Our RV Adventures

I mentioned the other day about my new Dash Cam, and our Thanksgiving trip back to Katy was my first chance to really try it out.

Black Box G1W Dash Cam

I really like the quality (1080p) and the color is good too. In addition I like the 140° view. My other dashcam, the one in the rig, has a 170° angle, which means the view is more distorted.

You can check out a sample below.

A really great deal for only $50.

I also got another new toy recently, a little sister to our Amazon Echo Alexa, an Amazon Echo Dot

Amazon Echo Dot

Only about  1.5 inches high, it does just about everything the full-size version does. The only downside is that the speaker system is not as good due to its smaller size. For this reason the Dot is really made to be hooked up to a Bluetooth or external speaker.

But in real world use it seems to work just fine with the internal speakers. Besides its smaller size, the other thing I really like is the fact that, unlike the Echo which is powered by an AC adapter, the Dot is powered by a standard USB-micro HTML cable just like your cellphone or tablet.

What all this boils down to is that that Dot is great for use on the road. We have used our big Echo traveling in the rig where there is plenty of room, but the Dot is much better for use in the truck. And since it’s USB powered I can plug it right in rather than having to use an inverter.

Even better, the Dot is only $49.99 compared to $179.99 for the big sister. And even more better, right now through Cyber Monday, the Dot is only $39.99. A great deal.

We used it to listen it to iHeartRadio, our 9000+ songs in Amazon’s Cloud Storage, or the 2 million+ songs we get with Prime Music. 

Looks like Google has finally come out with their version of the Echo called Google Home. I imagine though it’s going to take them a while to catch up with all the things Echo offers.

I’ve enjoyed all the back and forth on Facebook about whether or not stores should be open on Thanksgiving for shopping. There was a lot of discussion on both sides, citing greedy corporations, angry shoppers, etc.

Hearing this always makes me think of the Blue Laws here in Texas when we moved out here in December 1978. Not only were no big stores open on Sunday, there were a lot of strange restrictions on what you could buy.

Things like the fact you could buy cloth diapers on Sunday, but you couldn’t buy disposable ones. You could buy a hammer or a screwdriver, but not nails or screws. In fact there were 100’s of these weird differences. Eventually the big stores had enough and many started opening on Sunday, pretty much daring the authorities to punish them. Finally in 1985 the whole thing collapsed. At this point, even the churches couldn’t stem the tide.

But what really broke the dam was an article in the newspaper that revealed only about 5% of the working population was employed in retail sales affected by the Blue Laws. The other 95% were police, firefighters, EMT, doctors, nurses, etc. Others worked at refineries, chemical plants, TV stations, and the like.

Landon got to tell Santa Claus his Christmas Wish List today at Bass Pro Shot.

“Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and, instead of bleeding, he sings.” ― Robert Benchley

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Thanksgiving morning, our ‘Up at 6 and on the road by 7’ turned out to be more like ‘Up at 6:30 and on the road by by 7:40’. But finally we were headed for the Cuero McDonald’s for breakfast about 40 miles away.

Then our next stop was the Valero in Schulenburg another 45 miles for a potty break right before we got on I-10E for the 90 mile run to Brandi’s. One thing that makes these trips like a lot nicer . . .  and faster, is that Texas doesn’t fool around with wimpy speed limits.

With 75 mph on regular Interstates, and up to 85 mph on others, they don’t mess around on other roads either. Most rural two lane roads are 70, or 65 mph at the slowest, which made the trip a lot more fun.

And though you would think these higher speed limits, pretty much the fastest in the nation, would lead to more high deaths, that’s not true. Texas is pretty much in the middle, 23 from the top, in per capita deaths.

So in this case Speed Doesn’t Kill.

Right before we got to Brandi’s we stopped for a few last minute items at the nearby Krogers, including several bags of our favorite coffees. Since there’s no Krogers anywhere near us here, we stock up when we can.

When we got to Brandi’s about 11:15 she had things well in hand. She already had the house decorated for Christmas and it really looked great.

Later, Brand’s friends, Eric, Chantelle, and Max showed up. Eric brought his turkey fryer and got it set up on the patio.

Over the next several hours, he did two large chickens and then a turkey. One of the chickens had been injected with Jalapeno Butter, and other one with Garlic Butter. The turkey however was more traditional, and just injected with butter.

All three were delicious, moist and juicy inside, especially the Jalapeno Butter one.

As the afternoon progressed more and more friends showed up and the food started being laid out. Unfortunately, our son and his family all had to work. Chris with his Haz-Mat job for GE, Linda who manages a CVS, and our granddaughter Piper who pulled a double in the hospital ER in Galveston.

Then friends, Doug and Christi showed up, along with Christi’s brother and parents.

The girls took over the kitchen as dinner got closer.

As is usually at these things, everyone ate until they were stuffed and then some, ending up with a lot of sleepy people sitting around.

Jan and I finally headed home about 20 to 7 and arrived back at the rig at 20 to 10, good time for the 160 miles with a couple of potty stops.

Today was just a stay home day, eating leftovers and staying as far away from Black Friday shopping as possible, although I did buy something on Amazon.

That was close enough.

“It’s not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on.” ― Marilyn Monroe

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