Category Archives: Restaurants

Holiday Thieves

Another week has flown by here at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego. I’ve been in a regular routine, visiting with friends for a happy hour cold one at Dan Diego’s or Offshore Tavern and Grill on Monday and Thursday or Tuesday and Friday respectively. We’ve been playing pickleball at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center on Monday, Wednesday and sometimes on Friday.

One habit I’ve fallen into is the Tuesday Taco Special at Offshore Tavern and Grill. They have large, tasty tacos during happy for $3.00 on Tuesday and they are the best. One thing I discovered there is Curt’s hot sauce – made right here in San Diego.

The label says Extra Extra Hot, but it’s not really all that hot – it is very flavorful and I love it.

One of my pals I often have a cold one with is Bob Babich. Bob was an NFL Football player – he was the 18th player drafted in the first round in 1969. He played with the San Diego Chargers for three years then, in 1973, he was traded to the Cleveland Browns for a first and second round draft choice. He played in Cleveland until 1978.

One of the bartenders at Dan Diego’s is Mike Fulton – brother of chef and part owner, Ryan Fulton. Mike found and ordered a Babich number 60 Cleveland Browns jersey. I’m not sure if the color and layout is period correct, but it was nice touch and Bob was really surprised to see Mike behind the bar with it.

Donna’s been faithfully practicing with her clarinet and going through the break-in process with her new wood Leblanc clarinet. I ordered a variety of reeds for her and I’m learning how to adjust and balance the reeds. Clarinet and saxophone players all have a love/hate relationship with their reeds.

I adjust the reeds by carefully scraping the reed to balance both sides. I use a new, razor sharp utility knife blade to do this. On Wednesday, I was pulling a new blade from the dispenser and it was stuck. I gave it a good yank and it suddenly popped free. I swiped it right across my left index finger. Dumb! It made a clean, deep cut. We were off to the Pacific Wellness & Urgent Care Center.

Doctor Moore at the center fixed me up with three stitches. The worst of it was when he numbed my finger tip with injections into the cut. Finger tips are very sensitive!

We had really nice weather on Thursday and Friday. Donna had friends over for dinner Friday evening and rented a fire pit for the occasion. Sini, Mona and Sharon Hinton joined her. John Hinton also came down for awhile. On Friday afternoon, Donna picked up her race packet for the San Diego Santa Run on Saturday. The race packet included a “sunny Santa” costume.

I’m making a Christmas wish on Santa’s lap

The San Diego Santa Run is a 5K fun run in Pacific Beach held the morning before the Christmas parade. Donna rode her bike to the starting area near Garnet and Cass Street. She found our friend, Brooke, there along with about 4,000 other Santa’s.

Donna heading out to the San Diego Santa Run

She had fun and found out that Cass Street is actually uphill as you head north. Not so much that you think about it in a car, but you can feel the incline when running it!

A few nights ago, Donna made a dish that we haven’t had in a long time. It was spiced pork tenderloin with maple-chipotle sauce. I don’t know why we haven’t had it in while, it’s a real goody.

Last evening, I finally caught a nice sunset over the bay. With all the rain we had lately, I haven’t seen many sunsets.

This morning, it was cold in the coach. We don’t like to sleep with heaters – we’d rather put a down comforter or extra blanket on the bed. This morning was coldest of the year – 52 degrees in the coach. We decided to go out for breakfast. One of our favorites we’d discovered in Maui is a Hawaiian breakfast dish called loco moco. Loco moco is rice topped with a hamburger patty, fried eggs and brown gravy. We found it here in San Diego at Leilani’s in Pacific Beach a few years ago. We went for it this morning. I had the Hilo style with spicy fried rice.

When we came back home after breakfast, Donna made a grim discovery. A thief had cut the lock off our bikes and stole them! They were locked to the picnic table and covered with a plastic tarp. Either during the night or while we were at breakfast, the thief struck. They must have cased it out – they had to know what was under the tarp and how to steal it. It looks like they used bolt cutters to defeat the Kryptonite brand cable lock. I can see now how poorly made this cable lock is. Neither of us can say for sure if the bikes were gone when we left for breakfast or not. The thieves took Donna’s new Trek Dual Sport and my Specialized Crave 29er mountain bike.

I’ve been asked if we’ve noticed much difference here since Campland took over managing the property. The biggest thing that stands out is the lax security. Before, anyone entering the park without a vehicle tag was stopped and had to surrender their driver’s license at the security shack for the duration of their visit. Now, anyone can just drive right in, no questions asked. Also, parking enforcement is almost non-existent. Rules are meaningless.

Campland was granted an $8.1 million lease credit to complete the clean up of the old manufactured homes surrounding the RV park. Final demolition and clean up was slated to begin in October. To date we’ve seen little or no activity. It must be nice to manage the park with no lease payments – cash flow is positive for sure!

After a few days with temperatures reaching about 70 degrees, it looks like we’re in for a couple of cooler days in the low 60s before it warms up again over the weekend.

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

Yellow Submarine

Most of the fisherman in our section of the Newport Marina RV Park left for a few days this week. They went home in their trucks but left their fifth-wheel trailers, gear and boats here. Although they pay for six months of RV site and dockage, I guess they have to go home and take care of things from time to time. They’re a very friendly group of guys with a great sense of humor as evidenced by the trailer one of them has set up to vacuum seal and freeze fish filets.

I expect we’ll see the guys this afternoon. Donna made zucchini nut muffins for them yesterday morning.

Tuesday we drove a short distance to the Hatfield Marine Science Center. It’s a research center operated by Oregon State University and various fish and wildlife agencies. It’s an interactive museum of sorts with most of the interactive displays designed to be educational for children. Admittance is free – $5 donation suggested – and it was a worthwhile visit.

A yellow submarine is on display in front of the center. It’s a 4,000-pound, two-man submarine that can dive up to 350 feet and stay submerged for up to four hours. This electric-powered sub was used in 1985 to search for the steamship SS Governor which sunk near Port Townsend, Washington in 1921. It was able to locate it and provide video footage.

We left the Hatfield Marine Science Center and took a drive down Ferry Slip Road to the Wolf Tree Brewery Taproom. We looked for it once before and missed it. Donna found it on one of her walks and I needed to wet my whistle. It’s in a new building off the beaten path a bit at Wilder Corner. They had a nice amber ale that I enjoyed.

We took a side trip through Aquarium Village to have a look around and found it to be sleepy with a few small businesses and a cafe. I thought there would be more to it.

Wednesday morning we woke up to wet surroundings. It wasn’t really raining, but a heavy mist was in the air and moisture collected on the coach, the covered Midget and on the ground. By late morning, it had burned off and the sun came out, drying everything. We walked about three quarters of a mile south to the South Beach Fish Market right on the west side of US101. This is a small market and cafe – it was highly recommended for fresh seafood and great chowder by the guys in the RV park.

We’ve noticed the place looked busy every time we passed by. Tuesday was no exception. We got there a little past noon and there was a line waiting to get to the counter inside to order food.

The line to the counter runs all the way out the door

There was a cook shack outside where a guy was boiling crabs. Inside, behind the fresh fish case, they take orders at the counter. A guy was working a fryer non-stop trying to keep up with the volume of orders. We stood in line for about 15 minutes. I ordered the fish and chips – made with the catch of the day – ling cod – and a cup of chowder. Donna had the fish sandwich, also made with the catch of the day. All of the fish was very fresh.

We waited another 15 or 20 minutes before our order came up. They had tables inside as well as several outdoor picnic tables. We decided to dine al fresco at one of the roadside tables. The fish and the chowder were both excellent – far better than what we had in Depoe Bay. The ling cod was obviously fresh and lightly battered. Donna discarded the bread from her sandwich and had a tasty fish filet. It was worth the wait.

Last night we had another seafood dish. Our neighbor, Les, gave us filets of smoked salmon and smoked steelhead – a little over half a pound of each. Donna made a pasta salad with garbanzo bean rotini and grilled peppers, onions and zucchini, then added chunks of the smoked fish along with capers and a ginger white balsamic vinegar. Tasty!

Pasta salad with smoked salmon and steelhead

All of the rich seafood I’ve been eating is starting to get to me. I feel a little bloated and need to watch what I eat in the new few days.

Today looks like another partly cloudy day with the temperature reaching the upper 60s. We need to run a couple of errands and buy some groceries this afternoon. I’ll pack the grill and chairs and prep for travel. I’m hoping it’s not too misty tomorrow morning. I’ll hook up the trailer, load the Midget and we’ll continue south on US101. Tomorrow’s destination is another small coastal Oregon town – Florence – about 50 miles from here. We have a reservation at the Elk’s campground north of town – 50 amp service and fresh water but no sewer hook-up.

UPDATE – Wow, did I ever screw up. Right after I saved the draft of the post above, a few minutes before 11am, the camp host stopped by and asked Donna what time we were pulling out. Wait, what? Donna said we would be out Friday morning. He said his list shows us leaving today. I checked my receipt and calendar – sure enough, we were due to leave today, Thursday. Check out time is noon.

I called the office to see if we could extend a day – no go. The site was already booked. This is the first time I’d ever made a mistake on a check-out date. We quickly packed up and pulled out of the site at 11:55am. It took another 20 minutes to load and secure the Midget and we were on our way. Like most of US101 along the coast, the drive was scenic. The road gets twistier once we were south of Seal Rock. Many of the curves have 30mph speed advisories.

We arrived at the Florence Elks RV park about four miles north of town at 1:30pm. We were directed into a site in what they call their overflow meadow. It’s in a sandy clearing in a forest of cedar and other conifers. The sites are only roughly delineated and we have more than enough room for the coach without dropping the trailer and can park the Midget alongside. We also have 50amp electrical service and fresh water, no sewer hook up. Our Verizon signal is fairly good and the Dish satellite has good reception. We’re booked here for a week but we may be able to extend.

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

Across the Columbia

Sunday was our last full day in South Bend. We rode our bikes across town at mid-day and found Linda’s Fish and Chips on the east end of town. It’s a popular spot and has a large parking area that can accommodate RVs. It’s just a food trailer, but the food is good and the property is nice with a large lawn area and several picnic tables with umbrellas. The view downriver from the lot is nice. We stopped for lunch and ate at one of the tables.

From there we rode across the lot to the bike path to Raymond. The bike path is mostly paved, but there are several short unpaved sections. Donna is loving her Trek Dual Sport 2 – it handles the dirt sections almost as well as my mountain bike. Her bike is faster than mine on the pavement though.

About halfway between South Bend and Raymond, we found a small RV park right on the river. It had about a dozen sites and was next door to a boat shop specializing in catamarans. They had two very large catamarans on the lot – I wonder how they launch these behemoths. They looked like you could easily live aboard and cruise the ocean. I could get used to that!

We stopped at the grocery store in Raymond and Donna bought cereal and bananas before we rode back. We were within a quarter-mile of our coach when my front tire went flat. I must have picked up a blackberry thorn. This close to the trailer I didn’t mess with it on the side of the road, I just walked it back.

Sunday evening, I watched the Moto GP race – it turned out to be one of the least exciting races of the season. I had most of our things packed in the trailer – I only left Donna’s bike and our camp chairs out to pack in the morning. Donna wanted to ride her bike to the market in the morning. Our new set-up in the trailer is working well, but I have a few items I’d like to find a better place to store. This photo illustrates why I wanted such a small car. Midget-San is small enough for me to open the driver’s door and exit without any trouble once it’s inside the trailer. I keep a car cover on it in case anything gets loose in the trailer.

We were on the road again by 10:30am Monday morning. As we headed toward Bruceport on US101, I was behind a few cars that were traveling about 50mph. I kept a distance of about 100 – 150 feet behind the car in front of me and matched their speed. Behind us was a tractor trailer rig. Apparently the truck driver couldn’t see the traffic in front of me and decided he needed to get past me. When I noticed him swinging out to the oncoming lane to pass, I was shocked. There was a downhill curve ahead and he wasn’t going to get past me before we hit it. I braked to 40mph so he could overtake us and get back into our lane. For the next 20 miles he was about 150 feet ahead of us. His dangerous maneuver netted him a two-second advantage.

We cut south on WA4 and WA401 to the mouth of the Columbia River where we rejoined US101 and crossed the bridge to Astoria, Oregon. We had planned a stop there to pick up beer at the Safeway store – I had scoped out the parking situation on Google. We also wanted to walk on the Astoria Riverwalk.

Our timing was impeccable. They were repainting traffic lines on Highway 30 through Astoria and traffic crawled through town. We could have walked the three miles to the store faster than driving there, but that wasn’t an option.

We parked behind the Safeway store by an abandoned building. A travel trailer was directly in front of the building, so we were partially blocking a driveway. The driveway had a cable locked to posts in front blocking access, so I didn’t worry about it.

The Astoria Riverwalk is a paved multi-use trail along the Columbia River. On the south side of the trail, there are a number of office buildings interspersed among townhomes and condos. It’s gentrified and appears upscale.

I think this was a cannery – abandoned now

There were eight cargo ships we could see moored in the Columbia. Most of the cargo ships entering and exiting the river are bringing cargo to Portland from other West Coast ports or the Far East.

With few exceptions, ships entering the Columbia River are required to have a licensed pilot guide it through the treacherous Columbia River Bar. Pilots from Astoria take control of the ships and navigate past the bar. Then a licensed Columbia River pilot takes over for the remainder of the cruise to Portland.

When we got back to the coach, someone had unlocked the cable and managed to drive around us. I felt bad about us blocking it. Donna talked to the guy and he was alright with it though.

From Astoria, we continued south on US101 – it’s a scenic drive down the Oregon Coast. We checked in at Cannon Beach RV Resort around 1:30pm. They have a bit of a branding issue here – in some cases, the RV park is called Cannon Beach RV Resort, other times it’s called the RV Resort at Cannon Beach. In fact, their campsite map and information flyer has both names on it!

We dropped the trailer near the entrance. We decided to leave Midget-San in the trailer. We can ride our bikes to anywhere in town or up to the state park if we want. We have a full hook-up, 42-foot back-in site. It’s paved with a nice lawn area and the park is surrounded by mature trees.

I set up and immediately dumped and flushed our black tank. Over the last two months, I only got to dump it twice and both times, I couldn’t use the flushing system. With that done, Donna told me she was going to try the Dish satellite network. I thought “Good luck with that” as I eyed the trees. Five minutes later, she had satellite reception! The park wifi was also very good – at least at first it was. Verizon signal is not good here.

In the evening, when more users were on the park wifi, it totally bogged down. It was even worse first thing this morning. I’m typing this post on Word Pad, then hopefully I can successfully transfer it to WordPress for publication. I probably won’t try to post again until we move on to a better signal.

We’ll explore on our bikes today – I fixed my flat tire this morning. We’ll have another full day tomorrow before we continue south. This park is a little pricier than we usually like to pay, but that’s the coast in season. When we left Arlington, our first night at Cabela’s was free. Then we had three nights at South Bend for $10/night. So we averaged $7.50/night for the first four nights. Three nights here came to $165 with tax, bringing our total to $195 for a week. That’s an average of $27.85/night. Mixing it up like this keeps costs low. Thursday night we’ll boondock before we hit Newport and another pricey place.

The weather here is much cooler with highs in the 60s. The mornings are cloudy with a marine layer that’s expected to burn off in the afternoons.

Vintage Trailers and Cars

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

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

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

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

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

Beautiful truck and trailer from the ’50s

You could find something like this in every suburban neighborhood in the ’60s

Spartan Aircraft Company Royal Spartanette

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

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

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

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

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

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

A guy I knew named Jan Boyd once owned this car in Darrington – big supercharger

The rear license plate folds up to show off the chrome

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

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

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

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

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

Remember the mid-engined truck at Burger King? This is what it was originally like

Fully restored 1950s MGA – it even has the original tool kit and oilers

MGB with a supercharged 215ci aluminum block Buick V8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alternate Routes Through Portland and Seattle

We were up early on Friday morning and hit the road with what had to be our earliest departure ever. We were on the road by 7:30am. I’d snagged an appointment for a chassis alignment on the coach at Brazel’s RV Performance Center in Centralia, Washington. I thought I could make the drive in four and half hours, but you never know what you might encounter driving through Portland.

I decided to take the long way around on I-205 rather than going straight through downtown Portland in I-5. This turned out to be a good decision as we only had a couple of slow-downs and no drama. We made good time and I had enough time to spare for a lunch stop in Chehalis. I went to the Subway sandwich shop while Donna fixed a salad for herself. We arrived at Brazel’s at 12:30pm and dropped the trailer in a pull-through site in their RV customer lot. This lot has full hook-ups for about a dozen and a half rigs. They took the coach into the shop right at 1pm.

The alignment job was a comprehensive chassis alignment that began with weighing the four corner wheel weight of the coach. They adjusted the ride height, checked rear alignment and thrust – no issues there – and front wheel camber, caster and toe. The front toe needed to be reset. Meanwhile, Donna used their 5G wifi to get some work done in the customer lounge area. With the work completed, we rolled out of Centralia at 4:30pm.

We got lucky and kept the wheels turning through Olympia with only a couple of slow-downs. The traffic came to a standstill just past the Martin Way exit where we left I-5. Our destination was the Cabela’s store in Lacey. We pulled into their lot around 5:30pm and called it a day. We’ve stayed at this Cabela’s before. It’s a quiet, out-of-the-way stop and good for a one-night layover.

Parked for the night at the west end of the Lacey Cabela’s

I’d planned on using the Cabela’s dump station but found they had removed it! Where the old dump station was located, they had poured concrete over the dump station hook-up. I don’t know what prompted that.

Donna made a favorite for dinner – pork tenderloin medallions with a dijon sauce, sweet potato mash and steamed asparagus.

The sun doesn’t set until well after 9pm this far north at this time of year. Consequently, we stayed up later than usual watching TV. Saturday morning we didn’t get rolling again until 10am. Once again, I opted to go the long way around and took I-405 instead of following I-5 through Seattle. I’m not sure how much it helped – traffic was terrible through Tacoma before we even got to I-405. Then we had a number of slow-downs and and full stops along the way. Once we got through and rejoined I-5 in Lynnwood, the slow downs continued. I-5 through Everett is poorly designed with traffic joining the Interstate right where lane closures or exit only lanes appear. It didn’t matter that it was mid-day on a Saturday – traffic came to a halt several times.

We stopped at the Smokey Point rest area at mile post 207 and used the free dump station there. They have three lanes for RV dump stations and we didn’t have to wait. From there, we continued north to Mount Vernon where I dropped off the Spyder. The shop there had a backlog of work, so it may be two weeks before they get to work on the Spyder. It was our best option though.

Now we’re parked in my daughter, Alana’s, driveway in Arlington, Washington. Her driveway is long enough to back in our 65-foot length of coach and trailer and set up for a couple of weeks of mooch-docking. Getting the coach and trailer lined up on the narrow residential street is a bit of a chore, but we got it done. I had us leveled and connected to the 50-amp electrical service I installed here a couple of years ago when I found out I couldn’t get Dish satellite reception. I had to pull the jacks up and move forward about three feet before the satellite antenna could lock in the signal. It’s all good now, but next time I’ll try to remember to check the satellite before I set everything up.

The weather has been outstanding. Mostly sunny skies with the high temperature reaching the mid-70s over the weekend and should be the same today. But, this is western Washington in June. Rain is forecast to reach the area overnight and we’ll have rain over the next few days.

Today is Alana’s birthday. We’ll be going out to celebrate over dinner at The Bonefish Grill tonight. Happy birthday, Alana!

Birthday Girls

We didn’t do anything exciting on Sunday. I watched a couple of races on TV and other than a trip to the grocery store, I had a lazy day. The day was cool – the high temperature was only 65 degrees – but it ended with a spectacular sunset.

Sunset at Rolling Hills RV park Sunday evening

Monday was Memorial Day. This is a day where we honor those who’ve given all in service to our country. Last year we went to a memorial service in Kentucky at the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This year we went to a service at Sunset Hills Cemetery in Corning. The service was hosted by the Tehama County Veterans and the local American Legion. Boy Scout and Cub Scout troops participated along with the Corning High School band. I was impressed by the band – they were quite good!

Huge flag flying from a firetruck ladder

Memorial Day is much more than beer and barbeque. Donna and I try to respect the meaning of the holiday.

Monday was also birthday girl day. It was Donna’s birthday and also my youngest daughter, Shauna’s, birthday. We celebrated with dinner at Timbers – the steakhouse in the Rolling Hills Casino. It’s probably the best restaurant in the area. Donna enjoyed a braised lamb shank while I went for the 14-ounce prime rib cut. We shared a nice bottle of sangiovese with dinner.

We were hanging out after dinner when Donna met a woman walking her dogs by our site. Her name was Carol and they hit it off. They had a glass of wine together and talked while I puffed a cigar. Carol has property she’s developing into a resort in Canby, Oregon. She invited us to stay at the property – we might take her up on it as we’re heading into Oregon soon.

Today I need to pick up some packages at the post office. I also need to organize the trailer. We’ll be pulling out of here tomorrow and plan to head up to Lake Shastina for a few days of boondocking on the lake.

We’ve had a few late afternoon showers along with a passing overnight shower or two. Today is forecast to be much warmer – mid-80s. The warmer temperatures should hold up for the rest of the week. Lake Shastina should be a few degrees cooler. We’re at an elevation of only around 250 feet above sea level here – Lake Shastina is close to 3,000 feet above sea level.

Spring Ahead

We had a great weekend. It started with the usual Friday happy hour at Lucky Lou’s but the highlight was Saturday’s lunch. Our friends, Jeff and Deb Spencer (Rolling Recess) organized a lunch for members of Xscapers. Xscapers is a sub-group of the Escapees RV Club. We aren’t really Xscapers – it’s geared more toward young, working full-time RVers. But, we are Escapees members and although I’m retired, we still feel young enough – most of the time!

The lunch meet-up was at the Monastery Bar and Grill adjacent to Falcon Field on McKellips Road in Mesa. The Monastery is a unique place. Although they call themselves a pub, it’s mostly an outdoor restaurant, bar and activity center. The menu has everything from nachos to steaks. They have a full-service kitchen and wait staff – but you can also order your steak, chicken or burger uncooked for about half-price and grill it yourself on grills they provide in the courtyard. They also have a huge beer selection.

The indoor seating area has limited space, but there’s a bar on the patio with a stage, tables and several outdoor seating areas. There are also two sand volleyball courts and bean bag cornhole games.

Outdoor sand volleyball court at The Monastery

The only people in attendance that we had met previously were Jeff and Deb. We had a good time meeting several new people in the RV community and we’re glad that Jeff and Deb organized this and invited us.

After the big lunch at The Monastery, Donna kept it simple for Saturday night dinner. Simple but delicious! She made an Asian chicken stir-fry that I loved. The sauce she whips up for it makes the dish – it includes soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, chopped fresh ginger and garlic.

Asian chicken, broccoli and mushroom stir-fry

We had another social event on Sunday. It was time for the annual Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort Pickleball Club meeting and banquet. There was a short club meeting in the ballroom at 4:30pm here at Viewpoint to discuss club business. We learned that the pickleball club now has over 500 members in good standing. They had door prizes and Donna won a free membership for next year – a $15 value.

The dinner was catered by Buca di Beppo restaurant and they served a great lasagna with dinner salad and bread. The serving line was very slow though as they only had two people staffing the cafeteria-style food service.

The rest of the country set their clocks forward over the weekend. In Arizona, we don’t do that. In the winter months, Arizona time is equivalent to Mountain Standard Time. When everyone else springs forward, Arizona doesn’t change their clocks, but now we’re the same as Pacific Daylight Time. Someone forgot to tell Verizon that. I have my phone set to automatically reset to the local time. On Mondays, I have an alarm set for 6:15 am so I can get up, have coffee and breakfast and be ready to hit the pickleball round-robin match at 8am. Yesterday I got up at the sound of my phone alarm and fixed coffee and breakfast. Donna came out and asked if I realized we were up an hour early. What! I checked my phone and sure enough – the clock had reset to Mountain Daylight Time. Grrr!

The weather was great last week – mostly in the 70s with clear to partly cloudy skies. That changed yesterday. Rain moved into the area and the temperature will only reach 60 degrees over the next couple of days. We expect rain showers to continue through tomorrow morning. By the weekend, the forecast improves with highs in the upper 70s to 80 degrees for the remainder of the month. That’s more like the weather we expect and love in this part of the country at this time of year. This has been and long, wet and relatively cold winter here.

Minimalist RV

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

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

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

Cargo trailer conversion

30 amp power connected at the rear

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

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

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

Scallops with roasted Brussel sprouts

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

Our Friendsgiving

We’re more than halfway through Thanksgiving weekend as I type this on Saturday afternoon. This was the first year since we hit the road that we didn’t have family members to share Thanksgiving with. But, we weren’t lonely. Our friends, Jeff and Deb Spencer, made the drive down from Dana Point where they are camp hosting at Doheny State Park. It rained early on Thursday morning but the sun came out and it was dry after 9am.

Donna grilled turkey breasts and a drumstick and thigh on the Weber Q. Deb brought down a salad plus asparagus and cherry tomatoes for roasting. Donna sauteed some corn with peppers and onions and made mashed Yukon gold potatoes and turkey gravy for Jeff and I – the mashed potatoes and gravy didn’t fit the Bright Line Eating Plan that both Donna and Deb are following.

Grilled turkey

Round one

Deb and Jeff arrived around 2pm and we soon had the outdoor picnic table set. I poured a Belgian golden ale to go with my turkey. In lieu of pies for dessert, Donna baked Bartlett pears with cinnamon and chopped walnuts, then served it with a drizzle of balsamic reduction sauce and blueberries with a dollop of Greek yogurt. Deb said it was as good as apple pie!

Belgian golden ale

We dined and talked for a few hours. Before sunset, we made a quick lap around the RV park to stretch our legs and have a look around. The park is nearly full – but not quite as full as it was over the last couple of years. We actually have an empty site next to us which is a pleasant surprise. Deb and Jeff hit the road for the drive back up north after sunset.

Jeff, Deb, Donna and me after sunset

My friend Gary Stemple sent me a text saying he was visiting people over in site 71 and invited us to stop by. We went over and sat outside by their fire pit and talked for a while and made plans to get together on Friday. Then Donna and I came back home to watch the end of the football game while I puffed a cigar.

Gary came over Friday at noon with a power boat that he beached outside of the park in De Anza Cove. We weren’t sure how many people were planning to go out on the boat – Gary, Donna and I planned to take a boat ride over to Paradise Point and have lunch at the Barefoot Bar. We thought others would be joining for a cruise after lunch.

Looking north from the boat as we cruised across the bay

Lunch at the Barefoot Bar started with Bloody Marys for all three of us. They make a great Bloody Mary and garnish it with wedges of lemon, lime, olives, celery and bacon!

Bloody Mary with bacon – because everything is better with bacon

I ordered the muffaletta sandwich and Donna had a salad with seared ahi tuna while Gary went for a bowl of clam chowder. The food was good although the service could’ve been better with a more attentive waitress. One thing I saw on the menu bugged me.

Hidden charge in the small print

If you click on the photo above to enlarge it, you’ll see a surcharge notice. It says they support increased minimum wage and other mandates – so they add 3% to the bill to cover them. In other words, they hide the additional costs of these government mandates with a surcharge – that way they can say we haven’t raised our prices on the menu – but you’ll pay more.

At the Barefoot Bar, they have a small lagoon that has water from the bay pumped through it. There are a variety of fish in the lagoon including small sharks. They had fish scraps brought out from the kitchen and fed the sharks while we were there.

Feeding the sharks

It turned out that everyone else bailed on the boat ride, so Gary dropped us off back at De Anza Cove and left. Thanks for the boat ride, Gary!

I mentioned the park is nearly full. As usual, many families and small groups came to the RV park for a long Thanksgiving weekend. People have been fairly well-behaved and although the kids run wild until about 8:30pm and parties in some sites are a bit noisy, it mostly settled down by 10pm. I hope that holds true tonight as the weekenders have their final night here. Tomorrow there will be a mass exodus as the park empties. I almost expect to hear a whooshing sound as everyone pulls out.

Monday we’ll have to leave. We’re restricted to a maximum stay of 62 days here before we have to leave for 24 hours. We’ll pull out Monday morning and head down to the Elks Lodge in Chula Vista for the night. Then we’ll be back to site 112 for another month-long stay. The forecast looks great for next several days with highs near 70 and mostly clear skies.

Deja Vu in Pennsylvania

Our overnight stay at the Delaware Water Gap Penn DOT Welcome Center was uneventful. It could have been quieter, but a tractor-trailer rig with a refrigerated trailer parked by us. His generator ran all night to keep the trailer refrigerated. This is a nice overnight stopping place – they keep the air conditioned building open 24/7 and it has clean restrooms plus free wifi with good speed – even out in the parking area. There are14 Welcome Centers in Pennsylvania, I don’t know if all of them are as nice as this one. We may find another before we leave the state.

Donna was happy to learn that the Welcome Center was on the 2.6-mile Cherry Creek Crossing Loop Trail. She enjoyed her hike which took her first along the creek and then into the small town of Delaware Water Gap where she found a bakery.

Stepping stones across a creek on Donna’s hike

Bakery and market

Donna walked to the bakery Sunday morning and bought breakfast sandwiches – they were excellent. I watched the Moto GP qualifying for the German Grand Prix before we packed up. We were in no hurry. We planned to go about 80 miles to Hamburg, Pennsylvania and stay overnight at Cabela’s. I didn’t realize we had stayed at this Cabela’s before. Donna recognized it as we were pulling in. We stayed here in August, 2015.

Originally I planned to utilize the dump station at Cabela’s, but we made a change of plans. After talking with my youngest daughter, Shauna, we decided to go to Gettysburg on Sunday. Shauna could drive up from Washington, DC on Sunday afternoon for a visit. We booked two nights at the Artillery Ridge Camping Resort where we stayed in 2015.

After settling in at Cabela’s, I got Donna’s knock-around bike out and she went for a ride on the Schuylkill River Trail which intersects with the Appalachian Trail.

Trailhead

Appalachian Trail

Meanwhile, I walked next door to the Cigars International (CI) Superstore. CI is a big retailer of cigars and related accessories. They have three retail outlets in Pennsylvania and are opening one in The Colony, Texas. Most of their sales are through online shopping.

Me – at Cigars International

The Hamburg location is the largest – it’s a two-story building with a full bar and patio on each floor. They have a selection of hundreds of cigars and an inventory on-hand of about a million cigars. I was like a kid in a candy store browsing around.

The prices in their retail stores aren’t anything special – better deals can be found online. But, I had the opportunity to look over many cigar brands I hadn’t seen before. And I was able to buy some singles to sample – if I really like one, I can watch for a deal online later.

Later, after Donna’s bike ride we went back to CI for happy hour. The building has a complex climate control system. The entire building is humidity and temperature controlled while also providing ventilation and air filtration. While were at the bar, the temperature was about 70 degrees and the humidity was 68%. Customers are allowed to puff cigars anywhere in the building – they have a few lounges – one with a pool table – and the two bars which also serve food.

While we were having a beer we met a guy that’s hiking the Appalachian Trail with a friend. They started at the southern end of the trail in Georgia about three months ago and plan to make it to the north end in Maine by mid-September. What an adventure!

Sunday morning I watched the Moto GP race until a thunderstorm blocked the satellite reception. We headed out around 10:30am and went about two blocks away to Walmart to stock up on a few things. Then we hit I-78 to make the 100-mile drive to Gettysburg. We hit one slowdown after I-78 became I-81 near Harrisburg. It rained off and on until we were past Harrisburg.

I stopped at the F:ying J Travel Center at exit 77 in Harrisburg. I blew it by not filling our tank before we crossed into Pennsylvania. Fuel is expensive in Pennsylvania, but I needed to top up because we would be running too low before we get to Ohio. Our Onan Quiet Diesel generator runs off of the same fuel tank as our coach’s engine. The diesel fuel pick-up is on a stand pipe in the tank roughly a quarter of the way up in the tank. This is done so you can’t inadvertently run the fuel tank all the way empty while dry camping with the generator. The generator will run out of fuel, but there will still be about a quarter tank of fuel left to drive the coach. So, since we will probably be doing more dry camping, I don’t want to run the fuel tank too low.

We checked in at the Artillery Ridge Camping Resort at 1:30pm and set up. I dumped and flushed our tanks – it had been 10 days since we last dumped the tanks in Scarborough, Maine. Shauna came to our site a little after 3pm. It was about a 90-minute drive for her. She brought her boyfriend’s dog along. After a short visit, we piled into her Volkswagen Tiguan and went to downtown Gettysburg. We walked along the streets and checked out the old buildings and historical placards. I wrote about Gettysburg when we were here before in this post.

Donna, Shauna and Guinness outside of the Farnsworth House

Eventually we stopped at the Farnsworth House where they have a beer garden and patio dining that’s dog friendly. Guinness the dog, was well-behaved and sat in the shade. One of the wait staff brought a water dish for him. We had a beer and talked over dinner. On the way back, we stopped at the Gettysburg National Military Park and climbed up the 59-step spiral stairway of the State of Pennsylvania Monument.

Shauna and I on the top left of the monument

Shauna headed for home around 8pm. She had to work in the morning – she’s an Associate Attorney in DC at Dentons Law Firm.

This morning I tried to extend our stay here until Wednesday due to the weather forecast. Thunderstorms are predicted for tomorrow. I wasn’t able to keep our site for another night, so we’ll have to suck it up and drive in the rain. I’m not sure where we’re stopping next.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Restaurants

Holiday Thieves

Yellow Submarine

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Across the Columbia

Vintage Trailers and Cars

Alternate Routes Through Portland and Seattle

Birthday Girls

Spring Ahead

Minimalist RV

Our Friendsgiving

Deja Vu in Pennsylvania

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

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