Monthly Archives: April 2023
Cold, Brisk, and Brief . . .
After a cold, brisk, and brief shower last night I stayed home from work today to take a look at our water heater. It was working fine yesterday afternoon when Jan got her shower, so it must have died sometime later in the afternoon.
Since I just replaced it back in August 2021, I was hoping it wasn’t actually the heater itself. The original one lasted for 22 years before it started leaking from the tank due to corrosion. I tried to patch it with Epoxy Steel Putty but it wouldn’t hold.
But we certainly got our money’s worth.
We normally only turn on the heater 30 to 45 minutes before we need it, and due to the way the switch was acting, I was hoping that it would be something simple like that. Our switch had a handle that lights up, but it wasn’t working now.
I had already checked the circuit breaker and knew it was getting power. So I pulled the switch from its wall mount and found it was dead.
So for once it was going to be an easy fix.
I didn’t have another wall switch, but in thinking about it, I remembered that I had a Countdown Timer Switch like this one tucked away that I thought about using for another project.
But I found I had a problem. The wall box was too shallow to install the timer with all the wires behind it. So I ordered a box extender to make it deeper.
But to be sure it was going to work, and so we could take showers until the extender box shows up tomorrow, I just left it wired up like this.
The bare wire is just a ground, and all the other connections are completely sealed, so it should be OK for now.
After Jan received her first monthly batch of 8 CoVid-19 tests yesterday, I texted the Order No. from the shipping label to 773-823-0530 which is supposed to stop any further shipments. We’ll see, I guess.
Going to be interested to see if I now start getting them too.
And really, how many people are using using 8 tests a month? Every single month.
Hopefully, we’re getting together with long-time friends, Bob and Maria. We’ve known them since the mid-80’s, and we see them every month at our Alvin Opry lunch get-togethers, but it’s been awhile since it was just the four of us.
Looking forward to it.
Delayed from today due to bad weather, SpaceX is set to launch another Falcon Heavy from the Cape tomorrow evening about 6:30 pm CDT.
Unfortunately, due to the orbit they’re shooting for, and the weight of the payload, SpaceX does not plan to recover either of the side boosters or the centerline core. All 3 will be allowed to crash into the sea.
So we won’t get to see another of these great shots of both side boosters landing back at the Cape.
You can watch the launch live here.
Thought For The Day:
Life is so much more fun if you have a dirty mind.
April 26th, 2008
Today In History . . .
Today is the day we arrived in Fairbanks, AK during our 1st year on the road.
Leaving Tok that morning this is the view out the windshield.
Jan said, “OMG we don’t have to drive OVER those, do we?”
Thankfully, No.
Two days after we got to Chena Marian RV Park in Fairbanks we had this.
And it was starting to snow again when we left on September 20th, five months later, chasing us all the way back to the US where we entered on Oct. 8th at Sweet Grass, MT. Jan said she wanted to get out and kiss the ground.
And then two days, in Billings, MT, the snow again caught up with us.
April 26, 2010
Park of the Sierras…
We left the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds about 9:30 am heading for the Park of the Sierras Escapees RV Park right outside Coarsegold, CA and Yosemite National Park.
Our first leg was about 35 miles west on SR138 to hit I-5. That part of the trip went fine. Although the road was two lane, it was smooth and straight with no stoplights or stop signs, with just a few hills right before it joined I-5. And we were treated to more poppy fields along the way.
But it was a whole different story when we got on I-5 N. We immediately ran into a 5 mile long 6% downgrade. Normally that’s not a problem, but the road surface was awful. It was like driving thru a minefield and we had stuff falling everywhere.
In fact my laser printer was so upset that it decided to “end it all” by leaping off the table to the floor below. In hindsight, it had been feeling depressed lately. The prognosis is unsure at this point.
But once we got to the bottom of the hill it was smooth sailing. And we had some more great scenery, including hillsides covered in purple flowers.
We stayed on I-5 until about 30 miles out of Bakersfield, when we got on SR99 heading toward Fresno.
99 turned out to be a really good road, four lane all the way to Fresno. Along the way we started seeing signs for Apple Annie’s Restaurant in Tulare, and thought we would check it out. And we were in luck, as they had a large enough parking lot to accommodate us.
The food was good and we were on our way in about 45 minutes.
Unfortunately, it would have been better if we had been on our way in 35 minutes.
Coming into Fresno we split off onto SR41. SR41 is a good two lane road that got a little more hilly as we went along, but no real problems.
Until we got to the park.
We pulled in behind a 5th wheeler.and went in. And discovered that I been lied to.
I called the park earlier this week to see if they had an open site for us. They told me they had plenty of room and that I could make a reservation, but really didn’t need to.
And I believed them.
And then I found out that the 5th wheel in front of us had gotten the last site. They had had a lot of RV’s show up and there were was ‘no room at the inn” for us. If we had only spent 10 minutes less at lunch. Ah well.
They said they would have a site for us tomorrow and we could boondock in their dry camping area until then.
So here we are.
The park is really nice, with hills and trees, something we have not seen since February in Texas. Everything since then have basically been parking lots.
Here’s our most recent site in Lancaster..
And here’s our site in Las Vegas.
And here’s our site in Laughlin.
And here’s our site in Tucson.
So hills and trees are nice…as long as they don’t block the satellite dish, of course.
Anyway, here’s some pictures of here.
Not sure what we’re doing tomorrow yet. It depends on how early we can get into our full hookup site.
April 26, 2011
Riding the Winds of Change . . .
For a change, I got up before Jan, about 8:45, with Jan following about half an hour later. I got the coffee set up and got on the computer. Jan got up just in time for our daughter Brandi to call to tell us about Landon and his new toy.
Here’s some more shots of Landon enjoying his new Alphabet Train. Brandi says he doesn’t want to leave it, even to eat.
After lunch I went outside for a couple of more maintenance jobs. The backup camera on our toad had quit working and I wanted to take a look at it. After a little searching I found a bad connection on the wireless transmitter in the right taillight. A quick spray with CorrosionX fixed the problem.
Next I wanted to take another look at the leaking valve extension on the driver’s rear dual. I added some air and then replaced the extension with another type. We’ll see how it works.
Anyway, after Jan was finished with the tablet she left it on the sofa and Mister commandeered it as his pillow. I told her if she wants it back she’ll have to take it away from our 25 lb. Mister who still has his claws. Doesn’t look like he’s going to let go anytime soon.
About 4 pm we heard from The Talk TV show. We had originally wanted to attend the taping on the 2nd of May. But it turns out, the entire week of the 2nd is dedicated to mothers and Mother’s Day, so they are only having mothers in the audience. They then ask if we could make a later date and suggested May 11th. We said that would be fine. And even better, that day has two tapings so we’ll get to see two shows instead of just one.
But this would mean that we would have to drive back down from Coarsegold since we plan on being there at that time. But it will make a nice overnight trip into LA.
About 4:15 we headed out to Native New Yorker to have our last dinner here in Show Low.
And that’s when everything changed.
We had been talking about when we were going to head up to Coarsegold and what route we were going to take, when we decided to move up to Las Vegas for a couple of weeks.”
And that did it. Suddenly all our plans changed. As soon as we got back to the rigs we made reservations at the Thousand Trails park in Las Vegas and we were set.
So as it stands now, we’re leaving here tomorrow, heading about 170 miles over to Williams, AZ for 3 nights so Jan and I can take the Grand Canyon Railway and visit the Bearizona Wildlife Park.
Then on Saturday we’ll head north to Sin City to try and succumb to as many temptations as we can handle.
And I think between Jan and I, we can handle a LOT!
We still plan on doing The Talk taping trip, just from Vegas instead of Coarsegold.
But of course, all this could change tomorrow.
April 26, 2013
The Northern Migration . . .
After the busy day yesterday, today was a good bit quieter. I worked on a few things around the rig, while Jan read her Kindle. Like I said, quiet.
I bought some Reflectix foil shield the other day to help keep some of the heat out. We’ve got our solar screen up but they need some help. The way we’re parked we get sun in though the windshield all day, and with it supposed to hit 99 degrees on Monday, I’d like to give the AC’s some rest.
Jan and I headed out about 3pm for some errands and dinner. Our first stop was a nearby Home Depot for a few project things, and a spring clamps. It seems like every day it’s either Wal-Mart or Home Depot.
Or both.
Our next stop was CVS, and while Jan shopped, I sat in the Pharmacy waiting area and read a Kindle book on my phone. You gotta love modern technology.
Jan had been wanting to get her Red Robin fix, so that was our next stop. Jan got her usual Cheddar-Mushroom Burger while I went for my usual Burnin’ Love Burger, with fried jalapeno slices, pepper-jack cheese, and a cayenne-seasoned burger. But I spiced things up a little more by sprinkling on some ground dried Ghost Chili salt. Really good. And hot.
After we finished at Red Robin I used Gas Buddy to find the nearest, cheapest place for unleaded and filled up. $3.45 a gallon was good since I paid $3.59 a couple of weeks ago. Then I used Gas Buddy to track down and check out a couple of places to get diesel on our way to Las Vegas next Wednesday. Looks like a CircleK one block off the freeway will fill the bill, and the price right now is only $3.45 a gallon. Unusual for unleaded and diesel to be the same price.
A while after we got home we headed out for our walk around the park. It’s really evident that the northern migration of the Snowbirds is in full flight. Every time we walk there are fewer and fewer rigs, and now even park models are being closed up and summerized.
Sure seems like it’s going to paraphrase that old adage, “Will the last RV’er to leave Apache Junction for the summer, please turn out the lights.”
Landon’s Aunt Sherry is up in South Carolina, visiting daughter Grace and her husband, and getting her first chance to hold her new granddaughter Zoe.
All that hair makes her look older than just a couple of weeks. I know Sherry is happy to get to see her.
April 26, 2014
New Friends . . .
After our busy day yesterday, this morning it was really nice to just sit outside on the patio, drink our coffee, and enjoy the view.
While we were out there, our neighbor Maxine Phillips came by and invited us over for wine after supper, and we readily accepted.
Later I got back to my chore list.
First up was a drawer repair. Recently Jan tried to open the big drawer under the fridge that holds the big pots and pans, and when she did, the drawer front started to pull off.
So I emptied it out, pulled it off the slides, and took it outside to the picnic table.
I was happy to see that, like the rest of the wood cabinetry in our coach, the drawer was all wood with dovetail joints and an inset for the drawer bottom.
It looked like either the original glue had dried out, or was applied a little skimpily. So I dug out my bottle of Elmer’s Wood Glue and applied it to all the joints and dovetails.
Then I used some bungee cords to clamp it all together. I’ll let it dry overnight and put it back in service.tomorrow.
Later I spent some time going through the last of our plastic bins, pretty much just sorting things into my other bins. I also finished emptying some bags of books and tapes and also getting them sorted out.
Later for dinner, we heated up the leftover catfish, shrimp, oysters, and fries from our Sealand Seafood visit a few days ago. Along with a salad, it was a nice meal. Using the convection oven keeps everything crispy, almost as good as at the restaurant.
After dinner we grabbed a bottle of Sutter Home Moscato and a couple of wine glasses and headed next door to sit outside with Maxine and Cliff Phillips. They’re from Tennessee and some of the areas where I grew up, and are heading out west on Monday, so we spent some time talking about places to see, and especially, to eat. We finally gave up when the sun went down, and made a date to have dinner tomorrow night at Los Cabos down in Columbus.
We’re looking forward to it.
April 26, 2015
Leo The Lion . . .
Jan and I left out on our latest lion safari about 10am this morning, heading for the The Lion Habitat Ranch down in Henderson at the bottom of the Strip.
The park doesn’t open until 11am, in fact, it’s only open from 11 to 3 Friday thru Monday, but we wanted to have enough time to grab a breakfast sandwich somewhere beforehand.
Getting down to the area, we double-checked the Ranch location and then drove another couple of miles down the St,. Rose Pkwy to the Jack in the Box located in the M Spa & Casino there.
Ironically, the location of the M Spa & Casino was what led me to the Lion Habitat Ranch in the first place.. While we were still down at the Verde Valley TT, I read an article online about a guy who had killed himself at the M Spa on Easter Sunday.
A guy named John Noble won a lifetime of free daily buffet meals from the M Casino in 2010, but then in 2013 was banned from the casino because he kept hitting on some of the waitresses and showering them with gifts.
So to get back at the casino, on April 5th, 2015, Easter Sunday, the Casino buffet’s biggest day, John Noble went into the buffet area and blew his brains out all over the buffet, and I mean ALL OVER the buffet.
So after reading the article and wondering where the M Casino was, I found it on Google. But I also notice a place called The Lion Habitat Ranch nearby, and made note to check it out when we were in Las Vegas.
And today was that day.
We got back to the park a little after 11am and found visitors already lining up. Our admission was $20 each with the $5 senior discount, about in line with other small family zoos.
Our first stop was at a picture area. Visitors can sit in a jeep mockup and have their picture taken in front of a glass wall with a large lion right behind you. The lion is up there because a guy is off to the side throwing little chunks of meat to him.
I guess this is the main reason to never tailgate a lion.
Later we saw an example of this when one male decided he wasn’t getting his share of the meat chunks so he whirled around and sprayed. Luckily we were all able to scatter.
This young lady had a lot of good information about the facility and the lions. All the 40 something lions are descendants of Leo, the original MGM lion whose roar you still hear in movie theaters to this day.
In fact, up until a few years ago, the MGM Grand Casino here in Vegas had a lion exhibit, using some of the lions from the ranch here. They actually were transported back and forth every day.
Recently they’ve started adding other animals, including giraffes, ostriches, emus, and a number of parrots, macaws, and cockatoos.
The handler here said that a giraffe’s tongue grows an inch for every foot of height, so a 20 foot tall giraffe will have a 20 inch long tongue. Yikes!
I was able to get a lot of good shots of these big cats.
Back in the corner of this den box, are 5 of the 6 lion cubs born 23 days ago. Unfortunately, the 6th cub died a couple of weeks ago. These six cubs are only the 3rd documented time that 6 cubs have been born alive.
About 12:30 the owners came out and personally fed many of the cats, including the mother of the cubs shown here.
These cub shots were take through a thick pane of glass and were heavily shaded so I had to enhance them somewhat.
Notice how the cubs at this age still have spots, for the same reason that fawns and other animals have them: camouflage in the brush.
Every cat knew what they needed to do to get their meat snacks and were happy to perform.
This is Angel, a 7 month old lion, who only wanted to play. She was just all over the owner
Having visited a lot of small zoos, we were both impressed with the cleanliness of the place and how good all the animals looked. So if zoos and like-places are your thing, the Lion Habitat Ranch should be on your list.
Leaving the area, we headed over to the Sunset Station area to have lunch at an El Pollo Loco, another of our favorite places. We love their marinated grilled chicken, and often buy extra to have later. And we plan on coming back later this week to do that before we leave here next Sunday.
This was my 3 piece meal that was enough to have half to take home for dinner tonight. Yum!
Coming home, we stopped off for some Wal-Mart stuff, and then getting back to the park area, we stopped in at the Roadrunner RV Park right down the road to check it out since we stayed here back in 2009..
Tomorrow looks to be another nice stay-at-the-rig day. Looking forward to it.
April 26, 2016
Getting Stewed . . .
Starting out today, I found my Delorme Street Atlas 2015 software, and I think that’s the last of what I’m looking for as far as personal stuff to install.
Somehow I forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog about the great Beef Stew that Jan fixed in the crockpot.
Made with Stew Beef, Carrots, Potatoes, Onions, and Parsnips, Jan spiced it perfectly, with just the right amount of heat. And enough left over for . . . well leftovers.
Our son-in-law Lowell alerted me to the fact that one of our favorite places to eat in Houston burned to the ground this morning.
Cleburne Cafeteria has been around since the early 40’s in one building or another, and we’ve been eating here since the 80’s. In fact we just ate here a little over a month ago with Landon and his other grandparents, Sonja and Lendell.
Hopefully they’ll rebuild.
A friend called me this afternoon to let us know that we’ve gone viral again on the Internet. The last time was in 2009 when we visited Busch Gardens in Tampa, with this result.
After I posted this on our blog it showed up all over the Internet, on Awkward Family Photos and a number of other websites.
But this time it was our rig, on Facebook. It showed up on Guy Scrivner’s page.
That’s our rig, traveling in Washington state in 2011. There was construction up ahead, so we spent about 45 minutes, just creeping along. And note, despite the caption, there’s no shoulder to pull over onto.
A couple of days ago Jan tried out a new recipe she first had a few months ago when she had her yearly get-together with her ex-coworkers from the hospital.where she worked before we started RV’ing.
The dish is a dessert called Sopapilla Cheesecake, and Jan found a recipe for it on Debi Hurlburt’s Facebook group, Debi’s RV Cooking.
And it gets even better after being in the fridge for a day or so. If it lasts that long.
I’ll post the recipe on Jan’s Favorite Recipes later tonight.
April 26, 2017
This Date In History . . .
This morning we were once again out the door and on the road by 10:15 heading down to LA for another day of eating and shopping, this time heading down the 405.
So what else is new?
Jan has always been a big fan of the reality show ‘Sweetie Pie’s. Robbie Montgomery had a long career as a backup singer with groups from Ike and Tina Turner to the Beatles. But after a long illness and asthma forced her to quit as a singer, she open a restaurant in St. Louis in 1998 called Sweetie Pies.
Rated the #1 Soul Food Restaurant in St. Louis for years, Sweetie Pie’s became a reality TV show on OWN TV in 2011, and quickly became a hit. And recently Sweetie Pie’s started spreading out with other locations, including two in LA, and one in Houston.
We didn’t find out about the one in Houston until we were leaving last month, so Jan was determined to eat at the one down in Inglewood, so today was the day.
We got to the restaurant about 11:30 and found a corner location with plenty of on-street parking.
Inside it was high ceilings, a bright, open interior
and a delicious-looking cafeteria line.
Jan and I both went with the Fried Chicken and three sides.
We both doubled up with the Green Beans and Miss Robbie’s fabled Mac N Cheese, while we differed with Jan getting the Cornbread Dressing and Gravy, while I got the Collard Greens.
Everything was delicious, the service was great, and everyone was friendly, patiently answering Jan’s many questions about the show and Miss Robbie and her extended family.
This was great Soul Food, and Miss Robbie’s Mac N Cheese is fabled for a good reason.
Leaving Sweetie Pie’s we headed north on La Brea for about 10 miles to Larchmont Village, a shopping area near Beverly Hills where Landis General Store supposedly stocked Beekman Boys soaps and lotions.
Well, they used to, but that was before the store was flooded and closed by a plumbing problem and hasn’t yet reopened. But she did find several other things she liked, and we got Starbuck’s Cinnamon Dolce Lattes so it wasn’t all bad.
Heading back to the rig, we got on the 101N this time, and had a smooth trip back up to Acton with no real slowdowns. And being back by 3pm we had time for a nap.
Getting back, Jan took this shot of the view from near our site.
Until you’re actually out here, most people don’t realize how hilly the LA area actually is.
This day in history, April 26th, 2008, is the day we arrived in Fairbanks, AK during our 1st year on the road.
Leaving Tok that morning this is the view out the windshield.
Jan said, “OMG we don’t have to drive OVER those, do we?”
Thankfully, No.
Two days after we got to Chena Marian RV Park in Fairbanks we had this.
And it was starting to snow again when we left on September 20th, five months later, chasing us all the way back to the US where we entered on Oct. 8th at Sweet Grass, MT. Jan said she wanted to get out and kiss the ground.
And then two days, in Billings, MT, the snow again caught up with us.
Tomorrow we’re once again heading back to the Hollywood area to take the TMZ Celebrity Tour that originates from the Hard Rock Café located next to the TCL, nee Grauman, Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd.
April 26, 2019
On Our Way . . .
By the time y’all read this, Jan and I should be somewhere over the North Atlantic, heading for Frankfurt, Germany.
April 26, 2020
Rarely Seen . . .
Our daughter-in-law Linda caught this rarely-seen Painted Bunting at one of her backyard feeders.
Really beautiful!
April 26, 2021
A Sea Cruise . . .
Not much of a blog tonight.
I’m working on a new client’s website that’s taking up some time to get things set up and started.
Since we’ve had two Alaskan cruises cancelled out from underneath us within the last 9 months or so, I’ve had to live vicariously by watching this time-lapse video of a new cruise ship being constructed.
It’s interesting to see how the ship is actually assembled by stacking pre-built modules and welding them together.
I’ve also seen them build new hotels the same way. They assemble the steel framework, and then the already built and furnished individual rooms are lifted by a big crane and just inserted in place.
They’re designed so that the electrical, plumbing, etc., all interconnect automatically, and the rooms are ready to go. So ready to go that the beds are already made with sheets, spreads, and pillows.
April 26, 2022
Next Time I’ll Look More Closely . . .
Or Hot, Swollen, and Itchy!
I saw on Facebook last night that we were coming to the end of the line to see the Ramses exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the end of the line being May 23rd. So with our busy schedule, I decided to get us booked now.
We’re now scheduled for Tuesday, May 10th at 1:30 pm, with lunch beforehand at the Katz’s Deli up in Montrose, which is only about 10 minutes away.
Looking forward to it.
We would have gone next week but Jan is Landon/Dog sitting up in Katy at Brandi’s during that time. Brandi is having a girl’s week out up her long-time friend Shawna’s lake house with a bevy of other friends. So Karma and I will be batching for that week.
Jan and I headed out for lunch about 1pm, with lunch being at Los Ramirez once again,with Jan getting her Pechuga Rellena,
and for me, my usual Beef Fajita Taco Salad.
Then after our really good meal, we drove down FM517 to get gas at the Shell. GasBuddy showed it was the cheapest place nearby, except for the Sam’s and the Buc-ee’s on down the Interstate.
So parking at the pump, I opened the filler door and stuck my hand in to twist off the gas cap. And got what I initially thought was a bad shock on my right hand. But when I yanked my hand back out, a wasp came out with it and flew off.
Stung on my forefinger knuckle, my hand quickly started to swell up, heat up, and start to itch.
A lot!
The pain quickly faded, but the itching just got worse. And the swelling/heat started to extend up my forearm.
Jan quickly started asking me if I was having trouble swallowing/breathing, signs of a severe allergic reaction, I.e. anaphylactic shock. Which starts with severe itching. And can end with your tongue swelling up and your throat closing off. As well as a number of other symptoms.
None of which I had.
When I got home, I took a couple of allergy pills and Jan rolled on some anesthetic cream, which did help the itching a lot. Right now it’s not itching much, but it’s still hot, red and swollen all the way up to my elbow. And I can’t make a fist again yet.
Next time I’ll check carefully before I reach in for the gas cap.
I Couldn’t Taste The Duck . . .
Our first destination this afternoon was a return visit to our GP, who’s now called our PCP (Primary Care Physician for some reason). We were just there for our annual checkups two weeks ago, but I’m back to get some tests rerun, and Jan wants to a consult with our doctor about some possible medication changes.
I mentioned in yesterday’s blog about our new ‘Smart’ watches, and one of the functions it has is to take your Blood Pressure. So I was curious as to how accurate it really was, considering there is no cuff squeezing your arm.
So I set it to check my BP while the nurse was taking mine the conventional way. And I was disappointed to see my watch said my BP was 148/87 while the official one said it was 117/71.
Bummer!
But then I realized that the fact that the cuff was squeezing my arm really tight might have affected the reading my watch was getting downstream on my wrist. So after waiting about 5 minutes, I tried it again. And this time it read 119/74.
Now that’s pretty accurate.
Finished up at the doctor’s we headed back over to Webster to have lunch at Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux. They just opened yesterday so we wanted to give them a try. And we both agreed it was really, really good.
And like other sports bars (Texas Huddle, Twin Peaks, etc.) we visit, there are TV screens everywhere you look,
Jan started out with a really good Side Salad,
while I got a cup of their Duck and Andouille Sausage Gumbo.
Really good, though I couldn’t taste the duck. Though I’m not really sure I know what duck tastes like.
For her entrée Jan got the Tuscan Chicken, with a Blackened Chicken Breast covered in Warm Tomato Salsa, along the Grilled Green Beans.
For my meal, I got the Avery Island Salad.
With Blackened Shrimp, Mixed Greens, Bacon, Granny Smith Apples, Candied Pecans, bleu cheese crumbles, and pepper jelly vinaigrette, it was one of the best salads I’ve had in a long time. The tang of the bleu cheese contrasted with the sweetness of the apples and pecans was really good.
And of course we had to split an order of their Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding.
We both agreed that it’s a worth match to Lulu’s version over in Gulf Shores.
When we’re over in Gulf Shores in a few weeks, we’ll have to do another comparison.
Remember, we do these things so you don’t have to.
Next up was a Costco stop for a few Costco things, and then heading home, we made a Post Office and a park Mailbox stop.
When I got the PO mail, I was surprised to find a package addressed to Jan, that when we opened it, contained 4 boxes of CoVid-19 Home Test, 2 tests to a box.
She didn’t order these, so we weren’t sure where they were coming from until I read the insert.
It seems as Medicare recipients, we are each entitled to 8 tests a month! And unless I contract them, we’ll receive another 8 tests next month . . . and the next month . . . and the next . . .
I’ll be in touch tomorrow.
And I still don’t know why I didn’t receive my 8 tests.
Yet.
Thought For The Day:
Patience is the ability to let your light shine after your fuse has blown out.
April 25, 2010
Rested up and Ready to Travel…
Tomorrow morning we’ll head north about 230 miles to the Park of the Sierras Escapees RV park in Coarsegold, CA.
But today was a “get ready” day.
After going the Marie Callender’s restaurant in Lancaster for lunch, we stopped off for gas and then went by WalMart for supplies.
Back home, I fixed a loose panel on the coach, checked the engine oil, added coolant, added water to the coach batteries and checked the tire pressures. And it looks like we’re ready to go tomorrow.
Last week I showed y’all some great poppy pictures. Now I want to give equal time to some great Texas bluebonnet pics.
The red flowers are Indian Paintbrushes, another Texas favorite.
Take that, poppies!
More tomorrow from Park of the Sierras, at the edge of Yosemite National Park.
April 25, 2011
The King is Dead. Long Live the King.
First off, we have a new champion, the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T chili.
First we had the Naga Jolokia chilies, also known as Bhut Jolokia, or Ghost chilies. Known at the time as the hottest chili in the world, it rated at a hair over 1 million Scoville units. I’ve had hot wings made with these at the Cypress Creek Café in Wimberley, TX. They call them Devil’s Breath Wings.
But after years on the throne, the Ghost chili was overthrown by the Naga Viper, rated at about 1.38 million Scoville units.
And now, The King is Dead. Long Live the King. The Butch T comes in at almost 1.5 million units.
But I guess they’ve got a ways to go.
Pure capsaicin tops out at about 16,000,000 Scoville units. Apparently exposure to that can stop your heart.
The weather here has been really great, with temps in the high 60’s and low 40’s with a lot of sun. But I’ll be glad to get somewhere with higher humidity soon.
Not 95% like in Houston, but not like the 20% here in Arizona, either.
I’m really tired of waking up with the inside of my mouth dry and cracked, and feeling like a place old spiders go to die.
About 10, while I was making coffee and Jan was heating up our muffins, our daughter Brandi called to say that Landon is crawling. Later she sent some video of him playing with the new toy that arrived in the mail today from the Easter Bunny.
Here’s a still shot from the video. He does seem pretty happy with it. I think we, uh, I mean the Easter Bunny done good.
Can hardly wait until we can Skype again next Sunday.
For lunch we had leftover pizza and chips. Really good after Jan added her own special touch of spices.
Then after lunch I went outside to do some rig maintenance before we hit the road on Wednesday.
First off, was to close the grey tank valve. Not really maintenance, but I want to have pretty of water built up when I dump.
Next I checked the engine oil level and added a quart of Rotella 15W-40HD. That’s doing real good, since it’s the first oil I had to add since my last oil change about 12,000 miles ago. Plus when we’re parked on concrete, I also look underneath the coach after a few days, to check for leaks. None found so far,
Then I checked my coolant level and topped off the reservoir. This took the last of the gallon I bought in Elkhart, IN last September. Time to get another jug.
About 2 pm I drove over to Pinetop to get some extra keys made for the rig door, and then while I was out, stopped off at an NAPA Auto Parts to pick up some more diesel antifreeze. NAPA is the only place besides truck stops where I’ve been about to find the stuff.
About 5pm we headed out to the Red Devil Pizza in Lakeside. We ate here last year and remembered it as being good, and it still was.
Jan had the Baked Penne and I had my old favorite Spaghetti and Meatballs. Very good, and much, much better than The Pizza Factory a few nights ago.
After a lot of good food, we headed back to the rig a little before 7.
That’s about it for today.
April 25, 2014
Needed: 60,000 cows . . . A Day!
Today was time for another daytrip so we headed out a little before10 am, but didn’t go far, only a few miles north on US71 to our first stop, the Industrial Country Market. We’ve passed this place a bunch of times, but never stopped. But blog reader Rob Nixon said we really needed to check the place out. And he was right.
Take a hardware store, a toy store, a gadget store, a solar power supply store, and an ammo store, then throw in water and hydroponic vegetable gardens, add a lot of garden art and solar panels, run the whole thing completely off the grid, and you’ve got the Industrial Country Market.
You could actually spend hours walking up and down the aisles of the ‘non-general, general store’.
Toys, clothing, jewelry. ammo.
Spices, electronics, tools, puppets, 1500 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverters. and more.
And outside you find all sorts of gardens and plants.
As well as a forest of Bottle Trees.
Water gardens with fountains and waterfalls.
And ingenious art gardens made from a little bit of everything.
Even a number of hydroponic gardens growing vegetables and ornamental plants.
And it’s all run completely off the electrical grid.
These 24 volt batteries come from telephone company Central Offices, which is why your landline phone keeps working even when the power is out. It’s all powered from the phone office.
These and other solar panels provide an amazing 25KW of both 120VAC and 240VAC electrical power
Jan and I really enjoyed our visit and we’ll probably go back again the next time we’re in the area.
Our next stop was a few more miles up the road at Hruska’s.
We’ve been stopping here for a long time and have watched the place grow into what it is today, a major operation. The place started out as general store/market in 1912 and has been in the family ever since. And they still have the best kolaches around.
Jan and I stopped for a couple of kolaches, but we noticed a lot of locals having their double-cheeseburgers, and it turns out that Texas Monthly Magazine says they have one of the best burgers in the state. Hopefully we can check them out before we leave.
Then it was back on the road, heading up to Brenham and the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory Tour. We’ve been trying to take this tour for almost 35 years and we finally made it.
The problem was that the tour is only given Monday through Friday, and it seems we were always up that way on the weekend.
Unfortunately I can’t show you any pictures because they don’t allow photos on the tour, but they do give you free ice cream at the end, so no pictures for you, but free ice cream for us.
That sound fair.
One of the most interesting facts given on the tour is that this one plant (they have two more. one in Sylacauga, AL, and one in Broken Arrow, OK) uses the milk from 60,000 cows . . . a day. Now that’s squeezing a lot of cows.
After finishing up our ice cream (Jan had Rocky Mountain Road and I had Salt Caramel Vanilla) we head back toward home, but in a roundabout way, via Giddings, rather than the most direct way.
But going this way let us stop off at the Buc-ee’s there for a bathroom break and some of their Cranberry Nut muffins to bring home.
But the day wasn’t over yet. We had timed things so that we would be back at Peter’s BBQ in Ellinger about 4:30. Just in time for our last shot at their great Friday Night BBQ and Seafood Buffet. As always, really, really good.
Tomorrow looks to be a work-around-the-rig day.
April 25, 2015
Back to Basics . . .
After coffee and taking care of some chores, I got back on my PacBrake problem. I had gone online and found the lubrication instructions on the PacBrake website.
The first thing was to get access to the PacBrake under the bed, and that means removing a lot of our stored stuff out of the way.
So after lifting the bed, and then lifting the engine access cover, I could now get to the PacBrake itself.
The unit is just to the right of the engine and fairly accessible. Here it is from the side.
I started lubing all the points listed in the docs. There was a problem matching up the actual lube points on paper with the actual unit since I’m looking at it from the top, but the docs show it from the side.
There are two lube sites that I’m still unsure about that, which means I’ll have to put in a call to PacBrake on Monday.
I also need to figure out how to manually trigger the PacBrake, first, because I also need to lube the air cylinder’s shaft, and second, to be sure it’s actually working. I think I have a good idea how to trigger the air solenoid manually, or electrically, actually, but I want to be sure.
But however I do it, I know I’ll have to crank up the engine, since the valve itself is air operated. More later.
For dinner, Jan and I had been talking about a good hamburger, and after talking over the obvious, McD’s, Wendy’s, Five Guy’s, or Smashburger, we decided to give In N Out Burger a try. It also helped that there was one pretty close.
The last (and only) time we ate at one was in February 2008 when we were in San Diego during our first month of RV’ing. We remember liking the burgers, but it was Friday night and the place was full of screaming teenagers. Don’t know if that’s only reason, but whatever the reason, we’ve never been back to one. Until now.
Originally they were only located in California, but in the last few years, they’ve been spreading east. They’re even in Houston now.
We got there a little after 4:30 and found the place pretty busy. Getting in line, the first thing we noticed was the simplified menu board, harking back to the old days of McDonald’s.
Just cheeseburgers, hamburger, fries and drinks. Just how McD’s started out.
Of course you do apparently have a lot options, with their Secret Menu, and a Super Secret Menu. We both got the Double-Double (two patties, two slices of cheese) from the regular menu, but they also have a 3 x 3, and a 4 x 4 on the Secret Menu if you’re really hungry. We both got the #1 Combo which included fries and a drink.
But one bite told me why In N Out has the reputation it has. This has to be one of the best ‘inexpensive’ burgers I’ve ever tasted. And by ‘inexpensive’ I mean not one of those $7-9 or higher burgers. The Double-Double is only $3.50
And the fries were delicious too. A little research tells the story. They do pretty much everything in-house, or at least in-company.
They have their own meat companies that that fresh grind the patties and deliver them fresh, not frozen, to every location. The same goes for their buns. And like Five Guy’s and others, they do their own fries in-house, starting with the raw potatoes
They also make every burger to order. They say they don’t have microwaves or heat lamps in their locations. And it shows.
The other thing I noticed was how clean the dining area was. They had 3 people running around, wiping things down and cleaning up. In fact within seconds of someone leaving a table, it was cleaned off, wiped down, and ready to go again.
And their drive-thru shows how popular they are.
They have to rope off the area because it winds around through the parking lot of the shopping area.
We’ll definitely go back. Often.
Tomorrow we’re going to drive down to Henderson at the bottom of the Strip to visit the The Lion Habitat Ranch. Originally it was the off-duty home of the MGM Grand lions. But when that exhibit was shut down a few years ago, it became their full-time home, along with giraffes and other animals. And they have a bunch of lion cubs just born earlier this month. Sounds like fun.
April 25, 2016
Kluging It . . .
Recapping yesterday’s trip, we were hooked up and on our way by 9:50am. We made our first stop at the Luling Buc-ee’s for diesel, $1.79, the cheapest we’ve seen in the area.
And we’ve never seen Buc-ee’s this busy. It took a while to thread our way through the cars to get around to the larger pumps in the back. But we were able to pull right up to a end pump and fill up. Then it was another obstacle course to get out, but we were in and out in about 25 minutes, so it wasn’t too bad.
Then it was another 120 miles, and about 2 and a half hours to Medina Lake, the time mostly due the hilly, curvy road from Boerne to the park.
We got in to the park about 4pm and headed in to find a spot. We knew our friends, Dave and Lynn Cross, were back in the ‘F’ section so we headed that way. And then as we were meandering around, looking for a site, who popped out to flag us down, but Dave,who directed us to a 50 amp site two away from he and Lynn.
And as I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, Lynn Cross had prepared us a delicious spaghetti dinner and we spent several hours talking, having a great time.
When we got back to the rig, I tried to get the satellite system up and running, but without any luck. Our site is pretty heavily treed so I knew it was going to take some fiddling. But the first problem I had was getting power to the dome. I have about 75 feet of coax that lets me move the dome out into the open, but I only have 50 feet of 12 volt power cable.
The 12 volts is only needed to power the motors that aim the dome. Once that’s done, the 12 volts can be disconnected. But now I needed to get power to the dome, so since I didn’t have a 12 volt extension cable, I decided to take the power supply to the dome.
So I used my 12 volt power supply on an extension cord to power the dome
I’d modified it to add a 12 volt socket just for needs like this.
But it still didn’t work. Although my voltmeter showed the power supply was putting out 12 volts, it wasn’t getting to the dome for some reason. But by this this time it was dark, so I called it a night, and we just watched stuff we’d recorded earlier.
Then this morning, I went down to the guard shack to let them know what site we were in and pay for our 50 amp electric. Or at least I tried.
When I tried to start the truck, I found the battery dead. I had left a accessory switch on, and had run it down. So I dug out my battery charger to fix the problem. But then I ran into another problem.
The charger I have does auto 6 volt/12volt selection, and since the battery was down to about 5 volts, the charger kept treating it as 6 volt battery. Not good.
So now what to do? I have 2 sets of battery cables that I can chain together to let me charge the truck from the rig batteries when it’s hitched up, but that’s still not long enough. I could take the battery out of the truck and take it back to the rig batteries, or take out a rig battery and use that to start the truck.
But that seemed like too much work. There’s got to be a simpler kludge.
And then I realized I already had the solution at hand – the 12 volt power supply that I had tried to use for the satellite. It puts out a current-limited 6 amps steady, 8 amps surge. So I used it to charge the battery up to about 9 volts, and then let the big charger take over. It’s 3/5/20/75 amp model, so at 20 amps, it didn’t take long to top off the battery. So about 30 minutes later I was on my way to the gate.
And while I was there, I also wanted to get my driver’s license back. They recently started holding your Thousand Trails membership card until you come back and settle up.
But I no longer have a TT membership card, since the last place that held my card, the Bend/Sunriver TT in Bend, OR, lost my card and couldn’t give it back to me. And since I know my membership number by heart, I never needed it again.
Until today. So instead, they held my driver’s license.
I guess this will finally get me to call TT and get another one.
This morning our friend’s Brett and Frankie got in touch to tell us that they were also here at Medina Lake and wanted to get together. But it had to be today, since they’re leaving for Conroe tomorrow.
So, about 3:30, Brett showed up at our rig in his golf cart to Uber us back over to their rig. Frankie had coffee and cake waiting for us, and we had a great time talking over their recent travels all the way down to Key West and back to Texas.
Too bad they’re leaving tomorrow, since we would have liked to spend more time with them. But I’m sure we’ll catch up with them down the road.
Getting back to the rig, I got back on my satellite problem. And when I hooked up the power this afternoon, suddenly the dome was getting power and scanning for the satellites. Not sure why it suddenly started working, but gift horses, and all that.
But it took trying 3 different locations to find one that worked. And unfortunately, the one that works is on the picnic table of the site next to ours, about 60 feet away..
But this is a 30 amp site, and since the temps are edging in the 90’s now, and there are a lot of empty sites, hopefully we want have a problem.
Hopefully.
April 25, 2019
Almost . . .
But Not Quite Yet.
I spent the morning trying to cram 4 suitcases of stuff into only 2. Or at least that’s what it seems like.
But really we’re doing OK, I guess. There’s a 50# weight limit on our checked bags and 17# on our larger carry-on bags, and so far we’re under those limits, but just barely.
In some cases it’s a game of ‘do I want to take this or do I want to take that’, or ‘which weighs more, this or that’. But whatever, we’ll be ready to go tomorrow morning when our car service guy gets here at 10:30.
Jan and I headed out this afternoon about 1pm, with our first stop at King Food for some of their great Hot & Sour Soup, and then it on for a quick stop at my client’s to double-check a couple of things before our trip.
Then heading home, Jan picked up a few things at Palais Royal, a local department store chain, finally getting back to the rig about 3:45.
But after getting the kid’s will copies ready to be mailed off, I headed back out, first to the PO, and then over to Dickinson to return our Impala a little early, so we won’t have to deal with it tomorrow morning.
Our Lufthansa A380-800 leaves Houston Intercontinental at 3:55 with a 9 hour 45 minute flight to Frankfort, Germany, a 3 hour 30 minute layover, and then a 90 minute flight on to Budapest. This means that we will be getting into Budapest at 5:45am Saturday morning for us, but 1:45pm Budapest time, since they’re 7 hours ahead of us.
Then I imagine we’ll spend some time in our room napping and getting ourselves turned around to local time. The next day, Sunday, we have free to get acclimated before starting our cruise on Monday the 29th.
April 25, 2021
Family Values . . .
After a quiet morning, I put in a call to my cousin (first cousin, once removed) Marjorie back in Athens to see how she was doing, and to thank her for the nice Easter card she sent us, including a lot of my mother’s old letters to family members, as well as an old photograph of my grandmother, Clara Calvin (my mother’s mother).
Marjorie’s husband, Dr. Walter Walker, died suddenly this past January. Ironically, after both he and Marjorie survived CoVid last October with no real problems, he collapsed and couldn’t get up.
Taken to the hospital, he was diagnosed with advanced bone cancer and died a few days later. He was 91.
I was really surprised to see this old photo of my grandmother, obviously a reprint.
The photo doesn’t have a date of any kind on it, but I’m thinking maybe late 40’s/early 50’s, since this was her in the early 70’s.
We’re really looking forward to seeing Marjorie this June when we coming back through Alabama from our reunion up in Illinois.
About 1pm Jan and I headed over to Dickinson to have lunch again at Gator’s Bar & Grill, and it was good to see them even busier than last weekend.
Margie, the owner, said they’ve been super busy ever since they opened last Saturday.
Jan got their Blackened Chicken Breast with Roasted Broccoli and Sweet Potato Waffle Fries.
I got a Blackened Chicken Breast Sandwich, adding Bacon and Texas ToothPicks, along with the Sweet Potato Waffle Fries.
Both really, really good. And we’re really glad to see them doing so good.
Next up was a quick HEB stop before getting home a little after 3pm. And after everything was put away, we retired to the patio to enjoy a couple of cold, refreshing adult beverages.
A very nice way to end the day.
April 25, 2022
Google It . . .
A pretty quiet day at work today, especially for a Monday.
The only thing interesting was that I saw one of Google Street View cars driving in the parking lot next to the feeder near FM517 and I-45.
But that’s about all.
