Category Archives: Bicycle

Deja Vu in Pennsylvania

Our overnight stay at the Delaware Water Gap Penn DOT Welcome Center was uneventful. It could have been quieter, but a tractor-trailer rig with a refrigerated trailer parked by us. His generator ran all night to keep the trailer refrigerated. This is a nice overnight stopping place – they keep the air conditioned building open 24/7 and it has clean restrooms plus free wifi with good speed – even out in the parking area. There are14 Welcome Centers in Pennsylvania, I don’t know if all of them are as nice as this one. We may find another before we leave the state.

Donna was happy to learn that the Welcome Center was on the 2.6-mile Cherry Creek Crossing Loop Trail. She enjoyed her hike which took her first along the creek and then into the small town of Delaware Water Gap where she found a bakery.

Stepping stones across a creek on Donna’s hike

Bakery and market

Donna walked to the bakery Sunday morning and bought breakfast sandwiches – they were excellent. I watched the Moto GP qualifying for the German Grand Prix before we packed up. We were in no hurry. We planned to go about 80 miles to Hamburg, Pennsylvania and stay overnight at Cabela’s.  I didn’t realize we had stayed at this Cabela’s before. Donna recognized it as we were pulling in. We stayed here in August, 2015.

Originally I planned to utilize the dump station at Cabela’s, but we made a change of plans. After talking with my youngest daughter, Shauna, we decided to go to Gettysburg on Sunday. Shauna could drive up from Washington, DC on Sunday afternoon for a visit. We booked two nights at the Artillery Ridge Camping Resort where we stayed in 2015.

After settling in at Cabela’s, I got Donna’s knock-around bike out and she went for a ride on the Schuylkill River Trail which intersects with the Appalachian Trail.

Trailhead

Appalachian Trail

Meanwhile, I walked next door to the Cigars International (CI) Superstore. CI is a big retailer of cigars and related accessories. They have three retail outlets in Pennsylvania and are opening one in The Colony, Texas. Most of their sales are through online shopping.

Me – at Cigars International

The Hamburg location is the largest – it’s a two-story building with a full bar and patio on each floor. They have a selection of hundreds of cigars and an inventory on-hand of about a million cigars. I was like a kid in a candy store browsing around.

The prices in their retail stores aren’t anything special – better deals can be found online. But, I had the opportunity to look over many cigar brands I hadn’t seen before. And I was able to buy some singles to sample – if I really like one, I can watch for a deal online later.

Later, after Donna’s bike ride we went back to CI for happy hour. The building has a complex climate control system. The entire building is humidity and temperature controlled while also providing ventilation and air filtration. While were at the bar, the temperature was about 70 degrees and the humidity was 68%. Customers are allowed to puff cigars anywhere in the building – they have a few lounges – one with a pool table – and the two bars which also serve food.

While we were having a beer we met a guy that’s hiking the Appalachian Trail with a friend. They started at the southern end of the trail in Georgia about three months ago and plan to make it to the north end in Maine by mid-September. What an adventure!

Sunday morning I watched the Moto GP race until a thunderstorm blocked the satellite reception. We headed out around 10:30am and went about two blocks away to Walmart to stock up on a few things. Then we hit I-78 to make the 100-mile drive to Gettysburg. We hit one slowdown after I-78 became I-81 near Harrisburg. It rained off and on until we were past Harrisburg.

I stopped at the F:ying J Travel Center at exit 77 in Harrisburg. I blew it by not filling our tank before we crossed into Pennsylvania. Fuel is expensive in Pennsylvania, but I needed to top up because we would be running too low before we get to Ohio. Our Onan Quiet Diesel generator runs off of the same fuel tank as our coach’s engine. The diesel fuel pick-up is on a stand pipe in the tank roughly a quarter of the way up in the tank. This is done so you can’t inadvertently run the fuel tank all the way empty while dry camping with the generator. The generator will run out of fuel, but there will still be about a quarter tank of fuel left to drive the coach. So, since we will probably be doing more dry camping, I don’t want to run the fuel tank too low.

We checked in at the Artillery Ridge Camping Resort at 1:30pm and set up. I dumped and flushed our tanks – it had been 10 days since we last dumped the tanks in Scarborough, Maine. Shauna came to our site a little after 3pm. It was about a 90-minute drive for her. She brought her boyfriend’s dog along. After a short visit, we piled into her Volkswagen Tiguan and went to downtown Gettysburg. We walked along the streets and checked out the old buildings and historical placards. I wrote about Gettysburg when we were here before in this post.

Donna, Shauna and Guinness outside of the Farnsworth House

Eventually we stopped at the Farnsworth House where they have a beer garden and patio dining that’s dog friendly. Guinness the dog, was well-behaved and sat in the shade. One of the wait staff brought a water dish for him. We had a beer and talked over dinner. On the way back, we stopped at the Gettysburg National Military Park and climbed up the 59-step spiral stairway of the State of Pennsylvania Monument.

Shauna and I on the top left of the monument

Shauna headed for home around 8pm. She had to work in the morning – she’s an Associate Attorney in DC at Dentons Law Firm.

This morning I tried to extend our stay here until Wednesday due to the weather forecast. Thunderstorms are predicted for tomorrow. I wasn’t able to keep our site for another night, so we’ll have to suck it up and drive in the rain. I’m not sure where we’re stopping next.

Historic Watkins Glen Raceway

Wednesday, our first full day in Watkins Glen, was a cold and dreary day. I didn’t do much besides read a book and research some supplies I’ll need next week for my battery project. The four Lifeline AGM batteries I ordered will be shipped to Donna’s parents’ house in Bennington, Vermont. I expect them to get there next Wednesday – we’ll be there by then. I’m also ordering some new cables and connectors.

It stopped raining in the afternoon, but remained cool. The high temperature for the day was 62, but with the wind and cloud cover, it felt colder. Trucks rumbled into the boat launch area all day. They were dumping soil and gravel and made a huge mound of dirt. In the late afternoon, Donna went for a hike on a portion of the Finger Lakes Trail that borders the Catharine Creek Marsh.

When she returned, she made a skillet meal. It was just the thing for a dreary day. Skillet recipes are usually fairly quick and easy – and don’t leave a lot of dirty dishes from preparation. It was a new recipe that she’s calling Quick Chicken Enchilada Skillet Casserole.

Skillet enchilada casserole

Dished out on a plate it was like a de-constructed enchilada.

Skillet chicken enchilada casserole plate

It was a hearty and nutritious meal. And it took less than 25 minutes to prepare and cook.

On Thursday morning, we were greeted with sunshine and the promise of a warmer day. Trucks continued to rumble past the campground, but I noticed now they were being filled with dirt from the huge mound near the boat launch. There was a large loader with a giant bucket filling truckload after truckload. I went over there and asked one of the drivers waiting in line to be filled what was up. They’re delivering the dirt to a construction site in town. The wet weather on Tuesday and Wednesday interrupted the delivery – one of the roads they have to traverse was too soft for the load. So, they dumped everything here and now they’re shuttling it to the construction site.

Donna went out for a ride on her knock-around bike. I call it a knock-around because it’s an inexpensive mountain bike hybrid that she bought from a guy at Viewpoint in Mesa, Arizona for $25. I lubed it and made a few adjustments after she bought it and it rides fine – but it’s much slower and heavier than her road bike or my Specialized mountain bike.

She rode out the Catharine Valley Trail and found She-Qua-Ga Falls in the neighboring village of Montour Falls.

She-Qua-Ga Falls

She rode about 13 miles – a fair ride considering the bike she was riding.

Later I rode the Spyder out to Watkins Glen International Raceway. At the main gate, they let me in on the condition that I limit myself to one grandstand area and not go near the pits or infield. There was a car club at the track – they rented the track for the week and were doing laps.

Members of this car club are definitely not from the hoi polloi – they have money to burn.

Ferrari on track

Ford GT40 and a Mercedes coupe

’67 Shelby GT Mustang

This track is in one of the most beautiful settings imaginable. And there is so much history here. The US Formula One Grand Prix started here in 1961 and ran every year until 1980. The Can-Am and Trans-Am series raced here. Jimmy Clark, Dan Gurney, Bruce McLaren, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Peter Revson – all of the greats from that era raced here.

Sadly, Francoise Cevert lost his life when he crashed at turn four during the Grand Prix on October 6, 1973 – my birthday. I was a 17-year-old Formula One fan at the time. We didn’t have TV coverage of Formula One back then – I would get the coverage through articles in Road & Track magazine weeks after the race. The articles were usually written by Rob Walker, a former team owner or Innes Ireland, a former Formula One driver who won the first US Grand Prix in 1961.

View from the grandstand looking back toward the village

Last evening, Donna finally got her birthday dinner. Traditionally we go out to eat at the restaurant of her choice on her birthday. This year we had to put it off for two reasons – inclement weather and the fact that all of the nicer restaurants in Frankfort, Kentucky – where we were at the time – are closed on Sunday. Her birthday fell on a Sunday.

Donna chose the Veraisons Restaurant at the Glenora Winery for her birthday dinner. It’s about 10 miles from the park and we rode the Spyder up to check out the winery before dinner.

View of a gazebo and vines overlooking Seneca Lake at Glenora Winery

Looking northeast from the winery gift shop – that’s the restaurant on the right

They had a nicely restored 1955 Chevrolet flat-bed truck in the parking lot. I don’t know if they just display it or use it around the winery. It didn’t have license plates, so I doubt it ever sees the highway.

1955 Chevy flat-bed

We dined on the deck at the back of the restaurant and enjoyed the spectacular view. Donna discovered she actually likes New York State cabernet sauvignon! Donna had the pappardelle and I had a pork chop. The presentation of both dishes included an edible flower. By the way, we noticed that Glenora Winery uses an image of the She-Qua-Ga Falls on their label.

Belated happy birthday to Donna

The weather was great yesterday with a high of 77 degrees and a few clouds. Today is forecast to be a copy of yesterday’s weather. We plan to check out a local brewery or two then hit the farmers’ market right down the road from us at Lafayette Park.

Meanwhile the loader at the boat launch is still filling dump trucks – the dirt mound is much smaller after filling truckload after truckload all day yesterday. I think they’ll finish the job today. That was a lot of dirt!

Alabama Hospitality

My last post was on Monday, so I have some catching up to do. Between travel days and a stop without a good Internet connection, I haven’t been able to post. Nearly five years on the road and I can only think of a few instances where our Verizon Jetpack wasn’t able to pick up a good wireless signal.

In my last post, I mentioned I was waiting for a package to arrive at the Hattiesburg post office. I followed the tracking and it showed it was available at the post office in the historic downtown area of Hattiesburg Monday morning. Hattiesburg isn’t a large metropolis by any stretch, but it does have three post offices. I’ve always been a little leery of having parcels sent to General Delivery in larger post offices.

I rode the Spyder downtown to collect the package. The diagonal parking on the street was all metered. Uh-oh. I didn’t plan for that. I found two dimes in one of my pockets and wondered how long the line was in the post office. I put a dime in the meter and found that bought me 36 minutes of parking time! I was able to retrieve my package in a matter of a few minutes. I won’t be so leery of General Delivery from now on.

The package I was waiting for came from Famous Smoke Shop in Easton, Pennsylvania. That’s right. I’d ordered cigars. I got a box of cigars from Tabacalera Oliva in Esteli, Nicaragua. Oliva makes a large number of hand-made cigars for their own brands and others. The cigars were boxed in a beautiful wooden box also made by Oliva. They have their own wood shop making cigar boxes! Last year, they made over 60,000 boxes there and are expanding to be able to supply up to 100,000 boxes annually. They are a big part of the economy in Esteli. The box was made with interlocking box joints and a hinged snap clasp – exquisite construction for a consumable. No paper covered cardboard at Oliva!

Beautifully made cigar box

On Tuesday morning, we made the coach ready for travel. Before we hooked up the trailer, I drove to the dump station to dump and flush the holding tanks. Then we drove back to our site to hitch up the trailer and were on the road by 10:15am.

Our route took us away from Hattiesburg up I-59 to Meridian where we made a stop at Walmart to stock up. The road surface was good and the traffic light. There was dense forest most of the way with fewer pine trees than we saw south of Hattiesburg and more hardwoods. Mississippi isn’t like I expected.

I-59 gave way to I-20 and we were on a northeast heading. Our next stop was in Tuscaloosa, Alabama at the Pilot Travel Center. This is our first trip to Alabama in the coach – I’ve flown into Atlanta several times before but never visited any other part of Alabama. We continued toward Birmingham on I-20 and exited at mile post 100 before we hit Birmingham.

We found the Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park there. They have RV sites located in three campgrounds. We were lucky and scored a pull-through full-hookup site for just $25/night. Our site was more than 80 feet long! We paid for two nights.

The park is in a heavily forested, hilly area and Mud Creek runs right through it. Donna went out on her knock-around bike while I puttered around our site. She found a few trails and points of interest. It was hot and very humid – temperatures in the 90s. We had both roof air conditioners on for the duration of our stay.

On Wednesday morning, I took Donna’s bike and traced her route from the day before. After going up and over a steep hill, I found some historic buildings. There was an old forge – the blacksmith shop – and a grist mill that dated back to the civil war.

Tannehill Forge

John Wesley Hall mill – note the waterwheel on the left powering the grist mill

Mud Creek

On Wednesday afternoon, Miriam Armbrester and her husband Rand picked us up at the park. Miriam has been a subscriber to Donna’s organizing tips newsletter for more than 15 years! They live in the area and it was Miriam who gave us the tip about the campground at Tannehill State Park.

They took us up to Bessemer where we had lunch at the oldest restaurant in Alabama – the Bright Star. The Bright Star opened in 1907. It’s well-acclaimed – it’s listed on MSN’s list of 60 iconic restaurants you must try before you die. It’s also a James Beard Foundation award winner for American Classics.

Sign in front of the Bright Star restaurant

Rand grew up in Bessemer and has known the restaurant owners since he was a young boy. We met Jim and Nick Koikos, the brothers who have run the family business since 1966. Since it was our first time there, they started us off with a taste of their seafood gumbo – gratis. Donna and I ordered the daily special – grilled red snapper stuffed with lobster and crab au gratin. It came with a choice of three sides and was fabulous.

Miriam, Donna and Rand at the Bright Star entry

Rand hosted the lunch and very generously picked up the tab. Thanks again, Rand! Miriam made up a goody bag for us containing stuff made in Alabama, everything from old-fashioned ginger ale to syrups, barbeque sauces, grits, chips and coffee plus a couple of books written by a pastor friend.

All made in Alabama!

She also gave us a sour cream pound cake that she made. Delicious – I’m sure it’ll put a pound on. Thanks, Miriam!

We had a thundershower Wednesday night but it was dry out when we woke up Thursday morning. It took me a little longer than usual to get squared away for the road. The hoses all needed to be wiped clean from the rain and mud. Also, I didn’t notice it before but one of the cabinet doors in the trailer must not have been secured. It popped open sometime on the road and spilled its contents on the floor. I put everything away and made sure the doors were secure.

We hit the road around 10am and took I-20 into Birmingham. Rand warned us of road construction in the city. I looked at alternative routes but in the end figured it wasn’t going to be much better to try and skirt around it. My hunch proved true – we didn’t have any issues with construction traffic and hit open road again on I-65 once we were past Birmingham. A couple of hours later were crossed into Tennessee.

I noticed something I don’t remember seeing outside of Texas before – armadillo road kill. I’ve seen dead armadillos on the roadside in every state we’ve been in since we were in Texas – Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee – even right outside of Nashville. I know they’re expanding their range and I also know I never saw them in Tennessee before.

The traffic in the Nashville metro area was terrible. There are a few junctions where multiple freeways converge and traffic stops. You need to plan ahead to be in the correct lane or you’ll end up on the wrong freeway. Many people don’t do this and try to make multiple lane changes at the last instant. Scary!

We were thinking about going to the Opryland Resort to dry camp but changed our plan en route. We booked a week at the Grand Ole RV Resort and Market on the north side of town in Goodlettsville. They did’t have a full hook-up site available, but they put us into an electric only overflow site for two nights, then we’ll move to a full hookup pull-through site for five nights. They discounted the weekly rate for us.

The staff is very friendly. A woman from the office drove me around in a golf cart to look at various options for dropping the trailer and different sites. After conferring with a guy from the office, they put us in the overflow site and suggested I drive across the lawn and pull into the site from the back, leaving the trailer hooked up. I told them I could just as easily back into the site and not make a loop across their nice lawn. They didn’t seem to think I could maneuver the trailer in reverse like that. Donna directed me and we were in without any issues at all.

After dinner, a thunderstorm moved in. It looks like we’re in for more warm weather with a high probability of daily thundershowers. The shuttle to downtown Nashville starts running on Monday, so we’ll probably just hang out until then before we check out the downtown music scene.

 

 

From the River to the Lake

Tuesday was hot and humid in Baton Rouge. The temperature reached 92 degrees and the humidity was heavy. Donna went out in the morning for a bike ride. She took her hybrid knock-around bike on the Mississippi River levee trail. Here are some photos she took on her ride.

I-10 spanning the mighty Mississippi

Casino parking – notice the high water level on the left

Casino on the river

USS Kidd – a floating Veterans Memorial and museum

Raising Cane’s River Center Arena

Opposing statues – two of 22 cast iron and aluminum statues scattered in the downtown area

Baton Rouge is spelled out in large red letters on the levee

After Donna’s bike ride, we rode the Spyder to Garden District Coffee. We needed coffee beans and wanted to try some locally roasted coffee. This shop is definitely boutique and buying coffee from them was a splurge. We bought a pound of the coffee used in the porter Donna tried yesterday at Tin Roof Brewery – Italian/Espresso – and a pound of Ethiopian Sidamo.

Then we made a stop at Trader Joe’s to stock up on produce. Our refrigerator is fairly full, but we can always use fresh fruit and vegetables. We don’t know how accessible a good grocery store will be at our next stop.

By the time we finished running our errands and dealing with Baton Rouge traffic, the heat was taking a toll on us. We spent the rest of the afternoon indoors enjoying air conditioning and a bit of solitude. We didn’t make it to the Old State Capitol. When it cooled down in the evening, we enjoyed sitting outside and watching the horses. The workers at the center put the horses in the stables at night and let them out in the pasture in the mornings.

Horses in the pasture by our site

In the morning on Wednesday, Donna went out for a run in the neighborhood by the BREC Farr Equestrain Center while I packed up the chairs and loaded the Spyder. We weren’t in any hurry but we hit the road at 10:15am. I had the generator running and the front roof air conditioner on while we traveled.

The drive through Baton Rouge to I-12 wasn’t fun. The roads are narrow and in terrible shape. The interstate through the metro area is bumpy and erratic drivers are everywhere. Once we got away from the city on I-12 east, the road surface improved and the traffic settled down. We made a stop at the Pilot/Flying J Travel Center in Hammond. Donna bought a couple of Arby’s roast beef sandwiches while I pumped $160 worth of diesel to top up our tank. We rarely eat fast food other than an occasional  Subway Sandwich or a taco, but the Arby’s was convenient and it hit the spot.

Our destination was the Elk’s Lodge near Hattiesburg, Mississippi. This was our first time in Mississippi. I was surprised at the number of pine trees lining the interstate. I was expecting to see cotton fields. Our original plan was to exit the interstate at Covington and take state highways. We changed the plan on the fly. The road surface was good and the driving easy, so we followed I-12 to I-59.

We had to drive for about 8 miles on narrow county roads to the find the Elk’s Lodge. The lodge is located on an amazing property – I’ve never seen a lodge like it. They have 1400 acres of land and a lake – Elk’s Lake – behind the lodge. They have 50 RV sites available for Elk’s members with fresh water and 50 amp electrical service for $10/night! Many of the sites are on the waterfront.

The area around the lake is forest with many tall pine trees. Maneuvering our rig in the park was difficult. I had to get us turned around in a limited space to drop the trailer and back into our site. It took patience, but it was worth it.

Our site on the lake

There’s a little cove to the left of our site

Donna’s looking forward to hiking in the area and getting the kayak in the water. Tonight the lodge has a special steak dinner – we put our reservations in. The forecast calls for a high of 92 today. The hot temperatures will continue through the weekend – but the lodge has an Olympic size pool that will open tomorrow! I need to run a couple of errands and may take the Spyder into town today.

 

First Time in Benson

We took it easy on Easter Sunday. Donna wasn’t feeling well in the morning and had to cancel her kayak trip on the Salt River with her friends Audrey and Julia. In the afternoon, I spatchcocked a whole chicken (I wrote about spatchcock here), rubbed it with Sweet Rub O’Mine and cooked it on the Traeger. Donna served it with whipped sweet potato and asparagus.

Spatchcock chicken plate

On Monday morning, I played pickleball. Donna still wasn’t feeling 100% so she passed on pickleball but she did go out for an easy 18-mile bike ride. I got a start on organizing the trailer. I went to Harbor Freight and picked up a package of bungee cords and a couple of tie-downs. While I was at it, I picked up cat food at Petco. We had happy hour at Lucky Lou’s and said our goodbyes until next time to our friends there.

We had a last round of pickleball on Tuesday morning – Donna had a good time playing with the 3.0-3.5 group. Hopefully she can get enough pickleball court time over the summer and fall to stay at that level of play. Afterwards, I got serious about packing the trailer and preparing to hit the road. I now have four bicycles to store in the trailer. Donna bought a hybrid type knock-around bike to use in the park or to make a quick run to the store. She got it from a guy in the park for just $25 and it’s in great shape!

I still had a few things to put away Wednesday morning. Our friend Raymond stopped by to say goodbye and wish us safe travels. Raymond and his wife Louise gave us a big bag of grapefruits fresh from their neighbor’s tree. The grapefruits are sweet and very tasty.

I knew I was going to have an issue with the left rear jack before we left. When we set up, the jack pad sunk into the gravel. It was over a little sink hole – maybe water had leaked there before. I had to extend the jack nearly to the limit while we were there to stabilize the coach. When I put the slides in and raised the jacks to the store position, the left rear jack was stuck. Gravel had filled in the hole and the foot of the jack was buried.

I started the engine so the air suspension would raise the coach. I figured this would pull the jack free. I had a “Jacks Down” alarm screaming at me, but I couldn’t think of a better solution for the stuck jack. After a few minutes though, the engine shut itself off! I checked the jack and it was free and moving to the store position. I checked the engine control module for trouble codes and didn’t find any stored codes. I restarted the engine and all was good. I’m thinking there may be an automatic shut down after a jacks down warning stays on for a certain amount of time.

It took a little bit of jockeying around in the street to get the trailer hooked up, but we got it done without any issues. We pulled out of the site at 10:30am. We took the Loop 202 south and followed the San Tan Freeway to I-10. The interstate narrows to just two lanes between Maricopa and Casa Grande. This causes traffic to quickly build especially when a tractor-trailer rig decides to overtake another tractor-trailer but can only go marginally faster. The cars stack up behind the tractor-trailer and everyone follows too closely – it can be a little hairy.

We stopped at exit 208 in Eloy and topped up the tank with diesel at the Pilot Travel Center. Donna bought Subway sandwiches there, then we drove across the overpass to Blue Beacon to get the coach washed. We ate lunch while we waited in line for the wash. Sitting in Mesa, the coach got dirty. There’s always some dust in the air and when it rains, dirt spatters up from the gravel site and coats the lower sides of the coach.

This Blue Beacon had the narrowest entry of any I’ve seen. It said it was 10’6″ wide, but I doubt it. Once we entered the wash bay I had to pass through a sprayer that was shaped like an inverted “U” – the uprights on the sides were barely wider than the coach and I smacked the right mirror. Grrr. No real damage done – just a small scrape.

We arrived at the SKP Saguaro Co-op park in Benson around 3pm. Since this was a first-time visit to this park for us, we qualified for a super discount. Our full hook-up rate is $50 for one week, plus electricity at 11 cents per kilowatt. Can’t beat that!

This park requires all arrivals to be escorted to the site and directed by a park employee. Our site is quite wide and we planned to drop the trailer and back the coach in. When I backed the trailer into the right side of the site, we saw that it was deep enough to leave the trailer connected. I pulled the Spyder out of the trailer and backed the coach and trailer into the left side of the site. Nice!

Spacious site at SKP Saguaro Co-op in Benson

The park is fairly quiet with the exception of occasional trains blasting their horns as they approach the town. We can see a large water tank on top of a bluff to our west. Donna found a trail that leads to the tower and she’s hiking it this morning as I type this. It’ll be about a seven-mile round trip.

This morning, we made a decision to change up our plan. Although we’re paid up here through the 11th, we’ll pull out on Monday the 9th. We’ll head south on AZ80 about 50 miles to Desert Oasis Campground outside of Bisbee. I booked two nights there in a full hook-up pull through site for just $21/night with our Passport America discount. We want to spend a day exploring Bisbee, but we also want to be in Austin, Texas by the 19th. We’re allowing a full week to get to Austin so we can stop and smell the flowers along the way without having to push through long, high mileage days.

The weather forecast for the week ahead looks good. At our elevation of 3,600 feet, it’s cooler here than in Mesa, but we may have a 90-degree day or two ahead. It feels good to be on the move again.

Spyder Key Quest

I may not be as organized as Donna, but I do take care of certain things. One thing is my credit cards. I always handle them carefully and put them away before I sign a receipt or do anything else. That way, I never misplace them. I’m also careful about keys – I have a place for keys and try to always put them where they belong. That way, I don’t have to look for them and I haven’t lost a key in years – until last summer. While we were in Iowa for the RAGBRAI, somehow I misplaced the Spyder key. I  looked everywhere I could think of and retraced my steps before they were lost. I had to give up and break out our spare key.

Since then, we’ve been operating with only one key – no spare for the Spyder. This made Donna nervous – she almost locked the key in the frunk a couple of times and was also worried about losing the key and getting stuck somewhere. I meant to get one made while we were in San Diego, but I put it off. On Friday, I went to the Ride Now Powersports dealer – they carry Can-Am products – and I bought a new key. It wasn’t so simple though. The Can-Am key has a chip that is read by the ignition switch. The Spyder is equipped with an immobilizer system that won’t allow the engine to run unless the system recognizes the chip in the key.

Ride Now had a blank replacement key, but they don’t have a way to cut the keys. They can program the chip in the key, but it has to be cut first, so the key will turn in the ignition during the programming process. I took the new blank key with me. On Saturday, I set out to have the key cut. First I went to Ace Hardware on Main Street. No luck – they don’t duplicate automotive type keys. Then I went to Lowes – same story. I tried a locksmith shop on Power and Southern Avenue – they were usually open on Saturday, but not on the President’s Day weekend. Then I went to a Key Me kiosk in Bed, Bath and Beyond. They wanted to sell me another blank which they would cut for $73. I’d already paid $62 for the blank I had.

I did a search on my smart phone and found a mobile locksmith nearby called Sparks’ Locksmith. I gave him a call. He said he didn’t have a shop – just a van for mobile work – but I could come over to his house and he would cut the key in his van. He was a few blocks away off Signal Butte Road. I found his place and he cut the new key blank in less than 10 minutes and it worked in the ignition fine. He was a super nice guy and didn’t charge for the work. He just said think of me if you need to have work done or if a friend gets locked out. Sparks’ Locksmith – service 24/7 and no extra charge for after hours calls. His number is 602-301-8170 if you are ever in the area and need a locksmith.

From there I went back to Ride Now to have the key programmed. The service guy there told me on Friday that he would program the key for free once I had the key cut since I bought the blank from them. He tried to complete the program several times without success. Finally he got the service manual out. I read the programming sequence out loud to him from the manual as he went through the steps. Success at last – the new key works. I can cross that off my things to do list.

Old key, new key and keyholder

All that running around worked up an appetite. Donna grilled wild Alaskan salmon with garlic mashed potatoes and grilled baby bok choy for dinner. We always buy wild salmon and avoid farm-raised Atlantic salmon.

Wild Alaskan salmon with garlic mashed potatoes and grilled baby bok choy

On Sunday, our friends Gerry and Cindy Dimassa came over to go bike riding with Donna. We met them about 12 years ago when we rode in the same bike club together. The last time we saw them was eight years ago in Paris, France – we happened to be there at the same time.

Gerry, Cindy and Donna after a 36-mile ride to Tempe Marketplace and back

Gerry and Cindy are avid bicyclists and have ridden all over Europe. Cindy’s bike is really high-tech with electronic shifters – no cable adjustments needed!

While they were out on their ride, I tackled another chore. It was time to give the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker/grill and the Weber q2200 propane grill a thorough cleaning. Ash builds up in the Traeger and it needs to be cleaned out after four cooks or so. I cleaned the grates and build-up on the interior, then scooped the ash out.

Heart of the Traeger – the fire pot

Diffuser over fire pot after scooping out excess ash

Last step – fresh foil lining on drip pan

Later, I put two racks of babyback ribs on the Traeger. I had dry-rubbed them with my favorite rub to cook them Memphis-style. We had company over for dinner. Donna met another professional organizer online, Barbara. Barbara and her husband Brent have just taken up the nomadic lifestyle and have been on the road in their class C Minnie Winnie since August.

Barbara brought a 7-layer salad. Donna made cornbread, sweet potatoes and green beans to go with the babyback ribs and we had a buffet-style dinner outside. We enjoyed a couple of drinks and talked about the lifestyle. Brent and Barbara are just getting into it and still adjusting. Like most newcomers, they’ve been pushing and covering a lot of ground. Their next stop will be an extended stay in Palm Desert.

Dinner buffet

The wind kicked up Sunday night and Monday was very windy – gusts up to 30mph – and we had a few raindrops. It was a good day to lie low and we did. A cold front blew in and we’re in for below average temperatures for the coming week.

Tuesday was cool, but the wind died down and the skies cleared. Still, the high only reached 57 degrees! We rode the Spyder over to a Mexican restaurant where we met our friends Mark and Emily Fagan (Roads Less Traveled) along with their puppy, Buddy, for lunch. We sat out on the patio in the sun since we couldn’t take Buddy inside. We had a good time catching up on their latest adventures. We last saw them in McCall, Idaho almost two years ago.

Emily, Mark and Buddy

Donna made a turmeric chicken and rice soup for dinner last night. With the cool temperatures, soup sounded good – and it was!

Turmeric chicken and rice soup

The forecast calls for the cool weather to hang around for the rest of the week with daily highs around 60 degrees. This morning, it was 39 degrees out at 6:30am and the coach had cooled to a chilly 51 degrees. We don’t run the heat at night, we prefer blankets. But when I got out of bed, I turned on the heat pumps first thing!

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

 

Donna Does a Century

On Friday afternoon, Donna and I walked along the trail by Cattail Pond out of the Boulder County Fairgrounds. We hit Boston Avenue and headed east. Our destination was Longmont’s most well-known brewery – Left Hand Brewing Company. It was warm out – in the upper 80s, but the walk was nice – close to a mile and a half.

We had a reservation for a brewery tour. The brewery is housed in a much smaller facility than I expected – they brew a lot of beer here. Their beer is distributed in 40 states, the District of Columbia, Europe and Japan. There were only three participants in the tour – Donna, me and a guy from Lyons. The tour guide told us about the beginning of the brewery when they searched for a suitable location in 1993. They found this building and thought it would be ideal. It had concrete floors with built-in drainage. Keeping the gear and brewing environment clean is a very important part of a successful brewery.

When she told us it was formerly a meat processing plant called Green’s Sausage, I was stunned. I lived here in 1976 and was a laborer on the post setting crew for Anderson Fence Company. In the ’70s and probably well beyond, almost all fence building contracts along the Front Range north of Denver were held by Anderson. We fenced this property back then when it was called Green’s Whole Hog Sausage! I didn’t recognize the place as back then it was the only building in the area surrounded by farms and horse properties. Now it’s on a busy street with a greenbelt along the St. Vrain River next door.

Left Hand Brewing Company

The brewery runs three shifts producing beer 24/7. It’s a very efficient operation brewing 60 barrel (1,860 gallons) batches simultaneously in several fermenters. It’s a wonder they are able to fulfill worldwide demand from this relatively small operation.

After the tour, Donna and I each a sampler flight of beer and followed it up with a pint – milk stout for me and porter for Donna. Left hand is known for their quality stouts. In my opinion it’s more difficult to brew a fine stout than it is to brew a hop monster IPA. Stouts are more delicate and flaws are obvious while a hoppy, bitter, high-gravity brew can hide some flaws.

Donna in the Left Hand seat

We walked a different route back and got three miles of walking in to offset some of the beer. I’ve lost about 15 pounds since the end of RAGBRAI in Iowa and wouldn’t mind to take another seven or eight pounds off.

We tracked Hurricane Harvey as it hit the Texas coast. We stayed in Rockport, Texas a couple of years ago. They took the brunt of the storm in Rockport and Port Aransas. Rockport suffered major damage and people are still missing there. We can only hope for the best. My daughter Jamie was spared by the worst of it in Robstown, just outside of Corpus Christi. It’s amazing what a difference 30 or 40 miles can make in a situation like this. The story is far from over though as widespread flooding will continue for days to come. Our thoughts are with the people of Texas.

Donna was up early Saturday morning. She headed out before sunrise on her bicycle two and half miles to the start of the Venus de Miles cycling event. Venus de Miles is a fundraiser for Greenhouse Scholars and Donna received over $500 in pledges. She opted to ride the century distance – 100 miles. The participants were all women.

It wasn’t an easy ride. The elevation change over the course added up to 4,380 feeet of climbing. It was also very hot out – the temperature here in Longmont topped out at 94 degrees. I went to the finish area around 4pm and saw Donna cross the finish line after 102 miles of riding.

Donna crossing the finish

Committing to a century ride is commendable – riding 100 miles in one shot isn’t easy. Donna felt like this was a good time to do it as she felt strong after training for RAGBRAI and making the ride across Iowa.

After the finish, Donna was treated to a free massage while I had a free beer from Bristol Brewing – a brewery in Colorado Springs. Donna also had a free meal at Comida – a Mexican restaurant across the street from the park at the finish. I headed for home while she went to the restaurant with her new friend from the ride. And then she rode the last two and half miles back to the campground.

High pressure continues to dominate the weather here. We can expect mostly sunny days with highs in the upper 80s to low 90s for next few days. I think we’ll stay here until Wednesday, then head down to Colorado Springs.

 

Rock & Rails in Niwot

Donna says we’re just goofing off in Longmont, Colorado. I don’t know, I’m always just goofing off, no matter where we are. I guess from her perspective, she doesn’t have any writing deadlines and is enjoying her free time.

Yesterday she rode the Spyder up to Loveland – about 27 miles from here – to meet her friend Autumn Leopold for lunch. The route had several turns along the way and Donna did a great job memorizing the unfamiliar route before she left. She found the restaurant where they had lunch with no problem. She’s gotten a lot better at plotting a route and finding her way around since we hit the road. When we first met, she was so directionally challenged, that she would often get lost in Phoenix  where almost all of the roads are straight on a east-west/north-south grid.

While she was out, I walked over to the shopping area on Hover Road, not too far from the Longmont Fairgrounds where we’re staying. I stopped for lunch at Noodles, then hit the Chase Bank to deposit a check.

I didn’t mention the good mail I received while we were in Kearney, Nebraska. First off, I got a check from the IRS refunding an overpayment I made two years ago. The refund included interest at a better rate than I get on my savings accounts! Nebraska and Wyoming don’t have Chase banks, so I held the check until we reached Colorado.

I had another piece of mail from the State Department. They returned my old passport. I thought this wasn’t a good sign until I opened the next piece of mail and it contained my new passport – yay! I was a little worried that our nomadic lifestyle with no real physical address would cause problems with issuing a new passport. No worries!

While I was out, I stopped in at Wynn’s Wine and Spirits for a look. I was shocked to see The Balvenie Doublewood single malt Scotch whiskey 750ml bottle on sale for $39.99! I’ve never seen it priced this low – not even in California. I hate to admit what I paid for a bottle the day before in Boulder!

By the time I made it back to the coach, I’d covered 6,000 steps – about three miles of walking. Donna came home around 2:45pm and had a good time with Autumn. Clouds were coming in off the mountains and the wind picked up. I expected a shower at any moment. The rain bypassed us – most of it skirted to the south. We decided to take a chance and rode the Spyder to Niwot to check out the Thursday evening entertainment at a small park there.

Niwot is a small village of about 4,000 people located between Longmont and Boulder. The community is relatively affluent and seems close-knit. On Thursday evenings from 5pm to 9pm during the summer they have a two bands every Thursday for an event they call Rock & Rails.

We showed up around 5:15pm and found parking nearby. A band was playing as we entered the park. They also had food trucks and a beer tent.

A good crowd at Rock & Rails in Niwot

Three-man band onstage

Food vendors

Beer tent

We grabbed a pint of local beer at the beer tent – IPA for me and a stout for Donna. Then we ordered Vietnamese style savory crepes from a food vendor. We watched the band while we ate and enjoyed the beer. The temperature was in the upper 80s in the afternoon, but once the clouds came over the mountains, it quickly dropped to 70 degrees. The wind kicked up and was blowing at about 20mph. By 6pm we had all the fun we could take and decided to get out of the chilly wind.

Yesterday my daughter Jamie phoned from Texas. She lives there with Francisco and their family in Robstown – just outside of Corpus Christi. They’re bracing for the incoming hurricane Harvey to make landfall. They’re on relatively high ground and are well stocked with food and water. Hopefully the hurricane will lose some of its force before it hits Texas. If not, they may have to evacuate the area. Our thoughts are with them and we’re hoping the storm does minimal damage.

Today I plan to hang out. Donna made a reservation for us to tour Left Hand Brewing – a brewery less than a mile from here. Left Hand makes some outstanding beers. Donna is a big fan of their nitro milk stout. There are three well-known breweries in the area – Left Hand, Oskar Blues and Odell’s. There’s also a smaller brewery that I’m not familiar with called Skeye Brewing down the street from us. I’m looking forward to the tour at Left Hand.

Donna wants to get out on her bicycle and pre-run the route to the start of tomorrow’s women’s century ride – the Venus de Miles. She’ll need to ride her bicycle to the start tomorrow morning around 6:15am. High pressure has formed in the upper atmosphere here so we can expect temperatures near 90 degrees with little chance of rain.

Onward to Colorado

It took us a little longer than expected to pack up and head out of Bayard, Nebraska. It was after 10am by the time Donna returned from her bike ride. We pulled out at 11:30am Tuesday morning, but we only had about 150 miles to go to Cheyenne. We followed back roads and stayed off I-80. Our route took us along US26 to Torrington, Wyoming, then we headed down US85 to Cheyenne.

We found the Sierra Trading Post without any trouble and parked in their dedicated RV/Truck lot. I checked in at the warehouse office – all they ask for is a name and contact phone number in case they need to reach us for any reason and we were good to go. There were a few other RVs in the lot when we arrived.

Donna and I walked to their outlet store and shopped around. I didn’t find anything interesting and left after about half an hour. Donna stayed and tried on clothes – that stretched into two hours. Later Donna walked to the Walmart Super Center about a mile away to pick up a few items. I hung out and read a book. By 5pm, we were the only RV left in the lot. There was more train traffic overnight than we remembered from last year, but we both slept well.

On Wednesday morning, I pulled up to their dump station and dumped and flushed our tanks, then we were off to Colorado. We hit I-80 west for a few miles then turned south on I-25. Traffic was light. I stopped at the Pilot/Flying J Travel Center at exit 7 in Wyoming to top up our tank then had the coach and trailer washed at the Blue Beacon there. The coach was dirty from the dusty trip across Iowa and the thunder showers in Nebraska. We only took 40 gallons of fuel, but I wanted to top up the tank to get us through Colorado. There aren’t very many Pilot/Flying J truck stops in Colorado and most of them are in the Denver area where I would prefer not to pull off the interstate.

Our destination was the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont, Colorado. They have 92 RV sites there. Eight are long pull-throughs. Several other sites in the park are also pull-throughs, but they are too short for our rig. The sites ringing the outer boundaries of the park are very short back-in sites. All sites are first-come first – serve, no reservations. Stays are limited to 14 days per year.

When we arrived, we found the check-in process to be a little confusing. I parked in a large dirt lot across from the “office.” The office was un-manned and had a sign in front directing us to find a site, then pay at the automated kiosk. I walked into the park to see if any of the eight long pull-throughs were open. Meanwhile Donna found a park ranger who suggested we use site 1 – the longest pull-through they had. It was open! We paid for five nights using a credit card at the automated kiosk and we set up in site 1 in no time.

The longest site at the fairgrounds

I lived here in Longmont 40 years ago, but I don’t recognize the place today. These fairgrounds didn’t exist then and highway 119 – the Diagonal Highway between Longmont and Boulder – is unrecognizable. Back in the day, it was a rural two-lane highway through the countryside. It passed by a small village called Niwot. Today it’s a divided four-lane highway with shopping centers lining the highway through Longmont. Suburban sprawl lines the roadway with some farmland through Niwot all the way to Boulder.

We rode the Spyder to Bicycle Village in Boulder where Donna picked up her participant packet for the Venus de Miles women’s century ride. She raised over $500 for the charity event being held this Saturday. In her packet was a $20 gift certificate from the bike shop. She ended up buying a new pair of bicycle shoes – they were on clearance and with her gift certificate she paid $80 for a pair of $180 Pearl Izumi shoes. I’ll install the cleats on them today.

While we were out, I stopped at the Whole Foods Wine and Spirit shop. I splurged on a bottle of Balvenie Double Wood single malt Scotch whisky. This is a real goody that I’ll reserve for special occasions.

We were hit by a few drops of rain on the way back, but avoided any real rainfall. We had a quiet evening and I think we’ll enjoy our stay here. It’s remarkably quiet to say we’re right in the city. I think we’ll end up extending our stay by a couple of days to a full week. It’s $25 per day for electric and water – no sewer hookup, but there’s a dump station here.

The forecast calls for mostly sunny skies with highs in the upper 80s for the next week. There’s always a chance of a thunderstorm at this time of year. Typically you’ll see clouds building over the Rocky Mountains to the west all afternoon before they push east, sometimes bringing thundershowers with them before the blow east over the plains. Longmont is northeast of Boulder which sits at the foot of the Rockies. Boulder is at an elevation of about 5,700 feet above sea level. The Flatirons tower over Boulder at a height of 8,000+ feet above sea level. The mountains are spectacular.

Today Donna has a lunch date with a friend in Loveland – about 27 miles north of here. She’ll ride the Spyder there. I think I’ll take a walk to the mall about a mile from here. I need to stop at the bank and I’ll take a look around. Maybe later we’ll head over to Left Hand Brewing which is nearby. They brew some really fine beer there.

The Sun is Eclipsed by the Moon

We survived the solar eclipse. On Sunday afternoon and evening, a few more people showed up here at the city park in Bayard, Nebraska. An older Monaco Windsor class A motorhome parked next to us in the full hook-up site. A car with Texas plates parked on our passenger side and the lone occupant put up a tent in the park. Later, another car with two guys joined our new friends from Longmont, Colorado, Frazier and Debra, in the last campsite and put up a tent in their site.

The Monaco had three occupants, the elderly owner and his son and daughter. The owner – I didn’t get his name – was 90 years old and bought the Monaco new in 1991. He wanted to see the total eclipse as he figured it was his last opportunity. He also figured that this trip to see the eclipse, then Estes Park in Colorado and a couple of other sites would be his last motorhome adventure with his son and daughter.

The car from Texas on the other side of us was driven by Jesus. He made the trip up from Fort Worth to capture images of the total eclipse. He had a nice telescope that he uses to observe planets and the moon and he planned to use it to make a video and capture photographs of the eclipse. He was a nice guy and just wanted to find a place off the beaten path to take his photos.

Jesus and his telescope

On Monday morning, a few local people turned out at the park to see the eclipse. It was very low key with maybe 20 to 30 people overall. Many brought snacks, drinks and/or lunch and sat in the grass or at the picnic tables in the pavilion.

People in the park

The partial eclipse began at 10:26am local time. You wouldn’t know anything was happening unless you had eclipse glasses and could look into the sun to see the moon begin to cross the sun. It was a slow process and I was surprised to see how little effect it had on the amount of sunlight for the most part. Once the moon had obliterated all but a small sliver of the sun the amount of sun light noticeably decreased and air felt cooler like it does in the evening.

While we were waiting for it to happen, a few people amused us with eclipse parlor tricks. If you can catch shadows just right, you can see the crescent shape of the available sunlight in the shadows.

Sunlight crescents in leaf shadows

Sunlight through a colander shows the crescent shaped sunlight

At 11:49am bam! – the sunlight was gone. We were suddenly in darkness but it wasn’t totally dark. Although it was dark enough where we were for light sensor-activated street lights to turn on after a minute or so, on the horizon in every direction it looked like the sun was rising. This was the edge area of the total eclipse where partial sunlight was still hitting the earth. Cicadas began buzzing with the sounds of evening at mid-day. After about a minute and a half, the sunlight returned quickly. Again, without looking directly into the sun with eclipse glasses, you wouldn’t really know much out of the ordinary was happening.

Jesus in the darkness at 11:49am

In the end it was a fleeting moment in time, but everyone was buzzing about it and I’m glad we were able to experience the total eclipse. I now know that being in an area with 90%+ coverage is meaningless compared to the total eclipse – like I said, up to about 97-98% you wouldn’t know much was happening without looking into the sun with special glasses. In Donna’s words, “It’s the difference between night and day.”

The park soon cleared out and the tent campers packed up and left. Jesus had a long drive ahead to get back to Fort Worth. By 4pm, we were the only ones left at the park. Earlier, before the eclipse, I had ridden the Spyder into town and paid for another night here in Bayard. In the town office I paid $10 – that makes our cost for three nights with 50amp electrical service and fresh water come out to about $3.33/night!

The grocery store in town is small but they have their meats prepared by their own butcher. Donna bought a spatchcocked chicken at the store – I wrote about spatchcock here. It was a small, presumably locally sourced chicken of about three pounds perfectly spatchcocked. I set up the Weber Q and grilled it for dinner.

Grilled spatchcocked chicken

Donna served it with roasted butternut squash and sauteed spinach with garlic. It was delicious – the chicken was tender and juicy.

This morning, Donna is out for a bike ride. We plan to pull out of here by 11am and make the 145 -mile drive to Cheyenne, Wyoming. We plan to stay overnight there at the Sierra Trading Post outlet – we stayed there a year ago. Then we’ll move on to Longmont, Colorado where we hope to get a site at the fairgrounds – they don’t take reservations.

The high temperature today in Cheyenne is supposed to be 78 degrees with clear skies and overnight it will drop into the upper 50s.

Since leaving Iowa we’ve been steadily gaining elevation across the great plains. Bayard, Nebraska sits at an elevation of about 3,900 feet above sea level and we’ll be at 6,000 feet above sea level in Cheyenne. Longmont, Colorado is closer to 5,000 feet above sea level.