Tag Archives: Nebiola (St. Clair Winery)

2015/07/18 (S) RV Shopping

Madeline was awake at 7 AM and Linda got her up shortly after that.  I slept in until 8 AM.  They had already eaten breakfast by then so I made coffee and had cinnamon raisin toast.  Metropolitan Baking Company makes a very tasty cinnamon raisin bread.  We all sat in the living room while Madeline played with various toys and I worked on finishing yesterday’s blog post.

Linda and Madeline left at 10 AM for the Howell Library.  The plan was to let Madeline play in the children’s area, which has a lot interesting things to do for children her age.  After selecting some books and DVDs to bring home they were headed to Meijer’s to do some grocery shopping.

I continued working on my iPad until Mara came in the house.  We had a chat about blogging and I showed her the Feedly app on my iPad.  She has attended workshops put on by The Geeks On Tour and has their training materials.  I think Blogger is probably the right tool for her and Picasa is probably the right way to manage her photos.  They are both Google products so they work well together and they are free to use.  There are downsides to that, especially for professionals, but for most people it’s a great solution.

Mara and I left around 11:45 AM and drove to General RV in Wixom.  This was my first visit to their new facility and it is nice.  The parts department is larger and better stocked than the old one and is bright with natural light from large south and west facing windows.  We were asked several times if we needed assistance but we were never pestered.  They did not have any of the white Dicor self-leveling caulk we were looking for but one of the employees checked their stock and brought out six tubes.  Mara bought four of them along with a new Norcold refrigerator roof vent cover, a small roll of Eternabond tape, and some concentrated RV wash/wax.  I picked up eight brown circular adjustable air vents for the bus.  The ones in there now are black but I think the brown will look better with the new floor tile.  We won’t really know, however, until we install them.

We drove to Lowe’s in Howell where I bought two pieces of 12″ x 18″ thin galvanized steel plate and three rolls of 3M double-sided tape suitable for outdoor use.  The plan is to put one of these on the roof of Mara’s motorhome and possibly put the other on the roof of our bus to allow the use of the magnetic base cell phone antennas that came as part of the weBoost Drive 4G-X cellular booster systems.  Once the steel sheets are affixed to the roof I will caulk around them.  First, however, I will just set the sheets up there and see what sort of difference the system makes.

We stopped at O’Reilly’s auto parts store and Mara bought some 10, 15, and 20 Amp mini fuses.  These fuses have a small LED that glows if the fuse opens.  They were more expensive than the regular ones, but that is a very handy feature and I may stock up on these the next time I need to buy fuses.

Back at the house Linda informed me that when the storm blew in it pulled the sun umbrella out of the table on the deck.  We put the glass top back in the table and re-installed the umbrella.  This has happened a couple of times and we have been lucky that the glass top has not broken.  Mara returned to her rig.  She had left her patio awning out but it was not damaged.

Linda got Madeline up from her nap at 3 PM and read her a story about flying in an airplane.  Madeline then played with her toys for a while.  Around 4 PM Madeline wanted to bake a cake.  Linda was planning on this anyway but it was nice that it was Madeline’s idea.  They got busy in the kitchen and I sneaked off to my office for a while.

Madeline had dinner at 6 PM so I came up from my office while she ate.  Meals are a social time and I was ready for a break anyway.  After dinner Linda helped Madeline get cleaned up.  I slipped back down to my office while they watched an Elmo DVD, but by 7 PM I was done working on the pantry design for the evening and went back upstairs.  Linda was reading the airplane ride book (again), after which Madeline played (with) the organ after which they drew for a while and then played with the Play-Doh.  Madeline is a busy girl.

I was just getting ready to go ask Mara what temperature to preheat the oven when she came to the house with an armful of ingredients for the pizza.  She has a recipe for a wheat-free (gluten-free) pizza dough that she wanted us to try.  It calls for cheese and eggs so to make it vegan Linda had her buy Daiya mozzarella shreds and gave her egg replacer to use.  The other ingredients include almond meal, chickpea flour, golden flaxseed, onion powder, garlic powder, sea salt, olive oil (EVVO), and water.

It took another 25 minutes to get Madeline to bed but once Linda had her tucked in I opened a bottle of Nebiola wine from the St. Clair Winery in Deming, New Mexico.  I often write that I am not a fan of red wines and continue to not like dry wines with lots of tannins.  The Nebbiolo, however, is one of the nicest wines I think I have ever tried.  That probably means it is too sweet for most red wine drinkers, but I did not find it to be sweet; I found it to be smooth and complex.

We ordered a couple of things from Amazon on Wednesday and they showed up yesterday.  When I unboxed the Notier capacitive touch screen precision stylus I was surprised by what I found.  It’s a 2-part housing that unscrews and the cover screws onto the other end of the bottom part, which is needed for comfort and balance.  The stylus tip is small but has a 1/4 in clear plastic disc on the end.  It was on sale for $11 and I decided right away I would not return it.  Besides, I had not actually tried it yet.  So I finally tried it while the pizza was cooking.  It is an amazing little device!  It is, indeed, very precise and works with a delicate touch so I will have to re-calibrate my “typing” style, but it just goes to show that you never know until you try.

I lost track of time but it was somewhere between 9:30 and 10 PM when the pizza was ready to eat.  It was, however, worth the wait and might be the best vegan pizza I have ever had.  The recipe is definitely a keeper.  We each had a chocolate cupcake (with sprinkles) while we finished our wine.  We then adjourned to the living room and talked until almost 11 PM.  It was a very full day for all four of us and everyone was tired but satisfied.  It’s nice having family and friends here.

 

2015/04/01-03 (W-F) The Land of Enchantment

2015/04/01 (W) Hello New Mexico

We were awake at 6 AM, which is not unusual for a travel day, and were up by 6:30.  I went in the house to use the bathroom and instead of beeping once the alarm started beeping continuously.  I found the touch pad and was able to silence it but it left me wondering if I had disturbed Curtis or when the police were going to show up.  Curtis was outside working by 7:00 AM and told me later that he did not hear the alarm and that it “just does that sometimes.”  We did not have breakfast or coffee, which is typical for us on a travel day, and targeted an 8:30 AM departure.  By the time we took showers, finished preparing the coach for travel, and visited with Curtis a little more we missed that target, but not by much.

We wanted to be out the gate before Curtis’s standing 9 AM RVillage team meeting.  By 8:45 we had the bus turned around and lined up with gate and Linda pulled the car up behind it.  At 8:50 we were hooking up the car when Curtis came over to open the gate, exchange final hugs, and go start his meeting.  We were hooked up and finished our light check by 9:05 and pulled out.  As soon as we were clear of the gate Linda texted Curtis while I lowered the tag axle tires and we were on our way.  We made the slow trip through Arizona City on Sunland Gin Road up to I-10 and were headed east at 9:17 AM.

Desert flowers in bloom in Hatch, New Mexico.

Desert flowers in bloom in Hatch, New Mexico.

I set the cruise control at 63 MPH and let the bus roll towards Tucson.  Tucson is not a difficult metropolitan area to transit and soon enough we were on the other side.  The speed limit on most of I-10 in Arizona is 75 MPH except through metropolitan areas and major interchanges.  The bus was running well and as traffic thinned out I bumped the speed up to 65 MPH and then to 68 MPH, and occasionally ran at the speed limit when passing slower vehicles.  At 63 MPH the engine turns ~1,800 RPM and I have long felt that the powertrain and chassis, not to mention the driver (me), are very comfortable at that set point.  The fact that 65 MPH is often the maximum speed limit in much of the eastern half of the country probably contributed to that impression.  What I discovered today was that traveling 68 MPH at 2,000 RPMs also suits the bus, and the driver, very well.

At 12:15 PM MST we crossed the border into New Mexico and entered Mountain Daylight Time, changing the time on my phone to 1:15 PM MDT.  Twenty four miles into New Mexico we stopped for the first time at a Pilot Truck Stop and topped up our fuel tank, taking on 110 gallons of diesel fuel.  It took less than an hour to complete the last 61 miles to exit 85 on the east side of Deming, New Mexico.  From there we had 1,000 feet to the entrance of the Escapees Dreamcatcher RV Park and pulled in.  Linda got us registered and navigated us to our site at 2:45 PM.  The park was only about 15% occupied so parking was easy.

Linda checked us in to the Park on RVillage and I called Butch Williams to let him (and Fonda) know we were finally on the move.  Curtis monitors his RVillage home feed closely, so we knew he would know we arrived safely.  Looking ahead to tomorrow the weather forecast for this area was for sustained winds of 25 – 30 MPH with gusts of 40 – 50 MPH.  Given that forecast we decided to stay tomorrow and head on to Albuquerque on Friday.

Sparky's restaurant in Hatch, New Mexico.  Funky facade and great food.

Sparky’s restaurant in Hatch, New Mexico. Funky facade and great food.

Escapees RV Parks and co-ops have a long standing tradition of 4 PM happy hour so we walked over to the club house/office at 4:15 and found seven folks sitting around a table with their beverages plus the couple that manages the office.  We stayed for a half hour and then went back to our coach to have an early dinner having only had pretzel snacks while we were driving.  Linda prepared a whole wheat linguine with a garlic, onion, and sun-dried tomato sauté and added vegan Italian sausage.  It was excellent, as usual.

Our son had texted us while we were driving and said he would call us later.  He received an e-mail a couple of days ago asking him to get in touch with the chair of the art history department at Eastern Michigan University.  That call took place today and he was offered the assistant professorship for which he has been interviewing these last many weeks.  We were obviously very excited, very pleased, and very proud.

2015/04/02 (R) A Day in Deming

Like many (most) places in the southwest there are lots of things to see/do in and around Deming, more around than in in this case.  The main thing I knew about Deming is that the company that makes the Steer-Safe aftermarket steering stabilizer is located here.  We had their product on our Itasca Sunrise motorhome and it made an enormous difference in the stability and tracking of the Chevy P-30 chassis.  This chassis was notorious for poor ride quality and handling, no doubt exacerbated by the stupid way in which manufacturers used it to create much longer motorhomes than it was designed for with long overhangs behind the drive axle.  Steer-Safe, Henderson’s Lineup, and Banks have, in particular, all made very good businesses out of correcting the deficiencies inherent in this chassis and powertrain (454 cu. in. Chevy big block V-8).  We were obviously excited to find and buy our Prevost H3-40 Royale Coach bus conversion, but I was sorry to see the Itasca go as it handled well and had lots of power by the time we were done spending money on it.

Linda needed to do some grocery shopping and at happy hour yesterday was steered towards Peppers as having better/fresher produce than the Wal-Mart.  She went to Peppers this morning but they did not have many of the things she was looking for so she went to Wal-Mart and said she liked it better.  I guess we got spoiled having access to Albertson’s supermarkets for most of the winter.  Linda called from the store to have me check quantities of ingredients on hand.  She then decided to make her chickpea salad and use it as a filling for small roll ups to take to the potluck dinner this evening.

Another flower in bloom in Hatch, New Mexico.

Another flower in bloom in Hatch, New Mexico.

After lunch we decided to visit the Luna Mimbres Museum in downtown Deming.  You never know what you are going to find in small town museums but we were impressed with the breadth of the collection and the quality of the space and exhibits.  Admission was by voluntary donation so we contributed something.  Once we finished at the museum we drove around town just enough to get a feeling for the place which was nicer in some places and not so nice in others.  In other words, pretty much what we see most places we go with the exception of places like Scottsdale or Lake Havasu City, Arizona where everything appears to be new and very upscale.

As we headed back towards the Escapees Dreamcatcher RV Park in the east end of town we decided to drive the extra 3.6 miles farther east to the St. Clair Winery’s Deming tasting room.  We learned that the Lescombe family has been making wine for six generations starting in France and, for the last 30 + years, here in the Mimbres Valley Appellation of New Mexico.  Their wines are made only from grapes from their own vineyards, with the main one being approximately 46 miles west of Deming.

The free tasting is normally two wines but we were the only customers there initial and Elly let us try small samples of several more, including their sweet and dry “tap” wine.  For under $4 a bottle they will fill your empty bottles with their red and/or white tap wines; sweet, dry, or blended any way you want.  The most unusual wines we tried were infused with red or white chili.  Linda did not care for the white chili but we both liked the red chili.  We are always looking for something that is unique to an area we visit and the red chili wine was what we have been waiting for so we got one for each of our kids and one for us.  Since we got 10% off of six (6) or more bottles we also bought the Mimbres Red, the Nebiola, and the D. H. Lescombe Port.

We had intended to go to the 4 PM happy hour at the RV Park but Linda got busy researching where we might go tomorrow and what we might do there while I worked on another consolidated blog post.  We did, however, remember to go to the potluck dinner where we met other park guests including three people who belonged to RVillage.

We went for a walk after dinner and then settled in for the evening.  I worked on my consolidated blog post for Jan 27-31, 2015.  While I was doing that we both started getting messages from our whole house generator.  Linda checked the utility company map and we were in a small outage area do to “local equipment failure.”  Before I went to bed I received several more messages indicating that the utility power had been restored, the transfer switch had switched power back onto the grid, and finally that the Genset had stopped.  It was good to know that it was performing as intended; that’s why we had it installed.

Hatch Chile Sales in Hatch, New Mexico.

Hatch Chile Sales in Hatch, New Mexico.

Temperatures back home have been warm enough that we are no longer concerned about water pipes freezing if we lose power.  The concern now is the sump pump.  As winter gives way to spring the sump pump runs every few minutes and a failure would be a disaster for our basement.  In addition to the whole house generator we have a secondary sump pump piggybacked on the primary one and set up to run off of a 12VDC automotive battery.

Before going to bed we decided to stick around Deming for a few extra days and use it as a base to visit some sites in the area.

2015/04/03 (F) The Chile Capital of the World

After taking care of some morning chores we drove to Hatch, New Mexico.  Several folks in town (museum, winery) and the RV Park told us that Hatch was THE chile capital of the world and was worth a visit.

We went north out of Deming on US-180 and then NE on NM-26 to Hatch.  Our Rand McNally Road Atlas indicated that this entire trip was a scenic route.  It was a relatively flat drive up a valley with low mountains on either side, and was certainly scenic enough although not in a dramatic, jaw-dropping sort of way.

The front (outdoor) area of Hatch Chile Sales in Hatch, New Mexico.

The front (outdoor) area of Hatch Chile Sales in Hatch, New Mexico.

Hatch was a small, quaint place but busy with people and traffic.  We had checked around and been advised that Hatch Chile Sales was the best place in town to shop for chiles, so we found it and purchased three different kinds.  We go a bag of Ancho chiles, which are dried/smoked poblano peppers, and a bag of dried red Hatch chiles.  We also bought bouquets of small hot pequin chiles, one for us and some as gifts.  Again, this is one of those unique things that we are always looking for as gift items.

We were in Hatch at lunch time and there are several restaurants in town, but we decided to eat at Sparky’s based on the recommendation of several locals and some online reviews.  Sparky’s is famous for their green chile cheeseburger although we obviously did not have that for lunch.  There was a long line to order, but we waited patiently and studied the menu.  We ordered a corn dish, spicy French fries, and chili infused lemonade.  All of them were very good.  There was also a singer / guitar player performing and we enjoyed his music while we ate.

We drove back to Deming by way of I-25 south, taking a short-cut through Las Cruces and back to the Dreamcatcher RV Park by way of I-10.  It was a much longer drive than if we had gone back the way we came, but it allowed us to see that the cut-off through Las Cruces was NOT a good choice for the bus due to lots of road construction with lane closures and shifts.  Even so, we made it back to the RV Park in time for some of the happy hour.  We also decided to stick around for at least another day and do some more sight-seeing in the area.