Monthly Archives: April 2015

Driving Miss Donna

We were up relatively early on Wednesday. Donna had picked up a rental car the day before from Hertz. The gal at the rental agency was thorough and tried to verify Donna’s family discount. After a few attempts, she decided the system wasn’t giving her accurate results and gave up. In reality, Donna’s dad retired and is no longer a Hertz employee so we aren’t sure if our family discount number is valid.

After Donna picked up the car, we enjoyed happy hour with Bob and Sini Schmitt. We sat outside for a few hours and talked about our travel plans among other things. They gave us some tips on places to see and stay when we head east from here. We also talked about meeting up in Albuquerque for the balloon fiesta in October.

So, back to our early morning yesterday. We were up early to make the drive in the rental car to the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. I don’t like driving in LA, I spent many years doing it when I reported to the Volkswagen of America (VWoA) office in Culver City. I estimated three hours to cover the 120 miles from here to LA and another three hours to return. I wanted to hit the road by 9am or the return time would increase as the traffic volumes increased in the afternoon.

We managed to get out of Mission Bay RV Resort by 9am and headed north on I-5. We had a couple of slow-downs but cruised comfortably toward San Clemente. Traffic halted before we got there. I suspected a Border Patrol check station near San Onofre, but when we got to the weigh station where the Border Patrol typically sets-up, traffic started moving back up to speed with no Border Patrol stop. Who knows what that was all about.

We cruised the carpool lane up I-5 through Orange County into LA. There was another slow section from the 91 freeway to I-605 due to construction, but overall it wasn’t nearly as bad as I anticipated.

I dropped Donna off at the back entrance to the Bonaventure at 11:10am, just two hours and ten minutes after we left. After a quick pit stop, I was turned around and headed south. On the way back I discovered the Hertz rental car had XM satellite radio. I found a good station – Deep Tracks – and that made the trip back seem to go faster. I stopped for lunch in Santa Ana and made my way back to San Diego by 1:45pm. I stopped at Chase Bank to make a deposit for Donna, refueled the car and dropped it off on Garnet Avenue near East Mission Bay Drive. From there it was an easy walk of a few miles back along the Rose Creek Trail to the RV park. Whew! I’ll do it again on Sunday.

I was home in time to receive a package from UPS. I had ordered a dozen vacuum cleaner bags for our Maxum RV2000 central vacuum cleaner. Donna has been using it lately instead of the cordless Dyson. She likes the central vacuum. It works great but it uses disposable bags that filter dust down to 0.3 microns (that’s really tiny – a micron is 1/1000th of a millimeter). The Dyson has a washable filter and a plastic container to hold debris, so no replacement bags were needed.

Central vacuum cleaner

I’m expecting UPS to make another delivery from Amazon today, but that will be fodder for another post.

The Cat’s Out of the Bag

The exodus from Mission Bay RV Resort started on Friday. Many of the park sites were occupied by families with kids on their spring break. Some of the schools closed the week before Easter, others the week after. I think a few families wanted to get home and settled back in over the weekend. On Saturday, more left and on Sunday the place really emptied out – by the end of the day, the park was only 25% occupied.

Donna’s been busy preparing for the annual conference for the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). Rather than rehash the past couple of days which were very routine, I want to go into what’s coming up.

We’ll rent a car from Hertz this afternoon. Donna still gets the family discount from when her father worked at Hertz. On Wednesday morning, I’ll drive Donna to the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles for the NAPO conference. I’m guessing it’ll be about a three-hour drive each way. I’d say the traffic is unpredictable, but in reality, I already know it’ll be slow in places. When I get back Wednesday afternoon, I’ll return the car. On Friday, I’ll pick up a rental car from Enterprise for the weekend. Enterprise often has weekend specials for just $9.99/day. I’ll use that car to go back to LA and pick up Donna on Sunday.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had to play bachelor for a few days or even a whole week since we hit the road. Donna’s work takes her away from time to time. There’s something else happening that I hinted about back in December. We were here in San Diego and ran into an old friend and former colleague, Skip Redmond, at the Little Italy Farmers’ Market. I wrote about it in this post.

I met Skip later that week for lunch in Pacific Beach. Skip is also a Volkswagen of America (VWoA) retiree. After he retired, he contracted with VWoA to do consulting work. He works with the dealer development group and travels to new VW dealers (or existing stores that change ownership and management) and helps them get set up to do business both with VWoA and the public. There are many things that need to be in place to ensure a smooth opening. Most of the time, the first week or so after a change in ownership or a new opening is a train wreck. Dealer communications with VWoA for support, warranty claim entry, parts orders, etc. need to be established beforehand. Also, a suggested starting parts inventory needs to be in place so cars can be serviced. This takes a lot of forethought as deadlines need to be met before the dealer opens.

Skip offered me a position as a consultant to assist with set-up of the parts and service departments. This work would entail a five- or six-day assignment on an infrequent basis (maybe every six to eight weeks). I have the experience after 35 years with Volkswagen and I’m qualified for the assignment. The pay is good. It’s an opportunity I can’t refuse. I should have a contract this week.

Next Monday, I’ll travel with Skip to a VW dealer in Valencia, California to help the new owner and management team prepare to open. It’ll be an on-the-job training trip for me. We’ll be there until Friday. Monday night will be the first time in 635 days that I won’t be sleeping in our RV. It’s also the first time in 21 months that I’ll be wearing business attire and hard-soled shoes. I’m feeling a little trepidation. I’ll need to buy some clothes and new shoes – but like I said, the pay is good and it won’t hurt to pad the nest egg.

This work could take me anywhere in the country. As long as I have some lead time, we’ll be able to adjust our schedule and stay in one place for a week with access to an airport. If nothing else, it’ll be an interesting experience. So that’s what’s been brewing since last December.

Face Plant in the Night

Donna left with Sini at 9:30am to go to the yoga class in Pacific Beach. The class was outdoors in a grassy park above the beach at the foot of Law Street. They estimated more than 100 participants showed up for the 90-minute class. Donna found the class through Meetup.com, a great way to search for local events and group activities.

While Donna was away, I got cracking on a few things I needed to do. It’s been breezy here lately. When our front door is open, a check rod locks it in the open position. There’s a set screw that adjusts the amount of free play in the door when it’s locked open. I wrote about the door rod assembly in this post. Over time, the amount of free play has gradually increased. When it’s windy and the door is open, it can rock back and forth slightly. It isn’t much, but it drives me crazy and I don’t want the door check to become damaged. So yesterday I set up the ladder and adjusted it.

Door check assembly

While I had the ladder out, I set up our hummingbird feeder and our finch feeder.

In the afternoon, Donna had a visitor. Laurie Beth Jones, an author and pickleball player Donna met at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center stopped by. While they were chatting inside, I sat outside and read a book in the sun. I saw an Alpine Coach pull into the park – that makes four of us here now. He was having a little trouble maneuvering into his site because of the way a couple of cars were parked. I walked down to his site and assisted him and his wife so he wouldn’t hit anything.

Since I was up, I took a stroll through the RV park. There are sites located on the west end of the park that have unobstructed views of the bay. These sites cost more than the regular sites – $400 per month more! I saw an interesting rig set up in one of the view sites on the northwest corner of the RV park.

Small travel trailer with a view

I’m not sure who manufactured this small travel trailer. I think it’s new with a retro look – I don’t think it’s a restoration. The people situated it sideways in the site giving them a nice view and lots of room.

In my last post I mentioned a new prescription for high blood pressure I picked up on Friday. I took it for the first time Friday night at bedtime. I slept well and felt good in the morning. Last night I took the medicine at bedtime again. Donna stayed up to watch a TV program. I had the DVR set up to record the Formula One race. Our DISH Network receiver has an auto shut-off feature. If no activity is detected in a certain amount of time, it shuts itself off. I went into the set-up menu and disabled this feature. The problem is, when the receiver shuts down, the satellite dish antenna goes into a sleep mode and loses the satellite signal. When the receiver is turned back on, it takes a few minutes for the satellite dish antenna to acquire the signal again. If I’m trying to record and the receiver shuts down, when the recording time comes and the receiver turns itself back on, there’s no signal to record for a few minutes.

Disabling the auto shut-off in the settings menu doesn’t seem to work. Sometimes, the receiver still turns itself off. Last night, after I had fallen asleep and Donna was getting ready to go to bed, she heard the satellite dish rumble as it went into sleep mode, meaning the receiver had just shut down. She knew this can cause recording problems and also knew that I would be unhappy if the Formula One race didn’t record. So she woke me up to tell me about the issue. I sat up quickly and got out of bed. I started walking to the living room when I suddenly found myself face down on the floor.

I think the blood pressure medication had lowered my blood pressure to a level that I’m not accustomed to. When I got up quickly and started walking, my brain was momentarily starved for blood flow and I collapsed. I did a total face plant. I didn’t pass out. I remember hitting the floor and wondering what that was all about. Then I saw blood dripping on my arm and the floor. I smacked my right cheek bone and forehead. A small cut on my forehead was bleeding profusely. Head wounds always bleed worse than other parts of the body.

Donna brought me a wet wash cloth to clean up and an ice pack. I iced for about twenty minutes and went back to bed. This morning, I’m a little sore and yes, it left a mark.

Ooops – that hurt

A clear, sunny day is forecast today. The weather guessers have pushed back the warming trend a few days. We won’t see highs in the upper 70s until Wednesday, if they’re correct. I’ll kick back and watch the Formula One and Moto GP races and take it easy today. Donna is planning to take a bike ride and then go shopping with my daughter, Shauna.

Diverging Plans

We haven’t had beach weather, but I can’t complain. The daytime high is in the mid to upper 60s and overnight the low is in the upper 50s. In the afternoon, the wind blows 10-15 mph from the west/southwest. The wind makes it feel cooler than the thermometer shows. That will change over the next few days as the temperature will climb to the upper 70s and maybe hit 80 degrees.

I scootered over to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center on Thursday for more pickleball. Donna stayed home and worked on final preparations for her booth at the upcoming annual conference of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). She and her friend Ramona Creel are setting up a bookstore to sell books written by NAPO members.

Our plans diverged again yesterday. I had a doctor appointment in the morning. It was a follow-up visit after being diagnosed with high blood pressure late last year. I’ve been checking my blood pressure periodically. It seems to be erratic. I see variances of as much as 30mm Hg on the systolic (high) reading. Doctor Ryan thought I needed another medication to control my blood pressure better. He said it’s most likely a hereditary condition. Although regular exercise and proper nutrition can help (I already do this), I need medication. So now I take lisinopril every morning and atenolol at bedtime.

When I returned from the doctor, Donna was working on responding to a bid for speakers. Before I went to the doctor, I unpacked our Sea Eagle kayak and pumped it up. Donna’s sister, Sheila, and Sheila’s son Connor came over around 11:30am. The three of them went out on the bay in the Sea Eagle. I went to get my prescription filled at CVS. Then I rode to Chase Bank to deposit a check. From there I went to Costco. I bought a few 22-ounce bottles of craft beers and a bottle of wine. I also bought a case of bottled water which I strapped on the back seat of the scooter. When I got home it was after 1pm and Donna had left for a late lunch with Sheila and Connor.

I spent the afternoon reading a book in a chair outside in the sun. My daughter, Jamie, called from Texas. She’s having issues with her heart – something about a valve not operating properly. She wanted to know family history of heart disease. Unfortunately, I wasn’t much help. I haven’t talked to my biological father in more than thirty years and haven’t had contact with his family either. I know my paternal grandfather died of a heart attack, but he was in his 80s at the time. My mother is Japanese. She came to the USA after she married my dad. I never met her mother or father although I did meet her brother and sisters when I was a kid. It’s a long story, but I don’t know anything of the medical history on my mother’s side either.

While I was reading, I saw our neighbors across the way come out of their Lazy Daze class C motor home. I recognized them from their blog. It was Jim and Gayle (their blog is Life’s Little Adventures). They’ve been full-time RVers since 2008. We chatted briefly before they had to dash off to meet up with friends. Turned out they knew all about our trailer being stolen last year from my blog and I knew about their mountain bikes being stolen in Salinas last year from their blog.

Donna’s lunch with Sheila stretched out all afternoon. By 5pm, I was ready for liquid refreshment. I opened a bottle of Belching Beaver Peanut Butter Milk Stout. It is a tasty concoction – sort of a liquid peanut butter cup.

Liquid peanut butter cup

I didn’t think I would have any issues with milk stout. I’m lactose intolerant and milk stout has lactose in it, but not that much. I was wrong. The last two times I had milk stout, my stomach was rumbling soon after. I need to cross it off my list of beers.

Donna, Sheila and Connor returned around 6pm. We sat outside and chatted. Their late lunch had turned into an afternoon margarita fest for the adults. I ordered a pizza for delivery from Woodstock Pizza in Pacific Beach. While we were waiting for the pizza, Connor took up a hula-hoop challenge. The challenge was to spin the hoop around his body and drop to his knees without stopping the hoop. It took a few attempts, but he got it. The next step was to drop to his knees and continue hooping while he stood up. It took several attempts, but he stayed with it and finally got it.

Dropping to his knees while hooping

Now stand up without losing the hoop

By then the pizza arrived and we ate at the table outside.

I have a couple of projects to attend to today. Donna is going with our friend, Sini, to a yoga class by the beach at the foot of Law Street in Pacific Beach this morning. Another friend we met at the PB rec center, Laurie Beth Jones, is coming over to visit this afternoon. Like Donna, Laurie is an author – she writes about spirituality and leadership and has published 14 books, the same number as Donna.

Call Me Nosy

Donna and I had an early lunch in the coach on Tuesday. We scootered over to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center on the corner of Gresham and Diamond Street at noon. They have open pickleball on indoor courts from noon to 3:45pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The park attendant unlocked the gymnasium right at 12:00pm sharp. He then turned around and walked away.

We went into the gym and felt a little out of place. We were the only people there. The floor of the basketball court had painted lines for three pickleball courts. I saw a box with balls and pickleball paddles and also three canvas bags with nets. About then, another guy named Bob came in. He started setting up one of the portable pickleball nets and told me to start setting up another one. He briefed us on the procedures they follow to get games going.

Shortly after that, people began to arrive. We soon had games on all three courts and people waiting to play. Many of the players were experienced and played at a high level. We played several games and stayed until 3:30pm. Playing on an indoor court is different than the outdoor courts we’re used to. The ball is different – it’s softer and has larger holes in it. I think it’s easier to control. The floor reflects light and the overhead lights, windows and sky lights made it difficult for me to see the ball at times. Also, lob shots cannot be sent too high or they’ll hit fixtures and be called out of bounds. It was fun – we’ll go back. Afterwards, Bob e-mailed me a schedule for pickleball at other San Diego Recreation Centers.

I spent the day running errands yesterday. First, Donna and I scootered to the Sports Rx store on Santa Fe Street. Donna needed a new bicycle helmet. They had high-end helmets made by Smith that cost far more than Donna expected to spend – and they had nothing in size small. The sales associate went into the store room and came back with a size small Rudy Project helmet that had been discontinued. It was an open-box item that they offered to sell to Donna at a 40% discount. It was a great deal, but we decided to go to another store just down the street to check out what they had. She tried on some moderately priced helmets but didn’t like the fit or style. That’s what happens when you shop the high-end stuff first – you see the shortcuts taken to keep costs down on other offerings. We went back to Sports Rx and she bought the Rudy Project helmet. It’s a nice, lightweight helmet and she’s happy she went for it. She immediately headed out for her first bike ride in 3 1/2 weeks with a promise not to crash.

While Donna was out riding, I rode the scooter to Kearny Mesa. I needed to buy a new drinking water hose for the fresh water supply of our motor home. One of the hoses I connect to our filtration system was leaking at the swaged connector fitting. You shouldn’t use a regular garden hose for drinking water. Most garden hoses are made from polyvinyl chloride and have metal fittings of unstated origin. According to Rodale News, they can add heavy metals and plasticizers to the water.

I went to the La Mesa RV Center off Ruffner Street and looked at hoses. They had Valterra brand drinking water hoses, but they were only 1/2″ inside diameter (I.D.) and priced high. They wanted $21 for a 25′ hose. I rode over to Walmart and found Camco drinking water hoses with 5/8″ I.D. – 25′ for $10. These hoses are Bisphenol A (BPA) free and won’t contaminate drinking water. We don’t drink from the taps in our coach, but we do have a double filtered water dispenser for making coffee and filling water bottles. I bought the Camco hose.

I made a couple more stops for groceries and also picked up a bottle of Belching Beaver Milk Stout and a bottle of Eraser IPA.

Later, I took a stroll through the park. There are two other Alpine Coaches here but I haven’t met the owners. I also saw a few other coaches that piqued my curiosity. One was a Country Coach Magna 630 – this is a high end coach. It had damage on the left front corner and just pulled in yesterday. I can’t be sure since I didn’t meet the owner, but I think the same coach was here in a different spot when we arrived and it was damage-free. The broken fiberglass on the front looks fresh and the tire had fresh marks from contact. The left front basement door was taped shut with duct tape.

Country Coach Magna 630 damage

In another site, I saw a National RV Pacifica that also had left front damage. The Pacifica was the top of National’s line. This one didn’t have fiberglass damage – only the metal compartment door was hit.

Pacifica with dented compartment door

These were graphic reminders to always maneuver the coach slowly and carefully in tight places. I don’t want to be nosy, but I would like to know what happened to these nice motor homes.

The third site that has me curious is site 138. There’s a Ford F250 pickup truck parked in the center of the site. The tag in the window shows it belongs in that site, but there’s no RV. I wondered if someone was sleeping in the back of the truck, but the site is within view of our place and I haven’t seen anyone there since we arrived on Sunday. Paying for a full hook-up site in a RV park seems like an expensive way to store your truck. Again, I don’t mean to be nosy but I can’t help wondering what the story is there.

Truck parked in a full hook-up RV site

My daughter, Shauna, stopped by after work last night and joined us for dinner. She has a few more weeks of school and exams before she graduates from Cal Western with her law degree on May 1. We discussed plans for celebrating the occasion and her plans for moving to D.C. to start her new job. It turns out that she might be going to Albany, New York to take the bar exam at the same time we are there!

Today I plan to go back to the PB Recreation Center for more pickleball. Donna has opted to stay home and get some work done so she can spend the day with her sister, Sheila, tomorrow.

Getting Into Hot Water

I checked a few items off my “to do” list yesterday. Donna’s number one item was a follow-up visit to her doctor on 4th Avenue. I would have taken her there on the scooter, but I had an RV tech from RV Pros coming over to help out with the hot water situation at 11:30am. Donna’s appointment was at 11am. So, Donna took an Ūber car to her appointment.

Jorge from RV Pros arrived on time. I explained how our hot water flow was restricted – it had suddenly been reduced to a trickle while the cold water side had good flow and pressure. I told him about the corroded anode rod and how I had flushed the hot water tank twice. He looked at the back of tank through an access panel in our kitchen and diagnosed a bad check valve. The hot water outlet of the tank has a check valve that only allows water to flow out and prevents backflow into the tank. Jorge didn’t have the part with him.

To replace the check valve, the tank would have to be drained. I told Jorge I had a new anode rod. He said we should install it since the old one would be taken out to drain and flush the tank. I also showed him the pressure relief valve which was stuck. He said he would come back by 5pm with a new check valve and pressure relief valve.

After Jorge left, I rode the scooter to the Ben Bridge Jeweler at the Fashion Valley Mall in Mission Valley. I had talked to the watch maker there earlier. In 2007, I bought Donna a nice watch with a mechanical automatic movement at the Ben Bridge store in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her watch stopped when we were in Hemet. I suspected a set lever problem because the stem didn’t feel right. The watch was about eight years old and could use a complete servicing. I was once a watch idiot savant (WIS) – I had a collection of mechanical watches. I kept them on automatic winders – these are devices that rotate the watch so the auto-winding mechanism would keep the mainspring tensioned. I also had a collection of railroad pocket watches. I reduced my collection over the years – I only have one railroad pocket watch now and five wrist watches.

Israel, the watch maker at Ben Bridge confirmed my suspicion of a broken set lever. The set lever is selector that allows the watch to be manually wound or the date to be set or the time adjusted. He will do a complete overhaul of the watch including a new set lever, mainspring, seals and gaskets and polish the case and bracelet. Our goal is to have the work completed before we leave San Diego in four weeks.

While I was at the mall, I had lunch. I ordered teriyaki chicken with rice and vegetables at the food court and sat at a table in the sun. The meal was served in a flat styrofoam container. The day was breezy with sustained 12 to 15 mph wind. I ate a little over half of the meal when a sudden wind gust picked up the container and deposited the contents in my lap! Oh well.

Jorge came back around 3:30pm with the parts needed. I had talked to Thomas, the security supervisor here, and told him I would be draining the hot water tank. They are very sensitive to water spills here at Mission Bay RV Resort due to the proximity of the bay. Contaminated water run-off into the bay is frowned upon and could result in fines. Since I was draining fresh water and only expected to drain 10 gallons, he told me not to worry about it.

Jorge removed the old anode rod and he had a 1-1/8″ socket to remove the adapter from the tank. Now we could install the new genuine Suburban anode rod once the tank was drained. He used a wand on the end of a water hose to clean the inside of the tank. He also pulled the pressure relief valve.

Old corroded aftermarket anode rod

File photo of a new Suburban anode rod for comparison

Once the tank was empty, Jorge went inside and removed the check valve from the tank outlet. His diagnosis was correct – the check valve was faulty. The check valve has a brass housing which screws into the tank. Inside this housing is a spring-loaded plastic stopper. The spring seats the stopper inside the housing in the opposite direction of normal flow, thus preventing backflow into the tank. When a faucet is opened, the water pressure on the downstream side of the check valve drops and water pressure from the tank overcomes the spring and opens the valve, allowing hot water to flow to the faucet. The plastic stopper has a piece behind the spring that limits the amount of travel of the stopper. In our valve, this plastic piece was broken off and the stopper was floating inside the housing. Water flow would move the stopper against the outlet of the housing, restricting the flow.

Old broken check valve

With the check valve replaced and the new pressure relief and anode rod installed, we refilled the hot water tank. Voila, we had good hot water flow! I paid Jorge $170 for his time and materials and learned about our hot water system while he was at it.

With the tank working correctly, I had the electric heating element and the propane burner heating the water. I had hot water for a shower within 10 minutes. I showered and rode the scooter over to the Offshore Tavern and Grill to meet up with my school mates, Gary Stemple and Jim Birditt. Jim was in town on business and Gary set up the meet. We had a few beers and laughs while the bar filled with people wanting to watch the NCAA men’s baskeball championship. It was noisier in there than ever.

Jim and I had dinner there while Gary had to leave for a softball game in Kearny Mesa. I ordered the SD Cheesesteak sandwich – sliced beef, jalapenos, mushrooms, spicy jack cheese sauce and guacamole on an amoroso bun. I don’t know why I felt compelled to eat the whole thing. I was uncomfortably stuffed, but it was tasty.

That’s a lot of sandwich

Today Donna and I will go to the Pacific Beach Recreational Center to see about getting into the open pickleball games.

Back to the Bay

My last post described my trailer electrical connector repair on Friday. We closed out the day with dinner over at the gazebo again. Donna prepared beef ragu served over whole wheat spaghetti. She added some extra fresh herbs and crushed red pepper and it came out even better than usual.

Donna working her magic on the induction cooktop

It was pleasant dining outside. Although the dry camping sites are cramped, having this sitting area is nice. There are many amenities at Jojoba Hills and we really like this place. There are hiking paths with sitting areas around small ponds, pickleball courts, a great swimming pool with a beautiful view, a clubhouse that they named Friendship Hall and a well-stocked library.

Dining al fresco at the gazebo

We started the day Saturday with pickleball games once again. After lunch, we headed to the pool to read and soak in the sunshine. We sat in lounge chairs on the south side of the pool. Twenty minutes of direct sun was all I could take. I moved to the shady north side of the pool and read for over an hour while Donna stayed in her lounge chair. She took a dip in the pool to cool off. Even with SPF 30 sunscreen, she ended up with some sunburn.

Donna’s view from the south side of the pool

I moved into the shade – Donna is in the second chair from the right

On Sunday morning, I got to work on the hot water heater. I shut off the water pump, opened the hot water kitchen sink and bathroom faucets and went outside. I removed the anode rod from the hot water tank and drained the tank. I didn’t see any debris come out of the tank. The 1-1/6″ socket I bought to install the new anode rod was the right size for the new rod. But it didn’t fit the adapter I had to remove from the tank. I assumed the adapter was the same size hex as the new rod. You know what they say about assuming. So, once again I re-installed the old anode rod and refilled the tank. The hot water flow was still restricted.

I gave up on that task and loaded the trailer in preparation for travel. Meanwhile, Donna was out on the pickleball court. She came back around 10am and showered at the park showers before prepping the inside of the coach for travel. That’s how we work it – she preps the interior while I load the trailer, dump the tanks and take care of the outside work. We were ready to pull the slides in and light the fires at 11:30am. Fifteen minutes later, we were on the road again.

We drove west on CA79 (which is technically a north/south route) through Temecula and took I-15 south to San Diego where we hit CA163. I pulled off CA163 at the Balboa Avenue exit. I remembered a Chevron station on the corner of Balboa and Mercury Street where we were able to get the coach in and out without any fuss. There was a problem though. The exit for Balboa Avenue doesn’t really come out on Balboa. It exits onto southbound Mercury Street near the Balboa intersection. There is an island dividing Mercury Street and I couldn’t access the Chevron station. So we turned east on Balboa Avenue, crossed CA163 and drove about a mile before I could turn around in an industrial park. Coming back west on Balboa I had easy access to the fuel station. Problem solved.

I put 49 gallons of fuel in the tank at $2.89/gallon. As usual, I treated the fuel with Biobor JF. I wanted to have the fuel tank as full as possible before sitting at Mission Bay for a month to help prevent condensation in the fuel tank. The rest of the drive was uneventful and we pulled into Mission Bay RV Resort at 1:45pm.

After checking in, Donna and I walked to the overflow parking area to reconnoiter a spot for the trailer. Nearby Mission Bay Park was teeming with people. The grassy areas were filled with EZ-Up canopies, volley ball games and barbeques. The beach at the RV park was also full of people. Apparently many of them parked in the RV overflow lot and the lot was full. This was a problem for us. Mission Bay RV Park requires us to leave our cargo trailer in the lot.

We talked to the security guy at the guard gate. He suggested leaving the trailer in the lot behind the office. I told him that wouldn’t happen, because the last time I did that, Dirty, Rotten Thieves stole my trailer and all of its contents. We found an open spot in the overflow lot that wasn’t really a marked parking space, but the trailer would fit. The security guy agreed to let us park it there temporarily. We would have to move it later when the crowd thinned out. We dropped the trailer and moved into site 112.

Our friends Bob and Sini Schmitt from Edmonds, Washington are in a site a few spaces away from us. This proved to be fortuitous. Bob has a vintage Chevy K5 Blazer with a trailer hitch. He let us use it to move the trailer after legal parking spaces had opened up in the lot. We scored a primo parking space. Close to the water with a no parking zone behind the trailer. This will make it easy to transport the kayak to the water with no worries of someone parking too close behind the trailer. I need to be able to open the rear ramp door for access to the kayak and bicycles and for re-loading the trailer when we leave.

Our home for the next month

When I got up this morning, I noticed that the ground was wet. I thought it was the normal dampness found along the beaches and bays in the morning at this time of year. Donna said a a light rain started falling just after she got up at 7am. It’s dry now though. We should see a high temperature in the mid 60s today. We have a few errands to run. I also need to find an RV technician who can solve the hot water issue.

Temecula Connections

After I posted yesterday, we grilled chicken for dinner. I used the brick method I described in this post. Donna had two large chicken breasts with bones and skin on. They came out great – the brick method works so well.

Brick-grilled chicken breast

We took our plates and utensils to the gazebo located about 100 feet from our coach. There are tables and comfortable chairs there between the fine arts and pottery studios. The weather was perfect – temperature in the low 70s with a light breeze.

Donna at the dinner table in the gazebo

After dinner, the sunset over the Temecula Valley was nice with just enough clouds to give it color.

Sunset over the Temecula Valley

We waited until 8am to get out of bed this morning because generators aren’t allowed before 8am. We needed to run the generator to brew coffee in our Keurig machine. The Keurig doesn’t like the modified sine wave from the inverter – our generator provides a pure sine wave electrical current.

After coffee and cereal, we rode the scooter up to the pickleball courts. They have four courts here that run from sideline to sideline on the tennis court. It makes for a lot of lines on the courts. For pickleball, we only pay attention to the blue painted lines. There were 17 players at the court when we arrived. There was a mix of abilities with a few very good players on the courts. One of the guys competed in the USAPA National Championship event.

Donna and I played a few games and had fun. They generally play here from 8am to 10am, so we’ll have to get there earlier tomorrow.

After playing pickleball, I rode the scooter to Temecula. It’s about a 14-mile ride northwest on CA79. The traffic moves along at 60 mph on CA79, so it was a brisk ride. I went to an auto parts store and found a new flat-four trailer electrical connector. I also bought butt connectors and a crimping tool. I found a 1-1/16″ deep socket for the water heater repair. While I was in town, I stocked up on beer and found my favorite Blue Ice American Potato vodka.

When I returned, I replaced the electrical connector on the trailer. The old connector had damaged pins. I must have stepped on it or maybe rolled the front trailer jack tire over it. I’ll be more careful of the cord and connector in the future.

Old connector with damaged pins

New connector with nice, round pins

I cut the old connector from the harness and prepared the new connector. First I cut the wires to a shorter length – I didn’t need the 24″ length that came with the new connector. Then I stripped the wire ends and crimped butt connectors onto the new part.

Butt connectors crimped into place

Next I stripped the wire ends on the trailer harness and crimped the open end of the butt connectors to the harness.

All crimped together

The last step was to seal each butt connector individually with tape. Then I wrapped all of the butt connectors and wires together with tape to reinforce it.

Final wrap reinforces the butt connectors

That’s it, job done. I checked the trailer lights and all is good.

I’ve decided to leave the water tank repair until Sunday morning. We’re dry camped and if I start on it now, I will lose a minimum of 10 gallons of water. We should have plenty of fresh water on board but why chance it. There are showers a few hundred feet from our site.

Hot Water Woes

Tuesday was a farmers’ market day at Golden Village Palms RV Resort. After pickleball in the morning, Donna and I joined Dave and Stilla Hobden (Urbanescapevehicle.com) and walked to west parking area near the entrance to the park. There were only a few vendors there – the season has really wound down in Hemet. Since the park was 75% Canadian visitors for the winter and most of them are heading home now, the population of the park has really dropped. We still found a few things we couldn’t go without. I bought a jar of raw wildflower honey. Donna bought half a dozen tamales from the same vendor that was at the pool on Saturday. She also bought salsa and lemons. Dave and Stilla also bought tamales for a late lunch. We already had lunch so Donna refrigerated our tamales for consumption later.

Donna and Stilla checking out the vendor tables

Tamale lady at the farmers’ market

We enjoyed another happy hour together with much conversation. Dave and Stilla’s dog, Coach, had some kind of episode in the afternoon, maybe an epileptic seizure. They kept watch on him indoors after dinner.

On Wednesday morning, I hit the pickleball courts and played for over three hours. It was my last chance at Golden Village Palms as we would pull out on Thursday. I came back in time to see Dave and Stilla off – they wanted to make it back to Casa Grande in time to visit family over Easter weekend. I gave Dave directions to the rock garden in the desert. It’s halfway from Hemet to Casa Grande and a good stopping point for the night. Later, I saw on Facebook that he found it and was parked in the exact spot we occupied the week before. (Their dog seems to be doing okay now.)

I forgot to mention the raucous crows that were in the park Wednesday morning. They woke Donna and me up at the crack of dawn with their constant crowing. Later I saw they left calling cards on the side of our coach and also on the windshield cover. Big bird dung bombs. In the afternoon I removed the window covers and cleaned them and also cleaned the coach.

Before we left Mesa, I ordered an anode rod for our 10-gallon Suburban water heater. The anode rod is a sacrificial metal rod made from aluminum or magnesium and screws into the hot water tank. The rod will corrode over time, preventing corrosion of the tank itself. I wanted to replace ours since I wasn’t certain of its age, but I knew it was over a year old now since we’ve had this coach that long. I didn’t get around to it before we left Mesa and I put it off in Casa Grande as well.

On Wednesday afternoon, Donna told me we had a water pressure problem. After a checking it out, I realized that we didn’t have a water pressure problem, we had a hot water flow issue. I removed the aftermarket anode rod from our tank. This rod has an adapter to fit the original threads but uses a smaller diameter threaded rod. I turned off the hot water heater and removed the rod. It was heavily corroded and coming apart. Apparently chunks of the rod material were plugging up the hot water line. I flushed the hot water tank and found many chunks from the corroded rod. I couldn’t fit the Suburban replacement rod into the water tank because I couldn’t get the adapter used on the aftermarket rod out of the tank. I need to buy a 1-1/16″ deep socket to remove it. So I re-installed the failing rod and refilled the tank. We have better hot water flow now, but it’s still not right.

On Thursday morning, I packed the trailer and loaded the scooter. We had everything packed away, slides in and jacks up by 11:30am. We planned to move to the Escapees park in Aguanga called Jojoba Hills. We stayed there last September and loved the place. They don’t take reservations, but you can call ahead to check on availability. We were surprised to find no vacancy! The only thing we could do there is dry camp in the boondocking area. We’re only staying for three nights, so we opted to boondock.

When I hooked up the trailer, I couldn’t get the four-prong electrical connector plugged in. I saw one of the prongs was smashed. I either accidentally stepped on it or rolled the front trailer jack wheel over it! I messed around for about 10 minutes before I could get it connected. We checked the brake lights and turn signals and they work, but I don’t trust the connection. Still, there was nothing I could do about it as we needed to check out by noon.

We drove out of the park south on Sanderson and stopped at Walmart. Donna and I had lunch at the Farmer Boys restaurant – a sort of upscale fast food hamburger joint. The food was okay, but a bit over-priced. Then Donna went grocery shopping while I sat in the coach and read a book. After about 45 minutes, I remembered that I wanted to get propane for the Weber Q grill. I went into Walmart and bought four propane canisters and also picked up a gallon of Chevron Delo 400 15w-40 oil – it was under $12! I wanted to have it on hand for our cross-country run after we leave San Diego next month.

From there we continued south on Sage Road (CR3) through many tight curves and switchbacks to CA79. We went east on CA 79 a few miles and found Jojoba Hills – the entire trip was all of 30 miles.

Long narrow dry camping site at Jojoba Hills

Tomorrow I’ll scooter over to Temecula and buy a 1-1/16″ deep socket to fix the water heater tank and also a new flat four-prong plug for the trailer.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Monthly Archives: April 2015

Driving Miss Donna

The Cat’s Out of the Bag

Face Plant in the Night

Diverging Plans

Call Me Nosy

Getting Into Hot Water

Back to the Bay

Temecula Connections

Hot Water Woes

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