San Diego ShakaFest

Donna and I were sitting outside of the coach enjoying the fresh air and sunshine when we had a couple of visitors. A pair of ducks casually walked into our site. I dubbed them Mr. and Mrs. Mallard. I gave them my best duck call and they turned toward me and walked past us under the picnic table.

Mr. and Mrs. Mallard stopping by

They pecked around our site, then settled in by the tree while Donna had her lunch a few feet away. I don’t know how these ducks became so tame, but they had no fear of us whatsoever.

Donna has her salad while the ducks make themselves comfortable

Did I mention the weather? We’ve had sunny skies and temperatures reaching the low 70s all week. Nice.

Yesterday we could hear music coming from the park on the north side of De Anza Cove. When I walked out to retrieve something from the trailer, I could see vendor tents and hear Hawaiian music.

Vendot tents along De Anza Cove

Donna and I took a walk over there. We found the San Diego ShakaFest – a Na Koa Kai Canoe Club event. They describe the ShakaFest as a fusion of Hawaiian culture, arts and athletics. They had a youth-only canoe regatta as one of the events and also had music and traditional dances.They’re a non-profit organization and sponsor many youth activities.

ShakaFest schedule
Vendor area
Outrigger canoe used in the regatta
Paddlers from the canoe ran up the beach under paddles held high by club members
Youth Hawaiian dance troupe
Hawaiian culture in San Diego

After spending some time at the ShakaFest, I had a job to remove from my “to do” list. It was time for the annual wheel bearing grease job on the cargo trailer. Our Interstate trailer came equipped with Dexter Axles and EZ lube hubs and bearings. The recommended interval for renewing the grease in the wheel bearings is 12 months or 12,000 miles. We’ve never towed it 12,000 miles in year, but I stick to the 12-month interval.

The EZ lube bearings make it a relatively easy job to do. The axle spindle has a passage drilled through the center. Another passage is drilled perpendicular to this, intersecting the center drilling at the rear of hub, just inside the inner wheel bearing seal.

The outer end of the spindle has a Zerk fitting to pump grease into the bearing. The grease travels through the spindle to the rear of the bearing where it’s contained by the inner seal and then travels through the bearing. This forces the old grease out of the front of the bearing. It’s important to spin the wheel while you’re pumping the grease – this distributes the grease throughout all of the roller elements. If the wheel was stationary, the grease would only travel through the drilled channel into one part of the bearing and only force the old grease out from one area of the bearing.

I jacked up the trailer one side at a time and pumped in the new grease. It’s not a hard job, but it’s a messy one. As the old grease comes out around the spindle, it collects around the grease gun nozzle and needs to be wiped away. I had the job done in less than an hour and now it’s good for another year.

Rubber cover sealing the outer hub and bearing, covering the Zerk fitting
Cover removed exposing Zerk fitting the center of the axle
Forcing the old grease out can get a little messy

Last Thursday, Donna prepared a new dish. It’s a traditional Peruvian recipe called lomo saltado. This is made with thinly sliced flank steak, chopped tomatoes, peppers and onions. It’s served over french fries. Delicious.

Lomo salado plate

Yesterday I had a notification that an Amazon delivery was scheduled to arrive in the afternoon. At 4:05pm, a delivery truck stopped at our site. I walked out and asked the guy if he had something for site 142. He looked a little confused and said “Yeah, but I left it at the front office.” The thing is, the office closes at 4pm on Saturday – if he left it there, he must have given it to them as they were closing. Then he drove to our site. What? This didn’t make sense to me. I walked down to the office to confirm they were closed and it was locked up tight with no one around. I still can’t figure out why the guy dropped off the package, then drove to our site empty-handed. Oh well, I got the package from the office this morning.

There’s a 60% chance of rain showers tomorrow morning. Other than that, the week ahead looks good weatherwise. We’re pulling out of Mission Bay RV Resort on Thursday. Our tentative plan is to head up US395 to the Indian Wells-Inyokern area, then continue up to somewhere around Bishop, California. Our plans are pretty loose at this point. We know we’d like to be in the Seattle area by the end of June to visit my oldest daughter and two granddaughters.