Category Archives: Beer

Good Times, Bad Times

Most of the citrus trees here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort have been picked clean. There are a few grapefruit trees that still have fruit, but that’s about it. The orange trees are beginning to blossom. That means my pollen alergies are kicking in. It’s become a real nuisance as my eyes are constantly watering – it was bad enough by the beginning of this week for me to start a regiment of benadryl tablets.

The weather was a little on the wild side by Friday of last week. We had some rain and gusty winds. Speaking of wind, we had an interesting thing happen the week before when we had stormy weather. A few days after the stormy weather passed, Donna noticed one of our back patio umbrella shades was missing. We looked around and it was nowhere to be found.

Donna inquired at the pro-shop to see if it might have blown onto the golf course. They didn’t know anything about it. She also posted on the Viewpoint Facebook page to see if anyone might have found it and picked it up. I was convinced that someone took it – we have three umbrella shades out back, maybe they thought we had one too many.

Donna was talking to our next door neighbor, Lois, one afternoon and mentioned the missing umbrella. Lois asked if she meant the one that was on our roof! From her back patio, she could see it on our roof. Apparently a wind gust pick it up and deposited it on top of our house. Mystery solved.

Last week, when I met up with Leendert at Red, White and Brew, he lent me a book called The Psychology of Money. It’s a collection of short stories broken down into 20 chapters that outline the author’s philosophy of financial management. It’s a worthwhile read.

I want to mention a few other books. In these trying times with rampant inflation, divisive politics and Russia invading Ukraine, it’s easy to believe we live in the worst of times. These books might bring you to understand how far we’ve really come.

Abundance – The Future is Better Than You Think

Enlightenment Now

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – And Why Things Are Better Than You Think

I don’t want minimize the extent of destrution and human suffering taking place in Ukraine – in fact, I’ve read first-hand accounts of horror faced by the guy and his family that I bought vacuum tubes from in Melitopol, Ukraine. On the other hand, it’s nice to see the good that’s taken place in the world as well.

Closer to home, I had some bad news on Tuesday. My middle daughter, Jamie, was in a car accident near her home in Buckeye, west of Phoenix. She has a couple of spinal compression fractures and an ankle sprain along with general soreness from taking a beating in the accident. Hopefully she’ll be discharged from the hospital today, but she faces a recovery in a back brace for the next 12 weeks or so.

Last Friday as the stormy weather approached, we had some clouds and it made for a spectacular sunrise over the Superstition Mountains.

Sunrise over the Superstition Mountains

Donna came up with some nice recipes for dinners. First up. we have shrimp in purgatory – a tomato/garlic marinara with capers over spaghetti.

Shrimp in purgatory

That was Saturday’s dinner plate. On Sunday, we had another garlicky dinner – she pan seared, then baked chicken thighs with a garlic butter sauce. I had it with rice and asparagus.

Garlicky chicken

On Monday, Donna bought a hunk of fresh ahi tuna. She made a topping with sliced jalapeno peppers, cilantro, lime juice and soy sauce. She grilled bok choy while I seared the ahi.

Seared ahi tuna seasoned with salt and pepper
Seared ahi plate with bok choy and brown rice

Wednesday she tried a new recipe for a whole chicken roasted in the oven with a curry sauce. She served it with rainbow cauliflower – this is naturally colored cauliflower – and asparagus.

Roasted chicken with rainbow cauliflower

As always, I’m eating well even though Donna’s following her Bright Line Eating plan.

We have a busy weekend coming up. Saturday morning Donna has her final rehearsal for the Viewpoint Concert Band March performance on Sunday. Saturday afternoon we’ll join Mike and Jodi Hall for the Superstition Blues & Brews Festival. Live music and local crafted beers – it should be a fun time.

We should have a nice, sunny afternoon on Saturday with temperatures reaching the upper 70s. Long range it looks like we’ll have upper 70s to low 80s for the remainder of March.

Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on 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!

Compact Discs, Family and Food

We’re ten days into February already. My perception of time gets more and more skewed as I age. We’ve been set into daily routines for most of the past week with a couple of exceptions. I haven’t been on the pickleball courts as much as I would like for a couple of reasons. First is the club’s scheduling – I can’t make much sense of how they are scheduling the courts for different levels of play. Most of the 3.5 play is 8am to 10am – I don’t play my best first thing in the morning. The other issue is wind – we’ve had a stiff breeze most mornings and I find outdoor pickleball in gusty wind to be an exercise in frustration. It becomes a game of chance, not so much skill.

A few weeks ago, we had visitors for happy hour. I had music in playing on the stereo at low volume for background sound. My friend commented that it sounded so clear and detailed. This was before I started upgrading my system and I wondered what he meant – it seemed pretty average to me. I thought about it later and came to the conclusion – it’s the general dumbing-down of sound quality.

My friend is used to streaming online music sources or MP3 files on an iPhone. These sources are so compressed that the music lacks the original detail and dynamics. He probably hadn’t listened to a compact disc in years. I read recently that last year (2021) was the first year to post a year-over-year gain in CD sales in the last 15 years! In fact, during that period, sales of vinyl records exceeded CD sales. Maybe people started to wake up and forgo the convenience of music files versus high-quality recordings. Nah, I doubt it – in the end, convenience wins.

My new Klipsch Reference R-51M bookshelf speakers arrived last Saturday. After about 12 hours of break-in and careful positioning, they sound great! The bass response is a big improvement over the Celestion DL4 speakers I had. To be fair, the Celestions are about 30 years old and the crossover network could probably benefit from fresh capacitors. But there’s no denying the bass reflex design with a rear firing port on the Klipsch speakers allows a much deeper and more powerful bass response. In fact, my Nobsound vacuum tube stereo amplifier sounds better than I ever expected it would. There’s no turning back now.

Klipsch R-51M with Tractix horn tweeter and spun copper woofer
Klipsch R-51M with grill cloth in place

Like the Celestion speaker, the Klipsch R-51M is a two-way design, meaning it has a tweeter for higher frequencies and a woofer for bass and mid-range controlled with a crossover network. Their designs differ though – Klipsch is famous for horn designs and this bookshelf speaker uses a 90-degree tractix horn tweeter and an injection-molded graphite spun copper woofer. I’m really happy I went for them.

Hopefully I’ll receive a package from TubeDepot tomorrow. I’m going to build another amplifier. I ordered the Japanese Elekit TU8200R kit. I think this will become my main stereo and I’ll set up my old speakers and the Nobsound amp in my ham shack.

I’ve read some alarming reports predicting the demise of CD music players. Here’s the situation and possible outcome. First of all, CD sales have been slow although they picked up a little steam last year. Right now, there’s a worldwide shortage of integrated circuit chipsets. This has impacted most consumer goods – everything from cars to cell phones. With CD players now a small player in consumer electronics, manufacturers aren’t prioritizing CD players for their precious chipsets – they have other goods to manufacture that are in higher demand. This in turn means that manufacturers aren’t buying the disc transport mechanisms that load CDs into the player – which means the companies that usually supply these components are moving on to other goods.

I looked at Amazon and Crutchfield and my findings seem to support this theory. Crutchfield lists 12 different CD players in their catalog, but 10 out of 12 are out of stock with no date for resupply. I have a lot of music on CDs and would hate to lose the ability to play them. Our Pioneer CD player is about 30 years old and sometimes can’t decode a disc that has dropouts. I think I’ll buy a new unit and relegate the Pioneer to the ham shack.

Donna’s golf game is improving quickly. Last week, she played her fifth game ever on the nine-hole course here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Park. She hit a bogie on one hole, made par on another and birdied a hole!

Last Sunday, we had a delightful brunch at OHSO Brewery in Gilbert with our friends Sara and Howard Graff. After brunch, we strolled the streets of old downtown Gilbert. It’s a fun place – I can remember when it was a one-horse town that was little more than a water tower and crossroads. I neglected to take photos.

On Tuesday, my daughter, Alana and her husband Kevin (collectively known as Kevlana) flew down from Washington. We had a cold one on our deck along with my middle daughter, Jamie. Then we piled into Jamie’s Passat and went to dinner at Alessia’s, an Italian restaurant a few miles from here.

Poorly focused photo – Alana and Kevin on the left, Donna and Jamie on the right

The food was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed the time together. Yesterday, Kevin and Alana came over to golf the nine-hole course with Donna. Kevin and Alana are avid golfers and Kevin is quite good at it. Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch at Fat Willy’s, the restaurant here at Viewpoint.

Last night, we went out to eat with Kevin and Alana again at the Zushi Japanese Bistro and had Japanese beer – Kirin for me, Kevin and Alana, Asahi for Donna – and enjoyed miso soup and a platter of sushi.

Speaking of food, Donna came up with a couple of new dishes for us last week. She’s been meaning to try her hand at pizza for a while and finally got to it using the method her parents use as well as one of their old pizza pans that she brought back from her last visit.

Homemade pizza

The pizza was good, but she thinks she can improve the crust. We both thought she could use a little less sauce, but that’s just our thoughts – there wasn’t anything wrong with it.

She also made a chalupa dish by slowly cooking a boneless pork shoulder with dry pinto beans, green chiles and spices for about five hours on the stove. It was very tasty but made enough food to feed a football team. She served it over corn tortillas fried in olive oil and with a topping of tomato chunks, red onion, cotija cheese, cilantro and lettuce.

Chalupa hidden under the toppings

We vacuum packed the leftover and put two packages in the freezer – enough for two more dinners and two more lunches – a total of eight more servings.

Kevin and Alana picked the right time for an Arizona visit. It was cold last week by local standards with highs of only around 60 degrees. But that changed by Tuesday when we had upper 70s and hit 81 degrees yesterday – making an enjoyable, sunny morning on the golf course. The forecast calls for daily highs around 80 degrees for next week.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on 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!

Dumble Mania

Donna has been on a mission lately. She’s intent on making our park model house here in Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort our home. By that I mean she’s continuing to transform the look and feel of the place. She started last week by cleaning out the shed and patio areas and getting rid of a lot of unwanted and unneeded stuff.

Then she ordered patio furniture for the side deck along our entrance and carport. She picked up potted plants to decorate the patio. We moved the big gas grill from the back of the carport to the side deck to make it easier to access. The patio furniture she bought required “some assembly.” She intended to do this herself, but ran into issues from the get-go. I pitched in and saw why she was having trouble. First of all, the instructions were very poor – Chinese translations that were nonsense. Then there were the tools provided – a thin spanner stamped out of sheet steel and an allen wrench.

The first thing I did was break out proper tools. Donna quickly saw the reason why I like having the proper, quality tool for the job. We got it done in less than an hour.

Donna enjoying her morning coffee on the new patio rocker

Meanwhile, I’ve been obsessed with building my Dumble-style guitar amplifier. Dumble amplifiers have an interesting history, but first let me tell you about a guy named Ken Fischer.

Ken Fischer learned electronics while he was in the navy. Later, he started a business repairing televisions and radios. He became an engineer with Ampeg – a company that built amplifiers for musical instruments and public address systems. He left Ampeg in 1967 when the company was sold to Magnavox – he wasn’t interested in the corporate culture.

He made a good living repairing and modifying Marshall amplifiers in his basement. Around 1982, he built his own amplifier design that he housed in a polished wood cabinet and called it Trainwreck. He didn’t put serial numbers on his amps – he stamped the chassis of each one he built with a woman’s name. His first one was named Ginger and the last he built was Kaylene. He made approximately 300 amps and they were each voiced for the individual that ordered it – no two were exactly the same.

He built amps for Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) Eddie Van Halen, Brad Paisley, Glen Kuykendall, Matt O’Ree and many other famous performers. He had a long history of health issues – something called chronic fatique immune dysfunction – and he passed away in 2006. His amps are highly sought after and fetch prices in excess of $30,000 today. They are also copied (cloned) by a number of manufacturers such as Dr Z, Komet and others. The Ken Fischer design is notable for its touch sensitivity – you basically set up the amp controls how you like and then forget it. Just by varying your pick attack and the volume knob of the guitar, you can get anything from crystal clear, clean guitar sounds to Eddie Van Halen distortion. This circuit is popular among home-built amplifier hobbyists. I built one in 2012.

My Trainwreck-style home built amp

Then there’s Howard Alexander Dumble. He’s about as eccentric as they come, but no doubt he’s also a genius. When he was in high school, he built transistor radios that he sold to classmates. Before he was 21 years old, in the early 1960s, he was contracted by Mosrite to build amplifiers for the popular instrumental band, The Ventures. Mosrite wanted to create an amplifier building company with him, but he wasn’t a corporate type and declined the offer.

He was making a good living repairing and modifying Fender amplifiers in the 1960s. Somewhere along the way – I think it was in the 1970s – he began making his own amp designs. He wasn’t interested in mass production, he made each amp to order much like Ken Fischer’s Trainwrecks. But, he was unusual in that he required an application from prospective buyers and he auditioned the buyer to decide if he could make an amp for that player – he needed to know how proficient the player was and what the style of playing was. He probably turned down as many applications as he accepted – at least that’s the folklore.

He also required each customer to sign a contract that included secrecy clauses – they weren’t allowed to let anyone open up the amp for service or to see his circuits. After getting burned and having some of his design copied, he started gooping his amps. He covers the circuit board in epoxy or RTV silicone after he builds it so no one could see what he actually used to make it.

He was known as Howard in the early days, but later insisted on being called Alexander or Alex. On the guitar forums, he’s called Mr. Dumble or his initials, HAD are used. He made a few different variations but his most popular was called OverDrive Special (ODS). A few of these were reverse engineered – most notably numbers 104, 124 and 183. They are another amplifier that’s popular among the home-built crowd, but they are very challenging to build. Both the Trainwreck and Dumble amps require much attention to detail and lead dress (routing of the wiring) is crucial or you’ll end up with a humming, squealing mess.

Many top performers used Dumble amps – Eric Clapton, Larry Carlton, John Mayer, Robben Ford, Carlos Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Johnson, Keith Urban and many, many more. His amps are the priciest on the planet. In the 1980s, he was selling them for $4,000-$6,000. But on the used market, people paid more than $20,000 for one. He raised his price accordingly. Right now, a used Dumble previously owned by Joe Bonamassa is listed for sale at $139,999!

I’m currently building a kit patterned after ODS #124. This kit came from Trinity Amps in Toronto, Canada. Stephen Cohrs, owner of Trinity amps, initially called it his OverDrive Special (ODS) kit. But, Andy Fuchs of Fuchs Audio had trademarked this name and made Trinity cease and desist using it. I find that interesting. Andy Fuchs copied Howard Alexander Dumble’s design, used the name Dumble had used for decades, but never trademarked, and now Andy Fuchs owns and controls the name. Sheesh. Stephen Cohrs had to change the name of his amp to Overdrive Special Design (OSD).

The Trinity OSD is one of the most affordable Dumble designs on the market – you can buy it built by Trinity for about $2,300. Most of the other manufacturers like Fuchs offer them for $3,000-$4,000. Building it yourself will run about $1,100.

This build has been my latest obsession – I intially told myself to limit my time to about two hours per day on this kit to stay fresh and sharp. That didn’t work. I spend hours each day laying it out, checking and rechecking against the schematic and layout guides and then soldering and rechecking everything again. I’ve caught a few errors, but it’s mostly gone well. One of the hardest parts was positioning and soldering 11 jumper wires under the eyelet board. The layout shows the jumper wires in a ghost view from the top side of the board. There are dozens of eyelet holes in the board so when you flip it over to position the wires, it’s a reverse image of the layout view. I wired it, checked it and rewired it a few times before I was satisfied and hot glued the wires in position. Here’s a pictorial review of the work so far.

Chassis with tube sockets and rear hardware installed
Chassis with front controls (potentiometers) and switches installed

Some of wiring needs to be twisted or braided. Wires, particulary those carrying alternating current (AC) need to cross each other at 90 degree angles to prevent induction. The output transformer has five wires on one side and four on the other that needed to be braided. I found braiding five was easier than four, but they both came out fine.

Output transformer with five wire braid on one side
Four wire braid on the other side
Ground bus installed and wired, components installed on tube sockets
My home made amp chassis stand and work station
Power transformer (PT) and output transformers (OT) installed on other side of the chassis and wiring in place – the yellow twisted wires are 5-volt AC for the relay board which I built before installing in the chassis
Power transformer and output transformer
Populating the main eyelet board and installing flying leads for controls and tube sockets

That, in a nutshell represents five days of work.

No post is complete without a food picture. Donna is the head chef around here, but I do my share with the Traeger Smoker/Grill and I also make an incomparable Japanese fried rice. My other specialty is the breakfast omelette. My technique is a little unusual in that I flip the egg like a flapjack. I pour the whipped eggs and milk into a non-stick skillet with melted butter. Once the egg starts to solidify, I give the skillet a flick of the wrist and voila! The egg flips and I remove it from the heat and add the filling. Perfection if I say so myself.

Breakfast omelette with Italian seasoned broccoli, bacon and sharp cheddar cheese filling

Donna made a couple of simple, delicious comfort favorites this week. First up, Baja blackened fish tacos.

Fish taco – yummy

Last night she made white chicken chili – a favorite and just right for Sunday Night Football with bottle of Four Peaks Kiltlifter ale.

White chicken chili – pictured without the crumbled corn chip topping

This morning, we’re having our house power washed. They power wash the siding, remove the sunscreens for cleaning and wash the windows, then finish up by washing the decks and carport.

The last couple of days have been on the warm side with highs of 91-92 degrees. The swamp cooler is keeping things comfortable though. Looking ahead, we should see highs around 80 degrees with a couple of warmer days maybe on Thursday and Friday.

Donna will be flying to Florida on Thursday to visit her sister Linda in Sarasota. They will drive to Miami on the weekend for her niece’s wedding celebration – she was actually married last year but the planned wedding couldn’t be carried out due to COVID lockdowns. I’ll be a bachelor from Thursday to Wednesday.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on 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!

One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer

When I wrote my last post, Donna was away visiting her parents in Vermont. I was a bachelor for eight days. I kept myself occupied for most of the time assembling and setting up my new guitar. I mentioned that the Fender-type longer-scale length was an adjustment for me after playing nothing but Gibson guitars with the shorter scale length. A guy on a guitar forum advised me to play the new guitar exclusively for a month or so until it felt “normal,” then I could pick up a Gibson again and be comfortable with either one. If I switched back and forth from the start, the Fender-style neck would never feel right.

That’s what I’ve been doing – playing it daily. It sounds so good and plays really nice. I made a few tweaks to the set-up and it’s a really fine instrument. While Donna was away, I sold my Egnater amp and 112 cabinet. I ordered a new 112 from Avatar in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and got it last week. It’s loaded with a Celestion 60-watt Vintage 30 12″ speaker. It has greater power handling capability than the Egnater cabinet and sounds really good. Now I’m waiting for delivery of another amplifier kit – it’s coming from Canada and I’ve heard nothing good lately about shipments via Canada Post. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

My current guitar rig

While Donna was away, I didn’t exactly eat like a king. It’s hard to prepare a good meal for one person. She left a couple of leftover dishes for me and I filled in with pre-made dishes like pot pies or enchilada plates. With Donna back, that’s changed for the better. Last week, I made a batch of Japanese fried rice and Donna grilled wild Argentine shrimp – a great combination.

Japanese fried rice and wild Argentine shrimp

She followed that up with pollo in potachio – Italian braised chicken with tomatoes, rosemary and garlic – the next night.

Pollo in potachio served over mashed potatoes with green beans

A couple of days ago, Donna put a pork tenderloin in the slow cooker along with a sweet and savory sauce.

Slow cooked sweet and savory pork tenderloin with brown rice and broccoli

Yesterday was my birthday and Donna had a theme for my present. She had me unwrap three presents in a certain order. With a nod to George Thorogood, I opened one bourbon…

Woodford Reserve

One Scotch…

The Glenlivet Scotch finished in Carribean rum barrels

And one beer.

She also gave a me a cookbook called The Japanese Grill.

We celebrated with a sushi dinner at Zushi on McDowell across from Red, White and Brew. Sixty-five trips around the sun – where has all the time gone?

We’ve had warmer weather – it hit 97 on Sunday. We went over to Mike and Jodi Hall’s place to watch the NFL Cardinals put a spanking on the LA Rams. Mike and I enjoyed a cigar on their back patio with a swamp cooler and outdoor TV. It was the first cigar I’ve had in over three weeks. It’s been so hot outside that a cigar wasn’t appealing to me.

It really cooled down on Tuesday as thundershowers roared in. The temperature only hit 83 degrees and the rain poured down. The moisture and change in the temperture is doing the golf course some good. They’ve overseeded the grass and it’s really responded. You might recall the photos I posted of the dormant grass a few weeks ago. The course will open for the winter season soon.

The fifth green is looking – umm, green
And the fairway looks pretty fair

The forecast calls for upper 80s today and tomorrow, but 90 degrees doesn’t appear in the long-range forecast. If the weather guessers have it right, we’ll be in the upper 70s to low 80s for the foreseeable future.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on 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!

Saved by the Elk’s

While I was writing my last post, after the farmers’ market Saturday morning, Donna went for a walk. When she came back she told me she walked all way back to the downtown area and it was getting busy – many more people out and about than we saw earlier.

We decided against going back downtown for wine tasting where most places required reservations and opted to head east to the Airport Wine District. This is an interesting area. During World War II, the Army Air Corps built a training facility next to the existing Walla Walla Regional Airport. They put in a new runway and constructed over 300 buildings for administative offices, barracks, mess halls and storage. The facility covered over 2,100 acres. B-17 Flying Fortress crews trained there.

After the war, the new Air Force declared the base surplus and turned it over to the city of Walla Walla in 1947. In 1989, the Port of Walla Walla took over operations. The airport is mostly used for General Aviation although there is one commercial airline in operation.

The old army buildings were soon home to small manufacturing businesses and eventually 14 wineries established operations there. The wineries produce their wine onsite from grapes sourced from Walla Walla and Columbia Valley appelations.

We visited the CAVU winery there. CAVU doesn’t require reservations – many of the others do.The winery name CAVU comes from an aviation term – ceiling and visibility unlimited (CAVU) – ideal flying conditions. Their specialty is wines based on the barbera grape although they also offer a very nice sauvignon blanc, tempranillo, malbec and a Bordeaux right bank style red blend. We tasted seven wines and ending buying two bottles of Barbera Rose, two bottles of 2019 Barbera and two bottles of 2019 Rule Breaker II. The Rule Breaker is a blend of barbera, cabernet sauvignon and petit verdot grapes. The wine maker calls it Rule Breaker because his usual rule is not to blend barbera grapes with other varieties.

The Airport District also houses a couple of breweries with pubs and outdoor beer gardens and a few eateries. We stopped at Burwood Brewing Company and tried a beer in their outdoor area. They had very good beer!

Burwood IPA

The we went to Quirk Brewing for a second cold one and enjoyed their beer as well. Both breweries had a food truck on their premises. If you’re in the area, I recommend taking the short drive to the Airport District and checking it out.

Sunday morning it was time to hit the road. We wanted to head down to Twin Falls, Idaho, but to get there we’d need a stop along the way. We opted to boondock and Donna found a few options. We ended up boondocking in a small gravel turnout near Huntington, Oregon, south of Baker City. To get there, we traveled on I-84 first through more wheat growing country, then made the climb into the Blue Mountains up Emigrant Hill to Deadman Pass. The road has several switchbacks and is a 6% grade. We saw a few trucks, one RV and a couple of cars on the road shoulder with overheated engines. I-84 in Oregon tops out at Blue Mountain summit 4,193 feet above sea level.

The boondocking spot was fairly quiet and the overnight stay was uneventful. Trains came by, but they were on the other side of the river, far enough away not to be bothersome and they didn’t have to cross a road and blow their horns.

Snake River view from our boondocking site

Monday morning we were back on the road southbound on I-84. It was just over 200 miles to Twin Falls but the slog through Caldwell, Nampa and Boise slowed us down. The traffic was heavy there and, as usual, all of the city folk were in hurry, driving like idiots and causing traffic snarls.

Our plan was to stop at Rock Creek County RV Park in Twin Falls. They don’t take reservations – it’s all first-come, first-served. We thought arriving early afternoon on a Monday, we would find an open site. We thought wrong. The place was full. Tthe camp host told us the Twin Falls County Fair was only a week away and every place was full.

Last year, we stayed at the Elk’s Lodge in Rupert. It was only 40 miles away, so we headed there. We found the five RV sites with water and electricity were all open – no one was staying at the Elk’s Lodge. I paid for two nights at $20/night and we set up.

The Elk’s have saved the day again – it wasn’t the first time we had to go to plan “B” and the Elk’s never let us down.

Elk’s Lodge site has us backed up to the golf course – Hole #1 499 yards par 5

Adjoining the Elk’s Lodge is the Rupert Country Club which features a tree-lined 18-hole golf course. The land is all owned by the Elk’s but the country club leases the acreage for the golf course and operates it.

Yesterday, a truck with a camper pulling a long (20 feet or more) enclosed trailer came in next to us. The guys rolled a golf cart out of the trailer along with their clubs and headed out to the golf course. They were out all day.

Their trailer hitch is interesting. Due to the length of the camper, the hitch is cantilevered three feet or more from the rear of the truck. I don’t know how much tongue weight he has, but that’s a lot of leverage on the hitch receiver!

Look at the cantilevered hitch extension

Later, when the guys came back from golfing, they pulled some equipment out of the trailer. I was curious as I didn’t recognize it.

DryJect machines

I had to ask about it. It turns out they have state-of-the-art machinery called DryJect which is used to aerate and condition turf. Normally, turf is aerated by pulling cylindrical plugs out of the soil. This loosens the soil and allows oxygen to penetrate, improving the health of the turf. Sometimes soil amendments are added to the holes created.

On a golf green, this means a clean-up is required. The cylindrical plugs of soil lay on the surface and look similar to goose droppings. No one wants that on the green. The DryJect machines work by injecting a high-pressure jet of water mixed with sand or other soil amendments, fracturing the soil and creating the aeration pocket. The pocket is simultaneously filled with the sand or other soil additive, leaving a smooth surface with no clean-up required. These guys travel around and treat golf course greens – golfing their way around the country while earning a living. Sweet!

I originally paid for two nights here, but after visiting the lodge for a cold one, I decided we needed another night. Lodge members told me about the prime rib dinner on Wednesday night and convinced me it wasn’t something we should miss. They have a special rotisserie that allows them to roast up to eight prime rib roasts at a time. They dry rub the meat the day before. The dinner includes salad, choice of potato and fresh corn on the cob for $25/plate. Beer is $3/pint. I signed us up.

The weather here in Rupert has been pleasant. We’ve had daily highs in the mid 80s and overnight lows around 50 degrees. This morning, it was 53 degrees outside and 63 degrees in the coach – just right for sleeping with a window open and blankets on the bed.

Tomorrow we’ll head out of here and travel through Utah on the west side – avoiding the gauntlet on I-15 that extends from Tremonton through Salt Lake City to Provo. I detest that drive. Instead, we’ll head in a westerly direction to West Wendover, NV and spend the night near the Bonneville Salt Flats. Our next stop will be Panguitch, Utah where we expect some very fine weather.

Fast Times in Mount Vernon

Today is our last full day in Mount Vernon. Two weeks have flown by and we’ll leave western Washington tomorrow. Our days here have been pretty full. On Monday, we went to Hillcrest Park for pickleball. It was very busy, but well organized. I played in the 3.5 group while Donna went into the 3.0 pool. We found their ratings here to be higher than what we’re used to in Arizona – the 3.5 group seemed more like 3.0 to me and likewise, Donna felt the level of play in the 3.0 was on the low side, so she stepped up for the last few games.

Pickleball courts at Hillcrest Park (That’s Donna in the peach jacket)

When we arrived at the park, there were players on all six courts and over 40 players waiting to get on! It moved quickly though with a four-off and four-on format. After an hour or so, the crowd thinned out – many people had arrived at 8am and we didn’t show up until 9:30am or so.

Tuesday we had dental appointments for check-ups and cleaning at Dr. Westford’s office in Everett. We both really like this dental office. The people are friendly, the hygenists are very competent and thorough and Dr. Westbrook is a first-class dentist.

As usual, I had a couple of areas that required attention. The enamel on my teeth is damaged due to head and neck radiation treatment for cancer. The radiation damage seems to never go away. I made another appointment for Thursday at 8am to fill a couple of areas where teeth had cracked and crumbled a bit.

Wednesday we went back for more pickleball and found only a handful of people at the park. We played six or seven games and had a good time. Mondays and Thursdays are the crowded days as the play is organized by the local pickleball club. Other days are just pick-up games and open play.

In the afternoon, we drove down to Kevin and Alana’s place. Kevin had tomatos, peppers, onion and a whole bulb of garlic on the Traeger for salsa he made for us. The salsa is very good! Alana wanted me to show her how I make Japanese fried rice. My method is time-consuming and laborious, but you can’t argue with the result. Everyone really liked the fried rice.

For some reason, Donna and I both slept fitfully Wednesday night. Maybe we were a little dehydrated from the morning of pickleball – it was hot with the temperature reaching 88 degrees on Wednesday. Thursday morning I was up before 6am to have breakfast and coffee before heading down to Everett for my 8am dental appointment. I wanted to hit the road by 7am, not knowing for sure what the traffic on I-5 would be like. Typically it slows down once you pass the SR529 exit and can be very slow from there.

The drive was easy and I chose to exit on SR529 and drive right through Everett to the dental office. I made it there in about 35 minutes and had to wait awhile for them to open. Originally our plan was for Donna to ride her bike to Hillcrest Park for pickleball and I would join her on my way back from the dentist. Donna opted out – she was feeling a bit off after a poor night’s sleep. I was very tired as well and came straight back. We spent the rest of the day reading and lounging around.

Friday we met Kevin and Alana and Kevin’s mother Donetta in La Conner. La Conner is a small waterfront town about 10 miles from Mount Vernon. It’s located on the Swinomish Channel which looks like a river, but it’s a channel connecting Padilla Bay and Skagit Bay. The town has a population of only about 1,000 people, but it has many attractions such as waterfront dining, breweries and tourist shops.

We met at the aptly named La Conner Waterfront Cafe and dined al fresco on their deck.

View of Swinomish Channel from the Waterfront Cafe

La Conner is a cool place, but parking can be problematic. We all had to park blocks away from the restaurant as their small lot was full and street parking was also full all through the waterfront area.

We made plans to meet again the following afternoon – I had purchased tickets for the Brewfest on the Skagit. This event was organized by, and benefitted, the Lincoln Theater in Mount Vernon. It was held at Edgewater Park in Mount Vernon just a couple of miles from Skagit Valley RV Park. The Lincoln Theater is an old, historic vaudeville and silent movie theater in Mount Vernon built in 1926. Currently they have concerts as well as some movies and plays there. They host community events and work with local school districts to put on music workshops and also have traveling musicians teach there.

The Brewfest had a line up of more than 30 local breweries and four bands scheduled to play. Tickets for the event were $25 and included six coupons for 4-ounce beer samples. In reality, most of the breweries weren’t collecting coupons and the small samples were practically limitless.

Brewfest at Edgewater Park looking toward the Skagit River
Lots of people and brewery tents
Another view of the stage with jumbo video screen

The video screen showing close-up shots of the musicians was a nice touch. We saw all four bands and were there from around 3:30pm to 8pm. As you can see in the background of the photos, the air quality wasn’t great as wildfire smoke imported from fires in Canada filled the sky.

Lainey, Alana, Kevin and Donna at Brewfest

Alana bought a fifth ticket and our granddaughter Lainey joined us. It was a fun afternoon. Earlier in the day, Kevin golfed in a tournament and finished the day in third place on the leaderboard. He’s golfing again today as the tournament continues.

Saturday morning Donna took a bike ride and stopped at a few farm vegetable stands she discovered along the way. She also stopped at the farmer’s market for donut peaches and picked wild blackberries on the way home. On Thursday, after lunch in La Conner, we bought fresh corn in Conway that was superb. It was so good that Donna had to cook the remaining two ears of corn after we each had one for dinner – seconds were definitely in order. We’ll get more today.

Donna’s farmstand haul

I spent Saturday morning dismantling my Buddipole Versatee vertical HF ham radio antenna and packing it away. Then I broke out the compressor and set the tire pressures on the coach and also the Nissan Frontier in preparation for the road tomorrow. I’ve always been a stickler for proper tire inflation and over the last eight years, it’s served us well.

I still haven’t decided our route or even our destination tomorrow. It looks like it’s too hot and smoky to consider eastern Washington or the Idaho panhandle. I’m thinking maybe we’ll head down through Yakima and on to Bend, Oregon or maybe head to Walla Walla and down through eastern Oregon. In any case, we’ll meander southward and end up back in Mesa, Arizona around the 15th of September, giving us a month to get there.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on 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!

Motion is Lotion

We had a fairly quiet night at the Ute Mountain Casino truck lot Saturday night. There was a truck with refrigeration unit that ran a generator all night. To me, it’s just white noise and I don’t pay much attention to it, but for Donna, it’s bothersome. We had a leisurely breakfast at the casino restaurant – we were in no hurry as we were only 11 miles away from Cortez.

We checked in at La Mesa RV Park in Cortez, Colorado around 12:30pm. There was a camp host expecting us and he directed us to site 9. After backing into the site, I confirmed Dish Network satellite reception before setting up. I wasn’t going to stay for a month in a site with no satellite reception. We set up without any issues and I was done in plenty of time to watch the Moto GP race from France at 3:30pm.

Our site backs up to the car wash at the Speedway gas station next door. This can be a little noisy during the daytime, but we haven’t heard anyone at the car wash after dark. When we checked in, I asked about Shiree, whether she still spends much time here at the park. Shiree and her husband, Ames, own this park and one in Springerville, Arizona. The camp host gave us some bad news.

He said Shiree wasn’t doing well. In February, she had some dental work done which involved removing a tooth with an old filling. Apparently, mercury leaked from the old filling and poisoned her. She’s not able to get around on her own and is undergoing chelation treatment to remove the metal. We’re hoping she makes a full recovery.

Over the last week, I’ve been complaining about a sore right knee. I had surgery on this knee about 35 years ago. I injured it in a ski accident on Mount Hood in Oregon. I had a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament and a torn medial meniscus. At that time, the surgeon told me he had to trim the torn meniscus as it wouldn’t regenerate. Over time, he thought this might lead to arthritis from bone on bone contact. I was thinking it might have finally caught up with me.

But then a curious thing happened. On Wednesday morning, I went with Donna to the pickleball courts. The soreness had improved so I thought I would give it go with a compression sleeve over my knee. After a few games, I didn’t feel any soreness at all. I thought it would be sore later in the day, but it didn’t happen.

Thursday morning we went back to the pickleball courts. I had the compression sleeve over my knee again, but wasn’t experiencing any pain. I played several games pain free and my knee remains pain free now. I don’t know how to explain it – maybe there’s something to the adage “Motion is lotion” and my knee is well lubricated again.

Pickleball courts at Centennial Park in town

They have six courts at the park and a group of players that show up regularly. We were invited to sign up for a tournament a week from Saturday, which we did. The tournament format is basically a round robin with individual scores tracked. I’m curious to see what group they put Donna and me in – we’ll see how they rate our level of play.

Wednesday afternoon we drove out to Mancos – a little town about 17 miles east of Cortez. The locals pronounce it MAN-cuss. After a couple of wrong turns we found the Mancos Brewing Company and stopped in for a couple of beers on their outdoor patio. They have several good brews on tap.

Other than pickleball, we’ve had a quiet week. I had one small project. The inlet to our canister water filter system was leaking. The inlet has a hose fitting swaged onto a 3/4″ pipe thread. Over time, it had worn where the hose fitting rotates on the 3/4″ pipe threaded into the plastic canister. I couldn’t find a direct replacement, but the hardware store had a short 3/4″ pipe threaded on both ends with the threads oriented correctly to add a hose fitting to it. So I bought those and figured I had it made.

I came home, shut the water off and removed the old fitting. Then I found I had barely enough teflon tape to put one wrap on the pipe threads. I put it back together and it leaked! I made another run into town for a $1.50 roll of teflon tape. This time I double wrapped the threads and put it back together. No leaks at the filter. Job done or so I thought.

Later I saw the area near the filters was still wet. Now the end fitting on our fresh water hose was leaking. I don’t remember how old the hose is, but I suspect we’ve had it for at least five years. I ordered a new drinking water hose from Amazon – it should be delivered today.

Today won’t be a good day for outdoor projects though. After having daily temperatures of 70 to 80 degrees, we have wind and rain today and the thermometer is only expected to reach 62 degrees.

I had another package delivered yesterday. I knew I would come across something that I needed, but left behind in Mesa. I tried to set up my Yaesu FT3DR handheld transceiver to work the local repeaters – one on a mountain top out side of Mancos and the other up in Dolores. But I didn’t have the cable to connect the radio to my laptop to program it. I ordered one from DX Engineering and it was delivered yesterday – but it was the wrong cable. I phoned them and we sorted out which cable I actually need and I shipped the wrong cable back to them. I should have the correct cable in a few days.

I’ll close with a couple of dinner plates. Wednesday, Donna grilled chicken that she simply seasoned with salt and pepper. She made creamed spinach and a baked spud to go with it.

Delicious chicken thigh and wing with creamed spinach and baked potato

Yesterday she marinated a pork tenderloin with her mojo marinade. I sliced garlic for the marinade. Donna asked for thin slices but I made them a little thicker than she usually does. She wondered how that would affect her recipe. It turned out to be an improvement – having the garlic 1-2mm thick added texture with no loss of flavor versus slicing it paper thin.

She grilled the pork last night and served it with sweet potato mash and French-cut green beans. We’ll use the leftovers to make street tacos for lunch today.

Mojo marinade pork tenderloin with sweet potato mash and French-cut green beans

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on 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!

Bitchin’ Sauce

I spent most of Saturday morning on the pickleball courts. I played in the men’s round-robin 3.0-3.5 matches and ended playing a total of nine games. I was pretty worn out by the end. Later we met up with Mike and Jodi Hall for a late lunch on the patio at Lucky Lou’s. We caught up on things – we haven’t seen them since before Christmas. Mike and I enjoyed a cigar and a few beers.

Afterwards, we made a stop at Winco where Donna restocked groceries and I found a nice cut of beef top round for jerky. I cut the steak across the grain with a my 240mm sujihiki (Japanese slicer) and was able to achieve very uniform strips for jerky. The right knife makes all the difference. I mixed up my usual marinade and refrigerated it overnight.

On Sunday morning, I made a Costco run to restock the liquor cabinet. I made an impulse buy at Costco – I saw a large container (of course it was large – it’s Costco) of Bitchin’ Sauce. Bitchin’ is a Southern California slang term from the late ’50s or early ’60s and was usually heard among the surfer crowd. It meant really cool – better than good.

I haven’t seen Bitchin’ Sauce in the store before. It’s made in Carlsbad, California and we used to buy it at San Diego County farmers’ markets. It’s an almond based chipotle dip – gluten free and kosher! It’s great with tortilla chips or crackers – in a word, it’s bitchin’.

Bitchin’ Sauce

I put the jerky on the Traeger in the afternoon and had it on the smoke setting P0. After two hours and forty-five minutes, I had a superb batch of jerky. I think it’s my best effort ever. I really think the evenly sliced strips contributed to the final outcome.

We also bought a whole chicken at Winco and I broke it down Sunday afternoon. It was fairly easy and didn’t take too long. Although whole chicken is a little cheaper than buying pre-cut chicken, we didn’t buy it to save money. I think you get a fresher product that’s arguably better quality than pre-processed chicken thighs or breasts. Once the chicken is cut up, it begins to oxidize and lose fluids. Pre-processed chicken may have been cut days earlier at a processing plant and who knows how long it’s been in transit before you finally buy it. Whole chickens broken down at home are definitely fresher. Plus, I can cut it the way I want it for yakitori.

I stayed off the pickleball courts Monday. I had to drive to west Mesa where I signed documents at Rocky Mountain Cummins for my refund. Mesa has a population of about half a million people spread out over 139 square miles. It really sprawls – it’s a 15-mile trip each way to get from our location in east Mesa to the west side of town. It’s the third largest city in Arizona and the largest city that isn’t a county seat. It has more people than Minneapolis.

While I was on the west side, I made another stop at Asiana Market. I picked up some nori (seaweed wrapper) and also mirin for yakitori tare. Back at home, I got to work on my kitchen knife handling skills. I made Japanese fried rice while Donna grilled baby bok choy and Jerk shrimp.

Diced ingredients for fried rice

The results were outstanding – a fine dinner plate.

Grilled Jerk shrimp, bok choy and Japanese fried rice

I paired the dinner plate with a Japanese beer I bought at Asiana.

Kirin Ichiban Japanese beer bomber

The weather on Monday was a little strange. The temperature reached the low 70s, but it didn’t feel like it. I was outside in my ham shack under the canopy and the cloudy skies coupled with a fairly stiff breeze made it feel a lot cooler. I had an interesting conversation with a guy named Frank in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. Frank and his wife are from Placitas, New Mexico and spend their winters in Puerto Vallarta. He told me that last year on the NFL Conference Championship weekend, they went to a local club which is like a large sports bar. He said he estimated there were around 200 patrons there. This year, they went to the same place last weekend. There were eight people there.

Many people that usually winter in Puerto Vallarta didn’t return this year due to Covid restrictions. Canadians in particular – their government requires citizens returning from Mexico to quarantine in a hotel at a cost of around $2,000. No choice – mandatory quarantine at a hotel selected by the government! He also told me that they usually go to the Walmart near their condo to stock up when they arrive for their winter stay. This year, they were stopped at the entrance and had to show identification. Anyone over the age of 60 was denied entrance to the store! This put a wrench in their shopping plans! They had to order contactless grocery delivery.

Donna and I hit the pickleball courts this morning. We were treated to excellent weather although it was a little more humid than usual. It’s sunny and 78 degrees as I type this at noon. The forecast calls for 80 degrees today, a high of 75 tomorrow and low 70s through the weekend. I can handle that!

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on 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!

Two Short Moves

I checked our route before we left Twin Arrows Casino and found two Walmart stores in Flagstaff. The closer store was a supercenter on Huntington Drive, but looking at the satellite view, the lot looked like it would be tough going in a big rig. The second store wasn’t a supercenter, but it had an easy way in and out. We’re 65 feet long and I like to know what I’m getting into before I commit to it.

The second store had a Basha’s grocery across the lot. We stopped there and I went into Walmart for water and beer while Donna went over to Basha’s for some groceries. I also bought a sandwich from Subway along with a Subway salad for Donna.

It was only about a 75-mile drive to Distant Drums RV Resort, so we had plenty of time. There wasn’t any point at trying to check in before noon. We arrived closer to 1pm and were checked after a short wait while four coaches ahead of us checked in. We had a long, paved pull-through site and didn’t need to drop the trailer. This is a nice RV park with a small swimming pool and hot tub.

Donna took a hike on the trail across the road from the park. We hiked this trail over six years ago when we stayed here. It doesn’t seem possible that six years have gone by since then, but this blog post proves it.

Start of the hike
View of Cliff Castle Casino from 1 1/2 miles up the trail

Wednesday I had a guy from Gary’s Mobile RV Wash come and wash our coach. It needed it and he did a great job – he even polished the wheels to a nice shine.

Thursday morning we pulled out around 10:30am. Again, we were in no hurry as we only had about 70 miles to our next destination – Lake Pleasant Harbor RV Resort on the west side of Phoenix on the Carefree Highway (AZ74). The interstate is close to the Distant Drums entrance and we took I-17 south. Within a few miles, the road climbs out of the Verde Valley. It’s a steep grade for about five miles. At one point, we came up on a slow moving truck. The problem was, there were only two lanes of travel and cars were in the left lane overtaking us at 70-80 mph while we had a truck going 30 mph in front of us.

I had no choice but to slow down. Usually, once you give up the momentum behind a slow truck on a steep grade, there’s no regaining speed. I got lucky this time. I could see clear road behind me and with the transmission in 3rd gear I was able to accelerate and gain speed. I shifted to fourth gear and got up to 50 mph and blew past the truck without holding up traffic or risking a rear-end collision.

We stopped at the Pilot/Flying J Travel Center in Cordes Lake and topped up with about 60 gallons of fuel. We’ll be stationary for a month at Lake Pleasant and I like to have the fuel tank as full as possible when we’re parked for extended periods. This minimizes the air space in the tank and minimizes condensation. Of course, in Arizona, it’s not much of a problem as the air is so dry, but it’s my habit and I mostly stick to it.

They had a Subway shop at the center, so Donna bought another salad and a sandwich for me. It was still early, so we waited until we stopped at the rest area at Sunset Point to eat lunch. We took a shortcut on New River Road to Lake Pleasant Harbor. In hindsight, I should’ve stayed on I-17 to the Carefree Highway because New River Road had rough sections and some construction – besides, it wasn’t much of a shortcut.

Due to Covid precautions, the office wasn’t open – well, it was but you couldn’t enter. I had to call the front desk where they put together a packet for me then a woman came out of the office and handed me our paperwork.

We set up in site 207 which is shown as a 61-foot back-in site. It was a little tricky, but by angling the trailer i was able to cheat our 65-foot length into the site.

Site 207

Yesterday, we drove up to Anthem to pick up our mail at the post office. We had to have our mail forwarded to General Delivery because this park won’t accept mail for guests unless you book for a minimum of three months. We can receive UPS or FedEx deliveries, but it has to be left at the office. They don’t want deliveries at the sites. Weird rules.

This morning, one of the park maintenance guys stopped by and told me I couldn’t have our coach past the fence line – the sites are bordered by chain link fences. This was irritating – I wasn’t in the street or blocking anyone’s access. The chain link fence line is only 54 feet long – this is supposed to be a 61-foot site.

A neighbor from across the street – who also happens to be a ham operator – came by to give me a hand. We moved the picnic table from the rear of the site and I positioned the trailer at a more severe angle putting us about seven feet deeper into the site and lining up the front of the coach even with the end of the fence.

Speaking of ham operators, after I set up my radio yesterday, a guy named Doug stopped by. He saw my antennas and told me he was a ham. I looked at his site this morning and he has quite the set-up, including a large loop antenna and a vertical that must be 40-feet high. He also has a dipole stretched across his site. The guy that helped me reposition this morning, Roger, is friends with Doug. So, we have at least three ham operators here in the park.

So far, the Arizona weather has refused to let go of summer. The highs have been 105-106 degrees and triple digits are forecast into the middle of next week before we drop into the mid to low 90s. But it’s a dry heat and there isn’t a cloud in the sky.

Tri-tip Delight

Kevin and Alana came by on Thursday afternoon and we went into town to District Brewing on the corner of Main Street and Myrtle Street – across from the park where the farmers’ market is held. The brewery had a variety of good IPAs on tap, but only one amber or red ale and one porter.

We found a table on the upper level overlooking the park and Skagit River. After a round of ales, we moved to an outside table so Alana’s chihuahua, Chico, could join us. I ordered a wood-fired pizza to go and Donna and I enjoyed it back at home.

Friday was mostly uneventful – Donna went out for a bike ride. I went to Lowes and bought supplies to build a new antenna mast. I received an MFJ-2289 Big Ear dipole antenna from Ham Radio Outlet the day before. This monster looks kind of like an old “rabbit ear” TV antenna on steroids. The collapsible whips are 17 feet long! I built a mast and mounted it on a sturdy tripod about 10 feet above the ground. The idea is to get on the 20-meter band and see if I can make some distant single-side-band contacts over the air. I haven’t been successful yet.

As I was messing with the radio yesterday afternoon, I could see clouds thickening and could feel rain coming. I took everything down and put the radio away. Meanwhile, I had a tri-tip on the Traeger wood-fired smoker-grill.

I bought the tri-tip at Winco Foods on Wednesday. It was untrimmed, so I trimmed the fat cap and seasoned it Thursday night. Tri-tip is an interesting cut of beef and has some folklore behind it. The tri-tip cut is the bottom of the sirloin – the tensor fasciae latae muscle in front of a cow’s hip. It’s a curved cut usually about eight or nine inches long and three inches thick in the center, tapering on the ends.

This portion of meat was once used only for ground beef or maybe stew meat. The story goes like this – in the 1950s a butcher named Bob Schutz at Safeway in Santa Maria, California was overstocked on ground beef. So he took a bottom sirloin cut that would normally be ground and spiced it, then put it on a rotisserie. The results were surprising. Everyone found the meat to be flavorful and hearty. With a few tweaks, he perfected the method of grilling over coals and began marketing the “tri-tip” as he called it, as a barbecue cut.

This barbecue meat became quite popular in Santa Maria, which is located in a valley known for growing wine grapes, midway between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. Today, a tri-tip that has been barbecued is known as “Santa Maria Tri-Tip.” It’s mostly a west coast thing, but I’ve heard it has grown in popularity throughout the country. The traditional method uses a simple dry rub of equal parts salt, pepper and garlic powder. I used a commercially prepared rub called “Pappy’s Choice” which has a high salt content. After trimming the tri-tip, I rubbed it, wrapped it in cling-wrap and put it in the refrigerator.

Friday afternoon, I pulled the Traeger out of the trailer and set the temperature at about 220 degrees. I did this by setting the controller to 180 degrees, then adjusting the P-setting to P0. This had the pellets feeding for 15 seconds, then idling for 45 seconds and held it at the temperature I desired.

After two hours in the Traeger, I checked the internal temperature and found it at 130 degrees. I fired up the Weber Q and heated it to 400 degrees. I took the tri-tip out of the Traeger and put it in the Weber for three minutes per side. This seared the meat and toughened the bark resulting from the rub and smoking. This is called a reverse sear technique as most searing methods start with the sear first.

The last trick to serving tri-tip is to cut it correctly. It’s a lot like cutting brisket. You must cut across the grain and pay attention as the grain direction changes. For our dinner, I sliced the tri-tip in 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick slices.

Donna made whole wheat spaghetti with pesto, sun dried tomatoes and asparagus on the side and she also had fresh corn on the cob which she bought at the vegetable stand near here on her bike ride. I pulled the tri-tip off the Weber at about 5:20 pm, just as it started raining. Perfect timing. I let it rest on a cutting board for 15 minutes before slicing. You need a cutting board with channel cut in the outer perimeter – this is one juicy hunk of beef.

Tri-tip dinner plate

That’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about tri-tip. The one I smoked was rather large – about three pounds before smoking. So, we have leftovers and that’s great. I had some with eggs over-easy for a poor man’s steak and eggs breakfast this morning. Donna sliced the remainder into thin slices that’ll be just right for tri-tip sandwiches or topping for a salad.

The rain fell off and on overnight and it’s raining lightly this morning. It should clear up by early afternoon. The thermometer reached 73 yesterday and should be about the same today. Tomorrow and Monday are predicted to be sunny and warmer. I’ll start organizing the trailer today. Tomorrow we plan to visit with Kevin and Alana and our granddaughter, Gabi, and Kevin’s boys, Nick and Kyle. On Monday, we’ll pull out of here and head over the North Cascades to Winthrop.

*Just so you know, if you use this link to shop on 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!