Category Archives: Restaurants

The Woodlands

Our plan Friday was to go to The Woodlands and meet Allen and Crystal Hutchinson for lunch at the Olive Garden. Allen is here to compete in the Ironman Texas triathlon. Ironman triathlons are grueling endurance contests. The total distance raced is 140.6 miles – 2.4 miles swimming, 112 miles bicycling and a marathon distance 26.2-mile run.

We thought about taking the scooter, but the weather forecast called for a thunderstorm. I could see severe weather to the west of us on the weather radar. It looked like it would hit the area around 2pm. We decided to take an Uber ride 12 miles up the highway to The Woodlands.

The Woodlands is an upscale master planned community 28 miles north of downtown Houston on I-45. It’s heavily forested and its subdivisions and shopping areas are mostly hidden from the main roads by trees. It has an area of about 44 square miles, most of which is land. There’s a lake (Woodlands Lake) and a canal connecting the lake with a smaller body of water called The Woodlands Waterway.

The Uber car dropped us off at the Olive Garden at 12:35pm – we were a few minutes late. I had texted Allen and thought they were in the restaurant waiting for us. Donna and I walked through the restaurant searching for them but didn’t find them. We came back to the lobby and wondered if there was more than one Olive Garden in the area. I sent another message to Allen just as he and Crystal walked in the door. Since I told him we were running late, they had decided to go fill up at a nearby gas station.

We ordered our lunch and talked for over an hour while we dined. Allen eats a very controlled diet before the race. He ordered spaghetti with tomato marinara – he avoids meat the day before a race. This will be his fifth Ironman event. We saw him compete in his first Ironman triathlon in Lake Placid, then we saw him last summer in Couer d’Alene. He also competed in Florida and Louisville.

After lunch, we all rode in Allen’s VW Tiguan as he gave us a tour of the area. There are many high-end shops in The Woodlands – it’s all very upscale. The neighborhoods are home base for many professional athletes from the NFL, MLB and the PGA.

We stopped at the Northshore Park where the Ironman event will start. They begin the 2.4-mile swim heading south along the west side of the lake for nearly a mile. Then they turn around and come back along the east side of the lake.

View of the lake from the starting area – yellow buoys mark the first leg

After they turn around and come back, they enter the canal and continue swimming to the transition area where they switch to bicycles. The canal is lined with shops and restaurants and has walking paths alongside, much like the Riverwalk in San Antonio.

Orange buoys mark the return course up the lake, the yellow boat is at the canal entrance

The bicycle course is one lap and doesn’t offer much opportunity for spectators to cheer on their favorite competitors.

The running portion goes along the canal paths and makes three loops. This will be the best place to see the competitors. The canal is lower than the surrounding terrain and is lined with buildings. There isn’t likely to be much air circulation. The humidity along the canal will be stifling. At that point of the competition, I think Allen will already have nearly seven hours of exertion behind him. The 26- mile run will be brutal.

A thunderstorm hit as Allen was giving us the driving tour. He drove Donna and me back to the Northlake RV Resort and dropped us off. By then the storm had passed, but I was glad we left the scooter in the trailer.

Allen’s wife Crystal posted a few pictures on Facebook this morning. Allen finished the swim a little after 8am after one hour and 16 minutes in the water. I took the liberty of lifting her photos from Facebook.

Allen finishing the swim

Transitioning to the bike

We’ll scooter over to The Woodlands to see Allen finish the bike and transition to run. We plan to hang out until he finishes. I expect a thundershower to pass through at some point, but we’ll manage it.

Anniversary Dinner in San Diego

Tuesday morning got off to a great start when Bob and Sini Schmitt invited us to join them for breakfast in their coach. Sini had just returned from two weeks of travel, while Bob was living the bachelor life. She went to Hawaii for a wedding, then to Seattle to look after some business at their house in Edmonds. Bob cooked up excellent breakfast burritos for us and we got caught up on Sini’s trip.

After breakfast, I started breaking down our outdoor gear. I folded up the chairs, took down the front window covers, and got things organized. Bob lent me his GMC Jimmy to move everything to the trailer while he and Sini drove to LA in a rental car to attend a show. Their goal was to get tickets to The Voice, but to get that, they had to agree to be members of the audience for the filming of an episode of AD. I loaded some of the gear into the Jimmy, then took a break to go to Pacific Beach Recreation Center to play some pickleball. I cut it short and left after a few games to get back to packing up.

Back at the coach, I stowed the tire covers and checked tire pressures. I loaded the Weber Q grill and ladder into Bob’s Jimmy and took everything to the trailer. By the time I had the trailer packed, another hour and half had passed. I still needed to load the scooter and Donna’s bike after she returned from her ride. I had that all done by 5pm.

This worked out perfectly since we planned to head out to our anniversary dinner at Island Prime at 5:45pm. I had time to shower and have a cocktail before our ride picked us up. Donna used one of the free Lyft coupons she had. Lyft is a taxi service that operates much like Uber. Our friend Mona is an Uber and Lyft driver. We planned it so Mona could be our driver. She came to the RV park at 5:45, we jumped in her car and then Donna requested a pick-up. Since Mona was the closest driver, she got the fare.

Island Prime is on the eastern point of Harbor Island, which like most of the “islands” in San Diego, is a peninsula. We made a quick stop for a couple of photo opportunities on the way.

Coronado Bridge from Harbor Island

Do you think they dropped off pineapples

Do you think this freighter dropped off pineapples?

The Island Prime restaurant features great views of both Coronado Island and the San Diego downtown skyline. We didn’t have a window seat, but our booth was only one table away from the glass. We watched boats sailing by as we had a drink and shared an appetizer.

I know this isn’t a sloop – maybe a ketch?

Ahi stack appetizer

We had the Ahi stack for an appetizer. The stack includes guacamole, sushi grade ahi tuna and creamy crab on top served with taro chips and a pineapple salsa and caviar.

Donna ordered the macadamia crusted sea bass. She hadn’t tried sea bass before and wanted to try something new. It was flaky and cooked perfectly. I had the filet trio – a trio of three, three-ounce medallions of filet mignon with three different toppings – bleu cheese, crab, and wild mushrooms – served over mashed potatoes.

Macadamia sea bass

Filet trio

It was an excellent meal coupled with outstanding service and unbelievable views. I can’t entertain like this every night, but it’s the right thing to do with my wife on our anniversary.

Sunset on my shoulder and a smiling face on my anniversary

We pulled the same gambit to have Mona be our Lyft driver on the way home. While we waited outside, I shot a couple of photos. I think a pair of Maseratis (one a spyder, the other coupe) and a Tesla valet-parked in front speak to the upscale clientele of this restaurant. Not that I’m all that impressed with material possessions. Just saying.

Maserati duo

The ubiquitous SoCal $100k Tesla electric car

Mona gifted us with a bottle of wine when she picked us up. Now, how many of you had your driver gift you with a bottle of wine?

I had hoped to be on the road by 9:30am on Wednesday morning, but we were a bit behind schedule. We plodded along methodically and had everything in order by a little after 10am. Then we needed to drive the coach to the overflow lot and hook up the trailer. We managed to get everything done without any undue stress and hit the road at 10:30am. The 9:30am departure was only a wish, not a drop-everything-and-let’s-get-rolling deal, so all was well.

We rolled easily along I-8 eastbound and made our usual stop at the Buckman Springs rest area. From there we crossed the three 4000+ foot summits and descended to the desert. It was an easy drive. I followed a tractor-trailer rig through the steep, twisty downgrade and held my speed in check with the Jake brake.

Our original plan was to stop for the night near Wellton, Arizona and dry camp. We were there before 3pm so we decided to move on. That’s how it goes sometimes – you make decisions on the fly. Donna was looking at the Escapee’s Day’s End directory on her laptop as we drove. We finally decided to press on to Gila Bend. Once there, we went south on AZ85 and found a legal boondocking spot to spend the night.

It’s quiet and the view is nice, but it’s windy and we’ve stayed indoors. After consulting the map, I think we’ll backtrack 10 miles in the morning back to I-8 and take that to I-10 and try to make it to Deming, New Mexico. We’d like to bank some miles before we take a two-night stop in order to be sure we can make it to Houston by the 14th.

Ninth Anniversary

Cinco de Mayo today! Many people think this is the Mexico’s Independence Day, much like our Fourth of July. Mexico’s independence Day is September 16th. Cinco de Mayo (fifth of May) celebrates a military victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

For us, Cinco de Mayo has another reason for celebration. Donna and I were married on May 5, 2006 at Watson Lake in Prescott, Arizona. We always go out for dinner on Cinco de Mayo and this year is no exception. We’ll take an Uber car to Island Prime restaurant on the east tip of Harbor Island. Island Prime is an upscale steak and seafood establishment on San Diego Bay with views of the downtown skyline and Coronado Island.

Wet weather is closing in on southern California. After joining Bob and Sini Schmitt for breakfast this morning, I’ll need to pack our outdoor gear. I’d like to have everything secured in the trailer before we go out to dinner tonight. Then I’ll only have to dump and flush the tanks before we disconnect tomorrow.

We’ll drive to the vicinity of Yuma, Arizona tomorrow and find a place to boondock overnight before we continue to Benson, Arizona. I’m not sure if I’ll post again until we reach Benson.

Shelter Island 2013 on Mark and Emily Fagan’s boat

Where Are You From?

Where are you from? It’s a simple question, right? But when you’re a full-timing nomad, it’s not always so easy to answer. We usually say, “Wherever our motorhome is parked.”

The long answer gets confusing. I grew up here in San Diego, so it always feels like home to me. Donna grew up in upstate New York near Albany and then moved to Lake Placid, New York before moving to Arizona in 2002. I lived in Washington, north of Seattle for 15 years. Donna and I met and married in Arizona in 2006. I lived in Michigan twice, for a few years in the late ’80s and again from 2009 until we hit the road in 2013. So Michigan was our last sticks-and-bricks home.

Our current domicile state is South Dakota. When people see our South Dakota license plates, they often ask, “Where in South Dakota are you from?” Other times, like when we check in at RV parks or show ID at a bank, people assume we’re visiting and ask when we will head back to South Dakota. The real answer is that we’ll head back there in a few years to renew our driver’s licenses, but sometimes we just go along with the charade and say, “When the weather warms up.”

There was a knock on our door the other morning. I opened the door and stepped out to find a man and woman at our site. The man shook my hand and introduced himself and his wife. They were Bob and Dovie Koop from Sun City Shadow Hills near Indio, California. They saw our license plate – KOOP42 (Koop for two) and thought that was our last name. Bob’s uncle was C. Everett Koop, the United States Surgeon General during the Reagan administration. He held that post from 1982 to 1989 and was known for his anti-smoking campaign. C. Everett Koop passed away in February 2013 at the age of 96. I don’t think he was ever a smoker.

We’ve had a heat wave over the past few days with the temperature reaching 90 degrees. It should be cooler today and tomorrow with a high around 80 degrees. We’ve been running the air conditioners.

Donna had her last follow-up exam at her doctor’s office yesterday. We should be good to go on health care until we return at the end of the year. I scootered Donna to her appointment in Mission Hills. I took us down Pacific Highway and up Washington Street to Mission Hills. Donna hadn’t been on that route before and didn’t realize how many restaurants and shops were in the area.

Her appointment was finished by 11am. We made a stop at CVS across the street for a few things and then our thoughts turned to lunch. Our ride home would take us past Old Town, so we decided to stop at one of our favorite restaurants – the Old Town Mexican Cafe.

The parking lot attendant directed us to a perfect motorcycle parking spot behind the restaurant. We enjoyed selections from their daily special menu. Donna had chicken molé ( a quarter of a chicken with molé sauce, rice and beans). I had the half chili verde, half chili Colorado plate with rice and beans. As always, the food was delicious and served with fresh, hand-made warm tortillas.

Making tortilla by the front window of the Old Town Mexican Cafe

Making tortillas by the front window of the Old Town Mexican Cafe

The hockey season ended for me last night. The Detroit Red Wings were eliminated from the playoffs with a game seven loss in Tampa Bay. Donna won’t have to sit through anymore hockey games on television until next year.

While I was watching the game, Donna grilled corn on the cob and made wild Alaskan cod with tomatoes and capers for dinner. The fish was cooked to perfection.

Wild Alaskan cod with tomatoes and capers

Today all three of my daughters will be in town as well as my step-dad, Ken. I’m a little concerned about Ken making the 90-mile drive from Menifee, but he insisted that he was fine driving that distance. He got a new car recently and says he needs to put some miles on it.

We’ll try to figure out how to get everyone together later today, after pickleball at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center.

Minimalist RV Meet Up

We started off with a rain shower Saturday morning. The day remained overcast and blustery all day. After lunch, I scootered Donna to her sister’s house in Point Loma. Donna’s sister, Sheila is a physical therapist. Donna’s elbow is bothering her, she has tennis elbow, triggered by playing pickleball. While Sheila treated Donna’s elbow, I dropped off packages at the UPS store and the post office.

It looked like the skies were clearing over San Diego Bay to the south but when we rode back to Mission Bay, it was still cool and cloudy. The wind was blowing with strong gusts and occasional rain drops when I tried to grill chicken for dinner. I say tried because the gusty wind blew out the flame on our grill. I’ve never had that happen with the Weber Q before. Donna had to bake the chicken in the convection oven.

On Saturday evening, I enjoyed the Detroit Red Wings playoff game in Tampa Bay. Detroit won 4-0 to take a 3-2 game lead. I’m looking forward to game six tonight.

We had clear blue skies and warmer weather yesterday for a meeting that Donna had organized. She invited members of a San Diego minimalist group to come and learn more about the full-time RV lifestyle. Unfortunately, the group leader Bruce had a family emergency and had to go out of town at the last minute. Another group member, Debbie, agreed to take the lead and shuttle in members. We ended up with five for the session, which we hosted at our site.

Donna started off by talking about downsizing and organizing and how we came to be full-time RVers. I led a more technical discussion about the different types of RVs and different approaches to the RV lifestyle. After a 40-minute discussion, Donna gave the group a tour of our coach.

From there, we walked the group through the RV park, beginning with a look at our neighbor’s fifth-wheel trailer set-up and his truck which tows it. I explained how the fifth wheel is coupled to the truck and how maneuverable it is. Then we walked to our friend Bob Schmitt’s site. I showed them how Bob’s coach is set up to haul his Harley and tow his GMC Jimmy.

We looked at the tiny MyPod trailer that I posted about previously. As we walked through the park, we identified different classes of motor homes and looked at fifth-wheel and tow-behind travel trailers.

We stopped to admire an Airstream trailer. The owners were sitting outside and we struck up a conversation. They invited the group to take a look inside. The owners were a young couple living full time in their Airstream and working in San Diego. He is a brew master at Modern Times Brewery in Point Loma.

We continued our tour with a look at another smaller travel trailer – a Casita. Again, the owner invited the group to take a look inside. I think by this time, the group was beginning to understand our statements about the sense of community among those embracing the RV lifestyle. The Casita was in the site next to Martha’s Airstream. Martha is the 77-year-old full-timer I wrote about in this post. Martha gave a tour of her rig and then we continued down the lane.

We made another stop at Karen’s 2013 Big Country fifth-wheel trailer. This is a large rig. Karen invited the group to have a look inside and see the layout. By this time, everyone had a chance to see rigs of various sizes and construction. We came back to our site and continued the discussion. We originally thought the discussion and tour would take about an hour, but we were two hours into it! The group was very enthusiastic and inspired by the tour. I think we may have inspired a couple of them to take the plunge into the RV lifestyle.

Minimalist group - Barbara, Donna, Erin, Hal, Jeanne and Debbie

Minimalist group – Barbara, Donna, Erin, Al, Jeanne and Debbie

Later, I rode the scooter to my old neighborhood. I had sent a message to Christine Brutschy Becker asking if it would be okay for me to stop by to say “hi” to her and her mother. She told me to come on over. They had a birthday party for her granddaughter, Annika, in progress and the extended family was there.

It’s been such a long time since I last saw Donna Brutschy, neither one of us could remember when it was. Chris’s son, Matthew, was a kid the last time I saw him – he’s in his mid-forties now. Chris’s daughter was a teen the last time I saw her – now she’s a beautiful mom. I also met Chris’s niece, Danielle, another beautiful mother that was just a child the last time I saw her. I met their husbands, whom I never met before and their children.

I have a lot of memories from the Brutschy’s house. When I was a teen, I spent a lot of time there and was generally treated like part of the family. One of my first memories of their place came after Howard Brutschy and I rode dirt bikes out to Rose Canyon and spent the night camped out. In the morning, we rode back to his house. His mother Donna prepared breakfast for us. She asked me if I liked my scrambled eggs wet or dry. I didn’t know how to answer – no one had ever asked me that before. I just said, “However you prepare them will be fine.”

I don’t know how the eggs were prepared. I was mesmerized over breakfast by the beauty of Howard’s younger sister, Vicki. I was 15 years old and totally infatuated. That’s just one of many memories of my teenage years at the Brutschy residence.

Matthew Becker, Donna Brutschy and me

Sheila picked us up at the RV park at 6pm. We went to Sushi Ota to celebrate her son Connor’s 11th birthday with his favorite dinner – sushi. Connor’s friend, Sam, came along. We ordered a platter of sushi and hand rolls.

Sam, Connor, Sheila and Donna

Yummy sushi platter

The sushi was excellent as usual. Sushi Ota has a well-deserved reputation for the quality of their sushi. Sheila brought a German chocolate cake for dessert. Although I don’t usually follow a meal of sushi with cake, the top-hat shaped cake was delicious as well.

Happy birthday to Connor

I finished off a very full day with a bottle of Alesmith IPA. They are one of my favorite San Diego breweries.

Great beer

Today we are back to clear skies and warm, sunny weather. I’m thinking I might break out the ladder and clean the coach. The Red Wings playoff game comes on at 4pm, then we have dinner plans with my daughter, Shauna.

Guests for a Month?

When I started blogging, I had no idea of the number of spammers that post comments on blog sites. I have software (Akismet) to block spam and it’s pretty effective most of the time. Every once in a while though, a clever spammer will get a comment through.

The Akismet program has identified and blocked nearly 50,000 spam comments (49,591 to be precise) since I installed it. It has also blocked nearly 5,000 malicious log in attempts. These are cases where someone is trying to take control of the site by logging in as an administrator.

When someone is clever enough to get their comment past the spam software, the comment is held in limbo for moderation. If the person posting the comment has never had a comment approved before, I have to approve the comment before it’s published.

I’ve been hoodwinked a few times and approved comments that turned out to be spam. When I realize I’ve been had, I go back and remove the comments. I think this is important for the integrity of the site and to protect readers from being redirected to unwanted sites.

Yesterday one got by me. I believed the comment was a legitimate request. I posted the comment on a Facebook RV group and had a number of responses that led me to believe it was a spammer. The request did seem a little over the top, but believeable. Here’s the comment with the link removed:

We are producing a web series project that features Full Time RVers in the US. We are looking for those with RVs that would be willing to host a couple on your travels for one month for USD$1,000.00 plus fuel costs. During that month, we will be documenting your experiences as a Full Time RVer. If you are interested, or know of someone that would be, please email us at…

The first clue is the reference to USD$. Maybe this is coming from a foreigner looking for a cheap, monthlong tour of the states. I don’t know what the angle is, but in hindsight, it doesn’t seem legitimate.

On another note, I mentioned in my last post how Donna and I enjoyed good food and happy hour at Sardina’s Italian Restaurant. I’ve said before that Donna is the queen of networking. Well she proved it again at Sardina’s. While we were dining, Donna noticed two women drinking wine at a table near us. She asked me if I thought one of them was a woman we met at Sardina’s when were came here in the fall of 2013. I couldn’t tell if it was or not. Donna seemed sure it was the same woman we talked with at the bar over a year ago.

As we were preparing to leave, I made a quick pit stop in the men’s room. Donna went to the other table and introduced herself to the two women. It turns out she wasn’t the woman Donna was thinking of. We had one thing in common though. She was a Clairemont High School alumni, class of ’73 – one year before I graduated. Her name is Dianne Brittingham (nee Zinser). She is the president of the Pacific Beach Woman’s Club. By the time we left, Donna had an invitation to speak at the woman’s club the next time we’re in town.

Yesterday was another day of rest and recuperation for Donna. Her idea of rest and recuperation was to do a thorough deep cleaning of the coach while I was out playing pickleball. Later, she had dinner with her sister, Sheila, in Point Loma.

I went over to Dan Diego’s European Bistro to sample a couple of beers and a bowl of their Irish stew. I had a beer brewed by Stift Engelszell – a brewery at a Trappist monastery in Austria. There’s only one Trappist monastery in Austria. There are two in the Netherlands, six in Belgium and one in the United States. Trappist beers are strong with complex flavor. The Engelszell I had is called Gregorius. It’s a quadruppel style beer with 9.7% ABV. Unlike most quadruppels, it isn’t brewed with candy sugar. The ABV is pumped up by adding honey to the wort instead. It’s a great brew with a rum raisin flavor.

Gregorius

While I was there, Bob Schmitt joined me for a beer. He had a Latitude 33 IPA. Lattitude 33 is a San Diego County brewery. Their IPA is easy to drink despite it’s 7.3% ABV. Bob’s wife Sini is away for the next 10 days, so Bob is living the bachelor life at Mission Bay RV Resort a few sites away from us. I’ve mentioned Bob’s vehicle before and I need to correct myself. I called it a vintage Chevy Blazer – well, it’s actually a GMC Jimmy – nearly identical, but I wanted point out the error.

We had a rain shower again this morning. There’s a 20% chance of another shower at mid-day and the high will only reach the mid-60s. The weather guessers are calling for continued cool temperatures through the weekend. Then we’ll see upper 70s next week.

Hitchitch Found Us

Our WordPress blog site records daily statistics. I often look at the stats to see how many people are visiting the site and if they were referred from another blogger, web site or Facebook. I didn’t post yesterday so I was surprised to see more than 270 visits to the site yesterday.

Then I saw the top referrer – it was Hitchitch. Hitchitch is a web site whose stated mission is “To be the best site to find RV Travel Adventures and Journals. To Keep It Simple, And Do It Well.” When I first started researching the RV lifestyle, Hitchitch is where I found most of the RV blogs I continue to follow. Now Flyingthekoop is on Hitchitch!

I am honored and humbled to see our listing there. It motivates me to continue posting. In two weeks, we’ll be leaving San Diego and starting a cross-country trek for the summer. I’m sure I’ll find plenty of material to post about along the way.

In my last post I included a picture of a travel trailer at Mission Bay RV Resort.

Cool looking travel trailer

The name “Kit and Ace” is on the door. Donna did some research and found that Kit and Ace is a clothing company featuring technical cashmere. I looked into it as well and found the travel trailer is indeed an old Airstream. It’s been remodeled inside with ash wood and the exterior is painted copper. I’m not sure of the model year, but it has an old gold-on-black California license plate. These plates were issued from 1963 to 1969. They call their trailer the copper studio. They are on a tour of the country promoting their clothing.

I blocked a couple of digits from the plate

Kit and Ace is a Wilson Family Company founded by Shannon and JJ Wilson. Shannon is married to JJ’s father, Chip Wilson. Chip is the founder of the lululemon clothing company (think yoga pants). We haven’t seen anyone at the trailer but we hope to have a chance to meet and speak with them today before they leave. Maybe Donna will buy something made from technical cashmere.

Speaking of other blogs, yesterday I read about Clarke and Elaine (Whatsnewell) getting a new printer. Their printer quit working after three years of use, presumably due to vibration and road shocks. Our printer is also kaput. The touch screen doesn’t work and we can’t link it to our network. So I followed Clarke’s lead and went to Walmart to buy an HP Envy wireless all-in-one printer, scanner, copier for just $79! The price on printers is amazing – the ink cartridges alone cost more than $25. That’s the business model – just like razor blades. Make the operating hardware inexpensive then turn a tidy profit on replacement cartridges. The printer was easy to set up and connect to our network. Thanks for the tip, Clarke.

Yesterday was a cloudy, cool day with the thermometer hovering in the mid-60s. We had a brief rain shower at sunrise, but stayed dry the rest of the day. Donna and I rode the scooter to Sardina’s on old Morena Boulevard for happy hour with great Italian appetizers. I had the Italian sliders, one with sausage and one with meatball. Donna had Italian sausage in marinara and a side dish of sauteed artichokes with mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes. The food was excellent. Sardina’s is a family-owned restaurant that opened in 1970. We give them two thumbs up. If you’re in the area and want good Italian fare, give them a try.

We have cloudy skies again this morning, but the forecast calls for clearing this afternoon. I’ll be heading back to the rec center for pickleball. My game is coming along. Tuesday at the rec center I played my best, most consistent games so far. Regular play with high-level players is improving my skills.

Oceanside Harbor

It’s Monday morning. If you’ve been following my posts, when I let the cat out of the bag I said I would be going to work today. I thought I would be traveling to Valencia to work as a consultant for a VW dealer opening there. Last Thursday I was informed that the ownership change ( a buy/sell in auto dealer jargon) fell through. I don’t know if that particular buy/sell is postponed or cancelled completely. So my streak of 635 consecutive nights sleeping in our RV will continue unabated.

We had beautiful weather on Saturday, but I spent most of the day relaxing and watching TV. The Red Wings playoff game against Tampa Bay was a disappointment – the series is now tied at 1-1. After the game, I took a walk along the bay on the west side of the park. Mission Bay was very active with ski boats, sail boats and personal watercraft going in every direction.

Busy weekend on the bay

The beach at Campland had plenty of sunbathers and people braving the water.

Beach at Campland

After my walk, I returned to the TV and watched the Formula One qualifying for Sunday’s race in Dubai.

I was up early on Sunday and watched the Formula One race (warning – this post contains F1 and Moto GP spoilers). The last two laps were very excting as 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikonnen drove his Ferrari past Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes to take second place behind Lewis Hamilton.

The race ended at 9:40am. I turned off the TV and immediately hit the road to pick up Donna at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. She was expecting me to be there at noon. On Wednesday, the trip to the Westin took me two hours and ten minutes. I thought it might be a little faster on a Sunday morning, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I always prefer to plan a little extra time instead of sweating it out at the last minute.

The drive was actually a little tougher than mid-week. Traffic slowed from San Clemente to San Juan Capistrano and came to a full stop a couple of times. From there, it was smooth sailing until I reached Norwalk. It was bumper to bumper from there through Santa Fe Springs and Downey until I reached the 101. I arrived at the Westin at 11:55 am.

Donna and her friends Ingrid and Angela were waiting in the lobby. We managed to shoehorn four people, three pieces of luggage and five boxes of books into the Ford Focus rental car. We were giving Ingrid and Angela a ride to the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

I asked the bellman what the best route to LAX was. I thought I would have to take I-10 to I-405 in Santa Monica then go south to Century Boulevard or maybe take the Harbor Freeway (CA110) south then take Century Boulevard through Inglewood. He told me the best way was to take the Harbor Freeway south to CA105 west. CA105 ends at the airport! I didn’t know this route because CA105 didn’t exist when I used to drive in this area back in the ’80s. It was planned in the ’60s but didn’t open until 1993.

This turned out to be an excellent route and we made it to the airport in about half an hour. We dropped off Angela at Southwest Airlines at terminal one. Then we slowly made our way among the cars, limos and buses to the Tom Bradley International Terminal to drop off Ingrid at Aeroflot for her trip back to The Netherlands.

The drive south on I-405 from there was easy. We stayed in the carpool lane and sailed along doing about 70 mph. When we reached Oceanside, we pulled off at Harbor Drive and found public parking near the south harbor. There are restaurants and shops along the south and east side of the harbor. We sat outside at Harbor Fish and Chips and enjoyed a plate of fish and chips.

Fish and chips at Ocenaside harbor

It was a nice break, enjoying good food out in the sun. Donna saw a seal in the harbor behind us.

Oceanside south harbor – I didn’t get a pic of the seal

While we were dining, another couple sharing our table told us about RV overnight parking near the boat ramp. We took a look before we left. There are large parking stalls for vehicles with boat trailers near the ramp. You can park an RV at the end of the lot away from the ramp for $8/day. Overnight parking is allowed for a fee of $20. The parking stalls are tight – a big rig with slide-outs would be problematic. Also, getting a big rig turned around to exit the lot would be difficult at best. We decided it wouldn’t work for us although we saw a number of smaller RVs there.

We drove south along Harbor Drive then Pacific Highway, but the traffic was maddening. After a few miles, we returned to the interstate and came home to our coach at Mission Bay RV Resort.

While Donna went grocery shopping, I watched the Moto GP race from Argentina. It was a cracking race. Marc Marquez broke away early and built up a lead of more than four seconds. It looked like it would be a race for second place as he was so far out in front. Nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi made his way from sixth on the grid to second. Then he reeled Marquez in and made a pass for first place! Marquez tried to strike back immediately and made a mistake. He contacted Rossi mid-corner, then his front wheel made contact with Rossi’s rear wheel and Marquez hit the pavement. Race over for Marquez. Rossi won by a few seconds over Dovizioso. Valentino Rossi leads the championship after winning two of the first three races at age 36.

Donna has a few errands this morning. I need to take our old chassis batteries to a recycling center. Other than that, we don’t have much on the agenda for what looks to be another fine day in San Diego.

Slow on the Uptake

You would think the tax code is clearly written without ambiguity or terms subject to interpretation. Apparently this isn’t true. Last May, I received a pro rata performance bonus check for the seven months I worked in 2013 before I retired. The money was direct deposited to my account and I received a letter describing the performance bonus at our South Dakota address.

In February, I realized I didn’t get a W2 for this payment. I contacted Human Resources at Volkswagen of America (VWoA). They sent a duplicate to our South Dakota address. I saw why I didn’t receive it before – it listed my old Michigan address. I didn’t think much of it and gave the document to our tax accountant, George Montgomery. George pointed out a tax problem. Since the W2 listed my address in Michigan, Michigan state tax was withheld – to the tune of $700!

George tells us this is one of those “subject to interpretation” cases. The tax code is unclear. Sometimes it can be interpreted as taxation is based on where I resided at the time the money was earned. It can also be interpreted as taxation is based on where I resided when the payment was made. I’ve been fighting the VWoA payroll manager over this interpretation, but it seems I’m fighting a losing battle.

The weather warmed considerably yesterday. We had blue skies and a high temperature of 81 degrees. Beach weather! Instead of bumming around on the beach though, I went to Pacific Beach Recreation Center to play pickleball.

Three pickleball courts at the PB Rec Center

It’s a shame to have indoor pickleball courts here when the weather is so fine. I played several games over the course of three hours. I had my smart phone in my pocket so the S Health app counted my steps on the court. Pickleball is definitely good exercise as I made 13,216 steps and burned 930 calories according to the app.

S Health app on my smart phone

Carole Sue Bringas picked me up at 5pm and took me out for sushi. I’ve known Carole since the eighth grade. We hung out with the Cadman Park crowd through high school. She took me to Sushi Ota, a popular place on East Mission Bay Drive near Lanna Thai. Carole is a sushi novice, but she really enjoyed the meal and is beginning to expand her sushi repertoire.

Platter at Sushi Ota

When Carole dropped me off at the coach, I saw two boxes UPS left at our site. I was expecting them. I wrote about leaving our CB radio turned on for several days and damaging our chassis batteries in this post. Since then, I had an external battery charger connected to the chassis batteries while we’re parked to try to revive them.

Last week, it occurred to me that something wasn’t right. I guess I’m a little slow on the uptake sometimes. When I left the CB radio on, we were connected to 50-amp shore power. When we have shore power, our inverter charges the house batteries. When the house batteries reach a certain level, excess charging current is diverted by a device called an Echo Charger to the chassis batteries. The CB radio is a small draw – it shouldn’t have killed our chassis batteries if the Echo Charger was working. I didn’t connect the external charger when we first arrived here at Mission Bay. Within two days, our chassis batteries were down to 7 volts – basically dead. I connected the external charger to keep voltage available. Last week I investigated and found a connector that had come loose, probably from vibration. This loose connector cut off the Echo Charger. Now I understand why the chassis batteries were drained. The damage is done though – deep discharges like this cause irreversible damage to the battery plates.

Our chassis batteries need to be powerful enough to crank the Cummins ISL diesel engine. This requires a starting battery that can provide high current for short period of time. Our chassis batteries also power some 12-volt accessories at the dash panel – radio, CB, and the DHS surround-sound amplifier. The surround-sound amplifier is the biggest consumer. Watching a long movie with the surround sound thumping can draw a lot of current. Normally, with the Echo Charger working on shore power, this isn’t an issue. If we’re dry camped without shore power, it will draw the chassis batteries down some, then the batteries will charge when the generator runs or the engine is running. Ideally, a deep-cycle type battery instead of a starting battery would be used for this duty.

I thought about rewiring the surround-sound amplifier to a circuit drawing off the bank of deep cycle house batteries. This would involve routing the wiring from the front cap of the coach to the panel in the bathroom cabinet, near the rear of the coach. I didn’t like that idea.

I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy two 12-volt hybrid batteries made by Optima. The batteries I bought provide 900 Cold Cranking amps – wired in parallel I have 1800 cold cranking amps to start our engine. These batteries are a unique spiral-wound absorbed glass mat construction and can also withstand deep cycling. This should solve the issue of cycling the batteries while watching TV without shore power. Of course, this type of battery costs much more than a typical maintenance-free starting battery.

Optima blue top battery

Batteries are categorized by group size. The group size doesn’t define the capacity or particular use. It describes the physical dimensions (i.e. height, length, width). Our chassis batteries are group 31 – large batteries. The Optima batteries weigh 60 lbs each!

Today’s task will be to remove the old starting batteries and install the Optima batteries. I think it will be a back breaker. The chassis batteries are located in the rear of the battery bay. I’ll have to kneel down and reach with arms fully extended to lift the batteries out and put the Optimas in.

When that job is done, I think I’ll head to the beach!

Getting Into Hot Water

I checked a few items off my “to do” list yesterday. Donna’s number one item was a follow-up visit to her doctor on 4th Avenue. I would have taken her there on the scooter, but I had an RV tech from RV Pros coming over to help out with the hot water situation at 11:30am. Donna’s appointment was at 11am. So, Donna took an Ūber car to her appointment.

Jorge from RV Pros arrived on time. I explained how our hot water flow was restricted – it had suddenly been reduced to a trickle while the cold water side had good flow and pressure. I told him about the corroded anode rod and how I had flushed the hot water tank twice. He looked at the back of tank through an access panel in our kitchen and diagnosed a bad check valve. The hot water outlet of the tank has a check valve that only allows water to flow out and prevents backflow into the tank. Jorge didn’t have the part with him.

To replace the check valve, the tank would have to be drained. I told Jorge I had a new anode rod. He said we should install it since the old one would be taken out to drain and flush the tank. I also showed him the pressure relief valve which was stuck. He said he would come back by 5pm with a new check valve and pressure relief valve.

After Jorge left, I rode the scooter to the Ben Bridge Jeweler at the Fashion Valley Mall in Mission Valley. I had talked to the watch maker there earlier. In 2007, I bought Donna a nice watch with a mechanical automatic movement at the Ben Bridge store in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her watch stopped when we were in Hemet. I suspected a set lever problem because the stem didn’t feel right. The watch was about eight years old and could use a complete servicing. I was once a watch idiot savant (WIS) – I had a collection of mechanical watches. I kept them on automatic winders – these are devices that rotate the watch so the auto-winding mechanism would keep the mainspring tensioned. I also had a collection of railroad pocket watches. I reduced my collection over the years – I only have one railroad pocket watch now and five wrist watches.

Israel, the watch maker at Ben Bridge confirmed my suspicion of a broken set lever. The set lever is selector that allows the watch to be manually wound or the date to be set or the time adjusted. He will do a complete overhaul of the watch including a new set lever, mainspring, seals and gaskets and polish the case and bracelet. Our goal is to have the work completed before we leave San Diego in four weeks.

While I was at the mall, I had lunch. I ordered teriyaki chicken with rice and vegetables at the food court and sat at a table in the sun. The meal was served in a flat styrofoam container. The day was breezy with sustained 12 to 15 mph wind. I ate a little over half of the meal when a sudden wind gust picked up the container and deposited the contents in my lap! Oh well.

Jorge came back around 3:30pm with the parts needed. I had talked to Thomas, the security supervisor here, and told him I would be draining the hot water tank. They are very sensitive to water spills here at Mission Bay RV Resort due to the proximity of the bay. Contaminated water run-off into the bay is frowned upon and could result in fines. Since I was draining fresh water and only expected to drain 10 gallons, he told me not to worry about it.

Jorge removed the old anode rod and he had a 1-1/8″ socket to remove the adapter from the tank. Now we could install the new genuine Suburban anode rod once the tank was drained. He used a wand on the end of a water hose to clean the inside of the tank. He also pulled the pressure relief valve.

Old corroded aftermarket anode rod

File photo of a new Suburban anode rod for comparison

Once the tank was empty, Jorge went inside and removed the check valve from the tank outlet. His diagnosis was correct – the check valve was faulty. The check valve has a brass housing which screws into the tank. Inside this housing is a spring-loaded plastic stopper. The spring seats the stopper inside the housing in the opposite direction of normal flow, thus preventing backflow into the tank. When a faucet is opened, the water pressure on the downstream side of the check valve drops and water pressure from the tank overcomes the spring and opens the valve, allowing hot water to flow to the faucet. The plastic stopper has a piece behind the spring that limits the amount of travel of the stopper. In our valve, this plastic piece was broken off and the stopper was floating inside the housing. Water flow would move the stopper against the outlet of the housing, restricting the flow.

Old broken check valve

With the check valve replaced and the new pressure relief and anode rod installed, we refilled the hot water tank. Voila, we had good hot water flow! I paid Jorge $170 for his time and materials and learned about our hot water system while he was at it.

With the tank working correctly, I had the electric heating element and the propane burner heating the water. I had hot water for a shower within 10 minutes. I showered and rode the scooter over to the Offshore Tavern and Grill to meet up with my school mates, Gary Stemple and Jim Birditt. Jim was in town on business and Gary set up the meet. We had a few beers and laughs while the bar filled with people wanting to watch the NCAA men’s baskeball championship. It was noisier in there than ever.

Jim and I had dinner there while Gary had to leave for a softball game in Kearny Mesa. I ordered the SD Cheesesteak sandwich – sliced beef, jalapenos, mushrooms, spicy jack cheese sauce and guacamole on an amoroso bun. I don’t know why I felt compelled to eat the whole thing. I was uncomfortably stuffed, but it was tasty.

That’s a lot of sandwich

Today Donna and I will go to the Pacific Beach Recreational Center to see about getting into the open pickleball games.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Restaurants

The Woodlands

Anniversary Dinner in San Diego

Ninth Anniversary

Where Are You From?

Minimalist RV Meet Up

Guests for a Month?

Hitchitch Found Us

Oceanside Harbor

Slow on the Uptake

Getting Into Hot Water

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