Category Archives: Restaurants

Lizards, Rabbits and Visitors

The time is flying by. A few days got by me without a post to the blog. We passed on the pickleball games on Sunday and rode the scooter to visit my step-dad Ken in Sun City. The traffic was light on the route I’d mapped out to avoid I-215. We sat on Ken’s front patio, which faces north and is shady, enjoying conversation. We had a good visit and amused ourselves by watching the antics of a couple of lizards. They appeared to be fence lizards chasing each other around the patio.

Western fence lizard

These two provided entertainment

On our way back, I took a different route so Donna could buy groceries at Walmart. It was warm but pleasant on the scooter. We had a late lunch at a Chinese diner and stuffed ourselves with the house noodle specialty plate. It had a pile of rice noodles with shrimp, chicken, pork and beef. It was good but very filling – so filling that we skipped dinner!

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the Formula One race on TV and downloading the European coverage of the Moto GP season opener while Donna went to the pool to read. Spoiler alert – both races were very entertaining. Sebastian Vettel drove an excellent race with perfect strategy to put his Ferrari on top of the podium. Vettel is a four-time World Champion, but didn’t win a race last year. Neither did Ferrari. In his second race as a Ferrari driver, he broke that drought. In the Moto GP race, everyone figured the Repsol Honda team would run away like they did last year. It was not to be. The race turned into an epic battle between nine-time champion Valentino Rossi on the Yamaha M1 against Andrea Dovizioso on the Ducati. In the end, Rossi prevailed over Dovi by a tenth of a second.

A cottontail rabbit came into our site late Sunday afternoon. We put out a few carrot sticks which he munched on before hopping away. There are a lot of rabbits in the park.

While Donna and I were at the pickleball courts on Monday morning, our friend and fellow Alpine Coach owner, Dave Hobden, phoned me. He and his wife Stilla were leaving the FMCA rally in Pomona and were thinking about heading our way. Later, while I was at Sprouts picking up a few more groceries, he texted me saying they would join us at Golden Village Palms RV Resort. They got a good rate on two nights with their Passport America membership.

They pulled in around 2:30pm and set up in the site next to ours. I mentioned before how tight the sites are here. The shrubs in their site were so overgrown, Dave couldn’t get his living room slide out without smashing it into the shrubs. A maintenance guy came by to trim the bushes, but it wasn’t enough – he came back this morning with a power trimmer and cut the bushes back.

Dave Hobden’s Alpine Coach in the site next to us

We sat outside sipping cold beer and talking until about 6:00pm. Stilla had their dinner in the oven so they went home to eat. I grilled a pork tenderloin with a spicy dry rub – a new recipe Donna wanted to try. She served it with roasted, spicy red potatoes and green beans. It was very tasty – the dry rub was really spicy but dipping the pork in a minted cucumber yogurt sauce countered the spices nicely.

Spicy grilled pork loin with minted cucumber yogurt sauce

After dinner, Dave and Stilla joined us for dessert. Donna made carmelized banana pecan ice cream in her Vitamix. It was good, but I prefer the mango ice cream she made before.

Carmelized banana pecan ice cream

Donna said her Vitamix seemed to run slowly and had an electrical odor. This morning it doesn’t run at all. I’ll take it apart and have a look, I hope I don’t have to replace it.

The Great House

We moved yesterday. We took a little longer than usual to hit the road. I had to finish packing the trailer, clean up a few things outside, then dump and flush our holding tanks. Donna worked inside, getting the coach ready to ramble down the road. She moved a little slower than she usually does, but she managed to get everything put away. Lowell and Debi, Donna’s hiking friends, and Vern and Sylvia, our neighbors, stopped by to wish us safe travels. By the time we had the trailer hooked up and pulled out of Orangewood Shadows, it was 11:30am.

Our route took us east on US60 past Gold Canyon. The drive to Gold Canyon, which took over an hour by car through last weekend’s traffic, was covered in 30 minutes in the coach. As we continued east, I realized I had forgotten to lock the basement storage doors. I like to have the doors locked when we roll down the road as extra insurance against one accidentally opening. The traffic was light, so when we turned on to AZ79, I pulled to the shoulder and stopped to lock the basement doors.

AZ79 took us to the town of Florence. Established in 1866, Florence is the county seat of Pinal County and one of the oldest towns in Arizona. It’s also home to the largest prison complex in the state. We made a stop at the Mt. Athos restaurant in Florence, a Greek restaurant that Donna and I stopped at a couple of times before when we traveled through on motorcycles. I found parking on the street a half block away and we went in for lunch. I opted for the grilled cheese and bacon sandwich special. It was okay. Donna liked her Greek salad with gyro meat. They have moussaka, pastitio, spanokopita and other traditional Greek entrees on the menu. I probably should have ordered something Greek.

Mt Athos restaurant

After lunch, I drove west to the historic old downtown district where we picked up AZ287 and headed west toward Coolidge. Our next stop was at the Casa Grande Ruins. The focal point of this National Monument is the Great House (Casa Grande in Spanish) built in 1300AD. We found RV parking spaces in the lot in front of the park building.

Entry was $5 each as our America the Beautiful pass has expired (it would have gotten us in for free). The $5 entry included a guided tour which we took advantage of. The park ranger, Larry, was full of information and gave an interesting presentation as we walked around the Great House.

Historically, the people that once inhabited this compound were called Hohokam. There is a movement in the National Parks administration to discontinue this term (which loosely translates to vanished people) and replace it with Ancestral People of the Sonoran Desert. Apparently Hohokam can also be translated to mean “all used up” and is thought to be offensive. Another frequently used term for ancient tribes in the Sonoran desert is Anasazi. That term is also thought to be misused. The story is that early archeologists asked local Navajo people what the name of the tribe that once lived in the desert south of their land was. They answered Anasazi – which means ancestors of our enemy. The preferred term today Ancestral Puebloans.

The monument covers one square mile. I mentioned touring the compound. Although the Great House is the focal point, there are many ruins of smaller structures in the park. Our guide referred to it as an ancient gated community as it had a wall surrounding the dwellings. His theory was that this was a community of artisans, people that learned to spin and weave cotton, make jewelry and other items for trade. They stayed in a walled community to safely store their goods and keep the riff-raff out.

Wooden beams in the Great House have been scientifically dated to have originated in the early 1300s. This ancient civilization brought timber from the mountains up to 60 miles away and built dwellings from caliche – a sort of concrete made from sand, clay and calcium carbonate. They used tons of this material, shored up with the timbers to build the four-story Great House.

Great House viewed from the east

View inside the Great House through an opening in the wall

Donna in front of a smaller ruin in the compound

This civilization also practiced agriculture. They built canals to divert water from the Gila River to their fields of corn and cotton. Seven hundred years ago, the Gila River was a mighty watershed, not the dry riverbed it is today. Something happened by 1400AD and these people vanished.

In the 1800s, the stage coach from Florence to Tucson ran right next to the Great House. The stage would stop to rest their horses here. For a small fee, passengers were allowed to dig artifacts and take them. The site was abused for decades. Even after it was a protected archaeological site, many mistakes were made in recovering and documenting artifacts. Much of the history is lost forever. In 1932, a cover was built over the Great House to preserve and protect it from heavy rain and constant exposure to the sun.

This National Monument is an interesting stop and well worth the price of admission.

From the ruins, we drove west on AZ87, then followed AZ187 southwest to AZ387 south to the town of Casa Grande. By the way, the Casa Grande National Monument isn’t in the town of Casa Grande – it’s in Coolidge, Arizona. We checked in at the Casa Grande RV Resort where we stayed in early January. The park management was very accommodating. I asked for a pull-through site and told them I preferred not to drop the trailer. The issue here with the long pull-throughs is the location of the sewer and utilities. They’re located at the rear of the site. With the length of the trailer and our rig, it’s a long run for sewer, water and electrical power. They offered me a great solution. The had back-to-back sites intended for back-in use. They told me I could utilize both sites combined as a pull-through for the same price as a regular pull-through. Can’t beat that!

We’ll be here for a week while we decide on our next move.

Back in the Game

After three weeks of rest and recovery, my leg was feeling much better on Sunday. I walked down to the pickleball courts and practiced serving. I wanted to see if hitting serves would put too much stress on my calf. It was fine. After about half an hour, Donna came down and joined me. We practiced dinking the ball back and forth. No hard shots and no running after the ball. My leg was fine.

On Sunday evening, our friends Lana and Joel picked us up around 5pm. We drove over to Baja Joe’s for margaritas and dinner. The place was packed with a 35-minute wait for a table. There were tables available in the bar though, so we opted to sit and order dinner in the bar. Conversation flowed as we enjoyed our dinner and two pitchers of margaritas over the next two hours. When we returned to our place, we sat outside and talked for another two hours. Joel took my old laptop – he thinks he can fix the cooling fan issue. He also took our entertainment hard drive to add more movies and TV series to it. Thanks, Joel!

My leg felt good Monday morning. Donna and I went to the pickleball courts to play a game or two. I planned to limit my effort to about 80% – no lunges for the ball or jumping. Donna left after five games, I ended up hanging around and played eight games.

Action on the Orangewood Shadows pickleball courts

When I walked back home, I could feel tightness in my right calf. I put my leg up and read for a while. Then I noticed I had bruising on my ankle and foot. Apparently there are still micro-tears in the calf and the activity caused some bleeding in the muscle. Gravity forced the blood down to my ankle and foot.

Blood pooling in my foot after pickleball

I spent most of the afternoon with my foot elevated, periodically icing my calf. I don’t think it’s a big deal. My leg feels fine this morning, but I think I will give it another day of rest before playing pickleball again.

I rode the scooter over to Red, White and Brew to join Mike Hall, John Huff and Pat Fitzpatrick for a cold one. Tom Brennan joined us at the bar. Tom is patriotic and has an interesting hobby. He has replicas of various cartridges made with one troy ounce of silver. When he meets a veteran, he presents him with a silver bullet. Each cartridge is engraved. He chooses the cartridge type and engraving to give the veterans based on their service history. He has Navy SEAL friends who helped him come up with the mottos engraved on the silver cartridges.

Silver bullets – 5.56mm, 45ACP and 9mm

We have eight more days here at Orangewood Shadows RV Resort before we hit the road. I’m getting the hitch itch and I have to take care of a few projects over the next week before we leave.

Jetpack Blow Up

Something strange happened on Friday afternoon. Donna and I were inside – she was working at her laptop and I was surfing the Internet. We heard a loud “pop,” but didn’t know where it came from. The next thing I knew, I lost my wifi connection to our Verizon Jetpack. Donna said she was kicked off as well. I went to re-connect and found the Verizon Jetpack was offline, it didn’t appear among the devices available.

I got up and looked at the Jetpack. The pop we heard was the back of the Jetpack being blown off as the lithium-ion battery exploded! I don’t know if the battery overcharged or overheated, but for some reason, it blew apart and wouldn’t fit in the Jetpack anymore.

Back cover blown off our Jetpack

Battery expanded and cover split

Profile of distorted battery – it’s normally a rectangle

I don’t know if this is a function of an internal disconnect for an overheated battery or some kind of defect. Lithium-ion batteries have a safety disconnect feature to prevent fire. A burning lithium-ion battery is not a good thing – it’s impossible to extinguish a lithium-ion fire. Donna set her Samsung Galaxy S5 as a hotspot and we had Internet access.

With the sink project still underway, we decided to head out to Red, White and Brew for happy hour and dinner. Donna had her usual mussels vin blanc and I had the Meet the Meat stuffed pizza roll which is basically a meaty calzone.

RWB Meet the Meat stuffed pizza roll

Around 9am Saturday morning, we heard techno dance music blasting outside. We weren’t sure where it was coming from. I went outside for a look. There was a lane closure on the north side of University Drive with a blow-up arch in the lane and lots of orange cones. At the arch, there was a big speaker on a stand pointed at the back of our coach which is on the south side of University Drive. The music was so loud, it completely drowned out the sound of traffic on the road. There was a 5K run coming down University Drive – the two-mile mark was across the street from us. Apparently the organizers thought blasting dance music at 9am was necessary at the two-mile mark.

I rode the scooter south on Val Vista to the Verizon store with my Jetpack and blown-up battery. The guy there wasn’t very helpful. He took the Jetpack and battery disappeared into the back of the store. Fifteen minutes later he came back and said he could order a new battery for $60 and have it next week. I asked what caused the battery to blow up. He said I probably overcharged it. He said not to leave it on the charger, to run it on the battery and recharge as needed. Are you serious? The battery will last three to four hours. We have the Jetpack on all day. If I cycled the battery four times day, it wouldn’t last a year. Also, after 21 months of use plugged in, why did the battery blow up now? He had no answers. I declined the $60 battery.

I stopped at Batteries Plus to see if they had a replacement. No luck, but I bought some fluorescent light tubes I needed while I was there. I also rode over to the farmers’ market on Power Road and picked up more local honey.

When I returned home, I searched online for a Pantech BTR291B lithium-ion battery. I found it on Amazon for $22.99. With my Prime account, two-day delivery was free. At checkout, my Prime account is linked to my Chase Freedom Visa card. I had more than enough cashback points to cover the cost of the battery. It’s like getting it for free and it’ll deliver here on Tuesday.

With that done, I set into my next project. I used a sharp plastic scraper to remove the old caulking from the kitchen sink. Once I had all of the old caulking out, I cleaned the sink and the counter top area that joins the sink with rubbing alcohol. I laid a new bead of caulking and it’s looking good. The caulk needs to cure for 36 hours before contact with water. With that in mind, we didn’t want to create a lot of dirty dishes, so we went out for dinner again.

New caulk on the sink

This time we decided to try a Thai restaurant called 5 R Cha Thai Bistro (we learned that 5 R Cha means five horses in Thai). Donna had a green curry with shrimp. She said it was excellent, it would rival Lanna Thai in San Diego.

Green curry with shrimp

I went with my old standby, Pad Thai chicken. It was good, but the chicken was overcooked. The sauce on the noodles makes Pad Thai, and this had great flavor. I enjoyed a Singh Ha Thai beer with my meal while Donna went for a Japanese Sapporo beer.

Pad Thai chicken

I think I mentioned Donna’s trip to the dentist on Wednesday. She broke a molar and had a temporary crown put on. Last night, Donna woke up with a toothache. Her temporary crown came off. This was probably due to her retainer – she didn’t think about the temporary crown when she put her retainer on. Hopefully she can have the temp reset today.

We’re planning to go out to Baja Joe’s for dinner tonight with Lana and Joel. That will make three nights in a row eating out! That’s unusual for us. By tonight, our kitchen sink will be fully functional again and we can get back to our usual meal schedule.

The rest of the country sprang forward as of 2am this morning. Here in Arizona, daylight savings time isn’t observed. The clocks neither spring forward nor fall back. That makes Arizona time equivalent to Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) now.

Ponzi Scheme Crook

Donna and her teammate Angie raced in the duathlon at McDowell Mountain Regional Park early yesterday morning. Angie ran the first 3.6-mile leg, then transferred the timing chip to Donna in the transition area. Donna had a goal of averaging 15mph over the hilly 25.2-mile bike course. She made the ride in 1:36:40 for an average speed of 15.6mph. Then Angie finished the race with another 3.6-mile run. They were happy the rain held off and had a good time.

Angie and Donna – up at 5am and all smiles before the race

While Donna was at the race, I was thinking about the Filter Minder Air Restriction Gauge I wrote about in yesterday’s post. First I went online and looked up troubleshooting information. I found the Filter Minder FAQ page. It warns the consumer not to judge an air filter’s restriction by visual examination. An air filter that looks dirty may have much filtration life left. Air restriction through the filter remains low through much of its service life, then rapidly increases as the filter clogs at the end of its service life. The large air filter on our Cummins ISL is designed for commercial use which usually entails high mileage in a relatively short time. In a motorhome, high-mileage driving is the exception.

I found a chart on the site that showed typical results over miles driven in non-severe (not dusty) conditions. It can take more than 50,000 miles before the restriction starts to show on the gauge. Of course, they also warn not to change filters on a mileage schedule – always use restriction as the factor unless the filter is in danger of deterioration due to age.

With these facts in mind, I went out to test our Filter Minder Air Restriction Gauge. First, I disconnected the vacuum line from the top of the gauge. I put a short length of vacuum hose on it and applied vacuum. The gauge responded – there’s nothing wrong with the gauge. Then I blew air through the vacuum line between the gauge and the intake tube behind the air filter. The air flowed freely – there’s no blockage. I reconnected the vacuum line at the gauge and crawled under the coach. I disconnected the line at the intake tube and applied vacuum at the line. I stepped out and looked at the gauge. It works fine. There’s nothing wrong with our Filter Minder. Apparently I’m guilty of assuming that the old filter should have shown restriction based on its appearance.

Filter Minder Air Restriction Gauge on or Alpine Coach

Filter Minder Air Restriction Gauge on our Alpine Coach

The way the gauge works is this – as air is pulled through the air filter element into the intake system, a slight vacuum may be created between the air filter and the turbocharger compressor. As the filter collects dust and debris, it gains efficiency in dust collection. Eventually it starts to overload and the vacuum in the intake between the air filter and turbocharger increases. Once the vacuum exceeds 8 in/H2O the gauge begins to register. At 22-25 in/H2O, the air filter element needs to be changed. Our gauge didn’t move because we hadn’t exceeded the 8in/H2O threshold. That said, our air filter was old and it was time to change it. Enough about air filtration.

Another event took place over the weekend. On Saturday I talked to my step-dad, Ken. I try to stay in touch by phoning him every couple of weeks. He’s 84 years old and lives alone in Sun City (Menifee), California. He told me some unsettling news. He had rolled over a sizable IRA investment into an annuity account. Last year, he took a distribution from the annuity. As he was preparing his tax documents, he realized he didn’t have a 1099-R form for the distribution. In fact, he didn’t have a year-end statement either. He tried to reach the insurance broker who set up the annuity. The guy’s phone was disconnected and could not be reached.

He told me the guy’s name was John P. Slawinski. I did a quick Google search and found that John P. Slawinski of Palm Desert, California was arrested last August on five counts of felony financial elder abuse after stealing more than two million dollars from five senior citizens. Ken confirmed that this was the guy who set up his annuity. The article included a phone number for the Rancho Cucamonga regional office of the California Department of Insurance. I gave Ken the phone number and told him to call on Monday (today) to add his name to the list of plaintiffs.

Later I talked to my daughter, Shauna. Shauna is set to graduate law school May 1st. I told her what happened. Yesterday Shauna called me and said she found out that John P. Slawinski is currently incarcerated and a hearing is set for the end of April. She said she would follow up with the California Department of Insurance to make sure Ken’s claim is properly filed.

It makes me sick to think of scammers preying on seniors and stealing their life savings. Hopefully this guy has some assets that can be seized and liquidated to provide some restitution to his victims.

Last evening, Donna and I went out for Italian food. We wanted to go to our favorite – Roma Cafe Ristorante in the Sun Valley Plaza on Main Street, but discovered that they’re closed on Sunday. So we went to Alessia’s Ristorante Italiano on Higley and Brown Road. We dined al fresco. Donna ordered the Che Calamari plate and I had Strangola. We both opted for cappellini as the pasta. The Che Calamari is calamari sauteed with fresh tomatoes, garlic and basil marinara. The Strangola is homemade sausage sauteed with onions and button mushrooms with parmesan in a chicken broth-based sauce. We both thought the food was excellent and the service was fine, but it doesn’t top Roma Cafe. We’ll try to have dinner there before we leave Mesa.

The rain in the weekend forecast didn’t arrive until we had a few smatterings after 7am this morning. It’s overcast and blustery out. Now the weather guessers say we should expect heavy rain around noon and it will continue into the night, with clear weather returning tomorrow.

Hiking and Sightseeing

Donna and I hit the pickleball courts in the morning again on Thursday. We joined others on the court and played four or five games. I’m becoming obsessed with the game. Our goal is to play at least three times a week.

Here at Orangewood Shadows RV Resort, our monthly rate doesn’t include electricity. The electricity is metered and billed separately. Thursday was the end of our first month here and the maintenance guy came by to read our meter. When we first set up in site 22, I took a picture of the electric meter. On Thursday, I shot another photo after the maintenance guy read the meter. I think this is a good idea, I had a problem with our bill at another park in the past and I’ve heard others complain that they think they were overcharged. With photos of the meter, you can open the photo properties and the meta data will show the date and time the photo was taken.

Our electric meter on the 12th. I’ll take another photo when we check out.

I spent the rest of the day puttering around. I started reading a Tony Hillerman novel. He’s written a large series of novels set in the Navajo country of northern Arizona, western New Mexico and southern Utah. They’re fun mystery stories that are easy to read and entertaining.

Friday was more of the same. I went to play pickleball, but Donna passed this time. I played hard for an hour and a half. One of the things I noticed is that the more experienced players are more relaxed and don’t work nearly as hard as I do. They rely on experience to be in the proper position most of the time while I’m constantly on the move chasing the ball. I’ll get this! I just need to keep at it and learn to anticipate my opponents’ moves. I finished reading The First Eagle by Tony Hillerman in the afternoon. My legs and hips were sore from playing pickleball three days in a row.

On Friday evening, I grilled chicken breasts. I haven’t made brick-grilled chicken in a long time. I think the last time was in San Diego, October 2013. It’s a great way to grill chicken breasts – I wrote about it in this post.

Turning the chicken breasts – the bricks will go back on top

Donna served it with lemon and herb butter, baked yam slices and asparagus.

Brick grilled chicken with baked yams and asparagus

Brick-grilled chicken with baked yam and asparagus

I mentioned in my last post that our friends, Brett Miller and his wife Cheri Alguire, are staying at an RV park near us. Yesterday morning, they swung by our place at 8:30am and picked us up in their Ford F350 Super Duty crew cab pickup truck. We drove to Usery Regional Park and paid the $6 daily use fee. Our intention was to hike up the Wind Cave trail.

Brett, Donna and Cheri at the trailhead

Although the trail is just over one and a half miles long, it’s challenging as it climbs over 800 feet in elevation up Pass Mountain. Most of the elevation gain comes in a steep section about two-thirds of the way up.

Lichen-covered cliffs on Pass Mountain

As we climbed up the trail, I began suffering from pollen allergies. I’ve been taking daily doses of local honey as an immunotherapy, but it was no match for the blooming brittlebush on the mountain.

Look closely – you’ll see a bee collecting pollen from the brittlebush flower

My eyes were burning and watering while my throat dried out. My sinuses were clogging and I had to breathe through my mouth. About ten minutes from the top, I called it good. Donna, Cheri and Brett continued up. I made my way slowly back down the mountain. I stopped several times to enjoy the view. I expected them to catch up with me near the trailhead, which they did.

Wind erosion on a cliff by the Wind Cave trail

View to the south from the Wind Cave trail – you can barely make out the cars in the parking lot below by the first hill

We left Usery Regional Park and did some sightseeing. We directed Brett and Cheri to Saguaro Lake where we stopped for ice cream. Then we backtracked on Bush Highway to Phon D Sutton recreational area. We boondocked there last year. I wrote several posts about the place, beginning with this one. The header photo for our blog was shot by Mark Fagan at Phon D Sutton with Red Mountain the background. The first parking area at Phon D Sutton was packed with RVs, including two Alpine Coaches. The back lot had more available space although it was more crowded than last year. We stopped and chatted with the owner of one of the Alpine Coaches. He was there with the same singles group that showed up last year. That’s why the first lot was so full – they had about 40 rigs in their group.

From there, we drove over to Singh Farms on Thomas Road in East Scottsdale. Singh Farms is an operational farm that has a market on Saturday from 9am to 2pm. They have groomed trails through the farm and garden areas. It’s a cool place and you can get the freshest produce around as well as fresh-baked breads, goat cheese, and a variety of jams and preserves. They also sell compost. Donna purchased a chia seed pudding with pineapple, cardamon and coconut.

Brett, Donna and Cheri at the entrance to Singh Farms

We thought about having lunch there, but decided to go to a restaurant. We found Baja Joe’s at McKellips and Gilbert Road. I enjoyed a margarita while Donna, Cheri and Brett had Pacifico beer with their entrees. We sat out on the patio. It was warmer than I expected even though we sat in the shade. The food was good – I’d go back there again.

We ended an excellent day by grilling lobster tails that Donna found at Sprouts Market.

Grilled lobster tail

Greasewood Flats

Donna was up early yesterday. She had a table at the Orangewood Shadows RV Resort Country Store. The Country Store is a Saturday morning swap meet for the residents of the RV park. Donna had a table with some of her books. I stopped in for a plate of biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

After breakfast, I posted to the blog, then dumped and flushed our holding tanks. Before I knew it, it was noon and Donna had returned from the Country Store.

A few days ago, I wrote about meeting Mike and Kim at Lucky Lou’s. They’re in the process of selling their house and hitting the road in a fifth-wheel RV. One of the things they mentioned to me was fact they would be leaving their friends behind. They asked me how we cope with it.

We never looked at it as leaving our friends behind. We knew we’d be back for a visit. The cool thing is that we get to see friends all over the country that we may not have had a chance to see in previous years. We have also made many new friends in the RV community. It’s amazing how we cross paths with people we’ve met in our travels.

We took advantage of the rental car by driving up to Greasewood Flats in the DC Ranch area of Scottsdale. This area was originally settled around 1900 and was a large cattle ranch. The owner of the cattle ranch, E. O. Brown, used the DC brand on his cattle. The ranch eventually encompassed 43,000 acres. Thus the name DC Ranch.

Greasewood Flats was originally an old bunkhouse on DC Ranch. Around 1955, Doc Cavalliere bought 45 acres of land around the bunkhouse. He developed it into a hideaway to take retreats from downtown Scottsdale. Over the years, it was known by various names – it was called Pinnacle Peak Patio, then Reata Pass before becoming Greasewood Flats (the name was derived from all of the greasewood bushes on this flat area of desert). It’s one of the last rustic cowboy haunts in Scottsdale.

We went there to meet up with our friends, Bob and Sini. We first met them when we were neighbors at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego last year. Since then, we’ve kept track of their travels through Europe on their Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Then they drove their motorhome from Edmonds, Washington to Florida. They’ve crossed the south and are now parked west of Cave Creek. Greasewood Flats was a great place for us to meet up as it’s about halfway between their current site and ours.

Sini, Bob and Donna at Greasewood Flats

We arrived late. Road construction had the ramp from Gilbert Road to the Loop 202 closed. We had to take a zig-zag detour route that put us about a half hour behind schedule. We eventually got there and saw Bob’s vintage Chevy K5 Blazer in the parking lot. We found them seated at a table near the outdoor dance floor.

We caught up with each other and dined on green chili cheese burgers at the table. A musician was playing on the bandstand and a couple of people hit the dance floor. It was a little hot for dancing if you ask me.

Bandstand at Greasewood Flats

After lunch, we took a walking tour of the area. The place is packed with old ranch implements, mining equipment and even an old 50-caliber quad anti-aircraft gun. There’s a corral in back with horses and burros.

Cafe and bar at Greasewood Flats

Old tractor with two PTOs

Fire tanker next to wood chopping area

The area around Greasewood Flats has grown into an affluent residential development. This will be the end of Greasewood Flats. They will be closing down in a couple of months and the land will be developed into more housing. Progress kills another cool hangout.

We followed Bob and Sini to the small community of Cave Creek. We parked in the old downtown area and walked through the shops looking at all of the tourist trinkets and also looked at antique furniture. We stopped at the Rare Earth gallery and looked at gem stones, petrified wood and huge rock art displays. The rock garden in the back featured a huge rock crystal that was split in half and serves as a pair of tables with a glass table top. It’s yours for the bargain price of $175,000!

Rock tables – $175,000 price tag

After walking and shopping for a few miles, we stopped for liquid refreshment (coffee and espresso for everyone but me – I had a beer). Then we drove to the outskirts of town and had dinner at Harold’s Cave Creek Corral. This is a western-themed restaurant and saloon featuring barbeque meats. I had the half rack of babyback ribs. Donna had tilapia poached in salsa. Bob and Sini split a huge barbeque combination plate. It was a lot of food and we had leftovers to bring home.

Half-rack of babyback ribs

As it turns out, we’ll be meeting up down the road again. Bob and Sini should be at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego when we arrive there in April.

Taking Care of Batteries

Yesterday, Donna drove to Phoenix around 10:30am. She went to the National Bank of Arizona Conference Center where the Phoenix Chapter of the American Marketing Association holds their monthly meetings. Donna did a presentation on “Organizing Yourself for Success” for about 55 attendees. She’s had this event on her calendar for about 10 months.

While she was away, I decided to tackle a job I’ve been putting off. It was a warm and relatively windless day, perfect for cleaning the battery banks and compartment. We have two banks of batteries in our coach.

One bank is made up of two 12-volt batteries connected in parallel. The output voltage of batteries connected in parallel doesn’t change; (i.e., two 12-volt batteries in parallel produce 12 volts). However, the available amperage is equal to the sum of the two batteries. These 12-volt batteries in our coach are sealed, maintenance-free lead/acid batteries. They’re used for starting the engine and also power some of the instruments in the dash panel. These batteries are designed to provide a high current for a short period of time, such as the demand of a starter motor.

The other battery bank in our coach is made up of four 6-volt deep-cycle batteries. The battery wiring on this bank is a little more complicated. Two pairs of batteries are wired in series. Wiring them together in series increases the voltage output – two 6-volt batteries in series produce 12 volts. The current capacity (amperage) doesn’t change. In effect, two 6-volt batteries are wired together to create a large 12-volt battery. The two pairs of batteries are then connected together in parallel to create a larger 12-volt battery with a high-amperage capacity.

These batteries are designed to handle smaller loads for longer periods of time. They can be discharged to less than 50% capacity without harm. These batteries are typically used in golf carts or small forklifts. Our coach uses this battery bank to meet the household 12-volt needs (lights, vent fans, etc.) and also power the inverter which can provide 120-volt alternating current for most of the household appliances and other items plugged into the electrical outlets. These batteries are lead/acid type and require the electrolyte level to be monitored and topped up periodically with distilled water.

The charging cycle on the deep-cycle 6-volt batteries can produce hydrogen gas due to electrolysis of the water in the electrolyte, causing some of the water to evaporate from the cells. This gassing of the battery also leaves residue on the battery case and compartment. Dust, dirt and other road grime clings to this residue. It’s not only unsightly, it can be corrosive. Our batteries are charged by the inverter/converter whenever we are hooked up to an electrical power outlet or our generator is running.

I haven’t had to add much water to our batteries, but it doesn’t take much gassing to create a mess. I haven’t cleaned the batteries and compartment in the last 12 months and 6,000 miles, which is when we bought this coach and had all new batteries. They were overdue for cleaning. I used baking soda and water. The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) created a base solution to neutralize the battery acid residue.

Battery clean up - baking soda, water brush and cloth

Battery clean-up kit – baking soda, water, brush and cloth

A little elbow grease with a brush and cloth cleaned the batteries and compartment.

Dirty battery banks

Battery banks after cleaning

I need to add a coating to the terminals and metal tray to prevent corrosion, but the compartment is looking good now.

While I was at it, I washed our cargo trailer. I thought it was a good time to do it since it wasn’t windy. Unfortunately, there was just enough wind to carry overspray from the trailer onto our coach and our neighbor’s rig. I washed carefully, but couldn’t avoid overspray. I ended up wiping down our coach and our neighbor’s rig with microfiber cloths to prevent water spots.

After Donna returned from her speaking engagement, we drove over to the Cactus Grill at the Mesa Regal RV Park. A happy hour meet-up of RVillage members was scheduled there from 3pm to 6pm. We arrived a little before 4pm. The place was packed! It was much larger than we imagined and all of the outdoor tables were filled. It was standing room only. We searched around and asked a couple of servers if they knew where the RVillage group was located. No luck. We gave up and drove over to Lucky Lou’s where we had drinks and dinner with Leendert, Pat, Stan, Jackie, Mike and Jodi. It was good time.

Today we have cloudy skies. The temperature should reach the mid 70s. Tonight, rain is supposed to move into the area. Donna is speaking and doing a book signing at Changing Hands book store in Phoenix this evening. She’s also meeting some colleagues for an early dinner prior to the signing. It might be a good day for a bike ride.

Flank Steak

The sun was hidden behind a heavy overcast Monday afternoon. It wasn’t raining, but it was threatening to rain at any moment. Around 2:30pm, Donna took an Uber ride to a hotel on South Power Road, about 10 miles from here.

She checked into the hotel so she could do interviews with radio stations from coast to coast via telephone. She’s promoting her new book, Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness. She had six hours scheduled with radio stations and needed a landline to avoid dropped calls or dead batteries. On Tuesday, her day started before the sun came up.

It rained overnight and we had a few showers Tuesday morning. By 11am, it cleared up as the clouds scuttled off to the east.

I rode the scooter over to Rubio’s Grill on the corner of Baseline and Power Road. The hotel shuttle dropped Donna off there at 12:30pm and we met for lunch. After enjoying our lunch out on the patio, we scootered a couple of miles west to the Hertz rental car agency.

Donna picked up a car so she can drive to Phoenix for a speaking engagement at a meeting of the Phoenix Chapter of the American Marketing Association. She’ll keep the car until this weekend as she has more speaking events this week.

I have a few chores to catch up on while she’s out today. Later, we’re planning to go over to the Mesa Regal RV Park for a happy hour with fellow RVillage members. Our friends that we met in San Diego, John and Sharon, are at the Sun Life RV Resort next to Mesa Regal. We hope to catch up with them at the happy hour today.

Yesterday, I picked up a pound and half of flank steak at Midwestern Meats. This market was recommended by several people for their superior cuts of meat. Donna had a recipe for Brazilian Steak that called for skirt steak or flank steak. It seems to me that flank steak was a cheaper cut of meat when I was young. It was often served as London Broil. Nowadays, with the popularity of fajitas, stir-fries and such, flank steak commands a high price. It can be a tough cut of meat, so it’s best cooked very hot and seared to rare or medium rare and sliced across the grain.

She served it over organic spinach with heirloom cherry tomatoes a garlicky butter sauce. It was delicious and the leftover steak will be nice on a salad.

Brazilian Steak

The Monastery

Donna has had a number of projects tying her to her computer lately. While she worked on Friday, I attended a fun event. My friend, Leendert Hartoog is retiring from Boeing after 30 years of service next month.

Boeing is downsizing their helicopter division here in Mesa, Arizona. They’ve offered early retirement packages to a number of employees. These retirements will take place in January, February and March of this year. The soon-to-be retirees organized a get-together on Friday afternoon for the guys leaving and a number of previously retired colleagues also attended. Leendert invited me to join them at The Monastery at Falcon Field at 3pm.

The Monastery is a unique place. They have an indoor restaurant/bar and an outdoor one. You can order food off the menu or grill it yourself outdoors! The property includes a large outdoor barbeque area with a sand volleyball court. While we were there, a group of college-age kids were playing volleyball and enjoying beer in the sun.

Sand volleyball court at The Monastery

We sat at a table with Patrick, another Boeing employee and one of the Red, White and Brew regulars. Patrick didn’t get a retirement package and plans to work for another five years. We enjoyed good local draft beer and I heard stories of “the old days” at Boeing. It sounded a lot like some of the experiences I had in the corporate world at Volkswagen of America.

Leendert on the left with the Boeing group

Friday night, Donna prepared a cast iron pan-seared garlicky flank steak served over bok choy and carrots. I really like bok choy, especially when it retains a bit of crunch after cooking. The flank steak was prepared with a quick marinade and a pan sauce made with the steak drippings, beef broth and soy sauce. Very tasty! We enjoyed leftover steak on a salad the next day.

Garlicky beef with bok choy

We had clear, blue skies and temperatures in the mid to upper 70s on Saturday, but it was windy. The wind was from the northeast at 10-15mph with gusts over 20mph. We scrapped bicycling plans and spent most of the day as homebodies. Donna spent the day catching up on work after taking a few days off this week – she did a 7.4-mile hike with a group of park residents on Tuesday morning and we were out most of the day on Wednesday.

While she worked, I dumped and flushed our tanks and did a little clean-up. I relocated our hummingbird feeder to the bedroom window on the passenger side. It was at the left front of the coach, but I think there was too much activity in that area from our neighbors, keeping the hummingbirds away. We’ll see if they come to the feeder now.

After lunch, we went for a walk around the park and stopped at the pickleball courts. The courts were empty. Donna and I found paddles in the equipment box and a ball and knocked the ball back and forth for a while. We think pickleball might be fun. We signed up for lessons next Friday.

Last night, Donna prepared flax and almond crusted chicken. She pounded the chicken breasts before spreading a thick marinade of almond butter, olive oil, and spices over the breasts. After resting for 30 minutes, she patted the mixture of ground flax seed and almond meal over both sides of the chicken breasts then baked them. Another great recipe – and more leftovers for salad today!

Flax and almond crusted chicken

The weather guessers are calling for fine weather today with a high of 80 degrees. We might head over to the Mesa Marketplace – it’s a big outdoor flea market in east Mesa that’s open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Restaurants

Lizards, Rabbits and Visitors

The Great House

Back in the Game

Jetpack Blow Up

Ponzi Scheme Crook

Hiking and Sightseeing

Greasewood Flats

Taking Care of Batteries

Flank Steak

The Monastery

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