Category Archives: Health

Unusual Easter Dinner

Ozark the cat has been enjoying her time here at Towerpoint RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona (map). She spends most of her day sitting by a window or on the door steps watching birds outside. Sometimes she even sounds like a bird – she’ll make a trilling sound deep in her throat that sounds like a bird I hear in the palm trees at times. I haven’t been able to identify the bird. Ozark also craves attention. She’ll walk up to our feet and flop down, wanting to have her belly rubbed. She rolls from side to side as I rub her belly and pet her.

Ozark the cat sitting in the galley

It was a warm day on Sunday. Although the temperature only reached the mid 80s, it warmed up quickly in the morning and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Without much of breeze, it felt hotter. I stayed inside most of the day and read with the air conditioners on. I wanted to stay out of the sun as the burn on my right calf is still healing and it’s sensitive.

Burn on my hairy calf

Donna decided to make her usual St. Patrick’s day meal on Easter Sunday since we didn’t have it on St. Patrick’s Day. She saw a recipe that claimed corned beef was a traditional Irish Easter meal. I did some research and found this wasn’t true. In fact, beef wasn’t readily available a century ago in Ireland. Corned beef is an Irish-American tradition. The corned beef in America was a cheap meat and substituted for the salt pork that was more common in Ireland. It’s origin is attributed to Jewish communities in the early twentieth century.

Donna prepared traditional Irish-American boiled corned beef with cabbage and carrots. She served mashed potatoes on the side and homemade Irish soda bread – my favorite.

Our Easter corned beef and cabbage plate

I saw on Facebook that our RV friends, Brett and Cheri Miller, had the same idea – Cheri prepared corned beef for them on Sunday as well. We’re making our own traditions out here on the road!

As we left the coach to play pickleball this morning, our neighbors were preparing to leave. I saw two coaches pull out from our street. Almost all of the Canadian visitors and many of the snowbirds will leave by the end of the week. I hope enough people are still in the park to get some pickleball action next week!

Our route to the pickleball courts takes us past a second-generation type 2 VW camper (T2 from 1967 to 1979). I remember back in the early ’70s thinking these were large vehicles. Today it looks small compared to all of the large SUVs we’re used to seeing. A VW T2 camper had a wheelbase of 94.5 inches and an overall length of of 177 inches. By comparison, a 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee has a wheelbase of 114.8 inches and an overall length of 190 inches.

Early ’70s VW type 2 camper

We have another warm day ahead but it’s also windy today. That might make it seem cooler. Tonight a cold front will move in. We should be down to the mid 40s overnight and tomorrow’s high is expected to be 70 degrees. Last night the temperature never dropped below 55. Our new Leesa mattress is surprisingly comfortable in warm weather. That was one of the things I wondered about foam mattresses.

Today I’ll head out to Ace Hardware to pick up a few supplies so I can get some projects done. Other than that, I’ll probably just read another book.

Stop, Drop and Roll

I’ve been a little sore the past couple of mornings. On Wednesday morning during my first pickleball game of the day, my opponent hit a lob over my head. I turned around to run to the back of the court to return the ball. Somehow my feet got tangled together and I was going down! I pulled my arms in and rolled as I hit the pavement. It worked pretty well – I didn’t bang my head or lose any skin. I feel it in my neck in the mornings though – I guess the fall really jolted it. My teammate said the roll was an awesome move and he was sure it prevented me from being injured.

This reminded me of something that happened about five years ago. Donna and I visited Greece and Turkey – we had a great trip. While we were on the Greek island of Naxos, we walked down the road along the beach to a restaurant we’d heard about. The restaurant was on a point where the highway forked. The sidewalk was raised a couple of feet above the roadway near the entrance to the restaurant.

We had an early dinner and the place was nearly empty when we arrived. We saw raki on the drink menu and decided to try it as an aperitif. Raki is a popular drink in Turkey – it’s similar to ouzo found on the Greek mainland and has an anisette flavor. Our waitress was enthusiastic about raki and told me they had several different brands on hand. After our meal, the waitress joined us with three glasses of raki – she drank one with us. Then she appeared with another brand of raki for us to sample. The raki is very easy to drink and doesn’t seem very high in alcohol.

It was dark out when we were ready to leave and the restaurant had filled with parties at most of the patio tables. After I stepped out the front door and turned to my right, I looked back at Donna said “Watch your step.” The raki was much stronger than I thought – later I found out it was 90 proof. I was a little wobbly. The next thing I knew my left foot was off the high sidewalk. My foot hung in the air for second as I realized I was about to fall into the street. Rather than falling to the pavement a couple of feet below me, I reacted by pushing off hard with my right leg. I tucked my chin in and launched into a forward roll.

My momentum coupled with the height of the sidewalk above the street allowed me to do a complete flip in the air and land in the street on my feet. I continued to walk along like I did it on purpose. People dining on the patio witnessed this feat and gave me a round of applause. Donna stood on the sidewalk dumbfounded. We laughed so hard as we walked home from there without further incident.

On Thursday afternoon, I made a stop at Lucky Lou’s. Donna has been saving fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen. I brought a bag of scraps to give to Mike and Jodi Hall – they have at least four desert tortoises in their yard. The tortoises love citrus and vegetables. While I was there, I saw Wayne pull up in his ’63 Nova. I posted about this hot rod before. I took a few pictures of it in the parking lot. It’s hard to believe something like this is driven on the street.

Wayne’s ’63 Nova

Look at the size of those rear tires

Super clean installation of the dash panel

I didn’t stay at Lou’s for very long. I wanted to get back to Towerpoint RV Resort for their annual end-of-season dinner. They had tables set up around the pools and bar areas. They set up for a crowd of 1,000 people. Towerpoint (Cal Am) provided free sloppy joes with coleslaw and chips and 25-cent drinks (soft drinks or beer). The 25-cent drinks were a fundraiser for the park’s charitable volunteer group called Squires.

Some of the crowd by the pool area

More of the dinner crowd

They had a bandstand and live music. The band was very good – they played a mix of classic rock and country music. Donna hoop danced to the music and had a blast. She was invited to come to the sock hop put on by the pickleball group next year – the organizer is planning to have a hula hoop contest.

Live music

I wore myself out Friday morning. Donna and I played in the open social session at the pickleball courts from 8am to 10am. Then I signed up for the 3.5-level round robin. This had me playing until noon.

I spent the afternoon relaxing with a book. At 5:30pm, we went to the Roma Cafe Ristorante on Main Street east of Power Road (map). We had a reservation to meet up with our nomadic friends, Brett and Cheri Miller. It’s been a year since our paths last crossed. We enjoyed a leisurely meal and caught up with each other over the next two and a half hours. It was a good time with good food and we plan to get together again in a couple of weeks. Roma Cafe serves a very laid back, European-like dinner. No rush – take your time and enjoy. It’s family-operated and they make you feel at home.

Blurry self-shot photo – me, Donna, Brett and Cheri

This morning, Donna took off to Scottsdale on the Spyder to meet up with her friend, Stevie-Ann Rineheart, for breakfast. I’m lazing about taking a break from pickleball and reading a book. The warmer than usual weather returned – we can expect highs near 90 degrees for the next few days before we get back to more seasonable mid-70s.

Tiring Day

Friday started out like most days here at Towerpoint RV Resort – Donna and I walked to the pickleball courts at the Sports Complex. We arrived right at 8am and were surprised at the number of people already there. We partnered for a couple of games then split up as the groups mixed. Two hours later, it was time for the 3.5 level round robin.

The guy running the round robin format invited me to stay and play. I had already played at least half a dozen games, but I decided to stay. I was happy to hear that he considered me a 3.5 level player. I think I’m at that level most of the time, but I need to improve my consistency. A couple of other players who wanted to stay weren’t allowed into the mix because their level of play wasn’t proficient enough to be competitive.

The round robin had 16 players. Everyone is assigned a number, then the numbers are assigned to a court. With 16 players, we used all four courts. We would play six games and each game is played with a different partner. It was fun but by the end I was exhausted.

I came home just before noon and had a quick lunch and shower. I wanted to put the new front tires on the Spyder. When I bought the Spyder, I could see the tread on the front tires looked good but I also saw they were the original tires. They had Department of Transportation (DOT) date codes showing 0309 – this means they were manufactured calendar week three of 2009.

DOT code 0309

DOT codes are a federal requirement. The first two digits are the calendar week and the second two digits are the year. If you have tires with a three-digit date code, they were manufactured before 2000 and need immediate replacement! Most experts agree that tire failure rate rises exponentially when the tires reach seven years after the date of manufacture. They don’t need to be used for seven years – they age in storage as well as in use. This link contains a presentation on tire age at a National Transportation Safety Board symposium.

I rode the Spyder over to Mike Hall’s shop. Mike and Jodi are away for a long weekend in California. Mike left me the keys to his shop and also keys to his Jeep. I used a floor jack to raise the front of the Spyder and removed the wheels. With the wheels in the back of the Jeep, I locked everything up and drove away. I stopped at our site and loaded up the new tires I had delivered, then continued on down Main Street to Steve’s Cycle shop. They were busy so I had to wait for nearly an hour to get the tires mounted and balanced.

The Spyder original equipment tires are Chinese made Kenda 165/65R14 tires. Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), the parent company of Can Am who makes the Spyder, markets these tires and tries to scare us into believing they are the only tire that should be used on these three-wheeled vehicles. They charge high prices for tires that perform below average.

The vehicle dynamics of the Can Am Spyder aren’t any different than that of an automobile. It certainly doesn’t require a motorcycle tire as the vehicle isn’t steered by leaning into a turn. The front wheels steer exactly as a car would and the double wishbone suspension is similar to many cars.

The tire size 165/65R14 is an odd size. Bridgestone makes a tire this size. So does Dunlop. The Bridgestones aren’t rated very high for traction and the Dunlop is over-priced in my opinion. The 175/65R14 size is more popular and has a number of tires to choose from. Many Can Am Spyder owners have replaced the original equipment with this size. The diameter of the tire is about half an inch larger – only about a 2% difference. It doesn’t affect the ABS or electronic vehicle stability program at all. I went with Kumho Solus TA11 tires.

The Spyder front fenders are fitted very close to the tire. I had to remove the mudguards and carefully get the new tires in place. It wasn’t easy.

Tight fitting front fenders

The new tires have very positive reviews and seem to grip really well. Looking at the deep grooves in the tread, I think they’ll perform very well on wet roads.

Deep grooves to channel water and prevent aqua-planing

By the time I finished mounting the tires and locking up the shop, it was past 3:30pm. I rode over to Red, White and Brew for a cold one. It was about 90 degrees out and a cold beer sounded really fine.

I came home just in time for Donna to remind me we were going to a pizza dinner at the tennis center. A member of the Alpine Coach Association organized the dinner for Alpine Coach owners at Towerpoint and in parks throughout the area. She had pizza delivered from Papa John’s and provided salad, paper plates and plastic utensils. You meet the nicest people with Alpine Coaches.

Alpine Coach pizza dinner

We sat and told each other stories of our travels and experiences with our Alpine Coaches. It was fun, but after about an hour and half, I needed to put my feet up. All the pickleball action in the morning and running around in the afternoon had me foot sore. My S Health app on my Samsung Galaxy recorded over 20,500 steps!

That’s a lot of steps

The hot weather will continue – it’ll be another 90-degree day. That’s about 15 degrees above average for this time of year. We have a minimalist group meet-up that Donna organized later this morning. Other than that, today will be a rest and recuperation day.

Surprise Party

I’m a little behind so I better post a weekend update. Saturday we headed out on the Spyder to a house on McDowell east of Power Road. Our destination was the location for a surprise 50th birthday party for our friend Mike. Donna and I met Mike and his wife Kim a couple of years ago here in Mesa. They’re originally from Idaho but were living here at the time and were contemplating life on the road. We talked several times at Lucky Lou’s about our experience and the preparations they should make.

They’re full-timers now in their fifth wheel RV. Mike Hall sent me the address for their party at a house owned by Wayne and Carolyn – I can’t remember their last name. We showed up at 4pm and were directed to park out back. Wayne’s house is in an unincorporated area in the desert of northeast Mesa where most of the homes are upscale with large lots. There were several cars already parked behind his place. We met our hosts and found our friends and were introduced to several others before Mike Hall arrived with the man of the hour – the other Mike.

Once the party got started, I saw a few of the guys going with Wayne to his garage. I thought this might be interesting and I followed. His garage is more like a shop with a milling machine, tools neatly arranged on the walls and in tool cabinets and some nice machinery. I wish I had taken more pictures. First up we checked out his ’63 Chevy Nova. This is a serious drag racing car. It’ll turn times under 8.90 and is street legal! He drives it on the street regularly.

’63 Nova in Wayne’s garage

540 cubic inches making 850 HP on gasoline

This bottle will add another 300 HP

Nitrous Oxide bottle, fuel cell and battery in the trunk

The workmanship on this car is absolutely impeccable. I spent about an hour getting to know Wayne and discovering this man’s mechanical genius and fabricating ability. He was considered one of the top 50 custom motorcycle builders in the country a couple of decades ago. In 2001, he traded a custom Harley he built for Kenny Bernstein’s original Budweiser King NHRA funny car from the ’70s. He completely restored the car. He had photos of he and his wife with Kenny Bernstein at a vintage drag meet. He put the car up for sale at the Barrett-Jackson auction with a reserve of $700,000. He showed me a photo of him onstage with the car with the bid screen in the background. The top bid was $675,000 and he turned it down! He said it was a mistake. He sold the car eventually to a collector who remained anonymous – everything was done through lawyers and he was told it would go into a private collection and he wasn’t likely to ever see the car again.

He owned a few shops over the years and was active in racing and also sponsored many racers. He built a bike for Bonneville and recorded a top speed of 196 mph on the Salt Flats – not in a streamliner but on an open bike! He also modified the pump on a jet dragster and increased its performance by more than a 10th of a second. He’s a Barney Navarro/Art Arfons renaissance man! I could talk with this guy for days and not be bored.

We left the party fairly early. I had a few beers over a couple of hours but didn’t want to push my luck on the Spyder. Donna brought fresh squeezed grapefruit juice that she spiked with Deep Eddy vodka. We each had a plate of sloppy Joes and fixings before we headed home.

Sunday and Monday were mostly consumed by pickleball. I’m so hooked on this game. I play for hours, then I need a few hours of rest and relaxation to recover. While I played pickleball Sunday, Donna went for a bike ride. I spent the rest of the day reading a book, then we went to Sprouts for groceries.

Monday morning we both played pickleball in the drop-in session from 8 to 10am, then I played in the round robin until 11:30am. Donna had a dental appointment in the afternoon so I drove her there on the Spyder. While she was at the dentist I made a quick run to Costco for bottled water, then I stopped at the Mesa Buckhorn Elks lodge. I applied for membership there over two weeks ago. My check for the $50 application fee had cleared, but I hadn’t heard from them. It was good thing I checked in because it seems something is awry. I should hear from them in the next day or two and we may have to extend our stay to complete our membership. We want to become members because many Elks Lodges across the country accommodate RVs at very low rates.

After picking Donna up at the dental office and learning she didn’t need a root canal after all, I stopped at my favorite watering hole – Red, White and Brew. I saw a familiar face I hadn’t seen for a while. Tom showed up – I wrote about him and his silver bullets in this post. It turned out he was having a cheater day. He set an intention to lose weight and eat healthier back in December, so he wasn’t a Red, White and Brew regular anymore. We enjoyed conversation for 45 minutes or so – it was great to catch up with him again.

Me, I’m still enjoying my brews. I’m telling myself that all of the pickleball activity offsets it. I get well over 10,000 steps in most days. I picked up an assortment of craft brewed IPA the other day. Four different IPAs from four states – all have a different approach and all are very good ales.

Hop Knot - Arozna., Stone - California, O'dells - Colorado, Fresh Hop - Oregon

Hop Knot – Arizona, Stone – California, O’dells – Colorado, Fresh Squeezed – Oregon

My days of pickleball mornings and relaxing afternoons will come to an end. I’ll still hit the courts in the morning but I have a growing things-to-do list. Parcels should start arriving this afternoon and I’ll need to get to work on the trailer and Spyder so we’re in shape to continue our nomadic travels.

Michigander in Mesa

With the orange blossoms and everything else blooming around here, my pollen allergies are in high gear. I bought Zyrtec last week, but it doesn’t work for me. All it did was make my already dry mouth drier. My eyes were still itchy and burning, I was sneezing and constantly blowing my nose. I went back to my old standby – Opcon A eyedrops, Flonase and neti pot rinses. It’s not perfect, but it’s an improvement.

On Sunday, Donna and I rode the Spyder over to our old neighborhood and visited with our friends Lana and Joel. We sat out back on the patio and had a couple of cold ones while we talked. It was an enjoyable afternoon – until my allergies started getting the better of me. Joel and I discussed updating my operating system to Windows 10. Joel was a beta tester and he’s a computer expert – so we planned for me to bring my laptop over sometime to run the update on their wifi.

On Monday morning, Donna and I played pickleball during the open play from 8am to 10am. Donna went home at 10am but I stayed for the 3.0 round robin session. We had 16 players that presumably were level 3.0 or higher. The round robin format sets up teams to play on all four courts. The games are played until one team scores 9 – no need to win by two points. In normal play, you need to score 11 to win and must win by at least two points. With all four games playing to 9, the games went quick and finished at nearly the same time. Then everyone was assigned to a new team and court with new opponents for another game. We played a total of six games in the session. I already played six or seven games, so it was a long morning of pickleball.

End of day step count

I got a lot of steps in on the court and finished the day with more than 16,500 total steps!

An old friend from Michigan, Bill Frahm, flew into Phoenix in the afternoon. He came by a little after 3pm for a visit. We sat out by the pool and had a cold Four Peaks Kiltlifter Scottish ale and talked. Then we drove in his rental car to Barrio Queen restaurant in Gilbert. This is the restaurant that our friends Howard and Sara Graff took us to a couple of weeks ago. We had the guacamole made at our table again. Donna ordered the California enchiladas and I had chile verde. Bill ordered enchiladas mole. Donna and I had the skinny chola margarita again but Bill was more adventuresome and had a margarita made with jalapeno infused tequila. While we were enjoying the cocktails my friend Pat, who also hails from Michigan stopped by our table.

Donna’s California enchilada pate with black beans and calabacitas

My chile verde skillet

On Tuesday morning, Bill picked up Donna at 8am while I went to play pickleball. They were going to meet up with our friend Deb Spencer (Rolling Recess) and hike the Pass Mountain trail at Usery Regional Park. I didn’t want to hike among all of the wildflowers – my allergies are tough enough without that. They picked a good day for hiking – it was cool in the morning and the temperature stayed in the low 70s all day.

Stones with inspirational words and phrases on a tree burl

Fruits of the Spirit on a tree burl

Along the trail, they passed a tree burl on which had someone placed stones with a set of words that Deb identified as the nine fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

Giant saguaro and Bill on the hike

When they finished their hike, Deb headed home and Bill and Donna headed up to Tortilla Flat for lunch. I rode the Spyder up there to meet them. I wrote about Tortilla Flat in this post. I thought it would be a fun ride on the Spyder. The road has deteriorated so badly that it wasn’t nearly as fun as I’d hoped. Between all the bumps and heaves in the road and the traffic, it was more of a chore than a joy.

When I pulled up at the restaurant I couldn’t believe the crowd. Parking areas were full and people were milling about on the boardwalk in front of the restaurant. I found Donna and Bill and they told me it would be a 35-40 minute wait for a table. What?! At 1pm on a Tuesday? I’ve never seen that many people there before.

A small portion of the people waiting for a table at Tortilla Flat

I decided against waiting that long for a seat in the crowded restaurant. I was sure the service would be hampered by the hordes of people. Bill and Donna could get a table for two quicker than the wait for a table for three, so I rode back down past Canyon Lake and home.

*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!

Not a Lonely Road

When we first told people we planned to hit the road as full-time RVers, we were often asked if we would miss our friends and become lonely. We figured full-timing would give us more opportunities to reconnect with friends as we traveled and also allow us to visit family around the country. This has turned out to be true as we’ve hooked up with friends and family from coast to coast. What we didn’t realize was how we would find a whole new community and establish friendships with fellow nomadic travelers.

I’ll give a couple of examples. I’ve already mentioned that our friends Tom and Kris Downey (Open Road 365) are here at Mission Bay RV Resort. Donna and Kris met as fellow SendOutCards distributors. I first met Kris and Tom in Michigan when we were selling our stuff and planning to hit the road. About a year later, they decided to do the same – and here we are meeting up 3,000 miles from where we first met. We also got together with them last winter when we were both in Mesa, Arizona.

A few days ago, I was standing at the security shack at the park entrance shooting the breeze with the guys when I saw a Honda CRV followed by a Holiday Rambler motorhome approach. When the Honda stopped at the entrance, I recognized the driver. I said, “Hi, Nina.” She recognized me and we exchanged pleasantries. I’ve been following her blog for about three years (Wheeling It). We first met Nina and her husband Paul a couple of years ago in Cape Blanco, Oregon. We ran into them again in Albuquerque a couple of months ago and now we’re in the same park again.

There’s a social media site created expressly for RVers called RVillage. We enter our location on the site as we move around. A few days ago, I received a private message on RVillage. It was from Iain and Kate. They said they met up with Hans and Lisa (Metamorphosis Road) and Hans told them they should look us up since they are also staying here at Mission Bay RV Resort. I responded to the message and we’ve planned a happy hour get-together this afternoon.

A couple of days ago, I saw an Alpine Coach enter the RV park. Shortly after that, I received another private message on RVillage from Don and Cheryl – it was their Alpine Coach I saw. We met them here last spring when they were preparing to go full-time. We plan to get together again.

Yesterday I went to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center (PBRC) to pay pickleball. Donna hurt her knee last Thursday when we played and decided to stay off the court. While I was at PBRC, she walked to Staples and Vons in Pacific Beach. Walking didn’t hurt her knee, but she was still cautious about making quick movements that might put a strain on it. While she was at Vons, she recognized a woman who also plays pickleball at PBRC (her name escapes me at the moment) and they had a brief chat. Donna said it made her feel like a local to run into someone she knew at the grocery store.

Anyway, my point is that we aren’t lonely on the road. We’ve managed to visit old friends and family and we’ve made new friends in the RV community and in the communities where we stay. It’s amazing how we often find ourselves in the same place at the same time as other RVers who have become our friends.

I was out and about running a few errands on the scooter Monday. I made a detour to take a look at the beach. There were high surf warnings all weekend and high tides again. It was a cool and windy day so there weren’t many people at the beach. The high tides and surf left a lot of kelp up on the beach.

Crystal Pier at Pacific Beach – kelp on the sand

This morning I heard that the high (King) tides have caused a lot of erosion of the beaches in North County. Carlsbad lost a lot of sand and they’re shoring up an area where Highway 101 is threatened by the erosion. The highest King tide of the season will occur on Thursday, December 24th.

I went in for my annual physical at Dr. Ryan’s office in Point Loma this morning – thus I’m posting late. While I was out, I stopped at BevMo and bought a few interesting beers. I’ll bring a couple along when we meet up with Iain and Kate this afternoon.

Stone smoked porter I opened for Donna Monday night

We’ve had clear skies with cool, breezy weather. It’s been in the low 60s during the day dropping into the high 30s and low 40s at night. The inland valleys have had frost. The receptionist at Dr. Ryan’s office told me she had ice on her car this morning in east Mission Valley. Brrr…it’s not supposed to be this cold here. Today we’ll see more of the same, then it’ll warm up to about 70 by Friday. I shouldn’t complain after seeing the amount of snow falling in several parts of the country – the airport in Denver shut down as 24 inches of snow came down. The winter storm left deep snow from northern Arizona to Montana, Oregon to Minnesota and everywhere in between. We prefer to scrape sunshine off the windshield.

Too Much, Too Soon

Donna rode her bicycle to her sister’s house on Saturday. Sheila was out of town skiing in Park City, Utah and left her car keys for us. Donna and I mapped out a route for her to ride that would keep her mostly on bike paths or roads with bike lanes. She planned to ride the old Sea World Drive path to the Sunset Cliffs Boulevard bridge, then follow Nimitz to Chatsworth (map).

She ended up crossing on the wrong bridge – she took the West Mission Bay bridge to the intersection of Midway and Sports Arena Boulevard. It was a good thing we looked at the map together before she went. Once she realized her mistake, she knew what to do to get to Sheila’s house. We had already discussed a few alternatives before deciding on what we thought would be the safest route. She rode to Rosecrans Street and then cut through a neighborhood on Evergreen. This worked out fine and she made it to Sheila’s house in about 45 minutes.

When she came back to Mission Bay RV Resort with the car – she left her bike in Sheila’s garage – we went shopping. We drove over to CVS in Pacific Beach to pick up a few things. While I was there, Donna walked one block west to Trader Joe’s. When I was done at CVS, I drove over and parked in front of Trader Joe’s and walked to Petsmart to pick up cat food for Ozark. After I dropped it off in the car, I went into Trader Joe’s and found Donna at the checkout counter. Very efficient.

We were considering going over to Sardina’s for happy hour – also my last chance to hand in my football picks for the week – but when we got into the car and I began driving home, I realized that I had overworked my hand. It was sore and I wasn’t feeling too good. After unloading our groceries, I hung out at the coach while Donna went up to the La Jolla Village Square to shop for shoes. She also went to Cost Plus World Market and bought tomolives and blue cheese stuffed olives for me – my favorite martini garnishes. Then she picked up some sushi to go.

On Sunday morning my hand was stiff and sore. I think I was trying to do too much with it. After I removed the bandages on Friday, I did passive range-of-motion stretches. I did more on Saturday plus carried bags of groceries. I decided to rest it as much as possible on Sunday. It was a good excuse for me to hang out and watch football.

The RV park was full of motion Sunday morning as all of the holiday weekend crowd packed up. There was a steady stream of RVs exiting the park. By noon, the park went from nearly full occupancy to maybe 30% occupied. It was a beautiful day out with the temperature in the upper 60s and clear blue skies. I managed to get out and walk a few laps of the park to take in some fresh air and get a little exercise. Donna went for long walk-run in the direction of Mission Beach.

Beautiful afternoon at Mission Bay looking west from the RV park

There were good football games on TV all day. The Chargers ended their losing streak by knocking off Jacksonville in the morning. Then I watched a thrilling game in Seattle where they prevailed against Pittsburgh. I also toggled back and forth to the game in San Francisco where the Arizona Cardinals won. There were so many controversial calls in all of the games – I think the NFL needs to take a look at simplifying their rule book. Before the final game of the day in Denver where the New England Patriots lost their undefeated status, I opened a special brew to celebrate the Chargers win.

While we were in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Donna and I visited the Duel Belgian Style Brewery and Taproom. They had outstanding Belgian inspired beers there. I bought a bottle of their Cezanne Magnifique which they describe as a barrel-aged imperial saison. Barrel-aged implies hints of whiskey while imperial always means high gravity – high alcohol content. Saison is a style of ale that is sometimes called farmhouse ale and is usually pale in color and spiced with coriander or zest.

Duel Cezanne Magnifique

The forward whiskey flavor of this ale dominated the palate. I wondered why they called it a saison, other than the color. At 10.5% ABV, it was certainly “imperial.” As it warmed slightly, I began to taste more of the spice flavors that lingered. This is a complex and tasty brew with low carbonation. I think it may be the most expensive ale I’ve ever bought at nine dollars for a 12-ounce bottle.

Today Donna plans to go to Ocean Beach for pickleball at the recreation center. I’ll pass and rest my hand. I have a follow-up with Dr. Leek a week from Wednesday. Once he removes the stitches, I’m hoping to get back to pickleball. Meanwhile we’re making plans to have guests next Saturday for a barbeque. Hans and Lisa (Metamorphosis Road) will visit us here at Mission Bay RV Resort Saturday afternoon. They are currently at the Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve and will be there for a few more weeks.

A Windshield Story

I spent most of Thursday watching NFL football. Mission Bay RV Resort had a steady influx of RVers Wednesday afternoon and more came in for the long holiday weekend on Thursday. There was a large group of people from four or more sites having their Thanksgiving feast at tables set up in the site across from us. They must have been locals as several carloads of people joined them.

Weather-wise, it was an iffy day to dine in the open air. They had their meal early and by the time it started raining around 3:30pm, they had most of their stuff put away. We planned to have Thanksgiving dinner at Donna’s sister Sheila’s house. Her friend, Dr. Jeff Sandler, picked us up on his way from La Jolla at 4pm. We had an enjoyable evening with much conversation and good food. Jeff dropped us off at home around 9pm. I didn’t take any photos – I don’t know why – maybe because I saw so many of the same looking shots on Facebook all day.

Donna bought a bottle of Hangar 24 IPA called Betty for me. Hangar 24 is a brewery located in Redlands, California up in Riverside County. Their Betty IPA is 6.8% ABV with 68 International Bittering Units (IBUs).

Hangar 24 Betty IPA

I enjoyed the bottle of Betty before going to bed. It’s a well-balanced west coast style IPA.

On Friday morning, I got the ladder out from under the coach first thing and removed the front windshield cover. I had an appointment with Pro+Tech to have new windshield glass installed.

Windshield cover off – the crack doesn’t show in this photo

The driver’s side windshield was cracked all the way from the bottom up to the top. Our insurance company, Allied, set us up for glass replacement through a company called Duncan Systems. Duncan Systems arranged to have both sides of our two-piece windshield replaced and sent the glass to Pro+Tech. The guys from Pro+Tech, Dan Oglesby and his son Gabriel (it’s a family run operation), arrived around 9am. They had the new glass in a rack in the back of their truck.

Our new glass has arrived

We had a few rain showers earlier and I was a little concerned about rain coming down while they were working. Dan said he would do one side at a time to minimize the amount of open area while the glass was out. He said he expected the job to take about three and half hours. We put Ozark the cat into her crate while they were working.

They didn’t waste any time and set to work. Our windshield glass is bonded to the window frame with a urethane adhesive. Some windshields are set in rubber moldings. Bonded windshields took over the auto industry in the 1990s. They started by cutting the urethane with special knives – one with a blade folded at a 90-degree angle to reach behind the glass to cut through the adhesive.

Once they had the old glass out, they spent a lot of time cleaning the frame and prepping it for the new adhesive and glass. Dan told me the windshield bonding had failed on three of the four sides of the old passenger-side glass. The windshield was only held in by the adhesive on the right pillar. He showed me where the adhesive had separated from the glass – you could see the dust intrusion. He said the glass probably wasn’t properly prepped. Some urethane adhesives require a primer to adhere to glass. He figured insufficient primer or dirty glass caused the separation. I’m glad I opted to have both sides replaced. I’ve read stories of people having the windshield glass pop out while leveling the coach. We were probably heading for a windshield story.

Once they had the frame cleaned and primed, he was ready to put the new glass in.

Windshield frame cleaned, primed and bead of urethane applied

Old windshield out, frame ready for prep work

Lifting the new glass into the frame

Once he lifted the new glass in place, he used rubber shims on the bottom edge of the glass to center it in the opening. He slapped the glass with an open palm to settle it in the adhesive and work any air bubbles out. Then he carefully masked the body around the glass with painter’s tape. The next step was filling in the void between the glass and body with more urethane. The urethane adhesive he used is a primerless product from Dow Chemical.

Final steps on the driver’s side – urethane filler about to be put in

Ten tubes of urethane were needed for the job

I watched most of the work performed and I’m satisfied that a good job was done. Dan was meticulous throughout each step of the process. If you need mobile auto or RV glass in San Diego, I highly recommend Pro+Tech.

I waited two hours before I reinstalled the windshield cover. Dan said the windshield would set well enough to drive after two hours, but 24 hours is better and the urethane really takes about a week to fully cure. We won’t be moving for another 10 days, so it should be fully hardened by then.

Around 4pm, I removed the dressing from my hand. The nurse at the surgery center told me to keep the original dressing on until Friday afternoon, then I could remove it – just keep it dry and cover with a band aid. The incision hadn’t closed up as much as I thought it would. I haven’t had to take any pain meds since noon on Thursday, but my hand is still swollen.

Incision site on my right hand

Friday evening I grilled chicken thighs on the Traeger. I know it seems strange to have grilled chicken the day after Thanksgiving. Sheila sent us home with turkey and assorted leftovers, but we didn’t have any bread and decided to save the turkey for sandwiches that we can make today.

We had a couple of passing showers in the afternoon before things dried out. It was a cool 60 degrees here yesterday. Today should be dry and a little warmer. Temperatures will continue to warm throughout the coming week and we should be having highs around 70.

Today’s forecast – we’re under the sun where it shows 65

Donna plans to ride her bike to Sheila’s house to check on her cat and pick up her car. Sheila is off skiing in Park City, Utah for the weekend. We can get some shopping done today and return the car tomorrow.

Nothing to Eat or Drink

Thank you for all the support before, during and after yesterday’s medical procedure. On Monday evening, I received a call from the Mission Valley Heights Surgical Center telling me my surgery was delayed until 4pm Tuesday. This meant I was to arrive at 2:30 to begin preparation. It also meant I couldn’t eat or drink anything after 8am.

On Tuesday morning, Donna made a breakfast burrito for me before she went out for a run to Crown Point. Before she left, I told her I saw pictures on Facebook of flooding in the area. The flooding was the result of the King tides. King tides are the highest tides and are predictable as they are the result of astronomical occurrences. Along the San Diego coastline, the high tides Tuesday through Friday this week are expected to be around +7.5′ , the highest tides of the year.

Donna’s route wasn’t flooded and she came home with dry feet. While she was out, the surgery center called me again and asked if I could come in an hour earlier. I was all for it – going all day without food or a sip of water wasn’t going to be easy. I have chronic dryness in my throat due to head and neck radiation (cancer treatment).

I rode the scooter over to Costco to pick up a couple of heavy items before my hand was out of commission. I bought a 40-pack case of bottled water and a 42-pound bag of kitty litter. Costco was a zoo – it always is around the holiday season. I also picked up a bottle of Stone Thunderstruck IPA – it’s their 2015 Anniversary Ale limited release. I had a bottle of it last week and liked it a lot. It’s made exclusively with hops from Australia – Topaz, Galaxy, Ella and Vic Secret hops. The name comes from the song “Thunderstruck” recorded by Australia’s rock band, AC/DC.

Stone Thunderstruck 19th Anniversary Ale

After I unloaded the goods, Donna and I scootered over to Hertz rent-a-car on Garnet Avenue, a couple of miles from Mission Bay RV Resort. I rented a a Kia which Donna drove to the grocery store while I returned home on the scooter. By the time Donna came home from grocery shopping, I had shaved and showered and was ready to head to the surgery center.

The check-in process at the center was efficient. A little past 2pm, I was taken to the preparation area and had an IV started. I needed the hydration – I hadn’t had anything to drink since 8am. I met the anesthesiologist, Dr. Jones – he wasn’t the same one I had here last year. He reviewed my previous surgery and said he wanted to go lighter on the sedation. He thought I would be fine and I would be able to recover and leave sooner with just propofol for sedation and a local anesthetic to block the nerves in my hand. Last time I had a propofol IV cocktail that included valium.

After a short discussion with Dr. Leek, I was taken back to the operating room. Once everything was set up, Dr. Jones turned up the propofol and I was out for a few minutes. While I was sleeping, they injected the nerve block in my hand. I didn’t feel a thing. Then he dialed the propofol back just enough for me to be conscious but still on the edge of dreamland. I was able to hear Dr. Leek and respond when he told me to bend my finger or make a fist. It was a weird sensation to be aware but not really connected while he was working on my hand. He found the flexor tendon on my middle finger was herniated and a cyst had formed. No wonder my finger would get stuck closed. This made it a little bigger deal than the usual inflammation associated with trigger finger. I definitely made the right decision to have surgery versus getting another cortisone injection.

After he closed the incision, I was wheeled into the recovery room and had my vitals monitored. I finally had a glass of water. I was ready to leave about 40 minutes later.

My hand will stay wrapped and be unusable for a few days

We drove home and were back by 4:30pm. After dinner, the numbness in my hand was wearing off. I took percocet (oxycodone) to manage the pain. I expected the percocet to help me sleep through the night. That didn’t happen. I barely slept and had a fitful night.

Rain came around midnight and it rained off and on all night. The wind picked up around 2am. The wind, rain and King tide have flooded a few areas. I wish I was up to getting out and shooting a few photos, but I think I’ll be taking it easy today.

The day before Thanksgiving, I want to say “thanks again” to all who wished me well yesterday. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving with friends, family or wherever you may be.

Seaport Village

Donna and I played pickleball at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center (PBRC) on Thursday afternoon. I won’t be able to play again for a few weeks. PBRC has pickleball on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Next Tuesday I’ll be at the Mission Valley Surgery Center to have a minor procedure on my right hand. I developed another trigger finger on the middle (long) finger of my right hand. It’s painful and my finger gets stuck when I close my fist. It flared up at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta where I did a lot of heavy lifting and pulling on ropes. This is the third finger to do this. I had surgery on my left middle finger in 2002, then I had surgery on my right ring finger last year.

On Friday morning, Donna went for a bike ride with her friend Johanna. They rode up the Rose Canyon bike path and up Gilman Drive to Torrey Pines (map). I’ve biked that route – it’s a nice ride. They stopped for breakfast at The Farmer and The Seahorse, a new restaurant with a nice outdoor patio. They were surprised to find an Airstream indoors that is kitted out as a private meeting room.

I mentioned before that our DHS Mobile Theatre amplifier blew. I did some research, but all I could find was a used replacement on eBay that was being sold “as is” with no guarantee it even worked. I called the original supplier, RiverPark, to see if they had any suggestions for replacing it. They didn’t show any availability online, but I thought they might know of a suitable alternative.

When I talked to their technical support guy, he told me they had a replacement unit in stock! I ordered the new unit and it arrived Friday night.

DHS Mobile Theatre System amp

I installed the unit Saturday morning and we have five-channel surround sound again.

The weather here has been unbeatable – clear skies with the temperature near 80 degrees in the afternoon. The nights cool quickly and the temperature drops to the upper 50s overnight.

Sunset over Mission Bay from the west end of the RV park

Saturday was the warmest day – it reached the upper 80s. Donna and I went out on the scooter in the late morning and rode to Seaport Village. Seaport Village is a touristy area on the waterfront west of downtown San Diego. It’s filled with quirky shops and restaurants. On Saturdays, they have an open air fish market at the Tuna Harbor pier. Local fisherman sell their fresh catch. We walked along the pier to see what was on offer.

Donna at Tuna Harbor

They had fresh dorado, big eye tuna, blue fin tuna, live black cod and a long nose skate. We also saw a stand with live sea urchins. They prepared the live urchins and made sushi to order.

Big eye tuna

Black cod and long nose skate

Live sea urchins

We didn’t buy any fish but we may in the future. We’ll have to see if we can come up with a method of cooking a whole fish – that’s how they sell them there.

The walk along the pier with the breeze coming off San Diego Bay was refreshing. Boats passed by and I was wishing I was out on one of them.

Boats passing by the pier

Off in the distance, we saw tents set up on the south end of Seaport Village. It was the San Diego Wine and Food Festival. We took a walk down there but decided not to buy tickets. Wine on a hot afternoon didn’t sound appealing.

Wine and Food Festival in the distance – Coronado Bridge on the right

As we walked back through Seaport Village, we looked in some of the shops. We also passed a carousel with kids riding the horses.

This kid doesn’t look as happy as his mother

We scootered over to Cedar Street for the Little Italy farmers’ market. We found a stand selling hard (dry) sausage and couldn’t resist the sopressata. They also had raw sausage that we might cook today – we bought a three-pack of smoked gouda sausage. The guy selling it recommended cooking it by placing the sausage in a pot of water – you can add beer or seasoning and bring it to a boil. Once it boils, turn the heat off and let it sit for seven or eight minutes. Then grill the sausage. I’m going to try his method.

After we left the farmers’ market, we dropped off the sausages at home and rode to the Pacific Beach boardwalk. It was like a summer day – warm and sunny and lots of people on the beach. We wanted to stop for a cold one, but all of the places along the boardwalk were crowded. We ended up stopping at Amplified Ale Works a block off the boardwalk. We took a seat at their patio, but it was too warm to sit in the direct sun, so we headed home.

Last night, I prepared chicken leg quarters – I used a rub I recently ordered from Amazon called Lambert’s Sweet Rub-O-Mine.

Dry rubbed chicken quarters on the Traeger

Our friends Bud and Mona joined us for dinner. We dined outside at the picnic table. It was dark by then, but Mona is allergic to cats, so dining inside with Ozark wasn’t an option. The Lambert’s rub is a keeper – sweet and salty with a kick of chili pepper.

Dry rubbed chicken with Morroccan quinoa and green beans

Dry rubbed chicken with Moroccan quinoa and green beans

We sat outside until about 9pm before we walked Bud and Mona out to their car. The air was still and the bay was like glass. I shot a photo of lights from houses on the mesa to the east reflected on the black, glassy water.

Today we expect another sunny day with the temperature reaching 80 degrees. The forecast calls for a cooling trend starting on Wednesday. I’ll be watching football today.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Health

Unusual Easter Dinner

Stop, Drop and Roll

Tiring Day

Surprise Party

Michigander in Mesa

Not a Lonely Road

Too Much, Too Soon

A Windshield Story

Nothing to Eat or Drink

Seaport Village

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