Monthly Archives: October 2010
BBQ and the Space Shuttle. . .
We left the rig about 9:30 this morning heading up to Brandi’s so Jan could go with her downtown for Landon’s two month checkup.
While they were gone, I hit the bank, Starbucks, the storage rooms, several clients, and then ended up at Home Depot.
I’m trying to repair the knob on our shower. It broke while we were in Elkhart a couple of months ago. It’s a Moen faucet and I figured I wouldn’t have any problems finding a replacement. I checked with Home Depot and Lowe’s, but they didn’t have one that would fit. Finally a guy working there, who used to work for one of the RV manufacturers there in Elkhart told me that for some reason the RV faucets were not the same size as the home models.
I figured that with all the RV surplus places in the Elkhart area I wouldn’t have any problem finding one. But I bombed out there too.
I then called American Coach, who referred me to Moen. Moen told me they don’t have any parts left for that model.
So I figured we might be stuck with the small pair of Vice-Grips that are presently performing the knob replacement function.
But when I was looking at the zip lock bag of parts last night, I suddenly got an idea on how to possibly repair the broken one, hence my trip to Home Depot to find a small piece of brass pipe to act as a reinforcement sleeve for the knob. I found something that I think will work. I’ll try it out this weekend and see.
About 5:30 I met Jan, Brandi, Lowell, Landon, and Chris at the new Spring Creek BBQ on I-45 in the League City / Victory Oaks area. This one just opened this past Monday, so it was our first time here, but we’ve eaten at the one in Pearland several times last year. And as before, it was great. The ribs were really meaty, and the sides, Jan and I had the green beans and the pinto beans, were all great too. Brandi really likes the Mac N Cheese. We finally headed home about 6:45 pm. We missed having Linda and Piper there with us, but unfortunately they both had to work. Hopefully we’ll get together with them next time.
Since this is another short post, I thought I repost our trip to a Space Shuttle launch last year.
Now I’ve got the Complete Set…
Posted on May 11, 2009
Well, it’s official.
I now have the complete set.
I got my first one on March 30, 1982 and it took me over 27 years to get the second one. But I finally did it.
I now have been at both a Space Shuttle launch and a Space Shuttle landing.
I worked on the Shuttle program at Johnson Space Center for ten years from 1978 thru 1987, but never was actually at a launch at the Cape.
In March 1982 I was part of the landing crew at the backup landing site, Northrop Strip, White Sands, New Mexico when the 3rd Shuttle mission, STS-3 landed there, the only time a Shuttle has landed somewhere other than Florida or California.
The Shuttle landed at White Sands because the landing strip at Edwards Air Force Base in California was covered with water due to recent heavy rains, and the landing strip at Cape Kennedy in Florida was not yet operational.
Coincidentally, before the landing, a movie called “Wrong is Right” was being filmed at White Sands. The White Sands area was standing in for sands of Saudi Arabia. And the movie crew was staying at the same Holiday Inn in Alamogordo, NM that we were.
It was a real kick to go down to the hotel bar every night after work and sit around drinking with Sean Connery, Katherine Ross, Robert Conrad, John Saxon, and Leslie Nielsen. And later I got to fix Katherine Ross’ hair dryer since she was staying in the hotel room next to mine.
And now I have a Shuttle launch under my belt.
We’re presently parked in Homestead, FL, about 30 miles south of Miami. Friday we’ll be heading down for a few days in the Florida Keys. So we were glad that we were still close enough to try and see a launch.
We left our park in Homestead a little after 6am this morning and got to Titusville about 11:30am, a trip of about 250 miles. We also took some extra clothes with us in case the launch was delayed over the 3 day launch window and we had to stay at a motel. But we lucked out.
The launch went off as scheduled at 2:01:56pm and we had a great spot to view it from. And one that had a lot memories for Jan and I.
Jan and met in Titusville almost 42 years where she lived, and I was working for the summer. We would go out to this fishing pier outside downtown Titusville and make out. We spent a lot of time there making out.
Unfortunately there is not a lot of the old pier left, but Jan and I are still going strong, and it made a great viewing area for the launch.
And we had a lot of company!
Here are some pics of the launch. The first one is from NASA. The rest are mine.
And about 30 seconds after the launch, the shock wave and the roar from the engines washed over us. It was fantastic.
Well, that was it. A real thrill for Jan and I, I tell you.
And tomorrow, if the weather holds, we plan an airboat ride thru the Everglades.
Stay tuned…
That’s about it for today.
More tomorrow…
Thought for the Day:
If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
dgfg
Landon and the Big Monkey. . .
Brandi sent over some more Landon pics. Here he is trying his new sit-up chair.
And here he is trying out his first Halloween jammies.
Jan went out about 11 this morning to get a pedicure, and then we left the rig about 3:15 to head up to Pasadena to meet a friend at Office Depot. She’s been having trouble with a Toshiba laptop ever since she bought it in July, and she’s trying to get them it either fix it or replace it.
They keep saying it’s a malware problem, but I think it’s a hardware problem. We really didn’t get anything settled this time. We’ll have to check it out further.
Leaving Office Depot we drove back to Barbara’s house, and then she drove us over to Border Grill & Cantina on Spencer in Pasadena. It was our first time there, and it was so good that Jan ask during the meal if we could come back there for her birthday next week. I had the Chicken Tortilla Soup, and again, really good.
After dinner, we went back by Barbara’s to talk for a while. We finally headed home about 8:30 after having a great evening.
Since this is another short post day, I thought you might want to check out our last day visiting New York City last year.
Where’s the Big Monkey?
Posted on July 28, 2009 by ourrvadventures
Jan and I spent our last day in New York visiting the Empire State Building, having lunch, cappuccino, and cheesecake at Junior’s in Times Square, and fulfilling a major item on Jan’s bucket list.
We caught the 8:45 am train into the city to Penn Station/Madison Square Garden and then walked the 3 long blocks (New York’s blocks in Manhattan are rectangles, not square. They’re about 1000 ft x 250 ft.) over to the Empire State Building at 5th Ave. and 33rd St.
We got to the ESB about 10:30 am, hoping we were early enough to avoid the large crowds that can be there. Apparently, it can take as long as 3-4 hours to get in on some days, but we lucked up.
It was easy to see the 1930’s Art Deco influence in everything from the murals to the floor.
After going thru security (just like the airport, except you can keep your shoes on) we got on the first elevator about 11:00 am.
It takes two elevators to get to the 86th floor observation deck. The first one takes you to the 80th floor and then another one takes you to the 86th.
It was easy to see that they were set up to handle really large crowds, so I’m glad we got there early.
The view from the 86th floor is amazing. There’s just a wire fence separating you from thin air.
All the New York landmarks were visible, like the Chrysler Building,
the Flatiron Building,
and Central Park.
Looking down, it looks like toy buildings on the model railroad layout.
I then paid extra to take another elevator up to the 102th floor, but it was a disappointment. It was small and completely enclosed. You also had to dodge the large metal beams that support the tower on top of the ESB.
Here’s Jan and I on top.
We were out of the ESB by noon, so we made good time. I tried to take a picture straight up from the street, but this is all you can see, due to the inset of the top floors of the building.
From here we took a cab over to 45th St and Times Square to have lunch at Junior’s , a place famous for their cheesecake in the Theater district since the 1950’s. Their carrot cake cheesecake is probably the best pie or cake of any kind I have ever eaten.
Walking back over to Broadway, Jan got her picture taken with a world-famous New York celebrity, The Naked Cowboy.
I think she was enjoying this entirely too much. And why isn’t there a Naked Cowgirl, anyway?
And the Naked Cowboy is also running for Mayor of New York.
He has a bevy of beautiful blondes running around handing out campaign literature, but could I get my picture taken with them? Nooooo!
A recent article says he makes between 3 and 4 hundred dollars an hour doing this and only works between 11 am and 2 pm each day. There are pictures of him, dressed just like this, standing in 6 inches of snow.
I think I’d worry about frostbite myself.
We then sat on the lawn chairs on Broadway and watch the world go by for a while.
Looking up, we could see the New Year’s Eve ball resting at the bottom of the column for 2009.
It sure seems like the column is taller on TV.
About 3 pm we caught a cab back to Penn Station to start the journey back to Florida, NY where we’re parked.
It’s a two part train ride. First we catch a train from Penn Station to Secaucus Junction, in Secaucus, NJ.
Although not as big as Penn Station, Secaucus Junction is really a very beautiful station.
Then we catch the 4:18 pm Port Jervis train out to Harriman, NY where we left our truck at the Park and Ride, finally getting home about 5:30 pm.
Not bad, but I’d hate to have to do it every day, like many people do.
More tomorrow…
Thought for the Day:
Liberty is not free. Never has been, never will be.
