Our RV Adventures

While Jan and I were having our coffee this morning, Richard King and Mark Didelot came by to say ‘Hi’. They’re blog readers of both mine and Nick’s, and have been on the parking crew at several of his rallys. They’re here with a group of Tiffin owners, and noticed we were here too and came over to meet us. It’s always nice to meet blog readers along our travels.

This Tuesday, August 20th is Landon’s birthday, but today was his birthday party, and a party it was. Jan and I headed out about 10:30 to get his presents and also pick up a few supplies at Wal-Mart, and then it was back here to do the wrapping.

We got over to Brandi’s about 1pm, and found our son Chris and his family, wife Linda, and daughter Piper already there. They were all blowing up balloons and Piper was putting the streamers up.

Landon’s birthday cake was really neat.

The theme for the party was Pirates, and the cake was an ocean with an island, and it was all made of individual cupcakes covered over with icing.

Landon in the meantime, was taking a nap with his other Nana so he would be fresh for the party that started around 2pm.

The highlight of the party was a Water Slide that they had rented for the occasion, and it was a big hit.

There was over 50 adults and children at the party, so Brandi and Lowell’s big house came in handy. There was room enough for everyone.

Finally it was time for Landon to open his presents, and he had a ball. Got some great gifts too. Jan spent a good while picking out just the right wrapping paper for his presents at Wal-Mart this morning, and I kept telling her it wasn’t necessary.

Kids, especially boys, just don’t care what a present is wrapped in. It could be wrapped in old garbage bags or newspaper, and as long as the kid thinks there’s a toy in there, it’s history. Again, he just doesn’t care.

After all that, Landon settled down long enough to have some of his birthday cake.

Then he finished things up with a Happy Birthday kiss from his cousin Piper.

Everyone was pretty much gone by 5pm, so we were able to spend some time together as a family, just catching up. Jan and I finally headed out about 8:30, and I’m sure Brandi was glad to see us all go. If only for the peace and quiet.

Tomorrow afternoon we’re going over to Chris and Linda’s and Chris and I are going to put new brake pads on my truck. Then we’ll eat supper at Barcena’s, one of our favorite local Mexican places.

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Thought for the Day:

Remember how at the 2005 University of Missouri Graduation Ceremony a lot of graduates had “F _ _ _ Bush” fully spelled out on their caps in tape visible to everyone in the stands? And remember how diplomas were withheld, people fired, other people resigned, and there was a loud national outcry?

Nope? Me neither.

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After being on the road pretty much continuously for the last couple of weeks, it was nice to have a quiet morning of just coffee and not much else.

Jan and I had been thinking about where we will stay when we come back to Houston for the winter starting right before Thanksgiving. For the last 5 years we’ve always stayed at Galveston Bay RV Park down near Dickinson.

It’s hard to give up views like this out our windshield, but since Brandi and her family have moved out to the Katy area west of Houston, we talked about finding someplace more central, kind of half way between our son, Chris, and his family, and Brandi and hers. And once we got here to Advanced RV Park and saw how nice it was, we were thinking that this might be our place to spend the winter.

So a little after noon I walked over to the office to check out the possibility. But that idea quickly got shot down. After the lady checked the computer, she said she could accommodate us for the 2-3 months as long as we didn’t mind leaving the park for 5 or 6 weekends and then coming back in. Otherwise, no go.

They have 201 sites here, 108 pull-thrus, and 93 back-ins, so you think they’ve have some room. But the 93 back-ins are only 35’ long, so we wouldn’t fit in those.

Oh, well. It was worth a try.

Finally about 3:30 Jan and I drove over to Brandi’s and Lowell’s new house. So new in fact, that her subdivision isn’t on any maps, much less her street or address. Street Atlas, Streets and Trips, or my Garmin GPS with the latest map updates, does not show any roads there at all.

Google Maps shows the subdivision streets listed as ‘Proposed’. But having visited the area before, and knowing roughly where it was, we were able to find it with only one wrong turn.

Landon was still at daycare when we got there, so first up we got a tour of their new house. And boy is it beautiful. And big. Depending on the room, it has either 14 or 15 foot ceilings. Like I said, Big.

It’s two stories, and has 4 bedrooms, a study/bedroom, a media room, and 4 baths. Like I said, Big.

When we first saw pictures as it was being built, we wondered how it was going to work with the dark oak plank flooring and matching dark kitchen cabinets. But with the high ceilings, light gray walls, and white floor and ceiling trim, it’s perfect.

A little later, Jan and Brandi drove over to pick up Landon from daycare and dinner from a Peruvian chicken place called Pollo Bravo. When they got home, Landon hit the floor running, wanting to show us everything. He just goes and goes.

The Peruvian chicken was really good, especially with fried plantains, and a very spicy green sauce. Really good.

After a great time, Jan and I headed home about 8:30, stopping right down the road to get a car wash. The truck was just filthy from being behind the rig with all the rain we’ve been going through. In fact it was really hard to see out the side windows, so it was needed.

We knew there had been some stormy weather down this way while we were visiting Brandi’s. but found out how stormy when we got back to the rig and found our sat dish and stand blown over and around on the side of the rig.

When we left it was around in the front of the rig. It must have been really, really windy because the stand and dish have stayed up during 50 and 60 mph winds down at Galveston Bay. I was kind of worried about the sat dish being damaged by hitting the concrete, but setting it back up and telling it to re-align took care of it.

Tomorrow is Landon’s 3rd birthday party. Next Tuesday, the 20th, is the actual date, but tomorrow is the party. They’ve rented one of those big blow-up water slides for the kids, so they should have blast.

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Thought for the Day:

Remember how in 1994 a rodeo clown set up a dummy wearing a mask of President George H. W. Bush for the bull to tear apart? Remember how the clown was banned for life, other people were fired or resigned, and there was a loud public outcry?

Nope. Me neither.

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