Whirlwind - Part 2

7:31 am - Sunday - December 8th - Ramona, CA - 56° F, 97% humidity wind - CALM......cloudy today with a forecast high of 60° F.........

A lot of snow on the San Bernardino Mountains Sunday morning

Sunday morning continued our whirlwind trip north to Rancho Cucamonga, and environs.  Whilst TLE headed to Claremont in the VW to Maxx Salon to have Amanda style her hair, I remained behind to experience a photo session featuring our two great grand children (Daniel and Jameson), and our grand child, Crosby.  Laila and Cynthia had gone together to hire a photographer, as well as purchase multiple outfit changes for the session.....

Matching pajamas

.....there were multiple costume changes, and getting those little guys to all sit still for more than 25 seconds was quite a feat, but it was accomplished.......

 Tim, Crosby and I

.......Chris made AeroPress coffee for those of us who love coffee, and we had a great time cheering the little guys when they sat still for more than a few seconds.  A number of great pictures, as you can see, resulted from the efforts of Laila, Cynthia and the photographer.

TLE returned from her Claremont hair styling adventure around 11 am, and we were on the road back to RORVR shortly thereafter.  We made the non-stop drive in less than two hours experiencing wonderfully light Sunday traffic.

There were several great NCAA college football games on television Saturday.  There was a very close game between #7 Baylor and #6 Oklahoma for the Big 12 championship, won by Oklahoma in overtime 30-23.  A surprisingly one sided SEC championship game between #2 LSU and #4 Georgia, won handily by LSU 37-10 (it really wasn't that close), a not surprising lopsided ACC championship win by #3 Clemson (2019 National Champion) over #23 Virginia 62-17, and a very close Big 10 championship game between #8 Wisconsin and #1 Ohio in which Ohio had to dig deep to come from behind (21-7 at halftime) and win 34-21.  It was a very good day for televised college football, and always one of my favorite weekends (championship weekend) of the college season.

We were in bed a little after 10 am, and slipping into dreamland shortly thereafter......a fitting end to a whirlwind 36 hours........thanks for stopping by!

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Eye for an eye.......

6:50 am - Tuesday - May 21st - Ramona, CA - 52° F, 87% humidity (drizzly right now), wind 3 mph out of the southwest.......cloudy, rainy today with a forecast high of 58° F.  The view this morning.......↴

Beginning to feel like Maine.....another rainy day

Monday was the day of my followup appointment with Pacific Eye Institute in Upland, CA to see how my surgically repaired right eye is healing.  This would be our first long drive in the VW since we replaced the fuel pump on Saturday, but our confidence was high.

We left on our two hour drive to Upland around 9 am, and arrived at PEI right at 11:05 am.....perfect.  I was called into see the optometrist exactly at 11:30 am, and TLE and I were on our way over to my son's office by 11:50 am.  I hadn't seen Chris since my heart attack, so it was good to hang out with him for a few minutes, pick up a few things from the Warehouse (my mountain bike shoes for one) and then head back home.  We left Chris' office by 12:30 pm, and were back in Ramona by 2:20 pm.....we made great time, and the entire round trip drive was uneventful.  We stopped off at Stater Brothers to pick up a few grocery items, and were back at RORVR by 2:45 pm.

TLE fixed me a snack (we hadn't had lunch), and then I drove the car up to the trailer so I could vacuum out the interior.  Now that the trailer is not hooked up to electricity all the time I must deploy our Honda 2000 generator to power up everything, including the ShopVac.  It's the first time I've powered up the trailer in a couple of weeks, and it felt good to putter around, vacuum out the VW and then set up my Workmate® portable work bench and bolt my bench grinder to it for the first time since Southwest Harbor last summer.  I also pulled out all of my sockets for my socket wrenches and other tools I only deploy when we are going to be somewhere for a long duration.  I was back at the Newell just before 5 pm.

Oh, by the by, the optometrist said my eye is healing just fine, thank you, and the vision in my right eye is almost equal to my left eye now.  He asked me to return one more time on June 10th for my final post op checkup.  

If all things had been equal, and I hadn't had a heart attack, the earliest we could have left for Alaska would have been June 11th.  Our original plan called for us to meet our traveling partners on June 1st in Dawson Creek, BC, Canada.  Had we been able to leave for Alaska from Fontana, CA on May 1st as had been our plan we would have been somewhere in the middle of nowhere when I had my heart attack.....sometimes plans get changed for one reason, and it ends up being the right thing to have done for a completely different set of circumstances.  I'm happy we were flexible enough not to press ahead with our original plans, and that I was near an excellent medical facility when I had the attack.  Who knows how things would have turned out otherwise, right?

Thanks for stopping by!

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Keep your eye on the ball!

10:42 am - Friday - May 10th - Rancho Cucamonga, CA - 56 degrees F, 20% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the southwest.....heavy marine layer and a little rain today with a forecast high of 64 degrees F.......just returned from my cataract surgery.  All went just fine.....can already see with my new right eye lens.....get the patch off at 12:45 pm!

Our plan was to leave 'home' around 11 am Thurday to make the 104 mile drive up to Upland, CA and the Pacific Eye Institute where I would have my eyes 'measured' to be sure they implanted the correct lens on Friday.  After a brief stop in Temecula to fill our gas tank (9+ gallons at $4.44/gallon.....California gas prices are outrageous!) we arrived at PEI just before 1:30 pm (my appointment was for 2 pm).  I had barely signed in when my name was called......that was fast!  I didn't even have time to get impatient....😁

We were out the door and on our way to my son's office before 2 pm.....cool!  We talked with Chris, Rochelle, Cynthia and their long time friend Phillip (we really like Phillip!) for about 40 minutes before heading off to COSTCO to pick up a few things, and then up to Trader Joe's for a few more things.

Our Jello plan was to get a late lunch at a chinese place next to Trader Joe's, but TLE noticed a place on the far end of the shopping plaza called September's Taproom and Eatery which got a rating of 4 stars from Yelp, so we made a 'game time decision' to eat there, and what a good decision that was......thank you Mr. Jello!

We both ordered a pint of their Alosta Brewing Company Mrs. Adams Oatmeal Stout, plus a couple of happy hour apps.....Potato Skins and a plate of Bang, Bang Chicken (chicken nuggets) to chase the brews......yummy......

.......we arrived at September's just before 4 pm, and by 5 pm were on our way to our son Chris' home where we will spend the next two nights!

In most newer tract homes nowadays the master bedroom is an ensuite (bedroom and bathroom combined), but Chris and Rochelle's has two ensuites, which includes the typical master ensuite, and then a guest room ensuite.  We almost feel like we are staying in a hotel when we visit them overnight.  Plus just off the kitchen is a full on coffee bar....doesn't get much better than that!

We were in bed by 10 pm in anticipation of arising at 5 am Friday in order to arrive at PEI by 7am......thanks for stopping by!

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Doctor, doctor.....Mr. MD.....

6:55 am - Tuesday - April 30th - Ramona, CA - 53° F, 92% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the south.....heavy cloud cover still, but no more rain. Forecast high will be 61° F......

The view this morning

Title taken from Good Lovin' by the Rascals....circa 1966....enjoy

We awoke Monday to rain which had begun shortly before we went to bed Sunday evening.  It was a very gentle rain....just the kind of rain we prefer here in SoCal.  I had my pre-surgical appointment Monday morning in Rancho Cucamonga at my primary care physician's office.  Just as 2.5 years ago, in order to have cataract surgery, I had to be certified to be in good health by my PCP* to have the surgery, and this time is no different.  The appointment was scheduled for 10:30 am so we began our drive around 7:30 am.  It should only take two hours to cover the 107 miles, but you just never know about traffic, especially when it is raining and the possibility of accidents increases exponentially.  It takes about 35 minutes to get from RORVR**  down the long hill to I-15, and as hoped we were merging onto that Interstate by 8:05 am.  Based on traffic Google maps indicated we would arrive in Rancho Cucamonga around 9:30 am.  By time we had merged it was raining buckets of rain......

Windshield wipers on high

.....hard to believe we are having this kind of rain in SoCal in late April, but you won't see many complain after years of drought.

In spite of the early rain along the southern end of our route we did arrive in Rancho to blue skies by 9:30 am just as Google maps predicted.  It's a good thing we were an hour early as I left the form my doctor needed to complete sitting on my computer.....doh!  Since we were early we headed directly for Pacific Eye Institute  in Upland to pick up another form.  Even with the detour we still arrived with form in hand at my doctor's office by 9:50 am.

I didn't have to wait long before I was called in to get my vital statistics before seeing the doctor, then it was another short wait before my doctor entered the ubiquitous small room to do my examination.  He was finished within 20 minutes, I had my completed form, and a prescription for another 10 months of my blood pressure medication.

From there we headed for COSTCO to pick up three prescriptions.....the blood pressure refill, and two other eye drop prescriptions for my upcoming cataract surgery.  By the time we left COSTCO and got on I-15 southbound it was 12:15 pm and were entering Ramona by 1:55 pm....even though it rained again on the return trip we made very good time.

Before continuing our drive to RORVR** we stopped off at a local watering hole called 'Reds, Whites and Brews' to order a 'flight' of local craft brews.....Yelp gives them 5 stars on 29 reviews, plus we had heard about this place from a couple of people and wanted to check out their beer offerings.  They also serve many local red and white wines, but that tasting session would have to wait for another time, as they do not serve food at RW&B***, and we hadn't eaten since breakfast....😉  We sampled 4 craft brews in all, and the one I loved the most was Peanut Butter Milk Stout......OMG!

A couple of my readers commented on the good deal I got on the Winegard Slimline satellite dish and asked where I got it.  My initial reply was that I got it on eBay and that it was listed as 'used', but had never been used, or installed.  I thought this was a one of a kind deal, however, the same seller is listing another for the same price......here is the link if you are interested: 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Winegard-SK-SWM3-Traveler-DirectTV-RV-High-Definition-Slimline-Satellite-used/123748489960?epid=1161758140&hash=item1ccffc1ae8:g:RTwAAOSwf5FcxFEa

eBay item # 123748489960

I received mine via UPS a few days ago, and it is all there in the original box, so this is the real deal if you are interested.

By the time we arrived home it was raining once again, so we stayed inside and listened to the rain on our riveted aircraft aluminum roof.  It rained on an off until after 9 pm.  We were in bed a little after 10 pm with smiles on our faces.

Thanks for stopping by!

* PCP = Primary Care Physician

** RORVR = Ramona Oaks RV Resort

*** RW&B = Reds, Whites and Brews

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Classical Gas.....

7:20 am - Wednesday - April 3rd - Fontana, CA - 54° F, 87% humidity, wind 2 mph out of the southeast......heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 68° F.

Tuesday turned out to be a busy day.  I had received notice Monday afternoon that my new Seaflo macerator pump had been delivered to my son's office, so TLE and I decided to make a run into Rancho Cucamonga to pick it up, and also take another load of 'stuff' to store in his warehouse until our return from Alaska.  The pile in the trailer has been reduced significantly.....

Just a sea kayak and a couple of folding tables, plus the 

artificial turf to take to the warehouse now

....we left for the drive over to the office about 10:45 am arriving there 20 minutes later.  While I retrieved the macerator pump from the office mailbox TLE moved the VW around to the back of the building and began to unload our 'stuff'.   Within a few minutes we had found additional space on our metal shelving for our 'stuff' and we were back in the car crossing the street to the local USPS office to mail some packages: 1) Return the defective Seaflo water pump, 2) Return the TRICO pneumatic wiper core to Rome Truck Parts for refund of my $75 core charge, and 3) Return the 120 volt LED bayonet bulbs I had mistakenly purchased on Amazon.  The new ones have been ordered.  Thank God for the 'Flat Rate Boxes' the USPS provides.  The water pump and TRICO motor would have cost $25 each to send regular mail, but with the Medium size 'Flat Rate Box' it was only $14 per item. Our next stop was DSW Shoes where TLE bought some new sandals using a gift card she received for Christmas......about time, right?  From there we headed home where another project from my 'to do' list awaited my attention:  

5) Repaint the LPG tank with Rustoleum....again not the whole tank, but that which is visible when you open the LPG bay door.

I have been saving this painting job (Liquid Propane Gas bay) for last as I knew it would be the most difficult.  As you can see from the picture below there is a lot of masking to be done.....↴

 That red object in the lower right corner 

is the fuel/water separator

......I first wire brushed all the metal to be painted gray, and then set about masking everything that was not to be painted gray......↴

.....by 4:30 pm I had all the difficult stuff masked, with only the aluminum frame of the bay left.  I decided to leave that for Wednesday.  It will probably take less than 15 minutes to apply the gray paint, while it took about 2 hours to wire brush everything, and apply the masking tape.

Classical Gas by Mason Williams seems some how appropriate

The temp Tuesday was about 10° F cooler than Monday, and it was very welcome.  We began closing windows by 7 pm, whereas we had been leaving all the windows open all night, every night for about a week.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Final visitations.....

7:14 am - Tuesday - April 10th - SoCal - 64º F, 30% humidity (love low humidity), wind 1 mph out of the north by northwest (sounds like a good name for a movie)......partly cloudy with a forecast high of 92º F......another scorcher!

We're down to 5 days and change until we haul anchor and begin our meandering month long journey to Maine for the summer.  I'm beginning to tick off items on my 'to do' departure list in preparation for that day.  We're in the middle of a mini heatwave right now, but it will be back in the 70's and 80's by Wednesday.

One of my 'to do' things was to get an overdue haircut at the local Supercuts, and for TLE to get some things to the dry cleaners so we can have them back before we leave.  We left on our errands about 11:15 and were back home by 12:30 with those two items crossed off our list.  

Since it was going to be quite hot in the afternoon we had already turned on the A/C before we left on our errands to avoid having to cool down the coach when we returned, and we were glad we did.

I spent some time in the trailer going through the wall cabinets and pulling out things we are not using, or do not need with us until we need them.  I'm going to box them up and take them over to my son's warehouse and put them on our shelving for later use.  If we need them Chris can mail them to us, but I doubt we will need those things for at least a year, if not more.   By the time I finished it was getting hot inside the trailer and time to retreat to an air conditioned environment.

Around 4:15 pm we got back in the VW to drive over to our daughter Sharon's home to have dinner with her and her family.  We put in an order at the local Cafe Río for take out, and picked that up on the way to her home.  I always enjoy spending 'one on one' time with our kids as it gives me more time to talk with them about their lives, plans, hopes, dreams, and spend time with the grand kiddies......

Left to right: Moi, TLE, Sharon, Rod and Brayden James

.....it's difficult to have an extended conversation with any of them when we are all together in one place.....don't get me wrong....I love having all my children together in one place at the same time, but let's face it....it's a totally different experience than the 'one of ones'.  We had a lovely time visiting for about 2 hours before heading back to the barn a little after 7 pm.  We have a lot of final visits scheduled this week with our kids, and pretty much every remaining evening this week involves some sort of family interaction.

By the time we returned home it was time to turn off the A/C and open the windows for the evening.  We watched a few recorded shows and were in bed before 11 pm.....thanks for stopping by!

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The Masters, Alaska and other stuff.......

7:07 am - Monday - April 9th - SoCal - 63º F, 38% humidity, wind 9 mph out of the north....clear blue skies.......it is going to be hot today......forecast high is 93º F.....at least the humidity has gone down!

Sunday was all I hoped it would be.  The Masters final round was amazing, but I get ahead of myself.  From Thursday through Saturday evening TLE and I probably spent 20 hours watching The Masters.  Sunday we woke up to Masters coverage, but I thought it was time for a break so we tuned into a soccer match in the British Premier League......in fact, we watched two consecutive Premier League matches just for a change of pace!

Around 9:30 am I decided it was time for my 4th consecutive bike ride on the PET*.....it's been quite a while since I've ridden 4 consecutive days, and frankly my legs were beginning to feel a little 'wear and tear' as I began my ride.  Prior to Sunday I had covered 82 total miles riding on the PET*, and I was thinking maybe I could pound out another 18 and break 100, but it was not to be.  There was a little headwind as I rode west, and that quickly stifled any notions of riding 18+ miles.  By the time I returned home some 56 minutes and 35 seconds later I had covered 13.7 miles at an average speed of 14.6 mph and burned just over 800 caloric units.......

......and now my total mileage is at 95.7....it will be easy peasy to break the 100 mile mark on my next ride.......

......within 20 minutes of my return the live broadcast of The Masters was beginning, and I spent the rest of the day basically alternating between my recliner and my computer desk hanging on every drive, chip and putt.  The day saw Patrick Reed hang on to win by one stroke with a one under par 71 when everyone else seemed to be tearing up the course.  Jordan Spieth carded an 8 under par 64 to fall two strokes short of overtaking Reed, although at one time with three holes to go he was actually tied at 14 under par with him.  Rickie Fowler carded a a 5 under par to fall just one stroke short of Reed.  There were numerous other players who just knocked the cover off the ball Sunday, but all came up short as Reed made just enough putts to win including a 4 footer on the last whole to hold par and win.  Within an hour of the end of The Masters TLE and I decided to take a mile walk to kind of shake out the cobwebs which had accumulated from all that sitting over the last 4 days.

So, why was I at my computer desk part of the day?  Well, I got an email from our friends Forest and Cindy with whom we plan to travel to Alaska in the summer of 2019.  A little back history here.....we spent about a month traveling with Forest and Cindy in Alberta a few years ago and had a marvelous time caravanning with them.  At any rate, Forest was asking a few questions in his email about making plans and that got me to reading the blog (click this link to read about their journey) of very good friends Steven and Linda who spent the entire summer of 2016 in Alaska.  I remembered when I first read their blog post about their trip back in 2016 that I felt I should use their trip as a sort of blueprint for our planning when we make the journey.  They had a great experience and great weather almost the entire trip and found many amazing places to stay with the "IT" factor along the way.  Right now I am on sensory overload!

TLE made a nice Veggie Alfredo for dinner......OMG!  I look in the fridge and see nothing to eat....she looks in the fridge and whips up an amazing dinner out of seemingly nothing.  I am not worthy!

Thanks for stopping by!

*PET = Pacific Electric Trail

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Masterful........

6:32 am - Sunday - April 8th - SoCal - 58º F, 83% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the west.....overcast with a forecast high today of 80º F.  The forecast for Monday shows the temp shooting up to 94º F and then 91º F on Tuesday before it slips back into the 80's and 70's again.

Saturday began with NO marine layer....the first time in almost a week.....we had sun streaming through the windows when we awoke......nice!  Once again we had no big plans other than watching The Masters beginning at 12 pm.  

For once I got an early start on my bike ride and was on my Cannondale riding westward on the Pacific Electric Trail before 10 am.  Again, I had no idea how far I would ride, but it seemed like a day to take a slightly shorter ride so I set my sights on Cherry Ave. for my turnaround.  Cherry Ave. is almost exactly 5.5 miles from the Elks Lodge which would make my total distance somewhere around 11 miles.  I've been hovering around average speeds on my first four rides rides in the 14 mph range.  I decided to see if I could kick it up a little and maybe get my average up to 14.5  mph.  It was a perfect day with no wind, or breeze whatsoever so I was able to push a little harder than I have been.  Usually when I make my turnaround I'm around 12.8 to 13.0 mph average.......when you ride westward on the PET* you are gaining elevation all the way, which keeps the average speed down.  On Saturday I was at 13.7 when I made the turn, and by the time I pulled into the Elks Lodge parking lot my average was up to 14.6 mph......

......so, the vital statistics for my Saturday ride are: 11.2 miles covered in 46 minutes with an average speed of 14.6 mph, and total caloric units consumed at 668.  So far I've covered 82 miles on the PET* this time around, and now have my goal of 100 miles well in sight.

I was back at the Newell just before noontime.....TLE already had the TV tuned to the local CBS channel for the beginning of televised coverage of The Masters, and we quickly settled in watching the day at Augusta National unfold.  It began with a light rainfall which ultimately let up.  The rain softened up the greens and the golf scores reflected that.  At the end of the day numerous players posted red figures, and several came in at 7 under par for the day.  Patrick Reed continues to lead all players, and is 3 strokes up on Rory McElroy with a number of other golfers within 6, or 7 strokes.  Sunday should be a barn burner to say the least.

We met our kids and their families at Zendejas Mexican Grill in Rancho Cucamonga at 4 pm for dinner.  Zendejas has been one of our favorite local Mexican restaurants for over 25 years.  We had a wonderful time visiting with our kids and their kids, and the food, as always, was unforgettable.  By 6 pm we were on our way home for the evening with big smiles of satisfaction spread across our respective faces.

Thanks for stopping by!

*PET = Pacific Electric Trail

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defer the costs of producing this blog each day.