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Hot Car Show

Saturday morning Donna rode the Spyder to meet her friend, Stevie Ann Rinehart, for breakfast in Scottsdale. She went to Merci – a French bistro that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stevie Ann was the first person Donna met when she came to Arizona in 2002. It’s been two years since they were able to get together. They enjoyed the breakfast and the chance to visit.

When Donna came home around noon, I took the Spyder and rode to Mesa Community College (MCC) on Power Road. They were having a car show there and a few of my friends had cars in the show. It wasn’t as large a turnout as I expected – probably because there was also a car show at Falcon Field where they were having an open house and planes flying in formation overhead, including WWII warplanes. The MCC show was free though while the Falcon Field show charged admission.

I walked through and looked at the cars – a few were really nice. I talked to my friend, John Huff – he had his ’30 Ford he calls Lucy at the show. I also talked to Wayne – he had his ’63 Nova on display.

Lucy – John Huff’s Ford

I posted pictures and descriptions of Wayne’s outrageous Nova before. This time I shot a photo showing the plumbing from the dual fuel pumps to the big Holley four-barrel carburetor and the two-stage nitrous injection system. The workmanship is immaculate throughout this car.

Fuel system plumbing on Wayne’s 540 cubic inch Nova

Another guy I know, Ray, had his Hennessey Camaro there. Hennessy is an aftermarket performance car builder in Texas. Ray’s Hennessey is a HPE600. It features a supercharged LS3 V8 with 376 cubic inches of displacement producing 602 horsepower.

Ray’s Hennessey Camaro

Hennessey LS3 engine with Magnussen TVS2300 supercharger

Hennessey plate under the hood

This really clean 1956 Chevy Bel Air caught my eye. That was the year I was born. It featured a swiveling driver’s seat – it swiveled 90 degrees making it easy to enter or exit.

1956 Chevy Bel AIr

I also liked this 1965 Shelby 427 Cobra roadster replica.

1965 Shelby 427 Cobra replica

The unshaded parking lot was hot. Cars left the show before the 3pm closing time. John was one of them. After grabbing a fish taco plate at Seńor Taco, I met John and Mike Hall at Lucky Lou’s for a cold one. Since it was only 2:30pm, I went for a cold Bud Light – it was too early to drink my usual IPA.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon relaxing and reading. Donna went grocery shopping then prepared balsamic chicken breasts with peppers and onions over spinach tagliatelle nests. It was delicious.

Balsalmic chicken breasts with peppers and onions over spinach tagliatelle nests

After dinner we watched a couple of episodes of Sons of Anarchy, but couldn’t get into it.

This morning, Donna went out for a 30 mile bicycle ride. I hung out and finished the book I was reading. I planned to go to the hardware store for a few things I need to continue working on some projects but they’re closed for Easter Sunday.

Donna usually makes a traditional Irish dinner of corned beef, cabbage and soda bread on St. Patrick’s Day. That didn’t work out this year, so she’s making it today for our Easter dinner. I’ll tell you about it later.

Today is another warm day – the temperature should be near 90 degrees. We’ll have the same tomorrow before this heat spell breaks.

Trailer Project – Part Two

After Donna proofread my post yesterday, she headed out on the Spyder to meet her friend Julia in Scottsdale. It was about a 20-mile ride each way. It was Donna’s first time riding the Spyder on the freeway – she took the loop 202 to the 101 to Old Town Scottsdale. They had lunch and visited at Arcadia Farms Cafe on east 1st Avenue. Donna thought very highly of the restaurant – food, service, ambiance. What more can you ask for?

When she came home, she told me she felt a vibration in the footpegs at ~5,100 rpm at 70 mph. Donna is pretty sensitive to these things and always tells me to see if I think there’s a problem.

I spent the afternoon working on the trailer while Donna was away. I wanted to get the SteepGrade bike rack installation figured out and finalized. I don’t have any affiliation with this company – Donna found them online and although not inexpensive, it looked like a good fit for us. With our new 8.5-foot wide trailer, I have room to secure the bicycles on the floor across the trailer. A little work with a tape measure had me visualizing how it could work.

I like to balance the load in the trailer as much as possible. This means some heavy stuff needs to be in front of the axles to offset weight behind the axles. Side-to-side weight is also a consideration. I think I have it pretty well sussed-out at this point. We have three bicycles – two road bikes and my mountain bike. They will travel just ahead of the axles cross-ways in the trailer. There’s enough room for me to walk past the bikes on the right side of the trailer to access the rear portion when needed. The SteepGrade racks mount the front fork with the wheel removed. The wheel is then fastened to a holder that fits over the top tube of the bike. This makes for a compact arrangement of the bikes. I needed to add some D-rings to the trailer to attach the tie-downs for the bikes.

D-rings and tape measure – measure twice

I used one-inch self-drilling screws to attach the D-rings to the steel wall studs in the trailer.

This is how they’ll ride

I think I’ll put a furniture pad over the bike in the center to prevent damage if they should move about as we travel down the road.

I wouldn’t want them to contact each other

This photo shows how the system works.

The set up on my Specialized Crave mountain bike

I also installed tie-down points for the rear of the Spyder. The front wheels will be fastened to the flush-mount rings that came with the Interstate car hauler trailer.

Meanwhile I’d treated the burn on my right leg – see yesterday’s post – with 100% aloe vera gel. It seems to be helping. Hopefully this doesn’t turn into any kind of a big deal.

I rode the Spyder to Red, White and Brew after Donna came home. I made a pass at 5,100 rpm at 70 mph to check out the vibration she felt. The Spyder is powered by a Rotax 998cc 60-degree V-twin engine. This layout is inherently unbalanced. The narrow 60-degree layout makes for a compact front-to-rear dimension – which is good for a motorcycle. Rotax compensates for the imbalance by employing counter-balance shafts in the engine. However, counter-balance shafts can’t eliminate all vibrations at all engine speeds. There will always be certain engine speeds that result in vibration. In my opinion, the foot peg vibration Donna felt at 5,100 rpm is a normal result of the inherent imbalance of a 60-degree V-twin engine.

Donna prepared turmeric chicken thighs for dinner. This is a dish she’s prepared before. This time she felt like the spice was missing its usual kick. The chicken was still tasty – just not the same as before. After thinking about it, she realized that she’s had that bottle of spice for 3-4 years – time for some fresh spice! In the future she’ll buy turmeric in smaller quantities.

3_23dnrplTimeric chicken with rice and asparagus

Turmeric chicken with rice and asparagus

Today we’ll have another typical March day in central Arizona with temperatures reaching 80 degrees. After pickleball, I’ll continue work on the trailer. I have a couple of other projects that I need to attend to before we leave here.

Ouch, That Hurts

I failed to mention in my last post that Sunday marked the beginning of the Formula 1 and Moto GP racing seasons. The Formula 1 race was in Australia and I recorded it. Fernando Alonso had a frightening crash – it didn’t look survivable but he walked away from it. It proves the safety of the current car design. The Moto GP race was a night race in Qatar. It was an entertaining race, I’m looking forward to the season. Moto GP is being televised on a channel called beIn Sports. I had to upgrade my DISH network programming to get this channel. It looks like we’re in for better coverage than we had on Fox in previous years.

Tuesday was a laid back day. After pickleball, I did exactly that – I laid back and read a book. You can choose to do that when you’re retired. At 3pm, Donna rode the Spyder to her piano lesson. When she came back, I took the Spyder to the Elks Lodge to follow up once again. The guy there told me that my best bet would be to come between 9am and noon to talk to the secretary directly.

After I left the Elks Lodge, I stopped at Lucky Lou’s. I found Mike Hall and a couple of the guys there. We sat together for a couple of brews and talked. On the way out, I saw a Harley parked next to the Spyder. What caught my eye was the front wheel. This bike had a huge front wheel. I’ve never seen a motorcycle with a 26-inch rim before.

Look at the diameter of that front wheel

120/50-26

Donna prepared shrimp skewers which I cooked on the Weber Q. She served them with a delicious baby squash medley with feta cheese and kalamata olive bread.

Shrimp skewers hot off the grill

I had a little trouble grilling the shrimp. The Weber Q ran out of propane a couple of minutes after I put the shrimp on. It was windy out and it took a few minutes to get the grill back up to temperature after I replaced the propane bottle. They came out fine though.

Shrimp skewer with baby squash assortment and kalamata olive bread

The wind had the palms swaying as I shot a photo of the sunset.

Palm trees swaying at sunset at Towerpoint RV Resort

This morning Donna and I played pickleball from 8am to 10am. I took a quick shower and rode the Spyder over to the Elks Lodge. I met the secretary and went over my story of applying for membership a month ago and also our plan to leave the area in April. It turned out my application had been mis-filed. He looked it over and said I should count on being at the orientation on April 18th and the induction on April 19th. So I guess we’ll be extending our stay here in Mesa, Arizona.

When I came home, I backed the Spyder into our site as usual. The wind had moved our awning mat. I grabbed it and pulled it back into place. As I did so my leg hit the end of the hot exhaust pipe on the Spyder. It burned my leg and it’s painful. Hopefully it won’t be too bad. I cooled it immediately but it still hurts. I’ll have to get started on my trailer project anyway while we have cooler weather.

Hotter than Usual

The weekend heat wave lingered on through Monday. I skipped Saturday morning pickleball as I rested my weary legs from playing all week. If you’re wondering what pickleball is all about, check this YouTube video.

Donna arranged a meet-up for the local minimalist group. We had four attendees and we spent some time talking about the full-time RV lifestyle. We showed them our coach and talked about other approaches such as travel trailers, fifth-wheel trailers and class B & C coaches. Donna also gave them a tour of the RV park and talked about different parks we stay in. We enjoy being ambassadors for the full-time traveler way of life.

Donna with visitors from the minimalist group

After a lazy afternoon trying to stay cool in the 90-degree weather, we went out to Baja Joe’s Mexican restaurant to have drinks and dinner with our friends Howard and Sara Graff. Baja Joe’s specializes in Mexican seafood dishes. Donna and Sara split a plate of a dozen oysters and each had a couple of fish tacos as well. I went for the enchilada stuffed with shrimp and crab. Howard had a large burrito – I’m not sure what it was filled with. We enjoyed the meal and talked for two hours before we headed home on the Spyder. It was well after dark, but driving the Spyder at night isn’t a problem. It has good lighting and I’m not concerned about potholes or being seen by other drivers like I was on the scooter.

On Sunday, I passed on the pickleball games again as I rested my legs. Despite the heat, Donna went out for a 24-mile bike ride that included some hill climbing. I spent most of the day reading as I’ve deferred some of my projects until the weather cools a bit. We’ve had temperatures at least 15 degrees above average for this time of year. I managed to lay out the new bike racks in the trailer and it looks like it’ll work out really well. I still need to install D-rings to strap the bikes down.

Donna and I were ready to get back to pickleball Monday morning. We arrived on the courts later than usual – I got there around 9am and Donna came about half an hour later. We waited so we wouldn’t be worn out when the 3.0 level round robin began. Last week I was asked to run the 3.0 group play on Monday. We had eight players sign up and we took over two courts and played for nearly two hours once the round robin started at 10am. It was hot out and that was enough physical activity for the day.

Later that day, I went back to the Mesa Elks Lodge to follow up on my application for membership. Something isn’t right – they keep telling I’ll be contacted in a few days but I never hear from them. Once again, I was told the secretary would call me. I’ll go back this afternoon if I don’t hear from them.

Today’s weather is supposed to be cooler – windy with a high of 80 degrees. Tomorrow is supposed to be cool again. I’ll have to quit putting off my projects and get some things done – tomorrow that is.

Tiring Day

Friday started out like most days here at Towerpoint RV Resort – Donna and I walked to the pickleball courts at the Sports Complex. We arrived right at 8am and were surprised at the number of people already there. We partnered for a couple of games then split up as the groups mixed. Two hours later, it was time for the 3.5 level round robin.

The guy running the round robin format invited me to stay and play. I had already played at least half a dozen games, but I decided to stay. I was happy to hear that he considered me a 3.5 level player. I think I’m at that level most of the time, but I need to improve my consistency. A couple of other players who wanted to stay weren’t allowed into the mix because their level of play wasn’t proficient enough to be competitive.

The round robin had 16 players. Everyone is assigned a number, then the numbers are assigned to a court. With 16 players, we used all four courts. We would play six games and each game is played with a different partner. It was fun but by the end I was exhausted.

I came home just before noon and had a quick lunch and shower. I wanted to put the new front tires on the Spyder. When I bought the Spyder, I could see the tread on the front tires looked good but I also saw they were the original tires. They had Department of Transportation (DOT) date codes showing 0309 – this means they were manufactured calendar week three of 2009.

DOT code 0309

DOT codes are a federal requirement. The first two digits are the calendar week and the second two digits are the year. If you have tires with a three-digit date code, they were manufactured before 2000 and need immediate replacement! Most experts agree that tire failure rate rises exponentially when the tires reach seven years after the date of manufacture. They don’t need to be used for seven years – they age in storage as well as in use. This link contains a presentation on tire age at a National Transportation Safety Board symposium.

I rode the Spyder over to Mike Hall’s shop. Mike and Jodi are away for a long weekend in California. Mike left me the keys to his shop and also keys to his Jeep. I used a floor jack to raise the front of the Spyder and removed the wheels. With the wheels in the back of the Jeep, I locked everything up and drove away. I stopped at our site and loaded up the new tires I had delivered, then continued on down Main Street to Steve’s Cycle shop. They were busy so I had to wait for nearly an hour to get the tires mounted and balanced.

The Spyder original equipment tires are Chinese made Kenda 165/65R14 tires. Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP), the parent company of Can Am who makes the Spyder, markets these tires and tries to scare us into believing they are the only tire that should be used on these three-wheeled vehicles. They charge high prices for tires that perform below average.

The vehicle dynamics of the Can Am Spyder aren’t any different than that of an automobile. It certainly doesn’t require a motorcycle tire as the vehicle isn’t steered by leaning into a turn. The front wheels steer exactly as a car would and the double wishbone suspension is similar to many cars.

The tire size 165/65R14 is an odd size. Bridgestone makes a tire this size. So does Dunlop. The Bridgestones aren’t rated very high for traction and the Dunlop is over-priced in my opinion. The 175/65R14 size is more popular and has a number of tires to choose from. Many Can Am Spyder owners have replaced the original equipment with this size. The diameter of the tire is about half an inch larger – only about a 2% difference. It doesn’t affect the ABS or electronic vehicle stability program at all. I went with Kumho Solus TA11 tires.

The Spyder front fenders are fitted very close to the tire. I had to remove the mudguards and carefully get the new tires in place. It wasn’t easy.

Tight fitting front fenders

The new tires have very positive reviews and seem to grip really well. Looking at the deep grooves in the tread, I think they’ll perform very well on wet roads.

Deep grooves to channel water and prevent aqua-planing

By the time I finished mounting the tires and locking up the shop, it was past 3:30pm. I rode over to Red, White and Brew for a cold one. It was about 90 degrees out and a cold beer sounded really fine.

I came home just in time for Donna to remind me we were going to a pizza dinner at the tennis center. A member of the Alpine Coach Association organized the dinner for Alpine Coach owners at Towerpoint and in parks throughout the area. She had pizza delivered from Papa John’s and provided salad, paper plates and plastic utensils. You meet the nicest people with Alpine Coaches.

Alpine Coach pizza dinner

We sat and told each other stories of our travels and experiences with our Alpine Coaches. It was fun, but after about an hour and half, I needed to put my feet up. All the pickleball action in the morning and running around in the afternoon had me foot sore. My S Health app on my Samsung Galaxy recorded over 20,500 steps!

That’s a lot of steps

The hot weather will continue – it’ll be another 90-degree day. That’s about 15 degrees above average for this time of year. We have a minimalist group meet-up that Donna organized later this morning. Other than that, today will be a rest and recuperation day.

Fuelish Thoughts

On Wednesday afternoon, Donna and I rode the Spyder to our CPA, George Montgomery’s place to prepare our tax return. We spent about 45 minutes going through things to be sure it was all clear. George is a former full-time RVer and knows what the lifestyle is all about and what deductions we’re entitled to.

After we left, we stopped at Sprouts at Higley and Southern Avenue to pick up a few items. We were in the store for maybe 15 minutes and it was hot out. When we left, I stowed the groceries in the front trunk – called the frunk on Spyder forums and fired up the Spyder. It didn’t seem happy – in fact, it seemed like it was only firing on one cylinder.

I pulled out of the parking lot onto Higley Road and stopped at the traffic light. The Spyder was running rough. I shifted to neutral and revved the engine, but it didn’t change anything. When the light turned green, I accelerated but the Spyder wasn’t so responsive. It was only hitting on one cylinder and the acceleration was sluggish. With the throttle wide open, I was thinking we had a fuel problem. To be precise, I was thinking we had a vapor lock situation in one of the fuel injectors.

Fuel refineries change their formulations seasonally. Fuel intended for use in the winter is more volatile with a higher concentration of light end components. This makes the fuel easier to ignite on a cold morning and the light end components don’t vaporize and pollute the air in cold temperatures like they would in high ambient temperatures. Summer blend fuel is less volatile and doesn’t vaporize as easily thus reducing air pollution.

Here in Arizona we have unseasonably hot weather. Average temperatures at this time of year show highs in the mid-70s and lows around 50 degrees. We’ve had highs in the mid to upper 80s. I don’t think the fuel refineries anticipated the hot weather.

Back to the Spyder issue. The high ambient temperature combined with a 15-minute heat soak was causing an issue. Heat soak occurs when a hot engine is shut down for a short period of time. During this time, the underhood – or under tupperware in the case of the Spyder – increases. That’s right- the engine coolant temperature and surrounding air temperature actually rises after the engine is shut down.

When we were leaving Sprouts, the engine temperature was high. I think the fuel in one of the injectors was boiling – causing a vapor lock situation. The engine wasn’t making much power. When we left the stoplight on Higley at Southern, I gave full throttle to accelerate away with a misfiring engine. After a couple of seconds, as we cleared the intersection, the fuel flowed through the injectors and the Spyder had full power. It took off like a rocket! Luckily Donna had her right arm around my waist as she was lowering her helmet face shield with her left hand or she might have fallen off the back!

Today I plan to replace the front tires on the Spyder – they have plenty of tread, but I’ll explain why I’m replacing them in my next post.

Trailer Project – Part One

In my last post, I said I expected a change from the routine here at Towerpoint RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona. I’ve been hitting the pickleball courts every morning then relaxing and reading in the afternoons before finding friends at the pub. Well, the parcels that I mentioned in my last post were delivered late, so Tuesday was a repeat of the previous days.

Donna bought a seven-pound whole chicken and we roasted it on the Traeger grill/smoker Tuesday evening. It took a little longer than the typical five-pound chicken but it came out great. We went with the usual rub of Sweet Rub O’Mine to spice the chicken. As always, the roasted chicken was great. I checked the internal temperature at 90 minutes since it was such a large bird and found it needed a little more time. When I checked it again 10 minutes later, I feared I’d overcooked it, but it was fine – juicy and tasty.

Another Traeger chicken - it's not burnt, the rib turns black with no burnt taste at all

Another Traeger chicken – it’s not burnt, the rub turns black with no burnt taste at all

Donna served it with steamed broccoli and fried sweet potato

Donna served the grilled chicken with steamed broccoli and roasted sweet potato

On Wednesday morning, we hit the pickleball courts early as the weather is heating up with a high pressure system stalled over the southwest. We expected temperatures to reach 90 degrees in the afternoon.

After several games, we came home around 10:30am and I set to work on my project for the day. I’d ordered cabinets to mount in our new 8.5 x 20′ car carrier trailer. My thinking is to reorganize the way we use the trailer. In our old 6 x 12′ cargo trailer, I had things stored in crates stacked on top of each other and hung bicycles from the ceiling. I’d like to organize it in a way that allows me to access and find things without unstacking crates and stepping over stuff on the trailer floor.

After pickleball Wednesday morning, I went to work in the trailer. The cabinets I received required some assembly.

Okay – cabinet in a box

Some assembly required

The Suncast Wall Storage cabinets I ordered weren’t too difficult to assemble. I think they’ll make it easier for me to organize and access things I frequently use in the trailer.

Cabinet mounted

Job done

I mounted two cabinets – one on each side at the forward end of the wheel wells. I think this is a well-balanced placement and I can add additional cabinets to the rear if I decide to do so. Of course the installation didn’t go without a hitch. I had 1-1/2 inch #10 self-drilling screws on hand. Wouldn’t you know it, they were a hair short of what I needed to tap into the steel upright wall studs to mount the cabinet to the trailer walls. So, as usual, the project meant a trip to the hardware store for 2″ self-tapping screws. I measured carefully to ensure the screws wouldn’t hit the outer trailer skin.

By the time I’d finished this, it was nearly 2pm. Donna, who had been busy working on her own projects, suddenly realized we had an appointment with our CPA George Montgomery to prepare our taxes at 2pm. She called George and we set our appointment back to 3pm. George is a former full-timer and understands the nomadic lifestyle as well as the tax implications.

Donna pan fried a wild Alaskan salmon filet for dinner and served it over an orzo salad with cherry tomatoes, spinach and feta cheese – so good.

Pan fried Alaskan salmon filet with orzo salad

I had another delivery on Tuesday – new front tires for the Spyder – and two deliveries late Wednesday. At 8:15pm, UPS showed up with an order I placed with Amsoil for the Spyder and an order I placed online with Sears for a hydraulic floor jack. My old jack was stolen by those Dirty, Rotten Thieves and I need one to service the Spyder. It’ll also come in handy if we ever suffer a flat on the trailer down the road. I have a spare trailer tire, but without a jack, I would need roadside assistance.

It was a warm day yesterday with the temperature in the mid-80s. Today is supposed to be hot with the temperature reaching an unseasonably high of 90 degrees. I’m off to the pickleball courts before it gets too hot to play.

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Surprise Party

I’m a little behind so I better post a weekend update. Saturday we headed out on the Spyder to a house on McDowell east of Power Road. Our destination was the location for a surprise 50th birthday party for our friend Mike. Donna and I met Mike and his wife Kim a couple of years ago here in Mesa. They’re originally from Idaho but were living here at the time and were contemplating life on the road. We talked several times at Lucky Lou’s about our experience and the preparations they should make.

They’re full-timers now in their fifth wheel RV. Mike Hall sent me the address for their party at a house owned by Wayne and Carolyn – I can’t remember their last name. We showed up at 4pm and were directed to park out back. Wayne’s house is in an unincorporated area in the desert of northeast Mesa where most of the homes are upscale with large lots. There were several cars already parked behind his place. We met our hosts and found our friends and were introduced to several others before Mike Hall arrived with the man of the hour – the other Mike.

Once the party got started, I saw a few of the guys going with Wayne to his garage. I thought this might be interesting and I followed. His garage is more like a shop with a milling machine, tools neatly arranged on the walls and in tool cabinets and some nice machinery. I wish I had taken more pictures. First up we checked out his ’63 Chevy Nova. This is a serious drag racing car. It’ll turn times under 8.90 and is street legal! He drives it on the street regularly.

’63 Nova in Wayne’s garage

540 cubic inches making 850 HP on gasoline

This bottle will add another 300 HP

Nitrous Oxide bottle, fuel cell and battery in the trunk

The workmanship on this car is absolutely impeccable. I spent about an hour getting to know Wayne and discovering this man’s mechanical genius and fabricating ability. He was considered one of the top 50 custom motorcycle builders in the country a couple of decades ago. In 2001, he traded a custom Harley he built for Kenny Bernstein’s original Budweiser King NHRA funny car from the ’70s. He completely restored the car. He had photos of he and his wife with Kenny Bernstein at a vintage drag meet. He put the car up for sale at the Barrett-Jackson auction with a reserve of $700,000. He showed me a photo of him onstage with the car with the bid screen in the background. The top bid was $675,000 and he turned it down! He said it was a mistake. He sold the car eventually to a collector who remained anonymous – everything was done through lawyers and he was told it would go into a private collection and he wasn’t likely to ever see the car again.

He owned a few shops over the years and was active in racing and also sponsored many racers. He built a bike for Bonneville and recorded a top speed of 196 mph on the Salt Flats – not in a streamliner but on an open bike! He also modified the pump on a jet dragster and increased its performance by more than a 10th of a second. He’s a Barney Navarro/Art Arfons renaissance man! I could talk with this guy for days and not be bored.

We left the party fairly early. I had a few beers over a couple of hours but didn’t want to push my luck on the Spyder. Donna brought fresh squeezed grapefruit juice that she spiked with Deep Eddy vodka. We each had a plate of sloppy Joes and fixings before we headed home.

Sunday and Monday were mostly consumed by pickleball. I’m so hooked on this game. I play for hours, then I need a few hours of rest and relaxation to recover. While I played pickleball Sunday, Donna went for a bike ride. I spent the rest of the day reading a book, then we went to Sprouts for groceries.

Monday morning we both played pickleball in the drop-in session from 8 to 10am, then I played in the round robin until 11:30am. Donna had a dental appointment in the afternoon so I drove her there on the Spyder. While she was at the dentist I made a quick run to Costco for bottled water, then I stopped at the Mesa Buckhorn Elks lodge. I applied for membership there over two weeks ago. My check for the $50 application fee had cleared, but I hadn’t heard from them. It was good thing I checked in because it seems something is awry. I should hear from them in the next day or two and we may have to extend our stay to complete our membership. We want to become members because many Elks Lodges across the country accommodate RVs at very low rates.

After picking Donna up at the dental office and learning she didn’t need a root canal after all, I stopped at my favorite watering hole – Red, White and Brew. I saw a familiar face I hadn’t seen for a while. Tom showed up – I wrote about him and his silver bullets in this post. It turned out he was having a cheater day. He set an intention to lose weight and eat healthier back in December, so he wasn’t a Red, White and Brew regular anymore. We enjoyed conversation for 45 minutes or so – it was great to catch up with him again.

Me, I’m still enjoying my brews. I’m telling myself that all of the pickleball activity offsets it. I get well over 10,000 steps in most days. I picked up an assortment of craft brewed IPA the other day. Four different IPAs from four states – all have a different approach and all are very good ales.

Hop Knot - Arozna., Stone - California, O'dells - Colorado, Fresh Hop - Oregon

Hop Knot – Arizona, Stone – California, O’dells – Colorado, Fresh Squeezed – Oregon

My days of pickleball mornings and relaxing afternoons will come to an end. I’ll still hit the courts in the morning but I have a growing things-to-do list. Parcels should start arriving this afternoon and I’ll need to get to work on the trailer and Spyder so we’re in shape to continue our nomadic travels.

Junk in the Box

After I posted yesterday, I got started on my project for the day. I wanted to check the air filter element on our Can Am Spyder. Although the dealer assured me that a complete service had been recently done, I wanted to verify. Getting to the intake air box would require removal of some of the plastic body panels – on sportbikes we referred to the panels as tupperware.

Can Am Spyder with body panels in place

After looking at the body section of the service manual, removal of the panels seemed pretty straightforward. They are held in place with a combination of T30 torx head screws and reuseable plastic rivets. I started by removing the left upper panel.

Left upper panel removed – it’s dusty in there

Then I went to the other side and removed the right upper panel.

Air box revealed with right upper panel off

Next I took off the center upper panel.

Upper panels removed for access to airbox

There was a lot of dust on everything – probably from our time in Lake Havasu City at the dirt rodeo grounds.

The airbox is engineered to draw in fresh air through snorkels in the bottom half facing the front of the Spyder. The air travels up through a paper filter element. The clean air is then drawn through trumpets into the twin draft throttle body.

Twin trumpets on the 57mm throttles

The throttle body looked good – clean with no carbon build up. The entire upper airbox chamber was clean with very little evidence of oil coming through the breather. I’ve read on Spyder forums such as SpyderLovers.com that some people have experienced issues with oil getting into the airbox. The size and shape of the airbox chambers, snorkels and trumpets are carefully designed. The objective is to create a Helmholtz resonator that will resonate at certain frequencies. This can be tuned to create pressure waves. If the pressure wave frequency coincides with maximum torque rpm, it can have a bit of a supercharging effect when the throttles are opened.

When I pulled the air filter element out, I could see it was recently replaced. That was the good news. Then I saw something else. A mouse or chipmunk or some other critter had found its way through the intake snorkel into the lower airbox chamber. It must have thought it was an ideal place for a food cache. There was pasta, Fruit Loops cereal and tortilla chips in the bottom of the airbox!

Food cache inside the airbox

I cleaned it out and came up with nearly a cup of stuff. No harm was done since the foodstuff was on the dirty side of the intake system and couldn’t get past the air filter element. Once I had it cleaned out, it was just a matter of reassembling everything in reverse order.

My next task was to dump and flush our holding tanks. While I was doing that, I noticed something different about our neighbor’s coach. It looked like a common diesel pusher, but it wasn’t. It’s a Winnebago Destination built on a Workhorse UFO chassis equipped with a gasoline GM Vortec 8.1 liter (496 cubic inch) V8 engine. The engine is in the rear like a diesel pusher – the radiator is in the back as well. I’ve heard of these before but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before. You can tell it has the Vortec V8 when you see the dual three-inch exhaust pipes in the back.

Note the dual exhaust pipes tipping off the V8 gasoline engine

I spent the remainder of the afternoon reading. Donna’s flight back from Cincinnati didn’t arrive until after 11pm. By the time she got home, it was after midnight and I was out for the count.

Today we have cooler temperatures – the high is expected to be in the mid-70s. We went up to the sports complex to play pickleball shortly after 8am this morning for the scheduled drop-in play. But someone changed the schedule to round robin play beginning at 9am. It was poorly organized and resulted in long waiting times between games. Donna opted to go for a run. She put in 5.6 miles – her longest nonstop run in 10 years. She said she felt like Forrest Gump!

We’re heading out to a surprise birthday party later this afternoon. Until then, I think I’ll just kick back and read a book.

Long Day for Donna

Wednesday morning I put in a few hours on the pickleball courts while Donna showed our visitor, Bill Frahm some sights. They went to Old Town Scottsdale. When Bill and Donna came home a little past noon, Bill gifted me with a bottle of Glenmorangie single malt Scotch whiskey. He gave Donna a bottle of red wine. I forgot to mention in my last post that Bill also generously picked up the dinner tab at Barrio Queen Monday night. Thanks Bill!

Wednesday evening Donna packed her clothes for a trip to Cincinnati where she’s scheduled to visit the Proctor and Gamble (P&G) research center. She was busy getting ready for her trip but she still managed to whip up a great dinner. I don’t remember what it’s called, but it was pan fried chicken with a spicy cream spinach sauce over pasta. It was excellent.

Chicken with sauce over pasta

Thursday morning Donna was up at dark-thirty. A driver was picking her up at 4:30am to take her to the airport for her 6am flight. When I got out of bed at 7am Donna sent me text saying she was still at the airport – her plane was grounded with a mechanical issue. She wouldn’t make her connecting flight in Dallas. Her contact at P&G was working on new travel plans.

She was re-routed on a Delta flight through Minneapolis departing around 10am. What a long morning! She would arrive in Cincinnati at 6:20pm where a driver would take her directly to a dinner function. Whew! During her layover in Minneapolis she changed clothes and refreshed her cosmetics so she would be ready for the dinner. What a long day!

I planned to reheat leftovers from the night before, but I was out of paper plates. We use paper plates in the microwave oven, our regular dinner plates aren’t microwavable. After a couple of cold ones with the crew at Lucky Lou’s I stopped at the little Walmart grocery store by the RV park for paper plates. While I was at it, I decided to pick up a take and bake pizza. Other than grilling, I don’t cook much anymore. Life with Donna keeps me out of the kitchen.

At the entrance to Walmart there was a small crowd. I walked up and saw a young boy – maybe 10 or 12 years old had some kind of seizure. He was on the ground semi-conscious and I could see his chest heaving with short shallow breaths. A woman was trying to comfort him while another woman was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher. I stood a few feet away positioning myself to cast a shadow over the boy. He was laying in direct sunlight – it was about 80 degrees out and the sun was intense.

The woman on the phone told everyone to clear away, the paramedics would arrive shortly. I told her she should stand where I was standing to shade the boy until they arrived. She didn’t understand what I was saying – I explained it to her and she finally got what I was doing. By the time I came out of the store the paramedics had the boy on a gurney and were loading him into the ambulance. I hope he’s okay.

My dinners aren’t as elegant as Donna’s

Today I’ll remove the plastic body parts from the Spyder to check the air filter and look everything over. The body work appears to be a real pain to remove and install. When I had a Ducati Superbike that was always the hard part when I worked on it. They have dozens of fasteners holding the tupperware in place.

Donna will return from her trip late tonight. Other than the Spyder project, I don’t have any plans for the day.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Hot Car Show

Trailer Project – Part Two

Ouch, That Hurts

Hotter than Usual

Tiring Day

Fuelish Thoughts

Trailer Project – Part One

Surprise Party

Junk in the Box

Long Day for Donna

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