Category Archives: Western RV/Alpine Coach

Spam and Sports

Something strange is going on with my website. Over the last four and a half years, the site comments are hit with spam on a daily basis. About 100 spam comments per day are quarantined by software I installed and I empty the spam comments regularly. Over the last four days, I’ve only been hit by two spammers. I’m not complaining – just wondering what happened to the spam.

We had a busy weekend with sporting events – both as participants and spectators. On Saturday morning, I played in a pickleball tournament. We started out with a round robin split into two groups. The group I was in had 12 players. The round robin results determined seeding to form the teams. Number one was paired with number 12, I was number two and was paired with the 11 place finisher and so on down the line. It was a fun tournament but I didn’t take home any prizes. Our results were 9-11, 9 -11, 10-11 and 11-4. We lost three close games and only won once. By number of points scored, we were the number two team, but it was number of games won that determined the results.

Our friends Howard and Sara Graff invited us to join them Saturday afternoon to check out the PGA Phoenix Open golf tournament. Howard somehow managed to get four free tickets and a parking pass. The Phoenix Open has the highest spectator attendance of any PGA event. The weekly attendance this year was over 655,000 and more than 218,000 were there on Saturday.

Crowds of this size made the logistics of getting in and out of there a little tough. We parked in lot 8 and rode a shuttle through bumper to bumper traffic. The tickets Howard had were for a penthouse skybox on the 18th green. We were guests of a law firm, Tiffany and Bosco. I’m not sure how that happened, but it was the place to be. They had an open bar and hot hors d’oeuvres plus sandwiches and snacks.

Great tickets!

I don’t really follow professional golf and have only played on rare occasions – company scramble tournaments mostly – back in my working days. We had a nice view of the 18th green and I recognized a few of the golfers.

Phil Mickelson on the 18th green

Another view of the 18th green from the Tiffany and Bosco skybox

Golf originated in Scotland in the 15th century. While we enjoyed the food and drink and the tournament, for me, the fun part was the atmosphere and people watching. We saw some guys that took golf’s Scottish heritage to heart.

These guys celebrated golf’s Scottish heritage

On Sunday morning, Donna headed out on her bicycle. She discovered a good route that avoided car traffic to the west side of Mesa, then got on a paved bike path into Tempe. She met up with her friend Beth Welch – we used to ride with Beth when we lived here and rode with the Phoenix Metro Bicycle Club. They rode to Singh Farms where they spent a few hours chatting. They ran into Howard and Sara Graff there. Her roundtrip ride was about 38 miles.

While Donna was out, I prepared babyback ribs with a dry rub so I could smoke them Memphis-style. I love cooking ribs this way on the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker/grill. I have the process for babyback ribs down by now and they are so good.

Memphis style babyback ribs

Donna made a potato salad and baked jalapeno poppers – this was our Superbowl meal. We enjoyed the game with a great meal.

Babyback ribs, potato salad and baked jalapeno poppers

Last night Donna prepared a new recipe, Chicken Lombardy. She pounded boneless chicken breasts, dredged them in flour, and sauteed them. Then she placed them in a casserole dish, covered them with sauteed mushrooms and cheeses, and a sauce made with chicken broth and marsala wine. This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Chicken Lombardy with brown basmati rice and spinach

The daily high temperature has been in the upper 70s and the forecast calls for 80 to 83 degrees for the rest of the week. That’s why we winter in Arizona!

Pickleball and Projects

Another week of pickleball and projects has flown by here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort. The weather has been fantastic, other than the high winds we experienced on Monday. The overnight low temperature has been around 50 degrees, while the daytime highs have been around 80 degrees.

On Monday afternoon, Donna took an Uber ride to the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Phoenix. She stayed the night there to speak at the American National Cattlewomen meeting on Tuesday morning. After speaking, she was dropped off here by an Uber driver by noon. Her topic was “What Your Clutter Would Say If It Could Talk – and How to Give It the Boot!”

On Tuesday, I took care of a project I’ve been putting off for a while. A few of the rubber weatherstrip seals on the basement compartment doors were loose. They were originally installed with a double-sided adhesive tape. Time and temperature had taken a toll and some areas of adhesive were no longer holding.

I pulled what was left of the tape off on three loose seals and cleaned the rubber and corresponding area of the doors with rubbing alcohol. I like to use the 91% stuff, the 70% alcohol doesn’t work as well. I re-secured the seals with 3M Weatherstrip Adhesive.

3M Weatherstrip Adhesive

This is a type of contact cement that will stick to just about anything and creates a strong bond. I smeared a thin bead on the rubber seal and on the metal door. I let it dry and get tacky for about two minutes, then pressed the seal in place. The adhesive bonded immediately and the weather strips won’t be coming loose anytime soon!

On Tuesday evening, Donna made a new recipe. It was shrimp in a tomato cream sauce with brown rice and quinoa fusilli pasta and it was so tasty.

Shrimp in tomato cream sauce with pasta

I put off my projects on Wednesday and played the 3.0-3.5 round robin games on the pickleball court. I stayed off the courts on Thursday to tackle a couple more projects. The first was pulling the anode rod out of our 10-gallon Suburban water heater. Anode rods are sacrificial devices and need to be changed periodically. I wrote about it in this post.

The first time I changed the anode rod, I didn’t know how long it had been in water heater. It was totally corroded and I replaced it with a magnesium rod.  I changed the magnesium rod after 18 months, but it looked like I could have left it for another six months. I replaced it with an aluminum rod. The aluminum rods don’t corrode as fast as the magnesium rods, so I left it in for 22 months before I pulled it.

Aluminum Suburban water heater anode rod

I shut off the breaker for the water heater so the electric heating element wouldn’t burn out when I drained the tank. Then I shut off the fresh water supply to the coach.

Our water heater lives behind this vented panel

I cut a plastic grocery bag and taped it in place to create a “curtain” for the water to drain over. I knew the water coming out of the tank would likely have some heavy mineral deposits.

Water heater – anode rod in lower center

Hot water draining over “curtain”

As I expected, several chunks of calcium deposits and sandy mineral deposits came out with the hot water. To my surprise the anode rod was still in good shape. After I cleaned the tank out, I reinstalled the old anode rod and I’ll give it another 12 months before I change it.

Old anode rod still in good shape

After I reinstalled the anode rod with teflon tape sealing the threads, I opened the hot water in the bathroom and kitchen faucets. With the hot water faucets open, when I turned the fresh water supply back on air could escape from the tank while it filled with water. Once I had water flowing out of the faucets, I shut them and flipped the breaker back on for the heating element. Even though I didn’t need to change the anode rod, it’s a good idea to drain the hot water tank every year or two to clean out the mineral deposits.

After I finished the water heater project, I saw a mobile RV tech installing a new pressure relief valve on our neighbor’s hot water tank. I mentioned how our anode rod looked good after 22 months. He told me that aluminum rods are usually good for three to four years. Good to know.

After taking a break for lunch, Donna and I went to the pickleball court. I set up the ball machine so Donna could work on some drills. She’s getting more power into her shots and we worked on shot placement as well. After an hour of drills, I had one more project for the day.

I wanted to grease the wheel bearings in our cargo trailer. Our Interstate trailer is equipped with Dexter axles. The Dexter axles have what’s called E-Z Lube bearings. This system had the axle spindle drilled creating a passage that extends to the rear of the hub where it intersects with another drilling at 90 degrees. This passage opens just behind the rear wheel bearing in front of the rear bearing seal.

This makes greasing the bearings easy. You don’t have to remove the drums and pull the bearings. You just put a grease gun on the zerk fitting in the center of the spindle. With the wheel spinning you start pumping grease into the fitting. Spinning the wheel allows the grease to exit the passage behind the rear bearing all the way around instead just pumping through a small portion of the bearing.

The grease is forced through the rear bearing, then through a small clearance to the front wheel bearing. The old grease is pushed out of the bearings and comes out the front of the hub. When clean, new grease starts coming out, the bearing is repacked!

E-Z Lube wheel bearings

Of course I had a couple of issues to contend with, so it didn’t go quite as smoothly as it could have. First, my jack wouldn’t extend beyond a couple of inches. Apparently some of the hydraulic fluid had leaked at some point and the level was low. I had some automatic transmission fluid on hand, so I was able to remove the stopper and top up the fluid level.

The grease gun I had was a cheap unit I bought at Harbor Freight. It’s poorly constructed and there’s too much clearance between the plunger that pushes the grease out and the walls of the grease cartridge. This allowed grease to flow back behind the plunger instead of coming out the way it should. I had to play around with it to get enough grease to pack all four wheel bearing sets. Eventually I got the job done. Last night I ordered a new grease gun from Amazon – hopefully it’s a better quality tool than the one I used. I also found two of the rubber dust caps on the hubs were cracked so I ordered replacements.

The great weather is forecast to continue through the weekend and into next week. I’m playing in a pickleball tournament tomorrow morning, then Donna and I might join Howard and Sara Graff for an afternoon at the PGA Waste Management Phoenix Open golf tournament.

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

Headlight Eyesore

Another week has flown by here in Mesa, Arizona. The week started with cool weather – the high was only 64 degrees on Monday. Our friends and fellow full-time nomads, Brett and Cheri were in town for a few days. We met for dinner Monday night at Baja Joe’s – a Mexican restaurant on the corner of McKellips and Gilbert Road.

Brett, Cheri, Donna and me

I’m not much of a dessert eater, but I dug in when we split a dish of fried ice cream after our entrees. Fried ice cream is a Mexican treat. A ball of ice cream is breaded – usually with crushed corn flakes and a dash of cinnamon – then quickly deep fried in hot oil. This forms a delightful crust over the ball of cold ice cream which is then drizzled with chocolate syrup and honey and served in a cinnamon fried tortilla bowl. A dollop of whipped cream topped with maraschino cherries completes the dish. Yummy!

Fried ice cream served in a crisp fried tortilla bowl

A warming trend began on Tuesday and we had high temperatures in the 70s for the rest of the week. As you can see in the restaurant photo, I’ve let my goatee grow long over the past few months. On Wednesday I decided it was time to clean up my act. I trimmed my beard – we’ll see how I like it.

The new look

Did I mention how the time is flying by? We’ve been here in Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort for over a month now. Donna reminded me I had a few projects that I should get going on before we head out of here. One of the things I’ve been wanting to do is replace the lens covers on our headlights. The covers discolor and pit from exposure over time. They’re made of a lexan type polycarbonate material. A couple of years ago I polished the headlight covers to remove the crazed surface and restore the luster (posted here). The thing is, there’s an exterior coating on the polycarbonate surface to inhibit damage from exposure to the sun. When you polish the surface, this coating is removed and the lens will deteriorate fairly quickly.

The headlight assemblies Western RV used when they made Alpine Coaches were made in Germany by Hella. They were the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for BMW and these headlights were used in the BMW E39 models – E39 is the code for BMW’s fourth generation 5 series models made from 1995 to 2004. I searched for headlight covers for this model and only found one supplier with an expensive replacement. I wasn’t even sure if I could remove the old cover from the assembly without damage to the headlight.

I could get OEM headlight assemblies from BMW or buy used ones. The problem with OEM parts from BMW is cost. The OEM headlight assemblies run about $600 each – $1,200 for a pair is out of the question. Used headlight assemblies may have had enough exposure to already begin deteriorating, so that didn’t seem like a good way to go either.

I searched on Ebay and found several suppliers with knock-off E39 headlight assemblies made in China. One supplier had sold nearly 600 pairs with a seller rating of 99.7% positive. The headlight assemblies sourced in China looked good – they copied the Hella design. The price for a new pair of headlights was $135! I went for it.

The headlight assemblies were delivered on Friday afternoon. They were well-packaged and looked good to go. I got to work on the project Saturday morning. First I made a trip to the NAPA auto parts store. I needed automatic transmission fluid for the HWH hydraulic system. We have a small leak at the equalizer ram and the fluid in the reservoir was low. With the slides out and jacks down, the fluid was low enough that I couldn’t fully extend the front generator compartment to access the headlight assemblies. Once I topped up the fluid I was set.

The old headlights looked bad, really bad. Donna said the headlights were an eyesore.

Old headlights

It was mainly a cosmetic issue – the headlights still functioned and we’ve only driven the coach after sundown once in the last four years. Before I disassembled the old unit, I put tape on the wiring and numbered the connectors. I took a photo to make sure I connected everything correctly on the new light. I put the connectors on the new assembly temporarily to check function. With the wiring harness connected, I could just reach the top of the generator housing to set the assembly down while I went in the coach and turned on the headlights. I checked the low beams, high beams and turn indicators – all was good.

When I exited the coach and walked to the front, I found the headlight assembly on the ground. It had fallen off the generator housing. The high beam bulb holder had popped out and the H7 bulb was broken. The bulb holder looked okay. I took the bulb holder with me and went back to NAPA. I pried the H7 bulb base out of the bulb holder and it was fine – this was a good thing because NAPA didn’t have the bulb holder, only the replacement H7 bulb.

Old assembly with connectors marked

The new headlight assembly had a plate on the bottom that wasn’t on our headlights. I’m guessing this plate is an adapter used on some E39 model BMWs. It was held on with two screws so I removed it. Without the plate, the mounting tabs on the new assembly aligned with mounts on the front bodywork. It didn’t take long to complete the job.

Before photo of the front end

After photo with new headlights

On Saturday afternoon, Donna presented a free decluttering seminar at the Mesa Public Library. She spoke for about an hour there. On Saturday evening, we were invited to join with friends at Kim and Mike Childs’ house for a potluck dinner and drinks – and a bonfire in the backyard. They live a couple of miles from us off Brown Road.

Backyard bonfire

The wind picked up here overnight and it’s quite gusty this morning. The forecast calls for a high of 80 degrees today with similar high temps for the rest of the week. Donna is working on another presentation today – she’s the keynote speaker at the American Cattlewomen’s Association Convention in Phoenix on Tuesday. She’ll spend the night in a hotel in downtown Phoenix Monday, then speak at 9am on Tuesday. I’m planning to head out to the Rio Salado gun club with Howard Graff and do some target shooting this afternoon.

 

How an RV 50 Amp Circuit Works

Lately I’ve been seeing questions about the electrical power supply in RVs. Specifically, in one Facebook RV group, someone asked how large a generator should they buy for their travel trailer. The answers given by some people were confusing or downright incorrect. I’ll take a minute to try to explain how this works as simply as I can.

Recreational vehicles typically are wired for a 30 amp or 50 amp power supply. This is where the confusion begins. It seems like a 50 amp power supply would be capable of supplying 20 amps more than the 30 amp power supply. It doesn’t work that way. The 30 amp power supply uses a three-prong plug – a hot lead, a neutral and a ground. All current flows through one hot lead. A 50 amp power supply uses a four-prong lead – two hot leads (L1 and L2), a neutral and a ground. Each hot lead – L1 and L2 – can provide up to 50 amps of current.

An RV wired for 50 amp service has the power outlets and electrical consumers split into two separate circuits. Each circuit has the capability of providing up to 50 amps of current. For example, L1 might provide power to the front air conditioning unit, the microwave/convection oven and half of the wall outlets. L2 might provide power for the rear air conditioning unit, the converter/battery charger and the rest of the wall outlets. A 30 amp coach has all of the consumers and outlets on one power supply circuit. So, we can see that the 50 amp service can really supply up to 100 amps while the 30 amp service is limited to 30 amps.

Back to the question – how much power do I need from a generator? To answer this, we have to understand a few terms. First is voltage. Voltage is electromotive force – think of it as the pressure creating the flow of electricity. Amps describe current – it tells us how much current is flowing through the circuit. Watts describe power – the rate of electrical transfer. We need to understand watts because that’s how electrical consumers are rated and it’s also how generators are rated. The formula is simple – watts = volts X amps.

In a coach wired for 50 amp service we can use the formula to see that when the coach is plugged in to a 50 amp service, we have 120 volts times 50 amps = 6,000 watts on L1 and 6,000 watts on L2 – 12,000 total watts ( sometimes listed as 12kW). Does this mean I need a 12kW generator? That would be expensive.

Looking at the information regarding typical appliance loads in my Onan generator manual, I see the following:

Appliance                                               Load (watts)

Air conditioner                                       1400 – 2000

Battery charger/converter                     300 – 2000

Microwave/convection oven                  1,000 – 1500

Electric hair dryer                                     1000 -1500

Television                                                    200 -600

Coffee maker                                              550 – 750

As you can see, anything with a heating element will require quite a bit of power. Also, large electric motors like the one in an air conditioner also requires a lot of power. The power requirement drops after start-up. In other words, the maximum power requirement for an electric motor comes when the motor is first activated, then drops as the  motor RPM stabilizes. Likewise, a heating element draws the highest amount of current at start-up and the power requirement drops as it heats up. Our Dometic Penguin II air conditioners have a delay built in on start-up and both units never start at the same time – there’s a few seconds of delay before the second unit kicks in.

Our coach is wired for 50 amp service, but our generator is a 7.5kW Onan Quiet Diesel. It provides about 30 amps of current on each circuit. So L1 can provide enough power to supply about 3,600 watts of electrical consumers. Likewise L2 can provide 3,600 watts. With the circuits on the coach split, I see that this should be adequate. The only issue I have is if I want to run the front air conditioner, the microwave/convection oven and the coffee maker at the same time, I may overload the circuit and trip the breaker on the generator. So, if we’re cooking breakfast and making coffee, I don’t run the front air conditioner at the same time. If we need AC, I can run the rear air conditioner as it’s wired to L2.

On shore power, we have more than enough power – 12,000 watts total – to run everything without concern. I hope this makes sense and my simplified explanation helps someone understand the power requirements and how to choose generator size.

We’re continuing to enjoy great weather here in Mesa. We really like Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort. I’m hitting the pickleball courts four or five times a week and Donna has been playing more and she’s really stepping her game up. That’s all for now.

 

Snow Birds

We have a variety of birds visiting our site at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona. Snowbirds aren’t just people from the north wintering here – a lot of real birds also come to the southwest for the nice winter weather. We set up a hummingbird feeder with a suction cup on our living room window. It soon attracted a number of hummingbirds that visit throughout the day.

Before long we noticed other birds also came to the feeder. I’m guessing they’re attracted to the smell of the sweet nectar. We had finches perching on the feeder and I even saw a woodpecker – I’m pretty sure it was a gila woodpecker – drinking the nectar from the feeder. This prompted Donna to suggest setting up our finch feeder.

The finch feeder is a wooden tube with a mesh sock hanging from the bottom. I filled it with nyger seed. Nyger is also spelled niger and sometimes it’s called thistle. It doesn’t come from a thistle plant though, it’s the seed of the African yellow daisy. It’s grown in Africa and parts of India and is also used in local cuisine there. The name niger comes from it’s origin in Nigeria. In 1998 the wild bird food industry trademarked the name nyger. It’s a favorite food for finches and other birds feed on it too. Finches can live on it exclusively and the high fat and protein content help them get through cold winter nights.

Finch feeder

Now we have finches and sparrows in the orange tree on our site flitting back and forth from the feeder and tree. Some of nyger seed falls to the ground and in the late afternoon quail come to our site and pick at it. It’s fun to watch the birds.

Wednesday evening our friends Joel and Lana picked us for happy hour and dinner at The Hub Grill and Bar down on Baseline Road at Sossaman – a few miles from here. The food is good and they have a wide variety of beers on tap. We came here once before with our friends, Hans and Lisa. I had the pot roast sandwich – it’s a mid-western take on a French dip. It has sliced pot roast beef on a hoagie roll with mozarella and is served with a bowl of brown gravy for dipping instead of aus jus. It was tasty and I brought half of it home.

We came home early. Donna had already packed for her trip to Florida but had to be up early for her flight. She was heading to Miami to meet up with her brother and his family. He rented a place in Miami to celebrate his birthday and get away from the cold weather in Philadelphia for a month. It turns out Donna had to pack some cool weather clothing – they’re having unseasonably cold weather there, but it should warm up over the weekend. Meanwhile, we’re having great weather here in Mesa.

I didn’t sleep well Wednesday night and Donna was up at 4:30am. I got out of bed to see her off – I’ll be fending for myself for the next six days. I didn’t take much advantage of the nice weather on Thursday – I mostly read and napped, then met the guys for a happy hour beer at Lucky Lou’s. The temperature reached 77 degrees.

This morning I played pickleball for a couple of hours and I’m looking forward to another day of abundant sunshine and mid-70s temperatures.

Goodbye 2017

Happy New Year first of all! Donna and I spent a quiet New Year’s Eve mostly binge watching early season reruns of Breaking Bad. Today is the first day of 2018. As we look forward to the year ahead, it’s always nice to reflect on the past year.

2017 was an eventful year filled with many good times for us. We started the year in San Diego, then moved to Arizona where we spent a month at RV Renovators getting the wall on our coach repaired. We stayed in Mesa, Arizona at Viewpoint until mid-April, then returned to San Diego for a month.

Our travels took us north through California. We stayed at the Escapees Park of the Sierras at Coarsegold where we met new friends and fellow pickleball enthusiasts, Joe and Melinda. Then we moved to Sacramento where Donna found excellent bike trails and I reminisced about my elementary school days there. We also found a fantastic boondocking spot at Lake Shastina.

We continued north to moochdock in my daughter, Alana’s, driveway in Arlington, Washington. We were there for our granddaughter, Lainey’s, graduation from high school. Heading east from there we stopped in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho where we were able to hook up with my high school buddy, Gary Stemple and spend a day on the lake.

We moved on to South Dakota where Donna had to get a replacement driver’s license – she lost hers somewhere in San Diego. Next up was one of our big events for the year – the Register Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI). It was a bucket list item for Donna and we spent a fun-filled week with our friends Jeff and Deb Spencer and also their friends Geoff, Tom and Fred.

Next up was the total eclipse of the sun in Nebraska. Our next major event was crewing for the Hearts A’Fire hot air balloon owned by our friends Brad and Jessica Rice. It was our third straight year at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

These are just a few of the highlights. In 2017, the states we visited were California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. If you ever want to look up a post about a certain area, you can search for posts by state by clicking on the state name in the categories on the sidebar of this page.

Saturday night Donna prepared green curry shrimp and vegetables over brown basmati rice for dinner served with a side of grilled baby bok choy. On New Year’s Eve she topped that by making a bowl of her famous split pea soup served with a portobello mushroom stuffed with crab meat.

Saturday’s green curry shrimp

New Year’s Eve plates with a glass of wine

I often mention our meals because it illustrates the fact that we’re not camping out. This is our lifestyle and we don’t eat out often or roast hot dogs over a campfire. We mostly dine on nutritious, delicious meals that Donna prepares in the galley of our motorhome.

The last day of 2017 was cloudy here at Viewpoint RV & Golf Resort in Mesa, Arizona. The temperature only reached 71 degrees but it felt chillier. Today we have abundant sunshine and it feels nice. The high should reach the mid 70s and the nice weather is forecast to continue for coming week. We don’t know where 2018 will take us, but I’m sure we’re in for more good times and great places.

Runaway Spyder

We’ve settled in at Viewpoint RV & Golf Resort after our first week here in Mesa, Arizona. Viewpoint is an age-qualified community catering to people 55 and older. It covers nearly a square mile with most sites occupied by park model modular homes. There are 331 RV sites with full hook-ups for motorhomes or trailers. There are more than 1,000 sites total.

Our spacious site 5245 after sunrise

The park boasts of 75,000 square feet of recreation space and the residents tend to be very active. There are two golf courses – an 18-hole championship course and a nine-hole executive course – plus a pro shop. There’s a softball field. They have 10 tennis courts and five pickleball courts. There are four heated swimming pools and seven spas. There are two fitness centers and a woodshop. Also onsite are a restaurant and bar, hair and nail salon and a massage therapist. They have a number of clubs including a hiking club that Donna likes to go out with.

I’m not a golfer, so the activity I mainly participate in is pickleball, of course! Pickleball is a great sport and Donna and I find places to play most of the time throughout the country. In San Diego, we play on indoor courts set up on hardwood basketball courts. The indoor game is played with a softer ball with a thinner wall construction than the outdoor balls. They all weigh about the same – between 0.8 ounces and 0.9 ounces.

Here at Viewpoint, we play on outdoor courts. We’ve joined the pickleball club and play frequently – five days a week for me – with the 3.0-3.5 group. The level of play is quite high and many of the players in 3.0-3.5 group would actually qualify as 4.0 level players.

In San Diego, the style of play on the indoor courts involved a lot of hard hits and slamming the ball. Although lob shots were possible, you have to be aware of the ceiling as hitting the ceiling with the ball is deemed out of bounds. Many players there hit hard shots, low and fast from the baseline.

Here at Viewpoint, the game is played mostly with a more advanced style. In higher level pickleball, you’ll see the point set up with a deep serve. The ball must bounce on the court in the proper area before the serve can be returned. The return of serve must bounce anywhere on the court before it can be hit with the third shot. These rules apply both indoors and outdoors. Higher level players will hit a drop shot on the third shot. The idea is to drop the ball in the non-volley zone. This is an area covering the first seven feet beyond the net – players refer to it as the kitchen. If you enter this zone, you cannot hit a volley – that is, you must let the ball bounce before you can hit, no striking the ball in the air before it bounces.

This rule keeps players from standing at the net and swatting the ball. The way we play here, many times a successful third shop drop is followed with a dink. A dink is when you hit the ball softly – just enough to clear the 36-inch high net and drop it into your opponents’ kitchen. A series of dinks will follow as each player tries to hit a certain angle or spot that will create an opening or one of the players will hit the ball too high or beyond the kitchen and the opposing player will pounce with a hard winner.

This is a very satisfying way to play. It requires more control and skill than just trying to hit winners from the baseline or slamming the ball back and forth. If my explanation doesn’t make sense, check out championship pickleball on YouTube. You’ll see what I mean as this is how championship level pickleball is played.

Sunset reflecting off the Superstition Mountains east of Viewpoint

Last evening Donna and I went to Lucky Lou’s for a happy hour beer with the guys. When we came home I parked the Spyder in front of the trailer. This morning it was on the gravel next to the trailer! I pulled it back onto the concrete – I didn’t release the parking brake to move it. I was sure I had set the brake the night before. I checked it and the brake was set, it just wasn’t set hard enough! A neighbor came over and said the Spyder had rolled into the street so he pushed back into the site on the gravel next to the trailer. Mystery solved. I’ll have to double check the parking brake from now on.

True to the forecast, the weather warmed up as the week wore on. Yesterday we had a high of 79 degrees. The mornings are cool though with overnight lows in the 40s. Today we should see upper 70s with clear blue skies.

Winter Solstice

Our friend Sini left Mission Bay RV Resort on Monday and flew from San Diego to Seattle to spend Christmas with friends and family. She left the keys for her Saturn Vue with us so we could use her car – we had a plan for her to retrieve her keys when she returned. The car was a big help when I started packing our gear on Tuesday. I was able to load our chairs, ladder, Weber Q grill and a few odds and ends, then drive over to the lot where our cargo trailer was stored. Thanks, Sini!

On Tuesday evening, I rode the Spyder over to Offshore Tavern and Grill and Donna walked up to meet me for a final happy hour and taco Tuesday dinner. We said our farewells to the guys and to Leann, the bartender. We’ll be back in September – I’ve booked three months beginning September 25th.

I only had a few things left to pack on Wednesday morning. Donna went to her early morning boot camp for her final workout. Once again, our neighbor from Louisiana, Larry, loaded the Traeger smoker grill into his van and we drove it over to the trailer. Pulling the Traeger on its small plastic wheels is a chore, driving it over in the van was nice. Thanks, Larry! And thanks, Brenda (Larry’s wife) for the yummy homemade pralines!

I checked all of our tire pressures and added air all the way around. The trailer tires needed air as well. It’s common for tires to lose a pound or two of pressure per month and we’d been sitting for two months. Plus the ambient temperature was cooler which also affects the air pressure in the tires. I’m a real stickler on proper tire pressures. Underinflation is the number one cause of tire failure and a blowout is no joke.

Over the past eight months or so, when we’re packing up, Ozark the cat senses something is up. Before we know it she’ll hide behind the sofa and remain there until we reach our destination. I don’t know if being stationary for two months relieved her travel anxiety, but she didn’t hide. She ended up riding quietly in her crate.

We pulled out of our site at 11:30 am and hitched the trailer. Over by the boat dock at the overflow lot, an osprey perched on a lamp post watched us. Ospreys are sometimes called fish hawks as fish is their main source of food. They excel at plucking fish from a body of water and are often seen around Mission Bay.

Osprey on a lamp post

We were rolling down the road shortly before noon, making the familiar drive out I-8 east. We made the usual stop east of Laguna summit at the Buckman Springs rest area for lunch. Donna made ham sandwiches and we sat outdoors at a picnic table to enjoy a little sunshine with our lunch.

It was an uneventful drive to the Imperial Dunes where we exited I-8 at Ogilby Road. Road construction is ongoing on I-8 and the westbound ramps for Ogilby are closed, but the exit and entry ramps on the eastbound side are open.

We missed the turnoff for our usual spot in the desert, but it didn’t matter. We turned off on the east side of Ogilby at the next obvious trail into the desert – it’s BLM land and dispersed camping is allowed in this area for up to 14 days. I was ready for a break from driving and we were set up in no time – not much to it when we’re boondocking. We had a nice, level spot and I didn’t even put the jacks down. I just popped out the slides and got comfortable.

Quiet sunset in the desert

We remarked how quiet it was out in the desert. There were other RVs there, but no one was within a quarter mile of us. To the west, we saw only open desert out the windshield. I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep as I didn’t sleep well the night before.

It wasn’t to be though. Shortly after we retired for the night, the wind kicked up. We had howling gusts of wind that rocked the coach and had the slide toppers flapping. I slept fitfully. We wanted an early start Thursday morning, so I was a little short on sleep again.

We were only about 10 miles from the Arizona border. Once we crossed the border, we continued for another 12 miles to Fortuna Road. We stopped there so I could pick up water filter elements at Al’s RV Store. This shop is well-stocked and has just anything you might need for your RV. And the parking lot is big enough to park a big rig with easy entry and exit. From there, we crossed over I-8 to the Pilot-Flying J on the north side. I topped up the tank with 63 gallons of fuel at $2.70/gallon – about 75 cents less per gallon than diesel fuel costs in California!

We bypassed the usual shortcut through Maricopa and continued on I-8 until we hit I-10. I wanted to stop at the Blue Beacon truck wash in Eloy, near Casa Grande. The coach was badly in need of a wash, but it was too expensive to get a wash in San Diego. Mission Bay RV Resort doesn’t allow you to wash your coach. You need to hire a mobile detailer to get a wash job there and they charge exorbitant prices.

We pulled into Viewpoint RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona around 3:30 pm – we lost an hour when we crossed into Arizona. Arizona is on Mountain Standard Time year ’round. So at this time of year, it’s an hour later than Pacific Time. When everyone else changes to daylight time, Arizona is the same as Pacific Time.

Backing the trailer into our site took a few attempts. The narrow roads here make it tough, but we got it done without any problems. We’ll complete our set-up today. I need to wash the windshield cover before I put it on and then we can set up our mat, table and chairs. This will be home for the next three months.

The wind I mentioned in the desert was due to a cold front moving in from the north. It was chilly when we arrived – about 60 degrees. Overnight, the temperature dropped below freezing! Yesterday was the winter solstice – the shortest amount of daylight for the year. This morning it was only 49 degrees in the coach – we don’t run the heater at night. We have the heat pumps running now and our plans to play pickleball at 8 am were dashed – we play on outdoor courts here. Maybe we can play later or wait for warmer weather which should come over the weekend.

 

The Genuine Article

Donna and I usually don’t make a big deal about or keep secrets regarding Christmas presents. This year we both splurged a bit though – but it wasn’t secret. I had  pair of western equestrian style boots from Lucchese made to order for Donna. To do this, I had to trace her feet and take measurements – more about that later. Donna bought a new Euro-recliner chair and ottoman for me. Both of these items are leather, so I want to start this post with some information about leather.

I’m going to talk about cowhide or calfskin leather. The tanned hide of a cow is thick – in some areas it can be half an inch or more. The thick hide isn’t homogeneous – the properties vary. The area on the outside where the hair was removed is smooth and has the tightest grain structure and the greatest strength. The part that is closest to the muscle tissue is rough  and has a more horizontal grain structure that is the weaker. Tanneries split the thick hide – they run it through a machine that cuts the outer, stronger layer from the inner, weaker layer.

When asked what type of leather is most desirable – full grain, top grain or genuine leather – many people pick genuine leather. That’s a marketing ploy – genuine leather sounds like it’s the genuine article. But when we’re discussing the types of leather, full grain is the most desirable for most items like furniture, foot wear or upholstery. Full grain is the outermost layer of the hide and is the strongest, most durable and takes dye well. The downside for some people is the fact that cow hide comes from an animal that may have had scars from rubbing against various objects or branding and of course it’s costly.

Top grain is similar to full grain, except it has been sanded to remove any imperfections, removing a millimeter or two of the strongest surface. Usually a coating is applied to top grain leather. It’s commonly found in furniture and handbags and some lower quality footwear.

Genuine leather comes from the bottom half of the hide – the weakest part closest to the muscle tissue. This is also where suede comes from. It’s not a very desirable leather if durability is important. There’s another type called bonded leather – this is low grade leather mixed with a synthetic binder and leather scraps that have been ground. It’s the leather equivalent of particle board.

Okay, enough about leather. Wednesday a package arrived at Mission Bay RV Resort for us. It was the boots I had made for Donna. They were beautiful full grain calfskin. I had Donna try them on. Uh-oh. Either I messed up when I made the tracings of her foot or Lucchese made them too big. They didn’t fit her feet – they were too loose in the vamp and heel.

I repackaged them and sent them back after talking to Lucchese customer service. It was as hassle-free as something like this can be. I dropped them at the Fed Ex store in Pacific Beach. Meanwhile, Lucchese is making another pair for Donna, but it’ll be weeks before she can have them.

Another delivery was dropped off at our site. It was large box containing the Euro-recliner chair and ottoman she bought for me. Some assembly was required. The parts were well-packed and all of the hardware was present. I unpacked everything, then decided to get our old chair out of the coach and assemble the new one inside so I wouldn’t have to wrestle a fully assembled 70-pound chair through the door and up the steps.

Assembly wasn’t that difficult, but the instruction manual would have been useless without exploded drawings. The written instructions were nonsense. Here’s a quote from the instruction manual:

“Attach the back cushion to the left & right the aggregation of arm wood frame base with seat cushion...”

The chair is made of top grain cow hide on all of the contact surfaces – the seat cushion top surface, the backrest front surface and arm rests. The bottom of the seat cushion and rear portion of the backrest are bonded leather to keep costs down. I think this is a reasonable compromise to provide quality leather on the contact areas.

New Euro-recliner and ottoman – color isn’t true to life in the photo

I also received another pair of Tecovas boots. I ordered another pair of Cartwright calfskin boots in desert tan. I know, it’s getting a little out of control. I have six pair of boots now – three Lucchese and three Tecovas. Two of the Lucchese boots are ostrich and one is crocodile. Two of the Tecovas are calfskin and one is lizard.

Tecovas desert tan Cartwright boots

Tuesday night Donna made another new dish for me. She knows that I often cook Marie Callendar pot pies when she’s away. So, she made a chicken pot pie from scratch in a skillet. She said she’s sure it’s much more nutritious and healthy than a pre-made one. It was great – and it was large enough to have leftovers for lunch the next day.

Chicken pot pie baked in a skillet

We’re into our last week here in San Diego. Two months flew by, but I’m ready to roll. We’ll spend the remainder of the winter in Mesa, Arizona. It’s been fantastic as usual. We won’t be back in San Diego again until next September.

 

Party in the Park

The wind diminished over the weekend here at Mission Bay. The mountains east of San Diego and areas of the north county still had high winds though. The north county fire – called the Lilac fire –  near Bonsall destroyed homes and swept through the San Luis Downs horse-training facility killing at least 35 thoroughbred horses. The wind drove the fire westward causing more evacuations around Oceanside. The fire is 75% contained now and the evacuation order has been lifted.

Someone at the RV park stores their kayaks under a canopy on the beach at De Anza Cove. They have the kayaks locked with a cable to secure them. The canopy didn’t fare too well with the high winds though.

Canopies don’t hold up to Santa Ana winds

I was at a gas station on Morena Boulevard Friday when I heard the unmistakable sound of a radical V8 engine. An old school ’55 Chevy pulled up to the pumps. It was a bit ratty looking, but I knew it had a hot motor. It was old school down to the straight front axle, Halibrand magnesium wheels and cheater slicks. I shot a photo of it.

’55 Chevy Bel Air

The owner of the car saw me taking the picture and asked me if I wanted a look under the hood. Of course I did. It had a supercharged small block with dual Carter carburetors and fender well headers.

Small block Chevy

There wasn’t anything ratty about the engine. Then he opened the driver’s door so I could take a look inside. It was upholstered in diamond stitched naugahyde including the headliner and had a roll bar. You wouldn’t guess that by looking at the paint job!

Diamond stitched naugahyde

Headliner and roll bar

The guy told me he had owned the car for about 30 years. He said he also had a ’32 Ford Coupe and a ’39 Willys. He said they were set up similar to the ’55 Chevy – no fancy paint but killer drive trains and nice interiors.

On Friday night Sini joined Donna and I to listen to live music at Fast Times Bar and Grill up the hill on Clairemont Drive. John January is the brother of my friend, Joe. John is a very talented guitarist and was performing with his girlfriend, Linda Berry. John is an inductee of the San Diego Blues Hall of Fame. They were performing as a duet – they also front a complete band sometimes. John has the skills to fill out the sound with his sense of timing, bass lines, chord inversions and riffs. It was almost hard to believe that just two people and one guitar could sound that good.

John January and Linda Berry

By the way – the name of the bar was taken from the title of the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Sean Penn. The screenplay was written by Cameron Crowe after he supposedly spent a semester posing as a student at Clairemont High School – my alma mater – to develop the characters.

On Saturday, I took the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker grill out of the trailer. I was about to drag it through the lot to our site when our neighbor called out to me. Larry is from Louisiana and his rig is in the site behind us. He was at the overflow lot retrieving something from his van. He said, “How about we put that grill in the van and drive to your site?” Good idea! Thanks, Larry!

I needed the Traeger to smoke a couple of racks of baby back ribs I bought at Costco on Friday. The ribs weren’t the pre-packaged Swift Premium they sell – they were cut right there at the Morena store. The butchers there did a really nice job trimming the ribs. I prepped the ribs with dry rub and cooked them Memphis-style.

We had a potluck dinner planned for Saturday night at Sini’s site. Donna planned to grill chicken drumsticks and make a beer and bourbon cheese fondue. To marinate the chicken drumsticks she needed liquid smoke. I told her I saw liquid smoke at Siesel’s meat market. I rode the Spyder over to Siesel’s to get it. I looked through the aisle where I thought I saw it before, but couldn’t find it. A woman asked me if I needed help. I told her what I was looking for and she said, “It’s right here…oh, I guess we’re out of it.” Then she called out to one of the butchers behind the meat counter and asked if they had any liquid smoke. He said he had a gallon of hickory liquid smoke. I said I only needed a couple of ounces. He disappeared for a couple of minutes, then returned and gave me a small plastic container with about half a cup of liquid smoke and said “You’re all set.” Nice!

Everyone gathered at Sini’s place around 5pm. We had an extra picnic table the park provided plus a couple of folding tables for the food buffet. Five couples from inside the RV park were there plus a few of our friends that live in the area. Gary Stemple and Mona Sojot came along with Mona’s friend, Berdine.

Potluck food and drink time

Everyone enjoyed the food and drink and we talked the night away. Before I knew it, it was 10pm.

We only have 10 more days here at Mission Bay RV Resort before we leave San Diego. The time has flown by. The weather forecast for the next 10 days looks good – daily highs in the 70s with no rain. We’ll be heading east to Arizona to spend the rest of winter in a warm climate.