Monthly Archives: July 2016
WOW . . . 462 !
Jan and I were up and on the road by 11am this morning, making the 2 hour trip down to the Clear Lake area, to meet up with our son Chris, our DIL Linda, and our GD Piper.
Although it was pretty overcast and threatening rain most of the way, it stayed dry and cool with temps in the 80’s.
About 15 minutes out Jan called Chris to see if we were meeting at Chris’ or at whatever restaurant they had picked out. Which, to our pleasant surprise, turned out to be the new Grimaldi’s Pizzeria at Baybrook Mall.
Piper really knows Grimaldi’s since she and Brandi were with us in 2009 when we first ate at a Grimaldi’s, the original, and only one then, in the DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) area of Brooklyn, NY.
In fact the bridge runs almost directly overhead.
After our great meal, we went back over to Chris and Linda’s to pick up our mail, and also check out Piper’s new (to her) car.
A few weeks back she was making a U-turn and fell into a pothole, hitting something else, and pretty much ripping part of her front suspension completely off. All without even setting off the airbags.
So she now has a 2012 Nissan Xterra.
She’s still enjoying her apartment in Galveston, close enough to her job at U.T.M.B. Hospital that she was able to ride her bike to work for the time she was between vehicles.
After getting our goodbye hugs, it was on to the local Kroger’s for a few things, as well as gas for the truck at $1.89/gallon. Not bad.
Next up was a quick Target stop for a couple of more things, and then a pair of Cinnamon Dolce Lattes for the road from the Starbuck’s in the parking lot.
They’ve got the new Bay Area Blvd/I-45 underpass open now so it was a quick ramp onto I-45 north. Luckily we were running just ahead off the going-home traffic, so we didn’t hit any slowdowns until we were out on the Katy Freeway. And a quick dodge onto the HOV lane kept us moving along.
We checked in with Brandi, but didn’t stop for a couple of reasons. First she was under the weather and had come home a little early, and second, the Amazon stuff we were expecting today, apparently wasn’t coming in until tomorrow. So we rescheduled our get-together until Friday evening.
After a coffee-disposal stop at the Flying J in Brookshire, we got home about 5:45 to a noisy, upset Karma who repeatedly informed us that we were about an hour late in feeding her.
Now that we’re getting back on the road in a few days, we’ve both got a bad case of Hitch-Itch. In fact we’re already starting to map our travels for 2017.
Of course, after our upcoming two plus week Alabama jaunt, our next up adventure will hopefully be another 3 month stint at gate guarding for the 5th year in a row.
Two weeks ago the US Rig Count was at 440. But today the count was at 462, another big jump. So if we’re lucky that will mean more gate guard jobs, or at least one for us.
Of course I remember a couple of years ago when the rig count was around 2000, and God willing, we’re heading back in that direction again.
Thought for the Day:
Experience is the teacher of all things. – Julius Caesar
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Tires and Taco Salad . . .
When I got up this morning, I thought it was still nighttime. It had rain off and on thought the night, and was still pretty much black outside when I came out of the bedroom.
And it was 75 degrees. Very nice.
Later in the morning, in between raindrops, I went outside to check the rig’s tire pressures. I had last checked it two months ago right before we left here for Lake Conroe. Normally I check them once a month, but we’ve been parked here for almost 6 weeks so it still works out.
And in checking the pressures, once again I was amazed at how well this Hercules Ironman tires hold air. Each tire was within a pound of 96 pounds. I normally keep them all at 100#, but the last time I measured them at that pressure, it was 95 degrees. So 96# at 75 degrees is just about perfect.
Although a lot of rainy circled all around us, it never rained very heavy for very long. But the nicest part was that the high temperature for the day here was 82 degrees.
Amazing!
For dinner tonight Jan fixed up one of her delicious Taco Salads. She cooked up a pound of ground chuck with some onions, added fresh sliced jalapenos, and along with salad greens, sliced cherry tomatoes, black beans, and shredded cheese, layered it all over a bed of chips and topped it off with Salsa.
Really, really good.
And of course we had some of last night’s Pineapple Angel Food Cake for dessert.
Tomorrow we’ll leave her about 11am for the drive down to the Clear Lake area to have lunch with our son Chris and DIL Linda. And hopefully Miss Piper too.
Then on the way back we’ll probably stop in to say Hi at Brandi, Lowell, and Landon’s for a few minutes.
Thought for the Day:
“It is necessary, then, in order to seize authority in a republic and imprint an evil form upon it, to find that the social fabric has broken down over time, and that little by little and from generation to generation, it has been thrown into disorder; this will come about by necessity, when it is not often renewed by good examples or by new laws to bring it back to its beginnings.” – Niccolo Machiavelli circa 1519,
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