Monday was a ho-hum day. Donna had work to do and spent most of the day at her laptop. My toe injury kept me from doing much. I spent most of the day watching people pack up and leave Mission Bay RV Resort. It’s part of the weekly cycle. On Thursdays and Fridays, we see new arrivals setting up. On Sundays and Mondays, we watch them leave and go back to their workaday lives.

Empty sites around our coach – until next Friday!

A replacement solenoid for the HWH hydraulic system arrived on Monday. I opened the box and saw what appeared to be the wrong part. The cylindrical solenoid housing was much smaller than the one I was replacing. I sent an e-mail to Paul Maddox, the HWH technician. He told me it would work because the threads and working mechanism were the same. I removed the old solenoid and installed the new one. The jack works perfectly again!

Yesterday, Paul called me and asked if I wanted him to send a large replacement solenoid, so it would match the other three. I asked him if there was any technical reason to have it match the others. He said it doesn’t have any effect on the operation. The smaller solenoid is a newer design. It saves space and weight. I told him I didn’t see any reason to go to the bother and expense of shipping another solenoid.

On Monday night, I watched the Kansas City Chiefs demolish the New England Patriots. I didn’t see that coming. It looks like a tough season ahead for the Patriots.

Yesterday, Donna and I rode the scooter to Bayard Street in Pacific Beach. We wanted to check out the farmers’ market there. Every Tuesday, Bayard Street is closed between Garnet and Grand Avenue for the farmers’ market. We rode up at noon. They were just closing down the street. I asked a vendor sitting in his truck what time the market started. He told us it didn’t open until 2pm! I’m not sure if I knew that last year or not. If I knew, I didn’t remember.

Bayard Street is only two blocks from the beach. So we rode to the beach and parked on Pacific Beach Drive. We walked north on the boardwalk and onto Crystal Pier. The breeze over the ocean felt refreshing. There are rental cottages on Crystal Pier – it’s actually called the Crystal Pier Hotel. Donna looked through the windows of a vacant cottage and thought it looked like a nice place. It would really be fun to stay on the pier with so much to do within walking distance. Depending on time of year and cottage size, the rate is $175 to $525 per night to sleep over the ocean.

View of Pacific Beach to the south from Crystal Pier

View north from Crystal Pier

On our way back to the scooter, we stopped at the Baja Beach Cafe for lunch. We had the taco plates – Baja style beef tacos for Donna and Mahi-Mahi fish tacos for me. Each plate had three tacos, I ate two fish tacos and one beef, while Donna had two beef and one fish. It was very good. It’s a nice location with open-air dining, looking out at the beach. Good food, good service and great ambiance.

By the time we finished lunch and walked back to the scooter, it was 2pm. We headed back to Bayard Street and found the market open. We walked along, starting at the south end. We wanted to look over all of the vendors before we bought anything. When we reached the north end at Garnet, we backtracked and bought the things we wanted.

I bought local San Diego wildflower honey. I’m going to try to mitigate my pollen allergies by eating local raw honey. I’ve been told by a number of people that this is effective. We are staying here until the end of the year, so I think it’s worth a try. I’ll have a spoonful daily.

Mikolich Family honey at the PB farmers’ market

Donna bought an assortment of veggies and some honey-cinnamon roasted almonds. They were a bit pricey, but delicious and Donna thought they would be good for dessert.

Colorful fresh vegetables

Donna also found organic micro herbs at one of the stands. She bought an herb mix to put into salads.

Organic vegetables and micro herbs

After we returned from the market, I rode over to the Offshore Grill and Tavern. I was there to collect a free drink from the football pool winner. The winner of the weekly pool buys a round for the rest of the guys who entered the pool on Tuesday. Usually, there are half a dozen or so pool participants who show up for a free one.

Last evening, we grilled spinach and feta chicken sausages that Donna served with steamed rainbow chard from the farmers’ market. We dined al fresco at our picnic table. The cool evening air felt good. We finished a great day by watching a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad and munching on honey-cinnamon roasted almonds.

I’m posting later than usual today because we had dental appointments this morning. Donna and I were overdue for a cleaning and check-up. We found a dentist office nearby at the De Anza View Medical Center. It’s about a mile from the house I lived in when I was a kid. The dentist I had while I was growing up had an office at the center. We both had a clean bill of health from the dentist. Hooray!

I’ll be out and about this afternoon running a few errands.