Our RV Adventures

and was doing just fine until about 9 am a thunder boomer went off right overhead and was strong enough to rock the coach. It certainly got my attention, believe me.

But since I was up, it was time for coffee while we listened to the rain pouring down. I had hoped to get some more stuff done outside today, but it sure looks iffy now.

Finally about 11:30, during a lull in the rain,  I drove over to the hardware store in Dickinson to get the stainless steel bolts I needed to finish installing the new wipers on the rig. But by the time I got back it was pouring down again.

Our daughter Brandi sent us some pictures from Denver where she’s attending a friend’s baby shower this weekend.

Looking at these shots I’m not so upset about all the rain we’ve been having.

About 1 pm there was another lull in the rain so I went outside and finished up installing the wipers on the rig. Another item to check off the list before we leave.

Coming back inside, I checked the measurements and decided to go ahead and install the handle/towel rack on the side of Jan’s new kitchen cart.

It should make it a little easier to move around.

Since I wasn’t getting much done with all the bad weather around, Jan and I decided to do a movie this afternoon, so about 2:30 we headed up to Webster to the Star Cinema Grill.

And yes, it is a movie theater, not a grill. Well, actually it’s both. It was originally a 6 screen theater that got put out of business a number of years ago when 30 screen and 18 screen complexes came in nearby.

So about 8 years ago someone bought it up, completely refurbished it, tore out every other row of seats, and put small tables in front of the remaining seats. And on each table is a call button.

There are menus and order slips on each one, also. You write down what you want, press the call button, and hand the slip to the waiter when he shows up. You can order directly from the waiter if you want, but the slips are quicker. And the waitstaff are all dressed in black so they don’t draw attention.

The menu is very much like a T.G.I. Fridays, or an Applebee’s, and it is good food. They also have a full bar so you can have a glass of wine with your dinner if you like.

We always try to get there about 30 minutes before the show starts. This allows us to get in, get seated, and get our order in. Doing it this way means our food shows up just about as the movie starts. Very convenient.

Jan was happy to see one new addition to the menu – cupcakes from the Cheesecake Factory. They come in orders of two, and you can mix and match Red Velvet and/or Marble.

Delicious.

It’s also very nice to decide halfway through the movie that you want some popcorn, and you just push your button. But the really great thing about their popcorn is that it’s fresh, really fresh. Unlike the big theaters they don’t pop it ahead of time. It’s done all during the evening as they need it. And boy, is is good.

I’d almost forgotten how good hot, buttery movie popcorn can be.

One of the other nice things is No Crying, Screaming, Running Kids. They don’t allow any children under 5 years old, and they only allow 5 to 17 when with an adult. Very peaceful.

The movie we went to see was “One For The Money”, based on the Janet Evanovich best-seller. She’s now up to number 18, and both Jan and I really enjoy her books.

And we both really enjoyed the movie, too. Katherine Heigl turned out to be very good as the heroine Stephanie Plum, and Debbie Reynolds was a hoot as her grandmother. Hopefully “Two for the Dough” won’t be too far behind.

And of course we used RunPee, as usual. For new readers, RunPee.com is a website that lists every movie, and the best time for a pee break. And it also tells you what happened while you were gone. But since this movie was only 1 hour, 46 minutes long, we didn’t need a break.

And now, even better, there’s an app for that. It not only gives you times, but also has a timer that you start at the beginning of the movie. It then vibrates twice two minutes before the break, and once, one minute before the break. Very nice.

We got out of the movie a little before 5:30, and before heading home, I made a quick stop at a client’s office before we headed over to Brandi’s to pick up a package from Amazon, and get in a little Landon time.

Lowell, with the help of his sister Sherry, seemed to have be doing just fine taking care of Landon while mommy’s gone.

After a couple of more stops we got home about 7:30 just ahead of more rain.

On second thought that Denver snow is starting to sound better and better.

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Thought for the Day:

Of course I could agree with you, but then we would both be wrong.

asdfdf

Today we were up early again, for the third day in a row. Luckily tomorrow we can sleep in.

Our raison d’etre was to take our daughter Brandi to Houston-Hobby Airport to catch a Frontier Airlines flight to Denver. She’s going out for the weekend for a friend’s baby shower.

On the way to Brandi’s we heard on the radio that Southwest Airlines had suspended all flights into Denver until after 1pm, so we hoped she’d get out OK since her flight didn’t even leave Houston until 12:20pm

Dropping Brandi off at the airport, we headed over to our doctor’s office to correct some problems with our prescriptions. It seems like it’s always easier to get these things straightened out face to face.

By this time it was after 11am, and since we were driving right by the place, we decided to have lunch at the Texas Tea Room for some of their delicious soup and sandwiches

After lunch, I made a quick visit to a client before we started for home. Of course, along the way I made a quick stop at Fry’s Electronics to check on a warranty problem, and then we stopped at Buc-ee’s for cappuccinos and a newspaper.

Then finally it was home for the day.

After a short nap, (too short, but I had stuff to do.) I went outside to work on some more things to get us ready to travel in about two weeks.

First I used a piece of plastic hose to siphon the old windshield washer fluid out of both the rig and the truck and replaced it with Rain-X fluid. I recently bought Rain-X windshield wipers and read that they work better and last longer with the Rain-X fluid. So I thought I’d give it a try.

Next, and while I was in the area, I started to replace the wipers on the rig with the new Rain-X ones. I’d replaced the ones on the truck a couple of weeks ago, but got rained out before I could do the rig. But I didn’t get too far this time either.

The rig wipers are held on the arms by machine bolts and I noticed they were pretty rusty. So tomorrow I’ll stop off at the hardware store and get some stainless steel ones to take care of that problem.

Next up I replaced the outside and the inside water filters. The outside one is a Culligan RV-800 and just mounts on the faucet hose.

Up until last year I had always used one of those blue ones that everybody, including Wal-Mart, sells. But while we were staying at an RV park outside Glacier National Park this past year, my blue one just up and split open one day.

Since the park had a store, I check’em to see what they had, and that’s when I found the Culligan. It was about the same length as the blue ones, but bigger around. And even better, it was rated for a lot more gallons than the blue ones. So I decided to give it a try.

And as it turns out, it’s a really good filter, especially in places like Elkhart, IN that have a lot of iron in the water. This year, for the first time, we had no rust stains in the lavatory while we were in Elkhart.

Last thing before I went inside, I dumped a couple of ounces of biocide into my diesel tank. I came into the park with a full tank of fuel which helps cut down on the condensation and water in the tank, which keeps the algae from growing, which keeps the algae from clogging the fuel filters. It’s a vicious cycle.

Ask Nick about that one.

Then it was inside for the fun one, the one under the sink that feeds the icemaker and the drinking fountain. It’s not easy to get to, even if it has snap-in connectors. The one I bought was supposed to be a direct replacement for the one I had, but it sure didn’t hook up the same.

Once the old one is hooked in, no amount of pulling would release it until you push the button on the connector. However, it didn’t take much pulling at all for the new one to pop loose.

Just picturing in my mind the coach flooded after the new one came loose while we weren’t here, I grabbed my Droid and about 30 seconds later had the correct one on the way from Amazon. It’ll be here tomorrow and I’ll install it then.

About this time Jan heated up some great King Food Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce with Fried Rice, an Egg Roll, and Hot and Sour Soup. Really good dinner.

After a great meal, I got to work on assembling the Kitchen Cart we got from Wal-Mart a week or so ago.

When we had the washer/dryer out of the cabinet for repair around Christmas time, Jan really enjoyed using it for extra counter space, so we decided to find something to replace it. And we found this at Wal-Mart.

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Mine ended up looking like this.

I left the towel rack/handle off the left side until we see how it fits.

For traveling and storing out of the way, it looks like this. The wheels lock, but I’ll bungee it in place too.

I think it’s going to work out pretty well.

About 8pm I called Lowell to see how Brandi did on her flight. He said she made it safely, but took off from here about an hour and 20 minutes late because of the bad weather in Denver.

And bad it is. Lowell said there’s a foot of snow on the ground and more coming. It won’t get above freezing the entire time she’s there, and tomorrow night the low is supposed to 8 degrees. Hope she took warm clothes.

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Thought for the Day:

Courage ~ Fear that has said its prayers.

kjhk