Yesterday was my birthday. I had a great day. Donna went for a bike ride in the morning while I posted to the blog. I watched the NFL pre-game shows. A little past 11am we went to Ocean Beach to meet up with my old friends, Chris and Sherry Nirschl. Chris and I were roommates, along with Jim Birditt, in Longmont, Colorado. That was back in 1976.

Chris and I went to high school together. His family moved to Colorado after we graduated. Then Jim Birditt moved to Longmont where he and Chris rented a house. I followed in the spring of 1976. We found jobs and spent most of our free time trying to become musicians. We weren’t too successful.

By late fall that year, the weather was turning cold. Chris was engaged to Sherry and they would be married soon. Jim and I decided it was time to return to San Diego. Although I’ve spoken to Chris on the phone a few times since then, I haven’t seen him or Sherry.

Chris is a contractor. He currently has jobs here in San Diego as well as back in Colorado. His schedule has him in Colorado two days a week, then back here to keep the business moving forward.

They live in Ocean Beach in a condo, right on the ocean. Chris surfs most mornings. He can walk out of his building and a few steps later, he’s paddling out.

We went to a Mexican cafe for lunch. I really like Mexican food. It’s one of the things I missed while we were living in Michigan. It’s hard to find good Mexican food in the Midwest. We sat and talked for a couple of hours. It was fun catching up and renewing our friendship. Hopefully we’ll get together again later this week.

At the Mexican cafe with Chris and Sherry Nirschl

After lunch with the Nirschls, I parked myself in front of the TV and watched football. The Cowboys and Broncos had a real shootout. The final score was 51- 48, Broncos. Yesterday the schedule was different. The Chargers – Raiders game was delayed until 8:30pm PST. That meant I had football all day until midnight. Unfortunately, the Chargers didn’t play well and the Raiders won.

During the afternoon, Donna’s sister Sheila stopped by. She had a special delivery; Donna surprised me with a birthday gift. It’s a custom-made guitar stand that’s also a 12-watt tube-driven practice amp. The amp is made in Texas by Larry Davis, his company is called Not Just Stands. We learned about this product when we visited with Charlie and Sheila Pennington in South Dakota. Charlie is a bass player and had one of these amp/stands.

Guitar stand/amp – shaped like my ES339

I’ll go for a bike ride this morning. Later I’ll plug my Gibson ES339 into the new amp.

Yesterday began with our new Monday – Wednesday – Friday routine. That is, I took Donna to her exercise class first thing in the morning. I dropped her off at Liberty Station in Point Loma around 8:40am.

My plan was to go to Starbucks. I could sit and sip coffee while posting to the blog on their wifi. When I dropped Donna off, her sister said she would drive Donna home after the class. Since I didn’t have to pick Donna up, I decided to come straight home and write my post.

As I crossed the intersection from Midway Drive to West Mission Bay Drive, I thought I heard a siren. I took a quick look around and checked the scooter mirrors, but I didn’t see an emergency vehicle. Continuing on to Sea World Drive, I thought I heard a siren wailing again. I checked my mirrors; the road was empty behind me.

A few moments later, I heard it again. Quick check – nothing. I began to think the air was whistling through my helmet or something. I stopped at the traffic light in the left turn lane at East Mission Bay Drive. I heard the siren again and it was getting louder. I looked back and saw an ambulance and police car coming from behind and I could see that the ambulance was indicating a left turn.

There weren’t any any other cars on the road at the moment, so I cranked the scooter hard right and got out of the left turn lane and moved to the curb. The ambulance and police car turned onto East Mission Bay Drive. From there, they turned left again onto Fiesta Island.

Out of morbid curiosity, I followed them. They took the short loop around the island and drove all the way back to the water ski jump area before they stopped. I saw some people ahead. A woman on the side of the rode was dressed in bicycling gear, standing over her bike. Then I saw a bike lying on the side of the road and a woman dressed in bicycling gear lying in the road.

I rode slowly past the scene and stopped. The woman was motionless. The paramedics stabilized her neck with a brace and were putting  a backboard under her. She appeared to be conscious. I walked back and asked the woman on the bike what happened.

Hit and run on Fiesta Island

She told me a car hit the bicyclist and drove on without stopping!

The speed limit on Fiesta Island is 25mph. The traffic moves in one direction, counter clockwise around the island. It’s a popular area for bicyclists and runners. The road is plenty wide enough for a car to safely pass a bicyclist or runner. I thought it was a safe place to ride.

How does this happen? How can a driver of an automobile be so reckless? How can anyone strike a person with their car and drive on?

I can only hope the woman isn’t injured too seriously and she completely recovers. Apparently a hit and run involving a bicyclist isn’t newsworthy. I checked the local news, Internet and newspaper and couldn’t find any information about the incident.

It was after 11am before I got on my bike to ride. I did my usual loop, including a lap of Fiesta Island. I went to Mission Beach, then rode to Pacific Beach and back home along Crown Point. The liner on my bicycle helmet is broken and I’ve made my last few rides helmetless. The hit and run this morning brought home how foolish this is.

After lunch, Donna and I rode the scooter up to Clairemont. I needed new glasses, so we went to Lenscrafters. After I ordered my glasses, we went to a bicycle shop. I bought a new helmet.

Donna had her book deadline extended and she is continuing to work on it. Last night, my daughter, Shauna, left her car with us. Today we have a few errands and the car will be handy. Donna also has a hair appointment. She’s happy she won’t have “helmet hair” from riding the scooter when she goes to the hairstylist.

Yesterday, after I posted to the blog, I scootered Donna to her exercise class. While she was working out, I treated myself to a big breakfast. I went to The Broken Yolk Cafe on Midway Drive. They’re open for breakfast and lunch only. Their breakfast menu is extensive.

Their specialty is huevos rancheros, which is based on a traditional Mexican farmer’s meal. A lightly fried corn tortilla is topped with refried beans, salsa, avocado and two eggs. There are many variations of this theme.

I opted for eggs benedict. It’s always been a favorite and I can’t remember the last time I had it. It was served with hash brown potatoes. The service was speedy. I took my time eating and savored the meal. After I ate every morsel, I realized I haven’t been eating meals this large. The size and richness of the breakfast was a little too much.

By the time I finished breakfast, it was time to pick up Donna from her hour-long class. We returned home and I prepared for a bicycle ride. I planned to do a few laps of Fiesta Island.

Most of Mission Bay and the surrounding municipal park are man-made, including Fiesta Island. Mission Bay is the largest man-made aquatic park in the country. The total area is 4,235 acres (46% land, 54% water).

Originally, Mission Bay was a tidal marsh. Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo named it False Bay in 1542. Development of area began in the 1800s.  In the 1940s, dredging began and an ambitious plan to create a recreational area took shape. Work continued over the next few decades.

Twenty-five million cubic yards of sand were dredged to create land forms and clear the bay. Mission Bay Park is owned and operated by the City of San Diego. Regulations were put into place restricting the amount of land and shoreline that could be used for commercial leaseholds. No more than 25% of the land and 6.5% of the water area can be used for private purposes. This ensures public access for recreational use.

Fiesta Island is really an isthmus. The entrance to Fiesta Island is a narrow spit on the southeast end not much wider than the road. The main road follows the perimeter, except for a small area on the east side. This area is an aquatic center.This is the only area of real development. There are no facilities on the rest of Fiesta Island.

Click to enlarge map

The road around the perimeter is about four miles long. There is a shortcut road that’s about two and a half miles around. All traffic is one way, counterclockwise around the island.

I rode my bike to Fiesta Island and did the long loop. I did another lap on the short loop. It was a little boring to continue lapping around so I left the island and took the bike path toward Sea World.

Our location at De Anza viewed from the north side of Fiesta Island

San Diego is criss-crossed with biking and walking paths. I rode along a series of bike paths past Dana Landing to Mission Beach. I made a loop, going north on the boardwalk. Then I crossed Mission Boulevard at the Catamaran Hotel and took the bike path along the bay through Crown Point.

Near the RV resort, I entered the Rose Creek Bike Trail. I wanted to see where it went. It’s a narrow path with fencing on the sides in some parts. It wasn’t a favorite of mine. It abruptly ends at the intersection of Damon Avenue and East Mission Bay Drive. I returned home on the busy East Mission Bay Drive.

My total mileage was just over 23 miles. One week ago, on Saturday, I got on the bike for the first time in a long, long time, and rode seven miles. It’s amazing to me how quickly our bodies can adapt.

In the afternoon, while Donna was working on her book, I went to the beach. I walked the beach at La Jolla Shores to the Scripps Pier. I’ll have to describe that area in another post.

Last night, another old friend came by. John Swingle and I went to school together. I’ve known him since I was in eighth grade. He and his wife, Bonnie, took us to dinner at King’s Fish House in Mission Valley. We’ve been out of contact with each other for many years. It was great to enjoy a meal and conversation. We caught up a little on each other’s lives. We’ll have to get together again. There’s so much catching up to do.

Today, my daughter, Shauna, will pick me up. We’ll take her car to Sun City and visit my step-dad, Ken Keller. I think I’ll take it easy today and not wear myself out on the bike. Donna just got back from a long ride and she’ll spend the day trying to meet her Monday book deadline.

I didn’t post to the blog yesterday. It wasn’t a matter of laziness. Well, maybe that was a factor. It was mostly because Tuesday was nearly a carbon copy of Monday. I bicycled to Mission Beach in the morning. After I returned, I showered and rode the scooter to La Jolla Shores in the afternoon while Donna worked on her book.

While I was at La Jolla Shores, I walked on the sand to Scripps Pier. Architecture students from UCSD were making geometric shapes in the sand. It was a class assignment! I wish I’d taken pictures of some of the interesting shapes.

On the south end of the beach, I saw something I’ve never seen at La Jolla Shores. A seal was on the beach taking a nap! I’ve seen seals at La Jolla Cove; they’re a common sight there. But this was the first time I’ve seen one on the beach at the shores.

Afternoon snooze on the beach

Yesterday we changed up our routine. Donna started  an 8-week exercise class (boot camp) in Point Loma. We scootered over to Liberty Station, where the class was held in a park. I dropped her off at 8:45am. Then I rode to the Embarcadero.

The Star of India is an iconic sight there. She is the world’s oldest active sailing ship. She was built in the Isle of Man in 1863. She sailed from Great Britain to India and New Zealand early on. Later, she was re-purposed as a salmon hauler from Alaska to California. Nowadays she is a maritime museum.

Star of India Maritime Museum

The Star of India was here when I grew up in San Diego. I found additional historic ships docked alongside. One was a Soviet submarine. It’s B39, a Foxtrot class, diesel-electric submarine. It was part of the Soviet fleet from 1967 to 1994. It passed through various owners before it became part of the San Diego Maritime Museum in 2005.

C. W. Lawrence and Soviet submarine

On the dock next to the submarine is the cutter C. W. Lawrence. This tall ship is actually a replica built in 1984.

Giant sculpture at Navy Pier

From there I continued south to Navy Pier. There’s a small park there commemorating naval battles during World War II. The aircraft carrier USS Midway is docked there. Built in 1945, she was the largest ship in the world when she was commissioned. She served in the Vietnam War and also in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. She was decommissioned in 1992 and now serves as a naval museum.

I tried to capture the enormous scale of this vessel. She was the first ship built that was too big to transit the Panama Canal.

USS Midway stern

USS Midway midship

USS Midway bow

After I picked Donna up from her exercise class, I went for a bicycle ride. The wind was challenging on the way west. I knew it would be welcome on the return trip. I rode out to the Ocean Beach Pier.

View of Ocean Beach from the end of the pier

Surf’s up!

From there I rode to Mission Beach and followed the path around Mission Bay back home. It was a 20-mile loop. Today I’ll take a day off of the bike. The weather is much cooler today, but the forecast calls for rising temperatures over the next several days.

I woke up this morning and thought, “Oh no, another sunny day with blue skies and moderate temperature. I can’t take it any more!” Yeah, right. It’s 63 degrees out as I type this at 8am. Today we’ll see high temperatures in the mid 70s. Pretty hard to take, right?

Yesterday set the template for my retirement. I posted to the blog first thing. Then I bicycled along the bay, through Crown Point to Pacific Beach. It was a beautiful morning and a great ride. I’m so inspired by this place to take up cycling again. I was an avid cyclist most of my life. The last four years in Michigan I didn’t ride much.

Estuary at Crown Point

I rode along Riviera Drive to the boardwalk at Pacific Beach. It seems funny to me that we call it the boardwalk. It’s a concrete walk.

View from Riviera Drive across west Mission Bay toward Mission Beach

View from Riviera Drive across west Mission Bay toward Pacific Beach

I rode slowly up the boardwalk to Felspar Street. i stopped in the bike shop there. I need a new liner for my helmet. They didn’t have the one I need. When I rode back, I followed Pacific Beach Drive. There’s a walking/biking path along the bay that takes you east to Crown Point Shores. I rode along this path.

Pacific Beach boardwalk south in the morning

View north to Crystal Pier from Pacific Beach boardwalk

As I rode under the Ingraham Street overpass, I was reminiscing about old times there. When I was young, we would go there and build bonfires from wooden pallets and party.

After I returned, I showered and took care of a few chores. Donna was working on her book. She has a deadline to meet and wants to get it done this week. I went out on the scooter to tour around.

I stopped at the bank to make deposits. Then I stopped at Surf Taco on Mission Boulevard. I had rolled tacos with guacamole. Yummy.

I rode up to La Jolla Cove. I saw pelicans surfing the swell there. Pelicans take advantage of aerodynamics. They will soar very close to the surface of the water. This creates an aerodynamic phenomenon known as ground effect. The air compresses slightly under their wings, creating lift and reducing drag.

Pelicans take it a step further. As a wave swells and approaches the shore, it pushes a wave of air ahead of it. Pelicans glide along in front of the swell and ride this wave of air. I call it pelican surfing.

I continued on to La Jolla Shores. Much of my mis-spent youth was spent right there, under the lifeguard tower on La Jolla Shores.

View from the La Jolla Shores lifeguard tower south toward La Jolla Cove

View from the La Jolla Shores lifeguard tower north toward Scripps Pier

On the way home, I stopped and bought a wild king salmon filet. I soaked a cedar plank and grilled it. Donna served it with Mediterranean quinoa, green beans and artichokes sauteed with sundried tomatoes.

The only downer of the day was the cable TV at Mission Bay RV Resort. It only has a handful of channels and no ESPN. No ESPN equals no Monday Night Football! Oh well, if Monday was an indication of how the next few months of retirement will be, I’ll gladly suffer it!

After three nights here, I already feel like we’re settling in. On Saturday, Donna defrosted the refrigerator and freezer. We retrieved our bicycles and other gear from the trailer. The trailer is parked behind the RV resort office, about a quarter of a mile away from us.

We rode our bikes south on Mission Bay Drive. I wanted to give Donna a little tour of the area so she could get the lay of the land. When we came back, we continued on past the golf course, over a bridge made for bikers and hikers. The bridge crosses Rose Inlet.

Rose Inlet – Rose Creek empties into Mission bay here. Campland is on the right, De Anza on the left.

On the other side of the bridge is another RV park called Campland on the Bay. This part of Mission Bay is called Fiesta Bay. We bicycled through Campland. It’s a large RV park with a lot of amenities including a pool, boat rentals, cafe and bar. It’s also very crowded. The sites are tightly packed and kids are biking, skateboarding or just roaming throughout the place. In a word, it’s a zoo.

Mission Bay RV Resort restricts guests to a 30-day maximum stay. After 30 days, you must leave the park for 24 hours before you can return. We’re looking at alternatives for our next move.

Saturday, I rode the scooter to the Santa Fe RV Resort. It’s on Santa Fe Street in Rose Canyon, a few miles from here. This park also has very tight sites. It’s right next to I-5. I don’t think it will be suitable for us.

From there, I rode to Costco on Morena Boulevard.  I stocked up on K-cups for our Keurig coffee maker. As I was leaving, a guy walking by laughed out loud. He said, “Shopping at Costco on a scooter…man that takes restraint!”

This area is my old stomping grounds. I grew up here in Clairemont. I rode up the hill to Cadman Park and took a look at the old neighborhood. As I cruised past the corner of Taos Drive and Fox Avenue, I saw a woman unloading things from the trunk of her Mercedes. She waved and I stopped. I flipped open my faceshield and said, “Hi, Chris.” It was Christine Brutschy Becker. She said, “Who are you?” She didn’t recognize me under the helmet. I think it’s been at least 15 years since we last saw each other.

I helped her unload some potting soil and she invited me in. We sat and talked. The Brutschy family was an important component of my teenage years. I spent a lot of time at this house. I haven’t been here in many, many years. It was great to relax and talk. We caught up a bit on each other’s lives. It was great to also hear about our mutual friends.

By Saturday afternoon, the RV resort was rapidly filling with weekenders. Donna and I walked around De Anza Cove and enjoyed the weather. We also enjoyed watching people on the water. There were ski boats and jet skiers on the bay.

Jet ski on Mission Bay

Later, Donna’s sister, Sheila, picked us up and we went to her place for dinner. Donna posted about that last night.

Sunday was all about NFL action. The Chargers lost a heartbreaker in Tennessee.  They’re plagued by injuries on both sides of the ball at the moment. I think the offense will be there; it’s the defense that has me worried about their season.

While I watched football, Donna went shopping with her sister, Sheila. She bought fabric to make room darkening shades for the bedroom. This park has street lights that shine into our window at night. The day/night shades we have allow too much light through. She also bought  groceries and restocked out newly defrosted refrigerator and freezer.

We received another mail delivery. Our new license plates for our motorhome arrived from South Dakota. I installed them yesterday.

New plates on our coop for two

Today is another beautiful day in San Diego. I plan to take a bike ride this morning. I’ll explore on the scooter this afternoon. Donna’s out on her bike, riding around Fiesta Island as I type this. She’ll work on writing her book for the rest of the day.

I didn’t post yesterday. We were up early and prepared to hit the road to San Diego.

Thursday was a laid back day. Donna rode her bike down to the Emma Wood State Park and back. I watched dolphins in the surf.

If you look closely, you can see the dolphin. Click on pic to enlarge.

Later I rode the scooter to Ventura. The old downtown area looked nice and there were people on the street. We didn’t see very many people on the streets in the northwest. The only way to get from Rincon to Ventura or to Carpinteria to the north is via US101. I wanted to buy a few things at the store, so I had no alternative to blasting down the freeway.

We walked on the beach in the afternoon. Donna prepared Dijon-Glazed Flat Iron Steak which I grilled for dinner. It was tender and tasty! She served it with a side of sauteed veggies.

It wasn’t as rare as it looks in the photo.

Friday morning we pulled out of site #16 a little before 9am. Even though we would travel less than 200 miles, I knew it could take five hours or more. Our route took us down US101 to I-405. Near the junction with I-405, the traffic slowed. It was stop and go for about half an hour. The traffic started to flow again around Santa Monica.

Our set up in space #16

There aren’t any rest areas or good places to pull out until you are south of Camp Pendleton. We stopped at the rest area there, just north of Oceanside. I’ve driven this stretch of road hundreds of  times, but this was the first time I’ve pulled into this rest stop. It’s large. There are three buildings with restrooms. There’s a walking path behind the buildings with an ocean view.

Traffic on I-5 was heavy in north San Diego county. We arrived at the Mission Bay RV Resort around 1pm. We had to drop the trailer in a lot behind the office. This was a little tricky as I had to maneuver between cars. It took a lot longer than I expected. This is the first time we’ve dropped the trailer in eight weeks of travel.

The RV resort is a large paved area with 260 full hook-up sites in the middle of a mobile home park. This mobile home park is somewhat upscale. This is the result of the price of real estate on Mission Bay. When I was in high school, we used to come down here in June to watch the Unlimited Hydroplane Gold Cup races on Mission  Bay. The RV resort didn’t exist back then.

We were backed into our site and hooked up in no time. This will be a new experience. We’ve booked a full month. This will be the first time we’ll be stationary for 30 days since we hit the road.

Later, my youngest daughter Shauna visited us. She’s a grad student at Cal Western School of Law. She drove us to Old Town. The Old Town Mexican Cafe has some of the best authentic Mexican food. The tortillas they serve are made onsite. I had the chili verde and it was delicious.

Shauna doing a balancing act

After dinner we relaxed and watched a couple of movies on TV. Today we’ll do some housekeeping and grocery shopping. We’ll also do some biking around the bay.

Yesterday we continued our journey south. We followed the 101 through the coastal range.  We found the Pacific Ocean once again at Pismo Beach.

Driving through Santa Barbara, Donna spotted a gas station on the north end of town with a large lot and open access to the pumps. We took the next exit and back tracked to the station. I didn’t want another low fuel episode.

When we resumed our travel on 101 south, Donna saw police action in the northbound lanes. We don’t know what was going on, but traffic on the northbound side was at a standstill for about six miles!

We were headed to Rincon Parkway. It’s a section of Old Highway 1 on Faria Beach, owned by Ventura County. The county marked nearly a mile of beachfront with  RV parking spaces. There are 127 spaces, each about 45 feet in length. Only RVs are allowed – you can only park a car here if it’s in the space with an RV. Otherwise cars are only allowed in the day use area.

We tried to fit our 50-foot length into a space that looked promising. Although the people on either end were willing to give us some room, it just wasn’t going to work. We drove on down the road and looped back to the Seacliff exit on 101.

This time I tried to park along the seawall where there were more open spaces. I tried to back the trailer in and jackknife it behind us to reduce our length. I was still over the line marking the space allowed.

Donna came up with an idea. Every 15 spaces or so is an area with a dumpster and a pay kiosk. If I drove on the sand between the kiosk and the seawall and then pulled up into the paved parking spot, I might be able to place the trailer in a position that cheats a little behind the dumpster.

It was a tight maneuver, but it worked. I wrote a check for space #16 for one night and placed it in the envelope at the kiosk. I only paid for one night in case we had trouble with our parking scheme.

Our cheater position

I unloaded Donna’s road bike and changed the front inner tube. By the time I was done pumping her tires, she was dressed and ready for a ride. She rode for about an hour while I walked the beach and watched the surfers.

The view south from our site

Donna relaxing after her bike ride

Last night we had a campfire on the sand. Donna made s’mores over the fire. We went to bed with the windows open. The sound of the surf crashing on the beach was soothing. Waking up to that sound was a pleasant way to start the day.

Surfers catching the last wave of the day

No one knocked on the door, so I guess we won’t have any grief over the way I’m parked here. I’ll write another check and we’ll stay overnight again. I’ve booked a month at the Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego, starting tomorrow. We’ll head out early tomorrow and make the 180- mile drive there.