Category Archives: Other Coaches

Size Matters

It’s been a quiet week here at Springerville RV Park. I mentioned the lack of highway traffic in my last post, but there’s another thing here in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona – the lack of air traffic. After spending three months in San Diego, followed by four months in Mesa, Arizona, air traffic became a normal daily occurrence.

In San Diego, helicopters often flew right over Mission Bay RV Resort – we had news ‘copters, Coast Guard, law enforcement and private aircraft overhead several times a day. In Mesa, we had the familiar flight training aircraft from Falcon Field – CAE Flight School had their blue and white trainers in the air several times a day as well as other general aviation out of Falcon Field. We also had military helicopters – Apaches, Cobras and Blackhawks taking test flights in the area, and we had the usual air ambulance, news and law enforcement flights daily.

Here, In the last two weeks I’ve seen one private aircraft – a ubiquitous Cessna 172 and one unidentified helicopter. That’s it. Quiet here!

It’s a quiet gateway

After grocery shopping on Tuesday, we decided to take a drive in Midget-San. We drove in a northwesterly direction on US191 toward the town of St. Johns. We wanted to take a look at Lyman Lake State Park – it’s about a 20 mile drive from here. I should mention that on the drive there, we saw about half a dozen big horn sheep walking down a fence line on the side of the road.

Lyman Lake is another reservoir on the Little Colorado River. It’s the largest body of water in the area with a surface area of about 1,400 acres. It’s the only reservoir in the area that allows motorboats. The recreational area is administered by the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. This is a little confusing for me as Lyman Lake State Park is just that – a state park – but the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest is a federal agency.

They have a campground. We took a drive through the campground and spied several sites that would accommodate our length. There was also a general store. Fishing is popular on the lake and we thought it looked like the kayak would be doable there. It’s big water, but there are a lot of inlets and coves to get out of the wind and explore. We might head back.

Speaking of the length of our rig, for many RVers – especially full-timers – size matters. Sure, there are full-timers who are doing just fine with smaller rigs, such as Becky at Interstellar Orchard. But most of us need some space for our accessories. I use our 20’x8.5′ cargo trailer as our rolling garage. It has all of my tools, the kayak, Donna’s bicycle and storage cabinets for a number of things.

I was thinking about that the other day when I saw a couple of rigs enter the RV park. There was a couple that came into the park in a 40-foot Tiffin Phaeton motorhome. What caught my eye was the trailer he pulled behind it. It was easily 30+ feet long. Our overall length is a hair under 65 feet – I think I measured it at 64′-9″. That keeps us just under the maximum combo length in some states. This guy’s rig has to be over 75 feet long.

Tiffin Phaeton and long trailer

After they set up, they pulled his and hers Can-Am Spyders out of the trailer. The funny thing was, we saw this same couple on their Spyders checking out Lyman Lake State Park. After we came back from the lake, we saw them roll through Springerville RV Park checking out the sites. Later, he took a Polaris RZR side-by-side four-wheeler ATV out of the trailer. This morning, out came a Harley-Davidson motorcycle for her and a Kawasaki sportbike for him. Lots of toys in that long trailer. I don’t think I would enjoy driving that rig though.

The other rig I wanted mention was a fifth-wheel trailer. Here’s the thing – the guy drove into the park with the fifth-wheel behind his Chevy crew cab pickup truck and a flat-bed trailer hooked up to the fifth-wheel. He was double towing. We’ve seen this several times before with cargo trailers or boats behind a fifth-wheel trailer. It seems a little scary to me, plus you can’t back up – reversing isn’t possible.

Double tow set up

The owners of this park also own a sister park In Cortez, Colorado – about 250 miles away from here. The owners spend most of their time there. This week, one of the owners came down in a dually Dodge Ram with a large Lincoln welder in the back and a Cat front-loader on a flat bed trailer. He’s been working on the building that will eventually be the park office. Yesterday, a dump truck came in with three loads of gravel and they started working on improving two more sites.

Laying down gravel for more sites

They have enough land to double the size of the RV park and they have the infrastructure in place. The power pedestals are in as well as water and sewer for about 50 more sites. The question is, if they build it, will they come?

Room for expansion with utilities in place

This morning, Donna got out for another bicycle ride. She saw a couple of interesting sights. She saw mule deer sharing a pasture with a horse.

Horse and mule deer

She saw a tiny home on a side road just half a mile from here.

Tiny home

It was a good morning for a bike ride. The wind was relatively calm and the temperature was around 68-70 degrees. That’s what we’ve been seeing for daily high temperatures this week. We’ve also come to realize the afternoon winds with sudden gusts are a daily occurrence.

While I was writing this post, we had a visitor. Leigh Wilcox and his wife Barbara were on their way home to their summer home Iowa from their winter home in Florence, AZ. When Donna rode in the annual RAGBRAI cycling event a few years, Leigh friended her on Facebook after noticing that we have mutual friends – Andy and Donna King. He knew we were in Springerville and spotted our rig as they were driving by today.

The week ahead calls for warmer temperature with highs reaching 80 degrees and Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be windy. Since we’ve had 30+mph gusts daily, I wonder what we can expect when they say Monday and Tuesday will be windy. The overnight lows have been in the low to mid 40s.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Wet Christmas

I hope all who read this had a great Christmas and are continuing to enjoy the holiday season. I wrote in my last post about Donna’s start to the festivities with the Santa 5k Run. On Wednesday, December 18th we were invited to a Christmas party at my friend, Tye’s, house in Bay Park. He lives up the bluff on Galveston Street and has an outstanding view of Mission Bay all the way to Belmont Park.

We enjoyed good food and drink among friends there. Donna made deviled eggs with bacon bits that were outstanding. I wrote in my last post about my friend, Bob Babich, a former NFL player. He was in attendance at the party as was Ralph Perretta. Ralph was an offensive lineman – guard and center – drafted by the San Diego Chargers in 1975. He played here until 1980 then played two seasons with the New York Giants. Tye had old NFL FiIms productions playing on his DVR and it was fun to hear stories of the good old days of professional football from guys that were there on the field.

One of the things I’ve figured out recently is this. I’m getting older and don’t recover or heal like I once did. On the 11th, I cut my finger and had to have it stitched. I’ve had stitches several times in my life and it isn’t a big deal. Usually after a week or so I’d just clean the area and remove the sutures myself. The doctor told me this time to give it seven to 10 days. So I split the difference and on the 18th I removed the sutures. Well, I don’t heal so fast anymore or maybe the cut was deeper than I imagined – anyway I may have been a couple of days early.

This is what it looked like after I pulled the sutures

A couple of days later, it looked better, but it still wasn’t fully closed. The thing is, I’ve left stitches in too long before and it makes removing them difficult. I guess I should have waited the full 10 days in this case.

Two days later it looked like this

It’s in pretty good shape now and I’m able to play the guitar without any issues other than the lack of callous on my finger tip. Santa put a guitar-clarinet duet music book in my stocking, so Donna and I will see if we can play a few of the arrangements together.

Rain moved into the area on Christmas Eve. We kept it low-key and did the typical taco Tuesday night at Offshore Tavern and Grill and saw a few friends there. It rained off and on Christmas day. I had a restless night and woke up Christmas morning with a sore throat, congestion and lacked energy. I spent most of the day in bed reading and napping. Last night it stormed with heavy rain and gusty wind. Right now, the sun is shining, but I can see on the Radar Express app on my phone that another bout of rain is likely to hit us today.

I’m not complaining – things could always be worse. I was reminded of that when we came into the park the other day and saw the entrance gate and fence was damaged.

Gate and fence badly damaged

Apparently, someone hit it while entering the park. Later, I found out it was a new neighbor. He cut the corner at the entrance in his tag-axle Newmar Dutch Star. This coach is north of 40-feet long and he turned in too early. You have to really drive deep into a turn before you start to turn in or this is what happens. As you can imagine, the coach suffered damage as well.

Damaged Dutch Star

It’s hard to see in the photo, but the damage starts behind the right front wheel with dents and scrapes across the first two basement compartment doors. The third door was completely torn away. Ouch!

The forecast calls for the rain to clear up and we should have sunny days starting tomorrow and through the weekend. This is fortunate timing as we have to prepare to move. We’ll pull out Sunday and head to the desert. I need to organize and pack the trailer. I’ll check and adjust all tire pressures – coach and trailer.

We still have Ken’s car. I notified the lender in writing about his passing and told them where they could pick it up. I haven’t heard anything from them. My friend and attorney, Dan Cullen, will take care of it if they don’t pick it up by Sunday. I also ordered a new bike for Donna from Two Wheel Jones bike shop in Mesa, Arizona. They said they could have the bike in the shop and set up for her by New Year’s Eve. I was supposed to be kept in the loop on the progress via e-mail, but I haven’t heard from them. I’ll follow up today with a phone call.

So, the plan is to head out on Sunday and spend a quiet night in the desert. Then we’ll move on to Casa Grande and get the Cummins ISL diesel engine in the coach serviced and move on to Maricopa for the night. Then we’ll be back at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona on New Year’s Eve.

Vintage Trailers and Cars

We’re still here in Alana’s driveway in Arlington, Washington. There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel though – Lifestyles Recreational Products expects to have the parts to complete the repair of the Spyder this week. Then I have to sell it.

We’ve been thinking about ways to increase available space in the trailer. I’ll need room to load Midget-San in there with enough clear space to avoid any damage to the car. After bicycling on Thursday, Donna came up with an idea. We were storing four bicycles in the trailer – her road bike, her beater bike, my road bike and my mountain bike.

I haven’t ridden my Orbea road bike in over a year. Donna isn’t planning to do any more long distance events like RAGBRAI with her road bike. She thought she should get rid of her bikes and replace them with one hybrid road/trail bike. I could get rid of my Orbea since I haven’t been riding it. That would take two bicycles out of the trailer but we would still have bikes to ride.

On Friday, we rode our bikes – Donna on her Trek Madone road bike, me on my Orbea – to Arlington Velo Sport bike shop. We did a little horse trading and ended up leaving both bikes there on trade and placing an order for a Trek Dual Sport 2 hybrid bike for Donna. The bike should be here by the end of the week.

The rest of this post is picture heavy. The weather has improved since my last post. Friday we had a high of about 70 degrees and enjoyed the two-mile walk back to Alana’s place from the bike shop. Saturday was another clear, sunny day with a high in the upper 70s. Donna and I drove Midget-San to Stanwood for a vintage RV (trailer) show. They had over a dozen restored RVs from the ’50s and ’60s on display. Some of the old rigs were very small, but usable for weekend camping.

Small travel trailer from 1969
Cozy interior
Beautiful truck and trailer from the ’50s
You could find something like this in every suburban neighborhood in the ’60s
Custom Ford Victoria and pop-up trailer
1950s pop-up camp trailer
Spartan Aircraft Company Royal Spartanette

This 1951 Royal Spartanette was built by the Spartan Aircraft Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma. These were very expensive travel trailers and were considered “The Cadillac of trailers.” The floor plan on this one was laid out in such a way that it seemed roomier than our coach with the slides out! I wonder what they used to tow this rig?

We had lunch at the Chinese restaurant behind the Spartanette trailer at the Phoenix Pavilion. The food was great. After lunch, we took a drive over the bridge to Camano Island. Donna found free public access to the water on the island. We drove to English Boom Preserve and parked there.

Midget-San at English Boom Preserve

The name comes from the 1920s-1930s when the English Lumber Company logged trees in the area and floated log booms into Skagit Bay here. We were there at low tide and the bay is basically a tidal flat here. This tidal flat is an important habitat for salmon. Smolts swim out of the rivers they were spawned in – mainly the Snohomish, Stillaguamish and Skagit Rivers – and the eel grass along this flat provides cover for them as they grow and enter the sea.

Tidal flat at English Boom – snow covered Mount Baker in the center background

We made a stop at Ale Spike Brewery on the island. Donna liked her porter but I wasn’t impressed with my choice there. I should have known better when the Firechicken Ale I chose was described as red ale – amber. Okay, which is it – a red ale or an amber? It didn’t taste like either one – it was bitter with a yeasty aftertaste. Although the bar maid said it was their most popular brew, I didn’t care for it at all.

Is it a red or an amber?

After we came home, I went out to the Burger King parking lot nearby. When I lived here in the early 2000s, I had a couple of old Corvettes in the garage. On Saturday evenings, the local hot rodders would gather in the Burger King lot to swap lies and admire each other’s cars. I hadn’t been there in over 15 years, but I wanted to see if they still came out. They did.

Custom old Ford cabover truck
…with a big Ford V8 mid-ship
A guy I knew named Jan Boyd once owned this car in Darrington – big supercharger
The rear license plate folds up to show off the chrome

The guys there told me there was a big car show the following day – Sunday – up in Bellingham. They said they expected around 400 cars there.

On Sunday morning, Alana’s boyfriend, Kevin, and his sons picked up Alana, Gabi and Gabi’s friend, Kennedy around 6:30am. They were off to the airport for a flight to Hawaii. They’re spending the week on the big island and are looking forward to time on the beach and the golf course.

I made the 50-mile drive up to Bellingham in Midget-San while Donna used Alana’s car to go play pickleball in Marysville. I’m still resting the groin pull – it’s been a bother for months now.

The car show in Bellingham was a fundraiser for veterans. I used to do car shows with my Corvettes – I had a 1965 big block roadster and a 1972 LT-1 T- top. I got tired of the car show scene after a few years though.

At the show in Bellingham, I found myself drawn more to the vintage and unusual cars instead of ogling all of the muscle cars – the Camaros, Corvettes and Mustangs.

Remember the mid-engined truck at Burger King? This is what it was originally like
Fully restored 1950s MGA – it even has the original tool kit and oilers
MGB with a supercharged 215ci aluminum block Buick V8

The 215 cubic inch Buick aluminum block V8 was developed by General Motors and brought to market in 1960. This engine was way ahead of its time. It was lightweight and durable and produced great power. But it didn’t catch on with the American consumer – bigger was always thought to be better. Eventually GM sold all of the tooling and rights to Rover in England and they used versions of this engine into the 1990s.

MGA with aluminum Buick V8 and trailer

I talked to the owner of the blue MGA. He had pictures of the car as he found it sitting in a pasture – rusty, missing a rear quarter panel, no hood or grill. He and his son restored it to this condition and he bought the trailer so he and his wife could drive the car from Washington to Reno, Nevada for a week at the Hot August Nights car show.

It turned out his son was the guy with the supercharged Buick V8 MGB in the previous picture. Talented car guy – he can handle all the mechanical aspects, design and fabricate, weld and paint.

Morris Minor from the 1930s

This Morris Minor was designed for the narrow roads of England. I think this coupe is smaller than Midget-San.

English Ford

This Ford built in England is much smaller than its American counterparts. Small ruled the road in England while bigger was better here.

There was a downside to the car show. While Midget-San was parked there, someone decided they needed the MG emblem on the rear deck lid and removed it from the car. I can hardly believe someone would steal the emblem from the car, but there it is. I ordered a replacement and should have it in a few days. Sheesh!

The week ahead calls for rain Tuesday night. Otherwise, we should be in for warm, sunny days with highs around 80 degrees. Donna’s new bike should arrive on Thursday.

No Camping in the Campground

We pulled out of Rolling Hills RV Park around 10am on Wednesday and headed north on I-5 from Corning, California. We intended to go to Lake Shastina to boondock on BLM land at a free campground there. The terrain soon changed after we passed through Red Bluff as we left the Sacramento Valley and started climbing. We drove past Shasta Lake which appears to be at full capacity – no more drought conditions here!

We climbed a series of summits ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above sea level – some of them were 6% grades. Along the way, Donna researched a bit and found some depressing news. Lake Shastina campground had been closed to overnight camping in August of 2017. We only spent one night there before and were looking forward to spending several days there this time. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “The Lake Shastina campground, with no camp host or enforcement, was closed indefinitely last week after it had turned into a party pad for young locals.”

I also read that overnight restrictions were strictly enforced. This raises a question in my mind. If you can vigorously enforce a “no camping” restriction on public land, then why can’t you enforce alcohol restrictions instead of locking everyone out? Maybe it has something to do with the development of high-end housing nearby in the Lake Shastina community. Sounds like someone has the local powers-that-be in their pocket. No camping in the campground – what?

We pressed on to Yreka, California where we stayed at a Walmart several years ago – I wrote about that in this post. I wrote about how we ran into Clarke and Elaine Hockwald (Whatsnewell) at that time. We arrived at Walmart and were foiled again. Apparently, Yreka has banned overnight parking. We regrouped and went to the Rain Rock Casino which opened in the last year or so on the east side of I-5 in Yreka. There we were welcome to dry camp overnight.

After a quiet night at the casino, we were back on the road 10:30am Thursday. Our new destination was Sutherlin, Oregon. We stayed on I-5 and hit the Oregon Border just before mile marker 797. That’s right – I-5 traverses the length of California from the Mexico border to Oregon – nearly 800 miles! About four miles into Oregon, we crossed Siskiyou Pass at 4,315 feet above sea level – the highest point on I-5.

After climbing the steep grade up Siskiyou Pass, we had a six-mile steep downgrade, descending 2,300 feet in that distance. The Interstate through southern Oregon is in the Siskiyou mountain range and has several steep climbs and descents. It’s only two lanes for the most part and I had to stay aware of slow trucks climbing ahead of us and fast moving cars coming from behind. I tried to judge the closing speeds so I could maintain momentum and pass the trucks which were only going about 30-35 mph while we maintained 50mph. I was able to shoot gaps in the car traffic which was moving at closer to 70mph.

We found the Timber Valley SKP Park in Sutherlin. This park is only open to members of the Escapees club – we’re members. We booked a week on full hook-ups for a bargain rate of $132. At check-in, the clerk suggested site 10 – she said it was large and had good satellite reception. We walked over to look at the site.

Site 10 is about 50 feet wide with a concrete pad in the center and a garden shed in the back. The rear of the site is bordered by Cooper Creek, making the rear boundary irregular. The depth of the site varies from about 50 feet to 75 feet. We agreed it was a great site for us. Walking back to the office, I noticed a Nexus class A diesel coach that checked in just ahead of us. They had disconnected the car they towed behind it. As we approached, the guy put the coach in gear and reversed with a bang into the car! I don’t know what he was thinking – maybe he thought he was in drive, not reverse. I guess he’ll have two insurance claims!

We dropped the trailer on one side of the concrete pad and set up the coach on the other side. It’s a nice site with lots of room.

Timber Valley SKP park site 10

In the evening, our neighbor in site 9 came over and introduced himself. His name is Mickey Thompson – I said, “That’s a famous name.” He said, “Yeah, he has all the fame and money, I have the good looks.”

We also had a visit from the Welcome Wagon here at the SKP park. Sandy gave us a few local brochures and a couple of gifts – two fabric coasters hand made by park members.

Donna grilled shrimp, bok choy and a medley of asparagus, baby bella mushrooms and peppers for dinner.

Shrimp and veggie plate

When we stayed here a couple of years ago, we dry-camped for one night only. At that time, we found wildlife in the park – wild turkeys and jack rabbits. They’re still in the area and I was told that bobcats and bears have been seen in the park at night. Donna was surprised to see a deer lying out in front of the clubhouse in the late afternoon.

This morning, Donna and I took the Spyder out and explored. We found a Visitor Center that was loaded with information and free maps of the western states. I like paper maps – most of ours were several years old though. I gathered a handful of new maps to replace them. We also found a small farmers’ market. However, fresh produce won’t be available here for another month or so, unlike northern California where the farmers’ market had plenty of local produce. We did pick up a jar of homemade apple cider vinaigrette after tasting a bit at the market.

We also took a ride out to Cooper Reservoir to check out fishing spots. This coming weekend is free fishing weekend in Oregon – no license required. The reservoir was stocked with 2,000 legal size trout last week. I think we’ll give it a try if I can figure out how to haul our fishing poles on the Spyder.

The weather is beautiful – afternoon highs near 80 degrees, clear skies and overnight lows in the 50s. The forecast calls for more of the same in the coming week. I’m thinking we might want to extend our stay beyond a week. I have an appointment to get some work done on the coach near Eugene on the 11th. So, we need to stay in this area until then.

I have a rack of babyback ribs on the Traeger wood pellet-fired smoker grill as I type this. We bought the ribs at the store in town and they weren’t trimmed very well. After removing the membrane from the underside of the ribs, I had to trim a fat cap from the meaty side – about a quarter-pound of fat. It’s all good now though and I’m looking forward to tonight’s dinner.

*Just so you know, if you use this  link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Minimalist RV

There’s no right way or wrong way to go about the RV lifestyle. Decisions on how to do it are based on lifestyle, preference and budget mainly. I’ve photographed and written about coaches costing upwards of two million dollars and also small teardrop trailers and even homemade tiny houses built on a trailer.

Most full-timers are either in a motorhome or a fifth-wheel trailer. These offer the most room and storage capability and each has its advantages and disadvantages. Motorhomes generally have more storage space and can tow a vehicle or cargo trailer. Fifth-wheel trailers are usually roomier inside and once the trailer is set up, the tow vehicle can be used for local transportation. Of course that means driving a truck wherever you want to go. Some people have medium- or heavy-duty trucks converted to RV haulers that can also carry a small vehicle such as a Smart car. Our friends Brett Miller and Cheri Alguire started their full-time journey in a fifth-wheel trailer for a few years and recently switched to a class A motorhome.

What brought this subject to mind was a unique set-up in a site near us at Mission Bay RV Resort. It’s a small – I’m guessing 6 x12 or 6 x14 foot – cargo trailer that was converted to living space. Windows were added to each side and to the door along with a fold-out grab-handle by the door.

Cargo trailer conversion

30 amp power connected at the rear

The trailer has a 30-amp power cord so it has electricity, but I didn’t see any provision for fresh water or sewer, so presumably there’s no toilet or shower or sink. This is quite the minimalist set-up.

Tuesday was Sini Schmitt’s birthday. Bill and Sini picked us up around 5:45pm and we drove down to Seaport Village for dinner at Season’s 52 restaurant. Bill’s son Brandon joined us there. We had a great dinner and drinks with good conversation. It was a nice celebration for Sini’s birthday.

I had scallops for dinner at Season’s 52 and then Donna found scallops on sale the next day. I didn’t mind having scallops twice though. She made seared scallops with jalapeno vinaigrette and served them with a butternut squash risotto and cumin-roasted Brussel sprouts.

Scallops with roasted Brussel sprouts

A storm brought rain Wednesday night and it rained all day on Thursday. The temperature stayed in the low 60s and we had the heat pumps running in the morning. Today is sunny and we should see warmer temperatures in the upper 60s. There’s no rain in the forecast for the week ahead.

Labor Day at the Lodge

It’s hard to believe it’s Labor Day 2018. The year has flown by – paradoxically, when I think back to when we left Arizona in the spring and all we’ve seen and done since then, it seems like a long time has passed. I’ve mentioned this warped sense of time on the road before.

On Friday morning, Zee the camp host stopped by to talk to a few of us. She was anticipating a lot of visitors and traffic at the lodge over the weekend – there were a couple of events planned. She wanted to shuffle all of the big rigs to the south end of the lot. A Monaco Windsor belonging to Ken was behind us. He was waiting for a rig to pull out of one of the hook-up sites so he could move there. Once he did that, I would back our rig into the space he previously occupied. Our neighbor Marvin would move his Country Coach and trailer bedside us. We had a plan, we just needed to wait for the site to open up so all of the dominoes could fall in place.

Donna went for a walk and when she returned she told me there was a fly in the ointment. Someone had dropped their trailer right behind us. I saw them pull in, but didn’t pay much attention. I knew they left only a few minutes before Donna returned. I went outside to look and saw they parked so close I couldn’t even load the Spyder if I needed to.

Blocked in

They had dropped their travel trailer, locked it up, then put cones in the parking spots around it so no one would block them in and left. One of the cones had a phone number on it. I phoned and a woman answered. I told her what the problem was and we needed them to move their trailer. She was short  in her answer – it was around 1pm and she said they would be back at 5pm.

Later I saw Zee and told her why I wasn’t moving yet. She said she had told the woman to park alongside the Windsor, not between us.  When the trailer owner returned at 5:30pm, she was nasty and yelled at Donna telling her I was the “biggest a$$hole around.” Donna calmly asked her if she was trying for second place. Anyway, they moved and we all got situated.

Earlier, my friend Dave Hobden offered his Indian Chieftain for a test ride. I took him up on it. I took a short ride up to Palmer Park and back. What a nice motorcycle. I’ve only had one cruiser style bike – a Victory Vegas – but I’ve ridden several. This Indian is by far the best of the bunch I’ve ridden.

I put on a helmet before I hit the road (Dave Hobden photo)

On Friday night, our neighbors Corliss and Marvin Delameter told me they had a problem. They planned to leave Saturday but an intermittent electrical problem wouldn’t allow them to start the engine. It started once, but when Marvin turned on the dash ventilation, it killed the motor and then he had no electrical power. He cleaned his battery posts and connectors, but it was dark by the time I talked to him. The camp host told him that mobile RV technicians were in short supply and he would probably have to wait a couple of weeks for service. I told him I would stop by and have a look in the morning.

It turned to be a real head scratcher.  Dave Hobden came over and offered his assistance as well. It’s always good to have another set of eyes and a different perspective on a tough problem. A couple of factors complicated the troubleshooting. First, it turned out to be more than one problem. Secondly, the schematic in the Country Coach manual was misleading. The wiring harness color codes on the schematic didn’t match the actual wiring, making it difficult to sort out. After chasing our tails for a while, we found the ignition switch was faulty. Testing it showed inconsistent resistance. It would vary from 0.5 ohms to 12 ohms. So we replaced the switch – it’s a standard GM style switch. The engine fired right up. Then we turned on the dash vent. It died and we were back at square one.

Assume the position (Dave Hobden photo)

Eventually I found a faulty solenoid that supplies power to the ignition fuse panel. The strange thing was, the solenoid would click every time the key was turned to the run position which seemed to indicate it was working. But, internally the contacts were compromised and would only pass current intermittently and once it was working, any additional electrical load would make it break contact. I replaced the solenoid and all was good. All together we spent about six hours troubleshooting and repairing. Marvin and Corliss invited Dave, Stilla, Donna and me to join them for beer and pizza in the lodge – their treat. They stayed an extra night and pulled out on Sunday.

I settled in front of the TV on Sunday. First up was the Formula One from Monza, Italy. Then it was the US Open tennis. Donna’s friend Ann Koerner came by and picked her up. They went hiking at the Garden of the Gods. They hiked about five miles and had spectacular views. Here are some of Donna’s photos.

Snow on Pikes Peak in the background

It’s steeper than it looks

We planned to visit our friends Brad and Jessica Rice at the Labor Day Lift Off balloon glow where they were displaying their balloon, Hearts A’Fire. We crewed for them here the last two years and three years at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. We didn’t know we would be here on Labor Day again, it just worked out that way. I hadn’t made any plans to crew this year. By the time Donna showered and we had dinner, it was getting late and we weren’t up for the event.

We’ve had scattered thundershowers daily – sometimes the showers were heavy for brief periods. There’s a 30% chance of a shower today and tomorrow with cooler highs of about 70 degrees. We plan to head out tomorrow – maybe we’ll stop in Cañon City. We have about 22 days to get to San Diego and we’re keeping things flexible until we get there.

 

Happenings in Lincoln Land

After three straight travel days, it felt good to get up on Sunday with no real plans. I watched the German Formula One Grand Prix and relaxed with a book most of the day. Donna went for a walk and explored Lincoln Park. Springfield, Illinois was the home of Abraham Lincoln for 24 years – the only house he ever owned was here.

Several rigs pulled into the fairgrounds on Sunday – most of the were specialized trailers that held horses in the rear compartment and had living quarters in the front half – kind of like a toy hauler for horses instead of motorcycles or ATVs. We wondered why so many of these units showed up. We thought maybe they were early arrivals for the Illinois State Fair which opens on August 10st.

Horse trailers with living quarters

I set up the Weber Q and grilled herbed chicken thighs Sunday evening. Again, it felt good to be back on what is a more normal routine for us. Donna baked a sweet potato and served seasoned chili beans plus sauteed baby kale and spinach for the side dishes.

Grilled chicken, baked beans, sweet potato and spinach

Monday morning we headed downtown to Iles Park where they have pickleball courts. We found eight courts and a number of people playing. As with most of our pickleball experiences, the people were friendly and welcomed us to join them. The outdoor courts had great playing surfaces and most of the players were experienced. We played for two hours and really enjoyed it.

Pickleball courts at Iles Park

We spent the afternoon recovering and watched more rigs pull into the fairgrounds. A travel trailer set up in the site next to us. They guy told us he was setting it up for his daughter – she was here to compete in the horse show. This was news to us -, we didn’t know there was a horse show scheduled at the fairgrounds this week. But that explained all the horse trailer/campers!

Monday night Donna manned the grill and grilled skewered shrimp which she served over pasta alfredo with green peas.

Grilled shrimp over pasta with green peas

Tuesday morning we were back at the pickleball courts.  The temperature hit 80 degrees on Sunday and each day after that was hotter than the last. Tuesday the high was 86 degrees and it was already warm and humid when we played in the morning. I quit after six games – I was feeling the heat and ran out of energy.

After relaxing and recovering, we rode the Spyder down by the Old Capitol District to Obed and Isaac’s Microbrewery. We had a couple of beers brewed onsite and dinner. I had a local favorite called The Horseshoe – it’s an open-face sandwich made with thick toast, choice of meat, a cheese sauce and fries. I had the house made corned beef. Donna ordered the Kitchen Sink Pie – basically a shepherd’s pie.

The Horseshoe

I brought about a third of my meal home for consumption later – it was too much to eat in one sitting.

From there we rode to Lincoln’s Tomb. On Tuesday evenings they have a ceremony there which includes soldiers dressed in Civil War era uniforms. They lower and retire the flag every week. Spectators can enter a drawing and the lucky winner is presented with the American flag.

Lincoln’s Tomb

Front view of Lincoln’s tomb

Before lowering the flag, the soldiers fired a salute from Civil War period rifles.

Salute

We were ready for the firing of the rifles, but once the flag was lowered we were surprised by the loud boom of a cannon being fired!

We skipped pickleball this morning. We needed a rest day – my right foot is sore along the fifth metacarpal. I fractured the metacarpal between my little toe and heel about 20 years ago and it seems to be flaring up.

At lunch time, we went up to the horse stables and arena area to see what was going on. The participants are mostly girls involved in 4H. They compete in several events separated by age group. The brick stable buildings date back to 1901 and are in great condition. We saw some of the participants practicing and exercising their steeds.

Exercise arena

We walked to another arena where they were competing in an event that simulates trail riding and demonstrating control while completing tasks like retrieving mail from a mailbox or backing the horse into a tight space and opening a gate then closing it from horseback after riding through. It was interesting to watch.

Backing the horse into a tight space

These two sisters competed in different age groups. Girl in the foreground was in the eight-to-nine-year-old group

This girl likes blue – right down to her cowboy boots

We had lunch at a concession stand, then I wanted to get a look at the grandstand area. This is where the Springfield Mile track is. The Springfield Mile is an oval dirt track one mile long. It hosts horse harness racing and also dirt track motorcycle racing.

The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) held the first AMA National event here in 1937. Later, it became the crown jewel of the AMA Grand National Championship. In the 1960s, guys like Dick Mann, Cal Rayborn and Mert Lawwill chased the championship while driving across the country with their motorcycles and tools packed in panel vans. Back then, to be crowned Grand National Champion, you had to accumulate points at various national events across the country – both road racing and dirt track racing.

Front straight and turn 1 at the Springfield Mile

Final turn and beginning of the front straight

The dirt track events on a mile course like this were fast and took a lot of courage. They would accelerate to over 100 mph on the straights and pitch the bike sideways, counter-steering through the turns without brakes. I was happy I had to opportunity to go up in the grandstand and imagine the moments back in the day.

The City of Springfield quit allowing the AMA to hold their event here after hooligans created trouble in 1966. In 1981, the city agreed to hold an event and it went so well, they’ve been back racing here as a national event since then.

We’ve booked an additional day here at the fairgrounds and will stay until Sunday. The weather forecast calls for it to become slightly cooler with highs in the upper 70s and a chance of some showers over the weekend. Hopefully the showers hold off and we can attend a few more events.

 

 

Moon Turn the Tides

Every blog post needs a title. Sometimes I struggle with that. You may have noticed that I’ll steal the name of a song or partial lyrics for my title from time to time. Today’s title comes from Jimi Hendrix’s third album, Electric Ladyland, released in 1968. I chose it because the full moon last weekend was a super moon.

Super moons occur when the full moon coincides with the moon’s closest distance to the earth as it travels on its elliptical apogee in the sky above. This makes the full moon appear larger than normal. The gravitational forces of the moon’s proximity were very apparent in the tides on Mission Bay. I shot a photo of low tide in the morning at De Anza Cove, then took another photo at high tide in the afternoon. Notice the dock resting in the mud at low tide, then it’s floating nearly horizontal in the afternoon.

Low tide at De Anza Cove

The same dock at high tide

Mother Nature unleashed another southern California phenomenon this week – Santa Ana winds. Santa Ana winds originate from high pressure over the inland desert basin. Hot, dry wind blows over the coastal range and offshore. These dry winds bring warmer than usual temperatures and low humidity – often less than 10%. They increase the risk of wildfires and the strong winds can fan the fires which move quickly and grow in size.

The Santa Ana hit areas to the north on Monday – up near Ventura. Wildfires burned along the coast up there. The winds really picked up in San Diego County on Thursday. Wind speed was clocked at 61 mph at Crestwood on I-8 in east county Thursday morning. A 38-foot fifth-wheel RV trailer was blown over on I-8, then they closed high-profile vehicle travel on the interstate. San Diego Gas and Electric shut down power in portions of east county to prevent sparks starting fires from any power lines that might blow down.

Fires raged all over southern California. Homes were destroyed in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. San Diego County had wildfires in the north county near I-15. The winds whipped the fires and they jumped the interstate in some areas. We heard that some neighborhoods near Temecula were evacuated. The fire danger warnings are in effect here until Saturday afternoon. When fire warnings are issued, no outdoor fires such as campfires or brush burning, are allowed.

We didn’t have any issues with fire here at Mission Bay RV Resort, but a few people had damage from the wind. There were two unoccupied travel trailers in the row across from us that had their awnings out. The people had left in the morning and didn’t retract their awnings. I knocked on the door of one of the trailers and looked to see if I could put their awning away. No one was there and the awning was an electric power unit – I couldn’t do anything. Later someone strapped the extended awning to the picnic table to keep it from flapping in the wind. We heard that others weren’t so lucky – a couple of rigs suffered damage when their awnings were torn away by the gusty wind. I don’t leave our awning out when we are away from the coach. Wind gusts can come up unexpectedly at any time.

On Wednesday evening, Donna grilled chicken thighs and served it with a new-to-me side of butternut squash brown rice pilaf with dried cranberries and toasted pepitas.

Grilled chicken with butternut squash brown rice pilaf

Tomorrow we’re planning to have a potluck gathering at Sini’s site. Donna made up flyers to invite some of our neighbors. She plans to grill chicken and I’ll smoke baby back ribs on the Traeger wood pellet-fired smoker grill.

The winds have calmed down along the coast but are still strong in the mountains. We should have a few clouds with the temperature reaching the upper 70s tomorrow.

 

Non-Traditional Thanksgiving

The Mission Bay RV Resort filled up for the Thanksgiving weekend by Wednesday afternoon. We’ve experienced this every year – Thanksgiving is always a busy time here. When I came home from playing pickleball, I saw a mobile tire service truck across from our site. I thought it was a little odd for someone to be buying new tires while they’re at the RV park, but I could see a set of tires in the back of the truck.

After lunch I saw why they were getting new tires. The guy had changed out a couple of the tires by then and one of them was blown out. The tread was separated from the casing. I was curious about this and walked over to look at the failed tire. Tread separation can be caused by many things, such as underinflation, road hazards, overloading, excessive speed and so on. It’s hard to say what caused this but I checked the date code on the tire – it was 2207. These tires were made calendar week 22 of 2007 – they were more than 10 years old!

Tire failure

Complete tread separation

I didn’t get a chance to talk to the owner of the coach – he wasn’t around at the time. Apparently he doesn’t pay much attention to date codes – I saw the tires that were being installed had date codes of 3015 – the new tires were more than two years old! Tires on RVs rarely wear out. They usually age out. The components of the tire deteriorate with age, especially if they have lots of exposure to UV rays from sunlight or are exposed to ozone. I’ve seen a lot of opinions on how long to run tires. My personal tolerance is about seven years provided there are no visual signs of deterioration. I look for sidewall cracks, bulges, uneven wear or lumps in the treads.

Donna spent most of Thursday preparing our Thanksgiving dinner while I hung out and watched football. My youngest daughter, Shauna, flew out from Washington D.C. and was at her friend’s house. Cat was Shauna’s roommate while she was at law school. They graduated at the same time with law degrees and Shauna went to work in DC while Cat got a job with a firm here in San Diego. Shauna just started a new job – she was offered a position as a second-year Associate at Dentons – she accepted it and left Mayer-Brown. Dentons is the world’s largest law firm with offices worldwide.

Dinner with the girls at our picnic table

They joined us for dinner – we had our Thanksgiving dinner a little later than usual. Shauna and Cat came over around 5pm and we had drink and some of Donna’s guacamole before we ate. It was a warm day – the temperature reached 90 degrees in the afternoon but the evening was pleasant. Donna prepared a non-traditional dinner. She made a turkey breast roulade stuffed with pancetta and shallots and served it with acorn squash, roasted brussel sprouts and smashed red potatoes with porcini gravy. The roulade was labor intensive and she was cooking all afternoon.

Thanksgiving dinner plate

Shauna and Cat were eager to do some Black Friday shopping and planned to start at Fashion Valley Mall Thursday night. Fashion Valley had stores open from 6pm to 1am for early shoppers. They left around 8pm and took an Uber ride to the mall. They shopped again on Friday. Shauna flew back to DC this morning, so we only got to spend a few hours together.

Friday morning after I had a slice of homemade pumpkin pie for breakfast – with real whipped cream Donna made – we headed over to Ocean Beach for pickleball. It was time to work off some of the excess calories. We played practically non-stop for two hours. That was about it for me – I spent the rest of the day reading a book and napping.

Today we expect the weather to be a more normal day – blue skies and 75 degrees. Not bad for the last weekend of November! Donna’s off to boot camp for her morning workout. She’s riding her bicycle there and back. I have no plans for the day.

Another Day in Paradise

Thursday was another day in paradise – nothing unusual to report. In the evening, we had a breeze blowing from the west. The onshore flow held a line of cloud cover right at the coastline. Donna and I walked to the west end of Mission Bay RV Resort to watch a spectacular sunset.

Thursday’s sunset

The setting sun reflected off the dark clouds and revealed many colors. Donna topped off the evening by preparing a new dish – tarragon and lemon roast chicken with fennel. Delicious!

Tarragon roast chicken with lemon and fennel – green beans, acorn squash and quinoa on the side

I don’t play pickleball on Friday usually, but since I took Tuesday off, Donna and I headed over to the Ocean Beach Recreation Center (OBRC) Friday morning. They have pickleball scheduled at OBRC Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings starting at 10am. Donna hasn’t been on the court since we were in Santa Fe but she played well and we had fun.

Speaking of fun, we met up with our friends from Arizona, Keith and Suzanne Gallaway at Offshore Tavern and Grill for happy hour and dinner. We enjoyed visiting over a beer and ordered food from their appetizer menu. The appetizers at Offshore are large portions and easily make a meal. Keith and I each had the poke plate while Donna went for the seared yellowfin tuna over salad and Suzanne had the housemade Offshore mac and cheese. The Gallaways treated us to dinner – thanks again!

We made arrangements to meet again Saturday morning. They’re here looking at an RV for sale – a 2004 Alpine Coach 36MDDS. Since I know a thing or two about Alpine Coaches, they asked me if I would look it over. We met at 10am at Campland by the Bay where the coach is being stored. This particular coach was built late in the 2004 model year run and has many 2005 features. After going through the systems and kicking the tires, Keith took it out for a test drive. In my opinion, it’s a solid coach. I think they’ll negotiate with the seller. I wish I’d taken a few pictures, but I was busy looking at things and thinking about it.

I came home around 11:30am. While I was out, Donna borrowed Sini’s car and went up to San Diego State University and picked up our granddaughter, Lainey. They were in the coach when I returned. Keith and Suzanne stopped by for a short visit, then I rode the Spyder to Lanna Thai to pick up take-out for lunch. We enjoyed the Thai food at our picnic table. It was a beautiful day with the temperature in the low 70s and nice to be visiting with Lainey.

Donna and Lainey took the Spyder to the beach and kicked around while I stayed home and read a book. We had pizza from Mountain Mike’s for dinner before Donna used Sini’s car again to drop Lainey off back at the campus.

I did one other thing this weekend. On Thursday night, Sini stopped by to chat over a glass of wine. She mentioned that she wanted get a pair of western boots and had been looking at the Tecovas site. She and Donna had a conversation about women’s styles and boots. I got to thinking – always a dangerous thing. It’s been a few years since I’ve bought something really special for Donna.

I quizzed her a bit about her thoughts on women’s boots and had her look at the Tecovas site. She didn’t want a short boot or one with tall heels and that’s all they had for women. So, I directed her to the Lucchese site. She found a couple she really liked. The next day she was looking at them again and decided she would really like to have a pair of Lucchese Women’s Tall Riding boots. They are high-quality hand-made full-grain calfskin boots. The heels are roper type – only one inch high while the riding shafts are 16 inches tall.

Picture taken from Lucchese.com

I can’t surprise her with them as a Christmas gift – these boots are made to order and I needed to get on it if I wanted them by Christmas. That meant I had to trace her foot and take measurements. So, she knows I’ve ordered the boots and I hope they are finished and shipped by Christmas.

The skies are mostly cloudy this morning, but I think it’s going to burn off and we’ll have a mostly sunny afternoon. Another day in paradise!