Pre-Halloween Fun

On our way back to the Mission Bay RV Resort on Saturday, I stopped at the Shell gas station on Grand Avenue to fill our fuel tank. It’s a large station with room to maneuver. After I pulled in, I stopped short of the pumps and tried to see which lanes had diesel fuel. The station was busy and all of the lanes had cars in them. Donna was about to exit the coach to take a look when I said, “Forget about it.”

I noticed the sign on the roof over the pumps – clearance 12′-6″. The satellite dome on the roof of our coach is 12′-6″ above the ground. No way was I pulling up to the pump under a 12′-6″ structure. We’ll fill the tank next time we move. It’s 3/4 full, but I like to keep it filled when we’re parked for an extended period of time. This minimizes the air space in the tank and reduces the amount of water condensation.

We arrived at the park around 12:30pm. We had to wait for about an hour before they checked us into site 111. I’m not sure why we had to wait. I walked into the park and saw site 111 was open. Several other rigs were also waiting to check in.

We were set up in no time. I used the auto level feature on the HWH hydraulic system. I wasn’t happy with this feature before, but after I found and corrected the loose ground on the HWH control box, the auto level is working smoothly. All I have to do is press the button twice and the auto level sequence begins. It levels and stabilizes the coach with the hydraulic jacks and shuts itself off.

The park filled with weekenders. The park put up Halloween decorations and had activities for the kids. We had our own Halloween plans.

On Saturday evening, Dr. Jeff Sandler picked us up at the park and drove us to Donna’s sister Sheila’s house for a Halloween party. The party was for her son, Connor, and his friends, but the adults enjoyed themselves as well. We had adult beverages and great food.

Kids at the party

Kids at the party

The adults enjoyed the party

The adults enjoyed the party

We had fun and were back home by 9:30pm. At this time last year, Sheila had a Halloween party which we attended. While were at the party, those Dirty, Rotten Thieves stole our cargo trailer.

Sunday morning, Donna was up early. Jeff picked her up at 8am. They drove to Point Loma to watch Connor finish a 5k race. Donna’s other sister, Linda, picked Donna up afterward on her way to the airport. She was going to Ohio on business for a couple of days, then on to her home in Vermont for the remainder of the week. So we’ll have her car this week which is nice. After dropping Linda at the airport, Donna drove to meet Jeff, Sheila and Connor for breakfast at Snooze, a popular downtown breakfast spot.

Sheila and Connor after the race

Sheila and Connor after the race

While Donna was out and about, I rode the scooter over to the Model Yacht Pond at Paradise Point. I wanted to check out the radio-controlled (RC) power boats that are on the pond on Sundays. I posted about the Model Yacht Pond here.

There were a few guys with gas-powered RC boats there. The season is over, so there wasn’t a lot of activity. The RC boats have changed since I was involved in the hobby decades ago. Most people run larger gasoline (weed wacker type) water-cooled 2-stroke engines rather than the model nitro-methanol glow engines. Back in the day, glow engines ruled. The two-stroke gasoline engines are cheaper, more reliable and burn gasoline mixed with two-stroke oil, which is much cheaper than a nitro-methanol blend.

RC boat with a 26cc two stroke engine

RC boat with a 26cc two-stroke engine

Nice finish on  a mono hull race boat

Nice finish on a mono-hull race boat

A fast catamaran

A fast catamaran

I hung around for a little while and watched a guy dial in a sport hydro RC boat. This was a very fast boat and turned like it was on rails.

Sport hydro RC boat skimming past at 60mph

Sport hydro RC boat skimming past at 60mph

The hydroplane-type hulls are very fast and have unbelievable speed through the turns. The mono-hull boats require more finesse to get them turned.

Mono-hull RC boat sending up a rooster tail

Mono-hull RC boat sending up a rooster tail

I came back home around 11am and spent the rest of the day watching football. At this time last year, I won the football pool after picking 12 winners out of 14 games. I’m not doing that well this year, but I’ll have seven or eight more tries at it.

By the afternoon, the park was nearly empty. All of the weekend Halloween partyers had left.

This morning, I completed our health care elections. Open enrollment occurs in October. I almost forgot to do it. I have health care benefits through Volkswagen of America as a retiree. I’m thankful we don’t have to find health care through the Obama-care morass.

Today looks like it’ll be another beautiful day for a bike ride. I’ll unload our bikes from the trailer and go out for a ride.