Gas and the Grove

Greetings,

Yesterday Kathy took Ellie's car for service while Ellie rested from a 12 hour night shift and a 2 hour staff meeting. I started on a mission to keep cooking gas in the bus. We carry a dedicated 5 pound propane bottle underneath the starboard side of the bus. This fuels a 2 burner cooktop. The bottle was filled when we got the bus last year in Washington but there was some jury rigging involved since the tank is not certified and the valves are not the current standard. I drove to Vacaville to Camping World where the bus looked like a minnow among the giant 5th wheel campers and RVs. They couldn't help and sent me to Solano gas further up the road. Basically bad news there as they did not have the capability to certify the tank so they recommended I go back down the road to Norman's RV repair which coincidentlywais right next to Camping World! No help there either except I found out that Manchester Tank and Equipment company, which made the original tank is still in business so eventually we can probably get this updated. For the trip home we went to Wal-Mart and bought  a 1 pound gas bottle and a Coleman single burner which we'll use when the on-board tank runs out.

Today, after Ellie got home from work and slept for a few hours, we drove to Pacific Grove on the peninsula with Monterey. This is a really cool little town with beach type homes that seem like they are from the 60s, not the monstrosity codos and mansions that seem to dominate the East Coast shore towns. We walked to the Pinos Point light house, oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the Pacific, then had dinner at a wonderful Asian fusion restaurant, right next to the Sea Breeze Inn where we are quartered for the next two nights. Tomorrow Monterey and the jazz festival. Hooray!