Our RV Adventures

Jan and I headed out about1pmwith our first stop at the Santa Fe Post Office to get a PO Box for our local mail. For the first time since we started RV’ing in 2008 we no longer have a local address.

We could have used our daughter Brandi’s up in Katy, but then it’s always a hassle getting it from her in a timely manner.

I could have it sent to my client’s like all my Amazon packages, but the packages are easy to separate out from their stuff. But mail maybe not so much. So a PO Box was probably the best idea.

And it turned out to be pretty painless. I was in and out in about 10 minutes. The only thing kind of funny was the fact that I need an ID with my photo on it and an ID without my photo on it. BUT it had to be one with and one without. When I tried to use my Driver’s License and my Passport, no dice.

But they did accept my auto insurance card, so I was good to go with a 5” x 5” for 6 months for $38. Not bad.

Then it was on up to the Clear Lake area to have lunch at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood. Grilled Catfish with Gilled Veggies for Jan, and Shrimp Gumbo with a side of the Grilled Veggies for me. Delicious as always.

Our next stop was Friendswood Post Office to renew our passports. They expired last fall, but we kind of forgot about them until we started planning our European trip. So we want to get a jump on getting them renewed. Turns out that we can do it all by mail, so we got the forms to take home with us..

Then it was by Sam’s Club for a prescription, followed by a visit to the Kemah Boardwalk area so Jan could get some new essential oils at Bodhi’s.

From what I’ve been reading, it seems like that DirecTV is dropping all their SD (standard definition) channels sometime next year. Although we already have an HD DirecTV we only got it for the bigger hard drive and more storage space. We don’t have HD because our Winegard CarryOut Dome won’t receive HD signals, just SD.

So I guess at some point I’ll have to replace it with a new HD dish, something more like this.

Certainly won’t be as convenient and easy to set up.

Thought for the Day: 

“If you want to study the social and political history of modern nations, study hell.” – Father Thomas Merton, Trappist monk

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Today was another work day for me, mostly catching up on price changes and catalog corrections.

Coming home about 3:30 it started pouring down rain just as I got off I-45 and kept it up until I got into Santa Fe. But stopped before I got home.

I told Jan I was hankering for some Phở so we headed right back out to have dinner at nearby Phở 20. Jan went with something new, Chicken and Veggies Lo Mein,

while I got my usual Chicken White Meat Phở with Extra Veggies,

along with an order of the Shrimp Spring Rolls.

Tomorrow I’m going to raise the bed and take a look at the top of the engine to see if I can get a handle on my oil leak. Wish me luck.

Since that was about all for today, I thought I’d post another one of our adventures in 2013, this time leaving Bend, OR and heading east.

Cows and Goats . . .

Since we wanted to have breakfast this morning before we left for Nampa, we got all ready to go, and then about 8:55 walked over to the restaurant. On the way I grabbed a large stack of Gypsy Journals out of the truck to leave at the office.

And the breakfast turned out to be as good as last night’s dinner. This is the #1 Combo that I had. Not a bad deal for $6.95. And all really good. Loved the bacon.

We had the same waitress as we had last night and were talking to her about her cow encounter. She said there was even more to the story.

Last night we mentioned that we saw several of the ‘livestock on road’ signs, and they really mean it. Then our waitress mentioned that she ‘hit six cows last year’.

I then ask “You hit cows six times last year?” She said “No, I hit six cows all at once. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM . . . I was driving on a dark night, came over a hill, and there was a herd of black cows, so it was BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!”

Ouch!  But it gets worse.

After she hit the 6 cows, she called 911 and reported the accident. When the 911 operator asked if she needed an ambulance, she said ‘No”. But they sent one away. And the 911 operator forgot to tell the ambulance driver about the cows.

Oops!

The ambulance took out 3 more cows. If you keeping score, we’re up to 9 dead cows now.

Then the police showed up at the scene of the accident.

Oops. They weren’t told about the cows either.

So now we’re up to 11 dead cows. About this time our waitress was picked up by her husband and left the scene. But she said more cows were hit during the night. Apparently the herd of over 200 wandered back and forth over the highway all night.

The next morning they were using forklifts to clean up the highway. Yuck!

“This is Oregon?”

We headed out from The Narrows RV Park about 9:50, but we considered it as 10:50 because about 70 miles down the road we’ll enter the Mountain Time Zone, so it’s easier to just think that way from the start.

About 25 miles after we left the park, we hooked back up with US20 and headed east for Nampa, ID about 170 miles away. But we quickly began to wonder if we were still in Oregon.

It looked more like what we’ve seen in Wyoming or Montana. Long sweeping vistas with wide valleys, steep climbs, and curvy roads following the Malheur River that runs along side the highway.

And it made for some really nice photos.

Beautiful country and a really beautiful trip. And even better, considering all the curves, no cat barf.

About 40 miles out of Nampa, we got on I-84E, and by about 3pm we were parked and getting set up.

A little after 4pm we were out driving around, thinking about what we wanted for dinner. Then we passed a Texas Roadhouse, and that made the decision for us. Texas Roadhouse it was.

Jan had the 12 oz. Sirloin Strip and I had my usual  16 oz. Ribeye. And both really good.

Getting home about 5:30 we found we had some new neighbors right next door. We seen RV’ers traveling with cats, dogs, turtles, lizards, parrots, cockatoos, and even ferrets and monkeys.

But goats?

Meet (from left to right, Bonnie, Goldie, and hiding out in back, Clyde.

Their owner says that they’re Nubian goats.

And to Jan’s relief, they’re dairy goats, and pets, and not pre-cabrito.

Tomorrow we got a trip of about 180 miles to Declo, ID and the Village of Trees RV Resort.

Hopefully we’ll have as nice a trip as we did today.

Thought for the Day:

“A thief in power is to be preferred to a fool, for a thief may upon occasion take a vacation.” – Anatol France

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