Category Archives: Grilling

Colorado National Monument

I rode the scooter to the Cummins Rocky Mountain Service Center yesterday. It’s in Grand Junction, a few miles from our location. I picked up a fuel filter and air filter for our Onan 7.5 KW Quiet Diesel generator. The filters are due for replacement after 500 hours of run time. We have about 470 hours on the generator now. So, I picked up the parts while it was convenient and will do the maintenance work later.

The highlight of the day came when Donna and I rode the scooter through Grand Junction to the east entrance of the Colorado National Monument. We brought our America the Beautiful National Parks Pass. Without the pass, there is a day use fee to enter the monument. When we pulled up to the entrance kiosk, it was closed. There was a sign directing us to pay upon exiting the park. Seemed strange, but we rode in and immediately began climbing a steep, twisty road.

At one point, we entered a tunnel and felt the coolness deep inside the rock. After passing through the tunnel, we stopped at Cold Shivers Point. The elevation was about 6,200 feet – we’d climbed nearly 2,000 feet in seven miles. Cold Shivers Point overlooks Columbus Canyon. I took many photos, so today’s post is picture heavy. However, I couldn’t capture the enormity, the steepness and the depth of the canyons.

View from the road climbing from the east entrance

Looking towards the head of Columbus Canyon

Looking toward the head of Columbus Canyon

The walls of Columbus Canyon are sheer drops of several hundred if not more than 1,000 feet. I’ll admit that parts of the overlook were frightening. You can stand on the edge of the canyon wall, unrestrained and look down.

We continued riding westbound along Rim Rock Drive, stopping at view points along the way. This is a road you don’t want to make a mistake on. It snakes along the rim of the canyons with no guardrail between the road and rim. At times, the shoulder is only a couple of feet wide before the terrain drops vertically.

Donna at the Red Rock Canyon Overlook

Narrow Red Rock Canyon, looking north

Again, the photos do not capture the scale of the landscape. The floor of Red Rock Canyon covers a few miles before it drops away to the Colorado River to the north. The juniper and pinon pine trees on the bottom are mature and much larger than they appear.

Colorful rock on the south side of Rim Rock Drive

The largest canyon in the Colorado National Monument is Ute Canyon. We stopped at several view points overlooking this enormous canyon. We hiked down a couple of trails that had placards identifying the plants and some of the animals found in the park. The road topped out at 6,640 feet above sea level. We began a gradual descent along the rim of Ute Canyon. I’ve run out of adjectives to describe the view. Below are a few images of Ute Canyon.

Ute Canyon

View from Artists Point

Coke Oven Overlook

Monument Canyon view

Monument Canyon

There are a number of hiking trails throughout the park, many of which are described as “difficult.” It’s also a popular cycling route that requires lights on front and back to travel safely through the tunnels.

We stopped briefly at the visitor center, then made the rapid descent to the west park entrance. I pulled up to the kiosk, ready to show my park pass. It was empty. There was a sign posted that said “Temporarily Closed.” I guess entry into the Colorado National Monument was a freebie yesterday.

We rode on CO340 into Fruita. We stopped at Suds Brothers Brewery downtown and had a cold one with a plate of hummus and veggies with warm pita bread. The Red Monkey Butt amber ale was very good, full-bodied and well-balanced.

Last night I grilled teriyaki salmon on a cedar plank. Donna served it with pineapple salsa and sauteed spinach.

Teriyaki salmon with pineapple salsa

Today, Donna will catch up on some work and then get out for a bike ride. I’ll see if I can make arrangements to have the transmission in our coach serviced next week.

Lazy Sunday

Yesterday was a lazy day. Donna went for a hike in the morning and climbed up a mountain towards Elden Lookout. She found another greater short horned lizard on the way up. She had a great view from up there. She posted pictures from her hike on Facebook, but I don’t have them to add to this post.

After lunch she took the car and went shopping. She bought clothing and a new suitcase. She also bought another external hard drive. I spent most of the day kicking back and reading books. I finished an Elmore Leonard novel and started reading Code Talker. I can already see that this tale is a winner. It’s a memoir of Chester Nez, one of the original World War II Navajo code talkers.

Last night, I connected the new hard drive to the Dish 211z HD receiver. It wouldn’t format. I had an error message telling me to call customer service. When I called, I found that I had to pay $40 for Dish to activate DVR functionality. Grrrr. They didn’t say that when I bought the service. Hopefully the Moto GP race recorded overnight and I can watch it today.

Last night, Donna prepared boneless chicken thighs with a dry rub. I grilled the chicken and basted them with a maple-chipotle barbeque sauce that Donna made. Delicious.

Grilled chicken with maple-chipotle barbeque sauce

I was up early this morning. I drove Donna to the airport at 5:45 AM. She’s flying to New York City to do a satellite media tour at a TV studio there. She’ll be back tomorrow night.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! May 5th is also our anniversary. I don’t have any trouble remembering when our anniversary is. We usually toast our anniversary with a margarita. That will have to wait until Wednesday this year.

Ditched Our Plan

Yesterday, Donna and I left our dry camping area around 11:30am to hike and check out camping areas. We wanted to stay in the area until Thursday, then move up to Flagstaff for a week. Donna needs to fly to New York for a media tour on Monday morning and return on Tuesday night. She’ll fly out of Flagstaff.

We walked down to the site we saw the night before. An ATV tour guide company unloaded four ATVs at the site. We walked on down the road. A half mile in, we found a spur road on the left and walked down it. There was a great looking site a few hundred yards down the road, but someone was already there. We continued on and found a few more open spots, but they weren’t very level or weren’t large enough for our rig.

We finally found a site that was fairly level and large. It was near a radio-controlled (RC) airplane field. A guy driving a pickup truck told us there would be a large RC meet at the field that weekend. We wouldn’t stay that long, but there would probably be activity at the field leading up to the big meet.

We walked back up the road. We had walked downhill to the site and when we climbed back up the hill, we could see what looked like a site off to our left that we could access from the main road. We decided to cross a field and go directly to the site, rather than walk all the way back to the main road.

As we got closer, we saw that it wasn’t a site at all, it was just a wide junction of another spur road off the main road. We walked down to the spur road and continued our search. We found an ideal site. It was a flat, round clearing with a tree in the center. It was large enough for us to pull into and circle around the tree to set up. We thought we were set.

We walked back up to the main road. That’s where our plan was dashed. There was a sign there that said the area was closed. No camping, no motorized vehicles. Something to do with watershed reclamation.

We walked a little further down the main road. We came to a point where the road dropped into a gulch. We couldn’t see any likely areas down there, so we turned back. We stopped and looked at the first site with the ATVs again. Donna decided to take my cell phone and hike back to the RC field and see how the Verizon coverage was. We didn’t think to do this the first time we were there. I went back to our coach with her phone.

When she came back, she said she wanted to cross highway 89A and look at a place where we saw other rigs camped. When she came back she said it was a large, flat graveled area with toilets at a trailhead. There were five rigs there including two with horse trailers. She said there was room for one more rig.

We packed up and pulled the slides in, still undecided about which site to move to. We thought we could cross the highway and pull into the site and see if we liked the set-up. If not, we could return to the site with the ATVs.

Right about then, a Dodge Ram pickup pulled into our site. It was Mark and Emily Fagan (roadslesstraveled.us). We stepped outside and greeted them. They were in the area riding their mountain bikes and knew where we were camped. We stood outside and chatted. It’s always great to run into friends on the road.

Mark told me about a couple of other boondocking sites in the area. One was about half a mile away. Then he told me about Beaverhead Flats Road. If we boondocked there, we would be close to the town of Oak Creek. We could also go to Sedona from there. Our current location has us isolated. Highway 89A into Sedona would be a seven-mile run up a steep grade with a 65mph speed limit. I thought that we would be pushing the scooter too hard to ride two up under those conditions.

I told Donna I thought we should go to Beaverhead Flats Road. I wanted to be able to go into town and not be so isolated. Later, Donna told me she felt a little uneasy about ditching our plan and taking off into the unknown again. But, she didn’t say anything at the time. By the time we got rolling, it was after 3pm.

We drove back down 89A about five miles to the Cornville exit. We followed the Cornville road for several miles before we found Beaverhead Flats Road. Beaverhead Flats Road took us toward AZ179. Mark mentioned a pullout at a scenic overlook. We thought we could stop there and have a look around. When we reached the overlook, about six miles up the road, I didn’t pull in.

I pulled over onto a wide shoulder area. I didn’t pull into the scenic overlook because the entrance was a narrow road that disappeared around a hill. Without knowing the layout, I could end up in a parking lot too small for me to turn around in. We had another issue to contend with as well.

I haven’t driven this coach enough to know how accurate the fuel gauge is. Our gauge was showing less than half a tank of fuel. This is plenty of fuel to drive for two hundred miles or more, but the generator will not run once the tank is about a quarter full. This is a safety feature to keep from running out of fuel while dry camped in a remote area. The last quarter tank is for the engine only. All motorhomes running generators off the main gasoline or diesel fuel tank are set up this way, at least as far as I know.

The Beaverhead Flats Road ended one mile further on at a stop sign at the junction with AZ179. We turned left and drove toward Oak Creek. I wanted fuel before we dry camped anywhere. We saw a ranger station and wanted to stop for more information on the area. Once again, we were thwarted by a small parking area.

We hit a roundabout at the edge of town and turned back. We didn’t know what to do next. It seems that we’re not very good at picking out boondocking spots on the fly. It’s difficult if you don’t know the area and don’t know what you may be driving into. On Beaverhead Flats Road and on AZ179 there aren’t many places where a big rig can pull over and have a look around.

We pulled over just before AZ179 met I-17 to discuss our next move. We looked at our RV park guide and used the Points of Interest (POI) feature on the GPS. We threw out our dry camp plan and drove to the Distant Drums RV park near Camp Verde. Donna has work to do and we needed to settle in somewhere for a few days. It was after 5pm by the time we were parked in our site. Thursday we’ll head up to Flagstaff.

We grilled bacon wrapped petite filets with corn on the cob and grilled tomato for dinner.

Bacon wrapped petite filet

Today, I’ll make reservations for us at a campground in Flagstaff.

Lonesome Saguaro

While Donna was out riding her bicycle yesterday, I rode the scooter down to Wickenburg. I went to the Basha’s grocery store to pick up a few things. I brought bungee cords with me so I could secure a case of bottled water on the back seat. I had everything loaded nicely and I made an uneventful trip back.

Scooter loaded under seat, on rear seat and in front

For lunch, Donna made tomato basil wraps filled with scrambled eggs, black forest ham and sharp cheddar cheese. I wanted to go for a bike ride, but thought I should wait for a while after eating. I walked over to the clubhouse to return a book I read and select another one. The were five guys there playing music. One guy was clearly the leader. He played a weird four-string acoustic guitar through a small amp. They played old country/folk music. Pretty basic, simple music, but they sounded good. The guy with the four-string guitar sang really well.

By the time I got my gear on and headed out on my bike, it was 2pm. I went out to the same trailhead as before, but this time I took a different trail at the four corners crossing. I saw a trail called Lonesome Saguaro. I wanted to see if a saguaro actually existed out there. I found it a short time later. This is puzzling to me. The saguaro looks to be at least 50 years old, judging by its size and the arms starting to form. The terrain it’s growing in doesn’t look any different than the surrounding desert. I wonder how this lone saguaro survived here when no other saguaros are to be found in the area.

Lonesome saguaro

I rode out to Martinez Wash. The ride to the wash was difficult. It had a few short, steep drops and climbs. Most of the drops into little washes had soft sand or decomposed granite in the bottoms. A few times, my front tire dug in too deep and I had to hop off the bike. I made the return trip past the cattle and water tank. I saw tracks in the soft sections made by one or two other mountain bikes. Now that I think about it, I think it was one bike going out and back. The tracks looked pretty squirrely through the soft stuff.

I’d waited too late in the day to ride. The heat was oppressive and I wasn’t feeling well by the time I got back just after 3pm. I took it easy for the rest of the day.

Donna saw a new neighbor pulling into a site behind us. She said it looked like an older coach, but she didn’t know what it was. I looked out the window and saw another Alpine Coach. This one is an older single-slide model. That makes five Alpine Coaches currently here in the park. Before coming here, I had only seen two Alpine Coaches – one in San Diego when we still had our Gulfstream and one in Usery Park.

Last night, Donna and I grilled chicken breasts and skewered fresh strawberries. Donna made a balsamic reduction to put on the chicken and drizzle over the strawberries. Grilling the strawberries brought out the sweetness. This sweetness combined with the balsamic reduction was a great combination. This was the first time we tried this dish. I’m sure we’ll have again at some point.

Grilled fresh strawberries and chicken breasts with balsamic reduction

Donna remarked yesterday how this place is growing on her. It’s so quiet and the hiking and mountain biking paths are easy to access. This morning I awoke to the sounds of doves cooing and quail calling. It’s not a bad place, but it will be too hot here next week.

Today, the forecast calls for a high of 77 degrees with winds from the southwest picking up to more than 20 mph. There’s a 50% chance of rain by tomorrow morning. It should calm down and clear up by the time we pull out on Sunday.

Bees and Bikes

Yesterday was a fairly quiet and lazy day for me. In the morning, I unloaded Donna’s bicycle from the trailer. This isn’t a good location for riding a road bicycle. The park is just off AZ89 on a straight, narrow stretch of two-lane highway with a 65mph speed limit. Too dangerous to be out there on a bicycle.

Donna rode laps of the park, zig-zagging her way through the streets. The North Ranch RV Park has three distinct sections. One area has gravel sites for dry camping. The problem with dry camping here is that generator use is banned. If you have a sufficient solar system, it’s not an issue. It wouldn’t work for us though. The next area is full hook-ups for RVs. It’s also on gravel and that’s where we are. The largest section of the park consists of privately owned lots on paved roads. You have to be an Escapees member to buy a lot.

People do different things with their lots. Some are just covered with gravel and have RV hook-ups. Some are landscaped with concrete pads and hook-ups. Most of them have a structure of some type on them. It may be a small storage shed or garage. In some cases they have built small houses on the lot.

A private lot in North Ranch with a small dwelling and million-dollar Newell motorcoach

After lunch, we rode the scooter up AZ89 to the small town of Congress. There isn’t much there – an antique store, gas station, Dollar Plus store. As we were bombing along on the scooter, a bee bounced off of my right bicep. He left his stinger behind. I pulled the stinger out as we rode into town. We cruised through the back streets to see what else we could find. We saw a public library – would that be the Library of Congress? We stopped at the antique shop and poked around. They also sold ice cream. Donna had a cup of chocolate ice cream and I had a cone with rocky road ice cream.

Another five or six miles up the highway is the town of Yarnell. This is the site of a tragic wildfire. The fire started from a lightning strike on June 28, 2013. On June 30th, a team of 20 firefighters called the Granite Mountain Hotshot crew from nearby Prescott, Arizona, went in to fight the fire. The wind kicked up and the fire shifted, trapping 19 of the firefighters in a box canyon where they perished. There is a very good article describing the fire at this link. It’s written by Stacie Solie, the same author that wrote this comprehensive account of the devastating mudslide near Darrington, Washington.

I didn’t want to ride up the hill to Yarnell. The traffic moves too fast on AZ89. I wanted to come home and put Benadryl cream on the bee sting. We rode back home and went to the book exchange library. I dropped off a book I finished reading and picked out another one. Donna also found a book. We relaxed and read for the remainder of the afternoon.

Last night, I grilled garlic shrimp on skewers. Donna served it with zucchini sauteed with fresh tomatoes, basil and garlic, topped with parmesan cheese.

Grilled shrimp

Donna also baked an almond torte. Her sister, Linda, sent her the recipe. It was the first time she baked in the convection oven. The torte was delicious.

Almond torte

Donna is going to make chili in the slow cooker today – not exactly a traditional Easter dinner, but it sounds good to both of us. I want to watch the Formula One race and the Red Wings playoff game in Boston. This is problematic for me. Both telecasts are scheduled for 3PM EDT. The race is on NBCSP which I get on the Dish Network and the game is NBC local broadcast, which I get over the air. My current set-up doesn’t allow me to record. I need to buy another hard drive that I can format to allow Dish Network recording.

Meanwhile, it’s a beautiful morning here. It’s 68 degrees this morning. The weather guessers are forecasting a mostly sunny day with a high of 82 degrees.

No Accessories

I started the day yesterday with a hearty breakfast. Donna made an omelette for me in her Pampered Chef microwave egg cooker. The omelette consisted of two eggs, grilled asparagus, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, fresh basil and parmesan cheese. She served it with fresh tomato wedges. Add a cup of coffee and my day was off to a great start.

Breakfast is served

Donna worked for awhile after breakfast while I wrote my post. Then we went down to the marina. We rented a two-seat kayak and paddled through the coves near our boondocking spot. We had fun on the water, but when you rent by the hour you have to be mindful of the time. This is distracting to me. I see a Sea Eagle kayak in our future.

Donna in front of the kayak on Lake Pleasant

We had lunch at the picnic table and our chipmunk friend joined us again. I know I shouldn’t feed wild animals, but he was so cute, I couldn’t help it. I gave him some of the whole wheat tortilla wrap I had for lunch.

The afternoon heated up. The temperature was in the low 90s. We went down to the pool. Donna took a dip in the pool, then we used the shower facilities. When we returned, I wanted to turn on the air conditioners. Before I did that, I checked the oil level on our Onan 7.5-kilowatt diesel generator. Our generator is mounted on rails at the front of the coach. To access the generator, the hydraulically actuated rails slide the front panel and generator out.

Generator access (file photo)

To operate the generator slide, the ignition switch must be in the accessory position to power the HWH hydraulic pump. After I checked the oil, I pushed the button to pull the generator slide back in. Nothing happened. The control panel for the HWH hydraulic pump wasn’t powered up. I went back outside and looked to see if any wire connectors pulled loose when the generator was moved out. I didn’t see anything out of place.

I came back inside and tried the blower fan. It didn’t have power either. This meant the problem was in the accessory circuit from the ignition switch, not the HWH control panel. I tried switching the key from off to the accessory position a few times. Nothing changed. I thought about it for a minute and realized I should hear a relay click when I go to the accessory position.

I pulled the kick panel off in front of the co-pilot seat. Western RV did us a big favor when they built Alpine Coaches. They labeled the wiring, relays, fuses and solenoids. With the panel off, I could see the large silver solenoid marked “Accessory Solenoid.” Sometimes solenoids can stick and don’t create the electrical contact they should. I gave the solenoid a tap with a screwdriver handle and turned the key again. Bingo! The panel lit up and I pulled the generator slide in.

Accessory solenoid at the bottom center

The park is filling up with campers here for the Easter weekend. Even our dry camping spot on the bluff has new arrivals. By evening, we had five new trailers pull in. I think today is a good day for us to move on.

Last night we claimed the picnic table and grilled teriyaki pork kabobs for dinner.

Kabobs on the grill

Teriyaki pork kabob with brown rice

One of our neighbors came over and chatted with us for awhile at the picnic table. I almost missed getting a shot of the sunset over the lake. We won’t see this view again until next year.

Sunset over the lake

We’re heading out this morning. I think we’ll stop and pick up a few groceries in Wickenburg, then continue on towards Congress and the Escapees RV Park.

On the Carefree Highway

We’ve repositioned our home to a spot in the Arizona desert overlooking Lake Pleasant. Here’s how we got here.

On Sunday, Donna and I went to Lucky Lou’s in Mesa for lunch. It was their 10th anniversary celebration. They had live music, free brats and two dollar beers. We hung out for an hour or so, saying goodbye to our friends. After we returned home, I straightened out a few things in the trailer. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching NHRA drag racing on TV.

We were up early on Monday, but we weren’t in a hurry to leave. We enjoyed breakfast, then Donna went for swim at the pool. I rode the scooter to the post office to mail our tax return. While I was out, I also filled the scooter with gas and replenished my beer supply.

When I returned, I loaded the scooter in the trailer. While I was dumping and flushing our holding tanks, Donna was packing our things inside the coach. I wondered if we would have any trouble starting the big diesel Cummins ISL engine, since I had replaced the fuel filter. I’ve heard of a few people having issues getting the new filter to prime. I followed the instruction manual – I turned the ignition key to the “on” position and waited 30 seconds. I did this twice, then I started the engine. No issue at all, the lift pump primed the system while the key was in the “on” position.

After going over our checklist, we hitched up the trailer and rolled out of the park around 11:15am. The checklist was a good idea. I had no worries about something being left undone. Our route took us west on the Loop 202. Then we went north at the Loop 101 through Scottsdale. The 101 then loops west where we hit the I-17 north to the Carefree Highway.

I-17 exit to the Carefree Highway

We went west on the Carefree Highway to the Lake Pleasant Regional Park (LPRP). LPRP has a marina and several boat ramps at Pleasant Harbor on the southeast part of the lake. They also run an RV Resort with full hook-ups, temporary RV parking with electric hook-ups and dry camping (no marked sites or hook-ups). The dry camping is limited to 14 days in a 30-day period.

View of Lake Pleasant from our site

We opted to dry camp and check the area out. The fee for dry camping is six dollars per night. For an additional five bucks ($11.00 total) you can dry camp with access to the resort pool, showers and laundry. I think it’s a pretty good deal.

While we were setting up, a coyote sauntered by about 50 yards in front of our coach.

The view from Donna’s new office space

Marina below our site

After we got set up, we took the scooter out and reconnoitered the area. It’s a fairly large park, covering more than 11 square miles. We sitting at an elevation of about 1,700 feet above sea level. The prevailing wind comes from the west, across the lake. This makes it feel a lot cooler here than it was in Mesa. It’s 74 degrees at 9am this morning. The forecast calls for temperatures to reach the upper 80s to low 90s for the rest of the week.

Our boondocking site

After we checked the area out, we put on our swim suits and went to the pool.

Donna enjoying a book at the pool

The RV Resort looks to be nearly full with rigs in most of the sites. We didn’t see many people though. There was only one other couple at the pool.

There’s a covered concrete picnic table near our site with a beautiful view of the lake. I took our Weber Q grill there and set it on the table. We grilled sliced zucchini and bacon wrapped filet mignon. Donna made twice-baked potatoes with parmesan cheese. Well, that was the plan, but the broiler was taking too long to preheat, so we skipped browning the tops which is why the potato looks washed out in the photo. It was still good though!

Bacon wrapped filet, grilled zucchini and twice-baked potato

We enjoyed the view and sunset before we packed the grill and dinner plates back in the coach.

Sunset on the lake

Last night there was an eclipse of the moon. Although we didn’t have any clouds, I couldn’t stay awake past 10:30. At that time the moon was still full, so I missed it.

Moonrise over our coach

I almost forgot to mention; we have a good internet connection through free wifi at the marina! We’ve decided to stay here for a few days. I’ll ride down to the office and pay for three more nights. It’s not a bad place to be!

Carefree highway, let me slip away, slip away on you

Farewell to Mesa

Today is our last full day in Mesa, Arizona. Yesterday, I spent the morning preparing for travel. I cleaned and treated the tires on the right side of the coach with 303 Aerospace. I polished the alloy wheels with Nevr-Dull. I drained the 20 gallons or so of fresh water that’s been in our tank for a while and refilled it with 100 gallons of fresh water. I checked the tire pressure on the coach and trailer.

I checked the lug nuts on the trailer. With my torque wrench set at 100 ft/lbs, a few of the nuts moved slightly. I don’t know what it is about trailer lug nuts that causes them to loosen, but I know checking them for proper torque periodically is necessary.

I cleaned the windows and installed new rubber inserts in the wiper blades. The inserts I bought didn’t match the old ones. I had to reset (that means bend) the metal blade to fit the new inserts. Next time I’ll need to replace the complete blade assembly.

Donna rode the scooter to WalMart and Staples. She was out for a couple of hours shopping and came home with the scooter fully loaded. She stocked up the refrigerator and also bought some office supplies. One of the things she bought at Staples was a Targus Lap Chill Mat for my laptop. My laptop has been running hot. It sits on our dining table. Lately, we’ve used coasters to prop it up and allow air to circulate underneath. The lap chill mat lifts it at an ergonomic angle and has a fan that plugs into the laptop USB port. Hopefully this will work better.

I made my last stop for the year at the Red, White and Brew and said my goodbyes to the crew there. It’s a great pub. I always meet interesting, friendly people there. The Offshore Tavern and Grill in San Diego is the only other place that compares in my opinion.

We’ve really enjoyed our time here. The boondocking at Phon D Sutton was a great find. We’ll go there again. We also want to return to Usery Regional Park again next year. The climate and scenery are hard to beat in the first quarter of the year. But now, it’s time to move on.

Palm trees in the neighborhood

Last night Donna and I sat outside and enjoyed the evening. We grilled an old favorite – jerk chicken with mango salsa. Later we sat with our neighbor across from us and had a nightcap. She is leaving tomorrow as well.

Grilled jerk chicken with mango salsa

Donna went out this morning for a farewell bike ride with her friend, Dara. When she returns, I’ll pack the trailer. I want to have everything in place so I’ll only need to load the scooter later. We’ll make a stop at Lucky Lou’s for lunch. It’s their 10th anniversary celebration and a few of our friends reserved tables. We’ll say our goodbyes until next year, then finish packing.

Tomorrow, Donna will do her usual job of organizing the interior of the coach while I dump the holding tanks and disconnect our sewer and power. I created a checklist to make sure we haven’t forgotten anything. We’ve been stationary for so long, we might forget part of our routine.

Checklist

I’m looking forward to kicking the tires and lighting the fires. Our route tomorrow will take us west on the Carefree Highway (AZ 74). We’ll make a stop at Lake Pleasant and have a look around. We may boondock overnight there, depending on what we find. Our next stop will be near Wickenburg, Arizona at the Escapees RV Park. I’m not sure if we’ll have good Internet access in the next few days. I’ll post again when I can.

Bluehost and Amazon

Yesterday I completed my task for the day before noon as I knew the day was going to heat up. I had the air conditioners running in the coach from noon until after dark. Today’s weather will be more of the same.

The task I set for myself yesterday was cleaning the wheels on the left side of the coach. First, I wiped the tire sidewalls and treated them with 303 Aerospace Protectant. Tire sidewall rubber degrades from exposure to ultra-violet (UV) light and to a lesser degree from exposure to ozone. Tire manufacturers use an inexpensive compound called carbon black to protect against UV degradation. By the way, that’s why tires are black. The carbon black eventually absorbs enough UV light to degrade and turn gray. That’s why old rubber looks gray. 303 Aerospace Protectant contains a powerful UV stabilizer and no solvents that can harm tires.

When we’re parked for more than a few days, I use tire covers to keep direct sunlight off our tires. Since we’ll be on the road again, I wanted extra protection on the sidewalls. I’ve mentioned it before – RVs rarely wear out their tires. They degrade from age. I’d like to get as much time as possible out of our tires before they degrade.

After I treated the sidewalls of the tires, I started cleaning the Accuride alloy wheels. After wiping the surface, I used Nevr-Dull wadding to clean and polish the wheels. Nevr-Dull wadding is a felt-like cotton material treated with a chemical that removes tarnish and dirt without scratching or harming metal surfaces. I like this product. There’s no messy liquid to deal with and it’s super easy to use. Tomorrow, when we have a little cooler weather, I’ll do the wheels on the right side of the coach. The way we’re parked right now, the right side of the coach is facing east and has full sun all morning.

Left wheels shiny and tires treated

After lunch, Donna took a few files and went to the Apache Wells RV Resort card room. She had the place to herself and was able to spread out and organize her work. While she was there, I rode the scooter over to WalMart to pick up a couple of things.

I bought an Omron electro-therapy device (these are generically called tens units). My chiropractor suggested I get one of these to relieve muscle tension while we’re on the road. It sends electrical pulses through pads that are attached to the skin near the affected area. The electrical pulses stimulate the muscle and provide relief from muscle spasm. I’ve used this therapy many times before, but only with a physical therapist. Nowadays, these devices are readily available and inexpensive. I thought it was worth a try.

Last night’s dinner was grilled hot Italian chicken sausage served with whole wheat spaghetti with a blender sauce made with fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic and olive oil, topped off with grated parmesan cheese. Donna sauteed sliced green peppers to serve on the side.

Hot Italian chicken sausage plate

Hopefully, we’ll finish our taxes and get that out of the way today. It’s been a struggle trying to get it right with all of the changes we went through last year between selling the house, me retiring and us becoming full-time RVers. Next year should be easier.

I’ve added a few items to the right sidebar of this page. First is the Bluehost link. People have asked me how my blog is set up. I use WordPress for the blog template and Bluehost for web hosting. Below that, is the Amazon link. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a few pennies if you use my link to buy from Amazon. You pay the same price as always, but I earn a small referral commission.The last new item is a map with the states we’ve been through since we hit the road full-time colored in blue.

Heating Up

Monday was just another day. I didn’t have much to write about yesterday, so I took a day off the blog. Most days Donna has work to do. She’s either writing, working on book promotions, doing magazine interviews or just taking care of business. I generally don’t have anything real pressing on my agenda. The only appointment on my calendar for Monday was a visit to the chiropractor for an adjustment and therapy.

Sometimes, balancing my carefree days with Donna’s work schedule can be challenging for one or both of us. If she has phone interviews, or is really working hard to hit a deadline, I find things to do outside the coach to give her space. That doesn’t sound too tough, right? It really isn’t, but it’s something to consider if you’re going to live in a confined space. The nice part is, we can be in places where being outside is nearly always an option. It’s great to be able to choose our climate!

The weather has gone from warm to very warm (it’s not hot in Arizona until the thermometer hits 110F). Monday was 89 degrees and yesterday was over 90. We ran the air conditioners both days. The forecast calls for highs near 100 by the end of the week. If we would have left Mesa on schedule, we would have gotten out before things heated up.

Yesterday, I started re-organizing the trailer. I needed to come up with a better way to hang our bicycles and figure out where my new mountain bike will go. I’ve been hanging our bikes with a nylon cord strung through the roof bows. This worked fine except the edge of the roof bow cut into the cord.

Cord strung through trailer roof bow

I went to the hardware store with a vague notion of what I wanted to do. Sometimes I’ll browse through the hardware section until I see something that fits my needs, without knowing precisely what I’m looking for. That was the case on this visit. I found shallow “U” shaped hangers that I attached to the roof bow with self-drilling screws. The cord shouldn’t chafe on the smooth surface and it should be more than strong enough. I installed two of the hangers where my road bike and Donna’s bike usually hang.

Hanger attached to trailer roof bow

Next, I needed to figure out where my mountain bike will fit. This presented more of a challenge than I thought it would. The mountain bike has a longer wheelbase. The long wheelbase coupled with big 29″ wheels and tires requires a lot of space.

Donna came out to the trailer and looked around. She gave me a few ideas on repositioning some of the bins. She’s the organizing expert after all. After I cleared a few things out and repositioned the bins, a few minutes with the measuring tape and I was set. With the front wheel removed, I can hang the mountain bike upright from two hanger points. If I turn the wide handlebar so it’s parallel with frame, it fits. I’ll take a picture when I get everything packed up this weekend.

After I had the trailer straightened out, I took a short snooze on the sofa. Then I showered and rode over to the Red, White and Brew to have a cold one with the guys. While I was there, I found some sad news on Facebook. My former colleague and friend, Sergio Bianchi, passed away suddenly on Sunday. I’m stunned by the news. RIP, Sergio, you’ll be greatly missed.

When I returned, I helped Donna prepare a Cornish hen. I used poultry shears to cut out the back bone. I removed the ribs with a small knife. This allowed me to butterfly the hen for grilling. Donna prepared it simply with olive oil, salt and pepper, while I started the grill. We grilled the hen using the brick method I wrote about in this post. As always, the brick grilling method worked like a charm. The hen was juicy and very good.

Cornish hen under a foil wrapped brick

Looking good

Donna served the hen with pan fried artichoke hearts, whole wheat couscous and Sriracha green beans. Another tasty and nutritious meal!

Tasty!

Today, I have another appointment at the chiropractor. Other than that, it’s another carefree day.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Grilling

Colorado National Monument

Lazy Sunday

Ditched Our Plan

Lonesome Saguaro

Bees and Bikes

No Accessories

On the Carefree Highway

Farewell to Mesa

Bluehost and Amazon

Heating Up

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: