Category Archives: Western RV/Alpine Coach

Nuts and Bolts

Today’s post will be in two parts. First, I’ll catch up on social activities and then share my technical woes. On Friday afternoon, Donna marinated boneless chicken thighs with olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs. I grilled them on the Weber Q for dinner. My daughter Alana eats a modified vegan diet to control lupus and our granddaughter Gabi is vegan. Donna made teriyaki tofu bites for Alana and I grilled a hot vog (vegan hot dog) for Gabi.

We sat outside at our table and enjoyed the sunshine while we had a chance. Other than Wednesday, we’ve had periods of rain showers every day since we came to Arlington.

Dinner in the open air and sunshine – clockwise from left – Donna, Alana, Lainey and Gabi

Saturday evening we were all invited to go to Alana’s mother’s house and have dinner with LuAnn and her husband Jerry. We had a break in the weather and enjoyed hors d’oeuvres outside in the backyard. LuAnn set a table of appetizers including spicy shrimp on marinated cucumber slices.

Appetizers

We moved indoors for dinner which featured grilled salmon, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob and asparagus.

Dinner table – clockwise from left – Donna, LuAnn, Lainey, Alana, Gabi and Jerry

We all had a good time. After dinner, Jerry and I sampled a couple of fine Scotch whiskys. First up was a glass of Ardbeg Islay scotch – very smokey and complex. Then an 18-year-old Glenmorangie Highland scotch. Good stuff indeed!

The rest of my weekend was spent trying to complete my shock absorber installation. Before I get into that, I want to talk about properties of materials – specifically, rigidity and deformation. Any mechanical engineer will tell you that there’s no such thing as a totally rigid material. Everything flexes or deforms to one degree or another.

An extreme example happens everyday. Have you ever been stopped in traffic on an overpass? Did you notice how you could feel vibrations and even sense movement when a large truck passed by on the opposing lane as you sat stopped in your car? That’s the concrete and steel structure of the overpass slightly deforming and flexing temporarily from the moving weight of the truck.

Materials have limits of flexibility and deformation. Elastic deformation occurs when the force is large enough to deform the material (yield), but it allows the material to return to its original dimensions. Plastic deformation occurs when the force applied is large enough to exceed the elastic limit and the material is permanently deformed – it doesn’t spring back to its original shape.

When we apply these concepts to fasteners – such as nuts and bolts – we want to tighten the fastener enough for it to yield within the elastic deformation range. This causes the threads of the bolt and nut to fully engage and maintain their tightness. When we remove the nut from the bolt, the threads spring back to their original shape and can be reused.

I’m telling you this to explain why I spent the rest of my weekend struggling with a nut and bolt. The lower bolt on the driver’s side shock is locked solid. I worked all day Saturday and again on Sunday with the cordless electric impact wrench and haven’t been able to budge the nut. I also used a 24-inch breaker bar and pulled myself up on it from underneath and bounced my body weight until my arms gave out. I believe the mechanic that installed the shocks over-torqued this nut and deformed the threads permanently – plastic deformation – and they refuse to unlock. I finally threw in the towel last night and gave up.

Today I’m looking for a mobile mechanic that can come over with a 1-inch impact driver and pound the nut off. Once off, I’ll inspect the fastener carefully for permanent distortion or cracks before I install the new shock. If I find any damage, I’ll have to replace the fastener.

Just Four Bolts

I mentioned taking delivery of a pair of new front shock absorbers for our coach. The current set of shocks was installed just two years ago, but the trip up I-5 made it obvious that the front shocks weren’t holding up. A vehicle weighing more than 30,000 pounds has to have high spring rates and serious dampers to control the suspension.

Shock absorbers exist to damp the action of the springs. Undamped, the springs would compress over a bump, storing energy in the spring. The spring would then extend, releasing this energy as it elongates past its resting length, only to return to a compressed state. This cycle would repeat until the energy is dissipated through friction and heat. The vehicle would bob up and down like a boat going over swells in the ocean.

Getting the damping rate right isn’t a simple matter. Hydraulic shock absorbers have a piston inside a cylinder filled with fluid. The piston is connected to a shaft that extends from the cylinder. Typical installation has a fastener at the closed end of the cylinder opposite where the shaft exits and another fastener on the end of the shaft. Suspension movement strokes the piston in the cylinder, moving it through the fluid.

Slow movement of the shaft, such as compression of the front suspension when braking, or cornering, requires a high damping rate to limit the movement of the suspension. You don’t want the front suspension to compress or dive excessively while braking or roll from side to side when cornering. This is accomplished by forcing the fluid through a small port in the piston. The size of this orifice sets the low piston speed resistance – the damping rate.

Conversely, when the piston moves at high velocity – such as when hitting a square edge bump like an expansion joint where the road meets a bridge or a pot hole – we want the spring to compress and take the hit without transmitting it to the chassis. The orifice used for low-speed damping is insufficient to move the fluid quickly enough through the piston and the shock would hydraulically lock. What the shock designers typically do is add a number of high-speed ports – a ring of orifices through the piston.

This ring of orifices allows much more fluid movement – but how to keep fluid from moving through these holes when we want stiff low-speed damping? The most common way is to cover these high-speed ports with a thin metal shim. A stack of shims can be made to gain the proper stiffness of the cover over the hole. When the piston moves through the fluid at a high enough speed, the shim flexes as the fluid is forced against it – as it flexes away from the holes, it uncovers them and the fluid can pass.

Our current front shocks are Koni FSD series 8805. These shocks are designed pretty much as I described above. The piston in these shocks have a 36mm diameter. Hitting sharp irregularities in the road wasn’t an issue when these shocks were new. Over time, they gradually lost the ability to transition from high-speed damping to low-speed damping after hitting a sharp bump. It’s like the high-speed ports stay open too long, allowing the coach to bounce on the springs three or four times after hitting the bump.

About five months after I bought these shocks, Koni came out with a new replacement for use on the Alpine Coach Peak Chassis and Monaco Roadmaster RR4 chassis. This new shock, designated the Evo 99 series, has a 50mm piston and revised valving. The 40% larger piston allows the shock to operate at much lower fluid pressures and should enhance durability.

My task on Thursday was to remove the old front shocks and install the new series 99 shocks. It’s only four bolts – one on each end of the two shocks. How hard could that be, right? Well, I remembered when I had the shocks installed, the guys used cordless electric impact wrenches to remove and install the shock bolts. The mounting bolts were stubborn and it took two mechanics about an hour to replace four shocks.

The first thing I had to do was buy a 28mm socket and a large breaker bar to break the bolts loose. I bought a 24″ breaker bar and I couldn’t get the bolt to budge. I needed an impact driver. I borrowed my daughter Alana’s car and drove to Harbor Freight in Everett. I used to have a few impact wrenches in different power levels, but they’re long gone thanks to those Dirty, Rotten Thieves. I figured I could buy an air operated impact driver at Harbor Freight for about $40.

When I got there, it occurred to me that I only have a small, portable air compressor with only a few gallons capacity. In my sticks-and-bricks garage, I had a 60-gallon compressor that powered air tools easily. Although my little compressor can reach 150 psi, it doesn’t have a fast enough flow rate to power a big impact driver. I needed an electrically operated impact driver. I found a cordless impact driver with a 330 ft-lbs torque rating. It was branded Chicago Electric – Harbor Freight’s Chinese sourced house brand. I paid over $100 for it.

By the time I got home with it, it was after 1pm. I needed to charge the 18-volt battery before I could use it. It has an 18-volt nickel-cadmium (NiCad) battery. NiCad is old technology, but it works. The first charge on a NiCad is important as it forms the cell. I charged it for 90 minutes – the day was getting away from me. It takes three or four full charges before a NiCad reaches it its full capacity. After charging the battery, I had to allow another 15 minutes for it to cool before using it.

I started banging away on the first bolt with the cordless impact driver. I would hit it for several seconds, then stop to keep from overheating the motor and battery pack. After about 10 minutes of this, I needed to charge the battery pack again. Arrgh! This entails a cooling period for the battery before charging, about an hour or so of charge time, then another cooling period before attacking the bolt again. I had the first bolt off by 5pm and called it a day!

Friday morning I was back at it with a fully charged battery and started on the second bolt. After two charge cycles, I had it off. Removing the shock and installing the new one was fairly easy – it only took about 10 minutes. Getting the new shock in place entailed holding it at arm’s length with one hand while I was bent over the front tire with my head in the wheel well, then inserting the mounting bolt with my other hand. It was a workout!

Old 8805 FSD shock with top bolt removed

Comparison of 8805 and 99 series. Note – no dust cover on the 99 series

New shock installed

Now I had to start the charging – working – charging – working cycle on the other side. By the end of the day, I had one bolt removed from the other shock before I gave up. It was beer-thirty and I was ready for a cold one.

IPA from Seattle’s Fremont Brewing

Today I’ll start over and remove the last bolt. A lot of work for four bolts!

On Thursday evening, we received tragic news. Our friend Sini Schmitt texted Donna to inform her of the passing of her husband, Bob. Bob died unexpectedly while they were vacationing in the British Virgin Islands. We met Bob and Sini in San Diego a few months after we first hit the road. Since then, we’ve met up with them in Arizona and again in California and always had fun times together. I’m deeply saddened by Bob’s untimely passing. He was a great guy and will be missed by many.

Alki Beach Day

The good folks at Samsung updated my smartphone software on Tuesday. The improved software version they pushed onto my phone can’t be accessed with my PC. When I connect my phone to my PC via a USB cable, the phone is recognized but no folders are available. So, I can’t access my picture files until I figure out what happened.

Tuesday was another wet day with periods of drizzle broken up with dry spells throughout the day. I got busy checking out the 50 amp line from the garage. There is a NEMA 10-30 outlet on the wall in the garage. The landlord said he used this connection to power a welder. An RV needs a TT-30 connection and isn’t compatible with the 10-30 outlet. A cable comes out of the box behind this outlet with a NEMA 14-50 outlet on the end. This matches the 50 amp cable found on most motorhomes. However, it didn’t work.

When I checked the 50 amp outlet with my Progressive Industries Electrical Management System (EMS) box, it wouldn’t power up. When I checked the individual blades in the connector, I found 120 volts on one leg only between the blade and ground lug. The other hot blade wasn’t hot and the neutral blade was an open circuit.

The 30 amp outlet was connected to a double pole 20 amp circuit breaker in the service box. I opened the breaker and then took the cover off the 30 amp outlet. I saw it was wired normally, but the 50 amp extension coming out of the back of the 30 amp box was incorrectly wired. After thinking about it for a few minutes and talking to my daughter Alana about the situation, I decided to eliminate the 30 amp outlet and rewire the 50 amp extension.

I went to the hardware store and bought a 50 amp double pole circuit breaker. I disconnected the wiring to the 30 amp outlet and replaced the double pole 20 amp breaker in the box with the 50 amp breaker. Then I fed the end of the romex cable with the 50 amp outlet on the end into the service box and wired it to the breaker and connected the neutral and ground wire to the bus bar.

I tested the outlet and it worked. Everything checked out and it powered up my EMS without any errors showing. Voila! We have power for the coach! I ran the extension out of the garage and connected our 50 amp cable to it. I wrapped the connector plug with Press ‘n’ Seal plastic wrap to keep the rain out and we’re in business.

Wednesday was a fine weather day. We had a few clouds, but it was mostly sunny with a high in the low 70s in the afternoon. Alana and Lainey had the day off from work so we headed out. We all piled into Alana’s car – Alana, Lainey, Gabi, Donna and I and drove down to Alki Beach in west Seattle. Alki Beach is a sandy beach on Puget Sound across from downtown Seattle (map).

Donna, Lainey, Alana and Gabi

There’s about a mile of public beach with a paved walk and bike path. Across the street from the beach area there are a number of restaurants. It was the middle of the week, but the beach was bustling with people sun bathing, playing in the sand and entering the water. There was a beach volleyball clinic in one area with coaches taking girls through volleyball drills. We walked for a while then went to a Mexican restaurant for a late lunch. The food at El Chupacabra was very good – I don’t remember finding much in the way of good Mexican cuisine when I lived here.

Donna and I at the point at Alki

View of the waterfront and downtown Seattle from Alki

We had a good time exploring and watching the ferries and freighters on the sound. After we came home, I set up a table and chairs on the lawn and we had happy hour. Alana’s mother, LuAnn and her husband Jerry stopped by on their bicycles and joined us for a short while.

Donna and Alana shared a special brew from Deschutes – only available at the brewery

Around 6pm, I had a delivery from UPS. I ordered new front shocks for our coach and they arrived. When we were driving up here, the section of I-5 from Tacoma to Seattle rivals some of the worst road surfaces we’ve been on. It was just as bad as I-75 from Detroit to Toledo. Driving through this section of road, I realized our front shocks were worse for wear from all of the pounding they’ve taken.

When I bought our Koni shocks about two years ago, they were a huge improvement over the existing suspension. About five months after I bought them, Koni came out with a new shock made for the Alpine Coach Peak chassis and the Monaco Roadmaster RR4 chassis. The new design has a much larger bore and piston and works at a lower operating pressure. These new shocks should be more durable than the older design. I hope so. My front shocks only have about 15,000 miles on them and they are tired! That will be my project for today.

The high temperature for the day is supposed to be in the upper 60s with a chance of rain this afternoon. Hopefully I can complete my shock installation before it rains.

Update – I figured out the change Samsung made with the OS update and added photos.

Traffic and Taxes

We pulled out of the Cabela’s lot in Lacey, Washington before noon Sunday morning. Our destination was my daughter Alana’s driveway 100 miles away in Arlington, Washington. Donna thought we should be there around 1:30pm, I wasn’t so sure about that. Since it was Sunday and the middle of the Fourth of July weekend, I didn’t know what traffic through Seattle would be like. Most of the time you can count on delays getting through the city.

We hit traffic and it was stop and go all the way through Seattle. Part of the issue is the road plan – much like Portland, the roads funnel traffic through choke points. Coming into the city, four lanes of traffic drop to two lanes as the far left lane ends. Traffic merges and the new left lane immediately is an exit-only lane – so you have two lanes of traffic trying to merge right all at once. Guaranteed traffic jam.

Four lanes of Interstate travel suddenly become two

We began to move faster on the north side of town, then hit another tie-up through Everett and Marysville. We pulled into Alana’s place at 2pm. Her driveway is long enough that I was able to back in without dropping the trailer. Before I did that, I unloaded the Spyder. Alana was working as was her oldest daughter Lainey. Our youngest granddaughter Gabi was home waiting for us.

I have another rant about Washington. Once we were set up, Donna went for walk with Gabi and their two chihuahuas. While they were out, I rode the Spyder to the store to replenish the vodka supply. I should have done some research first. I know California has the best liquor prices. Oregon has inexpensive beer, but expensive liquor. The prices in Washington for liquor looked better – but I had a surprise at the cash register. A bottle of vodka priced at $28.69 and a bottle of beer at $3.99 comes to $32.68. After taxes I paid $45.52 – nearly 40% in taxes! Never again.

Look at those taxes!

Alana got home around 5:30pm. I grilled salmon burgers for dinner and we sat together in the house. Alana has a 30 amp outlet in her garage, but it didn’t work. I need to take it apart and see what the problem is.

I told Donna that when I lived here in western Washington, it always rained on the Fourth of July. Monday we woke up to rain. It rained on and off all day. Alana and Lainey had to work again so Gabi visited with us in the coach and we watched a movie – The Princess Bride. I must have watched this movie five or six times, but I still enjoy it with the kids.

I didn’t get to the 30 amp outlet – after watching the movie I spent most of the day reading while rain drops fell. I’ll have to take a look at it today, otherwise we’ll be running the generator daily to keep the battery banks charged.

Breaking the Law

Friday morning started much like Thursday – we were up early and I took Donna to her class on the Spyder. When I dropped her off, she put her jacket and helmet in the front trunk (frunk) of the Spyder.

Back at home, I got to work organizing the trailer – I packed the bikes and the grills and straightened things out. Then I took Donna’s jacket and helmet out of the frunk and rode the Spyder to Costco. When I was there earlier in the week, I saw 33-pound bags of Traeger gourmet wood pellets. I wanted to buy a bag, but didn’t have enough room on the Spyder at the time. With the frunk empty, I had room for the bag.

I made a stop at a Japanese restaurant called Yuki & Song at 122nd and Sandy Boulevard. They had lunch specials – I ordered their teriyaki beef plate. I was surprised to find it came with a bowl of miso soup, salad, tempura veggies, rice and of course teriyaki beef for $8.95! Nice lunch find.

Donna sent me a text and said she would be finished with her class no later than 4pm. I hit the road on the Spyder to pick her up around 3:15pm – I wanted to be there before 4pm and I wasn’t sure how heavy the traffic would be on Friday afternoon on the Fourth of July weekend.

I made good time and got there at 3:45pm. I could see the traffic heading north was heavier – our trip home would take longer as volumes were building. Just before I pulled into the lot, I realized that I didn’t put Donna’s jacket and helmet back into the frunk. Oh no! We generally don’t ride without helmets and Oregon has a law requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets. The Spyder is legally considered a motorcycle.

If I went back for her helmet, it would take over an hour. When Donna came out from her class, I told her about the problem. We decided to take our chances and avoid any freeways on the way home. As we were riding in traffic on MLK Boulevard, I saw a police car on a side street ahead. The traffic was stopped and backed up for an entire block at a stop light. The car ahead of us stopped short to let the police car in. As the traffic began to move, another police car appeared. The driver ahead held up and let him in. Two more police cars merged ahead of us.

I changed lanes and put a large box truck between us and the police cruisers. Instead of changing lanes to move ahead in the traffic, I changed lanes when possible to put more vehicles between us and the police. Being a scofflaw isn’t much fun. We made it home without incident or ticket.

The day before, new neighbors moved into the site next to us. It was Jim and Gayle (Life’s Little Adventures). We met them before at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego. We had plans to get together for happy hour snacks and drinks. Gayle brought tortilla chips, guacamole and salsa and Donna fixed a couple of plates – there was a good spread on our new folding table. We sat and talked for a few hours – it wasn’t dark yet at 9pm. I neglected to take any photos as I was caught up in conversation.

The only photo I have is a bottle of limited release “Summer Style IPA” from Ninkasi Brewing. I don’t know what makes it a summer IPA – it was tasty but typical west coast IPA.

Maiden the Shade summer IPA

Saturday morning we prepared to hit the road. I dumped and flushed the tanks, filled the fresh water, put away the window shades and finished loading the trailer. We hitched the trailer and pulled out of the park around 11:30am. I wondered what the traffic would be like on the I-5 bridge to Vancouver, Washington. The traffic is usually crawling across it. I was surprised to find the traffic light and moving right along on I-5.

We stopped around 1pm in Chehalis to top off the fuel tank at a CFN truck stop and had lunch at Subway. Our destination for the day was the Cabela’s store in Lacey, Washington. We stayed there overnight two years ago and found it to be a good overnight dry-camping spot.

We claimed a spot in the large west lot which was nearly empty. They have signs advising “No Overnight Parking” however, these signs were here before and they allowed us to stay. To be sure I went to the customer service desk and asked. I was told it’s no problem – they have the signs so they can keep people from setting up for more than one night.

Dry camp at Cabela’s

Donna shopped for hours in Cabela’s and found shorts, tops and sandals she couldn’t do without. Since losing weight this past year, she’s had to buy new clothes. But I haven’t heard her complaining.

This morning, Donna went out for a run. I’m watching the Formula One Grand Prix of Austria, then we’ll head up to Arlington, Washington. Our destination is my oldest daughter Alana’s driveway in Arlington. We’ll moochdock in her driveway for the next week or two and spend time with her and our granddaughters.

A Visit to Camas

Our time here in Portland, Oregon is quickly coming to a close. We’ve stayed busy – well Donna’s mostly busy, me not so much. We didn’t get to spend time with everyone we would have liked to visit in the area, but we had a good time with those we were able to meet up with.

On Wednesday afternoon, we rode the Spyder over the I-205 bridge to Washington. We took WA14 east to a small town called Camas. I’ve driven past Camas many times. I used to take WA14 to Washougal to fly radio-controlled airplane tournaments at the Fern Prairie Modelers field there. Camas wasn’t a place we were likely to stop at. Back in the ’90s, the paper mill in Camas made the area smell bad. It was a mill town and I always figured it to be a rough place.

Today Camas has a new identity. Modern filtration has removed the stench from the paper milling process. The town has grown in a well-planned manner. The old downtown, which comprises about five or six blocks is well-kept and lively with shops, restaurants and brew pubs. On Wednesday afternoon, they have a farmers’ market there. We parked the Spyder on 4th Avenue across from the Liberty Theater and walked two blocks to the market.

Camas farmers’ market

We wandered around in our usual fashion then revisited the vendors with items we wanted to buy. Donna bought some produce including Japanese hakurei turnips. We tried a sample and found them to be delicious. Donna intends to cut them up to dip in hummus and also chop them to add to salads.

Our real reason for going to Camas was to meet up with Donna’s friend Krista and her husband Mike for dinner. The traffic getting across the river from Portland to Vancouver is terrible in the afternoons and evenings, so we decided to come over early and hit the farmers’ market first. We had time to try a couple of local brews before dinner at a pub called A Brew at a Time. They had a large selection of beer on tap.

We met up with Mike and Krista at a Mexican restaurant called Nuestra Mesa. This isn’t your run-of-mill Mexican place – they serve refined Mexico City type dishes. Mike and Krista know the owners and told us the place had recently expanded. It’s nice to see a family-run operation doing well. It seems like Krista knows just about everybody in town.

After an enjoyable meal and conversation, we followed Mike and Krista’s car up the hill north of town to their place. They bought a lot and recently had a house built on it. It’s quite the place – about 6,000 square feet or so. Mike is obviously an optimist as he had a large pool built in the backyard – you don’t see a lot of built-in pools in the Pacific Northwest. We had a tour of their beautiful house.

Pool and house to large to fit the frame with my camera-phone

Pool and house too large to fit the frame with my camera-phone

Mike is a sports fan and has memorabilia displayed in the finished basement bar area and his office space. He also had an old soda vending machine – I think it was originally a 7-up machine – restored with a Seattle Seahawks 12th-man theme.

Seahawks vending machine

He had selections of beer in the top section and soft drinks below.

They have stunning views from their upper deck. Unfortunately, using a smart phone as a camera means I don’t have a UV haze filter and it was a bit hazy out.

Columbia River from the deck

Another view from the large deck

I couldn’t get a shot of the view of Mount St. Helens due to the angle of the sun and the haze. We had a good time visiting with them

Donna and Krista

They talked me into joining in the photo

Thursday morning we had the rare event of waking to an alarm clock. Donna had a class – a continuing education course to maintain her certified house cleaning technician status. The class was a certified carpet cleaning technician course held in Portland on Market Street on the east side of the Willamette River.

The class started at 8am. I rode Donna down on the Spyder so I wouldn’t be without wheels all day. We left at 7:30am, which I figured was ample time to allow for traffic. I took us down MLK Blvd. and traffic wasn’t too bad – a few slow downs and stop lights. We were fine I thought until I realized we were too far south as the traffic thinned out and speeds increased while cross streets diminished.

I got us turned around and we came back north and found the place. We were 10 minutes late. I like to be punctual. While Donna was in class all day, I washed the Spyder and set up the Traeger wood pellet fired grill/smoker. I also finished another novel I was reading and made a run to the store.

Donna’s class ended at 5pm, so around 4:25 I headed out. I made it to the class location in 30 minutes and waited a while. The trip back home was awful. The traffic in Portland is terrible. The roads are laid out in such a way that you often have multiple lanes merging down into fewer lanes, causing huge tie-ups. It took us nearly an hour to get home.

Donna in her Great Cycling Challenge jersey

Donna heading out for her last ride in her Great Cycle Challenge

I put a whole chicken on the Traeger while Donna went out on her bike to ride the remaining 12 miles to meet her Great Cycle Challenge goal. I’m writing this Thursday evening, which is a little unusual, but I’m trying to get it done while I have the time. Tomorrow I’ll drop Donna at her class and start preparing for our Saturday departure while Donna’s back in class.

Oregon IPA Quest

Monday was a fairly quiet day for me. Donna wrote the blog post, so I had the day off from that. When I say quiet, I mean as far as activity goes. We seem to find places that are on flight paths wherever we go. Here at Columbia River RV Park we’re on the west side of the Portland International Airport (PDA).

PDA is a joint military-civilian airport and it’s the largest in Oregon. It seems like activity ramps up around 6am. Take-offs from runway 28L pass just to the north of the RV park over the Columbia River. Flights from the busier runway 28R pass well north of here. The commercial flights are reasonably quiet – we sleep through most of the early morning traffic. Some days, military aircraft fly by – F-15 Eagles of the Oregon Air Guard. These are supersonic tactical fighters capable of reaching speeds of mach 2.8 (2.8 times the speed of sound). As such, they have very powerful engines – two Pratt and Whitney F100 axial compressor turbofans with afterburners.

Of course they aren’t exceeding the speed of sound when they fly by here, but the engines roar and you can hear the air parting and rushing back into the void as they speed by. Last week they passed overhead in pairs. This week they’re going by four at a time. It only happens a couple of times per day so I’m not complaining. Ozark the cat stops whatever she’s doing and looks up at the ceiling in the coach whenever they fly by.

On Monday evening, I continued my quest for the great Oregon IPA. This time I sampled a beer from Old Town Brewing called Shanghai’D. It’s a medium bodied IPA and not overly hoppy – more in the English style and very drinkable at 6.5% ABV. Old Town Brewing is a brewery and pizza joint with two locations in Portland. One of their claims to fame is the fact they deliver beer! That’s right, you can call in a beer order within a certain range of their location and they deliver by bicycle.

Old Town Shanghai’D IPA

I picked up this bottle at Walmart. In Portland, Walmart has a sizable selection of craft beers. When I rode the Spyder over to Walmart on Monday afternoon, the traffic on eastbound Marine Drive was backed up in front of the park. I had to wait for a car to clear the intersection as the traffic crept along before I could hit the westbound lane.

I came home through residential back streets as I could see the traffic jam hadn’t unsnarled yet. Later I found out the cause of the traffic. Monday was the start of the Cambia Portland Classic – A Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tournament that runs all week through July 3rd. The classic is held at the Columbia Edgewater Golf Club – just east of the RV park on Marine Drive.

On Sunday’s bicycle ride, Donna had trouble with the left pedal on her bike. She uses SPD type pedals that she clicks into with cleats on her cycling shoes. She likes the SPD type because they allow her to use shoes that are comfortable to walk in. I took a look at her pedal Tuesday morning and saw the problem. A part on the pedal that applies spring pressure to the mechanism had broken off. I took the pedal to a bike shop nearby to see if I could get the part for it. The guy there told me he didn’t have the part, but he thought I may be able to find it at another shop a few blocks away where they hang on to old stuff to take parts from. Then he added that in his experience, the cleat is usually wallowed out when this happens and won’t hold up. I bought a new set of pedals.

After I installed the pedals, Donna and I went for a ride. We followed the trail east on Marine Drive to the I-205 crossing, then turned back. We had a tailwind getting there, which meant a headwind on the way back. For some reason, I developed soreness in my right knee on the ride. I was riding my mountain bike and the upright position makes riding into the wind a real chore. I didn’t ride my road bike because my shoulders and neck got stiff on my last road bike ride.

When we reached the M James Gleason Memorial Boat Ramp and Park, I peeled off the bike path as Donna wanted to ride up 33rd Avenue to get in some more miles and then do some grocery shopping at New Season’s market. I took a look at the beach area on the Columbia River before heading home. For a Tuesday afternoon, it was busy.

Columbia River beach.

The temperature was in the 80s – nice beach weather.

Later, we decided to grill the lamb chops Donna bought from the rancher down the street from the RV park. Donna marinated the chops with olive oil, fresh rosemary and oregano, lots of garlic and lemon zest. I grilled them on the Weber Q. They were great!

Grilled lamb chops straight from the farm

Donna served them with steamed green beans and Moroccan quinoa. Delicious!

Grilled lamp chops with green beans and Moroccan quinoa

I paired it with another IPA I found at Walmart. This one was from Laurelwood Brewing in Portland called Workhorse India Pale Ale. This is a big beer at 7.5% ABV, double dry-hopped and full of citrusy hoppiness.

Workhorse – a big beer

This morning we have overcast skies – I couldn’t see the F-15 Eagles fly by but I sure heard them. The cloud cover should burn off by noon and the forecast calls for a sunny 83 degrees this afternoon.

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Tour de Hives

Donna had an interesting day yesterday. This is her story – and she’s sticking to it.

I pledged to ride 250 miles on my bike this month in the Great Cycle Challenge to raise money for children’s cancer research. So I was excited to learn that Pedalpalooza was in full swing here in Portland. This is an annual event with three weeks of bike fun and nearly 300 rides on the calendar. Portland is a very bikeable city with well-marked bike lanes, routes and trails, making bicycles a popular mode of personal transport.

On Friday, I checked the Pedalpalooza calendar and lo and behold discovered that there were five Naked Rides on the schedule for Saturday. These rides were all part of The World Naked Bike Ride, a worldwide event that highlights the vulnerability of cyclists on our streets and highways and dependence on pollution-based transport. Dress code is “bare as you dare.”

Anyway, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I opted instead for the Tour de Hives ride on Sunday, a guided tour of area backyard apiaries and fundraiser for Portland Urban Beekeepers. (Bee suits not required, but nakedness not encouraged.) The ride started about 8-9 miles south of our temporary home at the Columbia River RV Park. It turned out to be an excellent ride with a wide bike lane all the way down Vancouver Avenue through shady residential neighborhoods to the Eastside Esplanade.

Eastbank Esplanade bridge

I was one of many runners, walkers and cyclists enjoying a beautiful, sunny day on the Willamette River. I was surprised to see a houseboat on the river. I think I’d like to live on a houseboat someday – just not this one.

River life

Had I wished, I could have crossed over the Hawthorne Bridge to downtown Portland. Instead I headed east to Bee Thinking for the start of the Tour de Hives ride. Bee Thinking sells bee hives, beekeeping gear and “all things bees.” You may have seen their line of products featured on Shark Tank last year.

About 10 riders showed up for the tour and we got started about 1:30. Our first stop was a tree just around the corner in the beautiful Ladd Circle neighborhood. There are a number of old maple and elm trees here, many with cavities large enough to accommodate a colony of feral honey bees. One of the property owners came out to see what we were looking at – he had no idea that the tree just 50 yards from his front door was the home of neighbors he’d never met!

We rode a short distance to the first of several homes with backyard bee hives. It was interesting to discover that urban beekeepers tend to keep hens and roosters as well.

Urban farmyard

All of the lovely backyards we visited were planted with flowers that attract honey bees including California poppies, borage and milkweed.

One beekeeper’s garden

Beekeepers encourage planting bee flowers

The bees were busy doing their thing.

Top bar hive

One beekeeper explained how worker bees, which make up 98% of the colony, take on various roles over the course of their lifetimes. These roles include cleaning house, feeding the brood, caring for the queen, comb building, ventilation (they use their wings to circulate air), honey conversion and packing, guarding the colony and collecting nectar.

Apartments available

Though bees were flying around the hives, we were able to walk freely through the backyards without getting stung. Honey bees don’t sting unless they have to because once they do, they die. That said, bees defending their hives might sting. In the presence of bees, you should not wave your hands or attempt to brush them off – this is a sure way to trigger a stinging reflex. Instead, you should step calmly away from the hive or the swarm. Most of the time, the bees will fly away without incident. Oh, and I learned that you should never blow on a honey bee as CO2 can trigger aggressive behavior. Good to know.

Almost forgot to mention: one beekeeper we met is also an author. She wrote a novel with beekeeping references called Juliet’s Nurse.

Written by a beekeeper

Our final stop was Zenger Farm, an urban farm practicing organic and sustainable agriculture. Zenger is the home of the bee hives for Portland Urban Beekeepers.

Some interesting facts that impact us all:

Honey bees and other pollinating insects provide humankind with more than just honey; 35% of all the foods we eat rely on pollination, which is how plants reproduce and survive. In the past few years, there has been a worldwide increase in the deaths of entire colonies of bees, which is reason for concern. Pesticide use, mites, and disease are all contributing factors.

After three and a half hours of the bee tour, I was done in. It was hot and I still had a 14-mile ride home. I texted Mike to give him my ETA. I had to fight a strong headwind on the way back. Mike had pizza waiting for me. I needed that. Total distance: 31.3 miles. I’m not sure if I’ll hit my goal of 250 miles for the month, but I’m giving it my best shot!

Lavender and Cartlandia

Saturday morning Donna and I rode to Spyder to the Hollywood District of Portland and found the farmers’ market there. We parked on Hancock Street right by the entrance to the market. The first thing we saw was a young girl on the street corner playing a violin on the lawn in front of a dental office. She must have been about five or six years old. We listened for a minute and Donna put a tip in her violin case.

Young violinist

The farmers’ market was relatively small. I think the number one offering was berries – there were several stands with an assortment of fresh picked berries. Donna found a few things she needed and we left after an hour or so.

Hancock Street farmers’ market

Back at the RV park we saw a new neighbor with an unusual RV. It was a tiny house on wheels – obviously home-made.

Tiny house trailer

We saw something similar to this in San Diego last year.

Donna wanted to go out for a bike ride. On my last ride, the shifter cable for my front derailleur on my road bike broke. I bought a new cable but I haven’t gotten around to replacing it yet, so my road bike is out of commission. Donna rode hard on Friday and said she just wanted to cruise west along the Columbia River to Smith Lake at the Smith and Bybee Wetlands Area. So, I went along on my mountain bike.

We cruised along hitting 15 mph at times – for me this is fast on my mountain bike. On my road bike I have no problem cruising at 18-20 mph. Smith Lake turned out to be a marshy wetland, not a pristine lake. There were a lot of herons and egrets there, but otherwise it’s not much to see.

Donna wanted to log a few more miles toward her Great Cycle Challenge, so she continued on past the RV park to look for a nearby lavender farm where you can pick bunches of lavender. She chatted for a short while with the owner’s grandson who was raised on the property that backs up to the Columbia Slough.

Slough bordering lavender farm

Lavender farm entrance

Lavender farm

Lavender

On the way back, she stopped at a sheep ranch on 13th Avenue to check out prices on the grass-fed lamb advertised for sale there. When she asked where the sheep are pastured, the sheperdhess told her that they own 23 acres. Donna didn’t have any money on her so she rode home and then back to the ranch to pick up some loin chops.

Meanwhile, I relaxed and read a book. Then I watched the qualifying for the Moto GP race in Assen, Netherlands. The track was wet with light rain falling. It made it an interesting session and I’m looking forward to watching the race today, which I recorded.

At 6:30pm, our friends Ray and Kathy picked us up and we drove to a place called Cartlandia. It’s billed as Portland’s best food cart pod. There are 32 food carts in an open area and also a small beer garden.

Cartlandia

More food carts

We walked through and looked at what the different vendors had to offer. We made our choices at different carts and met up in the Blue Room Bar on site. That’s what a lot of people do – carry their food into the Blue Room Bar where they can claim a table and order a drink to go with the food. Of course I had to try the Springwater IPA brewed onsite.

It’s nice to have friends that are familiar with the area and know what’s happening. A band started playing in the Blue Room Bar a little past 8pm. They started out playing at a reasonably low volume. Then the bass player’s amp died in the middle of a Rolling Stones song. When he changed out the amp head, everyone suddenly got louder. After a few more songs, it was too loud for comfortable conversation, so we moved to an outside patio to talk.

Before we left, Donna wanted to visit the Voodoo Donuts cart. Voodoo donuts are a Portland icon. They’re known for unusual donuts – like maple-bacon bars and also their pink boxes.

Donna and Kathy at the Voodoo Donuts cart.

It was after 9pm by then and Voodoo had sold out of many offerings. Donna bought a blueberry cake donut. Then Ray drove us home and we called it a day.

Today I think I’ll kick back and watch the Moto GP race. Donna signed up for a bike ride that includes a guided tour of backyard apiaries – a bee hive tour. She should get about 30 miles in. It’ll be a warm ride – the expected high temperature today is 89 degrees.

Spyder Suspension Upgrade

Thursday was a rainy day – in fact, it poured down at times. The sky was overcast all day. When the rain would stop, you could tell it was just a temporary break. We spent the day indoors. I finished a novel I was reading and started another on my Kindle reader. I signed up for a free month of Kindle Unlimited on Amazon and downloaded the book for free!

Thursday evening Donna made a meatloaf – one of my favorite comfort foods. She added a twist this time by lining the top with thick-sliced peppered bacon. Yummy!

Meatloaf with bacon

Friday morning we had mostly cloudy skies, but it was dry. The forecast called for an increasing chance of rain in the afternoon. I got to work on the Spyder while it was dry. My project was upgrading the suspension. While I worked, Donna went for a bike ride to Blue Lake and back – about 28 miles.

Upgrading suspension components is one of the best performance improvements you can make to a vehicle. I always upgraded my motorcycles. I would send my forks to Jim Lindemann at Lindemann Engineering and he would rebuild them to perform in accordance with my weight, riding style and tire choice. He would also build a rear shock with an appropriate spring and valving. Jim was a suspension guru. He started out working at Fox Shox in the ’70s, then opened his own business.

Jim tuned suspension for world-class racers but remained humble and was always helpful and willing to share his suspension knowledge. Most of what I know about suspension tuning, I learned from him. The last time I saw Jim was at Laguna Seca for the Moto GP races. I think it was 2008. I learned of Jim’s battle with cancer a that time. He was completely bald from chemo and clearly wasn’t well. But he was as cheerful and helpful as ever. I had completed cancer treatment six years before and I knew how much he must have been struggling, but he didn’t let on at all.

His battle with brain cancer went on for the next three years before he died in October of 2011. I thought about him as I went about working on the Spyder suspension. I was replacing the stock shocks and springs with a set of Elka shock absorbers custom-valved and with spring rates designed for my weight and riding preferences. The stock equipment is a one-size fits-all design by necessity and doesn’t have much useful adjustment.

Stock front shock and coil spring

After removing the front body work, I started by loosening the upper and lower mounting bolts for both front assemblies. Then I used a floor jack to lift the front of the Spyder. With the weight off the front suspension, I removed the mounting bolts. Then it was a matter of jacking the Spyder up to a point where I could work the shocks out of the mounts.

Stock front suspension and Elka custom set-up

Installing the Elka suspension basically involved repeating the steps in reverse order. It took some finagling with the jack to get the shocks into position, then lower the Spyder slowly until the mounting points lined up.

New Elka front suspension

I thought the rear would be a little harder to handle. I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be straightforward without any tricky steps. The shock literally fell out of the mount when I removed the bolts!

Stock rear suspension

Elka compared to the stock suspension

Putting the new shock in place was just a matter of jacking up the Spyder to get the swing arm angle right so the mounts would line up. I bolted the shock in place and installed the bodywork. Job done!

New rear suspension

There were two shortcomings I was addressing with the suspension change. The stock front shocks suffered from a problem known as stiction. When I would go through a smooth, fast sweeping curve, the outer front suspension would compress as the body rolled while the inner suspension would extend. This would create low speed movement of the shock rod and piston. When we talk about shocks, low speed and high speed refer to suspension movement speed, not necessarily vehicle speed.

When the stock shocks traveled through low speed movement, there would be sticking points caused by friction of the piston and seals and uneven tolerances. This would cause the travel to momentarily stop, then it would release and continue to compress or rebound. This made a fast sweeping curve an exercise in constant corrections – kind of like connecting the dots through the turn.

The stock rear suspension worked fairly well but the spring wasn’t easily adjustable for pre-load and didn’t handle a passenger well. It also had too much rebound damping and would pack down with a passenger on board.

I took the Spyder out for a test ride. The difference in turning capability was incredible – very little body roll and it cornered like it was on rails. Fast sweeping curves were a breeze with a smooth arc easily controlled. The front shocks are set up nearly perfect. The rear felt a little stiff – I expected a plush feel. I’ll wait a while and see if it loosens up before I start fiddling with the adjusters. The rear damping feels fine. I may just take a little pre-load off. Custom tuned suspension bits are expensive, but to me it’s well worth it.

We had a passing shower or two in the afternoon. When I was working on the Spyder I managed to split my left thumb nail. It never fails – I can’t turn a wrench without bruising a knuckle or tearing a nail. I went to Walmart and bought a tube of super glue. I glued the split in my nail. It should stay together until it grows out – no real harm done.

We had five packages show up at the office. They don’t notify us of deliveries here – we have to stop at the office and check. I didn’t know Donna had ordered so many things. One of the packages was a new folding table from Bed, Bath and Beyond. It’s compact and also height adjustable. I grilled honey-sriracha chicken for dinner and we dined outside at the new table. That’s a pleasant way to spend the evening!

Today’s forecast calls for abundant sunshine and temperatures reaching the upper 70s. I hope they called it right!

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Western RV/Alpine Coach

Nuts and Bolts

Just Four Bolts

Alki Beach Day

Traffic and Taxes

Breaking the Law

A Visit to Camas

Oregon IPA Quest

Tour de Hives

Lavender and Cartlandia

Spyder Suspension Upgrade

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