Monthly Archives: April 2023
Another Day, Another Scrub . . .
Going into work this morning I encountered 3 of what I assume are the latest incarnation of Amazon’s home delivery vans.
Be interesting to see how soon we see these showing up at our rig door.
Well, the Falcon Heavy launch made it down to 59 seconds this evening before they scrubbed the launch and pushed it back again till tomorrow night, starting at 7:26pm CDT.
They didn’t say what the problem was, though it didn’t seem to be weather-related, like the previous two nights.
Yesterday, as we were leaving Monterey’s after our get-together with old friends Bob and Maria, Jan saw a
placard with a saying on it that she really liked, so I bought her the shirt.
You know what they say, “If the shirt fits . . .”
Since I know a few of you don’t make it all the way down through the Retro-Blogs™, I thought I’d repost up here our first day in Budapest, Hungry back today in 2019.
April 28, 2019
I Made A Boo-Boo . . .
In preparing for our European trip, I’ve been making checklists for months, I.e. what we’re going to take, what we need to buy, what we need to do in the rig right before we leave, etc. And even checklists for what gets packed in carry-on and what gets packed in our checked bags.
However, what I didn’t do was have an item on one of my many checklists that would remind me to grab up my computer bag, containing my laptop, tablet, and Kindle Fire, and my Panasonic Lumix camera that I was just going to carry with me.
So they’re still sitting on the passenger seat in the rig, right where I can see them on one of my 3 Wyze security cams that I set up in the rig. And which is why this is the first blog I’ve posted since we left.
This morning after a fantastic (and free) breakfast at the hotel, we took a taxi over to the Mammut Mall. Mammut means ‘Mammoth’, and it is. And it even has one out front.
It’s made up of two LARGE buildings on opposite sides of the street, and connected by a glass walkway on the 2nd level. And there are about six levels, including the large SPAR grocery store in the basement.
Besides wanting to see the place that everyone was talking about, one of the guys at the Viking Concierge Desk said that Notebook.hu was a good place to buy a laptop, and it was, and it’s what I’m typing on now.
I got a good deal on an ASUS model, and the deal got even better when I mentioned that the Viking guy had sent me.
Afterwards we spent a couple of hours walking around, checking the many shops and stores. And it seems KFC and BK translate into any language.
While Jan got a Strawberry gelato, made with fresh strawberries, I got a Caramel Coffee at Starbucks right next door.
And over here it seems if your not getting your coffee to go, it comes in a nice porcelain mug. Much more elegant.
So I’ll spend the next couple of days catching up the blog on how we got to this point.
When the bellhop got us a taxi at the hotel, we knew we would be OK, since they’ve vetted by the hotel and know if they gouge the hotel’s guests, they won’t be allowed to pick up passengers there any longer. But at the Mall you’re on your own, and apparently it’s real easy to get screwed on the fare, even to the point of being physically threatened if you don’t pay up.
The taxi service in Hungary has been referred to as ‘Mafia-lite’ and has even managed to have ride services like Uber and Lyft completely banned throughout the entire country.
So, coming back to the hotel, we decide to try the bus system. And with Google’s help, we had no real problems, and even got to ride for free, since apparently most people use passes. The website says it costs 450 HUF (about $1.56) for a single ride without a transfer. But when Jan and I held out our 500 HUF notes he just waved us in. Probably didn’t want to fool with making change.
The bus dropped us off right in front of Matthias Church,
and across from the Fisherman’s Bastion,
which is just half a block from our hotel.
Hungary’s money takes a little getting used to. It’s called the Forint, as in Hungarian Forint, or HUF. And the exchange is kind of interesting.
1000 HUF is about $3.46, so you end with some very large numbers in prices. According to the placard in our room. it cost 160,000 HUF a night. And if we wanted a view of the Danube, it would be 180,000 a night. And that’s $553 and $622 respectively. Though I doubt Viking is paying that much a night.
But for your $500+ a night you do get a great room,
and a fantastic breakfast. And this not some typical hotel fare of do-it-yourself waffles and stale cereal in little boxes. No, this is pretty much every thing you can think of for breakfast, and even more. But I’ll have more on this tomorrow as I catch up.
This evening Jan and I again had dinner at the LANG Bistro & Grill, the hotel’s main restaurant. And not only is the décor very elegant,
but the closeup view of the Fisherman’s Bastion out our window
was very picturesque as well.
For dinner Jan had the same Paprika Chicken that I had last night,
which is a rolled Chicken Breast in a delicious sauce, on top of gnocchi noodles, all covered in sour cream. It also came with a Cold Pickled Cucumber Salad made with very thinly sliced cucumbers, topped with, what else, Paprika, which seems to the the National Spice of Hungary, since it’s in pretty much everything,
I figured that since I was in Hungary I should try a bowl of Hungarian Goulash.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was pretty much just Beef Stew, with tender chunks of beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, and, I think, parsnips, in a spicy (paprika?) sauce. But very, very good anyway.
For dessert we had coffee, and split a delicious Crème Brule. We felt as much as we had walked today, we deserved it.
Wrapping up, early tomorrow afternoon we’ll board the Skirnir, but we won’t actually sail until Tuesday night, after a day of excursions here. Then our next stop is Vienna, Austria.
Keep Checking Back.
Thought For The Day:
April 28, 2010
Sitting out the bad weather…
It was supposed to be cold and rainy today so we decided to wait until tomorrow before visiting Yosemite National Park, and although we saw one burst of sunlight, the forecast turned out to be pretty accurate.
So about 12:30 we headed out to get some lunch and some groceries afterwards.
I stopped by the office on the way out to find out how many RV’ers had used the Park discount coupons that were given out at the Yuma Rally back in March.
As we were leaving the park we saw a squirrel standing sentry on a rock right outside the gate. We tried to get a picture but he spooked before we could get the camera out.
Maybe when we come back.
We ended up going back to El Cid because we liked it so much last night. I wanted to have another bowl of their albondigas, Mexican meatball soup. We had some last night as an appetizer to our combo platters, but it was so good I decided to have just a bowl of it for lunch. And we got some more cactus pictures while we were there.
We also saw a pair of woodpeckers that, at first glance, I thought were red-headed woodpeckers. But after looking closer at the pictures, I realized they were something I hadn’t seen before. It turns out they are Acorn Woodpeckers.
Heading back home we stopped off at Von’s to pick up some groceries.
Coming back into the park, we found our squirrel standing guard on his rock again.
Although it looks kind of brown in this picture, it’s a Western Gray Squirrel.
Tomorrow we’re going to drive up into Yosemite National Park. If we make the entire loop, it will be about a 200 mile trip.
April 28, 2011
Grand Canyon–Part 1 . . .
Our Grand Canyon day started early. Jan was up about 6:30, said she was too excited to sleep. I was up by 7:30, and we left the rig about 8:15 to make the 5 minute trip to the Grand Canyon Railway Station.
After we picked up our tickets, Jan checked out the gift shop while I checked out the steam engine that they used on the Grand Canyon trip until recently.
We boarded our car about 9:15, and the train pulled out about 9:30 to make the 65 mile trip in about 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Our seats were in a First Class car, with an observation dome on top.
Along the way we came across this herd of horses on the move. Don’t know if they were startled by the train, or just running for the fun of it, but they paced the train for a few minutes.
Certainly makes you feel you’re out West.
The train snakes its way up to the canyon, so from our car, third from the end, we were often able to see the front of the train.
After our train arrived and we walked to the canyon rim at the Bright Angel area, our first view of the Grand Canyon was just spectacular.
Everywhere you look you see colors and patterns as far as the eye can see.
This photo shows the multi-mile hiking trail that takes you further out into the canyon.
I’ll let these next pictures speak for themselves.
Looking over the edge of the canyon we saw this squirrel looking up at us. As soon as he saw us, he started climbing up the outside wall, heading our way.
It was obvious that he expected to be fed,
and despite the sign below, he was going to follow us until he was.
And when we refused to put out, he headed down the wall looking for someone else.
The building at the left in this photo is the Lookout Studio, built by Fred Harvey to give a close up view of the canyon.
While I was out on one of the lookout points here, Jan stayed up top sitting on one of the low walls.
Suddenly another squirrel appeared, climbing up over the wall, and going directly to the trashcan. After pulling out several empty wrappers, he saw Jan sitting there and headed for her. He climbed right up on her lap, sat on her fanny pack, and put his little paws up to her.
Everyone around her marveled at this, but no one took a DARN photo.
That’s about it for today. I’ll have Part Two tomorrow.
April 28, 2012
Yea, Piper!
Or Up Close and Personal!
First up, congratulations to our granddaughter Piper who graduates from high school next month. Our son Chris called yesterday to let us know that Piper had been awarded a merit four year full scholarship to the University of Houston, one of only four given out every year.
Separately, she earlier had received a $2000 a year grant.
Way to go, Piper!
Well, after 12 days of gate guarding in the wilderness, we’re back in civilization.
Kind of.
The one main problem with where our gate was, was the fact that we had no cell phone or Internet service. But after days of trying, I finally found a solution.
I bought a Wilson DB 65 Pro amplifier and antenna, and then put the antenna on top of a 30 foot pole mounted to the ladder on our RV. And lo and behold, we had cell and Internet service.
Ten minutes later we got our first call from the outside world. It was the Gate Guard Services office telling us to get packed up because we were moving to a new gate.
So now we had to take everything down and get packed up.
Finally we pulled out about 2:50 for the 8 mile trip on the dirt road from Hell. This road is so bad we can only do about 5 mph in the rig. So it only took us about an hour and ten minutes to go the 8 miles. But once on the highway we made good time.
We pulled into our new location a little after 6 pm and got set up. Or rather I set up and Jan was already running the gate.
And unlike our other gate where the drilling rig was 3 miles away, here we’re up close and personal.
And boy is it windy here. But we do have cell and Internet, so that’s a plus.
I’ll have more later with pictures from our old gate and our new one.
Thanks to everyone for your comments and concerns when we kind of disappeared for a while. Hopefully I’ll be able to post more regularly now.
April 28, 2013
Flat, Not Flats . . .
I spent a little while this morning putting up Reflectix across the full front windshield and it quickly made a difference in the heat coming in. It was supposed to make to 99 today, 100 tomorrow, and 98 on Wednesday, so our AC’s are going to need all the help they can get.
About 1:30 we were off on our trip up into the Superstition Mountains along the Apache Trail and all the way out to Tortilla Flat. And yes, according to their website, it’s Tortilla Flat, not Flats.
Leaving our RV park, we headed northeast on SR88 for about 6 miles and stopped off at Goldfield Ghost Town, an old 1890’s mining town turned into a tourist attraction.
But the first thing you notice here is the great view of Superstition Mountain, a really imposing piece of rock.
The town is built up the side of a hill, and reminded Jan and I of Calico Ghost Town over in California, near Barstow.
And like Calico, they have hourly gunfights in the streets.
What started out as an argument over a money strongbox, progressed though a shootout, complete with a stick of dynamite, and ended up with a lot of bodies in the street, finished off by a shotgun-toting bordello madam.
Down a side street we did come across this old, rusty Linotype machine, used in making up lines of type from molten metal, which are then assembled into printing plates for printing.
Heading out again another 6 miles down the road we stopped at the overlook for
Canyon Lake, one of four lakes up in this area. You don’t think about lakes like this in this part of Arizona, but there’s a lot of boating going on up here.
A few more miles down the road brought us to Tortilla Flat.
And after you’re there, you find out that Tortilla Flat consists of 3 building, 6 stores, and has a population of 6.
But there is a lot of pretty scenery in the area.
After checking out the stores and gift shops, we had some ice cream, and then watched the other visitors come and go.
Getting back to Apache Junction, we tried to decide on a place for dinner. And after a lot of back and forth, and “I don’t know. Where do you want to go?”, we ended up trying out the Black Angus Steakhouse, a first time for Jan and I. They have 44 restaurants in 6 western states, including Alaska, but neither Jan and I had ever heard of them.
And as it turned out, it was pretty good. Jan and I both had steaks. My steak had those slightly-charred edges that I like so much, so I was happy.
And after all, that’s what matters now, isn’t it.
Tomorrow starts our last two days here in Apache Junction, so I need to finish up a couple things on our coaches
Busy, busy, busy.
April 28, 2014
High Road to China . . .
As we’ve done for the last several days, Jan and I sat outside this morning with our coffee and muffins, but not for very long. The last several mornings have either been partly cloudy or even overcast, but there was not a cloud in the sky today, and the sun was hot. In fact today was our high for the year with 92 degrees.
Time to head north.
On another front, my great nieces, Darby
and Stahlie Calvin
are going to be traveling to China in the next few weeks. These two beautiful young ladies are going to be volunteering at an American-run Special Needs Orphanage outside of Bejing for the summer, and then spend some time touring the country.
Our part in this comes about because the Chinese Consulate here in Houston is where you go to get your visas, so Jan and I are going to expedite things by handling it on this end.
Darby is overnighting the paperwork that should be here tomorrow. Then on Wednesday, Jan and I will take it down to the Consulate. If we get it in before 11:30, then we should be able to pick it up before 3pm.
One of my chores today was to install an additional support on the rig’s tailpipe. I noticed recently that the tailpipe that comes out of the muffler was loose at the joint. So I got some pipe hanging strap and ran a loop from the chassis down around the pipe and back up. I then put a bolt through the strapping to tighten it down around the pipe.
The pipe is now solid and doesn’t move anymore, so this should take care of the problem.
Tomorrow we’re going down to the Clear Lake area to take care of some errands and get together with Chris, Linda, and Piper for a last dinner before we hit the road on Friday. Jan and Piper are also going to get mani/pedi’s.
April 28, 2015
Off To See The Aliens . . .
or It’s A Small World After All.
We did pretty much nothing this morning, until we headed out for the afternoon. As we were leaving about 3pm, we started talking to the couple in 5’ver on our driver’s side. Turns out we knew each other. They were parked next to us at the Colorado River Thousand Trails when we were there this past January. It definitely is a small world, at least the RV part of it.
We first drove west on Flamingo over to the High Roller Observation Wheel to pick up our tickets for tomorrow night. They have to be picked up at least one hour before our 8pm ride, and we didn’t want to have to rush our dinner at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville beforehand.
Leaving there we were heading east on Tropicana and overhead we saw an Alien Airlines flight coming in to land at the Las Vegas airport.
I didn’t have time to get my camera up so I got this photo off the Web. Officially called a JANET flight, it’s nicknamed Alien Airlines because it’s these planes that shuttle about a thousand workers back and forth to Area 51 every day. Notice there is no name on the plane, jus the red stripe. (Cue the Twilight Zone theme)
Leaving there we stopped off at the Sam’s Club over on Pecos Blvd. to pick up our prescriptions and a few other things. I also got a new set of frames for my eyeglasses. All I needed was a new earpiece, but they don’t sell them separately anymore, but I was able to buy a complete new frame for only $47, and the optometrist transferred my lenses to the new frames for me.
Then we headed back over to the Boulder Station Casino near the RV park for a visit to the buffet. Unfortunately we were running about 30 minutes later than we had planned, so we had a 40 minute wait in line before we got seated. But as usual, both the meal and the service were really good.
Finishing up our meal, and on our way out. we stopped off to put $20 in the Megabuck’s Progressive Slot. That’s our normal gambling limit when we’re here in Vegas, but usually we try out the regular slots. But we figured that if we’re going to blow $20, why not have a chance at megabucks, instead of a few thousand.
In fact, two weeks ago, someone won over $10 million on one of these Megabucks slots here in Las Vegas So why not us?
But unfortunately, it was not to be.
But there’s always next time.
April 28, 2016
FireCrackers . . .
Jan fixed a new appetizer / snack a couple of days ago and they’re so good I thought I’d pass on the recipe in Jan’s Favorite Recipes.
They’re called Alabama Fire Crackers, and you ought to give them a try.
About 1pm I put in a call to the Colorado River TT to see what their schedule is for reopening. Ideally we would like to move back there this coming Sunday, a week earlier than we had originally planned. That way we can split up the 300 mile trip back to Conroe on May 8th. Even if we can’t go back to Colorado River this weekend, we’ll try to go back at least a day or so early on the trip back to Lake Conroe.
I mentioned last week that I had found one of my old GPS modules for my Delorme Street Atlas program. Karma the Cat had chewed the USB connector off the one I had been using, and I was going to try to repair it, but then I found my old one.
But when I used it this past Sunday on our trip over here from Lake Conroe, I quickly found out why I had retired it. It takes between 3 to 5 minutes to lockup on the satellites, while the cat-chewed one only takes 15 to 30 seconds.
Maybe I’ll rethink repairing that one.
About 4pm Jan and I drove into downtown Lakehills (downtown is 3 stores and a gas station) to pick up a few things We stopped off at Dave and Lynn Cross’ to see if they needed anything before they leave tomorrow, but they were good.
Although not a lot larger than a regular convenience store, it is a full grocery store, and very well stocked, including produce and meats. Jan got some salad stuff and a loaf of wheat bread and a couple of French bread sticks, as well as a couple of potatoes and some carrots to flesh out the last of the other day’s Beef Stew. And they were giving away free Lemon Pepper Beef Jerky. What’s not to like?
These last couple of trips I’ve started dumping our tanks at a different time. Previously I have always dumped both tanks right before we left. We have no problem going 14 days between black tank dumps so that’s not a problem
But now I dump a scoop of cheap laundry powder in the toilet right before we leave, and let it slosh around on the trip. Then when we arrive and set up, I then dump the tanks, and use our rig’s built-in tank flush system to clean it all out.
Between the detergent and the flush, it really seems to clean things out.
Finishing up, now that our son-in-law Lowell has started up his own freight company at LowellsLogistics.com, it looks like Landon has decided to also get into the transportation business and start his own Uber company.
April 28, 2017
Missing Peak Poppy . . .
After three straight days on the road down to LA, it was time to slow down a little and just stay in the area today.
We left the rig about 10:45 to have the lunch Buffet at the Shakey’s Pizza up in Palmdale. The last time we ate here was 7 years ago when we were here just about this time of the year. But Shakey’s goes pretty far back for Jan and I, and even further back for me.
Jan and I ate at the Shakey’s in Orlando several times back in 1967 when we were dating in Titusville, FL, and then later, after we were married and living in Birmingham, we used to eat at the one in the Roebuck area all the time.
But further back, when my family took a vacation out west in the summer of 1964, we ate at a Shakey’s in the LA area for the first time. In fact it was our very first time to actually eat at a PIZZA place. Before that if we ever had pizza it was an Italian restaurant in our area.
As a matter of fact Shakey’s was the very first franchise pizza chain, starting in 1954, peaking at 500 stores by 1974. But through a series of clumsy buyouts the number of stores declined to 221 by 1989. And now there are only 51 left in the US.
But, at the same time, starting in 1975, a Philippine conglomerate begin building Shakey’s there, where there are now over 500 locations in the Pacific Rim area.
Leaving Shakey’s, we drove up to Lancaster and then out west of town to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. When we were here 7 years the hills around here were alive with poppies. You can read more about it here.
Last time as we drove out into the gentle hills we could see the flowers from miles away.
You can see even more photos at the link above.
But this time though, not so much. This year all we saw were scattered patches left around, and not many of those.
Turns out we just missed Peak Poppy about 10 days ago during the Poppy Festival on April 22nd and 23rd when it looked like this.
What a difference a week and a half can make.
Heading back into Lancaster, we decided to soothe our poppy disappointment with pie.
Marie Callender’s pie.
Jan, of course, went with her favorite pumpkin, while I once again got their Double Cream Blueberry, and coffee as well.
And even better we got duplicate pies to take home to have for our dinner later tonight.
Really, really good.
And as well as pie, we also got see to see flowers, roses this time, as part of the restaurant’s landscaping.
Tomorrow we’re making a 345 mile trip to Flag City RV Park near Lodi. A long day, but at least it’s Interstate all the way.
April 28, 2018
Drying Again . . .
After a nice, quiet morning it was time to get back on the dryer repair that I had started on Thursday.
Since all the prep work had been done, all I had to do was to put my dolly in place, grab the pull straps I had install and start dragging it out of the cabinet.
I built up this dolly a few years ago, making it the perfect height to pull the washer out, keep it level, and be able to roll it out into the kitchen if necessary.
The straps are something else I came up with a few years ago.
There is so little clearance between the dryer and the cabinet edges that it’s very difficult to get a grip on it. So I installed these straps that are fastened to the rear of the cabinet and extend out to the front from underneath.
It only took me about 20 minutes to have the Splendide out of the cabinet and the top off. And a few seconds with my meter confirmed that the the over-temp thermostat was bad.
After I replaced it I cleaned and sprayed Strike Hold on a couple of other connections that looked like they might have been running a little warm.The last step before I buttoned it up was to turn it on and be sure that it was heating up.
Then came the hard part – getting the unit back in the cabinet. This is always a problem since the cabinet edge is only about a 1/16 inch larger than the dryer. I don’t know why they didn’t leave more clearance. In fact it’s so tight that it’s hard to slide a 2 x 5 file card in between.
So after I struggled with it for over an hour, I finally did what I’ve been threatening to do for a good while. I pulled the Splendide all the way out, dug out my jigsaw and cut off a 3/8” strip from the top and both sides of the opening. And I wish I had done this a long time ago.
It now only took me about 15 minutes to have the unit sliding into place. Then with everything hooked up, I ran a load of laundry to check the repair and it worked fine.
I’ve still got to install the retaining board and the doors to finish up, but I’ll do that later.
Later in the evening I did finish up my most recent project that I’ll save until tomorrow. But it started out like this.
Tomorrow evening we’re getting together with Chris, Linda, Piper, and Connor for dinner at East Star Buffet once again. Looking forward to it.
April 28, 2019
I Made A Boo-Boo . . .
In preparing for our European trip, I’ve been making checklists for months, I.e. what we’re going to take, what we need to buy, what we need to do in the rig right before we leave, etc. And even checklists for what gets packed in carry-on and what gets packed in our checked bags.
However, what I didn’t do was have an item on one of my many checklists that would remind me to grab up my computer bag, containing my laptop, tablet, and Kindle Fire, and my Panasonic Lumix camera that I was just going to carry with me.
So they’re still sitting on the passenger seat in the rig, right where I can see them on one of my 3 Wyze security cams that I set up in the rig. And which is why this is the first blog I’ve posted since we left.
This morning after a fantastic (and free) breakfast at the hotel, we took a taxi over to the Mammut Mall. Mammut means ‘Mammoth’, and it is. And it even has one out front.
It’s made up of two LARGE buildings on opposite sides of the street, and connected by a glass walkway on the 2nd level. And there are about six levels, including the large SPAR grocery store in the basement.
Besides wanting to see the place that everyone was talking about, one of the guys at the Viking Concierge Desk said that Notebook.hu was a good place to buy a laptop, and it was, and it’s what I’m typing on now.
I got a good deal on an ASUS model, and the deal got even better when I mentioned that the Viking guy had sent me.
Afterwards we spent a couple of hours walking around, checking the many shops and stores. And it seems KFC and BK translate into any language.
While Jan got a Strawberry gelato, made with fresh strawberries, I got a Caramel Coffee at Starbucks right next door.
And over here it seems if your not getting your coffee to go, it comes in a nice porcelain mug. Much more elegant.
So I’ll spend the next couple of days catching up the blog on how we got to this point.
When the bellhop got us a taxi at the hotel, we knew we would be OK, since they’ve vetted by the hotel and know if they gouge the hotel’s guests, they won’t be allowed to pick up passengers there any longer. But at the Mall you’re on your own, and apparently it’s real easy to get screwed on the fare, even to the point of being physically threatened if you don’t pay up.
The taxi service in Hungary has been referred to as ‘Mafia-lite’ and has even managed to have ride services like Uber and Lyft completely banned throughout the entire country.
So, coming back to the hotel, we decide to try the bus system. And with Google’s help, we had no real problems, and even got to ride for free, since apparently most people use passes. The website says it costs 450 HUF (about $1.56) for a single ride without a transfer. But when Jan and I held out our 500 HUF notes he just waved us in. Probably didn’t want to fool with making change.
The bus dropped us off right in front of Matthias Church,
and across from the Fisherman’s Bastion,
which is just half a block from our hotel.
Hungary’s money takes a little getting used to. It’s called the Forint, as in Hungarian Forint, or HUF. And the exchange is kind of interesting.
1000 HUF is about $3.46, so you end with some very large numbers in prices. According to placard in our room. it cost 160,000 HUF a night. And if we wanted a view of the Danube, it would be 180,000 a night. And that’s $553 and $622 respectively. Though I doubt Viking is paying that much a night.
But for your $500+ a night you do get a great room,
and a fantastic breakfast. And this not some typical hotel fare of do-it-yourself waffles and stale cereal in little boxes. No, this is pretty much every thing you can think of for breakfast, and even more. But I’ll have more on this tomorrow as I catch up.
This evening Jan and I again had dinner at the LANG Bistro & Grill, the hotel’s main restaurant. And not only is the décor very elegant,
but the closeup view of the Fisherman’s Bastion out our window
was very picturesque as well.
For dinner Jan had the same Paprika Chicken that I had last night,
which is a rolled Chicken Breast in a delicious sauce, on top of gnocchi noodles, all covered in sour cream. It also came with a Cold Pickled Cucumber Salad made with very thinly sliced cucumbers, topped with, what else, Paprika, which seems to the the National Spice of Hungary, since it’s in pretty much everything,
I figured that since I was in Hungary I should try a bowl of Hungarian Goulash.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was pretty much just Beef Stew, with tender chunks of beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, and, I think, parsnips, in a spicy (paprika?) sauce. But very, very good anyway.
For dessert we had coffee, and split a delicious Crème Brule. We felt as much as we had walked today, we deserved it.
Wrapping up, early tomorrow afternoon we’ll board the Skirnir, but we won’t actually sail until Tuesday night, after a day of excursions here. Then our next stop is Vienna, Austria.
Keep Checking Back.
April 28, 2021
Make A Wish!
We’re 0 for 2 with Wish.
Recently, on April 8th, Jan ordered a pair of flamingo coffee mugs from a company called Wish on Facebook, mugs like this.
She had planned to keep one and give the other one to Brandi. But it didn’t work out that way.
They showed up today, and I knew immediately there was a problem because the package ‘rattled’.
The package was thickly wrapped in bubble-wrap, but it wasn’t quite enough. Although the photo above shows the mug securely padded in its box, reality was a bit different.
Quite a bit different.
One of them looked like this.
Maybe I could try to glue the handle back on, but there would be some cracks.
However there’s not much hope for the other one.
There was absolutely no padding of any kind inside the boxes. It looks like, rather than being drop-shipped from China, it was dropped-kicked.
So now we’ll see how good Wish is at refunds.
I don’t know if it had anything to do with our big freeze a while back, but we’ve noticed that all the magnolia trees in this area are just blooming like crazy. with even the smaller trees just covered in blossoms.
Tomorrow’s another lunch/errand day with maybe a little patio time later in the afternoon.
April 28, 2022
Black Bears and Opry Friends . . .
First off, some of our readers are reporting problems viewing our site from different areas around the country, but it doesn’t seem to be consistent. I’ve got Godaddy looking at the problem, so stay tuned.
Today was our monthly get-together with our Alvin Opry friends, this time at the Black Bear Diner down near us.
Jan and I have been eating at Black Bear Diners since 2011 when we discovered them out west. So we were real happy when they started to show up in Texas.
And as with our past visits, everything was delicious.
Jan and I both got the Bacon Cheeseburger Salad,
with their really good, homemade, Bacon Ranch.
Then after getting our hugs and saying our goodbyes, Jan and I headed across the Interstate to pick up a few things at WalMart.
But of course, before we split up, we scheduled our get-together for next month.
Double Beans . . .
Jan and I were on the way about 1pm heading up to Webster for a couple of errands, with the first being to drop Jan off at Aldi’s, while I did my part by stopping off at the Kroger’s right up the street to pick up Jan’s prescriptions. I did have to spend a few minutes getting some of the prices corrected, since for some reason they didn’t price all of them through our Kroger RX Savings Club plan.
While we were out and about, I got a call from our Doctor concerning the blood work they had me repeat this past Tuesday. And everything was fine this time, as I had told them it was just a glitch.
Getting home we got Jan’s Aldi stuff put up and then headed right back out to meet up with long-time friends (since the mid-80’s) Bob and Maria at the Dickinson Monterey’s.
Jan had her usual Pollo Hacienda with Double Beans instead of Rice,
while I, after a cup of the Chicken Tortilla Soup, got the Steak Fajita Tacos, also with Double Beans.
As usual, we talked for almost 3 hours, just catching up. We see each other every month at our Alvin Opry get-together, but with all the people there, it’s hard to get any time with each other.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch was scrubbed again today, again due to weather. It’s been rescheduled to tomorrow, again at 6:30 pm.
You can stream it here.
Thought for the Day:
“… that he is incapable of staying on the river of a thought, and is constantly lured down tributaries from which he can never quite work his way back–you can see him batting the little paddles of his mind against the weeds, trying desperately to return to the river but not remembering where it is, or where it was going.”
April 27, 2010
High in the Sierras…
We decided to go out for breakfast about 9 am while we were waiting to see if our new site was open yet. Noting that the site was on the way out, we drove by to check it out and found that it was already empty. But there was a problem.
Although it was a pull-thru, the site was kind of short and rolled off down the hill in the front. By the time I had pulled far enough into the site to setup I’d be tilted downhill too much to get leveled. I thought I’d talk with the Park office when we got back.
On recommendation of the office we had breakfast at Pete’s Place in Oakhurst and it was really pretty good. The bacon was especially good.
We got back to the park about 10:30 and I stopped off at the office to find out if another site was available. One of their people took me out to look over two other sites and I picked 511.
About 11:30 we moved into our new site and got set up.
This is a really nice area of the park, off the main road so it’s nice and quiet.
But because of all the nice trees it took a while to get a sight line on the satellite, I had to move it three times before I got a signal. Here’s how I ended up finding a hole in the trees.
If I had a roof-mounted sat dish, we’d have been out of luck. As it is, I had to set up the dish about 30 feet behind the coach.
The weather had been overcast and drizzling on and off all day, and it seemed like the perfect time for an afternoon nap.
And it was.
About 4:45 pm we drove into Oakhurst to have dinner at El Cid, a Mexican restaurant that advertised in the park brochure. And it was well worth the trip. The chips were hot, the salsa was cold, the iced tea was good, and the food was great!
And the view wasn’t too shabby either. We sat out on the glassed-in patio that overlooks the High Sierras,
and looks down on a cactus garden with numerous bird feeders. And tulips, too.
Jan was happy to see all the finches since she used to feed them in Houston before we went fulltime. She was surprised to find out that the finches stay here all year, even during the winter with snow on the ground. In Houston they only stay around for a couple of months in the fall.
We saw several of these red headed birds too, but no one knew what they were. A little Googling told me that these are male house finches. We had never seen them before.
Even bluebirds were hanging around. Don’t know how happy they were, though.
We got back to the rig about 6 pm and settled in for the night.
The weather is supposed to be even worse tomorrow, so we’ll probably wait until Thursday before we do any sightseeing, but we’ll see.
April 27, 2011
Wigwams and Pie . . .
We left Show Low about 9:30 this morning heading 170 miles away to Williams, AZ to spend a few days seeing the Grand Canyon and other sights in the area.
Overall the trip was pretty uneventful, with some road construction on SR77 between Show Low and Holbrook and a lot of smoke around Flagstaff.
Holbrook, where we got on I-40W was on the old Route 66, and was also home to one of the 7 Wigwam Motels in the country. My family and I stayed here on a trip out west in 1963.
Built in 1950, it first closed in 1974, but the original owner’s family renovated and reopened it in 1988. And, in fact, the same family still operates it today.
It’s good to see it’s still around. There are only 3 of the original 7 still in existence.
After getting on I-40, our first stop was at the Flying J Truck Stop in Winslow, AZ, to fuel up with diesel and propane, and we wanted to eat breakfast at the adjacent Denny’s.
We finally got back on the road about 1:30 for the hundred mile run to Williams, with Mister spending the whole trip catching rays in the front window.
Sometimes wide awake . . .
Sometimes dozing off . . .
And sometimes, just completely out of it.
Approaching the Flagstaff area we started seeing a lot of smoke in front of us. It turned out to be a Forest Service controlled burn. Although it wasn’t too bad, we did hit several thick patches and you could certainly smell it.
While passing through some of this, we were passed by Kenny Chesney’s tour bus. He’s got an upcoming gig in Vegas and travels in style. Must be nice to have someone to drive the RV for you.
Just as we were pulling into the Canyon Gate RV Park in Williams, our daughter Brandi called to check it and tell us that Landon’s daycare had called and said a little girl in his group had BIT him. We all figured that just as soon as he has some teeth, he’ll bite’r back.
After getting set up, everyone rested up, and then about 5:30 we all headed out for a drive around the area, and dinner.
And as it turned out, dinner was at the Pine Country Café, where we ate last year when we were through here. Our meal was good, but what we really came for were the pies.
They bake 44 different kinds of pie every day, but when a particular flavor is gone, it’s gone for the day.
Jan had this huge slice of Coconut Cream, with enough left over to take home.
And I had this delicious Strawberry Cream Cheese.
I didn’t have any left over.
Tomorrow Jan and I are taking the Grand Canyon Railway train trip to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It leaves about 9:30 and returns to Williams about 5:30 or so.
It’s supposed to get down to 29 degrees here tonight, but it’s just after midnight and it’s already 31.
So I think it might get colder. We’ll see.
April 27, 2013
Tortilla Flat . . . Not
Jan hasn’t been happy with her last few pedicures, so I’ve been drafted to fill in. I must have done a pretty good job painting them because she said I can do them from now on.
We had planned to do a day trip this afternoon up into the Superstition Mountains to check out Tortilla Flat and some of the old towns up in the mountains.
But we ran into a couple of problems. I was originally supposed to drive, but found I had a leaky rear tire on the truck, so we put it off.
Our neighbors came and ask for help with their power pedestal. And a little checking showed us what it was. The big 50 amp twist-lock plug that connects the power cord to the rig was starting to melt. The plastic cover had burned through in a couple of places and wasn’t letting power into the rig.
So our first chore was to find a new plug, and after checking Home Depot (only had 30 amp versions) and two RV parts places (both closed on the weekends) we ended up at a Camping World where they had the part.
Getting back to the park I started replacing the plug, and it didn’t take long to see what might have been causing the long-term problem.
It looks like this plug had been replaced once before, before they owned the rig. And whoever had done it, had done it wrong. They had tinned or soldered the stranded wire until it was a solid clump. This is a big NO-NO.
When the wire is a solid mass, it was no way to flex, expand and contract, with temperature changes. And over a period of time, this causes the connections to loosen, and then they start to overheat and melt.
The replacement job took about an hour and went pretty smoothly. I cut back the insulation until I had bare wires again, and as I put it back together I sprayed all the connections with an anti-corrosion coating that should help keep problems under control.
After powering up the rig and checking things out, we were getting hungry, so we picked up Jan at our rig and headed over to a place we wanted us to try called Streets of New York, a nearby pizza, pasta, subs place. Oh, and chicken wings too.
We all had a little bit of everything. Jan had the Chicken Parmigiana, while I went with a small pepperoni, sausage, and mushroom pizza, and some Honey Hot Chicken Wings.
We all agreed it was really good. Jan and I especially liked the Honey Hot Wings with a crispy crust on them.
Tomorrow we’re going to try our trip to Tortilla Flat once again. That is, if something doesn’t break once again.
April 27, 2014
and Good Food . . .
Once again Jan and I sat outside and enjoyed our coffee and Buc-ee’s muffins. It was more overcast than yesterday, and a little windier, but still very nice. Mister always enjoys us being out there with him, since he can crawl all over us and annoy us. And he really enjoys his work.
After we finally came inside I unbungeed the drawer I repaired yesterday, put it back under the fridge and replaced all the pots and pans. Hopefully it’ll last another 15 years.
Today was a Red Letter Day. I finally finished up the last of the bins and got everything sorted away. We’ll take the empty bins down to our storeroom in Clear Lake later this week. on one of our last trips.
Tuesday night we’re getting together with Chris, Linda, and Piper down in Clear Lake for a last meal together before we leave this coming Friday. Then on Thursday night we’re getting together with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon up here in Katy. Because everyone is so busy it’s hard to get us all together in the middle of the week.
About 4 pm we picked up Maxine and Cliff Phillips next door and headed down to Columbus to have dinner at Los Cabos. This was Maxine and Cliff’s first visit and our 3rd or 4th, and it was as good as before. And they thought it was as good as we do.
It’s always kind of dicey taking friends to a restaurant you really like, and then the place has an off-day. But it was all good tonight.
Maxine and Cliff are leaving for the New Braunfels area tomorrow morning, so hopefully they’ll keep in touch and we can meet up down the road somewhere.
April 27, 2015
Wasted Away Again . . .
Today was such a stay at the rig day that we not only stayed at the rig, we never left the rig. Actually we never even unlocked the door.. Can’t get much more stay at the rig than that.
Yesterday, coming back to the rig, we decided to check out something I had noticed on the satellite view of the area around here. This is what I saw.
It looked to be an abandoned RV park right next door to the Las Vegas Thousand Trails, so I thought I’d see if we could drive into it and take a look.
And as I had thought, it definitely was an RV Park at one time, and larger than our TT park next door.
It must have closed before we first came here in March of 2008, and then again in 2010, because I don’t remember any RV park along Boulder north of the Roadrunner RV Park where we stayed when we first visited here.
In a lot of the spaces you can still see the concrete patios, but we never saw any sign of pedestals or any other hookups. Too bad the Thousand Trails didn’t take it over and expand the park.
I went online yesterday and made the reservations for Jan and I to ride the High Roller Observation Wheel Wednesday night at 8pm.
We’re going to go by and pick up our tickets tomorrow afternoon, since we have to get them ahead of time. Don’t know why we can just print out our tickets like most places.
Before our ride, we’ll have dinner at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville which is just opposite the Wheel out on the Strip.
We’ve really been enjoying our mild weather here the last week, with highs in the low 70’s and lows in the 50’s at night. But it’s not to last.
By Thursday it’s supposed to be in the mid-90’s. Glad we have a 50 amp hookup.
April 27, 2016
Wild Weather and Great Food . . .
My morning started really early this morning, around 4:40 am, when my Galaxy Tab 4 began screaming at me.
When I go to bed at night (actually early morning) I take my Tab with me. I’ll usually read for a bit before putting it on the charger and going to sleep. But what was screaming at me was my Simple Weather Alert app,
This app ties you in to the National Weather Service alerts for your area. And when I silenced the app and checked the alert, it said there was a Severe Tornado Alert for the area. But a second glance told me it wasn’t for the Medina Lake area, but for Conroe,and the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails. Thing was, the free version of this app doesn’t auto-update its location, so you have to tell it manually where you are locate.
So maybe I need to spring for the $1.99 Pro version. At least it won’t wake me up at night unless it’s important.
And as far as Conroe and Willis, it looks like they did get some damage, but I’m not sure how much.
Yesterday was sheeting changing day on our bed, and this time we tried something different. Just about a year ago Jan and I installed a new 4” Memory Foam Gel-Filled mattress topper on our queen size bed, but a more comfortable sleep came with a new problem.
This new topper does not grip the bed underneath as well as the old one. So it tends to slide around and start to hang off over the end. We’d tried putting some of that no-slip plastic fabric between the topper and the mattress, and although it helped somewhat, it really didn’t fix the problem. But a little Googling gave me a couple of possible solutions. One cheap, the other more expensive. Guess which one I picked.
Some people had had good luck with a 4’ x 6’ piece of that heavy-duty Non-Slip rug pad. But that would run us about $30 at Home Depot.
The other solution was a $2 package of large safety pins. Our topper is in a heavy fabric bag, so the idea is to use a bunch of pins, in this case 20, to fasten the bag to the edge of the box springs underneath it. So that’s what we did. We’ll see how that works, and I’ll let you know.
As we were finally changing the sheets, we noticed how well these have held up. We bought two sets of these a couple of years ago, and they still look like new. They haven’t faded, pilled, or snagged, and are still soft and comfortable.
Milani 1500 thread count sheets
And these 1500 thread count are only $25 a set, for a top and bottom sheet, and two standard pillow cases. And they come in a number of different colors.
I’ve mentioned before about saving and scanning your Wal-Mart receipts using the Wal-Mart app on your phone. Over the last months we’ve gotten about $60 in rebates, and just this past weekend before we left Conroe, Jan found a dropped receipt in the parking lot as we entered the store. And between that one we found, and ours, we got back a little over $5 back. Check it out.
This afternoon, about 4pm, we headed into San Antonio with Dave and Lynn Cross to have dinner at one of our favorite San Antonio restaurants, La Fonda on Main.
We’ve eaten here a number of times over the years, and it’s always great. And it should be, as the’ve had a lot of practice, being open since 1932.
And here’s what they say about their clientele.
It is fascinating to hear how popular La Fonda has been as a dining spot of history’s most celebrated people. Every famous officer in World War II seems to have eaten here, including Generals’ Eisenhower, MacArthur and Hill. Even American presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson enjoyed La Fonda’s fare. Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Yul Brenner, Veronica Lake, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, along with many other stars, have visited this historic restaurant.
We got there a little after 5pm, and got seated immediately, but it wasn’t long until the dining room was almost full. And it’s easy to taste why.
Jan and Lynn had the Beef Chile Relleno with a Green Chicken Enchilada,
while Dave and I each had the La Fonda Special, with two Cheese Enchilidas, a Pork Tamale, and a Beef Taco.
After that delicious meal, Jan and I were too full for dessert, but we couldn’t pass up their wonderful Tres Leches Cake, so we got a piece to go.
And getting back to the park, we dropped off Dave and Lynn at their rig and called it a day. A very nice day.
April 27, 2017
Going To Hel . . . Hooters?
Today, our last day to journey down to LA proper, we were on the road by 9:30, heading down to the Hollywood Blvd/TCL (nee Grauman’s) Chinese Theater area for our 12:15 TMZ Hollywood Tour.
We were going down early so we could check in for the tour early and then have lunch. I had made our reservations online a couple of days ago so all we had to do was to check in at TMZ’s booth in the Hard Rock Café, get our badges, and then head right across the street to the Hooters.
We had first eaten here in 2010 prior to our last Hollywood Tour, and hoped it was as good as before.
As usual we both went with our favorites, Jan getting her Original Chicken Strip Cheese Sandwich with their new Big Dipper Fries.
Previously they only had Curly Fries, but the Big Dipper’s are more like Steak Fries, but shaped to hold dips/sauces. Very Good.
I of course went with my usual wings, all drums, coated with their Habanero BBQ sauce with side sauces of Chipotle Honey for the sweetness, and Triple Dog Dare, their hottest sauce.
Jan and I both agreed that Hooters has really upped their game, I imagine, due to all the competition with Buffalo Wild Wings and the like. The wings are larger than they used to be, with a lighter breading that forms a slight crispy crust, almost like our absolute favorite wings, the Sweet Tangy Golden Sauce Wings, from the Beeville Diner down in, where else, Beeville, TX, where we ate several times while we were gate guarding down in south Texas.
As we left Hooters we noticed a police car right in front of the door, and two police officers on the sidewalk. Turns out that apparently Jan and I are going to Hell because we ate at Hooters.
At least that’s what the protesters were saying, signs, chanting, and all.
We waited about 15 minutes before our TMZ Tour Bus showed up and we were on our way.
Unlike our last Starline Tour in 2010 (You can read about it here) the TMZ tour is more ‘spot the stars’ type. However the Starline tour was a ‘homes of the stars’ so if that’s your thing, take that one.
Because we were star-spotting, AND didn’t see any, there weren’t really any photos to take. So nothing really from that.
But we were shown the very best viewpoint for the Hollywood Sign, and aptly enough it’s from Hollywood Blvd.
Right down the street from the Hard Rock Café there is an opening between the buildings where they’ve set up a viewing area for the tourists.
We were back at the Hard Rock Café by about 2:15 and quickly got on our way home, wanting to get ahead of the going-home traffic, which we did.
We did fight the winds, forecasted to be in excess of 60mph, all the way home, finally getting back about 3:30pm.
Lucky for us the wind didn’t really pick up until later in the evening when is was rocking the coach back and forth. But according to the news, trees and power lines were blown down all over LA.
New blog readers Rob and Dottie dropped by to say Hi. It’s always good to meet new friends.
Tomorrow we’re having lunch at the Shakey’s Pizza up in Palmdale, then some shopping, and maybe a drive out to the poppy fields.
April 27, 2018
Tesla’s and VW’s . . .
Our park shore power went off about 8:15 last night and didn’t come back on until about 11:30.
Luckily it was nice and cool so we stayed comfortable and just read our Kindles. It’s really nice to have books that light up. Yeah I know I could have just cranked up the generator, but the quiet was kind of nice.
I did get started on pulling out the dryer to replace the thermal fuse yesterday morning. I got the doors off and outside vent cover removed and the vent hose loosened, and I was already to go. But then my get-up-and-go never even showed up.
I woke up with a headache and was just downhill from there. Jan said she didn’t need to do laundry and even if she did, the park laundry is only about 50 feet away. So it will wait until Saturday.
Finally about 2pm we head out for an early supper at the East Star Chinese Buffet up in Webster, one of our new favorites. So favorite in fact that we’re already scheduled to have dinner there on Sunday with Chris, Linda, and Miss Piper.
As we were going inside I did see this really neat VW Beetle restoration.
Very nicely done. Inside, the owner came over and said he saw me checking it out. He said it was a ‘68 (I thought it was a little earlier since we owned a ‘65 once upon a time) and he drives it every day. Very nice.
I did quickly discovered a problem with getting there so early. They don’t put out the cold boiled shrimp and the hot pepper shrimp until 4pm. Note to self for next time.
Looks like I’m getting deeper in the machine repair business at work. Found out my client has bought 30 of these low-end, Polish-made, epilators.
The problem? None of them work. All were apparently returned under warranty. And it’s going to be my job to get them working again.
We’ve only got one unit in so far, and I’m still waiting on the schematic, but getting the case open I was struck by déjà vu all over again.
Rather than using a crystal oscillator and a digital voltage step-up circuit to get the high voltage needed, they went old-school.
That transformer and the big coil make up a Tesla coil. you know, one of those big dome things that give off bolts of lightning.
I recognized it instantly as a smaller version of all the ones I built in high school. Nothing really wrong with this design I guess, EXCEPT it probably blanks out every radio, TV, and cell phone within 100 feet.
And the workmanship is all that great, either.
But at least so far, all the parts I’ve checked are still readily available. In fact, I already found a bad transistor and ordered a package of them from eBay, 20 for $7.
Hopefully all of them will be this easy to repair. We’ll see.
Getting home about 4:15 this afternoon, Jan and I headed right back out to have dinner at Pho 20 right down FM646. Jan had her new favorite Spicy Chili Garlic Chicken, along a House Crunch Salad, while I got my usual While Chicken Meat Pho with Veggies. Delicious, and why we keep coming back.
Then after dinner, and a quick stop at the Victory Lake Lowe’s, it was home for the night.
Tomorrow I’ll try to get the dryer out, repaired, and back in. Hopefully. But we’ll see how it goes.
April 27, 2021
Hail The New King?
Jan and I were out the door early this morning, for a follow-up doctor’s appointment. Early for us was about 9:30, which meant no coffee.
Yikes.
After dropping Jan off at the doctor’s, I headed over to the nearby Harbor Freight store. When I’ve got time I like to just walk every aisle checking out all the neat stuff. Stuff that I didn’t know I needed, but found out that I wanted anyway.
Then when she was done, we drove over to Snooze to have our usual delicious breakfast. Jan’s Bravacado Toast,
and my favorite 3 Egg Classic.
Then after a quick stop by the office to pick up some Amazon stuff that had come in this morning, our next destination was the WalMart out on I-45.
Now originally I had planned to drop some of our new prescriptions there this morning, hoping we could pick them up now. But this morning before we left the rig, I was checking both the WalMart and Sam’s Club cheap prescription lists to see which pharmacy would be lower for each one.
While we’re RV’ing, it worked better for us to keep our prescriptions with Sam’s/WalMart since it was so easy to transfer them from town to town as we traveled around the country.
In the past, I’ve found that every year drugs keep getting added and deleted from the lists. But like this morning, I always started out with the GoodRx app to give me a starting point.
And I as I went through the drugs on GoodRx I kept noticing that Kroger’s Pharmacy kept showing up as the cheapest over and over, sometimes even listing the cost as FREE. And a little checking showed that Kroger’s has their own Discount Prescription Plan. It’s $36 per year for an individual, or $72 for a family, of any size.
So now I have to go back through all our prescriptions, and compare Kroger’s, WalMart, and Sam’s, while figuring in the $6 per month extra cost for the new plan.
Sounds like it might spreadsheet time.
Then a while after getting home, we sat out on the patio, again enjoying an adult beverage. And in case you’re keeping score, it was a Jack Daniels Southern Peach like this.
Really good.
