Monthly Archives: August 2020
Streaming Along . . .
Our changeover from DirecTV satellite to streaming YouTubeTV through our Amazon Firestick has gone pretty seamlessly. Of course, besides YouTubeTV, we also pay for CBSAll Access, Acorn, CuriosityStream, NetFlix, and Amazon Prime Video. And even with all these we’re paying just over a third of what we were paying for DirecTV. Plus we also have some freebies like CWSeed, Pluto, Plex, and Peacock.
So we get more channels, unlimited DVR recordings, and full HD quality video.
Recently we’ve been streaming episodes of Grimm, Murdoch Mysteries, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and Primeval. So this evening since we were down to the last 3 episodes of the last season, we binge-watch those to finish it up. One of our favorite shows.
Next up for our Science-Fiction selection we’ll replace Primeval with Warehouse 13, another 5 season TV show favorite of ours.
Several of our readers have inquired recently if we’ve given up traveling in our RV since we don’t seem to be doing much of it lately. No we haven’t.
2017 was our last year of full-time traveling, where we’d leave Houston sometime in late February-early March and not come back until around Thanksgiving. But since then we’ve made several destination trips to Florida, Illinois, Alabama, and the Texas Hill Country.
In fact we did an RV this past January, but haven’t done anything since then while I’m working on my oil leak and lighting problems, but we’re not off the road yet.
August 15, 2014
The End of an Era?
We pulled out of the Gulf State Park a little before 9 heading for Broussard, LA about 310 miles away. But our first stop was the Wal-Mart about 4 miles later to diesel up before we hit the road.
I had it all planned. I would pull up to the outside left diesel pumps, fuel up, and then loop around the back of the station and out into the parking lot where Jan was waiting in the truck. But the unplanned part was the big Coke delivery truck parked along the back of the station. So when I was finished, I had to back out into the street, but luckily it went pretty smoothly, and we were hitched up and back on the road pretty quickly.
Thirty miles later, we got on I-10 and headed west. After crossing the Mobile Bay Causeway, we dipped down through the tunnel under the Mobile River and up on the other side.
Going though this new tunnel always makes me think of the old, Bankhead tunnel. Before this Interstate 4-lane tunnel was built in the mid-70’s, the 2-lane Bankhead tunnel, built in the early 40’s was the way under the river.
When it was built, it opened as a toll tunnel, costing 25 cents in the 1960’s. The toll was supposed to pay off the $4 million tunnel construction costs and then be discontinued.
But in the early 70’s a curious reporter wondered why it was taking so long to pay off that $4 million. A little investigating turned up the fact that the tunnel had actually been paid off around 1955. Since then the toll money just went to pay the salaries of the toll takers and all the administrators. But by the time this was discovered, the new Wallace tunnel was ready to open,
I was also surprised to find out that the old tunnel is still there and in daily use. But no tolls now.
When we stopped at the Louisiana Welcome Center for a rest stop, Jan took over driving for a while, planning to take us almost to Baton Rouge, 90 miles away before we swapped back. But that didn’t quite work out.
About 20 miles out of Baton Rouge, the traffic ground to a stop. After creeping along at idle speed for about 10 minutes, I checked the Sigalert app on my phone and found there was a car on fire about 5 miles ahead, blocking the right lane. I went ahead and had Jan get in the left lane, hoping to speed things up.
Finally, while we were sitting still for a few moments, Jan and I swapped back, and I took the wheel again. Then about 10 minutes later, all of a sudden, the traffic starting moving, and was soon back up to full speed. And we never saw any wreck, or any sign of a car fire, no fire engines, no ambulances, just one lone police car sitting in the median without any lights on. Huh!
About 4:30 we pulled into Maxie’s Campground, about 10 miles south of Lafayette. The owner told us to pick any open site and let him know where we parked.
All the sites are back-ins, so we unhitched first, and then found a site where we could back in away from the highway. So we probably won’t hear any road noise.
A very nice park for $15 a night, 50 amp full hookups, under Passport America. The only downside here is no satellite reception. See all those beautiful oak trees? There’s a whole forest between us and the satellite. But no problem for one night.
Passport America is something I recommend for all RV’ers. It costs about $45 a year and will pay for itself very quickly. In fact, since we left Houston the middle of May, we’ve already paid for a subscription, twice.
We had originally planned to eat at our usual place for dinner, Pont Breaux, nee Mulate’s, over in Breaux Bridge. In fact in 20 something years, we’ve never passed through here and not eaten there.
From 1994 to 2005, every month I drove up to Birmingham from Houston to check in on my mother. And I always stopped at Mulate’s for lunch, going and coming. And since I always ordered the same thing, i.e. large seafood gumbo, iced tea, and then bread pudding with whiskey sauce for dessert, all I had to do was walk in and sit down, and they would bring me my food, no ordering or anything.
But with Pont Breaux 13 miles away, and it’s hot and no AC in the truck, I asked the park owner about someplace closer, and he recommend Poor Boy’s Riverside Inn, a couple of miles up the road. This may be the end of an era.
Opened in 1932, it was originally out in the country, but as the years passed, an industrial area built up around it, with a lot of oilfield service companies, pipe companies, etc. Not really a bad area, but not where you’d expect to find a nice restaurant. As Jan said, you’d have to know this place is here, to find it. You’re not going to stumble across it by accident.
But we knew we’d picked the right place when we arrived and found the large parking lot almost completely full.
And it’s very nice inside, white tablecloths and everything.
I started out with a cup of their seafood gumbo, and then Jan and I both had the same thing. Well, almost.
We both had the Stuffed Pepper Jack, Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Breast. Mine was with Alligator stuffing, but Jan wimped out and had the Shrimp stuffing. On top is melted Pepper Jack cheese, and fresh sautéed mushrooms.
Everything was just delicious, and seasoned perfectly. Even the Stuffed Baked Potato was great. And it all came with a salad with their homemade dressings, and a big basket of hot, fresh yeast rolls.
And if we weren’t stuffed enough ourselves, we had to finished it off with an order of their homemade Sweet Potato Beignets with Vanilla Sauce.
Overall, this was one of the best meals we’ve had in a long time.
Tomorrow we’ve got a 300 mile run to the Colorado River Thousand Trails where we’ll be for a week or so before our next Gate Guarding adventure.
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Thought for the Day:
The only thing I was fit for was to be a writer, and this notion rested solely on my suspicion that I would never be fit for real work, and that writing didn’t require any. – Russell Baker
August 15, 2016
Benchmark and BBQ . . .
With a 337 mile trip to Waskom, TX this morning, we were pulling out of the Benchmark RV Park in Meridian, MS a little before 10am. I was happy to hear no more groaning from my power steering, so I guess the added AW32 hydraulic fluid took care of that problem.
We’ve stayed at Benchmark once before, and it’s a really nice park. All 27 sites are long pull-thru’s, and at $17 Passport America, it’s a great deal.
A few minutes later we were back on I-20/I-59 heading for Miss Ellie’s RV Park in Waskom, about 3 miles into Texas from Louisiana, and about 20 miles west of Shreveport. The last time we were in Shreveport was last year when we had some time off from our gate guarding gate near Carthage, TX about 50 miles away.
The first leg of our trip today was only for about 90 mile to the outskirts of Jackson, MS, Brandon, MS to be exact. And Sonny’s BBQ specifically.
When we were eating at the Sonny’s BBQ in Pensacola a week or so ago, I noticed they had a location in Brandon, MS. I was checking to see if their Jackson, MS restaurant was still open, and found it wasn’t.
But checking where Brandon was, I saw it was right off I-20 about 15 miles east of Jackson. And checking Google Street View I found they had a really big parking lot in back. Big enough for an RV + Toad. So 90 minutes after we left Benchmark, we were pulling in the Sonny’s BBQ parking lot.
This time Jan and I both started out with the Salad Bar, and Sonny’s BBQ does have a good one, with a lot of delicious options.
And besides being really tasty, it helped fill us up, so we had more leftover BBQ to take home.
Jan got her standard Pulled Pork Sandwich with Fries.
While I went with my go-to meal, Sonny’s Pork 3 Ways.
You just can’t go wrong with anything Sonny’s.
The trip was going really smooth until we started hitting rain west of Vicksburg, and it keep with us all the way through Shreveport and on to Miss Ellie’s RV Park about 3 miles into Texas.
We stayed here at Miss Ellie’s back in 2014 on our way north to Elkhart, IN. Even though it’s not a Passport America park, it’s right off the Interstate, and at $22 it’s still a good deal.
We got in about 4:30, got parked, and set up. We got a nice long site, so we didn’t have to unhitch since we planned to stay in tonight.
Tomorrow we’ve got a 300 mile trip back to the Colorado Lake Thousand Trails, which has kind of become our home park. Saturday is Landon’s 6th birthday, and then we’ll start looking for our gate for this year.
Hopefully.
Thought for the Day:
“I am not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” – Woody Allen
Our Happy Little Buddha . . .
I spent a lot of time on the phone today talking with both Fleetwood and Spartan about my wiring/lighting problems, and I may have a new insight on the problem
As before, Fleetwood/American Coach was no help, but when I was talking with the guy at Spartan Chassis about how this almost had to be something common to all 4 light systems, taillights, turn signals, brake lights, and backup lights, and not 4 separate problems.
And then he said, “Have you checked the point where American’s coach wiring splices into our chassis wiring?” Well that sounds interesting. And when I ask where that was, he said that it was back in the engine compartment, and to just open the doors and look down.
And this is what I saw.
This is also where the wiring that feeds the toad lights is spliced in. And it’s always looked like this.
Well, not all oily. That’s from my leak, but all tie-wrapped together in a big bundle. It came that way with the rig, and since it always worked, I left it alone. Until now, I guess.
But first I’ll have to degrease the area and then start tracing things out. More later on that.
Also looks like I’ll give to get up on the rig roof again tomorrow. The front AC is dripping in the rig, which means that the outside drain holes are stopped up again. This time I’m going to drill the holes out much larger and even maybe add some more.
We’ll see. But it’s going to be a busy weekend.
Our daughter Brandi got some good news from her work a couple of days ago. They won’t be going back into the office before the end of January 2021.
She said she gets more done, without the daily commute time, toll roads, gasoline, lunches, and business clothes. And think she’d be happy if it stayed that way.
And I think a lot of other people feel the same way about their jobs too.
Here in 2011 we were still doing the family reunion thing in Vandalia, IL with Jan’s sister Debbie and her family.
August 14, 2011
Fish and Boots . . .
First off, I want to show off Landon’s first pair of John Deere boots Brandi got him at Rural King.
He’s all ready for the farm life now.
As usual, we met at Robbi’s for breakfast this morning, but with a slightly smaller group this time. Just Brandi, Lowell, Landon, Debbie, and Jan and I. Jim was a little under the weather and everyone else was off doing other things.
Leaving Robbi’s, Debbie showed Brandi, Lowell, and Landon some of the sights around town while Jan and I went back by Rural King so I could get some new boot laces
Later Landon showed off his new guayabera shirt, and then just showed off in general.
A little after noon everyone started setting up for the Fish Fry. This time we had everyone there for all the food and fun.
Jim had fried up a bunch of catfish he’d caught, and along with potato salad, corn casserole, pasta salad, and baked beans, we were in hog heaven. Emphasize the ‘hog’ part.
Afterwards, too stuffed to move, we all set around and watched the kids play.
Later, Jan told me to go fly a kite, so I did. But the wind wasn’t very cooperative. About the time I would get the kite up about 20 or 30 feet, the wind would just quit and down it would come.
Bummer!
And unlike yesterday, the weather cooperated and we didn’t have to move inside. So Landon just sat out and enjoyed the fun.
All in all, it was an almost perfect day. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if our son Chris and his family, Linda and Piper, could have been here too.
Brandi, Lowell, and Landon leave tomorrow, and since they have to drive back to St. Louis to catch their plane, we’ll be having breakfast tomorrow at 8 am instead of 9.
We’re staying until Wednesday, when we head over to the Horseshoe Lakes Thousand Trails Resort north of Terre Haute, IN for two weeks.
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Thought for the Day:
“When you’re born dumb, you stay that way a long time.”
And in 2015 we were on our way back to Houston, first for Landon’s birthday and then on to our next Gate Guarding job.
August 14, 2015
70,000 . . . So Far
We were out of our site here at Poche’s RV Park and on the road by 9am this morning, on our way back to Texas for the first time in about six months.
We’ve never stayed more than one night here, always on our way back to Texas. But it’s a nice park, and we always enjoy our stay.
The park is built around a number of stocked fishing ponds, and is popular with the locals, as well as RV’ers.
And the scenery is pretty great too. Note the heron on the sandbar.
Besides being back in Texas today, we also hit another milestone. Since we picked up our coach January 6, 2008, we’ve put 70,000 miles on it, for a total so far of 134, 511 miles.
She’s just getting broken in.
Overall our trip was pretty smooth, except for the fact that I-10 becomes a pothole-pocked mess going through every town. Lafayette, Lake Charles, Beaumont, and of course Houston, are all a teeth-jarring mess.
We went through Houston around 2pm, so there wasn’t a lot of traffic, at least to me. I know some people don’t like to drive through Houston, but I guess I’m kind of use to it, having lived here since 1978.
I just find my lane and go. I was able to hold 50-60 mph most of the way with few slowdowns, but doing it at 5pm would have been a whole ‘nother story.
We got checked in at the Colorado River Thousand Trails about 3:30 and were able to get our favorite A2 site at the top of the hill.
We plan to goof off and rest up tomorrow, then on Sunday we’ll drive down to our son Chris’ and he and I will replace the leaky radiator on our truck, and get together for dinner.
For dinner tonight, and being Friday, of course it was the BBQ Buffet up the road at Peter’s BBQ. All the Brisket, Ribs, Sausage, Catfish, Shrimp, Fried Chicken, as well as sides and dessert, you can eat, and all for only $11.50. You can’t beat a deal like that.
It’s good to be back in Texas.
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Thought for the Day:
“A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.” – Milton Friedman
And in 2016 we were also on our way back to Houston after being on the road since March.
August 14, 2016
Worth the Rush . . .
We had planned to be up at 6 and on the road by 7:30. Instead we were up at 6:30 and on the road by 8.
We only had a 240 mile trip to Meridian, so normally we wouldn’t be on the road until around 10, but today we had kind of a time crunch.
Since we were overnighting in Meridian, we definitely wanted to eat at Weidmann’s Restaurant. But there was a problem. On Sunday, Weidmann’s is only open from 11am to 2pm for their Sunday Jazz Brunch.
So we wanted to get to Meridian by 1pm or so, to have time to get to the restaurant before they closed.
But besides our late start, there was another problem. We needed to get diesel before we got on I-65 S. And of course this was the ‘perfect’ morning for a really slow diesel pump.
So $300 and almost an hour later, we were hitched up and on the road by 9am. Later than we had planned, but with luck we might still make it.
We took I-65 south to Birmingham where we then took I-20/I-59 south by Tuscaloosa and on toward Meridian. We did run through another of those strange brief heavy rains under bright sunshine.
Then on the west side of Tuscaloosa we ran into another slowdown. There were signs for a construction zone ahead, and then traffic slowed to 5-10 mph crawl. Finally after about 20 minutes of this, passing construction equipment with no one around. we finally came to the traffic obstacle, the thing blocking the left lane, and forcing all the vehicles down to one lane. It was a SUV with flashing blue lights just setting in the left lane with no one around. In fact we didn’t see a single worker. And then once we were all past that, it was back to full speed again.
We got to the Benchmark RV Park about 1:15 and got parked and just plugged in shore power. We didn’t even put out the slide yet. And as soon as I had the truck unhitched we were on our way by 1:35.
We were only about 10 minutes away, so I was hoping that we could still get in for the brunch. And as it turns out, Weidmann’s is one of those places that if you make in the door before 2pm, you’re good to go.
Weidmann’s is the oldest restaurant in Mississippi, in operation since 1870, and a quick look at just their Brunch menu will show you why they’ve lasted this long.
Jan of course, went for the Crab Cakes, homemade with lump crabmeat, special seasonings and served on fried green tomatoes with a white wine sauce and served with fresh fruit.
Jan has a new favorite dish, I think.
I decided on the Prime Rib PoBoy, a 8 ounce prime rib served on a PoBoy bun with their spicy horseradish sauce and topped with flash fried onion rings and served with homemade potato chips.
And mine too was delicious, and so big that I could only eat half of it. And what’s even better here are the prices.
My 8 oz. Prime Rib PoBoy was only $13.95, and Jan’s Crab Cake were only $15.95. Really great prices. And our waitress Londa was great too. (she insisted I tell you that)
Getting back to the rig, we put out the slide and I set up the Satellite dome. We don’t normally hook up water and sewer on these one night stops, so after I let out the awnings, I was done.
Well, almost.
I had noticed this morning that as I was pulling out of the park that I was hearing a little groaning from my power steering. But it was fine once things warmed up. So I figured that I was a little low on hydraulic fluid and would add some when we got to Meridian.
I did keep an eye on my engine temp just in case since strangely enough, the same hydraulic system that runs the power steering also runs the radiator cooling fan. But the temp stay in its normal 175-180 degree range the whole trip.
So after I finished setting things up, I looked for my gallon jug of AW32 hydraulic fluid, and I couldn’t find it. It should have been in the back of the battery bay, but it wasn’t. And I checked a couple of other likely bays with no luck.
So it was off to a nearby O’Reilly’s for another gallon to take care of the problem.
Tomorrow we’ve got a 300 mile run to Miss Ellie’s RV Park a little west of Shreveport. As I mentioned yesterday, due to all the flooding and the road closures along 1-10 / I-12, we’re taking the northern route home.
In fact the flooding is so bad down there, that they are helicoptering in supplies to the motorists who have been stranded on the Interstate for more than 24 hours.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone affected.
Thought for the Day:
Apparently Cinderella is proof that a new pair of shoes can change your life.
And in 2018 we were wrapping up the sale of our house that we’d owned here in Clear Lake area since July 1979.
August 14, 2018
And One To Go . . .
Today was our penultimate visit to the house trying to wrap up clearing out the last of our stuff.
Actually though it was 3 separate visits today, with the first one to pick up a lot of left-over packing materials and a bunch of stuff for the Salvation Army.
We left the rig about 11 and after picking up the stuff at the house, dropped off the packing stuff at my clients since he ships so much stuff. Then after a delicious lunch at our favorite East Star Chinese Buffet, we dropped off the stuff for the Salvation Army.
Then it was back over to the house to get a load to take back down to the store room. And after that it was back up to the house for a load of things that we’re keeping at the rig until Brandi, Lowell,and Landon have moved into their new house. No use taking it up now so they just have to move it. So we finally got back to the rig about 4pm.
Then tomorrow I’ll go by the house one last time to load all of our normal stuff, air compressor, battery charger, antenna poles, spare parts, solar screen panels, etc., back into the truck. Then we should be done.
As far as we know we’re still closing on Thursday, but no time or place yet. And it turns out that Brandi’s closing has also been moved up a week, to Friday, August 24th. The sooner the better for all of us.
As we’ve been moving a lot of boxes of old family photos and letters, we keep coming across some interesting things, including this old photo of one of my parent’s beach houses at Orange Beach, AL near Gulf Shores.
In 1957 my parents bought 300 feet (six 50 foot lots) of beachfront land at Orange Beach. Then in the mid-60’s they traded 4 of the lots to a builder to build two houses, the Sea Fever and the Sandpiper, of my father’s design on the remaining lots. You can see the other one just to the left in the photo.
They rented them out over the next 30 years, and Jan and I stayed in one a number of times. Then in the mid-90’s, after my father died, my mother sold off one and then the other.
One of the buyers tore down the Sea Fever and built a nice three story brick house. The second buyer actually moved the Sandpiper to the other side of the street.
There were also nice brick homes built on the other four lots to the west. Then in 2004 came Hurricane Ivan.
Now my father had been building on the beach since the early 50’s, and he knew how to build things that would survive hurricanes. And that was the case with Ivan.
All the homes along the 300 feet just disappeared, with no trace left. And all the homes on either side of my parent’s remaining house also were gone. Only the Sandpiper survived. And it’s still there today.
And note that nothing has been built on the other lots in the last 14 years.
Thought for the Day:
The good news is that I’ve made it to my golden years. The bad news is that there ain’t no gold.
