Yesterday the weather guessers forecasted temperatures in the 80s with gusty winds. They had it half right. The temperature was in the low 80s, but there wasn’t much wind here or at Pacific Beach.

Donna went for a bike ride in the morning while I posted to the blog. After she returned, we went to the farmer’s market at Mission Bay High School. We had lunch there – quesadillas from a vendor.  I had spicy chicken and Donna had shrimp with peppers and onions. They were on homemade jalapeno tortillas. That kicked the spice up a notch. Very tasty.

Quesadillas at the farmer’s market

Donna bought a couple of heirloom tomatoes and handed me the bag. The bag slipped out of my hand and fell to the ground. One of the tomatoes split open. The guy selling the tomatoes gave me a replacement – no charge. Donna also bought green tea and spices from the spice lady and fresh scallops and salmon from the fish guy.

After we brought the goods home, we rode the scooter to Pacific Beach. They had an event called Pacific Beach Fest going on. The road along the boardwalk from Grand Avenue to Garnet was closed off. Vendors had tables and canopies set up there. There were a couple of stages with bands playing. The beach was crowded. You would think it was the middle of summer.

Vendors on the boardwalk

Parking wasn’t a problem for us since we were on the scooter. We walked up the boardwalk. Then we went down on the beach at Crystal Pier. There was a surfing contest there. We walked south on the wet sand. A beach volleyball tournament was happening a few hundred yards south of the pier.

Volleyball on the sand

Overhead, there was a squadron of skywriting airplanes. They flew in formation, releasing smoke to form letters. They spelled out “skytypers.com.”

It’s a bird…It’s a plane…it’s…

We walked back up the boardwalk to the Alehouse. They had an outdoor area fenced off for a beer garden. We cooled off with a beer and did some people watching. It was mostly a younger crowd – I’m guessing 20- or 30-something.

It was fun, but we had enough sun and left around 3pm. We spent the remainder of the day kicking back at the RV. We had stuffed grape leaves from the farmer’s market for an appetizer. Then Donna prepared pan-seared scallops with jalapeno and cilantro for dinner. They were the best scallops I’ve had.

Scallops prepped for the pan with chile pepper

Scallops with jalapeno and cilantro

Today, we’ll have lunch with my old friend, Chris Nirschl and his wife, Sherry. I haven’t seen them since 1976. I’m looking forward to meeting them and renewing our friendship.

It’s my birthday today, I’m 57. After lunch with the Nirschls, I’ll spend the day enjoying NFL action. The Chargers game at Oakland is delayed until 8:30pm PST. This will make it an exceptionally long day of football.

I have a couple of days to catch up because I didn’t post yesterday. In San Diego, each day is so much like the last. The weather only has slight variations at this time of year, although today is supposed to be warmer than usual. Temperatures in the 80s are forecasted for the coast.

In San Diego, the ambient temperature depends on your proximity to the ocean (or bays). The ocean moderates the temperature. A few miles inland, you’re on a mesa and the temperature can be 10 degrees higher. Further inland in the valleys, the temperature swings to higher highs and lower lows.

Donna and I started our day yesterday with a bike ride. I showed her the way to Ocean Beach via the Sunset Cliffs Bridge. From there we rode to Mission Beach, Pacific Beach and back home along Mission Bay. It was a 20-mile loop.

One of my tasks on Thursday was to buy parts for a water pressure regulator.  RV parks can have excessively high water pressure. My guess is that they regulate high to meet the demand when the park is full. The high water pressure poses a risk to the RV plumbing. Most RVs are plumbed with PEX tubing nowadays, which is quite durable. However, high pressure can cause leaks at joints in the plumbing.

I had an RV-specific, adjustable water pressure regulator. This unit is marketed by Valterra, an RV accessory supplier. After a couple of months of full time use, it began to leak. There’s a joint in this unit that’s swaged together. The leak at this joint could not be repaired.

I decided to replace it with something more durable. I went to Home Depot and bought a double union Watts regulator which is designed for household use. To adapt it for RV use, I had to add fittings that matched hose hook-ups. This wasn’t too hard. Once I found the right parts, it was just a matter of putting it together.

The end result is a heavy-duty water pressure regulator. When I showed Donna my handiwork, she said it was heavy duty indeed. Her emphasis was on heavy. This regulator weighs a few pounds.

Heavy duty Watts water pressure regulator

I hooked the regulator onto the spigot at the RV park. I then screwed the water filter and hose onto the end of the regulator. When I turned the water on, water started spraying from the union behind the spigot! At that point, I realized the spigot was joined to the water pipe with a plastic union. It had a crack in it. The heavy regulator opened the crack.

I closed the valve on the spigot. With the valve closed, the water pressure behind the spigot increased and the spigot blew off of the water pipe! Oh no! I had a face full of spray. There was stream a of water gushing 10 feet into my neighbor’s site.

After a few seconds, I gathered my wits and closed the supply valve at the base of the water pipe. After seeing the spigot blow off the water pipe, I  thought, we have high water pressure here for sure.

I went to the park office to notify them of the issue. My clothes were soaked. The girl at the counter said, “May I help you…oh my, did you just run a marathon or something?”

I told her what happened. She said someone would be at my site shortly. Within 15 minutes, a park maintenance guy came out and fixed the problem. He had the right parts with him. This was not the first time he had to respond to a broken union on a water spigot here. This confirmed my suspicion of high water pressure.

Now I need to buy a short length of hose. My plan is to run a short hose to the regulator, thus relieving the weight from the spigot. I’ll find a way to support the regulator and water filter, then join it to the hose supplying our RV.

Thursday night, I went out to dinner with my daughter, Shauna. This is one of the great things about being mobile. I have the opportunity to hang out in  great places and see my family while I’m at it. Donna stayed home and worked on her book. She’s almost finished.

Shauna has a busy life. She’s going to school at Cal Western School of Law. She’s also working as an intern for a federal judge. Some days are 11-12 hour workdays for her. It was nice to go out and just relax over dinner.

Yesterday I rode my bike in the morning. Later, I took Donna to Ocean Beach on the scooter. She went to see her nephew in his school play. They performed Aladdin and he was cast as Jafar. I went to the bank and handled a couple of other errands before I picked her up.

Jafar and his mom

Last night, Donna prepared a rack of lamb with Moroccan spices she bought at the farmer’s market last week. I grilled eggplant and roasted a red pepper, too. Sometimes I eat like a king!

Rack of lamb, hot off the grill

Dinner, fit for a king

If you didn’t see my post about the seals at La Jolla Cove, it may be worth a read. It sparked some comments on Facebook. This is a controversial subject. I’m researching the history of the Children’s Pool established by Ellen Browning Scripps. This area is now overrun by seals, making the beach unfit for humans.

Today we’ll head over to the farmer’s market at Mission Bay High School and shop. Then I think we’ll go the Pacific Beach Fest and see what it’s all about.

Experienced full-timers told us we would continue to downsize our belongings once we were on the road. They were right.

It seemed like we only packed what was essential, but over time, we found that there are things we don’t use. Mostly it’s clothing. Donna did a good job, but I packed more clothes in our motorhome than I need.

This week, I donated a large bag of clothes and the area rug we had in the front room to Goodwill. There are a few more items that will be sold or donated before we leave San Diego.

Yesterday, I rode a different route on my bicycle. I followed Pacific Beach Drive to the beach. Then I followed the bike route north to La Jolla Cove. When I was growing up here in San Diego, I would go to the cove frequently. It was fun exploring the tide pools in the rocks there. We would find sea anemones and starfish along with small crabs and other aquatic life.

We would swim around the cave in the area we called “the clam.” Back then, seals were occasional visitors. We would see them swimming offshore. I don’t remember seeing them on the beach or rocks very often.

Today, that’s changed. Over the last 10 years or so, the seal behavior in the cove is different. On the south side of the cove, there’s a small, sandy beach protected by a sea wall. This used to be popular spot for swimming and sun bathing. Today, this beach is overrun with seals.

La Jolla Cove sea wall

Seals have taken over this beach

The rocks on the north end, where I used to explore the tide pools are now full of seals, cormorants and pelicans. I don’t know what caused this. I didn’t see anyone exploring tide pools. The seals have taken over.

Seals, cormorants and pelicans on the rocks

Seals on the rocks above the tide pools

The ride up to La Jolla Cove and back was about 23 miles. After I returned, I discovered a small leak in our sewer hose connection. I needed to address this right away. I resealed the fitting. Today I’ll need to buy some silicone grease for the o-rings to ensure water tight fittings.

People have told me I’ll get bored with retirement, I don’t think so. There’s always something to  do on the RV.

I ran a few more errands before returning the car to my daughter, Shauna. Today, Donna and I will take a bicycle ride together. Later, while she continues to work on her book, I’ll take the scooter to Home Depot. I need to find silicone grease and I want to make a new Watts water pressure regulator. The one I bought started leaking. Instead of buying another one made for RVs, I’ll build one with parts made for household duty. I think it will be more durable.

View of the beach at La Jolla Shores from La Jolla Cove

Yesterday was a new experience. Well,maybe I should say it was a new, old experience. What I’m referring to  is this: we have a car! My daughter, Shauna, left her car with us for a couple of days.

Her car is a clean diesel 2013 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. It’s an amazing car. The diesel engine is quiet, very powerful and gets more than 40mpg. In the old days, you could tell if a car was diesel-powered by the noise and the sooty deposits on the rear. Today, technology has made the exhaust emissions of diesel car engines so clean, you don’t even see deposits in the tailpipe!

We took advantage of the car by driving to Mission Valley. We shopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Donna wanted to buy a new set of sheets and a small rug to fit at the top of our entry stairs.

From there I took Donna to T’s Hair Salon in a neighborhood known as Normal Heights. T’s is on Adams Road near 33rd Street. The proprietor is Tonia Gutierrez Hill. We went to school together at Clairemont High School, here in San Diego.

While Donna was getting her hair done, I ran a couple of errands. One of my tasks was recycling bottles and cans. In California, plastic, glass and aluminum beverage containers are taxed. The tax is called California Redemption Value (CRV). For example, when you buy a six pack of beer, five cents per bottle (or can) is added to price. The extra 30 cents is shown on your receipt as CRV.

This looks like refundable deposit to me. I tried to return my bottles and cans to the store and claim my deposit. It doesn’t work that way! As I stated, CRV is really a tax. In fact, it’s double taxation because you also pay sales tax on the CRV amount!

There are recycling centers that will take your bottles and cans. I searched online and found seven recycling centers in San Diego. This doesn’t seem too convenient. After all San Diego is the eighth largest city in the USA. One of the recycling centers is in Clairemont, not too far from our location.

I took our bottles and cans to the center. I separated the plastic bottles, glass bottles and aluminum cans and put them into separate bins. The attendant weighed each bin and wrote the weights on a slip of paper. I took the paper to a counter where the cashier paid me $4.93 for the cans and bottles.

This is a weird scheme in my opinion. The state double taxes the sale, disguising it as a deposit. An independent business buys the bottles and cans, paying market scrap value. I don’t like it, but if I want to buy bottled water or beer in California, I’m stuck with it.

I drove back to Normal Heights to pick Donna up. It was 1pm and we were hungry. We walked from the hair salon to a Mexican restaurant on the corner of 32nd Street and Adams called El Zarape. The food was excellent.

We stopped again in Mission Valley to complete our shopping there. Donna bought a few things for the kitchen.

This morning, Donna drove to her exercise class in the Jetta. I’ll go for a bicycle ride later this morning and handle a few more errands this afternoon. Then I’ll return Shauna’s car.

Living the RV lifestyle means you can change your neighborhood. Sometimes the neighborhood changes around you.

Last week, the Mission Bay RV Resort was a quiet place with lots of open space. There were only 70 or so RVs here. The weekend forecast called for warmer weather with highs in the 80s. On Friday, the RVs started rolling in. The security guy told me 71 RVs checked in Friday afternoon. More came in on Saturday.

By Saturday afternoon there were about 175 RVs here. The place was no longer open and quiet. There were kids playing and people joining together for happy hour and dinner. The place was rocking. Quiet time was respected though. Shortly after 9pm the place quieted down.

I grilled fresh bluefin tuna for dinner. Donna bought it that morning at the farmer’s market at Mission Bay High School. You can find a farmer’s market just about every day of the week in one of San Diego’s communities. Donna served it with wasabi cream sauce and peas with mushrooms.

Bluefin tuna with wasabi cream sauce

On Sunday morning, people started packing up and leaving. Today I’m guessing we are back to about 70 RVs here in the park. It’s quiet and open again.

On Saturday, I drove up to Sun City with my daughter, Shauna, to visit my step-dad. He served in the Marine Corps in Korea. He’s 82 now and lives alone since my mom passed away last September. He enjoys having visitors, but seems to get tired after an hour or so. We sat and talked on his front porch. We saw sky divers parachuting nearby. There’s a sky diving school at the Perris Airport just north of Sun City.

On the way back to San Diego, we stopped at Camping World in San Marcos. Instead of repairing the ice maker in our freezer, I decided to buy a standalone ice maker. I bought a small Dometic brand ice maker for $179. It will pay for itself in a couple of months. I’ve been buying ice cubes for the cooler almost daily at three dollars a bag.

Donna continued to work on her book all weekend. Sunday was all about NFL action for me. The San Diego Chargers have always been “my team.” I watched them play an excellent game against the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys were up 21 – 10 in the second quarter and I was a little concerned. The Chargers dominated the third quarter though and went on to win 30- 21.

Today I’ll ride my bicycle. This afternoon I would like to go to the optometrist and see if I can find new glasses. My prescription hasn’t changed much, but my glasses are four years old. They’re in good shape, but the wire frame is hard to fit into my helmet when I ride the scooter and I’m afraid they might break, which would not be good.

Another beautiful sunset on Mission Bay last night

Posting to a blog is fun, but it’s also demanding at times. I try to keep things interesting. I also try to use proper grammar and punctuation. I probably should have paid more attention in English class. Fortunately, Donna proofreads and edits my posts.

Here in San Diego, I’m starting to  find a daily routine. This will make it more challenging to come up with interesting posts. The rewarding side of the blog is knowing that people actually read it. It’s nice to have comments posted. The WordPress software also tracks statistics. Today, I’m humbled to announce a running total of more than 10,000 hits on this site.

Yesterday we had cooler weather. The high was about 70 degrees. It’s a cool 52 degrees this morning. The forecast is for much warmer weather this weekend with temperatures around 80 degrees.

Yesterday we had a visit from my old friend, Gary Stemple. He was driving by the area and stopped to chat. Gary is a financial planner and also Chairman of the Board for a non-profit organization that builds housing in Tijuana, Mexico. They’re in the process of building 15 dwellings next week. They can build a house with three rooms for about $4,000. The house may not be to the standard we’re accustomed to, but for the people that need housing there, it’s a big step up.

Gary filled me in on some of the activities of our friends in the area, including our friends, Mark and Judy Fredin who live in Clairemont. I learned that another old friend, Gene McMahon, lives with them! While I was out running errands on the scooter, I stopped by the Fredins’ house to say hi. Gene answered my knock on the door. He took one look and said, “Mike Kuper.” I said, “Hey, Geno.” I was surprised that he recognized me that quickly. I’m not sure if I would have instantly recognized him if I wasn’t expecting  to see him. We last saw each other in the late 1970s.

Re-connecting with old friends is really great. We had such a tight-knit group growing up here. I’m looking forward to meeting more of the “old gang.”

Later, Donna and I rode the scooter up to La Jolla. We stopped at a place that does nails and massage. She had a manicure and pedicure while I had a one-hour full-body therapeutic massage. My lower back has been a bother. Massage helps.

We grilled large prawns for dinner. Donna served it with a spaghetti squash casserole. Delicious!

Grilled shrimp with spaghetti squash casserole

We’ll head out in a few minutes so Donna can attend her exercise class. I plan to bicycle this morning and go to the beach this afternoon.

Tonight we’ll hook up with another old friend, John Swingle. We’re going out to dinner with John and his wife, Bonnie.