Yesterday started out with clear, sunny skies. While still relatively cool, temperatures rose to the lower 60s. After I posted to the blog, I went out for a bike ride. I rode the usual loop past Sea World, over the West Mission Bay bridge to Mission Beach. I set a new personal best climbing up the bridge – I maintained 16+mph all the way up. On the way down the other side, I shifted into a big gear and was hitting 26 mph when a big truck/trailer blew by. His draft quickly pulled me along and I was going over 30 mph. From there I rode up the boardwalk to Pacific Beach and followed the Bay Walk back to De Anza Cove.

When I returned, I had work to do. The drawer below our bedroom closet, which I use for t-shirts, was broken again. The rear support for the track on the right side broke. This happened before, a few weeks into our travels. I made a temporary fix at that time. It seemed to be fine, so I didn’t get back to replacing the support. That wasn’t good. This time, when the right support broke, it twisted the left track.

I went to Ace Hardware on Grand Avenue in Pacific Beach. This is a good, old-fashioned hardware store in an old two-story building. I love stores like this. I found a new guide support for a few bucks, but they didn’t have the track in the size I needed.

I removed the left track and straightened it as best as I could. It wasn’t perfect, but I thought it would work. I installed the new support for the right side. This time, I mounted it with three screws instead of two. Hopefully, this will make it a little more solid and prevent it from breaking again. I reassembled everything and the drawer is working fine.

While I was out and about, I stopped at Vons grocery store. We needed bottled water. While I was there, I picked up a 3-liter box of Cabernet Sauvignon for Donna. She likes the Black Box brand. While I was in the wine and liquor aisle, I spotted Makers Mark bourbon on sale for $17.99. This is stupid cheap, so I bought a bottle.

At 4pm, our new friends, Bob and Sini picked us up in their vintage GMC Jimmy. We drove down to a place on Hancock near Washington Street. We went to Fifty Seven Degrees/Brew Project. This is a wine and beer bar that is co-owned by Bob and Sini’s son, Beau. It’s not your usual pub. They offer a huge wine selection and also personal wine storage lockers for customers (thus, the name Fifty Seven Degrees). They also have craft beer on tap from 31 San Diego County breweries. They hold special events with gourmet food. They also cater and host corporate events in their large building. Last night, a couple of private parties were going on.

I started with a sampler flight of IPAs. We watched the sun set over Point Loma. High clouds appeared in the late afternoon and made a spectacular sunset. We sat at the bar and talked while we enjoyed the beer and food. We had pulled pork sliders, chicken sliders, bruschetta  and a cheese plate. The food was outstanding, all of it made fresh in house.

Some of the beers on tap at Fifty Seven Degrees/Brew Project

Bob is a retired fireman from Edmonds, Washington. Like me, he was able to retire at the age of 56. He and Sini are on their second extended road trip. The first time was a couple of years ago. They hit the road for nine months, circumnavigating the country. They put 13,000 miles on their coach on that trip and another 8,000 miles taking side trips on their Harley. They still own their home in Edmonds, but now they’ve leased it out to tenants for 18 months. At the end of the lease, they may return home or they might sell the home to the tenants and stay on the road.

Sini is from Holland. Donna and Sini were engaged in conversation while Bob and I got to know each other. We talked for a few hours. Bob told me tales of travel in Europe, Dubai and South Africa. In all of these places, he was able to find fellow Harley riders and rent or borrow a bike to tour around. Our conversation turned and Bob told me about how he came to San Diego and helped Beau build the Brew Project bar.

Bob, Sini, Donna and our bartender, Sara

Having more than thirty taps at the bar is a real feat. The kegs are in an insulated storage container behind the building. The lines bringing the beer to the bar are long and need to  be kept cold all the way. If the lines weren’t refrigerated, the beer coming from the tap would be room temperature. Beau took us to the source in the container outside. It had about 50 kegs in it and a complicated manifold system that allows the kegs to be completely emptied. Most systems waste the last six or eight glasses of beer. I don’t fully understand this sophisticated system. I took a few pictures. Maybe you can make sense of it.

The manifold system routing beer to the taps

Kegs from local breweries in the refrigerated, insulated storage container

This afternoon, I’ll take Donna to her sister, Sheila’s house. Donna will stay there overnight to watch her nephew, Connor, while Sheila is away. I’ll come back home and watch the Chargers play the Broncos on TV.

Tomorrow I have to be up early for an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon. I’m having problems with my right hand. It’s a condition called trigger finger. When I close my right hand, the ring finger locks in a bent position. I have to pull it, then it pops and straightens with some pain. I’m hoping a corticosteroid injection will relieve it. I had this happen before on the middle finger of my left hand. Injections didn’t help at that time and surgery was required.

I might not post tomorrow, depending on how things go at the doctor’s office.