Monthly Archives: July 2022
Bringing My Babies Back Home . . .
Both of them, Jan and the Jeep.
I headed out for Katy and the El Asador Mexican Restaurant near Lowell and Brandi’s where we were all meeting up for lunch.
But along the way I got redirected to just come to the house instead. So we just ordered online and had it delivered by DoorDash.
And it was really good. Jan and I split an order of Combo Fajitas, with Charro Beans and all the fixing’s.
Heading home a little after 1pm, we made a detour in Clear Lake to pick up some prescriptions at Kroger, and stopped off at Snider Transmission to pick up the truck where I had left it when I got the Jeep, before finally getting back to the rig.
While Jan was gone I did get around to doing the battery changeout on my Galaxy Tab 4 that I mentioned a while back.
It started like this.
Then using one of the supplied tools, I popped the back of the case off, giving me this.
Next up I pressed the release tab on the 3 ribbon cables and pulled them out of the way.
Then after removing the 4 tiny screws that hold the battery down, I disconnected the battery cable and popped it out.
Finally I put the new battery in and replaced the screws and reconnected the cables.
Then before putting the back on, I tried to boot it up, and it was dead.
Figuring this had to be a battery problem, I double-checked the battery cable and found it wasn’t seated all the way down. And then another power-up attempt gave me this.
Success!
Finally I have temporarily turned off the blog’s Firewall this evening, so anyone who still sees the ‘Hi Jetpack’ page, please let me know.
Thanks.
Thought for the Day:
Don’t be ashamed of who you are. That’s your parent’s job.
July 9, 2009
Quack, quack! DUKW, DUKW!
We had planned to visit the Natural History and American History museums today, but that didn’t work out.
We started out with breakfast at the Silver Diner again, and then took the Metro Orange and Red lines into Union Station again.
This let me get some more pictures of the inside of the station. It’s really something.
We had come back here to take the DC Duck tour.
It’s a 90 minute tour, one hour on land and 30 minutes on the Potomac River. We traveled in a WWII DUKW amphibious vehicle, or Duck.
We had a great time on this tour. We saw a number of places we didn’t see on the other tour, and a different view (from the river) of others.
While still on land we did get a better view of the Jefferson Memorial.
When it was time for us to hit the water, we just drove down a boat ramp on the Potomac River and off we went. Neat !!
I want one.
We also got a river view of the Pentagon. This is the opposite side from where the plane hit on 9/11.
We passed under the 14 St. bridges where the Air Florida 737 took off from Washington National Airport (now Ronald Reagan – Washington National), fell out of the sky, bounced off the bridge, and crashed into the freezing Potomac on January 13, 1982.
The bridge was later renamed the ‘Arland D. Williams Jr’ bridge after one of the plane’s passengers who repeatedly helped others to safety until he died in the frigid water.
78 people died, including 4 whose cars were crushed when the plane hit the bridge. Only five passengers survived.
From the river we also got a unique shot of two famous monuments in one, The Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial.
We came back out of the river near the airport and hit the road again.
We pulled back into Union Station about 2:45. We then realized that we really wouldn’t have time to do two, or even one of the museums, justice.
So we decided to eat supper at Union Station and head home early to miss the ‘going home’ rush on the Metro.
We’ll try the museums again tomorrow.
July 9, 2010
Waskom…
Today was a pretty uneventful day, which was nice for a change.
We left the North Waco KOA (actually in West, TX. No, not west Texas, but West, TX) about 10:15 am heading north and then east toward Waskom, TX, about 5 miles from the Louisiana border and about 20 miles west of Shreveport.
We pulled into Miss Ellie’s RV Park in Waskom about 2:45 pm and got set up. I’m glad I made a reservation because the lady in the office said we got the last site, and she’d already turned away 4 or 5 people this afternoon, waiting for us. It seems like the further east we go, the fuller the parks are. Although I usually don’t worry about reservations, I guess I have to be more careful.
After we got settled in, we headed into Shreveport/Bossier City for dinner.
We’d decided we wanted to get our “wing fix’ so we ended up at Buffalo Wild Wings, one of our two favorite wing places. (The other one being Hooters).
Jan got her wings ‘HOT’ and I got mine with “MANGO HABANERO” with a side of “BLAZIIN’” for dipping. “BLAZIN’ is their hottest sauce, then comes “WILD”, MANGO HABANERO”, and then “HOT”. Then there are 10 less hot sauces, for a total of 14.
By the time we got finished, our mouths were really burning, so that called for a stop on the way home at Dairy Queen for some soft-serve ice cream to cool off.
We got home about 6:30 and settle in for the season premiere of “Eureka” on SyFy Channel
Tomorrow we’ll travel about 230 miles east to somewhere around Jackson, MS. Still not sure where we’ll stay yet. There’s a MOOSE lodge there that I’ll call in the morning to see what they have available.
More tomorrow…
July 9, 2011
On to Leavenworth . . . No, not that one
This morning we headed out for Leavenworth, WA about 175 miles away.
Funny thing about this trip is that it took us 94 miles and two hours just to get out of Seattle. More than half the trip!
We didn’t have any problems. It’s just that we had to come down one side of Puget Sound from Bremerton, around the bottom, and then back up the eastern side by Tacoma and Seattle before getting on US-2 to finally start heading east.
And then it took another 45 minutes to go the next 10 miles.
We started to regret our decision to take US-2 this time instead of I-90. In the past we’ve always taken the Interstate passing through here. 45 minutes later, when we had finally inched our way along the 10 miles from Monroe, where we got on US-2, to Sultan, we found out what caused the delay.
It was the Sultan Shindig, whatever the heck that was.
It looked to be some sort of flea market/carnival/county fair, and because everyone in Seattle had apparently decided to attend, then got there and found no place to park, we lost 45 minutes of our lives that we can never get back, backed up in 10 miles of bumper to bumper traffic.
And of course, just as the traffic was freeing up through Sultan, they had one of those electronic signs that says “Slow Traffic This Weekend – The Sultan Shindig.”
Now they tell us!
But finally getting through Sultan, our delay was somewhat redeemed by the beautiful countryside, and the great photos Jan took along the way.
We got into the Leavenworth Thousand Trails Park about 2:30, unhitched the truck, parked the RV in a temporary area, and drove around to pick out a site. We finally found one we liked, and went back and got the rig, got parked and set up.
This Thousand Trails is heavily wooded like the Bend/Sunriver TT, but the sites are closer together. I thought I had a site picked out that would let us get satellite TV, but it didn’t work out. I picked a site with an opening in the trees that should have let me get a signal with my new dish, but I never could get it to lock on. Of course no one around me can get it either so it just may not be possible.
Either the trees are just too tall, or it may be that the dish can’t find any of the other satellites it needs to find first, before it can find the one I want.
As soon as I dumped our waste tanks, Jan started doing 8 days of accumulated laundry, since we couldn’t use our washer in Bremerton.
Then about 5 pm we headed over to the town of Leavenworth about 20 miles away to have dinner and see the area.
And it turns out, that instead of the expected ‘prison’ motif, the town is done up as a Bavarian Alpine village, complete with ‘haus’ this and ‘strasse’ that.
And boy was the place packed. It was just wall-to-wall people and cars. Every hotel and motel seemed to have a ‘No Vacancy’ sign. It looks like during the winter, Leavenworth is a ski resort, and during the summer, it’s tubing and raft rides down the rapids of the Wenatchee River that winds in and out through the town.
And some of these rapids are definitely 4’s and 5’s.
We ended up having dinner at Kristall’s, a faux-German Inn with pretty good food. We got there just in time, because when we left, the place was packed.
Leaving town and heading home, we noticed even the “Wells Fargo” bank gets in the act. I think it must be a zoning thing. We never saw one normal sign the whole time we were there.
Getting back to the rig, I played with the satellite until it got too dark. Still no luck.
Tomorrow I’m going to install the plugs and receptacles on my transfer switch bypass so I can easily switch back and forth between the generator and shore power.
On To Sioux Falls, SD
July 9, 2013
Why Do Cows Huddle?
Since we would lose an hour about 3 miles down the road as we passed into the Central Time Zone, and also wanted to get diesel in Murdo, SD about 25 miles down the road, we left the park about 7:30 and headed east on I-90.
As we passed the 1880 Town we tried to check the diesel price at their Shell station, but it wasn’t posted anywhere and I didn’t want to drive up to the pumps without knowing the price, so we just headed on by.
We took on 59 gallons of diesel at the Murdo Pilot station at $3.89 a gallon ($3.86 after my Pilot discount card) and then after parking over to the side, we went back and got breakfast sandwiches from the Subway and Hazelnut coffee from the Pilot, and then got back on the road. Kinda thought about dropping some coins in the slots while we were there, as this is the only Pilot/Flying J I’ve ever seen that also has a casino inside.
Leaving Murdo and back on I-90 we came across this guy and his pet.
I wasn’t able to get a photo so I found this one online. Looks like they could both stand to put on a few pounds.
At our first rest stop, about 95 miles into our day, Jan took over the driving again while I caught a nap. She even handled a 15 mile section of road construction lined with pylons with no problems.
Over the last couple of days we’ve been through a number of these 10-15 mile construction zones. The interesting thing about these is what they’re doing on the other side of the Interstate, something that I’ve never seen before.
They are completely tearing up the pavement, all the way down to the dirt, even pulling out the rebar. Then they start building up the new road from scratch, just like they did originally. What’s not clear is why.
Is it because it wasn’t built right to start with? Or did the extremely cold weather damage it beyond normal repair? Googling doesn’t give me any info, so I guess I’ll ask around.
The other funny thing is what’s up with the ‘huddling cows’? Along the Interstate we’ve seen these groups, large and small, of cows all huddled together in a tight mass. Are they fighting off marauding wolves? Getting ready for a cold winter? What?
After Jan’s driving for about 100 miles, I took over again for the last 35 miles, getting into the W. H. Lyons Fairgrounds about 2pm CST. And after checking in with the camp host, I went looking for a site without ruts with no luck. Just like when we were here in 2008, we’re parked on grass backed up to a fence. And we’re parked in the bare-dirt ruts of all the previous occupants.
When we were here in 2008 for a week, everything was fine for the first 5 days, and then it poured for the last two days. And when we tried to leave, we were stuck, couldn’t even move forward a single foot. I really felt bad for the guy that Good Sam ERS sent out as he had to lay down in the mud to hook up the tow rope to our rig, and it was still pouring down at the time. I slipped him a $20.
As it stands right now, it’s not supposed to rain before we leave here on Saturday so maybe we’ll luck out.
After getting set up, Jan and I headed out to a nearby UPS store to get our Residency Affidavit notarized. We need these to get our drivers licenses renewed tomorrow, along with some other ID items. Hopefully we won’t have any problems.
By the time we got finished it was after 4:30 so we headed over to a nearby Famous Dave’s BBQ for our usual great meal. With leftovers of course.
While at Famous Dave’s I asked the waitress if she knew why the cows huddled. She didn’t know but the guy sitting behind us did. It’s to help them ward off the biting flies they have around here. And then when we got home, I found that our friend Cool Judy (Judy Rinehimer) had asked the same question and gotten the same answer on Facebook.
Another thing I noticed is how diesel got a lot cheaper as we got closer to Sioux Falls. I saw it as low as $3.56 around here. Wait if you can. Unfortunately we couldn’t.
Tomorrow we’re going to head out early and try to beat the rush at the DMV.
July 9, 2014
Mister Wants A Hammock . . .
Saw this video online and now Mister wants one of his own.
A few days ago I posted this amazing video of a quadcopter drone flying around and through a fireworks show. Here it is again if you missed it.
It was done in West Palm Beach, FL, but as I thought it wasn’t this past 4th of July, but back in May during West Palm Beach’s Sunfest..
And now the pilot is being investigating by the FAA because in flying through the fireworks, he may have flown too close to the airport. Of course the question is, how many planes would be flying through the fireworks, anyway, since the airspace had already been cleared for the show.
And it sounds like the guy lives in South Africa, anyway.
A little before 5 we headed out to have dinner at the Sherman House Restaurant in Batesville. We had hoped to eat here on Monday when we got to the park, but they’re closed on Mondays, so we went Mexican.
The Sherman House has been around since 1852 and has a great menu, including a lot of German specialties, as well as a really good salad bar. So we were really looking forward to it tonight.
But when we got to the restaurant, we found a large chalkboard out front that said, “Sorry for the Inconvenience. We closed at 4pm today.”
Bummer!
So we decided to try the nearby Chinese Buffet that had pretty good reviews.
THEY WERE WRONG! And I’m not going to say anymore about it.
We even tried to save the evening with a stop at Dairy Queen on the way home, and they got our orders wrong.
Maybe we should have just stayed home.
Got this picture today of Landon and his daddy, Lowell. Really looking forward to seeing them in August.
Tomorrow we’re going into Cincinnati to see some sights.
On To Amarillo
July 9, 2015
Amarillo by . . . eh, Afternoon
Since we had a 300 mile trip to Amarillo today, and just like yesterday, we would lose another hour moving into Central Daylight Time, we wanted to get an early start this morning, or at least earlier than normal for us. Plus we also wanted to make a fuel stop at the Flying J about 5 miles down the road.
The Flying J website said they had 8 RV lanes, but they didn’t. They only had 2, and those 2 were out of service because they were redoing the concrete pad around the pumps. So I had to circle around the parking lot, back out on the street, and then into the truck pump area.
The fill-up went smoothly, and with my RV Plus Card, I got 7 cents off the cash price, ;for a cost of $2.72 a gallon. Not bad.
Jan had followed me in the truck from the park, and after I was finished fueling and pulled around front and off to the side, she pulled in behind me so we could hook up. But first we went inside to pick up a couple of Cinnabon’s for the road.
While I was there I also checked for green diesel antifreeze, once again with no luck. All they had was red and pink/purple. The pink/purple is red antifreeze with an SCA charge added. Still no good for my use.
We were finally on the way about 9am Albuquerque time / 10am Amarillo time. It was so cool and overcast that I didn’t fool with the genset / transfer switch to run the AC’s We again just had the fans on, and windows open, and it was very nice. In fact, when I checked the temp in the coach at a rest stop about noon, it was still only 73 degrees inside. I did start up the genset and let it run for about 20 minutes just to check it out. Of course since we weren’t on shore power, the transfer switch didn’t switch over, but at this point I really didn’t expect it to.
So, after a nice, smooth trip, we pulled into the Amarillo Ranch RV Park a few minutes after 3pm. Since we had reservations, we were quickly checked in and guided to our site. We last stayed here in 2010, and they still had us in their computer system,
After we got everything set up, and we rested up, we headed out for dinner at Coyote Bluff Café about 4:30. Coyote Bluff is a ramshackle burger joint that we first ate at about six weeks ago on our way back to Illinois for our Memorial Day family reunion.
It was really great then, and maybe even better this time, since we hadn’t just driven 750 miles, and weren’t dead tired like last time.
I started out with a cup of their Green Chile Stew, which before La Salita last night, would have been really good. But the Green Chile Stew at La Salita was so much better, it overwhelmed tonight’s by comparison. So tonight’s was just good.
As far as burgers, I had the regular Bacon Cheese Burger,
while Jan got the Mushroom Cheddar Burger with Grilled Onions.
These things were delicious, but so big that we both felt like we were going to have to unhinge our jaws like a python to get our mouth around it. We ended up kind of eating our way in from the top and the bottom just to make headway.
And along with our burgers we got a basket of half and half Fries and Onion Rings, both made in-house, and really good.
Coyote Bluff only has about a dozen tables and is usually on a wait. We first got there at 4:50 and finding the parking lot empty, realized they didn’t open for dinner until 5. So we checked out a couple of nearby auto parts stores for antifreeze (still no luck).
When we pulled back into the parking lot at 5:01, there were almost a dozen cars there, and we got the last open table. Now that’s busy.
July 9, 2016
Shades of Gators . . .
Although we have a lot of shade here, we still get a lot of sun in the windshield from noon on through the afternoon.
So I’m thinking about putting my outside solar shades back up. But there’s a problem.
Long time readers will remember my constructing my own version of Magne Shades last year while we were out in Arizona.
I had to go through a couple of iterations to get the right number of magnets necessary to hold the shades in place during strong winds.
I found these very strong Neodymium magnets 1/2” in diameter and 1/4” thick on Amazon that did the trick, although I did have to add some additional magnets later.
I positioned the magnets in the solar screen by making slits in the folded over edge and holding them in place with Black Silicone Adhesive.
The magnets on the windshield were held in place using 3M VHB double-sided tape, which really held them in place.
But after using them a number of times last year with no problems, that came to a quick stop with our rig’s blowout in May of 2015. Toward the end of our two month sojourn in Prescott, AZ for the repairs, the repair place broke our passenger side windshield while jacking up the rig.
We had to stay in a motel while they replaced the windshield, but I told them before we left to save the magnets off the old one.
Guess what? They didn’t.
But no biggie. The magnets were not expensive, so I would just order more. But as it turns out, Amazon doesn’t stock them any more.
I did find some other places online, but either they were very expensive, or sold in large quantities.
So now I mulling over a couple of ideas. I’ll keep you informed.
Brandi, Lowell, and Landon took in an Astros’ game this afternoon, and it looks like everyone had a good time.
When we were down in Key West back in 2009, we noticed that the chain link fence lined both sides of the highway when were were driving through the swamps and marshlands.
So I wondered what the deal was with these signs.
Do they actually think alligators and crocodiles can climb fences?
Well, as it turns out, they can.
Florida even has Tree Gators.
And as far as the whole fence-climbing thing . . .
July 9, 2017
Sliding In . . .
We tried to get an early start, about 9:30, this morning, we really did. But as Roseanne Roseannadanna said, “It’s always something.”
And this time it was the slide . . . again. And I still don’t know what the cause of the problem was.
We haven’t had a problem with the side since the broken bolt we had at the Cochise Terrace RV Park in Benson back this past March. You can read all about it here.
https://ourrvadventures.com/2017/03/voyager-bound/
When we got to Colorado River TT two weeks ago, the slide went out with no problems, so we weren’t expecting any this morning. But when we started to bring the slide in, it only moved about 2” and then stopped.
So I was outside and underneath the slide, opening both bin doors. Then I had Jan again try to bring the slide in. And got the same result. But I couldn’t see anything stopping it or jamming it. But just in case I sprayed the gears and the track with silicone lube, but no luck.
Then I tried to manually crank it in using the 1/2” ratchet handle and extension I keep in the bay just for that purpose. But I found my ratchet was stuck turning in only one direction, and it was the wrong one. But a little of the magic elixir, Strike-Hold took care of that problem
But trying to crank it in manually didn’t work any better than electrically. It still wouldn’t move. So what do you do if something won’t move?
You get a longer handle, or in this case a 16” piece of 1” galvanized pipe slid over the end of the ratchet. Either the slide is going to move, or the ratchet is going to snap.
And with a big ‘POP’ at the other end of the slide, everything started moving with no more problems. We were now able to move the slide in and out again.
Ok, but I want to know what CAUSED the problem. And I still don’t. And because I don’t know, the problem is still waiting out there to bite me again.
I hate that.
Finally on the road, we made a stop at the Colorado County Oil Co. for some diesel at $2.14 a gallon, and we were on our way.
We had a smooth trip to Conroe with no more problems, but more traffic on I-10 than we normally see on a Sunday. Don’t know why.
Coming into Katy it was nice to see another big jump in the US Rig Count. 952, up 12 from last weeks 940. Very nice, and bodes well for gate guarding later this year.
We got into Lake Conroe TT about 1:15 and found a nice site in G13, and got set up. Then I took a nap.
About 4:30 Jan and I drove into Conroe to have dinner at Culver”s, one of our favorite burger places. We were first turned on to them in Elkhart, IN, so we were really happy to find that one had opened up here in Conroe a while back.
Jan had her usual Mushroom and Cheddar Butterburger while I had the Butterburger Bacon Deluxe.
We both really like their crinkle-cut fries, crispy, crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside. Really good.
And then for dessert Jan got a Strawberry Sundae while I got Salted Caramel Concrete Mixer with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Pieces. Both just great.
Coming Home
July 9, 2018
Wrapping Up Our Trip . . .
We were out of our site at Poche’s Fish N Camp RV Park and on I-10 heading toward Houston a little after 7am.
As we hit the road, we were hoping that our luck with the cool weather would hold. And lucky for us, it pretty much did.
It stayed overcast the entire trip with short bouts of rain, at least until we were coming into Lake Charles. Then the bottom dropped out.
And as we made the last big curve and approached the bridge, I told Jan it did not bode well that we could not actually ‘see’ the bridge, just the lights of the cars going up and coming down. Nothing of the actual structure of the bridge or the water below.
The rain was pretty much gone by the time we reached the Texas border where we stopped for a break, but the heavy cloud cover held and it stayed cool all the rest of the way.
And, as I mentioned the other day, about 50 miles back into Texas, we rolled over 150,000 total miles in our 1999 American Eagle coach, and of course, 85,000 miles for us a couple of days ago.
Our first stop before home was at the Buc-ee’s down in La Marque where we unhitched the truck and then dieseled up. I was pleasantly surprised to find that gas prices had really dropped in the 2+ weeks we were gone, and diesel was only $2.77/gal. Nice.
We were backing into our site here at the Petticoat Junction RV Park a little after noon. And it was nice to be back ‘home’, even though we had a great time seeing everyone.
After getting plugged in and then catching our breath for a bit, we headed up to the Webster area, with a quick detour along the way to pick up some chairs from our storage room to take by the house so we’ll have a place to sit.
Our first real stop was our favorite East Star Chinese Buffet for lunch. With all the different foods we had on our trip, Chinese is the one that got left out. Between BBQ, Mexican, and Cajun, we pretty much covered all the rest.
After that we made a WalMart stop for a few things, and then went by the house to drop off the chairs and be sure everything was OK while we were gone. And it was.
Back home I finally set up the Sat/TV system for the first time since we left June 21st of last month. We both agreed we kind of like our ‘quiet time’, and we may have a little more of it to come.
Tomorrow it’s back to work for me, and probably a lot of puttering around the rig for Jan, putting everything back where it goes.
July 9, 2019
Old TENS, New TENS . . .
Last night was so-so, mainly because the new TENS unit shuts off after an hour. Better than the 30 minutes of the IcyHot version, but either way I’d wake up in pain a while later. So I’d start it up again for another hour. Rinse, Lather, Repeat. At first I thought I’d tear into to it and see if I could add an external timer, but decided to just look for another unit.
And I quickly found one, that even thought it’s not rechargeable, a 9V battery will last for 48 hours straight. And even better, at $27, it’s $10 cheaper than the one I have now. That one I’ll return when the new one comes in on Thursday.
But even though last night wasn’t really great, today was pretty much back to normal. Even Jan said I looked and sounded better. And I felt better too.
And hopefully the feeling good will last because I have a number of projects that are stacking up in the queue. Along with the new TENS unit that came in on Monday, I also received the 7 additional Blue Streak Ignition coils for the truck, so I want to replace them and the plugs as soon as I can.
Then of course there’s the rear brake job staring me in the face. And I’ve got the new UPS for our DirecTV DVR charging up and I’ll put it in place tomorrow. I tried to this evening, but Jan had a bunch of her shows set to record, so I’ll have to wait.
And with all this ordering stuff, of course, I had to get a new toy. Well, maybe not a toy, but a new TV ‘thingy’.
I’d been thinking for a while about getting a outside antenna to pick up some of the 70 local Houston stations. Of course we already get the 10 or so main Network stations on DirecTV, but we’d like to see some of the 50 or so sub-channels that carry old movies and TV shows
So I ordered this antenna to give it a shot.
I finally got a chance to put it together this afternoon, and after hooking it up, I just laid it on the passenger chair and set the TV to scan for new channels. And it found 34, with the antenna inside the rig and pointed up in the air about 30 degrees.
I had already used Google Maps to get the direction to point it, easy to do since almost all of Houston’s TV stations are in the same area of southwest Houston in the Missouri City area.
So then I took it outside and just laid it on on the patio table. Now I got 59 channels.
I’m looking forward to seeing what I’ll get with I put it up in the air.
For dinner tonight Jan and I made another visit to Doreck’s Meat Market for a Cheese Burger/Ribeye Steak Sandwich redux. However this time we shared some of their Potato Salad and Baked Beans, both very good.
And of course, any Texas meat market worth the name, will have Alligator on the menu.
Hopefully tomorrow I will feel as good as I have today.
July 9, 2021
Change of Plans . . .
As I mentioned yesterday we were planning on having dinner at the Monterey’s over in Alvin tonight and then attending the Alvin Opry. But Jan woke up with a bad headache and a stuffed-up head, no fever though, so we didn’t go tonight.
I’m still not sure what’s going on with my Jeep. Although it seemed to have improved somewhat after adding the HEET/Seafoam, and then topping off the 18 gal. tank with about 13 gallons of new gas. And every now and then it runs fine for a couple of minutes and then goes back to running rough and skipping. I did check under the hood this morning, wiggling the igniters wires, etc. But no change.
I could almost entertain the idea that this was just a coincidence and had nothing to do with getting gas. But the fact that the problem is not just one cylinder, but showing up on two separate cylinders, 4 and 5, and they’re on opposite sides of the engine.
Really, the only thing they have in common is the fuel feed. Which puts me right back where I started.
And I even thought about trash in the gas, rather than water. But that would clog the fuel filter in the tank and affect all the cylinders, not just 4 and 5 specifically.
If I don’t make any headway with this weekend, Jan and I will drop it off at my mechanic’s Monday afternoon and let him worry with it.
Look’s like Buc-ee’s is expanding along the I-10 corridor once again. They’ve now got locations in Luling, Katy, and Baytown in Texas, and another in Robertsdale, AL. And now there’s a new one going up in Mississippi.
This one will at Exit 24 in Harrison County. It’s north of Bay St. Louis and Pass Christian, but actually it’s kind of out in the middle of nowhere, with no real towns nearby. Looks to be a good location.
And I’ve heard rumors that they’re looking at another I-10 location, where it terminates in the Jacksonville FL area. They’ve got over 40 locations around the country now, so no telling where’s next.
Thought for the Day:
I suspect there should be a Happy Face on this sign.
Hi Jetpack! All Systems Go
Things were kind of quiet at work today. At least until our SpectrumVOIP phone system died about 1:30.
So I spent the next 3 hours on the phone with Spectrum TechSupport rebooting, refreshing, reloading, rewiring, as well as a bunch of other ‘re’ I’ve probably forgotten about. All to no avail.
Our system has its own router/controller box which is fed from a separate Internet feed from our house Internet system. Finally, out of desperation, and despite the support tech telling that line must be good since he could see their router on it, I unplugged their input line and plugged in a cable from our system.
And—voilà!—Everything was working again.
And to double check, I plugged the old line back in and all the phones died again.
So what happened with the first line? Right now I have no idea.
That’s something I can look at on Monday. I didn’t have anything with me to actually test the signal on that line. But I will Monday when I go back in.
Some readers are still having occasional problems when they go to our blog. Instead of the blog page, they see
‘Hi Jetpack! All Systems Go’.
Googling shows it’s a known problem, and not just on Godaddy. The only common factor seems to be the WordPress software.
Jetpack is a plugin used with WordPress to handle a lot of different tasks. Like sending out the email version of the blog to subscribers, and tracking the number of visitors to the site.
But . . . it also shows up on the blogs of people who don’t even have Jetpack installed. And since it’s so intermittent, it’s hard to track down. Right now I’m seeing it on my desktop machine, but not on my Tab tablet, or my Verizon phone. And the desktop and the Tab are both on the same WiFi.
I thought it might have something to do with the new Firewall I added, but after I turned it off, I was still seeing the problem.
But . . . I do have a workaround for you so you can get to the blog.
Rather that use the URL www.ourrvadventures.com, put the date of the blog that you want to see in the URL too.
Like this.
https://ourrvadventures.com/2022/07/07/
Year, then, month, and then day.
This will take you straight to the blog of that date. You can even use this to check out other years and dates.
Give it a try while I’m trying to the problem fixed.
Thought for the Day:
“We’ve all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.”
July 8, 2009
Planes, trains, and spaceships…
Well, we braved the DC Metro Rail line, and survived.
We started out with breakfast at the Silver Diner, a place we had noticed right down the road from our RV park.
It looks like one of those old-fashioned roadside diners that looked like it was made out of stainless steel. It even had the jukebox music selectors at each table. And the food was very good. We will probably eat there again some morning.
We then drove over to the Vienna/ Fairfax Metro Station and caught the Orange line into Metro Center, switched to the Red line (that’s the one that killed 9 people a couple of weeks ago) and ended up at Union Station.
Union Station, built in 1908 and remodeled several times, is very impressive. Besides having 3 levels of train tracks, it’s pretty much a shopping mall inside, with shops, restaurants, hotels, and tour agencies.
We ended up at Union Station because we wanted to take another Old Town Tolley Tour, like we did in Key West, St. Augustine, and Savannah. We plan on completing our set by taking their other tours in Boston and San Diego as we travel.
So we did the tourist thing, seeing all the usual sights…
The U.S. Capitol,
The White House,
The Washington Monument,
The Lincoln Memorial,
The Supreme Court,
The National Archives, where the original copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and other famous documents are stored.
After we made the tour bus loop, we rode it back around and got off at the National Air & Space Museum, the other side of the Udar-Hazy Center that we visited the other day.
We got to see a lot more ‘original’ planes and space vehicles this time. But the next picture isn’t one of those.
Below is a mockup of the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander as it sat on the moon.
This is a mockup of the Hubble Telescope. The Shuttle just finished up a repair mission that should keep it working for a few more years.
This is the M2-F3 Lifting Body. One like this is what you saw crashing at the beginning of the ‘6 Million Dollar Man’ TV show. There was a pilot inside that ship and he survived, and they didn’t have to put him back together with bionics, either.
This is the real thing. It’s Burt Rutan’s SpaceShip One that won the $10 million X prize in 2004 for being the first private ship to make it into space.
This is Chuck Yeager’s X-1 rocket plane that he piloted to break the sound barrier for the first time in history.
This is the X-15 rocket plane, the world’s fastest and highest flying aircraft, at Mach 6.72 (4534 mph) and 67 mile high.
This is the original Apollo 11 Command Module that the astronauts used to return from the moon.
This is the German Me-262 jet fighter. It was the first really operational jet fighter. There aren’t too many of these left.
This is another item I have personal experience with. It’s a GE J79 jet engine. I spent a lot of time pulling these things out of and putting them back in F-4 Phantoms at Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, SC.
This is the Ford Tri-Motor. Who know Ford used to built aircraft? Although these started flying in 1928, they were still flying them in South America when we lived there in the early 1960’s. The ones we flew on down there only had 2 engines, not 3. The center engine had been removed and the two wing-mounted engines had been replaced with more powerful ones from the DC-3s.
This is another plane I worked on. It’s an A-4 Skyhawk, except mine were for the Marine Corps, not the Navy.
This is Charles Lindbergh’s original ‘Spirit of St. Louis’, in which he made the first solo, non-stop flight from New York to Paris in 1927. For this, he won $25,000.
This is Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Vega that she used to make several record-setting flights, before she left on her ill-fated flight in her Lockheed Electra in 1937.
This is the original 1903 Wright Flyer that the Wright brothers used to make the first successful powered flights in 1903. The one we saw at Kitty Hawk a few weeks ago was a replica.
This is a Tomahawk cruise missile. It can be launched from plane, a ship, or a submarine, travel over 1500 miles, and then fly through the exact window you aimed for.
This is a Predator UAV complete with Hellfire missiles. These are being used in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan today.
This is Voyager. Designed by Burt Rutan, and flown by his brother, Dick, and Jeana Yeager, in 1986 it was the first plane to fly around the world in 9 days without refueling or stopping.
And, of course, what spaceship display is complete without the NCC-1701, the Starship Enterprise. This is the original model used in the ‘Star Trek’ TV show in 1966-1969.
Tomorrow Jan and I plan to see the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of American History.
Another fun trip on Metro Rail…
July 8, 2010
Waco…finally
First, a little Waco musical interlude…
Cross the Brazos at Waco
Well, Gina couldn’t think of anything else for me to fix, so we finally got out of Canyon Lake about 10:15 am, but it took some doing
First we had to stop at the park office to pay our electric bill. This Passport America is $12 a day plus electric, so at $52.40 for 13 days, that’s about $4 a day. Not bad with the 95 degree days we’ve been having.
Next, right after leaving the park, we stopped at the Exxon station and got diesel. I glad we stayed a couple of extra days because in that time diesel dropped from $2.85 to $2.75. Hey, ten cents a gallon for 122 gallons adds up.
By the time we got finished it was a little after 11 am so since we had to drive right by it, we decided to have lunch at Milagro’s, a really good Mexican restaurant in the area.
After we finished lunch, I used their large parking lot to hook up the toad, and finally about noon we were on our way.
It was about 12 miles into San Marcos where we got on I-35N heading to the KOA in West, TX, about 20 miles north of Waco.
We pulled into the North Waco KOA about 3:30 pm and were led to our site.
Whoops! Someone was already in our site. And the one they wanted to put us in was not a pull-thru like we had paid for.
Finally they got things straighten out and led us to this nice site on top of a hill.
Tomorrow we’ll head north and east to somewhere around Shreveport, LA.
More tomorrow…
July 8, 2011
Seattle, Act II, or . . .
Gluttons for Punishment.
Yes, we didn’t get tired enough on Wednesday trudging up and up the Seattle hills, so we went back for more.
Jan decided we wanted to Ride the Ducks, see the Seattle Aquarium, and eat some more seafood before we start heading back east tomorrow.
So we took the 11:10 ferry over to Seattle. But we were smarter this time. We took a taxi up to Westlake Station where we got on the Duck.
Our Duck Tour left set sail at 1pm for a 90 minute trip around Seattle.
One of the first places we passed was the Elephant Super Car Wash. In 1962 Elvis Presley was in Seattle performing at the 1962 World’s Fair. Every day he brought his beloved pink Cadillac here to get it washed. The Elephant Super Wash was the first automated car wash in the U.S. and he was fascinated with it. And while his Caddy was being washed, he put on a show under the sign.
A few minutes later, we were feet wet in Lake Union, north of downtown Seattle.
We saw houseboats that look like boats,
houseboats that look like houses,
and houseboats that look like mansions,
and houseboats that look like the ‘Sleepless in Seattle” houseboat. Oh, wait. It IS the “Sleepless in Seattle” houseboat.
And in 2008 it sold for 2.5 million dollars, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan not included.
This little inlet in front of the willow tree is where Bill Boeing launched his very first seaplane and started United Airlines and the Boeing Aircraft Corp.
We’ve take a number of the Duck Tours around the country and we’ve found them a good way to see an area, and this one was no different. We got back to Westlake Station about 2:30, and after a mocha and a muffin, we decided to walk down to the Seattle Aquarium, instead of taking a taxi. It was downhill, after all.
We got to the aquarium about 3:30 and spent a little over an hour wandering through all the exhibits.
I’ll just let the photos tell the tale.
About 4:45 we walked back down the waterfront to Ivar’s for a last seafood meal. We had chowder, seafood platters, and fish and chips. Really good!
Catching the 6:45 ferry back to Bremerton, we passed this container ship heading out into the Pacific. With these containers stacked 6 high, it’s easy to see how they sometimes fall off in rough weather.
Getting back to Bremerton a little before 8pm, we headed back to the rig with a quick stop at Wal-Mart to pick up our prescriptions.
Tomorrow morning we’ll head out for the Thousand Trails Resort in Leavenworth, WA about 175 miles away.
Leaving Gillette, WY
July 8, 2013
Back Home Again . . .
The rain came down heavy about 2am this morning. In fact it was so loud that I thought it was hailing until I looked outside. I just hoped it wouldn’t keep me from getting out of here this morning.
Jan and I were up about 7am, even though we didn’t plan to leave until about 10. That let us have nice slow breakfast with coffee and breakfast sandwiches.
So we cranked up a little after 9:30 and got ready to head out. But my departure wasn’t quite so easy.
I put the rig into gear and very gently gave it a little throttle. I moved forward a foot or two before the wheels started to slip. Before it could dig in, I stopped and put the rig into reverse, backing up several feet past where I had started. Now on more solid ground, I slowly started forward and once I was moving, gave it more throttle than before.
This time when the tires started slipping a bit, I just continued on, because though the tires were spinning a bit, I was still steadily moving forward without digging in. Then after a few more seconds I was on the road and we were on our way.
Whew!
We headed down to the I-90 interchange where Jan and I headed east for the East Belvidere KOA about 250 miles away.
The trip went very smoothly, with a couple of 10 mile two lane under-construction sections, but we were about to keep our 55mph speed with no problems. Our first rest stop was at the 80 mile mark, where Jan said she wanted to take over the driving for a while.
And that 80 mile stop also marked our return to our home state of South Dakota. We’ve been South Dakota residents since 2008 and it’s now time to renew our drivers licenses. With this first renewal, we have to do it in person, but after this, we will be able to do it by mail.
Jan drove for about 100 miles until we made another pit stop, saying she wanted to drive again tomorrow. She likes driving in the rolling hills and wide-open spaces of South Dakota. Not a lot of traffic and the towns are few and far between.
Around 2:45 we pulled into the East Belvidere KOA, and since we already had a paid reservation, we were quickly escorted to our site. Since we’re only going to be here for one night, we just got a site with electric and water only.
As it turned out our park is at the same exit as a tourist attraction called 1880 Town that looked very busy as we came by. It looked interesting but we’ll have to check it out next time through the area.
After getting set up we both ended up taking a nap until a little after 5 we walked over to the park restaurant. Our meals were simple but good, with Jan having a really good chili cheese dog and fries. My Buffalo Burger was also delicious as well.
This is a very nice KOA park, well laid out and landscaped, with all the amenities.
All the sites are long pull-thrus with 30/50 amps and water, and some with sewer.
And back behind us, we found this very nice GMC rig.
A little later while we were watching TV, Jan said “That rig looks familiar” as one went by. Turned out to be Bob and Molly Pinner, the directors of the Escapees’ Escapade in Gillette, WY that we had just attended. They’re heading back to Virginia, by way of Goshen, IN to check out the location of the next Escapade there next May.
I told them how much we enjoyed the recent Escapade, and talking about the next one.
Tomorrow we’ve got a 230 mile trip to the W. H. Lyons Fairgrounds in Sioux Falls. On the way we’ll make a stop about 20 miles down the road in Murdo, SD to diesel up at the Pilot there.
Still In Elkhart, IN
July 8, 2014
Missed It By That Much!
We got a call this afternoon from Diane with Gate Guard Services. She wanted to know where we were because she has our home address in Friendswood, TX. Before I told her we were in Indiana, she said she had a gate for us. It’s a 12 hour gate over in Sugarland, only about 30 miles from Chris, Linda, and Piper, and about 15 miles from Brandi, Lowell, and Landon.
And did I mention it’s a 12 hour gate!
Really hated to tell her we were up in Indiana, but I did tell her we expected to be ready for a gate the end of August, if she wanted to hold this one for us.
But no luck.
Hopefully there’ll still be a gate like this when we’re ready.
For lunch Jan fixed pimento cheese sandwiches using some of the beautiful tomatoes we got last week at E & S Sales, the Amish bulk food place, over in Shipshewana.
Not only are they beautiful, but biting into one the flavor just explodes in your mouth. Much better than store-bought. Just wish we’d bought more.
I spent most of the afternoon playing around with my Samsung Galaxy S5. One problem I found was that some programs that I liked and a few that I liked AND had paid for, on my old phone, were no longer available, I guess because the companies were no longer in business.
This meant that I couldn’t download them to my new S5, but a little Googling led me to an app called ‘apk extractor’, ‘apk’ being the Android program format. This program would bundle up the selected app and save it to the old phone’s SD card. It could then be transferred to the new phone and installed.
So I needed to first install the ‘apk extractor’ on my old Samsung Droid Charge. Of course my old phone was no longer able to download apps over the 4G phone system. But as I had hoped, I could still download apps through the Wi-Fi on the phone.
After downloading and running the ‘apk extractor’, I selected a number of programs to extract and transfer. Getting the programs to my S5, I installed them one by one. The only problem I found was that a couple of the apps would not run under the new version of Android software that the S5 runs, but all in all, it was a good solution to the problem.
For dinner, Jan heated up the leftover King Wha from the other night. Still very good, especially when spiced up with Sriracha and then sprinkled with Chow Mein noodles.
Delicious!
July 8, 2015
Inside Out In Albuquerque, NM . . .
We ended up making today a shopping/movie/dinner day. There was a lot of stuff we wanted to see, but we didn’t feel that one afternoon would do it justice. Jan had already said she wanted to spend more time here on our next trip through.
We headed out about 12:30, but just as we were ready to leave the park, I got a call back from my transfer switch company. I had left a message with them this morning about my problem.
The guy said he hadn’t heard of this problem before but agreed with me that it had to be in the little control board that looks for genset power coming in and pulls in the genset contactor when it does. The board is still under warranty, but I’ll have to figure out where to have them send it.
Our next stop was at a Sam’s Club for a few things. One thing interesting was that there was a Costco right next door. Never saw that before.
Finishing up at Sam’s, we headed out looking for a SuperCuts. I was starting to get into ponytail territory since I hadn’t had a haircut since we left Houston the end of February, and Jan’s last one was in Las Vegas, so we were both due. The first one we found was out of business, but the second one was up and running. So now we have that taken care of.
We haven’t been to a movie in a good while, so today we decided to see “Inside Out”, the latest animation from Pixar. We both thought it was very good, and very well done. It’s written on several different levels, so there’ plenty for young kids to laugh about. and plenty for adults to think about.
The story follows the emotions inside the head of Riley, an 11 year old girl as she suffers through the pain and anguish of moving across the country with her family. The emotions, Anger, Fear, Disgust, and Sadness, along with Joy, the leader, bicker over the control of Riley’s feelings and memories.
It’s a really good movie for kids and adults alike. Well recommended.
Our next stop was a quick one, at a NAPA Auto Parts, looking for green diesel antifreeze. And as I have found it’s getting harder and harder to find the green over the newer red. So this winter I’ll probably drain my green and replace it with red, and then I won’t have to worry about it.
Our final stop was for dinner at La Salita. We’d tried here last night, but they don’t open for dinner until 5pm, so we were back tonight. And I’m really glad we made the second trip.
Like many of other favorite places, La Salita is tucked away, but was still easy to find due to the large crowd waiting outside in the parking lot when we arrived about 6pm. We got our names on the list, and luckily found an empty bench to wait. Our forecasted 30 minute wait turned out to be only 20, and we were quickly seated.
Looking over the menu, Jan immediately zeroed in on the four different kinds of Chile Rellenos, Cheddar Cheese, Swiss Cheese, Avocado, and Naked (A Naked Chile Relleno is not breaded and fried, just served warm). She ended up ordering a two Relleno plate, one with Cheddar Cheese and one with Avocado.
For me, I quickly noticed the Green Chile Stew, so I knew I wanted a bowl of that. For the rest, I went with the #1 Combo, with a Cheddar Cheese Relleno and Cheese Enchilada.
My Green Chile Stew showed up quickly, and was delicious.
I shared several spoonfuls with Jan, and we both agreed that there was an unusual taste or spice that we hadn’t encountered before.
Just about the time I had finished up the stew, our entrees showed up. Perfect timing.
Here’s Jan’s,
and here’s mine.
Believe me, they were as good as they looked, with everything perfectly seasoned.
We had been talking to the manager about the spice we couldn’t identify (and we never did) and Jan mentioned that we were RV’ers, and another RV’er had told us about this place. When he saw me taking pictures of the food for our blog, he asked for the URL, so I gave him my card. At the same time Jan mentioned that he should check out the other blogs on the right hand side.
Tomorrow we’ve got a 300 mile trip to Amarillo where we’ll spend two nights, before heading out to Pauls Valley, OK for a few days.
Just moving on.
July 8, 2016
Serendipity?
Jan says it’s kind of like childbirth.
I guess to convince me that there really was a 4th of July golf cart parade here at Colorado River Thousand Trails, Barbara Spade sent over these photos to prove it.
A couple of days ago Jan told me we’re going to gate guard this year, that is, assuming we can get a gate. But things do seem to be looking up in the oil patch.
And, in a little serendipity, Sheri Facebook messaged us this morning wanting to know when we would be available this year. Sheri is the wife of Jamie Hime, who’s been our Gate Guard Services supervisor since we first stated gate guarding in 2012.
I told her any time after the 22nd of August, pretty much like last year. We’ll be back from our Alabama sojourn, and then here for Landon’s 6th Birthday on Saturday the 20th. Then after a day to get ready to travel, we’ll be good to go on Monday the 22nd.
Jan says gate guarding is kind of like childbirth. In the middle of labor, a women would probably tell you she never wants to have any more children. But afterwards, it’s probably a different story.
Maybe it only works with Champagne.
I’m sure you’ve seen the commercials on TV with the guy pouring Champagne on his Galaxy S7 phone, talking about how ‘waterproof’ it is.
But according to Consumer Reports, that’s not quite the case.
So maybe just stick to dunking your S7 in Champagne.
July 8, 2017
Scheduling 2018 . . .
Tomorrow we’re moving back over to the Lake Conroe TT for the next two weeks. We’re still trying to decide if we’re going to make the trip over to Alabama this summer.
If we do we’ll probably leave on the 23rd of July at the end of our time there. But we’ll see.
We’re also starting to map out our travels for next year. We plan to do the East coast again, for the first time since 2009 when we left Houston, traveled around the Gulf coast down to Key West, and then up the East coast to Maine and then out to Newfoundland.
Coming back to Maine, we headed north into the bottom of Canada through Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, before coming back into the US near Niagara Falls.
We finally ended up back in the Houston area on Sunday, November 22th. This was before we started gate guarding in 2012, so we traveled the entire year, always coming back to the Galveston Bay RV Park the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
But next year’s trip probably won’t be quite so elaborate, especially as far as Canada . . . and Key West, too.
We’ll only go down Florida as far as Tampa/St. Pete before crossing over to the Atlantic side to the Palm Beach area.
Then it’s up the coastline, doing Washington, D.C. and New York City once again, before moving on up to Massachusetts, and maybe New Hampshire. After that it’s back down through Pennsylvania and over to Elkhart, IN for a while, before visiting Jan’s sister, Debbie and her family, in Vandalia, IL.
Our only hard date scheduled so far for next year is May 27th – June 1st in Sedalia, MO, for the 58th Escapees Escapade.
And after that, we don’t know yet.
Breaux Bridge, LA
July 8, 2018
The King Is Dead . . .
Long Live The New King?
Wanting to beat the heat we were up before 6 and pulling of our site at the Benchmark RV Park in Meridian by 6:40.
And 5 minutes later we were on I-20/I-59 heading west and then south on I-59 at the split. Jan had thought about driving again this morning, but it was pretty foggy in spots, and even with the very light traffic she decided not to.
If you check out the upper left of this photo you’ll see a rock chip on our rig’s windshield. This is notable because it’s the very first chip we have ever gotten on the rig.
Even going to Alaska and back in 2008, we didn’t get a nick. And we also never got a chip on the toad windshield either, and we didn’t have one of those shields or car covers you see people using. Just lucky, I guess.
At least until now.
The trip was nice and easy with no problems. Even going through Baton Rouge was a breeze with no slowdowns, at least until I got trapped behind a pokey semi going up the bridge. Then I got behind the power curve and ended up putt-putting up at 42mph, instead of the 50-55 along with the other traffic. But it was still nice.
The cooler weather held the entire way with a total overcast and occasional bursts of rain, just enough to keep the temps down and us very comfortable. And everything was great until the very end.
We were at mile marker 120, four miles from the end of the Atchafalaya River Bridge and about 20 minutes from the park, when every thing ground to a halt. And then it took us almost 90 minutes to go that 4 miles. Although we saw a police car and a flat bed wrecker come by us on the right shoulder lane, we never saw anything else, even when the traffic started moving.
So instead of getting to our site Poche’s Fish N Camp RV Park by noon, it was more like 1:30pm. But we stayed nice and cool anyway.
Normally every time we’re here in Breaux Bridge we eat at Pont Breaux nee Mulate’s, and have for about 30 years. But it seems like since the place sold a few years ago, and even though they seemed to have keep the same recipes, the place is just not the same. So when I called to double-check their hours, and found out they were closed today , in addition to being closed as usual on Monday and Tuesday, we started looking elsewhere.
Now back in the Mulate’s days that wouldn’t have happened. They were open all day, every day. But we’ve noted on our last few visits that they’re not near as busy as they used to be. So I guess we’re not the only ones disappointed in the new regime.
Any way, I remembered another place here in Breaux Bridge. It turned out to be the Crazy Bout Crawfish, right off the Interstate, and BOY, was it good!
Jan and I remembered eating here one time years ago when Mulate’s was closed due to flood damage, but it was a different place then, I think specializing in Po’boys. But it was nothing special and we never thought about going back. But this new place is really, really good.
It has that typical eclectic Cajun décor in a nice setting. The staff was very attentive, the service was great, and the food was fantastic.
Jan started off with the house salad and then went with the Grilled Catfish and Grilled Veggies.
I started off with my traditional Seafood Gumbo, but a cup this time instead of my usual bowl,
because I wanted the Spicy Boiled Shrimp.
But with the Gumbo, and even sharing shrimp with Jan, I still had 1/2 the shrimp to take home. Of course the other reason I took a lot home was trying to leave room for their homemade desserts.
Jan go the Ooey Gooey Strawberry Shortcake with Fresh Strawberries,
while I got the Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce.
But I still didn’t leave enough room, I guess, because I took half it it home too.
Heading home, stuffed to the gills, we both agreed that this is our new restaurant in Breaux Bridge from now on. So there goes a 30 year tradition.
I guess the King is Dead. Long Live The New King.
Later back at the rig, I went outside to hook up the toad for tomorrow’s trip back to Houston. With that done all I’ll have to do in the morning is disconnect shore power and put the key in the truck ignition to unlock the steering column, and we’ll be ready to roll.
Wrapping up outside I got this great sunset shot from our site.
This is a really nice park, a great place to stay, and it was Passport America too.
Tomorrow we’ve got about a 250 mile trip back home, and it looks like the cool weather will hold.
But we’ll see.
July 8, 2019
But It Got Better . . .
Today I felt probably the worse I’ve felt since this sciatica thing started a few weeks ago. In fact after a really bad time, tossing and turning all night, I didn’t even want to go to work, but I knew it was possible that our office manager might be out sick, since she left early on Friday.
Plus my new TENS unit was supposed to come in today, so I wanted to get started with it as soon as possible. And I’m glad I did go in since it turns out that our office manager has the flu.
Oh boy, Something else to get sick from.
And since I was pretty blah at work, and it was pretty quiet, my client told me to go on home an hour early. I had already been using my new TENS unit. But I couldn’t put the electrode pads in the right position without stripping down, but I did feel a little better. So getting home, we made a Yummy Yummy run for an early dinner.
![TENS Unit_thumb[1]](https://ourrvadventures.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TENS-Unit_thumb1-1.png "TENS Unit_thumb[1]")
Back home I let Jan put the pads in place shown for Sciatica treatment , which for me was one right about the waist line on the left side, and the other one on the same side on the upper thigh. I then turned it on and and raised the level until it was a definite tingle.
Then I went and laid down for a couple of hours, and for the first in days I slept with no pain, and felt great when I got up. I used the unit several times on and off the rest of the evening and still felt great.
Now if it just works the rest of the night.
July 8, 2021
See! It Did Happen!
or maybe it’s just me.
I went outside this afternoon to try and pull the Check Engine codes for our Jeep from yesterday’s possible bad gas problem. I discovered that the reason my code reader didn’t work yesterday was that I hadn’t yet Bluetooth-paired to my new phone. So once I did that it worked fine.
The codes I got were P0300, P0304, and P0305. Which didn’t really tell me anything new, since the P0300 just tells me that some cylinders are misfiring. And the P0304 and P0305 tells that it’s cylinders 4 and 5.
None of that really helps me, since I already knew that was happening. And knowing what cylinders doesn’t help either. At least at this point. But just to see what would happen, I cleared the codes, anyway.
When Jan and I headed out for lunch, I made a stop at the O’Reilly’s Auto Parts two stores away from yesterday’s CircleK/Valero. I wanted to get a can of Seafoam Gas Injector Cleaner, and I wanted to ask if anyone else had come in complaining about bad gas at the nearby station. But they hadn’t heard anything.
Bummer!
So maybe my engine problems were just a coincidence, and it’s just me. Or as Freud once said, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
Before we left the O’Reilly’s I dumped about half the Seafoam in to the Jeep’s gas tank, and we headed up to Webster for lunch.
And once again, Jan wanted to have lunch at Twin Peaks. Yep, and unlike last time I have proof.
Jan had the Spicy Chipotle Chicken with a cup of the Tomato Basil Soup.
In my case I went a little lighter than my usual Billionaire’s Burger, getting the Soup & Half Sandwich Combo, a BLT and a bowl of their Green Chile Chicken.
So, see it did happen. There’s the proof we did have lunch at Twin Peaks.
Oh? That’s not the kind of proof you were talking about, you say?
Is this what you meant by ‘proof’?
This pretty young lady is Haley.
Proof enough?
Looks like our favorite Monterey’s Little Mexico over in Dickinson is getting closer to opening, since there’s a Now Hiring banner hanging from the façade.
But we’ve still got a temporary substitute, since we’ll be having dinner at the Monterey’s over in Alvin before ending up at the Alvin Opry once again. Really looking forward to both, since we missed last month’s show because we were on the road.
Next we made a stop at Kroger to pick up a prescription and then headed home.
Finishing up I found the another interesting photo on the DailyTimeWaste.com website.
Apparently this is what happens when honeybees start feasting on discarded M&M’s in a factory dumpster.
Looks like they like the blue ones the best.
Thought for the Day:
People who do not study history are destined to believe really ignorant statements.
