Category Archives: Cat

Saturday Night’s Alright

We had quite a weekend here in Cortez, Colorado. On Saturday morning, Donna and I went into town for the Cortez Farmers’ Market. The market is open on Saturdays from 7:30am to 11am. It just opened last week. We didn’t make it there until 10am, but they still had a lot of items on offer and shoppers as well. Everyone was good about social distancing and masks were worn by just about everyone there.

Donna found a few items on her shopping list – and a few that weren’t on the list, including a bag of blue popcorn. When we left, we headed south on Oak Street, which became County Road 25. We were just driving and enjoying the scenery in Midget-San with the top down. It looked like Road 25 would take us to the mountains south of town.

Before we reached the mountains, the road turned to the east. It was a nice drive with houses well-spaced on ranch land. I saw a guy outside of his barn give us a quizzical look as we passed by. I assumed he didn’t see many old British sports cars out here. Half a mile later, I understood his look. A gate blocked the road with a sign saying “Landfill Closed.” This road dead-ended at the county landfill. No wonder he thought it was odd for us to be going this way in a small car.

Despite the long range weather forecast calling for sunny weather, a thunderstorm moved into the area after we returned to La Mesa RV Park. We had a few raindrops and gusty winds. A few RVs pulled into the park for an overnight stay.

Later, Donna and I watched a few episodes of “Shooter” on NetFlix. Before we went to bed, I opened the door and took a look outside to confirm the trailer was locked, then I locked up and went to bed. I fell asleep right away, but Donna said she heard a brief cat fight before she went to sleep.

When we got up Sunday morning, Donna asked if I’d seen Ozark the cat. I hadn’t. She said Ozark never came to bed with her – she usually sleeps next to Donna. Then she heard a cat meowing. It sounded like Ozark and the sound appeared to be coming from outside. Sure enough, Ozark spent the night outside – she was in the generator compartment at the front of the coach. This is only the third time she has left the coach on her own in the last five years. She must have darted out when I checked if the trailer was locked the night before. She was happy to come to Donna and get back inside. She went straight to her food bowl.

Later, we noticed her licking her paws and saw she had injuries. A couple of nails were pulled from her back paws. I irrigated them with hydrogen peroxide while Donna held her and she was okay with it. We’ll have to keep a close eye on her for any sign of infection. I guess Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting!

Our neighbor was getting ready to leave as Donna went out to look for Ozark. She told Donna that a bobcat had come into the park – they saw it come from the field behind us. We don’t know if Ozark tangled with the bobcat or she got into it with another cat that roams the park.

Donna went for a bike ride and followed the six-mile route out to the county landfill. She came back through town and learned that the Wild Edge Brewing Collective was opening for business at 3pm. They set up five tables on the sidewalk – well-spaced – and required masks when ordering or not at a table. We went there to enjoy the fresh air and a cold one or two in the late afternoon.

While Donna was on her bike ride, I cleaned the Traeger wood-pellet fired smoker-grill. I removed the ash from the fire pot and bottom of the pit. Then I used a grill brick to clean the grill grates. I bought a three-pack of grill bricks from Amazon. These bricks are made from pumice and measure about 2-3/4″ x 4″ and 1-3/4 deep. I found this to be a very handy size and easy to use.

Although the pumice bricks are porous and somewhat soft, they are a bit brittle. When I removed the plastic covering, I saw a crack in the brick. A chunk came off one corner. Gently scrubbing back and forth with the brick created grooves where it contacted the grill grates. This soon made the brick “wrap around” the grates to clean the sides. I was able to hold the brick at an angle and use the groove closest to the end to clean further down the sides and under the grate. It was really easy and effective – I’m sold on this method of cleaning the grill. I should mention that I did this with the grill cold. The Traeger has ceramic coated grates and the pumice didn’t leave a scratch.

Grooves in the grill brick – note broken piece from the corner

I should easily get half a dozen or more cleanings from one brick. I bought a pack of three. I’ll keep this one for the Traeger and dedicate one for the Weber Q and have one left over.

Since yesterday was National Bourbon Day, I poured a dram of Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon after dinner. Then opened a bottle of 1792 Bourbon while we watched another two episodes of “Shooter.” The series is a little disappointing – it gets less believable as each episode unfolds. It’s too bad – the books and the original movie were good.

If the weather guessers have it right, we should expect a windy day tomorrow and highs in the mid to upper 80s this week with no rain in the forecast.

*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!

Quiet in Round Valley

It’s been pretty quiet out here at Springerville RV Park. We’ve had a few people check in, but it seems that most visitors are using this park for a one- or two-night stop as they travel. As I mentioned before, the park is located about one mile east of town, right on US60. It’s in Round Valley – that’s what this area is called, it’s a valley in the White Mountains.

It’s open country with only a few homes and commercial buildings visible from the park. It’s very quiet – one of the things that strikes me is the lack of traffic on the highway. US60 runs from the west side of Arizona, near Quartzsite to the outskirts of Amarillo, Texas. Out here, it’s not unusual for five or 10 minutes to elapse between cars coming down the highway. Of course, the Wuhan coronavirus has had an effect on traffic. Also, most east/west travel through Arizona and New Mexico is on I-40 or I-10 nowadays. We like the old routes through smaller towns.

Speaking of the pandemic, I have to say with the sketchy data available, you can make whatever case you wish to make either for or against restrictions. What I mean is, the way cases are confirmed and cause of death is determined varies widely from country to country, state to state and even, in some cases, from county to county. You can draw many conclusions, but if the data base is unreliable, so are the conclusions. It’s called lying with statistics. One of the best explanations I’ve read on how the virus spreads comes from an epidemiologist named Erin Bromage. He posted this article on his blog last week. I think it’s worth a read, then make up your own mind about how much social contact you are willing to make.

When we were in Mesa at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort, we had a hummingbird feeder on the window right outside of Ozark the cat’s window-mounted bed. Between the hummingbirds coming and going and quail strutting through our site, Ozark had plenty of entertainment. Here, not so much. We hear birds, but the only birds I’ve actually seen in the area are ravens or high flying turkey vultures. Ozark is lacking stimulation and spends a lot of time napping.

Donna’s been out and about exploring on her bicycle. Last week, she rode her bike to the west side of town, locked it up at the Becker Lake Wildlife Area and took a hike along the Little Colorado River Trail. Right away, she encountered a mule deer doe.

Mule deer doe keeping an eye on Donna at the Little Colorado River Trail

The trail had a few signs for points of interest and scenic views of the river. Donna snapped a few pictures.

The next day, Donna rode her bike into town to mail a letter at the post office. She found a couple more points of interest right in town across from the post office.

There’s a statue called Madonna of the Trail – it’s one of 12 statues in the area dedicated to women pioneers.

She also found a well that dates back to 1885.

On Friday night, Donna prepared an old favorite for dinner – chicken enchilada skillet casserole.

On Saturday, Donna rode her bike out through Eagar on an 18-mile loop. She found more sights to see.

The stone foundation is all that’s left of the grist mill

I’m sure this was a real wild west town 150 years ago!

As you can see from the photos, we had excellent weather last week. The skies were clear. It was warm with the temperature reaching the low 80s. The afternoons are generally windy and we had several gusts in excess of 30 mph. The most striking thing is the relative humidity (RH) though. It’s been extremely dry with an RH of only eight or nine percent!

We could tell on Saturday eveningthat we were in for a change in the weather. The forecast called for rain moving in over the next couple of days. We had a few clouds before sunset.

We had rain with thundershowers and high winds off and on all day Sunday. About one third of an inch of rain was recorded. The RH improved with the humidity level reaching 35%. Today we have clouds, but only a couple of rain drops have fallen. The long range forecast calls for sunny days ahead with daily highs in the mid to upper 70s.

Triple Digit Heat

Today is our last full day at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona. Last week, the weather guessers predicted hot weather ahead and they got it right. Thursday we hit 96 degrees, Friday reached 99 degrees and every day since then we have topped 100 degrees. Our rooftop air conditioners are running non-stop for about 12 hours a day. The nighttime temperature drops down to about 70 degrees. Soon enough, that will end and overnight lows of 85-90 degrees can happen. It’s time to move on.

We’ve continued our precautions against the novel coronavirus. We’ve pretty much avoided contact with others and have only gone out for groceries. Donna has taken several bicycle rides out through the neighborhoods, but doesn’t come into contact with anyone on her rides.

Donna confirmed our reservation in Springerville – I was a little concerned about it. Some RV parks aren’t allowing new visitors to enter. We’re good to go. I’ve been extra careful about wearing a face mask when I shop and washing my hands thoroughly. The last thing I want to do is carry the virus down the road. Springerville is a small town of about 2,000 people. It’s adjacent to Eager, another small town with a population of about 5,000 people. There has only been one confirmed case of COVID-19 in the area.

We’ve been watching more TV than usual. Over the last few weeks, we binge watched Narcos, then the first two seasons of Narcos Mexico and now we’re watching the Netflix series called Ozark.

That reminds me – I haven’t mentioned Ozark the cat in a while. When Ozark the cat moved in with us, I bought cat food at Petco. There was a particular brand I favored. The thing about pet food is the marketing is meant to appeal to the pet owner and I wonder how much difference it all makes to the pet. Having said that, I’ll admit to buying premium brand cat food just like I always did when I had dogs. I don’t want to get into a brand discussion, so I’ll leave it at that.

When we were in San Diego, we were told Petco was discontinuing this line of cat food. We found it at PetSmart and started buying it there. Then I found out it wasn’t just Petco not carrying this particular cat food. The manufacturer was phasing it out and replacing it with a re-branded label. The new cat food has a similar nutritional profile but some ingredients are changed and the shape of the food nuggets is different.

Dogs and cats don’t need to have a wide variety of food. In fact, they become accustomed to eating the same foods and often have a bit of a rough adjustment when new foods are introduced. We bought the new brand of cat food for Ozark last week while we still had some of the food she’s been eating for the last five years. Donna slowly introduced the new product by mixing it with her usual food. Ozark seemed a bit off the first day or two, but she’s doing fine now.

Yesterday, I had a phone call from my old friend, Jim Birditt. Jimbo and I go way back – we met in eighth or ninth grade, I’m not sure which it was. He told me he was drawn for an out-of-state Big Game Combination hunting license for Montana. I’m envious. We used to hunt in Montana every fall back in the ’90s. I wrote a post about it here. The funny thing was this – he was telling his wife, Cindy, about hunting and staying at Mumbro Park. Cindy Googled Mumbro Park and found my old post about the place.

I started prepping for our move this morning. After four months here in Mesa, the trailer needed to be re-organized. I straightened the trailer out and packed the Weber Q and Traeger. By late morning, it was already 92 degrees and the trailer was hot. Later, I’ll put Donna’s bike away and pack the folding table. The chairs can wait until tomorrow when I do the final packing. I’ll dump the holding tanks in the morning. I always like to have empty holding tanks and plenty of fresh water on board when we travel. You never know what might come up and it’s always good to be ready.

With that in mind, I had the propane tank filled on Tuesday. I paid a premium to have it filled by the Arizona Propane delivery truck. The tank was just about empty after having the regulator replaced. Once I disconnect from the power pedestal here, we’ll need the propane to run the refrigerator.

With our limited refrigerator and freezer space, I’m hoping the food supply chain stays intact. Talk of food shortages looming are a bit worrisome. We shop for groceries once or twice a week to keep fresh food on hand. We also eat well. Here are a couple of examples from the last week.

First is a pork tenderloin Donna marinated in her mojo marinade and I grilled it on the Weber Q. Donna made a new side for it – cauliflower Spanish rice. It was delicious.

Mojo marinated pork with cauliflower Spanish rice and corn topped with cotija cheese

On Monday, Donna grilled Caribbean jerk marinade shrimp topped with a fruit salsa over jasmine rice with corn and broccoli on the side.

Tomorrow morning I’ll finish loading up and hook up the trailer. Once I get the trailer out of our site and onto the street, I can load Midget-San and hit the road. We have a few options for the route to Springerville. I think we’ll head out past Saguaro Lake then go up the Beeline Highway to Payson. From there, we’ll head east through Show Low and on to Springerville. It’ll be warm there, but with an elevation of 7,000 feet above sea level, it’ll be at least 20 degrees cooler than Mesa. Tomorrow’s forecast for Springerville calls for clear skies and a high temperature of 83 degrees – better than the 105 degrees forecast for Mesa!

It’s too bad we have to leave without saying our goodbyes to friends and my daughter Jamie who just bought a house on the west side near Goodyear, but we’re taking the pandemic seriously.

Earthquake!

We’re still mooch-docking in my daughter, Alana’s, driveway in Arlington, Washington. I’m still waiting for Lifestyles Recreational Products in Mount Vernon to repair the Spyder. As many of you know, my career was in the automotive service industry for over 30 years. At one point, I was the manager of the Volkswagen of America Technical Helpline call center. We provided technical assistance including repair advice and instructions to Volkswagen dealers across the country.

Apparently, Bombardier Recreation Products (BRP) – maker of the Can-Am brand – has a technical call center in Quebec. What I’m facing with the shop in Mount Vernon is a service department that’s unsure of their diagnosis. They think I need a new Engine Control Module and I agree. The thing is, it costs over $500 and it’s not returnable. So, they’ve opened a ticket with BRP’s technical call center and are waiting to hear them say to replace this part! It’s also apparent the BRP doesn’t run a very efficient call center – the ticket has been open for days without a response. So, we wait.

Another issue irritated me this week. One of the challenges we face on the road is high speed internet accessibility. We use Verizon and have good internet access 99% of the time. Lately, Verizon seems to be pushing us to change from our 30GB/month plan to something new with a contract renewal. I’m happy with the current plan. It’s always allowed me to add incremental data – a gigabyte at a time – for a reasonable rate if it looked like we may exceed our 30GB allowance.

This week, with a few days left in our cycle, I received a warning that we were going to exceed our data allowance. This took me by surprise – I monitor our data usage every morning. Somehow we suddenly used a large amount of data. The next day our increased usage rate continued – I can’t explain it. I went to the website to add a couple of gigabytes of data and couldn’t find the page I used in the past. Instead, when I clicked on “add more data,” it took me to page where the only choices were to change my plan to a new format and enter a new contract. Something smells rotten here.

Maybe it’s just a conspiracy theory, but Verizon is the one that measures my data usage. Suddenly, without explanation, my daily data usage jumps to a higher rate. Then, my ability to add incremental data is removed and new plans are rolled out for me to sign up. I didn’t go for it, so they charged me an extra $15 for going over our allowance by less than one gigabyte. I’ll be keeping a close eye on our usage as always.

One of the things I’m taking advantage of while we’re here is ordering parts for a few projects. I mentioned the gas spring for the basement compartment door I replaced. We also have a blown gas spring on our Dometic AE awning. It blew out when we were in Sutherlin and I haven’t had a chance to address it. The thing is, where we’re parked now I can’t open the awning due to a tree next to us. So, I couldn’t measure the extended and collapsed length of the gas spring. After doing some research, I found a website for Dyers RV Parts and Accessories. They had Dometic replacement parts and I found this statement:

Standard style hardware awnings – measure the back-channel (that is the arm that attaches to the coach) but do not count the mounting bracket. If it measures 65-66,” you have Standard hardware.

*Note: If the above measures 62-63″ you have Basement style hardware and need Dometic strut # 3310555.000 instead.

I measured our back channel and it was just over 65″. I ordered the standard hardware and got the gas spring in a few days. It included the star-washer style fasteners that Dometic uses – a nice touch. I’ll install it as soon as we’re in a position to open the awning.

There was something I wanted to do to Midget-San. The trunk (or boot as the British call it) was nicely painted inside, but unlined. I wanted to add a liner so things wouldn’t slide around and also to protect the finish.

Finding a trunk liner on Amazon required a bit of detective work. The descriptions often had contradictory dimensions stated. I had to read through reviews and figure out just how large each liner really was. The one I ended up ordering said it was very small – 17″ x 23″ – but the reviews revealed it was a much larger item. I needed about 25″ x 42″. What I received was about 48″ x 55″.

The trunk liner was easily trimmed with scissors.

Liner installed and collapsible boxes added

After I trimmed the liner to size, Donna added collapsible boxes to hold groceries or any other loose items we might pick up to keep them from rolling around in the back.

Donna found a great deal on chicken leg quarters – $0.99/lb. She made a marinade called Pretty Chicken Marinade – we don’t know if it’s called that because the chicken comes off the grill looking pretty with this marinade or if it’s because it’s pretty darn tasty! She served it with packaged cauliflower rice – we both agreed that the pre-packed cauliflower rice isn’t as good as the cauliflower rice she makes.

Ozark the cat spends most of her time in her window-mounted cat bed, watching the world go by. Our little kitty is getting husky – she’s chubby! Her exercise consists of madly dashing from her living room perch to the back of the coach where she flies up to the bedroom window to track something of interest. Then she runs back and repeats.

Another favorite activity is attacking a small burlap bag Donna wrapped around a piece of cardboard. Ozark will go to town scratching and tearing at it with all four paws.

When she’s done with her attack, she often rolls over and wants her chubby belly rubbed.

I’m sure everyone heard about the big earthquake in southern California last week. It was a real shaker with a magnitude near 7, centered by Ridgecrest in the desert. When we left San Diego, we boondocked that first night in the desert south of Inyokern near Ridgecrest. Donna wondered what it would have been like if we were there when the earthquake happened. I grew up in southern California and have experienced several earthquakes, so I had a pretty good idea of what it would be like in the coach.

We had a simple dinner of beef ragu over spaghetti squash and watched Tour de France coverage before going to bed.

Last night, I was awakened by our coach suddenly rocking and shaking. I said to Donna, “Earthquake!” She said, “Really?” I checked the clock – 2:55am. This morning I found out a 4.6 magnitude earthquake centered near Monroe – a few miles from here – was registered at 2:53am. Reports said it could be felt all the way to the Canadian border. This morning, it’s only a vague memory for Donna.

The weather has been typical western Washington – a few nice days followed by a few wet, dreary days. The temperature has ranged from the upper-60s to the mid-70s. The next few days are expected to be dry with mid-70s temperatures. I’d like to see that become a continuing trend.

*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!

Exploring Reno/Sparks

After I wrote my last post Saturday morning, we headed out on the Spyder. We rode to the Reno Riverfest – a summer kick-off held at Wingfield Park near downtown Reno. Wingfield Park is an island in the Truckee River, which flows right through town, accessible via pedestrian bridges, two on the north side and one on the south. The Riverfest featured a number of events including a kayak competition, several bands on two bandstands, vendor tents and beer gardens.

Entry was free and a sunny Saturday meant huge crowds in the park. The temperature was around 80 degrees.

Pedestrian bridge on the north side over the Truckee River

We watched the kayaks on the south side for a while. The competitors had to paddle upstream through rapids and maneuver through a series of gates. It looked very technical as they had to quickly change direction to get through the course.

We listened to a guy performing an excellent blues set with just his acoustic guitar and a great voice. He was good!

We didn’t hang around for too long. It was very crowded and Donna had left her I.D. back at the coach, so we couldn’t go into the beer garden. On the way back, we stopped at The Depot Craft Brewery Distillery. We sampled a couple of tasty brews made onsite – they were okay with Donna not having her proof of age. They also have five stills for distilling spirits, but we didn’t try any liquor.

On the way to the Riverfest, Donna spotted a storefront with a sign advertising hand rolled cigars. We made a stop there on the way back. It was Ruiz Cigar Lounge. This is a cigar shop featuring Ruiz cigars – rolled onsite by Marvin Ruiz and also some Ruiz cigars from his family’s factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. Marvin is an interesting and very friendly guy. He moved to Nevada from Nicaragua in 2005. He imports tobacco from his family’s farm and rolls cigars. He learned the trade in Nicaragua, first working at the Padron factory where his father and grandmother also worked at one time. Later he worked for Drew Estate and then Perdomo.

We talked cigars for a while as he showed me his selection and described many of the cigars in the Ruiz line up. I bought one to try, then he surprised us with a treat. He brought out some tobacco leaves and described the different leaves. They were all Nicaraguan from Esteli and Jalapa. He realized I knew a little bit about cigar construction as we discussed different leaf types and methods of rolling the filler.

Then he proceeded to roll a cigar. It was like watching a magician. His movements were quick and precise – he had the filler bunched and rolled in the binder so quickly that there must have some sleight of hand involved. He was almost done with the cigar before I could start snapping photos.

Already rolling the filler bunch with binder leaf

The bunch and binder are hidden by his right hand as he makes a cut with a chaveta – a special type of knife for cigar making

He laid out the wrapper leaf to finish the cigar

Finished cigar – old school style without using any molds

He gave me the Churchill cigar he’d just rolled. How generous is that?!

Off the shelf Ruiz cigar on the right – the shaggy foot Churchill he made for me on the left

I puffed the shaggy foot Churchill after dinner. It was a very nice cigar and I enjoyed it immensely.

On Sunday, Donna rode her beater bike to do some shopping nearby. While she was out, she went to Petco and brought home a surprise for Ozark the cat. Ozark has only been outside of our coach a few times in the four years since she joined us. She likes to sit on the steps behind the screen door or in her window bed to watch the outside world, but she isn’t inclined to go out.

Donna brought home a cat harness and leash. We fit the harness to Ozark and Donna took her out. She seemed to like it. She rolled in the synthetic turf in our site and they took a short walk. I’m wondering if this will encourage Ozark to go out on her own – that wouldn’t be a good thing.

Our site with fake grass at Sparks Marina RV Park

Sunday afternoon, I went back to Ruiz Cigar Lounge and sat with Marvin and shot the breeze while we puffed our cigars. He told me a lot of interesting stories about growing up in Nicaragua as a third-generation cigar roller. Another fellow from Nicaragua came into the lounge – I don’t recall his name – he told me Marvin is a Master Torcedor – a title given to only the most highly skilled cigar rollers. I bought a few more cigars from him.

While we’re back on full hook-ups, Donna is taking advantage by catching up on laundry and preparing some fine dinners. Saturday night she made one of our favorites – chicken enchilada skillet casserole.

Sunday she whipped up coconut cauliflower risotto while I grilled chicken thighs. She served it with steamed spinach.

Grilled chicken thighs with coconut cauliflower risotto and steamed spinach

This morning we returned to the Evelyn Mount Community Center for pickleball. The games we’re all high level and we had fun. We’ll go back again.

The weather here in Sparks, Nevada has been holding up fine. Daily highs are in the upper 70s. It should be cooler Wednesday with a possibility of rain on Thursday. We’re scheduled to depart on Thursday – with any luck we’ll beat the rain. I’m not sure where we’re going next – maybe Susanville, California. I’ll be sure to top off our fuel tank before we enter California – diesel fuel prices are about a dollar less per gallon in Nevada than they are in California.

Who Let the Cat Out?

This blog is written on a template from WordPress. Periodically, WordPress updates the platform. I was told, by someone in the know, to always update to the latest version. Sometimes the update fixes bugs or plugs vulnerabilities. So that’s what I do. Well, the latest “upgrade” changed the whole platform. My photos no longer are reduced to a smaller image that can enlarged to their original size by clicking on them – they are sized to fit the page automatically. I don’t see this as an upgrade.

It’s taken me a while to figure out how to insert links in the new format. The biggest issue I have is with the sidebar widgets. I have affiliate links in the sidebar. Some no longer work – for example, I’m an Amazon affiliate. If you go to Amazon from my website link, I earn a small referral for anything you buy from them on that visit. You pay the same price – I just earn an small referral fee. It isn’t much and now that the link has broken, my last statement showed I earned all of 54 cents in the last month. I’ll have to figure out how to fix it. I’m never going to get enough referral money to even pay for the web hosting cost of a blog, but a few bucks here and there doesn’t hurt.

I don’t have much to report on the RV side of things. We’re settled in and I haven’t had any real projects here in Mesa. We stay active at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort though. I’ve been busy playing pickleball and instructing pickelball lessons. Giving lessons has helped me focus my own play – so it’s beneficial to both me and my students.

We enjoy the birds here at Viewpoint. When I bought the second quail block to attract and feed birds, I wondered if I could keep it up. The birds demolished the first one in about 10 days. At $14 per block, I wasn’t sure if I should keep it up. Now that we have much warmer weather, the birds have an easier time finding more naturally occurring food sources, so the block isn’t disappearing as fast.

Ozark the cat loves the quail block. She sits on the bottom step of the entry and watches the birds through the screen door. She doesn’t try to go outside though. I think she had enough of the outdoors when we found her as a young kitten hiding under our coach at Turkey Creek near Branson, Missouri. She’d much rather stay dry and well fed in our coach.

Ozark the cat stretching out on the dashboard

Our friends Mike and Jodi Hall have a rescue kitten that looks a lot like Ozark the cat. We were talking over happy hour at Lucky Lou’s and Jodi told us her cat story. Apparently, the night before, their kitten, unbeknownst to them, went out the back screen door sometime after 10pm. Jodi knew something wasn’t right when the cat never came to snuggle in bed all night. In the morning, she couldn’t find the cat and it didn’t come when she put food out.

She checked the backyard fearing the kitten may have fallen into the koi pond or got into the pool and ended up in the filtration system, but the cat was nowhere to be found. In the backyard they have an aviary built around a tree. In the afternoon, Jodi looked at the tree carefully. Sure enough, the kitten was up in a crook in the tree. Jodi had to climb up on the aviary, then into the tree to bring the cat down. Mystery solved and now their cat doesn’t seem as inclined to go outside anymore.

While I don’t have any RV related things to post, I want to post a few meal pictures. I know this seems like a food blog at times, but I like to make the point that full-time RV living doesn’t mean always mean eating out, grilling hot dogs or microwaving frozen food. It doesn’t always have to be fancy either. Last week Donna diced leftover pork tenderloin and prepared street tacos. Yummy!

I took advantage of the fine weather and grilled steaks on Sunday.

Steak with baked sweet potato and asparagus

Monday Donna made a dish called chicken Gabriella and served it with mashed potatoes and roasted Brussel sprouts.

Chicken with mashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts

Speaking of fine weather, we’ve had daily highs in the mid to upper 70s over the last 10 days and even hit 83 degrees yesterday. The forecast looks good although we may have a couple of cooler days with rain showers next week. Overall, we can expect upper 70s and low 80s in the foreseeable future.

Fairground Events

While we were dry camping at Sierra Trading Post (STP) in Cheyenne, I saw something interesting. Around 7pm, a UPS tractor-trailer rig with a long trailer pulled into the STP lot. It had an additional fifth-wheel plate mounted on a dual wheel tow bar trailing behind it. The driver dropped the trailer and left. Minutes later another UPS tractor trailer rig with a shorter pup-trailer pulled in. The driver dropped the pup trailer, then disconnected the trailing fifth wheel from the first trailer and moved it to the front of the pup trailer. Then he hooked up to the long trailer and left. A little while later, a third UPS tractor-trailer pulled in with a long trailer. He hooked the pup trailer to the back of the long trailer and pulled out towing a double combination rig. This performance was repeated in exactly the same sequence the following night.

Apparently, UPS used the STP lot as a staging/transfer station. It reminded me of the time we were in Alamogordo dry camping in an abandoned shopping plaza and FedEx trucks converged there to redistribute their packages. I guess UPS and FedEx can’t have dedicated facilities everywhere they need to transfer freight, so they make do with what’s available in the area.

When we left Cheyenne, we saw on Facebook that our friends Charlie and Sheila Pennington were in the area. They stayed at a campground south of town off of I-25. They were probably within 10 miles of us – too bad we didn’t know. It would have been fun to see them again – we met them in Rapid City our first year on the road.

I mentioned the Bright Line Eating plan that Donna’s on. It involves consuming a lot of vegetables and I don’t always eat the same meals as she does. But sometimes it works out and we have the same thing, just in different proportions. On Friday night, Donna made ginger-carrot soup and grilled wild coho salmon, bok choy and shishito peppers. Yummy!

Ginger-carrot soup with unsweetened coconut milk

Grilled salmon, bok choy and shishito peppers

On Saturdays, they have the Longmont farmers’ market here at the Boulder County Fairgrounds from 8am to 1pm. We walked over to see what it was all about. It was a fairly large market with dozens of vendors – local produce, meats and crafts along with food trucks. As usual, live music was presented with a bluegrass band playing while we were there.

Bluegrass at the farmers’ market

Walking over there, we passed a pond. There was a platform with a large osprey nest. The osprey was in the nest but jumped out and stood on the edge of the platform before I took a photo. It’s hard to see the bird, but the nest was huge.

Osprey nest on platform at the pond

After we shopped and bought a few fresh veggies, we headed back through the fairgrounds and stopped at the indoor arena. A horse show was taking place over the weekend – much like the one we saw in Springfield, Illinois but on a smaller scale. It was cool in the arena and felt nice to get out of the sun.

This girl competed in the nine and under category

Saturday night Donna made green chile turkey burgers and served it with fresh corn on the cob we bought at the farmers’ market along with grilled zucchini sprinkled with lemon salt. I had my burger with avocado on a ciabatta roll – Donna opted out of the bread.

Green chile turkey burger with veggies

Sunday morning the Moto GP race from Silverstone, England was cancelled due to standing water on the track. I watched the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix instead and it was a good one. This is the first time Moto GP has cancelled an event since 1980.

It’s been hot out with afternoon temperatures reaching the low to mid 90s. We’ve also had periods of gusty wind. We run the air conditioners from late morning until evening. With the interior temperature of the coach on the cool side, Ozark the cat likes to lay in the sun on the dashboard. She stretches out on her back and from the outside, she looks like a dead kitty.

Ozark the cat lying in the sun

Stretching out

As usual we witnessed the Monday morning exodus. The weekend warrior campers pulled out en mass.

The temperature should reach the low 90s again today with wind gusts up to 35 mph here and up to 50 mph in the mountains. A cold front is forecast to move in overnight and the temperature will be much cooler tomorrow – the high is predicted to be 75 degrees. Last night we had a passing shower and gusty winds. We plan to extend our stay here until Thursday.

Roadside Assistance

I closed my last post saying we were waiting for Coach-Net Roadside Assistance to send a tow truck Wednesday morning. They were on top of it – they called me to first say they had found a qualified shop for the repair. Later they called and told me a tow truck was dispatched and should arrive in about 90 minutes. Actually two trucks were coming – one for the coach and one for the trailer.

The tow truck driver phoned and said he was delayed slightly and would be about 30 minutes late. They showed up and set to work. First I had to unhook the trailer, then I needed to get the coach turned around. The road had curves coming from both directions, so they stationed their trucks with emergency lights flashing in the road, blocking traffic from either direction while I turned us around.

The tow truck for the coach was a big heavy-duty Peterbilt. Once they had the front wheels secured in the cradles and lifted to the coach, they had to get underneath to disconnect the drive shaft. You can’t tow with the rear wheels down with the shaft connected. If you do, the transmission output shaft will spin but it won’t be lubricated because the pump works off of the input shaft which only turns when the engine is running.

On the tow truck – the guys are disconnecting the drive shaft

It was a long, slow ride to Binghamton. We retraced our route for several miles, then got on I-81. Traveling on highway 206, we came down some of the grades we climbed the day before. I rode with the driver in the big tow truck while Donna rode in the pickup truck towing our trailer. Ozark the cat stayed in the coach in her crate. Later, I told Donna she was lucky to ride in the comfort of the pickup truck. The Peterbilt tow truck rode rough and the big Caterpillar engine was so noisy, it was hard to carry on any conversation. The jake brake on that thing rattled my eardrums.

The nice thing about roadside assistance is they find the provider and pay for the tow. This was a very expensive tow since we were so far out in the countryside. I won’t complain about paying the annual Coach-Net membership fee – they covered the bill to the tune of $1900. It was $1300 for the coach and $600 for the trailer!

Coach-Net determines who the nearest qualified shop is and that’s where they take you. If you want to go somewhere else, get your wallet out. They took us to Stadium International in Binghamton. I went inside and met Dave, our service guy. It didn’t go too well. Right off the bat, he said he couldn’t look at our coach until Friday, possibly Thursday. He advised me to rent a car and find a hotel. Not what I wanted to hear. The bad thing about roadside assistance is they choose the nearest qualified shop!

After a while I talked to another guy, Richard. He runs the night shift – they’re open until midnight. He agreed to order the hydraulic oil filters – I asked if they could change those first as it may solve the problem and it’s not a difficult or time-consuming task.

Donna found us a room at the Red Roof Inn. One of the go-fers from the shop drove her there with Ozark the cat and all of the stuff we thought we would need for the next few days. I followed on the Spyder. At the hotel, we met an interesting bunch of guys that had been staying there Monday through Friday for the last five years! They’re part of a construction crew working on the interstate bridge project and have a couple more years to go before completion.

The shop got the filters and they set about changing them Thursday morning. The mechanic was unfamiliar with the system and I had to tell him where the filters are located – they’re in the bottom of the fluid reservoir.

After filter change, I was out of luck. The fan still didn’t operate correctly. The service guy, Dave, said they could diagnose further, but he wouldn’t be able to get to it until next Tuesday! I explained to him that if we needed parts, such as a hydraulic motor for the fan, they were difficult to find. I found a place in England called White House Products, LTD that had seven units in stock. For a fee, they could have them here in three business days. That meant that if we had to wait until Tuesday to see if that’s what I needed, it would be a full week before we had our hands on the part. He said I could take it up with Jim. I asked who Jim was and he said he was the manager.

I had a short meeting with Jim. He was non-committal, but said he would see what he could work out. I left before noon. Later I rode the Spyder back to the shop – I had forgotten my blood pressure meds. Jim told me they found the problem. He said the thermostat for the fan located in the radiator was bad and he didn’t think he could find one. I knew what he was talking about – I told him it was called a wax valve and I thought I might be able to find one online.

The wax valve in this system controls the fan speed without the use of electronic controls. It’s strictly a mechanical system and usually very reliable. The hydraulic fluid flows through an orifice in the wax valve. There’s a tapered rod with a piston on the end inside the valve – shaped somewhat like a nail with a thick head. The piston resides in a cylinder filled with wax in a closed chamber. A spring on the opposite side forces the piston against the wax. In this position, the orifice is open and fluid bypasses the fan motor through the wax valve.

When the wax valve is heated by the coolant, the wax begins to melt and expand. It pushes the piston forcing the tapered needle into the orifice. As the orifice becomes restricted, it bypasses less and more fluid flows through the fan motor and it speeds up. When the orifice is completely closed, the fan is running at high speed.

Around 2005 or 2006, most motorhome manufacturers went away from this simple and usually reliable system and went to an electrical/mechanical valve with an electronic controller. These have proven to be troublesome.

Back to my story. I searched online and found the wax valve was back ordered at White House Products, LTD. They had 55 units coming, but couldn’t say for sure when they would have them. I contacted another place in Oregon called Source Engineering. They sell a kit for Monaco coaches to retrofit the newer electronic system back to the wax valve system when it inevitably fails. He had kits and told me he could probably supply a valve in a week or two. His recommendation was to disconnect the hydraulic lines from the valve and cap them, stopping all bypass flow and the fan would run on high speed continuously.

I knew this would work, but I wondered if we would run too cool on level roads when the load wasn’t very high. Of course the coolant thermostat wouldn’t open until the coolant hit 180 degrees, so theoretically we should run at least 180 degrees which is acceptable.

I relayed this information to Jim at Stadium International. He agreed that capping the lines would work. He said that was how they determined for sure the wax valve was bad – they capped the lines temporarily and the fan ran at high speed. He used brass fittings for this and said if he was going to send me down the road with a makeshift repair, he had to find stainless steel fittings because he didn’t think the brass would hold up. I asked him to go ahead and he said he would have it done by noon.

Meanwhile, Donna’s sister had to go to Albany for a meeting on Thursday. She offered to drive down to Binghamton and take her to Bennington, Vermont to their parents’ house. We were thinking at that time that we were looking at a full week or more in the hotel room. I figured there was no need for us both to share that misery. But then, it looked like I could be on the road Friday afternoon. This left me with a logistical problem. I had more stuff in the hotel room than I could transport on the Spyder.

I talked to the hotel owner and settled on a late checkout time of 2pm. I figured I would take what I could on the Spyder and once the coach was ready, drive it back to the hotel to load Ozark the cat and her litter box along with my suitcase.

It turned out the coach wasn’t done at noon. They had trouble finding the fittings needed, but they had them around 12:30pm and were working on it. Dave helped me solve the hotel dilemma. He had their go-fer drive me to the hotel in their parts van and I loaded everything from the room right at 2pm and he drove me back.

They had finished the work by then. I had already loaded the Spyder in the trailer and transferred the stuff from the van. Dave told me I should take the coach for a test drive while he finished the paperwork. I knew it would be fine – the fan kicked in at high speed as soon as I started it up. I drove it and the coolant temperature hit 182 degrees and held. There were no leaks. I was good to go.

I headed out around 3pm. The traffic wasn’t bad but the road surface on I-88 in New York is atrocious. When I hit Albany, the traffic thickened. Going through Troy was bumper-to-bumper misery. The coolant temperature stayed cool the whole way. On a long grade near Central Bridge, it only went up to 184 degrees. It was a cool day, but I think even on a hot day, I won’t see over 190 degrees. As soon as I can, I’ll get a new wax valve and complete the repair myself.

I pulled into the yard at Donna’s parents house around 7pm. I was exhausted. Her parents, Duke and Lorraine, have three acres just outside of Old Bennington, Vermont. We’ll moochdock in their yard. I have to change out our house batteries here, but that’s a story for another time.

Daily Downpours

We mostly hung out at the Grand Ole RV Resort and dodged the expected thundershowers all weekend. Friday evening Donna browned bone-in skin-on chicken thighs and cooked it with diced tomatoes, red wine, and kalamata olives and then topped it with feta cheese. She served it with whole wheat orzo and roasted broccolini on the side. I’d made a run to the Goodlettsville Kroger a few miles away earlier to pick up the wine and kalamata olives.

Chicken with tomatoes, kalamata olives and feta

It was a very tasty meal. We ate inside as the thundershowers rolled in.

On Saturday morning we planned to go to the Madison Creek Farm for their Saturday market. Their farm is located out on Willis Branch Road – an affluent area with large homes and horse farms. When we arrived we found out that the market was closed due to a wedding being held there. From time to time, they rent out the property for special events.

Madison Creek Farm

We saw some fresh vegetable baskets they had prepared for members that signed up for weekly pick-up. The vegetables looked great and were obviously freshly picked from the garden. They also grow flowers and in the summer months, customers can cut their own.

When we returned to Grand Ole RV Park, we moved from our temporary site to a long, full hook-up site. We packed quickly and made the short move by 11am.

Donna enjoying a glass of sun tea in our new site

Our new site is on a small rise near the park entrance, overlooking most of the RV park. It’s nice but the trees along the south side of the coach have blocked my Dish Network reception. No Moto GP race coverage for me this weekend.

After we settled in, I rode the Spyder to Walmart several miles away on Gallatin Pike. The traffic in the Nashville area is horrible. At a couple of intersections, I had to wait for the traffic signal to cycle twice before I could get through. I went to Walmart to refill some gallon jugs of purified water.

Donna went out and hiked along a creek called Lumsley Fork – she actually walked along a road called Hitt Lane that follows the creek. In the late afternoon and into the evening we had thundershowers again.

They serve breakfast here at the RV park. On Friday, I had their bacon and eggs plate. I found out they had biscuits and gravy, so I had to have that Sunday morning. They also have a daily dinner plate – no open menu, just one entree per evening and live entertainment. Donna met one the musicians. He stays here at the park and plays in two bands. One band plays on Friday night and is more of a country music band with a girl playing fiddle. The other band plays on Saturday night and they cover blues and classic rock. They have other musicians for each night – either on the back patio – weather permitting – or in the little store/restaurant.

I used the downtime in the afternoon to remove and clean the screen on our Fantastic Fan in the kitchen. The roof vent collects a greasy film and dust over time.

On Sunday evening, Donna marinated a pork tenderloin in a brown sugar/bourbon/dijon marinade. She broke into my bourbon stash for one of the main ingredients. The weather was threatening when I put it on the grill. I had just given the tenderloin a final check and found the internal temperature with an instant read meat thermometer at 135 degrees when the rain started falling. I quickly put the meat on a cutting board as Donna opened the door to the coach for me. The rain came down in buckets.

Pork tenderloin with brown sugar/bourbon/dijon gravy, mashed sweet potato and buttered corn with roasted red peppers

Thunder had Ozark the cat hiding in a small storage cubby in our closet.

Ozark hiding out

After a heavy down pour, the rain let up and we had showers off and on into the night. It’s overcast this morning and the forecast calls for thundershowers this afternoon – a 50% chance all afternoon. We’re planning to take a shuttle to downtown Nashville, but we’ll probably be dodging showers while we’re there. The high should reach the upper 80s. Waiting for a window of nicer weather doesn’t look like a possibility. The daily showers should continue all week.

Spoonbills, Alligators and Horses

We jumped on the Spyder Monday and headed east from Betty’s RV Park in Abbeville on highway 14 past Delcambre. Our destination was Rip Van Winkle’s Gardens. We weren’t that interested in touring the gardens – our intention was to visit the rookery to see the birds and look for alligators.

Click to enlarge

The rookery is a favored nesting ground for roseate spoonbills, ibis and egrets. The birds congregate on the three islands in the pond created by water recycled from the gardens. They prefer to nest in islands where alligators keep snakes, raccoons and other predators away from their eggs.

A little hard to see, but these trees are full of birds

Donna and I walked the path around the pond – it’s about three quarters of a mile around. As we reached the far side of the pond, something thrashed in the water. There it was – an alligator – eyes and head popped up looking at us. Then I saw a much larger ‘gator swimming in the channel between two of the islands.

We continued our walk and met a woman from Baton Rouge who was visiting the area and photographing the birds. She warned us about taking I-10 into Baton Rouge. She told us there was construction before the bridge into Baton Rouge taking the interstate down to one lane. She said there are crashes reported on a regular basis as an inattentive driver slams into the suddenly stopped traffic. It’s always nice to have local knowledge – we planned to avoid the I-10 bridge over the Mississippi.

As we made our way around the pond, we heard a sound. It was almost like someone snoring. We moved slowly toward the sound. The sound stopped. A few more steps and there he was – an alligator just a couple of feet from the shore. I estimated him to be between five and six feet long.

Alligator snoozing

He didn’t pay any attention to us and only opened his eyes a couple of times.

Zzzzz

We rode into Rip Van Winkle Gardens to visit the gift shop and look around. We found several peacocks and hens by the gift shop.

Peacocks and hens

Peacock in a tree

Donna bought a couple of items and we headed home. I got busy stowing things in the trailer and getting us ready to move. We had our final Betty’s Famous Happy hour – until next time. The name Betty’s Famous Happy Hour comes from an app called Untapped. On this app, people check in and rate the beer they’re drinking. Someone checked in and put their location as Betty’s Famous Happy Hour! So now, if you open the Untapped app at Betty’s, you can check in and it’ll give that name for the location.

On Tuesday morning, I finished making us ready for travel. I moved slowly as it was hot and very humid. I kept the air conditioners running until the last moment before I unplugged from the 50-amp pedestal. Once I had the trailer hooked up, I started the generator and turned on the front roof air conditioner for the drive to Baton Rouge.

We took a roundabout route that took us up US167 to Lafayette and up to Opalousas where we hit US190 east. The road surfaces were atrocious, but I figured I-10 probably wasn’t much better and we would cross the mighty Mississippi into Baton Rouge on the US190 bridge avoiding I-10 altogether.

The drive through Lafayette and Baton Rouge wasn’t much fun, but metro areas never are in a big rig. We found our way to the BREC Farr Park Equestrian Center. This is a large park on the east bank of the Mississippi River. They have 108 RV sites with water and 50-amp electrical pedestals. We squeezed our coach and trailer into site A4 – a pull through site – and left the trailer a little crooked to make us fit without hanging into the road.

Site A4 – a tight fit

After setting up and showering, Donna and I rode the Spyder to town. We went to Tin Roof Brewing for a cold one. It’s about five miles away from the park. Donna had a beer called River Rosé – it’s a mild ale like a Gose but it was brewed with beets. She liked it and said it was refreshing.

River Rosé

On the way back, I rode up on the levee of the Mississippi. We saw a large tow of 28 barges behind a couple of freighters. I wrote about barge tows here. The river is very high right now and there are flood warnings in effect. The levee here is so high, I don’t think we have any worries.

Barge tow behind the freighters

Later, we sat in the shade of the coach. I puffed a cigar and we watched a group of girls riding horses.

Girls horseback riding

It was very quiet and peaceful last night. However, Ozark the cat didn’t let us enjoy a restful night. For some reason, the cat kept waking us up. This morning, I thought I could hear a rooster crowing. When I stepped outside at 6:30am, it turned out to be a horse whinnying. He was kicking up dust prancing around the pasture and making a racket.

Feeling his oats and kicking up dust

Today will be another hot one. The forecast calls for a high of 90 degrees. Donna and I want to explore a bit and go to the Old State Capital Museum. Tomorrow we’ll head out and make our way to Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Cat

Saturday Night’s Alright

Quiet in Round Valley

Triple Digit Heat

Earthquake!

*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!

Exploring Reno/Sparks

Who Let the Cat Out?

Fairground Events

Roadside Assistance

Daily Downpours

Spoonbills, Alligators and Horses

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*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!

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