Our RV Adventures

First up, one our sharp-eyed blog readers, Gumo, noticed that I had the date wrong for the upcoming Starship Super Heavy launch. It’s Monday the 10th, not Monday the 11th.

I spend the morning nailing down our motel/hotel reservations for our upcoming Alabama trip next month. We’ll leave here on Saturday the 13th and be home Saturday 27th, giving us Sunday to rest up.

Now I’m working on coordinating all our get-togethers with relatives and friends along the way.

Tomorrow Jan and I have our yearly GP appointments with our long-time physician. Our appointments are always for 8am. That way we usually don’t have to wait too long to get called in. We’ll be glad to get these out of the way for another year.

Then just like last year, we’ll reward ourselves by having lunch at the Grimaldi’s Pizzeria up at Baybrook Mall.

It’ll be worth getting stuck.

Then next week Jan has her Mammogram, her oncologist’s, and her endocrinologist’s appointments. Then we’ll be done.

For this year.

As it stands now, looks like I’ll be staying with Windows 11. Except for the fact that it looks a little different, everything seems to work with no problems.

But we’ll see, I guess.

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Thought for the Day:

Unfortunately you can’t just talk to the voices in your head. Sometimes you have to talk to real people too. – Greg White

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April 5, 2010

A Take-It-Easy Day…

We left for lunch about 11:30 am for a last ditch try at finding a decent Chinese buffet in Las Vegas, and in our last few days, I think we found a pretty good one.in the Lucky Star Super Buffet.

It’s right next door to the Buffalo Wild Wings that we’ve eaten at twice. Last time while we were at BWW, we checked it out, and today we wanted to give it a try.

And it was the best in Las Vegas so far. It wasn’t quite as good as EAT in Yuma, or the Chinese buffet place in Celina, OH, but it was good. We’d go back, but we’ll only be here a few more days so we probably won’t have time.

After lunch we walked across the parking lot to pick up some stuff from Walgreens, and then it was on to the WalMart near the rig so Jan could get her hair cut and a pedicure. I dropped her off and went back to the rig to work on some things.

After I picked her up, we stopped off at Starbucks for our favorite Cinnamon Dolce Latte and then home.

Then about 6:00 pm we left for dinner at Claim Jumper. And once again we had a great meal.

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April 5, 2011

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a new ranking! . . .

After another frosty night with a low of 34 degrees, Jan warmed us up with some cheese toast made with the last of the homemade bread, and the last of the blueberry muffins from our friend Gina Ellis.

What a great way to start the day!

Then about 10 we headed out on our daytrip to the Sedona area, but our first stop was right outside the Thousand Trails park at Bignotti Beach, an area of BLM land used by many boondockers and campers.

Not exactly sure where the ‘beach’ went, but there was a river with a river bank. And we did find this large bird. When viewed thru the tiny camera viewfinder, the size made me think it was a Great Blue Heron, but when I saw it at home I’m pretty sure it’s a crane of some kind. But whooping cranes are white with a red head, and sandhill cranes, although gray, also have a red head. So I’m stumped.

Can anyone say for sure?

Heading into Cottonwood, and then northeast out on 89A we started encountering some really spectacular scenery. And it just got better and better.

About half way there we pulled over in a scenic viewing area for a few minutes and got these shots.

Then a few minutes outside Sedona we turned onto Red Rock Loop Rd., a loop that took us out in the countryside before joining back with 89A closer in to Sedona. And the view got even better.

And what’s even more surprising is that there are homes out here, very, very expensive homes. Can you imagine looking out your living room window to these sights.

About half way around the loop, we stopped at another scenic pullover and got some great photos.

Here’s one of my sweetie, Jan.

And here’s another one of my sweetie with some old geezer that follows her around a lot. I think he’s a stalker, myself.

Cactus fruit

And this is the view coming into Sedona.

After driving around Sedona, about 12:30 we decided to have lunch at the Red Planet Diner.

Decorated with a space and aliens theme, the décor was striking, and the food was delicious.

We both had sandwiches, Jan’s was a Rueben, and I had a Roswell Burger with green chilies, jalapenos, bacon and pepper jack cheese. Hmmmm, spicy! And all good.

After lunch, we parked in town and took in a few of the shops. The first thing I noticed was the Sedona mascots, a mother and baby javelina.

I only saw these two, but I’m sure there are more. In other towns on our travels, we’ve seen moose, bears, pelicans, mermaids, and dolphins, used as city mascots.

Though it’s hard to imagine, the view from downtown Sedona is just as spectacular as it is out in the countryside.

This is why Jan says there’s been a change in the rankings of the Top 5 Favorite Places she’s visited. Sedona is now on the list.

Of course when questioned closely, she admits there are at least 10 places on her Top 5 list, so I wouldn’t close the nominations too early.

We got home around 3 pm after a great day with scenic views. Life couldn’t get any better.

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April 5, 2012

A New Chapter . . .

and a Big Milestone.

Jan and I were up about 8:30 this morning, wondering what was going on with Landon’s hospitalization. Then a few minutes later we got an real, actual phone call. Don’t know why it worked this morning, but not last night.

Our daughter Brandi was on the way home from the hospital to freshen up and grab a little sleep. She said Landon was doing OK, but was still in ICU (which is normal at his age). They’ve got him on some steroids so he’s really restless and doesn’t like the IV he’s hooked up to.

Feeling relieved, we left the RV park in Junction a little before 10. Our first stop was the McDonald’s that is part of the Valero Truck Stop where we made our phone call to Brandi last night. We wanted to grab a couple of breakfast sandwiches to eat on the road.

Luckily since it was a truck stop I had plenty of room to park right next door and run in. As the manager took my order, I juked about the fact the fact that if his drive-thru cover was a little higher, I could have just taken the RV through. He laughed and said that some people don’t care, and that this was his 3rd cover in two years.  Oops!

We were on the road and headed east on I-10 by 10:15.

We passed more fields of bluebonnets and this one of Indian Paintbrushes. Really beautiful country through here, in contrast to the stark beauty of Arizona and New Mexico.

We took Loop 410 south around San Antonio and headed out on I-37. And about 25 miles down the road, we reached our milestone.

We hit 50,000 miles of travel on our coach. Of course our coach had 62,511 miles on it when we bought it, so now we’ve passed 112,511 total miles on our coach, and it’s still going strong.

Right after this, our daughter Brandi called and said Landon was home and doing fine. She said they had already taken the IV out, and after they heard from the doctor that they could leave, she ask Landon if he was ready to go home. He nodded, grabbed his toy, and headed out the door and down the hall to the elevator. He was ready!

Our first stop was in the town of Pleasanton at the Wal-Mart so we could stock up on groceries for the upcoming New Chapter in our RV life.

We were heading for Whitsett, TX and the local headquarters of Gate Guard Services

For the next 5 months or so, we were going to be oilfield gate guards.

The job of gate guard consists of parking our RV at the entrance to an oil well drill site and checking in and out all visitors, deliveries, and employees.

In most cases it’s 24/7 job with Jan and I each working a 12 hours shift. We may be parked right outside a town, or miles out in the boonies. You never known until you get your site.

The company furnishes the site and all utilities. In most cases that’s done with a trailer containing a diesel generator, diesel fuel tank, and a water tank. Sometimes a sewage storage tank is also included. If not, they have someone come by once or twice a week and pump your waste tanks out.

The good part is the job pays $125 to $150 dollars a day.  Nice.

We pulled into the Gate Guard Services lot about 4:15, and after talking to an employee, were directed to a place to park and hook up to 50 amp power with water nearby if we need it.

There is a full hookup area on the other side of the lot that we should be able to move to on Monday when some of these people move out to their gates.

Later I walked around the lot looking at the utility trailers that will supply us with power, water, and sometimes sewer, at the jobsite.

And it looks like they’ve got a bunch of trailers ready to go,

with the parts for more ready to be assembled.

The people we needed to talk to had already left for the day, so we’ll have to catch them first thing tomorrow to see how we get started.

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April 5, 2013

Another Busy, Fun Day . . .

Today started with us leaving the rig about 9:30 heading about 60 miles north of Phoenix to visit the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium.

We had a great time and really enjoyed our visit, but I’m going to wait until tomorrow to tell you more due to the late hour tonight.

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Leaving the park about 2:30, and after stopping for gas, got home about 3:45.

Between the heat at the park and a lot of walking, we were pretty worn out, so naps were in order.

And after very nice ones, we headed out about 6 for dinner. We ended up a few miles down the road at Fuddrucker’s for a meal of hamburgers and good conversation.

The kitchen apparently confused the cooking instructions for Jan.

Mine however, was perfect. And, after all, that’s what matters, now isn’t it.

Our next stop before heading home was at a Half-Price Books across the shopping center. Jan found some books she had been looking for, ones that either aren’t available on the Kindle, or if they are, are much more expensive than Half-Price Books.

We didn’t get home until after 9:30, a very long day with a lot of walking.

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April 5, 2014

I didn’t know I liked Artichokes . . .

After our coffee and English Muffins, we pretty much just goofed off all morning. Around 2pm we headed over to visit with Lynette and Gregg McHenry for a few minutes at their 5’er at the top of the hill, to both get acquainted with their cat Jynx, and get a tour of their rig.

Then about 2:30 Jan and I headed into Katy to visit our daughter Brandi, son-in-law Lowell, and Landon.

Brandi showed us this photo of Lowell at about Landon’s age.

Here’s me at around that age. Note that I was born before the world had switched over to color.  Everything was entirely B&W up until about 1957.

And here’s Landon.

Looks like he gets the blonde hair from both sides.

Landon’s got a new bed and he really enjoys showing it off. It comes complete with a slide,

and an underground fort. Lowell says he often sleeps down here.

After visiting for a while, we all headed right down the road to Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro, one of our now all-time favorite places to eat, bar none.

As usual, we started out with an order of their spring rolls with peanut sauce, but this time we got shrimp rather than pork. Although the shrimp rolls were delicious, we pretty much agreed that we like the pork better, mostly because they’re served warm. And like most of their food, these are made to order, and by the owner’s grandmother.

Then the owner brought out another appetizer she wanted us to try – Grilled Artichoke Hearts. And they were really, really good.

And why do I have a picture of French Fries at a Vietnamese restaurant? Well, these are the fries that came with Landon’s order of Mini Corn Dogs. He doesn’t care for fries, but I tried one. And then we all did. They were delicious!

I knew immediately what the secret was as soon as I tasted them. Like most of the food here, they’re cut and fried up to order. Not frozen, not pre-blanched, but they go from a whole Idaho potato to your (or Landon’s plate) Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if the corn dogs were fresh-made either.

In the past, Jan has gotten the Shaking Chicken Bowl, but having tasted my Shaking Beef, she got that this time. And now says it’s her new favorite dish.

And, as before, all of these veggies are prepared to order. Nothing is cut, sliced, or peeled ahead of time.

For dessert we once again had Little V’s version of Crème Brûlée. And after the meal, the spoonful’s are the perfect-sized end to the night

And they’re as delicious as everything else.

Besides fixing everything fresh from scratch, the other thing that probably makes this place so good is the fact that it’s a family endeavor.

Besides the owner, there’s her twin sister, her grandparents, and her nephew. Family Quality Control.

We plan on eating at Little V’s again this coming Tuesday when we stop by to pick up a package at Brandi’s, and the owner has promised us a couple of special dishes.

We can’t wait.

Saying our goodbyes, and getting our Landon hugs, we headed home about 6pm, stopping for gas and HEB stuff along the way.

Back at the rig, I packed some of the outside stuff into the truck for our trip back to Conroe on Monday. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, and this way I won’t have to put it away wet.

Later this evening, I signed us up for RVillage, a new website that lets you login and see if you know anyone else at your RV park. Looks like a pretty neat app.

Tomorrow, potluck with Lyn and Gregg McHenry at Jim and Peri Dean’s. Really looking forward to it.

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April 5, 2015

Verde Valley Bound . . .

Jan and I were up about 6:30 this morning, wanting to get everything pretty much ready to go before we drove over to the IHOP on Signal Butte to have a Leaving AJ breakfast.

By the time we headed out for the IHOP about 8am, everything was done, except to let in the awnings, disconnect shore power, and crank up. By getting to the restaurant about 8:15, we had hoped to avoid a wait, but were told 15-20 minutes anyway. But they called us in about 3 minutes, so it worked out fine.

By the time we got back to the rig, pulled out of our site, got hitched up, and pulled out of the park, it was about 10:15. Once again we had no problem with the airbags coming up, so it looks like that cycling the airbag dump switch a couple of stops ago took care of that problem.

We headed west on US 60 for about 20 miles and then north on the 101 Loop for about 30 miles. This put us out on I-17, bypassing most of the Phoenix traffic. Once on the Interstate you start the long climb up through the mountains, gaining about 2500 feet along the way. The one really steep section, 5 miles of a 5% grade, we still stayed above 40, and even passed some trucks along the way.

Since what goes up, must come down, we then had about 5 miles of a 6% grade down into the Verde Valley. But our PacBrake Exhaust Brake kept us at a steady 55mph all the way down without having to touch the brakes.

We pulled into the Verde Valley Thousand Trails about 12:45, make the 135 mile trip in about 2-1/2 hours. These first two photos were taken with our dashcam.

We got the last site in the H section up top by the Club House, so we could have hopefully have decent cell/data service. But they don’t make the sites easy to get into. Nothing like having sharp, pointy trees along the side of the rig as you’re pulling in.

But we were finally parked and set up. And we do have a nice view out the windshield.

We decided to just stay in tonight and have the leftover pizza from Organ Stop Pizza the other day, and we may just have leftover Famous Dave’s BBQ tomorrow night.

Doing nothing for a while is nice.

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April 5, 2016

Buttoning Up . . .

Well, it was almost a stay-at-the-rig-do-nothing day. I didn’t stay at home, and I didn’t do nothing. I went in to Columbus and I worked on my A/C.

So a little after 1pm, I drove into town to for a couple of errands, First up was a stop at the hardware store for some – what else – hardware to finish putting our A/C back to together and up in the ceiling again.

After the hardware store, I make a stop at Brookshire Bros. to pick up a few groceries that that we forgot last night at Wal-Mart.

Getting to the rig, I started out by making up a permanent jumper that connects the fan voltage to the compressor contact, going from this

to this.

Then I re-installed the control box back up into the top of the unit. The white wire is the freeze sensor that’s mounting on the evaporator coil.

And ended up with this. All neat and buttoned up.

I still want to follow up on finding the junction box, which based on the help from Jim S, on the Yahoo American Coach Group, is probably located behind my Control Panel. But right now I want to get everything back together before we head back to Conroe on Sunday.

So sometime in the next week or so I’ll take the screws out of the the panel underneath my rig Control Panel and check it out.

A number of readers have ask for more info on the Windows 10 download to either a DVD or a Flashdrive. So here’s the basic procedure.

Go to this URL:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Scroll down and click on the “Download tool now” to download the “Media Creation Tool”.

Then run the program, accept the License, and click on “Create Installation Media for another PC”.

Click Next on “Language, Edition, and Architecture”.

Select which media you want to download, and click Next.

If you use a flash drive, it will erase everything already on the drive.

Let me know if you have any problems.

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April 5, 2017

Piece By Piece . . .

After lunch I got back on replacing my shower faucet now that I had a better cartridge puller. And pull it I did.

Unfortunately when I finally got it to work, it pulled the inside guts and shaft out, leaving the outside of the cartridge stuck inside the valve body,  the part that was stuck to start with, still stuck. And no way  to grab hold to pull it out.

Bu after a couple of hours, breaking it out tiny piece by tiny piece so I didn’t scratch the inside of the faucet valve, it finally all came loose and came out.

So what I ended up with was this pile of parts. And luckily when I ran my finger around the inside of the valve I didn’t feel any scratches or grooves, so hopefully the way I had to get the cartridge out won’t cause any leaks with the new cartridge.

After I took a break for a while, I slathered the inside of the valve with silicone grease, and did the same for the cartridge itself. Then I lined it up correctly and slowly pushed it into the valve body until it was seated.

And finally I was able to get the retaining clip seated, a task that has been a problem in the past, but luckily not this time. So now it was time to do the leak test.

Since I still have the shore water turned off, I turned on the pump, and listened to it run for a few seconds as the system pressurized. And no leaks, so far.

Next was the important one, so I turned on the shower and watched. Turning it both to hot and cold, everything was leak-free. And after I buttoned everything up, and went outside to turn the shore water back on, I was done.

Time for a nap.

For dinner Jan heated up our leftover Sofia’s from yesterday, still delicious. Mexican is one of those foods, like Italian, that heats up just about as good as new.

DON”T BE FOOLED!

Recently we’ve received a couple of fake Facebook Friend Requests. One from an already-friend, and the other from a stranger. And I’ve found it very easy to figure out who’s who.

First off , the listing tells you if the person requesting friendship is friends with any of  your other friends. If not, my suspicions are alerted. But due to the nature of our blog, we do get friend requests from strangers.

So my next check is to click on the person’s name and look at the Facebook page itself. And what I usually find is . . .  Nothing. A couple of photos stolen from the real page, and that’s about it.

Then I click “Delete Request”, and then “Mark As Spam.”

And requests from friends are treated the same way, except that I already know that these are fake to start with.

Stay Vigilant!

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April 5, 2018

A Coming Jaunt . . .

Jan and I left the rig about 12:45 for the trip over to Alvin to have lunch at Monterey’s Little Mexico. We’re going up to the one in Pasadena to see our friend who’s a waitress there until the one down here in Dickinson reopens after the Harvey damage repair. But we couldn’t wait, and Alvin is closer.

We asked the manager if he knew what the story was about the Dickinson location. We had originally been told that it would reopen last December, and then it was this past March, I.e. last week, for sure. But apparently now, it’s this coming September or October. Maybe, I guess.

Jan had her favorite Chicken Ixtapa, minus the green peppers, which can give Jan a migraine. So she always has them leave them out.

I, of course, got my usual Chicken Tortilla Soup, pretty much the best I’ve had anywhere in the country.

Finishing up we left the restaurant and headed back over to the Friendswood Sam’s Club/WalMart for prescriptions and some groceries. Then we turned toward home, getting back to the rig a little before 5pm.

As we were leaving the rig this afternoon heading up to Alvin, we stopped by BayGas Propane to check out their hours and to double check big rig access. As it stands right now, weekend after next, we going to take the rig out for a little jaunt, probably for an hour or so. But they were closed due to an emergency. At least according to the note on the door. So I’ll check back later.

We’ve been parked here at the Petticoat Junction RV Park for about 5 months, which is the longest we’ve ever been parked without moving/running the rig. The first time was the five months we spent in Fairbanks, AK in 2008, and then in 2010 when we came back to Houston early after our grandson Landon was born.

Now some people will crank up their rig once a month or so, and let it run for an hour or more. But according to Cummins, doing it that way is a No-No. In fact they say that if you can’t get it up full operating temperature at highways speeds, it’s better not to run it at all.

And while we’re out and about, I want to stop off and fill our rig’s propane tank. It’s actually been empty since it ran out while our rig was being repaired in Louisiana last August. But since we haven’t been traveling we haven’t really needed it. So since we’ll be traveling again in a couple of months, I want to get it taken care of early.

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April 5, 2019

Long Day, Short Blog . . .

Just Chris’ Backyard at Dark.

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April 5, 2020

Finished . . .

I went out about 1 this afternoon to finish up the shed, and it only took me about 45 minutes.

First up, I put in the 11 screws that lock the walls to the floor, and then installed the corner braces at the corners where the doors mount.

Next up I installed the Cane Bolt, which locks the left door to the door jam.

Then all I had left was to attach the door handle, and then install the ceremonial padlock, and I was done.

Of course now I have to get a base put together and tied down, and then I can move the shed over to it and bolt it down.

Then, I’ll be done done.

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April 5, 2021

Chris and Linda’s Utah Trip Pics . . .

Thought I’d just post a few of many great photos Chris and Linda have sent us as they traveled in Utah.

That’s Chris’ ‘FrankenJeep’ in front on the left.

That’s salt, not snow.

Looks like they’re having a great time.

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April 5, 2022

Rewarding Ourselves . . .

Today was our annual exams with our GP, Dr. Spuhler.

Dr. Spuhler started out as the physician for both our mothers back in the 90’s, and then became Jan’s when she changed jobs and insurance, and needed a new doctor. And at some point I just came along for the ride, I guess.

One funny thing is that the first time I met her, I listened to her for a few seconds, and asked her, “Are you from East Tennessee?”

She smiled and said, “Yes.” And the reason I asked?

She sounded just like Dolly Parton.

And being from north Alabama (and living in Tennessee, among other places), I recognized that accent immediately.

We still have to wait for all our tests to come back, but so far the doctor was happy with us. And we don’t expect any problems with our tests.

So we decided to reward ourselves with Grimaldi’s Pizza for lunch after our good reports. Honestly, we would have probably rewarded ourselves, anyway.

But, hey, it’s Grimaldi’s Pizza.

Like most places we go to, we have our regular favorites here too, starting off with the Small Spinach Salad.

Just a warning. Unless there are 6-8 of you, do not order the Big Salad. The Small one gives Jan and I two servings of salad each.

Then it was on to our Pizza, the 18” The Don, with Italian Sausage, Meatballs, and Pepperoni, to which we added Mushrooms, Bacon, and Jalapenos.

We always get the 18” large one, so we can eat half and take the rest home for another meal.

And we also took a slice of their Caramel Coconut Cheesecake home with us to split later.

Like I said, rewarding ourselves.

Heading out, we make a quick HEB stop, and then another one at the Buc-ee’s on I-45 South in La Marque. I was looking for a new lid for my 40oz ‘Come And Take It” mug.

Found it, and we also got coffee to go, since we didn’t have coffee this morning because of our doctor’s appointments.

I needed a new lid because Karma the cat, as opposed to Karma the fate, knocked the mug off the counter one night recently, and though the metal mug survived, the lid was cracked.

In other Buc-ee’s news, I came across this article by a guy from Mississippi who visited the location just south of Birmingham, AL for the first time. I thought his description of the place was actually pretty apt.

He said it was like if “Love’s (Truck Stop) mated with a Walmart and gave birth to a small theme park…which was then exposed to a blast of gamma radiation.”

Sounds about right to me.

Getting home I went outside and finished up the installation of my new water tank fill valve.

After turning the shore water back on and filling our internal water tank, I watched it long enough to be sure that there were no leaks.

Now with that done, all that’s left is to dig my Oscillating Multi-Tool out of the shed and cut off the old 2 hose splitter so I can install my new 4 hose one.

Maybe Thursday.

Finishing up, here’s something from the News You Can Use department.

How to Keep Your Cat From Eating You Alive During the Pet Food Shortage

On our part, I’ve noticed recently the mostly empty pet foods shelves at WalMart. So the last time we bought 2-30 can boxes of Karma’s favorite.

I mean, would you want to trust your life to a face like this?