D minus 27 - Hitchin' A Ride

The first thing on my agenda for Monday morning was to keep my appointment at the local U-Haul establishment to have my oft delayed receiver hitch installed.  Naturally, to get the hitch installed while I waited I had to be there at 7 am to get my car in the shop first, which, in turn, necessitated another early morning.....will the injustice never end?  

I arrived shortly after 7 am, but was still the only customer there, so I was processed quickly by the manager......as I handed him my keys he says...."We've never installed one of these on a VW Beetle before at this location, but I'm sure it won't be a problem...".....just what one wants to hear at 7 am.  He estimated it would take about an hour, and it did take just over an hour.....it looks good!

The new 1-1/4" receiver hitch

Now I am one step closer to being able to attach my Yakima bike rack.  I ordered the 1-1/4" to 2" adapter (the Yakima requires a 2" receiver), which should be in my possession by Thursday, and in time for mountain biking this Saturday.....yes I am going mountain biking again with my friends.....I guess I didn't embarrass them, or myself to badly last time so I have been invited to join them once again.

Just after I arrived home TLE suggested a long tandem ride was in order......hmmm.....glad to see she is getting interested in bike riding again.  The other day, you will recall, we rode south on the SART (Santa Ana River Trail) to it's present terminus, and she wanted to ride north to see if they had extended the trail yet.  The last time we rode north it ended at Waterman Ave., just north of Interstate 10....about 12 miles distant.  The added inducement for me was there was a Subway just past the end of the trail.....perfect.

The weather guessers had predicted Santana winds starting in the afternoon, so we left around 9:30.....riding north we would be hitting a headwind if there were Santanas.  When we reached the trailhead there was already a small off shore breeze out of the north blowing so we had a slight headwind that kept our speed down in the 12 mph range for the entire 12 mile ride north......normally we can run about 16 mph up the trail.  At least the breeze never stiffened, and we reached the Subway around 10:30...a little early for lunch so we initially thought we would buy my sandwich and I would eat the first 6" when we got home.....however.....there always seems to be a "however".....however, they were training a new girl, and the result was it took almost 30 minutes before my Club was done (there were a few others in front of me being practiced on, too)....by that time it was after 11, and I was starting to get hungry so we decided to eat there.   I don't like to eat lunch that early as it means I start getting hungry for the 2nd 6" part of the Club way too early in the afternoon, but it was what it was.

As it turns out the SART still ends at Waterman Ave., and the ride over to Subway added about 1 more mile to our ride north.  Our ride total came out to just over 26 miles, and my Garmin Edge 205 GPS showed I had burnt an estimated 1622 calories.....TLE came in at just over 1300 calories.  It's a cool little bicycle computer....TLE and I each have our own into which we enter our weight, and the weight of the bicycle.  It then calculates how many calories are burned based on distance, mph, elevation gain and loss.

Our return trip saw us flying down the SART at 20-22 mph most of the 12 miles back to the coach with a modest tailwind.  About 1/2 way back I spied a guy on  a road bike closing the gap.  If you are riding a tandem you do not want to be passed by someone on a single pushing 20+ mph, so TLE and I took the challenge and upped our mph to 22 for the last 7 miles.......not only did we keep him from gaining on us, we put more distance between the two of us.  TLE really stepped it up that last 7 miles, and we did not suffer the embarrassment of being passed by a single!

Getting up early two days in a row takes a toll, and within 30 minutes of our return home I was taking a nap......one of those naps where you really get into a deep sleep....the kind of sleep from which it is difficult awake.  When I did wake up I was already getting hungry and it was only 2:30, so TLE cut up a fresh apple for me to snack on.......that did the trick!

I spent the rest of the afternoon doing some online shopping for a new front tire for my Cannondale Bad Boy, as well as two new tires for the tandem.  For those who have  been reading for a while you will recall I had to replace the rear tire on the tandem when we were doing a day ride in Port Townsend, WA in July of 2012.......while TLE was in a book store I happened to notice the rear tire was about to fail, so I replaced it with what the local bike store had in stock, which was a cheap Chinese 27" tire that had a maximum inflation of 85 pounds....not nearly enough for a tandem, but it did the trick for the last 18 months.  I was able find two tires on Amazon.com for $14 each that are the same brand and model as the ones on my Bad Boy, which lasted 6 years.  I also ordered the aforementioned receiver adapter at the same time after some extensive research, and multiple measurements to be sure the clearances would work.

The Santana winds did not really materialize until about 2 am this morning (Tuesday)....apparently they were reeking havoc elsewhere most of Monday, but they are now here in RJRP until at least Wednesday.

We turned in early again since we have Kiosk opening duties Tuesday.....thanks for stopping by!

D minus 28 - Kiosk.....NOT, NFL......YEP!

Of course, no one loves getting up at 5 am more than I when there is a purpose.......Sunday is our normal Kiosk day here in RJRP....we open the Kiosk at 7 am.  So we dutifully got up Sunday morning at 5 am as we have done since we arrived back in November......neither of us had, apparently, checked the new schedule very carefully.  There was one deviation from our normal schedule and it was this week.......two camp hosts are taking a vacation this week, so Ranger Robyn gave them our Sunday opening in exchange for their Thursday opening.  It was such a small change, and only appears once so I guess I will forgive TLE for not noticing.....:D

Sitting watching the sun rise....wondering what to do with the extra time

Thankfully we discovered the aberration before we got dressed, and showed up for the wrong assignment, so not all was lost, but there I sat with nothing to do once I had finished my blog entry for Saturday, in which I alluded to this faux pas.  Around 7:30 I went out and thought I would wipe the night's moisture off the VW, but found the moisture was frozen, so no go there.  Then I ventured into the trailer thinking I would do a semi thorough cleaning of my road bike (Cannondale Bad Boy), but it was too cold, so, instead, I turned on the heater and went back inside to wait for a more hospitable temperature.....it was just too cold outside to do anything I wanted to do.

I remembered I had 7 more bike items to list on Ebay to finish off this current bike, so I got to work on that.....by the time I finished listing those last 7 items the ice was melting on the car, and it was warm enough to venture out to the trailer to clean my bike.....I put on some black latex gloves and got to work on the Beetle first, then headed into the trailer to give the Bad Boy a cleaning.

Eventually I settled in to watching the first NFL game of the day, San Francisco 49ers at Carolina Panthers.  Both teams have good defenses, but on this day the 49ers defense prevailed only allowing the Panthers 10 points, and none in the 2nd half.  

The afternoon game (Chargers at Broncos) was the one I really wanted to watch but I didn't want to miss my Sunday bike ride, so I took off riding just as the first game ended knowing it normally takes me just over 50 minutes to finish the 12 mile loop.  Regrettably the Santanas have returned, and as I fought headwinds riding north on Crestmore I wondered at the wisdom of doing what I was doing.....instead of cruising along at the normal 13-14 miles an hour I was chugging along at 6-7 as the winds buffeted me to and fro.  I continued to battle the winds all around Fairmont Park, and up to the summit of Rubidoux, but frankly, the scariest part was on the descent......if I went to fast down hill the wind threatened to push me off the cliff, so I had to slow way down to avoid a mishap. I arrived back at the coach after a 62 minute ride....almost 10 minutes longer to complete the same circuit.

I missed the first Bronco touchdown, but was there with TLE watching every second of the rest of the game.  The Broncos held the Chargers to zero points in the first half, and led 17-0 as the 4th quarter began, but then the Chargers scored 2 touchdowns and a field goal in the 4th quarter.....the Broncos managed to score one touchdown in the fourth quarter, and that was the difference in the game.  So, it was a good weekend for me.....3 of the 4 teams I rooted for won their games.....next weekend there are two conference finals, then the Super Bowl.

That was our Saturday......well, except for this amazing sunset.....

Thanks for stopping by!

D minus 29 - SS, FM, and NFL

Even though it was Saturday I was up early......we were going to ride the tandem over to the Mission Inn to have breakfast at Simple Simon's, and then stroll through the Farmer's Market held in the walking mall area next to the Mission Inn.  Since we had Kiosk duty from 10 am to 2 pm we needed to be out of the coach and on our way by 7:30, but, alas, I was informed by TLE it was way too cold at 7:30 to ride a bike 5 feet let alone 4 miles over to Simple Simon's, and back, so I deferred and we left at 8 am in the VW.....:D

Each week, usually on Saturday we deviate from our diets and treat ourselves to non-diet food.....in moderation of course.  Saturday it was time for breakfast out.  The full name of this wonderful breakfast/lunch eatery is Simple Simon's Bakery and Bistro........their sourdough bread defies the use of adjectives.  We both ordered their Spinach and Bacon Omlette (including the aforementioned sourdough toast) and coffee.  Yelp gives them a solid 4 stars on 342 reviews.....as always, I still give them a solid 5.

From there we walked half a block to the Farmer's Market for some fresh produce.  At 8:30 many of the vendors were still setting up....guess it was too cold for them also.

We bought some brown eggs, small tomatoes, radish's and sweet potatoes for later consumption.  We were back home by 9 am.

TLE decided (notice a trend here) that I would go to the Kiosk first since Sarah was already on duty, and she (TLE) would follow at 11:30, and if it wasn't too busy she would "let" me go home at Noon....it was actually quite busy until just before TLE arrived, and was still not busy when she dismissed me at Noon.....unfortunately for TLE it got quite busy again within a few minutes of my departure.  Sometimes being an obedient husband works out okay....:D

I snapped this picture on the way to the Kiosk about 9:55 am.....yep, just another gorgeous SoCal day......I spent the afternoon sitting outside watching the Seahawks play the Saints (in Seattle) in just horrible, windy, rainy weather......our weather was 77 degrees with balmy breezes.  The 'Hawks won a close game.

By the time TLE returned a little after 2 pm I had already taken a nice nap, and was enjoying the game.  The night cap saw the Colts at New England where the weather was virtually a carbon copy of Seattle's weather.......miserable, windy, rainy weather......the Colts turned the ball over too many times and lost by 21 points to the Patriots.  

(So, here I am sitting at 5:30 typing my account of Saturday when TLE looks at the Kiosk duty schedule and discovers we are not on duty today for the first time in 2 months.....wait, what......I got up at 5 am on a Sunday for nothing?  Well, if that isn't just a little bit iniquitous!  Secretly, I think she knew all the time and let me get up early to pay me back for "abandoning" her yesterday at the Kiosk, but don't tell her I wrote that.....it's a secret between you and I, okay?)

Okay, back to Saturday.....murmur, murmur, murmur.....continuing our Saturday break from our respective diets, TLE bought a couple of filets for me to BBQ.....she added cooked spinach (delicious!) and we ate just after 5.  Of course, we were in bed by 9 pm thinking we had Kiosk duty Sunday morning....well, you already know how that turned out.

Thanks for stopping by!

D minus 30 - Weekly Weigh In

On Friday, January 10, 2012 we woke up in Cedar Key, FL......exactly 2,356 miles east and south of our present location.  This year marks the 3rd annual nomadic convergence on Cedar Key, and by all accounts the biggest so far.  A number of people we know are back this year, as well as many new nomads.  All converging nomads spend many evenings a week at the Tiki Bar located at Low Key Hideaway (owned and operated by our friends Pat and Cindy Bonish) watching the sun set, just as we did.........there is something special about Cedar Key sunsets, and in all our travels we have rarely seen sunsets that even come close to those we witnessed in Cedar Key on a nightly basis for the 5 weeks we spent there.

The Tiki Bar

Typical amazing sunset at Cedar key

The Nomadic Convergence.....missing ya'll!

Today, Saturday, is weigh in day.......my weekly weight report......196.2....a new low for me by .2 of a pound.  Considering I ballooned all the way up to 199 after last weekends Mexican feast at Tio's Tacos I have recovered nicely......hoping to dip down to 194 by next Saturday.

While TLE went shopping I made my eBay list of bicycle parts I'm selling, took pictures of said parts, and then began to list them.  I have 20 items from this bike that I will list, so I started out by listing the first 6, then will list 7 more on Saturday, and the final 7 on Sunday.

Around 2:20 we headed out for a 24 mile ride on the tandem.....I think that's the furthest either of us has ridden in a while.  We took the northern section of the Santa Ana River Trail south to it's current terminus at California Road near Norco, and then turned around for the 12 mile jaunt home.  Considering TLE has not done a lot of bike riding since we have been here at RJRP (she walks a lot) I thought she did wonderfully, although she proclaimed her "bum to be numb" as we pulled back into the park.....:D  We did the 24 miles in 1 hour and 42 minutes of continuous riding, and got back just after 4 pm in time to watch the sun set.

We ate our modest dinner around 5, and then around 6 headed outside for an evening fire, sitting there enjoying some wine....add in a cigar for me......and each other for a couple of hours.  The campground was bustling with the arrival of all the weekenders who, as we used to do, will squeeze ever second out of every minute while there are here hoping to make 2 days and 2 nights feel like a week away from their workaday lives......and on Sunday, as we are want to do, will comment as they leave on Sunday......."we don't have to leave.....we are already home".

The vino and the fire

The cigar and the two of us.....one of TLE's first "selfies"

We both agreed it was a great Friday.....or as my friend Tom commented to me earlier in the day.....a great 6th Saturday.

Thanks for stopping by!

D minus 31 - Bye, Bye Birdy

No doubt some tire of the daily great weather reports.....well, I'm sorry, it is what it is.....although Thursday the skies were a little hazy...probably due to the higher humidity levels.  There were no unexpected calls to wake us up.....just clear skies, and another day in parkland.

A while back I mentioned TLE was in the process of designing and fabricating an addition to our sun shade.  Fortunately, she was able to find the same outdoor sunscreen fabric at the local Lowe's and here is how it turned out.  When it comes to the use of a sewing machine she has no superior.  Now that late afternoon sun can be kept at bay, and we will have a little added privacy.

 Magnifico

Around mid morning I received a call from my mechanic, Joel LeBron, advising that the "check engine" light on the T-Bird was due, once again, to the catalytic converter going bad....we had this same light back in September, but it went away for about 2 months.  As  I have mentioned previously, we are going to put the car in an auction next week, so we need to get that fixed before it goes in......I'm glad I didn't have the catalytic converter fixed in Sidney, MT where I was told it would cost $1,400 to replace it......Joel will charge $610....I'm feeling just a little richer today.  As a result of that I needed to run the "pink slip" for the car up to Joel along with a few other things that go with the T-Bird, as well as retrieve the CD's from the CD player.

From there I headed to my son's office to pickup some mail and packages that had come in, as well as visit my favorite USPS right across the street from his office.  I mentioned yesterday that post mistress at the Riverside USPS had a problem with two of my boxes.  I had put two Medium Flat Rate Boxes together to ship out the suspension fork I sold, and the same for another shipment.  She told me I could not do that, and would not accept them.  I have done this before on several occasions at the 91730 USPS, and so I headed there after visiting with my son, Chris, and his wife, Rochelle for about half an hour.

Dan, who is the expediter, helps to keep the usually long serpentine line moving along by answering questions, solving problems, as well as providing tutorials on the use of the automated postal machines, which I love to use.  I showed him what I had done, and he remembered me from two years ago doing the same thing....amazing.....and assured me I had done nothing wrong, plus he showed me how to use the automated machine for these over sized boxes.......now I won't have to stand in line anymore!

Once that was done I headed for home........by the time I arrived TLE was putting the finishing touches on the sun screen (see above), and I helped install the 4 grommets along the bottom.  Then it was time to finish cleaning all the individual bike parts from the Trek Fuel 98 bike......by the time I finished it was nearing 3:30 pm, and I hadn't taken my bike ride for the day yet, so I quickly changed, jumped on the bike and was off in a flash.....well, a slow moving flash anyway.

It was actually kind of cool summiting Mt. Rubidoux just as the sun was setting.....the mountain has a whole different feel that time of day, and there were a surprising number of people still hiking to the top even as I flew back down the hill.  I arrived back "home" just as the sun set, and it was cooling off quickly.  Our temperature swings have been about 30-35 degrees from midday to night time.....typical of this time of year.

We watched a few old black and white moves from TCM......"Gunman In The Streets" starring Dane Clark and Simone Signoret, "Grand Hotel" starring Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford, Lionel and John Barrymore, and finally "Dancing Lady" with Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, and Fred Astaire (as himself).....I have never seen any of these before, and enjoyed them a lot.  Joan was quite a good dancer.

On a side note it is remarkable that another year has passed since I wrote about the 35th anniversary of my father's passing......January 10th marks the 36th anniversary of that day, BUT it also marks the 29th birthday of my beautiful daughter Sharon Suzanne.......Happy Birthday to my "Bunny".

Another day lived well.......thanks for stopping by!

D minus 32 - Foundering

Wednesday was pretty average......nice weather.....a nice bike ride.....a visit to the Post Office to ship out most of the eBay stuff I sold last week....another Subway footlong Club consumed....I could put a period at the end of this "run on" sentence and call it a day, and you would know exactly as much as I know about Wednesday.

 On days like these I am challenged to make not much sound interesting, and worth reading.  Even as I listen to the sound of the keys on my computer clicking as I press them to place individual letters on this screen that I hope will form words, sentences and paragraphs that will give you a sense of what our day was like, but I am foundering like a ship in a storm taking on water.....each word is a struggle......my mind seems to be blank.  This does not happen often, and most times I can kind of power through the idea void and "it" will begin to flow, but not this morning.

Of course there was the 7 am call on my cell phone awakening me from a dream.....I know I am not normally still asleep at 7 am......of course, in my experience a phone call that wakes one up is rarely ever good news, right?  Usually these calls involve your misfortune, or the misfortune of someone else who may,or may not be close to you.   As it turned out the call was from Ranger Robyn advising Carolyn, paid staff, had called in sick.....not too surprising as she wasn't feeling well on Sunday.  Robyn wanted to know if one of us could take the 11:30 am to 5 pm shift in Carolyn's place.......see, I told you........rarely ever good news.........The Lovely Elaine quickly volunteered.  It was really the only option as I had to get my packages to the USPS for shipment.

Before TLE left for the Kiosk I dumped the black tank which was a little over 3/4's full, then I was off on my daily 12 mile bike ride.......I stopped off at Subway after summiting Mt. Rubidoux for my Club sandwich, which only cost me $5.  I decided to eat the first 6" there at the store before heading home.

Finally around 1 pm I headed off to the USPS to ship out most of the boxes.  I was able to process most of the boxes myself using the automated postal machine in the lobby, but the last three boxes were too big to put in the receptacle, so I needed to stand in line.  The clerk had a problem with 2 of my boxes, so I was only able to get the one with the wheelset shipped....I'll have to return Thursday after correcting the box issues.....nevertheless, most of the items are on their way to their buyers and should arrive at their destinations by Friday.....well, maybe those two boxes headed to Michigan may be delayed due to weather....we'll see.  It's interesting to note that almost all of the items for the first bike were bought by people living on the east coast, with several in Florida.....on this last bike 75% were bought by people living in the southwest, and west with the two Michigan boxes, and one going to New York being the exceptions.

I met our new neighbors, Peter and Jocelyn who just pulled into the site on our passenger side who happen to be from Port Townsend, WA......one of our favorite places.  They just retired, and are starting their full time adventure as of January 2nd.  We spent about 20 minutes talking about familiar places in Washington.

I spent the rest of the afternoon taking apart the Trek Fuel 98 bike, and had it 95% done by the time TLE returned home from the Kiosk.  I'll finish up in the morning, then begin to list the parts on eBay once again.

The days are all beginning to blend one into another.....maybe that's why I had a hard time getting started this morning.......I think it is time we began to roll our wheels once again.....not long now....just 32 days.  As I lay in bed this morning, thinking about getting up, I realized our original plan was to be here in RJRP until January 15th....that is next Wednesday, which will mark 2 months since we arrived back in SoCal....that's the great thing about this lifestyle....you can change your mind.

In the evening we watched the season opening episode for "Revolution" ......we both agree it is getting more and more convoluted by the episode.....there are so many story lines going right now my head is ready to explode......:D

Thanks for stopping by!

D minus 33 - Boxing Day 2

Tuesday began with a spectacular sunrise which we witnessed as we strolled to the Kiosk at 6:30......as it turned out it was not a "red sky in the morning, sailor take warning" kind of day.......no....just another day in beautiful parkland.  Tuesday is our 6 hour shift day, so TLE came with me to open the Kiosk, but when it became apparent it would be a slow day she left about 7:30 promising to return around 10 am to take over the last 2 and a half hours of the shift.  Traffic was slow, consisting mainly of those wishing to purchasing fishing permits for the day.  I did take care of one couple who came in to buy an RV site for 2 nights.  

Just at 10 TLE arrived and sent me packing........first order of business was to get in my daily 12 mile bike ride, so I quickly changed into my riding clothes and headed out of the park on my usual loop.  Normally I like to mix it up and take different routes, but now that I am in my training/weight loss mode sticking to a routine works better for me.....I'm looking to burn at least 800-900 calories, and this route and distance works well to accomplish that end, plus there is plenty of climbing which will continue to add to my mountain bike conditioning.

The climb to the top of Mt. Rubidoux provided more great views, and this time I stopped at the top to take a couple of pictures......I have a hard time stopping.....I prefer to just keep going, but how many times can I pass this view without stopping to record it?

My time for the whole loop has stayed pretty consistently at 56-57 minutes and Tuesday was no different.

I needed to finish boxing up the wheelset from the Azonic bike to ship out, but needed a box large enough for that purpose so I headed over to Cyclery USA Riverside down on Magnolia near Van Buren to see if they could help me out.  You may recall that I visited their Rancho Cucamonga store a couple of weeks ago looking for a frame box for the last bike, and just like the Rancho staff the Riverside staff quickly found me a suitable box and I was on my way back home.  The box they provided was from a BMX bike they had just unpacked which requires some modification to keep the shipping cost down.....my box modification skills have improved significantly, and within about 20 minutes the altered box was ready for packing.

Once the wheelset was taken care of it was time to address all 16 boxes so I can take them to the local USPS office on Wednesday to ship them.  For those who may be wondering I specify in each of my auctions that I will ship the item within 3 business days of receiving confirmation of payment....a business day being defined as any day, other than a holiday, from Monday to Friday.

By the by.....on the way home from the bicycle shop I stopped off to buy my daily Subway footlong Club, which I did consume half of before I began to pack the wheelset.  Most Subway stores I have been to in the area, and there are numerous ones, have only been charging the advertised January promotional price of $5 for most footlong sandwhices, including my favorite Club, however, this shop on Van Buren does not include the Club among those receiving the discount.....technically they are correct, because the Club is not listed as one of the footlongs being sold for $5, but the other 3 shops I have visited have given me the discount without my asking for it.......I won't be visiting the Van Buren store anymore in January......:D

The afternoon flew by quickly and before I knew it the sunset was ushering in another evening.....can't believe one week of the New Year has already flown by.......making our time here in RJRP short now, and once again we will be saying our "until next times" and feeling that vague bittersweet feeling of ennui.  Leaving friends and family behind as we continue our nomadic wanderings is the downside to this life......I don't know any nomads who love saying "until next time", especially when "this time" has been so special.  I guess that is what keeps us moving toward the "until next time" with anticipation and excitement....awaiting to see what Lady Serendipity may have in mind for  that "next time".

We watched a new episode of NCIS....a "to be continued" episode, then a new show called "Intelligence", which seems interesting, and then "Person of Interest" before signing off for the day.

Thanks for stopping by!