Category Archives: Grilling

Tire Hassle

I drove Donna to her hair appointment on the Spyder yesterday. After I dropped her off, I rode over to Total Wine at the Tempe Marketplace. Total Wine is a big beer, wine and liquor store. They have outdone BevMo in my opinion – bigger selection, great prices and they have tastings as well. I found Blue Ice potato vodka there – it’s become my favorite for a martini. I also stopped at Cost Plus World Market there to pick up some Old South Tomolives – one of my favorite martini garnishes along with bleu cheese stuffed olives.

I had time to kill so I rode over to Old Town Scottsdale. I was looking for a particular jewelry shop. About 10 years ago, I sold my Rolex Daytona watch there. I have another watch I want to sell, but I couldn’t find the shop.

After an hour and half, I went back to the hair salon to pick Donna up. I was too early but I didn’t get the text she sent – I was already heading to the shop when she sent it. I waited in the reception area for about half an hour, then we were on our way.

After dropping Donna off at home, my next stop was the Mesa Elks Lodge. I decided to apply for membership there instead of the Tempe lodge. We usually stay in Mesa, so it’s more convenient. The reason for joining the Elks is because many of their lodges have RV hook-ups and low rates for members, but you need to be a member to stay there. That will come in handy when we’re traveling and need a friendly place to stay for a night or two.

Donna bought a whole chicken at Sprouts market. I seasoned it with Lambert’s Sweet Rub O’Mine and cooked it on the Traeger. The Sweet Rub O’Mine has become a favorite rub for chicken – it comes out so good on the Traeger. Donna served it with steamed asparagus and baked acorn squash with butter and brown sugar.

Traeger roasted chicken with asparagus and acorn squash

Asparagus is cheap right now. Donna found it for $0.98/lb!

This morning, I had a project. I strapped a new 225/50R15 tire on the back of the Spyder and rode it over to Mike Hall’s house. We set up the Spyder in his shop and jacked up the rear with a floor jack. Removing the rear wheel involves a number of steps and we took more time to get it off than I anticipated. We loaded the wheel and new tire in the back of his Jeep and drove to Discount Tire. The guy there said he couldn’t mount a tire on a Spyder wheel – something about too much risk of cracking the wheel with his machine.

I think the real deal is they don’t want to a mount a passenger car tire on a vehicle classified as a motorcycle. If the Can Am Spyder leaned through turns like a motorcycle, I would agree that it should have motorcycle tires. But it doesn’t. The rear tire tracks through a turn just like the rear tire on a rear-wheel drive car. Plenty of Spyder owners have replaced the original equipment Kenda tire with higher performance car tires. On the Spyder forums, everyone claims better performance and longer tire life. I believe it. There’s nothing special about the Kenda tire supplied by BRP. It’s a cheap Chinese tire that flexes too much and wears out quickly – and it’s priced higher than a good passenger car tire.

Next we stopped at a small neighborhood tire shop. They were willing, but couldn’t fit the Spyder wheel on their machine. So, we went to Steve’s Cycle Shop. They broke down the old tire and installed the new tire while we waited. They charged me $21 – I think it was a fair deal.

By now I had taken so much of Mike’s time, I wanted to get the wheel back on the Spyder and let him get on with his day.

New Kumho Ecsta 225/50R15 on the Spyder

I didn’t take time to get photos of the rear wheel removal and installation. We only took about 20 minutes to get the wheel remounted. Thanks for the help and use of your shop, Mike!

The temperature is expected to hit 88 degrees today. The forecast calls for the high 80s into next week. Tomorrow I’ll go to the NHRA drag racing qualifying sessions at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park – formerly Firebird Raceway. My friend Pat is picking me up at 8am. Then we’ll pick up our friend Leendert Hartoog and the three of us will spend the day at the races. Donna is planning to spend the morning at Singh Farms with two of her girlfriends.

*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!

Barrio Queen

My last post described shopping for a new trailer and getting ready to sell the old one. There were a few comments about moving up in trailer size and how that dovetails with a more minimalist lifestyle. Well, here’s my reasoning – we aren’t getting a larger trailer so we can collect and haul more stuff.

Our 6 x 12 Loadrunner trailer has been packed to the gills for some time. It is, after all, my rolling garage. Things were packed so tightly that our scooter suffered cosmetic damage from things moving and rubbing against it. I don’t want that to happen to our Spyder – which has a larger footprint than the scooter. I also don’t want to damage the Spyder loading and unloading with so little clearance for the front wheels.

With the trailer packed, I had tools and spare parts in plastic bins stacked on top of each other. This made accessing parts a chore. I would have to partially unload the trailer and move bins to find what I needed. Even getting my tool chest open could be difficult at times as I had supplies stacked on it.

The new trailer is large. It’s nominally 8.5 x 20 feet. The interior length actually measures 20′ 5″ and the overall length is 24′ 8″. Hooked up to our motorhome we’ll be at the maximum length of 65 feet in many states including California, where we spend a lot of time.

On Friday afternoon, I unloaded our old trailer and cleaned the interior. I piled everything at the rear of our site. I locked the bikes back inside the trailer overnight. With the Traeger out of the trailer, I put it to good use and grilled bone-in chicken thighs dry rubbed with Sweet Rub O’mine. Donna served it with a baked potato and lemony green beans.

Dry rubbed chicken thighs, baked potato and lemony green beans

On Saturday morning, our friend Howard Graff showed up with his Ford F150 truck. We hooked up the old trailer and moved it to a lot on the north side of the RV park where I had secured permission to temporarily store it. Then we headed out to TrailersPlus to pick up the new trailer. We had a few different mounts for the receiver and a larger ball. The old trailer used a 2″ ball, the new one requires a 2-5/16″ ball. It took us over an hour to get through the paperwork and get the mount set up with the right amount of drop, and then we were on our way.

Howard drove the trailer back to Towerpoint RV Resort and we had no issues. I backed the trailer into our site – it was a tight turn and a bit of a squeeze to get the 8.5 foot wide trailer in place. Thanks for the help, Howard!

As always with a new trailer, my first order of business is to sweep the floor and put a coat of paint on it. The 3/4″ plywood floor is undercoated on the bottom side but bare on top. I like to seal the wood with good paint to prevent any liquids that may be spilled on the floor from penetrating and damaging the floor.

I thought the task would take me two hours – one hour of prep and about an hour to paint. I had the floor clean and masked with painter’s tape in about 45 minutes. I get better at the masking job every time I do this.

Trailer prepped for paint

Entry step masked and ready for paint

I opened a gallon of Glidden Porch and Floor paint and found a problem. When I bought the paint at Walmart a couple of days ago, I pulled a can off the shelf. It had a smear of gray paint on the side of the can – just what I was looking for. But there was also some paint around the lid making me think someone had returned this can and it might not be full. Their paint counter wasn’t manned by a store employee, so I grabbed the next can behind the one that had been opened. I paid for it and took it home without another thought.

When I opened the can of paint, it was a vile-looking yellowish liquid. I read the label closely and saw that it was a base coat that needed to have pigments added for color. I took the paint back to Walmart and after waiting for half an hour to get someone who could help me, I had the paint mixed to a color called granite gray. Using a base coat without pigment doesn’t work – it covers with a mostly clear, streak-filled finish.

By the time I got back at it, I’d lost about an hour. I set to work painting with a brush first to cover all of the corners and around the tie-downs and other metal work. Then I took a roller to cover the rest of the floor. It took me about 75 minutes and I was whipped by the time I was done. I should have bought a long handled roller – the short roller I had meant I was bending over to reach the floor the whole time. The job came out nice though and I finished cleaning up around 5pm.

Floor covered with Glidden Porch and Floor paint

You can clearly see the slope of the rear floor beaver tail section

The rear floor section of the car carrier trailer is what they call a beaver tail. It slopes down at the rear making it match the angle of the ramp and lowering the loading height. I’ll add a couple of tie-downs and this is where the Spyder will ride. I’ll have several weeks to plan and organize the front section to store my tools, spare parts and whatnot.

At 6:30pm, Howard and his wife Sara came by and picked us up. We went to Old Town Gilbert to the Barrio Queen restaurant. This is a popular and acclaimed Mexican restaurant that’s been featured in national media. They also have a huge selection of tequila (tequila menu here) and make a variety of margaritas.

We enjoyed the Skinny Chola margaritas at the bar while we waited for a table. Then we were seated outside on the patio. First up, we had fresh guacamole made at our table. The waiter blends the ingredients which, in this case, included pomegranate seeds.

Our waiter, Carlos, making guacamole

A tasty guacamole with pomegranate

The food was outstanding and the service great. It’s well worth the wait for a table. We enjoyed the ambience and conversation and before we knew it, it was 9pm. Howard and Sara dropped us off at home – of course, they had to stop in to say hi to Ozark the cat. It was a lovely way to spend the evening as I lamented my sore back from painting.

Today I’ll begin to loosely arrange some of our stuff in the trailer. The weather is nice but likely to be on the hot side this afternoon. The forecast calls for a high of 87 with sunny skies and more of the same tomorrow. I think I’ll relax and read a book.

Reeper Test Drive

Sunday was Superbowl Sunday. Most of the day was like any other day. The weather was warm but windy. Donna and I rode the scooter up to The Shops at Lake Havasu Mall to take another look at the Reeper utility task vehicle (UTV) I wrote about in my last post. I had done some research and found the Reeper to be one of the most suitable UTVs for street use. I also confirmed it can be licensed and street legal in our domicile state of South Dakota. When we arrived at the mall, the parking lot was empty. The three-day expo was Thursday-Friday-Saturday, not Friday-Saturday-Sunday as I thought.

Donna did a little sleuth work and after a couple of phone calls, was able to track down the guy selling his Reeper. She made arrangements for us to take another look Monday afternoon.

I treated the sidewalls of our tires with 303 Aerospace protectant. I really like this product. It’s easy to use and blocks UV rays from deteriorating the rubber sidewalls. I usually apply it every couple of months.

As the time drew near for the Superbowl, Donna prepared a snack tray. They were mostly healthy snacks – she made fresh fries by cutting jicama to dip in her homemade guacamole, plus cut up celery and carrots. She also roasted garbanzo beans and prepared asparagus spears wrapped with boursin cheese and prosciutto.

Snack tray

The Superbowl opened with Lady Gaga singing the national anthem. I’m not a fan of hers but I thought she did a wonderful job. The game turned out to be very entertaining with strong defensive performances by both teams. At halftime, I opened a bottle of IPA and did my best to ignore the show.

Trestles IPA from Left Coast Brewing

Donna made adobo-seasoned baked chicken wings which was basically our dinner as we snacked through the second half of the game.

Adobo-seasoned baked chicken wings

I was happy to see Peyton Manning take home the trophy.

Monday was a move day. I spent the morning loading the scooter and grill and making the trailer ready for travel. We were only going about 10 miles to the rodeo grounds on the south side of Lake Havasu City, but everything needs to be secure regardless of the distance we travel. Donna went out for a three-mile run as I was loading.

I filled our fresh water tank and dumped and flushed our holding tanks. We’ll be dry camped for the next week so we want to have all the water we can hold on board and full holding tank capacity. The rodeo grounds open for dry camping the week of the Winter Blast Western Pyrotechnic Show. We’re here with the Alpine Coach Association group. We were pre-registered so checking in was quick and painless. We were escorted to site D5 – basically chalk lines drawn in the dirt lot. We were too long with the trailer to fit in the space allotted, so I had to drop the trailer and park beside it. The site slopes from the driver to passenger side but I was able to get the coach level with the HWH hydraulic jacks.

Rodeo grounds site

After we were set up and ate lunch, we rode the scooter over to Arizona Motors, about a mile away from here. That’s where the Reeper was. We talked to Doug – he works there and is selling his Reeper. After a while, Doug and I went for a test drive. The UTV wasn’t as powerful as I expected – it accelerated much slower than I thought it would. Then I took Donna for a ride in the side-by-side two seater. She was not prepared for the noise and amount of wind. It has a full windshield – and windshield wipers – but no side or rear windows.

We thanked Doug for his time and test drive but also said we weren’t sure if it’s the right thing for us. We’re still on the fence.

When we came back to the rodeo grounds there were seven or eight Alpine Coaches here. I expect more to arrive soon. I grilled bacon wrapped filet mignon for dinner. Donna served it with spicy chipotle sweet potato fries with parsley mayo for dipping and steamed asparagus.

Bacon wrapped filet, spicy chipotle sweet potato fries with dipping sauce and asparagus

I paired it with pale oat ale from Lagunitas Brewing – a great beer.

Equinox pale oat ale

We finished the day watching a couple of TV shows. It’s very quiet out here so far. It won’t be once the fireworks start on Thursday. The forecast calls for temperatures to reach the 80s all week. We’ll be putting some hours on the generator.

Idyllwild Day Trip

Sunday went pretty much as I expected. We played pickleball in the morning then I settled in to watch the NFL Conference Championship games. Denver’s defense had their way against the New England Patriots until late in the game. Then New England stepped on the gas and made it a close finish. Denver prevailed. The Arizona Cardinals versus the Carolina Panthers was a lopsided affair with Carolina blowing out Arizona.

Donna on the pickleball court

Monday I started my day on the pickleball courts and played until 11:30am. Whew! Donna passed on pickleball and went out for a three-mile run then went to work on an article she’s writing for Quill. Although it was a nice day out with the temperature in the 70s with clear skies, I was worn out from three hours of pickleball so I read for a while and napped on the sofa. That’s about all I was good for on Monday.

I managed to fire up the Traeger wood pellet grill and roast a whole chicken for dinner. I seasoned the chicken with Sweet Rub O’Mine. Just like last time, the sugars in the rub caramelized and make the chicken look burnt in the photos. It wasn’t burnt – the skin was crispy and tasty with no burnt flavor at all.

Chicken roasted on the Traeger

Donna served it with a blend of brown and wild rices mixed with chopped pecans and dried berries. She also baked acorn squash with butter and maple syrup as another side.

Roasted chicken, acorn squash and rice

Tuesday morning I slept in until 8:15 and still felt tired. I haven’t been sleeping well lately. Some of it is due to seasonal allergies starting to kick in – I know it’s still January but many plants are blooming around here. The other part is sore shoulders. My shoulders have been beat up – I’ve had multiple shoulder surgeries on both sides over the years and it’s catching up with me.

I decided to take a break from pickleball. We had a trip planned with our new friends, Ron and Marilyn Cross. We met Marilyn on the pickleball courts and she and Donna have become friends. It’s amazing how many new friends we find as we travel the country. They picked us up at 11am for a day trip up to Idyllwild.

We drove through Hemet and followed CA74 to CA243, a twisty two-lane country highway that climbs to the village of Idyllwild, 5,413 feet above sea level (map). Idyllwild is nestled in the San Jacinto Mountains which boast the second highest peak in southern California. San Jacinto Peak is 10,834 feet above sea level – Mount San Gorgonio in the San Bernadino mountains is the highest at 11,503 feet above sea level. Many people don’t imagine mountain ranges and towering peaks when they think about southern California, but they’re here. Idyllwild caters to tourism based around hiking, camping and rock climbing. It doesn’t have any ski areas although it does get its share of snow. If you follow CA74 past the CA243 turn off, you’ll find yourself in the desert at Palm Springs – only an hour away!

Idyllwild Ranger station – San Bernadino National Forest – snow in the background

We walked through town with Ron and Marilyn and their dog, a long haired Vizsla named Callie. Then we came back to the car which was parked in front of the Lumber Mill Bar and Grill. Ron and Marilyn said this place had the best burgers around. We found about a dozen specialty burger choices on the menu. I went for a mushroom burger with grilled onions, Donna had the bison burger, Marilyn had the veggie burger and Ron had a bacon cheeseburger. They were definitely good burgers.

Lumber Mill Bar and Grill

When we were leaving, I saw an interesting vehicle parked out front. It was Pinzgauer high-mobility all-terrain vehicle. These vehicles were originally made by Steyr-Diamler-Puch in Graz, Austria. It was a popular military vehicle in Europe. Steyr-Diamler-Puch produced these vehicles in four-wheel and six-wheel drive configurations from 1971 to 2000 when the rights were ultimately sold to the UK firm BAE. Nowadays, many of the older Pinzgauers are in private hands and they can be found anywhere in the world.

Pinzgauer high-mobility all-terrain vehicle

This one appears to be a first generation vehicle most likely powered by an inline air-cooled four-cylinder engine.

We left Idyllwild with the intention of finding Lake Hemet. First we made a wrong turn and went up Saunders Meadow Road. We quickly decided it was a mistake and Ron pulled over at a turnout. The view was spectacular so we got out. We then found a wide, well-defined hiking trail and took a short hike with their dog, Callie, among the ponderosa pines and manzanita trees.

Donna, Ron and Marilyn on the trail we found by accident - note snow on peak in the baclground

Donna, Ron and Marilyn on the trail we found by accident – note snow on peaks in the baclground

We continued on our way and headed east on CA74 – also known as the Pines to Palms highway. About four miles down CA74, we found the lake after one more missed turn – it was obscured by a construction zone.

Lake Hemet

We saw an immature bald eagle flying across the lake while Callie romped and swam in the water. As is the case with most western lakes and reservoirs, the water level is low. Recent rainfall and snow pack will undoubtedly help this situation, but years of drought aren’t erased by one wet season.

The heavy rainfall in the last month caused erosion along some of the banks of the lake. Marilyn and Donna sat on a bench they literally had to jump up on. The erosion of the soil under the bench left it sitting high above ground level. They looked like two little kids on a park bench with their legs dangling.

Legs dangling from a high bench

We made it back to Golden Palms RV Resort just in time to hit the farmers’ market before it shut down at 4pm. We picked up a few items before we walked back to our coach.

We were told about a pizza place that had good pizza and had a Tuesday special – buy one, get one free! I phoned in a take-out order and rode the scooter to Stadium Pizza in a small industrial park about four miles away. The parking lot was full and there was a line of people out the front door! I found a place to park the scooter and saw the line had the door blocked and the place was jam-packed. I asked people in line if I had to wait in line if I was picking up a take-out order I already placed. They said I probably needed to wait. Then one of them said I should go inside and try to pick up my order.

I wiggled my way inside and found a guy that looked like the manager walking behind the counter. I told him I phoned my order in and asked if I could pick it up or should I stand in the long line. He said, “We don’t have a drive through – you need to get in line.” I said “Really? I wasn’t asking for a drive through, but it doesn’t make sense to me to phone an order in and stand in line while other people are placing orders and waiting for tables while my pizza gets cold.” He asked for my name and phone number and went to the back and came out with the pizzas. What he needs to do is organize his counter – one line to place orders and another line to pick up orders. Simple. The pizza WAS good. Really good.

Today the only thing on my schedule is pickleball. Then I have no further plan.

Ozark Takes a Walk

Some mornings I wake up well before sunrise. Maybe I need to use the restroom. Maybe it’s a loud car or other noise. Sometimes it’s Ozark the cat moving about on our bed or scratching in her litter box. Some of the time I fall back into a slumber filled with dreams and I’m not really sure if I was ever awake or not. Does this ever happen to you?

Yesterday morning, I heard Ozark in her litter box. I drifted back to sleep only to wake up to the sound of Ozark in her litter box. This repeated countless times. Donna was out of bed before me. When I finally rose, she said Ozark needs to go to the vet. She said Ozark was climbing into her Clever Cat litter box every five minutes but didn’t seem like she was able to urinate. Something was clearly wrong.

We looked online for veterinarians nearby. At 8am, Donna started calling for an appointment. She was able to obtain an appointment at the Hemet Animal Hospital at 10:15am. We worried that Ozark might have a urinary tract blockage. I looked at Google maps and it appeared that the hospital on Girard Street was between 11,000 and 12,000 feet away – a little over two miles. Donna thought the best thing to do was to carry Ozark in her crate and walk there. Rather than carry the crate like a briefcase, she used our laundry basket – which has a shoulder strap – to carry the crate.

This turned out not to be the best idea. The basket was awkward and kept hitting Donna’s leg, so Ozark was getting bounced around. And the distance was badly underestimated. The scale of the Google map or the key to the map weren’t correct. It turned out to be 3.7 miles – a long walk. They were late, but they made it and the vet was still able to see them.

The vet diagnosed a urinary tract infection. Ozark didn’t have a blockage. In fact her bladder was nearly empty. She was just feeling an urge due to the inflammation of the infection. She was given medication and sub-cutaneous hydration – $162 later they were on their way home. Donna called a taxi for the ride home. Ozark came home with prescription medications – one was a sedative to keep her stress level down. She seemed to respond to it well at first, then she acted a little hyper. After a while she settled back down.

Ozark resting on the sofa

One thought about the cause of her condition may be stress due to a change in diet. Before we left San Diego I went to Petsmart to buy cat food. They didn’t have what she usually eats so I bought the next closest thing (same brand, different formula). We’ve been blending the last of her usual food with the new formula. Cats don’t like to switch foods. So yesterday, I went to Petco and bought her usual stuff. The vet also recommended hydrating as much as possible with canned foods and broth in her usual food as she recovers.

Later I accomplished a task that needed to be done. I cleaned our battery banks with baking soda solution. Our house batteries are flooded wet cell 6-volt golf cart batteries. Flooded lead acid batteries are well-developed and proven technology. However, they can gas and produce acidic corrosion while charging. The corrosion can be a real pain as it attacks connectors and the battery tray. Baking soda neutralizes the acid, but over time the acid builds up again. I’d like to get away from this cycle and replace our house batteries with absorbent glass mat (AGM) batteries. They don’t vent acidic vapors and corrosion isn’t an issue. The problem is cost – I would have to spend north of $1500 to replace our house battery bank with AGM batteries. Our friends Mark and Emily Fagan wrote all you want to know about batteries in these posts.

Donna defrosted a tri-tip steak she bought at Trader Joe’s in San Diego. I looked around online to figure how to prepare it. We were introduced to tri-tip steak about a year ago on New Year’s Eve when Debbie Bednarski had one for our New Year’s Eve dinner on December 31, 2014. See this post.

I lucked out when I cooked the tri-tip back then as I had no idea what I was working with. Tri-tip is associated with Santa Maria, California – the barbeque capital of California in Santa Barbara County. I read that tri-tip is a west coast thing although it seems to be gaining acceptance in other parts of the country. After looking at a few recipes, I had a plan to cook the tri-tip on the Traeger wood pellet grill.

I dry rubbed it with Brooks Brown Sugar Bourbon Rub and let it rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. The Traeger made the rest of the cook easy. I think it came out fine – juicy with a pronounced beef flavor. Donna thought it could’ve been a little more tender. I cooked it to about 130 degrees internal temperature and let it rest for about 20 minutes in a loose foil tent. Maybe I could’ve taken it off the grill five minutes earlier.

Tri-tip ready to rest in a foil tent

Sliced tri-tip

Tri-tip plated with baked potato and zucchini saute

I know I go over the top at times about our dinners. I want readers to understand we’re not out on a camping trip – this is our lifestyle and that includes eating well.

I paired the dinner with an IPA ale from Bootlegger’s Brewery in Fullerton, Calfiornia. It’s an IPA style beer brewed with rye – maybe we should call it a Rye-P-A. It’s a very good ale with a creamy-frothy mouth feel.

Rye-P-A

This morning I plan to hit the pickleball courts for some fun and exercise, then become a couch potato as I watch the NFL Conference Championship games.

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.

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.

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.

Playing Catch Up

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

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

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

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

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

View from the upstairs patio

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

Helm’s brown ale

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

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

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

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

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

Calm water for a sailboat moored at De Anza Cove

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

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

2009 Newell quad slide

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

Baby back ribs, sweet potato fires and kale salad

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

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

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

Beers we sampled Saturday evening

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

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

The third rack of ribs

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

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

Tailgating before the gane - Sonny, Gary and me

Tailgating before the game – Sonny, Gary and me

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

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Grilling

Tire Hassle

Barrio Queen

Reeper Test Drive

Idyllwild Day Trip

Ozark Takes a Walk

Like Christmas Again

Brisket Obsession

Christmas Potluck

Trailer Toad

Playing Catch Up

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