Healthy relationships require clear, open communication. Donna and I are pretty good at this and rarely have misunderstandings. Since we’ve been on the road, there is one activity where we sometimes become a little frustrated.

That can happen when I’m backing our coach into a site. Donna gets out and directs me as I back in. This is useful as I have many things to consider as I back a vehicle that’s 37 feet long and over 12 feet high. If I don’t drop the trailer, there’s another thing to think about as I reverse. I want to place the coach precisely in the site to facilitate the hook-ups and maximize our space.

Donna stands behind and off to the side of the coach. I use a combination of the rear view camera and side mirrors to watch her signals. Sometimes she isn’t in the right position and I’ll lose sight of her. When that happens, I have to open the driver’s side window and call out to her. She’s standing about 50 feet away and I have to call out loudly. Sometimes she feels like I’m yelling at her. Sometimes I get a little frustrated and maybe I am yelling.

We’ve talked about this several times and tried a few solutions. We’ll be hitting the road again soon and we will need to park the coach in various places. Last time we did this, we tried using cell phones. Donna got out and dialed my cell phone. I put her on the speaker and she could direct me. I could tell her what I was concerned with (a tree branch I didn’t want to be over the roof). This seemed like a great solution until the call dropped as I was telling her about the tree.

Last Friday I decided to try something else. I went online and found a handheld Cobra 40-channel CB radio at Amazon.com*. I opened an Amazon Prime account to get free, next-day shipping and ordered the radio. We have a mobile CB radio in our coach. With the handheld, Donna and I can communicate without me raising my voice. This should work!

It was scheduled to deliver on Monday. The FedEx guy stopped at our site about 9am and delivered a box from Amazon. When I opened it, I found another box wrapped in bubble wrap inside. This box was a cube and seemed to be too small and light for a handheld CB radio. I opened it and found a Snoopy coffee mug!

I don’t think this type of thing happens too often with Amazon. There weren’t any return instructions in the box. I  went online and found their customer service page. I filled out a form and submitted it. Within 30 minutes, I had an email with a return authorization and free shipping label. The replacement Cobra handheld CB radio is due to arrive today. I think that’s pretty good service. They stepped right up to correct the mistake.

Yesterday, my daughter Shauna left her car with us. She completed her last final exam on Saturday and has a break until the next semester starts in January. She and some of her law school classmates are rewarding themselves with a cruise from Long Beach to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico. They will return Friday. Meanwhile, we have a car for the week. This is handy as I need to pick up a few bulky items before we pull out of here.

Sunday, I posted about visiting Jim Birditt’s dad, Lee. When we were young, Lee Birditt was one of the most feared dads in the neighborhood. We viewed him as being humorless and stern. But that was our perception as kids. If he was humorless and stern back then, he’s really mellowed with time. While we visited, he laughed and joked about some of the things Jim and the rest of us did when we were young. It was fun telling stories of days gone by. Donna always says that I’m a storyteller. I’ll tell a short one about an adventure Jim and I had.

In February 1976, Jim and I decided we should go and see the Grand Canyon. We thought we could hitch hike there with backpacks and sleeping bags. A week would be enough time to travel there and back again from San Diego.

On our return trip, we hitched a ride with a guy in an old sedan. He also had a large dog. We traveled west across Mohave County on Route 66. I don’t remember much about the guy’s car, other than it began to run poorly. It was losing power and started overheating. He nursed it along until we came to a small town called Peach Springs, Arizona.

He stopped at a gas station there and went inside to inquire about repairs. Jim and I were discussing our options when the guy returned. He said, “I’m with you guys now. I just sold this heap to guy in the station.” What? He was planning to hitchhike west with us? The chances of someone stopping for three guys and a large dog were slim and none.

It was late afternoon when we walked to the street corner and stuck our thumbs out. A couple of blocks away, we could see a baseball game was being played at a field. There was a noisy crowd in the bleachers. Peach Springs is located on the Hualapai Indian Reservation. I think we were the only white people on the street.

Just before sunset, a tribal police officer stopped at the curb. He got out and told us the ball game would be over soon. He didn’t think it would be a good idea for us to be on the street after dark. He suggested we get off the street and take a motel room for the night. We took his advice and pooled our money for a room.

Since Jim and I had sleeping bags, we told the guy he could have the bed and we would sleep on the floor. I was up at sunrise the next morning. I quietly woke Jim up. We grabbed our stuff and slipped out the door.

We walked a few blocks down to the edge of town and started hitchhiking. There wasn’t much traffic. A car would drive by every five minutes or so. I was worried about the guy waking up and joining us with his dog. A blue Ford Econoline van with New York plates approached. I held out my thumb as he drove on past and disappeared into the desert.

A few minutes later, the van returned. He made a U-turn in the road and told us he could take us as far as Barstow, California. We climbed in. I thanked him for coming back and giving us a ride. He said, “I don’t usually pick up hitch hikers…but I got to thinking, I bet they have pot.”

And that’s how we made it out of Peach Springs, Arizona.

We’re having another bout of summer-like weather with the temperature in the upper 70s. The forecast calls for cooler temperature and the possibility of rain by Thursday. Today, I’ll take care of a few errands while I have a car available. But I won’t be picking up any hitchhikers.

*Just so you know, if you decide to purchase one these through the Amazon link in this post, I’ll earn a small commission. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Yesterday, while Donna was at her exercise class, Carole Sue Bringas picked me up at the RV park around noon. We drove to our old neighborhood and visited Lee Birditt. Lee is Jim’s dad. He’s in his 80s now. Jim and I used to travel to Montana during hunting season and hunt with Lee and Bob McBride there. Bob had a cabin in prime elk hunting country, north of White Sulphur Springs.

Lee’s wife, Betty, passed away last month after suffering a sudden stroke. I think they had been married for more than 60 years. Betty would join our hunting party some times. She wasn’t a hunter, but she would cook and take care of us. I’m sure Lee misses her greatly. Carole Sue was Betty’s friend. She would check in and talk to her on the phone.

We had a nice time telling stories about the times we spent together in Montana. Lee filled us in on how he and Bob met. We chatted for over an hour. It was nice to see Lee again, especially to see that he is well and doing okay all things considered.

After our visit with Lee, Carole took me to the Bay Park Fish Company for lunch. We had fish tacos made with grilled halibut. They were excellent. The corn tortillas were soft, but firm and didn’t fall apart. The potions were large and the sauce was perfect.

Next to the restaurant is Siesel’s Market. We took a look inside. It’s an old-fashioned meat counter and fish monger. There are aisles with shelves full of spices. They had fresh-baked bread and fresh apple pie from the Julian Bakery. I’ll have to bring Donna here. She will love this place.

After Carole dropped me off, my daughter Shauna phoned me. She’d just finished her last final exam of the semester. She’s in her second year of law school at Cal Western. The finals were tough and she put in long hours studying the past few weeks.

Last week, she was offered a summer intern position at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regional office in San Francisco. This would be an excellent opportunity for her, but she didn’t accept right away. She was hoping to get an offer from the SEC headquarters in Washington, D.C. The offer from D.C. came on Thursday. So, at the end of May, she will move to D.C. for a 10-week job as an intern at the SEC. This is a real feather in her cap. She will make valuable contacts there.

Last evening, Donna and I drove Sheila’s car over to Sardina’s Italian Restaurant and Bar on Old Morena Boulevard. The guys I meet up with at Offshore Tavern and Dan Diego’s told me we should try Sardina’s. The restaurant has been there for 40 years, but I never ate there before. We ordered from the happy hour menu. The portions were much larger than we expected and the food was great! This place will definitely be on our favorites list from now on. The small antipasto salad was so big, Donna brought three-quarters of it home. This will be lunch for her today.

Since the Chargers played on Thursday night, they have the weekend off. There will be plenty of NFL action though. I’ll be watching and hoping I can win the football pool.

I scootered Donna to her sister’s house in Point Loma Thursday afternoon. Sheila was going on a ski trip, so Donna stayed with her nephew at Sheila’s place that night. I came home and watched the Chargers play the Broncos. It was a good game! The Chargers took the win 27 – 20. Last Sunday they beat Eli Manning and the Giants…four days later they beat Peyton Manning and the Broncos. Hopefully they can win two more and make the playoffs in a wildcard spot.

On Friday morning, I was up early. I had an appointment at 8:45am with an orthopedic surgeon. I have a condition with my right hand called trigger finger. The usual treatment starts with a cortisone injection into the tendon that pulls the finger closed. Your fingers are moved by muscles in the forearm. Long tendons run through the wrist, hand and up the finger. These tendons go through a series of sheaths – I think of it like fishing line through the guides on a fishing pole. When the tendon becomes inflamed and swells, it catches and gets stuck in the sheath.

After an exam and short consultation, the doctor gave me two injections. The first injection was a local anesthetic that numbed my hand and fingers. Then he injected the cortisone into the palm of my hand below the ring finger. I hope this works. It will be a few days before we know if it’s effective. Then it will be a matter of seeing how long it works.

The last time I had this problem in my other hand, the cortisone injection didn’t help. I had a minor surgery to open up the sheath and allow the tendon to move freely. It was several years ago and I don’t remember the cortisone injection being painful. Maybe I’m getting soft as I age, but believe me, it was painful.

Riding the scooter home with numb fingers was interesting. I had to brake carefully as I couldn’t feel the lever. My hand and fingers swelled. My hand is still sore today.

You can see the injection site, swelling and bruising

Last night, Donna prepared Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs for dinner with brown basmati rice and peas. It was delicious! Living in an RV doesn’t mean you have to go out to eat well.

Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs

Donna has Sheila’s car while she is away. This morning she went to an exercise class and then to a day spa for a facial. Later, Carole Sue Bringas and I will go visit Lee Birditt. Lee is Jim’s dad, we made several elk hunting trips in Montana together back in the 90s.

That’s about all of the typing my hand can take this morning.

Organisms, both plant and animal, have the ability to adapt to changes in their environment. Changes such as adaptation to altitude or temperature are well-documented. Many mammals shed fur in warm seasons and grow thicker fur in cold seasons.

Human acclimatization is interesting. Last winter, in Michigan, I would have considered a December day with the temperature approaching 60 degrees a shirtsleeve day. No need for a jacket in that weather! One year later, after spending the last few months in a warm climate, 60 degrees feels cold.

You can tell who’s a local Californian and who’s a tourist at this time of year by how they’re dressed. To the locals, this is winter and they dress the part. We see people wearing winter coats and boots, hats and scarves and know immediately that they’re warm weather people. We see other people wearing shorts when the temperature is in the low 60s and we know immediately that they’re visiting from a colder climate. I’ll let you guess which camp we fall into these days.

The weather here over the past week has been five to ten degrees colder than average. Yesterday the thermometer struggled to reach 60. The overnight lows have dipped into the 40s a few times. We’ve been running a ceramic space heater in the coach. This keeps the overnight temperature in the coach in the low 60s. We sleep comfortably at that temperature under a down comforter. Yesterday, Donna fired up the furnace for a short time to bring the coach temperature up before she showered.

The long range forecast is favorable. We will have daytime highs in the upper 60s and 70s over the next eight days. It will still cool quickly after sundown, but I’m not going to complain. This acclimatization phenomenon would make it difficult for me to spend a day in the north now, unless I could grow a fur coat.

I haven’t posted for a few days. Sitting in the same RV park for three months makes it difficult to come up with new posts sometimes. I had another issue over the weekend that kept me from sitting at my computer.

Friday we had another visit from the UPS driver. Donna asked for Uggs for Christmas. Her feet have been cold. Santa came early as I ordered the Uggs from Zappos and had them shipped overnight. Two other packages were delivered as well. I was surprised to see the creeper and mechanics stool I ordered from Sears. They offered free shipping and the order arrived in one day!

I stacked the boxes from Sears on the scooter and took them to the trailer. It wasn’t piled as high as the last time I did this, but Donna took a picture this time.

Transporting goods on the scooter

Saturday was a rainy, blustery day. We had showers off and on all day. I spent most of the day inside our coach. At one point, after I’d been sitting at my computer for awhile, I stood up and had a back spasm. This resulted in severe pain in my lower back. I could hardly move about. I made myself as comfortable as I could.

Donna cooked spiced pork tenderloin with maple chipotle sauce for dinner. She served it with acorn squash and roasted cauliflower. I was never a big fan of squash or cauliflower, but now I really like both. It must have something to do with the way Donna prepares it.

Spiced pork tenderloin with maple chipotle sauce

After dinner, we watched an old movie that we like – Captain Ron. It’s a comedy starring Kurt Russell and Martin Short.

Since we arrived in San Diego, I’ve had a few people tell  me that I look like Walter White, the lead character in the series Breaking Bad. Neither of us had ever seen the program. Donna ordered the first season (2008) from NetFlix. We are hooked and have already ordered more episodes.

Yesterday my back problems continued. I tried to stretch a little and walk it off. It wasn’t any better. I decided to lie low and rest my back. If I laid on my back and bent my knees, I had some relief. I spent the day watching football. Some interesting games yesterday. Detroit played in a snow bowl in Philadelphia! The New York Giants came to San Diego where the skies were clear. San Diego played really well and won 37-14. Seven of nine San Diego possessions resulted in scoring drives.

Today, my back is much better. I might go for a bike ride later. We’re making plans for our exit from San Diego. We’ve booked a week at the Hidden Shores RV Resort. This is a true RV resort with a large clubhouse, restaurant, heated swimming pool and Jacuzzi on site. It’s located near the Imperial Dam on the Arizona side of the Colorado River, just north of Yuma. It was recommended by my old friend, Debbie Taylor-Bednarski. She and her husband, Bruce, have an RV parked there. We’ll arrive on Friday the 27th and stay there until Thursday, January 2nd. Debbie, Bruce and possibly her sister, Kim and her husband Pat, will be there. From there, we are undecided at this point.