Monthly Archives: September 2017
Cruising Down The River . . .
For our 50th Anniversary I gave Jan two gifts, one small one that you’ve already seen – the thermal mug that displays a cat when hot liquid is poured in,
and then the big one.
In 1997 on our 30th anniversary, I gave Jan an Holland American Alaskan Cruise/Tour, something that she had been wanting for a while. As an Air Force brat she had lived in both Fairbanks and Anchorage back in the late 1950’s and always wanted to go back. And we did make that trip in May of 1998.
So this time I gave her another cruise that she’s always wanted to take – a Viking River Cruise in Europe.
So we spent today looking over various websites. Turns that there’s more than half a dozen different companies that do European River Cruises besides Viking.
However we did narrow things down to either a Rhine River Cruise or a Danube River Cruise. These two rivers cover what most people think of when they think of river cruises , the fairytale castles high on the hill, the large cathedrals and monasteries, and the scenic rivers winding through age-old forests.
We’re probably going to go about a year from now, in September or October. And besides picking a cruise line, a river, and a date, we also want to schedule a side trip either before or after our cruise. Jan has also always wanted to see Versailles, so we’ll make time for that with a couple of days in Paris. And hopefully, we’ll also have time for a visit to the Louvre, on my wish list.
I did finish up the wiring of the remote control system for my exterior lights. So now I can turn on the outside lights when we pull up to the rig after dark. And I also wired in the front interior lights inside the rig. So one click of the remote turns on both outside and inside lights.
While I was finishing up on the remote stuff, a young lady walked by and we started talking. Turns she and her husband are real RV newbies, only on the road for about a week and a half. They’re from Wisconsin, and have come down to Texas to work, she as an Occupational Therapist, and her husband as a Social Worker.
Our short conversation turned in to a couple of hours, as Ed Hurlburt came by walking one of their dogs. Then later Debi came out with the other dog, wondering what happened to Ed. So I called Jan outside, and then a little later, Dawn’s husband showed up, wondering what had happened to her.
Ed, Debi, Jan and I spent time giving Dawn as much RVing info as she could absorb, and then some. Hopefully it will help.
Tomorrow we’ll be moving back to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails for the next two weeks, but since it’s only about a 45 minute trip we won’t leave until about 1pm. So Jan and I, along with Debi and Ed Hurlburt, are all heading back over to Coldspring and the Paradise Grill to have the Turkey and Dressing Sunday Special about 11.
The Word of the Day is: Jollification
Thought for the Day:
Very Funny!
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Catfish and Gators . . .
About 2:30 I went outside to start on the rewiring of my toad taillight system.
Somewhere along the line during our trip back to Houston after our breakdown in Louisiana last month, I think a road gator popped up between the rig and the toad and shredded the wiring harness between the two.
In case you’re wondering what a road gator is, it’s not this.
This is a gator in the road.
No, this is a road gator.
It’s a large piece of tire tread spun off a large truck tire, just waiting to leap up and rip into something, kind of like this.
I also heard of rigs getting air, brake and fuel lines torn out and fuel tanks punctured. So I guess I got off lucky.
First I cut off the old wire and then spliced the new 5 pin connector into the harness, the four light wires, a 12 volt charge wire, and a secondary chassis ground.
The charge wire runs from the rig engine batteries to the truck’s battery, keeping it charged during our trips. This is needed because the Brake Buddy braking system works off the truck battery, and if we’re doing a lot of stop and go driving, sometimes we would arrive at our RV Park to find a dead battery in the truck. But no longer.
So first I cut off the old 4 pin plug and then spliced in the new 5 pin plug and cable.
Next I worked the wire loom along the cabling and then tied it in place using tywraps.
Finishing up, I wrapped it around the tow bar connection which is where it stows away when the truck is not being toad.
Tomorrow I plan on doing the rig end of the cable.
About 4:30 we headed over to Coldspring to meet up again with Debi and Ed Hurlburt at the Paradise Grill.
We were there for their Friday Night Special, All You Can Eat Fried Catfish. And it was well worth the trip.
We all had the Catfish, Jan’s regular and mine crispy.
Both were delicious.
And we wrapped it all up with a piece of their made-in-house pie, Chocolate for Jan and Bread Pudding for me. All very good, and we had enough to bring home.
And it sounds like we’ll be coming back here for their Turkey and Dressing on Sunday morning before we head back over to Lake Conroe.
The Word of the Day is: holus-bolus
Thought for the Day:
“Nearly all men can stand adversity…to test a man’s character, give him power.” – Abraham Lincoln
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