Category Archives: Scooter

Gray Skies at Jojoba Hills

On Wednesday morning, our last full day in San Diego, Donna joined her friend Johanna for a bike ride up to the Torrey Pines Glider Port. While she was out, I cleaned our site, packed the awning mat and folded the chairs. I cleaned the Traeger wood pellet fired grill. I checked our tire pressures – something I always do before we travel. When Donna came home from her ride, I took her bike to the trailer and hung it up.

Our friends Tom and Kris Downey (Open Road 365) generously offered the use of their Chevy Equinox to haul things out to the trailer. But before I started hauling stuff to the trailer, I had to scooter to Pacific Beach to CVS Pharmacy. During my last check-up before Christmas, Dr. Ryan put me on a new prescription. It’s a daily medication. I picked up the initial 30-day supply at CVS, then added the medication to my CVS-Caremark mail-order plan. I received an e-mail Tuesday from CVS-Caremark telling me they would fill the mail-order prescription with a 90-day supply in three to five days.

We’ll be bouncing around for a few weeks and I don’t think I’ll have mail forwarded until the middle of February. I’ll run out of my meds before then. I told the woman at the pharmacy about my dilemma. I was certain the insurance wouldn’t cover another 30-day supply when they just approved a 90-day supply. She looked up the out-of-pocket price for 30 capsules. It was $142. She had my contact info and said she would talk to my insurance company and call me later. She called me about half an hour later and said she had it worked out. She asked the insurance company for a vacation waiver to refill the prescription as my meds wouldn’t catch up with me in time. They approved it! When I went back to CVS and picked up the prescription there was no co-pay – it cost me zero instead of $142.

With the dilemma solved, I went to Tom and Kris’ site to borrow their car. I made two trips to the trailer and had everything except for the Traeger packed – it’s too bulky to put into the car. I returned the car, then I walked the Traeger out to the trailer and it was job done.

Just before sundown, our friend Hans Kohls (Metamorphosis Road) stopped by. He told us Lisa had a cold and didn’t want to infect anybody so she stayed home while he came by to bid us farewell. Hans brought a cold bottle of IPA from Green Flash Brewing. It was billed as a tropical fruit style. It tasted more citrus to me than anything tropical. The hops were typical IPA – I think it was Cascade, Centennial and Simcoe hops. I opened a bomber bottle of a limited release ale from Lagunitas called Hairy Eyeball. This was a malty, almost sweet beer with 9.1% ABV and 56 IBUs. It was tasty – Donna even liked it, but I think one is my limit on this beer.

Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball

With the gear already stowed in the cargo trailer, I had a leisurely morning on Thursday prepping to leave. I hooked the water hose I use for flushing to the flushing valve for the black water tank and dumped it. While it was flushing, Ray stopped by and started talking to me. I shut the dump valve on the black tank and opened the gray water tank as Tom arrived and joined the conversation. The gray tank took about six minutes to empty – then I realized I hadn’t shut off the water supply to the black tank flushing valve. I was filling the black tank with water while we talked! I ran over to the spigot and shut it off. We have a large black tank – 89 gallons, so there’s no way I could overfill it in six minutes. But I was a little flustered none the less. Getting distracted while performing a chore like that can have disastrous results.

We fired up the Cummins ISL diesel at 11:15am. When we were lining up to hook up the trailer, I couldn’t hear anything Donna was saying over the handheld Cobra CB radio. I checked the radio and it indicated low battery. Donna could hear me – there was enough battery power to receive a signal but it takes more power to transmit. There wasn’t enough current to transmit so I couldn’t hear her. The radio takes seven AA batteries and they lasted for about two years. Not bad.

We drove north on I-15 to Temecula and on to the Jojoba Hills SKP park near Aguanga (map). I told Tom it takes about an hour to get to Temecula. I was right – we got to Temecula in about an hour, but I didn’t account for the stoplight-to-stoplight drive through Temecula and the 13-mile drive down CA79 to get to the RV park. It was about an hour and half total time.

We checked in to the boondocking area – no hook-ups for five dollars a night. We’ll spend two nights here before we move on to the Golden Palms RV Resort in Hemet, about 30 miles from here.

Setting up in a dry camping area is quick and easy. I pushed a button to extend the jacks and level the coach. Then I worked three switches to extend the slide-outs. Job done. Donna loves this place. It’s one of the cleanest and well laid out parks in a beautiful setting. The amenities are great. I gave a little background on this park in this post.

It was cold Friday morning. The temperature was in the 40s. We’re a little more than 2,000 feet above sea level here. Around 9am, we braved the cold and went to the outdoor pickleball courts. We had fun and played for two hours before retreating to the coach. From the boondocking area, it’s a bit of a hike to the pickleball courts – uphill all the way. The trail is nice though and a new waterfall was added since our last stay here.

The trail heading back to our coach

Our boondocking site hidden among the trees

The new waterfall

Another view of the upper part of the ‘falls

We spent the rest of the afternoon with the generator running and the heat pumps on. The skies are overcast and the temperature stayed in the mid-50s. Tomorrow we’ll move on and hopefully find warmer weather.

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, 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!

From Kafta to Sushi

Donna and I played pickleball at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center on Monday. They only play for two hours at OBRC. We were home by 2:30pm. I had one task to take care of as we prepare to hit the road after nine weeks in San Diego.

I replaced the windshield wiper blade assemblies. The last time I replaced the wipers, I put new rubber inserts in. The blade assembly wears over time and the pivot points loosen. The blade clamps around thin metal strips reinforcing the rubber blade material. This area also loosens its grip after the inserts are replaced a couple of times. I found 28″ replacement blade assemblies to fit our wiper arms at a school bus supply company in Clinton Township, Michigan called Unity School Bus Parts. I don’t have any affiliation with this company, but I included a link in case a reader needs parts.

The blades are attached to the wiper arm with shoulder bolts. The replacement blades were a perfect fit. The shoulder bolt has an 8mm hex head and is fastened with a 6mm hex nut.

Shoulder bolt for wiper blade

Old and new wiper blades

This was a simple task. I think I spent more time walking to the trailer and back to get the proper wrenches than I spent actually installing the blades

Around 5pm, we went to Kris and Tom Downey’s (Open Road 365) coach. We were invited to join them and their friends, Ray and Kathy, for dinner. Kris is recovering from surgery on her broken ankle and is mostly confined to hobbling around in her coach. Ray made kafta – a middle eastern dish of ground beef and lamb on skewers or rolled into oblong meatballs. Donna made orzo with roasted cherry tomatoes and parsley.

Donna working her magic in Kris’ kitchen

We enjoyed the meal inside and sat and talked. Some of us enjoyed adult beverages as well. As always, the time flies by while the conversation is flowing.

Donna, me, Kris and Tom

Tuesday we had nice weather. It was sunny and clear out and slightly warmer with the temperature in the upper 60s. I went to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center to play pickleball while Donna stayed home to do some early spring cleaning in the coach with the products she is reviewing for Family Circle magazine. I intended to get started on packing things in the trailer after pickleball but I showered and went to Offshore Tavern and Grill instead. I had a farewell toast with the guys there.

I came home before 5pm because we had an early dinner reservation. Donna’s sister Sheila and our 11-year-old nephew Connor were picking us up to go to Sushi Ota. This popular restaurant has some of the best sushi in San Diego – make that the best sushi we’ve found anywhere. We ordered a large selection and I stuffed myself. Connor wanted to try uni – sea urchin – and I talked him into ordering it with a quail egg. He was venturesome and went for it. And he liked it!

Sushi platter – uni with quail egg in the lower left

Today we have partly cloudy skies. I’ll remove the windshield cover and tire covers and set the tire pressures. Then I’ll pack the trailer. We have cloudy skies, but the forecast calls for zero percent chance of rain until this evening. I should have ample time to pack everything this afternoon while it’s dry. Donna’s out for a bike ride with our friend Johanna this morning, then she has a lunch date in Old Town with a former colleague. I’ll scooter her over there and she’ll take the bus back while I’m packing up.

Tomorrow we’ll pull out and head up to Temecula about an hour away from here. We plan to spend two nights at Jojoba Hills SKP Resort – an RV park for Escapees members. Then we’ll move to Golden Palms RV Resort in Hemet. We plan to stay there for one week. This should be enough time to assist my step-dad. I’ll drive him to the hospital at 5am Monday morning and drive him home once he’s released after surgery. We’ll hang out and help him while he recovers. Hopefully we’ll have dry weather up in Riverside County.

Foul Play

We had cool, cloudy weather over the weekend. The thermometer struggled to reach 60 degrees. The El Nino effect is causing a wetter than usual winter in San Diego. The rainy season here is generally from Christmas to the end of February. January and February are typically the wettest months. San Diego averages less than 12 inches of rain per year. January averages about 2 inches of rain. This year, over four inches of precipitation were recorded by the 10th of the month. The most rainfall in one month was 9.09 inches in January1993.

I spent most of the weekend watching the NFL playoffs. The playoffs should be high-level football, but mostly they were disappointing games. Kansas City destroyed Houston. The biggest disappointment for me in that game was seeing Eric Fisher throw a vicious elbow to back of J.J. Watt’s neck while he was down and injured. It must have been a heat-of-the-battle thing because Eric is a decent guy. I used to work with his mother.

The Cincinnati Bengals versus the Pittsburgh Steelers game was ugly. I have to say the Cincinnati fans didn’t show much class when they cheered because Steelers quarterback Ben Rothlisberger left the field due to injury. Then they threw debris on the field as their defensive players went through a meltdown.

The Seattle Seahawks played the Vikings in Minnesota. It was a frigid six below zero at kickoff. The Vikings outplayed Seattle for three quarters but failed to score a touchdown – they had three field goals in tough conditions. Seattle put up 10 points in the fourth quarter. Minnesota’s kicker, Blair Walsh, had a chance to win the game with a 27-yard field goal attempt with seconds left in the game and he missed it!

The most entertaining game of the weekend in my opinion was the Green Bay Packers at Washington. Both teams played good football through three quarters before the Packers put the game away.

Enough about football – if you’re not a fan, it’s enough to make your eyes glaze over. Donna took advantage of the rental car and went shopping on Saturday and Sunday. She picked up the car on Thursday to go to her hair stylist. When she came home from her hair appointment she told me something had hit the car and left a white mark on the black car about four inches long.

On Saturday she went to Costco. When she came out to the parking lot she saw a dent where someone banged their door or shopping cart against the car. I understand accidents can happen, but I also know some people are careless and have little regard for the property of others.

When Donna came home from Costco, I took the car over to the trailer to unload a case of water. I also wanted to see if I could buff the white paint that was transferred onto the black finish by whatever hit it on Thursday. The first thing I noticed was someone had hit our trailer in the parking lot!

Damage by the second rivet from the top and in front of the wheel fender

See what I mean by mindless people having no regard for the property of others? I was able to remove the white paint from the door skin of the rental car and it wasn’t creased so the door looks fine. The trailer damage is not so simple.

We have clear, blue skies this morning and are looking forward to a few dry days. I’ll need to start packing up some of the things we have out as they dry. We’ll pull out of here on Thursday. Once again, our plans are changing. We thought we would head over to Quartzsite, Arizona for the big RV show, but now it doesn’t make sense. My step-dad, Ken Keller, is scheduled for surgery on Monday. He’ll need someone to take him to the hospital and help him when he’s discharged. I think we’ll head up to Temecula (map) and spend a couple of days at the Escapees park near Aguanga. Then we can move to Hemet (map). This will put us in a position to ride the scooter to Ken’s house on the weekend. I’ll leave the scooter there and take his car. On Monday morning, I can drive back and take him to the hospital. This should work out.

We aren’t booked anywhere until the Alpine Coach Association gathering for the big fireworks show at Lake Havasu beginning February 8th. We’ll see how the rest of January works out.

Hello Fresh

You probably heard that San Diego, along with most of California, was slammed with El Nino driven storms this week. We had heavy rain on Wednesday, lashing down at times as hard as I’ve ever seen it rain here. There was a short break in the weather in the morning. Donna took advantage and went out for a run. I made a break for it on the scooter and picked up beer at Keil’s. My timing was not so good – it started raining again as I left the store. We spent most of the day indoors.

Donna sent weekly Hello Fresh deliveries to her parents for Christmas. Each delivery includes recipes plus all the ingredients needed to create three healthy, tasty meals for two. Members get a discount code that they can share, so Donna used it to order a box for us. (We got $40 off the regular price of $69 and that gave Donna’s parents a $20 credit on their subscription – their discount code is DQVHHL – you’re welcome to use it!)

On Wednesday evening, she prepared the first meal – a skillet chicken pot pie.

Hello Fresh recipe and pre-measured ingredients

The pot pie was different from the commercially available pot pies at the grocery store. It didn’t have a pie crust – it had biscuits similar to dumplings.

Chicken pot pie recipe ready to serve

It was good and the ingredients were fresh. I thought it was a little heavy on the thyme. Although they claim it’s a meal for two, the portions for this recipe would be very large if we served it that way. We usually eat smaller meals, so we ate a little more than half and had leftover pot pie. I paired a special edition beer – it was collaboration between Sierra Nevada Brewing up in the bay area and San Diego’s Stone brewing. They brewed an IPA, split it in half and barrel aged them. Half of the batch was aged in a gin-infused bourbon barrel, the other half went into a rye whiskey barrel. Months later they brewed a fresh batch of IPA and blended all three beers together. It was an interesting ale. It didn’t have a heavy bourbon presence – I think the gin-infused barrel cut that a bit. It wasn’t overly hoppy. It seems like a lot of work to make a beer like this. I liked it but it didn’t leave a lasting impression on me.

North by South IPA

We had a break in the rain on Thursday morning. I looked at the hourly forecast and the weather radar and told Donna we might have a passing shower around 9am and heavy rain around 11am. Donna walked to Enterprise to rent a car. She timed her walk to arrive there ahead of the showers and it worked out. She wanted a car to get to her appointment to have her hair cut.

The 11am rain prediction was true. Donna came home around then. I used the car to go play pickleball at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center. Donna stayed home to work on her blog post. We’ll have the car through the weekend. Originally we planned to pull out of here on the 8th, but I extended our stay until the 14th. I’m glad we didn’t have to pull out on a stormy day and hit the road.

On Thursday evening, the rain abated and we went to the Offshore Tavern and Grill for their holiday party – not sure why they decided to schedule it for after the holidays, but they did. All drinks were three dollars and free hors d’oeuvres were served by the wait staff walking around with trays. One of the appetizers was prime rib bruschetta with horseradish sauce. It was delightful. I also ordered a poke plate made with sushi grade ahi tuna for us.

Poke plate

There was quite a crowd and everyone was having a great time. We were lucky to get seats at the bar, but after an hour or so, we decided to head for home about 8pm. Back at the park we found new neighbors two sites down from us. They invited us to join their campfire. We enjoyed talking, sitting by the fire and imbibing adult beverages.

Neighbor’s campfire

On Friday morning, we awoke to abundant sunshine! It was a welcome sight after days of rain. California needs the water and the rain was a good thing. The snow pack in the local mountains and Sierra Nevada range will be a big help in the spring. Donna and I drove over to the Ocean Beach Recreation Center for pickleball. We always have fun there. We met a couple, Scott and Norma, that are full-timers staying here at the Mission Bay RV Resort. We hope to get together with them soon. Norma stopped by in the afternoon and invited us to visit around 6pm. I had to take a rain check as we already had plans for our friends, Bud and Mona, to visit us in the evening.

Donna made the second of three Hello Fresh meals Friday night. She made sage-butter pork chops with roasted broccolini and citrusy potato salad. It was very good. Donna is having fun with the new recipes.

Sage-butter pork chops

With this meal, I tried another Stone special release in the Stochasticity Project line. It was called Grainiac and the grain bill included 2-row pale malt, white wheat, grouse malted millet, grouse malted buckwheat, carrarye, golden naked oats and triticale. It was definitely a malty brew somewhat reminiscent of their Arrogant Bastard ale.

Grainiac

Bud and Mona came over around 6:30pm. We sat outside and talked. As always, when we spend time with good friends, the time flies by. We chatted for a couple of hours before they had to leave. Mona had to be up early for work.

Bud, Mona and Donna

We wanted to go see Hans’ band, The Sand Devils, play at a club in North Park. But we weren’t up to it by 9pm, so we stayed inside and watched an episode of Penny Dreadful.

We have clear, blue skies again today. The temperature is below average in the low 60s. There’s a chance of rain around midnight. We’ll have to get out and enjoy the sunshine!

Not Giving Up

Tuesday morning was busy. After writing a long post about my quadcopter experience, I had to scooter over to Point Loma to pick up a prescription from Dr. Ryan. When I returned, Donna’s sister Sheila came to pick her up. Sheila was headed out of town for a ski trip. Donna went to the airport with her and brought her car back here. We’ll have access to a car for a few days and Sheila doesn’t have to hassle with airport parking or taxi cabs.

I scarfed down a couple of tamales for a quick lunch then headed over to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center (PBRC) for pickleball. Donna arrived about 45 minutes later. Afterwards, she stopped off at Sprouts to pick up some groceries. She cooked spicy scallops with zucchini and tomatoes over whole wheat spaghetti for dinner. As usual, I’m eating well!

Spicy scallops with zucchini and tomatoes

I ordered another quadcopter from Amazon to replace the one I lost (see my last post for details). Amazon had a free overnight delivery deal for Prime members.

On Wednesday morning, we decided to go out for breakfast – a rare treat. We went to Leilani’s Cafe in Pacific Beach (map). On past trips to Hawaii, we’ve enjoyed snorkelling in the mornings. This works up a hearty appetite that we sometimes fill with a traditional Hawaiian breakfast called loco moco. Leilani’s is the only place I’ve found outside of Hawaii that serves this dish. Loco moco is a hamburger patty with two fried eggs on a bed of rice. Then it’s smothered in brown gravy. It’s so good and very filling. According to Donna’s MyFitnessPal app, it’s about 650 calories.

Leilani’s loco moco

When we left Leilani’s, we took a side trip to Tourmaline Canyon – a popular Pacific Beach surf spot. The lot was full but we managed to find a parking place and went down to the beach to watch the surfers. I was surprised at the number of people there on a Wednesday morning – well over 50.

Tourmaline Canyon placard

Lots of surfers catching the waves

From there, I drove Donna up to the top of Mount Soledad to take in the views. I thought I had taken her there before, but she said she hadn’t been there. I wrote a post about Mount Soledad with pictures a couple of years ago.

When we came home, my first delivery of the day arrived from Amazon. It was a 64GB SD card I ordered for Donna’s phone. I installed it and upped her phone data capacity from 16GB to about 80GB.

Later my second package arrived – another Syma X8W quadcopter. I unpacked it and found this one to be more sinister looking – it’s all black opposed to the original white one. I disregarded the confusing instruction manual this time and assembled it in about half the time the first one took.

Ozark giving the ‘copter the final inspection

I charged the batteries and tried a different approach to trimming the controls. Donna nearly flipped out when I fired it up in the coach! I lifted off about six or eight inches from the floor and saw it was going left and away from me. I set it back down and made the trim adjustment. I lifted off again, then set it down and fine tuned the trims. After a few more tries, I had it hovering less than a foot off the floor in complete control. I think this is the key. Set the trims and get it stable, then fly. I’m used to radio-controlled airplanes – these are always trimmed in flight and flying 100 or more feet off the ground is no problem. My last RC airplane was a giant scale Edge 540 replica – 40% scale with a wingspan of ten feet.

I put the “copter away and charged the spare batteries. I have three sets of batteries for it as it has a short flight time – less than ten minutes before the batteries run low.

Donna prepared lemon chicken piccata over steamed spinach and whole wheat spaghetti for dinner. Another delicious, nutritious meal.

Lemon chicken piccata

It’s cool this morning – about 50 degrees under clear, sunny skies. The wind is calm. I think I’ll get the ‘copter out and try flying again. I don’t give up that easily! This afternoon we’ll head over to PBRC for pickleball.

A Dip in the Bay

Saturday was a low key day. Donna went out for bike ride with our pickleball friend, Johanna. They rode out to Dog Beach on the north side of Ocean beach and back – about an 18-mile ride including a loop around Fiesta Island. I made a run to Keil’s grocery store up on Clairemont Drive (map). I had a few items on my shopping list and while I was there I took a look at the meat counter. To my surprise, I saw a Certified Angus Beef (CAB) USDA Choice grade brisket point cut. I’ve never seen a point cut at the grocery store before. It was well marbled and looked really good. I think I’m becoming obsessed with smoked brisket. I walked away from it.

On Sunday morning, my brisket obsession got the better of me. I rode the scooter back to Keil’s to get the CAB USDA Choice brisket point. I didn’t see it at first and thought someone had scooped it from me. Then I found it behind a stack of tri-tips. I’ll cook it later this week – maybe on New Year’s Day.

Speaking of brisket, we had about a pound of meat left from the Christmas dinner gathering. Donna cubed it and whipped up a pot of homemade chili on Sunday. It was delicious! I spent the day watching NFL football.

The weekend was windy and chilly with the temperatures only reaching the low 60s. This has been a cold start to winter in San Diego. Monday morning dawned with clear skies and no wind. I figured it was time to assemble the quadcopter Donna gave me for Christmas and try it out. I didn’t bother with it all weekend due to the wind.

Some assembly required

I think I’m a fairly handy guy, but assembling the quadcopter was easier said than done. The manual was obviously translated by someone with a rudimentary grasp of the English language. Not only were the words and word order strange, the sequence of the instructions were completely random. The manual left out an important notice – the rotors must be put on the proper shafts. There are two rotors marked “A” that must rotate in clockwise fashion while the other two rotors are marked “B” and must rotate in a counter-clockwise direction. The manufacturer corrected this omission by adding that instruction to the side of the box the quadcopter was packed in. Reading through the manual was almost comical – all I could do was laugh about it and figure out what to do as I went along. Here are a couple of statements verbatim from the manual:

The materials and specification mentioned in this instruction manual or the parts inside this package is for reference only. Our company won’t be responsible for any adaption of the outer package. Nor shall we keep our customers informed in advance. Any information updates or changes, please be subject to our website.

When the quadcopter flies, it should maintain 2-3 meters from user or others, avoiding from crashing into others’ head, face or body when it lands.

The company has the right of final interpretation of this instruction manual statement.

The nomenclature in the manual varied. One line of instruction said to install the stands:

Twist the wide screws to locking the stands as figure (2).

Figure 2 didn’t show much. I didn’t see any stands and when I looked at the exploded drawing of the parts, it became apparent that the stands were called landing legs in the drawing. I found them under the rotors in the packaging. There was a packet of screws – I had to sort out which screws to use for the landing legs and which to use for the blade guards.

I worked it out and the had the quadcopter assembled after about 45 minutes. I charged the batteries for three hours.

Ozark inspecting fully assembled Syma X8W quadcopter

While I was doing this, Donna went for a massage. She was walking back to the coach as I headed out to try my hand at flying the quadcopter. We met before I exited the RV park. She asked me where I was going. I told her I wanted to be away from the RVs while I learned to fly this thing – I wanted open space and I didn’t want to fly into someone’s coach. She suggested the beach area, then said, “No, too close to the water – you should go the grassy area of Mission Bay Park.”

I went to the storage area past our cargo trailer. The lot there was mostly empty and I had a paved surface to lift off from. I have a lot of radio control experience. In the ’90s, I flew radio-controlled airplanes competitively in the International Miniature Aerobatic Club (IMAC). I was a two-time IMAC National Champion. I also piloted radio-controlled power boats in the ’80s. I knew this would be different, but how hard could it be? Modern copters are fairly stable due to electronic gyroscopes. I knew I would have to adjust the trims to get it stabilized. I figured once that was done it shouldn’t be too hard.

I went through the start-up sequence and lifted off. With the ‘copter about 10 feet high I started adjusting the trim. The copter was sliding to the left and moving away from me. It continued to climb as I adjusted the trim. At 20 feet of altitude I cut the power back – it fell like a rock! I powered up as it dropped and it touched down softly and sprang back up in the air. As it climbed it was still moving to the left and away from me. I added right trim and pulled back on the stick as it was heading away. I paid too much attention to the trim and allowed the ‘copter to fly too high. It was unresponsive as I reduced power and tried to get it to come down and fly back toward me.

It was 80-100 feet high. There must have been more wind at that altitude. Instead of sliding to the left, it went to the right. My stick commands didn’t do anything. The ‘copter was completely unresponsive. It headed out over De Anza Cove. I was frantically trying to get it to turn and come back over land when the rotors stopped turning. For some reason, the power shut off. I watched it fall like a rock and hit the water with a plop about 100 yards from shore.

I stood there with my jaw dropped for about a minute, then I sprang into action. I took off my shoes, shirt and pants and ran into the bay in my undershorts. I swam hard. I was within 20 yards of the ‘copter when it sank. I swam until I thought I was at the spot where it went under and dove down. The water was much deeper than I thought and I had to come back to the surface for air. I caught my breath and dove again. This time I was near the bottom but the visibility was only a couple of feet. I surfaced again, breathing hard. I was getting cold. The water was cold and the air temperature was only about 60 degrees.

I resigned myself to the fact the ‘copter was a goner. It seemed like a long swim back to shore. I retrieved my keys from my pants and opened our cargo trailer. I grabbed my clothes and dried myself off in the trailer, shivering all the while. I went commando and dressed in the trailer and walked back to the RV park. Thomas the security guard witnessed the whole thing. He didn’t give me too hard a time about it.

When I came back to the coach and told Donna what happened, she didn’t believe me. She thought I was telling a tall tale. My clothes were dry so she couldn’t see how I could’ve gone into the bay. I pointed to the wet undershorts hanging outside and explained how I undressed before jumping in.

We had plans to meet up for happy hour at Dave and Shannon’s site around 3:30pm, then go over to SD Taproom on Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach. It was nearly 3:30pm by then and I needed a shower. About then it started to rain. Donna exchanged text messages with the group while I showered. The plan had changed – we would skip happy hour in the rain and go directly to the Taproom. Hector and Brenda picked us up and we rode with them to Pacific Beach.

The SD Taproom is a nice pub with a rotating selection of craft beers. We sampled a few and ordered appetizers. Donna and I went for an order of wings and two grilled fish tacos. We split the wings plate and each ate one of the large fish tacos. They had a cask of Belching Beaver Hop Highway Ale brewed with Alpine Brewery Rye IPA (Nelson). This was a delicious collaboration.

After eating, we moved two doors down to the Barrel Republic. Barrel Republic has a unique set-up. They have 44 beers on tap plus about eight wines. You open a tab by giving the bartender a credit card and ID. The bartender gives you a wrist band with an electronic chip. There are several shapes and sizes of glasses on shelves. The taps are electronically controlled. You select a glass, then find the beer you want. Putting your wrist band on a sensor next to the tap activates the tap. You pour your own – as much or as little as you want. The tap measures your pour and you get charged by the ounce. The beers ranged in price from around 55 cents per ounce up to 99 cents per ounce. There’s a small screen over the tap that shows you how much you poured. There’s a limit on how much you can pour for yourself – I think it’s around 32 ounces. When you finish your beer, you leave your glass on the bar and get a fresh glass if you want another beer.

The bar at Barrel Republic – the sign says Freedom to Pour

Electronic taps at Barrel Republic

More taps

We sat at a table and told a few stories. It was a hoot. It was the last night at Mission Bay RV Resort for Dave and Shannon and Iain and Kate. They’re heading out to Anza Borrego State Park to boondock in the desert where they will ring in the new year.

Donna, Dave, Hector, Iain and Kate at Barrel Republic

We’re still thinking about extending our stay here. Hector and Brenda will be here for a few more weeks.

We made it home in time to see the overtime win by the Denver Broncos. One week left in the NFL regular season.

Christmas Potluck

In my last post, I mentioned my plan to smoke a brisket for Christmas dinner. On Wednesday afternoon, I scootered over to Siesel’s Old Fashioned Meats a few miles away from Mission Bay RV Resort (map). I was glad to be on the scooter – if I had driven a car I would’ve had to park several blocks away as the lot was full and the streets around the store didn’t have any open parking spaces either.

When I went inside, I took a number at the meat counter – I was number 65. I heard one of the butchers call out “Number 48.” I knew this was going to take a while. Everyone was looking for something special for Christmas dinner. There were at least four butchers working behind the counter so things moved along without too much delay. I asked for a large cut of the brisket flat. The guy told me he might be able to get six pounds of flat – I said that would be great.

I saw him come out of the cooler with the largest chunk of brisket I’ve ever seen. He trimmed it and cut away the flat – it was five and half pounds. It was a USDA Choice cut and looked to be a nice hunk of flat (HOF). If you’re interested in learning all you want to know about brisket, take a look at this site.

Thursday morning I scootered over to Vons Grocery store. It was a zoo – nothing like waiting until the last minute to shop. Donna wanted me to pick up some marinated mushrooms and and mixed olives from their olive bar. I also bought Stubbs Beef Rub.

Donna’s knee was sore and she wanted to skip pickleball – bicycling wasn’t too hard on her knee though. She went for a bike ride while I shopped. When I returned, I dressed for the court and went to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center to play pickleball. I played from noon ’til 2:30pm. I needed to get home in time to clean the Traeger and prep the brisket.

Five and half pound hunk of flat

I trimmed a little more off the fat cap – I left about 1/4 inch of fat on the cap side and seasoned the meat with Stubbs. I wrapped it in plastic and butcher paper and put it in the refrigerator.

Thursday night we cheated a bit and opened our Christmas presents. I surprised Donna with a Garmin Edge 500 bicycle computer. It’s basically a GPS for her bike that will record distance, time, average speed, elevation changes and a host of other features. Her Shimano Flight Deck bicycle computer died. I installed the Flight Deck from my bike on hers, but that one went kaput too.

Donna surprised me with a quad-copter drone. Once I get the hang of flying it, I can mount my Samsung S5 on it and record video or shoot photos. I’ll be a spy in the sky.

On Christmas morning, I was up at 5am. With my LED headlight strapped on, I filled the hopper on the Traeger with hickory wood pellets from Pacific Pellets and fired up the smoker/grill. It was dark-thirty out and the moon was setting in the western sky. It was cold and windy and this photo shows the moisture in the air.

Christmas morning moon

I put the HOF on the grill to start the cook at 5:30am.

Seasoned hunk of flat on the grill

I went back to bed but couldn’t sleep. I got back up at 6am and went outside to check the smoker. I left it on the smoke setting which usually gets the pit up to 200 degrees. The combination of five pounds of cold meat and the strong wind had the pit temperature stuck at 135 degrees. I changed the setting from smoke – which feeds pellets based on a timer instead of the temperature probe – to 180 degrees. This activated the signal from the temperature probe. A half hour later the temperature only rose to about 160 degrees. The ambient temperature was in the high 50s with sustained 20mph wind. I turned the grill up to 225 degrees.

I spritzed the meat a couple of times with a sprayer filled with 12 ounces of beer mixed with 3 ounces of apple cider vinegar and a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. At 9:30am I checked the internal temperature of the meat with an instant-read thermometer. It was nearly 170 degrees. I took the HOF off the grill and double wrapped it tightly in foil, spritzing it generously before I closed up the foil and put it back in the smoker/grill. I let it cook for another four and half hours, checking it again just after 2pm. I think my instant-read thermometer reads a little high. I’ll have to check it in boiling water. It showed the internal temperature of the thickest part of the brisket at 210 degrees. This was a little higher than I expected.

I took the brisket off the grill. With it still wrapped in foil, I rolled a towel around it and put a second towel over it. I stored it in the microwave oven to keep it in an airtight, confined space so it would rest and slowly cool.

While I was smoking the brisket, Donna went with our friends Iain and Kate to a church in Pacific Beach where they volunteered to prepare a meal for the homeless. They came back just before noon and started decorating the RV park clubhouse for our Christmas potluck.

Our friend from my school days, Carole Sue Bringas, joined us. She brought two Julian pies to share with the group. We had happy hour at 3pm. Around 4:15pm we set up the food buffet. We had a lot food for a group of twelve people. I retrieved the brisket from the coach and unwrapped it at the clubhouse. After resting for two hours, it was still steaming hot.

Tender, moist brisket

Kate cooked a turkey breast and enlisted Hector to carve it.

Hector carving the turkey while Kate supervises

Carved turkey breast

Sliced brisket

Serving line at the buffet

Dinner table set for twelve

Dinner plate for Donna

The conversation and wine flowed as we enjoyed our Christmas dinner. Donna’s sister Sheila joined us just as we were beginning to eat. Kate and Iain brought traditional British Christmas Crackers. These are cylindrical cardboard poppers – you can see them in the photo of Donna’s dinner plate. You hold one end of the cracker while your partner pulls on the other end. It breaks with a pop and one side has a gag toy in it plus a paper crown. We had fun popping the crackers around the table.

Kate with her Christmas Cracker eye patch and crown

Carole Sue

Dessert

We sat and talked, then we played a crazy game called Cards Against Humanity. We wound things down and cleaned the place up around 9:30pm. The full moon I saw setting in the early morning was rising in the east by now.

Moon rise

Today we’re expecting clear blue skies with the temperature reaching the mid 60s. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. We really enjoyed ours.

Not a Lonely Road

When we first told people we planned to hit the road as full-time RVers, we were often asked if we would miss our friends and become lonely. We figured full-timing would give us more opportunities to reconnect with friends as we traveled and also allow us to visit family around the country. This has turned out to be true as we’ve hooked up with friends and family from coast to coast. What we didn’t realize was how we would find a whole new community and establish friendships with fellow nomadic travelers.

I’ll give a couple of examples. I’ve already mentioned that our friends Tom and Kris Downey (Open Road 365) are here at Mission Bay RV Resort. Donna and Kris met as fellow SendOutCards distributors. I first met Kris and Tom in Michigan when we were selling our stuff and planning to hit the road. About a year later, they decided to do the same – and here we are meeting up 3,000 miles from where we first met. We also got together with them last winter when we were both in Mesa, Arizona.

A few days ago, I was standing at the security shack at the park entrance shooting the breeze with the guys when I saw a Honda CRV followed by a Holiday Rambler motorhome approach. When the Honda stopped at the entrance, I recognized the driver. I said, “Hi, Nina.” She recognized me and we exchanged pleasantries. I’ve been following her blog for about three years (Wheeling It). We first met Nina and her husband Paul a couple of years ago in Cape Blanco, Oregon. We ran into them again in Albuquerque a couple of months ago and now we’re in the same park again.

There’s a social media site created expressly for RVers called RVillage. We enter our location on the site as we move around. A few days ago, I received a private message on RVillage. It was from Iain and Kate. They said they met up with Hans and Lisa (Metamorphosis Road) and Hans told them they should look us up since they are also staying here at Mission Bay RV Resort. I responded to the message and we’ve planned a happy hour get-together this afternoon.

A couple of days ago, I saw an Alpine Coach enter the RV park. Shortly after that, I received another private message on RVillage from Don and Cheryl – it was their Alpine Coach I saw. We met them here last spring when they were preparing to go full-time. We plan to get together again.

Yesterday I went to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center (PBRC) to pay pickleball. Donna hurt her knee last Thursday when we played and decided to stay off the court. While I was at PBRC, she walked to Staples and Vons in Pacific Beach. Walking didn’t hurt her knee, but she was still cautious about making quick movements that might put a strain on it. While she was at Vons, she recognized a woman who also plays pickleball at PBRC (her name escapes me at the moment) and they had a brief chat. Donna said it made her feel like a local to run into someone she knew at the grocery store.

Anyway, my point is that we aren’t lonely on the road. We’ve managed to visit old friends and family and we’ve made new friends in the RV community and in the communities where we stay. It’s amazing how we often find ourselves in the same place at the same time as other RVers who have become our friends.

I was out and about running a few errands on the scooter Monday. I made a detour to take a look at the beach. There were high surf warnings all weekend and high tides again. It was a cool and windy day so there weren’t many people at the beach. The high tides and surf left a lot of kelp up on the beach.

Crystal Pier at Pacific Beach – kelp on the sand

This morning I heard that the high (King) tides have caused a lot of erosion of the beaches in North County. Carlsbad lost a lot of sand and they’re shoring up an area where Highway 101 is threatened by the erosion. The highest King tide of the season will occur on Thursday, December 24th.

I went in for my annual physical at Dr. Ryan’s office in Point Loma this morning – thus I’m posting late. While I was out, I stopped at BevMo and bought a few interesting beers. I’ll bring a couple along when we meet up with Iain and Kate this afternoon.

Stone smoked porter I opened for Donna Monday night

We’ve had clear skies with cool, breezy weather. It’s been in the low 60s during the day dropping into the high 30s and low 40s at night. The inland valleys have had frost. The receptionist at Dr. Ryan’s office told me she had ice on her car this morning in east Mission Valley. Brrr…it’s not supposed to be this cold here. Today we’ll see more of the same, then it’ll warm up to about 70 by Friday. I shouldn’t complain after seeing the amount of snow falling in several parts of the country – the airport in Denver shut down as 24 inches of snow came down. The winter storm left deep snow from northern Arizona to Montana, Oregon to Minnesota and everywhere in between. We prefer to scrape sunshine off the windshield.

Lost Cat

I’m writing my 600th post on this blog today! I’ve been writing a little less than usual lately – mainly because we’re stationary for an extended period and I haven’t had much to say.

Friday was a blustery day. I used the time indoors to remove the screens from our vents. We have two 12″ Fantastic Fans in roof vents that have screens on the inside. These fans do a great job of pulling fresh air into the coach and circulating it out the roof. Over time, the screens collect dust and need to be cleaned. The screens have eight screws in a plastic ring attaching them to the electric fan. It’s not too difficult to remove them. I cleaned them with 303 Multi-Surface Cleaner and water, using a Brillo bug scrubber to get the stubborn debris off.

At 4pm, we joined Tom and Kris Downey at their place and we drove over to Offshore Tavern and Grill on Morena Boulevard for happy hour. Tom and Donna tried the New English Brewing Pacific Storm Irish Stout while Kris and I settled on Stone IPA. The beers were good! We ordered appetizer plates – seared tuna, mac and cheese, poke and a 50/50 mix of tater tots and sweet potato fries with cotija cheese. We shared the appetizers and it was enough to call it dinner. We talked and enjoyed each other’s company for a couple of hours. I was so wrapped up in the conversation and food, I neglected to take any pictures.

On Saturday afternoon, I scootered Donna to her sister’s house in Point Loma. Donna’s nephew Connor was in a play and Donna went with her sister Sheila to watch it. I walked a few laps of the park and visited with the guys at the security shack while she was away. After the play, Sheila and Connor came over to visit and see Ozark the cat.

Donna wanted to ride her bike on Sunday morning so I got her bicycle out of the trailer and pumped up the tires. She planned a route along Old Sea World Drive to Quivira Basin and back. While she was out, I watched the Chargers game against Kansas City. It was another heartbreaker with the Chargers only needing a yard to tie the game but not being able to get it done before time expired.

We had a visitor for the afternoon game. Debbie Bednarski came down from Carlsbad. She planned to pick up her husband Bruce at the airport around 3pm. I’ve known Debbie since we were in junior high school. Donna made her famous crab cakes and served them over a bed of herbs and spring lettuces. We had a beer and enjoyed conversation while keeping an eye on the Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay game.

Donna’s famous crab cakes

Whenever we have visitors, Ozark the cat enjoys the attention she receives. She’s gregarious and always approaches people when they come into the coach. This was true when Sheila and Connor were here and she snuggled up to Debbie on the sofa as well. Lately, she spends much of the afternoon curled up on the seat in the front of our living room. I’ve read that cats sleep up to 17 hours per day.

Ozark the cat doing what she does best

We had a curious incident with Ozark on Saturday morning. As usual, she was in bed with us when we woke up. We didn’t get out of bed right away. But when we did get up, Ozark had disappeared! Usually she’ll head to her food dish and wait while I clean it and fill it with food. She didn’t come out this time. I figured maybe she was sleeping behind the sofa. After a couple of hours, Donna was getting really worried because this was unusual behavior and maybe Ozark was sick or something.

I got a flashlight and took the cushions off the sofa. Ozark wasn’t under or behind the sofa. I took the lower drawers out of kitchen cabinet to see if she got in there somehow. Nope. I checked the bedroom closet and the small opening in the bedroom slide. No Ozark. Donna was calling her but we didn’t hear any response.

Donna was getting worried – a coach parked a few sites away from us lost a cat recently. They posted signs for their lost cat – it was a stray they picked up in Ohio and traveled west with. I knew Ozark had to be in the coach somewhere. We hadn’t opened the door so it wasn’t possible for her to get outside.

Our bed has two long drawers under it which open at the foot of the bed. Donna pulled open the drawer where she stores our towels and sheets. There was Ozark, nestled in the towels sleeping. It’s a mystery how she got in there. I’m thinking the drawer was left open enough for her to climb in which is something she does whenever a drawer or door is left open. One of us must have closed the drawer without even thinking about it – neither of us recalls closing it. There aren’t any openings in the pedestal the bed sits on where the drawers are located, so there’s no other way for Ozark to get into the drawer. Anyway, she wasn’t lost and we’ll be careful not to leave any drawers open.

Today we have cool weather and warnings for gusty winds and high surf at the beach. The high will be in the lower 60s as it’s been all weekend. The forecast calls for warmer temperatures on Thursday and Friday, then another spell of cool temperatures. The only thing on my agenda today is to clean and refill our hummingbird feeder. We have regular visitors feeding at it and I like watching them.

My hand is much better. I’ve been exercising it with therapy putty and plan to play pickleball tomorrow.

My hand is healing from the surgery

Silent Night

With the stitches from my trigger finger surgery removed, I can use my right hand, although it’s still limited. I decided to go with Donna to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center (PBRC) to try my hand at pickleball. I can’t make a tight fist but I can grip the paddle handle well enough.

We arrived at PBRC just before noon and found a couple of people already setting up the nets. We pitched in to help and were ready to play after a few minutes. For the first hour or so, there were fewer players than we usually find at PBRC. We barely had time to rest between games. My hand held up fine. It got sore after a while, but it was always sore playing pickleball before the surgery. I think I’ll hold off until next Tuesday though before I play again.

Incision healing and looks okay after pickleball

Incision healing and looks okay after playing pickleball

Donna visited our friend Kris Downey (OpenRoad365) at site 138. Kris’ husband Tom had to go to North Hollywood where their daughter Megan lives. Her car had been stolen a couple of weeks ago and they went up to LA at that time to help her deal with the insurance claim and get a new car. Now the police have recovered the stolen car. This sounds familiar – the same thing happened when those Dirty, Rotten Thieves stole our trailer. Anyway, Tom went up to see the car, which was recovered after it had been left at the scene of an accident with the front end completely demolished.

While Donna was visiting with Kris, I made a run on the scooter to Dan Diego’s. The usual crowd – Bob, Dan, Joe, Tye and Tim – showed up and I turned in my football pool picks for this weekend. I was talking to one of the bartenders there – they tend to be very knowledgeable about the local craft beer scene – and learned about Port Brewing. I thought Pizza Port up in Solana Beach had morphed into Port Brewing in San Marcos. The real story is they are two distinct but related operations. The brewmaster Tomme Arthur came to Pizza Port in 1995. Pizza Port is owned by Vince Marsaglia and his sister Gina. Tomme brewed some great beers and developed a good reputation at Pizza Port.

In 2005, Stone vacated their brewery in San Marcos and moved into their new, larger facility nearby. Tomme, Vince and Gina partnered to take over the old Stone facility and created Port Brewing. Tomme is the brewmaster at Port Brewing now and the brewing of Pizza Port beers was handed over to Jeff Bagby. Port Brewing brews about 15,000 barrels per year and are perennial award winners.

Port Brewing Wipeout IPA

When I came home, I opened a Port Brewing Wipeout IPA. I liked knowing the story behind it, but it didn’t taste any different – it was good west coast style IPA as usual.

Last night, a storm was expected to move in with rain and wind out of the west. I heard rain falling on the roof at one point in the night, but it didn’t seem like much. Later, around 2:30am, I woke up and was stunned by the lack of sound. Usually traffic along I-5 and Mission Bay Drive creates a kind of white noise in the background. It was absolutely silent out. I finally drifted off to sleep again.

This morning I woke up at 6:32am. I still didn’t hear traffic noise, but what I did hear was the sound of commercial airliners passing off the coast. San Diego International Airport (Lindberg Field) allows departures beginning at 6:30am. The jets would be taking off to the west, flying over Point Loma. Most of the flight paths would be vectored north over the ocean before heading east.

Lying in bed, I wondered about the jet noise. We don’t usually hear them because they are too far away from the coast. Then I understood the silence from the road. Wind affects the way sound waves travel. Wind speed and direction vary with altitude. The velocity is lower closer to the ground and usually increases with altitude.This causes a refraction of the sound waves. The wind was blowing from west to east. The sound waves from the jets up high to the west refract and bend toward the ground. This carried the sound of the jets down to our location. The sound of the cars downwind from us was also refracted. Going upwind, the sound waves tend to bend upwards, carrying the road noise over the top of our location which is why we couldn’t hear it. Sometimes my mind is occupied by thoughts like these when I can’t sleep.

We’re in for a blustery day today with wind, clouds and a high temperature in the lower to mid 60s. There’s a wind advisory at Lindberg Field and also a high wave advisory – wave sets up to 12 feet are expected. We may have rain again this evening. I think it’ll be a good day to hang out and catch up on few chores.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Scooter

Gray Skies at Jojoba Hills

From Kafta to Sushi

Foul Play

Hello Fresh

Not Giving Up

A Dip in the Bay

Christmas Potluck

Not a Lonely Road

Lost Cat

Silent Night

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