Category Archives: California

Like Christmas Again

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

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

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

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

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

Traeger roasted chicken

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

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

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

Voo Doo American stout

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

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

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

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

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

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

Brisket Obsession

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

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

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

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

Black arrows point to collagen in undercooked brisket

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

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

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

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

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

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

USDA Choice Certified Angus Beef brisket

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

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

Brisket on the grill – Traeger set to “smoke”

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

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

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

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

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

Brisket unwrapped

Moist, tender slices

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

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

Brisket sandwich on a cheese bakery roll

A bottle of ale to go with the brisket

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

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

Seventeen States in 2015

Happy new year! Wow. Our 2015 was a great year, full of fun and adventures. We rang in last year with our friends Debbie and Bruce at Hidden Shores on the Arizona side of the Colorado River near Imperial Dam. We traveled through 17 states plus Washington D.C.

Our travels took us to Texas where we visited with my middle daughter, then up the middle of the country to Minnesota where Donna competed in the Senior Olympics. From there we went east through the upper peninsula of Michigan and down to the Detroit area to see old friends. From there, we headed to upstate New York where we spent a month with Donna’s family before turning south. We visited Gettysburg before going to D.C. to see my youngest daughter, then came all the way across the country to finish out the year in San Diego.

In addition to seeing friends and family and making new friends along the way, one of the biggest highlights of our year was crewing for the Hearts A’Fire hot air balloon team at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. Also, along the way, we picked up a feline passenger otherwise known as Ozark the traveling cat who has added much joy and entertainment to our lives.

WordPress sent me a link to my blog stats for the year. Although I originally started this blog so my family and friends would know where we were and what we were up to, it’s grown far larger than I ever imagined. We had more than 68,000 visitors to the site from 111 countries – most were from the USA, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Yesterday I took advantage of the nice weather and flew my quadcopter. I went to the clubhouse area where there’s a paved area enclosed by a chain link fence. I was alone in there and didn’t have to worry about hitting anyone with the ‘copter. I kept it at an altitude of eight to 15 feet above the ground and practiced moving it away from me and bringing it back and going side to side. I changed out the battery pack and flew for nearly 20 minutes. On the way back to the coach, I flew the ‘copter again at the grassy area next to the security shack. I wanted the security supervisor, Thomas, to see me fly it – he witnessed my failure with the first ‘copter.

I have three fully charged battery packs and plan to fly it again today. Once I’m fully proficient, I’ll try video or photography by linking my Samsung Galaxy phone to the ‘copter camera.

Last evening, Donna prepared an appetizer plate and we went to visit with our friends Kris and Tom Downey (Open Road 365). I carried the appetizer plate with a martini in my other hand to begin our New Year’s Eve celebration. Tom made bacon-wrapped cheese crackers on his Traeger smoker/grill. They were really tasty!

New Year’s Eve appetizers

Since Kris has limited mobility at present with staples and other assorted hardware in her ankle, Donna offered to cook dinner at their place. She made a kale salad using a recipe she got from Lisa McGuire (Metamorphosis Road). She served it with steamed lobster tails, curry roasted sweet potatoes, and eggnog bread and we enjoyed a delicious dinner. I switched to craft beers with dinner and after dinner, Tom poured eggnog and Irish Whiskey.

We played Yahtzee and watched the telecast of the ball drop in Times Square at 9pm our time. We had a great time and I completely forgot about taking pictures. We left Tom and Kris around 10pm and came home. I didn’t make it to midnight – I was in bed by 11pm. I’m sure Sea World had a spectacular fireworks show, but I missed it. It’s okay, we’ll see plenty of fireworks at Lake Havasu next month.

We have lots of sunshine on this first day of the year. I have the brisket I bought last weekend smoking on the Traeger. Donna is heading out for a bike ride. I’ll hang out to keep an eye on the brisket. We’re looking forward to some yummy sliced brisket sandwiches later.

Our plan for 2016 is pretty loose. We’ll stay in the western states and make a trip to the northwest to visit my oldest daughter and granddaughters. We wish you good health and much happiness wherever you are and wherever you go in 2016.

Not Giving Up

Tuesday morning was busy. After writing a long post about my quadcopter experience, I had to scooter over to Point Loma to pick up a prescription from Dr. Ryan. When I returned, Donna’s sister Sheila came to pick her up. Sheila was headed out of town for a ski trip. Donna went to the airport with her and brought her car back here. We’ll have access to a car for a few days and Sheila doesn’t have to hassle with airport parking or taxi cabs.

I scarfed down a couple of tamales for a quick lunch then headed over to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center (PBRC) for pickleball. Donna arrived about 45 minutes later. Afterwards, she stopped off at Sprouts to pick up some groceries. She cooked spicy scallops with zucchini and tomatoes over whole wheat spaghetti for dinner. As usual, I’m eating well!

Spicy scallops with zucchini and tomatoes

I ordered another quadcopter from Amazon to replace the one I lost (see my last post for details). Amazon had a free overnight delivery deal for Prime members.

On Wednesday morning, we decided to go out for breakfast – a rare treat. We went to Leilani’s Cafe in Pacific Beach (map). On past trips to Hawaii, we’ve enjoyed snorkelling in the mornings. This works up a hearty appetite that we sometimes fill with a traditional Hawaiian breakfast called loco moco. Leilani’s is the only place I’ve found outside of Hawaii that serves this dish. Loco moco is a hamburger patty with two fried eggs on a bed of rice. Then it’s smothered in brown gravy. It’s so good and very filling. According to Donna’s MyFitnessPal app, it’s about 650 calories.

Leilani’s loco moco

When we left Leilani’s, we took a side trip to Tourmaline Canyon – a popular Pacific Beach surf spot. The lot was full but we managed to find a parking place and went down to the beach to watch the surfers. I was surprised at the number of people there on a Wednesday morning – well over 50.

Tourmaline Canyon placard

Lots of surfers catching the waves

From there, I drove Donna up to the top of Mount Soledad to take in the views. I thought I had taken her there before, but she said she hadn’t been there. I wrote a post about Mount Soledad with pictures a couple of years ago.

When we came home, my first delivery of the day arrived from Amazon. It was a 64GB SD card I ordered for Donna’s phone. I installed it and upped her phone data capacity from 16GB to about 80GB.

Later my second package arrived – another Syma X8W quadcopter. I unpacked it and found this one to be more sinister looking – it’s all black opposed to the original white one. I disregarded the confusing instruction manual this time and assembled it in about half the time the first one took.

Ozark giving the ‘copter the final inspection

I charged the batteries and tried a different approach to trimming the controls. Donna nearly flipped out when I fired it up in the coach! I lifted off about six or eight inches from the floor and saw it was going left and away from me. I set it back down and made the trim adjustment. I lifted off again, then set it down and fine tuned the trims. After a few more tries, I had it hovering less than a foot off the floor in complete control. I think this is the key. Set the trims and get it stable, then fly. I’m used to radio-controlled airplanes – these are always trimmed in flight and flying 100 or more feet off the ground is no problem. My last RC airplane was a giant scale Edge 540 replica – 40% scale with a wingspan of ten feet.

I put the “copter away and charged the spare batteries. I have three sets of batteries for it as it has a short flight time – less than ten minutes before the batteries run low.

Donna prepared lemon chicken piccata over steamed spinach and whole wheat spaghetti for dinner. Another delicious, nutritious meal.

Lemon chicken piccata

It’s cool this morning – about 50 degrees under clear, sunny skies. The wind is calm. I think I’ll get the ‘copter out and try flying again. I don’t give up that easily! This afternoon we’ll head over to PBRC for pickleball.

A Dip in the Bay

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

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

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

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

Some assembly required

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ozark inspecting fully assembled Syma X8W quadcopter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Electronic taps at Barrel Republic

More taps

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

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

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

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

Christmas Potluck

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

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

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

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

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

Five and half pound hunk of flat

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

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

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

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

Christmas morning moon

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

Seasoned hunk of flat on the grill

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

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

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

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

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

Tender, moist brisket

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

Hector carving the turkey while Kate supervises

Carved turkey breast

Sliced brisket

Serving line at the buffet

Dinner table set for twelve

Dinner plate for Donna

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

Kate with her Christmas Cracker eye patch and crown

Carole Sue

Dessert

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

Moon rise

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

Trailer Toad

I was kicking back in the coach while Donna returned the rental car on Monday when I saw our friend Tom Downey walking his dog. He came to our door and knocked. I went outside and he asked me if we heard all the commotion the night before. I said, “No, what happened?” He said there was a fire truck and ambulance at their site.

It turns out that his wife Kris had an accident. Just before going to bed at around 10pm, Kris was going to take their dog for a quick walk. As she was stepping out of the coach, she fell from the steps and broke her ankle. It was a bad break requiring surgery – she’s still at Scripps Hospital following the orthopedic surgery. We’re wishing her a speedy and full recovery. I remarked to Tom that if something like that is going to happen, be thankful it happened at a time and place where you are planning to be based for a while and are close to excellent medical care.

Speaking of Tom, I was at his site chatting last week when we saw a Monaco motorhome pulling into the park. It had what appeared to be a car dolly behind it, but it wasn’t right. It was too short to be a car dolly. I was curious, so later I found the Monaco and talked to the owner. What he was pulling behind his coach was a device called a Trailer Toad.

The Trailer Toad hooks up to the receiver hitch on the motorhome. In turn, a trailer is then hooked up to a ball on the Trailer Toad. The Trailer Toad takes the tongue weight of the trailer and supports it on its 15″ tires, relieving the coach suspension and hitch of the tongue weight. The axle on the Trailer Toad pivots to prevent scrubbing of the tires. Think of it as if the trailer is now a wagon being towed behind the motorhome.

Trailer Toad hooked up to a Monaco coach

Trailer Toad is short-coupled to the coach – spare tire included

There’s a pair of locking pins to prevent the axle from pivoting when backing up. If the axle could pivot while reversing, the trailer would be uncontrollable. While locked and reversing, sharp turns will cause the tires to scrub.

Locking pin to prevent axle pivoting when backing up

Trailer Toad spare tire and cover

So, why did he have the Trailer Toad? He told me he had a stacker trailer in the overflow lot. The stacker carries his Jeep and two motorcycles along with various other toys and equipment.

Stacker trailer

He had a notice on the back of his trailer warning “Caution 63′ – wide turns.” I found this interesting. I didn’t measure his trailer, but I don’t see how it could possibly have an overall length of 63 feet towed behind a 40-foot motorhome – it has to be closer to 70 feet – with the Trailer Toad adding a few more feet. However, many states – California included – have an overall length limit of 65 feet. Maybe this is his way telling cops, “No worries, we’re legal!”

The other thing I wonder about is his trailer gross weight. A stacker trailer like this with a hydraulically operated lift and onboard generator packs some weight. Also consider the frame of the trailer is designed to carry up to two heavy vehicles. The cargo door serves as a loading ramp that has to support more than 5,000 pounds. The Trailer Toad takes away the tongue weight, but I would bet he’s exceeding his gross combined weight limit.

We had rain overnight that continued on Tuesday morning. Not only rain, but gusty wind. It looked like a day to hang out in the coach. But, we wanted to play pickleball! Donna got in touch with one of our friends from the Pacific Beach Recreation Center (PBRC), Johanna. We met Johanna playing pickleball at PBRC and Donna also joined her on a bike ride a few weeks ago. Johanna picked us up and gave us a ride since we didn’t want to scooter in the rain. However, Johanna had an appointment and couldn’t offer a ride back. We took our chances and figured that worst case scenario, we would take an Uber ride home. We really wanted to play pickleball.

After a few hours of pickleball, another player, Lonna, offered to give us a ride home. As always, we meet the nicest people in our travels. Back home, upon entering the coach, I found Ozark doing what she does best – she finds the most comfy spot for a nap. I wish she would use the time when we are away from the coach to run the length of the coach and leap on the bed only to reverse her direction and pounce on an imaginary target before heading back to the front to start the process over. This is what she does around 5am in the morning.

Ozark in a comfy position

We reserved the clubhouse here at Mission Bay RV Resort for Christmas day. It was $50 to have the clubhouse from 9am to 10pm. We’re planning along with Iain and Kate to have a get together with all of our friends in the RV park for a Christmas potluck. It’ll mainly be the same group we had the holiday happy hour with on Sunday minus a few who already had plans. Donna’s sister Sheila is also planning to join us.

I’m planning to smoke a beef brisket on the Traeger for the potluck. I spent the evening on the Internet refreshing my memory about the finer points of smoking a tasty and tender brisket. I think I’ll go to a well-known meat market called Siesel’s near here to buy a high-grade mid-western beef brisket and cook it low and slow starting early on Christmas morning. It makes me salivate just to think about it!

Speaking of good food, while I was surfing the ‘net, Donna prepared a new recipe – turmeric chicken. It’s a keeper!

Turmeric chicken with brown jasmine rice and asparagus

It rained off and on through the night and we have a light shower with overcast skies this morning. The rain should move out of the area and the gusty winds will go with it. There’s a coastal flood advisory as we have King tides to go along with the rain run-off. Tomorrow we’ll see the highest tide of the year.

Holiday Happy Hour

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

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

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

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

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

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

750ml Bruery Terreux Rueuze

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

Sunset – photo courtesy of Hans Kohls

Our happy hour group of blogging RVers

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

Early Christmas Celebrations

We started Friday with Donna getting creative in the kitchen. She fried corn tortillas, then soaked them in enchilada sauce. The tortillas were stacked with cotija cheese and chopped green onion in between them. Then it was topped off with two eggs over-easy, chopped cilantro and green onion. Stacked enchilada with eggs for breakfast!

Stacked enchilada with eggs

After the hearty breakfast, Donna walked to Enterprise and rented a car. We got the $9.95/day three-day weekend deal – and they upgraded us from a compact car to a 2016 Buick LaCrosse. Donna drove the rental car to Sharp Outpatient for her annual mammogram.

While she was out, I dumped our gray water tank. While I was at it, I noticed that our fresh water hose had a drip at the water inlet fitting. It was a slow drip, but it needed to be addressed. I shut off the fresh water supply and disconnected the hose from the quick-release fitting. The drip was coming from the union of the Kwik Link 105 degree connector at the water inlet to the coach.

Kwik link connector at fresh water inlet fitting

I walked out to the overflow lot and got a new rubber hose washer from the trailer and came back to the coach. I tried to remove the Kwik Link but it was stuck. I had a locking plier at the coach, but I still couldn’t remove the Kwik Link. I walked back to the trailer and got a second locking plier. With two locking pliers, I could hold the brass fitting with one and turn the Kwik Link with the other. It finally broke free.

I found a smooth, hard, white substance on the threads of the Kwik Link. The source of this substance is a mystery. I used a file to clean the threads and cleaned the Kwik Link thoroughly. I reconnected it to the inlet with Teflon tape and connected the hose. No more drips.

After Donna returned from Sharp, she went back out to shop at Trader Joe’s. She put together a gift basket of goodies for my step-dad, Ken Keller. She also bought me a goody – a 13-year-old Speyside single malt scotch whisky. It was distilled in 2002, then aged in oak barrels until it was bottled by Alexander Murray and Company in 2015 and private labelled for Trader Joe’s. Speyside scotch is the name given to whisky distilled near the Spey River in the Scottish Highlands. Some of the best scotch comes from this region, such as Macallan and The Glenlivet. Trader Joe’s and Alexander Murray do not divulge the actual distiller of this scotch.

13-year-old Speyside single malt scotch

Alexander Murray has a reputation for facilitating the purchase of high-quality spirits (mainly scotch) and bottling them under private labels. In addition to Trader Joe’s, you’ll also find the Kirkland Signature line of scotch at Costco is bottled by Alexander Murray. They also offer spirits under their own label.

On Friday night, we drove to Donna’s sister’s house in Point Loma. Sheila was having an early Christmas dinner for a few friends and family. Her son Connor will be spending Christmas with his dad and paternal grandparents in Minnesota, so this weekend was Christmas time at home with his mother.

Sheila prepared a seafood themed dinner. We started with hors d’oeuvres including lobster sliders!

Lobster sliders – yum

In addition to Donna and I, Sheila’s friends Carole and Bill along with her friend Salma and Salma’s son Jace were there. We had a fun evening with laughter and conversation and a few drinks.

Sheila served lobster bisque, then the main course was King crab legs. Giant King crab legs!

King crab legs

We called it a night a little past 10pm.

On Saturday morning, we drove up to Sun City (Menifee) to visit with my step-dad. The traffic was fairly light and we made good time, arriving a little before 11am. We sat and talked for a while and presented the goody box packed with food, snacks and a bottle of rum to Ken. Then we drove over to the Chinese restaurant for lunch. We lingered there for an hour and half before driving back to his place. My daughter Shauna phoned him to check in while we were there.

A few years ago, I set up an account with Life Station and had a device delivered to Ken. It’s an emergency contact through a phone line to a dispatch center. To use it he needs to wear a wrist band that’s a wireless connection to the phone device. If he were to fall or have a medical emergency, he could contact the dispatch center through the wrist band microphone. He doesn’t use it. He doesn’t wear the wrist band and the only thing this set-up is doing for him is giving him a one-touch emergency contact point next to his bed where the main device is. It’s right next to his landline phone which serves the same purpose.

I’ve been paying about $30/month for the subscription fee for years now and after talking it over, we decided to return the unit and cancel the subscription. When Ken is out and about, he carries a cell phone and he has the landline in his home. I felt a little bad about suggesting we cancel the Life Station, but it really didn’t make sense to keep it when he’s not using it.

After visiting for a few hours, we said our goodbyes. It made me sad to see him waving goodbye in the driveway. He cut such a lonely figure. I don’t know when I’ll see him again. With Christmas and New Year falling on a Friday, the rental car agencies here in Pacific Beach are closed for those weekends.

The hour and a half drive home was punctuated by bad drivers making crazy, dangerous maneuvers. Fortunately, we didn’t see any accidents this time – usually there’s a crash somewhere along I-15 when we make this drive.

Back at Mission Bay RV Resort it was time for their holiday Hawaiian luau. The weather wasn’t very cooperative. Rain was threatening. We had tickets for the luau dinner plate but I wasn’t feeling up to it. Donna went and visited with our friends, Kris and Tom Downey. I stayed home and watched the football game. Donna dropped off the luau plate for me. It rained heavily at times – enough to lose the satellite signal during the fourth quarter. I gave up on the game and finished reading a book.

Today we’re back to clear skies and the temperature should reach the low to mid 60s. I’ll be watching football. We have a happy hour invite for this afternoon.

Great Brews with New Friends

I posted to the blog late yesterday. Today I want to add a few lines about new friends and a great evening. I mentioned having a plan to meet Iain and Kate Gilbert (The Scenic Route). Around 4pm, Donna and I headed over to their site. I had a few 22-ounce bomber bottles of beer and Donna had a plate of carrot sticks, pickles and sopressata sausage.

We hadn’t met our hosts Iain and Kate before, but we messaged each other on RVillage. I didn’t know if they liked different beer styles but I thought they might since Iain mentioned hearing our names while having a brew with Hans and Lisa (Metamorphosis Road).

They have a 27-foot Airstream travel trailer. Their site is one of the premium view sites on the bay with a view toward the marina at Campland on the Bay. Their Airstream has a panoramic rear window, making this a great view from inside the trailer. It wouldn’t work as well with our coach since all of the sites are back-in only and we don’t have a rear window.

We sat outside and chatted while Iain worked on getting the cork out of a bottle of Saison Dupont. This is a Belgian farmhouse ale that I’ve had before and it’s quite tasty. The cork was stubborn but Iain was persistent and eventually it came free. We split the bottle four ways and toasted “cheers” and enjoyed the beer and snacks as the sun was setting.

Donna, Kate and Iain

Iain is originally from Scotland while Kate hails from England. They’ve lived in the USA for more than 15 years though and are US citizens. They left the corporate world to travel in their RV and also spend time abroad. Their next destination will be Malaysia where they’ll spend a few months. Kate authored a book “Happy Campers” about their transition into full-time RVers. Donna and Kate have had common experiences as copywriters and self-published authors.

After we had the saison, I opened a bottle of beer from Avery Brewing in Colorado. It was a special Anniversary Edition Ale called Twenty Two. The story behind it starts in Belgium in the Beersel municipality in Flemish Brabant. The brew master at Avery had a wild ale there that he thought was the best. He brought a couple of bottles back to Colorado and used them to cultivate the wild brettanomyces drie yeast. This beer is fermented with this wild yeast. I expected the beer to be a sour ale and told everyone that’s what it was. Donna passed on the Twenty Two and had a Boatswain chocolate stout. Kate, Iain and I shared the Twenty Two. It wasn’t sour at all. It’s hard for me to come up with a description. It was smooth, slightly malty and we all liked it. Donna even tried a sip and thought it was good.

Avery Twenty Two

After sunset, the temperature fell quickly. We moved inside their Airstream to continue our conversations. Earlier in the day, Donna prepared a casserole that she intended to heat for dinner. We decided to share the casserole with Iain and Kate, so I walked back to our coach and retrieved it. Kate heated it in their oven and made a salad to go with it. Our happy hour turned into dinner. This was the first time Donna made this ground beef, macaroni and cheese casserole and unfortunately it was on the bland side. Donna is such a great cook, I hope Iain and Kate don’t think this was typical of the dishes she serves! Donna thinks she went too light on the salt and would add more cheese if she makes this casserole again.

After thoroughly enjoying our time getting to know each other, we called it a night around 7:30pm and headed back to our coach. They’ve invited us to join them again on Sunday when they’re hosting a happy hour with some other neighbors. Hans and Lisa will come over then too. We also made tentative plans for a group Christmas dinner.

Once again, we’ve met some great people sharing the nomadic lifestyle and we look forward to meeting again in the next few weeks and sometime down the road.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: California

Like Christmas Again

Brisket Obsession

Seventeen States in 2015

Not Giving Up

A Dip in the Bay

Christmas Potluck

Trailer Toad

Holiday Happy Hour

Early Christmas Celebrations

Great Brews with New Friends

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