s held true.

I broke out the bottle of Dragons Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout from New Holland Brewing. The bourbon was obvious and maybe a little bit too forward in the 9% ABV beer.

Dragon’s Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout

The VW crew

The time passed much too quickly. As the evening drew on, people began packing up to head home. It was well past 9pm when Donna I cleaned up the picnic table and came inside.

Once again, Ozark provided amusement before we went to bed. She was intent on stalking and catching a fly that found its way into the coach.

Ozark waiting to ambush a fly

Today we should have good weather – not quite as hot as yesterday. I’ll pack the trailer, remove the tire covers and windshield cover and check tire pressures in preparation for travel tomorrow. I want to head out early as we have to hit the dump station on the way out. Our first stop will be in Troy where we’ll return Bill’s vehicle. I don’t know where we’ll end up tomorrow night – we’ll see what comes up down the road. I won’t post tomorrow.

Sudden Shower

Weather guesser is an appropriate term in southeast Michigan. Yesterday’s forecast called for zero percent chance of rain until late afternoon when there was a slight possibility of scattered showers.

Donna drove over to Stony Creek Metropark (map) in the morning to meet up with some girls to rent stand-up paddleboards on the lake. She took her bike along in the back of Bill’s SUV which we still have. She planned to ride with Bill after paddleboarding. Then she wanted to shop at Vince and Joe’s Gourmet grocery afterwards, since it’s close to Stony Creek Metropark.

I had a few errands to run, so I headed out on the scooter. I rode through downtown Rochester where the roads are under construction, creating traffic jams in every direction. I went to Petsmart and bought more food for Ozark. For a little cat, she sure can eat. Then I went to Barnes and Noble and picked up a few more Vince Flynn novels. I’m hooked on the Mitch Rapp series of thrillers.

I made another stop at CVS pharmacy, then went to Papa Joe’s Gourmet Market on the way back. I’d like to know who Joe is. Around here there’s Trader Joe’s, Vince and Joe’s and also Papa Joe’s. Trader Joe’s is nationwide, but the other two Joe’s are local and very upscale.

Papa Joe’s Gourmet Market

I checked out the baby back ribs at Papa Joe’s, thinking if the weather holds out, I’ll buy them on Sunday to grill for our potluck bash. I also found a 22-ounce bottle of Dragon’s Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout that will go well with barbeque ribs.

I came home and heated up leftovers for lunch. Suddenly the sun was blocked out by clouds and it was dark out. I looked at the weather radar app on my phone. A line of thunderstorms stretching from the southwest to the northeast was almost on top of us! I went out and covered the scooter and picked up a few things on the picnic table. I brought them inside just as the rain began to fall. We had a real downpour! So much for zero chance of rain for the day.

Donna texted me from Vince and Joe’s – she spent an hour shopping there and said she was in heaven! It rained there and she wondered if we had rain here. By then, the storm had passed and it was sunny again.

Donna came home with a porterhouse steak. I seasoned the steak and wanted to try grilling it on the Traeger smoker/grill. The thing is, the Traeger doesn’t provide direct heat like I would normally use to grill a steak. It’s all indirect convection heat. This makes it difficult to get grill marks and any charring on the surface of the meat. It’s arguably healthier not to char the meat, but that’s what makes a grilled steak so tasty.

I had an idea. I turned the grill on high and put a cast iron skillet inside while I had potatoes baking. After a while I added the steak to the 450-degree grill.

Cast iron skillet, potatoes and steak

After cooking with the lid closed for eight minutes, I placed the steak in the hot cast iron skillet. My plan was to flip it after two minutes and try to get a little char from the radiant heat of the cast iron skillet. I made a big mistake though. After I closed the lid, the temperature didn’t rise in the grill, it began to fall. I hadn’t stirred the pellets in the hopper and as the pellet supply went down, they formed a bridge over the auger and quit feeding. My fire was out! I stirred the pellets and got it restarted, but my skillet experiment was ruined. The steak came out okay, but I’ll have to try this again and see if I can perfect the technique.

Steak and potatoes hot off the grill

Donna steamed asparagus and sauteed mushrooms and onions to accompany the steak and potatoes.

Steak under sauteed mushrooms and onions with roasted potato and steamed asparagus

After dinner, Ozark the cat amused us with her antics. She loves to bat the parchment paper toy Donna made. She also tosses and chases the little catnip-filled mouse toys I bought. I put a little dried catnip on her scratching post and she attacked it. Finally she wore down and seemed a bit dazed by the catnip.

Ozark dazed by the catnip

The weather forecast for today went from 60% chance of rain on yesterday’s prediction to 35% chance of rain by last night. This morning they say 0% chance of rain, but we know how that went yesterday. I’m hoping they got it right today so we can have guests join us for the potluck picnic we have planned. I’ll head out to Papa Joe’s and pick up the ribs around noon if the weather still looks promising.

Cat House

I got Donna’s bike out of the trailer and aired up the tires before our friend Bill Frahm picked up Donna around 11am. They drove to the parking lot at Onyx skate rink where the Macomb Orchard Trail passes through to start their 20-mile bike ride on the paved trail.

I got my wash bucket and 75-foot hose out and went to work getting the road grime off the coach and trailer. Driving through thunderstorms on Tuesday really left a mess. After two and half hours, I thought it was “job done.” As I installed the windshield cover, however, I noticed that the water spots on the windshield were pretty bad. Then, when I put the tire covers on, I could see the spotting on the alloy wheels.

As the sun moved westward, I could see water spots and streaks all over the right side of the coach. The mineral-laden hard water here at Addison Oaks County Park made the coach look worse than before I washed it! What a bummer.

After their ride, Donna rode with Bill to his house and then he gave her the keys to his Nissan SUV – Bill generously offered to let us use his vehicle while we’re here. On the way back, Donna stopped at Papa Joe’s, a local gourmet market, and picked up a few things.

One of items she bought was a fresh ruby red trout filet. She prepared the trout by coating the fish with a mixture of dijon mustard, mayonnaise, lemon juice and dill. I fired up the Traeger grill and preheated it to 350 degrees. As I explained before, it doesn’t hold the temperature at precisely 350. The temperature swings up and down and averages 350. This is normal. If you could accurately measure the temperature in your oven at home, you would find the same thing happens there.

Preheated to 350 degrees

After lining the drip pan with aluminum foil, I put the fish skin side down directly on the grill. Twenty two minutes later, I removed the fish and cranked the grill to high. Donna also bought fresh baby bok choy at Papa Joe’s. She split the bok choy lengthwise and seasoned it with olive oil, salt and pepper.

High temperature for bok choy

The bok choy cooked quickly – it only took about 12 minutes on the grill. I like a little crunch in bok choy. It’s a favorite side dish for me.

Trout filets and bok choy hot off the grill

Ozark the cat began displaying strange behavior over the last few days. She’s been very vocal and restless, pacing the length of the coach, jumping up on furniture and counter tops, and spending a lot of time looking out the windows. She stretches her body, pressing down close to the floor, tail high and tapping her rear paws in a pedaling motion. Donna did some research and learned that this is textbook behavior for a cat in heat. Donna said she understands where the term “cat house” came from as Ozark struts her stuff in the windows trying to catch the attention of a passing tomcat.

Her behavior is a little annoying but we understand her hormones are raging. We have an appointment with a vet in New York about 10 days from now to have her spayed. The good news is that if she’s in heat, she’s not pregnant which could have been the case as she was a stray when we found her.

Although scattered thunderstorms are in the forecast Friday and Sunday, I think I’ll get the ladder out and clean the coach. I’ll use a waterless cleaner called “The Solution.” I didn’t use this yesterday because I wanted to wash the grit and road grime off with water. Today, I know better about the water here and I’ll go waterless with microfiber cloths.

On Familiar Grounds

We were up early yesterday and didn’t waste any time preparing to leave St. Ignace. I dumped and flushed our holding tanks even though it had only been a few days since I last did that. I wanted the tanks empty because we won’t be hooked up to a sewer line for at least a week. The black tank won’t be an issue, but we have to be careful with our gray water. We’re so used to full hook-ups that we don’t think much about our water use. Though we never run water while brushing our teeth, we do like to luxuriate in long, hot showers. And Donna does a load of laundry most days. But we’re in water conservation mode now.

We pulled out of Lakeside RV Park around 9am and made a stop just two miles later at Jerry’s Pasty Shop. We bought three pasties (pronounced PAST-eez) and some smoked whitefish along with a whitefish sausage. These are staples of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Pasties are a baked pastry that originated in Cornwall – the southernmost county of England. They’re made by placing uncooked meat and vegetables in a circular shortcrust pastry, folding in half, and then crimping the edges to seal the filling inside. Once baked, the result is much like a pot pie with a turnover shape. They were a favorite of Cornish miners who spread the dish around the world. Whitefish is a prime commercial species from the Great Lakes and it’s delicious smoked.

A few miles later, we crossed the Mackinac Bridge and entered the Michigan mitten – if you look at a map of the lower mainland of Michigan, it resembles a mitten. The toll for RVs crossing the bridge is five dollars per axle. With our cargo trailer in tow, we are a three-axle vehicle so it cost us $15 to cross. The last time we crossed this bridge was on our motorcycles back in 2010 when we did a 2,400-mile tour that included the U.P.

Right lane closed – there seems to always be construction work on the bridge

Donna’s view of Lake Michigan to west from from the Mackinac Bridge

Once across the bridge in Mackinaw City, the sky darkened and the windshield became wet with mist. The wipers swept the windshield intermittently and visibility was reduced by the foggy mist. As we drove south on I-75, we hit brief thundershowers with heavy rain at times. There were a few dry patches but it was mostly rain or mist with a gloomy overcast. Around noon, I fired up the generator and Donna put a pasty in the convection oven. We stopped at a Pilot/Flying J travel center near Saginaw. I filled our fuel tank and we parked to eat lunch. The pasty was filled with chicken, potato, carrots and peas. It was tasty and very filling.

Ozark seemed content in her crate. It was our third day in a row on the road and it seems she has accepted travel in her crate. She spent the whole six hours mostly sleeping, often soundly, and didn’t complain.

We took the I-475 loop in Flint and hit I-69 eastbound. I thought it was odd. The interstate numbering system has odd numbers on north-south routes and even numbers on east-west routes. I-69 is east-west from Lansing all the way to Port Huron. From Lansing it turns south to Fort Wayne, Indiana and points beyond, but I think it’s strange to designate the interstate from Lansing to Port Huron I-69.

We were on familiar ground. We found our way to Addison Oaks County Park in Oakland County, Michigan. We lived near here from 2009 until I retired and we hit the road in July 2013. Check-in was easy – we had reserved and prepaid for our week-long stay. Dropping the trailer wasn’t so quick and easy. The narrow gravel road curves past our site. Getting the trailer into position took a few attempts before I got it right.

Our spacious back-in site with the trailer in our parking space.

This was the first time I had to drop the trailer since we were in Texas two months ago.

We were hooked up and settled in quickly with everything done by 4:15pm. A little past 5pm, our friend Nancy picked us up in her van. We drove to Lake Orion where we picked up her husband Tom and headed over to Kruse and Muer Roadhouse in Lake Orion for dinner.

We had a great meal with lots of conversation and laughs for the next couple of hours. Coincidentally, one of Tom’s water ski buddies sat at the table next to us. We recruited him as the photographer for our group photo.

Tom, Nancy, Donna and me

They dropped us off around 8pm and we gave Tom a quick tour of the coach. The coach and trailer are badly in need of a wash after driving all day on wet roads. That’s my chore for today.

Donna’s bicycling buddy, Bill Frahm, is coming over at 11am. They’ll probably take their bikes to Stony Creek Metropark near our old house to ride.

Senior Olympics Experience

I scootered Donna to Enterprise rental car in Shakopee on Tuesday. We met back at the Dakotah Meadows RV Park and had lunch before we headed out to the Minneapolis Convention Center. The gal at Enterprise gave Donna a free upgrade on the car – we got a VW Passat and it had South Dakota plates matching our coach and scooter plates!

VW Passat with South Dakota plates

We found parking across the street from the convention center and made our way to the hall where check-in for the Senior Olympic Games was taking place. Donna picked up her packet and we had a look around. Pickleball is a Senior Olympic sport. We found a vendor near the pickleball area selling high-end paddles made by RiverStyx here in Minnesota. They were very lightweight and reported to be extra durable, but at $166 each, we passed.

Donna at the check-in

From the convention center, we drove out to the fairgrounds to preview the bicycle race course. We saw several racers riding the course for practice. The course was laid out entirely within the fairgrounds complex. It was a criterium-style course with lots of tight turns and little elevation change. The length of the course was just over three miles – the race would cover eight laps. Donna hadn’t raced on this style of course before – she’s always been on longer road courses with fewer turns.

Donna said the race started at 9am for all competitors. She had e-mails dating back for months stating this. I found it hard to believe. For one thing, men and women rarely start together. Add in the fact that 300 riders were expected. Three hundred riders of all age groups, genders and abilities on a tight criterium race course at once would be a recipe for disaster. She was nervous and I was nervous for her.

On the way home, we made another stop to visit with Donna’s friend, Shannon. We took a tour of her house and chatted for about 40 minutes before we were back on the road. By then, we were hitting rush hour traffic and it was brutal. One of the things I don’t miss at all is the requirement to commute in rush-hour traffic. I don’t have to do it, so I avoid it whenever possible.

On Tuesday night, I was looking for additional race information on the Internet. I stumbled upon a document that showed all cycling participants by group with different start times for each group. One group would begin their race starting at 8am. Donna’s race would start at 9:30am. This document wasn’t provided in the race packet nor was any reference made to it in any communication Donna received from the organization. We were glad I found it, but not too impressed with the way we accidentally learned the schedule.

We were up early on Wednesday morning. Well, Donna was up early, she didn’t wake me until 6:40am. I was planning on leaving here by 7am. That didn’t happen – it was 7:15 by the time we left. I had mapped a different route from the traffic-ensnarled route we took the day before. Our new route took us east, then we hit I-35E north. This worked so much better. That’s always the challenge when we’re in new locations – we don’t know the traffic patterns and best alternate routes. Google maps help, but there’s nothing like local knowledge.

We made the drive in less than an hour. We found the check-in table despite the lack of any signage directing racers where to check-in or what was expected. We talked to several people who all thought the race started at 9am. The men’s races didn’t begin until 11am with some of the age groups starting at 1pm and 3pm. A lot of guys were unhappy about getting up early and fighting traffic to be there for a 9am start that wasn’t happening. The race director really needs to figure out how to communicate the schedule. I wonder if anyone missed the 8am race, thinking their event started at 9am.

We found Donna’s Aunt Kathy and her cousin Ginny at the start/finish area. Donna warmed up and staged shortly before the 9:30am start. As I suspected, the race pace was very fast. The leaders were experienced racers who powered through the turns on this flat course. Donna started off fast but says she got dropped in the first quarter mile. The pace at that point was 27.2 mph! Her goal was not to crash and to average 17-18mph with some drafting. Riding alone, she made it to the finish with a 16.7mph average pace. She was feeling her lack of training these last months due to a combination of heavy rain, unsafe roads, and too-hilly routes along our route. So while she didn’t do as well as she expected, she’s happy to have had the experience of making it to the National Senior Games.

Donna on the course

Catch the draft

After the race, we followed Ginny and Kathy to a popular restaurant called Muffuletta’s in the Como Park neighborhood. Of course, Donna and I ordered the muffaletta sandwich. I had sweet potato fries on the side with mine – Donna had a salad. Donna’s Aunt Kathy used to work nearby and says this restaurant gets packed for lunch and dinner. The service and the food was excellent and we enjoyed eating outdoors on the patio.

Donna, Ginny and Kathy after the race

We backtracked our route down I-35E and made a stop at Costco. We wanted to stock up on a few things while we had a car. I ended up making an impulse buy that I’ll describe in my next post.

Today we expect mostly sunny skies with the temperature reaching 80 degrees. Later this afternoon, Donna will drive to downtown St. Paul for a book signing at Subtext Books.

Getting Race Ready

It rained all morning off and on – mostly on. I spent most of the morning reading while Donna worked at her laptop,doing book promotion. The skies finally cleared around 2:30pm. Donna went out for a walk and found the paved bike trail at Spring Lake Regional Park (map). She walked a little over five miles.

I took the scooter to the store to replenish our bottled water supply. Ozark spent most of the day napping. When I returned from the store, I saw we had a new neighbor setting up in the site next to us here at the Dakotah Meadows RV Park.

After a while, I saw him come out of his fifth wheel trailer and unplug the power cord. He sprayed the contacts with cleaner and plugged it back in. A few minutes later, he was at the back of his RV jiggling the plug again. I picked up my Fluke multimeter and went outside. I asked him if he was having an electrical problem. He said he didn’t have any 120-volt AC power, only 12-volt DC.

We unplugged his power cord from the pedestal and I checked it with my meter. We had 120-volt AC on both legs of the 50amp socket. I plugged his cord back into the pedestal and checked the socket on the end of the cord. We had power there. I told him to check his circuit breaker inside because power was getting to the coach. He came out a few minutes later and said all was good. He thanked me and went inside without telling me what the problem was. I’m assuming the breaker was tripped inside and all he had to do was reset it.

Dakotah Meadows RV Park site A39

Donna made meatloaf for dinner. She improvised and changed up her usual recipe by adding diced sun-dried tomatoes, prosciutto and fresh herbs. The side dish was a winner – it was a warm potato and green bean salad. Delicious!

Meatloaf with warm potato and green bean salad

After dinner, I played with Ozark for a while. She batted her parchment toy around and I encouraged her to scratch the scratching post. I was hoping the activity would tire her enough to sleep through the night. It almost worked. She was up at 6am, running from the bedroom to the front of the coach and back. She attacked the bathroom rug and was bouncing off the walls. I finally gave up on sleeping and got out of bed at 7am.

Today’s forecast calls for a lovely day with clear skies and a high temperature of 70 degrees. I’ll scooter Donna over to the Enterprise rental office in Shakopee around noon. We’re renting a car for the next few days. This afternoon, we’ll drive to the Minneapolis Convention Center to pick up Donna’s race packet. Then we’ll head over to the fairgrounds to preview the bicycle race course. While we’re out, we plan to make a stop to visit Donna’s friend, Shannon. When we were here in August of 2013, Shannon and her husband Paul along with their two children visited us and we grilled dinner together here at the park.

There’s a Costco near Shannon’s house so we’ll stop there and stock up before heading home. The main reason we are renting a car is for tomorrow’s Senior Olympics bicycle race. I’ll drive Donna to the race site in the morning. The race starts at 9am, so we’ll be up early to get there well ahead of time during the morning rush hour.

The weather for the race should be fine. It will be cool – in the 60s in the morning and shouldn’t be too windy. I won’t post again until Thursday when I can give the race results. Donna says her goal is to finish without crashing.

Hot Rods and RVs

There’s a nice rails-to-trails bike path here in Des Moines called the Gay Lea Trail. After I posted yesterday, I got Donna’s bike out of the trailer and pumped up the tires. She headed out, rode out of the campground and about a mile down Dean Avenue where it became Fairview Drive and intersected the trail.

While she was out, I set up my extension ladder, wash bucket, hose and brush and got up on the roof. When I swept the debris from the mimosa tree in Turkey Creek RV Village from the roof, a lot of dirt and dark stains were left behind. The stains extended over the roof coves and were driving me crazy. After I started cleaning, I snapped a photo of a two-foot section of the roof I was brushing to show how dirty the roof was.

Getting started on the roof cleaning

Of course, as I cleaned the roof, dirty water was running down the sides of the coach. So I had no choice but to wash the entire rig. The trailer was just as dirty and needed to be washed as well. While I was on the roof, RVs pulling car trailers were streaming into the park. The Good Guys Fourth of July car show here at the Iowa State Fairgrounds is a big show.

View in front of our coach from the roof

RVs starting to fill the hillside

Our row is packed now

While I was washing the coach, there was a group of people camped behind our site that piled into a van. Then an argument broke out with a lot of shouting. I thought a fist fight was about to happen. They all got out of the van except the driver who sat there with the engine running for about 15 minutes. One of the guys from the group came over and made small talk with me. It turns out they are workers at a carnival near here and their trailer is a bunkhouse with 10 compartments. It must be difficult to work together, then share tight quarters and be around each other 24/7.

Bunkhouse trailer with five rooms per side

Just as I was finishing up the wash job, Donna came back from her 24-mile bike ride. I put everything away before realizing that I didn’t wash the scooter. It’s badly in need of a wash job. I might find a self-serve car wash for that chore today.

As I was packing things up, I met our neighbor, Dave. We chatted for a bit. He’s from Flagstaff, Arizona and is following a car show circuit with his 1967 Chevelle convertible. He is selling the car to someone who will come to get it at either the Indianapolis show or the big show in Columbus, Ohio. It’s going for $66,000. He told me he has nine classic cars in his collection.

While I was washing the coach, I stopped and came inside to get a bottle of water. Ozark, our cat, must not have like the sound of me walking on the roof. She was hiding under the couch and wouldn’t come out. We’ve only been feeding her for a week, but she’s filling out nicely and is no longer the scrawny cat that found us. After Donna came inside, Ozark came out from her hiding place.

When I was at Petco on Wednesday, I bought some catnip. I put that on her scratching post and it got her attention. She’s using the post now, but we still have to keep her from scratching the furniture. Donna puts covers over the furniture if we leave Ozark alone in the coach and at night before going to bed. She also covered some of the more vulnerable valances with clear packing tape to deter the cat from scratching them.

Like many cats, Ozark is crepuscular – she is most active in the evening and at sun-up. She spends the day napping and getting up to eat or play for a short time. Her early morning antics have us getting up earlier. I’m hoping that she acclimates to our schedule and becomes more active in the afternoon and sleeps more at night. Last night was the best yet. She slept on our bed most of the night, but still rose early.

Last evening, I took a walk through the park and took photos of some of the cars here. There are so many nice cars, I was tempted to shoot dozens of photos.

Cars a couple of sites away from us

Our neighbor Brad brought this car

Chevelle convertible – RVs and hot rods, how cool is that?

Another red Chevy

Smooth looking Impala

I'm not sure what this is - it looks like a handfull to drive

I’m not sure what this is – it looks like a handful to drive.

Big bore stroker twin-turbo VW – crazy

This is cool

When I was a kid, this was my idea of a hot rod

This morning, the hot rods started firing up early. The guys all want to be first in line to claim a good spot in the show. They’re required to pull out of the show area at the end of the day and the process will start over again tomorrow morning and again on Sunday. I think I’ll wait until tomorrow to buy a ticket and see the show.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Bicycle

Back to the Doc

Dry and Dusty

Indian Lake

Potluck With Friends

Sudden Shower

Cat House

On Familiar Grounds

Senior Olympics Experience

Getting Race Ready

Hot Rods and RVs

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