Monthly Archives: May 2023
In The Outback . . .
With The Scooby Gang.
Jan and I were on the road up to The Woodlands and the Outback Steakhouse by 10am, getting there about 11:15, with the rest of the Scooby Gang, Debi and Ed showing up about 10 minutes later.
Lucy, our server, named us the ‘Scooby Gang’ after she started waiting on us. How right she was.
And of course, if you go to Outback you have to have a Blooming Onion.
Well, this was a Blooming Onion until the ravenous horde attacked.
Ironically, after we started with their really good salads,
nobody actually ordered a steak.
Jan got her long-time fav, the Alice Springs Chicken.
While I got their Marmalade-Glazed Pork Chops.
Something I’ve always gotten for years, also.
Debi got their new Blooming Fried Chicken, fried with the Blooming Onion Sauce.
She said it was the best chicken she’s ever had.
Ed got the Spicy Jamming Meatloaf.
Though I think it was a little more spicy than he had anticipated.
And as always, we spent a couple of hours just talking after our meal.
And we’re already schedule for our June get-together.
The Scooby Gang, minus me.
Heading back to Santa Fe, we made a stop at the office to take care of a problem.
Then coming home on FM646, I came across a car I’d almost forgotten existed.
An Edsel/Ford/Mercury Comet. And based on Internet photos, I think it’s a 1961 Ford model.
Originally developed as a stretched Fairlane for Edsel, it didn’t make it to market before before Ford canceled the Edsel name. So for 1960-1961 it was marketed as its own brand name and sold by both Ford and Mercury dealers. Then in 1962 it became a Mercury exclusive.
Finally, almost home, we stopped for Cold, Blended Sugar-Free Hazelnut Lattes at Cowboy Coffee. Always good.
Tomorrow’s my last day at work for the next two weeks before we hit the road for Alabama.
Thought For The Day:
You know your wife is mad when she starts off a sentence with–“I just find it funny . . .“ Because you know there’s a 99.9% chance she did not find it funny.
May 11, 2009
Now I’ve got the Complete Set…
Well, it’s official.
I now have the complete set.
I got my first one on March 30, 1982 and it took me over 27 years to get the second one. But I finally did it.
I now have been at both a Space Shuttle launch and a Space Shuttle landing.
I worked on the Shuttle program at Johnson Space Center for ten years from 1978 thru 1987, but never was actually at a launch at the Cape.
In March 1982 I was part of the landing crew at the backup landing site, Northrop Strip, White Sands, New Mexico when the 3rd Shuttle mission, STS-3 landed there, the only time a Shuttle has landed somewhere other than Florida or California.
The Shuttle landed at White Sands because the landing strip at Edwards Air Force Base in California was covered with water due to recent heavy rains, and the landing strip at Cape Kennedy in Florida was not yet operational.
Coincidentally, before the landing, a movie called “Wrong is Right” was being filmed at White Sands. The White Sands area was standing in for sands of Saudi Arabia. And the movie crew was staying at the same Holiday Inn in Alamogordo, NM that we were.
It was a real kick to go down to the hotel bar every night after work and sit around drinking with Sean Connery, Katherine Ross, Robert Conrad, John Saxon, and Leslie Nielsen. And later I got to fix Katherine Ross’ hair dryer since she was staying in the hotel room next to mine.
And now I have a Shuttle launch under my belt.
We’re presently parked in Homestead, FL, about 30 miles south of Miami. Friday we’ll be heading down for a few days in the Florida Keys. So we were glad that we were still close enough to try and see a launch.
We left our park in Homestead a little after 6am this morning and got to Titusville about 11:30am, a trip of about 250 miles. We also took some extra clothes with us in case the launch was delayed over the 3 day launch window and we had to stay at a motel. But we lucked out.
The launch went off as scheduled at 2:01:56pm and we had a great spot to view it from. And one that had a lot memories for Jan and I.
Jan and met in Titusville almost 42 years where she lived and I was working for the summer. We would go out to this fishing pier outside downtown Titusville and make out. We spent a lot of time there making out.
Unfortunately there is not a lot of the old pier left, but Jan and I are still going strong, and it made a great viewing area for the launch.
And we had a lot of company!
Here are some pics of the launch. The first one is from NASA. The rest are mine.
And about 30 seconds after the launch, the shock wave and the roar from the engines washed over us. It was fantastic.
Well, that was it. A real thrill for Jan and I, I tell you.
And tomorrow, if the weather holds, we plan an airboat ride thru the Everglades.
May 11, 2010
Quack, Quack, DUKW, DUKW…
Today we headed into San Francisco about 8:50 am, with a quick detour to a gas station to get some air in one of my tires. Yesterday my tire pressure monitor told me my passenger front tire was down about 10# so I aired it up. Then this morning it was down again. So I’ve got a slow leak. I’ll have to get it fixed tomorrow.
We got to our Duck Tour pick up point, but then found a problem. We were supposed to be picked up at the corner of Powell & Ellis, but there was nothing there to indicate this was a pickup point. When we’ve done these tours before, there’s always a ticket booth or sign or something. But nothing here.
After making a couple of phone calls and getting no more info, we just hoped that we would be picked up at noon on schedule.
We had about a hour before our supposed pickup so we decided to take a Cable Car ride down to Fisherman’s Wharf and back.
While we waited for the cable car, I saw this sign and just had to shake my head.
It’s really a shame that they just don’t teach spelling in American schools anymore.
We started our cable car ride at the Market St. Turnaround.
The turnaround is a turntable that allows the cable cars to reverse direction.
Once the car is on the turntable the crew turns it by hand.
This is the Grip, the guy who controls the cable car. The cable runs underground, kind of like an upside down ski lift.. The cable is constantly running at about 9.5 mph. A gripper extends below the car into the slot between the tracks. The lever in the Grip’s left hand grips the cable that pulls the car along. Releasing the grip lets the car coast. The lever in the Grip’s right hand controls the car’s brakes.
And good brakes are really needed on some of these hills.
We got back to our DUKW pickup point about 10 minutes before noon, and looking around, suddenly, our DUkW was there. The DUKW’s are WWII amphibious 6 wheel drive trucks used in the D-Day landing at Normandy and others. The DUKW name is not a military acronym, but the designation given to it by General Motors Corporation, the builder. The D indicates a vehicle designed in 1942, the U meant “utility (amphibious)”, the K indicated all-wheel drive and the W indicated two powered rear axles.
And it was a special tour. We were the only two people on the tour, so we had the DUKW all to ourselves.
The driver/tour guide noticed I was wearing an SR-71 Blackbird T-shirt. It turns out that he was stationed at RAF Mindenhall in England as a SR-71 support officer in the USAF. Since I had worked on the SR-71 once when I was working for the Department of Defense back in the early 70’s, we had fun trading our favorite Blackbird stories.
We started with a tour of the sites of SF. Here’s San Francisco’s iconic Transamerica Building.
And of course, Chinatown.
Our driver said there is no natural level ground in San Francisco. The only level spots are from hills being leveled off, or valleys filled in. This really illustrates that.
After about a hour we drove into San Francisco Bay and started the water part of our tour. This is AT&T Park where the Giants play.
And here’s the Bay Bridge…and the back of Jan’s head.
Our DUKW lasted about 90 minutes, so by 1:30 pm we were back where we parked the truck. And after grabbing a Starbuck’s coffee and a bathroom break, we got our truck out of the parking garage and head down to Fisherman’s Wharf for lunch.
We liked the look of Castagnalo’s so we decided to give it a try.
The place was beautiful inside and had a great view of the Wharf.
We started off with a half dozen raw oysters, and then Jan had the Fried Shrimp and I had the Lobster Bisque in a sourdough bread bowl. Both were delicious.
Leaving Castagnola’s, we walked down a couple of blocks and turned a corner. And suddenly I wished we had eaten somewhere else
What I saw was Fisherman’s Grotto.
And I remembered this as the place my family and I ate in 1964 when we did our big western vacation. Bummer!
It would have been neat to eat here again after 46 years.
Leaving the Wharf area we headed over to Lombard St. to drive the ‘Crookedest Street in the World”. It consists of a 27% grade with 8 hairpin turns, and looks like this.
Here’s what it looks like going down.
And here’s what it looks like from a couple of blocks away looking back up.
Lombard St. may be the crookedest, but certainly not the steepest, at a 27% grade. Here’s a list of steeper streets. A couple of these we took. And I’m glad our truck had good brakes and a V-8 engine.
The Steepest Streets in the City
1. (tie) Filbert between Leavenworth and Hyde (31.5% grade)
1. (tie) 22nd between Church and Vicksburg (31.5% grade)
3. Jones between Union and Filbert (29% grade)
4. Duboce between Buena Vista and Alpine (27.9% grade)
5. Jones between Green and Union (26% grade)
6. Webster between Vallejo and Broadway (26% grade)
7. Duboce between Alpine and Divisadero (25% grade)
8. Jones between Pine and California (24.8 grade)
9. Fillmore between Vallejo and Broadway (24% grade)
Source: San Francisco Bureau Of Engineering
Supposedly there is another street with a 34% grade, but I wasn’t able to locate it.
Some of these streets are so steep that it’s like driving off a cliff. When your vehicle is level before you start down the hill, you can’t see the roadway in front of you. You just have to take it on faith that the road is still there.
Before heading home Jan wanted to drive past the famous “Painted Ladies” near Alamo Square. They are on so many postcards that the street is known as Postcard Row. The street was also featured in the credits of the TV show “Full House”.
Heading home, we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and decided to stop at Vista Point, a viewing area overlooking the bridge.
Here we got our last look at the Golden Gate.
We got home about 6 pm and Jan heated up what was left of last night’s crockpot King Ranch Chicken. I forgot to mention yesterday that we had it cooking for us when we got home. Jan’s King Ranch Chicken is always great.
Tomorrow is our last day in San Francisco, and we have some things to get done before we leave on Thursday for the Redwood National Forest about 295 miles north.
May 11, 2011
Primm and Esther’s . . .
As I mentioned yesterday, it was a traveling day.
And travel we did.
About 10 am yesterday, Jan and I packed up, and after quick stop at the bank, headed for Los Angeles, about 280 miles away. We were going so that we could attend a taping of The Talk talk show (actually two shows).
After about two hours on the road, we made a pit stop at Primm, NV.
Primm is kind of interesting. You’re driving thru the desert on I-15 heading south and you come over a hill, and suddenly spread out in front of you is a small city. Only it’s not really a city. It’s just 3 big casino/hotels, a roller coaster, several restaurants, two gas station/convenience stores, and a large outlet mall. The only inhabitants are pretty much the employees of the casinos.
Its real claim to fame is that it straddles I-15 right on the Nevada/California state line, and is the closest place you can come to gamble from California.
And being on the state line, it actually was called State Line, Nevada until 1996 when they changed the name to Primm, after the original developer of the city, Ernest Jay Primm. Apparently people kept confusing it with Stateline (note, no space) up in northern Nevada.
After another pit stop in Barstow, CA we got to our Day’s Inn in Fullerton, CA about 3:30 and got checked in.
About 4:15 we headed out to Esther’s Taco House in Placentia, about 10 miles away. We’d been looking forward to this since we were here last year, and wanted to eat here again.
It is very possibly the best Mexican food I’ve ever eaten. The only other place that could come close would be our recently-discovered La Fonda in Camp Verde, AZ. Too bad we won’t be able to come back again until next year.
Leaving Esther’s about 6 pm, we headed about 30 miles away to Studio City in Hollywood. Studio City is where The Talk is taped and I wanted to check out the route and get some idea of the traffic for tomorrow morning when we have to be at the studio by 9:45 am. It took about a hour this evening so I’m going to allow two hours tomorrow morning.
After scoping out where we’ll park tomorrow we headed back toward our hotel, making a detour through Hollywood proper.
Actually though, there is no city called Hollywood. Hollywood is really just a defined district of Los Angeles. There is however, a West Hollywood, and a North Hollywood.
Hollywood was really a city between 1903 and 1910, but voted to become part of Los Angeles to get access to LA’s water supply.
Jan wanted to run into one of the souvenir places next to Grauman’s Chinese Theater to get another copy of the Hollywood Stars map that not only shows the star’s homes but also landmarks and famous crime scenes. She lost the one she bought last year.
After some sightseeing in the area on Hollywood Blvd. and Sunset Blvd, we headed back to the hotel, but first making a quick stop at Baskin-Robbins for a cold treat.
More tomorrow from The Talk.
May 11, 2013
Horse, Meet Barn Door . . .
Our regular blog readers will remember back in January I talked about the coming revolution in 3D printing, and especially its effect on gun laws.
You can check out that blog here.
https://ourrvadventures.com/2013/01/15/and-so-it-begins/
Well, Cody Wilson of Defcad, has now revealed his latest 3D weapon. It’s an almost-completely plastic single-shot .380 pistol.
Although it kind of looks like it’s made from Legos, it does work. The only metal parts are a common nail used as the firing pin, and a block of metal built into the handle so that the pistol meets the Untraceable Plastic Gun laws.
Called “The Liberator”, the 3D printing files were downloaded over 100,000 times in the first two days, with the largest number of downloads to addresses in Spain, followed by the US, Brazil, Germany and the UK.
Then a couple of days ago Cody Wilson was ordered by the Department of State?? to take down the files because they might violate international treaties restricting illegal weapons trafficking.
Huh? Weapons, what weapons? These are 1’s and 0’s in a computer file.
And of course there are files all over the Internet on how to build everything from pistols, to machine guns, and even bazookas.
But a single-shot Lego gun is a problem. Right!
And on the Horse, Meet Barn Door front, it’s really hard to imagine how the State Department thinks that they have put a stop to anything. Besides the 100,000 original downloads, the files are now available from over 600 download sites around the world, places not under the State Department’s control.
One of the largest, Pirate Bay, reports over 2.5 million downloads since the State Department tried to clamp down on them. Way to go, State Department.
To quote Princess Leia:
“The more you tighten your grip, the more [files] will slip through your fingers.”
Or, What goes on the Internet, stays on the Internet.
For more info about the many new advances possible with 3D printers, from building replacement ears to repairing spinal discs, or giving prospective parents a 3D image of their unborn child, check it out here.
Our son-in-law Lowell sent over the latest photos of their new house. You know when they plant the tree it’s getting close.
Really nice looking cabinets.
I still don’t think they’ve got a move-in date, but soon.
There’s an organization online that’s taking applications for a One-Way Trip to Mars to set up a colony. They planned on leaving in 2022, and in two weeks they’ve had over 80,000 applicants. I told Jan that I would consider doing that just for the adventure. She said,
“Have a nice trip.”
Guess she’s not as adventurous as I thought.
About 2:30 Jan and I headed down to check out the Hoover Dam Bridge Walkway. We’d originally planned to do this yesterday on our way back from Oatman, AZ, but decided to put it off until today.
To get there you have to turn off the new bridge road and continue on like you’re going directly to the Dam, but there is an earlier turn-off that leads you to the parking area for the walkway.
Looking up from the parking lot you can see the walkway entrance.
To get to the top you have your choice of a back and forth ramp, or a more-direct stairway.
But either way it’s not a hard climb.
The walkway runs almost all the way to the other side, but not quite.
I was surprised that Jan was able to get almost all the way out here. Although from the expression on her face I don’ think she’s too happy about it.
I was also pleasantly surprised to see how open the railing was, especially since as of July 2012 there have been 4 suicides from the bridge.
But the view from up here is just fantastic.
But if they really wanted to make it a great attraction, they’d put a zip line from up here down to the dam. Now that would be a TRIP!
II had thought that they had stopped all traffic over the dam after the bridge was opened, but apparently not. I guess they just stopped truck and RV traffic.
Another thing checked off on my bucket list.
Coming back to Las Vegas, we decided to have one more meal at Lindo Michoacan before we leave here on Wednesday. Delicious as always.
Heading toward home, we stopped off at a CVS and then Boulder Station Casino to register our Boarding Passes for today’s drawings. Then it was home at about 6pm
Another nice day here in Las Vegas.
Jan had been complaining that she can’t see the computer keyboard at night because there’s not much light here at the computer. So I found this on Amazon and it works great. It plugs into any USB port and the flexible neck lets you angle it as you need.
USB LED Flexible Keyboard light
And even better, it’s only $6.50 on Amazon Prime. Check it out.
Laura Robinson, Jan’s niece-in-law, posted this photo of her daughter Annisten. Is she a cutie, or what?
Must be getting close to 6 months old now.
Tomorrow we plan on doing Fremont Street, their Zip Line, and then eat dinner at the Heart Attack Grill located.
Assuming I’m still alive tomorrow, I’ll tell you all about it.
May 11, 2014
So Far, So Good, So Far . . .
Well, we finally got back on the road this morning.
We pulled out of the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails a little before 10 a.m., heading about 210 miles north to Waskom, TX, just a few miles west of Shreveport, LA. I did check in at the park guard shack to be sure they knew we were leaving early so they would credit our days back, as we were originally booked in here until May 19th.
I also now have to go back and delete all the rest of our TT reservations. Before we knew how Jan’s health problem would be resolved, I booked back and forth between Lake Conroe TT and Colorado River TT all the way through August, which was as far ahead as the program would let me.
On another note, once again the slide came in with no problems. And since the original shear pin breakage was caused by a piece of Corian floor tile that came loose under the kitchen cabinet, jamming the slide, I hope we’ve seen the last of that problem.
The trip was pretty uneventful, except for a couple of necessitated U-turns. Twice our Delorme Street Atlas told me to be in the left lane to turn onto a entrance ramp leading to a four lane. But the roadway had been redone, and the turn was now one of those loops to the right and down onto the four lane. Both times, though, I had no problem getting turned around and headed the right way in just a few minutes.
We pulled into Miss Ellie’s RV Park about 2:15 and drove right to our space and got parked. When I called early this morning to be sure they had a site, they told me what space I would be in, and it was here waiting for me. Sure makes it a lot easier.
Since these sites are long pull-thru’s, we didn’t unhitch and go out for dinner, but had our version of Taco Salads with Skyline Chile, Habanero Rotel, and Black Beans, along with grated cheese and Sriracha Sauce.
I’ve recently become a big fan of Sriracha Sauce.
I’m sure you’ve seen these red and green bottles in many restaurants, but I’ve never tried it until recently. And for the same reason I don’t like most of the bottled commercial hot sauces (Tabasco, Cholula, Frank’s, etc.). It’s because when I use them, all I can taste is the vinegar.
But although Sriracha has vinegar in it, it’s not overpowering, making me a devoted convert.
Tomorrow we’ve got a long day with a 360 mile run to the Tom Sawyer RV Park on the banks of the Mississippi River in West Memphis, AR, right across the river from Memphis, TN.
But we’ve got some great BBQ to look forward to, so it’ll be worth it.
May 11, 2015
July in Prescott?
Well, the repair estimate was submitted to National General Insurance on Saturday, and we’re now waiting to hear back from them with the approval.
Stan, the service manager here at Affinity, said that some of the parts might take a month to come in after they’re ordered. He said that we’re probably looking at 6 to 8 weeks here. Bummer! But at least we’re pretty comfortable and can stay in the rig instead of a hotel/motel.
The one big change in our schedule is our planned family reunion in Illinois over Memorial Day Weekend. So since we’re not going to be traveling in the rig by then, we now plan on driving the truck back there, probably in two 750 mile days.
I wanted to see what it was supposed to look like under the wheel well, so later in the afternoon I crawled underneath the rig on the driver’s side to take a look.
Here’s what the filler hose should look like on the passenger side.
As part of all this, I was wondering why there wasn’t any type of shielding protecting the filler hose. Well, based on what I saw on the driver’s side, there was, before the blowout.
On the blowout side, all that’s left of the shield is this twisted angle bracket.
Here’s what it was supposed to look like, pre-blowout.
There is a heavy mud flap hanging down from the bracket, reinforced by a vertical piece of angle iron. So it looks like all that got ripped away, leaving only the bent bracket.
Lowell sent over a photo of the backyard slide they got for Landon. He enjoyed the ones they rented for his birthdays, so they got a great deal on this one by buying during the wintertime.
May 11, 2016
It’s Not Measles . . .
Jan and I were on the road down to the Clear Lake area by 9am this morning, with our first stop in Pasadena to take a look at a client’s wireless printer problem.
The trip should have taken about an hour and 15 minutes, so I allowed an hour 30.
Not enough, apparently.
There was a tractor-trailer on fire on I-45 S which meant our 1:15 trip took 2 hours. But as bad as that was, it wasn’t the worse thing about the trip.
That was when we were stuck in traffic. and the guy in the truck to our left opened his door and threw up all over the road right in front of us . . . over and over, again and again. But finally, still gagging a little, we got to the client’s house.
When I was there for another problem a month or so ago, I was surprised at how slow their DSL internet was. Speedtest said it was 0.15 Mbps. Not 1.5 Mbps, like a decent 3G signal, but one tenth of that.
He said he had checked with the phone company and they said that was within the limits of the service they promised. So I told him to check with his cable company. So when I got there today, he was gushing about how fast everything was now. And Speedtest said he was getting about 10 Mbps, over 66 times faster than before. No wonder he was gushing.
But this speedup was the cause of the problem that I was there to fix. When the old WiFi network was replaced by the new one, his wireless printing setup disappeared too.
Checking the Epson Workforce 520 printer upstairs, I found the printer’s WiFi wasn’t even turned on, much less set up. But after about 10 minutes I had it up and running. Then it was just a matter of configuring each of their 3 computers. The only real problem was getting one printer through the McAfee firewall on that one, but that was it.
Then it was on down to Webster to meet our son Chris at King Food, pretty much our all-time favorite Chinese place. Jan and I both had our usual Chicken with Hot Garlic Sauce and Jalapenos, XXXXXX spicy.
And we all had enough to have leftovers. Great!
Then it was on to another client down in League City to pick up laptop that needed fixing. Next it was back up to Friendswood for a truck wash at our favorite place, Ocean Express. I don’t know what they use for a wax, but the Dakota comes out looking shiny as new.
After that it was across the parking lot to drop off our winter quilt at the cleaners. We have two quilts for our bed, a heavier winter one, and a lighter summer one. We used the heavy one this winter, so now we’ll clean it and stow it away with the kids, until this winter when we’ll swap them back, then cleaning the summer one.
Next up was haircut stuff. After dropping Jan off at the SuperCuts, I headed back to Lou’s Barber Shop. Lou’s been cutting my hair for almost 25 years. And he knows exactly like I want it. I think that it’s because after all these years, he has a complete set of my haircut records.
We next stopped at the Kroger’s for gas, and Chris’ to drop off Piper’s repaired laptop and pick up our mail. And after a Starbuck’s stop for Cinnamon Dolce Lattes, we were on the way back to Lake Conroe.
And this time, with our Garmin GPS showing a 50 minute slowdown, and the SigAlert App showing a big accident at Beltway 8, we slipped over to the Hardy Toll Rd. for a straight shot north at 65mph.
Coming into the park, I ask the ranger about yesterday’s power outage. He said it wasn’t the park’s problem, but the electric company was repairing something down the road a bit..
On another note, this is not my thigh with measles. This is why Miss Karma is getting de-clawed as soon as we get her spayed.
One of her favorite things to do is to ‘climb’ my leg to get up so she can snuggle on my shoulder. And when I say ‘climb’, I mean it’s like how telephone lineman climb poles with the spikes on their boots.
As far as the spaying goes, I called this morning checking vets in this area to see how much it was going to cost. One place wouldn’t even give me an estimate without bringing her in, and the second one said about $300.
I told Jan that at those prices I just might do it myself. Of course I spent two summers in high school working for a vet. So I’ve assisted on hundreds of these operations, and could probably still do one. I mean a steak knife makes a good scalpel, right?
Anyway, at lunch, our son Chris told us about the Animal Alliance down in La Marque, TX, that will do it for $55. So Miss Karma has an appointment for May 26th, about two weeks away.
It can’t come soon enough.
May 11, 2017
Signs of the Times . . .
Jan was still nursing a migraine today, which was why we didn’t do Wal-Mart yesterday after the movie and Red Robin. So we just stayed around the rig today, especially since it was rainy and cold, with the temps barely inching into the 50’s before quickly falling back into the 40’s, heading to the low 30’s, maybe 20’s tonight.
Our snow for tonight has gone away, but is still a possibility for tomorrow night.
A few days ago, on our way into Bend, we drove through our favorite weigh station to be sure it’s still in operation.
When we were first here in 2011 we noticed this weigh station never seemed to be open, and in fact, we’ve never seen it manned. Though occasionally there will be a truck parked there.
But although it’s never open, the electronic scale is always active.and will give you your rig’s weight as you drive though. But unlike the CAT scales, it’s not full length. So you have to drive onto the scale one set of wheels at a time, front wheels and then the rear ones. If you aren’t towing, you could then back up and pull through again, weighing only the right wheels. Thus giving you the rig’s side to side weight.
And unlike the CAT scales, it’s free. Our kind of deal.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, while we were in Las Vegas, I upgraded from our decade-old 3G AirCard to a 4G MiFi. And being much faster, we can now consistently stream programs from the internet. We often could on our 3G card also, but it was really hit or miss, depending on signal quality.
But now we’ve been able to catch on some missing episodes of our favorite TV programs. For example, we were big fans of Rizzoli and Isles and were sorry to see it go off the air. But we had never watched the final episode, though we had recorded it and still had it on the DVR.
But somehow we missed recording the 2nd to last episode. maybe due to bad weather, I don’t remember. But the other night we streamed the missing episode and then watch the final one. It was nice to not have to work around commercials, and the video was rock steady with nary a glitch. Nice.
I did nail down one more reservation this afternoon, this one for the Billings Trailer Village RV Park, in, where else, Billings, MT. We stayed here in March 2008 while we were visiting a friend while on our way to Alaska.
And then we stayed here again on our way back. And both times we got snowed in.
Here’s the park in March.
And here we are in October.
You’d think after all this we wouldn’t keep going back, but we’ve stayed there a number of times since then, even though our friend no longer lives there.
On the subject of Alaska, our friends Chris and Charles Yust are on their way up to the 49th state and recently posted this from Watson Lake, BC, the home of the Sign Post Forest.
Here’s what we saw in April 2008
Although we didn’t leave a sign, Jan has a sign out there somewhere from 1958 when her family drove from Orlando, FL to Fairbanks when her father was transferred to then-Ladd AFB.
But since the snow was several feet deep in places, we didn’t go looking for it.
Wrapping up, I’ve seen several posts on Facebook from RV’ers wondering what to do about the condensation on the windows and other surfaces in their RV during the winter. They said all the windows were dripping, and in some cases, even the cabinets.
We too had this problem when we first started RV’ing, especially in the bedroom. Jan would put out several containers of DampRid trying to control the problem with not much success. If you’ve got everything sealed up tight, the moisture from cooking, washing, showering, and even breathing lingers and condenses out on every cool surface, windows and outside walls. But finally we discovered the secret.
Leave one or both of your vent fans partially or fully open without the fan running. Yes, you will lose some heat, but you will also lose the moisture. Since we started doing this years ago, no more condensation problems.
About tomorrow, we’ll see.
May 11, 2018
Walking Away . . .
Since we had a lot to do today, we started early, well, 10am is early for us, first heading over to Denny’s for breakfast.
It’s been a good while since we’ve eaten at a Denny’s, probably late last year up in Conroe. It’s always pretty good, but for some reason it seems we usually end up at IHOP.
Jan got an Veggie Omelet with fruit, and a English muffin,
while I got two eggs over easy, bacon, grits, and an English muffin.
One thing about today’s visit was how good the coffee was. Bold, smooth, but not burnt or bitter. Almost as good as mine.
Guess that’s why I had three cups.
Next we headed down to Dickinson and the Extra Space Storage location to sign up for our storeroom. And that’s when things started to fall apart.
When I called the office the other day, I got routed to corporate headquarters in Salt Lake. And I was assured by ‘Jean’ that they did not require insurance on the contents if we rented a unit.
But when the clerk started to process the paperwork, I was informed that they required me to have $3000 of insurance on my contents at a cost of $16.50 per month. This with unit rent on $23 per month. A 70% increase.
When I told her that I had been told by corporate that I didn’t have to purchase insurance, I was told that she had worked for Extra Space for 7 years, and corporate was wrong, and that every unit had to have insurance, no exceptions ever.
So I said I needed to check this out again and we left. And when I called corporate again, this time ‘Amber’ told me that yes they did require insurance, but that the manager could waive it.
At this point, Jan suggested that I call Challenger Storage up in Webster, where we previously had a storage unit, and see what they had. And as it turned out, they did have a 5 x 5 unit available for only $20 per month, no insurance, and no setup fee. The only possible downside was that it was not climate controlled. But we didn’t really see that as a problem.
So we were heading up to Webster and Challenger, when Jan, noting that ESS was a lot closer, suggested that I give them another call. So I did and told them that I just wanted to let them know that I had found another unit that didn’t require insurance, and that I wouldn’t be needing theirs.
With that, things suddenly changed. Apparently now, exceptions could be made. Turns out that she was ‘just getting ready to call me’ to tell me that they suddenly could rent me a space without insurance.
So a few minutes later we were at ESS doing the paperwork. And the first thing I noticed was that a place that always requires insurance, no exceptions, actually had a form in the computer for the customer refusing insurance.
I wonder how they got that typed in so fast.
Sometimes it pays to be willing to walk away.
Our storeroom is about what you’d think, four walls and a concrete floor. While we were there we dropped off a few things like our winter heaters and some other stuff.
Our next stop was WalMart to buy some storage bins and a padlock for the door. So coming home we stopped back off at ESS to put the lock on the door and found it wouldn’t fit. I got a really heavy Master lock with a long shackle. But between t he length and the thickness of the shackle it wouldn’t fit into the slide lock. So it’s back to WalMart tomorrow.
Hope someone doesn’t steal our three heaters overnight.
May 11, 2021
Well, I Tried . . .
Well, it’s another Tuesday, so it’s another lunch/errand day. That being so, we left the rig a little before 1pm for another great meal at Gator’s Bar & Grill over in Dickinson.
We decided to start off with what Margie, the owner, says is their most popular appetizer, the Pickled Asparagus Fries.
Our verdict was that they were good, but not really order-again good. Maybe because neither of us are really asparagus fans. But if we had to eat it, this is probably the best way.
Love Jan’s cat shirt in the background.
We liked the appetizer we had on our first visit much better. The Pretzel Bites with Stroh Beer Cheese.
This time we both had Blackened Chicken Breast with Roasted Broccoli and Sweet Potato Waffle Fries.
Really good, as has been all of our meals here.
Well, I tried.
Our next stop was one that I had been putting off for a while, picking up a new Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G phone from the local Verizon store. I had made an appointment for 2pm today, and their website said they had the 256GB version in stock.
And they lied!
Turns out that they only had the 128GB one on hand. Actually I would have liked to have the 512 version, since these new ones don’t have a microSD slot. And I would have been willing to wait for them to order one, but it seems that Verizon doesn’t even carry these.
And I even had to order the 256GB one, which is supposed to ship on or before May 25th. But this did give me time to order a new Otterbox case and screen protector for it, which should be here tomorrow.
I’ve used Otterbox cases for my last 3 phones and they seem to be pretty indestructible.
And the reason I’ve been putting off getting a new phone is that it’s such a PITA to get them all set up. Yes, Verizon will copy over all my contacts, etc., but all the apps will have to be reinstalled and configured. The only redeeming thing is that will force me to cull the apps I don’t really use anymore, and only reinstall the others as I find I need them.
But it’s still a PITA.
Our next stop was at the Kohl’s right across the parking lot to drop off a bag of broken flamingo cup pieces. The young lady thought it was really funny when I jiggled the bag after she scanned QR code on the Amazon return email and wanted to know why I was sending it back.
Even Jan enjoyed the return, because the Amazon return receipt also had a 25% Off coupon for the things that Jan found in Kohl’s while I was doing the return.
Then, after a WalMart stop for a few things, we dropped some things off at our storeroom, and then finished up the day with a stop at Cowboy Coffee for Cold, Blended, Sugar-Free Hazelnut Lattes with Almond Milk and Sugar-Free Whipped Cream.
And as I’m writing this I’m thinking about Niles ordering his morning coffee at Café Nervosa.
Wrapping up, today we were supposed to be arriving in Fairbanks, AK for a week there before we started our 15 day Holland America Land-Sea Cruise next week. Since we spent 5 months up there in 2008, we wanted to have some time to explore our old haunts before we hooked up with the more-regimented cruise schedule.
Maybe next year.
May 11, 2022
Wrapping Up Ramses II . . .
Back to yesterday’s Ramses the Great exhibit.
This is a representation of Ramses tomb.
A funeral container
A mural from the wall of a temple dedicated to Ramses.
A couple of the many jewelry exhibits.
Some of the many statues and icons found in the tombs.
These are golden artifacts used to dress a royal mummy before burial
A sharp-dressed man.
A couple of gold burial masks.
These are canopic jars, used to store the organs of a mummy after they’re removed from the body during mummification.
Wooden Sarcophaguses
and the mummies that go in them.
And this is the actual mummy of Ramses II, now displayed in a museum in Cairo, Egypt.
And this is a 3D reconstruction of what he might have looked like near his death.
And it seems that according to examination of the mummy and DNA analysis, Ramses was actually a redhead.
Who knew?
A large part of the exhibit’s excellence was due to the ambience from lighting and the furnishings.
And this is Merenptah, the 50+ year old grandson of Ramses, who became Pharaoh when Ramses died at about 90-91 years of age.
Finishing up, it’s not a real museum exhibit if it doesn’t exit through a gift shop.
And Jan came home with two fuzzy camel pens and a small blue hippo.
We both really enjoyed this exhibit, much more then the Pompeii one we also saw recently.
Well recommended.
Tomorrow we meeting long-time friends Ed and Debi Hurlburt up at the Longhorn Steakhouse in Spring. Looking forward to it.
They Always Come Back . . .
Today at work, I installed 2-1/2 Rove DashCams, like this one, in my client’s vehicles,
a 2002 Ford F-150, a 2018 Nissan Altima, with the 1/2 being in his 1995 Ford Thunderbird.
My client wanted me to install dashcams in 3 of his vehicles, so I picked one like this that I’ve used for the last few years.
The 1/2 install on his Thunderbird was due to the fact that the vehicle does not shut off with the engine, but stays on all the time. So I had to order a kit to power the Rove from the fuse box rather than the power plug. But it will have to wait until we get back from vacation.
Jan and I have noticed as we’ve been driving past Walk-On’s, the new sports bar up in Webster, how busy it always is. But Twin Peaks, just a little further north, seems just as busy as always. And when I mentioned this to Sylvia, our regular TP server, she said that they really hadn’t noticed any slowdown.
But she said some of the TP servers had left and gone to work at Walk-On’s. She said, “They’ll be back”.
“They always come back.”
Guess the grass (or money) isn’t always greener at the new place.
Tomorrow we’re meeting our long-time RV friends, Debi and Ed, at the Outback Steakhouse up in the The Woodlands area. It’s been a while since we’ve been to Outback so we’re really looking forward to it.
And Debi and Ed.
Thought For The Day:
Sometimes late at night I go out and dig a big hole in the backyard just to scare the neighbors.
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 time on our European Viking River Cruise today in 2019.
May 10, 2019
Scenic Cruising The Rhine . . .
05/10/2019
We had been sailing all night from Wertheim Am Main heading to Koblenz along the last part of our Main River voyage.
And, by last part, at a little after 9:30, we passed under the Kostheimer Brücke bridge
and hung a right onto the downstream flow of the Rhine River.
This part, known as the Middle Rhine, has probably more castles, churches, and palaces per mile than anywhere else, supposedly over 25,000 of them.
Starting with the Biebrich Palace,
and another church to be named later.
Or at least I didn’t get the name of this one, as well as a few others.
The Rhine along this part of the river is very fast flowing, so there are these breakwaters all along the way to protect the banks from being eroded away.
Next is the Binger Maus Tower, or Mouse Tower.
These small ones along the river’s edge were actually Toll Stations where passing ships would stop to pay the toll to the local lords. Armed guards were usually stationed here, often with a chain across the river to block the way until the toll was paid. This one dates from the 1300’s.
The Burg Eltz Castle
A Gothic church, complete with what looks like a Gothic garage.
And this rambling castle apparently comes with its own RV Park.
Another unnamed castle, but very picturesque.
What looks like a castle on the hill above this Gothic church is actually the town’s water tower, built to look like a castle.
I guess kind of like those cellphone towers that look like trees.
This one’s pretty much in ruins.
And this castle has a town, vineyards, a church, and an RV Park.
This is the famous Pfalz Island Toll Castle, complete with cannon ports for those pesky toll evaders.
Gutenfels Castle, which as the sign says, is now a hotel.
Schonburg Castle
Another Castle/Church Combo.
Another Toll Tower.
This photo shows the extent they will go to use every bit of arable land possible, even on steep hillsides.
Famed Lorelei Rock, where legend has it that a water nymph/mermaid would sing pretty songs and lure sailors onto the rocks in the narrowed passage.
And of course, the obligatory statue of said water nymph/mermaid on an island in the river.
This is Rheinfels Castle, now partially restored.
And another Maus (Mouse) Castle, this one near Wellmich.
Finally coming in to Koblenz, we passed the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, and the funicular that takes tourists across the river to it.
Dinner tonight was special, with A Taste Of Germany theme.
Besides the usual menu, there was a separate one of German specialties.
All really good.
And this time we had our waiter, Nikolai,
get a group photo of everyone, yes, even me this time.
Next up is Cologne, with only a couple more days on our cruise after that.
The Viking Skirnir
May 10, 2009
Mother’s Day & Other ‘Stuff’…
Today was one of those lay-around days.
Took Jan to Applebee’s for Mother’s Day lunch and then stopped off at WalMart to pick up some ‘stuff’.
On that note, have you notice how it seems we never have enough ‘stuff’. No matter how much ‘stuff’ we buy, a week or so later, we have to buy more ‘stuff’.
What I can’t figure out is where all the ‘stuff’ we do buy keeps going. It’s there one minute, and then I turn around and it’s gone.
The only thing I can figure out is that it turns into dryer lint. I mean, think about it.
With as much dryer lint as you pull out of the filter every time you dry clothes, it can’t all come ‘from’ your clothes. Soon you wouldn’t have any clothes left. They would have all unraveled into dryer lint.
And it can’t come from something ‘on’ your clothes, because you just washed them, right. They’re clean!
So the answer is that ‘stuff’ has a life expectancy of about a week.
After that it dissolves into dryer lint.
And I think it’s a conspiracy headed up by ‘Big Stuff’ to keep us all buying more ‘stuff’.
I mean, has a week ever passed that you didn’t need more ‘stuff’?
If ‘Big Stuff’ made better quality ‘stuff’ that lasted longer, we wouldn’t have this problem. Instead they sell us this inferior ‘stuff’ with ‘built-in planned obsolescence’, probably made in ‘stuff’ shops overseas…
Where was I? Oh yeah.
After WalMart, we got the toad washed and then went to a Carvel Ice Cream place right next door. I remembered them from years ago, but didn’t realize they were still around. I tried one of their iced coffees and it really good.
After we got home I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up the solar screens for the windshield and the front side and door windows.
We’re parked heading due west and the afternoon sun hitting that big windshield really let’s in the heat. So much so, that the AC units run continuously all afternoon trying to keep up.
This solar screen fabric is supposed to keep out 90% of the heat so we’ll see how it works.
And to think, this time last year we were being snowed on in Fairbanks.
The STS-125 Shuttle launch is still on for tomorrow afternoon so we’re still planning to head up to Cape Kennedy early tomorrow morning, probably about 6am.
Will let you know how it goes…
May 10, 2010
The Rock…
This morning we left about 9 am headed for prison…
Alcatraz, that is.
By 10 am we were parked at a parking lot right across the street from Pier 33 on The Embarcadero, the street that runs along San Francisco’s waterfront
We were suppose to be in line to board our ferry at 10:30 am and I thought I had allowed plenty of time, but I didn’t count on it taking 20 minutes to pay for our parking.
This was one of those parking lots where your parking spot had a number and you go to an automated machine, enter you spot number, and feed machine cash or a credit card. The problem was that many of the people trying to pay were foreign tourists who apparently didn’t read English very well. And they were having a lot of trouble with the machine. So there was a long line at the machine.
Luckily, since we were right across the street from the dock, we had time for a quick bathroom break before picking up our tickets and getting in line.
While waiting in line, we could see Coit Tower up the hill behind us. This was neat because we just saw Coit Tower in the closing episode of Amazing Race on Sunday night, where the contestants had to climb the side of the tower to get their next clue.
Our ferry, the Alcatraz Clipper left the dock about 11 am, right on time and headed toward Alcatraz Island, about 2 miles away.
Off to our left we could see the Golden Gate Bridge that we had crossed earlier emerging from the fog.
And then Alcatraz itself started to become visible.
The “Indians Welcome” sign is left over from the Indian occupation of Alcatraz in 1969.
The first thing we noticed was all the lush vegetation around. Lots and lots of flowers, shrubs, and ground covers.
We made the quarter-mile, 130 foot vertical climb up to the cellhouse and began our audio tour using headphones, narrated by former guards and inmates.
Here’s the shower room for the inmates. Guess you couldn’t be too shy.
The three levels of cells.
And here’s a typical cell. 5 feet wide by 9 feet deep by 7 feet high.
And here’s Jan being locked away in one of the high-security detention cells.
The gouges and holes in the floor were made by grenades dropped into the cell blocks by the US Marines during a botched escape attempt in 1946.
Looking back at downtown San Francisco from The Rock.
One of the actual cells that the three inmates used spoons to tunnel thru the concrete and disappear from Alcatraz in 1962. They were never found, nor were their bodies. The FBI concluded they had drowned, but other inmates and guards who were there at the time think they all escaped to South America, since they had all been studying Spanish via correspondence course.
That’s the hole underneath the sink.
After watching a very good 20 minute film on the history of Alcatraz Island.
The island became Fort Alcatraz in 1858 and remained under direct Army control until 1907 when it officially became an Army prison.
In 1933 the Army closed their prison facilities and transferred the island to the newly-formed Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Then it 1934 it reopened as America’s highest security prison. Over the years, it was home to many famous inmates, like Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelley, Alvin Karpis, and Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz.
On March 21, 1963, Alcatraz was officially closed, and the remaining inmates transferred to other Federal prisons.
We caught the 1:35 pm ferry back to the dock and headed for the car.
Then we headed over to Joe’s Cable Car Diner. We had seen this place on Diner’s, Drive-ins, and Dives and wanted to check it out.
They mainly serve hamburgers, or as they say, “Ground Steak Burgers”. And talk about fresh ground! They grind your burger from fresh chuck as you order it.
And Joe, the owner, is adamant about his burgers. He was sitting at the next table when got our orders, and when he saw Jan start to put mustard on her burger, he said, loudly, “No, No, No. You must taste it first. Don’t put anything on it before you taste it”
Jan and both agreed this was absolutely the best burger we have ever eaten, bar none.
As we were leaving the restaurant about 3:45 pm, Jan talked to our daughter Brandi as we headed back to the rig.
Getting home about 5 pm, we settled in.
Tomorrow we’re going to take a DUCK Tour of San Francisco, ride the cable cars, and eat at Fisherman’s Wharf.
Another busy day.
May 10, 2012
Well, that was fun!
First off, thanks to everyone who contacted us, concerned about our safety in today’s storm. We’re fine. A little damp, but fine.
Last night (Wed.) was nice, and it was still nice when Jan took over the gate at 7am. But the thunder, lightning, and rain woke me up about 11, and it only got worse as the day rolled on.
By the time I took the gate back over at 2pm, it was just coming down in sheets.
And then the hail started. And kept on coming down, mostly marbled-size, but I did see some larger chunks. By this time the wind had really picked up and was pretty much blowing sideways under the canopy.
Then about 3:15, Jim Streeter, the Company Main (the overall boss of the rig site) pulled up in his truck and told us to take shelter in the Toolpusher’s trailer with the rest of the crew. Apparently a tornado had been reported in the area, so they shut the rig down and got everyone in the trailer.
These trailers are solid metal, very heavy, and have no windows. Probably the safest place on the rig site.
Jan said, “Yeah, until the rig falls on us.” That’s my Jan, always looking on the bright side of things. And of course, as we’re leaving the RV, I had to tell Jan, “No, you can’t take the cats!”
They finally let us loose after about 45 minutes and we came back to this.
Our canopy had partially collapsed from the weight of the water pooling in the cover. I was able to somewhat repair it, but it’s never going to quite fold up the same any more.
Then a few minutes later, we got the final “all clear” signal.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rainbow this low before. And the other funny thing is that, after taking this picture and getting ready to take another. the rainbow just disappeared like you flicked a switch, and not faded away like most do.
Earlier in the day, I was talking to the Company Man and he said they expect to finish up here sometime around Wednesday of next week, and that he expects us to move with them. But I don’t know what our company wants us to do. I’ll check with them on Saturday when I go over to pick up the mail.
The rig is moving about 45 miles west of here to just south of Charlotte, TX, which is about 15 miles from our favorite Wal-Mart in Pleasanton, TX, so that would be nice.
As usual, we see how it goes.
May 10, 2013
Oatman and the Mother Road . . .
Jan and I headed out a little after 8 for our daytrip down to Oatman, AZ, about 120 miles away. But our first stop was at Jack in the Box for a couple of Supreme Croissants to go with the coffee we brought from home.
Heading down US93 the first thing we encountered was a line of vintage cars caravanning down to Kingman.
The ubiquitous 1957 Chevy
Here’s one you don’t see very often. A 1963 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk. A friend’s parents had one.
Another unusual one. A Studebaker truck
A 1950 Chevrolet
Ford ??. At least I think it’s a Ford.
Another Ford
And another Ford.
Getting into Kingman, we made a potty stop at a TA truck stop before heading about 4 miles west on I-40 and exiting onto what is the longest surviving section of Route 66.
It starts out pretty straight and smooth, but them quickly starts climbing up into the mountains.
Jan got excited when she saw this sign
But we still had a way to go to get to Oatman.
A curvy, twisty way.
This sharp hairpin turn had the only railing we saw along the way. And based on the small cross memorial at the edge, the railing is probably a good idea.
That is one twisty road.
A couple of miles outside of Oatman we came past the Gold Road Mine. This is a shot from up above.
Gold Road was actually once a town. The area built up in the very early 1900’s after gold was discovered in the surrounding hills Gold production peaked in 1906 and then tailed off as the vein played out.
But the town held on until 1942 when the miners moved on to other areas to mine more strategic metals for the war effort. Then a few years later the town was razed to save on taxes.
Then in 1992 a new company bought the mine and started up production again. But then in 1998 the gold price collapsed and mining was shut down once again.
For several years the mine company offered very popular gold mine tours, before starting up production again in 2007 and shutting down the tours.
With the high price of gold right now, the mine is very busy and very profitable. We counted about 30 cars in the parking lot and the place was surrounded by a tall chain-link fence topped by razor wire. Not taking any chances, I guess.
One thing I found interesting is that the mining company is making a lot of easy money just reprocessing the leftover tailings from the original mining effort. They don’t even have to dig it out of the ground
Modern extraction methods are so much more efficient now that they are getting more gold out of the old tailings than was gotten out originally.
Right past the mine area we saw where this car had gone off the road above and crashing into the rocks below.
Don’t know if it was driven, or pushed.
Finally driving into beautiful downtown Oatman, we parked at the far end and walked back into town. And quickly saw our first indication that burros were near.
The town is only a few blocks long, but jam-packed with small stores and shops.
And lot’s and lot’s of burros. Lot’s of burros.
They’re everywhere. Which certainly made Jan happy.
Jan brought a bag of baby carrots to feed the burros, but a store clerk said they were trying to discourage the feeding of carrots because they have a lot of sugar, and too many are bad for the burros. Of course this may have just been a reason to sell us $1 bags of alfalfa pellets to feed them instead.
A little later while Jan was feeding some females, a big male came up behind her and tried to grab the bag containing the carrots. So for a little bit, you had this tug-of-war with the two of them fighting over the bag. Which promptly tore and spilled carrots and alfalfa pellets out on the ground.
Then it was a scramble to get it all picked up before it all got eaten.
Sometimes you just need a little shade.
Even the stores get into the fun.
About noon we decided to have lunch at the Olive Oatman restaurant. We got was a very good meal, simple but good.
Jan had grilled chicken sandwich, and I had a very good cheeseburger.
But the dessert we shared was the real kicker. An order of Peach Fry Bread with Ice Cream.
Fry Bread is really, really good. Trust me.
After lunch Jan was back to feeding the burros.
But maybe she should have paid a little more attention to these signs posted all over town.
She was feeding two burros, when another one came up, and apparently impatient and not wanting to wait his turn, tried to take a chunk out of Jan’s hand. Didn’t break the skin, but she said it did smart.
Walking back to our truck I saw this sign on the rear window of a parked truck.
So these are Mormon’s who don’t like dogs?
Near the parking lot we saw this baby burro taking a nap, just pooped, I guess.
It reminded me of this photo of Landon dressed in his giraffe costume and too pooped to Trick-or-Treat any more.
Oatman was named after Olive Oatman, an Illinois girl who was kidnapped by Indians in 1851 and lived with them until she was released in 1855, near present day Oatman.
Another interesting fact is that Clark Gable and Carol Lombard honeymooned here in March 1939 after getting married in Kingman, AZ. In fact you can stay in the Gable/Lombard honeymoon suite at the Oatman Hotel to this day.
We headed home about 1:30, taking a different route and heading west on over to hook up with US95 south of Bullhead City and Laughlin, and then on north back to Las Vegas.
Getting back about 4pm we first stopped off at Boulder Station Casino to swipe our Boarding Pass cards for the weekend drawings, and to get Starbuck’s Cinnamon Dolce Lattes before we finally headed home.
We decided not to do the Hoover Dam Bridge Walkway today and will try to catch it another day.
May 10, 2014
Stage 0 . . .
Jan and I were up earlier than usual because we still didn’t have power. Which is why there was no blog last night. I was going to post a quick note, but found I couldn’t get any data service on my phone or AirCard. I don’t think it had anything to do with the power outage because that turned out to be local to the park. But I figure it was probably storm-related somehow. I could still make a phone call, just nothing with data.
Since we were up so early Jan and I decided to got out for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel right down the road. As we were leaving our area of the park, we saw where the power company was working to clear the downed trees that took out the power lines.
The Cracker Barrel was really busy, with a lot of large family groups waiting for tables, but we got seated in less that 10 minutes.
Jan had her usual Wild Maine Blueberry Pancakes with a side of ‘burnt’ bacon (that’s the way she likes it.), while I tried their new Smothered Steak and Eggs. That turned out to be a 5oz. Top Sirloin covered with Swiss Cheese, Grilled Onions, and Grilled Fresh Mushrooms. And they did it right, too.
Many places, when serving a small steak like this, cut it as a large, thin piece so it looks bigger. But Cracker Barrel cuts it as a 1 inch thick piece, which means you can order it medium-rare and actually get a tender, juicy piece of steak. Really, really good.
Before we came home we went by the nearby Sam’s Club to drop off Jan’s new Tamoxifen prescription to pick up later this afternoon.
We got back to the park about 11:30 to find we still didn’t have power, but about 11:55 it came back on and stayed on. Yah!
Our daughter-in-law Linda posted this pic of Chris and Piper working on a father-daughter project,
a stand-up paddle board kind of like this one.
A little after 4pm Jan and I headed back out for dinner and shopping. Our first stop was at Culver’s for a couple of their delicious ButterBurgers and Fries. Then it was on back to Sam’s Club for a few things, plus Jan’s prescription, and then Wal-Mart for a lot more things, before heading home about 6:30.
Tomorrow we finally really hit the road for this year, making a 200 mile trip up to Waskom, TX, just over the border from Shreveport. By Saturday we’ll finally be up in Elkhart, and catch up with everyone.
Now to recap yesterday.
Jan and I left the park about 9:30 heading down south to the Clear Lake area. The main reason was for Jan’s wrap-up visit to the oncologist. But like Wednesday, our first stop was at the Flying J at exit 64 for gas, breakfast scones, and cappuccinos for the road.
Jan’s appointment wasn’t until 3pm so I made a couple of client visits, wrapping things up until we’re back in the area later this year.
Next we went by the PO to drop off the Chinese visas to my great-nieces for their China trip later this summer.
Then it was on to Jan’s oncologist appointment. Her doctor first assured her that her breast cancer had been completely removed, and should not return. It was listed as a Stage 0 cancer, the least invasive and the most treatable form of breast cancer. So she will not need chemo or radiation, but she will need closer observation and diagnostic mammograms every year instead of the regular ones.
She was also was advised to take either tamoxifen or anastrozole for the next 5 to 7 years. The choice of which was up to us.
Let’s see. Anastrozole is $264 for 3 months and tamoxifen is $24 for 3 months.
So what to do, what to do, what to do.
Finishing up at the oncologist’s, we now headed up to the Katy to meet up with our daughter Brandi and her family. Along the way, the radio came on with a storm warming for the Montgomery County area. Which is where our RV is parked at the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails.
But looking at the radar, the storm pretty much covered the entire Houston area, including Katy. And by the time we got there it was pouring down. But our meal at Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro more than made up for the bad weather, with the usual wonderful food.
Landon watches movies on Brandi’s iPhone while he has mini-corndogs. He doesn’t know what he’s missing.
Finally we got our goodbye hugs and headed back up to Lake Conroe. By this time the storm had dissipated down to just light sprinkles.
But when we got to the park we found that the park power had been off since the storm came through about 5pm.
And stayed off until 11:55 the next morning.
May 10, 2015
Steak and Bread . . .
Early this morning, as a Mother’s Day tribute, I posted this photo of my mother taken during WWII.
She was a Captain in the Army Nurse Corp, and was Chief of Nursing at West Point Military Academy in 1945. In August she and her nurses were ordered to report to New Orleans to ship out to the Pacific for the final attack on the islands of Japan. My mother was held back for a few days because she had the flu, but her nurses were already on the train heading south, with her soon to follow.
Then Little Boy and Fat Man were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. At that point, the trains turned around, and the war was over.
I forgot to mention yesterday that when Phyllis and Dick showed up, they brought food, always appreciated. Delicious Cinnamon Bread that Phyllis baked. Really good with our morning coffee.
Thanks, Phyllis.
For Mother’s Day this morning I took Jan to Texas Roadhouse, one of our favorite steak places. And today was not a disappointment.
Figuring they would be pretty busy, I thought if we got there about 15 minutes before they were suppose to open at 11am, we would get in fairly quickly when they opened. As it turned, they had opened at 10:30, and we were just about the first people to be seated and served.
After starting with really good salads, Jan got a 8oz. Filet, while I went with my usual 16oz. Ribeye.
This was a very good steak, tender, juicy, with nice charred edges. One of my best Texas Roadhouse steaks. And in fact, we both had steak left over, so that with some of their rolls, we had nice steak sandwiches for supper.
We apparently timed our arrival perfectly. because by 11:15, when we were well into our steaks, the place was full and there was a wait.
Later in the afternoon, I remove the switches from the pedestal next to the door to take a look at the shredded wiring. What I found was the wires had been yanked off the switches and pulled down in the hole.leading to the wheel well.
The blowout actually pulled the pins and wires out of the Molex plug on the back on the Intellitec Battery Disconnect panel. You can also see how the spade connectors on the light switches are bent down from the force for the pull.
Next I took apart the pedestal to see what was what.
Then a little before sundown, so I could see underneath the rig easier, I crawled under to get a better look at the damage.
By crawling underneath I could see the entire fill tube had been completely ripped out. The gold item is the fuel cap.
And above you can see in the photo above where it was torn out behind the filler door.
This steel brace was ripped out and bent, showing the force of the blowout.
After giving Affinity a week to show some progress, I going to start my own search for parts and info. Between American Coach, Spartan, and Colaw’s RV Salvage, hopefully I can get a handle on things.
We’ll see.
May 10, 2016
Not Our Fault . . .
The power went off all on its own.
First up this morning, right after coffee and cereal, I got back on getting Win7 installed on our granddaughter’s HP laptop after I replaced her dead hard drive.
Once I got the HD replaced, it only took about 15 minutes to have Win7 installed and running, using this Win7 USB Installer.
I bought it on Amazon last December for just this kind of situation. It covers all the many different versions of Win7, including 32 bit and 64 bit. Note that it is not a FREE copy of Win7, since you must have a Product Key to make it work. So it’s perfect for this when you’re just replacing the OS.
Unfortunately it’s not available on Amazon right now since the seller is moving his business from FL to CA, so if you want one, keep checking back.
But as smooth as the OS installation went, it quickly ground to a halt after that.
In the past with other manufacturers, I can go online to their website, enter the product number, or the serial number, and it will tell me exactly what drivers I need to download and install. Or they may offer an option to scan your computer and tell you what you need.
But apparently HP doesn’t do it this way. When I followed their instructions and entered the Product Number, I got a list of 48 possible drivers, without a clue as to which ones I actually needed.
But the first thing I wanted to do was to get the laptop online, so after futzing through three different drivers, I finally found the one that got me there.
But about this time it all came to a halt. A little after 3:30 the park shore power went off. So was this Deja vu all over again after last week’s power problems at Colorado River?
Well, no. The power was off all over the park. But it did come back on in about 10 minutes, so no real problem . . .then.
Back on the driver hunt, I found that, unlike other manufacturers, HP doesn’t seem to have any way to discern the correct drivers for a particular HP computer. This was reinforced the fact that that there are a couple of utilities that you can download and they’ll tell you what drivers you need and then download and install them for you. But . . .
after they scan your computer and tell you they have identified the specific drivers you need, they then want anywhere from $30 to $40 to actually download and install them.
So cheap as I am, I started slogging thru the list, trying each one until after about 2 hours I had them all done,with no errors showing in Device Manager.
But I wasn’t done yet. Now I had to get Win10 installed. And surprisingly it went very smoothly. I used a bootable USB stick that I had created from a download from the Microsoft website, and had no problems
Just as I started this, the park power went off . . . again. And this time it was off for over an hour. But since the laptop had a full charge, I just let it keep going.
And about 45 minutes later, Win10 was up and running. So after installing AVG Free virus protection, and LibreOffice, I was done.
Tomorrow Jan and I will head for the Clear Lake area, to return the laptop to Miss Piper. But along the way we’ve got scheduled two clients, lunch with our son Chris, haircuts for both Jan and I, a car wash, and a stop at the dry cleaners.
And probably a couple of other things I’ve forgotten.
May 10, 2017
Clams, not Chicken . . .
With last night’s forecasted 40°, I said that we’re normally 3-5° lower out here in the countryside, so I was looking for 35° or so.
Well, it went down to 29° last night here at the park, but then was up to 79° today, sunny and breezy. But tomorrow is looking for 56/31 and rainy.
But then there’s this on Friday night.
Notice the little snowflakes falling from the cloud. And since they’re showing 29° here in Sunriver, I figure low 20’s based on past performance.
After a slow morning, we headed out about 12:15 up to Bend to see “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol 2.” We had decided to see it in IMAX 3D, but were shocked by the Sticker Shock. Senior tickets were $32.50 for the two of us!
WOW!
And I won’t even mention $14 for a medium popcorn and medium drink.
One thing that was different this time was that we had to pick our seats at the box office. They had a monitor facing us with open seats in blue and taken ones in black. Then your seat numbers are printed on your tickets. But it really wasn’t needed on a Wednesday afternoon since there wasn’t more than a dozen people in the theater.
But we both really enjoyed the movie. The story was great, with a lot of action, pretty much non-stop. It answered a lot of questions about Star Lord’s background, and also why he was kidnapped from Earth as a child. And of course, any movie with both Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell in it has to be great.
There a couple of glitches in the showing early on. In the first 5 minutes of the movie, it kept popping in and out of 3D, but finally settled down. But the other thing was kind of curious. As the trailers played before the movie started, every other one had no video, just audio. But what was curious was how they were being shown, at least to me.
BTW they’re still called ‘trailers’, even though we see them as previews, because years ago they were originally shown at the end of the film, not the beginning. Kind of like people still talk about ‘filming’ or ‘taping’ something, when everything is pretty much all digital these days.
Back in the good old days at a TV station, besides the video tape recorders (VTR’s), you had 16mm film projectors and 35mm slide projections, sometimes more than one of each, all pointing into a film chain box and outputting into a TV camera.
Inside this box is a set of mirrors that allow the director to switch between slides and film, usually for commercial breaks. Although back in the early 70’s, we would show afternoon TV shows like Green Acres, F Troop, Petticoat Junction, and others, all on 16mm film.
OK, probably (certainly?) more than you wanted to know.
Now as far as I knew, most films at most theaters these days are on digital video, not actual film. So that’s why I was surprised to see the mirror flopping back and forth between each preview (You can see it too if you know what to look for) And the reason every other preview was black, with just audio, was that the bulb in that projector was bad.
But that shouldn’t have happened either, since even back in the 70’s the film and slide projectors all had backup bulbs that switched over automatically when the first one burned out. The only time you would have a dead bulb on-air is if the main bulb died, the unit switched to a good one, someone didn’t replace the dead bulb, and then the new one died.
And as far as on-air mistakes, it’s a little after midnight right now, and I was watching a Law & Order from 2007. First off, although it was scheduled to start right at midnight, it actually started early at 11:55pm. Then about 12:05am it suddenly switched over to about 5 minutes of Conan, before finally switching back to Law & Order.
Even stranger, Conan is shown on TBS, and not on TNT. So I figure someone at DirecTV hit the wrong switch. So it looks like they used the 5 minutes of Conan to make up for the early start, so the program would end at the correct time. Of course that’s not as bad as years ago when a broadcast engineer hit the wrong switch.
Back then local cable companies showed old movies on one of their channels. Late one night while the engineer was showing the movie, he was watching a porno on the other projector. Coming back from a commercial break, he mistakenly punched up the porno rather than the movie, putting it out on the air. And it was about 30 minutes before he realized his mistake.
The story goes, that the next day no one called in to complain, but six viewers did call in wanting to know when it was going to be shown again.
Leaving the theater and walking across the parking lot, we had dinner once again at Red Robin. Jan did a repeat, with a cup of clam chowder and a Mushroom Cheddar Burger, just like our last visit.
And unlike the Clam Chowder she recently had at The Sparrow Bakery, where she was pretty sure she got the Creamy Chicken instead, this cup had actual clams in it.
I tried something different this time, although I did start out with a cup of chili just like before.
But rather than my usual Burnin’ Love burger, I got the Smoke and Pepper Burger, with a half pound of Angus Beef, Black Pepper Smoked Bacon, Extra Sharp Cheddar, and thin sliced dills, with made-in-house Smoke & Pepper Ketchup, all on a toasted ciabatta bun.
Good, but not near as flavorful as the Burnin’ Love, so I guess I’ll go back to it next time.
Tomorrow, maybe another movie. We’ll see.
May 10, 2018
Well, That’s Better . . .
My main job at work today was to get a Wyze camera set up to monitor the parking lot and send an alert if anyone comes onto the property.
About a week ago we had some vandalism on several cars that were parked in the lot overnight.
So we ordered one of the new Wyze Version 2 cameras to install on the front of the office.
Here’s what the picture looks like on SD (Standard Definition).
It looks even better in HD but of course the frame rate slows down.
And here’s what it looks like at night with the only light the ones you see in the distance.
The software lets us draw a box around the area where we want to detect motion. That way we won’t pick up cars going by on the street. And since we’re not worried about vandals in the daytime, I can also set the motion detection to only turn on between certain hours, like in our case, between 8pm and 8am. Pretty neat.
I also got one for the rig when we’re gone. And besides keeping an eye on Karma, it can also be set to pick up smoke alarm sounds and CO alarm sounds. Again, neat.
My new project box came in today and it looks like it’s going to be perfect for my remote dump valves setup
I already mounted the two phone jacks on the cover and then I’ll stick the controllers inside using double-stick tape. I’m also going to install a couple of DPDI switches and a couple of push buttons. That will let me control the system manually from the bay.
Looks like I’ll be able to get power for the system from the water pump circuit right in the water bay. Of course that means that I’ll have to turn the pump on to dump, but that’s not a problem.
This morning I posted a question concerning the Deluxe Screw Assortment asking if they sold empty trays.
“Greg, We do not sell empty trays yet, but we are always open to suggestions from customers. I will discuss this request with our development team.
Steve – VP of Customer Happiness Jackson Palmer”
You’ve got to love a company that has a VP of Customer Happiness.
May 10, 2019
Scenic Cruising The Rhine . . .
05/10/2019
We had been sailing all night from Wertheim Am Main heading to Koblenz along the last part of our Main River voyage.
And, by last part, at a little after 9:30, we passed under the Kostheimer Brücke bridge
and hung a right onto the downstream flow of the Rhine River.
This part, known as the Middle Rhine, has probably more castles, churches, and palaces per mile than anywhere else, supposedly over 25,000 of them.
Starting with the Biebrich Palace,
and another church to be named later.
Or at least I didn’t get the name of this one, as well as a few others.
The Rhine along this part of the river is very fast flowing, so there are these breakwaters all along the way to protect the banks from being eroded away.
Next is the Binger Maus Tower, or Mouse Tower.
These small ones along the river’s edge were actually Toll Stations where passing ships would stop to pay the toll to the local lords. Armed guards were usually stationed here, often with a chain across the river to block the way until the toll was paid. This one dates from the 1300’s.
The Burg Eltz Castle
A Gothic church, complete with what looks like a Gothic garage.
And this rambling castle apparently comes with its own RV Park.
Another unnamed castle, but very picturesque.
What looks like a castle on the hill above this Gothic church is actually the town’s water tower, built to look like a castle.
I guess kind of like those cellphone towers that look like trees.
This one’s pretty much in ruins.
And this castle has a town, vineyards, a church, and an RV Park.
This is the famous Pfalz Island Toll Castle, complete with cannon ports for those pesky toll evaders.
Gutenfels Castle, which as the sign says, is now a hotel.
Schonburg Castle
Another Castle/Church Combo.
Another Toll Tower.
This photo shows the extent they will go to use every bit of arable land possible, even on steep hillsides.
Famed Lorelei Rock, where legend has it that a water nymph/mermaid would sing pretty songs and lure sailors onto the rocks in the narrowed passage.
And of course, the obligatory statue of said water nymph/mermaid on an island in the river.
This is Rheinfels Castle, now partially restored.
And another Maus (Mouse) Castle, this one near Wellmich.
Finally coming in to Koblenz, we passed the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, and the funicular that takes tourist across the river to it.
Dinner tonight was special, with A Taste Of Germany theme.
Besides the usual menu, there was a separate one of German specialties.
All really good.
And this time we had our waiter, Nikolai,
get a group photo of everyone, yes, even me this time.
Next up is Cologne, with only a couple more days on our cruise after that.
The Viking Skirnir
May 10, 2020
Flyover
As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, we had planned to watch the Lone Star VE Day Flyover this afternoon. And by looking at the map it looked to be coming just west of Baybrook Mall west of I-45 on Bay Area Blvd. So the idea was to get up there about 2pm, get a couple of 4 piece Box Combos from Raising Cane’s, and park out in the open area west of the mall to eat our meal and wait for the 30 plane formation to fly over about 45 minutes later.
But it was not to be. And I’m not really sure what happened.
About the time scheduled for the flyover in our area, I saw two of what I think were AT-6 trainers followed by the B-25 fly overhead, but they were coming from the wrong direction and looked to be heading straight back to Ellington, rather than heading down to Dickinson like they were supposed to.
So I started looking around for the other 25+ planes and I finally found them flying much further south and much higher than the scheduled 2000 ft.,, and there was only 10 of them. So what happened to the rest of the planes, and the route I don’t know.
But the chicken fingers were really, really good.
May 10, 2021
Carts and Cups . . .
SpaceX seems to be on a roll with their Starlink launches with 3 in the last 10 days for a total of a 180 new birds. And two of them set new records, with one Falcon 9 successfully used 9 times, and the other one a total of 10 times.
And of course, the more birds up there, the quicker we’ll get our Starlink Internet service.
Jan and I were really surprised at how busy Galveston was yesterday. Jam-packed, bumper to bumper people and cars, and hardly a mask in sight. And the beach was just as busy as the streets.
It also didn’t help that it seems like Galveston Island has legalized golf carts on the streets now. Rather than just the pedal-powered surreys that people would rent to drive up and down the Seawall and on the sidewalks, now they can rent the carts and go zipping in and out of traffic, crossing from the street to the sidewalk and then back again.
No lights, no turn signals, just the big orange “Slow Vehicle” triangle on the rear. Certainly made driving along the Seawall a lot more interesting.
Jan and I started more detailed plotting of our upcoming Illinois/Alabama trip. We plan on leaving here on Monday, June 7th, with our first night’s stay in the Jackson, MS area, about 470 miles along.
Then the next night, we’ll be at Jan’s sister, Debbie’s for the next 5 days, before heading back toward Houston by way of Alabama, seeing a number of relatives and old friends along the way.
We’ll be gone almost two weeks, not getting home until June 20th. So now it’s time to start booking hotels along the way. I need to get this done pretty quickly since we’ve got a very busy couple of weeks coming up.
This Friday we’ve got our monthly Alvin Opry visit, with next Tuesday and Thursday get-togethers with old RV friends. And of course our son Chris’ birthday is next week too.
So busy, busy, busy.
Well, Amazon finally got it right today, but I’m not really sure how.
As I mentioned before, after receiving the first two flamingo cups for Jan that I ordered from Facebook like this.
I found the same ones on Amazon and figured they would do a better job, but I was only half right. In fact they weren’t packed as well as the FB ones, but amazingly, only one was broken this time.
I asked them to send me another one, and to pack it better this time. Well, it seems their idea of packing it better was just to put it into a Larger paper shipping bag. No bubble-wrap, no padding. Just the flimsy box with the cup inside.
So I was really surprised when I shook the bag when the Prime guy dropped it off, and it didn’t rattle. So now Jan finally has her set of two flamingo cups.
May 10, 2022
Ramses The Great . . .
Jan and I were on our way into Houston by about 10:30 this morning, first heading to Katz’s Deli up in the Montrose area for lunch. Katz’s is kind of our go-to place when we’re up in this area. Well, Katz’s Deli and Cleburne Cafeteria, I guess.
We got there right on schedule about 11:30 and had a great meal, as usual.
Jan got the Open Face Tuna Melt,
with a side of Sweet Potato Fries.
While I got my usual Rueben, the Klassic size, which is the medium one, with the Skinny being the smallest, and the New York being the largest.
This is the New York one.
Glad I didn’t get that one.
And in fact I kind of wish I had gotten the Skinny size one, because I was really full afterwards, and I knew we couldn’t bring home leftovers since we were going to the museum next.
For my side I got an order of their Homemade chips.
Not only are they made in house, but they’re cooked to order and come out warm.
Delicious!
Then after that great meal, we drove about 5 miles south to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to the Ramses the Great exhibit. Because of the padding I built into our schedule, we had about 20 minutes to kill before our 1:30 tickets, but better a little early than late.
The first thing we did was the 15 minute VR presentation done in these motion pods.
Not only do you have a VR headset on, but the pods turn, recline, and shake as part of the presentation, though Jan had them turn her motion off due to her tendency to motion sickness. But she enjoyed it too.
Next up was a 15 minute movie presentation about Ramses and his reign. He died at the age of 90, so old that when he died he had already outlived all of his children, so one of his grandson’s, Merenptah, became Pharaoh, and he was in his mid-50’s.
After that we began the tour through the hundred’s of exhibits.
It’s amazing what the dry sands of Egypt can preserve for 3000 years.
Here’s part of a wooden bow and an animal skin quiver.
And here’s a piece of cloth found in a tomb wrapped around a sarcophagus.
That’s about all for today. I’ve got a lot more, so I’ll finish up tomorrow.
