Our RV Adventures

After coffee and cinnamon toast this morning, I finished mounting a voltmeter to keep better track of my house battery voltage, since I’ve already got one up front that monitors my engine batteries. I was able to just tap into the power bus of the lights overhead so it was pretty easy.

After doing pretty much nothing the rest of the afternoon, we headed out a little after 4pm for dinner at Lulu’s at Homeport. But we first made a detour to stop at Tallulah’s Treasures, one of Jan’s favorite gift shops in this area.

We’ve been coming here for a lot of years and Jan always finds something there, and today was no exception with a new addition to her octopus collection.

Then it was on up to Lulu’s on the Intracoastal Waterway. The ‘Lulu’ in question, is actually Lucy,  as in Lucy Buffett, Jimmy’s Buffett’s older sister. She’s had a restaurant in this area for quite a few years, first on Weeks Bay, and then in its present location since 2004. It’s one of our never-miss places when we visit Gulf Shores.

We got there a little before 5pm so we were able to get a table right on the water without a wait. Which wouldn’t have been possible 15 minutes later. The place filled up fast.

Jan tried something different this time, the Blackened Shrimp Tacos.

One bite and Jan said, “Like, WOW!”. She said it was the best seafood taco she’d ever had, shrimp, fish, or otherwise.

I started out with a cup of Seafood Gumbo, and then went with my tried and true Half and Half Loaf, which is Lulu’s version of the a half shrimp, half oyster Po Boy.

But we were careful to save room so we could split an order of their Bread Pudding made from Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

Can’t miss that.

As we were leaving, I saw something I wish we could have for Gate Guarding.

It’s a high capacity misting fan, one that would really keep us cool on the gate. Bet it works a lot better than the one we have.

Leaving Lulu’s we spent some time just driving around the area, checking out all the places that have changed, and the occasional place that’s still the same since I lived here 50 years ago. Finally, after a Wal-Mart stop, we were back at the rig by 7:30.

Tomorrow is our last full day here in Gulf Shores, and the week has sure gone fast. We’ll leave here Friday morning, taking two days to make the 600 mile trip back to Houston for Jan’s checkup visits and Landon’s 4th birthday.

Speaking of Landon, Brandi send this over.

Cute, or what?__________________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

I bought a free-range chicken, you know the kind that runs free and gets pampered like a family pet, right up until the day they kill it.

It tasted Surprised.

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Today turned into an errand/chore day for me. We hadn’t washed the truck since we left Houston back in May, and it had gotten pretty dirty since then. But before I did that, I had a couple of returns to make.

Last week when we were up in Athens, AL, I bought a $25 bottle of R-134a Freon when I thought my truck AC problem was low Freon. So when I found out I had a AC compressor clutch problem instead, I didn’t need $25 of Freon. So back it went to Wal-Mart.

Next up was Home Depot. Since I hadn’t had any luck finding a replacement setscrew for our American Standard single handle lavatory faucet., at least locally, the other day I bought a generic replacement handle kit that was supposed to work with Delta, Price Pfister, and American Standard faucets.

Well, it may work with Delta and Price Pfister, but not with my American Standard. So I thought maybe the setscrew in the replacement kit would fit my original handle. But no luck. So back it goes to Home Depot.

Then it was off to the car wash to get all the road grime off. Of course we’ll be putting it right back on when we make the two day trip back to Houston starting this Friday.

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I mentioned yesterday about the possibility of us gate guarding up near Huntsville, TX this year, instead of down in the Whitsett area. I had heard that pretty much everyone had bumped the gate guard pay up to $150 per day. But I was curious if this was so in other areas too. Friend and blog reader Lynette McHenry told me the $150 is now the standard everywhere.

Good to know. That’s an extra $700 every four weeks.

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About 4pm Jan and I made our pilgrimage up to Foley and Lambert’s Throwed Rolls, one of our favorite places. There are three Lambert’s around the country. The other two are both in Missouri, and during our travels we’ve managed to eat at all three.

Of course, besides the great Southern comfort food, the other attraction is the ‘throwed rolls’. And they do throw them. In some cases, 30 or 40 feet across the dining room.

Jan and I were sitting at the far front of the restaurant and the rolls come out of the kitchen at the rear. The guys come with trays of rolls bigger than softballs, hot out of the oven, and start yelling, “Hot Rolls, Hot Rolls!”.

Immediately hands go up all over the dining room and rolls are arcing through the air.

Some are easy underhand tosses to a young girl or boy a few booths away, and some are full-on overhand spiral passes that almost brush the ceiling.

I went 4 for 4 on the rolls that came my way. But there was a 5th one that I don’t count.

It was the ham’s fault, the one pictured above, hanging just behind Jan’s head. The guy throwing the roll had to pull it just as he launched it due to a lady suddenly standing up between him and me. So it ricocheted off the ham and almost hit someone at the table beside us.

At least that’s the story I’m going with.

Two things though. First, you’ve got to cushion your roll as you catch it, softening the catch as much as possible. Otherwise the soft, hot roll just flattens in your hands.

And second, those hams hanging up there are real. I had figured they were plastic, but I noticed how the ham didn’t move at all when the high-speed roll hit it. So I felt it as we were leaving, and it was real. Who knew?

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Ode to Spell Check:

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

– Anonymous

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