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Unaffordable Health Care

It’s going to be another beautiful day in San Diego. The skies are clear, the sun is shining and the expected high temperature is 75 degrees. But I’m sitting at my laptop not feeling so good. In fact, I’m mad as hell.

Yesterday, Donna and I had a conference call with a representative from Towers Watson – an insurance administrator that runs a brokerage called One Exchange. Up to this point, my former employer offered health care insurance as part of my pension plan. That ends on December 31st. I need to find health care insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as Obama Care.

I have to say, ACA is anything but affordable – it’s an Orwellian doublespeak term. Since the inception of Obama Care, my health care benefits have deteriorated. Three years ago I paid a monthly premium of about $300 for coverage for both of us. I had a deductible of $600 and had nationwide coverage. Two years ago the cost rose to about $400/month and the deductible went up to $1,000. Last year the cost rose again to $500/month and the deductible jumped to $2,600.

Now the costs have risen so much, my former employer no longer offers a health care plan. Instead, they offer a subsidy if you don’t qualify for government assistance. Apparently it’s more affordable for them to fund a health care spending account for retirees than to participate in group health care.

The subsidy they’re offering me amounts to about $1,041/month. Sounds pretty good, right? Add to that the $500/month I paid for health care last year and I should be able to budget a little over $1,500/month for my premium and out of pocket expenses. But here’s where it gets ugly.

The lowest premium I can find in our domicile state, South Dakota, is $1,399/month. That leaves me a little over $100/month for out of pocket expenses. But there’s a rub – it covers nothing until I meet the deductible of $13,100! Basically, I’m self-insured for the first $13,100 and I get to pay $1,399/month for this! If I want to have a plan that’s comparable to what I had before, it would cost $2,367/month but it doesn’t offer a nationwide network.

How is this affordable? I hope this ACA is replaced with something that’s more sensible soon. I’m thankful for my former employer funding a health care spending account for me, otherwise I would be spending nearly three times my current monthly premium for no coverage until I hit $13,100 in costs. We’re looking into private market plans now since we don’t qualify for federal subsidies. End of rant.

On a more positive note, I was able to get out and play pickleball on Wednesday. I had soreness in my foot afterward again, so I think it’s best if I lay off and rest my foot to allow it to heal.

A couple of months ago I replaced our toilet seat. I posted about the way it mounted to the toilet – it was supposed to be a quick release system for cleaning. Well, that may be good in theory but in practice the quick release would release every time you closed the lid. I got tired of the seat and lid flopping around, so I ordered a new seat and lid on Amazon.

The new one is made of bamboo and has brushed nickel hinges that mount with stainless steel screws. The quick release concept doesn’t work for me. I’m more than happy with the conventional and secure method of mounting the hinges.

New bamboo toilet seat and lid

New bamboo toilet seat and lid

The photo makes the seat look much lighter than the flooring – in reality the difference in color isn’t so noticeable. I think the flash on my camera may have affected the color tone.

Securely attached with brushed nickel hinges

Securely attached with brushed nickel hinges

I threw the quick release seat in the dumpster.

I also set up the decorative laser light that Sini gave us. I have it pointed at a tree in front of our site. The points of light look like a bunch of tiny Christmas lights in the tree.

Points of light from the laser on the tree

Points of light from the laser on the tree

It also splashes a few points of light on our coach.

Laser lighting up the front corner of the coach

Laser lighting up the front corner of the coach

Thanks Sini!

Donna made a spicy beef stir-fry for dinner. She cut flank steak across the grain and made it with shirataki noodles. This was a simple recipe but it was so good! I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

Stir-fry with shirataki noodles

Stir-fry with shirataki noodles

I don’t have a plan for today. I think I’ll finish a book I’ve been reading and maybe go for a bike ride and enjoy the great weather after our dental appointments at 1pm.

 

Turkey on the Traeger

I resumed pickleball on Monday at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center. In my fourth game, I suddenly experienced pain behind my middle toes on my right foot. I don’t know for sure what happened, but I’m guessing that I pushed off with my foot to get to the ball and somehow strained my foot. Donna wondered if it was a gout flare-up. I haven’t had any issues with gout for about four years – I take allopurinol and it’s been very effective.

Monday evening Sini told me the floor was wet again around her toilet. I had replaced the seal on the bottom of the bowl and thought I’d solved the problem. Tuesday morning I went over to check it out. I found the toilet was loose – I could rock it back and forth. Apparently the high density closed-cell foam seal had packed down after I mounted the toilet. I tightened the four nuts on the mounting studs and I think that will solve the issue. Note to self – after replacing a toilet seal, re-torque the mounting nuts after a day or so!

I took it easy for most of the day, resting my sore foot. Donna bought a turkey breast half at Sprouts Market and we wanted to roast it on the Traeger wood pellet-fired smoker grill for dinner. I decided to brine it. This was new to me, I haven’t brined meat before. I made a solution with a quarter cup of salt and two tablespoons of sugar in one quart of water. I put the turkey breast in a pot and added the brine, then put it in the refrigerator around noon.

I made a run to Trader Joe’s to replenish my scotch supply. Trader Joe’s has a house brand of Scotch whisky (there’s no ‘e’ in whisky when it’s Scotch). Their house brand is bottled by Alexander Murray and Company, a bottler in Scotland that buys whisky from various distillers and private labels it. In California, grocery stores can sell liquor. Trader Joe’s has a variety of scotch whisky under their own label – both single malt and blended.

I tend to prefer single malt Highland Scotch – preferably from the Speyside region – over the smoky Islay varieties. Trader Joe’s only had 16-year-old Speyside on hand and I thought it was too expensive. I ended up with a bottle of Glenfiddich 12-year-old scotch.

Back home, I put the turkey breast on the Traeger at 5pm. I figured it would take 75 to 90 minutes to cook. I was just guessing though as I couldn’t find a recipe for a half breast which was slightly less than three pounds. I started with the Traeger set at 325 degrees. After 40 minutes, I upped the temperature to 375 as the skin wasn’t browning. Fifteen minutes later, I raised the temperature to the highest setting, 450 degrees.

This is completely backwards from how I wanted to cook it. Next time I’ll start at a high temperature to crisp the skin, then reduce the heat and cook until an internal temperature at the thickest part of the breast reaches 165 degrees. In the final minutes of cooking, I basted the turkey breast with Fisher and Wieser pomegranate and mango chipotle sauce.

Although I was all over the board temperature-wise, the turkey breast came out good. It was moist and flavorful.

Traeger roasted turkey breast

Traeger roasted turkey breast

Donna served it with cumin roasted cauliflower dressed with sherry vinegar and baked acorn squash mashed with butter and orange marmalade. Delicious.

A meal fit for a king

A meal fit for a king

Sini joined us for dinner and we enjoyed the meal and company. I paired my dinner with a Blood Orange IPA from Latitude 33Ā brewery while the girls had red wine with theirs.

Blood orange IPA

Blood orange IPA

Sini brought us a gift. It’s a red and green laser light – it emits hundreds of tiny red and green spotlights over a large area – up to about 3,000 square feet. I set it up at the front of the coach and aimed it at the tree in front of our site. It makes the tree look like it’s filled with tiny Christmas lights. I’ll try to get a photo of it tonight.

My foot feels better today. I think I’ll head out for pickleball again. The weather was cooler yesterday with partly cloudy skies. We hit a high temperature in the mid 70s. Today is forecast to be cooler again with a high of about 70 with partly cloudy skies.

 

 

Toads and Toilets

My previous two posts were about my trip to Seattle to help Sini Schmitt drive her coach down to San Diego. There was a learning experience along the way that I should share.

Hitching a car with four wheels down via a tow bar was new to me. We pull a cargo trailer which is very straight forward – it connects via a 2 5/16″ ball on a conventional trailer hitch. Sini’s car was connected to the coach with a Roadmaster Falcon tow bar. The tow bar was pretty easy to understand.

Her tow vehicle (toad) is a Saturn SUV with a V6 engine and automatic transmission. When you tow this vehicle with the wheels down, rolling on road, it requires a certain procedure to ensure adequate lubrication of the transmission.

Sini had a page printed out that listed the procedure. First you set the parking brake, then with your foot on the brake pedal you start the engine. With the engine running, shift the transmission lever to reverse. After a few seconds – I waited 10 seconds – shift to neutral and wait. Continue shifting until it has run through all of the gears ending in low gear. Then shift back to drive, then neutral. Let the engine run for three minutes in neutral before turning off the engine. This will have circulated transmission fluid throughout the gears, clutch packs and bearings. Leave the key in the accessory position so the steering wheel doesn’t lock. Release the brakes. Then remove the 30 amp ignition fuse from the fuse panel in the engine compartment to prevent the battery from draining.

When we hooked up the toad in Edmonds, we ran through this procedure. When I got in the coach to drive away, I released the parking brake on the coach and put it into drive. Normally the coach would roll forward as soon as I released the brake pedal. It didn’t move. Something wasn’t right. Then I realized, I didn’t release the parking brake in the toad. I put the coach back in neutral and set the parking brake. I went out to the toad and sure enough, the parking brake was still set. The procedure for preparing the toad transmission for towing was so simple, I didn’t follow the step-by-step checklist and made a mistake. This procedure needs to be followed before towing every day or every 7 hours of towing time.

Four days later, Sini did the pre-travel procedure on the toad and drove the coach as we pulled out of the Palmdale Elks Lodge. We were driving down the road when she suddenly said, ” I left the parking brake on.” I told her to pull over immediately. We stopped and I got out of the coach and could smell hot brakes. The parking brake on the toad was still set. Luckily it wasn’t powerful enough to lock the wheels, the rear brake drums rotated and the shoes and drums were hot from the friction, but no real harm was done.

The lesson is to actually go step-by-step down the instruction sheet and use it as a checklist.

Sini’s coach is in a site almost directly across from our coach in site 120. Our windshields are facing each other. On Friday while we were visiting, Sini said the floor was wet around her toilet. Water damage is always a concern in an RV. I checked it out and it seemed like the water may have been coming from the inlet valve. Water is plumbed to a valve that’s operated by a foot lever. When you step on the lever, it rotates a ball valve in the toilet, opening the toilet so it can drain into the black tank. Simultaneously, it opens the water inlet valve to flush the toilet and refill the bowl with fresh water.

I removed the trim around the bottom of the toilet bowl and the cover from the foot lever. I found a loose cap on the bottom of the valve and tightened it. I hoped that was the extent of the problem.

Water inlet valve

Water inlet valve

I left the trim off so the area could dry. Saturday morning Sini stopped by with her dog, Ziggy. Ziggy is a big dog, a golden doodle. After Ziggy and Ozark the cat checked each other out at the screen door, we let Ziggy enter our coach. The cat and dog got along fine. Ozark was curious at first, then she just hung out while Ziggy laid on the floor.

Ziggy and Ozark

Ziggy and Ozark

Sini told me the floor was still wet behind the toilet. I figured the seal between the bottom of the toilet and the drain pipe to the black tank was bad. Sini and her friend Linda were planning to take a drive through the wine country up by Temecula. On her way she could stop at the RV Solutions store in Kearny Mesa to see if they had a replacement seal. I told her the toilet was a SeaLand Traveler. Later, she phoned me and then put the guy at RV Solutions on the phone. He needed a model number for the toilet to find the proper seal. Luckily, Sini had a left a key to her coach so I could go in and check out the model number – it was 511. He had the replacement seal.

Once I knew Sini had the replacement part, I started working on the toilet. I shut off the incoming water to the coach and removed the water lines at the toilet. Then I removed the four nuts holding the toilet down on the studs with a 7/16″ wrench. I retrieved a small fan from the our trailer and set it up to dry the area.

Toilet mounts on four studs

Toilet mounts on four studs

Later, when Sini came home, all I needed to do was lift the toilet off of the mounting studs and set it aside. The old bottom seal was clearly in bad shape. It had crushed down and was paper thin. It also shrunk in diameter. The new seal was about half an inch thick and about an inch wide in cross section. I was so absorbed in the task at hand, I neglected to take photos.

I scraped the old seal out and reinstalled the toilet with the new seal. Sini turned on the water supply and I checked for leaks. I had a drip at the inlet connection. I had her shut the water off, I tightened the connection and she turned the water on again. Job done! I left the fan in the bathroom to continue drying the area. With that job done, it was time for happy hour. I opened a bottle of IPA from San Diego’s Saint Archer Brewing called Citra 7. Good stuff!

India Pale Ale

India Pale Ale

Sunday morning Sini confirmed all was good with the toilet. The four of us, along with Ziggy, climbed into Sini’s SUV and drove over to Leilani’s Hawaiian Cafe in north Pacific Beach near the corner of Cass Street and Tourmaline Street. It was loco moco time! Loco moco is a Hawaiian breakfast dish consisting of two scoops of rice topped with a hamburger patty, two eggs over medium and brown gravy. I’d be a real fat man if I had it every day, but it’s a treat to have every now and then.

Loco moco

Loco moco

After breakfast we drove up to the Veteran’s Memorial on top of Mount Soledad. I wrote about Mount Soledad in this post. I pointed out various land marks to Linda. It was her first time up Mount Soledad.

Linda, Sini and Donna on top of Mount Soledad

Linda, Sini and Donna on top of Mount Soledad

It turned out to be a very warm day – the temperature reached the 80s. I spent the rest of the day indoors with the air conditioners on and watched NFL football. After the Chargers game I opened an IPA from Mission Brewery. This is a more traditional IPA and very well-balanced.

Mission Brewing IPA

Mission Brewery IPA

Today’s forecast calls for more warm weather. I’ll head over to the Ocean Beach Recreation Center for pickleball as I get back into my normal routine.

There and Back Again – Part Two

The last post ended with us finishing a 400-mile day at the Seven Feathers Casino. Seven Feathers is located between Roseburg and Grants Pass, Oregon. The casino is very RV friendly – they have a full service RV park on the west side of I-5 and a dry camping RV lot on the east side adjacent to the casino. We stayed overnight in the free dry camping lot.

Monday morning, as we approached Grants Pass, the terrain became hilly. I drove about 40 miles to the Manzanita Rest Area at milepost 61 and stopped there. After letting Sini’s golden-doodle dog, Ziggy out for a break, she took over driving.

The hilly terrain became mountainous as we crossed the Siskiyou Range and topped out at Siskiyou Summit more than 4,300 feet above sea level. This gave Sini a chance to experience driving up steep grades and once over the summit, she had to control the coach on a long descent.

When you’re climbing a grade in a motorhome, you want to maintain momentum. This requires a vigilant watch of the rearview mirrors so you’re aware of faster car traffic overtaking. When you have a slow moving tractor-trailer rig ahead, it’s good to time your move to the left lane to pass the slow moving truck with a break in the left lane traffic. If you slow down and stay behind the slow truck, you’re stuck. You probably won’t be able to overtake once you’ve slowed down too much. I explained this to Sini before she took the wheel. She did a great job of staying aware of the traffic situation and maintained our speed over the pass.

On the long downgrade to Medford, Sini made good use of the exhaust brake (sometimes called a PacBrake) and used good braking technique to avoid overheating the brakes. The exhaust brake helps to slow the coach. It’s not as effective as the Jacobs Engineering two-stage engine compression brake on our Alpine Coach, but it works well enough.

A little over ten miles into California, we hit the rest area at mile post 786. Sini had over an hour at the wheel and gained valuable experience handling the coach in the mountains.

Sini is all smiles at the wheel

Sini is all smiles at the wheel

I took over driving again when we left the rest area. It was familiar terrain as we drove through the mountains past Mount Shasta. Before we left on this trip, I wondered how the National RV Tradewinds coach would handle. It’s built on a Freightliner chassis and it’s powered by a Caterpillar 3126B six-cylinder diesel. The 3126B has a displacement of 7.3 liters (439 cu. in.) – smaller than the 8.9 liter (543 cu. in.) Cummins ISL in our Alpine Coach. The turbocharged 3126B provides 300 horsepower and 860 lb-ft of torque versus the 400 horsepower and 1200 lb-ft of our ISL. However, the Tradewinds is a lighter coach than ours by about 5,000 pounds. I found the power of the 3126B to be adequate and the handling of the Freightliner chassis was better than I expected.

One of the things that helps make the Tradewinds easy to drive is the shorter wheelbase compared to our Alpine Coach. The Tradewinds is about 36 or 37 feet long overall and has a wheelbase of 208 inches. Our Alpine coach is 40 feet overall and has a wheel base of 278 inches. The extra five plus feet between the axles is noticeable – the shorter wheelbase makes it easier to maneuver.

Our next stop was at the Olive Pit in Corning, California. This is a favorite stopping point for Donna and I – we always stop there when we pass through the area. We stretched our legs and shopped – I bought a couple of jars of bleu cheese stuffed olives. Sini and Linda made purchases as well.

I thought about stopping at the Rolling Hills Casino where Donna and I stayed last spring, but we wanted to get a few more miles under our wheels. Sini took over driving again when we left the Olive Pit and had the opportunity to drive through town and down a two-lane road. While she was driving, I was looking ahead on my smart phone. We wanted to stop somewhere with a sports bar so we could have a cold one and watch the Seahawks on Monday Night Football – Sini is a Seahawks fan.

I found the Colusa Casino about 60 miles down the road. I phoned ahead and found they offer free overnight RV parking and they had a sports bar. Bingo! Sini pulled into their parking area and we found a large, level gravel lot with striped pull-through RV spaces. Perfect! We put in about 330 miles for the day.

I was back at the wheel Tuesday morning and drove through Sacramento where we hit US99. This took us through Stockton, Modesto, Fresno and eventually Bakersfield. I told Sini I thought we could make it to Tehachapi and stay at the Mountain Valley RV Park where Donna and I stayed two years ago. We had a plan – but it was soon dashed. Sini found out the Mountain Valley RV Park was closed for the winter. Tehachapi Ā is nearly 4,000 feet above sea level and it gets cold in the winter.

Sini continued searching for a place to stay for the night. She found an Elks Lodge in Mojave, but no one answered the phone or returned her call. Then she found an Elks Lodge in Palmdale. The original plan was for Sini to get more driving time on Tuesday. However, once we decided to press on to Palmdale, I stayed at the wheel and kept our speed over 65mph. I wanted to get there before dark – remember the electrical problem with the taillights?

We didn’t make it before sundown and I drove the last 20 minutes with the lights on. The Elks Lodge in Palmdale had electric and water hook-ups in pull-through sites for $20. When we parked, Sini saw the taillights on the toad were working. It must have been a poor connection at the plug that worked itself out as we drove. We went into the lodge and had a drink while we watched the election returns. I had put in 400 miles and nine hours at the wheel. I was whipped. We had covered nearly 1,200 miles altogether and were less than 180 miles away from Mission Bay.

Wednesday morning Sini drove out of the Elks Lodge. She had the opportunity to drive through city streets then we hit highway 138. There was construction on this highway and Sini had to run the gauntlet. Concrete barriers were on the right side of the lane with no shoulder – only inches to spare on the right while she hugged the center line on the left. Oncoming trucks created pucker factor at times. This went on for a dozen miles or so.

Then we hit I-15 south and drove into heavy traffic in San Bernadino. We took the I-215 route – Sini was driving 60mph on an Interstate seven lanes wide. The right lane was filled with tractor trailer rigs. We were in the number two lane with cars flying past at 80 mph. At times she had tractor-trailers on both sides. We stopped for fuel in Menifee after a couple of hours of high stress driving. Sini had earned her wings – after that stretch, I thought she could drive the coach anywhere.

I drove the final leg to Mission Bay RV Resort. After she checked in, I told Sini she was driving – it was time for her to learn how to back in to an RV site. She had already looked a the site location and had a plan. She wanted to circle the park so the site entrance would be on the driver’s side. She felt more comfortable backing in from that direction. I went over hand signals with her and got out to direct her. She backed in and positioned the coach in one shot! No more driving lessons needed for this gal!

Sini, Linda and Ziggy at Mission Bay

Sini, Linda and Ziggy at Mission Bay.

You might be curious about sleeping arrangements on our road trip. Sini and Linda shared the bedroom in the back of the coach. I slept on a blow-up mattress in the living room with Ziggy on her dog bed. Ziggy is the mellowest creature – she never barked on the trip and slept quietly through the nights.

It was an exhausting road trip, but we accomplished what we set out to do.

Sini and me at Mission Bay

Sini and me at Mission Bay

There and Back Again – Part One

I didn’t have an opportunity to post to this blog since last Friday – I think it’s the longest lapse in three and a half years of blogging. I’ll catch up over a couple of installments.

On Saturday morning, my alarm had me up at 5:40am. Donna fixed breakfast for me while I went through my things to see what I might have forgotten. I’d scheduled an Uber ride to the airport and the driver showed up on time at 6:25am.

I used to go to the airport frequently during my working life. When we lived in Michigan I would usually arrive at the airport well ahead of my flight time and sit in the Delta lounge. I had Platinum Medallion status due to frequent travel. I don’t have any frequent flyer benefits anymore since I haven’t been in an airport since May of 2013. I haven’t missed it either.

It took about 25 minutes to get through the TSA security farce. I had liquids such as eyeglass cleaner and flonase in a clear plastic ziplock bag as requiredĀ but I forgot to take it out of my carry-on bag. No problem, my bag went through the X-ray device and no one noticed.

The Boeing 737-900 jet was nearly full, only a couple of the 181 seats were unoccupied. My row was full – luckily I had an aisle seat. There were two young guys in the seats next to me. They had ear buds and were busy with their laptops or smartphones for the entire flight. This was fine with me as I had a book to read on my Kindle. The only words I uttered on the two-and-a-half hour flight were “orange juice, please” when the flight attendant asked me if I wanted something to drink.

My daughter, Alana, picked me up at the airport along with my granddaughter, Gabi. Of course it was raining in Seattle. Gabi had just come from a volleyball match – she’s in fifth grade and is developing into quite a volleyball competitor. We were all hungry and stopped in Lynnwood at a Thai restaurant for lunch. Then we went to Alana’s house in Arlington to relax and visit for a while. My other granddaughter, Lainey, came home around 2pm and joined us. Lainey is 17 years old and was at work when I arrived.

Alana and me

Alana and me

Gabi, me and Lainey

Gabi, me and Lainey

Around 4pm, Alana drove me to Edmonds to meet up with Sini. Sini has been staying at her friend’s home since she sold her house. Her motorhome was parked in the yard at Alan and Julie’s place. After introductions to everyone, I started a pre-flight check on Sini’s National Tradewinds motorhome.

First, I looked at the date codes on the tires. The tires looked fine and they were about five years old. I checked the tire pressures and also the fluid levels. I familiarized myself with the cockpit layout and controls. Then I looked at the Roadmaster Falcon tow bar and thumbed through the manual for it. We decided to do a dry run and hook up her Saturn SUV tow vehicle (toad). The Saturn was new to Sini and the tow bar had just been installed on her coach by Poulsbo RV.

The tow bar has a quick link attachment that’s easy to lock in place. Then there are safety break-away cables, an electrical connector and an air line to activate the brakes.

Roadmaster Falcon tow bar

Roadmaster Falcon tow bar

Electrical and air line connectors

Electrical and air line connectors

Hitch at rear of coach

Hitch at rear of coach

We had a problem. The electrical connection wasn’t working – we didn’t have taillights or turn signals for the toad. The brakes have an actuator on the driver’s floorboard that applies the brake with a plunger attached to the brake pedal. When the brakes on the coach are applied, air pressure is sent to the actuator. This means the brakes are applied as if you had your foot on the brake pedal and the brakes lights are operated by the usual car system. We had brake lights, which I figured was the most important component.

Roadmaster brake actuator

Roadmaster brake actuator

It was about 5pm on Saturday afternoon, so a call to Poulsbo RV to see if they would look at the electrical connector they installed didn’t yield any results. The turn signals and taillights at the back of the coach are mounted high enough to be seen over the Saturn toad. We called it good enough since we didn’t intend to drive after dark.

Alana said her goodbye for now – we’ll be back up there in June for Lainey’s high school graduation. Sini ordered pizza and we settled in to Alan and Julie’s family room to watch college football. I was tired from the early start and flight. Sini told me she would pick up her friend, Linda, in the morning and they would be back at the house by 8am. I went to bed in a spare bedroom and crashed out before 10pm.

On Sunday morning I was up early and showered. I put my things in the coach and we packed a few final things Sini had in Alan’s garage. Alan backed the coach out of the yard through the RV gate into the driveway. We hooked up the toad and were ready to roll. I did another walk around and checked everything over. I pulled out of the driveway and drove a short distance down the street before stopping to give the tow bar and car a final check. All was good and we were on the road!

As I drove, Sini sat in the co-pilot’s seat and Linda was in the back. I started in with driving lessons for Sini right away. As I maneuvered the coach through turns, I told Sini what I was doing and why. I explained how driving a coach with the steer wheels behind the driver’s seat is different than driving a car with the steer wheels well in front of you. I gave her tips such as using your body as a benchmark for initiating turns. I wait until my hips are past my turning point before I start to turn in. For example, when making a right turn, I drive straight into the intersection until my butt is past the curb on the right, then I crank the steering wheel to make a tight turn. This positions the wheels to properly execute the turn without cutting the corner and clipping the curb.

The toad was easier to maneuver through turns than my cargo trailer. But, you cannot reverse with a tow vehicle. It’s important to always know how you are going to exit any place before you enter – things like parking lots or fuel stations need to be reconnoitered and a plan made before you pull in.

The plan was for me to drive through the busy metro areas of Seattle, Olympia and Portland. I would talk about what I was doing, watching and thinking about while driving. Sini could take the wheel once we got past Portland. We had a few rain drops but overall the weather was fine for driving.

When we stopped at the Pilot/Flying J Travel Center for fuel past Portland, Sini made sandwiches for lunch. We carried on and I drove since we didn’t want to sit and eat – we wanted to cover more miles. Sini wasn’t keen on eating and driving on her first stint. We were pushing a bit to get to the Seven Feathers Casino before dark for our first leg of the journey.

Sini brought up the Chargers game on an NFL app she has on her iPhone. She read the play-by-play description to me so I could follow an exciting win for the Chargers. We pulled into the lot at Seven Feathers right at sunset. I had driven 400 miles for our first leg of the trip. Sini would start driving on Monday. To be continued…

Pack My Bags

As I left the Mission Bay RV Resort Wednesday morning, I had to stop the Spyder and snap a picture of De Anza Cove. The bay water was so calm, it looked like glass and reflected images of a few clouds in the sky, palm trees and the houses terraced in Bay Park.

De Anza Cove

De Anza Cove

There was a boat anchored in the cove – a cabin cruiser I hadn’t seen before. They found very smooth water to spend the night in. But I imagine the noise from I-5 couldn’t have been pleasant.

I played pickleball at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center. Ocean Beach is a unique community – it was a hippie hangout in the ’60s and ’70s and that influence is still obvious. It’s also a popular place for surfing. When I left the rec center, I took a ride along the waterfront. I saw a cool old VW bus that someone had cut a section out of, shortening the wheelbase.

Sectioned VW bus

Sectioned VW bus

On Tuesday, our friends John and Sharon Hinton checked into the park (On The Road of Retirement). We got together Wednesday evening for happy hour. TheyĀ brought homemade garlic pesto pizza. Donna cooked salmon with ginger and scallion topping and made guacamole with pomegranate seeds, a twist she picked up from The Barrio Queen restaurant in Gilbert, Arizona. John and Sharon are beer lovers. We shared a blood red orange IPA from Latitude 33 Brewing. It was tasty, as was the food.

Happy hour became dinner

Happy hour became dinner

We were so absorbed in conversation, I never thought to have them pose for a photo.

A couple of hours passed quickly. When I came inside, I turned on game 7 of the Major League Baseball World Series. The Cubs were up 5-1. I thought it was game over. But over the next few innings, we had some twists. First the Indians stormed back to tie the game at 6-6 in the eighth inning. Then there was a rain delay. The Cubs won in overtime in the 10th inning.

Thursday was another beautiful day in San Diego. My first priority was a run to Costco. I picked up coffee K-cups for the Keurig, a case of bottled water and pork tenderloins. I arrived at Costco at 10:05am – they open at 10am. This is the way to do Costco. The parking lot was only half full and I didn’t have to fight crowds in the store.

After I dropped the stuff off back at the coach I headed out for more pickleball. Later, I spoke to my daughter, Alana, about picking me up at SeaTac airport tomorrow in Seattle – I wrote about the reason for this trip in my previous post. I also spoke to Sini. She’s already packing her things in her coach.We plan to get together Saturday evening and hit the road Sunday morning for our trip back down to San Diego.

By the time we get here, Sini will be a seasoned big rig driver. I have a plan in mind for her to get up to speed driving her motorhome – we’ll see if she likes my plan.

Donna made coconut curry chicken in the slow cooker for dinner last night. She served it over jasmine brown rice with chopped cilantro. I thought it was great but Donna wants to double the amount of curry powder and add some turmeric next time she makes it.

Coconut curry chicken

Coconut curry chicken

I paired it with an IPA from Left Coast Brewing in San Clemente called Trestles. Trestles is a reference to a popular series of surfing spots near San Onofre Beach in north San Diego county.

Trestles IPA

Trestles IPA

Today is another sunny, beautiful day here. The high is expected to be in the mid-70s. Seattle’s forecast is wet with the high temperature in the upper 50s for the weekend. I’ll pack my things today and leave for the airport around 6:30am tomorrow. I don’t know if I’ll be able to post over the next several days while we’re on the road.

Breaking the Routine

I’ve mentioned before how we fall into daily routines when we’re stationary for weeks or months at a time. This is especially true when we’re in San Diego or Mesa, Arizona where we have many friends and old hangouts.

Donna’s settling back into her daily routine after her trip to Akron, Ohio. She has a publishing deadline on a book she’s writing and that is her priority. She also gets out for exercise – she either runs or bikes daily. I leave her to her writing for a few hours – on Monday and Wednesday, I play pickleball in Ocean Beach. And on Tuesday and Thursday, I play in Pacific Beach. I meet up with the guys for happy hour and a cold one on Monday and Thursday at Dan Diego’s – on Tuesday and Friday it’s Offshore Tavern and Grill.

I haven’t slept anywhere but my own bed in our RV since we sold our house and everything in it. I started sleeping in our coach about a week before I retired. Friday night will make it 1,210 consecutive nights in my own bed. That streak will end on Saturday when I fly up to Seattle. It will also be the first time I’ve been on a commercial airline in more than three years.

Here at Mission Bay RV Resort we’ve made friends with several other nomads that often come here in the winter. One of the first friends we made back in 2013 was Bob and Sini Schmitt from Edmonds, Washington. Bob was a retired fire chief and a great guy. Their son, Beau, co-owns a brew pub in San Diego along with Mike Sill called The Brew Project.

Bob tragically died unexpectedly last summer while vacationing in the British Virgin Islands. His wife Sini wants to continue to travel in their 37-foot National RV motorhome. When they traveled in their motorhome, Bob did the driving. Sini is an independent and very self-reliant woman. But she’s also realistic. Driving the motorhome with a car attached to a tow bar behind it has a steep learning curve.

Following the plan she and Bob had laid out, Sini sold their home in Edmonds to travel full-time and plans to spend her first few months here at Mission Bay. I’m flying up to Seattle where I’ll have a chance to visit with my oldest daughter Alana and my grandkids Lainey and Gabi on Saturday. Sunday morning I’ll be driving with Sini in herĀ motorhome. My goal during the 1,300+ mile trip is to teach Sini the ins and outs of driving a big rig.

Our route will take us over a few mountain passes with long climbs and steep downgrades. This will be a great learning experience for her. We’ll probably have some long days and try to be here on Wednesday. So, how’s that for breaking the routine!

Yesterday’s weather was little cooler – we hit 70 degrees but the breeze made it seem cooler than that. The forecast calls for warmer days in the mid-70s for the next two weeks. Overnight lows are a very comfortable 60 degrees – we’ve been sleeping with the windows open.

The Irish Room

I skipped playing pickleball Monday. I usually go to the Ocean Beach Recreation Center on Mondays and Wednesdays to play. I did house work instead in preparation of Donna’s return in the afternoon. Then I did a deep clean of the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker/grill.

Around 1:30pm, I fired up the Traeger and set out the two racks of babyback ribs I’d prepped the day before. I preheated the grill for 10 minutes with the setting at 300 degrees which gave me a pit temperature of 270-280 degrees and put the ribs on.

There wasn’t much more to do for a couple of hours other than check the pellet feed from time to time and monitor the temperature for any anomalies. So I sat outside and read a book on my Kindle. The outside temperature reached 75 degrees yesterday, but it was breezy and felt cooler.

Donna came home from her trip to Akron for her nephew’s wedding around 2:30pm. We relaxed and talked for a short while, then she took the Spyder to Trader Joe’s to do some grocery shopping.

I was making the ribs for a guy’s night at my friend Dan Cullen’s house in Bay Park. Bay Park is a terraced neighborhood south of Clairemont overlooking Mission Bay. On the south side of Clairemont Drive, the streets in Bay Park are alphabetical. Going east from Morena Boulevard as you go up the mesa there’s Chicago Street, then Denver Street, then Erie, Frankfort, Galveston and so on. From north to south there’s Ingulf Street, then Jellett Street, Kane, Lister and so on. This makes it pretty easy to navigate the area. Dan’s house is on the corner of Erie and Kane. He has a nice view of the bay – I wish I would have taken a photo.

After two hours and twenty minutes, I pulled the ribs out of the Traeger and wrapped them in aluminum foil. I put them back on the grill and dropped the temperature to 180 degrees. About 25 minutes later, I placed the foil-wrapped racks of ribs in a towel to retain the heat and loaded them in the Spyder.

When we planned to have the get-together at Dan’s place, I didn’t realize it was meant to be a guys’ night with Monday Night Football in his man-cave, which he calls “The Irish Room.” I would have put it off rather than leave for guys’ night on the day Donna returned.

The Irish Room is an addition to Dan’s house. The main house has an attached garage – The Irish Room is on the far side of the garage from the main house. It has patios in front and back and a half bathroom behind the garage on the rear patio.

I planned to take some photos of the place and the guys. After snapping a couple of quick shots, we got down to the business of dining on babyback ribs and the baked beans and seasoned fries that Dan’s wife made. The Monday Night Football game was on the big screen TV. I never took another photo!

Bar and refrigerator in The Irish Room

Bar and refrigerator in The Irish Room

Decorative lighting - you can see the big screen TV in the lower left

Decorative lighting – you can see the big screen TV in the lower left

The ribs were a hit as usual – the method I’m using now of foiling the ribs at the end of the cook works great. I’m happy with my rub and the way the meat stays moist yet firm and easily pulls away from the bone. The party broke up at halftime of the game. I came home and watched the second half as Chicago surprised most everyone with an upset win over Minnesota.

This morning Donna started her day with a run – she’s out running as I type this. When she returns we’ll enjoy breakfast together, then I’ll head over to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center for pickleball and she’ll get back to work on her book. The forecast looks great with clear skies and a high temperature in the low 70s.

Not Gourmet

With Donna away, my dinner menu is different. It isn’t a matter of me being unable to cook – it’s more a matter of me doing what’s convenient. Pizza delivery from Mountain Mike’s in Clairemont took care of a few meals.

Donna’s nephew’s wedding in Akron, Ohio was blessed with great weather on Saturday and I hear everyone had a great time. Congratulations to Mark Anthony and his bride Jamie.

I rode the Spyder over to the self-serve car wash in Pacific Beach Saturday and gave it a good cleaning. Then I rode up the coast to La Jolla. One thing I miss about our scooter is the ease of parking. The Spyder needs nearly the same space as a compact car.

I found a parking place right by the main life guard station at La Jolla Shores. The beach wasn’t especially crowded, but there was a surfing contest sponsored by WindanSea going on.

View to the north toward Scripps Pier from La Jolla Shores

View to the north toward Scripps Pier from La Jolla Shores

Surfing contest

Surfing contest

On Saturday night, I cooked an old standby – a Marie Callenders pot pie. Cooking in our convection oven is a little different than a conventional oven – it cooks faster. I foil wrapped the perimeter of the pot pie and cooked at 400 degrees for 50 minutes. A quick-read thermometer showed an internal temperature of 168 degrees. Just right.

Not so gourmet

Not so gourmet

On Sunday morning, I wheeled the Traeger wood pellet-fired smoker/grill from our trailer in the storage yard to our site. It might be more accurate to say I dragged it here. The wheels are small, the unit is fairly heavy and the pavement is rough.

I had the cover on it and left it in our site as the NFL football games were about to start. I was surprised during the Chargers game in the afternoon when I realized it was raining! It was a light shower, but I had the door open and our door panel was wet. I’m glad I had the Traeger covered.

I prepped the babyback ribs for tomorrow’s guys’ night. I was surprised to find the membrane on the bone side of the ribs had been removed by the butchers at Siesel’s Meats. Removing the membrane is something I always do. It’s not that hard, but this is the first time I’ve bought babyback ribs with the membrane already removed. Siesel’s has a reputation for quality meat and they obviously pay attention to the small details. I applied the dry rub and let them rest overnight in the refrigerator.

Two racks of babybacks dry rubbed and ready for the Traeger

Two racks of babybacks dry rubbed,stacked and ready for the Traeger

Donna will be home in the early afternoon. I’ll have everything ship shape. The weather forecast looks great – low-70s and sunny.

 

 

Grocery Stores

Donna was up early and her Uber driver picked her up at 5am Thursday for her flight to Akron, Ohio. I managed to fall back asleep after she left and had a series of dreams (pardon me, Bob Dylan).

Thursday turned out to be another typical day. I started with a couple of hours of pickleball at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center – which was exhausting as the games ran non-stop with little down time.

On Thursdays, the guys all meet up at Dan Diego’s for happy hour. My friend, Dan Cullen, an attorney and alumni of Cal Western – the law school where my daughter Shauna earned her law degree – made plans for a Monday Night Football gathering at his place in Bay Park. I’m planning to smoke a couple of racks of babyback ribs for the occasion.

Dan invited me to join him and his wife for dinner, but I’d already ordered pizza delivery. I stopped at his place and checked out his “Irish Room.” What a man cave set-up! Pictures will follow after our Monday guys’ night.

Friday I was on a mission. I made a list of things I needed to have on hand the night before. I thought the Walmart in Kearny Mesa would have what I desired. After taking care of domestic chores – with Donna away I’m doing dishes, vacuuming, dumping and flushing tanks and cleaning Ozark’s litter box – and oh yeah, watering planter boxes. Not complaining, this life beats most anything I can imagine.

When I arrived at Walmart I remembered this is not the usual Super Walmart. It has a limited number of groceries – no fresh vegetables or meats. I found a few things I wanted, including Kiwi polish for my boots. Then I went to Von’s at Clairemont Square.

I needed babyback ribs for the get-together at Dan’s place on Monday. I was disappointed at Von’s. They had pre-packaged babyback ribs, but they were priced at $5.49/lb. I’ve bought these pre-packaged ribs for $3.99 or less many times. I passed on the ribs but bought some produce.

The next store on the way home way was Kiel’s. I’ve always liked this family-owned grocery store. But, this is their last week of operation. Due to lease issues, they’re closing at the end of the month after 26 years of serving the neighborhood. They had some good deals – including a good price on babyback ribs. But they were cut very small and I was wary of cooking them.

I decided to bite the bullet and go to Siesel’s – a San Diego icon for meats. I paid a higher price, but I got very good looking babyback ribs that were over three pounds per rack. I don’t know if there’s much difference in the quality of pork loin ribs, but I’ll find out on Monday.

It hit me then. Clairemont used to have neighborhood grocers. Some were small – like the place on old Morena Boulevard, others were medium-size like the Mayfair store on Moraga Avenue. Nowadays, it’s not so easy to run to the store. You have convenience stores with limited choices or you deal with traffic to travel several miles to find a bona fide grocery outlet.

This strikes me as I think about our travels over the last year. It seemed like no matter where we were, we could find a local brewery. This is good. But why can’t you find a good local grocery store?

Half an hour before sunset looking west at Crown Point

Half an hour before sunset looking west at Crown Point