Our RV Adventures

And Sorely Missed.

Jumping back to this past Friday night at the Alvin Opry, we started off with dinner at Monterey’s Little Mexico once again.

Jan tried something new with the Pollo Hacienda, which came with Rice and Beans (Jan gets double beans) and a Salad,

while I got my usual Chicken Tortilla Soup.

So good that I actually had two bowls since that was all I was having.

Always delicious!

Then it was on down the street to the American Legion Hall, home to the New Alvin Opry.

We started going to the original Alvin Opry back in late ‘97-early ‘98 up until it closed in 2014.

Then a few years ago, in April 2019, some of the original performers brought it back, first for one performance at the old Opry location, after which it moved down to the Alvin American Legion Hall where it still is.

Tonight we were especially going because Jan’s crush was going to be there – John Mark Davis.

If you can’t tell from the photo John Mark is a full-blooded member of the Adai Caddo Indian Tribe over in Louisiana, and his father was the Chief.

John Mark is a really great performer and always a crowd favorite.

One thing everyone always enjoys is that he always finishes up the show with “Running Bear”, though I remember one time he closed out with a hilarious version of “Please Mr. Custer, I Don’t Wanna Go.”

And Jan got her hug.

It now seems like that staple of Sin City, the Las Vegas Casino Buffet is fading away, with possibly only 8 left on the Strip.
And those are all high-end at about $100 per person.

Our favorite buffet was actually not on the Strip, but was at the Boulder Station Casino on Boulder Hwy., just north of the Thousand Trails Park where we mostly stayed. So wondering if it was still open, I checked and found it closed too, with the last TripAdvisor review in March 2020.

It seems the buffets were already slowly dying, but then CoVid mostly put them out of their misery.

Oh, and even sadder, there are no more Vegas ‘Showgirls’, with the last show, ‘Jubilee’, closing in 2016 after 35 years. The only ones left are the ones wearing showgirl outfits mingling with the superheroes and movie stars out on the Strip getting their photos taken with the tourists.

My, how times have changed.

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Thought for the Day:
Life is a bitch. If it was easy, we’d call it a slut.

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March 13, 2009

Jan says, “Another delightful day in Paradise”…

I forgot to mention yesterday that after we had lunch at Dharma Blue, our roadtrip took a short segue out to Gulf Breeze and Pensacola Beach to look around.

Jan wanted to visit her ‘lucky’ gift shop.  She calls it that because a number of years ago when we out there with her sister Debbie and her family,  Jan found a $100 bill in the parking lot.

She wanted to go into the shop and turn it in so they could give it back to the person who lost it.

Cynic that I am, I said “Yeah, right.”  Like that $100 bill would ever be seen again.

So we went inside to the shop and I ask if anyone had reported anything lost.  They said ‘No’ and wanted to know what it was.

I said “I’ll let them identify it” and gave them my cellphone number and told them to give it to anyone who came in and reported losing something.

No one ever called.  Lucky Jan!

Unfortunately Jan wasn’t as lucky this time.  All she came home with was the suntan lotion she bought there.

This morning we started off with the breakfast buffet at Hazel’s.  We always have to eat here at least once.

Coming back we stopped at Buena Vista Luxury RV Resort being built right across the street from the beach.  This is where you actually own the lot where you park your rig.

Each lot comes with a lot of amenities, including a one-bedroom guest house.

When we were here in November, we were thinking about maybe buying a lot of some sort in this area where we could park and stay for an extended period with paying thru the nose, especially during the season.

So we decided to check them out. And boy were we shocked!

The ‘cheapest’ lots were over $400,000. (As if anything that cost almost 1/2 million dollars can be called ‘cheap’).   Forget that!

We did however look more closely at Bella Terra RV Resort, about 10 mins from the beach, off the Beach Expressway.

The cheapest lots were in the $90,000 range, which is more in our price range (At least it had one less zero than the other place).  The resort is very nice, with a lot of amenities, and we both agreed we could see ourselves staying here.

But then Jan mentioned the fact that we could stay a lot of nights at RV parks for $90,000… like about 3000 at $30 per night.

Suddenly it didn’t seem such a great idea. (I’m cheap, what can I say.)  So that idea is on hold. But we may change our minds down the road.

After we got back to the coach,  I suddenly remembered “What the hell. I’m retired”.  So I took a nap.

I spent the afternoon working on stuff around the rig while Jan remembered she was retired, so she took a nap.

Isn’t retirement wonderful!

I installed the new hitch receiver I picked up yesterday and then did a thorough checkout of our hitch and towbar system for the toad.  It can be a real bummer to have your toad come loose at 55mph and pass you on the highway. And I’m not kidding. This has happened to people.

I then finished up the new satellite platform I’ve been working on. It should now only take me about 5 mins to set up the dish when we stop.

Just keeping the boss happy…

About 4pm we headed out for dinner at DeSoto’s Seafood Kitchen.  Although they’re known for their seafood, we like their other meals. Jan and I both had their Jamaican Jerk Chicken with sweet potato casserole and steamed veggies. The sweet potato casserole, made with caramelized pecans, is probably the best I’ve ever eaten.

After dinner, we drove down the west beach to look it over.  I can remember when there was almost nothing down this way, but now it’s just mile after mile of large houses and condos.

Coming back we stopped at the public parking area to sit out on the beach for a while.

Looking around, I recalled how this spot began one of my connections with a celebrity.

Back in the late ’50’s, some friends of my parents, the Neal’s owned this area that is now state public beach.  They had a small amusement park here, a merry-go-round,  several carnival type games, my favorites, a balloon archery arcade, and a snack bar.

They also had a daughter named Patricia.  Patsy, as I called her, was about 4 years older than me, and was my occasional babysitter while our parents went out together.

And Patricia Neal went on to be pretty famous.

No, not that Patricia Neal.  And since there was already an actress using that name, Patsy decide to make up a new one for herself.

And thus was born, ‘Fanny Flagg’.

And tomorrow, the rest of the story…

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March 13, 2011

Clocks and Tires . . .

We started off this morning an hour too early. But not really for the reason you might think.

No, we did not forget to ‘Spring Forward’. The problem was that one of our clocks did.

Arizona is one of two states (the other is Hawaii) that don’t observe Daylight Savings Time. But our bedroom clock did observe it. It must have thought it was on Navajo Nation time, since they DO observe DST here in Arizona. I thought I had turned off DST on the clock, but apparently it didn’t take.

So thinking we were getting up about 9:15 we rushed to get ready to drive over to the Arizona Market Place to spend the morning.

But, while Jan was in the shower, I came out to the living room to discover that it was really 8:15. So we had plenty of time after all.

Around 10am we left the rig, with Tom and Barb, and Jan and I, and headed out.

The Arizona Market Place is a flea market type shopping area, that, although it’s really open to the weather, is shaded by large canopies that keep it very comfortable for the shoppers.

One thing that was neat about this place was the several large hardware/RV stores. They all had a lot of neat stuff, and I found several things I’ve been looking for to finish up some projects that I have in mind, and Jan found a new fanny pack and the rest of the Sue Grafton Alphabet mysteries she’s gotten hooked on.

Something for everyone.

About 12:30 Jan and I drove out to the Foothills area to eat lunch at a Mexican place a vendor at the Arizona Market Place had recommend called Mi Fajita.

Since it was right down the road from the Chocolate Crafter’s store, we swung thru their parking lot on the way, but found them closed on Sunday. Bummer!

Mi Fajita turned out to be very good, and everyone enjoyed their meal. And as usual after finishing, we just sat around talking.

We got back to the rig about 2:30 and everyone seemed to think it was a good idea for a nap. I know I certainly did.

Thinking about it, we very possibly won’t be leaving for Tucson tomorrow like we’d planned. We’ll just have to see. But luckily we don’t have any schedule to keep, or any place to be at a certain time.

Finally, about 8pm we all headed out to DQ  for a large Caramel Moolatte. At least for me.

Different strokes, and all that.

More tomorrow, maybe from Tucson, maybe not.

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March 13, 2014

Prime Time . . .

Some (most?) of you probably saw the announcement that Amazon is raising the price of their Prime membership from $79 to $99, which works out to be a 25% increase. On one hand that’s a big jump, but considering it’s the first increase since they started Prime in 2005, that’s not too bad. And it’s only an extra $1.66 a month. Worth it for free two day shipping, Kindle Book Borrowing privileges, and free Amazon Streaming Video. Still worth it.

I was wondering how long I had had the Prime membership so I logged on and checked. And as it turns out, I’ve been a member since November 2005, almost the very beginning.

And I was also happy to see that my membership had just renewed on March 4th, and at the old $79 rate. Made it just under the wire!

Later I spent some time on the phone with Chris Yust of C & C RV Insurance, our National General Insurance (nee GMAC) agent, looking over our policy. It’s ready to renew and I wanted to go over some possible changes and updates. Plus it’s always fun to hassle her a little.

But if you’re looking for the best in RV insurance, and the best in personal support, give Chris and her husband Charles, a call. They also can supply the full range of Good Sam’s products, including Extended Service Plans, Roadside Assistance, TravelAssist, and even Good Sam’s memberships. Check ‘em out.

After an easy morning of doing pretty much nothing, Mister and I headed outside, Mister to lie out in the sun, and me to get back working on my ‘stuff’ sorting. I’m finally at the point where I’ve got enough plastic bins emptied so that I can actually start sorting things into the bins where they’ll finally go. I’ve got the bins temporarily labeled with file cards to make the sorting easier, and will keep adding bins as I go, until they’re all done.

I also plan to scrub out each bay, but decided to wait until I’m done with redoing all the bins. That will probably end up being back at the Colorado River Thousand Trails where we’ll be again from March 24th to April 7th.

Later in the afternoon Jan and I pulled everything out from under the bed, sorted through it, threw out some more stuff, and then repacked it all back. Another spring cleaning job done.

A little before 5 pm, Jan and I headed a few miles down the road to have dinner at Cracker Barrel, Jan’s favorite Thursday destination. That’s because Thursday is Turkey and Dressing day there.

And they have ‘real’ dressing, you know, cornbread dressing, the real thing. Not that stuff made with other ‘stuff’.

I, on the other hand, got my usual breakfast, this time the Sunrise Sampler. It has all the basics, with eggs, a sample of sausage, ham, and thick-cut bacon, grits, hashbrown casserole, fried apples, and biscuits and gravy.

Needless to say, I didn’t finish it all, but it was good.

Coming home I stopped off and got Mega-Million’s tickets for tomorrow night’s $300+ million dollar drawing.

Tomorrow it’s probably more of the same, but there is a 20% chance of rain so we’ll see how it goes.

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March 13, 2015

DNS and Date Shakes . . .

After our coffee and muffins this morning, I got on the phone with my client, Network Solutions, and Godaddy. I was trying to transfer a domain name from Network Solutions over to my Godaddy account. As seems usual with NS, they keep screwing up this domain name, changing the DNS info back and forth, and shutting the website down. So I’ve submitted all the requests and now it’s just wait and see.

A little later Jan and I changed the sheets on our bed. We’ve had two sets of these 1500 thread count sheets for over a year now and we still think they’re great. They’re very soft, yet after a year’s use, there’s no wear or pilling seen.

1500 THREAD COUNT MILANI COLLECTION Striped QUEEN Sateen Sheet Set

They come in 6 or 7 different colors (we have the Burgundy and the Light Blue), and even better,they’re not expensive. Only around $25 a set. Check’em out.

About 2pm Jan and I headed out to the local Fuddrucker’s for ‘linner’, or ‘lupper’, if you prefer. We really like Fuddrucker’s, but for some reason we don’t eat here a lot. It just never seems to come up when we’re talking about where to eat.

But as usual, it was really good. While Jan had a Cheddar Mushroom Burger, I had the Ribeye Steak Sandwich, one of my favorites. Unfortunately, not too many places have one like this. There was a place in Cottonwood AZ, that used to have one, but they don’t offer it any more. Bummer. I was looking forward to having one in a few weeks.

After the meal, with Jan and I got gas for the truck for our road trip tomorrow,

Tomorrow Jan and I are taking a day trip over to Yuma to have lunch with Chris and Charles Yust, and visit the big flea market. Along the way we’ll stop off in Gila Bend so I can renew my Elk’s Lodge membership there.

Oh, and Jan also wants to stop at Dateland for one of their delicious Date Milk Shakes. Sounds good to me.

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March 13, 2016

Our Whistle Is Still Clean . . .

Jan and I were both up about 6:30 (5:30 in ‘real’ time) to finish up our travel day prep. Since I had done a lot of it yesterday, most of today’s tasks were inside the rig, putting away the TV and satellite stuff, setting up the trip/VMSpc computer, and stowing some odds and ends.

As always, I track everything I need to do to get ready to roll using the RV Checklist app on my Galaxy Tab.

This app keeps you on track even when you get distracted, especially important on the outside stuff. It’s a great program, so check it out.

A few minutes after 8 am, Jan and I drove into Columbus to have our usual going-away breakfast, this time with Jim and Peri Dean, and their cute, and very funny granddaughter, Carly at Schobel’s Restaurant.

We again had to wait a while for the buffet to be set up, but we enjoyed talking with Jim and Peri, and getting to know Carly. And as usual we took longer than planned, probably talking more than eating. But our extended dining was made worse by Karma.

Jan says it was my fault, but me, I blame the cat. When we went to pay, I found I didn’t have my billfold with me. At that point, I remembered that when I went in Columbus yesterday to get oil for the rig, I pulled my billfold out of my pants and carried it in my hand since I was wearing my sweats. And then when I got back to the rig, I put it on the dashboard right where I would see it when we next left the rig.

Jim and Peri kindly offered to cover the check, but Jan said I needed to be punished by going back to the rig for my wallet. Meanie!

So why didn’t I see it this morning, and why do blame the cat? Well, when I got back to the rig to bring my wallet back to the restaurant, I found that Karma, playing on the dashboard, had pulled out the curtain so it covered my wallet. Dang cat!

Finally getting back to the rig about 10:30, we were hooked up and pulling out at 11am, on the way to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails 122 miles away. Getting out on US-71, heading down to I-10, we immediately ran into a strong headwind, which turned into a gusty side wind once we headed east on the Interstate.

And this led to us almost being side-swiped right after we merged onto the highway. An American National Logistics truck decided to pass me on the right, on what was actually the exit lane for Columbus. I don’t know why he was passing me on the right, but just as the end of his trailer started to pass our door, a wind gust caught him and pushed him our way.

Jan let out a yelp as I was already moving to the left, but not far since I already had a pickup passing me on that side. But luckily he got past us, but came within a inch or so taking out our mirror. Whew!

We made a rest stop just past Brookshire and I went outside to check for any oil blow-by from the slobber tube, and was happy to find none. So far, so good.

We pulled into a crowded park a little before 2pm and found a very un-level site in the ‘F’ section. So un-level that I may try to move to another site tomorrow sometime. After getting everything set up and connected, and due to the fact that the last several mornings have been early risings, Jan and I both took a nap.

Afternap, while Jan was fixing dinner, I went outside to check the slobber tube situation, and I was happy to find that not only was the slobber can still there,

but the rig and the toad were both clean as a whistle, with no signs of any oil.

I did not crawl under the rig to check the slobber can contents, but both the can and the clear vinyl tubing seemed oil free. I’ll check it out further in the next couple of days.

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March 13, 2017

La Posta de Mesilla . . . & More

Continuing with yesterday, La Posta de Mesilla, located in the Old Mesilla section of Las Cruces, has been around in one form or the other since the 1840’s. In the 1850’s it was the hub of a local passenger and freight line to other nearby cities.

After the Civil War it was an major stop on the Butterfield Stage Line, and in later years it hosted the Corn Exchange Hotel, one of the finest ones in the Southwest. The site continued with various hotels and restaurants until the early 1900’s. Then in 1939 La Posta de Mesilla was born, and continues until this day.

I first ate at La Posta in January 1981 when I was out at the White Sands Missile Range helping to prep the Space Shuttle’s backup landing site for the first launch in March, and where they actually landed in 1982 during STS-3.

I told Jan how great the food was and that we’d have to go sometime. And only took us 26 years to get back there.

We first visited La Posta together on our first RV trip in March 2007 in our rental CruiseAmerica Class C, and we’ve eaten here every time through since then.

We always get one of the House Specialty’s, partly because they’re delicious and partly because they come with dessert.

I had the Specialty Combination #1,

while Jan had the La Posta Chica.

Both as delicious as always, and  the reason we keep coming back, time after time.

And of course, we finished up with our Empanada desserts, with mine apple, and Jan’s favorite, Pumpkin.

One thing we both like is the New Mexico take on Mexican food. I guess it’s New Mex-Mex, rather than our usual Tex-Mex, with more pork and green chilies in the dishes. Really good  and  really spicy.

Today was a nice sleep in, rest up day with nothing much on the agenda. We headed out for lunch around 1pm, off to our other favorite Las Cruces Mexican Place, Cha Chi’s, over by the University.

We were told about Cha Chi’s when we were here in 2012 having our rig worked on. The Rush Truck Center manager recommended the place, and we were not disappointed.

Again more New Mex-Mex with great green chili salsas and pork chili con carne.

Then it was on to a nearby Ace Hardware for some brass screws for my permanent trim strip repair, and an O’Reilly Auto Parts

Back at the rig, I took a look at a house battery problem I had noticed the last couple of days. And I quickly found the cause.

One of the cables connecting the two battery banks had almost completely broken off, not by corrosion, but by flexing from vibration. And strangely, this same cable did the same thing about 5 years ago.

And when I made up a new cable at a local marine supply place in Seabrook, TX I made a spare. So my spare got installed and everything should be OK now.

Tomorrow we’ve got a 230 mile trip over to Cochise Terrace RV Park in Benson, AZ, where we’ll be for 4 days until we move over to Voyager RV Park in Tucson for the Escapees Escapade.

And along the way we’ll make our usual lunch stop in Lordsburg, NM at Kranberry’s, a really good restaurant with RV parking in the back.

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March 13, 2019

Kicking Our Butts . . .

With Fever, Aches, and Chills, Oh My!

I mentioned in last night’s blog that Jan and I had received our second  (and last, thank goodness) Shingrix Shingles shot.

We both commented to each other last night that we were surprised to not notice any problems. But that all changed overnight.

Both of us had trouble sleeping last night, and then it went downhill all day. I had trouble at work keeping awake, and by the time I got home I was experiencing the above-mentioned fever, aches, and chills. Oh, and dizzy, too.

All in all, this is worse than our first shot. Or at least I was thinking that these symptoms were not as bad as getting the shingles, but I was beginning to reconsider that.

I did gather up enough energy to call the Houston Museum of Fine Arts to order our tickets for the upcoming Van Gogh exhibit. Although it is on exhibit until the end of June, we’ll try to get there before we leave on our trip.

Jan’s Shooting Star earrings came in today, but she felt so cruddy when I got home she didn’t even try them on.

But they should look great on her on the ‘elegant casual’ or ‘casually elegant’ nights on our cruise.

I did talk to Chantelle Nugent, our travel agent today to tell her that I had already moved the money into my checking account, and she could go ahead and pay off the last part of our cruise, the Paris-London Land part.

Actually, as cheap as I am I normally don’t like to give anyone my money any earlier than I have to, which in this case would be the upcoming Saturday, the 16th. But the Chase Checking Account I moved it into, doesn’t collect interest, so I told her to go ahead. And I’m glad I did.

I figured she would just pay it with a wire transfer like she did before, but this part needed to be paid by credit card. So I gave her my PayPal card, but it didn’t go through. TWICE!

Since the PayPal card pulls directly from the Chase account, I then gave her my Chase card info, and Chantelle again gave it a go. And it was again denied . . . TWICE. So then I was on the line to Chase. Only to find that they had recently changed their daily withdrawal limits . . . apparently without telling anybody, especially me.

When I ask why this was done without letting us know, I was told that if they did that then the criminals would also find out. 

Like I was going to tell them?

And when I asked why would happen if we were in Europe in the May, and for some reason went over my unknown limit, it got really quiet on his end.

“Well . . .”

But I did tell him how much I was trying to charge and he did raise my limit. So our total trip is now paid for.

NICE!

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March 13, 2020

How Low Can It Go . . .

Our ad card started hitting the mailboxes this week, so things have picked up at work. Plus we’re getting swamped by customers ordering disinfectants, sanitizers, gloves, and of course, face masks. But we actually sold out of those last week.

On the way home from work this afternoon I stopped off at Costco, no, not for toilet paper, but gas. And found it for $1.75 per gallon. Very nice for me, but not really for the oil industry.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes even lower.

As usual I have a couple of repairs scheduled for the weekend. First up is to check out what’s wrong with the AC/Heater fan in the truck. I lost High Speed a while back, but since it was winter I put off fixing it. But now it’s getting warmer, and it’s died completely a couple of days ago, so it’s time to get it fixed.

I’ll probably just go ahead and replace the fan motor and the speed resistor while I in there.

But before I do all that, I’ll check the fuse and power coming to the fan.

My other project is the bedroom sliding door. I think it’s come off the rail a bit, making it harder to move back and forth.

Brandi and Lowell have some friends in town visiting from Colorado, so it was time to break in their pool for 2020. And since the temps are in the 80’s this week, it was the perfect time for it.

Looks like fun.

Tomorrow Jan and I planned to thumb our noses at the WuFlu by having lunch at Yummy Yummy’s, our local favorite Chinese restaurant. And then we’ll probably self-isolate ourselves later for a nice nap.

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March 13, 2021

Will They Stay, Or Will They Go?

Well, yesterday I posted that the $1400 Stimulus money was going out this weekend, and apparently it was, because several of our readers found them direct deposited in their bank accounts this morning. So check you bank account if the previous checks were direct deposited.

But for some reason, Jan and my check always comes by mail, even though our SS Checks are direct deposited.

And it seems that the IRS’s Get My Payment, where you can track your checks progress, is down until Monday.

So Now We Wait.   But I still would have rather had the $41,000.

After going back and forth about their trip, Brandi, et. al., finally decided to drive to Colorado since their flight for early this morning had been cancelled due to the heavy snowstorm in the Denver area.

So they headed out about 11 this morning and seem to be making really good time. But this means I won’t get my Jan back until Saturday, rather than Thursday.

BUMMER!

I did get some good news on the AC front this afternoon. I stood on a plastic stool in rubber-soled shoes, and using an insulated pair of needle-nosed pliers, I touched the bare, burnt-off wire to the other side of the compressor relay, and lo and behold, the AC started right up.

So lucky me, the problem is with the $70 control box and not the $700 AC unit. So I’ve got another one on the way from eBay.

Luckily the weather is staying in the mid-70’s so we can do without for a week or so.

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March 13, 2022

So Now It’s Maybe April . . .

I finally installed those very expensive ($22 EACH!) Michelin Advanced Silicone Beam wipers the other day, and so far they’re doing what I wanted.

They don’t squeak, squawk, or squeal even when run completely dry. In fact, according to the instructions, you break them in by running them for 2 to 3 minutes on a clean, dry windshield.

So far so good. But will they last long enough to pay for themselves?

Yesterday we had lunch at Pho Barr once again. Just as delicious as always.

But we asked for an update on the opening of their new Dickinson location, we no longer heard ‘sometime in March”, but now it’s ‘maybe in April’.

Bummer!

Our next stop was the FedEx store on Bay Area to enlarge some printouts from 4-1/4” x 5-1/2” to Letter size.

Normally we do WalMart on Saturday and HEB on Sunday for our weekly stuff, but today we doubled-up by stopping at the new HEB at I-45 and El Dorado, and then the WalMart on the other side of the Interstate.

Then today we were back at Yummy Yummy’s once again. And again, just as delicious as always. And since we doubled-up on HEB and WalMart yesterday, we were able to just eat and come home.

Very nice.