Day 25, 26 - Friends

Saturday (25) - We drove west towards the coast north of Tampa. Friends of Bridget’s from UPark days including two of her former students live there. We had lunch with them. I think I had met them once when they lived in Fairbanks as we had purchased an upright freezer from them as they were getting ready to move. It was a nice drive out and back without too much congestion. 

Sunday (26) - Sunday morning brunch buffet was at the Beach Club Resort. Good breakfast but the standout dish was the tofu w/vegetables. Bridget asked for the recipe which. They used to have them printed out but no longer. The chef said the key ingredients were chimichurri and balsamic glaze. 

The eggs Benedict were overcooked but the hollandaise was perfect on the asparagus. Overall, the brunch was good and cheap when compared to brunch in Alaska. 

We then went to Disney Springs to pick up our annual pass holder magnets and to meet up with BobB and his wife. BobB is another ham radio VE (volunteer examiner) and is letting us use his address for shipping packages. 

One of the packages was a Ubiquity Nanostation M2 from DomC of redlegsrides.blogspot.com. Thank you! I now can connect the RV to the campground WiFi again.

Day 8, 9 - Mims, FL - KOA

Wednesday (8) - Another cool night followed by a wonderful mid-70s (°F) day. Today’s “project” was installing a 2” receiver hitch on the Jeep. I could’ve had one installed at the factory that would’ve included a bunch of other items that would’ve been nice to have, but it would’ve added about $700 to the price. This hitch was $70 on Amazon. The purpose of the hitch is to possibly add a bike carrier in the future. I will probably go ahead and wire up a 4-pin trailer connector to make it easy to add lights to the carrier if needed. The installation was simple as the holes in the cross member were already there so no drilling was required. 

Since the temperature was nice and cool, I went ahead and made some cookies. The convection oven would normally heat up the RV so I tend not to use it on hot days. But I don't really need oatmeal raisin cookies either. Most of them will end up in the freezer. 

I hopped onto the later test session and was tagged to lead a session. Not planned but it went fine. I didn't have my cheat sheet handy so I felt like I rambled some but it went alright. The candidate passed easily.

Tonight's dinner was a mushroom risotto made in the Instant Pot. Really quick and easy. I picked up a container of gourmet dried mushrooms at my last Costco visit. Plus, I made some sous vide chicken tenders. They can be used in a variety of different meals such as chicken tacos or salads. And, lastly, some bran muffins. These were an experiment and are made from bran cereal, pineapple, raisins, walnuts, honey, and whole wheat flour. They are pretty tasty but not the ones I was trying to make. I guess I need to keep searching the Internet for the recipe.

Thursday (9) - There was a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch this morning. It was scheduled for 9:35am but it actually launched at 9:25am. I was walking through the RV park and spotted it. And you could hear the rumble. The picture is just after the first stage cut off its engines and separated from the second stage. I didn't expect to be able to see the launch from the RV park so that was a pleasant surprise.

 

Today's RV repair project was replacing the water pump. After the last one developed a small leak, I returned it to Amazon and ordered a different one. Instead of the no-name one I had picked up last time, I ordered a replacement Shurflo. It has a slightly higher flow rate than the old one and draws less power. That sounds like a win to me...

It hit 82°F this afternoon so I ventured to the unheated pool. With the sun beating down on you, the pool was tolerable for about 30min. Actually, it was very refreshing and I will probably be back on other warm days. 

The dinner "experiment" was kimchi-bokkeumbap aka kimchi fried rice with fried eggs. If you like spicy and the flavor of kimchi, then it would be delicious.

Day 65, 66 - Wauchula, FL and Myakka SP - TT

Wednesday (65) - It was another cold day today and yesterday’s rain continued this morning. I had been seeing all these YouTube recommended videos in my feed for cast iron pan pizza. It prompted me to pick up a dough ball from Publix along with some pizza toppings. After letting it rise this afternoon while I was doing test sessions, I divided it in half and made a couple of pan pizzas. They came out pretty good. The challenge in making them was the lack of a rolling pin. For some reason we haven’t needed one in the RV over the last five years or so. For pies I’ve just used pre-made crusts. Since there is still sauce and toppings, I may need to pick up another dough ball.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit warmer and much drier so I think the plan is to go to Myakka River State Park about an hour south east of here near Sarasota. We are headed to a KOA park in that area next week but only for a few days. KOAs are on the expensive side. Not Disney expensive but more than we are paying here. 

Thursday (66) - We went to Myakka River State Park near Sarasota. There were quite a few alligators visible from the road and the trails. 

There was a canopy walk, which made me think of the one in Singapore. This was nothing like that. Only a hundred feet long instead of miles and very bouncy. Capacity was four people at a time. At one end, was a tower that went up to ~270 ft with a nice panoramic view. The last photo is looking east and north. 

Further down the road was a short boardwalk out into the lake/swamp to see birds. Not very many birds today. 

Return Delayed

Wednesday - We just postponed our return to the PNW a couple of weeks as the vehicle we ordered in June has still not been shipped from the factory. This is the picture from the online configurator showing what we ordered. It is a two-door, Sport S Wrangler with a soft top and manual transmission. Other options are a limited-slip rear differential, side steps, and floor mats. Pretty basic. The "S" package does include an Apple CarPlay radio, aluminum wheels, power windows, and power locks. It was ordered in the third week of June and there still isn't a ship date yet though the salesman is confident that he should hear something this week. Other Wranglers that he ordered the same week have entered the build process. I hope he's right. When we ordered, he said that 8 weeks was typical. Last Monday, it was 8 weeks.

Over the past couple of months, I've been ordering all of the bits and pieces to flat-tow the Jeep behind the motorhome. No more tow dolly required. The parts needed were around $2k. It's a good thing that I didn't wait to order the pieces as several of the items took over a month to ship. I did not have them shipped to Alaska but to the location where the RV is stored. I estimate that I should be able to get it ready to tow in a long day or two days at most.

It's none too soon to head south as it dipped into the 30s this morning with some areas seeing freezing temperatures. The picture is just the foggy drive to the Quik Lube shop this morning.

Thursday - More rain and cooler temperatures. And, no, I didn't ride to coffee this morning. (Slacking off) I made a honeyberry custard pie to take along with some vanilla ice cream to dinner this evening. I spent most of the afternoon watching YouTube videos. In other words, a very slow day.

Saturday - Two test sessions today. Sill damp and dreary outside. This is sort of typical for this time of year though I remember the beginning of September not being this way all the time.

More of the Same

Wednesday - A day of errands or at least a morning. All done on the Ural, of course, so were they errands or recreation? I stopped at the university to let the parking office know that I got a new license plate for the Ural. I picked up a new one when I got the permanent registration i.e. no more renewals. That will be convenient. I also sent off the fishing poles via UPS that Tim's group had picked up to fish in Alaska. And I picked up some tools at Lowe's.

I'm trying out some tofu in the air fryer right now. I'm missing several ingredients in the sauce recipe so we'll see how it turns out. Missing items are honey and chili paste. I think I'll just add it to the stir fry and call it good. It didn't turn out too bad though the tofu came out better when fried in a pan. The air fryer dried them out too much.

Thursday -  On the way to morning coffee, Bridget was following in the Prius and noticed that the tail light on the Ural wasn't working. Upon checking, the bulb was ready to burn out (barely holding together) and the ground screw was loose. The ground screw was probably the actual reason and the light has probably been blinking for the last couple of years.

Friday - Two test sessions today plus some more errands. It’s starting to feel colder during the day as well as at night. It seems that sunset was after midnight not too long ago. Today, it’s at 10:16pm. Quite a change. Tomorrow, the local amateur radio club is having a hamfest. Basically a day of presentations and a swap meet. It’s being held at the North Pole Plaza starting at 9am. 

Saturday - Most of Saturday was spent at the North Pole Plaza. There were a few presentations and a lot of used equipment up for sale. There were elections and I withdrew from the board as we are out of town so much. I served on the board for the last three years and they had someone new volunteer. 

Day 42 - Corvallis, OR

Happy Easter!

Of course, Easter is more than bunnies and Peeps. We went to my sister’s home for Easter dinner. They had some longtime friends of theirs there one of whom I had last met years before moving to Alaska. My brother-in-law decided to decorate the deviled eggs with some non-bunny faces. We were able to move to a different site that is paved and has full hook-ups. Convenient as we get ready for about a week of dry camping as we start back towards Alaska. 

What to do on a Cold Day...

Rode to the coffee shop again this morning. It was around +4°F with some light snow. I had adjusted the rear brake a few nights ago and wanted to see if it worked any better. I think that it may be dragging some so not better. In the winter, 90% of my braking seems to come from the front anyway. The rear, when it works, just sort of drags on the snow. I ran a couple other errands around town and I'm still amazed that all of the heated gear continues to work. As Bridget pointed out in a comment on one of Dom's posts, I'm not a real fan of winter anymore. I thought about taking a picture of the Ural with all of the snow covered trees but never found the "right" location. The sun never really came out.

I stopped at my office again to continue the iMac setup with the new SSD. I'm impressed with the speed improvement from the SSD. It feels like a brand new computer instead of one that's about 4-5 years old.

My project of the day was home-made granola. Ingredients are rolled oats, chopped almonds, pecans, sunflower kernels, walnuts, wheat germ, honey, maple syrup, brown sugar, olive oil, shredded coconut, cinnamon, vanilla, and dried cranberries. Basically, the kitchen sink. I was inspired by Bridget's brother making some in Virginia and was reminded of an old recipe that I had used in the past.

New Orleans (cont.)

The walk from the hotel to the convention center takes me through the French Quarter, one of New Orleans’ biggest tourist areas. Lots of huge hotels surrounding the area as well as at least one casino. I’ve always heard of all of the great food in the area but so far, I haven’t found any. Maybe I’m not looking hard enough and not many opportunities to try any. The examples of things like red beans and rice, jambalaya, and gumbo aren’t any better (in some cases, worse) than what I’ve made at home.

For dinner, I met up with UIC Science and CPS personnel for dinner at The Maison. Live jazz (too loud), good company and better food (finally). I left them at 8:00 to start walking back to the hotel about 1½ miles away. On the way back, I passed Cafe du Monde, someplace I had heard about. I had their cafe au lait and beignets for dessert. Their coffee is brewed with chicory which is supposed to remove bitterness or something like that. Pretty tasty. The walk down Decauter and St. Charles was the New Orleans that I had remembered the last time I was here. The sewer smell was still prevalent though not as strong as it was the last time. People sleeping in doorways and every other shop was a bar or a voodoo place. IMHO, not a very pleasant place.

Mid-Week Update

On Monday, we headed down the Parks Hwy towards Nenana to the Big M Farm at mile 314.5. They have u-pick berries and vegetables. While we were on our road trip, they would be posting these wonderful pictures of ripe berries starting around late June. We picked some golden raspberries, carrots, cucumbers, yellow beets, green beans, tomatoes and peas.

Yesterday, I made yogurt in the Instant Pot trying out its "yogurt" cooking program. I put 4 pint canning jars on a trivet inside of the pot, added some water and steamed the jars to sterilize them and the inside of the Instant Pot. I then added 1⅓ cup of whole milk to each jar. The initial part of the "yogurt" program is to bring the milk up to 180°F to pasteurize the milk. But since I was using the canning jars, I just used the saute function and had a thermometer in one of the jars. After reaching temperature, I moved the jars into a water bath to cool them down. When the temperature of the milk was down to 100°F, I added 1Tbsp of sugar and 1Tbsp of plain yogurt with an active culture to each jar. Stirred it up and added some of the golden raspberries to each jar. The jars were placed back in the Instant Pot on a trivet with about 1½ cups of water in the pot. Select the "yogurt" function and increased the time to 12 hours. In the morning, I put the jars in the refrigerator to thicken up. The yogurt is very tasty. Pretty tart as a result of 12 hours of cooking. (Normal is 8 hours and mild is 6 hours)

According to the recipe, if you then drained the whey from the yogurt by using something like cheesecloth or a coffee filter, then the resulting yogurt would be "greek style". You learn something new every day. I didn't know that was the only difference between regular and greek yogurt.

Today (Wednesday), I drove down to Delta to pick up the transmission parts ordered from Ural. Muriel gave me one of the limited edition Urals of Alaska patches. It'll look good on the RoadCrafter once it gets back from the Aerostitch repair shop. Muriel said that they had made up some stickers but didn't have any at the shop. Mickey also gave me some parts to drop off to RickS in Fairbanks the next time I saw him. RickS was the one that I had purchased the Ural from. Since he no longer has his shop in town, I rarely see him so I just ran out to his place and dropped off the parts.

Here is what I had ordered. On the left is the 3rd/4th shift fork, on top is the 3rd/4th slide, and on the bottom is 3rd gear itself. I need to pick up a different external snap ring tool as the transmission uses a different style of snap rings. I asked Mickey if there was anything I should do when assembling the transmission and he said to just oil the needle and ball bearings.

I should be able to get the rig back on the road before the weekend.

Solar Omelette Take 2

The "Stone Earth Pan" (non-stick, induction ready, 12" frying pan) arrived from Amazon today. And it looks like we have a week of completely clear skies so the batteries can recharge. Almost the same ingredients except for olive oil instead of butter and I added some cherry tomatoes. The pan seemed to take longer to heat up but that could be due to its larger size. Before starting, the Trimetric monitor read -10.2 amp-hours meaning that the battery bank was still not completely charged from the crock pot test.

The ham, onions and mushrooms were partially cooked and removed from the pan. The scrambled eggs (with a little cream added) were put into the pan. After they set, the filling and some colby jack cheese was added. heat distribution wasn't even as the edges were cooking slower than the center. The completed omelette was rolled out of the pan onto a plate. No sticking at all. The stone-derived non-PFOA coated pan was non-stick as advertised and the claim is that no harmful substances are ever released.

Here is the completed omelette. It more closely resembles an omelette and I remembered to take a picture. The Trimetric read -20.3 amp-hours indicating that I had consumed 10.1 amp-hours to prepare the omelette. Peak current from the battery bank was ~74 amps when the induction burner was set to 1000 watts. I know some may not get too excited by a frying pan but the lack of a non-stick pan was preventing me from getting more use out of the induction burner.

It looks like the panel is putting out 7.4 amps on this nice sunny day. Maybe the bank will finally be back up to 100% in a couple of days.

Too Cold to Ride

After the Ural engine rebuild last winter, I told myself to stop riding when it got cold. For now, my rather arbitrary definition of "cold" is 0°F (-18°F). In the past when I used to go x-country skiing a lot, I used that same temperature. Below that point, I had to switch to a really hard wax and you needed to carefully consider what trails you took if you were on your own. Trails where you were apt to run into other people were prefered.

By mid-afternoon, it had warmed up to +12°F but the sunshine was still providing enough heat to melt the snow. Most of the snow has melted from the south facing roofs as well as from our deck railing (as shown in the photo).

The cold temperature made soup sound pretty good. Here is what I came up with today. Carrots, onions, celery, cauliflower, mushrooms, tomatoes, barley and orzo. Seasoned with some basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. It was just what this day needed and very filling...

Home Canning and New Tires

How's that for an odd mix of topics...

Hopefully this batch will turn out better than last years. The general recipe I used is from the Penn State Extension office. I used to have a book called Back to Basics: How to Learn and Enjoy Traditional American Skills which had all sorts of old timey recipes. I can't find the book but the Penn State recipe sounded pretty close. I had the brined cabbage sitting in the crock for only three weeks which is near the lower end of the recommended time. Hopefully it was long enough. All of the jars sealed up nicely. For some reason I get a real feeling of satisfaction when that happens. For future reference, ten pounds (4.5 kg) of cabbage makes seven pint jars of sauerkraut.

This morning (Monday) was clear, sunny and a chilly 25°F (-4°C). It'll be a bit until I'm used to the cooler temperatures and enjoyed the warmth from the heated grips. Since I only rode to coffee and no other errands, I didn't bother with any of the heated gear. Today turned out to be a good time to install the new tires. On Saturday's ride to the Monderosa, I thought that I could feel this tire sliding but DaveR, who was following me near the end of the ride out, said that he could see the sidewalls deflect on right turns. The Duro has much thinner sidewalls compared to the Heidenau.

The used pusher was the first to be replaced and it is showing it's wear. I'm not really sure how many miles are on it as it. It used to be the spare which I had to swap on back near the beginning of May when I had a flat on a very worn K37.  The nice thing about Ural wheels and tires is that they are fairly easy to work on. This lifetime supply of tire lube was gifted by JedR after we had installed four K37 tires on his rig last Fall. He is very generous.

 

The No-Pinch tire tool along with the No-Mar tire lube made very quick work installing these stiff Heidenau tires. I think the total time from the wheel and old tire being put on the bench to getting ready to air up the new tire was on the order of ten minutes. So much easier and faster than the Snowflake wheels on the BMW.

JedR had also gifted me with some Tyrebead balancing beads. We had installed them on his bike last Fall and he is very happy with their performance. I had been thinking of using these but hadn't been able to find anyone local that carried them. And shipping was always ridiculously expensive. Two tasks that were on the 50k km task list were checking the bearing adjustment using the two special tools provided in the Ural tool kit and applying some grease to the final drive spline. After installing the wheel, I also adjusted the brakes. Tire pressure in the pusher was set at 40 psi and the sidecar at 34 psi.

Then repeat everything with the sidecar tire. It used to be the pusher when I started my trip last Summer before I switched to a street tire half way down the Cassiar Highway. It has been installed on the sidecar since I returned 13 months ago. It was studded for the winter and the studs removed last May. It was also pretty worn. I definitely got my moneys worth out of these tires.

Two down, one to go. I need to get some other stuff done today so I'll do the front tire later. Plus, it still has quite bit of tread left especially when compared to the rear tires.

Just for grins, I compared the readings on all of my tire pressure gauges. The three dial gauges, one of which is around 40 years old, all matched within a needle width. Two (freebie) pencil gauges were 1 psi higher. And a Slime digital gauge was 6 psi low. I discarded the digital gauge. I had picked it up during my trip last summer as the EZAir dial gauge was somewhat cumbersome to use. But I never really believed the readings. It turns out that my hunch was correct. 

Heading North Again

Hitch installed in spite of some rainy weather. My son and I did manage to get two cars hauled out of the yard and now I just need to pare down the pile of tires that seems to have built up beside the garage. I still have some other tasks for the truck while it's still not snowing. I need to install a trailer connector inside of the bed teeing off the connector already installed on the rear bumper. Install a toolbox at the front of the bed. And then I can make the wooden frame to hold the bags of gravel in the rear of the bed that I use for ballast when the snow plow is attached. Due to the weight of the diesel engine and the plow on the front of the truck, the plow manufacturer recommends at least 600# of ballast. The wooden frame will hold the bags of gravel against the tailgate. Last year, we tied the together using rope. The wooden frame would be braced against the front of the bed or the tool box.

But no more playing around with the truck as I'm in Barrow again for the week. I know that I have at least two trips out on the BEO. One to the Control Shed and one to a new instrument tower that was constructed over the last couple of months. This is the Fairbanks airport this morning. After the flight to Deadhorse, and a 4 hour wait, I arrived in Barrow at 6:00pm.

I tried the son tofu at Osaka's. It was very similar to the spicy breakfast soup that I had at the Korean restaurant in Los Angeles last December. A slightly spicy flavor including the addition of a raw egg cracked into soup that was still boiling when brought to the table. This version wasn't anywhere near as spicy but was very tasty and served with a bowl of rice. Unfortunately, no banchan.

I'm not sure how many more trips to Barrow after this one. I don't think that I have any scheduled but did leave enough budget in case another trip is needed.

Barrow Misc.

Osaka's, the Japanese restaurant in Barrow, had started to post pictures of Korean dishes on the walls. At first I just thought "decoration?". But one of the owners said they were dishes from their homeland that hadn't made it onto the menu. Like several other restaurants in Barrow, Osaka's is owned by Koreans. I don't have a picture of the first one I tried which was listed as "kimchi stew". Basically a spicy soup made of kimchi, tofu and some vegetables. I had it with a bowl of rice on the side. Very delicious.   

The second dish, shown above, is pork belly. Basically pork belly stir fried with vegetables and made as spicy as you want. I chose spicy and it was also very good. This place was on a roll. Several other dishes I had tried earlier as they were listed in their menu like kalbi or Korean short ribs. Also good and I make these at home. And one of my favorite dishes bibimbap though they didn't have the smoking hot stone bowl. But they do now. When it is brought to the table, you can hear it sizzling. You then add a tomato based chili sauce to taste and start mixing. This partially cooks the raw vegetables and the rice gets a nice crust. 

On this last visit I tried the seafood noodle soup. It was listed as "jam pong" on the photo. It was also very spicy and had scallops, shrimp, crab, fake crab, squid and a variety of vegetables. The noodles were udon which was fine with me. I think I really like Korean food if these are typical.

On my flight back to Fairbanks, the Disneyland themed Alaska Airlines 737 was in Barrow. Of course, this meant that it wasn't a combi (combined passenger and freight) which meant a free upgrade to 1st class. Nothing special though lunch was toasted pita with a roasted red pepper hummus and roasted veggies. No more food posts for a while. I'm back in Fairbanks for a couple of weeks. 

Change Comes Slowly

When I left Barrow last week, the upper corner of the phone said Astac 3G. When I arrived on Friday, it said AT&T 4G. A huge difference in data speed. Before, it was almost unusable. Now it works as good as or better than WiFi. This has been a long time coming and really needed.

Another change is that Osaka', my favorite Japanese restaurant located here in Barrow, added a bunch of photo menu entrees that aren't listed in the menu. The owners are Korean and it made sense to add some Korean dishes to the menu. Especially since they were making it for themselves anyway. The owner commented that having pictures are a better option to a traditional menu as it could be easily changed.

On Saturday evening, I tried the kimchi stew, spicy. Very tasty and made from their home-made kimchi, tofu and pork belly. Delicious with a bowl of rice on the side as well as the miso soup that is served with just about everything. They even have bibimbap, one of my favorite Korean dishes.

Anyway, I'm sitting in the airport again waiting for my flight back to Fairbanks with the laptop tethered to the phone. It's kind of overcast and foggy and was hoping that the flight wouldn't be cancelled. It wasn't as it just arrived from Pruhdoe Bay.