Category Archives: Scooter

Sudden Shower

Weather guesser is an appropriate term in southeast Michigan. Yesterday’s forecast called for zero percent chance of rain until late afternoon when there was a slight possibility of scattered showers.

Donna drove over to Stony Creek Metropark (map) in the morning to meet up with some girls to rent stand-up paddleboards on the lake. She took her bike along in the back of Bill’s SUV which we still have. She planned to ride with Bill after paddleboarding. Then she wanted to shop at Vince and Joe’s Gourmet grocery afterwards, since it’s close to Stony Creek Metropark.

I had a few errands to run, so I headed out on the scooter. I rode through downtown Rochester where the roads are under construction, creating traffic jams in every direction. I went to Petsmart and bought more food for Ozark. For a little cat, she sure can eat. Then I went to Barnes and Noble and picked up a few more Vince Flynn novels. I’m hooked on the Mitch Rapp series of thrillers.

I made another stop at CVS pharmacy, then went to Papa Joe’s Gourmet Market on the way back. I’d like to know who Joe is. Around here there’s Trader Joe’s, Vince and Joe’s and also Papa Joe’s. Trader Joe’s is nationwide, but the other two Joe’s are local and very upscale.

Papa Joe’s Gourmet Market

I checked out the baby back ribs at Papa Joe’s, thinking if the weather holds out, I’ll buy them on Sunday to grill for our potluck bash. I also found a 22-ounce bottle of Dragon’s Milk Bourbon Barrel Stout that will go well with barbeque ribs.

I came home and heated up leftovers for lunch. Suddenly the sun was blocked out by clouds and it was dark out. I looked at the weather radar app on my phone. A line of thunderstorms stretching from the southwest to the northeast was almost on top of us! I went out and covered the scooter and picked up a few things on the picnic table. I brought them inside just as the rain began to fall. We had a real downpour! So much for zero chance of rain for the day.

Donna texted me from Vince and Joe’s – she spent an hour shopping there and said she was in heaven! It rained there and she wondered if we had rain here. By then, the storm had passed and it was sunny again.

Donna came home with a porterhouse steak. I seasoned the steak and wanted to try grilling it on the Traeger smoker/grill. The thing is, the Traeger doesn’t provide direct heat like I would normally use to grill a steak. It’s all indirect convection heat. This makes it difficult to get grill marks and any charring on the surface of the meat. It’s arguably healthier not to char the meat, but that’s what makes a grilled steak so tasty.

I had an idea. I turned the grill on high and put a cast iron skillet inside while I had potatoes baking. After a while I added the steak to the 450-degree grill.

Cast iron skillet, potatoes and steak

After cooking with the lid closed for eight minutes, I placed the steak in the hot cast iron skillet. My plan was to flip it after two minutes and try to get a little char from the radiant heat of the cast iron skillet. I made a big mistake though. After I closed the lid, the temperature didn’t rise in the grill, it began to fall. I hadn’t stirred the pellets in the hopper and as the pellet supply went down, they formed a bridge over the auger and quit feeding. My fire was out! I stirred the pellets and got it restarted, but my skillet experiment was ruined. The steak came out okay, but I’ll have to try this again and see if I can perfect the technique.

Steak and potatoes hot off the grill

Donna steamed asparagus and sauteed mushrooms and onions to accompany the steak and potatoes.

Steak under sauteed mushrooms and onions with roasted potato and steamed asparagus

After dinner, Ozark the cat amused us with her antics. She loves to bat the parchment paper toy Donna made. She also tosses and chases the little catnip-filled mouse toys I bought. I put a little dried catnip on her scratching post and she attacked it. Finally she wore down and seemed a bit dazed by the catnip.

Ozark dazed by the catnip

The weather forecast for today went from 60% chance of rain on yesterday’s prediction to 35% chance of rain by last night. This morning they say 0% chance of rain, but we know how that went yesterday. I’m hoping they got it right today so we can have guests join us for the potluck picnic we have planned. I’ll head out to Papa Joe’s and pick up the ribs around noon if the weather still looks promising.

A Riveting Tale

In my last post, I mentioned how hard the water is here at Addison Oaks County Park (map). It left water spots and streaks after I washed the coach on Wednesday. After writing that post, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I got the ladder out and a couple of clean microfiber cloths and went at it with a waterless cleaner call The Solution.

While I was working on the finish, going up and down the ladder, Donna went for a power walk. She walked about five miles and got her 10,000 steps. I cleaned about 3/4 of the coach by the time she came back. I took a break and we had lunch. I kicked back for about 20 minutes and finished the Vince Flynn novel I was reading before I went back to work cleaning. It took about three hours to get the job done. The water spots were stubborn in places.

Sometimes when we’re rolling down the road, I hear a rhythmic rattling sound on the right front of the coach. It only happens when we’re driving on concrete slab with expansion joints that set up a certain frequency. While I was cleaning, I noticed a side panel on the right front beneath the compartment for the HWH hydraulic reservoir and pump had play in it. This body panel had two rivets holding the trailing edge to the frame. The rivets were worn and loose. I could grab the panel and rock it back and forth and hear the same sound I heard on the road.

I got a few tools out of the trailer and went to work. I drilled out the old rivets with my cordless drill.

Upper rivet drilled out

About this time, Donna was leaving for her hair appointment. When we knew for sure when we would be in the area, she made an appointment with the stylist she used to go to when we lived here. After her hair appointment, she planned to drive to Harrison Township for a meet up with a swap group she established a few years ago. Donna didn’t expect to be home until after 9pm, so I was on my own.

Back to my task. After drilling out the old rivets, I set up my pop rivet tool. Blind rivets are commonly called pop rivets – this is because the original manufacturer was POP. Pop rivets are tubular with a mandrel through the center. You insert the mandrel into the tool and push the rivet into the holes on the parts you are joining. The tool pulls the mandrel, expanding the rivet and flaring the back side until it clamps itself in place. The mandrel then snaps off, leaving the rivet in place.

Pop rivet tool and rivet

Rivet mandrel inserted into tool

After installing the new rivets, the panel is now held firmly in place. This should prevent the rattling sound.

New rivets in place

After I put my tools away, I rode the scooter to the store a few miles from here. I found local IPA brewed by the Rochester Mills Beer Company in 16-ounce cans. I brought a four-pack home and tried it. It doesn’t have the balance and mouth-feel of good west coast IPA. It had a grainy flavor – not malty, but a thin grain aftertaste.

Cornerstone IPA, Rochester Mills Beer Co

Maybe it’s the can that’s influencing the taste. I’ve had it on tap at their brew pub before and liked it. They also have a milkshake stout that I liked before and I’ll have to try it next time.

Before Donna left, she gave me a quick lesson on how to preheat the convection oven and set the cook temperature and time. I planned to reheat one of the frozen pasties we picked up in the U.P. for dinner. It occurred to me that our Traeger smoker/grill is also a convection oven. Why use the indoor microwave/convection oven when I could fire up the Traeger outdoors and maybe also add some smoky flavor to the pasty?

Pre-cooked frozen pasty

Heating up the Traeger

Ready to eat

I had the pasty on the grill for 35 minutes at 350 degrees. It came out perfect, but didn’t retain as much smoky flavor as I thought it would.

Donna got home after 10pm. It was bedtime for me.

Donna’s new do

This morning, I woke up to the sound of thunder and rain drumming on the roof at 7am. There goes a half day’s work cleaning the coach!

Weather radar this morning

The rain has stopped now and I hope it bypasses us this afternoon. We want to grill dinner with our friends Jason and Danielle Bates and their sons. The current forecast shows a 50% chance of rain this afternoon. Our plan B is to meet up for pizza.

Memphis-Style Ribs

Donna took advantage of the last few hours before returning the rental car yesterday. She drove to Cub Foods and shopped for groceries. She enjoyed walking the aisles and picking up whatever she wanted without having to think about how much she could carry home on the scooter. While she was shopping, I hung out and read. After she brought the groceries home, she had to return the car. The guy at Enterprise drove her home, saving me from making the trip on the scooter.

After lunch, I removed the tire covers and the front window shades. It was warm and dry out, but the forecast calls for rain on the weekend. I always like to pack the covers and shades while they’re dry. Packing them away wet and leaving them in the basement for a couple of days invites mold.

With that chore done, I filled the hopper on the Traeger wood pellet grill. Donna picked up a rack of baby back ribs at Cub Foods. I’ve never tried grilling baby back ribs before, but now that we have the Traeger, it was time to try it. Donna and I loved the Memphis-style ribs we had on Beale Street. So I found a recipe and gave it a shot. Memphis-style means the ribs are dry-rubbed with seasoning, grilled hotter than wet St. Louis or Kansas City-style ribs and served with additional dry seasoning after grilling.

I fired up the Traeger and preheated it to 325 degrees.

Digital controller on the Traeger

The Ortech digital controller on the Traeger doesn’t hold the precise temperature. It monitors the temperature through sensor inside the grill and adjusts the pellet feed and blower fan accordingly. The pellets are fed through an auger – it’s like a large screw encased in a metal tube. As the screw turns, pellets are forced through the tube to the fire pot. When the controller senses temperature higher than requested, it stops feeding the pellets and slows the fan until the temperature drops. Once the temperature drops, it starts feeding pellets and stokes the fire with the fan. The actual temperature at the sensor is constantly rising above and dropping below the target temperature because it’s impossible to burn wood pellets at a precise, constant temperature.

Our Traeger grill also has an analog temperature gauge mounted on top of the barrel. There is very little variation in temperature shown on this gauge and I’m convinced the rising and falling temperature is inconsequential. The meat on the grill is held at the average and doesn’t heat up and cool down quickly like the flame in the fire pot does.

Dry-rubbed baby back ribs

I removed the thin membrane from the bone side of the ribs and seasoned them at 1pm. I wrapped them back up in the butcher paper and put them back in the refrigerator. I brought them out of the refrigerator at 2:45pm while the grill was preheating. At 3pm I put them on the grill.

I kicked back in our lounge chair and read a book. Periodically, I monitored the temperature of the grill and stirred the pellets in the hopper to keep them feeding smoothly. There wasn’t much to it. Donna prepared russet potatoes by washing them, slicing them in half lengthwise, then coating them with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic powder. At 5pm, I added the potatoes on the grill.

Baby back ribs and potatoes

That was the only time during the cook that I opened the grill. Just past 6pm, it was time to take the ribs and potatoes out of the grill.

Yum-Yum

Just as I held the ribs in tongs over the cutting board they parted in half. The tender ribs broke away from the bone at the tongs! Luckily it didn’t happen while I was holding them over the grass! I grilled the potatoes with the cut side down. Next time I might do them skin side down.

Ready to serve

This was too easy and oh, so good. The ribs were tender with a nice crust but I think I could have taken them off the grill a little sooner than I did. The potatoes were cooked perfectly. The maple-hickory-cherry pellet blend left a nice smoky flavor.

Dinner is served

We dined al fresco at our picnic table. I enjoyed a bottle of Lagunitas IPA with the meal.

Today, thundershowers are expected to move into the area some time after noon. I’ll need to organize the trailer and load the scooter. I need to figure out how to fit the Traeger grill in the trailer too. Hopefully I’ll have that done before it rains and we’ll be set to roll out of here tomorrow with minimum fuss.

Our plan is to head east across Wisconsin. We’ll find a place to dry-camp overnight then continue through the upper peninsula of Michigan to St. Ignace.

Senior Olympics Experience

I scootered Donna to Enterprise rental car in Shakopee on Tuesday. We met back at the Dakotah Meadows RV Park and had lunch before we headed out to the Minneapolis Convention Center. The gal at Enterprise gave Donna a free upgrade on the car – we got a VW Passat and it had South Dakota plates matching our coach and scooter plates!

VW Passat with South Dakota plates

We found parking across the street from the convention center and made our way to the hall where check-in for the Senior Olympic Games was taking place. Donna picked up her packet and we had a look around. Pickleball is a Senior Olympic sport. We found a vendor near the pickleball area selling high-end paddles made by RiverStyx here in Minnesota. They were very lightweight and reported to be extra durable, but at $166 each, we passed.

Donna at the check-in

From the convention center, we drove out to the fairgrounds to preview the bicycle race course. We saw several racers riding the course for practice. The course was laid out entirely within the fairgrounds complex. It was a criterium-style course with lots of tight turns and little elevation change. The length of the course was just over three miles – the race would cover eight laps. Donna hadn’t raced on this style of course before – she’s always been on longer road courses with fewer turns.

Donna said the race started at 9am for all competitors. She had e-mails dating back for months stating this. I found it hard to believe. For one thing, men and women rarely start together. Add in the fact that 300 riders were expected. Three hundred riders of all age groups, genders and abilities on a tight criterium race course at once would be a recipe for disaster. She was nervous and I was nervous for her.

On the way home, we made another stop to visit with Donna’s friend, Shannon. We took a tour of her house and chatted for about 40 minutes before we were back on the road. By then, we were hitting rush hour traffic and it was brutal. One of the things I don’t miss at all is the requirement to commute in rush-hour traffic. I don’t have to do it, so I avoid it whenever possible.

On Tuesday night, I was looking for additional race information on the Internet. I stumbled upon a document that showed all cycling participants by group with different start times for each group. One group would begin their race starting at 8am. Donna’s race would start at 9:30am. This document wasn’t provided in the race packet nor was any reference made to it in any communication Donna received from the organization. We were glad I found it, but not too impressed with the way we accidentally learned the schedule.

We were up early on Wednesday morning. Well, Donna was up early, she didn’t wake me until 6:40am. I was planning on leaving here by 7am. That didn’t happen – it was 7:15 by the time we left. I had mapped a different route from the traffic-ensnarled route we took the day before. Our new route took us east, then we hit I-35E north. This worked so much better. That’s always the challenge when we’re in new locations – we don’t know the traffic patterns and best alternate routes. Google maps help, but there’s nothing like local knowledge.

We made the drive in less than an hour. We found the check-in table despite the lack of any signage directing racers where to check-in or what was expected. We talked to several people who all thought the race started at 9am. The men’s races didn’t begin until 11am with some of the age groups starting at 1pm and 3pm. A lot of guys were unhappy about getting up early and fighting traffic to be there for a 9am start that wasn’t happening. The race director really needs to figure out how to communicate the schedule. I wonder if anyone missed the 8am race, thinking their event started at 9am.

We found Donna’s Aunt Kathy and her cousin Ginny at the start/finish area. Donna warmed up and staged shortly before the 9:30am start. As I suspected, the race pace was very fast. The leaders were experienced racers who powered through the turns on this flat course. Donna started off fast but says she got dropped in the first quarter mile. The pace at that point was 27.2 mph! Her goal was not to crash and to average 17-18mph with some drafting. Riding alone, she made it to the finish with a 16.7mph average pace. She was feeling her lack of training these last months due to a combination of heavy rain, unsafe roads, and too-hilly routes along our route. So while she didn’t do as well as she expected, she’s happy to have had the experience of making it to the National Senior Games.

Donna on the course

Catch the draft

After the race, we followed Ginny and Kathy to a popular restaurant called Muffuletta’s in the Como Park neighborhood. Of course, Donna and I ordered the muffaletta sandwich. I had sweet potato fries on the side with mine – Donna had a salad. Donna’s Aunt Kathy used to work nearby and says this restaurant gets packed for lunch and dinner. The service and the food was excellent and we enjoyed eating outdoors on the patio.

Donna, Ginny and Kathy after the race

We backtracked our route down I-35E and made a stop at Costco. We wanted to stock up on a few things while we had a car. I ended up making an impulse buy that I’ll describe in my next post.

Today we expect mostly sunny skies with the temperature reaching 80 degrees. Later this afternoon, Donna will drive to downtown St. Paul for a book signing at Subtext Books.

Getting Race Ready

It rained all morning off and on – mostly on. I spent most of the morning reading while Donna worked at her laptop,doing book promotion. The skies finally cleared around 2:30pm. Donna went out for a walk and found the paved bike trail at Spring Lake Regional Park (map). She walked a little over five miles.

I took the scooter to the store to replenish our bottled water supply. Ozark spent most of the day napping. When I returned from the store, I saw we had a new neighbor setting up in the site next to us here at the Dakotah Meadows RV Park.

After a while, I saw him come out of his fifth wheel trailer and unplug the power cord. He sprayed the contacts with cleaner and plugged it back in. A few minutes later, he was at the back of his RV jiggling the plug again. I picked up my Fluke multimeter and went outside. I asked him if he was having an electrical problem. He said he didn’t have any 120-volt AC power, only 12-volt DC.

We unplugged his power cord from the pedestal and I checked it with my meter. We had 120-volt AC on both legs of the 50amp socket. I plugged his cord back into the pedestal and checked the socket on the end of the cord. We had power there. I told him to check his circuit breaker inside because power was getting to the coach. He came out a few minutes later and said all was good. He thanked me and went inside without telling me what the problem was. I’m assuming the breaker was tripped inside and all he had to do was reset it.

Dakotah Meadows RV Park site A39

Donna made meatloaf for dinner. She improvised and changed up her usual recipe by adding diced sun-dried tomatoes, prosciutto and fresh herbs. The side dish was a winner – it was a warm potato and green bean salad. Delicious!

Meatloaf with warm potato and green bean salad

After dinner, I played with Ozark for a while. She batted her parchment toy around and I encouraged her to scratch the scratching post. I was hoping the activity would tire her enough to sleep through the night. It almost worked. She was up at 6am, running from the bedroom to the front of the coach and back. She attacked the bathroom rug and was bouncing off the walls. I finally gave up on sleeping and got out of bed at 7am.

Today’s forecast calls for a lovely day with clear skies and a high temperature of 70 degrees. I’ll scooter Donna over to the Enterprise rental office in Shakopee around noon. We’re renting a car for the next few days. This afternoon, we’ll drive to the Minneapolis Convention Center to pick up Donna’s race packet. Then we’ll head over to the fairgrounds to preview the bicycle race course. While we’re out, we plan to make a stop to visit Donna’s friend, Shannon. When we were here in August of 2013, Shannon and her husband Paul along with their two children visited us and we grilled dinner together here at the park.

There’s a Costco near Shannon’s house so we’ll stop there and stock up before heading home. The main reason we are renting a car is for tomorrow’s Senior Olympics bicycle race. I’ll drive Donna to the race site in the morning. The race starts at 9am, so we’ll be up early to get there well ahead of time during the morning rush hour.

The weather for the race should be fine. It will be cool – in the 60s in the morning and shouldn’t be too windy. I won’t post again until Thursday when I can give the race results. Donna says her goal is to finish without crashing.

Good Guys in Des Moines

Donna went out for a bike ride again on Friday. Before she went she prepared an excellent breakfast for me – an omelette made with leftover parmesan zucchini and asiago cheese with sides of tomato wedges and bacon strips. She treats me like a king.

Excellent breakfast

This time, she had a better idea of what to expect on her ride and where she wanted to go. She went out on the Gay Lea Wilson Trail again and also rode the Vern Willey II Trail. When she returned, I rode the scooter over to a self-serve car wash and washed it. It was badly in need of a wash job.

Our neighbors, David and Karin, are here for the Good Guys car show. While we were talking, we discovered that they’re essentially carless and can’t leave the fairgrounds. Although they have a car hauler trailer behind their Tiffin Allegro Bus motor home, it hauls their 1966 Chevelle convertible show car. David has the car in the show all day and even if he didn’t, it’s doubtful if he would want to drive it and park it in a grocery store parking lot.

Dave’s 1966 Chevelle

Big block Chevy producing 650 horsepower

It made me think of the times when I had Corvettes and would show them in car shows. I had a red 1965 Corvette big block (396 cu. in.) roadster and a yellow 1972 LT-1 T-top. I was amazed at how inexpensive agreed-value insurance on these cars was. The insurer knows there isn’t much risk, because the cars aren’t driven much and when they are, the owners are super careful about how they’re driven and where they’re parked.

I grew tired of the car show scene and eventually sold them. Once at a car show, at the Pavilions in Scottsdale, Arizona, a woman and her daughter were admiring my LT-1. The daughter was 16 years old or so. The woman said to me, “My daughter absolutely loves this car.” I said “Why doesn’t she get in and see what it’s like behind the wheel?” So the girl opened the door and sat behind the wheel with a big grin on her face. The mom said to me, “That’s so nice of you to let her do that.” I said, “What do I care, it’s not my car.” The woman had this horrified look on her face so I quickly smiled and said, “Just joking, no worries, it’s my car.” Maybe it wasn’t a good joke, but I was at a point where I was tired of the car shows and always answering the same questions.

So, back to David and Karin stuck here at the RV park. Donna told Karin that we were going to the grocery store and asked her if they needed anything. Karin lit up and said she would love to have a few items if we didn’t mind picking them up. We scootered over to the store in the afternoon and bought some things we wanted and also got the things on Karin’s list.

When we returned, I went out for a walk in the RV park and found a couple of interesting RVs. The first one is an old bus conversion that’s also a hot rod.

Hot rod bus

The next one is a real curiosity. It reminded me of the black coach guy in Mission Bay back in 2013. I don’t know what the deal is – the web site shown on the front of the coach doesn’t exist and the toll-free phone number is a car dealership in New York. This thing is totally bogus and I just don’t get it.

Specialized Intelligence and Security – huh?

For dinner, I grilled boneless chicken breast and skewered strawberries. Donna makes a balsamic reduction that is almost chocolate-like and drizzles it over the grilled strawberries. She served it over baby kale. Yum!

Grilled chicken and strawberries

After dinner, Donna devised a toy for Ozark. She rolled parchment paper and tied a string to it. We swing it back and forth by Ozark’s scratching post. Ozark pounces on the parchment paper which crackles and stimulates her to attack. Sometimes she leaves it and goes after the scratching post with great fury.

Ozark caught the parchment toy

On Saturday morning, we rode the scooter downtown for the Des Moines farmers’ market. On the way, we passed the state capitol building and I had to pull in and take a photo. The morning sun on the dome was a sight to see – the picture doesn’t do it justice.

Iowa state capitol

The farmers’ market covers four blocks of Court Avenue with additional vendors on both sides of three cross streets – this is a huge farmers’ market. There are approximately 300 vendors and they claim 20,000 shoppers visit every Saturday from May until October. The market started in 1976 with just 15 vendors. It was ranked as the number two “best farmers’ market in the country” by The Daily Meal in 2013 and 2014.

Entrance to the farmers’ market

Once again, we asked our neighbor, Karin, if she needed anything. We were able to find most everything on her list as well as some good stuff for ourselves – fresh produce, fresh-ground peanut butter, local grass fed beef, Nuremberg sausages and local honey. They had street musicians on every block of Court Avenue.

These guys were good

After we came home and had lunch, I went down to the Good Guys car show. Our neighbor, David, had given me a free ticket, saving me the $20 entrance fee. I walked for more than two hours and saw an unbelievable number of fantastic cars. I decided not to take photos because I would end up with hundreds of them once I started. I doubt if I saw more than half of the cars spread out on the hundreds of acres of park-like grounds. The fairgrounds occupy 450 acres – 160 of which are the campground.

I also watched cars compete on the autocross course. Autocross is a tight, twisty course laid out with cones. One car at a time runs the course with timers recording the elapsed time to complete the course. Penalties are applied if you hit any of the cones. It was entertaining and there were some very good drivers.

After dark, Donna and I walked up to the top of the hill west of our site. This high point gave us a great view of fairgrounds fireworks and also turned out to be a great vantage point for fireworks displays in various communities around us. There were fireworks in every direction!

Over the past few days, we left the cat crate on the floor in front of the passenger seat with the top and door open. Ozark sniffed around it and eventually went inside. She didn’t stay there, just looked inside then crawled out the top opening. Later, Donna put one of my t-shirts folded up inside the cat crate. I added a little catnip. Ozark followed the catnip aroma and soon made herself comfortable inside. Yesterday, Ozark entered her crate with the top closed and napped inside it most of the day. She apparently finds it to be a safe and secure place. Today we’ll try driving up to Minneapolis with Ozark in her crate.

Who Said Iowa is Flat?

When we left Kansas City Tuesday morning and made our way to Iowa, I expected the terrain to flatten. To my surprise, we drove through rolling hills all the way to Des Moines, which is in central Iowa. I’ve been to Iowa a couple of times before but I never drove across the state.

Our cat Ozark started out fine but quickly wore down on the drive. I think there’s too much visual stimulation as we cruise along the highway. She gets unsettled and seems anxious. I stopped about 40 miles short of our destination at a Pilot/Flying J travel center for fuel. I topped up the tank with 62 gallons of diesel fuel. I use the Pilot/Flying J RV Plus card when I fuel up there.

I like fueling at the travel center because I never have to worry about tight quarters. I usually go through the truck lane. I’ve read that most RV collision insurance claims happen in fuel stations where RVs hit pumps, posts or other vehicles. Some people complain the Pilot/Flying J fuel is too expensive. With the RV Plus card, you get a discount off the cash price even though you’re buying on credit. We paid $2.62/gallon which is fair for this area. Even if I had to pay the regular price, it’s worth the peace of mind knowing I can easily maneuver in and out of the station.

During the fuel stop, Ozark calmed down. She was good for about 20 minutes before her anxiety level rose again. She started climbing the screen door which is inside our regular door. Donna had to get up and take her off the screen. She would sit in Donna’s lap for a few minutes then go back to the door and climb it again. It was tiresome. I hope she acclimates to road travel soon.

We found the Des Moines State Fairgrounds where we planned to stay at the RV campground there. The campground doesn’t take reservations but we were assured over the phone that a pull-through site would be available. When we arrived, the main entrance to the fairgrounds was closed. We continued past it and found another entrance off a side street. I drove in and went through a midway area where workers were assembling food vendor trailers.

I had no idea where to find the campground or if I was heading for a dead end, which would be trouble. Donna flagged down a worker going by on a golf cart and asked him where the campground was. He told us to follow him. We drove up a big hill and found the campground entrance at the top.

I stopped at the office to register. I asked for a pull-through site for five nights. I was astounded when I was told it would cost $210. The web site showed 734 full hook-up sites at a cost of $28/night. They also showed about 1,500 sites with water and electricity (no sewer) for $26/night. I asked why I was being charged $42/night. The lady told me that the pull-through sites for big rigs with trailers are essentially two sites. You pay $28/night for the main site and half price – $14/night for the secondary site. If I wanted a $28/night site I would have to drop my trailer in a different lot, well away from our campsite. To make matters worse, she added that our site would be 30-amp service! Out of approximately 2,300 sites, they only have four with 50-amp service and they were all taken. I paid the $210.

Another guy on a golf cart led us to our site. Actually he led us to our site area and told me I should go with him and look things over before deciding which sites I would take. I mentioned how we drove along rolling hills. Well, the fairgrounds are in the midst of hills. There isn’t a level site to be found. I picked a site that was as close to level as I could find. I put down jack pads and had to raise the front and right side of the coach considerably to get it level.

Our site at the fairgrounds

Our coach is set up for 50-amp electrical service. I had to use an adapter also known as a dog bone to plug into the 30-amp pedestal. I know, going down from 50 to 30 amps doesn’t sound like it’s a big deal, but it is. Here’s why – a 30-amp service has three contacts. One prong is the hot lead, one prong is the neutral and then there’s a safety ground contact. It provides 3,600 watts of power (120 volts X 30 amps). A 50-amp service has four contacts. Two are hot leads (L1 and L2), one prong is the neutral and there’s a safety ground. The coach is wired so the loads are split between L1 and L2. Each of these contacts provides 120 volts at 50 amps – 6,000 watts. You have total of 12,000 watts available. So a 50-amp service provides more than three times the power of a 30 amp service.

Dog bone adapter between 30-amp pedestal and electrical management/surge protector

In simple terms, the 30-amp adapter connects both legs (L1 and L2) of our 50-amp system in series. The cumulative loads demanded by our 120-volt electrical system cannot exceed 3,600 watts or the breaker will trip.

Donna found this out right away. We haven’t been on a 30-amp circuit for a while and she wasn’t thinking about it when she turned on the air conditioners, put something in the microwave oven and then turned on the Keurig coffeemaker which we shut off for travel. Pop! Circuit breaker shut down at the pedestal. Our inverter was charging the house batteries plus two A/C units and the microwave and coffeemaker on top of that was too much load. On 30 amps, we should only run one A/C unit and take care not to operate too many appliances at the same time.

Once we were set up, I took a ride around the fairgrounds on the scooter. I found out what all the workers were doing. There’s a big Good Guys car show here this weekend and they’re preparing for it. One guy told me they expect 500 RVs to arrive by Thursday afternoon and more than 3,000 cars in the show on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A large crowd of spectators is expected. That should be fun.

When I returned, Donna wanted to stretch her legs and get some steps in, so she took a walk. Here are a few photos from her walk.

At the playground area

Sheep barn

Glider transportation to the main midway

First church in Iowa

One of the things I did before hooking up our water supply was change out the cartridges in our filter system. I’ve written about our two-stage system before. The first filter – a spun polypropylene sediment filter wasn’t too bad. The center 1/8″ was still clean meaning it had a little life left. I also changed out the second filter – a carbon block element.

Old filter cartridges

Donna prepared a mango salsa while I grilled blackened chicken. She usually serves the mango salsa over Jamaican jerk chicken. The mango salsa was every bit as good over the blackened chicken.

Mango salsa over blackened chicken with brown rice and green beans

Yesterday I scootered Donna downtown to Meredith Publishing. She spent the day taping videos on cleaning and organizing for Better Homes and Gardens. After I dropped her off, I rode to the west side of town to Petco where I bought a small cat crate and other cat supplies. We’re thinking Ozark may travel better in a crate. I need to have one anyway so we can take her to a vet.

I had the scooter stacked with the crate and supplies. Rain was threatening. I made a quick stop at the beer store on the way home. I unloaded the scooter and put the cover on it. Just as I stepped inside, rain began to fall. I spent the rest of the day reading. It stopped raining before I rode back downtown to pick up Donna at 4:30pm.

Last night, we slept with the windows open and it got down to 64 degrees in the coach. We’ve been running the air conditioning constantly since we left San Diego. Being able to open windows was a welcome relief.

It may rain again, but I think I’ll get on the roof and start cleaning the coach. It’s so dirty from our stay at Turkey Creek, I can’t stand it any longer.

Can’t Get Enough

I had an early start to the day when Ozark, our new cat, rousted me out of bed at 5:30am yesterday. It was her first overnight in the coach. We kept her in the bedroom with the door between the kitchen and bathroom closed. Her litter box was in the bathroom. Until I know for sure that she’ll use her scratching post and leave the furniture alone, I want to be able to keep an eye on her.

She woke me up by softly mewing and pawing at the door to the kitchen. She was hungry. I found out throughout the day that she was hungrier and more exhausted than I realized. I fed her small amounts of dry kitten food and she had plenty of water. She would eat, explore around for a short while, then nap. After about two hours, she would be at my feet calling for more food and the process would repeat.

This went on all day as I went about my chores. I removed the tire covers, cleaned them and put them away. I checked tire pressures and added air to the trailer tires and scooter tires. Every two or two and half hours, I would go into the coach and Ozark would tell me she was hungry.

I loaded the scooter in the trailer and put away the windshield cover. I should mention a moment I had when I was putting the scooter into the trailer. The rear of our site slopes down considerably. The rear ramp/door of the trailer was steeply angled down due to the slope. To get the scooter into the trailer, I ride it slowly up the ramp, park it against a wheel chock and strap it in place. The ramp was at such a steep angle that while riding slowly up it ,I came to a stop and had to open the throttle. The rear tire spun and drifted sideways before it caught traction and I shot into the trailer! No damage done, I was able to stop without hitting anything inside.

Then I cleaned the windows and also partially cleaned the coach and trailer. I won’t accept a site with a mimosa tree in the future. This tree sheds so much debris that it’s impossible to keep up with.

I grilled a couple of spicy Italian sausages made in-house at the Harter House grocer. Donna prepared a marinara sauce and served it over whole wheat angel hair pasta and a bed of sauteed peppers, onions and summer squash.

Spicy Italian sausage marinara over spaghetti and peppers

After dinner, I enjoyed an unusual brew. It was Equinox from Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma, California – one of my favorite craft breweries. This beer was a unique pale ale brewed with oats. It had a creamy texture and was well balanced.

Lagunitas Equinox

Around 8pm, I fed Ozark her final meal of the day. I was hoping her appetite would be satisfied and she would sleep soundly through the night. I gave her a few dry kibbles and a small can of food and she ate it all.

I wrote yesterday that I thought she was about four months old after comparing her body size to kittens I saw at Petco. This isn’t a very good way to determine the age of a cat. There are too many variations in cat sizes. I did a little research and examined her teeth. She was very accommodating and let me pull back her lips and open her mouth. Her molars have erupted making her at least six months old.

Ozark slept soundly through the night at the foot of our bed. She stirred and crawled up to our pillows at 6am. She wasn’t mewing for food, she was just ready to get up. After a while I got up and put dry food in her bowl. She seems so much better now. She didn’t scarf the food down – she munched for a few minutes then walked away with some food still in her bowl. As I’m typing this an hour later she returned to her bowl to finish the meal. I’m hoping she settles down to a few feedings per day.

I still have to pack the grill and get the ladder out. I want to go on the roof and sweep the mimosa tree droppings before we leave. We’ll head north and probably dry camp tonight before we reach Des Moines tomorrow.

Letting the Cat In

Thunderstorms rolled in sooner than we expected on Friday, so we didn’t make it to the farmers’ market. With rain coming down off and on all day, we stayed indoors. Our stray kitty friend hung out underneath our coach. At one point, I enticed her inside and we fed her some cooked giblets from the chicken Donna roasted for dinner.

On Saturday morning, she was back under our coach. When Donna went out for a walk, the kitten followed her to end of the grass on our site, then she sat down and watched Donna walk away. It seems like she had set a boundary for herself. When I looked outside again later, she was gone. Donna walked for about an hour and when she returned, I saw her with the cat at our picnic table. The cat never left – she was hiding under our coach.

Donna came inside, got some money and walked back down the road. She had found a few things at a thrift shop and went back to buy two blouses and a pair of shorts. When she returned, we invited the cat inside again and fed her some leftover chicken.

We played with the cat for a while and then came to a decision to adopt and make her an RV cat. Once we made the decision, I rode the scooter to Petco in Branson to get some items we would need. A hundred dollars later, I had 25 pounds of cat gear strapped to the scooter. I bought a litter box and litter, kitten food – both dry and canned – a scratching post, nail clippers and dishes for food and water.

Cat stuff on the scooter

Comparing the cat’s size to kittens I saw at Petco, I think this cat may be about four months old. She isn’t a feral cat – she’s obviously had human interaction and socialization. She enjoys attention and keeps herself clean. We have no idea of where she came from, but she obviously no longer had a home when she appeared under our coach on Wednesday. We had been in Turkey Creek RV Village for two weeks at that point and never saw the cat before. We decided to call her Ozark since we found her alone here in the Ozarks.

Donna and Ozark snoozing and bonding

Ozark

I’ve been feeding the cat small amounts frequently. The cat scarfs the food down like she’s trying to make up for days of starvation. We’ll have to find a way to get her to a vet soon for shots and have her spayed.

She learned to use her litter box right away. I’m hoping she learns to utilize the scratching post and doesn’t tear up our upholstery.

I downloaded the Dutch Moto GP race from Assen and watched a very entertaining race yesterday. Last evening, I grilled a pork tenderloin that Donna prepared with her mojo marinade. She served it with baked cayenne sweet potato fries and local green beans.

Delicious dinner combo

I followed up the delicious meal with a special bottle of beer. The beer was a collaboration created by three brewers – Stone Brewing in San Diego, Ecliptic Brewing in Portland, Oregon and Wicked Weed Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina. It’s a Belgian trippel-style beer aged in barrels that originally held red wine before being used as tequila vessels. Stone blended the trippel with a double IPA they brewed. The result was fantastic – smooth, complex and beyond description. It has a kick at 9.5% ABV.

Belgian trippel and double IPA blend

Today I need to organize and pack the trailer for travel. I’ll also remove the tire covers and windshield covers this afternoon while they’re dry. Tire pressures will be checked and adjusted in preparation for travel tomorrow. We plan to dry camp tomorrow night somewhere around Kansas City, then move on to Des Moines, Iowa. I hope the kitty doesn’t get car sick.

Cat Call

We rode the scooter back to the College of the Ozarks yesterday – I wrote about our visit there last weekend in this post. We wanted to see some things that weren’t open on the weekend.

First, we stopped at the tractor museum. The College of the Ozarks has an agriculture program, so a museum with farm tractors and other implements is fitting. The displays are housed in an air-conditioned building with three rooms. They have farm tractors from the early 1900s up to a tractor that was used by the school in the 1990s.

The first successful farm tractor in the U.S. was built by Charles W. Hart and Charles H. Parr in Charles City, Iowa. I don’t know if the name of the city has anything to do with their given names. In 1903, they built 15 farm tractors with two-cylinder gasoline engines.

The early tractors had steel wheels with cleats for traction. Around 1930, lugged rubber pneumatic tires for tractors were developed and retro-fitted on some tractors. These tires proved to be better – they offered better traction and fuel savings. They didn’t ruin pavement where the steel cleats would punch holes. And they could be used to cultivate around trees without damaging the roots. By 1932, tractors were coming from the factory with rubber tires. Instead of giving a blow-by-blow account of the museum, I’ll post pictures.

1929 Hart Parr

1930 Rumely

1919 Wallis

Farmall

John Deere

Oliver Row Crop 77

1954 Chevrolet truck used by the college

After I had enough of the tractor display, we went to the Edwards Mill building. This is a working old-fashioned mill that stone-grinds grains.

Donna by the water wheel that powers the mill

Mill stones that were used for 100 years

Click to enlarge

The main floor of the Edwards Mill is a store. They sell a variety of stone ground flour, sausage, jerky and jellies made on campus. They also have books and a few other items. Upstairs, they have a weaving room with looms of all sizes.

Two of the looms in the weaving room

Our next stop was the Dobyns restaurant at the Keeter Center on campus. We didn’t have reservations and the wait would be 30 minutes or more. We were hungry, so we took a quick look around the beautiful Adirondack-style building and left.

We had lunch at the Brunch Club by the Harter House store on the way home. I ordered their Chinese lunch special – General’s chicken. It was a mistake. Donna enjoyed her catfish, but we were left wishing we would have waited at Dobyns. Donna bought groceries at Harter House, including two bacon-wrapped filet mignons for dinner.

When I was grilling chicken the other night, a cat appeared under our coach. The cat was very skittish and wary. It was also skinny. When I approached, it ran off and hid under our neighbor’s coach. I broke off a couple of chunks of grilled chicken and tossed them in the grass near the cat. It waited until I was back inside our coach before it came out to eat the chicken.

Last night, as I was grilling the filets, the cat appeared again. This time I knelt down and clicked my tongue softly. The cat approached me and let me pet it. I came inside and had Donna open a can of tuna. She put about half the can of tuna on a paper plate. I went back outside and the cat approached me again. I put the plate down and the cat scarfed the tuna quickly.

Cat visitor dining on tuna

While I grilled the filets, Donna gave the cat a little milk for dessert. The filets came out great. I also grilled fresh corn on the cob to go with the steak. I like to soak the corn in the husk for about 20 minutes before I put it on the grill. Some people say this isn’t necessary, but I do it to keep the husk from burning and it also steams the corn inside the husk. The bacon-wrapped filets and fresh corn on the cob were outstanding.

Bacon-wrapped filet mignon hot off the grill

While we ate, our new feline friend hung around. She rubbed up against our legs as we dined and then laid next to the table to take a snooze.

After dinner – nap time

We’ll head back over to the College of the Ozarks for the farmers’ market this morning. Hopefully we’ll beat the rain in the forecast. Thunderstorms are a certainty by this afternoon according to the weather guessers.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Scooter

Sudden Shower

A Riveting Tale

Memphis-Style Ribs

Senior Olympics Experience

Getting Race Ready

Good Guys in Des Moines

Who Said Iowa is Flat?

Can’t Get Enough

Letting the Cat In

Cat Call

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