2022 Adler Spring San Diego Trip

 A typically overcast morning which will soon clear up. Replaced the pop-up lever in Anna's bathroom sink so that the stopper worked. Went over to Amy's this morning. Dug out more of the pit for the sump pump outside her bathroom. Water seems to be filling more slowly - maybe it is just immediate after the rain. Water is coming out of her crawlspace on the south side and going into the drain which must have been put in many years ago. Started building the rain barrel platforms for Amy using pressure-treated 2x4 and some cedar fence boards that were left over. Amy and Carmen went to pick up poke at Ono Grinds, our favorite poke restaurant on 30th st. We had it with my leftover Thai food from last night. I made a quick trip to Home Depot to pick up more screws and was able to finish the rain barrel stands. At 4:30, we had a call with Mia, a consultant at Maxable Spaces, about building ADUs. The costs are pretty crazy, $8,000 for San Diego city permits and $12,000 for a designer t...

 A bright sunny morning, pretty typical. We went over to Amy's house to continue working on projects while Amy was at work. Carmen started organizing La Casita so that we would have access to the wall where the kitchen and bathroom would probably go. I called Aztec rental to see about getting a chipping hammer but it was not available so I searched around and found that the Home Depot in Lemon Grove had rental tools and was able to pick one up there. It took about two hours to chip out the concrete sill under the bathroom window. Unfortunately, as I was digging down, the hole started to fill with water. More soil can't be removed from the crawlspace to access the plumbing as the water will run under the house. We had lasagna soup and other leftovers for lunch. I returned the chipping hammer to Home Depot and bought pressure-treated 2x4s to build a rain barrel stand for Amy. On the way back I went to Baskin Robbins for a milk shake and was disappointed to see a notice that they ...

 Rain is forecast for today but it is sunny and windy so far this morning.\ Came over to Amy's house around 11 and did some more digging by the foundation vent under the bathroom. Very tedious and slow-going using the hoe and long steel wrecking bar to loosen soil. Removed several buckets of soil. Amy's lawn in the front and by the sidewalk was getting very long so I mowed it with her weed-whacker and her push reel lawnmower. Everything grows very quickly here when it rains. Rain started around 1pm, rained fairly hard and then stopped around 4pm. Carmen is busy making dinner of lasagna soup and apple duff for desert. Mason and Anna came over around 6 and we all enjoyed appetizers, delicious dinner and desert. When we came back from Amy's around 10pm it had stopped raining as Mason only had room for one person in his car and took Carmen back. Anna and I walked back. Around 10:30 it started to pour with thunder and lightening.

 I have been trying to dig out Amy's crawlspace under her bathroom. I don't know why there is so much debris there or how anyone managed to access the plumbing when her house was flipped. I can see new ABS piping for the shower but there is less than a foot of clearance from the joists to the ground. And the water supply pipes are below the joists. I've been using a concrete hoe to pull out the material and there isn't even enough room to get the blade of the hoe under the pipes. I noticed that the cast iron pipe coming down from her bathroom sink was wet around the outside although I doubt this is leaking significant water. I also found a broken piece of cast iron and don't know what it is from. I would like to expose the cast iron piping which will be quite a job. Anna took us in her new car to Alpine where we have gotten beer and the most delicious pizza. There is room for 5 of us i...

 A beautiful day in San Diego. Only 65 in the shade but it feels very warm in the sun. Carmen and I came over to Amy's in the morning. We started digging out the opening in the back near the bathroom that looks like it was just a crawlspace vent but we would like to turn it into a crawlspace opening in order to more easily work on the plumbing. We got quite a bit dug out but it is sticky clay which is hard to dig. Amy got lunch for us at North Park Produce which has an amazing assortment of international foods, many from the middle-east. Anna and Mason are at a party for Neil, Anna's boss who is moving to a new job in the public defender office.

Starting mileage:   79510 Starting time: 11:00 am Ending mileage: 79630 Ending time: 5:30 pm Travel mileage:  120  Travel time: 3:00 hours 3092 miles later, we've arrived in San Diego! We came first to Anna's house to unload some thing as we are staying here. We got quite a welcome from Anna, Bella and Farrah. Then we went to the car wash at the end of Amy's block as our car was filthy with road salt and grime. We got the special wash and the car really shines. Penny gave us a great welcome at Amy's as Amy was still at work. Amy called a couple days before to say that her shower drain wasn't working at all.😖I tried using a little plastic snake to no avail. I got the shop vac from Anna's house and stuffed it in the drain. After sucking out the water and whatever else, the drain seems to be running ok. For dinner we went back over to Anna's and she had made a delicious vegetarian quiche. It was also good to see Mason again. Day 7 route - Forest Falls to San D...

Starting mileage:   79228 Starting time: 10:00 am Ending mileage: 79510 Ending time: 5:30 pm Travel mileage:  282  Travel time: 7:30 hours We took a brief walk out on the strip this morning before leaving around 9 - much quieter than it was last night! Passing through the NV-CA border near Primm, there is a huge solar-thermal electric generating plant. There are 3 huge towers that hundreds of parabolic mirrors focus the sun on in order to make steam to generate electricity. The light is so intense that there is a bluish haze around the towers. We decided to take the scenic route through the Mohave National Preserve on the way to Joshua Tree. We were surprised to pass through a large "forest" of Joshua trees here. It was interesting to see the Joshua Trees in bloom. On one side of the road there had been a fire and the landscape was a desolate forest of Joshua Tree skeletons. Later on, we passed an area where calcium chloride was being mined by digging trenches in the...