Bad boy.......

8:35 am - Monday - March 28th - Elks Backyard, CA - 56° F, humidity 63%, wind 10 mph out of the south by southeast.....heavily overcast today with rain on the way.....forecast high is 58° F.....just 2° warmer than it is right now....WOW!  On this date in 2012, our 2nd month on the road, we arrived in Cedar Key, FL for the very first time....we have returned twice since then.....↴

Very first Cedar Key sunset

We finally had a break in the weather Sunday.  For the first time since we arrived in Fontana the high temp for the day was forecast to be in the 70's....not the 80's, or 90's.  TLE wanted to take a day off from walking so, for the first time since Seal Rock, OR, I got out my Cannondale Bad Boy bike and headed west on the PET*.  Initially I was just going to ride to Cherry Avenue, which is about 5 miles out making for a nice 10 mile ride, but by the time I reached Cherry I felt really good, and was not ready to turn around yet, so I changed my goal from distance to to riding until I reached 500 calories burned for the for the 'out' portion of the ride, meaning by the time I returned to the Elks Lodge I would be over 1,000.  I haven't had a 1,000 calorie day on my bike in over 2 years.  As it turned out I hit the 500 calorie goal just before Rochester in Rancho Cucamonga.  So, some 9.25 miles from home, I made the turn around......

.....the ride eastward from Rochester usually has a slight tail wind, and the grade is ever so slightly downhill, and I usually hit my highest average mph on the return ride.  At the turn around I was averaging just over 12.5 mph.  I still felt great as I headed back to the Elks Lodge.....

.....this section of the PET* is straight, and there are sections where you don't have to cross a street for over a mile.  By the time I returned to the Newell I had burned 1,037 calories, averaged 13.0 mph for the entire ride, and covered just under 19 miles....

......the lapsed moving time was one hour and 25 minutes.  Frankly, I was surprised by how good I felt after riding that many miles.  I guess I  would have to attribute some of that to all the fast walking TLE and I have been doing the past 7 weeks.

It was after 1:30 pm, when I got back home, and I had been gone so long that TLE actually called me when I was about 1 mile from home to be sure I was OK.  It's always nice to know there is someone out there who cares about your welfare.

As one might expect, I spent most of the afternoon watching the final round of the World Gold Championship Match Play between Scottie Scheffler, and Kevin Kisner.  Within the first 5 holes Scottie was 3 up over Kevin, and with just 3 holes left to play Kisner conceded the match 4 and 3......meaning Scottie was up four holes with 3 to play giving Kisner no chance to win.

On the 'March Madness' front both games Sunday were blowouts...... #1 Kansas easily defeated #10 Miami 76-50 to advance to the Final Four, and #8 North Carolina defeated this year's Cinderella team, #15 St. Peters, 69-49 to also advance.  

Our original plan was to take the Newell over to Joel's Automotive Monday morning for the oil, and coolant changes, but with there being a 100% chance of rain Monday morning Joel and I decided Tuesday would be a better day since all the work would be performed outside his shop in the parking lot (the Newell is too big for his shop).  Nevertheless, I needed to disconnect the trailer from the Newell prior to driving over to Joel's, and didn't want to do it in the rain, so, with TLE's help we dropped the trailer, and moved the Newell forward in our site about one foot, so I could also remove the large hitch.

With the end of Sunday it is now just 6 days until my granddaughter's wedding, and shortly after that we will drive the final 600 miles to our summer job....where have the last 5 months gone?

Thanks for stopping by!

*PET = Pacific Electric Trail

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Family and friends......

 7:34 am - Sunday - March 27th - Elks Backyard, CA - 54° F, humidity 69%, wind 3 mph out of the south by southwest.......heavy overcast today with a forecast high of 76° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were out riding the SART (Santa Ana River Trail) bike path on our Cannondale tandem bicycle.....we stopped at a local San Bernardino Subway shop for a 'footlong' before our return trip to the Newell.....covered 23 miles that day.....↴

We've trying to vary our walking route each day so as to not get too bored doing the same thing over and over again like we've done for the past almost 2 months.  Because of where we were (Newell House, and the Anza Borrego Desert) during that that time we were limited in our options, but now that we are here at the Elks Lodge we have a lot of options.  I usually defer to TLE as to the route for any given day, and she suggested Saturday that we just do an out and back walk on the PET* trail, to which I agreed, but with the caveat that we would walk one more block west than normal to Fontana High School before turning around....she agreed.  In all, with the extra block, we covered 3.52 miles, a new high for our daily walk.....

A couple of street signs along the PET*....the one above is on the Fontana section, and the one below is typical of the Rialto section.  Maple Avenue is where the Fontana section ends (on the east), and where the Rialto section begins...the Elks Lodge is in between Linden Avenue and Maple Avenue on Rialto Avenue.

....our grandson, Brayden (son of Sharon and Rod) is in his second season of little league baseball, and had a game scheduled for 12:00 pm at Westwind Park in Ontario, so around 11:30 am we hopped in the VW and headed down to see him play.  His little league team is called the 'Dodgers'.....how fitting!  My favorite major league team is also the 'Dodgers'.....

Brayden in the field

.....Brayden managed to get two hits during the game, and drove in a couple of runs making his parents, and grand parents very happy......

....it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and it never got above 84° F.  We were home a little after 2 pm, and shortly thereafter I was watching the 'World Golf Championship' match play tournament being held in Austin, TX, and then the first game of the 'March Madness' Elite 8 between Villanova and Houston.  It was a hard fought game featuring great defense, which was won in the end by Villanova 50-44....a very low scoring game.  The second game was between Duke and Arkansas, but we had a 6 pm dinner date with long time friends Paul and Karye Hood at Brio's in Victoria Gardens (Rancho Cucamonga), so I set the Duke/Arkansas game to record while we were at dinner.

I began riding mountain bikes with Paul (13 years my junior) back in the early 90's, and we rode together most every weekend for 20 years.  I count him as one of my best male friends, and have greatly missed that camaraderie we shared on and off the bikes over those two decades.  We met Paul and Kayre at Brio's (Italian restaurant) at 6 pm, and after a little over two hours of catching up, and reminiscing we exchanged our 'until next times', and headed for home.  I'm still smiling today thinking about the great food and conversation.  I neglected to take the traditional 'usie', but here is a picture from Karye's Facebook page of them taken at Mt. Rushmore......

......I've had few regrets over the decade we have been on our nomadic adventure, and one of them is not being able to spend time with Paul like I did for the 20 years before.  He is one of my most unforgettable characters.....a good, honorable, decent, loyal man...a man I am proud to call FRIEND.

Upon our return home I turned on the TV and began to watch the Duke (#2) vs. Arkansas (#4)  game.....it was a good, 4 point game with about 5 minutes to go with Duke in the lead, when Duke went on a scoring run, leading by as many as 18 points before Arkansas closed the gap to 9 points, but it was too late, and too little as Duke held on to win 78-69.  So, after Saturday's games Villanova and Duke are in the Final Four (to be played next weekend), with final two of the Elite 8 games scheduled for Sunday determining the last two Final Four teams.

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

Framed.....

 7:55 am - Saturday - March 26th - Elks Backyard, CA - 57° F, humidity 15%, wind 1 mph out of the north by northeast.....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE took a picture of me in front of August National Golf Club where the Masters is played each year......↴

Friday we were out by 8 am taking our daily 2+ mile walk....walking two hours earlier than we did on Thursday makes quite a difference in comfort, and Friday was slated to be the warmest day this week at a forecast high of 92° F.  We were back home in just over 48 minutes having averaged 3.5 mph over 2.84 miles.....

After cooling down for about 15 minutes I headed out to the trailer to set up all three bikes, and my exercise bench.  It's the first time all three bikes and the bench have been out of their cubby hole for over 3 weeks.  The weather will be cooling back into the 60's and 70's starting Sunday, and we plan to take a few bike rides on the PET*.  Once that was done it was time to head inside to to cool confines of the Newell.

Around 11:30 am I received notice that my latest Amazon package had been delivered to the Amazon locker I use over at the local Carl's Jr.  I ordered a new 'flash drive' which I needed to load pictures for our new digital picture frame by Frameo....

....it is WiFi enabled so I can transfer pictures to it wirelessly from my phone, but for all other pictures, like the ones on my external hard drive, I need the 'flash drive' to do so.  It has a regular USB connection for my laptop, and on the other is a micro USB connector for the digital picture frame....

......our old digital picture frame (about 14 years old) gave up the ghost a few months ago, and I only got around to replacing it recently.  The new one is about 1/3 larger, and has about 4 times the capacity so I've loaded about 400 pictures to it so far.

Friday nights are dinner night at the Fontana/Rialto Elks Lodge.  We attend at least one dinner whenever we are in town, but most Friday evenings when we are in town we're seeing our kids.  This Friday we combined seeing our kids with eating at the lodge...well, with at least one of our kids.  Our youngest daughter, Sharon, called Thursday night about getting together, but we had already RSVP'd for the dinner, so we invited her and her son, Brayden, to join us.  Rod, her husband, was working, so he could not attend.  As often happens I failed to take any pictures, but a good time was had by all.

We were back in the Newell by 7 pm watching the second night of the 'Sweet Sixteen' matchups.  My #4 UCLA Bruins were upset by #8 North Carolina in the final 90 seconds of a game they had led for most of the way.  However, the big upset of the night was St. Peters (#15) beating #3 Purdue 67-64.  St. Peters is the first #15 to ever make it to the 'Elite 8'.....first ever, all time....no one saw that coming, and that, my friends, is why I love 'March Madness'....the unexpected is always happening.

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

Match play, and the Sweet Sixteen.....

 7:25 am - Friday - March 25th - Elks Backyard, CA - 60° F, humidity 43%, wind 1 mph out of the northeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 91° F.  On this date in 2012 we were in Daphne, AL overnighting at a Walmart, and taking a bike ride....stopped for lunch......

After all the running around we did on Wednesday we just took at easy on Thursday.  Other than the 2.82 mile walk we took, and TLE's short shopping run to the local Stater Brothers one block away, we were just home bodies.  We didn't get out to take our walk until after 10 am, and by the time we were at the halfway mark we wished we had walked earlier as it was heating up quickly (the high Thursday was 89° F).....

.....for our 2nd local loop walk this week we headed west on Rialto Ave. to Tamarind, then up to the PET (Pacific Electric Trail) where we turned eastward back to the Elks Lodge.  In all we covered 2.82 miles....just slightly less than the first day.

I spent a good part of Thursday afternoon watching the World Championship of Golf tournament in Austin, TX which is a 5 day, Match Play event.  It's kind of like the Ryder Cup in that sense, but instead of it being the USA vs. the rest of the world, it's just two golfers playing against each other for 18 holes with each hole a separate contest.   For each hole you win you get a point....if one guy wins three holes he is said to be 'three up'.  If you're on the losing end you are considered to be 'three down'.  Whoever is ahead by at least one hole at the end of the 18 holes is the winner of that 'Match'....many matches end in a tie, and there is no 'sudden death'.

Later in the afternoon it was time for 'March Madness' to begin again.  Thursday was the first day of the 'Round of 16', or 'Sweet Sixteen'.  There were two BIG upsets Thursday.....Gonzaga, the overall #1 seed in the tournament, lost to #4 Arkansas 74-68, and it wasn't even really that close.  In the other upset #1 Arizona lost to #5 Houston 72-60....Houston led by 10-12 points most of the second half.  #11 Michigan fell to #2 Villanova, and another #2, Duke, bested #3, Texas Tech.  So half of the 'Elite 8' has been determined with the second half being determined on Friday, of which #4 UCLA is included...they play #8, North Carolina.....hoping they make it to the 'Elite 8'!

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 buy a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Getting warmer.....

 8:56 am - Thursday - March 24th - Elks Backyard, CA - 66° F, humidity 31%, wind 2 mph out of the east.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 89° F.....we'll punch into the low 90's by Friday, and then we'll see temps drop back into the 70's.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were in Baton Rouge, LA visiting LSU's Tiger Stadium......↴

We were out for an early walk Wednesday morning.....

.....we weren't sure how far we were going to walk initially, but by the time we arrived back at the Elks Lodge we had covered 2.87 miles in just under 49 minutes while burning some 516 caloric units.....

....once we were back we decided to install our sun shade off the patio awning to help block the afternoon sun (the Newell is facing south so the sun moves from our drivers side to the passenger side over the course of the day).....

Before....

.....after

.....once that was done we were in the VW heading out to take care of several errands, including topping off the VW gas tank.  The average price here in the Fontana/Rancho Cucamonga area for unleaded regular is $5.99/gallon, while premium unleaded (what we use) averages $6.49/gallon.....ouch!  We chose to fuel up at the local Rancho Cucamonga COSTCO where premium unleaded is $5.71/gallon.....still ouch, but 28 cents less per gallon than regular unleaded everywhere else.....

....needless to say the COSTCO fuel station line was out to the street, and there were four employees directing traffic.....they usually have the best fuel prices, and right now they are really the best by, and far.  Thank goodness our 180 gallon diesel tank is just over 3/4's full with the diesel we took on in Yuma, AZ three weeks ago.  We should have more than enough to make it to Gardnerville, NV (near Carson City) to fill our tank for the final 200 miles to Likely, CA....the average diesel prices here are running close to $7/gallon, while they are under $5/gallon in Nevada ($4.72/gallon as of right now)!

After fueling up we went inside to buy some stuff, and then headed to the local Amazon Locker to pickup some things we had ordered online.  By the time we returned home it was after 2 pm, and we were approaching the high of the day, 84° F.  TLE picked up some 'wild caught' salmon at COSTCO, which I grilled on the Sea-B-Que for dinner....that was some of the best salmon we have ever had, including the 'wild caught' salmon our friend Greg from Seal Rock caught himself last Fall......

.....to that TLE added a side of spinach, and some sparkling Proseco....what an amazing dinner, and a great way to end our first full day back in the Pomona Valley!

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 buy a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

The Jello didn't jiggle......

7:18 am - Wednesday - March 23rd - Elks Backyard, CA - 61° F, humidity 34%, wind 3 mph out of the north by northeast......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 86° F.  On this date in 2012 we were overnighting at a Walmart near Baton Rouge, LA.....6 weeks into our nomadic odyssey......↴

Our Jello plan for Tuesday was to be up by 6 am, and on the road by 7 am.  There were no utilities from which to disconnect, the trailer was on the Newell hitch, the turf, and VW were inside the trailer....we were ready to roll our wheels on a moment's notice.  I turned on our big Kohler/Perkins 7.5 kw generator to run the block heater (it was cold), and perk some coffee whilst TLE readied the Newell interior for travel. Most of my departure work occurs in the days prior to departure, while nearly 100% of TLE's departure prep is on the day of departure.  She has a routine she follows to transform our home on wheels into a road worthy vehicle, and usually within 40 minutes she pronounces the Newell road worthy once again.

As she finished her work securing the Newell interior I turned on the Garmin Trucker GPS, and entered our destination.....Fontana/Rialto Elks Lodge.....just 132 miles from our boondock site.  Once that was done I turned the ignition key clockwise and heard the big Detroit Diesel 6v92 roar to life.  While TLE turned off the block heater I powered down the Kohler/Perkins generator and prepared for liftoff.  Zero time was 6:45 am.....I love it when a plan comes together!

After almost 3 weeks boondocking our black tank was just 50% full, but we always like to arrive at the Elks Lodge with empty waste tanks, so after a short 16 mile drive over the hump down to the Salton City Travel Center we pulled into one of their 5 dump stations to transfer our effluent to their sewer system.  Within 30 minute we were rolling again north on SR-86 along the western shore of the Salton Sea.

From the Salton Sea which sits at -131' elevation to the top of Banning Pass at 2,600' we gain almost 2,800' in elevation in around 50 miles, and most of that is gained from Palm Desert to the summit, which is about 20 miles.....it is a grinder which keeps us in 2nd, or 3rd gear most of the time.  As I've mentioned previously, Banning Pass separates the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs, Pam Desert, Indio, La Quinta, etc) from the Pomona Valley (Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Pomona, etc).

The forecast high for Tuesday in Fontana was 89° F, and we wanted to arrive at the Elks Lodge well before that.  As it turned out we arrived around 10:30 am with temps just edging into the high 70's.  By the time we had backed into site #3 (we have stayed in site #3 90% of the time we have been coming to the Fontana/Rialto Elks Lodge), hooked up our utilities, and deployed our awnings it was 11:30 am.....perfect!

As luck would have it we arrived right at the tail end of another 'Santa Ana' wind event....by 1 pm the winds had abated.  Around 3 pm we got dressed and drove over to our favorite local Mexican seafood restaurant...Mariscos Del Pacifico....for a late lunch/early dinner, and then to the home of Chris and Rochelle (oldest son, beautiful, bright, intelligent daughter-in-law) to pick up our mail.  It was nice to sit and talk with them for about an hour without interruption.  Usually when we see them it is at their office, or at a family gathering, so being able to sit with them in their home 'one on one' was a treat.

By the time we left Chris and Rochelle it was around 5:40 pm, and right smack dab in the middle of the Pomona Valley rush hour on SR-210.  Usually the freeway is stop and go at this point, but we were blessed with traffic moving along at 60+ mph all the way to the Ayala exit which takes us south to the Elks Lodge.

Tuesday could not have gone better for us....there was no 'jiggling Jello', and now we settle in for 10-14 days for the upcoming nuptials of our granddaughter Cynthia, and Daniel.  We'll be getting the Newell coolant and oil changed (the same for the VW, plus the new rear rotor and pads), and running a bunch of errands.  I know the time will fly, and before we know it we will be disconnecting our utilities again to head north on US-395 to our summer job in Likely, CA....where have the last 4 months gone?

Thank 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 buy a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Until next time.....

11:30 am - Tuesday - March 22nd - Elks Backyard, CA - 80° F, humidity 14%, wind 19 mph out of the northeast.....feels more like under 5 mph....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies here in Fontana, CA....wait, what?  Yup, we hauled anchor around 6:45 am today, and arrived at the Elks Lodge by 10:30 am.  On this date in 2016 we hiked to the top of Mt. Rubidoux (Riverside, CA) with our granddaughter Charlise.......↴

I spent most of Monday (with breaks interspersed throughout) organizing the trailer for turf and VW insertion, checking the trailer tires air pressure, removing all the tire covers, stowing the solar panels, blowing dirt and dust off the artificial turf, backing up the Newell to the trailer, drop the trailer on the hitch, and finally, at the very end of the day dragging the artificial turf into the trailer, with TLE's assistance, and then TLE inserted the VW as the sun was setting.

All that remained of our 3 week encampment the was our Newell, the trailer, and the desert......

Ready to roll first thing Tuesday

Our last Borrego sunset

I will miss our valley

.....every time we leave the Anza Borrego Desert I get a little melancholy, and Monday evening it was no different.  Each time we leave I wonder when we will return....my intent is next winter, but one never fully knows what the future holds in store, or what unforeseen events might unfold changing our plans.  TLE and I remain healthy, and still cannot imagine living any other way.  Everything we own is in the picture above, which makes me smile.....it is a satisfying, pleasing, simple life we lead.  Living that life far from large populations, and cities is what we love, and crave, and we are blessed beyond measure to live our final years as vagabonders supreme!

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 buy a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!