1,000 Foot Ore Freighter, Soo Locks, MI

1,000 Foot Ore Freighter, Soo Locks, MI

Near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia

Near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia

Colorful Truck Sales, Weed, CA

Colorful Truck Sales, Weed, CA

Hollywood Sign

Hollywood Sign

Mackinac Bridge, MI

Mackinac Bridge, MI

Pelicans, Grays Harbor, WA

Pelicans, Grays Harbor, WA

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park

What A Difference A Day (And Night) Makes . . .

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After a rough night, that looked like this,

and this,

we awoke to this.

Much nicer.

We decided to have breakfast at the Windjammer Buffet this morning, and I grabbed a shot of their Christmas Village, complete with a train. I was hoping it would be lit like it was the first time we saw it.

I guess someone forgot to plug it in.

Since we didn’t have coffee with breakfast, we stopped off at Café Latte-tudes for some lattes. Turns out that the place is kind of a stealth Starbucks. It uses Starbucks cups and the Starbucks drink sizes, I.e., Tall, Grande, and Venti. But otherwise, the name is not to be found. But my Caramel Macchiato is really good.

And here’s another shot from Deck 11 down the Centrum to Deck 4.

Since our original excursion, the Kohundlich Mayan Ruins, had already been cancelled, Jan and I never left the ship today. Jan checked out some things around the ship, while I napped and computered.

Then around noon, she went back down to Café Latte-tudes for a couple of sandwiches and some pastries for lunch and later.

Though we were short one member for dinner (George wasn’t feeling well), we had a good time and the usual great food, starting with Jan’s Shrimp Cocktail,

my Tom Yum Soup, which is a Thai hot and sour soup with Shrimp and Coconut Milk.

For her entree, Jan got the Shrimp Pad Thai, paired with my

Kung Pao Chicken. Really hot and spicy. Note all the red peppers.

For dessert, we again couldn’t decide, so we split 3 desserts, starting with the Matcha Passion Fruit Cake,

and then moving on to the Banh Flan, with Coconut Custard.

And finishing with the Royal Chocolate Cake.

Tomorrow morning, I’m signed up for the All Access Ship Tour, which covers the Engine Control Room, the Bridge, the Galley, the Environmental Room, and I-95, the long corridor that runs the length of the ship.

Can’t wait.


Thought for the Day:

Santa's Testing Reindeer

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™


December 13, 2010

Spicy Chicken and PowerBall . . .

I got an early start because I had a lot of errands to take care of today.

First off, it was rent day, so on my way out of the park, I stopped by the office to drop off a check, and also tossed a bag of garbage in the dumpster.

Then it was on to Fry’s Electronics to straighten out a rebate receipt problem, and after that, I went up to Sam’s Club to pick up some Joint Juice, and a few other things.

As I was leaving Sam’s I heard from a client who was back in her office, so I drove over to drop off her laptop that I had been fixing a boot problem on.

On my way back toward the rig I stopped by Kroger’s to get some Mega-Millions and PowerBall lotto tickets. and then picked up lunch from Wendy’s. They have a great Spicy Chicken Sandwich, and their new Natural Cut Fries are pretty tasty too.

Later, about 3:30 I drove over to Dickinson to Bay Colony RV Park to pick up a computer from a friend. His son’s computer had contracted a virus and wanted me to take a look at it.


December 13, 2011

Bingo and BBQ . . .

After coffee, this morning started out with chores around the rig, working on the Christmas tree, fixing a drawer slide, etc. Then about 12:30 Jan and I headed into Clear Lake to take care of some errands and see a couple of clients.

First thing, I dropped Jan off to get her hair done while I went by the bank, and then Brandi’s to pick up a package that had come in. Then it was getting gas and stopping off at Lowe’s for a few things.

Next, I checked in on a couple of clients, the last one being the one with the AT&T DSL problem. I called Customer Service to complain about being charged for a new DSL modem. They said they’d check it out and call me back within one hour.

Guess what? I’m still waiting!

By this time we’d kill enough time that it was time to go pick up our granddaughter Piper for Bingo.

We then ended up at Rudy’s BBQ for supper. Brisket and Jalapeno Sausage,  MMM MMM Good!

Our friend Maria picked up Jan and Piper about 6:30 and I headed back to the rig for a couple of hours. Then about 9:30 I headed down to La Marque to pick them up.

And, as it turns out, Jan won a $100.00 jackpot. Not bad at Christmas time.


December 13, 2012

We Missed It . . .

and I’m sorry I didn’t alert you ahead of time. This past Saturday was Time Traveler Day.

This was the day you are supposed to run up to someone on the street and frantically ask them, “What year is it, what year is it?”. When they tell you, you say “Thank God there’s still time”, and then run off down the street.

If you have my twisted sense of humor, you’ll think this is as hilarious as I do. Jan doesn’t.

Out walking the other day, Jan and I saw this small camper who apparently travel with its own rock garden.

RV Rock Garden

The rocks don’t look like they’re from anywhere local so they must carry them around with them. But they’ve gotta weigh almost as much as the camper, and with all the plants, take up most of the space. Must be tight in there.

After three days of house repairs, I took the day off today, and except for juggling some client problems on the phone, pretty much did nothing but play on the computer.

Then a little before 5 Jan and I headed up to Clear Lake to meet Chris, Linda, and Piper, and finally get to eat at Franca’s. And we got an extra surprise when Piper brought her boyfriend Casey along.

As we left we got to talk with Franca for a few minutes and reminded her that when we first started eating there, she was 7 and running around playing with our daughter Brandi, who was 5 at the time. In fact this coming Monday the 17th, it will be 34 years since we first ate there.

After a great dinner, we all checked out Piper’s new car in the parking lot. She’s really proud of it as you can tell.

Piper's New Car

It’s a 2008 VW Eos, a sports coupe with a retractable hardtop that folds into the truck.

VW Eos 1

VW Eos 2

Leaving Franca’s Jan and I headed over to Brandi and Lowell’s to pick up our mail and get in our Landon hugs. It’s really rewarding the way his face lights up when he sees us.

Not sure yet what’s on tap for tomorrow. Just have to wait and see.


December 13, 2013

Yappy Dog-Free Zone . . .

We just took it easy this morning, enjoying coffee and cranberry muffins. Couldn’t be better.

We did get some neighbors later in the morning. The two sites to our right had been empty for a week or so, but two rigs pulled in to fill them up. Turned out to be a couple of Marathon refinery workers who’ll be here until August. And even better they don’t have any yappy dogs. In fact we have a yappy dog-free zone on both sides of us, which makes us happy. And Mister too.

The day was pretty drizzily-foggy and got worse as the day wore on. The perfect day for just staying in the rig, but technology intervened.

I was trying to print out Jan’s Christmas letter, but my HP printer wouldn’t. It would start pulling the paper in, but then wouldn’t pull the paper through as it started printing. I took it apart to check for jams or shreds of paper but found no problems. I used an emery board to rough up the rubber rollers so they would grip the paper. I did all the standard things you do, but with no luck.

So, since I only paid $29 for this one a couple of years ago, I figured It was time for a new one, rather than spend more time fooling with this one. So off to Wal-Mart it was.

We headed out about 3:30 with a first stop at Chick-fil-A for linner. Jan had the Chicken Salad sandwich and I had a really good Spicy Chicken sandwich. And of course their great homemade lemonade.

Then it was on to Wal-Mart. While we were there we did our normal shopping and I picked up a new HP 2542 printer for $49. And for the extra $20 over the last one, I’m getting wireless printing, and scanning/copying.

But getting back home, I ran into a problem with the printer. It would not see the color cartridge. I removed the cartridge and reinstalled it several times. Since my old and new printers use the same cartridge, I installed the one from my old printer with the same result.

So it was back to Wal-Mart to get a new one. Only to find that since we were there this afternoon, they had sold the other two on the shelf. So I’ll try another Wal-Mart tomorrow.

Bah, humbug.


December 13, 2014

Frankly, My Dear . . .

I went ahead and ordered the new Transfer Switch today, which should be here Tuesday or Wednesday. I had it sent to Brandi’s in Katy because I don’t know where we’ll be by then. We’re hoping to hear something from Galveston Bay RV Resort the first part of next week, but you never can tell.

We know we won’t be moving on Monday because we’ll be in Austin checking out the Gone With The Wind exhibit at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas. Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the movie, the exhibit showcases many of the dresses worn by Vivian Leigh, scripts used by the actors, and even screen tests of the many actors who auditioned for the movie.

Afterward we plan on eating at Trudy’s, a Mexican restaurant near the campus where Brandi went to college, and where we used to eat every time we came to visit her. So we’re really looking forward to it.

About 3:30 we headed up to Peter’s BBQ for dinner. Peter’s is one place we always eat when we’re in the area. Great BBQ, and even better, are the many great sides they have. Green beans, corn on the cob, sweet potatoes, carrots, boiled carrots, pinto beans, and more. And for dessert, there’s banana pudding, peach cobbler and ice cream. All for the price of just BBQ and two sides at other places. Great!

A little while after we got home, Tom & Lily Christian came over from their rig across the street to talk about gate guarding. They’ve worked for Timekeepers the last several years and wanted to compare notes. But as it turned out, Tom and I had other things in common, both have spent time working at White Sands Missile Range and other places, Tom with the Army and me with NASA.

We stayed outside talking until we got so cold we had to come in for the night. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to get together again before we leave.

Lowell and Landon usually go out for Starbuck’s on weekends to let Brandi sleep in.

297

Of course Landon only has chocolate milk and a sucker.

Then later, the afternoon found Landon in a serious discussion with Santa concerning his upcoming visit.

306

Can’t leave anything to chance.


December 13, 2015

Called On Account Of . . .

Tornados, Rain, and Wind.

Well, our 10am departure for Galveston this morning was canceled due to all the bad weather running around the area. But since our friend Linda is leaving Galveston tomorrow morning, driving to Dallas, we decided that we would meet in Conroe for lunch tomorrow instead. And that works for us since it’s about 20 miles closer for us on the round trip than Galveston.

But since I was already up about 9am, Jan took the opportunity to lure me out with the idea of breakfast at Schobel’s Restaurant over in Columbus, so we headed out about 9:30. With all the rain we had last night and early this morning, I was interested to see what the river crossing coming into the park would look like.

In fact, early this morning, a little after 5am, I listened to some of the loudest rain hitting the rig that I’ve ever heard. It seemed to be lashing the coach in sheets, over and over. But what was very unusual is that there was no horizontal wind rocking the coach like you would expect with this blowing rain, so it must have been coming down vertically.

And when we got to the bridge it was easy to see that all the rain had had an effect on the water level

Colorado River Flooded Crossing 1

Colorado River Flooded Crossing 2

Even though it was several inches deep over the bridge, our Dodge Dakota with its high clearance, made it across with no problems. But the way the river crossing looked here reminded Jan and me of the Little Blanco River crossing near the home of our late friend Gina’s house near Wimberley, TX.

Gina's River Crossing

Like a lot of these crossings in this area, the water is flowing over the bridge most of the year, but usually not deep enough to be a problem.

Little Blanco 2

But if you are careless enough to gun your SUV as you’re heading up the hill, you might find yourself suddenly sliding sideways off the road and into the creek due to the slick concrete. So, don’t do that.

Coming out after our really good breakfast at Schobel’s, I saw this very nice trike out in the parking lot.  Nice looking V-8 engine.

Schobel's Trike 1

It’s hard to see clearly, but it seats 3, with the driver sitting in the middle steering using regular bike handlebars, while the gear shift appears to be a standard auto stick shift. The two passengers sit on either side of the driver.

Schobel's Trike 2

Schobel's Trike 3

I think a setup like this makes more sense than the Polaris Slingshot reverse trike we saw at the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails a couple of weeks ago.

Polaris Slingshot Conroe 2

While I guess the Slingshot is a little flashier, it’s certainly not very practical for inclement weather.

Slingshot Trike 1

Our next stops were the Wal-Mart and HEB right across the street for a few things. With the cold, rainy weather I decided to whip up a batch of my famous (well, Jan really likes it.) Chicken Tortilla Soup so we picked up what we needed that we didn’t already have at home.

Back at the rig, I got out the slow cooker and got to work. First up was to slice and then poach the chicken breasts in chicken broth. Adding salt and pepper, I let it go for a couple of hours, until the meat was done and tender enough to be pulled apart with a fork.

Tortilla Soup Chicken Breasts

Then I sliced up the jalapeno and Serrano peppers and dumped them in the cooker,

Tortilla Soup Jalapeno Peppers

along with a can of Rotel Habanero tomatoes, a can of Hunt’s diced tomatoes, a can of black beans, a package of frozen kernel corn, and half a package of frozen chopped onions.

Next I added some coarsely chopped cilantro,

Tortilla Soup Cilantro

some cumin, and a few other seasonings. Then, after a taste test, and Jan’s approval, I put the lid on and let it go for a couple of hours.

At this point, I took a very nice nap, and when I got up, the smell of the soup permeated the coach. Very nice to wake up to.

Checking the cooker, I saw it was looking good, and just about ready.

Tortilla Soup 1

I started dishing it out into bowls,

Tortilla Soup 2

and then garnished it with shredded Monterey Jack and Queso Fresco cheeses.

Mmm! Mmm! Good!

Finishing up, our son-in-law Lowell sent over these photos of Landon’s Santa visit for this year.

Landon with Santa 2015 -1

Landon with Santa 2015 - 2

Looks like he’s trying to convince Santa he really was a good boy this year.


December 13, 2016

Cookkkiieeess . . .

said like Cookie Monster

Jan has hosed out the hollow tree, yelled at the drunken elves, and started turning out Christmas cookies. She does candy cane cookies, rum balls, wedding cookies, and Rollo-Pretzel treats, all of them delicious. Then she bundles them up on decorative plates, and then we pass them out to friends and family. But this year it will be all friends and coworkers. They’re in for a treat.

I’m not sure what happened since I was at this gate a couple of weeks ago, but both 3G and 4G speeds have dropped off drastically. It took almost 15 minutes to upload the blog last night, but at least it’s just slow, and not dropping out all the time.

I mentioned last night about the new flare stack here at this site since I last worked here. Well, about 3am I noticed that the landscape out my front window toward the highway was tinted red. Turning around, I saw that our stack here had started up in high gear, not flaming oil high, but high enough,

Davila 5 Flare

In fact, at times the flare was higher than the top of the crane. But the fog made it hard to get a good focus on a shot. But as before I could feel the heat.

So far tonight it’s staying pretty normal, but we’ll see as the night progresses.

A week or so ago I mentioned that I was going to do an article on what’s really going on with the whole North Dakota Access Pipeline kerfuffle. But the research is taking a little longer than I had thought because there are so many different sides to it, more than just for or against.

I’ve read everything from the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, through the right-wing and left-wing conspiracy blogs, down to individual bloggers in the area, and on both sides on the controversy.

In fact, going from article to article, it’s sometimes hard to tell they’re all talking about the same thing. But hopefully I’ll be able to lay it all out for you so that it makes sense.

I hope.

Tomorrow is my last day here at this gate, at least for now, and although it will cut into my sleep a little, Jan and I are having Chicken & Dumplings and Hamburger Steak at Barth’s once again.


December 13, 2017

Pizza and Ocean Blue . . .

On my way home from work I detoured over by Sundowner Canvas to pick our finished awning and dropped off the old one.

Finished New Awning

Karma thinks the Ocean Blue looks pretty good.

I’ll install the new one tomorrow afternoon and then let them know how it fits. Then they can do the other rear one.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I was going to take a look at our friend Bob’s Kindle. It would no longer charge so I thought I’d pop it open and see what I could do. And unfortunately, that was not much.

First thing I did was check the voltage from the wall charger which showed 5.5 volts, right on target.

This is a first-generation Kindle, one that probably a lot of you have never seen.

Bob's Kindle 1

It debuted on November 19, 2007 and cost $400. The first run sold out in five and a half hours and was out of stock for the next five months.

Besides the hardware keyboard, another difference is the fact that the charge connection is separate from the data connection.

Bob's Kindle 2

The first thing I noticed is that when you plug the charger connector in, it doesn’t seem to touch anything, just moves around in the hold.

So taking out the screws under the back cover, I popped the case open.

Bob's Kindle 3

And it was quickly evident why it wasn’t charging, and why there was no connection.

Bob's Kindle 4

The entire inside connector had melted and broken loose from the circuit board. So it’s pretty much toast.

BUT . . . if you were really determined to save it, you could solder two wires to the circuit board contacts and then run them out the old charge connector hole. Then you could install a new connector on the wires and a matching one on the charger wire.

It wouldn’t be pretty, but it would work. However, the time involved probably wouldn’t be worth it for a 10? year old device when you can buy a new Kindle Fire for $50.

For dinner tonight we decided to hit up the Grimaldi’s Pizzeria at Baybrook Mall. After thinking about it, it’s been nine months since we last were at a Grimaldi’s and that was this past March in Tucson at the 57th Escapade, where we had dinner with our friends Chris and Charles Yust.

So it was about time for another slice.

Grimaldi's Baybrook

After our Chopped Kale Salad, we got the big (18”) pizza with Pepperoni, Mushrooms, Italian Sausage, and Meatballs.

Grimaldi's Baybrook Pizzeria

Cooked in their Coal-Fired Brick Oven, it doesn’t get any better than this. And we also get the big so we can eat half and take the other half home for leftovers. Yumm!


December 13, 2018

A Texas Two Season Day . . .

Today was my second, and hopefully last, treatment in my recent series of head scorchings. But for some reason it wasn’t as bad as last time’s scorching.

Just like last time, they took me in about 11:30, and after the Dr. checked out my previous torturing, he used a roll-on type of dispenser to cover my head in the photo-reactive lotion. Then it was hurry up and wait while it dried for the next two hours as I sat out in the waiting room reading on my Galaxy Tab 4.

Then it was back up the UV light for another 16 minutes and 40 seconds of a headful of angry bees. Or at least that’s what it felt like.

But this time, instead of the little handheld battery-powered fan I got last time, this nurse, a different one from my previous visit, gave me a large fan to hold in my lap that worked much better. And she even gave me a pillow to prop up my head in the chair.

Which meant, since for some reason it just didn’t ‘burn’ as much as last time, I actually dozed off, and didn’t wake up until the machine shut off and it got really quiet.

The other difference, and one that I think contributed to much less after-pain, was that she had me wash my head at the sink with really cold water for several minutes. Then she rubbed a cooling lotion on my head. And unlike last time, within an hour my head really didn’t hurt anymore. Nice.

I had brought some Hydrocortisone packets with me, but didn’t need them either.

She did seem kind of surprised that none of this was done last time. I wish it had been done this way too.

I’m supposed to go back in a couple of months for a final checkup, then hopefully I’ll be done with this.

Finishing up there it was off to have lunch at East Star Chinese Buffet, another of our favorites. But it was our first time back since we went to Florida the first part of October, and we realized we missed it.

Then it was a stop by the Lowe’s looking for a couple of things that we didn’t find, and HEB for another bag of the Lola Savannah Texas Pecan Coffee, presently our favorite flavor.

After that, it was home and a nap.

Today was another one of those Texas Two Season Days. You know, the ones where it’s 75°+ during the day and you’re running both of the rig AC’s, and then it’s in the high 30’s – low 40’s at night and you’re running both heaters.

At least it’s not boring.

Tomorrow morning is Jan’s checkup with her eye surgeon after cataract surgery a week ago. And right now Jan is not a happy camper, or maybe not a happy patient. It’s only been a week, but Jan is not happy with how her eye recovery is progressing.

Based on things other people had said about their surgery, she expected her vision to be better by now. So we’ll have to see what the doctor says.

With the ordering of Landon’s last gift from Amazon, we’re pretty much done with our Christmas shopping for this year. We got him this robotics kit that lets him build and program 8 different robots. Then he can control them through his iPad.

Smart Machine Robotics Kit

Smart Machines Robotics Kit

And he can build ones like this,

Smart Machines Robot

or this.

Smart Machines Robot 2

Knowing Landon he’s going to love it.


December 13, 2020

Snoozing On A Sunday . . .

Jan and I left the right about 1pm this afternoon, in the middle of the rain that had been going on since Oh Dark Thirty this morning. And it didn’t really slack off all day.

The reason for all the rain is the front coming through, taking today’s mid-70’s temps down to 41° tonight, leaving us with daytime temperatures in the low-50’s in the daytime and the low-40’s at night, continuing for the next few days.

Our first stop was for brunch at our perennial favorite Snooze. And being Sunday, we had about a 15 minute wait before we got seated. We’ve eating here since the day they opened, long enough for several servers to wave and say ‘HI’.

After Jan’s Bravocado Toast

Snooze Bravocaod Toast 3

and my Shrimp & Grits,

Snooze Shrimp and Grits and Fruit 2

both as good as always, it was on back down to the HEB for some groceries before we headed over to the Santa Fe PO to check our mail, ending up with a stop at the nearby Jack in the Box for Frozen Pumpkin Spice Lattes.

All still in the pouring rain.

I’ve been looking at a new service called Privacy.com.

It’s a service that allows you to generate your own personal credit card numbers to use online. They can be for one-time use only, I.e. burner cards. Or you can create cards that are locked to one Payee, I.e. your cable company, power company, etc.

You can also select a spending limit, with these limits per transaction, per month, per year, or total. So, if your Netflix bill is $10.99 a month, you can set your card to decline any transactions over $11. So you can’t get phantom charges that you’re not expecting.

And even better, if you’ve ever tried to cancel a service and they keep charging you until you finally had to cancel the card to get them to stop, this will solve that problem With a Privacy.com card, you can cancel it at any time.

The reviews of the service seem to be pretty good, so I’ll be checking it out, and I’ll let you know how it goes.


December 13, 2022

A White Christmas?

Lunch today was at our new local Barcenas Mexican Kitchen here in the League City area. We first ate at this one back the end of October after the Wing Over Houston Airshow.

Barcenas Storefront

But we’ve been eating at their Friendswood location since it opened in 1998, especially convenient since it was located right outside our Heritage Park subdivision. And it was always delicious.

And today was no different.

Jan had the Tex-Mex Enchiladas with ground beef, the same thing she’s gotten for years.

Barcenas Tex-Mex Enchiladas 20221213

And I stayed with my favorite Tacos al Carbon, with Beef Fajita Meat.

Barcenas Tacos al Carbon 20221213

One thing we’ve noticed recently is that Mexican restaurants like Barcenas,

Barcenas 20221030

and our local Monterey’s,

Monterey's Dickinson 1

seem to be veering away from the traditional Mexican decorating scheme with red, white, and green flags and tablecloths, multi-colored Christmas lights, banners, and serapes lining the walls.

Traditional Mexican Restaurant Decor

In fact, except for the menus, it’s hard to tell you’re actually in a Mexican restaurant at all.

So much for ambiance, I guess.

And on the subject of restaurants, looks like we’ve got a number of new ones coming into our area.

Locally, Santa Fe is getting a Whataburger just north of us a couple of miles on Hwy 6. It’s supposed to open soon.

And we’re finally getting an In-And-Out Burger up by the new HEB on I-45, and a Shake Shack right off Bay Area Blvd and I-45.

And as I mentioned a while back, we’re getting a BoomerJack’s up in the same area, and they’ve already started clearing the land for construction.

Boomerjack’s is a Dallas-based sports bar concept, similar to Twin Peaks and Hooter’s, I.e. a breastaurant. With about 20 locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth, this is their first venture outside that area.

Boomerjack's Girls

But what’s really interesting about this is their location.

It is literally right next door to our Twin Peaks! In fact it looks like they’ll be sharing a parking lot.

Decisions, Decisions.

It seems that long-range weather forecasts are talking about a possible snowy Christmas here in the Houston area. Some forecast models are showing an Arctic cold front moving into the state. And the last time this happened was December 1983 when we had a Christmas Day high of 28 and a low of 11°.

And in 2004 we did have a Christmas Eve snow. It started coming down while we were having our traditional Christmas Eve dinner at King Food, and by the time we left there was a couple of inches on the ground.

Here’s hoping, I guess.


December 13, 2023

La Bella Tavola & More . . .

Finishing this past Saturday in Cuero.

We had dinner tonight at the second of our two favorite places here, La Bella Tavola (The Beautiful Table), a really good Italian place.

As should be obvious, the place was originally a gas station that closed years ago. Since then it was a liquor store, a pet store, a boutique, and a couple of others that are lost in the mists of time.

And in fact, it only opened as La Bella a few weeks before we moved over to Cuero from Kenedy in late December 2016.

One thing we always enjoyed here was their hot fresh-baked Italian rolls. And they’re still just as delicious as before.

Jan got the Chicken Fettucine Alfredo,

while I got the Spaghetti Sampler with Meat Sauce, Meatballs, and Italian Sausage.

Really, really good, though it seems like that they previously used Angel Hair pasta for their Spaghetti, which I prefer.

Then it was right down the street to the Downtown Christmas area, where they had blocked off about 4 blocks of Main St. right in the middle of town.

I dropped Jan off right by all the shops while I went to find a parking spot. And by the time I tracked her down, she was well into Christmas gift buying, finding a lot of neat things.

After she hit up a number of the shops, we walked up the street checking out all the displays, and just people-watching, one of our favorite pastimes.

We had a great time revisiting Cuero, and have even talked about doing it again next year.

 

Belize . . . NOT

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Bobbing & Weaving.

We really lucked out this morning. Jan had decided she didn’t really want to do the River Cruise excursion that we had booked. Though we were supposed to be tendered into the port of Belize City, Belize, so no long pier to walk, the weather didn’t look good with a lot of rain in the forecast.

But since we would have had to cancel the excursion more than 48 hours beforehand, we were just going to blow off the $150+. But we lucked out.

The weather and the water were forecast to be so bad that it wouldn’t be safe to ferry everyone to shore via the tenders. So RCL cancelled the Belize City, Belize port visit and started heading toward Puerto Costa Maya.

And since RCL cancelled the port visit, we got a full refund.

A little before 9, Jan and I had breakfast in the Main Dining room once again, starting with a Fruit Plate for me,

and then moving on to an Everything Bagel & Lox.

Jan went back to the same French Toast that she had the other day.

Then getting back to our room, we found this guy waiting for us.

Definitely a rabbit this time.

As the day went on, the weather got worse and worse, with the ship bobbing and weaving with a vengeance. Enough so that Jan broke down and put on her Sea Ban anti-seasickness bracelets. And a number of people we passed in the corridors seemed a little green.

Later, Jan tried her hand at Bingo once again, without last night’s luck. Then about 5pm we met our tablemates for dinner once again.

Jan’s appetizer was the Crispy Parmesan Arancini, with rice, Portobello mushrooms, and provolone cheese rolled in panko and then fried.

For my appetizer, I got the Minestrone Soup. A very well spiced.

Jan’s entrée choice for tonight was the Chicken Parmesan with spaghetti.

While I got a really good Lasagna.

Since we couldn’t really decide, Jan and I split 3 different desserts, starting with the Italian Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake,

the Coffee Pol de Crème,

and finishing up with a really good Tiramisu.

Another great meal!

Tomorrow, weather willing, I guess, we should be in Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico for our last port of call for this cruise. But since our original excursion to the Kohundlich Mayan Ruins was already cancelled because of the ruins being closed temporarily, we’ll probably just hang around on board.


Thought for the Day:

”If life gives you lemons, and you get melons, you’re dyslexic” – Piper White, Our Beautiful Granddaughter.

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™


December 12, 2010

Herons and Landon Time . . .

Well, the wind is still blowing like crazy, but it has changed directions. Yesterday before the front got here, the wind was out of the south. This morning when we went out for our walk, the wind was out of the north.

Because it was also low tide, the wind blew water out of the bayou, leaving exposed mudflats. This attracted a lot of seagulls looking for a quick lunch.

Seagulls on Mudflat

It even attracted our old friend the Great Blue Heron that lives in this area.

Great Blue Heron on Mudflat

And along with the wind, the weather has really changed. Yesterday the high was about 75 and the low last night was 41. Then today it got all the way to 55.

But the real change is tonight, with a low of 28 degrees. But at least by Tuesday, it’s supposed to be back in the 70’s again.

Our daughter Brandi sent over this video of Landon being fed his first solid food. She started adding some rice cereal to his formula a couple of weeks ago, but this is his first spoonful of the real thing.

Landon eating his first solid food.

About 2pm Jan and I drove up to Brandi and Lowell’s to take Landon off their hands for a few hours.

After we got him packed into the truck, we drove to Baybrook Mall to pick up some presents, and then down to Garden Ridge where Jan was looking for a vase and some decorations.

While we were there I got this photo of Landon and his big blue eyes.

Landon at Garden Ridge 2

Leaving Garden Ridge we went by the storage room to pick up some outside Christmas decorations for the rig, and then just drove around for a while until it was time to meet Brandi and Lowell at 5:30 for supper at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood, our favorite local Cajun place.

Although you wouldn’t know it by what everyone ordered. Jan, Brandi, and Lowell all had the Chicken Fried Chicken, while I was the only one who went Cajun with a cup of delicious Chicken and Sausage Gumbo and a grilled Boudin link.

Then reluctantly relinquishing Master Landon to his parents, Jan and I headed back to the rig for the night about 7.


December 12, 2011

Two More Hours of My Life I’ll Never Get Back . . .

or AT&T still sucks!

Jan and I both slept great last night. Me, because I wasn’t sleeping alone. Jan, because she was back in her own bed.

Works for me.

I was up about 9 this morning since I had a client visit at 11. Had to allow enough time for coffee.

Getting to the client’s I spent about 3 hours getting her two computers cleaned out and updated for the next year.

My next stop was back into AT&T hell. I spent another two hours on the phone with them trying to get my client’s DSL service working again.

And after two hours they said the new DSL modem, that replaced the old DSL modem, was bad, and they want my client to pay for the new one!

By this time my cell phone battery was on its last electrons so I got a Trouble Ticket number and told them I’d take it up with Customer Service tomorrow.

I think it’s a lost cause.


December 12, 2012

All Done . . . Pretty Much . . .

Chris and I started back in on our trim replacement project about 10am this morning. And except for a somewhat balky nailgun, things went pretty quickly.

As far as what we’re doing, we making this,

Trim Damage

look like this.

Trim Damage 2

Chris ran a string along the trim level to give us a guide for the boards. After that, it was merely a matter of holding them in place as Chris nailed them up.

This is the before:

Trim Boards 2

And this is the after:

Trim Boards 4

Trim Boards 5

It took us about an hour and a half to do both ends of the house. For the second end, we didn’t use a string, but just got a good starting point and then used the 4ft long level to keep things on track.

Finishing up here, we knocked off for lunch at Hooters for hot wings. Hmmm, Good.

Back on the job, it took another 45 minutes to do the courtyard and finish up. I’ve still got some places to fill in some missing trim on a couple of other areas, and some touchup painting to fill in. But the hard work is done, and my son Chris did his usual great job helping me (or actually doing most of the work. I just held things in place.)

Leaving the house, I stopped off at a client’s to check out the new Cloud Print system I set up the other day, and so far it seems to be working fine.

BTW I started to install Cloud Print on my Kindle Fire and discovered that for some reason Google changed the name from Cloud Print to Easy Print for the Fire. But it works just fine.

On another subject, I had been looking to try a French Press system for making coffee since people say it’s the best way. And I was also interested in a Keurig or K-Cup coffee maker. That’s the system that uses the small 1 cup packages like this.

K-Cup-Silo

Sometimes in the evening I would like a cup of coffee, but it’s just too much work to set up the Mr. Coffee 12 cup machine for one or two cups. And we just don’t have the counter space to spare for another appliance like a Keurig.

Then last week I came across this on a TV infomercial. And it’s both a K-Cup brewer AND a French Press.Coffee Press

The basic model just does the K-Cups, and is $29.95. But for $10 more you get two extra adapters. One lets you use the round coffee pods that kind of look like large tea (coffee?) bags, and the other one lets you use your own loose ground coffee.

And it’s quick and simple to use. Your cold water goes in the blue container with the handle. This then goes in the microwave to heat up.

Your K-Cup/pod/loose coffee adapter fastens to the bottom, and then the clear plastic collection cup fastens over that.

When your water is heated, you pour it into the clear cylinder at the top. Then the blue container, which has an O-ring at the bottom, is inserted into the cylinder and pressed down. And your hot, fresh coffee comes out into the bottom cup. And you’re done.

It really takes longer to tell you about it than it does to just do it. Just what I was looking for.

I’ve used it a couple of times so far and it works just great. And it comes with three sample K-Cups to get you started, 1 tea and 2 different coffees.

You can get more info here – MyCoffeePress.


December 12, 2013

Problem Solved !

or at least it is according to our friend, Dennis Hill.

His solution to our leaking shower is to just stop showering in the rig.

Well, I guess Jan and I could just hose each other off outside the rig. Hopefully the neighbors wouldn’t complain. I mean we don’t wear clothes when we shower INSIDE the rig, so we’ll see how it goes.

We decided to make today a fun day for ourselves so about 11:30am we headed down TX146 to Galveston. Our first stop was for lunch at Sunflower Café. We’ve had Sunday Brunch here several times with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon, but we’ve never had lunch there. And as it turns out, their lunch is just as good as their brunch.

Sunflower Cafe Soup and Sandwich

We both ended up ordering the soup and half sandwich. Jan had the Chicken Salad with the Tomato Basil Soup, while I had a Chicken BLT, also with the Tomato Basil. My BLT, pictured above, was great, with the bacon thick and fried extra crispy. And we both agreed that the Tomato Basil soup was delicious.

After lunch, Jan picked out some cookies to take home from their in-house bakery. And just like what happens when we eat at Cracker Barrel, we spent as much in their gift shop as we did on lunch when Jan found a pair of vintage earrings that looked too good on her to pass up.

After lunch we drove around a bit, checking out what’s changed since we were here last year. It’s always interesting to see the old houses being refurbished,

Galveston House 1

and the ones that have already been redone.

Galveston House 2

Galveston House 3

It’ll be interesting to check out the first house in a couple of years and see what it looks like.

Then driving along the Seawall we saw the latest incarnation of Galveston’s Historic Pleasure Pier. It’s been very popular since it opened a couple of years ago. It combines several restaurants with a pretty complete amusement park.

Galveston Amusement Park

Of course this is not the first version of an amusement park located in this location. In fact the first one was built in 1907.

Galveston Amusement Park 1907

Constructed after the previous seedy midway area was wiped out in the Great Hurricane of  1900, this one, ironically, only lasted until the next big hurricane in 1915. So it will be interesting to see how long the new one lasts.

Heading back up I-45 we took a detour through a new high-end subdivision on Galveston Bay called HarborWalk. The area is also the location of the newest Floyd’s Seafood, Floyd’s On The Water. We’ll have to check it out soon.

Floyds on the Water

Those are some really big homes being built out on that island.

HarborWalk

And you know it must be a high-end place if it’s behind a gate.

HarborWalk Gate

We also saw a lot of birds in the area, including these two.

Floyds Great Blue Heron

Floyds Pelican

And then there was this sign. Maybe you could feed the seabirds TO the alligators?

Do Not Feed Alligators or Seabirds

Coming back up to Webster we made a stop at one of my favorite electronics/computer places, EPO (Electronics Parts Outlet) to look for those soldering iron tips I need, and I was surprised to see this in the middle of the store.

EPO Model T 1

EPO Model T 2

Richard, the owner, buys and sells a lot of surplus stuff, but it’s the first time he’s ever bought a 1923 Model T Ford.

Later, after a quick stop at our storeroom, we made stops at Starbuck’s for lattes, Kroger’s for groceries, and PetCo for pet stuff.

Finally heading back toward the rig, it was after 6pm so we decided that some Chicken Tortilla Soup from Monterey’s Little Mexico sounded good. And it was.

We started out to have a really fun day and it worked out really well.


December 12, 2014

Finally . . .

We finally managed a stay-at-home day, which was really nice after the last few non-stop days. We sat outside for a while with Mister, having our coffee and muffins, and watched the whitetail deer run around the fields. Then a little later Donna Huffer and Bob Parker came over and spent some time.

Then we all headed back in, first pulling off the stickers off our shoes, and then picking them out of Mister’s coat. And even with all that, one or two sneak through, only to be found later by our bare feet. It’s the one real downside to staying here at Colorado River.

Later in the afternoon, I strung up some Christmas lights along the rig’s awnings. We’ve also got a lighted wreath that I’m going to put up later.

Rig Christmas Lights

Of course it’s hard to go all out when we don’t know how long we’re going to be here. But since we’re still waiting to hear from Galveston Bay RV Resort as soon as they get their new sites open, we don’t want to go overboard and then have to take it all down.

For example, here’s what we’ve done in the past at Galveston Bay.

P1070222

We’ll have to see how soon we get down there before we decide how much more we’re going to decorate.

My new power converter is humming along just fine, keeping both the engine batteries and the coach batteries topped off with no problems. I’m probably going to order the new 50 amp transfer switch in the next couple of days so I can go ahead and get everything installed under the bed.

Progressive Dynamics (PD52V) 50 Amp Automatic Transfer Relay System

In looking at the size of the new power converter and the size of this transfer switch, it’s amazing how much smaller these components are now compared to the units installed 15 years ago when our coach was built.

Later, about 5pm Jan heated up our leftover German food from our visit to Schobel’s Restaurant this past Wednesday night. With the Schnitzel, German Potatoes, and Red Cabbage, it was just as good as the other night.


December 12, 2015

Squalls and Scones . . .

Since I didn’t get to bed until almost 4am this morning, due to not getting home until after midnight and then having to do the blog, I really slept in, not getting up until about 11:30.

But when I finally did get up and got the coffee going, Jan and I sat outside for a while, drinking our coffee and eating some really good Blueberry Scones Jan found in the Kroger bakery department. Our next-door neighbor, Bonnie, came by for a while so we could get acquainted. They’ve been full-timing for 15 years, and have run into other friends a few times on the road.

But our visit was cut short by a rain squall moving in, with it raining on and off the rest of the afternoon and evening. But as we ran for our respective rigs, we said we’d get together soon for dinner.

The rest of the afternoon was interspersed with light and heavy rains, which made it really nice to just hunker down in the rig, with our time divided between reading, computing, and TV’ing.

Really nice on a dreary December afternoon.

I forgot to mention that Wednesday, while I was working on the toilet, our friend Randy came by to say “Hi”. He had just pulled into the park a couple of hours earlier and noticed our coach parked across the circle from him.

Readers of our blog just about a year ago may remember my adventures with Randy’s new-to-him Monaco Diplomat. He had bought it from PPL here in Houston a few days earlier, and ended up parked right next to us here at the Colorado River Thousand Trails. He saw me outside working on my rig, and asked for some help with his rig’s electrical system.

After he’d been parked here several days,  both his coach and engine batteries had run down. You can follow the story of what I found wrong with his coach, and how I fixed it. How it ever got off the dealer lot that way is a mystery.

https://ourrvadventures.com/2014/12/charge-2/

https://ourrvadventures.com/2014/12/batteries-and-balls/

https://ourrvadventures.com/2014/12/wiring-and-re-wiring/

Tomorrow morning we’re heading out to Galveston, about two hours away to have lunch with an old friend and ex-coworker of Jan’s. A while before we started RV’ing, Linda got bored with the Houston/Galveston area and up and moved to Billings, MT. Quite a change from Houston.

We’ve visited her there first in 2008 on our way to Alaska, and later on our way coming back. On the way up, at the end of March, it looked like this,

BillingsSnowJan

BillingsSnowMister 2

and coming back in the middle of October, it looked like this.

Billings2 3

Billings Snow 2

Like I said, quite a change from Houston.


December 12, 2016

Cloudy with Meatballs . . .

The weather continues to be overcast, supposedly with rain on the way. Of course, just as I’m going back on a gate.

It was a short day for me. At least the ‘awake’ part. Trying to get myself oriented onto night shift, I didn’t go to bed until about 3:30am and then was back up at 11.

Jan had fixed up a delicious batch of her Crockpot Spaghetti and Meatballs for lunch, and this was possibly the best batch yet, probably due to the new meatballs we tried.

Sam's Choice Premium Angus Meatballs
This time we used the Sam’s Choice Premium Angus Meatballs, and you could really taste the difference. At least you taste a lot more meat than breading, and the Romano cheese inside certainly didn’t hurt.

YUM!

And enough left for tomorrow.

And then after lunch, I was back down for a nap until about 3:45. I needed to leave for the gate by about 4:25 since it’s a 20 minute trip. I always like to get to the gate a little early on the first day in case anything has changed since my last visit.

When I did arrive about 4:45 I found things had really built up since my last time here.

Davila 5

They’ve even got a flare stack going. At least it’s a pretty good piece away.

When we were down here in 2013 working a frack site near Whitsett, we had a big stack less than 100 yards from us. One afternoon oil got mixed in with the gas and the whole thing became a flaming oil volcano.

flare-3 (1)2

flare-5 (1)2

At first it started spurting the flaming oil out, a couple of times even making a flaming ring, like a smoke ring. Then the flames just started rolling down the sides and out on the surrounding brush, setting it all on fire.

Alarms started going off all around and guys were rushing over to put the flames out. Even at that distance I could feel the heat. And luckily they got it out before it reached the storage tanks.


December 12, 2017

Awning Off, Awning On . . .

With nothing on our slate for today, we had a nice relaxing morning, reading and computing.

About 2pm I went outside to take down the other rear awning, Since I’d taken down the first one about a month ago, this one went faster.

First off I started by clamping the flange that connects to the torsion spring. This allows me to control the unwinding of the spring.

Awning Fabric Removal 1

Next I removed the screw that fastens the flange to the tube.

Awning Fabric Removal 2

Then I pulled the flange off the arm while holding the vice grips to keep the spring from unwinding. After lowering the arm to the side of the rig, I carefully unwound the spring, counting the turns so I would know how many turns to rewind it.

Awning Fabric Removal 3

At this point I put the now-loosened flange back on the arm.

Awning Fabric Removal 4

This let me now drill out the rivets so I could remove the spring.

Awning Fabric Removal 5

Awning Fabric Removal 6

Now pulling the tube from the other end, I could pull it off the bottom of the awning fabric.

Awning Fabric Removal 7

So now I should have been able to pull the fabric off the top rail, but it wouldn’t budge. So I removed the screw right above the rail that holds the first link of the cover in place.

Awning Fabric Removal 8

This let me pull the fabric and the cover segment out from the other side.

Awning Fabric Removal 9

This let me see that the reason the fabric wouldn’t come out is the fact that the rail was crimped on each end.

Awning Fabric Removal 10

Normally if they want to lock the fabric in place they just use a small screw through the rail and into the fabric.

But after I used a screwdriver and a pair of pliers to open the channel, the fabric slid right out.

Awning Fabric Removal 11

Tomorrow I’ll drop this one off at Sundowner Canvas and pick up the new one. I am going to ask them to hold off on doing the next one until I reinstall the new one. That’s to be sure that everything is OK with how this one was done.

I did get a chance to check out the laundry room here at Petticoat Junction RV Park and it looks pretty nice. We normally don’t use a park laundry because we have our own washer/dryer, but Jan does occasionally like to do her throw rugs in one.

Petticoat Junction Washers 1

Petticoat Junction Washers 2

Really nice and clean.

I mentioned earlier that Jan and I have been going through a lot of old photos, many I’ve never seen before.

My father was a police officer in Birmingham AL starting in the 1930’s. During WWII he enlisted in the Navy and ended up in the Shore Patrol, guarding the Navy Pier in Chicago.

Here’s a photo of him in his uniform.

Father Police Officer

After the war he came back to the Birmingham Police Department as a Detective Sergeant until he retired in1951. Then he and my mother moved down to Gulf Shores, AL where they opened a motel right on the beach.

I always knew he was an excellent shot, starting when he began to teach me to shoot when I was six. Somewhere along the line I was told that he had won the Alabama State Pistol Championship five years in a row, until finally they pretty much asked him to stop competing and give someone else a chance.

But I never had any hard info on this until I came across this clipping from the Birmingham newspaper. I’m assuming this was from the 1930’s since they refer to him as a police officer and not a detective.

Father's Shooting Clipping

Since the clipping is kind of hard to read, I’ve transcribed it below.

Man, That’s Really Some Fine Shooting

Police Officer W. H. White today had a room all to himself in the Police Department’s Hall of Shooting Fame.

At annual target tournament this week, Sharpshooter White sent 30 slugs into the bulls-eye with 30 pulls of his pistol trigger, then followed up his perfect score with 29 out of 30 shots in the second round.

Capt. H. V. Early, director of target shooting said Officer White’s perfect 300 was the first ever scored by a member of the Police Department, which rates 250 out of 300 the work of an expert.

Shoot is at three speeds – 10 slow shots at 25 yards, with five shots required in five minutes; 10 timed shots at 25 yards, with 20 seconds allowed for five firings, and 10 rapid shots , with 15 seconds the maximum for five shots. A bulls-eye score 10, each succeeding ring one point less.

So for the first round he got all thirty shots in the bulls-eye, while on the second round he got 29 shots in the bulls-eye and 1 shot in the 9 ring.for a total of 299 out of 300.


December 12, 2018

Good BBQ and Great Friends . . .

Today was another of those work days where I ran around doing a lot of different things, but didn’t seem to actually get a lot done.

I did spend some time completely disassembling the unit I mentioned the other day, getting it down to bare circuit boards and the case. This will allow me to build it back up, fixing the broken connections as I go.

Then I get to see if I can get it working after all that. Otherwise I’ll just junk it for parts. We’ll see.

A little bit after I got home, Jan and I headed up to Alvin, and Joe’s BBQ to have dinner with friends Janice and Dave Evans.

Janice and Dave Evans 2

It’s been years since we’ve eaten at Joe’s, maybe close to 20, but it was always good, and that hasn’t changed.

Jan had the Grilled Chicken Breast with the Salad Bar, while I had the Chicken Fried Steak.

Janice and Dave went the actual BBQ route with her BBQ sandwich, and Dave’s BBQ Plate.

Joe's BBQ Dave's Plate

Now that looks GOOD!

We had a great time with Janice and Dave, and hope we can do it again soon.

As I said yesterday, tomorrow I’ve got my next, and hopefully last, Photo Dynamic Therapy session. giving me a year’s worth of sunburn in 16:40.

At least this time I’m bringing some packets of Hydrocortisone lotion with me to put on afterwards.


December 12, 2019

Back in the Groove . . .

Although we had a great time in New York, it’s nice to be back in Santa Fe in our own home and our own bed.

I did order our new Samsung TV from Amazon this morning, and it should be here on Monday.

New Samsung TV

Samsung 43” Smart TV

I did double-check my measurements to be sure that it would fit first, but it looks like we’re good to go.

Jan says she’s good to go in the meantime since I bought our 22” TV from the bedroom and set it up on the end of the sofa.

Jan's Temporary TV

One thing I did find interesting when I was looking at different models on Amazon is that I could buy a ‘Renewed’ model, which I assume means that it’s been returned and checked out, I.e. Refurbished.

Strangely though, the ‘Renewed’ one is only $1 cheaper than a brand new one. Why would anyone buy the used one?

Certainly not me.

I also bought the 4-year warranty for $45, which includes ‘damages’, so Karma can do her worse now, I guess.

Speaking of Karma, she apparently doesn’t want us leaving her again. She spent pretty much all night actually sleeping on top of me, something she’s never done before. She sometimes will sleep beside me, but I guess she’s taking no chances now.

Even more so, she spent most of today sleeping on top of one of our suitcases just to be sure.

Karma Sleeping on Suitcase

Heading out about 1pm we first had lunch at Snooze before heading over to WalMart to stock up the fridge now that we’re back.

Then it was over to the Sam’s Club next door to tank up the truck. Gas was $1.97, two cents more than the last time we filled up two weeks ago. But still not bad.

Though I posted a blog after we got to NYC Thursday night, I thought I’d repost that blog and then flesh it out with more text and photos.


A New York State of Mind . . .

The day could not have gone more perfect.

We were up at 3am, our car service guy showed up about 4:15, and we were on our way up to Hobby Airport by about 4:30. Right on schedule. And I didn’t forget my camera or laptop this time.

We got dropped off at the Southwest entrance a little after 5am, and we tagged and checked in our 3th suitcases a few minutes later.

On our way to our gate (why is it that it always seems like our gate is #36, out of 1 to 36.), we were offered a chance to sign up for the CLEAR program, in which, once you’re registered, means you bypass the normal check-in line and pretty much just get waved through. And even better, it was free.

The only real problem was trying to get a good scan of my fingerprints. Due to a lot of scar tissue due to some burns, I don’t really have much in the way of valid fingerprints. The last time this caused me a problem was when I was fingerprinted for our gate guarding security licenses.

And before that, my numerous security clearances for the DOD and NASA. You would think by now that I would be in the system enough that they would know me. I mean surely my scar tissue is pretty distinct.

But luckily for me there was the option of a Biometric Iris Scan, which did work.

One thing nice about this flight is that, unlike our recent European flights, we could check in 2 bags each, not just one. So we had no carrying-on stuff, other than Jan’s large purse and my laptop bag.

The only problem was that our online check-in got screwed up and we ended up boarding in the last group. So by that time there were only center seats left so we couldn’t sit together. But it was a nice smooth flight and we actually got in at 10:50am (9:50CT), 5 minutes early.

Probably because we were doing almost 600 mph.

NY Trip Speedometer

We had to wait about 15 minutes for our luggage, and while we were doing that, an enterprising Skycap came by and asked us where we were going. I told him that we were going to get a taxi or Uber to a hotel near Times Square.

Now there were signs all over the baggage area that due to the ongoing construction of a new terminal at LaGuardia, you had to take a shuttle bus to a place about 15 minutes away where you could then get a taxi or an Uber. When I mentioned this to him, he said this was not necessary and he could take care of this for us.

Kind of wary of the City Slicker swindling the Country Rubes, I asked how much this would cost and he said he just worked for tips. And since he had his own luggage cart, I didn’t have to rent one for $6, so I told him OK.

So he grabbed our 3 suitcases when they came around the carousel and off we went. Jan, of course, was somewhat suspicious.(make that VERY suspicious) but gamely followed along, knowing at any minute we were going to be ravaged and pillaged.

After about a block we turned a corner and there was a long line of people waiting for one of the shuttle buses. Positioned around were electronic signs saying the wait for a taxi or Uber at the other end of the shuttle ride was 55 minutes. And based on the length of the line on this end, it was going to be at least 30 minutes here.

Resigning ourselves to the wait, we started to get in the long line, but he shook his head and motioned us to follow him. And since he was leaving with our luggage, we decided to follow.

He led us around the outside wall of the covered shuttle waiting area, past several policemen, who nodded to him (made us feel better), and then across the street. There, behind a police barricade, was a line of Yellow Cabs being waved forward, one by one, by another police officer.

Our SkyCap put our luggage in the truck, I tipped him, and we were on our way, less than 10 minutes after we got our luggage.

And less than an hour later he was letting us off at the Hotel Riu Plaza Times Square, about a block and a half off Times Square. And even better, our Uber ride was listed on the app as being about $80, but our taxi ride was only about $60.

Very, very nice.

Checking in, we were told our room was ready, and we ended up with a very nice room on the 25th floor, with an open balcony that we could walk out on, with a great view.

Riu Room

Riu Room Balcony View

Even better, though we knew our room came with a full breakfast buffet, we were happily surprised that it also came with their full dinner buffet. Which is advertised as being $35 per person if you had to pay for it.

Neat!

Then it was, of course, time for a nap.

About 3pm we made the 2 block walk over to Times Square to check things out, and then headed over to Junior’s Restaurant, just about a half block off Time Square,

We discovered Junior’s when we were here in 2009, and it quickly became a real favorite, as we ate here several times. So it was a given that it would be the first place we came to when we got back in NYC.

Jan got their version of her fav Wedge Salad,

Junior's Wedge Salad

while I got their 10 oz. Steakburger,

Junior's Steak Cheeseburger

which we then split with each other.

This was to leave us room for Jan’s Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake

Junior's  Chocolate Moouse Cheesecake

and my Carrot Cake Cheesecake.

Junior's Carrot Cake Cheesecake

And of course you can’t have Junior’s World-Famous Cheesecake without a nice hot Cappuccino to go along with it. Especially when it’s 39 degrees outside.

Junior's Cappucino

By the time we finished it was getting dark here (about 4:30 here in the ET) so we walked back out to Times Square to check out the lights.

New Times Square View

One big change we noticed since we were here in 2009 was that Broadway is now partially open to traffic.

But when we were here back then, Broadway was completely closed to traffic for many blocks in each direction, as you can see here.

One thing new was that every surface is a TV screen, sides of buildings, doorways, and even bus stop enclosures.

Time Square 2009

It was a little warmer then, too. It was about 36 degrees when we sat out for a while this evening.

And of course we had to take the obligatory Times Square selfie.

Time Square Selfie 120519

Getting back to the hotel after about ten-minute walk, we checked out the view from the 25th floor at the end of the hallway.

Riu 25th Floor View

That’s our balcony and room behind the railing on the right.


December 12, 2021

Back Home in Santa Fe . . .

Santa Fe, Texas, that is.

We left Texarkana about 8:30 this morning on our way back home, 333 miles away. And it was a very smooth trip until we got right into downtown Houston on US59, and about 1.5 miles from getting in I-45 south when all 4 lanes came to a complete stop.

After we sat there for about 10 minutes, I checked Waze and found a  ‘major crash’ out in front of us. Then my amazing wife, who freely admits she has absolutely NO sense of direction, navigated us through the surface streets of downtown Houston after we were able to get off 59.

She used to work in this area a while back and remembered which streets would get us through and out the other side and on I-45 past the wreck.

Way to go, Sweetie!

Getting back into our area about 2:30pm we had decided to have lunch at Gator’s before heading home.

Jan got her usual Strawberry Walnut Salad with Grilled Chicken,

Gator's Bar & Grill Strawberry Walnut Salad with Chicken

while I got a bowl of their delicious made-in-house Baked Potato Soup.

Gator's Baked Potato Soup

Even with the great time we had last week in Branson, it was really good to be back home.


December 12, 2022

She Didn’t Have An Answer . . .

I was out the the door about 9:20 this morning on my way up to Webster for a MRI/X-Ray series for my lumbar area. They had called and asked me to come in earlier than my 10:15 first scheduled time, so of course I wasn’t actually called in until way past my scheduled time.

The X-Rays were up first, and only took about 20 minutes for all the different views they wanted to get. Then it was back to waiting for the MRI series.

And this time, unlike my last visit in October 2021, they had earplugs to help cut down somewhat on the noise. But they didn’t help all that much. I still ended up with a blinding headache just like last time.

I had to describe the noise, it’s like being in a 55 gallon drum, and someone is either beating on it with a baseball bat, or attacking it with a jackhammer. Sometimes both at the same time. And by the time the 40 minute series and the MRI shut off, the ringing in my ears went on for another 10 minutes or so.

When the tray I was lying on was moved out to the MRI chamber, I got up and said to the MRI tech, “It might be the engineer in me,  but why didn’t you put me in the other way?”

She looked puzzled and said, “What do you mean?”

I said, “Well, since you were only doing my lower back, if you had put me in feet first then my head would have been outside the chamber and I wouldn’t have had to listen to all that noise.”

She looked at me with a puzzled look on her face for a moment, and then went, “Huh”, like nobody had ever thought about that. She didn’t really have an answer.

Maybe next time

My new La Crosse Rain Gauge showed up in the mail today, as well as a beautiful gift from our new Canadian friends, Ron and Anne. Apparently they forgave us for serving them Thanksgiving dinner without any Cornbread Dressing and sent this lovely ornament on to us.

Christmas Tree Ornament from Ron & Anne

Thanks a lot, guys.

Well, it’s officially the Christmas season now. I just saw my first Chia Pet commercial, this one for Baby Yoda.

Chia Pet Baby Yoda


December 12, 2023

Maybe They’re Really Busy During The Week?

Catching up with our Saturday in Cuero.

Below is our room at the Fairbridge Inn & Suites where we stayed in Cuero.

Listed as a King Kitchenette Suite, it was unusual in that it had a large apartment-size refrigerator and a double sink, which I guess is what makes it a ‘Kitchenette’. Though it still had the normal size microwave.

But it was a very nice room, and a nice breakfast as well.

But the real high point was the hotel WiFi. Unlike the usual piddly 2 Mbps or so that you usually get at these places, this was 60 Mbps down and 55 Mbps up. Which indicates that it’s a fiber connection.

One thing we don’t quite understand about the hotels here is how not busy they were. Our Fairbridge Inn had 182 rooms on 3 floors, and I never saw more than 10 cars in the parking lot while we were there. And the nearby Fairfield Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Baymont Inn, America’s Best Value Inn, and Executive Inn were all the same way. Not many cars at any of them, especially since you’re probably looking at over 1000 rooms in total.

So I can only assume they’re really busy during the week with oil types, and then pretty much empty on the weekends. Otherwise how do they all stay in business?

Coming back into Cuero after our gate-locating trek, we decided to grab a snack at the local McDonald’s. When we were here in 2016-2017, we used to grab Egg McMuffins here before heading out to our gate. But the place has been much upgraded since then.

They now have only a small in-person order area, and then 5 of these order kiosks placed around the entrance, and they work very smoothly.

They’re easy to use, and allow you to customize your order just about any way you want.

Then you got one of these table tags.

Which turns out to have an RFID locator chip in it.

And they then bring your order directly to your table.

I’m sure you’ve seen the posts online about how a burger, fries, and a drink cost $18-20.

In our case, it was two sandwiches, fries, and two coffee drinks for $18. Not bad in my opinion.

Of course I remember when McDonald’s burgers were 15¢ and cheeseburgers were 25¢

And now they even have video games for the kids.

And our Caramel Mochas were so good, we decided to get them again before we head back to Santa Fe Sunday morning.

Next up was a drive around town to scout out parking for our Christmas in Downtown Cuero visit tonight. Found what looks to be a nice place in back to park right across the street from the festivities.

And we also came across the DeWitt County Courthouse.

Really neat, especially the fine details.

Kind of reminded me of the Courthouse in Lockhart, TX.

Love the architecture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PV: 97

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