Light but steady rain fell all day on Friday. We went out for breakfast, a rare treat. We went to Crackers and Company on Greenfield, north of Brown Road. We arrived at 9:30am at the tail end of their morning rush. It seems that they’re understaffed for the number of patrons. The receptionist told us we would have a 15-minute wait. I could see at least three open tables that were already bussed and cleaned. She was holding up on seating people to allow the servers to catch up.

We were seated after 10 minutes or so. It was another 10 minutes before a server came by our table and asked if we wanted coffee. We were ready to order. They had three versions of Eggs Benedict on the menu – classic Eggs Benedict, California Eggs Benedict (with spinach, avocado and bacon) and Southwest Eggs Benedict (with chorizo and pico de gallo). Even before getting to the restaurant, I knew I wanted classic Eggs Benedict. Donna went for the southwestern version minus the english muffin.

About 15 minutes later, our breakfast arrived. We had been there over half an hour at this point. Imagine my disappointment when I was served California Eggs Benedict! They offered to replace it with what I’d ordered, but I didn’t want to wait another 10 minutes or more for breakfast, so I kept it. The food was very tasty, but the poor service will keep me away.

I spent the rest of the rainy day hanging out and reading a book. Donna had a book signing at the Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe in the evening. She had also invited her readers to join her for an informal supper chat at Wildflower Bread Company right next door. Our friend, Sara Graff, picked her up and went to these events with her.

Yesterday, the rain continued to fall in the morning. Donna went grocery shopping at Sprouts before returning the rental car. I was expecting a package, so once the rain let up after 11am, I went to the mailbox and found my package waiting for me there.

Genuine WRV parts from Aubrey’s

When we decided to replace our old coach with something more suitable for full-time use, one of the things I took into consideration was the quality of the cabinetry. The overhead storage cabinets and kitchen drawers get heavy use when you live full-time in your rig. I looked for quality metal hinges and latches along with good, solid wood. Many coach builders cut corners on these items. If you are only using the coach for weekend tailgating and occasional vacation time, it isn’t a big deal. But when you use your coach as your home, these things need to be robust enough to withstand daily use. When I was searching for our new home, I paid attention to the woodwork and hardware used. I felt that if a coach builder used care and quality in these areas, it probably used care and quality in other, unseen areas.

Western Recreational Vehicles (WRV), the builder of our Alpine Coach understood this. The woodwork in the cabinets and drawers is first-rate. The bottoms of the drawers are solid with tongue-and-grove construction – not the cheap, stapled lauan panels found in many RV drawers. The overhead cabinets have nice metal hinges, latches and pulls. The doors are held open with spring-loaded metal struts. Of course, over time, even the best materials will suffer some wear and tear.

One of the struts on the door of the cabinet housing our electrical and tank monitoring panels had a bad strut. I needed to find a replacement. When WRV closed shop in April of 2008, an RV dealer near the factory in Union Gap, Washington bought much of their parts inventory. We stopped at Aubrey’s RV in Union Gap last summer. I thought of them when I needed the strut.  Sure enough, they had the struts – they sell them in pairs for about four bucks and they had more than 90 pairs in stock! They are original equipment from WRV. The only difference in our case was the color. Our hardware has a bronze finish. In 2008, WRV was using a pewter finish on the hardware. No big deal. I ordered four pairs of struts so I’ll have spares on hand. The shipping cost was six dollars whether I ordered one pair or four, so I figured I would get the extras.

Old strut on bottom, new pewter finished strut above

Job done

The rain finally stopped just before noon. I dumped and flushed our holding tanks, then started another book, North to the Night. It’s a fascinating tale – a true adventure about a couple who deliberately sailed to the Arctic Circle in Greenland to spend a winter trapped in ice in the darkness and learn to live in the inhospitable environment like the Inuits. The book was recommended to Donna by one of the women who attended her informal supper chat and Changing Hands gave her the book as a thank you for doing the book signing.

Around 4:30pm, our friends, Howard and Sara Graff, picked us up. Our destination was the Beer Research Institute (BRI) located at Stapley and Baseline Road. We enjoyed beer and food and caught up with each other a bit. Then we headed out to a birthday party for their friend, Mike. Mike and his wife Dana live in Mesa. They had a nice group of people at their house and a really fun party was well underway when we arrived.

On the way to Mike and Dana’s place, we stopped at the Graff residence for an important item stashed in their freezer. Sara had made a bottle of horseradish-infused vodka. I know it sounds strange, but I was willing to give it a shot! She served it in a shot glass. You drink the shooter, feel the sinus-cleansing horseradish and then eat a dill pickle chip. The pickle chip completely neutralizes the horseradish. She brought the infused vodka, pickle chips and four shot glasses to the party.

Horseradish infused vodka and pickle chips

I almost forgot to mention, Sara is a big fan of Breaking Bad. When we stopped by the Graff residence, she showed us her new kitchen towels.

Breaking Bad kitchen towels

We had a great time at the party. I won’t say how much vodka we drank, but there wasn’t any left by the time we got out of there at midnight.

Selfie with Donna, Howard and Sara

Today is February 1st. Wow, January is already in the rear view mirror. The sun is once again shining and it’s Super Bowl Sunday. I plan to hang out and watch some football!