Category Archives: Kayak

Break Out

The weather guessers called for a warming trend to begin yesterday. The predicted high for the day was the upper 70s. A swing and a miss! The wind shifted and came from the northeast after noon. The thermometer hit 91 degrees with 4% humidity. It still feels dry this morning though the humidity is up to 20%.

Donna and I went out for bicycle rides yesterday around 11:30am. She was on her road bike and rode to Crown Point Shores, then looped back around the east side of Mission Bay to ride Fiesta Island. I rode my mountain bike and stayed on the east side of the bay.

As I rode past the Hilton Hotel, I saw groups of people who were obviously attending a conference or seminar. They were in “break out” sessions sitting in circles in the grassy areas behind the hotel. I thought about the many times I participated in similar sessions when I was in the corporate world.

We would usually fly to a desirable location for a conference, then end up in meeting rooms all day. At least these people were outside enjoying the sunshine. I don’t miss those corporate conferences or commercial flights. I haven’t passed through airport security once in the last 18 months. There was a time when I was boarding an airplane once a month or more.

Setting up lunch behind the Hilton Hotel - Fiesta Island is across the bay

Setting up for lunch behind the Hilton Hotel – Fiesta Island is across the bay

By the time I returned to the RV park, the wind had picked up. There was a package left at our front door. FedEx had dropped off the Cycle Pro Mechanic Bicycle Stand I’d ordered from Amazon. I had a similar stand, but it was in our old cargo trailer when it was stolen.

I unpacked the stand and set it up. It’s a nice unit. I like it better than the stand I had before. I’ve been lax on bicycle maintenance. Lack of a suitable work stand is one reason. Now I don’t have that excuse and I’ll have to get back into the habit of cleaning, lubing, adjusting and inspecting our bicycles on a routine basis.

I expect the new tires I ordered for my Orbea road bike to arrive today. I’ll break out the bicycle stand and put it to good use making my bike road ready.

Before dinner, I rode the scooter to the Vons grocery store in Pacific Beach. We needed some fresh vegetables. When I defrosted the refrigerator the day before, I left Donna’s green vegetable bags on the counter. That didn’t work out so well.

I grilled chicken thighs for dinner last night. With the change back to standard time, it gets dark early. Sunset is around 5pm. This means I’m grilling in the dark. We have enough light to grill, but I sure like it better when I’m grilling in sunlight.

After dinner, I opened a bottle of locally brewed stout. It was Alesmith Speedway Stout. This is a coffee flavored imperial stout with chocolate. I thought it would make a good dessert. Whenever you see the word “imperial” in the description of an ale, you can bet it is a strong beer. This was no exception, Alesmith Speedway Stout has 12% alcohol by volume (ABV). The high gravity required to brew a 12% ABV ale made the beer a little too heavy for me.

Alesmith Speedway Stout

Alesmith Speedway Stout

For my taste, the stouts made by Belching Beaver are hard to beat. Their pumpkin spiced stout is subtly spiced and is very drinkable. Their milk stout is a treat and the peanut butter flavored chocolate stout is absolutely delicious. These stouts are brewed to a more normal 5-5.5% ABV.

Today, the predicted high temperature is in the mid 80s. Donna and I will take our Sea Eagle kayak out for cruise on the bay this morning while it’s nice and calm.

Just Another Day

I haven’t posted since Wednesday, mainly because I haven’t done anything special. We’ve been at the Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego for three weeks now. Our days are pretty routine. I can’t say much about the weather. Every day for the past week has begun with an overcast marine layer, with the temperature in the mid-60s. By noon at the latest, the overcast burns off as the temperature rises to the mid-70s. Very predictable. But ‘m not complaining.

When we hit the road 15 months ago, we started out like most full-timers do. That is, we hit the ground running. We acted like tourists on vacation, trying to see all of the sights and flitting from place to place. We went from Michigan to upstate New York, then across the country to the Pacific Coast in Washington. We followed the coast south and made our way to San Diego last fall after just nine weeks on the road. We covered something like 7,000 miles in that time.

When we arrived in San Diego last year, the idea of settling in one place for three months seemed strange. We still saw lots of local sights and went out and about. We learned to adjust to our new way of life and really started living the full-time RV lifestyle.

Our coach is our home. Sometimes we’re homebodies. Donna is busy working on a book revision and doesn’t have time to sightsee right now. She still enjoys getting out on her bicycle or jogging in Mission Bay Park on a daily basis. I usually get out and go for a walk at the beach or ride my bike. In the evenings, we just hang out. It’s no different from when we lived in a sticks-and-bricks home. Some days are couch potato days.

The big difference is that we can move wherever we want, whenever we want. When we left San Diego at the end of 2013, we moved at more leisurely pace. Since trading up to our new (to us) coach in January of this year, we’ve covered about 6,000 miles, less than 700 miles a month on average.  We spent January through April in Arizona, mostly in one place (Mesa). Then we made a big loop of the western states over the summer. We’ve learned to break up our travel and keep our travel days under 250 miles. When we stop, we usually stop for at least two nights.

The pace we ran in the beginning was unsustainable. It was exhausting. Reading other full-timer’s blogs, I see this is a common occurrence. Most of us start out thinking life on the road means constant motion. Donna and I are better at planning our travels now. We’ve settled on having extended stays in San Diego and Arizona. These are our home bases. The fall in San Diego is hard to beat. The climate is mild and there are so many things to do. Arizona is a great place to spend the winter months.

Next year, we plan to make another cross-country trip, but we’ll do it at our own pace. We’ll have certain destinations that we want to reach by a certain date, but we’ll be able to be flexible between planned stops.

When we lived in our sticks-and-bricks home, I enjoyed grilling. I also enjoyed eating the great meals Donna prepared. That hasn’t changed since we hit the road. In fact, I grill more often than ever because we’ve got grilling weather year ’round.

On Wednesday evening, our friend Mona visited us. She and Donna took the Sea Eagle kayak out for an hour-long cruise on the bay. When they returned, I grilled boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Donna prepared hot sauce-butter to put over the chicken and served it over corn-and-spinach salad with a baked yam on the side. The hot sauce-butter was an adaptation of the steak recipe she prepared last week.

Grilled hot sauce-butter chicken with corn and spinach salad and baked yam

Grilled hot sauce-butter chicken with corn-and-spinach salad and baked yam

Last night we enjoyed wild Alaskan cod poached with tomatoes, summer squash, white beans, onions and red peppers, and grilled rosemary toast.

Wild Alaskan cod

Wild Alaskan cod poached with tomatoes and summer squash

I have an  appointment for a follow-up visit at Dr. Leek’s office this morning. He’ll remove the stitches from my hand and I can start working on regaining hand strength and finger motion. My fingers are very stiff now.

Other than that, it’s just another day in the life of a full-time RVer.

Cheeseburger in Paradise

It was a fun-filled weekend. Saturday morning kicked off with a delivery from FedEx while I was posting to the blog. The Sea Eagle 370 Pro inflatable kayak that Donna ordered arrived! After breakfast, I opened the package, read the manual and assembled the kayak.

Sea Eagle 370 Pro inflatable kayak

Sea Eagle 370 Pro inflatable kayak

It was fairly easy to assemble although the instruction manual wasn’t very clear. It’s much heavier than I expected. The package showed a shipping weight of 60 pounds.

Donna and I each took an end and hauled it down to the beach. We set out for a maiden voyage across De Anza Cove. We started out a little shaky. I think I was digging too deep with the paddles to start. It’s better to start with shallow strokes. Once we got our speed up, the kayak was stabilized and we paddled easily in unison. We made a short run, maybe half an hour, because my back was still sore.

We loaded the kayak in the trailer, which is parked in the security lot, close to the beach. We left it inflated so we can continue to use it with having to pump it up. The foot pump that came with it is efficient – it’s not that hard to inflate – but it does take a some time and effort.

Around 3pm, I walked over to Campland while Donna stayed back in the coach. She was preparing appetizers and waiting for her sister, Linda, to arrive. Linda was delayed as she had to wait for a package to be delivered at her place. On Friday, Linda’s Chevy Equinox broke down. It has some kind of drivetrain fault and had to be towed to the dealer. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious (expensive) and she can get it back today. Linda got a ride to Mission Bay with Über taxi.

The walk to Campland took about 20 minutes. To get there, you have to make a loop to get over the Rose Creek pedestrian bridge. Due to the Parrot Head event, Campland was charging $20 per car to enter. Foot traffic was charged $5 per person.

Mission Bay RV Resort seen from Campland beach across Rose inlet

Mission Bay RV Resort seen from Campland beach across Rose inlet

I found Bud and Mona’s site and they were there in their RV. Bud was loading his truck with chairs and coolers. They had set up a canopy on the grass near the bandstand. I followed Bud to the stage area on his bicycle. When I pulled up at the grass park, I saw Erin Kerfoot standing by the curb. Erin is a friend from my high school days. Her site was next to the band area, a stone’s throw from the beach. She is a member of the San Diego Parrot Heads and was involved in organizing this event. It was great to see her again.

Donna sent me a text telling me she and Linda were on their way. I sent her directions to our location. Once they arrived, the party quickly ramped up. We had a table full of snacks under the canopy and the margaritas were flowing. Various bands played all afternoon and into the night. Bud grilled a pile of burgers and we enjoyed our cheeseburgers in paradise.

We always enjoy live music

We always enjoy live music

The event was a fund raiser for the Wounded Warrior House organization. They had silent auctions, clothing sales and a beer garden. Everyone was having a good time.

Parrot Head tiki bar

Parrot Head tiki bar

We had all the fun we could stand and headed home around 8pm. It was a long afternoon of music, food and libation with friends. Before we left, Bud adjusted my back by lifting me and giving it a good crack. It really helped.

Linda was staying the night with us. I thought I should put the cover over the entry stair well. I didn’t want Linda to stumble down the steps if she got up in the unfamiliar coach in the night. The stairwell cover is a two-piece hinged wooden slab. It locks into place next to the stair well when it’s not used to cover the steps. As I was extending it, it slipped from my grip and slammed down on my big toe. The flesh on the left side of my toe was torn away from my toe nail. Ouch!

You don't want see what's under the band-aid

You don’t want see what’s under the band-aid

On Sunday morning we hauled the kayak down to the boat launch. Donna and Linda went out to cruise the bay. They paddled across the cove and around the point all the way to the beach at Campland. Mona has a stand-up paddle board and she and Donna talked the night before about enjoying time on the water together. Mona was moving a little slow on Sunday morning and didn’t make it though.

Donna and Linda paddling out the cove

Donna and Linda paddling out the cove

I kicked back and watched NFL football. Just before halftime of the first game, Donna sent a text telling me they were back at the boat launch. I rode the scooter to the trailer, instead of hobbling on my wounded toe. We loaded the boat in the trailer, then I scootered back.

When I arrived at our site, my daughter, Shauna was there. She joined me inside the coach and we talked while we watched the Chicago Bears collapse in the second half and lose to the Green Bay Packers.

Shauna gave her car keys to Donna so Donna could drive Linda home and pick up a few groceries while she was out. By the time Donna returned, I was into the Chargers game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars started this year’s third pick in the draft, Blake Bortles, at quarterback. I think this guy is the real deal. Jacksonville started strong, but faded as the Chargers put up 23 unanswered points to win, 33-14.

Donna manned the grill last evening and cooked shrimp which she served over steamed bok choy with fresh ginger. It was delicious.

Grilled shrimp over bok choy with ginger

Grilled shrimp over bok choy with ginger

My activities will be limited for a few days. Smashing your toe is no fun.