Category Archives: Grilling

Crescent Bar Beach

Friday morning Donna and I went to the pickleball court at 10am. We warmed up with Julie then when TJ, Lance and Boni arrived, we rotated through several games. We haven’t played since we were in Bend, Oregon over a month ago. Of course the rust showed and we weren’t at the top of our game.

Later we explored the area on the Spyder. We found a public beach with ample free parking about a mile and a half from the RV park on Crescent Bar Road (map). Then we rode to Quincy, the nearest town about nine miles east of the RV park. Donna bought a planter pot and potting soil for the heirloom cherry tomato plant she was given by a vendor at the farmers’ market in Camas. She meant to re-pot the plant right away but somehow never got around to it. I think the plant may be stunted, but it perked up right away once it was re-potted.

On Friday night, we joined TJ, Julie, Lance and Boni for dinner at their sites. They have adjoining sites and two picnic tables between their rigs. Lance and TJ grilled burgers and we brought boneless, skinless chicken thighs that Donna marinated in olive oil and spices. It was nice having dinner company and conversation – and Lance grilled the chicken for us!

Saturday was our third anniversary of full-time life on the road. Although we’d been sleeping in our coach in our driveway for a week after we sold all of our furniture, July 23rd was the day we closed the door on our sticks-and-bricks home and drove away. In the morning, I made a beer run to Quincy and dropped Donna off at the White Trail Produce Market on the way there. She shopped while I went to the store and also filled the Spyder’s gas tank. I picked her up on the way back. She found good buys on produce and also found a bottle of California red wine called Happy Camper!

After lunch, we loaded gear in the Spyder and rode to the beach. I inflated two floaties with the foot pump we use for the Sea Eagle kayak and we floated on the river. The beach is on the east side of the Crescent Bar peninsula where an island is formed by a narrow branch off the Columbia River – see map link above. This part of the Columbia River is also known as Wanapum Lake.

Beach at branch off Columbia River

There’s a sandy beach and a backdrop of dramatic basalt cliffs. We floated around as the wind and current slowly pulled us south.

Donna on her floatie

A storage lot for boats and RVs by the beach had an interesting bus parked in it. I don’t know the story behind it, but it looked like fun.

Crescent Bar bus?

We stopped for a cold one at the Sand Trap Bar and Grill before we headed home. Donna prepared a wild Alaskan Sockeye salmon for dinner. She spiced it with lemon and dill and I cooked it on the Weber Q.

Grilled salmon

The weather was beautiful yesterday – clear blue skies and the high temperature was in the mid-80s. It’s 72 degrees outside as I type this at 9am. We can expect the high for the day to be near 90 and a warming trend is supposed to hit the area this week. Temperatures are forecast to exceed 90 degrees every day for the coming week.

Nuts and Bolts

Today’s post will be in two parts. First, I’ll catch up on social activities and then share my technical woes. On Friday afternoon, Donna marinated boneless chicken thighs with olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs. I grilled them on the Weber Q for dinner. My daughter Alana eats a modified vegan diet to control lupus and our granddaughter Gabi is vegan. Donna made teriyaki tofu bites for Alana and I grilled a hot vog (vegan hot dog) for Gabi.

We sat outside at our table and enjoyed the sunshine while we had a chance. Other than Wednesday, we’ve had periods of rain showers every day since we came to Arlington.

Dinner in the open air and sunshine – clockwise from left – Donna, Alana, Lainey and Gabi

Saturday evening we were all invited to go to Alana’s mother’s house and have dinner with LuAnn and her husband Jerry. We had a break in the weather and enjoyed hors d’oeuvres outside in the backyard. LuAnn set a table of appetizers including spicy shrimp on marinated cucumber slices.

Appetizers

We moved indoors for dinner which featured grilled salmon, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob and asparagus.

Dinner table – clockwise from left – Donna, LuAnn, Lainey, Alana, Gabi and Jerry

We all had a good time. After dinner, Jerry and I sampled a couple of fine Scotch whiskys. First up was a glass of Ardbeg Islay scotch – very smokey and complex. Then an 18-year-old Glenmorangie Highland scotch. Good stuff indeed!

The rest of my weekend was spent trying to complete my shock absorber installation. Before I get into that, I want to talk about properties of materials – specifically, rigidity and deformation. Any mechanical engineer will tell you that there’s no such thing as a totally rigid material. Everything flexes or deforms to one degree or another.

An extreme example happens everyday. Have you ever been stopped in traffic on an overpass? Did you notice how you could feel vibrations and even sense movement when a large truck passed by on the opposing lane as you sat stopped in your car? That’s the concrete and steel structure of the overpass slightly deforming and flexing temporarily from the moving weight of the truck.

Materials have limits of flexibility and deformation. Elastic deformation occurs when the force is large enough to deform the material (yield), but it allows the material to return to its original dimensions. Plastic deformation occurs when the force applied is large enough to exceed the elastic limit and the material is permanently deformed – it doesn’t spring back to its original shape.

When we apply these concepts to fasteners – such as nuts and bolts – we want to tighten the fastener enough for it to yield within the elastic deformation range. This causes the threads of the bolt and nut to fully engage and maintain their tightness. When we remove the nut from the bolt, the threads spring back to their original shape and can be reused.

I’m telling you this to explain why I spent the rest of my weekend struggling with a nut and bolt. The lower bolt on the driver’s side shock is locked solid. I worked all day Saturday and again on Sunday with the cordless electric impact wrench and haven’t been able to budge the nut. I also used a 24-inch breaker bar and pulled myself up on it from underneath and bounced my body weight until my arms gave out. I believe the mechanic that installed the shocks over-torqued this nut and deformed the threads permanently – plastic deformation – and they refuse to unlock. I finally threw in the towel last night and gave up.

Today I’m looking for a mobile mechanic that can come over with a 1-inch impact driver and pound the nut off. Once off, I’ll inspect the fastener carefully for permanent distortion or cracks before I install the new shock. If I find any damage, I’ll have to replace the fastener.

Traffic and Taxes

We pulled out of the Cabela’s lot in Lacey, Washington before noon Sunday morning. Our destination was my daughter Alana’s driveway 100 miles away in Arlington, Washington. Donna thought we should be there around 1:30pm, I wasn’t so sure about that. Since it was Sunday and the middle of the Fourth of July weekend, I didn’t know what traffic through Seattle would be like. Most of the time you can count on delays getting through the city.

We hit traffic and it was stop and go all the way through Seattle. Part of the issue is the road plan – much like Portland, the roads funnel traffic through choke points. Coming into the city, four lanes of traffic drop to two lanes as the far left lane ends. Traffic merges and the new left lane immediately is an exit-only lane – so you have two lanes of traffic trying to merge right all at once. Guaranteed traffic jam.

Four lanes of Interstate travel suddenly become two

We began to move faster on the north side of town, then hit another tie-up through Everett and Marysville. We pulled into Alana’s place at 2pm. Her driveway is long enough that I was able to back in without dropping the trailer. Before I did that, I unloaded the Spyder. Alana was working as was her oldest daughter Lainey. Our youngest granddaughter Gabi was home waiting for us.

I have another rant about Washington. Once we were set up, Donna went for walk with Gabi and their two chihuahuas. While they were out, I rode the Spyder to the store to replenish the vodka supply. I should have done some research first. I know California has the best liquor prices. Oregon has inexpensive beer, but expensive liquor. The prices in Washington for liquor looked better – but I had a surprise at the cash register. A bottle of vodka priced at $28.69 and a bottle of beer at $3.99 comes to $32.68. After taxes I paid $45.52 – nearly 40% in taxes! Never again.

Look at those taxes!

Alana got home around 5:30pm. I grilled salmon burgers for dinner and we sat together in the house. Alana has a 30 amp outlet in her garage, but it didn’t work. I need to take it apart and see what the problem is.

I told Donna that when I lived here in western Washington, it always rained on the Fourth of July. Monday we woke up to rain. It rained on and off all day. Alana and Lainey had to work again so Gabi visited with us in the coach and we watched a movie – The Princess Bride. I must have watched this movie five or six times, but I still enjoy it with the kids.

I didn’t get to the 30 amp outlet – after watching the movie I spent most of the day reading while rain drops fell. I’ll have to take a look at it today, otherwise we’ll be running the generator daily to keep the battery banks charged.

Oregon IPA Quest

Monday was a fairly quiet day for me. Donna wrote the blog post, so I had the day off from that. When I say quiet, I mean as far as activity goes. We seem to find places that are on flight paths wherever we go. Here at Columbia River RV Park we’re on the west side of the Portland International Airport (PDA).

PDA is a joint military-civilian airport and it’s the largest in Oregon. It seems like activity ramps up around 6am. Take-offs from runway 28L pass just to the north of the RV park over the Columbia River. Flights from the busier runway 28R pass well north of here. The commercial flights are reasonably quiet – we sleep through most of the early morning traffic. Some days, military aircraft fly by – F-15 Eagles of the Oregon Air Guard. These are supersonic tactical fighters capable of reaching speeds of mach 2.8 (2.8 times the speed of sound). As such, they have very powerful engines – two Pratt and Whitney F100 axial compressor turbofans with afterburners.

Of course they aren’t exceeding the speed of sound when they fly by here, but the engines roar and you can hear the air parting and rushing back into the void as they speed by. Last week they passed overhead in pairs. This week they’re going by four at a time. It only happens a couple of times per day so I’m not complaining. Ozark the cat stops whatever she’s doing and looks up at the ceiling in the coach whenever they fly by.

On Monday evening, I continued my quest for the great Oregon IPA. This time I sampled a beer from Old Town Brewing called Shanghai’D. It’s a medium bodied IPA and not overly hoppy – more in the English style and very drinkable at 6.5% ABV. Old Town Brewing is a brewery and pizza joint with two locations in Portland. One of their claims to fame is the fact they deliver beer! That’s right, you can call in a beer order within a certain range of their location and they deliver by bicycle.

Old Town Shanghai’D IPA

I picked up this bottle at Walmart. In Portland, Walmart has a sizable selection of craft beers. When I rode the Spyder over to Walmart on Monday afternoon, the traffic on eastbound Marine Drive was backed up in front of the park. I had to wait for a car to clear the intersection as the traffic crept along before I could hit the westbound lane.

I came home through residential back streets as I could see the traffic jam hadn’t unsnarled yet. Later I found out the cause of the traffic. Monday was the start of the Cambia Portland Classic – A Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tournament that runs all week through July 3rd. The classic is held at the Columbia Edgewater Golf Club – just east of the RV park on Marine Drive.

On Sunday’s bicycle ride, Donna had trouble with the left pedal on her bike. She uses SPD type pedals that she clicks into with cleats on her cycling shoes. She likes the SPD type because they allow her to use shoes that are comfortable to walk in. I took a look at her pedal Tuesday morning and saw the problem. A part on the pedal that applies spring pressure to the mechanism had broken off. I took the pedal to a bike shop nearby to see if I could get the part for it. The guy there told me he didn’t have the part, but he thought I may be able to find it at another shop a few blocks away where they hang on to old stuff to take parts from. Then he added that in his experience, the cleat is usually wallowed out when this happens and won’t hold up. I bought a new set of pedals.

After I installed the pedals, Donna and I went for a ride. We followed the trail east on Marine Drive to the I-205 crossing, then turned back. We had a tailwind getting there, which meant a headwind on the way back. For some reason, I developed soreness in my right knee on the ride. I was riding my mountain bike and the upright position makes riding into the wind a real chore. I didn’t ride my road bike because my shoulders and neck got stiff on my last road bike ride.

When we reached the M James Gleason Memorial Boat Ramp and Park, I peeled off the bike path as Donna wanted to ride up 33rd Avenue to get in some more miles and then do some grocery shopping at New Season’s market. I took a look at the beach area on the Columbia River before heading home. For a Tuesday afternoon, it was busy.

Columbia River beach.

The temperature was in the 80s – nice beach weather.

Later, we decided to grill the lamb chops Donna bought from the rancher down the street from the RV park. Donna marinated the chops with olive oil, fresh rosemary and oregano, lots of garlic and lemon zest. I grilled them on the Weber Q. They were great!

Grilled lamb chops straight from the farm

Donna served them with steamed green beans and Moroccan quinoa. Delicious!

Grilled lamp chops with green beans and Moroccan quinoa

I paired it with another IPA I found at Walmart. This one was from Laurelwood Brewing in Portland called Workhorse India Pale Ale. This is a big beer at 7.5% ABV, double dry-hopped and full of citrusy hoppiness.

Workhorse – a big beer

This morning we have overcast skies – I couldn’t see the F-15 Eagles fly by but I sure heard them. The cloud cover should burn off by noon and the forecast calls for a sunny 83 degrees this afternoon.

*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!

Spyder Suspension Upgrade

Thursday was a rainy day – in fact, it poured down at times. The sky was overcast all day. When the rain would stop, you could tell it was just a temporary break. We spent the day indoors. I finished a novel I was reading and started another on my Kindle reader. I signed up for a free month of Kindle Unlimited on Amazon and downloaded the book for free!

Thursday evening Donna made a meatloaf – one of my favorite comfort foods. She added a twist this time by lining the top with thick-sliced peppered bacon. Yummy!

Meatloaf with bacon

Friday morning we had mostly cloudy skies, but it was dry. The forecast called for an increasing chance of rain in the afternoon. I got to work on the Spyder while it was dry. My project was upgrading the suspension. While I worked, Donna went for a bike ride to Blue Lake and back – about 28 miles.

Upgrading suspension components is one of the best performance improvements you can make to a vehicle. I always upgraded my motorcycles. I would send my forks to Jim Lindemann at Lindemann Engineering and he would rebuild them to perform in accordance with my weight, riding style and tire choice. He would also build a rear shock with an appropriate spring and valving. Jim was a suspension guru. He started out working at Fox Shox in the ’70s, then opened his own business.

Jim tuned suspension for world-class racers but remained humble and was always helpful and willing to share his suspension knowledge. Most of what I know about suspension tuning, I learned from him. The last time I saw Jim was at Laguna Seca for the Moto GP races. I think it was 2008. I learned of Jim’s battle with cancer a that time. He was completely bald from chemo and clearly wasn’t well. But he was as cheerful and helpful as ever. I had completed cancer treatment six years before and I knew how much he must have been struggling, but he didn’t let on at all.

His battle with brain cancer went on for the next three years before he died in October of 2011. I thought about him as I went about working on the Spyder suspension. I was replacing the stock shocks and springs with a set of Elka shock absorbers custom-valved and with spring rates designed for my weight and riding preferences. The stock equipment is a one-size fits-all design by necessity and doesn’t have much useful adjustment.

Stock front shock and coil spring

After removing the front body work, I started by loosening the upper and lower mounting bolts for both front assemblies. Then I used a floor jack to lift the front of the Spyder. With the weight off the front suspension, I removed the mounting bolts. Then it was a matter of jacking the Spyder up to a point where I could work the shocks out of the mounts.

Stock front suspension and Elka custom set-up

Installing the Elka suspension basically involved repeating the steps in reverse order. It took some finagling with the jack to get the shocks into position, then lower the Spyder slowly until the mounting points lined up.

New Elka front suspension

I thought the rear would be a little harder to handle. I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be straightforward without any tricky steps. The shock literally fell out of the mount when I removed the bolts!

Stock rear suspension

Elka compared to the stock suspension

Putting the new shock in place was just a matter of jacking up the Spyder to get the swing arm angle right so the mounts would line up. I bolted the shock in place and installed the bodywork. Job done!

New rear suspension

There were two shortcomings I was addressing with the suspension change. The stock front shocks suffered from a problem known as stiction. When I would go through a smooth, fast sweeping curve, the outer front suspension would compress as the body rolled while the inner suspension would extend. This would create low speed movement of the shock rod and piston. When we talk about shocks, low speed and high speed refer to suspension movement speed, not necessarily vehicle speed.

When the stock shocks traveled through low speed movement, there would be sticking points caused by friction of the piston and seals and uneven tolerances. This would cause the travel to momentarily stop, then it would release and continue to compress or rebound. This made a fast sweeping curve an exercise in constant corrections – kind of like connecting the dots through the turn.

The stock rear suspension worked fairly well but the spring wasn’t easily adjustable for pre-load and didn’t handle a passenger well. It also had too much rebound damping and would pack down with a passenger on board.

I took the Spyder out for a test ride. The difference in turning capability was incredible – very little body roll and it cornered like it was on rails. Fast sweeping curves were a breeze with a smooth arc easily controlled. The front shocks are set up nearly perfect. The rear felt a little stiff – I expected a plush feel. I’ll wait a while and see if it loosens up before I start fiddling with the adjusters. The rear damping feels fine. I may just take a little pre-load off. Custom tuned suspension bits are expensive, but to me it’s well worth it.

We had a passing shower or two in the afternoon. When I was working on the Spyder I managed to split my left thumb nail. It never fails – I can’t turn a wrench without bruising a knuckle or tearing a nail. I went to Walmart and bought a tube of super glue. I glued the split in my nail. It should stay together until it grows out – no real harm done.

We had five packages show up at the office. They don’t notify us of deliveries here – we have to stop at the office and check. I didn’t know Donna had ordered so many things. One of the packages was a new folding table from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It’s compact and also height adjustable. I grilled honey-sriracha chicken for dinner and we dined outside at the new table. That’s a pleasant way to spend the evening!

Today’s forecast calls for abundant sunshine and temperatures reaching the upper 70s. I hope they called it right!

Road Bike Ride

Donna had another article assignment to complete on Monday. While she was doing that, I made a run to Walmart to pick up a few groceries. While I was out, I also picked up supplies for two upcoming projects. When I came home, I found a Yamaha FJR motorcycle at our site. Our friend Ray, who we met in San Diego through Kris and Tom Downey, stopped by. He and his wife Kathy live nearby and knew we were here via this blog. We hope to get together with them this weekend.

I went to work on another project before lunch. The rear end of the floor in our trailer has a metal trim. The original trim was stamped aluminum sheet – very thin and mostly decorative. A while back when I was loading the Spyder, I had a little wheel spin as I was backing in. The tire gripped the trim and tore it away from the floor.

Trim damage due to wheel spin

I cut the damaged portion away and overlaid a 36-inch section of extruded aluminum trim that’s 1/16 inch thick. This is much heavier than the original stamped sheet aluminum and should stand up to abuse.

Extruded aluminum angle trim installed

With that job done, we had lunch and headed out on our bicycles at 2pm. I don’t remember when I last went out on my Orbea road bike. We headed east on Marine Drive and picked up the paved bike path. It’s been a while since Donna and I rode bicycles together – my mountain bike can’t keep up with her road bike. We first met in a cycling club in Mesa, Arizona where we rode together almost every weekend.

My Orbea is a full carbon fiber road racing machine. As such, it handles much quicker than my mountain bike. It felt lively and a little skittish at first. When I ride my mountain bike, I wear hiking shoes and the pedals have small studs that help me grip the pedals. On my Orbea, I have Speedplay pedals that I clip into with special cleats on my stiff Sidi bicycling shoes. To unclip from the pedal you have to twist the rear of your foot away from the bike and it will release. At one point on the trail we stopped to admire the view. I forgot to twist my foot and my right shoe was caught on the pedal. I fell slowly into the weeds on my right shoulder. It probably looked comical, but it wasn’t fun.

After that, I quickly became reacquainted with my road bike and settled into a rhythm. East of the I-205 bridge we stopped to look at Mt. Hood and take a selfie. I’m not too good at shooting selfie type pictures.

Not too good at selfies

We rode about 10 miles east, then turned around. This stretch of the Columbia River has a number of uninhabited islands. We saw people on the island beaches that they reached by boat. We also saw an old shipwreck – a sailboat that must have broken loose in a storm and ended up beached on an island.

Bike path view – Government Island and McGuire Island on the left

On the ride back, we saw an osprey struggling to gain altitude with a large fish in its talons. The osprey was a large bird – its wingspan had to be nearly six feet. The fish was weighing it down but it slowly circled upward and away from us.

We wanted to grill steaks on the Weber Q for dinner, but I realized I was out of propane. I made another run to Walmart and picked up four propane canisters. While I was there, I also found another local IPA to try. It was from Pelican Brewery in Pacific City, Oregon. It’s an IPA that’s brewed with a single hop variety – Ella hops from Australia. They use this hop type in the boil and then dry hop twice with them.

Umbrella IPA

This was solid example of west coast IPA. It went well with the bacon-wrapped filet mignon. While I was grilling the steak, Donna prepared sauteed mushrooms and onions and sides of rosemary and garlic roasted fingerling potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Bacon-wrapped filet with sauteed mushrooms and onions

It’s been awhile since we had steak and Donna said she was craving it. All in all, it was meal fit for a king (and queen). After dinner we took a walk through the RV park and then settled in to watch another episode of True Detective. This series starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaghy really keeps you guessing as to where it’s heading.

Ozark the cat wanted to recline in front of the refrigerator but apparently the floor isn’t comfortable there. She pulled out the little rug in front of our shower and made herself a bed.

Ozark making it comfortable

The weather forecast calls for another nice day with a few clouds and highs in the upper 70s. I have one small project to complete on the trailer. Donna is defrosting the refrigerator – something we haven’t had to do in nearly eight months. After the refrigerator is defrosted, we need to stock up on groceries. We want to check out a few stores that Ray told us about.

Deschutes Brewery

We rode to Bend on the Spyder Tuesday. We left the Sunriver Thousand Trails park around 11:20am so I could take Donna to the hair salon for her noon appointment. When people ask us about health or dental care while we’re on the road, we joke that it’s no problem, but finding a hair stylist for Donna can be troublesome!

Blasting up US97 at 65-70mph in 50-degree weather makes it a cold ride. After I dropped Donna off, I went to a motorcycle shop and bought warmer gloves. From there I went to the Deschutes Brewery tasting room, where they have brewery tours. I knew the 1pm tour was fully booked, but I thought I might be able to get in if there was a no show. I also thought I could get lunch there.

It turned out the tasting room doesn’t serve food – just beer tasters, T-shirts and knick-knacks. I sampled four barrel-aged beers that aren’t found in stores and really liked three of the four. I also made it to the tour – three people didn’t show up. They allow 15 people in each tour.

Our tour guide was a native Oregonian from the Willamette Valley named Joy. She was very knowledgeable about beer in general and their operations at Deschutes Brewery. We started the tour with a brief discussion of the four ingredients needed for beer – water, malt, hops and yeast.

Everything you need to make beer

This discussion took place in the employee break room. The break room looked like a small cafe with tall chairs around a bar-like table, refrigerator, stove and food supplies. One of the guys was on break and had made a delicious looking pastrami sandwich. I was wishing I had eaten lunch – it was after 1pm by then.

The break room had a large closet that was converted to a small taproom. Employees are allowed one pint of beer at the end of their shift.

Employee taps

This has to be good for morale! The company believes good beer in moderation is beneficial to health.

We took a look at hop storage. Deschutes only used whole hops, no hop pellets or extracts. They store about three days worth of hops in a temperature-controlled room in 200-pound bales.

Hop bales

They were doing maintenance, cleaning a lauter tun. The lauter tun is a large vat that’s used to strain the liquid (wort) from the grain mash.

Lauter tun maintenance

We walked along a cat-walk above the brewery and looked down at the operation. Things were running at full speed below us.

Cellar process

Fermenters and bright tanks

Although Deschutes Brewing is not as large as the Sierra Nevada operation we toured in Chico, they still make a lot of beer. Their Black Butte porter is the number one selling porter in America, even though they only distribute in 27 states. I won’t go into all of the brewing process steps as I outlined that in the Sierra Nevada post.

Bottled and capped, ready for packaging

It was after 2pm by the time I left after buying a couple of bottles of barrel-aged beer and of course I needed the T-shirt. I rode back to the hair salon to pick Donna up. When I got there I saw a message on my phone from Donna. The hair stylist only accepted cash or checks and Donna had neither. So, I got back on the Spyder and rode a few blocks away to the bank to get cash.

When I came back and picked Donna up, I was famished. We rode over to the 10 Barrel Brewing pub and ordered food along with a pint. From there the ride home was much better with warm gloves. We stopped at the Sunriver Village to fortify ourselves with another pint at Sunriver Brewing. Donna really likes the Sunriver Village. It’s a resort, so almost everyone there is on vacation and seems laid-back and happy.

Back at home, we prepared a whole chicken to roast on the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker/grill. We had a late lunch, so we didn’t start the grill until about 6:30pm. Donna prepared garlic scapes which I grilled on the Weber Q and she also made roasted brussel sprouts in the convection oven. I used the same seasoning blend that I used on the baby back ribs last weekend and the chicken was great!

Dry rubbed Traeger chicken

Grilled garlic scapes

Paper plate dinner

This morning I woke up at 6am. I was warm under our comforter, but I could tell it was colder than usual in the coach. I got up and saw the thermometer read 50 degrees in the coach. I turned on the heat pump but I got the propane furnace instead. Heat pumps aren’t effective when the outside temperature falls much below 40 degrees. Our system has an ambient temperature sensor – when it’s too cold outside, it automatically fires the propane furnace instead of the heat pumps. I looked at my phone and read the outside temperature was 28 degrees. Yikes!

This cold spell is forecast to last until Sunday. We might pack up and move to the Columbia River Gorge for a few nights before we check in at the Columbia River RV Resort in Portland on Saturday. I don’t want to stay in an area that’s as cold as it is here right now.

Biking to Sunriver

We started our Sunday on the pickleball courts. Donna’s friend, Chelsea and her son, Dakota came to learn. They were beginners, but Chelsea had tennis experience and picked up pickleball pretty quickly. There was a broad mix of ability levels at the courts making it difficult to have competitive games, but the cold morning quickly turned into a beautiful, sunny day and we enjoyed our time on the courts.

After pickleball, Donna and Julie decided to ride bicycles over to the bike paths at Sunriver. Julie’s bike is a townie – a cruiser style bike – so Donna thought she should ride my mountain bike as it would be more compatible with regard to pace. I set up my mountain bike and lowered the seat post for Donna, but the bike was too large for her and she wasn’t comfortable. She ended up riding her Trek Madone road bike. They rode to The Village at Sunriver (map) and hit the paved paths there, stopping at various points along the way. They had lunch at El Caporal – a Mexican restaurant at the village. Donna said the food was good. They were out for hours and put in about 17 miles.

Meanwhile, back at the coach I had a task. Our Dometic Penguin roof top air conditioners recirculate air. The fan draws air in from inside the coach through grills equipped with a filter. The air is blown across the evaporator coils which cools it in the cooling mode or heats it in the heat pump mode, then it’s ducted through a series of vents in the roof and sent back to the cabin.

Air conditioner intake grill

Over time, dust and whatnot collects in the intake filters. These filters are sponge-like synthetic material that traps the dust. Periodically I remove the grill covers and wash the filters. That was my big chore for the day.

Sunday’s dinner was pan-seared flank steak. Donna also cut zucchini in quarters lengthwise which I grilled while she cooked the steak. She served the grilled zucchini with a mixture of finely chopped lemon zest and sea salt and we had roasted curry sweet potatoes as a second side.

Seared flank steak, grilled zucchini and fried sweet potato

Seared flank steak, grilled zucchini and roasted sweet potato

It was a simple, delicious meal. We’re still using paper plates to conserve water. Fewer dirty dishes means less gray water production. I opened a bottle of Pyramid Outburst Imperial IPA to go with the steak. Pyramid was an early craft brewer – they’ve been at it since 1984. Their IPA is brewed to style – no gimmicks or latest fads – just good old fashioned IPA made with northwest simcoe and centennial hops.

Pyramid Outburst Imperial IPA

Donna worked at her laptop on Monday. I thought I should take my mountain bike out for a ride. I haven’t ridden it in a long time – I don’t know why I stopped riding. Every time I get back on my bike I remember how much I enjoy being on two wheels.

I followed the route Donna and Julie took the day before through Caldera Springs to Sunriver Village. After stopping at the bike shop at Sunriver for an energy bar, I turned around and headed back. On the way back I rode through some of the paved and unpaved trails that wind through Caldera Springs. Caldera Springs is a community of vacation homes and rental cabins set among pines trees. There’s a creek fed by natural spring water and a couple of man-made lakes. It a beautiful setting and nice place to ride a bike away from any traffic.

Obsidian Lake at Caldera Springs

Vacation home on a spring-fed creek

We left the RV park at 3:30pm and rode the Spyder to Bend. Our destination was Tomo Sushi. On Mondays, Tomo opens at 4pm and their menu is half-price. We pulled into the parking lot for an early dinner a few minutes before 4pm. There were already a few people waiting at the door and a line formed behind us before they opened. Lance told us that he’s waited as long as 40 minutes for a table there.

We enjoyed the sushi but honestly, the prices are inflated so the half-price menu isn’t that great a deal. Two pieces of nigiri was shown as regularly priced at seven to nine dollars. We usually pay four to six dollars for nigiri. The prices on the rolls were a better deal. While we were in town we bought a few groceries and were home by 6pm.

Lance and Boni stopped by last night to say their goodbyes. Julie stopped by this morning. They’re all caravaning this morning along with Mike and Michelle and their respective families to Seaside. They plan to return here after a week. We’ll be here until Saturday, then we’re off to Portland.

This morning I woke to the sound of rain drops on the roof. We had brief showers that lulled me back to sleep. It’s cold this morning and the forecast calls for a high in the mid-50s. Brrr. The weather forecast for the rest of the week isn’t too promising – cool temperatures with a chance of rain.

Today I’ll take Donna to Bend for her hair appointment. While she’s having her hair cut, I plan to shop for motorcycle gloves and maybe pick up an interesting beer or two.

A Pump-Out and a Potluck

Friday was pump-out day. When I scheduled our pump-out with La Pine Septic, I was told they would be at our site between 8am and 9am. Then, on Thursday I had a call from the woman that I talked to at La Pine – she said she had the schedule wrong and they wouldn’t be here until noon or 1pm. Later, I had a voice message from the driver telling me he would be at the park at 8am and had several stops scheduled – he would here sometime in the morning. At that point, I had no idea when to expect him.

I wanted to be there when he arrived so I could watch the process. I wanted to know for sure that my tanks were completely drained without any issues. The truck pulled up at our site around 10am. The connector on the end of his pump-out hose was too bulky to fit directly on our drain. I used our sewer hose on the drain and he attached his hose to the other end of it.

The system uses a motor-driven pump to pull the waste water out and dump it into a large tank on the truck. It works pretty quickly but still took a few minutes as we had nearly full tanks after 11 days without dumping. Our gray water tank holds 100 gallons and our black water capacity is about 90 gallons. We should be good for the rest of our stay – I’ll hit the dump station when we leave here on the 18th.

Later I rode the Spyder to town to pick up a couple of things and I also wanted to check out some possible boondocking spots in the Deschutes National Forest for our friends, Jeff and Deb Spencer (RollingRecess). It was a cold day – the temperature never rose much above 60 degrees. The ride on the Spyder had me chilled. I checked out a few areas and found a couple of possibilities. I didn’t find all of the areas they asked about – the forest service roads are poorly marked.

When I got home I was chilled to the bone. I should have dressed with more layers for the ride. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get warm and read a book. I didn’t feel warm until I took a hot shower.

For dinner, Donna made a spicy shrimp dish with garlic oil served over squid ink pasta with a tomato and onion salad on the side. Squid ink pasta uses squid ink instead of salt for the pasta and has a unique flavor and a rich, dark color.

Spicy shrimp over squid ink pasta

Yesterday was another cool day – slightly warmer than Friday but we didn’t see 70 degrees. We made plans for a potluck dinner with TJ, Julie, Lance, Boni, Mike and Michele and their kids. We found out that Julie and Donna’s friend Chelsea and her husband Preston were coming to the park with their kids for the night, so they were invited as well.

I rode the Spyder to the Cash & Carry store in Bend. Julie said it was a good place to find meat. Before I left, Donna found a liner for my motorcycle jacket and I put it on under the jacket. Much better – I didn’t freeze this time. I found a three-pack of baby back ribs at Cash & Carry – about nine pounds total. The ribs were cut a little shorter than I usually find which was good because I could fit three racks on the Traeger.

When I prepare baby back ribs, I always start by removing the tough, thin membrane on the bone side of the ribs. To do this, I use a regular table knife – a sharp knife isn’t good – it will cut through the membrane. You want to separate it from the bone – I usually start somewhere near the middle – by sliding the knife between the bone and the membrane. Once it’s separated, I use a paper towel to grip it and pull it off of the ribs.

Membrane on the bone side of a rack of ribs

The last time I made baby back ribs, I used Pappy’s Choice Seasoning for a dry rub. I thought it was flavorful but a little too salty. This time I mixed two parts of Pappy’s Choice with one part of Sweet Rub O’Mine in a shaker and dry rubbed the ribs with it. This was a good combination – nice flavor without the saltiness. After leaving the seasoned ribs in the refrigerator for a couple of hours, I fired up the Traeger. I smoked/grilled the ribs for about three hours and then tented them under foil for about 20 minutes. They came out great.

Three racks of baby backs ready for the potluck

Tables were set up loaded with food at Mike and Michelle’s site. The feast was on!

Potluck dinner with friends

We ate and talked for hours – it was after 9pm by the time Donna and I came home. Another day well lived.

Between Bend and La Pine

The warm weather continued on Monday with a high in the 90s. I rode the Spyder down to La Pine to buy beer and water and check out Ray’s grocery store. After I came back and had lunch with Donna, I realized that Ray’s in La Pine was only about a mile closer than the Walmart Supercenter in Bend. So we rode to Bend to get groceries there – it’s a much larger store than Ray’s.

With the hot weather, we didn’t have much activity Monday afternoon. Donna marinated Jamaican Jerk chicken which I grilled. She served it with a mango salsa topping – we haven’t had this dish in quite a while – it’s a favorite.

Jamaican Jerk chicken with green beans and rice

Jamaican Jerk chicken with green beans and brown rice

Donna served it with steamed green beans and a short grain brown rice she bought at the farmers’ market in Chico. The rice has a nutty flavor and a firm texture. We used paper plates – we’re in a gray water conservation mode since we don’t have sewer hook ups here at Sun River Thousand Trails. I’ve scheduled a pump-out for Friday – that’ll be nine days without dumping the tanks.

On Tuesday morning we joined Julie, Lance, Bonnie, Mike and Michelle for coffee. Mike brews a pot every morning and invites everyone for coffee talk. We exchanged stories for about an hour, then we went to the pickleball courts. Lance, Bonnie, Julie and TJ are avid pickleballers. Donna and I were surprised to find several other people on the courts – we haven’t noticed much activity there other than our group. A couple of youngsters joined in a few games and played surprisingly well. I got my exercise in for the day.

Plenty of activity on the pickleball courts

I’ve ordered new suspension for the Spyder – a custom set of Elka shocks and springs. Good suspension is one of the best upgrades you can make to a vehicle. Most of the motorcycles I’ve owned were upgraded to either Fox, Penske or Ohlins suspension. The folks at Elka specialize in powersports suspension and they make a range of shocks and springs for Spyders. While I was on the pickleball court, John at Elka phoned. He said I needed to measure the rear shock length as Can Am used two different set-ups for our Spyder and he wanted to be sure he was building the right shock for it. I measured the rear shock after lunch and gave him the length. I hope to get the new shocks in a few weeks.

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading while Donna worked on writing her organizing newsletter. The high temperature reached 90 degrees. We heard thunder but the showers bypassed us. We had a brief period of rain Monday night – not much, just a few minutes of rain drops.

Donna made a pot of chili and by 7pm it was cool enough in the shade to sit out at the picnic table and dine.

Dinner al fresco at the picnic table

I had a bottle of IPA with my chili – Ray’s had a large selection of northwest brewed IPA. Oregon has the best prices on 22-ounce bomber bottles of craft beer.

Portland Brewing IPA

Today there will be a change in the weather. The high is expected to be a comfortable 74 degrees – the start of a cooling trend. By Friday, the high will only be in the 60s. Donna and Julie are going to Bend for a lunch meetup with their friends and colleagues from their SendOut Cards team. (That’s how Julie and Donna met.) I’m planning to meet Donna in Bend and we’ll ride the Spyder to the farmers’ market.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Grilling

Crescent Bar Beach

Nuts and Bolts

Traffic and Taxes

Oregon IPA Quest

Spyder Suspension Upgrade

Road Bike Ride

Deschutes Brewery

Biking to Sunriver

A Pump-Out and a Potluck

Between Bend and La Pine

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