Monthly Archives: May 2022
Since 1870 . . .
After grabbing a quick light breakfast at our La Quinta, we were on the way up I-59 by 9:30 with our first stop at Weidmann’s Restaurant in downtown Meridian MS.
Weidmann’s has been around since 1870 and is well-known throughout the South. We’ve eaten here a number of times over the years, and it’s a must-stop when we’re in the area.
One thing unique about Weidmann’s is the handmade crock filled with homemade Peanut Butter on every table, along with a basket of assorted crackers. The crocks date from WWII when there was a shortage of butter, so someone suggested that the owner substitute peanut butter. And a legend was born.
Jan got the Muffuletta with their homemade BBQ potato chips,
while I went with my usual 6 oz. New York Strip Po’boy, also with the BBQ chips.
Normally we would have started off with an order of their Fried Green Tomatoes, but we decided instead to finish up by sharing an order of their Praline Cheesecake Ala Mode.
And as it turned out, we both had half of our entrees left over anyway. So leftovers for later.
We got into Athens about 5pm, and got settled in. We’ll be here until Wednesday when we head down to Birmingham for more old friend get-togethers,
Tomorrow we’re getting together with my cousin Marjorie for lunch down at Big Bob Gibson’s BBQ in Decatur.
More West Palm Beach
May 27, 2009
El Rushbo & Banyan Trees…
Today Jan and I drove around sightseeing in the ritzy areas of Palm Beach.
One of the places we wanted to drive by was Rush Limbaugh’s compound.
You can’t see much from the road…
But the satellite view shows there’s a lot behind that gate…
Seems like I remember reading he paid $25 million for it.
While we were driving around, the thunderstorms were still rolling in, with the rain coming down in sheets.
One of the neat things around here are the banyan trees. Although normally associated with Africa and India, they seem to go real well around here.
We also drove by the famous Breakers Resort .
We had heard that they have a fabulous Sunday Brunch, so we inquired about the price.
It was almost $100.00 per person!
For that price it had better be gold-plated and come with someone to hand feed you.
For lunch we ate at a Mexican restaurant called Amigos.
It was great. So great, in fact, we went back for supper.
Tomorrow we head north to Titusville for a few days.
Rain and More Rain in Houston
May 27, 2016
Email From The Dead . . .
Today started wet and dreary and then went downhill from there. It was raining when I got up at 11 and that continued all the rest of time until we left for Clear Lake around 2pm.
And then as soon as we got out on I-10 it just POURED down, slowing everyone until we were doing about 25 mph, in a 75 mph area. And then one person, just one, decided to put their emergency flashers on. And then almost everyone else did.
And suddenly, what had been a easy to track and separate group of vehicles in front of us became a swirling, flashing mass of orange and red lights, with no way to really tell who was stopped and who was moving. A bunch of maroons.
We made a pit stop at Brandi’s, and also picked up a couple of packages waiting for us. Then it was back on the road to Clear Lake. And then the real slow down began to appear.
Based on the live traffic data on our Garmin GPS, our 1 hour trip down to League City was going to take an additional 2 hours and 59 minutes, for a total of 4 hours. Bummer. But as we slowly got closer, the delay whittled down until the trip only took 2 and a half hours. Better than 4 hours, I guess.
We had originally planned to drop off my client’s laptop at their home in the Brittany Bay area of League City, but due to our delay, we didn’t have time before we had to meet our friends for dinner at 6pm. So our first stop was at our son Chris’ for a potty break, as well as to pick up our mail and drop off one of our Captain’s Chair’s armrests. Or rather just the insides without the foam or the leather cover.
I wanted to see if he could make me six new armrests to replace the ones I have now,. The original ones were made from two different pieces of OSB (Oriented Strand Board), or particleboard. These two pieces were glued together around a steel armature that mounted the pivot rod at one end.
But over the years the glue has deteriorated and the arms have started to come apart. I put a couple of them back together using screws, but the screws just wallowed and came loose after a while.
So my idea is to see if Chris can cut six new armrest wooden frames out of 2×4’s. Then I’ll install the armatures in each new frame and mount them back on the chairs. BTW if you wondered how to get the armrests off the chairs, it’s really pretty easy.
Fold the armrest up until it’s vertical and parallel to the chair back. Then push in on the arm pivot point and rotate the arm on further back until it is again horizontal. At this point pull out on the arm as you rotate it back and forth slightly. Then just pull it completely free. Easy Peezy.
We meet our friends, Bob & Beth Young at Barcenas Mexican Restaurant. Right outside our subdivision, we have eaten here for 20 years or more, and it’s always great.
We’ve known Bob and Beth for a long time, and have watched their five kids grow up, and we always have a great time catching up.
Good food and great friends. It doesn’t get much better.
Finally saying our goodbyes a little after 7:30 we headed down to League City to drop off the client’s laptop before turning around and heading back to Columbus. And after a pit stop at the Flying J in Brookshire, we finally got home about 10:30pm.
And although we didn’t see any problems when we came through, we did see three cars parked back up the hill from the low-lying bridge at the park entrance.
Don’t know if it was this bad,
or even this bad.
But I’m glad we weren’t trapped outside the park and had to wade in.]
I got an email a couple of days ago that really gave me a start. It was from a friend of ours . . . a dead friend of ours.
Our long-time friend Gina Ellis died a little over 3 years ago, and the SPAM email I received had the right (kind of unusual) name, but not the right ISP address. It was obviously one of those emails that want you to click the enclosed link, but strangely, it referred to me as ‘Greg’, while most of these are to ‘Gregory’.
Gina, we miss you.
And finishing up on a departed friend’s note, this past Wednesday we lost two more long-time friends, Richard Horner and Ron Walters.
They too will be missed.
Burgers in Rapid City
May 27, 2017
What the Fudd?
It was really nice to sleep in this morning, snuggled in with our heated mattress pad. We both sleep a lot better when the bedroom is really cool, which works well with 40°-50° nights we’ve been having.
A number of other rigs started moving in yesterday, I guess for the holiday weekend. There were only about six rigs when we got here, but a bunch more now.
And there’s more rigs here than what you can see in these photos.
In addition, when we got home we found a note on our wipers from Dave and Joanne, a couple who were parked next to us a week or so ago when we overnighted at the Pioneer RV Park in Hermiston, OR. They’re here in the park so we’ll try to hook up with them tomorrow.
A little after 3pm Jan and I headed in to RC to have linner at local Fuddruckers. We did stop off at the park office to re-up for our second week here. Then it was on to the Fuddruckers in Rushmore Mall. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve eaten at Fudd’s. Don’t know why it’s been so long, since it’s always good.
My favorite is their 8 oz. Ribeye Sandwich, a tender, juicy cut of meat. I got mine with bacon, and then added mayo, tomatoes, sliced onions, and pickles. And we split an order of potato wedges.
Jan went with a 1/2 pound burger, with grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, and guacamole, as well as other fixing’s.
Very good, but the service was a lot slower than we’ve experienced in the past.
Our next stop was a nearby Books-A-Million so Jan could look for a couple of magazines she wanted, but no luck. Our next stop was supposed to be Lowe’s, but we decided to save it for another day, and head on over to Wal-Mart for some groceries.
Then it was home for the night.
One thing I noticed kind of funny is that there is only a Lowe’s here in RC, but no Home Depot. Seems like usually they’re located within sight of each other.
Tomorrow we’ll stay home and try to avoid all the holiday hoorah. Jan fixed up a big batch of her famous chili so we’ll have that tomorrow and maybe Monday,
Rudy’s BBQ
May 27, 2018
Oh My Gosh, That Smell!
I spent most of the day building a new website for a client. It was a pretty basic site with just seven pages of information and not much else.
So I decided to try out the new GoCentral website builder from GoDaddy. Supposedly not near as powerful as their full-blown Website Builder 7, but it’s a lot cheaper.
GoCentral was dumbed down so that pretty much anyone can put together a nice looking website and put it online. But it does this by limiting your choices and forcing you to use templates.
So next time, unless it’s a very simple site, I probably won’t use it again. It’s just too crippled. I think it might have been easier to just code it in good, old-fashioned HTML.
A little before 2pm Jan and I headed up to Webster to have lunch at Rudy’s BBQ. Getting out of the truck, Jan said, “Oh My Gosh. That Smell.” And she was right. My mouth was watering before we even got in the door.
Although they were pretty busy we only had to wait in line for a couple of minutes before we were ordering our food.
Jan got the Baked Potato with Lean Brisket and a serving of their Three Bean Salad, while I got 8oz of Moist Brisket and a serving of their Green Chile Stew. All just as delicious as usual.
As I’ve mentioned before, Rudy’s is one of our three favorite BBQ chains, along with Famous Dave’s BBQ and Sonny’s BBQ. And Jim & Nick’s BBQ is a close 4th.
And as far as single locations, it’s Charlie Vergos Rendezvous in Memphis, TN, Golden Rule BBQ in Birmingham, AL, and of course Big Bob Gibson’s BBQ in Decatur, AL.
Big Bob’s is listed as one of the Top Ten BBQ in the US, and Golden Rule first opened in 1891, and is the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the state of Alabama.
And wouldn’t you know it, we’ll be eating at most of these on our upcoming trip next month. Then, following up on the ‘oldest’ restaurant theme, we’ll also be eating at Weidman’s in Meridian, MS on our way home, which has been around since 1870.
YUM!
Now you see why our blog Title is Our RV Adventures or Eating Our Way Across the USA.
After Rudy’s we stopped by my client’s so I could pick up something, and also find out why the Shipping computer went offline. Again. When I tried to remote in last night to start a system image backup, I couldn’t connect because it was offline.
I finally got it working again, but I don’t know what happened to it. Hope it’s not something to do with the MS update problem from the other day.
Then coming back down to the Dickinson area, we dropped some more stuff off at the storage room. Slowly, but surely.
Versailles
May 27, 2019
No Getup, Or Go . . .
Today, being Memorial Day, my client’s office was closed, but I’m not sure I could have made it in anyway.
Neither one of us wanted to even get out of bed, much less actually do anything, you know like unpack the four big suitcases littering the living room and the kitchen. But after getting some coffee into our veins, we were able to kind of move about. But neither of us felt like doing any unpacking, so mostly we just sat and talked about our trip and the fantastic time we had.
While we were still in London, I ordered a 10” digital photo frame from Amazon so it would be here when we got home. We already have one that displays family and RV travel photos, but I thought I get a separate one to just for our trip. So I did start going through the 2447 photos that I made along the way to decide which ones I want to load into it. But even that turned out to be more work than I wanted to do.
Our son Chris was in town for the day, so about 3:30 I called an Uber to take us up to Webster to meet him for lunch at King Food, and also give him the presents we had brought home for him, Linda, and Miss Piper.
Readers will remember that right before we left on our trip the radiator on our truck started leaking, but we had so much going on that I decided not to fool with it until we got back. I was thinking I’d just have a rental car waiting for us this morning but then discovered that the local Enterprise office wasn’t open due to the holiday. So I ordered for tomorrow morning.
Getting back to the rig, we did start making some inroads into the whole suitcase thing, at least enough to get some laundry going and putting away some things, but our hearts, and bodies, weren’t really into it.
Part of the problem is that we’re both still jet-lagged, more so than when we flew over to Europe. That, coupled with exhaustion, I guess.
Jan fell asleep on the sofa about 6pm, then came to bed when I did about midnight. But then she was up about 4am and couldn’t get back to sleep.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Finishing up, a teaser from our visit to Versailles –The Hall of Mirrors.
S21 Ultra
May 27, 2021
Phones, Old and New . . .
Jan and I were on our way up to Clear Lake about 12:30 this afternoon, a little earlier than usual because I got a text saying that my new S21 phone had been delivered at the office, so we wanted to pick it up first before we had lunch at Snooze.
Not only was I impatient to get my hands on it, but I wanted to get it charging while we were eating breakfast so I brought one of my power bank chargers with me.
Then while we were waiting for our food, I opened the box and then let Jan help me pull off the protective film on the screen (Big Bang joke).
But when I tried to use the included USB cable to charge the phone, I ran into a problem. The cable had a USC-C connector on both ends, not just one. Normally there’s a USB 3.0 connector that plugs into charging ports and the USB-C on the other end.
But with the same ‘C’ connector on both ends it wouldn’t plug into my power bank, so I went back out to the car to get my cable from there.
While I was sitting there I went online and ordered a USB 2.0 to USB adapter like this so I can plug the cable into standard charger ports.
And I also ordered a second wireless charger so we’ll both have one.
Before we just had one, since only my S8+ could use one, and not Jan’s S5.
Turns out it was already about 60% charged, but it was 100% by the time we finished our meal. I did at least turn it on to watch it boot up but then turned it off when it asked to start the initialization.
Since I’m going to have the phone number switched from my S8+ to the S21, I thought I’d just let Verizon do it all, because after that they’ll need to switch Jan’s number on her S5 over to the S8+.
But I did download the User Guide so I could check out all the new features, which is where I discovered the possible use for the USB ‘C’ to ‘C’ connector.
It can be used to transfer all the data from the old phone to the new phone.
Then it was back down to the NTB to get the new tires for our Jeep. With that done, it was a quick HEB stop, a quick Cowboy Coffee stop, and then home for the night.
Thought for the Day:
No matter how serious life gets, you’ve still got to have that one person you can be completely stupid with. That’s why Jan has a shirt that says, “I’m with Stupid”.
A Night In Slidell . . .
We were on our way this morning a few minutes before 9, with our first stop at the Baytown Buc-ees about 45 minutes later for coffee, kolaches, and gas.
Overall the trip was pretty smooth with very nice weather the entire way. The only problem was coming into Covington where we lost about 30 minutes for one of those phantom slowdowns, supposedly for a construction zone. But the traffic just crept along at 5-10 mph for 30 minutes and then just sped up.
Who knows?
We got to our La Quinta in Slidell about 4pm, but first stopped at the Cracker Barrel right next door for dinner. And along the way I picked up this cute Flamingo Pillow for Jan.
In fact flamingos seem to be in this year, since CB had an entire section devoted them. We’ll have to go back soon.
A while after we got in the room, Jennifer, our Karma sitter sent this photo over of Karma making herself at home.
Tomorrow it’s on up to Athens, AL with a lunch stop at Weidman’s in Meridian, MS along the way.
Really looking forward to seeing everyone.
Billings, MT
May 26, 2010
So far, no snow…yet
We left Riverfront RV Park in Garrison, MT about 8:45 am heading for Billings, MT about 270 miles away. We had planned to leave about 8 but it was in the mid 30’s outside, and the bed was warm, and we overslept. What can I say.
This park had some really nice views. Here’s a close-up of the mountain I showed you yesterday.
And here’s the view in the other direction. You just can’t beat views like this.
But before we left I wanted to put some air in one of my tires, so I started up the coach engine and went outside to air up the tire. All of a sudden I hear the engine accelerate to what sounded like wide open throttle. Running around to the door I looked in and saw Mister standing on the left hand control panel looking out the window at what I had been doing. Unfortunately, this meant he was standing on the cruise control switch. When you’re idling, the cruise control allows you to set the engine speed.
Mister set it to wide open!
But luckily there didn’t seem to be any damage done.
Anyway, about an hour after we left, and after a long slow climb, we crossed the Continental Divide at 6393ft and started back down. There was still a lot a snow along the road up there.
About 11:30 am we stopped at a rest area and Jan fixed sandwiches for lunch. Then it was back on the road.
Then, about 1:30 we stopped in Big Timber to take on diesel. The last time I got diesel in Washington state, it cost $3.70 a gallon. Today it was $3.04.
A big difference!
We got into Billings about 3 pm and got parked at the Billings’ Trailer Village. It was certainly nice to have better weather than the last time we were in Billings.
Here’s how it looked today.
When we first came thru on our way to Alaska the end of March of 2008, we had only planned to stay a couple of days to visit a friend of Jan’s. However the weather didn’t cooperate.
We ended up staying a week due to heavy snow. Here’s how it looked then. Here’s my beautiful wife taking in the snow.
And here’s Mister first encounter with snow. He put one foot down on the step and reconsidered going outside.
Then he just sat in the door and looked around. He absolutely refused to go outside. After all, he’s a Texas cat. He doesn’t do snow.
Then, coming back from Alaska the first part of October 2008, we again stopped in Billings for a couple of days, And again we got snowed in for a week. With even more snow this time.
14 inches!
But this time we broke the jinx. But as Jan said, “the day’s not over yet.” We’ll see.
About 4 pm we headed out for some errands and dinner. We first stopped by Sam’s and picked up some kitty litter, then it was on to Great Clips to get my bi-annual haircut.
Which took about 5 minutes. Hah!
Then it was off to Famous Dave’s, one of our favorite BBQ places, for dinner. They have a great new BBQ sauce called “80 Proof” made with Jack Daniels. And it is good!
We got home about 5:30 and Jan went across the street to do some laundry. She likes to do our throw rugs in the bigger commercial machines. It’s quicker.
While she was gone, I vacuumed the rugs and floors, and cleaned some spots on the rug.
Then it was in for the night.
Tomorrow we head for Gillette, WY, about 238 miles away, for 4 days of the American Coach Rally.
Master Landon
May 26, 2013
SkyScreamer
They just opened the new Texas SkyScreamer at the Six Flags over Texas in Arlington. And at 400 feet, this one of seven in the US is the tallest. The next runner-up tops out at 242 feet at Six Flags over Georgia in Atlanta.
At the top you’re whirling in a 124 foot circle at about 35 mph. The shorter towers rotate you at 43 mph, I guess due to less stress on the towers.
My kind of ride.
This might be worth a trip to Dallas when we’re back in Houston, just to give it a try. Now Jan might be a whole ‘nother story.
Aunt Sherry posted this photo of Master Landon enjoying himself at Chuck E. Cheese. Our daughter Brandi said they’re supposed to have the house closing on Thursday, and then the moving company comes Friday to start the move to their new house.
Jan and I were both a little under the weather this morning so we decided to postpone our movie. We had planned to try the buffet at the Horizon Casino after the movie, but with no movie, we decided to just do the buffet. But about 5 minutes before we were ready to leave, I decided to check Yelp for reviews on the place. And I’m glad I did.
There are 4 casinos here in the area. Two of them have $13-15 buffets and two have $30 buffets. And according to Yelp, the two cheaper ones are really, really bad. I mean, how many reviews do you see that say they gave the buffet one star because you’re not allowed to give no stars, Or that everyone in another group got food poisoning. Another group took a couple of bites and then asked for their money back.
So those places were out, and neither one of us wanted to pay $60 for dinner, so the other two were out. After a quick discussion, we decided to go back to Passaretti’s Italian Restaurant, the place we first ate at a couple of days after we got here. And even better it’s right outside the park.
Jan had her Meat Ravioli and I had the Spaghetti Marinara with Meatballs, exactly what we had the first time. Just as good as the first time. And just like last time, there were a number of large parties there, but our food still came promptly.
After dinner we drove down the road to Raley’s for some groceries, and an after-dinner coffee at the Peet’s located inside the store. This was our second time there, and it has been our new favorite coffee place. At least to us, the coffee is better than what we’ve had at Starbuck’s. Just saying.
As far as the movie thing, we’ll see about tomorrow.
Rapid City, SD
May 26, 2017
Moose and Mines . . .
We had a visitor this morning a little before I got up. Bob Fitz, a blog reader, came by to say HI, and let us know he and his wife were in Keystone yesterday when we were. They’re visiting Rapid City for a few days, and invited us to stop by and visit when we’re again in the Sioux Falls area.
It’s still going down into the high 30’s/low 40’s every night, but it’s supposed to start warming up a little in the next couple of weeks.
And speaking of a ‘couple of weeks’, after we had been here a couple of days, we started talking about staying a few extra days past our one week stay. But when it all boiled down, we reupped for a second week. Which means we won’t leave here until June 6th.
Unless we decide to stay longer.
Elk Creek is unlimited PassPort America, so we can linger pretty much as long as we like. And one reason for us to stay longer is that Jan used to live here.
She was here when she was in 2nd grade while her father was stationed at Ellsworth AFB. So she remembers places around here that she would like to revisit. And at least one of them is still around.
That one is the Dinosaur Park, a group of dino statues built on top of a hill near downtown Rapid City. Constructed in the mid-1930’s to capitalize on tourists visiting nearby Mt. Rushmore, the city hoped to keep some of the tourist’s dollars in town.
And while we were at the Safeway, I looked up on top of the nearby hill and saw one of the reptiles on the loose.
Finishing up on yesterday’s 1880 Train, trip we were surprised at how many large homes were located out in the Black Hills National Forest.
Don’t know if this guy had a lot of firewood left over from this past winter, but he’s certainly ready for next winter.
Turns out that there were about 60+ mining claims that predated the 1897 creation of the Black Hills NF, and today many of those claims are now the location of family homes.
But some of the mine facilities can still be found along the route, mostly in the Addie Camp area. This was the Addie Camp tin mine.
Or at least it was supposed to be. Although they went down over 800 feet, they never found much tin and the mine was closed down.
This is the remains of the Good Luck Tungsten Mine, which was much more successful than the tin mine, but it finally closed down in the 1950’s.
The 1880 Train ride turned out to one of our favorites, and is much recommended.
Later, while we walking around Hill City waiting for our not-to-be Alpine Inn dinner, we came across this two amazing horse sculptures along the sidewalk.
Both done by the same artist, they’re made from junk, springs, tools, even other horses, and faces.
and there was also a smaller one.
Really amazing.
Jan had a good time exploring The Farmer’s Daughter shop right across the street.
And even found her a new moose to add to her collection
Cute.
We’re trying to keep our heads down during the holiday weekend, but we may run into RC to grab a burger at Fuddruckers, and maybe a trip to Home Depot or Lowe’s.
Flying Home From London
May 26, 2019
Homeward Bound . . .
Before our trip home today we spent several hours last night carefully weighing our luggage over and over.
Did you know a single sox weighs 3 oz.?
We were trying to max our two large checked bags right up to the 50 # limit, finally getting one of them up to 49.9 and the other one right on 50# by using the digital scale we had brought with us.
Then I got my carry-on right up to the 17# limit allowed for them. So then leaving out of travel clothes, I wedged all the rest into Jan’s carry-on, and, holding my breath, weighed it.
25.8 pounds!
Yikes!
Ok, if we each wear 4 shirts, 3 pair of pants, 6 pair of underwear, and 2 pair of shoes, we might get in under the wire. But somehow I don’t think that’s going to work either. Then Jan remembered that when we were checking in at the gate to our Lufthansa flight from Houston to Frankfurt last month they offered to also check in our carry-ons as well as our big bags.
So Jan had the idea to just check in her carry-on along with her big bag, which means the 25# wouldn’t matter. So with a plan in hand, we were up at 7am, downstairs for breakfast at 8, and sitting in the lobby waiting for our ride by 9:30am.
Advised that we should be at Heathrow Airport 4 hours before our scheduled flight at 14:10, we were there a little before 10. Only to find out that our flight was going to be delayed, but only for about 10 minutes. So no problem.
But after we got through TSA (no cavity’s searched) and were at our gate, we were told the flight had slipped 45 minutes. Then we were told that our plan was late coming in from the States, and we were pushed back an hour. And that caused the dominos to fall, further screwing over our schedule.
Gates are booked for a flight at a specific time, so if a plane is too early or too late arriving there may be another plane at that gate. Which is why as our flight got pushed back later and later, our specific gate number became ‘iffy’. But finally about an hour and 15 minutes late, we were boarded on our Boeing 787-9 and waiting for push back from the gate.
But that didn’t happen. As our departure got pushed back later and later, we also lost our slot in the flight path that we were scheduled to take home. So a new flight plan had to be calculated and then approved. But that resulted in a longer path home, so we had to take on another 10,000 pounds of jet fuel.
So finally, two hours and 10 minutes late, we were rotating and in the air for a now-10 hour flight.
They were able to make up some time by pushing the speed, staying at 34,000 feet and almost 600 mph for most of the flight, leaving us with views like this.
We finally got into Houston about an hour and 10 minutes late. And after getting through Customs,we met our driver and were on our way back to Santa Fe, getting back to the rig about 10pm.
Safe, sound, and with a lot of really great memories. And totally exhausted.
Now, after we get unpacked and settled in, I’ll start going back and filling in the missing days on our trip of a lifetime.
Thought for the Day:
Mark Twain got into an argument with a Mormon over polygamy and was challenged to prove from scripture that it was wrong.
He immediately answered: “No man can serve two masters!”
.
