Our RV Adventures

This morning started off with a big surprise. Our first Skype video call from our daughter Brandi and our grandson Landon. We didn’t have our webcam hooked up yet so they couldn’t see us yet, but we could see them.

We talked for about 5 minutes before we lost the connection. It’s only been about a month since we’ve seen them. It just seems like longer.

Jan came up with a great description for living on 20 amps. She called it the “electrical dance”. Something must be turned off before something else can be turned on. Very apt description.

About 11 Jan and I headed back out to the Fortuna area for a last pass on door prizes.  While we were in the area we had a quick lunch at McDonald’s and then headed out to the Foothill’s area for the real reason Jan came with me today, our visit to the Chocolate Crafter’s store.

Lorena, one of the owner’s was there and handing out samples. When I visited yesterday, her father Bob had said he would have Lorena bring in some gift certificates for us to give out as door prizes at the Gypsy Gathering Rally that starts on Monday.

And they really came through for us. Thanks Bob and Lorena.

It’s hard to believe that they make all this great tasting chocolate right here in this small shop.

Mmmm, Mmmm, Good!

On our way home we stopped off at Fry’s Supermarket to pick up some things so Jan could make her twice-baked potato casserole for our parking crew get-together this evening.

About 3pm much of the parking crew had arrived and was set up in the field across the street from us, so we had strategy session on the early bird parking tomorrow.

We can’t start until about 1pm since we have to wait for the Good Sam Rally people to leave. But it looks like we’ll have much better weather this year. Last year it was cold, and rained all day Sunday. But it changed on Monday.

Well, it did rain Monday morning, but then it cleared up around noon. Then in the afternoon we had rain, lightning, sleet, and hail.

I mean, that’s a change, isn’t it?

About 5pm we all gathered around and had some of Dennis Hill’s delicious slowed-smoked pulled pork BBQ. Dennis is the owner of the RV Driving School, and a great cook too.

Everyone brought a side dish, with Dennis supplying the BBQ and the buns.

Dennis said he had two types of BBQ . . . a dry-rubbed pulled pork, and ‘much hotter’ version with BBQ sauce on it. He even warned everyone that it was ‘really, really hot’.

It was all delicious, but personally, I think Dennis should be ashamed to say he’s from Texas if he thinks that BBQ was ‘really, really, hot”.

Like I said, it was delicious, but I mean we didn’t even have to sign a waiver like I did for the Devil’s Breath Buffalo Wings at the Cypress Creek Café in Wimberley, TX last month. Made with Naga Jolokia peppers, one of the hottest peppers in the world, they will show you what ‘hot’ is.

And just to refresh Dennis’ memory on what hot is, below I’ve reposted our last visit to the Cypress Creek Café this past February.

After dinner we all set around and swapped stories and wild tales of the open road, maybe a few of them even true.

After we broke for the evening, Nick, Terry, Jan, and I made a DQ run to round out a really nice day.

More tomorrow from the Parking Wars . . .

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Thought for the Day:

Said to me by one of my flight instructors –

“If you hear me yell "Eject, Eject, Eject!" the last two will be echos …”

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Hot Wings and Cold Rivers . . .

Posted on February 15, 2011

Another early start this morning as we left the coach about 8:45am heading to Gina’s to pick her up for her doctor’s appointment over in Wimberley. Then leaving there, we drove over to the pharmacy to drop off her prescriptions.

Next we headed over to the square to have lunch at one of our favorite places, the Cypress Creek Café. We try to eat here every time we’re in the area and it’s always great.

Jan and Gina loved their Chicken Fried Chicken and Chicken Fried Steak, and I crave their Devil’s Breath Buffalo Wings. I had them back in June and I was back for more.

As I mentioned before, the Devil’s Breath wings are made with the Naga Jolokia chilies, also known as Bhut Jolokia, or Ghost chilies. The restaurant says they have to import them from Amsterdam, Holland because they’re not available here in the US.

Although the Ghost Chilies were considered the hottest until very recently, they’ve now been upstaged by the Naga Viper, and at 1.3 million Scoville Units, it’s almost 30% hotter.

Owwie!

Just like the menu says, you have to sign a waiver before they will serve you, and for some reason, only the manager can witness it.

After a great (and hot!) lunch, we went back to the pharmacy to pick up Gina’s prescriptions, before stopping off at a local garage to have Gina’s car inspected. Then our final stop was at the local Brookshire Brother’s to pick up some groceries.

Heading back to Gina’s, we took the scenic River Road route, which of course, includes, what else, a river. . .

and a road over . . . er, thru it.

You find a number of these low water crossings around the Hill Country, and most of the year they’ve got water over them.

And because it’s under water most of the time, the roadway is slick with algae. So slick, in fact, that if you gun your engine going up the slope, you can slide sideways right off into the river, just like this guy did a few years ago.

After getting Gina settled in at home, Jan and I headed back over to the rig. And as soon as we drove up, the deer started coming out the trees and bushes near the rig. They knew Jan was home.

And as can be seen from these earlier photos, they will eat right out of your hands.

Tomorrow will be our last full day here in Canyon Lake and the Texas Hill Country. We always look forward to coming back to this area to visit Gina every year.

Thursday morning we’ll make a 370 mile run (long for us) to Balmorhea, TX, out in the middle of the west Texas nothingness, about halfway between Ft. Stockton and Van Horn. But they do have a nice Passport America RV park for $10 a night.

More tomorrow . . .

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After fixing coffee this morning the first thing I did was to go outside and move our truck. I knew Nick and Terry were going to pull out and dump their tanks next door and I wanted to be sure that they had room to get back in.

About 11 am I headed back out to re-survey some of the power outlets that Nick and I had located a few days ago. I was trying to reconcile the two different maps that I had, to be sure we know where all the power hookups are.

Finishing that up, just like yesterday, about 2pm I headed out to try to round up the last of the door prizes. And I made a lot of progress, leaving just a few to wrap up tomorrow.

One of the places I wanted to try was Chocolate Crafters, much recommended by Laurie and Odel at Semi-True Tales of Our Life on the Road, one of the blogs Jan reads everyday.

And Laurie was right. You start drooling when you walk in the door. They gave me a number of samples, including my favorite, the Kona Coffee Bark, with real Kona coffee in it.

I’m going back tomorrow to pick the door prizes, and this time Jan wants to go with me. Funny how that worked out.

About half an hour after I got back, Nick called about 5:15 to see about supper.

The 6 of us ended up at The Ranch House Restaurant, a couple of miles away. We got there just in time, since about 15 minutes after we were seated, they were on a wait.

The food was pretty good, but the consensus was that it wasn’t as good as Famous Dave’s BBQ.

And, as become our routine, we adjourned to a nearby DQ for ice cream and more conversation.

Coming home we stopped off at Wal-Mart so I could get a webcam so we can Skype with Master Landon back in Houston.

Thought I’d repost our visit to Westport, WA last May with our friends Al & Adrienne. Great fun!

More tomorrow  . . .

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Thought for the Day:

Void where prohibited by law. Your mileage may vary. Not valid in all locations. Tax, Title, License, Dealer Preparation not included. It wasn’t me, it was the other guy; I just look like him. I am not a lawyer, I don’t even play one on TV. NO REFUNDS. Not responsible for items lost or stolen. Alternate side parking. Do not feed the animals. Construction area. Restricted area – Authorized Persons Only. No warranty expressed or implied. All employees must wash hands before returning to work. Dealer participation may vary. Double coupons on Wednesday.

Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.

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Pelicans and One-Eyed Crabs…

Posted on May 20, 2010

We picked up our friends, Al and Adrienne, about 9 am and headed out for breakfast at The Fogcutter restaurant down near the beach.

After breakfast we walked across the street to check out the Gray’s Harbor Light Station, the tallest lighthouse in the state of Washington. Very picturesque.

Next we walked down to the end of the road to check out the ocean. Certainly a lot calmer than yesterday.

Then it was on to the marina area to look for pelicans and sea lions. And boy did we find them.

But this picture is just the beginning.

When we got to the marina itself, specifically pier 21, they were everywhere.

The whole end of the pier had about 300 pelicans all lined up.

And some sea lions too.

And more pelicans.

It looked  like a pelican convention.

And more sea lions. They kind of sound like dogs barking.

These guys look like they’re doing some serious thinking.

And this old guy is just catching some rays.

I think he knew we were talking about him. Note the one eye open now.

I think this one’s kind of old too. He was the last one to fly away when we came down on the pier.

They had some really nice boats here, like this trimaran.

But this one looks like something you’d take a “3 hour tour” on.

Next we drove over to Grayland to check out the clam beach.  Here’s Al, Adrienne and Jan walking out to the waterline.

The sandpipers were running around too.

The surf was still pretty rough, Note all the sand still stirred up in the waves.

This is a razor clam which is what everyone goes clamming here for. They’re called razor clams for a reason. The edge of the shells are razor sharp and it’s very easy to cut your hand just picking one up. Don’t ask Jan how she knows.

We didn’t realize how far we had walked until we looked around for the truck.

On the other side of the main road from the beach there are cranberry bogs everywhere.

After getting back to the rig, about 2 pm we headed over to Aberdeen for the 3 pm showing of Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe. Although it changed the story up from the conventional telling, it was really good.

After getting back from the movie, we headed over to have dinner at The One-Eyed Crab again. And it was worth the 2nd trip. Just as good as last night.

We got home about 8:30 pm, just in time to watch the season finale of “Fringe”

More tomorrow…