Monthly Archives: February 2021
Family Get-Together . . .
Jan and I headed up to the Katy area about 2:45pm to meet up with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at the Babin’s Seafood at Mason Rd.
It was smooth trip with no traffic to speak of. But it does tell you something when you can be doing 75-80 mph in the middle of 5 lanes, and people are passing you on both sides. And giving you dirty looks because you’re driving too slow.
It was our first time at a Babin’s and it turned out to be really good. We’ve got one over at the Kemah Boardwalk, not too far from us, so we may have to go again.
We started off with an order of their Shrimp Kisses, shrimp stuffed with jack chees and jalapenos, then wrapped in bacon and covered in a BBQ Chipotle Glaze. But strangely enough they didn’t last long enough for me to get a photo.
Then it was on to salads for everyone, well, except Landon. Brandi and Lowell with House Salads, Jan with the Greek Salad, and I was happy to see they had my favorite Wedge Salad.
For the entrée, everyone got something different. Brandi got the Seafood Mixed Grill, pretty much a Fried Seafood Platter, while Jan got the Crab Cakes.
Lowell got the Fried Shrimp Platter, while Landon, every the anarchist, got Chicken Alfredo.
But more of the traditionalist, I got a big bowl of their Shrimp Gumbo.
Being it was an early celebration of Lowell’s birthday, I ordered a Bourbon St. Bread Pudding, thinking we could all have a few bites.
Wrong!
This thing was enormous. The photo doesn’t do it justice.
The bread pudding was made with raisins and pecans, covered in Bananas Foster sauce (complete with bananas) and Vanilla RUM sauce (note the emphasis on the RUM. You could smell it when the waiter set it down) and then capped off with about 5” of meringue.
And it was delicious. And so big, that after everyone had their fill, and then some, I still had over half of it left to bring home.
I think next time when we go, I’m just getting the Bread Pudding and coffee. And I bet I still have some to take home.
Coming home was just as smooth as the trip up, getting us back to the rig a little before 7pm. A very nice day.
Wrapping up, I came across this colorized video of the traffic on Market St in San Francisco in 1906. And watching it, one thing became obvious very quickly.
Drivers and pedestrians were just as bad back then as they are now. The pedestrians just walk right in front of buggies and autos. The autos, and the buggies, cut each other off, and dart across three lanes of traffic to turn or park.
Human nature never changes.
Thought For The Day:
Immature: The word used by boing people to describe fun people.
This was the very first Our RV Adventures I did. Unfortunately I was so involved in getting us on the road our first year, I never thought about blogging.
February 6, 2009
Welcome to Our RV Adventures!
Welcome to Jan and Greg White’s RV life. Year Two.
We’re getting ready to start our 2nd year living and traveling fulltime in our 40 foot America Eagle motorcoach.
Our coach (Jan named her ‘Beauty’) is a Class A diesel pusher with a 350hp Cummins ISC engine. FYI – Class A means it is what Jan calls a ‘bus’.
‘Beauty’ at her finest!
Class C’s are the ones you see built on truck chassis’ that have a bed hanging out over the cab roof.
This Class C is the one we took on our first RV trip in March 2007.
Class B’s are smaller and are built on large van chassis’. And no, I have no idea why Class A is the biggest, Class B is the smallest, and Class C is the middle size.
A Class B RV
And diesel ‘pusher’ means it has the engine in the rear.
At home on Dickinson Bayou.
We’ve been parked here at Galveston Bay RV Park since the 1st of Dec.
The view out our front window.
Jan loves all the wild life in the area
Thought For The Day:
Two wrongs don’t make a right, but they do make it interesting.
February 6, 2012
TopWater And Torpedoes . . .
Today was another day of trying to wrap things up before we leave here in about 10 days.
Leaving the rig about 11:30, my first stop was at our doctor’s office to pick up the printouts of our lab results that were supposed to be ready.
But they weren’t. Or, at least, all of them weren’t. Only some.
My next stop was our optometrist to make appointments for Jan and I. I was able to get mine for 3:00 pm this afternoon, and Jan’s is set for 10:15 am Thursday morning.
Since I had a couple of hours to kill I decided to work on some things at a nearby client’s, before I ended up back at the doctor’s.
Thirty minutes later I at the Optical Department at a nearby Sam’s Club ordering my new glasses. Talk about a price difference! The exact same frames that are $94 at Wal-Mart are only $47 at Sam’s.
After stops at Home Depot and Lowe’s for some parts for a project I’m working on, and then dropping off our winter comforter at the cleaner’s, I finally headed home.
We have two comforters, a winter one and a summer one. The winter one is heavier, and we use it while we’re back in Texas. Then we have it cleaned and sealed in plastic, and then right before we leave, we drop it off at our storeroom and pick up our summer one that we had cleaned and stored right after we got here. It’s a vicious circle.
Getting back to the rig, we decided to have dinner once again at TopWater Grill located at April Fool Point on Galveston Bay.
We’ve been eating since it opened about 12 years ago, and have watched it grow from a small shack with about 5 tables and a bar, to a large, beautiful restaurant on the bay.
Unfortunately the place was almost completely destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008 and it was a while before they rebuilt it. In fact this is is the first time we’ve been back since then.
But at least the scenic views haven’t changed.
And neither has the delicious food. These are Torpedoes, large breaded jalapenos stuffed with crabmeat and cheese. Really, really good.
So good that we ate two of them before I remembered to take a picture.
And this is my Fried Seafood Platter, with scallops, fish filets, fried shrimp, crabmeat-stuffed shrimp, and a stuffed crab, along with shrimp coleslaw and jalapeno hushpuppies.
And did I mentioned the great views?
And of course, a really beautiful sunset when we got back to the park.
Thought for the Day:
“Take the high ground boy, or they’ll kick hell out of you in the valleys.”
February 6, 2013
Cold, Dreary, and Wet . . .
It was pouring down rain when I woke up this morning and never really let up all day.
After morning coffee, HEB Cinnamon Hazelnut, if you’re interested, I took down the living room valance/shade combo so I could repair it. Unfortunately this one actually has a broken cord up inside the shade, so it will have to be replaced. I going to redo all four cords to be sure I don’t have any other worn spots.
To get this valance down I had to lower the sofa down into the bed position so I could get to the screws at the bottom. Actually had trouble remembering how to do it, since the last time we used it was in 2008 when we flew our daughter Brandi and granddaughter Piper up to Fairbanks, AK to spend a week with us.
But by the time I finally figured it out and got the valance down and the shade disassembled, it was time to head out about 12:30 to meet a friend of Jan’s. Then it was back over to Kemah so Jan could get her hair done.
While she was hair-involved, I made a pass through the nearby Home Depot for a few things until Jan was ready to go.
After that it was home for the night and the last of our homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup.
I talked to Brock’s Car Care later in the afternoon and found they were waiting on a new condenser fan, and my truck wouldn’t be ready until tomorrow, so I’ll have to drive that big Dodge Ram truck for another day.
Oh, darn.
Thought for the Day:
“After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn’t do it.” – William S. Burroughs
February 6, 2014
Chili and Stepstools . . .
I spent most of this cold morning working inside the rig, getting all the chairs bolted down and wired up after removing them for the floor install. The hardest thing is getting the cable hooked up that controls the rotation lock. There’s not a lot of room underneath the chair to get your hands in there.
About 1 PM I headed into Clear Lake to pick up our prescriptions at Sam’s Club. Along the way I stopped off at the Bay Area Pet Adoption Center right down the road. Jan had gone thru some stuff and had several bags of old sheets, and a bag of rugs that we no longer need since the new floor is done. They use these as bedding for the animals and welcome any they can get.
After picking up our prescriptions and a few other things, I headed back home and spent the rest of the afternoon working on client webstuff. About 4 we finished off the last of the chili that Jan made a couple of days ago. Chili’s one of those foods that seems to get better as it ages a couple of days. Delicious!
After dinner I took a look at one of those little problems that always nag you, but never enough to get you to actually do something about them.
The pocket door between the bedroom and the bathroom often starts sticking and won’t close all the way when we’re using the levelers or parked in an area with a lot of humidity. In our present case, we’ve got both conditions. So this time I did something about it.
Getting up on a stepstool with a flashlight, I discovered that, unlike some of these doors I’ve seen, these actually have adjusters that let you raise or lower the door in the frame. There is a plastic lock that keeps the adjuster from moving that I moved out of the way, and then used a small wrench to raise the door enough to allow it to move freely. Finally fixed!
Tomorrow will probably be mostly client stuff, but tomorrow night we’re going to the Alvin Opry again, probably our last time for this year.
Thought for the Day:
“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.” ~ Henry Ford
February 6, 2015
Piddling . . .
After Jan and I had very early (too early) coffee and kolaches, our son Chris showed up for my (his) latest project.
He was going to repair the damaged fiberglass on the bottom corners of our rig’s front cap.
The first one is a mystery. In 2008 during our first month on the road, we were parked in the parking lot in front of Al’s RV Supply in the Fortuna Foothills in Yuma, AZ. We were in the store for about an hour, and then after eating lunch, we came out to find this on the right side just in front of the door.
No one was near us when we parked, and no one was nearby when we came out.
This second one, on the driver’s side, was my fault, but I’ve forgotten what happened. It didn’t look this bad until Chris pulled the loose piece off so he could repair it.
So after Chris checked out the damage, we drove up to the Home Depot in Kemah to pick up supplies, including the fiberglass stuff.
Getting back to the rig, Chris started out by using his multifunction tool to cut away the ragged edges of the break underneath the light.
Then he pop-riveted a temporary plate on the front of the break to hold it together while he pop-riveted a hidden, permanent one on the back.
This got him here.
Then he brushed some resin on the break to bond it together.
That finished up this part for now.
Now starting on the side, he used cardboard to create a temporary frame to support the first layers of fiberglass cloth.
By now it was getting to be lunchtime, so along with Jan, we drove up to Stomp’s Burger Joint in Bacliff. This is one of our favorite local places, and nearby too.
Great burgers, fries and onion rings.
Getting back to work, Chris next laid in cloth along the bottom of the break and started brushing on resin,
and laying on several more layers of cloth, and then more resin.
Then it’s just resin, cloth, resin, cloth, resin, as he builds up the patch,
Ending up here for the day.
So why do I have my son Chris doing fiberglass body work on my rig? And why do I know that this patch will turn out looking great?
Because of this.
It’s a 1977 16 ft. Century Arabian, with a Ford 351 Windsor (Mercruiser) engine, and a Velvet Drive inboard/outboard drive unit.
When a friend of Chris’ gave (yes, gave) it to him, it hadn’t been used in years, it was sitting out in a field, the bottom was rotted out, and there was a TREE growing out of it.
He spent over two years, refurbishing it from top to bottom, and stem to stern, including rebuilding the 233hp engine and the i/o drive unit. And he did all the work himself.
So I don’t think he’ll have a problem with my piddling little repair job.
_________________________________________________________________
Thought for the Day:
Everyone sees what you appear to be, but few experience what you really are.
February 6, 2016
A Windy Walk . . .
We did walk this morning, heading out about 11:30, but ended up only doing the first mile because it was so windy.
All the flags around the park were streaming straight out, and the Weather Channel said we were getting gusts to 20 – 25 mph. Even our chairs on the patio had blown over, so we didn’t have breakfast outside either.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon enjoying the RV lifestyle, you know, reading, snacking, watching TV, napping, play on the Internet, etc.
Yeah, that lifestyle.
For dinner tonight, it was really simple – chips and dip, hot dogs, and leftover potato skins from Schobel’s yesterday. Simple, but good.
This past Thursday, the National Archives released another 3000+ pages of previous secret papers concerning the Kennedy assassination. And unless the next President decides otherwise, all the rest will be released by October 2017.
Of course, everyone has their own favorite conspiracy theories, i.e. Castro’s revenge, LBJ, CIA, the grassy knoll, the storm sewer, the Soviet Union, etc.
Take your pick.
Bu for a whole new prospective, check out The Bookmaker, a fictional history of the Kennedy clan, tying together all the many family deaths , from Joe, Jr. in WWII 1944 to John John’s plane crash in 1999. The mastermind behind this recounts his vendetta against Joseph Kennedy, Sr., beginning in England on the eve of WWII when Joe Sr. was the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain.
The author, Chris Fraser, weaves a very plausible tale, interspersing the real and fictional characters and events into a seamless plotline of murder, intrigue, and secrecy, leaving you to wonder, ”What if this is really true?”
A great read! Check it out.
Tomorrow morning it’s a early wake-up call so we can meet Vance and Bonnie Clegg, our next door neighbors, at 8am for the breakfast buffet down at Schobel’s in Columbus. Then tomorrow evening we’re probably driving into Katy to have dinner with Brand, Lowell, and Landon.
Really looking forward to both.
Thought for the Day:
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children”s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” – Ronald Reagan
February 6, 2017
9 Years and Counting . . .
Today, February 6th, marks 9 years since Jan and I embarked on the wild and crazy life of Full-Time RV’ing. And it certainly has been a wild ride.
We’ve made a lot of great friends, and unfortunately lost a few along way. We’ve RV’d in every state, except Nebraska and Kansas (and Hawaii, of course). But we plan on taking care of NE and KS in the next few months.
We bought our American Eagle December 27th, 2007 from Roman Holiday Motorhomes on I-35 between New Braunfels and San Marcos. Mr. Roman bought up high-end coaches, checked them out, detailed them, and put them on his lot.
We had narrowed our choice down to the 1999 American Eagle and a 2000 Tiffin Zephyr, but finally went with the Eagle. It had about 65,000 miles on it, just about perfect for an 8 year old rig. Not too much, not too little.
We came back to pick it up January 6th after they had fixed a couple of things and put on new tires. We spent about three hours on the walk-thru going over every system with me watching and Jan taking notes.
As it turned out, our first RV trip was just to the Canyon Trail RV Park, about 8 miles up I-35. We figured we would stay there for a day or two going over the rig ourselves to be sure we understood everything, and could ask Roman Holiday about what we didn’t. But we didn’t find any problems so the next day we headed back to the Houston area.
We had already picked out Oasis RV Park down in La Marque to stay for a month or so until we headed out, so we left Canyon Trail about 10am for the 220 mile trip back to La Marque.
Although I had driven 36 foot U-Hauls before, and even a diesel tanker out at WSTF (White Sands Test Facility) during my NASA days, they weren’t MINE, so to avoid traffic I decided to take Hwy 6 down to Dickinson rather than the 610 Loop or Beltway 8. But this turned out to be not so good an idea.
I had never driven on the upper end of Hwy 6 where it turned out to be miles of stop and go traffic, only the end down towards toward Alvin where it’s more wide open. But we made it with no problems, with Jan was following me in the truck since we didn’t have a towing system set up yet.
We spent the next month getting ready to roll. I ordered a Blue Ox tow bar for the rig and a Blue Ox baseplate for the truck, and spent a couple of days installing the baseplate on our Dodge Dakota. I guess I did a good job because it hasn’t fallen off yet.
Finally, Wednesday, February 6th 2008, we headed for Fairbanks, AK. Well, not directly. But it was our ultimate goal. However our first stop was actually the Monterey’s Mexican Restaurant in Dickinson. It was a favorite of ours, and with their large parking lot, an easy stop. And a tradition that last the next 6 years, with us always stopping there for lunch on our way out of town for the year.
But in making the 9 mile trip from the park to Monterey’s, Jan almost decided to call it quits. The ride was extremely rough, much rougher than I remembered it being coming down from New Braunfels. And Jan said, “If it’s going to be this rough all the way to Alaska, I’m not going.”
So when we got parked at the restaurant, and before we went in, I put in a call to American Coach Tech Support.
When I told the young lady my problem, she kind of chuckled and asked me if I could see the top of the front tires in the wheel wells. When I told her I couldn’t, she said my airbags were turned off.
Now our Eagle has an optional switch that let’s me manually dump the airbags without having it done automagically when I lower the levelers. And I remember playing with it right after we got parked at Oasis.
So I went inside to look and told her that AIR RELEASE switch was in the OFF position. She then asked if the rocker switch was pushed in at the top or the bottom?
I told her it was pushed in at the bottom, and she again chuckled and said that’s the OFF position. I then ask her why it says AIR RELEASE at the top of the switch, You would think that you would push the switch in at the top to ‘release’ the air.
She said, “Beats me. You’re not the first person to get it confused.”
Seems it would make more sense to have just labeled it AIRBAGS ON and OFF. But they didn’t asked me. They don’t seem to ask me about a lot of things, and I think the world is worse off for it.
Coming out from lunch I cranked up and the coach came right up on the airbags, and now I could now see the top of the front tires below the wheel wells.
So of course it was smooth sailing after that.
Well, not exactly.
But we did end up in Fairbanks, AK on April 26th, two and a half months later, only to have this two days later.
But more of our Year One adventures in tomorrow’s blog.
Thought for the Day:
Sad, But True.
February 6, 2018
Good Friends and Food . . .
We met up with our long-time friends, Chris and Charles Yust, who are on their way back from Quartzite, AZ to their site in Florida. They’re staying at the Oasis RV Park down in La Marque, which was the very first RV park we stayed at after we bought our rig in 2007.
We bought our rig at Roman Holiday Motorhomes in New Braunfels, TX on December 27th, 2007. Then we picked it on January 6th and came back to the Oasis Park. We stayed there, getting ready to go full-time. Then on February 6th we headed to Alaska . . . by way of Casa Grande, Yuma, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Colorado Springs, Casper, Billings, Garrison, Coeur d’Alene, Cle Elum, and then into Canada just north of Bellingham at Sumas. Whew!
And on April 26th we were in Fairbanks until September 20th.
We got to King Food a few minutes early, so since they take awhile we went ahead and ordered two plates of their delicious Crispy Chicken Wings with Garlic and Butter while we were waiting for Chris and Charles.
Luckily they liked them as much as we do. In fact said they were the best wings she’d ever had.
Everyone got something different for their entre. Chris got the combo Lo Mein, while Charles went with the Sweet & Sour Chicken.
Jan got the Chicken with Hot Garlic Sauce and Jalapenos,
We spent the next couple of hours talking over all our adventures.since we say them last. And we’re getting together tomorrow at Jimmy Changas for Mexican.
Tomorrow Jan has her makeup checkup with her urologist that was put off from last Thursday when there was an equipment malfunction.
The Headline of the Day: San Diego Girl Scout Sells Over 300 Boxes of Cookies in 6 Hours Outside Marijuana Shop.
Well, duh!
Thought for the Day:
February 6, 2019
A Big Mistake . . .
My changeover to the new 2019 SSL certificate went off without a hitch this morning, except the long wait for everything to come back up.
All I had to do was rename the old certificate from XXXXX.CRT to XXXXX.CRT2019 and then rename the new one from 2019Cert (just a name I gave it) to XXXXX.CRT.
Then it was just a matter of putting the Shopping Cart into Maintenance Mode, stopping the Apache Webserver software, and rebooting the server.
And then wait. And wait.
But only 20 minutes this time. Just enough time to get slightly anxious. But finally it was all back up and running. But just to be sure I ran a credit card order through with no problem. And then a few minutes later a real order came through, so I guess we were good to go.
I spent the rest of the day modifying a bunch of epilator machines. These machines all use a foot pedal to trigger the pulse that zaps the hair follicle. But somewhere along the line one manufacturer changed the wiring of the foot pedal and the socket on the machine that it plugs into. So what this means is that old pedals don’t work with new machines and new pedals don’t work with old machines.
So if you have an older machine and you order a new pedal for some reason, it won’t work. But there’s no way to tell. The machines all look the same, and the serial numbers don’t help either.
But after a little fiddling, I came up with a simple modification to the machines that lets any machine used any pedal. So all machines that we ship out now, both used and new, are modified to accept both old and new pedals.
Jan and I are still enjoying the twist and turns of the new Roswell, New Mexico series. The only thing that’s disappointing is that they’ve made no effort to duplicate the town’s street lights. Anyone who’s ever been there knows exactly what I’m talking about.
They’re iconic, just like the ones in Hershey, PA.
I made a big mistake yesterday at King Food. I wiped my eye.
Normally not a big problem, right?
But it is when I’ve gotten a small piece of my Volcanic Pepper Flakes on my finger wthout knowing it.
Yoooowh!
Jan said my eye turned a bright red. She should have seen it from my side.
I guess I got some on my fingers when I was cleaning the lid so it would close tighter.
I will definitely try not to make that mistake again.
Tomorrow Jan and I will head up to Houston about 10am for our Katz’s Deli, iBurn, Houston RV Show excursion.
And no, we’re not looking for a new RV.
I know where all the problems are on ours now, and I don’t want to pay a lot of money for a whole new set of problems.
We’re mainly going just to walk around and check out all the vendors, one of our favorite things to do at these events.
Thought for the Day:
February 6, 2020
A New Mugshot . . .
We were pulling out of our site at 8:28 this morning, 2 minutes ahead of my schedule. This was surprising since I didn’t even get up until 7, and I had done no packing last night.
But somehow I got packed, the truck loaded, the oil level checked, and we were ready to go on time. We had dropped Karma off at our office manager’s last night so no problem with that.
Our first stop was about 45 minutes later at the Baytown Buc-ee’s for fuel, coffee, and kolaches. And a new 40oz mug.
I had left my other one at home, so this one caught my eye. Mine came with a handle, and I got to fill it with coffee for free. Nice!
We made a pit stop at the TX/LA border rest area, which was finally open after about 3 years of construction.
Then after another stop at the Flying J at the Breaux Bridge exit, we arrived at our La Quinta hotel about 3:30. But before we checked in, we decided to have dinner at the Cracker Barrel right next door.
And since it was Thursday, Jan was able to get her favorite Turkey and Dressing, while I got a order of the Beans and Greens with a Side Salad.
Checking into the La Quinta, we found it nice but somewhat dated. But since it was only $54 vs $104 for the La Quinta just a couple of miles north on I-12, it was a great deal.
Overall today was a really nice trip, with no construction slowdowns or traffic accidents. In fact I think it was the first trip we’ve ever done with absolutely no problems.
Tomorrow we’ve got a 287 mile run on to Montgomery with a lunch stop near Mobile at Sonny’s BBQ, another of our favorites.
Thought For The Day:
They call it a ‘selfie’ because ‘narcissistic’ is too hard to spell.
Before Its Time . . .
It’s looking more and more like our upcoming Alaskan Cruise is going to be a no-go. Yesterday Canada announced that they would allow no cruises to dock at any Canadian port, I.e. Vancouver, where our cruise is supposed to end, until February 2022. Now the first thought would be just use Seattle instead. But there’s a problem with that too.
All foreign-flagged ships, pretty much all cruise ships, must dock at at least one foreign port when transiting American waters, I.e. Vancouver again. So now we’ll just have to wait and see what happens next.
Back in the day, before Dometic bought them, Fan-Tastic Vent Fans pretty much had a lifetime guarantee. I know several times I called about parts and they sent them to me gratis. But that changed when Dometic took over.
Any way the fan motor in our bathroom vent fan has been slowing dying, and finally croaked the other day. So when I called Dometic about a new motor/fan combo, I was quoted a price of $75. But I found the same one on Amazon for half that.
It will have to be installed from up top, but it should go pretty quickly.
Tomorrow afternoon Jan and I are going to meet Brandi. Lowell, and Landon at the Babin’s Seafood up in Katy. We’ve never eaten at a Babin’s, another in Tilman Fertitta’s stable of restaurants, and we’re looking forward to trying it.
Thought For The Day:
“Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late,” – Benjamin Franklin
February 5, 2011
The Toilet Wars are over . . .
and I won!
The new base adapter kit from Dometic finally let me mount the toilet correctly.
To review . . . I bought a new toilet while we were in Las Vegas last March because I was tired of replacing the seals in the old one. But I also bought myself a lot of new problems.
Thinking I would simplify things, I bought the same Sealand Traveler 500 toilet that was already in the coach. But in the intervening 10 years they had changed the base plate from a 4 bolt mount to a 2 bolt one.
I put in a call to Sealand to see if they had anything to help me with the problem. Not only did they not have anything to help, they didn’t seem to understand what the problem even was.
So I tried various schemes over the last year with only a modicum of success…usually temporary.
So a couple of weeks ago, in an act of quiet desperation, I called Sealand again.
And lo and behold, they’d finally figured out they had a problem. And now they had an adapter kit to fix it.
And it worked great. The war is over.
We met Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at King Food at 11:30am for lunch before heading over to their house so Jan could Landon sit while Brandi and Lowell go out to a movie and then to the Taste of Texas Restaurant up on I-10 and Beltway 8.
Leaving Jan at Brandi’s, I first when by Sam’s Club, and then dropped our winter comforter off at the cleaners. After that I headed back to the rig to install the toilet adapter kit. I did make one trip out to Home Depot to get some new bolts since the old ones were a little corroded.
When I came back I found Mister and Emma jostling for position on the heated kitty bed. It looks like Emma is trying to push Mister away with her paw, but actually she’s sound asleep.
Finishing up the toilet repair, I left the rig about 5:30 and headed back up Brandi’s. While I was there I did get some great Landon pics, but I left the camera there, so they’ll be for later.
Brandi and Lowell got back about 6:30 and then Jan and I headed down to Texas City to Ryan’s for supper. Jan wanted fried chicken and they have some of the best around.
We got back to the rig about 8:30 pm and settled in for the night, after another long, but fun, day.
The weather supposed to be nice for the next several days, so I hope I can get the rest of my chores done around the rig.
More tomorrow. . .
——————————————————————————————————————-
Thought for the Day:
“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may prosperity forget that you were our countrymen!” –Samuel Adams
February 5, 2012
Barcenas and La Posta . . .
Jan and I decided to have the Sunday morning breakfast buffet at La Brisa this morning, and as we were leaving the coach, she was wondering if she should feed the birds before we left, or wait until we came back.
Well the birds decided for her. As soon as she stepped out of the coach, flocks of birds headed toward us, squawking all the way, and settled in the palm trees surrounding our site, just waiting for the birdseed lady (Jan) to get to work.
We also had our Great Blue Heron friend right off shore keeping an eye on things.
After our usual great La Brisa breakfast, I brought Jan home and then turned around and headed up to Webster to spend the afternoon working at a client’s office, setting up some things that’s hard to do when everyone is there working.
Finally about 4:30 I headed back down to the rig to pick up Jan so we could head right back up to meet Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at the Barcenas Mexican Restaurant right near their house.
Brandi had gotten back from Denver earlier in the afternoon, glad to be out of the snow and ice and 8 degree temps, and back to just rainy Houston.
Landon was his usual energetic self, keeping us all highly entertained.
Jan started out feeding him the chips and Queso, but apparently Landon thought she was spending too much time talking and not enough time feeding him,
so he just started feeding himself.
Then after we finished eating, Jan and Landon had a rousing game of “Where’s Landon?”
After a fun get-together at Barcenas, and a quick stop at CVS, Jan and I headed home, talking about our upcoming travels, and some of our other favorite Mexican Restaurants around the country, and one in particular, the legendary La Posta de Mesilla in the Old Mesilla area of Las Cruces.
On the National Register of Historic Buildings, the La Posta Compound dates back to the 1840’s when it was a freight station. Then after the Civil War it was an important stop on the Butterfield Stagecoach Line. And later, it was the home of the Corn Exchange Hotel, one of the finest in the Southwest. The La Posta de Mesilla Restaurant opened in 1939 and the same family has been serving delicious food there ever since.
Jan and I are really looking forward to eating there when we’re through there in a couple of weeks or so.
Thought for the Day:
Camping…nature’s way to feed the mosquitoes.
February 5, 2013
Out of Breath . . .
Today started early (very early!) with a 7am departure from the rig up to Friendswood for Jan’s doctor visit for this year. It took about 90 minutes, but she got a clean bill of health for this year. So she’s good to go.
Since she had to fast this morning before her tests, we headed down the road to Kelley’s Country Cookin for a really good breakfast.
And coffee, lots of coffee.
Then it was about 5 miles down the road to try once again to replace a client’s computer power supply. Readers will remember last Saturday I went to the client’s house with what turned out to be used, dead power supply in a new box.
So after correcting the situation with EPO, the store that sold it to me, I was back to try again. And this time the new supply worked fine and after a few minutes the client was up and running again.
Our next stop was Brock’s Car Care near our house to talk about getting some work done on our truck tomorrow. We’re going to rent a car this afternoon and then drop the truck so they can get started on it the first thing tomorrow.
Next up was a client in Clear Lake and then one in Pasadena (Hi, Tricia!), and then finally, home.
But our stay only lasted an hour and then it was back on the road, and a stop for dinner at Monterey’s Little Mexico for some good Mexican.
By 5pm we were up in League City to Enterprise Leasing to rent a Toyota Corolla, or at least that’s what I reserved and was paying for. But something I’ve learned over the years is that if you renting a cheap, small car at a small town office, you usually get upgraded because they’re out of small cars.
In this case we ended up with a big, honkin’ Dodge RAM Crew Cab truck. Sweet!
Then I drove the rental up to Brock’s with Jan following in our truck, where we swapped stuff out and left it to be worked on.
Then after a quick stop at Kroger’s and Chase Bank, we ran by Brandi’s to check the mail, Sam’s Club for prescriptions, and finally home.
(Catching my breath) Glad today is over.
——————————————————————————————————————–
Thought for the Day:
One of the ordinary modes by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance is by disarming the people and making it an offense to keep arms. – Joseph Story – Supreme Court Justice – 1811 to 1845
February 5, 2014
Good to Go . . .
Jan and I were up early this morning, leaving the rig about 8 AM and heading up to Friendswood, where our doctor put us up on the rack, gave us a full checkout, drained some fluids, and topped off our prescriptions. As a result she said we’re good to go for another 12 months or 12,000 miles of RV’ing, whichever comes first.
On a related subject, so far for me, Medicare is an expensive rip-off. Before I went on it this past October, I was self-pay for my yearly checkups, and they normally cost me about $200, including all the tests. This year, under Medicare, my checkup was $125, a savings of a whole $75. Great!
Except that’s ignoring the $105 a month that Medicare is costing me out of my Social Security. So it cost me $1260 a year to save $75. Wheee!
When I mentioned something about this to the office clerk, she reassured me that once I met the $147 deductible, another visit would only cost me $23. Oh boy!
Since I’ve never had to go to the doctor twice in one year, I was not really impressed by this cost savings.
Of course, I’ll probably sing a different tune if something serious happens. But until then, I’ll just whine and complain.
I’m good at that.
By the time we were both finished, it was after 11 AM, so we decided to reward ourselves with lunch at Twin Peaks. Or maybe Jan decided to reward me.
The first thing we did was to apologize to our regular waitress, Lauren, for being unfaithful to her by eating at Bombshell’s, a competitor breastaurant. She laughed and said that she and her boyfriend had eaten there this past weekend, and they didn’t think anymore of it than we did.
After our usual good food and great service, Lauren reminded us (me) as we were leaving, that this coming Saturday the 8th is the beginning of Lingerie Week at Twin Peaks.
What can I say? I guess we’ll just have to eat here again next week.
Maybe even more than once.
Leaving Twin Peaks, and after a quick client visit, we stopped off at Barnes & Noble to check out the magazine section. We thought about getting a couple of coffees at the resident Starbuck’s, but decided that for just about the same price of two coffees there, we could get two coffees and four of the delicious Cranberry Nut muffins to go at the Buc-ee’s on the way home. They’re great heated up for breakfast.
Around 3:30, our son Chris and his wife Linda, stopped by for a few minutes. While he was here, Chris helped me put the two front chairs back in place after the Great Reflooring. And Linda got to see the beautiful job Chris had done on the floor.
Thanks, again, Chris
Tomorrow will probably a mixture of work-around-the-rig and client stuff.
Thought for the Day:
Live in Peace, but build for War.
February 5, 2015
Not Much . . .
is pretty much what Jan and I did most of the day. It was foggy, dreary, and spitting rain the whole time, not very conducive to doing much of anything. Especially not outside.
I made some phone calls, one to Thousand Trails reserving some dates over the next few months as we travel out west and later back east. As it stands right now, we’ll spend from March through the middle of May out west, before heading back to Illinois by the end of May for a family reunion.
Then Jan and I will spend the next couple of months in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, before we finally start back toward Texas the first part of August.
Later in the afternoon, I went over my service history with RV Mobile Lube. It’s about time to get our rig serviced again, and I’ve always used them to do it. They come right to the RV park, change all the fluids and filters, and lube the chassis and driveline. They will also service the generator, check/change your coolant, and service your transmission.
I will probably just get the engine and the coolant service, since my generator doesn’t need it yet, and since I’ve had two past transmission fluid changes with TransSynd, I don’t need my Allison transmission serviced for another 50,000 miles.
One thing new I wasn’t happy to see when we got back to the Galveston Bay RV Park was this.
They’ve decided to line the corners of the new sites with large boulders. Just the thing to turn a tight corner into a multi-thousand dollar repair bill. If they’re so worried about a rig cutting across the grass, they should have just put in a diagonal of concrete or gravel there.
A little before 5pm, Jan and I headed right down the road to meet Chris, Linda, and Piper at the Herb Café, a nice small restaurant with a great menu. Jan and I have eaten here several times before and it’s always been good. And it was tonight too.
Not only is every thing fresh and made inhouse, but they grow their own herbs and seasonings in their garden next door. Really good.
Tomorrow: Fiberglass
___________________________________________________________________
Thought for the Day:
I have learned to use the word ‘impossible’ with the greatest caution. – Wernher von Braun
February 5, 2016
Sometimes it’s the 10% . . .
Chris and his wife Linda showed up about 10am to pick up his invalid bike.
On his way back from Burnet yesterday, he’d discovered the rear tire on his bike was coming apart so he left it here to come back today and pick it up. He rented a U-Haul motorcycle trailer to take it back with them, which made really easy to get it loaded and tied down.
![Chris Motorcycle 1_thumb[4]](https://i0.wp.com/ourrvadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Chris-Motorcycle-1_thumb4.png?ssl=1 "Chris Motorcycle 1_thumb[4]")
Once it was all ready, Jan and I followed them into town to have breakfast at Schobel’s Restaurant in Columbus before they headed home. But by then it was so close to lunch, that I was the only one who had breakfast, with everyone else having lunch instead. But we had a good time talking, anyway.
After seeing Chris and Linda off, and coming back from our breakfast/lunch, we made a detour out on US90E to Schneider Welding to see if I could drop off my screen door hinge. He said he could do it, but not today. I said that was just fine as long as I get it back by next Friday, before we leave for Lake Conroe on Sunday.
Getting back home, it was time to tackle my clogged up toilet problem. As I mentioned yesterday, after thinking it over, I was 90% certain that a clogged roof vent pipe was causing my problem.
Well . . . No.
It turned out to be the other 10%. I eliminated the vent pipe situation last night by turning off the shore water, opening the black valve, and then inside, just barely opening the toilet bowl ball. The level dropped an inch or so, but then stopped, even after I opened the toilet valve all the way.
So this morning I was going to use a long fiberglass rod to try and clear the clog. With the water still off, I stepped on the floor pedal to open the toilet ball and started poking down into the toilet.
And on about the 2nd poke I hit something hard that clinked. But the level did drop a little more. So I poked some more and suddenly it all broke free and every thing drained.
But what was the ‘clink’? Grabbing a flashlight I could see the problem.
The pipe drops about 18” into the tank (further than I thought) and it was clear. But above it was a section of white PVC-looking pipe that made up the base of the toilet pedestal itself. This was inserted in the black pipe leading to the tank. And a section of this white pipe had cracked and was sticking out into the center of the pipe.
Due to the discoloration, it looks like it’s been there for a good while, maybe since the coach was new. Tapping it with the rod, it was hard and not flexible at all. The only thing I can figure is that over time stuff had been building up on that piece until it finally clogged completely. And if I try to break it off or remove it, I would take a chance of having it fall into the tank. Not a good thing.
So I’ll just leave it alone for now and check it with a flashlight every now and then. Like I said yesterday, we’ve never had a clog before in the 8+ years we’ve owned the coach, so maybe it will go another 8 years. We’ll see.
About 4:45 we picked up our friend Randy Lazarine and all headed into Columbus to have dinner at Los Cabos Mexican Grill
Readers of our blog from December 2014 may remember my adventures with Randy’s new-to-him Monaco Diplomat. He had bought it from PPL here in Houston a few days earlier, and ended up parked right next to us here at the Colorado River Thousand Trails. He saw me outside working on my rig, and asked for some help with his rig’s electrical system.
After he’d been parked here several days, both his coach and engine batteries had run down. You can follow the story of what I found wrong with his coach, and how I fixed it. How it ever got off the dealer lot that way is a mystery.
https://ourrvadventures.com/2014/12/charge-2/
https://ourrvadventures.com/2014/12/batteries-and-balls/
https://ourrvadventures.com/2014/12/wiring-and-re-wiring/
Check out the story above.
As far as the latest Karma the Kat update, she’s apparently decided she’s definitely a ‘rig’ cat now. We had started out worrying that she might try to escape since she was so used to being outside. But we’ve since noticed that if she’s anywhere up front in the rig and we open the door, she heads for the bedroom as fast as she can go.
She’s not taking any chances.
Wrapping up, I want to congratulate my uncle Tom Calvin on his Lifetime Achievement Award as the winningest high school football coach in Alabama history.
Tom Calvin: Honoring a lifetime of achievement
After playing for the University of Alabama for three years in the late 40’s, he played fullback for the Pittsburgh Steelers for 4 years before being injured. He then coached high school football for the next 33 years, amassing a record of 201-130-11.
And his wife Lenette holds her own in the sports department as well, She’s an Olympic-level gymnastic coach, even working with famed Olympic coach Béla Károlyi at several Olympics, and at his facility in Houston.
Congratulations to both.
Thought for the Day:
Old age is not as bad as I thought. It’s a good feeling when you just don’t give a damn anymore and you feel lucky just to wake up in the morning.
February 5, 2018
At Least One Thing Good . . .
Work today was kind of a madhouse. Jennifer, the office manager, was out, possibly with the flu, but hopefully not.
I haven’t seen her since last Wednesday, and based on the flu’s incubation period (1 to 4 days, 2 days average) I (and by extension, Jan) should be OK
Bu with Jennifer out, between phone orders, walk-ins, and processing web orders, we were overrun, even with me getting roped in. And it may get worse in the next few days as the sales ad cards start getting delivered.
We did get some sample ad cards via Priority Mail from the direct mail company today, and they looked great. They took my original design of a 6” x 6” layout and stretched out to about 6” x 11”, much more of an eye-catcher in the mailbox.
As I mentioned before, Jan and I have started laying out our next RV adventure. We plan on leaving here on June 23rd, with our first stop at Poche’s Fish N Camp in Breaux Bridge, LA. Then we’ll spend the next few days working our way north up to Vandalia, IL for another big family reunion at her sister Debbie’s and her extended family, arriving on the 26th.
We always stay at the Timber Trails RV Park in nearby Mulberry Grove, and since we’re bumping up against the 4th of July holidays, I put in a call to get our reservation in early, leaving a message.
When the lady called back a couple of days later she was laughing, saying that the park didn’t even open until April 1st and that they were down in Florida for the winter.
But she said to call her back on April 1st and I’d be first in line. So I told Alexa to remind me then.
Then come July 1st, we’ll head south, down to Athens, AL to check in on all my surviving relatives, before heading back to Houston on the 6th or so.
Then later in the summer, July or so, we plan on heading down to Florida to check out our good friends Nick and Terri Russell’s new digs in Edgewater, and also catching up with a couple of Jan’s old friends in the Titusville area and West Palm Beach.
It’ll be good to get back on the road.
At least one thing good came out of yesterday’s outrageously-priced Jiffy Lube oil change. Believe it or not, it fixed my oil pressure gauge problem.
The possibility of this happening is actually why I got the oil change yesterday in the first place. When I was Googling my original problem, I saw a couple of references to people having the same problem curing it by replacing the oil filter.
Apparently the oil flows out of the filter and directly by the pressure sensor, so maybe if the filter material was collapsing, or the internal filter bypass was messed up, that might make the sensor kind of wonky.
The last time I had the oil changed was in Rapid City last spring about 6000 miles ago. And the Jiffy Lube guy said it was a FRAM filter they replaced so it wasn’t a cheap filter causing the problem.
But at least it’s now fixed.
The Headline of the Day: Woman in sumo-wrestler suit assaulted her ex-girlfriend in gay bar after she waved at man dressed as a Snickers candy bar.
Thought for the Day:
If Thought Bubbles Appeared Above My Head, I’d Be Screwed.
February 5, 2019
It’s Twenty Years Old . . .
How Long Can It Last?
Jan and I headed a little after 1pm for lunch at our favorite King Food. But as we were passing by, we made a detour into Rudy’s BBQ for a take-home bottle of their BBQ sauce, as well as a jar of their coarse ground pepper,
as well as one of their coarse salt.
At King Food, Jan got her usual Chicken with Hot Garlic Sauce with Jalapenos,
while I went with just a big bowl of their Hot and Sour Soup.
Always a treat.
BTW a few years ago King Food was selected as one of the Top 100 Chinese Restaurants in the US.
Then it was on up the Interstate for a quick stop at Lowe’s for some screws, and then it was on to the nearby WalMart for more stuff. It seems we never have quite enough stuff.
Then it was on home with a stop for a couple lottery tickets.
A number of years ago the temperature controller on our rig’s Dometic NDR 1292 refrigerator quit controlling. Luckily it stuck wide open, so for a while I just watched the internal temp and cycled the fridge on and off.
But this was a problem when we were away for a few days. So a while back I hooked it up to one of these WiFi switches,
so that I can control the fridge remotely. And I also can control it via Alexa, as well putting it on a timer. But it was still hard to allow for outside temperature changes which affected the fridge internal temps.
So why didn’t I just fix it? Well, the consensus was that it was the controller board. A VERY expensive controller board. And really more money than I wanted to put into an, at the time, decade and a half old refrigerator. I mean, how long can it last?
Now, except for this, our Dometic has been a workhorse, and unlike many other Dometic and Norcold RV refrigerators, our 1292 has never had a recall on it. But I keep waiting for it to fail so I can replace it with a Samsung or LG residential fridge.
I mean, it’s twenty years old.
How long can it last?
At this point though, I’m beginning to believe it might just outlast Jan and I.
But I would like to find a cheap(er) fix for the temperature problems. So recently I came across this.
A thin probe connects the unit to the inside of the fridge, which then will turn the fridge on and off based on the temperature setting I select. In addition, I can also control it manually via Alexa, or an Android app.
Hopefully that will take care of this problem.
Thought for the Day:
“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies just because they become fashions.” – G.K. Chesterton – 1930
February 5, 2020
Before Its Time . . .
This was a Peloton before there was a Peloton.
In January 1987 I left the NASA contractor where I working on the Space Shuttle and moved over to Krug Life Sciences where I was working on the first iteration of the Space Station, then called Space Station Freedom.
I was the computer/video interface guy in a small group tasked with designing exercise equipment for the astronauts to use in space. After brainstorming for a few weeks, tossing around ideas for things what would work in Zero-G.
I mean, weight-lifting was out, as well as pushups. Even running on a treadmill wouldn’t be a worthwhile effort. Finally we settled on the idea of an exercise bike of some sort. The effort needed wouldn’t change under Zero-G conditions, and the astronaut wouldn’t float away if he was strapped to the seat.
In addition, we were also told to find a way to make the exercise ‘entertaining’. Getting started, our first job was to get an exercise bike to work with.
At the time Bally was the manufacturer of one of the top-of-the-line computer-controlled exercise bike, the Bally Lifecycle. So we called and appealed to their patriotic inclinations. Well, that and the promise of being able to advertise it ‘As Used On The Space Station’. And with some subtle threats, ‘possible IRS audits, etc.’ I was able to get a complete set of schematics and manuals on the bike.
As far as the ‘entertainment’ part of this, we decided to try and interface a video disc player to the unit that would play back biking videos, touring places like Hawaii, Yellowstone, and Yosemite. After a lot of work we came up with a way that the astronauts could take different routes and the video disc would sync up with their turns, so they could take a different route every time they exercised. And they could also speed up, slow down, or stop. All of this viewed on a monitor mounted over the bike’s handlebars.
And it was all controlled by a Commodore 64 that I had removed from the case, disconnected the keyboard, and mounted the circuit board inside the bike. The program was stored on a game cartridge so that when you turned the C64 on, it booted up directly into the program.
The only unknown at that point was to fly the video disc player on the Vomit Comet to be sure it would work in Zero-G. But while we were waiting for our slot to come up on an upcoming flight, Krug lost their contract on this project, and I move on to another contract.
The bike and our mods went back to Bally and disappeared. But then about 10 years, our concept was resurrected by Bally and others, utilizing the new DVD players that had just come out. We were just ahead of our time, and the technology.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll tell you the rest of this story. About a hammer, a brutal murder, a psychotic doctor, and 40 years in prison.
Thought For The Day:
Sometimes I really need this.
