Monthly Archives: September 2022
On So Many Levels . . .
Today was Texas Huddle once again, with Jan getting her bun-less Cheddar Mushroom Bacon Burger with a Side Salad and their Grilled Veggies.
while I spiced up my burger with fresh jalapenos, along with a Side Salad.
Then it was on down to HEB for a few things before heading home for the day.
When I upgraded my old phone to the Galaxy S21 Ulta about 18 months ago, Jan inherited my workhorse Galaxy S8+ that I had been using since 2017 when I got in Las Vegas the first day it was available. But about a year later, it died.
Or at least the screen died, though I could tell the phone was still working. So I downgraded her to my old Galaxy S5 that I got in 2014.
But she’s not been a happy camper. The S5 is smaller and she says it’s running slower and slower. So I found a brand-new one still in a sealed box on eBay for a VERY good price, and it should be here tomorrow.
Shouldn’t take me too long to switch every thing over to the new phone.
When I saw this T-Shirt I had just I just had to order it for Jan.
She loves Halloween, and she can drive a stick-shift. In fact we were married more than 3 years before we got a car with an automatic.
And as I told her, it works on so many levels.
Thought For The Day:
I’m not superstitious, but sometimes I’m just a little stitious.
September 19, 2009
A Long Day and Bad Roads…
Today we left Quebec about 9:30am for a 266 mile drive to Grenville RV Park in Johnstown, ON.
We needed to make this long trip to be sure we have time to see Niagara Falls and other places before our rally in Ohio on Sept. 27th.
Even though long, we expected the trip to be relatively easy because it was 4 lane all the way.
But that was not to be.
Passing thru the Montreal area we encountered the worst 4 lane road conditions we’ve ever seen.
The roads were either under construction, or should have been. And on top of that, they weren’t very well marked, either.
The one nice thing about the trip were the beautiful colors. Fall is here, at least in Canada. It’s amazing how much the leaves have changed just in the three weeks we were in Canada.
We arrived at Grenville RV Park in Johnstown, ON about 3:15pm and were given a very nice pull-thru site right on the St. Lawrence river.
After getting set up and settling in, we went out for dinner at a place recommended by the RV park called 730 Truck Stop Restaurant.
And like the truck stop restaurant in Houlton, ME that we really liked, this one was excellent also.
Getting back to the rig, we let Mister stretch his legs for a while before we went in for the night.
September 19, 2010
Stormy Weather. . .
Although today’s forecast was for Partly Cloudy with a chance of rain, we awoke to Fully Cloudy, with this coming in on us. We’re right in the middle of this radar picture between League City and Texas City.
And while we were drinking coffee, this was the view out the front of the coach.
And a little while later it had deteriorated to this.
We’d already lost the satellite signal when the rains finally moved in.
And it rained and stormed with a lot of wind for the next several hours.
We left about 3 pm to have Linner/Lupper at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood, our favorite local Cajun place, and our favorite place for gumbo in this area. It’s not quite up to Mulate’s in Breaux Bridge, LA, but it’s real close, and and it’s less expensive.
Leaving Floyd’s we drove across the Interstate to Fry’s Electronics.to see if they’d gotten any more of the backup drives I was looking for. And luckily for me, they did.
Heading toward home we stopped off at Walmart for cat food and bird seed, and were home by a little after 5.
We’ll just have to see about the weather tomorrow.
September 19, 2012
Loose Meat and A Ceramic Moose–part deux . . .
Before we left Greenville, we wanted to check out Maid-Rite. Maid-Rite is the home of the ‘Loose Meat’ sandwich, and has been since 1926.
A ‘Loose Meat’ sandwich is kind of like a sloppy joe without ‘sloppy’ sauce part. If you remember the old Roseanne TV show, she and Sheldon’s mother opened a Loose Meat Sandwich Shop.
One of the novelties of this place is the Gum Wall. People have been sticking their gum on the side of the building for decades. In some cases there are 4 generations of a family’s gum on this wall.
Leaving Greenville and heading south back to the park, we decided to have dinner at the Sherman House Restaurant & Inn in Batesville, and are we glad we did.
Although they have a standard menu with steaks, seafood, and sandwiches, they also have a selection of German cuisine. And Jan and I finally got our Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage.
I had the German Fare, a sampler with Weiner Schnitzel, Sauerbraten, and Wurst & Kraut, along with Potato Patties, and of course, the Sweet & Sour Red Cabbage.
Jan had the Jager Schnitzel with mashed potatoes, and the cabbage.
And after a fantastic meal, we were so stuffed we could hardly walk to the truck. Hopefully we’ll be able to go back before we leave here.
That wraps up yesterday. On to today.
Today was pretty much a stay-at-home day. A little later I drove over to the Home Depot in Harrison. I wanted to get a propane torch to try and get my old chrome tailpipe unstuck so I can install the new one.
Later Jan and I drove over to Harrison to eat at the Goldstar Chili. Jan and I ate at Skyline Chili the other day so tonight we wanted to check out the competition.
As it turns out, Jan liked Goldstar better, and I liked Skyline better.
Coming home, Jan and I stopped for gas. As it stands now, we’re going to spend some time in Cincinnati tomorrow.
September 19, 2013
A Lot Quieter . . .
The gate’s a lot quieter now. We only had 94 vehicles through here yesterday and a little over 100 today.
We did get some indication that finishing up and cleaning up after this fracking job could take another month, but you never know. This coming Monday will start our 2nd month here, and it would be nice to not have to move before we head out of here the Sunday before Thanksgiving.
That’s about it for now
September 19, 2014
Could be worse. Could be raining.
The last several days have been pretty boring. But in some cases, boring is good.
Our vehicle counts have been in the 80’s, which is nice, especially since when the fracking starts, that could easily quadruple. From what we’ve heard, there are three sites ready to frack behind our gate, and that doesn’t include the two rigs that are presently drilling, the one right across from us and the other one down the road.
But if it’s anything like our past experience, it could easily be a while. We’ve been told that frack crews are in short supply, and it can take months after a well is finished before the frack guys show up. We heard last year of one gate guarding couple who sat on a gate for six months waiting for the frack, just getting one or two vehicles a day.
And when we were following a Marathon/HP rig in 2012, the couple at a gate right above us had been waiting three months. So I guess it’s possible that when we leave here in November, they still won’t be fracking.
That would be nice. 80 vehicle days as far as the eye can see.
I mentioned in an earlier blog about the rig right across from us being a ‘3 holer’, which means they will actually be drilling three separate wells on that pad. Well, tomorrow is when they’re supposed to ‘skid’ the rig to the second hole, but I haven’t heard if that’s going to happen on time or not. Probably not, because is seems like nothing stays on schedule in the oil patch. We’ll see.
Besides low vehicle counts the last several days, we’ve also had rain. And today, we got a lot of it. A heavy downpour for about an hour this afternoon. Luckily there was no wind, so I didn’t have a problem with it blowing under the canopy, but it did bring out a few leaks, mostly where the canopy rubs against the frame in a few places.
So I decided to try this Rust-Oleum Clear Leak Seal spray I bought a while back to seal the joints in our shower. Since it work great there, so why not on the canopy?
I’m sure you’ve seen those TV commercials where they install a screen door in the bottom of a boat, spray the screen with a leak sealer, and then sail away, high and dry. Well, this is that stuff, but the Rust-Oleum brand.
And I can tell it works just as good on canopies as it does on screen door boat bottoms. And it even works while it’s raining. I would see a drop forming on the underside of the canopy, hit it with a couple of shots of the Leak Seal, and no more drip. Neat.
For dinner last night we finished off the last of the Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, and tonight Jan whipped up one of her specialty sandwiches, with sliced turkey, sliced roast beef, PepperJack cheese, basil pesto, and spicy mayo. Really, really, really good.
More tomorrow from the Gate.
September 19, 2015
Summer’s Back . . .
Well, Summer’s back, apparently with a vengeance. That cooling-off that was supposed to come through on Monday, dropping temps back into the high 80’s, low 90’s went somewhere else, because now it’s mid to high 90’s as far as the eye can see. Of course that could change too.
Maybe it’s like talking about a possible no-hitter during the ball game and jinxing it.
Today was a little quieter than usual, with only 90 vehicles coming in, as opposed to the usual 120 – 130 we’ve been having recently. Don’t know if it was because it was the weekend or not, but it was nice anyway.
Right before I came on at 1pm, I went down and permanently installed my Mighty Mule Driveway Alarm system, using the plastic fence post I picked up from Tractor Supply on Friday.
Here’s what it looks like directly from the side.
Originally I had the transmitter hanging from one of the vines, but it wasn’t waterproof that way and was more visible.
Here’s what it looks like as you’re coming toward it.
The reason I’m trying to hide it somewhat is that a couple of years ago I had one like this stolen.
Don’t know what they could do with it without the receiver that it talks to, but $80 walked away. Ouch!
Because the sensor/transmitter are in one unit, the whole thing needs to be right beside the roadway, and it’s very visible.
But with the Mighty Mule, the sensor and the transmitter are two separate units separated by a 12 ft. cable. And the sensor itself is pretty inconspicuous. It’s that black pipe at the bottom of the first photo.
So far the Mighty Mule has a perfect record. It’s never missed a vehicle coming by it, and it’s never false alarmed. The reason for that is that these alarms sense large masses of metal passing by. So not cows, wind, bushes, etc.
You can’t ask for any better than that.
On the false alarm question, I find I always enjoy reading the questions people ask about products on Amazon. In this case, the question was “Does the wind set it off?”, and the answer was, “Not unless the wind blows a car past it.”
There is one thing that bothers me about the unit though, and that’s the alarm sound.
It’s sharp.
No, not pointy sharp. Musically sharp.
The alarm sound is made up of four tones, three identical ones, and then a fourth, lower tone, like the opening four notes to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, I.e, G G G Eflat. But the alarm’s last tone is somewhere between an E and an F, and it just grates on my ears.
In a way I guess I’m kind of like Sheldon yelling at the mockingbird outside his office window that he accused of being tone deaf.
“Just pick a key and stick with it.”
September 19, 2016
Another Month . . .
As usual Monday’s count picked up from the slow weekend, a lot of it due to salespeople trying to get an early start to the week. I guess some of it’s just subjective, because at 44 vehicles coming in, it was only 10 more than yesterday. But those extra 10 were concentrated in just a couple of hours so it made it seem like a lot more.
Today starts the beginning of our 2nd month here at Blue Moon Gate, and so far it hasn’t been bad at all. Not quite as good as last year’s Carthage Gate, mostly because of the sucky Wi-Fi/Internet and the distance to Wal-Mart. It’s hard to beat 4 bars of 3G/4G and 5 miles to Wal-Mart/Whataburger/Chicken Express/Sonic/ McDonald’s like we had last year, I guess.
We did get our Amazon order this afternoon, right on schedule, and Jan told the mail carrier lady that we had another one coming tomorrow. Today’s care package was a 2nd remote for the new Samsung TV, and a new computer mouse.
Tomorrow’s will be a new beard trimmer for me, and a couple of new AC to USB charger modules so it will be easier for Jan to keep her Kindles charged outside here under the canopy.
I still need to figure out what to do about our Internet here. I still haven’t been able to get our Wilson Booster working. It seems to work, I.e.its showing the correct lights, and if I bring the inside antenna near the outside antenna, it goes into feedback/overload just like it should. But as far as actually amplifying a 3G phone signal, zip, zero, nada, nyet.
The last time I used it in 2012, I was able to go from no signal whatsoever to 4 bars of 3G hitting a tower, that according to the Open Signal app, was 19.5 miles away. Now I’ve got 1 to 2 bars of 3G here, and I can’t seem to amplify it at all.
My fallback position here was to use the pad’s Wi-Fi, and I was able to get the password to the Company Man’s system, but unfortunately due to the distance his trailer is from our rig, the signal is OK sometimes, and not OK others. And the desktop computer in the coach can’t see it at all
I think maybe the variation in signal level I’m seeing is due to someone sitting at the Company Man’s desk between me and his Wi-Fi router. The water-filled human body is a good absorber of the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signal. In fact at a high enough level it can cook you because that’s how a microwave oven works. It’s in the same 2.4 GHz band, just closer, more powerful, and concentrated.
So maybe don’t sit too close to your Wi-Fi router, especially if it makes you feel a little warm.
There are a couple of stronger Wi-Fi signals that show up and I’ve been trying to track down who owns them. But I found out tonight that it might not do me any good. As it turns out one of them is just a Wi-Fi data link between the drill rig and the directional drilling company’s instrumentation in their trailer. It’s not hooked up to the Internet at all. And I suspect the other signal might be the same.
So my next thought is to just get a better, stronger, directional Wi-Fi amplifier/antenna, mostly for the desktop in the rig for Jan. Outside here, my laptop and tablet are OK, not great, but usable.
So we’ll see what I come up with on Amazon.
On another note, I’m still trying to figure out what to do with my old RCA flat screen. I called what seems to be the only recycling center in B/CS today, and they don’t take TV’s, nor do they know anyone that does. So I may just have to find a lonely dumpster somewhere.
I still haven’t actually thrown away the box the new Samsung came in. I told Jan I want to keep if for at least two weeks before I throw it out, to get us through the ‘infant mortality’ phase in case I have to take it back. We’ll see.
After yesterday’s mini-rant on the lack of Fall, I guess Mother Nature heard me and decided to help out . . . somewhat. Although we’re still looking at temps in the mid-90’s for the next week or so, starting tomorrow night we’ll be having temps in the high 60’s for awhile.
So we’re halfway there.
September 19, 2017
Zen and Rudy’s . . .
I slept in a little this morning, not feeling all that great, but I was on the road for Clear Lake by 10am, getting there a little after noon.
But although I stayed busy, I didn’t really visibly accomplish much. I spent part of the morning trying to change the owner’s wife’s laptop version of Microsoft Word from Spanish back to English.
Now how it got changed over to Spanish nobody knows, or will admit, but apparently it’s been that way for a while. And it’s still that way now. I tried repeatedly to reset it to English, but it wouldn’t stick. It would just change back. So after about an hour fooling with it, I just deleted Office and downloaded and installed latest version, 5.4.1, of LibreOffice, a really good MS Office clone.
Next I was trying to update some prices on the Tattoo website when I discovered that the admin password in Zen Cart had expired, which they do every 90 days. I’ve never accessed this site before, so I guess the ex-guy hadn’t done it for a while either.
So I clicked the Forgot Password? button, entered my email address, and about 30 seconds later I had a new temporary password. Easy Peazy, Right?
Wrong!
The new password didn’t work, Nor did the second or third one. And going to the Zen Cart website wasn’t much help either. So I submitted a help request and now I’ll just have to wait and see.
Heading back north a little after 4pm, I met Jan, and Chris and Charles Yust at the Rudy’s BBQ on I-45 north about 5:30 and we all got our BBQ fix.
Jan had the Chopped Baker,
while I got a Brisket Sandwich and a Jalapeno Sausage Link.
And of course, a quart of their fantastic creamed corn. Even Jan loves it, and she doesn’t really like corn. That’s how good it is.
Tomorrow we’ll move over to the Hillcrest RV Park in Punkin, TX, about 20 miles away, on the road to Livingston.
Since it’s so close, we probably won’t head out until about 1pm, so that’ll give us plenty of time to have brunch at the nearby Cracker Barrel about 11. And as it stands now we’re not even going to hook up the toad, but Jan will just follow along behind.
September 19, 2018
A Sleeping Tiger . . .
Several readers asked why I hadn’t posted photos of Jan’s new Vera Bradley bags. When I was ready to photograph the bags, Jan was asleep on the sofa with them all clutched to her bosom. Never awaken a sleeping tiger.
But here they now.
First up is her new Shoulder Bag on the left, with the two lanyards draped across the top. Hers matches with mine the black. Everyone says we will need them on the cruise to hold our shipboard access passes. And on the right is a matching Cross The Shoulder mini version.
She also got this Over The Door travel bag that folds up and holds makeup and other toiletries. She didn’t get it in the matching print since she won’t be carrying it, and it would have been full price and not discounted 70% like the others. In fact, at full price it would have cost more than everything else put together.
That’s my girl.
When we were at WalMart yesterday, I was behind this lady who had piled up Halloween candy on the conveyer belt.
And this is only about half of what she had. Total was over $500.
When I asked her, “How many people come to your house on Halloween?, she said, “We usually get about 600 or so. It’s become kind of a party every year.”
Of course, if you’re really into Halloween you can could to Home Depot and get this 6 foot tall, animated, lighted dragon that roars.
It blows out smoke, and according to some Googling, you can make it breathe fire. And it’s only $300. Neat.
Now that our test drive is out of the way, and I’ve confirmed that our oil leak is fixed, I get back on my generator problem. I’ve been going over the manual and talking with Onan so I’ve got some more things to check on.
But if I don’t get it fixed before we leave for Florida on Oct 3rd, we’ll just get an earlier start before things heat up, and with the cooling temps on the way, we should be fine.
Tomorrow I’ve got a dermatologist’s appointment and then some errands, and well as lunch at East Star Chinese Buffet.
YUM!
September 19, 2019
A Hot & Sour Soup Kind of Day . . .
Apparently, in some parts of Houston, it’s 3 feet (and more) high and rising. It’s been raining pretty steadily for 3 days now, and it seems now that there’s heavy flooding all over the Houston area.
A local TV weatherman reported that over 43” of rain had fallen northeast of Houston towards the TX-LA border in the last few days.
And although we had some high water in the ditches yesterday, by this afternoon it was just about gone. It was still raining lightly when we left about 1pm for lunch at Yummy Yummy’s.
We haven’t seen the sun in the last few days, and it hasn’t gotten above 75°. Not exactly cold, but good enough for a couple of bowls of Yummy’s Hot & Sour Soup. And those ‘couple’ of bowls were both for me.
Jan had to get her own.
Jan and I have gotten hooked on an new BBC series (at least new to us), but unfortunately, it’s a short term addiction.
Don’t know how many of you are Rowan Atkinson/Black Adder/Mr. Bean fans, but back in 2016 – 2017 he did a short-lived series based on 75 novels by Georges Simenon.
Atkinson plays Jules Maigret, a world-weary, measured and insightful detective, and are set in Paris in the 1950s.
And by ‘short-lived’, they did two 2-hour episodes in 2016, and then two more in 2017, with unfortunately, no more forthcoming.
The four episodes are presently showing on Ovation, and are well-worth your viewing, whether you’re a Rowan Atkinson fan or not. The cinematography is great, and it turns out that Atkinson is as good a serious actor as he is a comedy one.
Check it out.
Ardis, one of our Viking Bunch, sent over some photos she found on her phone that show our antepenultimate Taste of Germany meal on our Viking Cruise.
Jim and Deb
Mike and Melissa
Ardis and Larry
Ardis said that they’re doing another Viking cruise next March, this one from Paris to the Swiss Alps, and wanted to know if we were interested in accompanying them. But as I mentioned before, Jan said she would beat me to death with my own arm if I ever took her on another 8-10 hour flight.
And even our 3+ hour flight to NYC in December is pushing it.
Yours truly and my Sweetie
September 19, 2021
As Good As Always . . .
About 1:30pm Jan and I headed over to Yummy Yummy’s Chinese Buffet for the first time since March 14, 2020, when it closed due to CoVid. And after repeatedly checking back for months, we finally gave up and figured it was gone, as has happened to several other favorites of ours.
But this past Thursday a friend alerted us to the fact that they might have finally reopened. And when we drove by there Thursday afternoon, we found a full parking lot.
Yay!
So today we were back, and it’s like nothing changed. Well, almost nothing, anyway.
The place is just as tastefully decorated as before. the selection was just as wide, and the food was just as hot and fresh as before.
Strangely enough, the only noticeable difference was the ‘tint’ of the staff. In the past, as is common with most Asian places, the staff was entirely Asian. But now, not so much. A number of their servers are now of the Caucasian persuasion.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that?
On the ‘Upcoming Front’, this Thursday we’ve got another get-together with some, or all, of Conroe Bunch, this time at the Golden Corral up in, where else, Conroe. By then, all of them should be completely over their recent CoVid experiences.
Looking forward to seeing them all, and to Golden Corral too. The one in Conroe has always been really good.
And it now looks like Fall is upcoming too. With our first cold, rather than cool, front coming through, we’re looking at a week of nights in the low 60’s down here in Santa Fe, and in the 50’s up in Brandi’s area in Katy.
A Messy Divorce . . .
Lunch today was at Gator’s once again, with both of us getting something new.
Jan got the 2 Egg Breakfast with Bacon, Home Fries, and Keto Toast,
while I also went the breakfast route with their Steak and Eggs, with a 6oz. Center-Cut Filet and Eggs, and Green Beans instead of the usual Home Fries.
The Green Beans with Bacon were really delicious and very well seasoned.
All really good.
Then it was on up the feeder so Jan could get her hair cut, before making a Wal-Mart stop for a few things, and then home for the night.
I’m still trying to figure out how some stations set their gas prices around here. For example, up the road at the intersection of FM646 and FM1756, there’s a Shell Station on one corner, and diagonally across the street is a no-name independent station. Now you’d think that the name-brand Shell one would be more expensive than the no-name. But No, not by a long shot.
Today the no-name station has their gas at $3.39 while the Shell station gas was going for $2.88. That’s a 51 cent difference.
And yet people were still filling up there today. So what, a free kilo of cocaine with every fill-up?
While we we were out and about today, we saw this sticker on the rear window of an SUV in front of us.
It’s hard to tell from this photo but there used to be a husband figure to the left of the wife one, but it’s been scraped off.
The divorce must have gone badly.
Thought for the Day:
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you’ve very likely misread the situation.
September 17, 2009
Parlez-vous français?…
This morning we left Notre Dame du Lac, QC for St. Nicolas, QC, 166 miles away. St. Nicolas is a suburb of Quebec, and is right across the St. Lawrence River from the city itself.
We’ve decided to stay here for two days so we can explore the Quebec area before we head toward Montreal and Ottawa, on our way to Rome, NY and Niagara Falls.
We’re getting Frencified very quickly. Luckily, we’ve been able to stumble thru with people who speak a little English and my little French. It does make for some interesting conversations, though.
We’re parked in a small cul-de-sac in this RV Park. I’m not really sure how I got the rig in here, and more importantly, I’m not sure how I’m going to get out.
We headed out for dinner at Boston Pizza. We figured even if no one spoke English, we could point to items that we know on the menu.
And it worked out pretty well.
Coming back to the rig, I got the satellite dish set up while Jan watched Mister roam around the woods surrounding our site.
Then it was in for the night.
September 17, 2010
Opry and IHOP. . .
We left the rig about 9:30 am heading over to our daughter Brandi’s so Jan could Landon-sit while Brandi got her hair done. On the way we stop off at Buc-ee’s for a couple of their great half-coffee/half-cappuccinos.
Dropping Jan off at Brandi’s, I drove over to Discount Tires to get new tires for the truck. I ended up at Discount Tires rather than NTB after a tip from our friend George Stoltz. I saved over $100 plus a $60 mail-in rebate.
After the new tires, I headed over to a computer client’s to start try to fix all the things they broke during the 7 months I’ve been gone.
Picking up Jan about 2:30 we stopped off at Walmart and Sam’s Club to pick up some things before getting home about 4 pm.
After a nap we we headed out about 6:15 to Monterey’s Little Mexico in Dickinson for a quick bowl of tortilla soup before driving over to the Alvin Opry in Alvin, TX. The Alvin Opry is a regional country/western opry with a great house band, and singers as good as any on the Grand Ole Opry.
Leaving the Opry about 11pm a bunch of us stopped off at a nearby IHOP for some good coffee and conversation before heading home, finally arriving at the rig a little after 1 am.
September 17, 2011
Last Day in Indiana, for a while . . .
I got up this morning thinking I was going to temporarily unhook everything and take the rig down to the office and fill up our propane tank. We last filled up our tank in July 2009 in Bangor, ME on our way out to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. As you can tell, we don’t use a lot of propane, usually just for the frig when we’re traveling and not using the generator, and the occasional hot shower when we’re boondocking, or Jan makes soup on the range.
But the fill up didn’t happen since Jan woke up this morning feeling a little under the weather (She felt fine by lunch) so we’ll just tank up tomorrow morning when we leave for Celina, OH.
A little before 11 I took the new computer over to the RV/MH Hall of Fame and got it set up in the new Event Coordinator’s office. When I got back about noon, Jan heated up the last of the delicious pizza from Mancino’s a few nights. Still good as usual.
About 1:15 Jan and I headed down to Goshen for the afternoon. Along the way we saw several of the new Elk mascots they’ve erected around town since we were here last year. Elkhart, elk, get it?
There are apparently a few more that I haven’t photographed yet.
And we’ve seen a number of other mascots around the country, like these pelicans in Seabrook, TX,
mermaids in Beaufort, SC,
and these bears in Easthampton, MA.
Our first stop in Goshen was the Sam’s Club for some things, and then on to the Staples on the other side of the shopping center.
Next we drove through the Elkhart County Fairgrounds. It’s really a nice facility and can hold a lot of RV’s.
On the way to dinner we checked out the Amish parking garage at a nearby Wal-Mart. First you see this,
and then on the other side you see this.
We’ve also seen wooden hitching rails in front of a local Dollar General.
The Southside Soda Shop and Diner was our dinner destination. Seen on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, it’s been around in various incarnations since the 1940, and is still a favorite local hang-out today. They have 58 different kinds of pies.
Our kind of place.
Finally heading toward home, we checked out the Goshen Moose Lodge RV park just long enough to know that we didn’t want to ever stay there. Although the setting, around a lake, was beautiful, the place was almost completely filled with rundown trailers and campers that look to be permanent.
Getting home, I did some chores outside around the rig, getting ready to travel tomorrow, including washing all the bugs off the windshield and front cap.
We’ve got a easy 160 mile 3 hour run to Celina tomorrow so we probably won’t leave until about noon.
September 17, 2012
A Little More Better . . .
I decided to let Jan rest up a little more before hitting the sightseeing trail again. She’s doing better, but the voice is hit or miss. Sometimes it works, sometimes it just squeaks and fades away.
Jan and I goofed off back at the rig. I did work on a couple things, but overall, the cloudy, trying to rain, day made goofing off almost a necessity.
Daddy Lowell posted some new Landon pics to Facebook.
About 5 we headed over to Batesville to check out Skyline Chili, which along with Goldstar Chili, is one of the premier Cincinnati Chili places.
We each had a Chili Cheese Coney,
along with a plate of ‘Ways’. ‘Ways’ is plate of spaghetti topped with chili and then covered in shredded cheese, lots of shredded cheese.
That’s a ‘3-Way. If you add diced onions or beans, it’s a ‘4-Way’. And if you get onions AND beans, it becomes a ‘5-Way’. In this case, Jan got a ‘4-Way’ and I got a ‘5-Way.
Cincinnati chili tastes a bit different than Texas chili. Although you can get it in a bowl, most people eat it on Coneys or spaghetti. It seems a little sweeter, and most of the Internet copycat recipes call for cinnamon and allspice, not normally used in Texas chili. But Texas or not, it is good.
After dinner we ran by Kroger’s for a few things, and then did the DQ drive-thru thing for a couple of vanilla cones before heading back to the park.
Getting home, we puttered for a while before turning in for the night.
Hopefully Jan will continue to improve.
September 17, 2013
Like Rats Deserting a Sinking Ship . . .
Or we’ve got to eat faster. They’re gaining on us.
Well, they’ve wrapped up the actual ‘fracking’ part here, so everyone involved with that is pulling up stakes and heading out, along with a lot of big equipment.
And our vehicle count is winding down too. Yesterday’s count was 129 and today’s was 117. Much nicer than the almost 300 of a few days ago.
Next up is the ‘coiled tubing’ procedure where they drive tubing down into the well. Supposedly it will get somewhat busy again, but not like the fracking part. We’ll see.
Jan and I got our replacement canopy put up the other night, with no problems this time. I did check to be sure all the bolts were tightened first, and they were.
While I was getting ice, I went by the the GGS office morning to drop off the trash and see if Jamie was around. I wanted to see if he had any info on our future moves, but he was out and about, so I’ll try him later. I also dropped off the old canopy for UPS to return to Amazon.
Hell Fighters’ Kitchen dropped off a couple of more meals last night. Not really a problem of course, but they’d already dropped off two more from the lunchtime feed. So that’s 4 meals in one day. And since we split each meal (they’re that BIG), that’s 8 days of meals. And we still have two days of pork chop and chicken fried steak.
I guess we’ve just got to eat faster.
September 17, 2014
From Russia . . . with Love?
Someone in Russia, and the Netherlands too, doesn’t like me.
Or at least they’re trying to hack into my blog.
Twice this week or so, someone from the Russian Federation, Volgodansk in particular, has tried to log in to my blog, I.e. take it over. And last week, someone in the Netherlands tried to do the same thing.
Why, I don’t know. But this has been going on for a while. In fact, since I moved to this new blog theme a few months ago, there have been 2317 lockouts.
A lockout comes about after 4 failed login attempts. At this point, that person’s IP address was blocked from trying to login again for 20 minutes. After they were locked out 4 times like this, they were then locked out for 24 hours. At least that’s how it was until a couple of days ago.
Now they get two failed attempts, and then they’re locked out for 60 minutes, not 20. And then after they do this twice, they’re now locked out for 48 hours, not 24.
The culprits are probably using bots or scripts to throw words and numbers at the blog. In fact there are specially-written programs, coupled with dictionaries, just for this purpose. But they will almost certainly not guess mine. Because it’s not a word or words. It’s garbage.
It looks something like this.
oIh$P+T1f$.s-W (not the real password of course)
You can use a website like Strong Password Generator to create this type of password for you. Or you can just make it up. And No, you don’t have to remember this. You use a password manager, like Roboform, or LastPass.
A password manager works like this. When you go to any website that requires you to login, and you enter your name and password, the password manager pops up and asks if you want to save this password. When you click YES, the next time you come back to this site, the password manager pops up and asks if you want to login. When you click YES, it enters the name and password for you. Neat!
And the other neat thing is that when you first go to a new site and it wants you to give it a password to set up your account or login, the password manager will create one of these strong garbage passwords for you.
And then you never have to worry about it again.
Roboform costs about $30. LastPass is free. But at least get one of them.
Finishing up, whatever you do, don’t use the same password, or same few passwords for all your logins. (and some of you out there know who you are.) This is just inviting trouble.
Remember the news a couple of weeks ago about 5 million Gmail accounts and passwords were stolen. Now think if your bank account login uses the same one. And don’t think that because you’re just little old you, you’re not a target. How would they know about you?
They don’t, but they have millions of bots out there, trying to hack into millions of accounts at the same time. And they just sit back and wait for the results to roll in. And they only thing they had to do was click the Start button.
It’s all a game of numbers, just like Spam email, for example. They can sent out tens of millions of spam emails with the click of a button, at little or no cost. So if they get a few thousand sales, or even a few hundred, they’ve made money. That’s why they keep doing it.
So pay attention, and let’s be safe out there.
Oh, as far as here today, it’s rained all evening, and a guy saw a rattlesnake about a hundred feet up the road.
September 17, 2016
A Problem and A Non-Problem . . .
It’s been a S L O W day today, our slowest full day so far.
In fact we only had 23 vehicles come through the gate today, not even a full page of 24. So very nice.
Jamie, our GGS supervisor/service guy came by about 8:30 this morning to do the oil/filter change on our generator and top off our diesel. He didn’t bring water with him, but said we still had 250 gallons, so half a tank.
I was already in bed when he got here, and I vaguely remember him shutting off the generator because the white noise machine we use went off. Then a while later I woke up HOT. It seemed like a good bit of time had gone by, and I could hear the generator running, so what the heck?
Checking up front, we had no power there either. So I stuck my head out the door and ask Jan if Jamie was still here working on the generator and still had the circuit breaker off. She said No, and that he left a good while ago.
At this point I was think that maybe he forgot to turn the 50 amp breaker to the coach back on. Todd, our service guy at Carthage Gate last year did this. But Jan’s fan and stuff under the canopy run off the 30 amp breaker and the lights and bell run off the 20 amp, so hers were working.
Getting dressed and going outside I found the 50 amp breaker in the ON position, so what the heck?
Next I checked my Progressive EMS (Electrical Management System) and I found it was only showing power to L1 and nothing on L2. Going back and looking closer, I noticed that the right side of the breaker was just slightly lower than the left side, and when I wiggled the handle the left side was firm and the right one had a little play in it.
So, a bad breaker.
We had a breaker die completely last year, so nothing new.
The reason the Progressive EMS shut down power to the coach is that a low or no voltage condition on one line is considered a fault condition and it shuts down. We had the same thing happen on one of our first gates in 2012 when L2 on the generator dropped to 80 volts, so the EMS shut down to protect the AC’s from the low voltage.
In this case, with no voltage, I could have put the EMS in bypass mode which would have gotten half the coach working, or I could have plugged the coach in the 30 amp breaker, and then used my AC bypass line to run the 2nd AC from the 20 amp breaker.
So I had several backup options, but I wanted take a little time to play with the breaker to see if I could get it working. So unplugging the coach power cable, I used my voltmeter to monitor the voltage on the bad side and flicked the breaker off and on until I got a reading, pushing up hard on the right side.
It took about 10 tries, but when I finally had voltage, I plugged the coach back in with the breaker still hot. Not a good idea normally, but necessary under these circumstances. And a minute later, I heard the generator lug down a little as both AC’s came on at the same time. Success!
Then it was back to bed for another couple of hours. Later in the afternoon I called Jamie and told him what happened, and to bring a new breaker with him next time he comes by.
So that was the problem. The non-problem, that’s where you think you have a problem but you really don’t, showed up right after I got the new TV installed. Jan was no longer getting a signal back to her TV in the bedroom.
Now the TV upfront has nothing to do with her TV in back. Her signal comes from an S-Video and L-R audio output from the DirecTV DVR, both of which feed into a stand-alone RF modulator, and then the output of this feeds on Ch. 4 on the line going back to the bedroom TV.
Her TV showed no signal, just snow, so that pretty much eliminated the DVR as the problem, since if the modulator were working, I’d have a black screen, not snow. So either the RF modulator was bad, or the cable from the modulator, through the wall down the length of the coach, was bad. Not a good thought.
So to test this out, I got a 50 foot length of cable and ran it directly from the modulator , down the hall, to the bedroom TV. And now I had video.
Bummer!
I would use another word, but this is a family blog.
This means the cable was bad. And since I wasn’t going to be able to pull a new cable, and I don’t think Jan would like to keep the cable running down the hall, I went on Amazon to look at wireless AV transmitters. But something kept nagging away at me.
And then in one of those AHa! moments, I remember the rig’s original RF switcher. This was a little push-button box that let you change inputs and outputs between the two T’V’s, the rooftop TV antenna, and the VCR.
And then I also remembered that although I had bypassed all the front TV and VCR cables, the feed to the bedroom TV still went through the switcher.
So digging into the overhead cabinet where the switcher lived, I found the TV2 button in the wrong position. I guess I must have pushed against the DVR which pushed against the switcher when I was moving stuff around getting the new TV into position.
So that was how I fixed the non-problem. I just pushed the button. Sometimes it’s the easy stuff that’s hard.
One other thing I accomplished this afternoon was to program our DirecTV remotes so that they will control the new TV. It took longer than I expected because I had to go through about 20 5 digit codes before I found the right one.
As I mentioned yesterday, today was Blue Moon BBQ day, so I made the 1/4 mile trip down there about 12:45 to pick up lunch. And I won’t make that mistake again.
In the past I’ve always gone there about 11:30 and have always gotten my order in immediately, but today the place was packed and I was 6th in line, with some large orders in front of me. So it was about 20 minutes until I got my order taken.
I went later today, since I slept in a little longer due to my rude awakening from no AC’s working.
Jan got her favorite (well, her favorite besides the Nachos last week) Stuffed Baked Potato, while I again got the 3 meat plate, but with Pork Loin instead of Ribs. The Brisket and the Hot Sausage are delicious, but for me the Ribs are only good, not great.
They’re obviously parboiled before they’re put on the grill, or in the smoker. This way they have that ‘so tender, they fall off the bone’. And that’s what you get. With a slight tug, the meat just comes right off, leaving a nice smooth bone.
I don’t like that.
I like my rib meat with more texture, and with the meat sticking to the bone, so you have to gnaw it a little to get all the meat off. But that’s just me. Your mileage may differ.
We both had leftovers for tomorrow, and I also got a small Cowboy Cornbread to add to it, a Blue Moon two’fer. Nice.
September 17, 2018
Back On The Road For A Bit . . .
Looks like our rig test drive is on for tomorrow morning since the rain chance is down to 20%, and that’s for the afternoon.
After I got home from work this afternoon, first thing was to check the rig’s tire pressures, and found them all still at 100#. These tires just don’t leak, and I last checked them back in June before our Illinois/Alabama trip.
Really like these Hercules Ironman tires. I’ve always run truck tires on the rig, and I saw a lot of trucks at the oil rigs running these. And they’ve been great for us too.
Another product I picked up from the oil rig trucks is Diesel Kleen.
I found a lot of the fleet operators use it in their engines, and it’s less then $9 at WalMart.
While I was at West Marine on Sunday checking out their battery cables, I also picked up a bottle of BioBor JF Diesel Biocide. With all the rain we’ve been having, and the cooler temperatures on the way, your diesel tank is a perfect breeding ground for algae. Which then clogs up your engine’s fuel filter.
But keeping your tank as full as possible, and using BioBor regularly, will head off the problem.
I mentioned several months ago, before our most recent trip, that I wanted to order a new wheel simulator donut for one of our rig’s front wheels.
The missing one looks like this.
And the replacement will look like this.
So I finally remembered to order a new one from Spartan for $24.11. So not a bad price. Until I saw it come through on my PayPal MasterCard, a charge for $44.72.
So they charged me $20.61 to ship it via UPS Ground?
Ouch!
We’ll probably head out around 9am tomorrow, hoping to avoid the heat since we won’t have the rig AC’s, with a stop at the La Marque Buc-ee’s to top off our diesel tank for our upcoming Florida trip. That will get us all the way to the Tallahassee area stop.
Our second stop will be for Jan. I have always appreciated how low-maintenance she is as far as jewelry, clothes, etc. But apparently she’s had her eye on this high-end Vera Bradley shoulder bag that she wants to take on our European trip.
So our second stop will be right down the Interstate at the Tanger Outlet Mall to see if the Vera Bradley store has one in stock. If not, I’ll order one for her.
After all, it’s our 51st Anniversary coming up the end of the month, and she’s definitely worth it.
September 17, 2020
Sally and The Gator . . .
My old home town took a direct hit from Hurricane Sally, a Cat 2 storm, that came ashore day before yesterday. Looks like a lot of damage from the photos online.
If you know the area, this is about a block or so off the Gulf on the main road, which is to the upper right.
And this 12ft gator went swimming by someone’s house over in the Orange Beach area, where my parent’s cottages were.
Yikes!
Looks like there’s more that just possums and raccoons back in those lagoons and bayous.
I have an old friend who lives over in Fairhope and she said they have a lot of damage, no power, probably for a week, and no traffic lights.
September 17, 2021
Is It Just A Coincidence?
If the weather holds tomorrow, and maybe Sunday if necessary, I’ll be outside resurrecting Jan’s Flamingo Flamboyance, after the devastation from Hurricane Nicholas.
Also weather-dependent will be trying to get my new Attwood water heater completely installed. I’m going to have to completely disconnect it, drain it, and remove it from the rig. Then I’ll use my Oscillating Multi-Tool to enlarge the opening, and then reverse the process. And then hopefully I’ll be done with it.
