Our RV Adventures

Tomorrow morning I’m heading into Houston to meet Brandi, Landon, and my lovely wife Jan at the Cheddar’s in the Westpark area. Then after lunch I’ll finally get my Baby back home.

Really looking forward to it.

Another in our Where We Were 4 Years Ago Today series.

June 24, 2016

Batteries Minus . . .

or the computer lied.

Since we had a two hour plus drive to Seabrook, we left the rig about 10:40 and headed for Outrigger’s Seafood Grill to meet our son Chris, daughter-in-law Linda, and granddaughter Piper for lunch.

We made a pit stop/fuel up at the Shell station at FM-1493 and then another pit stop at the Buc-ee’s on SR96. And we would have been on time for our 1pm get-together except for the bumper-to-bumper traffic going over the Kemah Bridge. But we did make it by about 1:15.

As with our other trips to Outrigger’s, the food was really good, as was the view.

It was great to see every one, especially Miss Piper, who’s usually working.

After hugs and goodbyes, we drove back into Webster to the Batteries Plus on Bay Area Blvd to get a new battery for my truck installed, but that didn’t happen.

The guy who was there yesterday, but not today, and told me they had one in stock, was wrong. Or at least, he believe the computer inventory which said they had one in stock. So the computer was wrong.

At least that seems to be the story they’re sticking with.

So after that disappointment, we headed out for a few more chores. Our first stop was at a Chase ATM to activate Jan’s new VISA Chip Card before I dropped her off at the SuperCuts in Friendswood to get her hair done. Then I was off to Lou’s Barbershop to get mine cut.

What I can’t figure is why Jan’s haircut costs $1 dollar less than mine. I mean, have you compared our respective heads of hair?

With that done, we headed over to our friend Connie’s so I could take a look at her entertainment system problems. She just got a new Yamaha Audio Amplifier/Receiver and was having trouble integrating it into her setup, including a DirecTV receiver, a DVD/CD/VHS player, and a Karaoke machine.

Whenever I’m faced with something like this, I’ve found the best way to handle it is to just unplug everything and start from scratch. And that’s what I did.

Then I started with the DirecTV Receiver, patching the video to the TV, and the audio to Line 1 on the Amp. Unfortunately this amp doesn’t also switch video like some do.

Then I went down the line, doing the DVD/CD/VHS player on Line 3, and TV Ch. 3. Last up was the Karaoke machine which went on Line 2, and video 2.

Doing it this way makes it a lot easier than trying to dive in the middle and figure out what was wrong to start with.

We next spent some time trying to program the DirecTV remote to operate the Audio Amp on one of the AV function keys. But although there were 13 codes available, none of them allowed us to control the Yamaha.

So unless Connie wants to buy one of those expensive Logitech Harmony remotes, she’s going to have to use more than one remote to control her system.

By this time it was after 7:30 so we headed off to Cheddar’s for dinner. Since Jan and I had a big lunch, we split a appetizer and still had some to bring home.

That’s Jan on the left, of course, then Connie, her mother Hazel, and our long-time friend Maria, of Bob and Maria fame. Unfortunately Bob was AWOL. We had a great time, and great food, but we finally had to get on the road, especially since it was 9:30 by the time we left the restaurant.

We made a pit stop at the Flying J  in Brookshire and then hit one of those phantom slowdowns. Just 3 or 4 miles past Brookshire, as we made the big curve there, I could see police lights speeding out in front of the traffic.

Then after a couple of more miles everything came to a dead stop. After 5 minutes of no movement whatsoever, I checked Waze on my phone and 3 people said they thought it was a big accident up ahead.

Since it looked like we would be there for a while, I told Jan I was glad we’d just gone to the bathroom.

But then after about 10 minutes total, all of a sudden the traffic started moving, quickly reaching the 65mph speed limit. And there was never any sign of police, or an accident. Or anything.

POOF!  It all just disappeared.

We finally got back to the rig about 11:45, and found a loud and complaining Miss Karma, upset that she didn’t get her dinner of canned food at her usual feeding time.

So I sat her down and carefully explained that she always had Meow Mix Dry on tap, so she shouldn’t be complaining if dinner was a little late. I also reminded her that just a few months ago she was living outside in the cold, wet weather, dodging coyotes, and only eating what she could catch. And it probably didn’t taste as nearly as good as Meow Mix.

And it could be that way again if she didn’t straighten up.

Then I gave her a squirt of  Whipped Cream and she was happy again.

Thought for the Day:

P.S. It’s a heavy-duty jack.

First off I want to thank everyone that responded to my request for a copy of the Delorme 2015 Street Atlas program.

I received it in the mail yesterday and got it installed.

Thanks, James.

Another in our Where We Were 7 Years Ago Today series.

June 23, 2013

Irma’s and Old Friends . . .

A little while after we got up this morning, Jan saw this guy in the next field over, where along with his friends, were leaping over the fences like they weren’t even there.

About 10:45 Jan and I headed into Cody to meet our friends Al and Adrienne at the Irma Hotel & Restaurant. Built in 1902 by Buffalo Bill Cody as a destination for tourists on their way to Yellowstone National Park.

And it still serves that same purpose today, although it’s grown a little bit over the years.

We were meeting Al & Adrienne there at 11:30 for what turned out to be a delicious Sunday lunch buffet. Grilled Chicken, Grilled Cod, BBQ Pork Ribs, and some really good Prime Rib. And for dessert, their famous Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce.

HMMM! GOOOD!

And of course we sat around for another hour and a half just catching up. Finally we followed them back to their rig so we could see Banjo, Cassie, and Abby. We’ve known Banjo the dog, and Cassie the cat, since we met Al & Adrienne in Fairbanks, AK in 2008

Leaving their rig we all drove about 15 miles out toward Powell, WY to visit the Heart Mountain Internment Camp. Built in the summer of 1942, the first internees arrived by train in August.

Heart Mountain was one of 10 camps built around the country in 1942, and at its peak held almost 11,000 people.

The Heart Mountain Center has a number of rooms filled with exhibits about the place and the people, many of them done by people who were in the camp.

All four of us were moved by our visit to the Heart Mountain Center, and it’s well recommended to our readers.

Coming home we passed the Wal-Mart and noticed it looked like an RV sales lot. It’s hard to tell by this photo, but there must have been 40-50 RV’s lined up all the way back and more were coming  as we watched.

Either that or Wal-Mart’s started holding RV Rallies now.

As I was getting the truck packed up for tomorrow’s trip to Billings, I said ‘Hi’ to a couple walking by. Then the lady looked over at me and said “I know you. You’re Greg”. It turned out to be LeRoy and Anne Willis, who we’ve meet at Nick’s Gypsy Rallies. They’re here in the Cody area until the middle of July. It was good to catch up again.

Tomorrow we’re meeting Al & Adrienne at the Wild Horse Café for breakfast on our way through Cody and up to Billings.

Thought for the Day:

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” – Mahatma Gandhi