Category Archives: Scooter

Sinking No More

Before I posted everything you ever wanted to know about batteries yesterday, I started my day with a hearty breakfast. Donna made an omelette with mushrooms, onions, red peppers and feta cheese. She also cooked up sweet potato home fries. Add a cup of coffee and it was a great way to kick off the day.

Breakfast of champions

I had a project for the day. Donna noticed the caulking around the kitchen sink was cracking again. When I looked it over, I could see the sink was loose, it was sinking! It’s mounted from below the counter top and held in place with aluminum extrusions screwed to a small wood beam under the counter top. I tried to tighten the screws, but it seemed like the aluminum extrusions had sagged.

I rode the scooter to Home Depot and looked at sink mounting clips. The only clips they had were for sinks that are mounted on top of the counter, not from underneath. The guy at Home Depot told me I should go to Central Arizona Supply as they would have what I was looking for. Central Arizona Supply is on Country Club – to get there I came past Orangewood Shadows RV Resort. I decided to stop and take another look under the sink to make sure I knew what I wanted to do to support the sink.

This time, I wriggled around on the floor and got my head into the cabinet under the sink. With a flashlight I saw what the problem was. It wasn’t anything wrong with the aluminum extrusions, it was the wood they’re mounted to. The wood was glued to the counter top and the adhesive was failing, allowing the wood to pull away from bottom of the counter top.

Adhesive failure

I didn’t need mounting clips – I needed glue and a way to brace the wood up against the counter top while the glue set. I went back to Home Depot and poked around. I found a 3/4″ square section of wood 48″ long. I had it cut into two 19″ lengths and two 5″ pieces. Then I looked for a suitable adhesive that would adhere to the Karadon counter top material and wood. I settled on Gorilla Glue expanding glue. It sticks to anything and the expansion allows it to penetrate wood and fill gaps. It’s also waterproof.

Gorilla Glue

I tried to brace the sagging wood up against the counter top material with the 19″ section of wood I got at Home Depot. Unfortunately, 19″ turned out to be about 1/2″ too long. Although I’ve replaced many of the tools I lost when those Dirty, Rotten Thieves stole my trailer, I still don’t have a saw. I walked down the way from our coach and found a neighbor Vern working on a room addition. I asked if I could use his saw. He lopped off 1/2″ from my two braces.

I did another trial fit and the braces fit perfectly. I needed to re-glue the beams on both sides of the sink. The Gorilla Glue is activated by moisture. I used a wet paper towel to moisten the surface of the wood beams and the bottom of the counter top where the beams made contact. Then I applied the glue and braced the beam up against the bottom of the counter top.

Glue applied and brace in place

I placed a basin of warm water on the shelf under the sink and closed the cabinet doors. I was hoping to add humidity under the counter to help set the Gorilla Glue. With that done, I headed off to Red, White and Brew for a cold one.

Meanwhile, Donna was out on her bicycle training with her friend Dara and Dara’s friend Jenn. They did hill repeats on Hawes Hill off McDowell Road and put in a total of about 22 miles, getting home just before dark.

Last night I removed the temporary braces and the sink held fine. The glue is supposed to be at 80% strength after two hours and fully cured within 24 hours. I glued and braced the front center section of the sink overnight.

Gorilla Glue fully expanded and set

This morning, the sink is tight against the counter top and it’s secure again. Next, I’ll have to remove the old caulking and re-caulk the joint where the sink and counter top meet. That will likely be tomorrow’s project of the day.

Easier Battery Maintenance

Having the right tool for the job always makes the task easier. I’ve posted about battery maintenance before. To recap, the house 12-volt system on our coach is powered by four 6-volt deep-cycle batteries. In our case, they’re golf cart-type, flooded wet-cell lead-acid batteries. This means the cells have lead plates immersed in electrolyte. The electrolyte is 65% water and 35% sulfuric acid.

To produce 12 volts from a bank of 6-volt batteries, they’re connected in pairs. Two 6-volt batteries connected in series produce twelve volts. Each of our four 6-volt batteries is rated to 186 amp hours (AH). This rating is typically taken over a 20-hour period. In other words, the battery should provide a little over 9 amps for 20 hours. In reality, you never want to completely discharge a battery. There’s another factor as well – discharge rates aren’t linear. The higher the discharge rate, the less capacity the battery can provide. In our case, the batteries are rated for 100 minutes at 75 amps. If it were linear, you would expect close to 150 minutes (186/75=2.48 hours).

Our two pairs of batteries connected in series amounts to two large 12-volt batteries. The two pairs are connected to each other in parallel so the voltage remains the same, but the capacity is equal to the sum of the two battery pairs. Our 186 AH batteries are now capable of providing 372 AH.

It’s important to keep lead-acid batteries charged. Storing them in a discharged state causes sulfation of the plates which diminishes capacity and ultimately ruins the battery.

Our bank of house batteries is charged by the inverter/charger any time we are connected to shore power or are running our generator. It’s a smart charger that monitors the battery condition and temperature and adjusts the charging rates accordingly. The charging goes through three phases. First is bulk charging. This phase takes care of 80% of the charging. Constant current is applied and voltage is raised above 14 volts. The second phase is called absorption. In this phase, the voltage is constant at 14.1 to 14.8 volts and current decreases as the final 20% of the charge is completed. The last phase is called float charging. In this phase, the voltage is dropped to 13.0 to 13.8 volts and the current is reduced to less than 1% of battery capacity. This phase will maintain an unused battery in a fully charged state.

The smart charger shouldn’t allow the temperature of a flooded wet cell battery to exceed 125 degrees Fahrenheit. However, some gassing of the electrolyte is inevitable. This gassing plus normal evaporation causes the electrolyte level to drop over time. The lead plates in the cells should never be exposed to air – they should be completely immersed in electrolyte at all times. Exposure to air causes irreversible damage. The evaporation or gassing only affects the water in the electrolyte. The sulfuric acid is not diminished. Therefore, only water is needed to top up the battery.

We don’t want introduce minerals into the electrolyte, so tap water shouldn’t be used. The cells should be topped up with distilled water. Whew, all that to say our house batteries need to be checked and topped up periodically. Our chassis batteries, which are used to start the engine and power the instrument panel, are maintenance-free 12-volt batteries that don’t need to have water added.

In the past, I’ve been checking our batteries every few months by removing the caps on the cells, sticking my head into the compartment and peering down into the cells. It’s easy to see if the electrolyte level is above the plates, but it’s hard to tell how high the actual level is. The cell needs to have enough electrolyte to cover the plates with about 1/4″ to 1/2″ of liquid from the plate to the surface of the electrolyte. The electrolyte shouldn’t reach the neck of the fill well though, or acid will be forced out of the vent when the temperature rises during charging.

I used to look, make my best guess and use a turkey baster to add water to each cell. The batteries in the back of the bank were a real shot in the dark as I couldn’t see into the cells very well.

Yesterday I rode the scooter to NAPA Auto Parts and bought the right tool for the job. It’s a simple thing and something I should have done long ago. It’s a battery filler with an automatic shut-off. You fill the container with distilled water, then you push the spout into the filler well on the battery cell. The spring-loaded spout opens and allows the water to flow into the battery. When the electrolyte level reaches the spout, it automatically shuts off.

Battery filler with auto shut-off and distilled water

Using this filler is a breeze. I removed the battery caps, inserted the filler spout until the flow of water stopped, then moved on to the next cell. Job done in five minutes. I didn’t have to lean into the battery bank and peer into the cells – it automatically filled each cell to the proper level.

Couldn’t be any easier

Based on my experience over the past year, I’ll do this task every three months or so.

Yesterday I walked to the RV park office and back to purchase tickets for the big fish fry on St. Patrick’s Day. My leg is getting much better. I’ll get out and enjoy the weather with another walk today. Our forecast calls for a warming trend. We should see temperatures in the high 70s today and into the 80s over the weekend.

Stormy Monday

Pardon the pun, but rain pretty much puts a damper on our activities. The heavy rain that was forecast to hit us around noon on Monday actually arrived around 9:30am. Donna drove the rental car back to Enterprise at 11:30am and they gave her a ride back to Orangewood Shadows RV Resort. With the rain pouring down all afternoon, we stayed indoors. I spent most of my time reading after I posted to the blog.

Stormy Monday

Donna had a pork tenderloin in the slow cooker all afternoon with a maple syrup and mustard sauce. She served it with cumin-spiced roasted brussel sprouts. The aroma from the slow cooker was delightful.

Pork tenderloin with brussel sprouts

The rain continued through most of the night. Donna was up early Tuesday morning. She left at 7:30am to join the Orangewood Shadows hiking group on their trek up Siphon Draw Trail in the Superstition Mountains.

The first photo from the hike was shot by Donna, all others courtesy of Don Dunning.

Water running down rock and forming a pool on Siphon Draw Trail

Water running down Siphon Draw

Superstition Mountains from the trailhead at Lost Dutchman State Park

Orangewood Shadows hiking group

Part of the trail is wide, but it gets rocky toward the top

The trail gets rocky toward the top

Mountain top shrouded in low cloud cover

While they were stopped for lunch at the top, it started raining. They carefully made their way down the slippery rock section and headed back.

Meanwhile, back at the coach, we had sunshine. I took advantage of the dry conditions and refilled the hummingbird feeder. I restocked paper products from our stash in the trailer. Then I dumped and flushed our holding tanks. After that, I gave my leg a rest and read for a while. Although it was sunny out, it was also breezy with the temperature hovering around 60 degrees.

When Donna returned around 12:30pm, she told me about the rain on Superstition Mountain. I was surprised since it had been dry here all morning. Within 10 minutes, the rain returned. It rained in spurts off and on all afternoon.

The wet road coupled with a lane closure outside of Orangewood Shadows RV Resort on University Drive proved to be challenging for some drivers. Twice we heard the screech of locked-up tires sliding on the tarmac followed by a metallic crunch. Fender benders! So many inattentive drivers in these conditions kept me home without a thought of venturing out on the scooter.

Last night, Donna made pepperoni chicken. She uses pounded chicken breasts as the base for a pizza-like entree topped with pepperoni slices, homemade marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. Last time, she served it with sauteed zucchini and onions. She served it over spaghetti squash this time.

Pepperoni chicken over spaghetti squash

The forecast calls for clear skies and a warming trend with the high temperature reaching 80 degrees by the end of the week. My calf injury is much improved and I plan to start gently exercising it with short walks and careful stretching.

Racing in the Rain

After a few more days of convalescing, I feel some progress with my right calf. Muscle tears are slow to heal. At first I thought I would be okay after a week or so. Now, 10 days later, I realize it’s going to take longer.

Over the past three days, I’ve limited the amount of time standing or walking. I’m trying to keep weight off my leg as much as possible. At the same time, I started applying essential oils to my calf. The thing is, when you change two variables at the same time, it’s hard to tell which one is most effective.

It’s like racing in the rain. When I used to race motorcycles, if it started raining and the track was wet, we would change to special wet tires and soften the suspension settings. We knew without a doubt that the wet tires were a big help. But how much did the soft suspension help? Without a baseline, it was a shot in the dark. Changing two things at once made it hard if not impossible to quantify how much each change helped.

Getting set for a wet race

I never liked racing in the rain

My point is, I don’t know if the essential oils are helping my leg to heal or is it just a matter of rest and time. The skeptic in me wonders if a few drops of oil can make a difference. However, I’m not taking any chances. Just like softening the suspension settings on my race bike, I’ll continue to apply the oils even though I can’t measure the effect.

I’ve been spending time reading and relaxing. Yesterday was a good day for it as we had sporadic showers in the late morning. Donna has been active. On Sunday, she rode a 33-mile loop through the Tonto National Forest, including a climb over Usery Pass. Monday she rested. We had rain showers so it was a good day to rest. Yesterday she planned to hike at Bartlett Lake with the Orangewood Shadows group, but the hike was cancelled due to weather up that way. Instead, she walked around the RV park with her hiking pals, Lowell and Debi. They power walked a circuitous route and covered over four and a half miles while the rain held off.

The afternoon was dry with partly cloudy skies. The wind kicked up and I had to roll the awning in. The temperature was cool all day. The thermometer flirted with 60 but I don’t think the high temperature ever got out of the 50s.

Donna prepared a new to us dish last night. It was Malaysian chicken sate (pronounced SAH-tay) with peanut sauce. She rode the scooter over to an Asian market on Dobson Road in the afternoon to pick up some special ingredients including Masman curry paste (a shrimp-based paste) and tamarind juice.

Chicken sate skewers on the grill

Malaysian chicken satay with peanut sauce and bok choy

Malaysian chicken sate with peanut sauce and bok choy

The peanut sauce was fabulous. Donna served the chicken with one of my favorite veggies – steamed bok choy.

I’ll relax and read another book today. Donna picked up a few more books for me at the Orangewood Shadows library. On Monday, she downloaded the Kindle version of the sequel to the James Patterson novel I read – the one that I finished earlier only to discover that the story was continued in a second volume. I finished that story. I started another novel yesterday by Vince Flynn called The Last Man. It’s a good read and I’m sure I’ll finish it today.

We have sunny skies and the forecast calls for temperatures in the low 70s with a light breeze. Maybe I’ll relax and read outside. Donna is headed to the pickleball court.

Happy Hour at Sun Life

Donna went out for bike ride Thursday morning and worked on interval training. While she was out, I wrote my blog post. I did some gentle calf movement, pivoting my foot to stretch and contract the calf muscle. It’s still sore and I can’t walk without limping. I’ve stopped icing it and will work on stretches and range of motion.

I finished reading a novel that was a total waste of time and effort. I was resting on the sofa when there was knock on the door. It was Pat from Sun Dancer Shades. He was running ahead of schedule and arrived early for our appointment. He had our new custom-made front window and windshield shades ready for installation.

Paul's assistant, Hunter aligning the sunshade

Pat’s assistant, Hunter, aligning the sunshade

I opted for twist locks instead of snaps. I think the twist locks are more durable. Sun Dancer Shades uses Dot twist-lock hardware. Dot hardware is made by Scovill. Their twist locks are high-quality marine-grade nickle-plated brass. They should outlast the coach.

Dot twist lock

Pat and his assistant, Hunter, took their time aligning the windshield shade before they drilled and riveted the fasteners to the coach. I stood and watched them work for a while, but it was too much for my injured leg, so I went inside while they completed the job. The fit of the shade is excellent.

Nice fit

The sun shades block 90% of the UV from sunlight. This will keep the interior of the coach cooler and protect interior components from UV degradation. The really cool thing is it also blocks prying eyes from peering into the coach during daylight hours, but we can see out from the inside.

Inside looking out through the sun shade

After he finished the installation, Pat walked me through the best way to remove the shades and roll them into the storage bag that came with them. He also included windshield wiper covers.

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and doing light leg exercises. Donna took the scooter and went grocery shopping. After she returned, I got on the scooter and Donna got on back. We had a happy hour to go to at Sun Life RV Resort. Brett and Cheri had invited us to come over. Our friends, John and Sharon from Texas (On the Road of Retirement), who we met in San Diego at Mission Bay RV Resort, are also at Sun Life and joined us for happy hour.

Donna brought veggies, crackers and smoked trout pate, Cheri and Brett had a spread of hors d’oeuvres on the table when we arrived.

Happy hour snacks

We had a tour of Brett and Cheri’s Montana fifth-wheel trailer and then sat outside. John and Sharon arrived and we all sat around enjoying snacks, drinks and good company. Our travel plans include a lot of the same areas over the summer, but it seems like our timing is off. We don’t know when we’ll meet up again, but I’m sure we will sooner or later.

Cheri, Donna, John, Sharon and Brett

We had a great time visiting for a couple of hours. It was getting dark when we rode the scooter home. It was another great day in the life.

Reading and RICE

Donna was up early on Tuesday morning. She went hiking on South Mountain with a group from Orangewood Shadows RV Resort. South Mounatin Park/Preserve is a City of Phoenix park. It encompasses more than 16,000 acres, making it one of the largest municipally operated parks in the country. There are 51 miles of hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding trails in the park. Here are some photos from her hike.

Orangewood Shadows hiking group

Inside the remains of building built in the 1930s by the WPA

Petroglyphs on a rock in South Mountain Park/Preserve

View north toward Phoenix from high on South Mountain

When Donna and I first met, we were members of the Phoenix Metro Bicycle Club (PMBC). The club had organized rides every Saturday morning. Sometimes we would ride to South Mountain and enter the park from Central Avenue and then climb 5.5 miles to the summit at Dobbins Lookout – 2,330 feet above sea level. Coming back down was always fun. After our Saturday morning rides, many of the PMBC members would stop for breakfast together. That’s how Donna and I became acquainted.

Back at the RV park, I spent 90% of the day on the sofa continuing the R.I.C.E. (Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevation) treatment on my injured right calf. Other than eating and bathroom breaks, the only time I was on my feet was when I hobbled around the coach to dump and flush our holding tanks. I spent the day with my leg up on the sofa reading another Lee Child book, Bad Luck & Trouble. It was another story in the Jack Reacher series. I read the entire 480-page novel.

I’ve always been an avid reader. When I was in grade school, I liked to read stories about the early American explorers – Kit Carson, Daniel Boone and others. Later, I read about the mountain man era and the exploration of the West. When I was in sixth grade, I had surgery for acute appendicitis. The surgery involved a six-inch incision in my lower abdomen. In those days, extended hospital stays were the norm. I was hospitalized for a week. It was boring. I remember my sister, Cori, brought me a big book to read – it was Charlemane. I alternated sleeping and reading for days.

When each of my three daughters reached kindergarten age, I took them to the library. Monday nights were nights with dad at the library. I got them library cards and taught them to borrow, respect and read books. They all became good readers. It was great way to spend time together and I think it helped them throughout their school years and beyond.

Yesterday was more of the same. Donna went to play pickleball in the morning. I continued the R.I.C.E. and started reading another book. By the afternoon, after three days on the sofa, I was going bonkers with cabin fever. I went outside and tested my calf by walking about 50 feet. It wasn’t good. At 4pm, I climbed aboard the scooter anyway and rode to Red, White and Brew. Riding the scooter wasn’t too bad. Getting on and off was a little tricky. The hardest part was walking from the parking lot into the Brew. I sat with Pat and Leendert and had a cold one. I told them about my injury and had to bail out on our plans to attend the NHRA drag races on Saturday. We went to the race last year and I planned to go again, but it would mean too much walking for me.

I came back home and laid out on the sofa again. The trip to the Brew probably wasn’t the best idea. Donna made Thai Curry Shrimp with noodles for dinner.

Thai Curry Shrimp with noodles

I’ll rest and recover again today.

Pickleball-Weary Legs

On Tuesday, I rode the scooter over to Donna’s doctor’s office to pick a prescription for her. She has a procedure scheduled and needed a sedative. While I was out, I stopped at the NAPA auto parts and picked up spray sealant for the battery terminals and tray on our coach. It was lunch time, so I stopped for a taco before I returned home. I stopped at an old favorite, Seňor Taco. I stopped here once a few weeks ago and ordered the two taco plate. I’d forgotten how big the tacos were. This time I ordered one carnitas taco and it was more than enough.

Carnitas soft taco

By the time I returned, Donna was back from her bike ride. She had to remove her right foot from her shoe while it was still attached to the pedal because she couldn’t get the cleat to release. I adjusted the tension on the pedal, then I took care of the batteries in our coach. I think the sealant I bought should work fine.

We were on the last day of our data plan cycle and had five gigabytes to spare. So, I downloaded and installed Microsoft Office. I found a good deal online and purchased Office Home and Student for one PC for $86.89. Downloading and setting up the program used about a gig of data. Later, in the evening, I could see we had more than three gigabytes left on our plan, so I downloaded Adobe Photoshop Elements 2013. I purchased it on special for $74.19 – a savings of about $15. I remembered seeing this was a three-gigabyte download. I had problems with the download and had to restart it. In the end, the download was more than 3GB and I went over our data limit. This will cost me $15 – so much for the discount price I found!

Donna prepared glazed drumsticks with rice noodles and shredded cabbage for dinner. You might wonder why I describe and photograph so many of our meals. It gives me something to write about, but it also allows me to illustrate the fact that full-time RVing doesn’t mean burgers on the grill or eating out all the time. This particular dish was yummier than it looks.

Glazed drumsticks with rice noodles and shredded cabbage

We hit the pickleball courts at 9am yesterday. There were people playing doubles on one court, the other court was empty. From 8am to 11am the courts are open for people who know the rules and are capable of sustaining a rally. From 11am to 2pm, court time is set aside for people just learning the rules and practicing. We took the open court and warmed up by dinking the ball back and forth. We were ready to start a singles game when two other players came over and asked if they could join us. They were experienced players. We played three games with them. Donna was a little intimidated by their level of play, but we had fun.

At 10am, Donna had to leave to prepare for appointments she had scheduled. I hung around and played four more games. These were more or less scramble games where we switched partners. I had a blast, but playing a total of seven games wore me out. I came back to the coach at 11am.

Pickleball action at Venture Out

I scootered Donna over to Lana Jansen’s house. Lana lent her car to Donna so she could drive to Scottsdale for a meeting with Joshua Becker, the author of Clutter Free with Kids among other titles. They had lunch together at Wildflower Bread Company and talked about their shared interest in spreading the word about minimalism and how less stuff creates space for more of what’s really important in life.

I rested my pickleball-weary legs and read while she was out. After Donna returned, we headed over to Red, White and Brew to meet our friends, Brett Miller and Cheri Alguire. We met them over a year ago when they visited us at Mission Bay. I wrote about that in this post. They hit the road in May last year and have been traveling in their Ford F350 pulling a Montana fifth-wheel trailer. Currently they’re at the Sun Life RV Park a couple of miles away from our site. This is the second time our paths have crossed on the road – I hooked up with them in Salt Lake City while Donna was at a convention in Phoenix.

We caught up with each other over appetizers. I also enjoyed a couple of Black and Tans made with Guinness Stout over 8th Street Pale Ale. We had a surprise visitor at our table. My friend from my high school days, Andy King, was at the restaurant with his wife Donna and her dad. It was pleasant surprise! We lingered at the Red, White and Brew for about two and half hours before calling it a night.

Cheri snapped this photo of me, Donna and Brett

I’m a glutton for punishment, so we’re going to hit the pickleball court again this morning.

Bragging Shirt

We kept the coach as cool as possible yesterday. We didn’t let the interior warm up too much in the morning. We deployed the windshield curtains and pulled the shades down on the sunny side of the coach. The outside temperature reached the mid-80s by the afternoon, but we didn’t need to run the air conditioners. The discounted monthly rate here at Orangewood Shadows RV Resort doesn’t include electricity. Our usage is metered and we’re billed separately for electricity. We don’t use much unless we’re running the heat pumps/air conditioners.

I rode the scooter over to Tempe. I wanted to check out a store at the Tempe Marketplace, which is a large outdoor mall. I used to shop at BevMo there when we lived here in Mesa. BevMo is sort of a big box liquor store. They have a huge selection of beer, wine and liquor at discount prices. I heard that Total Wine had opened a store near BevMo. I wanted to compare the two stores. I had’t shopped at Total Wine before, but I was told it’s another big box liquor outlet worth exploring.

I found the Total Wine store. It’s huge with a large variety of beverages, just like BevMo. They have a tasting area, the store was clean and well laid out and I found my favorite Blue Ice potato vodka there at a reasonable price. I think they must be cutting into BevMo’s market share. I went over to BevMo to compare pricing. Total Wine had better prices and a larger variety of liquor on the shelf. Total Wine wins.

While I was at BevMo, I saw Old South Tomolives on the shelf. The eight-ounce jar was priced at $5.99. I remembered a Cost Plus World Market in the Tempe Marketplace so I stopped there. They had Old South Tomolives on sale for $2.39. I stocked up and should be good for months.

When I returned, Donna and I went down to the pickleball courts. We were signed up for lessons at 1pm. We arrived early and warmed up, hitting the ball back and forth. The husband and wife instructor team showed up just before 1pm along with another beginner couple. We learned the rules of the game and did some practice drills. Then we played a game against the other beginner couple. Pickleball is a lot of fun. It’s like a racket sport (tennis, racquetball) mixed with ping-pong. You use a paddle to hit a large plastic ball on a short outdoor court. You don’t have to be especially athletic as you don’t cover as much court as tennis and the ball moves slower. It’s still competitive though and I was feeling the strain in my legs from stopping and starting forward and back and shuffling from side to side. An hour on the court was enough as it was getting hot out. I’ll be shopping for a nice pickleball paddle!

Later, I scootered Donna to the Enterprise rental car agency. We wanted a car for the weekend. Enterprise often has a weekend special – three days for $9.99/day. They were supposed to deliver the car, but were slammed and couldn’t send someone over until much later. We wanted to go to the Red, White and Brew for happy hour and dinner. On a Friday, that means showing up by 4pm or forget about a seat at the bar. I dropped Donna off at the Enterprise and rode over to Red, White and Brew to claim our seats.

Donna had a glass of red wine and ordered the Mussels Vin Blanc (green-lipped mussels sauteed with white wine, butter and garlic). I had the New Yawka pizza paired with Guinness stout. The food was great as always.

Mussels Vin Blanc with crostini

I was wearing my California Western School of Law Dad T-shirt so I could brag about my daughter, Shauna. She will graduate from Cal Western on May 1st. Last summer, she worked as an intern at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, DC. While she was there, she networked and made contacts. She went back to DC in November and had meetings with key contacts and set up a job interview. Yesterday, she accepted an offer from a prestigious international law firm to work in securities litigation and compliance. She will work at the Washington, DC and New York City offices. She has to finish school and pass the bar exam before she starts. She’s one of the top students in her class, so passing the bar won’t be a problem for her.

Bragging shirt

Today, we’ll take the rental car and drive up to Cave Creek. Our friends, Bob and Sini, just pulled in yesterday. We met Bob and Sini at Mission Bay RV Resort last year. They’re from Edmonds , Washington. We’ve kept in touch and look forward to getting together for lunch today.

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

Mesa Flea Market

Can’t complain about yesterday’s weather. It was a warm, sunny day with the temperature topping out at 80 degrees. Donna went out for a 20-mile bike ride before noon. She said it was a little breezy – she had a headwind as rode east. Of course, that gave her a nice tailwind when she circled back. But the breeze was nothing like the gusty winds we had on Saturday.

After her bicycle ride, we rode the scooter to the Mesa Market Place on East Baseline Road. It was about 15 miles from here. Mesa is a big city – the largest city by area in Arizona. The Mesa Market Place is a huge flea market. It has four covered breezeways, each a mile and a quarter long. The Mesa Market Place has been in operation since 1996 and attracts many snowbirds who spend the day wandering through the vendor stalls.

Mesa Market Place breezeway

Our first order of business was lunch. Donna had a bowl of chili and I had two hard shell tacos. The chili was good, the tacos were ordinary. From there we were on a mission to find local raw honey. I want to continue taking daily doses of local honey to try to combat the effects of pollen allergies. It seems to work, I haven’t had nearly as much allergy trouble as I had last year at this time.

We found someone selling local honey after asking one of the vendors. He directed us to the south end of breezeway “C”. The woman selling the honey told us she has been in the same stall for the past seven years! She’s phasing out of the honey business though and will focus on selling her aprons and other handmade items of clothing.

Local honey

As we wandered back to the north side where we were parked, we found a vendor with local salsa. The Arizona Byers Salsa is sugar-free, made by the Byers family here in Mesa. We tried a couple of samples and bought two jars of the medium to hot salsa. They don’t have anything without hot in the description. They also have Ghost Pepper salsa that I wasn’t brave enough to try.

Arizona Byers salsa

We were back home around 3pm. The marketplace is fun, but you would need a full day to get through it all. I’m not sure it’s something I could spend a full day at though. We did see another flea market, the Apache Trail Flea Market, on the way home. We’ll have to check that out.

Donna has a doctor appointment this morning. We’ll take the scooter. This afternoon, she’s checking into a hotel room a few miles from here. She has a series of live and taped radio appearances scheduled by her publisher, Storey Publishing, to promote her new book Clear the Clutter, Find Happiness. She needs a landline to connect reliably with radio stations over the course of six hours.

It’s supposed to rain this afternoon, around 3pm. If the rain holds off, I will scooter Donna to the hotel, otherwise she’ll take a cab.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

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Mesa Flea Market

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