Category Archives: Spyder

Free Beer

In my last post, I showed the catch basin I made to contain any fluid that might leak from the HWH hydraulic synch cylinder. No fluid has leaked since I had a drop of fluid last weekend. I’m thinking now that the drop of fluid I saw running down the threads on the U-bolt holding the synch cylinder may have been residual oil from the original leak. Perhaps a small amount of fluid remained on the horizontal steel mounting tab for the cylinder. When I fiddled around with the jacks, this residual fluid may have run off the tab and down the U-bolt threads.

On Wednesday, my lifelong friend Jim Birditt rang me up. He was headed to the Wild Horse Pass Casino (map). He’s a truck driver hauling household goods for North American Van Lines. He planned to stop overnight and park his Peterbilt truck in the casino truck/RV lot. I rode the Spyder there in the afternoon to meet up with him. We had a cold one and caught up a bit. I’ve known Jim since I was in the 8th grade. We spent a lot of time hunting together in the 90s.

We talked about the mysterious hydraulic oil leak. We came up with a theory. The synch cylinder has two pistons inside that move when fluid pressure is applied to one side or the other. There’s a shaft that moves with the pistons. This shaft extends out of one end of the cylinder. The shaft has a seal. Maybe at some point, after we set up here at Towerpoint RV Resort, the shaft seal leaked some fluid. Maybe the seal rolled or something was caught in the seal allowing fluid to seep past. If some foreign matter was in the seal, it may have washed out with the leaking fluid and the seal re-seated itself. It’s just a theory, but I can’t come up with any other explanation for why the cylinder would leak fluid one day, then stop leaking. The hydraulic system works fine, I’ve moved the living room slide to apply pressure in the cylinder and there’s no leakage now. I’ll keep the catch basin in place for a while just in case it leaks again.

Jim was planning to head to Tucumcari, New Mexico the next morning. I showed him an alternate route. He’s been driving trucks all his adult life and knows just about every route in the country. But he never went up the Beeline Highway (AZ87) through Payson, Arizona to get to I-40 east. He usually goes up I-17 to I-40. He tried my suggestion on Thursday morning and phoned me later to tell me the route worked out great. He picked up I-40 at Holbrook.

On Thursday evening, Donna and I prepared a whole chicken. I used my favorite chicken rub – Lambert’s Sweet Rub O’Mine – and cooked it on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill.

Traeger wood pellet fired grill

I cooked the chicken for about 80 minutes and used a quick reading meat thermometer to check for proper internal temperature. I shoot for about 170 degrees in the breast and over 180 in the thigh. Cooked on the Traeger, the chicken remains moist while fully cooked at these temperatures.

Whole roasted chicken with Sweet Rub O’Mine

Donna served it with steamed broccoli and wild rice cranberry salad. A delicious meal!

Roasted chicken quarter with broccoli and wild rice cranberry salad

On Friday morning, we played pickleball. The courts aren’t filled with players and people waiting for games anymore. Things have really thinned out here as most of the snowbirds have headed for home.

We went to Tia Rosa’s Tacqueria to meet up with David and Karin Von Kay for lunch. We first met David and Karin in Des Moines, Iowa last year. They were in the site next to us at the fairgrounds where David was showing his 1966 Chevelle in the Good Guys car show. Donna and Karin have stayed in touch and frequently trade recipes. It’s so much fun to meet new people on the road and hook up again at another place later.

Things are winding down for us here at Towerpoint. Our initial two-month stay officially ended Friday. I settled up our electric bill, then extended our stay another six nights – we’ll leave Mesa on Thursday the 21st. I have a few things to get done before we go. At first we thought we’d stay an extra five days and leave on Wednesday. I have the initiation to the Elks on Tuesday night, so I thought an extra day would be good.

On Friday evening, Towerpoint had their final end-of-season party. Free beer, chips and salsa and pretzels. Hard to beat free. Donna and I wandered around the pool area where the party was in progress and visited with a few people we know from the pickleball courts. We were happy to see Howard and Nancy there – they’re the friends that had a horrible traffic accident with their motorhome resulting in severe injuries to Howard and his mother-in-law. Howard’s a trouper and seemed to be doing better than expected. They plan to stay here for a few months while Howard and Nancy’s mom recuperate.

The party included live music – something Donna and I always enjoy. The band was good in spite of the fact they used a synthetic drum track – I always prefer a full group of musicians – even drummers.

Good music – we love live bands

Donna brought a hoop and did some hoop dancing. The band really appreciated her efforts as it encouraged dancing and attention to the music.

Donna hoop dancing

Oh yeah

It was extremely windy making the hooping difficult for her – but it was impressive nonetheless.

From here our plan is to head up to Cottonwood for four nights. This will give us a chance to make day trips to Jerome and Sedona – plus I can catch the Moto GP race a week from Sunday. We’re not sure where we’re going from there.

*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!

Mysterious Oil Leak

I mentioned in my last post that Donna kayaked the Salt River again with her friend Audrey on Friday. This time, instead of taking our two-seat Sea Eagle 370, she used one of Audrey’s single-seat Sea Eagle 330s.

Audrey with her Sea Eagle 330

Here are a few pictures from their trip down the river. They started near Saguaro Ranch below Saguaro Lake and pulled out at Granite Reef four and a half hours later.

Egret flying down river

Wild horses off Donna’s bow

More wild horses

Stand up paddle boards – with dogs

View of Red Mountain down river

Also, I mentioned rain moving in Friday night. There were scattered thundershowers in the area while we had the J Street potluck. We got lucky and the thundershowers stayed to the north and east of us. At one point there was virga in the east – virga is rain falling in the sky that evaporates before it reaches the ground.

Virga – rain falling from the clouds but it doesn’t reach the ground

The virga created a rainbow. It rose from the right and arced in a quarter circle. It disappeared before I could shoot a photo. Then it re-appeared in a mirror image arcing down to the left.

Second half of rainbow

My project for Saturday was servicing the Spyder. I needed to change the engine oil and filter and the hydraulic control module (HCM) filter. The engine oil in the Spyder also lubricates the transmission and operates the hydraulic shift mechanism. The first task was removal of the plastic body parts – known as the tupperware.

Spyder with body panels in place

Four body panels removed to change the oil and filters

The Rotax 998cc V-Twin engine in the Spyder has a dry sump lubrication system. Most automobile and motorcycle engines are a wet sump type. Wet sump means there’s an oil pan below the crankcase containing the oil supply for the engine. A pick-up tube in the pan delivers the oil to the oil pump where it’s sent through the engine under pressure.

A dry sump system is commonly found on race cars where it offers certain advantages. In a dry sump system, there isn’t an oil pan below the crankcase, there’s a remote oil tank instead. Two oil pumps are used – one to scavenge the oil out of the crankcase after it has circulated through the engine. The oil is then pumped to the remote reservoir. A second oil pump delivers the oil from the reservoir to the engine where it circulates throughout the lubrication system.

Dry sump systems are more complicated and also have certain requirements for checking the oil level correctly. The reason the Rotax engine uses a dry sump is primarily a packaging advantage. The 60-degree V-twin engine is compact front to rear but it’s a tall engine. Taking away the oil pan from the bottom of the engine reduces the height, allowing it to sit lower in the frame.

Race cars use dry sumps for a number of reasons. They reduce power loss from drag that the oil in the sump can create as the crankshaft spins through it. It also takes away the chance of the oil pick-up drawing air as the oil sloshes around in the oil pan through high G-force loading in turns or with braking and accelerating.

On the Spyder, the dry sump meant I had to drain the oil reservoir, then remove a second drain plug on the crankcase to make sure it was fully drained. When you shut down the engine, the pump in the crankcase no longer pumps oil back to the reservoir. The oil in the engine lubrication system slowly drains to the bottom of the crankcase. I estimate nearly a quart of oil came out of the crankcase drain. On start-up, the scavenge pump in the crankcase would quickly pump that oil back to the reservoir. Here’s a photo showing the remote oil reservoir – it’s poorly focused but I didn’t notice that until I had the body panels put on again.

Remote oil reservoir

I had one problem. The HCM filter for our Spyder could be one of two different part numbers. I never had it apart before, so I didn’t know if we had the short filter or the longer one. The replacement filter I had was the longer one. It turned out I needed the short one. I’ll have to get another filter and take the body panels off again to change the HCM filter.

Spyder buttoned up and under cover

When I was finishing up, Donna was preparing to drive her rental car to a hair stylist in Tempe. She opened the big basement door on the passenger side of the coach and found oil on the nylon bag that holds our windshield cover. Lots of oil. I looked at it and saw it was hydraulic fluid. There are hydraulic lines and an accumulator for the HWH leveling jacks and slide out rams on the top of the compartment. I looked for leaks around the area where the nylon bag was stored but couldn’t find any.

I put a strip of paper towels under the hydraulic lines so I could see if it dripped. The drops on the paper towels would provide a clue where to look for a leak. I checked several times all afternoon and into the night. No drips. I checked again this morning. No drips. Where the hydraulic fluid came from is still a mystery at this point.

We have rain in the forecast today. I heard a few drops already as I typed this. I plan to hang out and watch the Moto GP race – I’ll also watch the Moto 2 and Moto America races. Donna is planning to do some shopping.

By the way – congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings for making the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 25th consecutive year. That’s right – they’ve made the playoffs every year since 1991!

String ‘Em Up at the Handlebar

Yesterday’s temperature didn’t reach the predicted high 90s – the thermometer stopped climbing at 95 degrees! I spent most of the afternoon indoors reading a book.

Sometimes when I’m lying on the sofa reading, Ozark the cat flops on the floor next to the sofa. I mean she really flops noisily on her side and stretches out. She wants me to rub her belly when she does this. If I start rubbing her belly, she’ll roll from side to side and take it all in. What a funny cat – she seems more like a dog at times.

Ozark stretched out waiting for a belly rub

At 4pm, Donna and I headed out on the Spyder. I wore jeans in spite of the heat. The burn on my right calf is nearly healed and I’m trying to limit the amount of direct sun on the tender skin.

We rode east to Apache Junction. Our destination was the Handlebar Pub and Grill. We planned to meet Andy and Donna King at 4:30pm. Andy wanted to eat early before he took the stage at 6pm with the String ‘Em Up bluegrass band. We joined them for a drink and waited for our friends Brett and Cheri Miller to arrive before we ordered food.

Bluegrass music is fun and we had a great time. The String ‘Em Up band played a lot of standards and even threw in a nice version of The Weight – a song originally recorded by The Band.

Donna, Donna and Andy with mandolin player and singer Frank Hamilton sneaking into the photo

Cheri and Brett Miller

Brett’s selfie with all of us in the background

The String ‘Em Up band – Andy is hidden with his Dobro behind Frank

We had dinner at the pub. Donna had wild Alaskan salmon and I had a green chili hamburger. Their burgers are excellent and came with a side of blue cheese potato salad that Donna plans to recreate at home.

Today we have overcast skies and a change in the weather is coming. It’s actually humid here today in Mesa, Arizona. There’s a chance of showers this evening and cooler temperatures with scattered thunderstorms in tomorrow’s forecast. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Hot Days and Sad News

My last post mentioned a change at the Phon D Sutton recreation area on the Salt River in the Tonto National Forest. This recreation area was open to self-contained RVs for overnight stays – no hook-ups provided. It required a pass which cost six dollars per night. That changed and it is now open for day use only.

Donna said the place really deteriorated and was in need of general maintenance. When RVers were there, we watched out for each other and bagged our trash and used the dumpsters. Now, the day-use visitors leave beer cans and trash all around the parking lot. We wondered why it changed. Our friend, Emily Fagan, already researched the issue and wrote about it in this post. The area definitely isn’t being managed with the public interest in mind. Something’s rotten in the Tonto National Forest. By the way, the header photo for my blog was taken by Mark Fagan at Phon D Sutton.

On Monday night, Donna made yet another new dish. She prepared wild Alaskan cod fillets steamed in parchment paper with orange juice, asparagus and fresh tarragon. This was a tasty dish – the fish was so tender and yummy.

Fisk filet steamed with asparagus and terragon in parchment

Fish fillet steamed with asparagus and tarragon in parchment

Great combination

Tuesday morning at the pickleball courts I heard some sad news. Our pickleball friends, Howard and Nancy, left the park on Saturday to head home to Arkansas. Howard was driving the motorhome with his 92-year-old mother-in-law in the passenger seat. His wife Nancy was following in their car. Somewhere near Tucson, the motorhome went off I-10 and crashed down a steep embankment. Howard and his mother-in-law had to be airlifted to Tucson. I was told he had a broken back. His mother-in-law also broke her back and both legs. I don’t know anything else about the accident. I searched online to see if I could find any more information, but couldn’t come up with anything. We’re wishing the best for them and hope they make a full recovery.

After pickleball on Tuesday, I had a delivery. The two Suncast cabinets I ordered arrived. I assembled the cabinets and mounted them on the wall in the trailer beside the cabinets I had installed earlier. Now I have two cabinets on each side. I used the same Munchkin Xtraguard latches I used on the first cabinet installation to keep the doors closed

Suncast cabinets mounted side-by-side

After installing the cabinets, I spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading. The thermometer hit 90 degrees, so reading indoors with the air conditioners running was the way to go. Donna rode the Spyder to her piano lesson at 3:15pm. When she returned an hour later, I rode it to the store. It was not happy after a hot start in this heat. Apparently the refineries haven’t switched to the summer blend gasoline.

Gasoline in the summer has lower volatility than winter blend fuel. The switch to summer blend gasoline is federally mandated from May 1st to September 15th. In high temperatures, the winter fuel can boil in the fuel lines, fuel rail or injectors. This can cause hard starting, rough running and stalling.

The Spyder starts fine, but if it sits for a short time after running at full temperature, it runs rough for a minute or two until the fuel vapor clears the injectors. I’m sure it’s a fuel issue – it has only happened when we have high ambient temperature. I don’t think there’s a fuel pressure or injector problem. The engine starts right away and only runs rough for a minute or so. I think I’ll try a fuel additive to lower the fuel volatility.

Today the forecast calls for the temperature to reach the upper 90s here in Mesa, Arizona. It should cool down to the lower 80s by Friday.

Wild Horse Crossing

Donna and I had some fun activities this weekend – together and separately. On Saturday night, I went to Phoenix International Raceway located on the west side of Phoenix in Avondale with Mike Hall and Ray Laehu. I wrote about the tickets I got for free in my last post. I was surprised to find free parking at the raceway, however I wasn’t surprised to find $8 beer.

This was the first time Indycars have raced here since 2005. The cars were very fast, but I don’t follow the series so I had a hard time identifying the cars and drivers. The lead cars start overtaking the back markers on the one-mile oval after about 10 laps. This really jumbles up the field. Indycar has an innovation that helps the fans – they have an electronic number plate on the side of the car behind the driver that shows their position. The numbers change as the car’s race position changes.

Indycar streaking past at 190mph on the front straight

I always enjoy racing, but I’m not a big fan of oval track races. We had a good time though. The 250-mile race was over after about an hour and half and unfortunately ended with the last two laps under a yellow caution flag. No passing in this situation so the ending was anticlimactic.

On Sunday morning, Donna’s friend, Audrey Arrington, and her partner John Mitchell picked Donna up around 10:45am. They were going kayaking on the Salt River. I unloaded our Sea Eagle kayak, one seat and paddle from the trailer but didn’t unpack and inflate the kayak. Their plan was to take it along with Audrey’s inflatable kayak and set up both of them at the river. I stayed home to watch the second round of Formula 1 racing from Dubai and the Moto GP championship race in Argentina.

They left one car at Phon D Sutton Recreation Area – the place where we dry camped a little over two years ago. The recreation area is posted “no overnight camping or parking” now. We don’t know what happened, but Donna plans to find out why they closed it to self-contained dry campers.

They took a second car and drove upriver on the Bush Highway to a parking area with river access near the bridge on Bush Highway. That’s where they inflated the kayaks and put in. They cruised down the river, mostly floating with the current and enjoying the scenery. The two-hour river trip had some real highlights. They saw a herd of wild horses crossing the river just in front of them at one point. Donna was on the left side of the river and passed in front of the herd while John and Audrey went around behind them on the right. John shot a short video of the horses – you can see Donna in her kayak on the other side of the river.

Video of wild horses crossing the Salt River

Then they saw a bald eagle on a gravel bar alongside a turkey vulture feeding on a dead fish. They also spotted about half a dozen herons along the way. They really enjoyed their time on the water and plan to make another trip. The river is generally not flowing so early in the year. Salt River Project (SRP) just started releasing water from the Stewart Mountain Dam this week and will continue to do so through the summer months.

On Sunday evening, we rode the Spyder over to see our friends, Lana Jansen and Joel Myaer. I brought my laptop along. Joel is a computer guru and convinced me to install Windows 10 on my laptop. I’ve been reluctant to do it based on negative comments I’ve heard from others that made the switch. Joel had shown me how the operating system worked on one of his computers a few weeks ago.

We made the switch at their house where they have unlimited high-speed internet access – that way if anything went wrong and I had to repeat the three gigabyte download process, I wouldn’t be eating up my data plan. I also had the advantage of Joel’s expertise in setting it up. I have to say, so far I like Windows 10. It seems like a hybrid of Windows 8 and Windows 7 or XP.

While the operating system was installing, we went to Mattas Cantina on the corner of Brown and Ellsworth. This restaurant wasn’t there when we lived in the area – it opened a few months ago. The original Mattas Mexican Grill is near Towerpoint RV Resort on Higley and Brown and there are two other locations as well. Mattas serves West Texas-style Mexican food – I guess it’s what’s called Tex-Mex. Donna and I both ordered the chile verde plate. It was way different than any chile verde I’ve ever had. Usually chile verde is made with chunks of slow-cooked pork smothered in a green tomatillo sauce. This chile verde had chunks of slow-cooked pork served with potato chunks and peppers and onions in a spicy sauce. It was very hot but tasty – just different than I expected.

This morning while I was at the pickleball court, I had a phone call from the Mesa Buckhorn Elks Lodge. The woman on the phone wanted to know if I could make it to the orientation tonight at 6pm and the initiation tomorrow night! This was unexpected, but I was happy to say I would be there. About half an hour later, she called back and said she had made a mistake. The orientation is in two weeks on April 18th which is what I had been told earlier. So we’ll extend our stay here at Towerpoint for sure now.

We’re having another hot spell with the temperature expected to be in the 90s for the next few days. It should cool off again by Friday. I know I should be getting some projects done – all I accomplished over the weekend was the usual dumping and flushing of the holding tanks and cleaning the bathroom drains. Just like in a sticks-and-bricks house, drains accumulate hair and whatnot and need to be cleaned out periodically. With the heat, I may procrastinate a bit more – I have more than two weeks before we move – right?

Breaks From the Routine

It’s been a fairly routine week here at Towerpoint RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona. That’s what happens when we stay in one location for an extended period of time – we fall into a routine. Donna plays pickleball with me on Monday, Wednesday and Friday – I play at least five days a week. On Tuesday and Thursday, Donna works out with a personal trainer. She also bicycles, runs or walks a few times a week, so we’re getting plenty of exercise.

On Mondays and Fridays, I hit happy hour at Red, White and Brew. On Thursdays, I have happy hour with the usual crew at Lucky Lou’s. Last Wednesday, we met my friend from our high school days, Andy King, and his wife Donna for sushi at Osaka Japanese Steakhouse. We each ordered our favorites a la carte from the sushi menu and sat and talked for about two hours. It was a good time and I’m looking forward to meeting up again next Wednesday at the Handlebar Pub where Andy will be performing with the String ’em Up bluegrass band.

On Thursday at Lucky Lou’s, tables were set up by the entrance with a variety of snack foods. It was a fundraiser for Golden Gates of America – a local non-profit funding education for learning challenged kids.

Fundraiser at Lucky Lou’s

That night, Donna prepared a new recipe – fennel-crusted pork chops. She cooked 1-inch thick pork chops in a cast iron skillet on the induction cooktop along with potatoes and shallots, then popped the skillet in the oven to finish cooking.

Fennel-crusted pork chops in the skillet

Fennel-crusted pork chops with potatoes and broccoli

It was an excellent meal. Donna says it was easy to prepare – everything in one skillet, except for the steamed broccoli which was cooked separately. Next time, she says she’ll make it even simpler by just mixing fresh baby spinach or other greens in with the potatoes when they come out of the oven.

I managed to do a little more work in the trailer this week – it’s shaping up. I’m waiting for two more Suncast cabinets to arrive. Meanwhile, I have a few things that need to be done on the coach. I’ll try to get started on those projects this weekend.

On Friday morning, instead of playing pickleball, Donna took an Uber ride to downtown Phoenix. She met Jan Walker at 40th and Van Buren (map). Jan is traveling by foot from Oceanside, California to the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia. The reason for her long journey is to raise awareness and funds for the September 11th National Memorial Trail. Donna has been following Jan’s journey via Facebook after a fellow minimalist from San Diego mentioned meeting her on the first day of her trek. Donna walked with Jan for about seven miles – Jan said it made the time go by much easier. Their route took them up Galvin Parkway past the Desert Botanical Garden to McDowell Road. I rode the Spyder to the intersection of McDowell and Pima Road to pick Donna up at 12:30pm. Jan planned to make it to Fountain Hills by the end of the day.

Donna and Jan and Jan's Rise Up for the Fallen cart on McDowell

Jan and Donna and Jan’s Rise Up for the Fallen cart on McDowell

I picked Donna up so we could make it to a lunch date at Fat Willy’s restaurant at the Viewpoint RV Resort. We met our friend, Marilyn Cross, there for lunch on the patio. We met Marilyn and her husband Ron in Hemet, California at the RV Resort there. They took us on a day trip to Idyllwild when we were in Hemet. They were in Mesa for the afternoon having some interior work done on their motorhome. Ron stayed with the coach while Marilyn met a friend to play pickleball in the morning, then ran a few errands before meeting us for lunch.

Marilyn is an avid pickleballer and we talked a little about game strategy. Donna and Marilyn caught up on things and the conversation danced around politics – scary topic. We talked about border crossings – Ron and Marilyn are Canadians. She told us a couple of funny stories. Once, when crossing the Canadian border, Ron was asked if he had any firearms in his coach. He said, “No, but my wife’s a pistol.” Another time he was asked if had anything to declare and he said, “I do declare I’m one handsome guy.” Funny stuff, but you have to be careful – not all border agents have a sense of humor.

After taking Donna home, I made my usual stop at Red, White and Brew. They had a new IPA on tap – Birthday Suit from Goldwater Brewing in Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s a new brewery and pub that opened about a year ago. The IPA was citrusy and surprisingly light-bodied although it had a kick with 7.6% ABV.

A citrusy and refreshing IPA

While I was sipping my beer, a woman sat next to me at the bar and started conversation. A few minutes later, three guys walked in. There were only two open seats at the bar. One of the guys came up to the woman and asked her if she wanted tickets for the Indycar Race at Phoenix International Raceway. He said he would give her two tickets so we could go to the races. She told him she wasn’t with me – we’d just met. Then she told him she couldn’t make it to the race. The guy offered the tickets to me if I would give up my seat at the bar. I thought it might be some kind of April Fool’s prank but I took him up on it and called my friend, Mike Hall. Mike was planning to go to the race and buy tickets there. I told him I had two free tickets – he’ll pick me up this afternoon and we’ll head out to Glendale for the race.

Free tickets!

Speaking of April Fool’s, I posted on Facebook that our old house here in Mesa was up for sale and Donna and I were getting off the road and buying our old house back. This morning I revealed it was an April Fool’s post. Actually, our old house WAS for sale in the fall when we stopped in Mesa for a brief visit. It’s since been sold.

Last night at 5:30pm, one of our neighbors organized a potluck dinner for the people on J Street and friends. Donna made chicken meatballs to contribute. It was a fun time and good eats too!

Chicken meatballs over a bed of spinach

J Street potluck

Today my projects will go on the back burner again so I can go to the races.

Directing the Dolphin

I finally got started on a couple of easy projects yesterday after a couple of hours on the pickleball court in the morning. We had much cooler weather – the high temperature for the day was 67 degrees. That’s a drop of more than 20 degrees from the weekend. It stayed overcast and windy all afternoon and a few raindrops fell – not enough to wet the pavement though.

I went to Ace Hardware to pick up some 3/16″ rivets with long 1/2″ shanks. I wrote about my rivet repair in this post. The rivets I used for that repair were a little short and didn’t hold well enough. I needed to replace them again. The longer shanks on the rivets I used this time should hold up fine.

I planned on buying some carabiner clips to secure the doors on the cabinets I installed in the trailer. The doors are set up for padlocks but I didn’t want to hassle with locks every time I wanted something in the cabinet. I thought a carabiner would work if I could find the right size. Donna had a different idea. She’s been working with Procter & Gamble’s PR firm. They sent her a package that included Tide PODS and a few gifts. One of the gifts is from a company called Munchkin – they make baby products. The product Donna received is a latch to secure cabinets, drawers and anything you wouldn’t want a toddler getting into. They’re called Munchkin Xtra Guard multi-use latches.

Munchkin Xtra Guard latch

Donna received four latches – I used two on the cabinet doors and it looks like they’ll work perfectly. They’re easy to install – they have an adhesive backing that sticks to the door surface.

Xtra Guard latch on the trailer cabinet

There’s a button on the top and bottom of the pads – holding these buttons in releases the latch. They should keep the doors closed while we roll down the road but it will still be easy to access the cabinets.

Latch released

I decided to order two more of the Suncast cabinets to install in the trailer. I like the way they’re built and it will make it easier to store and access stuff.

I took a few measurements and installed D-rings to secure the Traeger wood pellet grill/smoker in the trailer. That was the extent of my projects for the day. Today I’ll add a few more D-rings to secure the ladders and a few other things.

Last week, I stopped at Seńor Taco and had the daily special – fish taco with rice, beans and soft drink for $5. Donna and I like fish tacos – we always have them when we’re in San Diego. Good fish tacos obviously need to be made with a good fish filet. Then it’s the sauce that makes them special. The Seńor Taco fish tacos are good.

Fish taco plate at Seńor Taco

On Monday afternoon, I rode the Spyder to the Sprouts store at Higley and Southern. Donna sent me there with a small shopping list. I bought two fresh tilapia filets, a lime, a jalapeńo pepper and an avocado. Donna already had the corn tortillas, cabbage and cilantro. She made blackened Baja fish tacos.

Donna’s homemade fish taco plate

She seasoned and pan fried the fish filets in a cast iron skillet. Her sauce was made from yogurt, jalapeńo pepper, lime juice and cilantro. Very tasty and we each had two big tacos for a total cost of about seven bucks!

Last night, Donna made a spring minestrone soup with chicken meatballs. The meatballs were made with ground chicken, panko bread crumbs, minced scallions and garlic, egg, salt and pepper. Another tasty treat. We had leftovers for lunch and it was even better the second time around.

Spring minestrone with chicken meatballs

This morning when I rode my bicycle home from pickleball, I found a motorhome blocking our street. It was a 34-foot National Dolphin. I carefully went around the front of it where there was about three feet of clearance. Once I went around it, I saw a woman sitting on the steps in the doorway of the coach smoking a cigarette. I stopped and she said, “I’m wedged in here.”

I looked back and saw what she meant. Apparently she was pulling out of her site and turning left. She didn’t account for the swingout of the rear and the last basement door on the right rear was hard against a palm tree.

After looking at it, I told her she needed to crank the steering wheel full left and slowly back up. She was afraid of causing more damage. I told her it will scrape at first, then swing away from the tree. She did as I said and was able to reverse back into her site. Then I had her go forward and angle to the right to pull into an empty site across the street from her. Once she pulled halfway into the site, I had her reverse again and crank the wheel to the left. I guided her back then told her to stop, crank the wheel right and come forward. She was in the street now heading in the opposite direction of the way she first tried to go. It didn’t matter – it’s a short street and either direction will take you to the park exit. With a wave and a thanks, she was on her way.

She was alone and driving a motorhome into or out of a tight space without guidance isn’t easy. Although her coach was only 34 feet long, the National Dolphin is gas powered and the chassis has a lot of rear overhang. The longer the distance from the rear axle to the rear of the coach, the greater the amount of swingout.

We should see a high temperature of about 70 degrees today with partly cloudy skies and a gentle breeze. Very comfortable. This evening we plan to meet up with my friend from high school, Andy King, and his wife Donna for sushi.

Hot Car Show

Saturday morning Donna rode the Spyder to meet her friend, Stevie Ann Rinehart, for breakfast in Scottsdale. She went to Merci – a French bistro that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stevie Ann was the first person Donna met when she came to Arizona in 2002. It’s been two years since they were able to get together. They enjoyed the breakfast and the chance to visit.

When Donna came home around noon, I took the Spyder and rode to Mesa Community College (MCC) on Power Road. They were having a car show there and a few of my friends had cars in the show. It wasn’t as large a turnout as I expected – probably because there was also a car show at Falcon Field where they were having an open house and planes flying in formation overhead, including WWII warplanes. The MCC show was free though while the Falcon Field show charged admission.

I walked through and looked at the cars – a few were really nice. I talked to my friend, John Huff – he had his ’30 Ford he calls Lucy at the show. I also talked to Wayne – he had his ’63 Nova on display.

Lucy – John Huff’s Ford

I posted pictures and descriptions of Wayne’s outrageous Nova before. This time I shot a photo showing the plumbing from the dual fuel pumps to the big Holley four-barrel carburetor and the two-stage nitrous injection system. The workmanship is immaculate throughout this car.

Fuel system plumbing on Wayne’s 540 cubic inch Nova

Another guy I know, Ray, had his Hennessey Camaro there. Hennessy is an aftermarket performance car builder in Texas. Ray’s Hennessey is a HPE600. It features a supercharged LS3 V8 with 376 cubic inches of displacement producing 602 horsepower.

Ray’s Hennessey Camaro

Hennessey LS3 engine with Magnussen TVS2300 supercharger

Hennessey plate under the hood

This really clean 1956 Chevy Bel Air caught my eye. That was the year I was born. It featured a swiveling driver’s seat – it swiveled 90 degrees making it easy to enter or exit.

1956 Chevy Bel AIr

I also liked this 1965 Shelby 427 Cobra roadster replica.

1965 Shelby 427 Cobra replica

The unshaded parking lot was hot. Cars left the show before the 3pm closing time. John was one of them. After grabbing a fish taco plate at Seńor Taco, I met John and Mike Hall at Lucky Lou’s for a cold one. Since it was only 2:30pm, I went for a cold Bud Light – it was too early to drink my usual IPA.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing and reading. Donna went grocery shopping then prepared balsamic chicken breasts with peppers and onions over spinach tagliatelle nests. It was delicious.

Balsalmic chicken breasts with peppers and onions over spinach tagliatelle nests

After dinner we watched a couple of episodes of Sons of Anarchy, but couldn’t get into it.

This morning, Donna went out for a 30 mile bicycle ride. I hung out and finished the book I was reading. I planned to go to the hardware store for a few things I need to continue working on some projects but they’re closed for Easter Sunday.

Donna usually makes a traditional Irish dinner of corned beef, cabbage and soda bread on St. Patrick’s Day. That didn’t work out this year, so she’s making it today for our Easter dinner. I’ll tell you about it later.

Today is another warm day – the temperature should be near 90 degrees. We’ll have the same tomorrow before this heat spell breaks.

Stop, Drop and Roll

I’ve been a little sore the past couple of mornings. On Wednesday morning during my first pickleball game of the day, my opponent hit a lob over my head. I turned around to run to the back of the court to return the ball. Somehow my feet got tangled together and I was going down! I pulled my arms in and rolled as I hit the pavement. It worked pretty well – I didn’t bang my head or lose any skin. I feel it in my neck in the mornings though – I guess the fall really jolted it. My teammate said the roll was an awesome move and he was sure it prevented me from being injured.

This reminded me of something that happened about five years ago. Donna and I visited Greece and Turkey – we had a great trip. While we were on the Greek island of Naxos, we walked down the road along the beach to a restaurant we’d heard about. The restaurant was on a point where the highway forked. The sidewalk was raised a couple of feet above the roadway near the entrance to the restaurant.

We had an early dinner and the place was nearly empty when we arrived. We saw raki on the drink menu and decided to try it as an aperitif. Raki is a popular drink in Turkey – it’s similar to ouzo found on the Greek mainland and has an anisette flavor. Our waitress was enthusiastic about raki and told me they had several different brands on hand. After our meal, the waitress joined us with three glasses of raki – she drank one with us. Then she appeared with another brand of raki for us to sample. The raki is very easy to drink and doesn’t seem very high in alcohol.

It was dark out when we were ready to leave and the restaurant had filled with parties at most of the patio tables. After I stepped out the front door and turned to my right, I looked back at Donna said “Watch your step.” The raki was much stronger than I thought – later I found out it was 90 proof. I was a little wobbly. The next thing I knew my left foot was off the high sidewalk. My foot hung in the air for second as I realized I was about to fall into the street. Rather than falling to the pavement a couple of feet below me, I reacted by pushing off hard with my right leg. I tucked my chin in and launched into a forward roll.

My momentum coupled with the height of the sidewalk above the street allowed me to do a complete flip in the air and land in the street on my feet. I continued to walk along like I did it on purpose. People dining on the patio witnessed this feat and gave me a round of applause. Donna stood on the sidewalk dumbfounded. We laughed so hard as we walked home from there without further incident.

On Thursday afternoon, I made a stop at Lucky Lou’s. Donna has been saving fruit and vegetable scraps from the kitchen. I brought a bag of scraps to give to Mike and Jodi Hall – they have at least four desert tortoises in their yard. The tortoises love citrus and vegetables. While I was there, I saw Wayne pull up in his ’63 Nova. I posted about this hot rod before. I took a few pictures of it in the parking lot. It’s hard to believe something like this is driven on the street.

Wayne’s ’63 Nova

Look at the size of those rear tires

Super clean installation of the dash panel

I didn’t stay at Lou’s for very long. I wanted to get back to Towerpoint RV Resort for their annual end-of-season dinner. They had tables set up around the pools and bar areas. They set up for a crowd of 1,000 people. Towerpoint (Cal Am) provided free sloppy joes with coleslaw and chips and 25-cent drinks (soft drinks or beer). The 25-cent drinks were a fundraiser for the park’s charitable volunteer group called Squires.

Some of the crowd by the pool area

More of the dinner crowd

They had a bandstand and live music. The band was very good – they played a mix of classic rock and country music. Donna hoop danced to the music and had a blast. She was invited to come to the sock hop put on by the pickleball group next year – the organizer is planning to have a hula hoop contest.

Live music

I wore myself out Friday morning. Donna and I played in the open social session at the pickleball courts from 8am to 10am. Then I signed up for the 3.5-level round robin. This had me playing until noon.

I spent the afternoon relaxing with a book. At 5:30pm, we went to the Roma Cafe Ristorante on Main Street east of Power Road (map). We had a reservation to meet up with our nomadic friends, Brett and Cheri Miller. It’s been a year since our paths last crossed. We enjoyed a leisurely meal and caught up with each other over the next two and a half hours. It was a good time with good food and we plan to get together again in a couple of weeks. Roma Cafe serves a very laid back, European-like dinner. No rush – take your time and enjoy. It’s family-operated and they make you feel at home.

Blurry self-shot photo – me, Donna, Brett and Cheri

This morning, Donna took off to Scottsdale on the Spyder to meet up with her friend, Stevie-Ann Rineheart, for breakfast. I’m lazing about taking a break from pickleball and reading a book. The warmer than usual weather returned – we can expect highs near 90 degrees for the next few days before we get back to more seasonable mid-70s.

Trailer Project – Part Two

After Donna proofread my post yesterday, she headed out on the Spyder to meet her friend Julia in Scottsdale. It was about a 20-mile ride each way. It was Donna’s first time riding the Spyder on the freeway – she took the loop 202 to the 101 to Old Town Scottsdale. They had lunch and visited at Arcadia Farms Cafe on east 1st Avenue. Donna thought very highly of the restaurant – food, service, ambiance. What more can you ask for?

When she came home, she told me she felt a vibration in the footpegs at ~5,100 rpm at 70 mph. Donna is pretty sensitive to these things and always tells me to see if I think there’s a problem.

I spent the afternoon working on the trailer while Donna was away. I wanted to get the SteepGrade bike rack installation figured out and finalized. I don’t have any affiliation with this company – Donna found them online and although not inexpensive, it looked like a good fit for us. With our new 8.5-foot wide trailer, I have room to secure the bicycles on the floor across the trailer. A little work with a tape measure had me visualizing how it could work.

I like to balance the load in the trailer as much as possible. This means some heavy stuff needs to be in front of the axles to offset weight behind the axles. Side-to-side weight is also a consideration. I think I have it pretty well sussed-out at this point. We have three bicycles – two road bikes and my mountain bike. They will travel just ahead of the axles cross-ways in the trailer. There’s enough room for me to walk past the bikes on the right side of the trailer to access the rear portion when needed. The SteepGrade racks mount the front fork with the wheel removed. The wheel is then fastened to a holder that fits over the top tube of the bike. This makes for a compact arrangement of the bikes. I needed to add some D-rings to the trailer to attach the tie-downs for the bikes.

D-rings and tape measure – measure twice

I used one-inch self-drilling screws to attach the D-rings to the steel wall studs in the trailer.

This is how they’ll ride

I think I’ll put a furniture pad over the bike in the center to prevent damage if they should move about as we travel down the road.

I wouldn’t want them to contact each other

This photo shows how the system works.

The set up on my Specialized Crave mountain bike

I also installed tie-down points for the rear of the Spyder. The front wheels will be fastened to the flush-mount rings that came with the Interstate car hauler trailer.

Meanwhile I’d treated the burn on my right leg – see yesterday’s post – with 100% aloe vera gel. It seems to be helping. Hopefully this doesn’t turn into any kind of a big deal.

I rode the Spyder to Red, White and Brew after Donna came home. I made a pass at 5,100 rpm at 70 mph to check out the vibration she felt. The Spyder is powered by a Rotax 998cc 60-degree V-twin engine. This layout is inherently unbalanced. The narrow 60-degree layout makes for a compact front-to-rear dimension – which is good for a motorcycle. Rotax compensates for the imbalance by employing counter-balance shafts in the engine. However, counter-balance shafts can’t eliminate all vibrations at all engine speeds. There will always be certain engine speeds that result in vibration. In my opinion, the foot peg vibration Donna felt at 5,100 rpm is a normal result of the inherent imbalance of a 60-degree V-twin engine.

Donna prepared turmeric chicken thighs for dinner. This is a dish she’s prepared before. This time she felt like the spice was missing its usual kick. The chicken was still tasty – just not the same as before. After thinking about it, she realized that she’s had that bottle of spice for 3-4 years – time for some fresh spice! In the future she’ll buy turmeric in smaller quantities.

3_23dnrplTimeric chicken with rice and asparagus

Turmeric chicken with rice and asparagus

Today we’ll have another typical March day in central Arizona with temperatures reaching 80 degrees. After pickleball, I’ll continue work on the trailer. I have a couple of other projects that I need to attend to before we leave here.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Spyder

Free Beer

Mysterious Oil Leak

String ‘Em Up at the Handlebar

Hot Days and Sad News

Wild Horse Crossing

Breaks From the Routine

Directing the Dolphin

Hot Car Show

Stop, Drop and Roll

Trailer Project – Part Two

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