A Better View . . .
Jan and I were off for lunch a little before 1 heading for Gator’s Bar & Grill over on the Interstate and FM517.
Jan went with her latest favorite, the Keto Birria Pizza, after starting with a House Salad.
The pizza crust is made from shredded cheese grilled into a crust, then it’s covered with shredded beef covered in Birria sauce and more shredded cheese.
And of course, more Birria sauce for dipping.
For my part, I went with something completely different, starting with a cup of their new Cilantro Beef Soup.
Really good, and a new favorite.
For my meal, I went with their Apple Chicken Salad.
It’s hard to tell from this photo, but it’s a big bowl, about a foot across, filled with big chunks of chicken breast, apples, grapes, pecans, and celery.
Really good, especially with their house-made Blue Cheese dressing.
YUM!
Then next it was on up the feeder for our weekly visit to HEB, finishing up with a stop at the Post Office for the mail, before getting home about 3pm.
A nice day!
I mentioned a while back that Rob, our park owner, had bought the property right next to us to add some new sites.
This has been our view for the last 5 years since we arrived.
But all of this should be gone by the end of August, all the old vehicles, the sheds, and the trailer.
The view will certainly be a lot nicer.
Thought for the Day:
July 24, 2010
The Rally – Day 3…
Today started out with another round of seminars and vendors. Jan went to one about “Cooking with a Microwave Convection Oven” while I perused the vendor exhibits some more
At noon we met up for more corn dogs and fries. We like corn dogs, what can I say. I also had a ear of fresh roasted corn that the people from Progressive Insurance were giving out for a $1 donation to their charity.
At 1pm while Jan attended a talk by Bradd & Hall RV Interior Renovators, while I spend some more time at the PacBrake booth talking about the problems with my unit.
I was looking at buying the PRXB PacBrake upgrade and installing it myself. This would save me $200, and I figured by replacing the entire unit, that would fix my non-functioning PacBrake..
It looked like an easy replacement. Just loosen the two clamps shown below and the unit should come right out.
The problem was that we couldn’t figure out which unit I needed. The metal tag in the photo above should have had the model number on it, but it didn’t. Only the serial number.
Finally they offered me a good deal on letting them install the unit. This way they could take all the different possible units over to our rig, and, after removing the old one, install the correct one.
I ask how long it would take, and they said “about an hour”. I said “Go for it”.
One thing I was interested in is shown in the graph below. Unlike my old unit (when it was working) and PacBrake competitors, the PRXB doesn’t not need high RPM’s to work well.
True to their word, 45 minutes after starting, the mechanic was done. I’m really looking forward to trying it tomorrow when we leave.
We’ll see.
About 4 pm we headed out for supper at one of our favorite BBQ places, Famous Dave’s BBQ. And as usual, we had enough left over to take home for later.
Leaving Famous Dave’s we stopped off at WalMart for a few things before heading home.
Then about 6pm we drove over to the concert hall to see Super Diamond, a very good Neal Diamond tribute group.
After a great show, we got back home by about 8:30 and were in for the night.
Tomorrow, after attending the morning events we’ll head out a little early. I’d rather not wait until tomorrow morning when 2000 rigs will try to all leave at once.
Cody, WY
July 24, 2011
Something I never thought I’d hear in a Mexican restaurant !
Got this photo from a postcard. It shows a full shot of Jimbo, the 106 foot Supersaurus at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.
That’s one big dino.
And this is a little paleontologist humor from the staff bulletin board at the Dino Center.
Today was a do-nothing day for us, and after a couple of very busy days, we really needed it.
After coffee at 10 and lunch about 11:30, Jan napped and read, while I spent some time planning our trip to the Tetons later this week.
After a little research I found a Motel 6 in Jackson, WY for a $110.00 A NIGHT!
WOW! They’ve forgotten the whole concept of what the 6 in Motel 6 stands for.
We’ll go down on Tuesday, stay two nights, and then come back on Thursday.
We thought about taking the rig down, but RV sites in the area are $75 – $85 a night plus about $200 in diesel for the 360 mile round trip. So it’s still cheaper to pay $220 for the room plus much less gas for the toad.
About 5:30 we headed out for dinner, and decided to try La Comida, a Mexican restaurant right across the street from Zapata’s, where we ate our first night here.
And compared to Zapata’s it was a mistake. The chips tasted like they came out of a 50 pound bag from Sam’s Club or Costco. And I would swear the salsa came from ‘NEW YORK CITY”.
And when Jan ordered the Deluxe Nachos, I heard something I never thought I’d hear in a Mexican restaurant. She noticed on the menu that the nachos didn’t come with jalapenos, so she asked the waitress if she could have them add some.
And the waitress said, and I swear I’m not making this up, “I’ll see if we have some”. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Well, at least they don’t put black olives on their nachos like some places up north do.
Coming home, we walked over a couple of rows here in the park to meet Sherry and Charley Dilworth. They had heard from Lu and Larry Tillotson that we were here and left a card on our door saying they wanted to meet us.
We spent an hour or so getting to know them and had a great time.
Coming back to the rig we meet our next door neighbors, Beth and her husband. I’m sorry but I didn’t get his name. They’ve only had their camper for about 4 months, so they still learning about the RV life.
Tomorrow we’re taking a trolley tour around Cody, and then we’ll take in the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum.
July 24, 2013
Border Crossings and Bushplanes . . .
We left for the Canadian side of the Soo Locks about 1pm. And after showing our passports at the border, we first headed down to the Bushplane Museum.
First up was this Canadair CL-215 firefighting amphibious water bomber, one of the premiere planes of the type.
It fills its tanks by landing at high speed on a lake or river, opening the tank fill doors,
and then waiting until water starts gushing out of this overflow outlet. In 8 hours they can may as many as a hundred bombing runs.
Whenever I see one of these old Bell 47’s all I can think of is “Whirlybirds”, an old TV show.
Next up is this replica Fokker Tri-Motor, built for the movie, Amelia, about Amelia Earhart. Although I never flew in one of these, I did fly in a Ford Tri-Motor a number of times when we were living in South America in the early 60’s.
Here’s a neat little homebuilt amphibian, an Esperanza 4.
And this is pretty much the “end all and be all” of bushplanes, the de Havilland Beaver. First designed in the 1940’s, over 1600 were built until production ended in 1967, with more than 1200 still flying. A real workhorse.
And RC-3 Seabee
And for some reason, they also had several old cars there. This the fabled Stanley Steamer, a car that I had never actually seen in person before.
Doesn’t look like you’d have to change the sparkplugs on this one.
The next two are a couple of Fords. The only problem with the car displays is that there was absolutely no info on them anywhere, I even asked some of the guides and no one knew the make or year of any of them. Bummer.
After seeing a couple of good films on bushplanes and aerial firefighting, we left the museum and headed north up PH17, looking for moose.
Yep, we were on another Moose Hunt.
Jan had been told there were a lot of moose about 20 miles north of town in the Mile Hill area. So off we went. But although we found the area with a lot of “Watch For Moose” signs, no moose.
Sometimes I feel like Coronado searching for the Seven Cities of Gold. They’re always right over the next hill.
On our way north we had passed a Boston Pizza, one of our favorites, and by the time we came back past, it was 4:30 and we couldn’t resist stopping for dinner. And as usual, we ordered the large Meateor, to give us plenty of leftovers.
On a related note, what is it with the northern Midwest and cold drinks. First, pretty much every place we eaten since Bend, OR never has any sweetener on the table. And after they bring you your drink, they don’t even offer. You have to ask for it. What’s up with that?
And I’m sorry, but ordering a glass of ice water or iced tea does not mean three lonely ice cubes floating on top of a glass of tepid liquid. It’s usually pretty cold up here. Why do they have to ration ice cubes?
Leaving Boston Pizza and heading home, we stopped off at a Tim Horton’s to pick up some muffins for our next travel days, and also got Iced Hazelnut Cappuccinos to go.
Except for having to wait in line behind a bunch of semi’s, we didn’t have any trouble getting back across the border. I guess Jan’s past hasn’t caught up with her yet.
As I mentioned yesterday, tomorrow we’re going to drive down to St. Ignace and take the ferry over to Mackinac Island, and then the horse-drawn carriage tour around the island.
After we were home for a while, Brandi sent over a bunch of Landon school pics for this year. A real cutie. Can’t wait to see him in about 3 weeks.
Love the hat and bowtie.
Later, just as the sun was going down, I got this shot of a big freighter going by.
Don’t know what ship this is, but there are 13 1000 footers here on the Lakes, the largest of which at 1013 feet, is the Paul R. Tregurtha. The American Century we saw going through the Soo Locks the other day is also one of those 1000 footers.
Cherokee Landing Thousand Trails, Saulsbury TN
July 24, 2015
I Guess Jurassic Park Just Sounds Better . . .
After a nice quiet morning, Jan and I headed into the Memphis suburbs about 2:15 for a movie, dinner, and Wal-Mart, all about 55 miles away.
Our movie of choice was Jurassic World, the fourth one in the series. The basic premise is that apparently they didn’t learn their lesson 20 years ago with Jurassic Park, as I guess not enough guests were eaten in the original. So for Jurassic World, they build a new, bigger, better park with more snacks, I mean guests, and larger, meaner, genetically-enhanced dinosaurs.
What could possibly go wrong?
All this said, Jan and I really enjoy the movie, with its non-stop action that never really let up. The two main stars are Chris Pratt, who was in another recent blockbuster, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Opie’s daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard, both very good.
On the bad guy side of things, are two Law & Order: Criminal Intent alumni, Vincent D’Onofrio and B.D. Wong. Plus Wong was reprising his same character from the very first movie.
One thing funny about the title, even going back to Michael Crichton’s original book, is that none of the movie’s featured dinosaurs, I.e. T-Rex, Velociraptors, Mosasaurs, and Pteranodons, actually lived in the Jurassic era, which ranged from approximately 200 million years ago to about 150 mya.
No, they all lived in the Cretaceous era, from about 85 mya to about 65 mya, just in time to look up and see a fast-approaching bright light in the sky.
But I guess Cretaceous World just didn’t have the same ring.
Leaving the movie and extracting Jan’s fingernails from my arm, we headed up the road a few miles to have dinner at Jim & Nick’s BBQ once again, where our favorite server, Joy, greeted us with a smile and her usual great service.
We once again started off with the Sausage Appetizer,
which I probably wouldn’t have gotten if I had thought ahead to what I was going to get for dinner. Even Jan, not a big sausage fan, likes this sausage, but I think she likes the accompanying Pimento Cheese even more.
For our meals, Jan again went with The Pig in A Bun, and Mac N Cheese, the same thing she got last time. She says that the Mac N Cheese is really great.
For my part, I expanded my horizons and went from the 2 meat combo to the 4 meat combo, adding Beef Brisket and Hot Links to my original Pulled Pork and Ribs.
For my sides, I again got the Baked Beans, but added the Slow-Cooked Collard Greens instead of the Potato Salad. And I’m really glad I did because the Collards were delicious.
I was kind of curious about their Beef Brisket, since when we’ve had it here a couple of times at other places here, it was more like sliced roast beef covered in BBQ sauce. Not good. But Jim & Nick’s came thru. Although not exactly Texas Sliced Brisket, it was very close, and very good. I’m glad I gave it a try.
As usual, with the big platter, I had plenty to take home for later, probably enough for a meal for both of us.
I mentioned on our visit last Sunday that we’d spent some time getting to know Todd, the manager. But tonight we got to talk with the other manager, Tyler. As soon as we mentioned that we were RV’ers, he said, “Oh, y’all are the ones whose card is on the wall in the office.” A very nice guy.
And even nicer, he comped our deserts, a couple of pieces of their made-in-house pies. We got some last time, and they were great, so we couldn’t miss out this time. Jan said their Chocolate Cream Pie is probably the best she’s every had, and my Lemon Cream was fantastic.
I mentioned last time about their great Cheese Biscuits that they serve with the meal, so good in fact that we bought a bag of their biscuit mix to make some at home. And of course we got a bunch to take home with us. They’re great for breakfast with our coffee.
Finally starting toward home about 7:30, we made a Wal-Mart stop along the way. They must be having a gas war in this area, because both gas and diesel are very cheap, and the same price. At some stations, gas is $2.26 and diesel is $2.27, and in others, gas is $2.27 and diesel is $2.26. Either way it’s all dirt cheap. So I filled up the truck, and wished I had the rig here too.
We finally go back to the rig about 9:39 after another very nice day.
Life is Good!
Colorado River Thousand Trails, Columbus TX
July 24, 2016
A Doppelgänger . . .
With our last couple of really hot days, it’s easy to tell that cleaning the rear AC evaporator coil a few days ago certainly helped things.
It seems a lot of folks think that cleaning a coil like I did will give you cooler air. But as a matter of fact, the air might actually get slightly warmer. A clogged evaporator coil restricts the airflow through the coil, which means less airflow, less cold air, into the coach.
But the restricted airflow means less ‘cold’ is being pulled off the coil, so the coil gets colder and colder until it starts icing over, which shuts the airflow off completely. Most AC’s have a freeze sensor mounted on the coil that when it senses this is happening, it cuts off the compressor, leaving the fan running. This will quickly thaw out the coil and let the cooling resume.
Of course this is only a temporary fix and you need to eliminate the problem at some point. So with the coil clean the unit puts out much more, I.e. a larger volume of cold air,
Of course a couple of other things can caused the coil to freeze up. The most common one is just a dirty or clogged filter, anything that slows down or restricts the airflow.
For technical reasons that I won’t go into (booorrrring!), low Freon in your AC will also cause the coil to ice over.
One other thing that I noticed when I was on the roof listening to the AC cycle on and off is that blower fan was still in good condition. It wasn’t making any strange rumbling or growling noises as it turned on and back off, so the bearings are still in good shape. Hopefully it’ll last another 17 years.
Jan was jonsing for fried chicken today, so about 11:15 we headed into Columbus to have the Sunday lunch buffet at Schobel’s Restaurant. With Fried Chicken, Roast Beef, Sliced Ham, and Grilled Sausage, six different veggies, as well as both a Salad and Dessert Bar, and including your drink, it’s a really great deal for $10.95. And delicious too.
My cousin Joy, who lives in Tampa, FL, posted a photo of her cat on Facebook, trying to stay cool in the hot weather
And I would swear it’s Mister’s doppelgänger. Even to the same coloring.
They both look so much alike it’s uncanny. And Mister used to lay just like this too.
Colorado River Thousand Trails, Columbus TX
July 24, 2017
Maybe, Maybe Not . . .
I spent the morning putting the finishing touches on the new website. The client said they really like it, so we’ll probably go live later tonight.
About 3:30 Jan and I drove into Columbus, with our first stop the hardware store just off downtown for a couple of project items. Then it was on to Whataburger for dinner.
Since we’re heading to Alabama on Wednesday, we wanted to get our Whataburger fix in. Of course when we’re in Alabama we’ll be able to take care of our Sonny’s BBQ fix while we’re there. So it all works out.
For dessert we split one of Whataburger’s new Coffee Shakes. We first had one last week at the Willis Whataburger, and it was good enough to have again. And again. And again.
This is probably the best coffee shake we’ve ever had. I don’t know what they’re using for flavoring, but it reminds both of us of those chocolate covered roasted coffee beans you can buy. Really good.
Next was a stop at Brookshire Bros for a few things before we headed back to the park. We did stop at the office for a bag of the fire ant poison they provide. When we were parking after we got here yesterday afternoon, Jan was standing back by the driver’s side rear wheel guiding me in when she was swarmed by tiny red fire ants. A little later her feet swelled up some, and she had small red bumps all over her feet.
So hopefully this will take care of the problem for the next RV’ers.
We’re heading down to Clear Lake tomorrow to have lunch with our son Chris and pick up my repaired rear-view camera monitor mounting bracket.
On the way we’ll stop at Brandi’s to pick up an Amazon order and also have Jan take my photo.
When we had our family reunion last month I took this family photo.
But without 3 of the family.
Annisten (who was napping)
Me (I’m taking the photo)
Jim (Debbie’s husband who is beside me also taking photos)
But what’s a family photo without the entire family, so I’ve added Annisten, the little girl on the right in pink, and now Jim who’s to the right of Lowell in the back.
Then Jan got a photo of me standing in the right spot and with the same lighting, and then I was in the photo too.
The Amazon order I’m picking up is a remote control relay like this.
I want to use it to remote control our slide’s in and out. For some reason American Coach decide to put the slide switch in the overhead cabinet above the dining table, which means it’s kind of hard to reach for Jan, and even I have to stand on tippy-toes.
So it should be pretty simple to wire up. I’ll keep you updated.
Our daughter Brandi posted this on FB yesterday. This was her ‘trying to sleep in Sunday morning wake up call’.
I’m not sure which one is cuter.
Finishing up, I may have an idea on my rooftop AC problem, or I may not, but I won’t be able to check it out until we hit the road on Wednesday. I’ll let you know.
Selling Our House
July 24, 2018
Great Friends and Good Offers . . .
Jan and I were out the door this morning by 10:15 this morning, to meet the next possible house buyer that we had scheduled to give us an offer.
He was just the first of three that were coming by to look at the house. And then we have one more coming by Thursday afternoon. Then as it stands now we’ll probably be making a decision this weekend whether or not we’ll accept one of the offers, or proceed to Plan B.
A little later we met long-time friend Tricia at the Barcenas Mexican Restaurant right outside the subdivision. It’s been a while since we’ve seen her, and since she’s been traveling a lot lately it was good to be able to catch up.
Then after saying goodbyes Jan and I headed back to the house to meet up with the second possible buyer.
When he was finished I went ahead and took Jan back to the rig since it was going to be a while before the third guy showed up. And by the time he was finished, things were really looking up.
We are now up over $10,000 from the initial offer we got from the first guy this past Saturday. And we still have one more guy to go.
Here’s hoping.
I dug up one of those adapters that lets you use one of those little Micro SD cards in a regular SD slot on your computer. And when I did this, I found that the card worked fine. So the problem is apparently with my phone.
Chris and Linda are getting settled in at their new place up in Kingsland,TX and sent over some photos of what they’ve done with the yard.
Really looks nice. We’re hoping to get up there in the next month or so to see them.
On a completely different subject, has anyone else noticed disappearing Facebook posts on your timeline. It seems at least once a day I will be scrolling down through the posts and then I will see a post start to scroll up and then there’s a jump and the post just disappears. As far I can see the post are usually political in nature, but I don’t think they’re from the same source.
So has anyone else see anything similar? Let me know.
July 24, 2019
The Designated Villain . . .
Jan watches a lot of ‘reality’ shows, and her most recent favs, and Miss Piper’s too, are Below Deck and Below Deck: Mediterranean, showing on Bravo. In fact it’s become one of their highest rated series.
Jan usually watches these shows using headphones, but I catch bits and pieces, reading the closed captions while I’m on the computer. And I’m always amused on how ‘real’ these reality shows are. Or aren’t, as it were.
Jan was talking about a crew member that she doesn’t like, in this case it was Rocky, the 3rd Stew. She was always getting into arguments with everyone, causing a lot of problems and just stirring up trouble.
When Jan mentioned that she didn’t like Rocky, I said, “Did you ever think that was on purpose?”
Every single season on both shows, six seasons of Below Deck, and four seasons of BD: Mediterranean, has a Designated Villain or Troublemaker. And if you don’t think that’s deliberate, think again.
These shows all have to have some drama, otherwise most them would be pretty boring. It would just the ship’s crew catering and pampering their rich guests. And by RICH, I mean very rich. It costs between $140,000 and $300,000 PER WEEK to charter one of these 150 ft. to 190 ft. Super Yachts as they’re called.
And having done so much video production over the years, I always notice how the camera shots are set up, with so much of it obviously staged.
In one recent episode, Rocky, after having a big fight with someone, has a big blowup, strips down to her bra and bikini panties, runs to the railing and dives off into the water about 30 feet below.
Now you see all this from behind as she goes over the railing. But the next shot is the camera looking over the railing down at her as she makes a perfect dive into the water below. Turns out she’s a championship diver.
But the real question is where did that camera shot looking over the railing come from? There was no cameraman standing there when she leaped over. Which means she had to dive off the ship twice, once for the shot of her going over, and then another time for the camera looking down at her.
But it’s a reality show, right?
The only redeeming part for me is all the pretty girls in skimpy bikinis. But we won’t go there.
I sent my Panasonic Lumix FZ80 camera off to the Panasonic Repair Center up in McAllen to get it repaired. About a week ago when I got it out and took a couple of photos with no problems. But when I turned it off, it didn’t.
I tried to turn off and on a number of times with no result. The only way to turn it off was to remove the battery. So I tried leaving the battery out for a few days to let the internal power run down, hoping something might reset. But no luck.
Since I did purchase the Asurion 4 Year Protection Plan that Amazon offers on higher priced items, I first contacted them. But they turned me over to Panasonic since this should be covered under the factory warranty.
The Asurion policy covers any damage to the camera like dropping it or spilling something on it, with no deductible or shipping charges. A good deal at about $8 per year.
Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be taking Jan up to Brandi’s to pet-sit until Sunday week while she and her family are vacationing in Costa Rica. Then after we all have dinner together I’ll head back home. Then it’ll just be me and Karma for the next 10 days.
July 24, 2021
Who’s ‘Brilliant’ Idea Was This?
We sat outside with our coffee again this morning, really enjoying the nice weather. Especially after all the rain we’ve had recently It was only about 80° with a nice breeze, perfect patio weather.
We were also admiring Flamingo Frank in Paradise (yes, that’s his name), Jan’s latest addition to the Flamboyance.
But because he’s a statue we decided he would look better on the patio rather than out with the rest of his buddies.
We left the rig about 11:30 this morning, with plenty of time to meet friends Janice and Dave Evans up at the Floyd’s Cajun Seafood in Webster. At least we thought we had plenty of time, but some ‘brilliant’ highway planner decided to put shut down the northbound side of I-45 to one lane. All three lanes. Down to one.
And, believe it or not, the southbound side, too.
So, on one of the first nice, rain-free weekends in a good while, they shut down the main road to and from Galveston.
Brilliant!
So our normal 20 minute trip took us almost an hour and 20 minutes. So Janice and Dave were already there when we finally arrived.
But we quickly got our orders in while we caught up with each other’s adventures.
Jan got her usual Grilled Catfish and Veggies, and a Side Salad. I was also thinking about getting the Side Salad along with my usual bowl of Shrimp Gumbo. But as I looked over the menu, I saw Floyd’s 19th Hole Salad. I think I’d probably seen it before, but I guess I’d never really read the description. But then the word ‘Wedge’ caught my eye.
So along with my Shrimp Gumbo,
I got this really good Wedge Salad.
Rather than being just a wedge, it was more like half a head of lettuce. And they really piled on the Bleu Cheese too. Really delicious.
It was really good to see Janice and Dave again, and we’re already planning our next get-together in August.
Coming home we decided to take Hwy 3 back down instead of the Interstate to avoid the 3 miles of bumper to bumper traffic.
But guess what?
Some ‘brilliant’ highway planner (the same one?) decided that this would the perfect time to narrow Hwy 3 down to one land going and coming for repaving.
So we were back in bumper to bumper traffic once again.
Brilliant!
With this past week being so busy, we’re just staying home tomorrow and grilling hot dogs and brats on the Weber grill.
Tasty.
Thought for the Day:
Word Play
Ignoranus : A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.
Intaxicaton : Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly
