Author Archives: Mike Kuper

London Bridge

After spending days indoors writing various articles and reviewing one of her books for an upcoming reprint, Donna decided it was time for a break. The weather was much nicer Friday with an afternoon high of about 70 degrees.

We rode the scooter to town. Donna got a tip for a good place to stop for lunch at the Barley Brothers Brewery and Restaurant by the London Bridge. There’s quite a story behind the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City. In 1958, Robert McCulloch bought 3,353 acres of land along the east side of Lake Havasu at Pittsburgh Point. This is the same Robert McCulloch that was the CEO of McCulloch chainsaws and also the creator of the community of Fountain Hills, Arizona – I wrote about that in this post.

This area of arid desert land wasn’t very useful at the time. It was a long way from any major cities and didn’t attract visitors. About the only thing here was an old Army Air Corps field and runway. The federal government deeded the 13,000 acres of land around the airfield to the state of Arizona. The state in turn deeded the land – reportedly free – to Robert McCulloch for his promise to develop the area.

McCulloch needed a way to attract attention and bring people out to this desert on the Colorado River bordering Arizona and California. His real estate agent, Robert Plumer, heard about an old bridge in London that was for sale. The bridge originally spanned the River Thames and was built in the 1830s. It could no longer support modern traffic and had to be replaced. Plumer convinced McCulloch to buy the bridge and transport it to Lake Havasu.

What he actually bought was the exterior facing stonework of the original bridge. A new reinforced concrete bridge was built in the same shape as the original. The original stonework was carefully removed and numbered from the old bridge. It was transported via ship to Houston and ground transport to the desert. Reconstruction began in 1968. The granite facing was clad to the exterior of the new bridge in the desert. At the time, the bridge didn’t span a body of water. It was erected over a wash leading out to the Pittsburgh Point peninsula. Once the bridge was competed in 1971, the wash was dredged and filled with water creating an island on one end of the bridge. The bridge was a successful lure and brought people to Lake Havasu where real estate agents started selling property. Today the population is estimated to be over 53,000.

London Bridge under construction in 1971 – file photo

Aerial view of the bridge from 2011 – file photo

Instead of blasting down AZ95 on the scooter, we took a more scenic route down London Bridge Road (map). The thing is, London Bridge Road doesn’t take you directly over the bridge. You have to cross back over AZ95 in town to get to McCulloch Boulevard North which is the road that crosses the bridge.

Once across the bridge, the first building on the right is the Island Mall. It houses a few boutique stores, Shugrue’s Restaurant and Barley Brothers Brewery. We parked and walked down to the waterside at the bridge. It’s beautifully landscaped with nice walking paths. There are boat docks and boat tour tickets can be purchased for a tour of the lake.

London Bridge view from waterside path

Tour boat unloading passengers

The tour boat we saw had an interesting hull. If you click on the picture above to enlarge it, you’ll see what appears to be a flat bottom under the familiar shape of the bow.

After taking a short walk along the waterside, we went up to the Barley Brothers Brewery and Restaurant. Donna and I ordered glasses of oatmeal stout – Donna had a pint and I had the large 23 ounce pour.

Donna at the Barley Brothers Brewery with stout

Donna at the Barley Brothers Brewery with oatmeal stout

The beer was good but I thought it had a lingering bitterness that I don’t expect from oatmeal stout. Donna ordered a plate of mussels in a broth and I went for the pastrami sandwich – it was really tender, thinly sliced pastrami with apple slaw, swiss cheese and thousand island dressing on rye. It was yummy! The portion was big and the sandwich was rich – more than I’m used to eating, but I managed.

The view from the brewery was great.

View from Barley Brothers Brewery

After the big lunch, we went down to the rodeo grounds to scope out the area – we’ll be moving there on Monday. Then we went grocery shopping. Donna had quite a list of things she needed to prepare hors d’oeuvres for tomorrow’s Super Bowl game.

Today the temperature should be well into the 70s. We’ll get out and enjoy the nice weather.

More Number Crunching

I mentioned in my last post how cool the temperature was after a cold front blew across southern California and into Arizona. The thermometer hasn’t touched 60 since we arrived in Lake Havasu City. When we were in Jojoba Hills, we also had a cold spell. I put about 18 hours on the generator running the heat pumps for two days while we were there. I wondered at the time how efficient that was. Would I have been better off running the propane furnace?

Our Onan 7.5kW Quiet Diesel generator consumes an average of a little over half a gallon of diesel fuel per hour. Diesel fuel is currently down to about two bucks per gallon – so let’s assume $1.20/hour fuel cost for the generator. Of course the generator isn’t just supplying electricity for the heat pumps – it’s also powering the hot water heater, charging the batteries through the inverter, allowing the use of the induction cooktop and microwave oven and any other 120-volt AC appliances.

I did some research and found that our Suburban model SF42F propane furnace requires 40,000 BTU/hour input. One gallon of propane supplies about 91,000 BTU, so the furnace will burn about 0.44 gallons per hour. It will also draw about 11.5 amps of electricity from the battery bank. Propane fuel prices seem to vary widely. I haven’t bought propane since January of 2014 and we still have over a quarter tank in our 44-gallon propane tank. I was told that I could find propane for as little as $1.20/gallon if I searched around or I could have propane delivered to my rig for about $2.60/gallon. That’s a pretty wide spread. If I split the difference and call it $2.00/gallon, I would burn about $0.88/hour of propane. But, I would still have to run the generator sooner or later to recharge the battery bank.

The owner’s manual for our Onan generator recommends a minimum of two hours per month of running time with at least a 50% load. Generators like to be run – sitting for long periods without running them can result in corrosion of the electrical windings and components and degradation of the fuel system. Running the heat pumps with the generator provides a sufficient load to get it up to full operating temperature.

When we’re plugged into a full hook-up site, there’s no question about it – use the heat pumps. Electricity is generally included in a full hook-up site, unless we’re on a deeply discounted monthly rate where the electricity is metered.

After crunching these numbers, I think I’ll continue doing what I’ve been doing. When we’re off the grid, I’ll use the generator and heat pumps as long as the ambient temperature is above 40 degrees. Below that temperature, the heat pumps become inefficient and we’ll switch to the propane furnace. Hopefully we won’t have to do that because one of our goals is to stay away from cold temperatures!

The lingering cold air mass made the past couple of days somewhat boring for me. I ventured out to pick up groceries at a Walmart Supercenter a few miles away on Monday. It was a cold ride on the scooter. Donna made salmon patties with canned wild Alaskan sockeye and served it topped with parsley mayo over a bed of mixed greens Monday night. It was delicious.

Salmon patties over mixed greens

Donna has mostly been tied up at her computer writing articles for Quill.com. She has one more to complete before close of business on Friday. She takes a break for about an hour each day to go for a walk or run in the area.

I’ve been reading most of the time. The cool temperature combined with 15-20 mph wind is keeping me indoors. I take a walk around the park to stretch out and get some fresh air. On one of my walks, I saw a rare motorhome here in the park. It was a GMC motorhome. These were built by General Motors at the Pontiac truck and bus plant from 1973 to 1978. They’re unique motorhomes that were considered ultra-modern at the time. General Motors is the only US car company that built complete motorhomes. They were designed for comfortable travel as well as camping.

GMC motorhome here in the Havasu Falls RV Resort

The chassis is a front wheel drive configuration. GM used the 455 cubic inch (7.5L) Oldsmobile engine from the Toronado coupled to the Turbo-Hydramatic 425 automatic transmission. They were built in 23-foot and 26-foot configurations. I read that 90% of the production was the 26- foot length.

GMC motorhome chassis – Wikipedia photo

These rigs were low to the ground due to the front wheel drive configuration and aerodynamic by motorhome standards. The example here in the RV park looks to be fully restored to showroom condition.

Today the weather should begin a warming trend. We should see temperatures in the 60s today, followed by the 70s this weekend. The warming trend is expected to continue next week with high temperatures reaching the 80s! We’ll get out and explore around the lake.

Full-Time Costs in 2015

Wow, we’re into February, 2016 already. Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’.

At the end of the year, my bank sends me a summary of purchases made on my Visa credit card. Since I always put campgrounds on the card, I can pull that category and see what we spent. I also put fuel on either my Visa card or Pilot/Flying J card, so I can track that easily. Also, maintenance costs go on my Visa card.

People are often curious about what we spend on this lifestyle. I decided to share a breakdown of maintenance, fuel and campgrounds (which includes utilities). Other expenses like food, clothing and restaurants are no different than when we lived in a stick-and-bricks home. Likewise, health insurance and healthcare haven’t changed – well, health insurance has gone up but it would’ve done that even if we never hit the road.

Maintenance costs for us in 2015 were minimal. We didn’t have any major breakdowns – it was mostly scheduled preventive maintenance. We spent more in the first year owning this coach as I brought everything up to snuff. Hopefully we’ll continue to pay for scheduled maintenance and not have major repair bills. In 2015, we spent $982.15, a monthly average of $85.85. I did most of the work myself keeping the costs low.

We traveled extensively in 2015 – about 10,000 miles in the motorhome. I was surprised to see how low our fuel costs were – thanks in no small part to the low fuel prices. Our fuel costs include diesel for the coach and generator and gasoline for the scooter. In 2015, we spent $3,278.15, a monthly average of $273.18. I expect our fuel costs to be lower this year as prices have fallen even lower and we won’t put on as many miles.

Our largest expenditure last year was on campground fees. We stayed in several parks that are pricier than we normally pay. Campgrounds in the east tend be priced higher than many of the places we find in the southwest. Also, we usually take advantage of monthly rates in San Diego and Arizona. We try to have a few days of free boondocking through dispersed camping on public land or an overnight here and there at Walmart, Cabela’s or casinos as we travel. Our campground cost for 2015 was $7,441.15, a monthly average of $620.10, a daily average of $28.08. I expect this expense to be similar this year.

Adding these three RV expense categories together, we spent $11,701.45 in 2015, a monthly average of $975.12. This is much less than we paid for mortgage, utilities and maintenance in the sticks-and-bricks lifestyle – and we’re seeing the country while we’re at it.

One area of expense is higher than we paid in our sticks and bricks. That’s telephone, internet and satellite TV. In our sticks and bricks we had Comcast for cable TV, highspeed internet and a landline at a cost of about $180/month and Donna had a cell phone at $50/month – my cell phone was provided by my company. Now we have two smartphones, a Verizon Jetpack with a 30GB data plan and Dish Network with over 200 high definition channels. Our monthly expense is about $351 – that’s $4,212 per year. Comcast probably costs more than the $180/month we paid three years ago, but I don’t know what the current rate is.

I didn’t list our full-timers insurance policy costs for the coach and trailer or the scooter insurance. I don’t think it’s helpful to anyone because insurance rates vary based on value of the vehicles, coverage limits and deductibles, driving records, credit scores and the state you’re registered in. Our insurance costs overall are lower than the homeowner policy and motorcycle insurance we had before we hit the road.

We pulled out of our boondocking site at Dome Rock near Quartzsite, Arizona around noon yesterday. It was windy – the wind was coming from the west at about 20mph. It was steady with few gusts so driving wasn’t too stressful.

We drove east through town and then north on AZ95. This route was fairly level and mostly straight to Parker, Arizona. It was cold – the thermometer never reached 60 degrees. Once we passed through Parker, AZ95 hugs the Colorado River. At one of the many resort areas along the river, I saw someone water skiing! Even with a wetsuit it had to be cold.

The road north from Parker to Lake Havasu City has many hills and twists. The road surface was good. It’s mostly two-lane highway with occasional passing lanes. We cruised at 58-60mph. The engine ran very cool – I couldn’t keep it up to temperature in the cool air with the wind blowing across the radiator. The coolant temperature reached 186 degrees on a couple of the longer climbs, but mostly hovered around 178-180 degrees. Running too cool isn’t as worrisome as overheating, but it can lead to incomplete combustion and fuel dilution in the crankcase oil. Diesels run more efficiently at a coolant temperature around 190 degrees.

Lake Havasu City is a town with a population of about 52,000. It sprawls along the man-made lake. We’re located on the north side of town at the Havasu Falls RV Resort (map). This park has tight pull-though sites 50 feet long by 22 feet wide. They are paved and level. I managed to get our 56-foot length into the pull-through without dropping the trailer by pulling in at an angle with the trailer slightly turned.

Site 67 Havasu Falls RV Resort

The RV park is on high ground with a view of the lake/river.

View looking southwest from the RV park

Although we have have clear, sunny skies today, the cold front that blew in yesterday will linger. I doubt if we’ll see a temperature above the low 60s. The weather guessers are calling for a slow warming trend with the temperature reaching the 70s by this weekend. We’ll stay here and explore until next Monday. Then we’ll move to the rodeo grounds on the south side of town for the Alpine Coach rally and the Western Winter Blast Pyrotechnics show.

Cradle to Grave in Quartzsite

Friday was our last full day at Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet, California. We started with our usual time on the pickleball courts and played until nearly noon. I spent the afternoon organizing the trailer and packing everything away. It was just about 5pm by the time I loaded the Traeger and scooter and locked the trailer. It was time for a shower and happy hour. Our friends Ron and Marilyn Cross invited us for dinner at their place but we took a rain check until next time.

Donna took her backpack and walked to Marshalls where she returned a couple of items, then walked to Stater Brothers to pick up a few groceries. When she returned and emptied her backpack, Ozark thought the backpack was a nice place for her to explore. She crawled into the backpack and made herself comfortable. We were surprised to see her do that – she doesn’t usually like to get under covers but she was happy to hide in the backpack.

Ozark peeking out of her backpack hideout

Our last sunset at Golden Village Palms

We hoped to make an early getaway Saturday morning but we weren’t ready to hitch the trailer until 10am. A few minutes later we were on the road. I wanted to leave early because high winds were in the forecast for the afternoon. We took CA79 north to Beaumont where we hit I-10 east. The wind picked up but it was a tailwind as we headed east. With the tailwind and downgrade from Banning to the desert floor, we were coasting along at 62mph. We made a stop for fuel in Thousand Palms at the Pilot/Flying J travel center. I probably could’ve waited until we crossed into Arizona to fuel up and save a few bucks, but I don’t like running below a quarter tank. I took on 50 gallons for peace of mind.

East of Indio, I-10 climbs to Chiriaco Summit, then drops back down to the desert. The wind shifted and we had a cross wind from the south. In a few areas there were columns of dust blowing – not really a full-on haboob – just a light dust storm.

Dust storm ahead seen through the windshield

Donna sent a text message to Jeff and Deb Spencer (Rolling Recess) when we crossed the border into Arizona. They’ve been here for about three weeks now – they had a booth in the big tent for the Quartzsite RV show. Jeff told us to take the Dome Rock exit and follow the road for about two miles and we would see his GMC Denali pickup truck. The Dome Rock Road exit is about 11 miles into Arizona. We found Jeff and his wife Deb waiting for us on the side of the road. They led us back to the area where they’re boondocking. It turned to be only a few hundred yards from the place we stayed two years ago. I wrote about it in this post.

We set up quickly in a level spot with plenty of open space around us. The road we followed in dead ends at a wash, thus we have very little traffic here (map).

Our piece of desert west of Quartzsite on Dome Rock Road

Donna invited Jeff and Deb to join us for dinner. In her usual fashion, Donna chose a recipe she’d never made before to serve our dinner guests. She prepared a Marseilles-style shrimp stew with fresh shrimp she picked up the night before at Stater Brothers. She also toasted French baguette slices and spread them with rouille (a sauce made with mayo, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, cayenne and paprika). It was delicious. The toasted baguette with rouille was the perfect accompaniment for the stew – that and a bottle of champagne.

Marseilles-style shrimp stew with toasted baguette

Jeff brought firewood and built a fire on the leeward side of our rig. We’re parked facing west and the wind from the south hits the driver’s side, making a nice wind block on the passenger side. While we were eating dinner inside, the wind really picked up.

Long shadows as the sun sets in the desert

I had four camp chairs set up around the fire. While we were eating dinner, we heard one of the chairs blow over. Jeff went outside and found it in the fire! It was one of the chairs we bought here at the Quartzsite big tent two years ago. Jeff joked about its lifespan being cradle to grave in Quartzsite. Oh, well. Donna’s had her eye on some new chairs.

Chair didn’t fare well in the fire

After dinner, I pulled the living room slide in – the wind was causing the slide topper to flap like crazy and make quite a ruckus. We went outside and sat around the fire. Deb cooked up s’mores while we chatted. As usual, the time flies while we’re enjoying good company. It was past 10pm before we knew it.

This morning, Donna and Deb went out for a three-mile power walk. After their walk, we toured their Domani fifth-wheel trailer. They pulled out today. We plan to spend another night here before we head up to Lake Havasu tomorrow. The wind is blowing again and is expected to increase throughout the day. I’ll probably pull the living room slide in again tonight.

This morning, our Verizon reception was weak – a couple of bars of 3G. I almost skipped writing a post because of it. Then I relocated the Jetpack and the signal improved to two bars of 4G LTE. It’s always nice to have an Internet connection.

Leaving SoCal

My time here at Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet, CA (map) has been mostly consumed by playing pickleball. It’s such a fun and social game, Donna and I both love it. Donna has had a number of writing assignments cutting into her pickleball and free time – but hey, a little cash flow always helps. Of course, our main reason for relocating here was to assist my step-dad, Ken Keller, through his pre-operative and post-operative surgery. Thankfully he’s come through that without any complications and is back to living his usual routine.

We extended our stay here by a week to be sure Ken was alright. When I extended the stay, a gal at the office named Espey did us a real favor. The usual weekly rate for a Premium-Plus site is $378 – which we paid when I originally booked online. When I extended our stay for another week, she took the time to book each day as a daily reservation applying our Good Sam and Passport America discounts for each night. This resulted in the second week booking at $246. A savings of $132 – it took her a bit of time to circumvent the usual computerized booking method, but she was willing to help us out! Nice!

My pickleball game has improved with the nearly daily play. I’ll have one more day of play before we move on. Donna and I are both feeling the hitch itch and we planned our next move on Wednesday night. We’ll leave here Saturday morning and make the 180-mile drive to Quartszite, Arizona. Our friends, Deb and Jeff Spencer (RollingRecess) are still there and they decided to stay an extra night so we can meet up.

Our original plan was to meet with a number of nomadic friends and acquaintances in Quartszite last week, but being available for family needs trumped that plan. So now we intend to boondock near Dome Rock – just west of town for Saturday and Sunday nights, then move on to Havasu Falls RV Resort in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. After a week there, we’ll move to the rodeo grounds in Lake Havasu City for the Alpine Coach Association rally at the Western Pyrotechnics Convention and Fireworks show. This should be a good time.

In preparation for our travels, I checked tire pressures on the coach, trailer and scooter and broke out our Porter-Cable compressor to set them to the proper pressure on Thursday afternoon. I don’t take tire pressure for granted – tire failure is no joke and under-inflated tires are the number one cause of blow-outs. I also checked and topped off the oil level in our Onan 7.5kW Quiet Diesel generator. Today I’ll stow the windshield cover and load the trailer. We should be set to roll and ready to boondock fairly early on Saturday. I’m looking forward to a couple of very quiet nights in the desert.

Donna walked to Marshall’s yesterday afternoon to do some shopping. She said it was the nicest Marshall’s store she’s ever been to. After Marshall’s, she stopped at CVS and then Stater Brothers where she picked up some tilapia for dinner. She plans to go back to Stater Brothers today to re-stock our pantry for the next two weeks on the road. She loves it when we’re parked within walking distance of a variety of stores.

Fresh Mexican tilapia over sauteed mushrooms with roasted sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli

The weather yesterday was the nicest we’ve had since our arrival in Hemet. The temperature reached the upper 70s with clear, blue skies and little wind. I know I shouldn’t complain by saying this has been the coldest, wettest season since we hit the road over 30 months ago as it doesn’t compare to what many experience in the north or east coast. But one of the reasons for choosing the nomadic lifestyle is to follow the sun!

I’m not sure if I’ll post this weekend – if I remember correctly, we should have a good Verizon signal at Dome Rock and I can update at some point.

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, 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!

Idyllwild Day Trip

Sunday went pretty much as I expected. We played pickleball in the morning then I settled in to watch the NFL Conference Championship games. Denver’s defense had their way against the New England Patriots until late in the game. Then New England stepped on the gas and made it a close finish. Denver prevailed. The Arizona Cardinals versus the Carolina Panthers was a lopsided affair with Carolina blowing out Arizona.

Donna on the pickleball court

Monday I started my day on the pickleball courts and played until 11:30am. Whew! Donna passed on pickleball and went out for a three-mile run then went to work on an article she’s writing for Quill. Although it was a nice day out with the temperature in the 70s with clear skies, I was worn out from three hours of pickleball so I read for a while and napped on the sofa. That’s about all I was good for on Monday.

I managed to fire up the Traeger wood pellet grill and roast a whole chicken for dinner. I seasoned the chicken with Sweet Rub O’Mine. Just like last time, the sugars in the rub caramelized and make the chicken look burnt in the photos. It wasn’t burnt – the skin was crispy and tasty with no burnt flavor at all.

Chicken roasted on the Traeger

Donna served it with a blend of brown and wild rices mixed with chopped pecans and dried berries. She also baked acorn squash with butter and maple syrup as another side.

Roasted chicken, acorn squash and rice

Tuesday morning I slept in until 8:15 and still felt tired. I haven’t been sleeping well lately. Some of it is due to seasonal allergies starting to kick in – I know it’s still January but many plants are blooming around here. The other part is sore shoulders. My shoulders have been beat up – I’ve had multiple shoulder surgeries on both sides over the years and it’s catching up with me.

I decided to take a break from pickleball. We had a trip planned with our new friends, Ron and Marilyn Cross. We met Marilyn on the pickleball courts and she and Donna have become friends. It’s amazing how many new friends we find as we travel the country. They picked us up at 11am for a day trip up to Idyllwild.

We drove through Hemet and followed CA74 to CA243, a twisty two-lane country highway that climbs to the village of Idyllwild, 5,413 feet above sea level (map). Idyllwild is nestled in the San Jacinto Mountains which boast the second highest peak in southern California. San Jacinto Peak is 10,834 feet above sea level – Mount San Gorgonio in the San Bernadino mountains is the highest at 11,503 feet above sea level. Many people don’t imagine mountain ranges and towering peaks when they think about southern California, but they’re here. Idyllwild caters to tourism based around hiking, camping and rock climbing. It doesn’t have any ski areas although it does get its share of snow. If you follow CA74 past the CA243 turn off, you’ll find yourself in the desert at Palm Springs – only an hour away!

Idyllwild Ranger station – San Bernadino National Forest – snow in the background

We walked through town with Ron and Marilyn and their dog, a long haired Vizsla named Callie. Then we came back to the car which was parked in front of the Lumber Mill Bar and Grill. Ron and Marilyn said this place had the best burgers around. We found about a dozen specialty burger choices on the menu. I went for a mushroom burger with grilled onions, Donna had the bison burger, Marilyn had the veggie burger and Ron had a bacon cheeseburger. They were definitely good burgers.

Lumber Mill Bar and Grill

When we were leaving, I saw an interesting vehicle parked out front. It was Pinzgauer high-mobility all-terrain vehicle. These vehicles were originally made by Steyr-Diamler-Puch in Graz, Austria. It was a popular military vehicle in Europe. Steyr-Diamler-Puch produced these vehicles in four-wheel and six-wheel drive configurations from 1971 to 2000 when the rights were ultimately sold to the UK firm BAE. Nowadays, many of the older Pinzgauers are in private hands and they can be found anywhere in the world.

Pinzgauer high-mobility all-terrain vehicle

This one appears to be a first generation vehicle most likely powered by an inline air-cooled four-cylinder engine.

We left Idyllwild with the intention of finding Lake Hemet. First we made a wrong turn and went up Saunders Meadow Road. We quickly decided it was a mistake and Ron pulled over at a turnout. The view was spectacular so we got out. We then found a wide, well-defined hiking trail and took a short hike with their dog, Callie, among the ponderosa pines and manzanita trees.

Donna, Ron and Marilyn on the trail we found by accident - note snow on peak in the baclground

Donna, Ron and Marilyn on the trail we found by accident – note snow on peaks in the baclground

We continued on our way and headed east on CA74 – also known as the Pines to Palms highway. About four miles down CA74, we found the lake after one more missed turn – it was obscured by a construction zone.

Lake Hemet

We saw an immature bald eagle flying across the lake while Callie romped and swam in the water. As is the case with most western lakes and reservoirs, the water level is low. Recent rainfall and snow pack will undoubtedly help this situation, but years of drought aren’t erased by one wet season.

The heavy rainfall in the last month caused erosion along some of the banks of the lake. Marilyn and Donna sat on a bench they literally had to jump up on. The erosion of the soil under the bench left it sitting high above ground level. They looked like two little kids on a park bench with their legs dangling.

Legs dangling from a high bench

We made it back to Golden Palms RV Resort just in time to hit the farmers’ market before it shut down at 4pm. We picked up a few items before we walked back to our coach.

We were told about a pizza place that had good pizza and had a Tuesday special – buy one, get one free! I phoned in a take-out order and rode the scooter to Stadium Pizza in a small industrial park about four miles away. The parking lot was full and there was a line of people out the front door! I found a place to park the scooter and saw the line had the door blocked and the place was jam-packed. I asked people in line if I had to wait in line if I was picking up a take-out order I already placed. They said I probably needed to wait. Then one of them said I should go inside and try to pick up my order.

I wiggled my way inside and found a guy that looked like the manager walking behind the counter. I told him I phoned my order in and asked if I could pick it up or should I stand in the long line. He said, “We don’t have a drive through – you need to get in line.” I said “Really? I wasn’t asking for a drive through, but it doesn’t make sense to me to phone an order in and stand in line while other people are placing orders and waiting for tables while my pizza gets cold.” He asked for my name and phone number and went to the back and came out with the pizzas. What he needs to do is organize his counter – one line to place orders and another line to pick up orders. Simple. The pizza WAS good. Really good.

Today the only thing on my schedule is pickleball. Then I have no further plan.

Ozark Takes a Walk

Some mornings I wake up well before sunrise. Maybe I need to use the restroom. Maybe it’s a loud car or other noise. Sometimes it’s Ozark the cat moving about on our bed or scratching in her litter box. Some of the time I fall back into a slumber filled with dreams and I’m not really sure if I was ever awake or not. Does this ever happen to you?

Yesterday morning, I heard Ozark in her litter box. I drifted back to sleep only to wake up to the sound of Ozark in her litter box. This repeated countless times. Donna was out of bed before me. When I finally rose, she said Ozark needs to go to the vet. She said Ozark was climbing into her Clever Cat litter box every five minutes but didn’t seem like she was able to urinate. Something was clearly wrong.

We looked online for veterinarians nearby. At 8am, Donna started calling for an appointment. She was able to obtain an appointment at the Hemet Animal Hospital at 10:15am. We worried that Ozark might have a urinary tract blockage. I looked at Google maps and it appeared that the hospital on Girard Street was between 11,000 and 12,000 feet away – a little over two miles. Donna thought the best thing to do was to carry Ozark in her crate and walk there. Rather than carry the crate like a briefcase, she used our laundry basket – which has a shoulder strap – to carry the crate.

This turned out not to be the best idea. The basket was awkward and kept hitting Donna’s leg, so Ozark was getting bounced around. And the distance was badly underestimated. The scale of the Google map or the key to the map weren’t correct. It turned out to be 3.7 miles – a long walk. They were late, but they made it and the vet was still able to see them.

The vet diagnosed a urinary tract infection. Ozark didn’t have a blockage. In fact her bladder was nearly empty. She was just feeling an urge due to the inflammation of the infection. She was given medication and sub-cutaneous hydration – $162 later they were on their way home. Donna called a taxi for the ride home. Ozark came home with prescription medications – one was a sedative to keep her stress level down. She seemed to respond to it well at first, then she acted a little hyper. After a while she settled back down.

Ozark resting on the sofa

One thought about the cause of her condition may be stress due to a change in diet. Before we left San Diego I went to Petsmart to buy cat food. They didn’t have what she usually eats so I bought the next closest thing (same brand, different formula). We’ve been blending the last of her usual food with the new formula. Cats don’t like to switch foods. So yesterday, I went to Petco and bought her usual stuff. The vet also recommended hydrating as much as possible with canned foods and broth in her usual food as she recovers.

Later I accomplished a task that needed to be done. I cleaned our battery banks with baking soda solution. Our house batteries are flooded wet cell 6-volt golf cart batteries. Flooded lead acid batteries are well-developed and proven technology. However, they can gas and produce acidic corrosion while charging. The corrosion can be a real pain as it attacks connectors and the battery tray. Baking soda neutralizes the acid, but over time the acid builds up again. I’d like to get away from this cycle and replace our house batteries with absorbent glass mat (AGM) batteries. They don’t vent acidic vapors and corrosion isn’t an issue. The problem is cost – I would have to spend north of $1500 to replace our house battery bank with AGM batteries. Our friends Mark and Emily Fagan wrote all you want to know about batteries in these posts.

Donna defrosted a tri-tip steak she bought at Trader Joe’s in San Diego. I looked around online to figure how to prepare it. We were introduced to tri-tip steak about a year ago on New Year’s Eve when Debbie Bednarski had one for our New Year’s Eve dinner on December 31, 2014. See this post.

I lucked out when I cooked the tri-tip back then as I had no idea what I was working with. Tri-tip is associated with Santa Maria, California – the barbeque capital of California in Santa Barbara County. I read that tri-tip is a west coast thing although it seems to be gaining acceptance in other parts of the country. After looking at a few recipes, I had a plan to cook the tri-tip on the Traeger wood pellet grill.

I dry rubbed it with Brooks Brown Sugar Bourbon Rub and let it rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. The Traeger made the rest of the cook easy. I think it came out fine – juicy with a pronounced beef flavor. Donna thought it could’ve been a little more tender. I cooked it to about 130 degrees internal temperature and let it rest for about 20 minutes in a loose foil tent. Maybe I could’ve taken it off the grill five minutes earlier.

Tri-tip ready to rest in a foil tent

Sliced tri-tip

Tri-tip plated with baked potato and zucchini saute

I know I go over the top at times about our dinners. I want readers to understand we’re not out on a camping trip – this is our lifestyle and that includes eating well.

I paired the dinner with an IPA ale from Bootlegger’s Brewery in Fullerton, Calfiornia. It’s an IPA style beer brewed with rye – maybe we should call it a Rye-P-A. It’s a very good ale with a creamy-frothy mouth feel.

Rye-P-A

This morning I plan to hit the pickleball courts for some fun and exercise, then become a couch potato as I watch the NFL Conference Championship games.

Swearing In

After pickleball on Thursday, my youngest daughter, Shauna, sent me a text message. She was back in Albany, New York to get sworn in to the New York State Bar and receive her certificate. I wrote about the near disaster during the first day of her bar exam in this post. This time in Albany, she had someone take a few pictures with her cell phone and she sent them to me. First up, the offending trash can that nearly kept her out of the exam center.

A secure trash receptacle

Next up, her swearing in ceremony and certificate.

Shauna swearing in

Her New York State Bar certificate

If you haven’t followed the link to the post about her exam, I encourage you to do so. Gaining admission to the bar is a long, drawn out process. After taking the exam in July, she started working for the international law firm Mayer, Brown in Washington DC. She also works out of their New York City office from time to time. She didn’t receive her test scores until October 28 and only just now was accepted into the New York State Bar.

We originally planned to pull out of Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet, CA tomorrow. We have a couple of open weeks on our calendar. So we decided it would be a good idea to stay put for an extra week and make sure my step-dad, Ken, is fully recovered from his surgery before we move on. I’ve extended our stay here until January 30. Our next planned stop isn’t until February 8th when we’ll arrive at Lake Havasu for the Alpine Coach Association rally and Western Pyrotechnics show.

The extra week here will give me time to catch up on a few chores and also keep us active playing pickleball every day. The people here are very friendly and we enjoy the comradery and competition on the courts. I found out they have two indoor courts here for rainy days!

We’re enjoying the mild weather. The nights cool to the upper 40s and the daytime highs are in the 70s.

Successful Surgery

I haven’t posted for a few days as I’ve been off my usual routine this week. I didn’t sleep well Sunday night. I knew I had to be up early – I had my alarm set for 4:15am. Usually, when I need to be up early, I have an internal clock that wakes me up just before the alarm. In this case, I was restless all night and I was awake at 3am. I stayed in bed and tried to sleep, but got up at 4am and shut off the alarm.

I was up early to take my step-dad to the hospital. We had Ken’s car all weekend so I could drive him to the hospital for surgery to correct an abdominal aorta aneurysm and not have to scooter over to his place at dark-thirty. I told Ken I would be there by 5:15am. I showed up at 5:05am and we were on our way by 5:10am.

I figured the drive to Inland Valley Medical Center would take at least 30 minutes. In the early morning hours of Martin Luther King day, there was very little traffic and we made it in 25 minutes. We checked in at the ER as instructed and sat and waited for about half an hour. Then an administrator called out a name and Ken raised his hand. She started to tell us where we needed to go and Ken asked about his co-pay. He was told during the pre-op appointment that he would have a co-pay and it had to be paid in full before the surgery. The woman said she didn’t know about the co-pay and took us to an office. She started looking at files on her computer, then asked Ken if he knew the amount of the co-pay. Ken told her the amount and she said she didn’t see any notes for it, but would take the payment. I saw the file she was looking at – it wasn’t Ken’s file. She was about to apply his co-payment to someone else’s case.

We got that straightened out and walked to the surgery center. Ken’s 84 years old and never had a surgery before – and he had never spent the night in a hospital before. After a short wait, a nurse came and led him back to the pre-operation preparation area. I joined Ken there after a few minutes. I’ve been through several surgeries and I tried to reassure him and explain to him what they were doing. It was almost 8:30am by the time they were ready to wheel him into the operating room (OR). I told him he would be going to sleep in a few minutes. He looked at the nurse and said, “I’m wide awake now, I don’t think I can sleep.” I told him, “Trust me, you’ll be asleep in a few minutes.”

Before they took him away, the surgeon told me there was maybe a 1% chance that he would have to perform open surgery. The plan was to insert a stent through the femoral artery into his aorta and avoid open surgery. The surgeon said I should stick around until he was out of the OR. This made me wary – if they had to perform open surgery, I wasn’t sure if it would be survivable for someone Ken’s age and condition.

I read a book in the waiting room. I went to the cafeteria for breakfast. Then I came back and read some more. At 10:30am, the surgeon came out and told me everything was fine. He showed me a CT-scan image taken with contrast in the bloodstream. It showed blood flowing through the stent with no leakage into the aneurysm. Perfect. He said there was a possibility Ken would be discharged the next day, but more likely it would be Wednesday.

About an hour later, I was able to visit Ken in the recovery room. I said, “Well, you made it through.” He said, “I don’t think I did too well.” I told him the surgeon said everything went really well and he was pleased with the outcome. Ken said, “But I was thrashing about and trying to stand up in bed.” I laughed and told him that didn’t happen – it was a hallucination brought on by the anesthesia. He seemed really confused by that. Before I left, I told him I would call him the following day to check on him. The nurse told me he would be in room ICU13.

Monday night I was really tired and went to bed at 9pm. I slept like a rock. I was up early and got out of bed at 6am. I read for awhile then had breakfast when Donna got up.

Sunrise Tuesday morning

We hit the pickleball courts. Here at Golden Village Palms RV Resort, they take pickleball seriously and start play at 8am. I knew Ken usually likes to sleep in, so I played pickleball until 11am, then I called the hospital. It took four phone calls and lots of runaround before I was able to talk to Ken. He wasn’t in ICU13 like they told me – he was in ICU2.

Ken told me that when the doctor made his rounds earlier, he said Ken would be discharged after lunch! He said I should wait until he called me before heading to hospital because it might take a couple of hours. I received a phone call around 2pm from the nurse. He said he had trouble getting hold of me – they had written my phone number down incorrectly. Luckily Ken had my number on a note in his coat pocket which he eventually found. The nurse said I should plan to pick Ken up at 4pm.

Donna and I drove to the hospital and picked Ken up. He was moving a little slow but seemed fine. On the way to his house, I stopped at Rite-Aid to fill a pain prescription. That’s when trouble started. The pain med – Norco – is a class two controlled substance. Rite-Aid wouldn’t fill the prescription because the doctor didn’t hand write the date – it was pre-printed on the prescription form. They said the prescription had to be hand signed and hand dated. They suggested using a different pain med. I wasn’t going to do that without talking to the surgeon. It turned out he was in surgery at the time. I called his office and they told me they would page him and he could call Rite-Aid. They expected him to be out of surgery within half an hour.

We drove Ken home and told him he should kick back and relax while I worked out the prescription issue. Ken’s a pretty tough guy. He made a pot of coffee and turned on the television. We planned for Donna to spend the night at Ken’s house so she could prepare meals for him. He wouldn’t have it. Like I said, he’s a tough guy. Ken served in the Marine Corps and fought at the battle of Chosin in Korea. He’s been through very hard times in his life.

I went back to Rite-Aid to see if they heard from the surgeon. He hadn’t called and by now it was after 5pm. I called his office again but it was closed – I got through to his answering service. They paged him again and he called me. He said I should just buy extra strength Tylenol. He said Ken didn’t take much in the way of pain medication all day and he thought Tylenol would work fine. I bought the Tylenol and went back to Ken’s place. We sat for a while before he shooed us off. He’s used to living alone and he wanted us to go home and come back on Wednesday.

It was well after 6pm by the time we got home. Donna made oven-fried chicken that had soaked overnight in buttermilk and chives. This recipe was new and it was very tasty. The chicken was crispy, flavorful and moist. She also prepared buttered green beans and black rice with sweet potatoes, ginger and scallions.

Oven-fried chicken

Wednesday morning we were back on the pickleball courts. I called to check on Ken at 11am. He seemed anxious to have his car back in his garage. I told him I would make a quick run for groceries, then go to his place.

He seemed to be getting around fine when I arrived. He said he had some aches and pains and he didn’t know why. I told him he was only on his second day after surgery. Aches and pains are to be expected. He said he planned to go to the clubhouse and play cards on Thursday. He usually plays on Tuesdays and Thursdays. His neighbor, Ray, would walk with him to the clubhouse. He said he thought the walk would be good for him.

I rode the scooter back home and left Ken’s car in his garage. Donna adapted a chicken stir-fry recipe and made beef & broccoli stir-fry with flank steak for dinner. It was delicious!

Flank steak beef stir-fry

We played pickleball again this morning – I played for three hours. I’ll call Ken later, after his card game to see how he’s doing. I told him we were paid up here until Saturday, but we can extend if he feels like he might want some help. That’s the nice thing about being mobile and full-timing. We don’t really have to be anywhere. At a time like this, if we lived in a sticks-and-bricks house, I would have flown out here to help Ken. Then I would sleep on his sofa or get a hotel room. But I didn’t have to do that. We were able to move our living quarters to his area and we can remain here if he needs us.

It’s a beautiful day today. The temperature is in the mid 70s with only a few high clouds. The snow we can see on Mount San Jacinto and up in Big Bear is melting from the mountain tops.

Snow on the mountains

The nice weather should hold up through the weekend. We’ll decide tomorrow if we’ll stay here or move on.

Heat – Diesel or Propane?

I mentioned in my last post how cold it was at Jojoba Hills SKP RV Resort. Friday’s high temperature was in the low 50s. After a couple of hours on the pickleball courts in the morning, we stayed indoors for the rest of the day.

Our five dollar per night boondocking spot wasn’t as economical as I hoped it would be. With the cold weather, I had the generator running all day with the heat pumps on. I could have shut down the generator and fired up the propane furnace for heat – I’m not sure which is more economical. The generator burns roughly half a gallon of diesel fuel per hour. Diesel fuel is around two dollars per gallon now. Propane is slightly higher than that but I don’t know the burn rate of our furnace. I ended up with about 18 hours of generator run time over the two days we were there.

Donna prepared a pork tenderloin with pomegranate glaze for dinner Friday night. So yummy!

Pork tenderloin with pomegranate glaze

We pulled out of Jojoba Hills around 11:20am Saturday morning. Our route took us up CR3 to Hemet. I’ve driven this road before in the opposite direction. I remembered some tight twisty sections, but I didn’t remember it being 15 miles of twisty, narrow highway. There wasn’t much traffic but a couple of times, I had cars lining up behind me. What the drivers of cars may not realize is how much I need to slow down for tight turns. They also probably don’t know how difficult it may be for me to pull over on a narrow road to let them pass. I need to see a wide enough shoulder and judge whether it is smooth enough to drive on and solid enough to support our weight. I usually have to make that decision in a matter of a few seconds. Twice I found wide spots on the shoulder where I could let the cars pass.

We’re currently at the Golden Village Palms RV Resort in Hemet California (map). We’ve stayed here once before when it was much warmer. We have a back-in site that’s barely wide enough for our coach with three slides and our trailer. When I backed the trailer into our site we had a number of spectators. About a half dozen people across the street and another three or four people down from our site all stood by and watched. It must have been disappointing for them as I didn’t hit anything and Donna gave excellent guidance. We dropped the trailer without any drama at all.

Once we were set up, I scootered about 15 miles to my step-dad, Ken Keller’s house. I left the scooter in his garage and picked up his car. I’ll drive over there at dark-thirty on Monday to take him to the hospital. He has a surgery scheduled and I need to have him at the hospital before 6am.

Ken is 84 years old. He’s never had surgery and never spent the night in a hospital before. One of the nice things about our nomadic lifestyle is the ability to visit family as we travel about. In this case, it enables us to set up near Ken and assist him. The hospital requires an adult caretaker to drive him home (when he’s able to go home) and stay with him for 24 hours. I’ve booked a week here. I’m hoping that’s sufficient time for him to get back on his feet.

When I returned, I watched the NFL playoffs. The Cardinals won a thriller over Green Bay. Donna played pickleball in the afternoon. Then she made turkey and black bean chili for dinner. A simple and delicious meal!

Turkey burger chili with cheddar and cilantro

Turkey chili with cheddar and cilantro

We’ll head over to the pickleball courts this morning, then I’ll kick back and watch more NFL playoff games.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Author Archives: Mike Kuper

London Bridge

More Number Crunching

Full-Time Costs in 2015

Cradle to Grave in Quartzsite

Leaving SoCal

Idyllwild Day Trip

Ozark Takes a Walk

Swearing In

Successful Surgery

Heat – Diesel or Propane?

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