A Safe Ride . . .

As I mentioned in last night’s mini-blog, I woke up under the weather yesterday, and if I hadn’t had so much going on, I would have stayed in bed a lot longer.




So about 11:30 I was on my way up to Katy to pick up Jan from her Landon-sitting gig, where she’d been since Sunday afternoon. But now it was time to drop Landon off at his mother’s office along the SH Tollway and then head back to Santa Fe. But we did make a lunch stop at Taco Bell along the way, with Jan getting a Cheese Quesadilla, while I got a small order of Nachos Supreme, and London got an order of Chips and Queso. All good.

After dropping off Landon about 2:30, Jan and I headed down to the Clear Lake area. We were meeting our friends, Janice  and Dave Evans, at the Floyd’s Cajun Seafood in Webster. They were worried that we wouldn’t want to eat there again since we’d just been to the one in Katy on Sunday. We told them, No problem. It’s hard to get too much Floyd’s.

Since we weren’t supposed to meet until 4:30, we first made a stop at the local PO to see if I could track down a missing Amazon package. It was supposed to be delivered on Monday, but for some reason they tried to deliver it to the office on Sunday.

When that didn’t work, they were supposed to redeliver it on Monday, but it was a no-show. So a stop at the PO was in order. And wouldn’t you know it, while I was talking with the mail lady at the PO, I got a text saying the package had just been delivered.

Since I didn’t get the the usual text saying it was out for delivery, this was a surprise. So our next stop was at work to pick it up. Then since we still had some time to kill, we made a Staples stop so Jan could find some Christmas note paper for her Christmas cards.

Then finally it was on to Floyd’s Cajun Seafood where Jan had her usual, her favorite Chicken Fried Chicken.

Floyd's Chicken Fried Chicken

They always serve the gravy on the side so you can dip or pour, as you like. And of course along with their Sweet Potato Fries.

Janice and Dave are heading out this coming Monday so hopefully we’ll be able to get together once more before they leave.

After a good meal and a great time, we were on our way back to Santa Fe with only quick stop at the HEB for gas.

I woke up feeling a lot better this morning, so I headed off to work at my usual 10am. But it was a pretty quiet day so I was able to catch up on some stalled projects.

Since Chris and his family are mostly working tomorrow, we were getting together at the Cheddar’s in Webster at 7pm tonight, so about 6:30 we headed out. But we didn’t get far.

About halfway there, still on FM646, we suddenly heard a loud flapping from the rear of the car. At first I thought it was a flat, but the truck was still driving fine, so not a flat. We drove about 1/2 mile or so and pulled into a Citgo station.

Getting out I checked all four tires, all just fine, and even got down and looked underneath. Still nothing. So then I had Jan drive back and forth in the parking lot and then it was easy to find the problem.

A large piece of the outer tread had come loose and peeled back on the passenger rear tire, leaving the inner part still holding air.

Tire Flap

After calling Chris to let him know we weren’t going to make it, I decided to try out my new roadside assistance service, SafeRide.

A few months ago when my Good Sam ERS expired, I decided to switch over to SafeRide, sold by Chris Yust of C and C RV Insurance. I had been screwed over by GS with their billing, and SafeRide offered more services at a better price, and had excellent reviews. And it was easy to see why, if my experience was any example.




I called SafeRide at 7:08. It took me about 6 minutes to give them all my info since this was my first call. So that took me to 7:14.

Then at 7:19 I got a call from the service guy saying he would be there in about 10 minutes. In the meantime I was directed by a text message to a website map that showed where the service guy was, and giving an animation of his truck moving on the map as he got closer.

SafeRide Graphic

Really neat!

And right on time, at 7:30 he (Rex) pulled up. Accompanied by his girlfriend/wife?, they got right to work. While she was lowering the spare from underneath the truck, he got out the floor jack and loosened the lug nuts.

As soon as the spare was down and out of the way, he jacked up the truck and removed the bad tire. Then noting the spare was a little low, he added air before installing it on the truck. A couple of more minutes and he was done.

When we pulled out of the Citgo station, it was 7:52, which meant from the time I called until we were on our way was 44 minutes. Surely a record.

Great service!

Figuring Chris and his family were already or almost done, we decided to just head up 646 a couple of miles to have dinner again at Pho 20

I don’t know how the owner knew we were coming, but she was sitting at one of the outside tables waiting on us. (Actually she was listening to music on her headphones.) And as before we got the personal treatment.



We started off with the House Crunch Salad again, but this time pre-split into two separate bowls for us.

Pho 20 Half Crunch Salad

Then it was on to their really good Shrimp Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce.

Pho 20 Shrimp Spring Rolls

I again got the Jalapeno Chicken, but this time had them leave out the green peppers and add more jalapenos. Las time I found that the green pepper taste was a little overpowering.

Pho 20 Jalapeno Chicken

Jan, however, switched up and got the Curry Chicken which she really liked and said she’ll have it again. Always a good sign. However I was enjoying my dish so much I forgot to get a photo of hers.

A really great meal, and once again we left with a food gift from the owner. Very nice people.

Tomorrow, with Brandi and her family in Dallas, and most of Chris’ family working, Jan and I will be doing the Cracker Barrel thing some time in the afternoon. Looking forward to it.

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The Word of the Day is:  Viand


Thought for the Day

Sometimes the good you do doesn’t do you any good.

  fgsfg