Sifting, and sorting......

 7:53 am - Sunday - November 7th - Fontana, CA - 54° F, 77% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the south....foggy as I write with a forecast high today of 75° F.  On this date in 2017 we had just completed our orientation for working at the General Store at Desert View at the Grand Canyon......↴

There was one thing we wished to accomplish Saturday.....clean the numerous storage containers we used to keep our stuff in when it was stored at our son's warehouse.  Our son, Tim, has agreed to take the containers off our hands, and we want to deliver them to him in a clean condition......

......additionally, TLE took her bike for a spin to see if the new 'zoom' stem I installed had delivered a better riding position for her arms, and hands.....the verdict was 'YES!'.  I spent some more time in the trailer sorting through things in my wall cabinet getting rid of a few more things I'm pretty sure I will not need, or be using any time in the near future.  Gradually the cabinets are becoming much less crowded, and things I do need, and use are more accessible.  Getting rid of stuff has always been a difficult task for me.  I always think I'll find a use, or have a need for some particular item, but have to finally come to the point where I admit to myself I will never use it, or that the likely hood of finding a purpose, or use for it is extremely unlikely.  Having several weeks to work my way through that thought process is helping a lot.

I spent the rest of the day watching college football games, but around 7 pm I lit our propane firepit, and we went out side to enjoy the early evening......

.....of course, one of my least favorite times of the year has arrived yet again.....the switch from DST back to standard time.  While I do appreciate getting the hour back which was stolen from me last Spring, I would just prefer it not be stolen in the first place.  There are so many clocks which must be changed.....the bedroom clock, the salon clock, three watches, the digital picture frame, the clock at my work station, the clock in the kitchen, the VW clock, the clock on the center console, the digital clock on the dashboard, and last, but not least, the clock on the radio.  Thank God the clocks on our phones change themselves.....lol.  And then, of course, there is changing the body clock, which takes much longer....lol.

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PVMC*

 8:04 am - Saturday - November 6th - Fontana, CA - 52° F, 69% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the southeast.....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 78° F.  On this date in 2015 we were boondocking on the shores of Mono Lake, CA......↴

We knew Friday was going to be the warmest day of the week (turned out the high got to 88° F), that we wanted to ride our bikes, but there was a package package awaiting pickup at the local Amazon locker with a new 'zoom' stem for TLE's bike.  She had one on her old Cannondale, and it put her handlebars at just the perfect height for riding, but it was the wrong size for TLE's eBike, so I had to order a new one.  We're trying to alternate between walking and riding each day, but I needed that new stem to make TLE happy about riding.  As a result we forewent any exercise, and headed over to fetch the package, and then do a small shopping at the local Von's on the way home.  

By the time we got home, and I had installed the new 'zoom' stem it was getting hot outside, so the planned bike ride went by the wayside.....

The new 'zoom' stem, which allows me to raise the 

level of TLE's handlebars by 2-3"

.....additionally I installed, or should say I reinstalled a quick release on TLE's seat post so she is able to adjust the height of her seat post without needing tools to do so.....

The reinstalled seat post 'quick release'

....as is our custom when we are in SoCal we always have dinner with my youngest brother, Philip, and his wife Jeannie.  Our tradition is to meet at Pomona Valley Mining Company in Pomona, CA, which is just about half way between Fontana and Temple City, where Phil and Jeannie have lived for years.  The restaurant is high upon a hill over looking the Pomona Valley.......

.....when I went off to college in 1967 Phil was only 3, or 4 four years old, so we really had not developed a real relationship.  It wasn't really until much later in life that we began to spend more time together.  Ironically, a lot of that time spent together was on 2-3 week long camping trips in our RV's.

When we arrived at 6 pm the sun was just dipping below the hills to the west of the restaurant, and within 30 minutes the view from our window table of the lights down in the valley was spectacular.  The food, as always, was equally spectacular, and the conversation flowed endlessly for 2.5 hours.  By the bye, I had their Filet Mignon (bacon wrapped with bleu cheese), and it was amazing.  Phil and Jeannie split an order of Baby Back Ribs, and TLE had their Coconut Prawn appetizer.  Everyone loved their choices.  Around 8:30 pm we paid our check, and bid each other adieu until the Thanksgiving weekend when we will head out to the desert with several of our children, and Phil & Jeannie.....life is good.

Thanks for stopping by!

*PVMC = Pomona Valley Mining Company

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4 miles.......

 7:58 am - Friday - November 5th - Fontana, CA - 59° F, 51% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the north by northeast.....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 86° F. On this date in 2017 we were at the Page, AZ Elks Lodge....what a view.....↴

We're back into a kind of warming spell which is projected to last through Saturday.  Of course, 'warming spell' is kind of relative.  For the past year we've been used to temps in the 50's and 60's, and now were getting into the 80's on a regular basis interspersed with a few days of temps in the 70's here and there.  When we were in Oregon we waited until the afternoon most days to take hikes, but here we get out pretty early to beat the 'heat'.  We got out so early Thursday that I didn't write my blog post until well into the afternoon. On Thursday we walked the PET* just over 2 miles out, and then the same back for a total out and back mileage of 4.09 miles.....

....all the while incinerating some 734 caloric units, and averaging 3.2 mph.....our longest walk since returnig to SoCal......

.....our turn around point was the old Fontana Citrus Association warehouse.....

Facing east as we begin the 2+ miles back to our home

......after arriving back home we sat outside on the 'lido deck' for about 20 minutes to cool down before I began the necessary task of pumping via macerator pump 9 days of accumulated effluent to the dump station sewer connection.  Dumping our tanks via the macerator pump is a time consuming project....not nearly as easy as dumping straight into a sewer connection, but certainly less complex than disconnecting the Newell from our electrical/water connections, and the trailer to drive 100' over to the dump station, and then reversing the process......considering the alternative dumping via macerator is a nice middle option.

By the time I finished TLE had kindly turned on our bedroom A/C unit to aid me in cooling down a second time.  It feels much hotter than it really is because we are parked in the middle of a giant asphalt parking lot....the black asphalt really soaks up, and holds the heat!  We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the cool interior of our Newell Classic Coach.

Thanks for stopping by!

*PET = Pacific Electric Trail

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Two down, one to go......

2:09 am - Thursday - November 4th - Fontana, CA - 82° F, 21% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the west by southwest.....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 84° F.  On this date in 2015 we were in Carson City thinking we had not moved farther south soon enough.......↴

I replaced the original, inline, water pressure regulator in our coach about 6 years ago as the old one began to leak.  When I replaced the original one I thought I would not have to deal with that issue again in my lifetime, but I was wrong.  When we were at SRRVC for a year I was having issues with the water pressure getting less and less.  The current regulator is adjustable, and I was able to adjust it enough to resolve our water pressure issue.  Now we come to the present day at the Fontana/Rialto Elks Lodge.  For some reason they have excessive water pressure here, and everyone uses an external pressure regulator at the hose bib to keep their hoses from bursting.  This is the only place I use an external water pressure regulator, and when I dutifully installed it (to be clear I have 6 of them collected over the years from customers who left them behind at the various RV parks at which we have worked).  Unfortunately, the combination of the two pressure regulators reduced our pressure to the point where our water heater would not come on.....not enough water pressure.  To be sure the external pressure regulator was operating properly I installed (one at a time) the other six we have, and got the same results, so it was not the fault of the external regulator(s).  I then turned my attention to the inline pressure regulator.  No matter how much I adjusted the pressure on the inline one the water pressure did not increase.  So, what to do?  We haven't had this problem here at the Elks Lodge before so I knew it had to be the inline regulator causing the problem, so I ordered a new one, got it Tuesday, and installed it Wednesday with only a marginal improvement in water pressure...enough improvement, mind you, to allow our tankless water heater to turn on, but far from satisfactory........hmmmmm?.

The new regulator

The old, unclogged, pressure regulator

I decided to take the 6 year old pressure regulator apart (it's the same as the new one) to see if I could see what was wrong.  I found it was clogged, which explained why no matter what I did the pressure did not increase.  I was able to clear the clog, and put it back together, and then installed it in place of the external pressure regulator which is not adjustable.  Now I was able to adjust water pressure at the source, and subsequently gained a solid 25 psi in water pressure.....who knew?  By the way, if we run into each other on the road in the future and you need an external pressure regulator hit me up....I've got 7 of them.....lol!

Some good news on the 'selling stuff' front.....sold the Sea Eagle SE-330 today (Thursday), so I only have the Cannondale Tandem left to sell.  I listed the three items we were trying to sell on Facebook Marketplace, and the Inland Empire Craigslist, and so far Facebook Marketplace has been responsible for the two sales....pretty impressive!

I got a message from our oldest daughter, Meredith, early in the day that she and Manny (a friend of my kids since the 80's) wanted to go out for a couple of brews, so we met them at Hamilton Family Brewery in Rancho Cucamonga at 6 pm......

.....Manny like many of our kids' friends hung out at our home a lot in the 80's and 90's, and became like one of our kids.  Whenever we are in town he makes a point of getting together with us.....I'm really proud of the man he has become.  We drank our brews alfresco, and picked up a few orders of sliders from a vendor next to Hamilton Family Brewing as they only serve beer....no food.  The sliders were amazing, as were the numerous brews we sampled.....thank you Manny for a memorable evening, and we enjoyed meeting Madison....she's quite a lady!

We didn't get home until after 9 pm, and after all that beer, slept like babies.....thanks for stopping by!

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One down, two to go.....

 8:03 am - Wednesday - November 3rd - Fontana, CA - 54° F, 69% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the north by northeast......crystal, clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 84° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were having lunch at 'The Hat' in Rancho Cucamonga, CA.....↴

......ironically, we had lunch there again Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021!

For the first time since they became available I decided to have some Amazon orders shipped to a local Amazon locker.  I've read about people who use them, but was always a little leery.  At any rate I decided to try them.  They look like this, only varying in size depending on the location....

.....the added benefit, which I did not know, is you get your stuff much faster.  I ordered three items on Sunday evening, and was notified that one of the items had been deposited in my amazon locker on Monday, and then the other two on Tuesday morning....that's as fast as I've received anything from Amazon in a long, long time.  The Amazon locker location I chose is located in Rancho Cucamonga in Victoria Gardens, and is right across the street from one of our all time favorite eateries....'The Hat'.....a pastrami place with the best Pastrami Dip sandwich you will ever taste.

We left home around 1 pm to make the 20 minute drive to the Amazon locker, and retrieved our packages within seconds, then it was a short drive across the street to 'The Hat'.....

.....usually TLE and I order one sandwich each, and an order of onion rings (also amazing!), but we opted to split one instead, and forego the onion rings.....enough pastrami will fall out of each half of the sandwich to make a second Pastrami Dip sandwich.  As I wrote above, we were last here on November 3rd, 2017......wow...4 years ago!

We had a bit of good news Tuesday in that we had an offer for TLE's old Cannondale F600, and the gentleman came to pick it up after work Tuesday, so now we only have the tandem and Sea Eagle kayak left to sell....fingers crossed!

Thanks for stopping by!

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"You gotta see the baby!"

 8:07 am - Tuesday - November 2nd - Fontana, CA - 52° F, 77% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the east.....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 75° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were in Park City, UT having dinner with my brother (Dwyer), and his wife (Lori) at the Stein Erickson Lodge......↴

I'm reminded of a great line from a Seinfeld episode spoken with an obvious New York/New Jersey accent......."You gotta see the baby!"......

.....of course, we very much wanted to see the baby, so we arranged with Tim and Laila to stop by their home Monday around 10 am to see the baby.....

.....I haven't held a small baby like this in a long, long time, but it brought back so many memories of holding each of our five children as newborns.  Little Bowie Mae is so perfect, and beautiful....

Proud Grandpa....

......I remember visiting Tim and Laila after the birth of their first child, Crosby Mark, and the nervousness energy of two new parents was palpable.....not so this time.  This is the second time around for them, and there are no surprises.  They are relaxed, and enjoying every moment.....

.....I did manage to get a picture of Laila, but it came out blurry.  We spent about an hour with them before biding our adieus.  They'll need all the quiet, and rest they can get.

On our way home we stopped off at the Rancho Cucamonga Goodwill to make some final donations, and then do some browsing to see if there was anything there without which we could not live.  As it turned out there a couple of t-shirts I bought.  I don't think I have ever left this particular Goodwill store without buying something.  It is one of the nicest Goodwills at which we have ever shopped.

We haven't ridden our eBikes since March, and now that we've taken care of all the warehouse stuff it was time to get them out and put them to use riding the PET (Pacific Electric Trail), which runs right behind the Elks Lodge here in Fontana.  You will recall I gave each of them a thorough cleaning, and tune up while we were still at SRRVC, but we never rode them.  After walking for three straight days it was time for a bike ride.  Since we haven't ridden for quite some time we decided to keep our ride to 5 miles out and back (10 miles total).  The distance from our coach to the intersection of the PET and Cherry Ave. happens to be 5.5 miles, and that ended up being just the right distance......

......the temp and weather were perfect for a long ride, and we loved every minute.  Nothing like a little 'pedal assist' to get you home when you haven't ridden in a long time.  I managed to stay in level 1 for the entire ride, and I think TLE went as high as level 3, but rode most of the time in level 2.  It doesn't really matter what level you use.  What matters is that you finish the ride, get the exercise, and enjoy yourself the entire time.  In all we covered just over 11 miles at an average speed of 8.9 mph.

Monday seemed like a day of firsts so we decided to BBQ outside for the first time in months, and enjoy our propane firepit for the first time in weeks.  We were treated to a beautiful sunset to top off a perfect day.....

.....yes, even in Fontana, CA surrounded by apartment buildings you can enjoy a great sunset.

Thanks for stopping by!

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The final three.....

 7:57 am - Monday - November 1st - Fontana, CA - 54° F, 87% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the east....overcast this morning with a forecast high today of 73° F.  On this date in 2011 TLE and I were watching the sun set at Rincon Parkway, just north of Ventura, CA.......↴

For the third successive morning we took a walk on the PET (Pacific Electric Trail).  This time we walked down to Cactus, then south on Cactus to Rialto Ave, and then home.  In all we covered 2.85 miles at a pace of 3.2 mph, and 513 calories burned......

.....then it was time for me to begin to clean up TLE's old Cannondale F600, and the Cannondale Tandem.  I spent most of the afternoon doing just that, and by the end of the day both were ready to list on Facebook Marketplace.......

.....I also assembled the two paddles for the Sea Eagle inflatable kayak, then listed it on Facebook Marketplace.....

.....the temp stayed in the low 70's all afternoon making it quite comfortable to work on the bikes outside.  As I write this morning I am already getting messages from interested parties on the three items.....hope they sell quickly!  These are the last three items from my son's warehouse for which we need to find new homes, then it will be time to begin going through all the other stuff in the trailer to see what we can do without.  It has just gotten too crowded in there.

Thanks for stopping by!

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 over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!