Our RV Adventures

Catching up on some old stuff, someone had asked about Brandi possibly having the flu last week. Turns out it was a false alarm. After having flu-like symptoms on Monday, she felt fine on Tuesday. Dodged a bullet there.

I did get a chance to check out my new Sears Air Compressor yesterday and found it worked as advertised. It was able to inflate a rig tire from 90# to 100# in less than a minute. Probably better than I could do with on-board air compressor. Really worth the money.

On a completely different note, I found this fascinating, and maybe a little scary.

They could actually have a real live Wooly Mammoth born in the next 4-5 years.

Jurassic Park, anyone?

The other day I was going thru some paper work and came across the title for our toad, a 2004 Dodge Dakota Crew Cab pickup. It had about 101,000 miles on it when we bought it in December 2007, just a little over a month before we hit the road.

I noticed the other day when I had the brake work done that the Dakota now had over 163,000 miles on it, which means that in our 3 years of traveling, we’ve put 62,000 miles on it.

What’s amazing about this is that this does not include the 37,000 miles being towed behind Beauty. When the truck is in tow mode, it doesn’t register mileage.

This means that besides that 37,000 miles, we’ve driven the truck almost twice that distance just riding around seeing the sights after we park the rig.

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This morning, after a very late night (early morning??) we left the rig a little before 11am heading to the Texas Tea Room to meet Brandi, Lowell, and Landon for lunch. We’ve really grown to like this place, with their great soups and sandwiches.

Nick Russell called about 11:15 to say that he’d gotten his fuel filter replaced and they were back on the road. He said the fuel in the old filter was black which means it probably was algae growth caused by all the rain and cold weather while they were in Florida.

Jan was going to Landon-sit this afternoon while Brandi and Lowell take in a movie and run some errands, so she rode home with them while I headed out to do some errands myself.

First stop was Kroger’s to pick up some lottery tickets, then it was on Chis’ to drop off some magazines for Miss Piper.

Piper had two wisdom teeth pulled out Friday morning and the poor thing was still suffering. Her cheeks were still puffed up and swollen.

I told her she looked like a “cute blonde chipmunk” and wanted to take her picture for the blog. She told me in no uncertain terms “NO”.

But, not to be denied, I managed to grab a photo when she wasn’t looking. You can see it by clicking here: Cute Blonde Chipmunk

Then I stopped by Home Depot looking for my undersink icemaker water filter. But they didn’t have it. Turns out a little later research showed that my model had been discontinued. So I’ll have to try and figure out how to fit another type in its place.

Finally I headed over to Brandi’s to get the small share of Landon-sitting that Jan allows me. I only somewhat jokingly said that Landon may not walk until he’s two, because between Jan and Brandi, he never gets put down.

Brandi and Lowell got back home about 5 pm and we decided to have dinner at our favorite King Food.  Hmmmm! Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce, Extra, Extra, Extra, Extra Spicy, and then add jalapenos!

We got home a little after 7, certainly better than last night’s 1:30am.

More tomorrow…

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Thought for the Day:

There’s no such thing as a stupid question, but they’re the easiest to answer.

adsfs

Tonight was Alvin Opry Night and we didn’t get back to the rig until 1:30am, so no new post tonight (today??). Normally I would worry that Nick Russell would complain, but he’s got other problems right now.

Instead, here’s a repost of our some of our time in St. Augustine, FL in June of 2009.

New Stuff Tomorrow…

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Thought for the Day:

He who does not economize will have to agonize – Confucius

 

 

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Tour Trains & Komodo Dragons…

Posted on June 8, 2009

Today Jan and I did ‘touristy’ stuff

We started off at the St. Augustine Alligator Farm.  This is probably the nicest small zoo we’ve been to.  And believe me, we’ve been to a bunch of them.

They had some very unique displays including komodo dragons, the bird rookery, and the albino alligators.

Founded in 1893, the St. Augustine Alligator Farm is one of Florida’s oldest zoological attractions.  In the early 1880s, two men began collecting alligators they found on Anastasia Island.  These individuals, George Reddington and Felix Fire, were the founders of the St. Augustine Alligator Farm at South Beach.

In 1937,  Reddington and Fire sold it to a pair of young business men in the community:  W.I. Drysdale and F. Charles Usina.  And the Drysdale family still owns the park today.

In 1989,  The American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums extended accreditation to the St. Augustine Alligator Farm, thereby elevating the institution to a select list of facilities throughout the nation recognized for the quality of their collections and the care afforded them.

The Alligator Farm is the only zoo to have all 23 species of the worlds’ crocodilians exhibited in individual habitats.

Here are some pics:

Toucan

 

These alligators are true albinos with pink eyes.  They have no skin pigment.

White Alligator

 

There are other white alligators, called leuistic alligators.  Unlike albinos, leuistic alligators have pigment.  It’s just a white pigment.

And they don’t have pink eyes.  They have bright blues eyes.  There are only about 12 known in the world, and they are all males.

Leuistic White Alligator

 

Pile of Gators

 

We really enjoyed seeing a Komodo Dragon again.  The last time we saw them was at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. in 1971, though the ones there were much bigger.

Komodo Dragon 1

 

Komodo Dragon 2

 

Reticulated Python

 

Northern Cassowary

This is ‘Gomek’.  He was a 17 foot,  2000 pound Saltwater Crocodile who lived at the Alligator Farm.  When he died, they had him stuffed and put back on display.  He just doesn’t move around as much anymore.

Gomek – Tha Saltwater Crocodile

We really enjoyed The Rookery.  This is a walk-thru area with nesting birds in some cases, just inches from the walkway.

Nesting Egrets

The Rookery

Wood Stork

Nesting Roseate Spoonbills

Stork Chicks

Nesting Tri-Colored Heron

Snowy Egret and Hungry Chicks

This is a fake dead zebra.  It is used for the realistic feeding of the vultures and storks who regularly feed on carcases.

“Dead” Zebra

Hooded Vultures

West African Crowned Crane

Black Swan

Blue and Gold Macaw

Indian Gharial Crocodile

The hand belongs to Christie.  She goes into the pen to feed the alligators.  And yes, that is a rat, a dead rat.  Apparently, dead rats are alligator treats.  The zoo buys them already dead.  She said the rats are cheaper than chicken and the gators like them better.

Alligator Feeding Time

Feeding Skipper

He knows it’s here somewhere

Gulp!

All Gone!

Taste like Chicken!

Golden Lion Tamarin

After we left the Alligator Farm, we headed over to take the Old Town Trolley Tour.  This is same tour company that we took in Key West.  They also have tours in Savannah, Washington, D.C.,  Boston, and San Diego.  We plan on taking this tour in all these cities as we visit them.

One of the places we passed thru on the tour was Magnolia Ave.   Strangely enough, there are no magnolia trees on Magnolia Ave.  Just some beautiful oaks trees in a canopy over the street.

Magnolia Ave

After our Trolley Tour, we drove down the road a ways to eat lunch again at the Oasis Restaurant.  We ate here a couple of days ago and really enjoyed it.  And it was close by.

Oasis Restaurant

After lunch, we headed over to Walmart to pick up our prescriptions, and then it was on to Camping World to get some more parts for my new toad tail light setup.

After that, we stopped off for coffee before heading back to the coach.

All in all, an enjoyable day.

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