Monthly Archives: July 2013
Waiting for Godo . . . err, Pizza.
This morning started off with our usual coffee, but not much else. Neither of us were planning on catching any seminars this morning, so we just took it easy most of the morning.
About 1pm I took Jan over to the Crafts building for one of her classes while I came back to Nick’s to take a look at why his Starlights Smart Light RV Porch Light isn’t working. I know it’s not the bulb because the status lights aren’t blinking.
These Smart Lights are really nice. They replace the patio/porch lights on the side of your rig and are motion-sensitive and light-sensitive. You just leave it turned on and if anyone comes near your rig, the light comes on. So if you are coming back to your rig after dark, as soon as you get close, the light comes on to show your way. In the daytime, only the status lights blink.
So getting my ladder out of the truck, I grabbed my multimeter and screwdriver, and climbed to pull the light off so I could check the voltage coming in to the unit. And as it turned out, the 12 volt line was good. So the Smart Light was bad. This is unusual. I installed this one in 2010, and mine are 5 years old and working fine.
So I took it all the way off, cut the wires, and took the unit over to Nick at the rally vendor area to see what he wanted to do with it. And we talked it over, he went down to the Coil and Wrap booth and got a new one for me to install.
The new ones are really nice, with a much brighter LED bulb and a more sensitive scan pattern. Getting back to Nick’s rig it only took me about 15 minutes to get the new one installed and ready to go.
A little before 4pm I drove back over to the Cam-Plex to pick up Jan after her classes. While we were there, we talked to Chris and Charles Yust of C & C RV Insurance to set up a place and time for dinner tonight with us and Nick and Terry.
So about 5:45 we all headed down to Old Chicago Pizza again. Since it was so good the other night, we wanted to try it again. And it was trying.
We all got there a little after 6, just in time to miss Happy Hour. We got seated in the outside patio area, placed our orders, and talked over the day while we waited for our food.
And waited. And waited. And waited.
Our food finally showed up about 7:15, a hour and 15 minutes after we got there. It turned out that our order ticket and our food got separated in the kitchen and we went hungry. But when it finally came, it was still good, and we did have a lot of good conversation while we were waiting.
Even better, the manager comped part of our checks. so it pretty much worked out OK.
——————————————————————————————————————-
Thought for the Day:
“The legal profession would be much more honorable if lawyers were banned from it.”
adfd
Almost Nick . . .
In 2007, after Jan and I had decided to start full-time RV’ing, I got to thinking that since we had never RV’d before, maybe it would be a good idea if we gave it a try first. So we rented a CruiseAmerica 28ft Class C and spent three weeks wandering around the southwest. We obviously liked it because we’re now into our 6th year on the road.
One afternoon we were parked in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Del Rio, TX picking up some things before we headed on to the Seminole Canyon State Park. Parked near us was a big, older looking bus with “Almost Willie” painted the full length of the bus. Suddenly from around the other side came Willie Nelson. Or at least it sure looked like Willie.
People started coming over and getting their pictures taken with him and he drew quite a crowd.
As it turned out, Almost Willie is a well-known Willie Nelson impersonator who is so good he’s often hired by Willie Nelson himself. And he’s been known to sign autographs at Willie’s concerts. And he is a popular entertainer at the many RV parks in the Texas Valley.
So in the spirit of Almost Willie, today I took on a new identity.
While Nick and Terry were off presenting his seminar “Highway History & Back Road Mystery”, and Jan was at a Quilting class, I manned the Gypsy Journal booth, selling Gypsy Journal subscriptions, Big Lake books, travel books, and CD’s. And since I didn’t want visitors to be disappointed at not getting to meet the famous Nick Russell, I decided to become my alter-ego, “Almost Nick”.
Wearing Nick’s Panama hat and turning around my ID badge, I figured no one would notice that I was actually taller and better looking since I was sitting down. And I spent the next hour greeting people, selling merchandise, and having a great time.
Most people knew Nick and knew me and were not surprised to see me there, though several said they had to look twice to be sure since I was wearing his hat. But it was pretty easy to tell that a number of visitors assumed I was Nick and told me how much they enjoyed ‘my’ books and writings.
I did have someone ask if I was Nick’s brother. I told them, “No, it’s more of a Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde situation.
—————————————————————————————————————–
Thought for the Day:
Scientific belief does not constitute scientific evidence, nor does it convey scientific knowledge.
sdfgdfg
