Our RV Adventures

Since I’m still happy with Windows 11 I let the 10 day window expire during which I could have rolled back to Win10. Can’t really tell any difference operationally, just a different look.

As I’ve mentioned, I never know exactly what I’m going to be working on at my IT consulting job. And today was no different.

My client had ordered a new seat trim panel for his ‘95 T-Bird. But he wasn’t able to get it installed correctly.

So it was my turn.

The problem was that the trim panel was kind of generic and made to fit a number of different models and accessary levels.

It had mounting screw holes with no corresponding screw holes in the seat frame, and vice versa. It also had control mounting holes for other devices that had to be plugged. But by drilling new holes in the seat frame and trimming some excess plastic from the panel, I finally got it mounted and screwed down in place.

Who knows what’s next.

Since a number of you have been having problems seeing the latest blog post here, I thought I’d pass on this article on how to do it on pretty much every computer or phone.

How to Force Refresh in Your Internet Browser

Let me know if you’re still having problems.

Tomorrow we’re getting together with our Alvin Opry group once again. This time at the Gringos down in Texas City. Then it’s on back up the feeder to our local WalMart for our weekly stuff.

And here’s Miss Fabulous!

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Thought For The Day:

So when is this “old enough to know better” supposed to kick in?

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April 12, 2010

Antelope Valley…

A couple of days ago I told you about eating at Peggy Sue’s 50’s Dinner in Yermo, CA while we were staying there. It was our second time there, and it’s always good.

Then that night while we were watching Tori & Dean’s Home Sweet Hollywood, a show on Oxygen channel. It, along Gene Simmon’s Family Jewels, are the only two reality shows we watch.

Anyway, Tori (Spelling) & Dean recently did an RV road trip from Los Angeles to Atlanta,and one of the places they stopped was Peggy Sue’s. And our waitress, Barbara, was in the show. It was neat to see where we had just been, up there on TV.

Anybody seen KFC’s new Double Down? It went on sale today and I really want to try one.

It’s a chicken sandwich, made from CHICKEN. It’s two slices of thick bacon, a slice of Monterey Jack, a slice of pepper jack cheese, with Colonel’s Sauce between two fried or grilled chicken breasts. It’s a meatwich!

Gotta have one!

We’re parked here at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds RV Park. And as fairgrounds go, it’s pretty nice. It’s basically just a big concrete parking lot.

But it’s quiet, level, and dry. I really don’t have a good track record with fairgrounds. Before now, we’ve parked in three fairgrounds, and I’ve gotten stuck in two. But in my defense only one of those was my fault.

Anyway we’ll be here until sometime after the 20th, and we’ll make day trips into LA, about 70 miles away.

We heading out for a late lunch/early dinner about 2:30, and on the way we stopped off at a Barnes & Noble so Jan could find a book, and then when she found it, she decided she already had it. Oh, well.

For dinner, we were heading to Famous Dave’s BBQ, probably our favorite BBQ chain, except maybe for Sonny’s BBQ in the southeast area. A great meal as usual, and we have leftovers for tomorrow.

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April 12, 2011

Burgers and Wildlife . . .

Today started off on a happy note,

Jan was feeling much better. She been suffering from one of those serial migraines, that comes and goes over several days, but it looks like this one has finally passed

After coffee about 10, and a lunch of the leftover pizza from our visit to Stromboli’s a few days ago, we headed into Cottonwood about 2 pm to drop off some letters at the Post Office and do the Wal-Mart thing.

Then before heading home I stopped off at Radio Shack to get an power line RF filter for the dash radio in the rig, but with no luck. Apparently they just don’t carry things like that anymore. I’ll have to check online.

About 5 pm, Jan and I headed back into Cottonwood to have dinner once again at Bing’s Burger Station.

And once again, it was really, really good. And once again, I  had the Ribeye Steak Sandwich. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to go back again before we leave.

Tomorrow we’re going to spend the day at the Out of Africa wildlife park right up the road.

Hopefully we’ll have some good pics for you tomorrow.

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April 12, 2012

More Thumb Twiddling . . .

We were awakened this morning by something very unusual here . . . a heavy downpour that lasted about 30 minutes. That was it for the rain, but it did stay pretty cloudy and windy the rest of the day which kept it a little cooler. Nice.

I headed over to the office later in the morning to mail a letter, and also check in with Jamie. And he just said “Soon”.

But while I was there I got to finally meet in person Bob Lindsey, a gate guard that I’d corresponded with for a year or so. He’s currently at a gate about 15 miles south near Three Rivers, TX. Hopefully we’ll be able to get together soon.

Back at the rig, I ordered some things things from Amazon, including this canopy for our upcoming gate guarding adventure,

It’s 10 feet x 10 feet and the sides are removable.

This is how it will be used.

Looks like a rough life, doesn’t it.

By ordering using Amazon Prime, and paying an extra $3.99 we get next day delivery, so it will be here tomorrow. That’s pretty good for a box that weighs over 40 pounds.

I did get some more info about how the sewer trailers work. It turns out they’re essentially a portable septic tank.

The small green tank at the front of the trailer is removed and placed near your rig. This is where your rig’s sewer hose connects. It also contains the lift pump that pumps the waste up into the big green tank.

As the big tank fills up over a period of time, the solids settle to the bottom, and the liquids rise to the top. When the liquids reach the outflow outlet, they flow down into the smaller white tank. Here they are treated with a high dose of chlorine using swimming pool chlorine tabs. Then after treatment, the disinfected waste water is drained out into the field. When needed, the solids are pumped out of the big green tank. In fact I suspect that the whole trailer is just swapped out at that point and the servicing is done back at the yard.

A little after 5 Jan and I headed down I-37 to Three Rivers to have dinner at Agave Jalisco, a Mexican restaurant that our fellow gate guarder, Bob Lindsey, had recommended.

Turned out to be very good. Just good ole straight-forward Mexican food. Jan had the Chicken Fajitas and I had the Combo Fajitas with Beef, Chicken and Shrimp. Nicely done and well-seasoned.

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April 12, 2013

Rally Withdrawal . . .

After coffee my morning started out on the phone with Thousand Trails trying to figure out what we’re going to do on Sunday. Our two weeks are up here at Countryside RV Resort. Two weeks at $3 a day is a nice deal, and it didn’t count against our 50 free days.

But (there’s always a ‘but’ isn’t there) I was also told that we could extend for another two weeks under the same terms. But (there it is again) that was a fib.

Turns out that Countryside RV Resort and Golden Sun, both here in Apache Junction are ‘Swap’ parks with Verde Valley Thousand Trails up in Camp Verde, AZ. And because these are ‘Swap’ parks (never heard of Swap parks and there’s nothing on the TT website either) we have to be out a week before we come back in to one of the parks here, or even before we can use the Verde Valley TT park under our regular TT membership.

We want to stay in Apache Junction until the 1st of May, so what we’re going to do is stay here at Countryside for a week at the paid rate of $140 a week and then we can go back to the $3 a day rate until the 1st.

But (there’s another one) we now parked in one of the 25 spaces allotted to Thousand Trails and we can’t stay in one of those sites during our paid week.

So now we have to move one space to the right on this Sunday, and then next Sunday we move one space back to the left.

Don’t you just love it.

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Jan and I headed out about 2pm for some shopping and dinner.

Our first stop was at the SanTan Sam’s Club for Beef Jerky and bottled water. Then it was next door for some Wal-Mart stuff. By then it was 4pm and we were getting hungry. Originally we had planned to eat at the El Pollo Loco back closer to the park, but since we were so close we decided on Grimaldi’s Pizzeria again.

But when we got there we found that they were restoking their coal-fired oven like they do every day at this time, and wouldn’t be making pizza for about 45 minutes. We thought about waiting, but lucky for us there was an alternative nearby.

At the other end of the block was Famous Dave’s BBQ, one of our favorite BBQ places. We also really like Sonny’s BBQ, but there mostly only located in the southeast. And of course there’s Rudy’s BBQ, but that’s only in Texas. But Famous Dave’s are all over.

The food was as delicious as usual, and we had a great waitress. She was even an artiste.

She drew this ‘Piggy Plate’ with two different flavors of BBQ sauce.

Jan had her usual 1/2 Rack Rib Platter and I have the Rib and Meat Combo with the Hot Link Sausage. It was my first time to get the sausage and, boy was it good. And what made it even better was the mustard-based corn relish in the center of the platter. Very tangy and flavorful, and went great with the sausage.

And even better than last night, we weren’t seated in the screaming baby section.

Finally heading home Jan made a quick stop at the Ross clothing store on Signal Butte before we finally go home a little before 6.

About 6:45 we figured we needed to work off that big dinner so we did a little over a mile walk about the park. Really nice cool as the sun was going down.

Jan and  I have decided that we’re going into ‘Rally Withdrawal’

In the past, we had a couple of rallies to go to every year. Enough to feed our habit. But not this year. And now the withdrawal pains have kicked in.

It’s kind of like ‘hitch itch’, with the added benefit of a burning rash. But then again, maybe that’s really a problem I need to discuss with my doctor.

Anyway it now looks like we’re going to try to make the Escapade coming up in Gillette, WY the last part of June. We were there in 2010 for the American Coach Rally and it’s a really nice complex with over 1200 Full Hookup Sites.

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April 12, 2014

Just When We Thought It Was Over . . .

Well, It was nice while it lasted.

Spring, I mean.

There’s another cold front coming through, really cold, at least for Spring in Texas. And by Monday night, we’re looking at night temps in the 30’s and day temps in the 60’s.

Actually pretty nice.

Later in the afternoon, Jan started making one of her Famous Pound Cakes. Tomorrow we’re driving over to Livingston to visit Chris and Charles Yust of C and C RV Insurance at the Escapees Park there. Jan wanted to bring a dessert, so her pound cake, along with fresh sliced strawberries and whipped cream should fill the bill.

For anyone that wants to try it, I’ve posted this recipe under the Jan’s Favorite Recipe tab.

While Jan was pound caking, I finally got back to installing the replacement lift motor on our bathroom Fantastic Vent fan. Actually the lift motor is what started my recent Fantastic Fan adventures.

The lift motor died on the bathroom fan, the second one in 4 years, and so I ordered a new one. But before the lift motor came in, the fan motor in the kitchen just up and died out of the clear blue. So I ordered a replacement fan/motor combo.

And when the new fan motor came in and I got it installed, I liked it so much that I ordered one for the rear unit too. So I waited to install the new lift motor until I got the fan motor in and installed. I could still lift the lid manually so I could wait it out.

I got the new fan motor installed a few days ago, and then today I finally got around to installing the lift motor. No problem, except for one thing.

The motor is connected to the fan using Insulated Quick Disconnects like these.

But for some reason the ones that come on the new lift motor are slightly larger than the standard 1/4” size. So before I could install it, I had to replace the connectors with new standard ones. But after that, it went pretty smooth, and finished up, it looked like this.

I really like the new clear blades.

For dinner we fixed salads with lettuce, spring greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, shredded cheese, and Chinese crispy noodles. Jan also adds sliced avocados to hers. For dressing, Jan uses Balsamic Vinaigrette, and I like a homemade BBQ Bacon Ranch, made from Hidden Valley Bacon Ranch mixed with Rudy’s BBQ Sauce. Really good.

For dessert, we finished off the last of the Strawberry 7-UP cake that she made recently. You can also find that recipe on Jan’s Favorite Recipes. Also really good.

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April 12, 2015

The City in the Sky . . .

When we had breakfast at the park Homestyle Grill the other morning, I bought something to go along with my BBQ Larvets worm larva snacks.

A Strawberry Scorpion Sucker is the perfect thing to compliment BBQ’d baby worms, isn’t it.

Jan and I headed out for Jerome about 1:30, but our first stop was the park Activity Center. I was surprised to see how busy the place was, with what looked like a pool tournament going on.

The distance to Jerome is only about 15 miles, but it takes about 30 minutes since you have to gain over 2000 feet along the way.

After driving the main loop around town, we luckily found a parking spot right at the base of the hill.

And even better, the first store we came to was the Jerome Ghost Pepper Co.

Linda, the storekeeper, give us a number of samples of her hot wares. Then I went back to the truck and let her sample some of my hot stuff. Based on her reaction to one of my bottles,

I won.

As it turns out, Linda is a former RV’er, so we had a good time talking about traveling, and she and Jan really hit it off.

She set us up with a new batch of hot sauces to take with us, including a larger bottle of the Belizean Heat, second from the left. Jan bought a small bottle of this from the iBurn store back in Houston, and was happy to find a refill.

Making our way up the steep hill, we came across the famous ‘Sliding Jail’. Jerome’s first jail was originally built up on the hill right below the upper line of cars.

But during the early years of the town, when the now present road wasn’t there, the constant blasting caused the jail to slowly slid down the hill,

finally ending up about 100 yards below its original location.

As we made our way up the steep hills, I noticed a number of stores had this emblem above their doorways.

This means that these establishments have an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) there. Just the thing for when tourist start dropping to the sidewalk from the steep climbs. Hope I don’t need one.

After Jan hit a couple of gift shops we made our way over to the Mile High Grill for an early dinner. Several friends had recommended the place so we to give it a try.

We both started out with a cup of soup. Jan had the Soup of the Day, Carrot Ginger,

and I had the Rio Verde Chili Pork Stew.

Both delicious. The last time we had Carrot Ginger Soup was in 2010 at the fabled Pie-O-Neer restaurant in Pie Town, NM.

Since today is National Grilled Cheese Day, Jan went with their off-the-menu Grill Cheese Sandwich, and, staying with the Cheese theme, for her side, she had the Nacho Mama’s Mac and Cheese.

I went with the Diablo Burger and the Buffalo Chips

Normally the avocado goes on the burger, but since I don’t like it, I got it on the side for Jan. The green stuff was a delicious spicy chimichurri sauce.

Wrapping up, for dessert, we shared an order of their much-recommended Warm Croissant Bread Pudding. Again, very, very good.

Finally finishing up a great meal, we headed back to the truck for the drive home. Luckily, as full as we were, it was all downhill.

Otherwise we might had really needed the AED.

Tomorrow we’re taking the Verde Canyon Railroad train ride, lasting from 1 to 4pm. We’ve heard a lot about it, and we’re really looking forward to it.

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April 12, 2016

Bearteeth and Pizza . . .

After our coffee and cereal this morning, it was back to the ole grind, as in reading and watching TV for Jan, and playing on the Internet for me. Isn’t retirement great?

Later in the afternoon Jan took all my shirts out of the closet and got me to go through them, throwing out ones I didn’t want any more. Of course I know it was all just an artful ruse to give her more room in the closet at my expense.

For dinner tonight Jan fixed chips and onion dip, and DiGiorno Pizza. This is the first time we’ve tried the cheese-in-the-crust version, and it was really good. Of course, Jan spices it up by adding sliced mushrooms for some extra oomph.

A few days ago someone posted a photo of the snowed-in Beartooth Highway.

The article said that they’ve finally started clearing the snow pack from the Beartooth.

We drove the Beartooth with our friends Al and Adrienne Cox in July of 2011. But in the summer it’s a little greener.

  
And if you look very carefully, you can pick out the name-sake peak in the distance.

 

And zooming in, gives you a better look. Looks like a bear tooth to me.

  

You can read more about our day’s adventure here. The Last Time I Was At 11,000 Feet, I Was In A Plane

We even visited Red Lodge and checked out a bank where on September 18, 1897, the Sundance Kid, Kid Curry, and others of the Wild Bunch attempted “to make an unauthorized withdrawal from the Carbon County Bank.”

Check it out.

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April 12, 2017

The Magic Elixir . . .

Due to not having our front Fantastic Vent fan working this morning we finally had to turn on the front AC to keep things cool in the coach.

We closed the door to the bathroom and left the back of the coach with the windows open and the fan running.

About 1pm I got the ladder our of the back of the truck and got ready to climb up on the roof to take a look at my vent fan problem. Whenever I’m on the roof Jan sits outside with her phone to keep an eye on me. When I asked if she’s going to try and catch me if I fall off, she says no, but she will call the EMT’s on her phone.

What a sweetheart!

Climbing up the ladder, I had a cloth bag with my voltmeter, screwdrivers, pliers, and a can of magic elixir with me. First off I had to get the cover off by removing the four nuts and washers,

With the cover off I could finally get to my first suspect that might be causing the problem, the plunger switch that keeps the fan from starting until the lid is open. Since the fan motor quit while it was running, I wasn’t expecting this to be the problem. The switch normally sticks when the lid is closed and then the fan won’t start when the lid opens.

But one of the rules of troubleshooting is to always start checking the easiest things first, and that’s the switch. I had left the fan turned on low before I came up on the roof so I reached under the lid and pressed down on the plunger.

It was too bright on the roof for me to take photos so I got this one from the Net.

It took only a few pushes on the plunger before the fan started running. So strangely enough, it was the switch. Glad I checked it first. So now I got out my spray can of magic elixir, Strike Hold and sprayed several squirts into the plunger switch, pushing it down a few times to work it in.

I discovered Strike Hold at an FMCA rally in Goshen, IN in 2014 and I’ve used ever since. I’ve used it to resurrect Kindles, phones, and a number of other devices.

The first time I bought Strike Hold I got the pump spray bottle, but I found that it seemed to evaporate pretty quickly, so the next time I got the spray can, which has been great.

About 4pm Jan and I headed out to try a Chinese place down in Paradise Valley that had been recommended. I noticed that the good Chinese buffet next door to the Buffalo Wild Wings where we ate yesterday was out of business. So that’s when we found out about Golden Flower Chinese Restaurant. And getting there we found a bright and cheery place located at one corner of a strip mall, staffed by very friendly people.

We started off with our usual Hot & Soup, something that we use to grade every new Chinese place. And Golden Flower got a ‘A’.

Jan got an order of Sesame Chicken,

while I got the Spicy Kung Pao Chicken.

We also got an plate of their House Special Fried Rice, with Chicken, Beef, Shrimp, and Pork.

Jan said the Fried Rice was the best she’s ever had, and the Sesame Chicken was fantastic. My Kung Pao was great, but not very spicy to me. But that’s just me.

All we can say is it was all delicious, probably in the top 3 or 4 of our favorite Chinese places in the country. We will definitely go back before we leave.

Well recommended!

Coming home we stopped at the nearby Sam’s Club to drop off a prescription and get gas. At $2.46/gal it was the cheapest place around, with most other places at $2.60 to $2.80.

Then we made a PO stop to finally get my Arizona CCW application in the mail. They say 6 to 8 weeks, but some people say they got theirs quicker.

Here’s hoping.

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April 12, 2018

Shrimp, Shrimp, and, of course, Shrimp . . .

After a quiet morning, me doing web site stuff and Jan reading, I went out about 2pm to add air to the rig’s tires.

I used my Sears 150 psi Air Compressor to quickly air up all my tires, the front ones to 105# and the rear duals to 100#. All of the tires were in the 90# range when I started, not because they had leaked down in the last 5 months, but because when I last topped them off the temperature was in the high 90’s, while today it was in the low 70’s.

I’ve had this compressor since January 2011 and it’s never had a problem. It can air up the big RV tires to 120# plus without breathing hard. The one I have came from Sears but they no longer sell it. (Do they still sell anything?) But you can get the same one under the Porter-Cable brand from Amazon, probably who made it for Sears.

Porter-Cable 150psi Air Compressor

I did add this Power Tank TIG-8170 Digital Inflator with a locking chuck to make it easier to air up the tires without bending over the entire time. Just lock the chuck on the tire valve and go to it.

The only other thing I’ve done to it in the last 7 years was to replace the compressor’s air hose with a longer one.

I also planned to add water to the rig’s house batteries, but discovered that I was out of distilled water. So it got put on the WalMart list for tonight.

About 4:15 Jan and I headed up to Webster to meet up with Chris, Linda, and Miss Piper at the East Star Chinese Buffet for dinner.

We’ve never eaten here, but a number of our friends have recommended it, and it turns out Chris and Linda have eaten here too.

How did we get left out?

I ended up getting the shrimp, the shrimp, and, of course, the shrimp. And some veggies too.

Cold Boiled Shrimp, Hot Pepper Shrimp, and Shrimp with Veggies.

The Trifecta.

Everything was really good, although Jan didn’t like the Hot & Sour Soup as much as I did.

But we’ll go back.

Coming home we made a WalMart stop for a few things before getting home about 8.

Tomorrow, more work, and probably more machine repairs.

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April 12, 2021

Now All I Need Are Ping Pong Balls . . .

I’ve been looking over online recipes to combine several of our new toys, our FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer, our Inkbird Sous Vide Immersion Cooker, and our George Foreman Grill.

And I think our first meal is going to be Sous Vide BBQ Pork Ribs.

I’ve looked over a lot of different recipes online, and this one seems to cover everything.

The Food Lab’s Complete Guide to Sous Vide Barbecue Pork Ribs

Depending on how you want to do it, you can cook them either low and slow – 145° for 36 hours, or hotter and faster – 165° for 8-12 hours, or even somewhere in between. It all depends on how you like your ribs.

But no matter how you like them, they all start with the vacuum sealer and end with the grill.

You first coat the ribs in your favorite rub or sauce, add a couple of drops of Wright’s Liquid Smoke, vacuum seal them, and then pop them in the water bath with the Sous Vide cooker. And that’s where the ping pong balls come in.

With some of the cooking times running as long as 36 hours there’s always a danger of the immersion cooker’s water reservoir running dry while you’re at work or just out and about. So you float the ping pong balls on top of the water bath to slow down the evaporation of the water.

And after the ribs are finished in the Sous Vide cooker, then you remove them from the bags, and put them on the grill for 30 minutes or so, after covering them in your favorite rub or sauce.

Tomorrow I’m going to take a first run at my computer-controlled hibiscus watering system, to see how long the pump has to run to provide sufficient water each day.

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April 12, 2022

I Think She’ll Know . . .

Jan had a doctor follow-up visit this afternoon, after which we drove over to Texas Huddle for lunch. Although it’s been a while since we’ve been here, it’s one of our favorites, especially mine. And that’s due to the fact that they have a PB&J Bacon Cheeseburger on the menu.

Yes, that means Peanut Butter & Jelly.

We both started with a Side Salad instead of the included fries,

and then Jan got her usual Mushroom Swiss Bacon Burger.

And of course, I got my reason for being here, the PB&J Bacon Cheeseburger.

With Grape jelly, of course.

Really, really, really good. As usual.

Then it was on back down to the League City area and our local WalMart for a few things, before getting back to the rig about 4:30.

We’ve noticed that our park owner, Rob, has been working in the yard across from us, using his small front loader to pile up and haul off the large amount of junk that’s been across the fence from us since we moved here. Things like a couple of junk trucks, a rotting 5th wheel, rusting barrels, and just mounds of generic trash. At first we thought that he was just helping out the people who live in a trailer toward the front of the lot.

But today Rob re-fenced the cleared area and it became obvious.

He’s putting in some more RV sites, maybe 5 or 6 added to the 17 he already has. At least the view in front of our rig is a lot nicer now that all that junk is gone.

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Sometimes you’ve just gotta wonder what some people are thinking.

This is the 24 can pack of Coke Zero.

Note the handy-dandy push-in handle to make it much easier to carry.

So when you’re designing this packaging, which was just redone about a year ago when they changed the color scheme, where would be the most logical place to put the bar code?

Why, on the bottom, of course.

And yes, I know that it’s down there so it can be slid over the scanner at check-out, but no one does it that way.

The customers don’t want to lift it up onto the conveyor belt and then back into the cart, and the cashiers tell you to leave in the basket to scan because they don’t want to have to pick it up either.

But why not put a bar code on top too. In fact Jan’s 30 bottle pack of Joint Juice, which is also heavy, does just that.

So now after you put it in the basket you have to turn it over to scan, and then turn it back over to carry it.

Think, people. Think.

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I forgot to ask Jan if she heard mutterings from her Mushroom Swiss Burger, but according to these guys it’s very possible.

When Lewis Carrol wrote Alice in Wonderland, he told us about talking mushrooms. Who knew how right he was.

New Study Shows Mushrooms Communicate With Each Other Using A Vocabulary Of 50 Words

Scientists found that mushrooms “talk” using electrical impulses that spike when fungi come into contact with food sources or potential dangers.

“Assuming that spikes of electrical activity are used by fungi to communicate, we demonstrate that distributions of fungal word lengths match that of human languages,” he said. “We found that the size of fungal vocabulary can be up to 50 words, however, the core vocabulary of most frequently used words does not exceed 15 to 20 words.”

I would think that ‘Please don’t eat us’ would be part of their vocabulary.

Of course, they could just sing, “Go ask Alice, I think she’ll know.”

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And if talking mushrooms weren’t scary enough, there’s this nightmare.

And as the caption says, it’s real.

Remind me to stay away from deep-sea geothermal vents.