Our RV Adventures

or An Unexpected Roadtrip.

Jan and I were just starting on our walk this morning when our son Chris called. He was coming back from Burnet and had stopped for lunch at the Whataburger up in La Grange and noticed the rear tire on his bike was starting to come apart.

He asked if he could leave his bike here at our site while we took him home to Friendswood. Then he’ll come back up here tomorrow with a trailer and take it back home.

ROADTRIP!

Waiting for Chris to show up, we finished up our walk, making 1.1 miles. Getting back to the rig, we finished up our coffee and muffins just about the time Chris showed up.

And about 1pm we were on the road down to Clear Lake, getting to Chris’ a little before 3. Then with his wife Linda, we were off right down the road to Barcenas Mexican Restaurant, one of our favorite Mexican places in the Clear Lake area.

We’ve been eating here since they opened in 1998, and it’s one of our go-to places, especially since they’re only about a mile from our house. And in fact, when we were living in an apartment the year before we started RV’ing, we were right across the street and could just walk over.

Everyone got something different, with Linda getting the Taco Salad, Chris’ Beef Fajita Nachos, Jan’s Tex-Mex Enchiladas, and my Fajitas con Enchiladas.

It had a large piece of Fajita steak, two cheese enchiladas, rice, beans, and pico de gallo. Barcenas is known for their fajitas, and it’s easy to see why, Very tender, and very delicious

Our trip down to Chris’ worked out great for another reason, since I had finished cleaning Piper’s computer so I was able to bring it with us. And it gave us a chance to take care of a couple of other errands.

There’s a car wash place down here called Ocean Car Wash that we’ve really liked for for years. They give the absolute best car wash we’ve ever gotten anywhere in the US. Their brushes will get any dirt, grime, or grunge off.

In fact, on our 2014 gate, when we got showered by a drilling mud explosion at the nearby drilling rig, it was the only car wash we tried that got it off the truck. And I don’t know what wax they used, but the truck literally glows white afterwards. So a car wash was first on our list.

Then it was right across the street to the Krogers for a few things, some of which was their coffee. We really like their Private Selection house brands of Toasted Hazelnut and Vanilla Biscotti, and wanted to pick some up since there’s not a Krogers near Columbus.

Now heading toward home we made quick stop for lattes at the Baybrook Starbuck’s, and I got a free one. I asked for Chesnutt Praline, and they were out, so we got Cinnamon Dolce’s. But since they were out, we got one of them free. Neat!

We were back on I-45 heading home by about 5pm, with a quick potty stop at the Brookshire Flying J, finally getting back to the rig about 7:15. We were coming home right in the middle of the Houston rush hour, but we only lost about 20 minutes along the way, so it wasn’t bad.

Wrapping up, I’m about 90% certain I know what’s causing my clogged black tank. As happens sometimes, I woke up in the middle of the night with a idea.

Putting together, all the symptoms, the fact it will drain slowly and then stop, which means it’s not a solid clog, and more importantly, the fact that when you do flush it, it bubbles and gurgles.

So I’m pretty sure I have a clogged vent pipe, causing a vacuum in the tank, keeping it from emptying completely.

We got back too late tonight to fool with it, but tomorrow I’m going to open the black valve and then flush the toilet. This should break the vacuum and let the tank drain.

Then tomorrow I’ll get up on the roof and use a long fiberglass rod I have to rod out the vent pipe.

The only thing to watch out for is that the water in the toilet bowl may kick back when we flush it the first time and erupt out. So I’ll partially cover the bowl with a garbage bag and put the lid down. Hopefully this will contain the problem.

I’ll let you know more tomorrow.

Thought for the Day:

We are an impossibility in an impossible universe. – Ray Bradbury

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There was a problem with last night’s blog photos, but I fixed it earlier today, so go back and check them out if you missed them.

We bumped our walk up to a little over a mile and a half this morning, one mile, then coffee and English muffins, finishing up with a final half mile. Tomorrow we’ll try to up it to 1.75 miles, which is where we were at Lake Conroe.

About 3pm Jan and I drove into Columbus for dinner and shopping, with our first stop the hardware store right off the town square, for some picture hangers, and also to ask about a local welder for our rig’s aluminum screen door hinge. Turns out they had both the hangers and the info.

They recommended Schneider Welding out east on US90, almost to I-10. And looking at their website, it seems they should be able to fix the hinge, so I’ll give them a call tomorrow.

Next up was dinner at Whataburger, always good, as usual. Then it was on to Wal-Mart for a few things. The Columbus Wal-Mart is not a SuperCenter, but an old one where they shoehorned in a limited grocery section with mostly just staples. So after Wal-Mart we stopped off at the Brookshire Bros. Market on the way home for some fresh fruits and veggies, and a few other things WM didn’t have.

Getting back to the rig and getting the groceries put away, I discovered we have a problem, one that we’ve never had before in 9 years of RV’ing. We have a partially clogged black tank.

Normally we have no problem going two weeks before we empty the black tank. Which means I usually dump the tanks right before we leave a park, and then dump them again two weeks later. We’ve actually gone 18 days between black tank dumps.

The Friday before we left Lake Conroe this past Sunday, I closed the grey tank to have some water to flush the hose. Then Sunday morning I dumped the black tank while I was putting away the satellite and some other stuff.

So I didn’t see how much came out. I do know that it started flowing when I pulled the handle, but then I walked away. When I came back a little later, there was nothing flowing, so I closed the black tank and dumped the grey tank. All this was my standard procedure.

But when we got home this afternoon, the black tank was almost full again. Thinking maybe water was leaking into the tank somehow, I went outside and dumped the black tank again. But, although something came out, it was obviously not enough for a full tank. And checking inside, the level was down, but only a little.

Then back outside I hooked up to tank’s built-in flush system to see if that would help. Water went in, and water came out the dump valve, but the level didn’t really change.

So tomorrow I’ll have to look further into the problem and see what I find.

It seems that Karma has decided that this is her new home. She’s made no attempt to escape since we brought her home, and in fact sometimes hides under Moose when she sees us going in and out of the rig. But we still keep a close eye on her then.

We got Mister’s old scratching perch out and Karma took to it almost immediately.

It’s made from pressed corrugated cardboard, and makes a combination bed and scratching post. I put her on it a couple of times and she jumped right off, but a little later she was back on it by herself.

One thing kind of unusual is that she’s fascinated by the sound of running water. Any time she hears the faucet running, she’s right up on the counter almost climbing into the sink to watch. And she even lays down next to the Mr. Coffee when it’s bubbling away.

Strange Kitty. She’s going to fit right in.

Wrapping up, I came across this video of Hero, the SuperCollie, doing a dance routine with his owner, Sara. Hero is a Border Collie, not a Lassie Collie, and has been on many TV shows, including David Letterman.

Border Collies are supposed to be the smartest dogs, and Hero lives up to that with the 100’s of tricks he knows.

Check it out.

Thought for the Day:

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. — George Bernard Shaw

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