Monthly Archives: May 2023
Last Day In Almost Paradise . . .
After breakfast at the motel, we headed over to Claudia’s at about 11am prepping for another day of fun, frolic, and good food.
On the way we admired all the flowers that line every corner of the town, including hanging baskets. Really nice.
Getting there I first had to redo the repair to the garbage disposal. The connection into the bottom of the disposal is apparently kind of iffy, but I think I’ve got it tied off to keep it working.
On our way down to Gulf Shore, we made a stop at the Book Exchange used book store in Foley to pick up a copy of Foley At 100,
a book detailing the 100+ year history of Foley, AL one of the areas where I grew up down here. It mentions a lot of people I knew, some of whom I had forgotten until I read their names again.
Then it was on down to DeSoto’s Seafood Kitchen right off the beach. We been eating here for years, and consider it one of our trifecta of great restaurants in this area, along with Lambert’s and Lulu’s.
We all three got the same Fried Seafood Platter, differing only with the sides. Just as delicious as always before.
Jan also saw this picture of an Octopus that see really liked and wanted me to get a photo of.
Finishing up we drove over to the beach side to sit out for a while.
A lot different weather than a couple of years ago.
Finishing up, here’s the two beautiful ladies that have kept me busy the last few days.
Tomorrow we start back toward Houston with a layover in Baton Rouge tomorrow night. Then on home to Santa Fe Saturday night.
Thought for the Day:
It would amaze people from the 1960s if you were to say, “In my hand I am holding a device about the size of a deck of cards that has access to the sum total knowledge of all humanity from the beginning of time. I use it to argue with strangers, tell people when and where I am going to the restroom and look at short movies of cute cats.”
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 25, 2019
Hampton’s Court . . .
Today, along with our visit to the Tower of London, was the highlight of Jan’s visit to London. And mine, too, I guess.
We Ubered out to Hampton Court Palace, Henry VIII’s home away from home, and were dropped off right at the front of the long walk up to the entrance.
And we had to start out with the obligatory selfie of Jan and I.
Strangely enough, until this Europe trip, I had never actually taken a selfie.
After walking across the inner courtyard, we entered the main building and quickly found ourselves in the Great Hall
and its beautiful stained glass windows.
Ironically Anne Boleyn is credited with helping Henry designed the Hall, his favorite place in the Palace. Though it didn’t seem to help her later in life.
Every room had another amazing, beautiful feature.
And when you’re the King, you have your own Chocolate Room where the Royal sweets were prepared.
We even had a personal audience with the King himself, as he regaled us with tales of life in his court.
And then we came to my favorite part, the room where Henry and my relative, Catherine (Katherine, Kateryn, take you pick) Parr were married.
And she was very pretty, even by today’s standards.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m descended from the Parr family and Sir Thomas Parr, Catherine’s father. My grandmother, Sarah Jane Parr, was born in England and was directly descended from Sir Thomas. And since he was a direct descendant of Edward III, we’re actually related to royalty, too.
She and Henry never had any children, so nothing from that line.
Hampton Court Palace was a great end to our London visit since tomorrow we head back home to Houston.
May 25, 2009
Sangria & Roast Pork…
Today Jan and I spent most of the day around the coach just reading and watching TV
The park we’re in is nice, but does have a power problem. They only have 30 amp power available here and this means that we can’t run both A/C’ units at the same time. Luckily the frequent rain is keeping things fairly cool.
We went out for lunch at Deli Inn again and did a little shopping, while trying to dodge all the rain storms passing thru.
About 5pm we went over to our friend’s Charlee and Bill house for supper. She made a delicious shredded roast pork and vegetables and lots of Sangria.
Great food and Good Friends. It can’t be beat.
May 25, 2010
A Beautiful Day in Montana…
Today was really pretty uneventful. We left Blackwell Island RV Park in Coeur d’Alene about 9:45 heading for Garrison, MT about 240 miles away.
A little over an hour later we entered Montana and the Mountain Time Zone, so 11 am became 12 noon.
About 12:15 we stopped at a rest area for a quick snack lunch, and while we were there, Jan started a crock-pot meal of her world-famous chicken spaghetti. She then puts the crock-pot in the sink to keep it in place. It plugs in just like normal, since the coach inverter gives us AC power on the road. And it really started to smell good as we drove.
Just as on our trip to Alaska two years ago, the scenery between Coeur d’Alene and here is really fantastic. The hills start out heavily forested, and gradually thinned out to these sparsely-vegetated rolling hills.
And as you can see, the weather was fantastic too.
The biggest thing we’ve noticed since leaving the coast is the much cooler nighttime temperatures. It’s been in the mid 30’s almost every night. Last night here in Garrison it was 31 degrees with rain/snow showers.
And as you’ll see below there’s still a lot of snow on the mountain tops.
Even today, although it was very sunny, I don’t think it made 60 degrees.
We arrived at here at Riverfront RV Park about 4 pm and started setting up. About 5pm Jan added the spaghetti to the crock-pot and turned it on high to cook.
Our daughter Brandi called about then to talk about her upcoming wedding on June 21st. Then about 5:15 our daughter-in-law Linda called to chat about Brandi’s bridal shower this weekend.
And the scenery here at the park is pretty good, too. Here’s the view out our front window. Note the snow.
Here’s our site here,
And here’s Mister on the prowl. Note the leash.
We just let him drag it around. After all, the park rules just say “All pets must be on a leash.” Nothing says I have to be holding it.
About 7:30 about a half dozen magpies showed up out in front of our rig. The last time we saw magpies was two years ago in Dawson Creek, BC, Canada, on our way to Alaska. These are really beautiful birds.
Tomorrow we head for Billings, MT for one night, and then on to Gillette, WY for the American Coach Rally.
May 25, 2012
Mister Cool . . .
First off, more congrats are in order to our granddaughter Piper. She just received her C. N. A. (Certified Nursing Assistant) certification, specializing, I believe, in Phlebotomy.
In other words, she really likes to stick it to people.
She’ll be starting on a four year scholarship at the University of Houston – Downtown in the Fall, working toward her degree as a Nurse Practitioner.
All this and she hasn’t even graduated from high school yet.
Next Thursday, tho.
Well, my cooling mister experiment turned out to be real success, but not quite like I intended. The kit I bought at Tractor Supply came with 50 feet of line and 10 misters, as well as the necessary connectors.
I had planned to run the hose around the bottom edge of our canopy like they show on the box. But things were pretty busy on the gate, and while I was thinking about how I wanted to hang the hose, I decided to just hook up one mister on the end of the hose (so I could cut it off with no problems if I didn’t like where it was).
After noticing how fine the mist coming from the nozzle was, I stuck it behind our fan and twist-tied it in place.
Turning the fan on and placing it about 5 feet away, the difference was almost instantaneous. I could feel the moisture hitting my face, but I wasn’t getting wet. And it was suddenly much, much cooler where I was sitting.
After enjoying the cool breeze for a few minutes, I hung my thermometer in front of the fan to see what it would register. The thermometer said 100 degrees (it had been kind of in the sun. I think it was about 95 degrees) and I wanted to see exactly how much difference it made.
Within about 30 seconds the display started falling. 99, 98, 97 . . . And in about 5 minutes it was down to 80 degrees, which explains why it felt so comfortable now. And the 20 degree drop is just what the box said it would give.
After thinking things over, I decided this solution was perfect for what we needed. Most of the time there’s just one of us out here, so why cool the whole area. And it’s certainly a lot simpler. The fan motor is completely sealed so a little moisture is not going to hurt it. And this will save on water usage too. Since ours has to be trucked in, that was a concern.
We’ll see how it works tomorrow for the whole day. It’s not supposed to be quite as hot as today, only about 91, but it will still be a good test.
More later.
Last night while working the gate about 10pm, Jan saw a large black snake slithering across the road about 25 feet away. It had come from behind our rig and was heading for the woods across the road.
The wind was very strong, and Jan said the snake was being blown sideways as it moved so it had to keep adjusting its course, kind of like a sailboat tacking into the wind.
A few minutes later a truck was leaving the site and Jan had to walk over to that side of the road to check him out. She had her flashlight out and was frantically searching the roadside for snake signs as the truck came to a stop behind her.
What she didn’t realize was that the guy had gotten out of his truck to see what she was looking at. When his hand touched her shoulder, she let out a loud scream.
And then he let out a loud scream.
By that time I think if the snake was still anywhere near by, he was headed for the deep woods.
On another critter note, I took this picture of a two inch long brown scorpion, right before he unfortunately passed away. Services to be announced at a later date.
May 25, 2013
Duck, Duck, No Goose . . .
The park really got busy today. Although we don’t have any neighbors on either side, we’re pretty much surrounded now. What’s interesting are all the tent campers here in the park. There are groups with 10-15 tents all clustered together in a circle. Since it’s still going down to the low 30’s every night, I hope they’ve got good sleeping bags.
About 1:30 Jan and I headed down to Heavenly Village for an afternoon of fun and frolic.
Well, fun and a boat ride. Well, fun and a boat/car ride.
Heavenly Village is an area that’s still in California, but bumps right up against Nevada and the 4 casinos here. It’s claim to fame is the fact that this is where you catch the gondola ride up to the ski areas on the other side of the mountain.
Our daughter Brandi reminded us that she was out here staying at Heavenly Village on a ski trip a number of years ago.
We thought about riding up the top and looking around, but then found out it’s $38 . . . each! for the round-trip. Nah, ain’t gonna happen.
Heavenly Village is also a very nice shopping / dining area with a couple of high-end hotels thrown in for good measure.
And of course the other thing Heavenly Village is known for is that it’s the starting point for the Tahoe Duck Tours, which is the main reason we’re here this afternoon.
As we walked around, checking out the shops, the first place Jan saw was Sock City. Turns out to be a place that only sells socks. Who’d a thunk it? Well, they also sell knitted gloves and hats, too.
Jan did buy several pairs of very colorful socks that she really liked.
The next thing we came across was a really neat car show there on the grounds.
A 1932 Ford.
A 1937 Chevy Truck
A 1970 Mustang Mach I
A very nice 1932 Chevy.
A 1965 Austin Healey 3000. I used to have a lot fun shutting these down in my souped-up 1965 Triumph Spitfire. Surprised a lot of guys.
Here’s a 1979 Corvette. Love that Blower (Supercharger)
And a beautiful 1947 Chevy Stylemaster.
About 2:45 we queued up for our Duck Tour. Our Duck was built in 1945 and can travel 55mph on the highway and 8 knots in the water. We’ve taken Duck rides in Philadelphia, Washington D.C, San Francisco, and Seattle. We tried to take one in Boston, but they were sold out the rest of the day.
Our driver was Captain Donnie, a South Lake Tahoe native.
After we drove around South Lake Tahoe for a while, with our Captain pointing out the best of the local shops and restaurants, then it was time to get wet.
We drove over to the Tahoe Marina and right down the ramp and into the drink.
Lake Tahoe was formed millions of years ago when a now-extinct volcano (Mount Pluto) erupted and blocked off what was then a deep canyon. At over 1600 feet, it is the 2nd deepest lake in North American. Only Crater Lake is deeper.
The lake has been reshaped several times during past ice ages, and in fact, there are several areas where you can find ancient trees, 90 feet tall and 30 feet in diameter, 150 feet below the surface.
As we got out into the lake, the captain pointed the high-end lakeside homes. By ‘high-end’, we’re talking $10 million and up. The ‘poorer’ section is down at the other end. Those only go for about $1 million. Wish I was poor like that.
This is the Safari Rose. Built in 1959 as a corporate yacht for IBM, its later claim to fame is that it was the very first ship to offer Alaskan cruises, before any of the big cruise lines started sailing up there.
And this is a very unique boat. In fact it’s the only one in the world.
It’s the Tahoe Flyer, the world’s only fully U.S. Coast Guard Certified Hot Air Balloon Launch and Recovery vessel.
After launching from the boat, the balloon ascends to around 8,000 – 10,000 feet, giving you views all the way over to Yosemite when the weather is clear. And then when you come back down after about an hour aloft, the Tahoe Flyer is waiting right there underneath you.
After about 30 minutes out on the lake we came back ashore and drove around the area some more before finishing up back at Heavenly Village.
By the time we finished up it was after 4:30 so we decided to have dinner at Applebee’s once again since it was only about a block away.
It was almost 6 by the time we got back to the rig, and the park was even busier.
Tomorrow, maybe a movie. We’ll see.
May 25, 2014
Slip Slidin’ Away . . .
Once again we walked this morning, bumping it up a little further in distance. The weather was perfect and it was good to see how full the park is with all the holiday weekend visitors. And still no shouting, no fights, or no gunshots. It’s all good.
Getting back from our walk, we sat outside with our coffee until we lost the shade. Then it just got too hot.
About 2 pm we all headed over to Mishawaka for shopping and dinner. Our first stop was the Sam’s Club for a few things for Jan. While I was there, it was time to renew my membership, and this time I decided to upgrade to a Plus membership. It costs an additional $55, from $45 to $100, but it will pay for itself in about 3 months on prescription savings. I recently found out that besides Wal-Mart’s (Sam’s) $4 prescription list, there is a second additional list for Plus Card members.
In this case, Jan’s Lipitor generic is normally $90 for 3 months. But if you have the Plus membership, it is $11.87 a month or $35. 61 for 3 months, a savings of $54.39. Which pretty much pays for the $55 a year extra cost. The other 9 months are just gravy. Check it out.
Leaving Sam’s, we drove over to the nearby Bargain Books, a used book store that we’ve visited before, and always enjoy. They have great selection and pretty good prices.
Finally our hunger drove us right down the road to the new Golden Corral. At least new to us. It wasn’t here last year.
This new one is much bigger than other Golden Corral’s we’ve seen, with a much bigger parking lot. We could have easily parked our rigs there.
The place was pretty busy, but we only had to wait in line about 5 minutes to get in. But the best thing was that the food was really, really good. Everything was hot and fresh, and kept well stocked. We all left very full.
In fact, so full, I think everyone took a nap when we got home. I know I did.
Lowell posted these shots of Landon and his friend Ruthie enjoying their SlipNSlide in the backyard. Looks like fun.
As far as I know we don’t have anything planned for tomorrow, but you never know.
May 25, 2015
A Lost Afternoon . . .
Saturday, 5/23
Jan’s sister Debbie and her husband Jim picked us up at our motel about 9am, and we all headed down to the Denny’s to meet up with the rest of the clan.
After another great meal we all piled into 3 cars and headed into St. Louis for an afternoon at Grant’s Farm in St. Louis. But it did not work out that way.
Grant’s Farm was the home of Ulysses S Grant, where he lived from 1854 until the beginning of the Civil War, and farmed and raised cattle. In fact, Grant’s home is still preserved here. At some point it was bought by the Busch family of Anheuser-Busch fame who opened it to the public as wildlife reserve/petting zoo in 1954. They even have Clydesdales.
So it sounded like a really neat place. But apparently it sounded that way to everyone else in St. Louis, because it seems like they all converge on the place on Saturday morning.
After an hours drive from Vandalia to St. Louise, it took us over another hour backed up on the main highway to finally turn into the park, and another 30 minutes to get to the entrance.
After that long wait, everyone needed to use the bathroom, and by ‘everyone’, I mean everyone in the park, and we found the potty lines were over an hour long. After suffering through that, we found the line to actually walk into the park was another hour.
And by then the park would close in about 90 minutes.
At this point we decided to call it a day. We had dinner reservations for 5pm, and wanted to be sure we could get over to St. Charles, MO by that time.
Leaving the park we saw at least part of the reason for the bottleneck. To walk into the park itself you have to cross the entrance road where everyone is still trying to enter in their vehicles.
So they stop the traffic let people cross and then stop the people to let the traffic come in. And as we left the cars were still trying to come in.
* * * * *
It’s now almost 11pm Monday night and we want to be on the road by 6am for our 2 day 1500+ mile trip back to Prescott, AZ tomorrow. So I’ll finish the rest of this later.
May 25, 2016
We’re Rich!
Now we just have to figure out what to buy with it. A new rig, maybe?
Our son Chris brought our mail up to Brandi’s this past Sunday and last night I finally got a chance to go through it all. And here’s what I found.
A check as a settlement on a lawsuit. And a lawsuit that I didn’t know I was involved in. A check for a whole 16 cents!
What’s even funnier about this is that it says it’s a sales tax settlement refund for overcharges on an AT&T Mobility Data Plan. But we’ve never had an AT&T Data Plan, or even an AT&T phone of any kind. We’ve always been with Verizon.
So I don’t know now. I guess we should split our largesse with the kids. It’ll be their inheritance.
After monitoring my Progressive 50 amp EMS (Electrical Management System) a lot more closely the last two days, I’ve got a good idea what the problem is. At first I was thinking I maybe had a bad or floating ground, But watching the L-1 and L-2 voltages on the Progressive display told me different.
The two voltages go in opposite directions under load. When L-1 is showing 105 volts, L-2 might be showing 128 volts. Way too wide a spread. And just inside the Hi/Lo cutoffs of the Progressive EMS.
And even with both AC’s off, and nothing else on except the TV/Sat and the computer, we were only seeing about 111 – 113 volts, way too low. Last week at Lake Conroe we were seeing 120 to 122 volts at the same time of day.
To protect the rig, the Progressive will cut off power to the rig if the voltage goes over 130 volts or below 103 volts. And it doesn’t have to be on both L-1 and L-2, but either one of them. So when one voltage is at 104 and the other one is running at 128, a momentary change on either end can cause the EMS to drop out. So now I’ve got a good handle on what’s happening, but what’s actually causing the problem?
I said earlier that at first I thought it might be an floating ground. But seeing the opposite voltage swings says a open or high resistance neutral. And because it’s happened at two different sites in this ring, I suspect it might be located at the main panel or thereabouts.
So now it’s up to Jeff, the park electrical guy, to follow up on this. As far as us, Jan says we’re never parking in this area again. It’s too much drama.
Wrapping up, I wanted to pass on a recipe for this delicious salad our daughter-in-law Linda brought to our son Chris’ birthday bash held at our daughter Brandi’s this year. Jan like it so much she asked for the recipe. Turns out to be from an old Kroger’s ad. Quick and Easy, and really Good.
Strawberry – Orange Tropical Salad
May 25, 2017
Another 70 Years?
Jan and I were out the door by 11am, heading south to Hill City and the 1880 Train ride about an hour away..
We had allowed plenty of time because if you miss your train, you’re out of luck. No refunds. So since I bought our tickets yesterday online, all I had to do was pick them up at the train station, and then wait.
The locomotive came backing into the station pulling the train behind it. Which meant at the other end of the route, Keystone, they didn’t have a wye or a turntable, but used a runaround track to move the locomotive to the other end of the train for the trip back to Hill City
The engine uncoupled from the far end of the cars, coming back to the other end to take on water at the tower before coupling to the new head of the train for the next run.
The trip to Keystone at the other end of the track, and near Mt. Rushmore, takes about an hour to travel the 10 miles, so you do the math. A speedster it’s not.
The enclosed cars are immaculate, unlike some trains we’ve been on. Really nice, with comfortable padded seats.
Getting to Keystone, they brought the engine out onto the runaround track for a little servicing and some more water.
Then they coupled it to the other end of the train, which is how it ends up running in reverse coming back into Hill City.
So while we were the first car behind the engine on the outbound run, we were bringing up the rear coming home.
We arrived back in Hill City about 3:30, which was the final run for the day. Then after hitting the gift shop for a couple of things, we had some time to kill before dinner.
So while we were waiting for the Alpine Inn to open at 5, we decided to make the 10 mile drive down to the Crazy Horse monument. We were interested to see if they had made any noticeable progress since we last visited in 2008.
And the answer is . . .
2008 Visit
2017 Visit
So the answer is NO!
The only thing really different is that they’ve cleared the rubble along the side so you can now see the full outline of where the horse’s head is going to be.
Since they started working on it in 1948, 70 years ago, I figure it’s going to be at least another 70 years before they finish.
Here’s what it’s supposed to look like when it’s finished.
I think I would be worried that the pointing finger will break off under its own weight, as well as the arm itself. Maybe that’s why they’re going so slow.
If something falls off, they’re screwed. Doubt they can glue it back on.
Getting back into Hill City and the Alpine Inn a little before 5pm, we found we didn’t want to eat there tonight. We had come for their well-recommended German cuisine, but it turns out that they only serve that on the lunch menu.
The dinner menu is prix fixe, with only two items on the menu – a bacon-wrapped filet, and a German noodle dish. Neither of which we wanted. We’ll catch them for lunch another time.
Checking Yelp, we chose Desperados, a place right down the street.
Turns out it’s housed in the oldest hand-hewn log building in South Dakota. Built in 1885 as saloon and hotel, it’s also been a newspaper office, a fix-it shop, a fly-tying shop, a book and gun shop, a stained glass shop, and a bunch of other things. In fact it’s been continuously occupied since it was built.
Quite a record.
And now as a restaurant, it was still great.
Jan had the Chicken Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes and sautéed green beans,
while I had the Chicken Fried Steak with mashed potatoes and sautéed green beans..
Yes, it’s the same photo, since they both looked exactly the same.
This was a great meal. The breading on the meat was really good, as was the gravy. Just perfect.
And while we were at the restaurant I saw this photo on the wall, showing the face of Crazy Horse from the outstretched arm.
Looks a lot better this way. And I guess they must have an elevator of some sort to get all those people up there.
Coming back home by another route, we passed Mt. Rushmore but really couldn’t see it due to the sun being in our eyes. We’ll be coming back here after the holiday is over.
Back in Rapid City, we made a quick Safeway stop for a few things, as well as Starbuck’s Cinnamon Dolce Latte’s for the road, finally getting home about 7:30.
I’ll flesh out some more of today’s adventure in tomorrow’s blog.
O,h, and Sheldon will be happy to know that the train cars used the Janney coupler, and not the original link-and-pin coupler or the Miller hook & platform.
May 25, 2018
I Hate Updates . . .
Especially Microsoft Windows 10 Updates
With the holiday weekend coming up I thought today was going to be quiet enough that I could get back to work on moving the website from the local server up to GoDaddy servers.
But it didn’t work out that way. Not at all. I spent the day fighting the latest Microsoft Windows 10 update, also known as the Spring Creators Update, or Build 1803.
I noticed on Monday that the Shipping Department computer had updated over the weekend, but everything seemed to be working OK, so I didn’t look further. But when I came in this morning I had a note telling me that they weren’t able to print out the daily end-of-day shipping reports from UPS and USPS on Monday or Tuesday. These print to the printer in the Office Manager’s office, so it looked to be a network problem
And the problem was that the Shipping computer was no longer on the office network. In fact it couldn’t even see the network, and none of the other computers could see it.
So first up, I went to check out the HomeGroup settings, which is the way the office network is set up., and the way it was set up when I took over the system last year. And I immediately saw the problem.
There was no more HomeGroup. In fact the HomeGroup entry wasn’t even listed in the Control Panel. It was just gone.
And a little Googling explained that Microsoft, in their ‘infinite wisdom’ (do you detect the sarcasm there?) had decided to just eliminate the HomeGroup option. Which, of course, left thousands of networks dead in the water.
There were a bunch of fixes posted online, none of which worked for me. So I tried to back to the old-school method of setting up a workgroup, and then configuring permissions on all three machines, something I’ve probably done hundreds of times before.
But this time it didn’t work, at least not on the Shipping computer. No matter what I tried, nothing worked. So finally having wasted most of the day fighting this, I bit the bullet, and using the Recovery mode function, I uninstalled Build 1803, and dropped back to the previous version, Build 1703.
And after about an hour, the computer rebooted, and now I had the HomeGroup back. Then with a few minutes of configuration, I had the network back and everything worked.
The problem was fixed, but I wasted a day on it.
I’ll lock down the machine to keep it from updating for a while, until it looks like MS has a fix available. Could be a while.
Looks like I’ve got a 4 day weekend coming up. With the office closed on Monday for Memorial Day, I don’t go back to work until Wednesday. But I’ve got plenty of website stuff here at home to keep me busy, along with taking more stuff over to the storage room.
May 25, 2019
Hampton’s Court . . .
Today, along with our visit to the Tower of London, was the highlight of Jan’s visit to London. And mine, too, I guess.
We Ubered out to Hampton Court Palace, Henry VIII’s home away from home, and were dropped off right at the front of the long walk up to the entrance.
And we had to start out with the obligatory selfie of Jan and I.
Strangely enough, until this Europe trip, I had never actually taken a selfie.
After walking across the inner courtyard, we entered the main building and quickly found ourselves in the Great Hall
and its beautiful stained glass windows.
Ironically Anne Boleyn is credited with helping Henry designed the Hall, his favorite place in the Palace. Though it didn’t seem to help her later in life.
Every room had another amazing, beautiful feature.
And when you’re the King, you have your own Chocolate Room where the Royal sweets were prepared.
We even had a personal audience with the King himself, as he regaled us with tales of life in his court.
And then we came to my favorite part, the room where Henry and my relative, Catherine (Katherine, Kateryn, take you pick) Parr were married.
And she was very pretty, even by today’s standards.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m descended from the Parr family and Sir Thomas Parr, Catherine’s father. My grandmother, Sarah Jane Parr, was born in England and was directly descended from Sir Thomas. And since he was a direct descendant of Edward III, we’re actually related to royalty, too.
She and Henry never had any children, so nothing from that line.
Hampton Court Palace was a great end to our London visit since tomorrow we head back home to Houston.
May 25, 2020
Happy Memorial Day . . .
First off I want to thank all the Veterans out there for their service. You’re what makes this country great.
As I’ve mentioned before, my mother was a Captain in the Army Nurse Corp. and was Chief of Nursing at West Point. Both of the photos were made there.
Her nurses were on a troop train to New Orleans in late July 1945 to board a hospital ship for the invasion of the Japanese mainland, with my mother a few days behind because she had the flu. But they were all turned around enroute due to the dropping of the Atomic Bomb. So it’s very possible that I’m only here due to the Bomb being dropped.
My mother even has her own exhibit in the Veteran’s Museum in Athens, Al. And yes, that’s her original uniform.
My father, yes, that’s me in 195 or so when I was 2, was a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy and spent the entire war in the Shore Patrol at the Naval Pier in Chicago. He tried several times to get shipboard duty but was always turned down.
But he always said that he figured he did his part, since he said no Japs ever made it past Chicago.
Jan’s father, as well one of my uncles, participated in the D-day Landing, and later at the Battle of the Bulge. Then after getting out of the Army and going to college, Jan’s father reenlisted in the Air Force and retired in 1966 as a Senior Master Sergeant.
Hopefully, their service, as well as all veterans everywhere, will never be forgotten.
Jan and I did our part in local restaurant resurrection today with lunch at our local BBQ favorite, Rudy’s. Since you line up to get waited on at the counter I was curious to see how they handle that. But they just had spots on the floor every six feet.
Jan had a Loaded Stuffed Baked Potato with Brisket and one of my ribs.
I had Pork Ribs, a Jalapeno Sausage Link, and a cup of their Green Chile Stew, with enough left over to bring half of it home. Delicious.
And doing our part earlier this week, Tuesday night we had dinner at Saltgrass Steakhouse once again, our second visit since they reopened their dining room, and then Thursday night was our first visit back to Los Ramirez since they reopened their dining room.
And we had the same meal then that we had on March 19th, right before everything shut down.
Jan always gets the Pechuga Rellena, a grilled chicken breast on a bed of grilled shrimp and broccoli, all covered in melted cheese. While I usually get the Spicy Chicken Fajitas with Charro Beans. Yum!
May 25, 2021
They Ran Out Of Deer . . .
GoDaddy’s been having trouble with the server my blog (and a lot of others) runs on, and it took until today, and a couple of phone calls, to get the problem fixed, but everything should be working fine now.
Jan and I headed up to the Clear Lake area about 1pm, with our first stop at Twin Peaks for lunch. And there was not a mask in sight.
Even the pretty girls were no longer wearing them. When I asked, our server said they became optional for employees this past weekend and everyone dropped them. And out of a restaurant full of people, only one person came in with one and immediately took it off after they looked around.
But our visit today came with some disappointment. My long-time favorite, the Half Wedge Salad and a Bowl of their Venison Chili are no more.
No more Wedge Salad, which was actually relatively new, and no more Venison Chili, which has been on the menu for years, in fact as long as we’ve been going there.
When I asked Faith, our waitress, if they ran out of deer or something, she said I wasn’t the first one to complain, by a long shot. Hopefully they’ll bring it back.
Jan on the other hand, got to have her usual Spicy Chipotle Chicken with Mashed Potatoes and Grilled Broccoli.
For me, I assuaged my disappointment by having the Billionaire’s Burger, with Fries.
It seems that what makes it the Billionaire’s Burger is that it had Billionaire’s Bacon on it, one of their appetizers. And Billionaire’s Bacon is thick cut bacon that is baked with brown sugar, red chili flakes, and smoked paprika.
And besides the bacon, the burger has Sriracha Pimento Cheese on it. Really hot and spicy. And delicious.
Then it was on by WalMart and Sam’s for a few things before making a quick stop at the office to see if my new S21 Ultra phone had come in. According to Verizon, it’s in the wind somewhere out there and should be here any time now.
Our last stop was at the NTB tire center near us to shop for tires for the Jeep, and set up an appointment for Thursday afternoon to get our baby some new shoes before our upcoming trip.
May 25, 2022
On The Beach . . .
After I got home this afternoon, we dropped Karma off at our Office Manager Jennifer’s so she can take care of her while we’re gone. Then we took her out to dinner at Los Ramirez Mexican as an additional Thank You.
Jan and Jennifer watch a lot of the same YouTube shows so they had a good time comparing notes.
Getting back to the rig a little after 7pm, I loaded up the Jeep with everything that Jan had already packed. Just that much less to do tomorrow morning.
We plan on leaving here about 9am, make a Buc-ee’s stop at the Baytown location for Coffee, Kolaches, and Gas, and end up in Slidell, LA about 3:30pm. And since this is Thursday, the Cracker Barrel located right next door to the La Quinta will be serving Jan’s favorite Turkey and Dressing.
So we’ll eat there before we check in, and then be in for the night. Then on Friday, we’ll head out for Athens, AL with a lunch stop at Weidman’s in Meridian, MS.
Weidman’s has been around since 1870, and is also known for the jar of homemade Peanut Butter on every table. We’ve eaten here a number of times over the years, and we’re really looking forward to it again.
We’re going to spend 4 days in Athens, then head down to Birmingham and Montgomery, before ending up in Gulf Shores on Saturday the 4th of June. There we’ll meet up with the rest of the family for a week at a condo on the beach.
Really looking forward to seeing everyone again.
We Lucked Out Again . . .
After breakfast at the hotel we headed over to Claudia’s once again, with a stop off at a nearby Publix grocery for a few things first.
Then before we headed out I took a look at a few problems Claudia was having at her house, only one of which I was able to fix definitively,
She has a single A/C unit that is connected to two separate thermostats, one downstairs and one upstairs. Since this A/C is not a split unit the only way this can work is if the duct system has powered dampers to redirect the airflow between the upstairs and downstairs. So she’ll have to have a local guy crawl up into the attic to take a look.
The garbage disposal problem turned out to be a bad wirenut connection.
The problem with the bathroom vent fan seems to be a dead fan motor, since the light works. So it’s getting power. But I’ll look at it again tomorrow.
Finally about 1pm we all headed over to Foley and Lambert’s Throw’d Rolls, and we really lucked out again.
There was no wait, I think for the first time ever for us. But I imagine that will all change in the next couple of days.
Jan and Claudia both got the Fried Chicken, and it is good.
But I went with my usual BBQ Pork Steak, with comes with 3 sides.
And of course the softball-sized yeast rolls that come lofting across the dining room, as well as the pass-around freebies like Fried Okra, Fried Potatoes and Onions, Black-Eyed Peas, etc.
Always great.
Then it was right next door to pOpShelf, one of Jan’s favorites, and a first for Claudia.
Coming home we made a loop through Magnolia Springs where both Claudia’s family and my grandmother both lived at one time.
Then it was on over to Fairhope and a visit down to Pelican Point for some more Pelican sightings,
as well as a Heron.
And after dropping Claudia off at her home, we got back the motel about 7pm.
Tomorrow it’s back over to Gulf Shores for linner at DeSoto’s, another long-time favorite of ours, and then some more driving around, and maybe some sitting-on-the-beach time.
Thought for the Day:
Patience – What you have to have when there are too many witnesses.
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 24, 2019
Afternoon Tea At The Chesterfield Mayfair . . .
Today, Jan and I had Afternoon Tea at the Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel in London, something Jan had always wanted to try.
Looking at the guidebooks there were a number of places supposedly well-known for their Afternoon Tea, but figuring the locals would know better, I asked around at the hotel, and 3 for 3, they said the Chesterfield Mayfair. And since it wasn’t being flacked in the guidebooks, we had no trouble getting a reservation, so off we went today.
OK, you know you’re at a snotty British hotel when you pull up in your Uber and this guy greets you.
And it was just as elegant inside as you might expect.
Glad we dressed up.
And the dining room was a beautiful, sunlit, glass-enclosed atrium.
And though we could have ordered an afternoon meal, here was our Afternoon Tea menu.
And here is what you get for your £80.
You’re supposed to start at the bottom and work your way up.
It would probably be gauche to mention here that it’s actually all you can eat. They will just bring you an entire new stand, or you can ask for a couple more of your favorites like we did.
Needless to say, this was our meal for the day.
And, of course, there’s tea with your Afternoon Tea. And not tea bags like us uncouth colonials use. But loose tea, a strainer, and a big pot of hot water.
And you can try a lot of different teas, just like the selection of tidbits.
Now, though this was Jan’s first Afternoon Tea, I had Afternoon Tea with the Duchess and Lady Samantha (Sam, to me) a number of times. In fact the very first time I met the Duchess was for Afternoon Tea, and that’s also when I found out that the young British girl I had been hanging out with was a future duchess, and actual royalty.
I’ve blogged about this several times in the past, but if you missed it, here’s where you can catch up and find out the rest of the story
Robbing Peter To . . .
It’s down in the blog post after our visit to the Tower of London.
Anyway, I remember asking the Duchess one time, noting how fancy it all was (in fact I think hers was probably fancier than the hotel’s), just how fancy was ‘High Tea’?
I mean, ‘High’ is better, right?
Like High Mass and Mass in the Catholic Church. But No.
The Duchess just looked at me and said, “Oh, we would never have High Tea.” and left it at that. But later Sam explained it to me.
But this graphic probably does it better.
Basically it’s a working man’s after-work meal where you sit around a tall counter in high chairs. Hence, High Tea.
See, the things you learn reading this blog.
May 24, 2009
Donald Trump & Too Much Iced Tea…
Today we headed out to Bill and Charlee’s about 10 am to get together for the day.
We had breakfast at the Deli Inn, a great diner that we hope we can go back to before we leave. Really good food.
After breakfast we went to Walmart for our shopping fix, then on to Best Buy and BrandsMart so Bill and Charlee could look at new TV’s.
Then it was on to Home Depot because Bill needed some 2×4’s and I picked up some CLR to clean our shower head.
After this Bill and Charlee took us on a tour of Palm Beach mansions and yachts.
We drove pass Mar-A-Lago which is now owned by Donald Trump, The Breakers hotel, and countless other places. There is a lot of money here!
Later we went to supper at the Dixie Bar and Grill and had another great meal, topped off by some guy at the bar backing into our waitress who proceeded to dump a large glass of iced tea in my lap.
Boy, that was a wake up call!
She was very apologetic, but it wasn’t really her fault, so we all just had a good laugh about it. Luckily I was only somewhat soggy.
Later on I asked her for some more iced tea, but preferably in a glass this time. She started apologizing all over again.
After that it was back to the coach to dry out. And luckily, no problems with the AC today.
May 24, 2010
A Coeur d’Alene day…
After lazying around the rig this morning we left about noon on a bunch of errands, but our first stop was at a Starbucks for coffee and a Danish.
Then it was off to Bed Bath & Beyond to pick out a gift for our daughter Brandi’s bridal shower. Since she reads our blog, I won’t say what we got for her.
Then we walked to the Borders Books next door to check out the magazines.
Leaving there we drove over to the Post Office to drop off some letters.
By then it was about 3 pm and we decided it was time for a little early dinner so we stopped off at Casa de Oro, a very nice little Mexican restaurant we ate at two years ago when we were here.. And it was still good.
After dinner we found a car wash and got the truck washed. Jan said it was about time since she was having trouble seeing out her window.
Leaving there we drove over to the Fred Myers for gas and groceries. It was nice to find cheaper gas. The last time we bought gas for the truck in California it was $3.30. Here it was $2.73. A big difference.
And the other day when we left Westport, WA I paid $3.70 for diesel. Here today it was $3.20.
That’s 50 cents a gallon! And at 100 to 120 gallons that adds up. Too bad I couldn’t wait.
After doing our shopping in Fred Mayer’s we headed back to the rig for the night.
Tomorrow we head out to Garrison, MT for one night, and then on to Billings for one night.
We will be in Gillette, WY for 4 or 5 days starting Friday the 26th for the American Coach Rally.
May 24, 2011
HDMI and DVR . . .
Today was kind of a rest-up day from our 235 mile round trip down to King’s Canyon and Sequoia National Parks and back. So everyone slept in this morning.
When I got up at 10:30 I fixed us coffee and had the last of our muffins from the Sam’s Club in Las Vegas. I guess it’s time to stock up again.
We’ll have to check out Von’s in Oakhurst and see what they have in the bakery.
Later we decided to head out to Oakhurst to get the cable and then have dinner at the Chukchansi Casino.
After a great meal at the Casino we got back about 6:30.
May 24, 2012
Ka-Boom!
is the sound a large crew trailer A/C unit makes when someone accidently hooks up a 3-phase 480 volt generator to the power input instead of the single phase 120 volt unit that should have been used.
Other items that joined the fun were the water heater, water pump, microwave, LCD TV, satellite DVR, washer, dryer, refrigerator, and various and sundry light bulbs which reportedly blew up like firecrackers.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the pad here is a little smaller than normal so they put the crew trailer over behind us right outside the gate. Well, the story goes that the diesel generator that supplies power to the trailer quit and wouldn’t restart. So someone drove over to the pad and bought back another generator, apparently not noticing it was a 3-phase 480 volt unit that is used to run some of the big rig pumps. How they got it hooked up I don’t know, since the plugs are not in any way compatible, but hook it up they did.
And then they cranked it up. And then they threw the breaker.
And then guys came running out the trailer like they were under attack! You know, the exploding light bulbs, the smoke pouring out of the TV, the bright flash of light and loud pop from the microwave, that kind of stuff.
It’s never a dull day here on the George Long Ranch and drill site.
For lunch today (Thursday) I made the 8 mile trip into beautiful downtown Charlotte (pop. 1637) to pick up some tacos from Tita’s Taco Stand for lunch. Ryan Etheridge, the Marathon Safety guy has brought us back breakfast tacos from there a couple of times, and they were really good. So we thought we would try them for lunch.
I was disappointed that they only did breakfast tacos until 11am, especially since the breakfast items are the biggest part of the menu. And I think this is the first time I’ve seen SPAM as an ingredient for tacos. But apparently it’s pretty popular since I heard several people order them while I was there.
I got us two chicken fajita tacos and two beef fajita tacos, so we could have one each. They were plain and simple, and really good. Just the meat wrapped inside the tortilla with your choice of a red sauce, or a really good, really spicy green sauce. We’ll go back.
Last night when I drove over to the office to drop off the previous day’s logs, I asked Boone Williams, the night Company Man, if he would have one of the big water tankers soak down the road in front of our gate. Yesterday it was like being in a dust storm. Vehicles would stop in front of the gate and you would have to wait for the dust cloud to settle before you could see who it was. But three times during the day we got our road watered down which took care of the problem for now.
This time next week Jan and I will be in Houston for our granddaughter Piper’s High School Graduation. We plan on leaving next Wednesday afternoon and staying two nights before coming back to our gate on Friday afternoon. Gate Guard Services is arranging for someone to cover our gate while we’re gone.
Piper’s graduation is Thursday night, but Thursday morning we’re taking Landon to the Houston Zoo. It’ll be his first trip, and the way he loves animals, it ought to be fun.
I decided to try one of these wireless solar-powered Vehicle Monitors that Amazon sells.
The one we have now, the old ding-ding service station type, only goes about 100 feet in one direction and 60 feet in the other, and I would like to have a little more lead time for approaching vehicles. And yes, this is so at 3am I can wake up before they get to the gate and find me napping. I haven’t been surprised yet, but it’s been close.
This one is suppose to work up to 1000 feet line of sight. Most of the reviews are pretty good, so I wanted to give it a try. I’ll let you know how it works.
As the days get hotter here in Texas I’m thinking about putting together a cheap Swamp Cooler, or Evaporative Cooler, to cool us down in the hottest part of the day. Swamp coolers are those doghouses you see on rooftops in Arizona. They’re really very simple, consisting of a fan, a water source, and a porous material like burlap.
Swamp coolers will only work in low humidity areas like Arizona, and not places like Houston. But where they will work, they are much cheaper to operate than conventional air conditioning.
Here’s a link for a simple Swamp Cooler you can build yourself. I’m going to see how the mister units that I’m going to pick up at Tractor Supply tomorrow work before I proceed with the swamp cooler idea.
And ironically enough, a swamp being very humid, would not be a good place to use a swamp cooler.
May 24, 2013
A Bridge Too Far . . .
I’m sure you’ve all seen the news reports about the bridge collapse up in Washington state. It was hit by an oversize truck and it’s really lucky no one was killed, even though a number of vehicles went in the water.
In checking the location of the bridge, on I-5 between Everett and Bellingham, I was curious if we’d ever crossed it. And, as it turns out, we had. Three times, in fact.
In 2008, on our way to Alaska, we were staying at a nice little Passport America park in Cle Elum, WA. The real reason we were here was to visit Roslyn, WA, the town where one of our favorite shows, Northern Exposure, was filmed.
While we were there we drove over to Bellingham in our truck to pick up four new house batteries for our rig. The Trojans that were in the rig when we bought it were pretty much shot, and I wanted to replace them with Interstate U-2400’s. The nearest store that had four in stock was over in Bellingham, so off we went, crossing that bridge both ways.
Then about a week later we crossed it one more time, in the rig this time, on our way to Alaska. We were entering Canada at Sumas, about 20 miles north of Bellingham.
So the last time I was on the bridge was five years ago, so it’s not my fault.
Our daughter Brandi called this morning with the latest new house update. They did the walkthrough yesterday with closing scheduled for next Thursday. One of the few things not finished yet is that the custom shower doors haven’t come in yet, but soon.
A little later I called Tahoe Duck Tours to get tickets for the 3:00 tour tomorrow afternoon. We’ve taken the Duck Tours all over the country, so this lets us check another one off our list.
Later Jan started up a batch of spaghetti sauce with ground beef and mushrooms in the Crock Pot. It should be ready to eat for supper.
About 2:30 Jan and I headed out for some sightseeing and a few things from Raley’s, a local supermarket. I also wanted to see how much worse the traffic would be over this holiday weekend.
While we were out and about, we drove down by the lake and I came across something I hadn’t seen before. A Dog Water Park.
And it looks like it was being put to good use.
And even as cold as the water was, there were still people out on their Jet-Skis.
Hope they’re wearing a wetsuit.
By the time we finished up at Raley’s. it was about 4:30 so after we got home Jan got started on the garlic bread while I got the spaghetti going. And in this case it was really easy using the Microwave Pasta Boat.
We got it several years ago and it’s great for any type of pasta.
You can use the round, hollow handles to measure your spaghetti. One handle-full is a serving for two. You can cook as much as 8 servings at a time. Then just place your spaghetti in the container, add water to the correct level, and set your microwave for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, your spaghetti is ready, no fuss, no muss.
The holes in the lid let you drain the pasta quickly, and then you’re ready to go. You can cook any kind of pasta, and even steam-bake potatoes, both plain and sweet.
A really neat item, and only about $12 from Amazon. Check it out.
Thought I’d you a heads up on a new RV show that starts this coming Sunday night. I’m sure you’ve seen the shows where a group goes in and remodels someone’s bathroom, kitchen, backyard, whole house, or even their car. But now we got one for remodeling RV’s. It’s called Rock My RV with Bret Michaels and it comes on Sunday nights at 6pm PDT on the Travel Channel.
Bret Michaels, is known for a number of things: lead singer for the rock band Poison, winner of Celebrity Apprentice, and now for being a avid RV’er. He grew up RVing with his family, and still vacations in one today, plus he’s traveled millions of miles touring for concerts in buses he has designed. And he’s designed travel buses for many of his friends.
The early online reviews of the series seem to only have good things to say about it. So give it a try.
May 24, 2014
The Smell of Campfires . . .
The aroma of charcoal lighter fluid.
The screaming of kids.
That means that it’s a holiday weekend, and the campers are out in droves. But overall it’s been pretty quiet so far. We have a large camper next door, along with a large tent full of kids. Looks like several families together.
But unlike past experiences, everyone’s been well-behaved. Even the parents. A pleasant change.
Our son Chris and his family are spend the weekend up at Inks Lake near Burnet, TX, so he’s getting a chance to try out his sailboat .
Looks like the weather is pretty good.
While we were at the Old Bag Factory yesterday, we checked out a charity thrift store and I got a Lava Lamp.
Not a bad deal for $2. Makes a nice night light in the coach.
When I went out to get something from the back of our truck today, I discovered that sometime in the last two weeks, since we left the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails, someone hit the rear bumper, causing enough damage to push the bumper into the tailgate preventing it from being lowered.
I know it took place since we left Lake Conroe because that was the last time I used the tailgate. And it looks like it was maybe a week ago at least, due to the amount of rust.
I had to say some last words this afternoon for our late, beloved Black & Decker Convection/Toaster Oven. It was Jan’s Christmas present in 2011 and it’s always worked great until now.
But this morning, a couple of minutes after I started our English muffins, all of a sudden, the magic smoke came billowing out the side vent where the electronics reside. And its little light blinked off for the very last time.
Because, as everyone knows, when the magic smoke escapes, that’s all there is.
It will be missed. At least until we visit Wal-Mart tomorrow.
The oven is dead. Long live the new oven.
May 24, 2015
Where Everyone Knows Your Name . . .
Friday, the 22nd. (I’ll catch up all the way eventually.)
Well, after our 15 hour drive on Thursday, it would have been nice to sleep in a little more, but we were excited to get together with the family, or at least the first part of it. So we were out the door a little before 9 to meet the group down the road a couple of miles at the Denny’s.
The Denny’s here in Vandalia is pretty much the local hometown diner, not only where everyone knows your name, but you’re probably related by blood or marriage to three quarters of them. But the food is good, the service is great, and the manager stops to chat with everyone. Just a really great place.
After breakfast Jan rode back with her sister Debbie to her house while I came back to the hotel to catch up on some client computer stuff, (and to also catch a nap) finally heading down to Debbie’s about 3pm. Tried to get some shots of all the hummingbirds around Debbie’s flowers and feeders, but they were mostly too fast. Did get one though.
Later in the afternoon we drove south to Salem, IL to Debbie and Jim’s son Jason and his wife Laura’s home. Laura and Jason have 3 daughters close to Landon’s age so they all had a great time playing on their trampoline.
Then it was off to the Village Garden, a favorite restaurant in the Salem area. Once a defunct Golden Corral, it’s now a great dinner location.
And this little cutie is Annisten, Jason and Laura’s youngest, who just sat across from me and stared. All night. I guess she was wondering just who the hell I was. But she’s a real beauty.
This is Ella, Annisten’s older sister, who looks more and more like her mother Laura every day.
Another cutie.
The oldest, Avery Jane, I never did get a good picture of because she never stops moving. I’ll try again later.
Then after a great meal, it was back to Debbie’s for a while, and then on to the motel.
Sleep at last.
May 24, 2017
Back Home in South Dakota . . .
By ‘Back Home in South Dakota’, Jan and I have been official South Dakota residents since March 28, 2008.
We bought our 2004 Dodge Dakota toad in Pearland, TX on December 15, 2007, and our 1999 American Eagle coach in New Braunfels, TX on December 28, 2008. But we didn’t register them in Texas, but in South Dakota.
I had already established an SD address with MyDakotaAddress in Madison, SD so all I had to do was to send them my bills of sale and other paperwork, and a week or so later I received my tags in the mail.
At that point we had 90 days to actually get to South Dakota to get our Driver’s Licenses, which we did on March 28th on our way to Alaska. And to do this, we drove from Billings, MT to Sturgis, SD on the afternoon of the 27th.
Unfortunately we had to make the trip in the middle of a snow storm. In fact it got so bad that I think the only way we made to Sturgis was that we were able to follow a snowplow into town. We spent the night in a motel, planning to got down to the community center the next morning to get our licenses.
But the next morning, we came out to this.
That’s ice, solid ice. It took me almost an hour to chip my way into the truck.
Because they have so many small towns out in the middle of nowhere, South Dakota has traveling licensing offices that move around the state on a regular schedule. And in this case they were in Sturgis on Friday, March 28th.
The traveling office consisted of two ladies and six big equipment cases, about 3’ x 3’ and about 18” high. The cases contained everything they needed to process and check your old licenses, administer the vision test, and then print and laminate our licenses. So 45 minutes later, after filling out our voting registration forms, we were on our way back to Billings, early enough that we thought about detouring out to see Devil’s Tower, but the roads out there had not been plowed yet.
Around 4pm we drove into Rapid City to have dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. Our last visit was in Las Vegas a month or so ago so it was about time. Unfortunately we missed Half Price Wings Tuesday, but it was still delicious. Just a little more expensive.
Jan got her wings with Asian Zing Sauce and a side of Mango Habanero while I got mine with Mango Habanero and a side of Blazin’, their hottest sauce.
One thing I like about BWW over Hooter’s is that they don’t nickel and dime you. I got my wings all drums, and also asked for an extra Ranch dressing. Both would have been extra cost at Hooter’s, but not at BWW.
Tomorrow we’re driving down to Hill City to ride the 1880 Train from there to Keystone and back, a two hour round-trip. Leaving at 1:15 and back at 3:30, we’ll then have linner at the Alpine Inn, a well-known German restaurant in the area.
We chose to ride one of their steam locomotives rather than the diesel models.
It will be interesting to see if they’re still using the original link-and-pin coupler, or the Miller hook & platform on the passenger cars. But it will probably be the Janney coupler, since they also have to hook up to the more modern diesel.
Maybe Sheldon would know.
May 24, 2018
Bucky is a Dog . . .
Not a Beaver.
Jan and I headed out about Noon for a client visit. I got a call from a long-time client on Tuesday needing some help with their DSL service and their Netgear modem.
A client for my pre-RVing days, I hadn’t heard from Arlene in several years. But it’s always nice to hear from an old friend. But just about the time we were leaving, I got a call from my main client saying that the Shipping computer in the back had lost its WiFi Internet connection. So I made a detour by the office first.
Normally I just have to unplug the WiFi USB dongle, wait about 10 seconds, and then plug it back in. But not this time. The WiFi drivers seemed to have just disappeared. I even tried plugging in a spare dongle, again with no luck.
So then I pulled out the big gun. I rebooted. And that fixed the problem. So I was off to my scheduled client.
Arlene has phone service / Internet service through Frontier/Verizon. Then a couple of weeks ago everything quit. The repair guy fixed something outside, hooked his test meter up inside, said they had phone service and Internet service, and then left.
And yes, the phones did now work, and by not the Internet. They could connect via WiFi via their Netgear DSL modem, but there was no Internet. But when they called Frontier they were told that the company would not do anything with a non-company modem and they were on their own.
Checking the modem, it had a green DSL light, and a amber Internet light. But the amber should have been green. So I started changing out the DSL cable, the DSL/Phone Line splitter, and even did a full reset on the modem. All with no luck.
So it sure looks like the modem is bad, but the only way to tell would be to swap a new one in its place. But that would mean buying a new one for ~$200. I suggested that they call Frontier and have them bring out a new one.
That way Frontier will be responsible for everything, and let them fix it.
Wrapping that up, Jan and I headed back into Webster, but before that we made a bathroom stop at a new convenience store near Johnson Space Center, called Bucky’s.
No, not Buc-ee’s, but Bucky’s.
I had wondered about the closeness in the names, especially since Buc-ee’s just won a lawsuit against Choke Canyon Travel Center, because they said Choke Canyon Alligator looked too much like Buc-ee’s Beaver.
Not sure I can see the similarity.
But Bucky’s doesn’t have an animal in their logo,
and their Bucky is a dog.
But the place sure looks a lot like a Buc-ee’s, just not quite as big. Yet.
Then it was on over to Floyd’s Cajun Seafood for lunch, with a quick stop at the Webster PO to drop off a package.
And after our usual delicious meal, it was on up to Sam’s for a prescription and then the WalMart next door for a few things before we headed home.
May 24, 2019
Afternoon Tea At The Chesterfield Mayfair . . .
Today, Jan and I had Afternoon Tea at the Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel in London, something Jan had always wanted to try.
Looking at the guidebooks there were a number of places supposedly well-known for their Afternoon Tea, but figuring the locals would know better, I asked around at the hotel, and 3 for 3, they said the Chesterfield Mayfair. And since it wasn’t being flacked in the guidebooks, we had no trouble getting a reservation, so off we went today.
OK, you know you’re at a snotty British hotel when you pull up in your Uber and this guy greets you.
And it was just as elegant inside as you might expect.
Glad we dressed up.
And the dining room was a beautiful, sunlit, glass-enclosed atrium.
And though we could have ordered an afternoon meal, here was our Afternoon Tea menu.
And here is what you get for your £80.
You’re supposed to start at the bottom and work your way up.
It would probably be gauche to mention here that it’s actually all you can eat. They will just bring you an entire new stand, or you can ask for a couple more of your favorites like we did.
Needless to say, this was our meal for the day.
And, of course, there’s tea with your Afternoon Tea. And not tea bags like us uncouth colonials use. But loose tea, a strainer, and a big pot of hot water.
And you can try a lot of different teas, just like the selection of tidbits.
Now, though this was Jan’s first Afternoon Tea, I had Afternoon Tea with the Duchess and Lady Samantha (Sam, to me) a number of times. In fact the very first time I met the Duchess was for Afternoon Tea, and that’s also when I found out that the young British girl I had been hanging out with was a future duchess, and actual royalty.
I’ve blogged about this several times in the past, but if you missed it, here’s where you can catch up and find out the rest of the story
Robbing Peter To . . .
It’s down in the blog post after our visit to the Tower of London.
Anyway, I remember asking the Duchess one time, noting how fancy it all was (in fact I think hers was probably fancier than the hotel’s), just how fancy was ‘High Tea’?
I mean, ‘High’ is better, right?
Like High Mass and Mass in the Catholic Church. But No.
The Duchess just looked at me and said, “Oh, we would never have High Tea.” and left it at that. But later Sam explained it to me.
But this graphic probably does it better.
Basically it’s a working man’s after-work meal where you sit around a tall counter in high chairs. Hence, High Tea.
See, the things you learn reading this blog.
May 24, 2020
Torchy’s And Brownies . . .
Jan and I headed up to Katy to have a Memorial Day Weekend get-together with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon. It wasn’t anything fancy, Lowell and I ran out and picked up Torchy’s Tacos and Brandi baked up a big pan of her extra-fudgey brownies. All simple, but delicious.
We mostly just sat around and for some reason watched a replay of last year’s Indy 500. Then around 4pm Landon’s Bestie, Sophie and her mother biked over so Sophie and Landon could spend the afternoon together.
Which they spent gaming each other sitting side by side, the same way they play each other when they’re at their homes.
Sophie and Landon have been friends for years, and their birthdays are so close that they usually celebrate their birthdays together. They’ll both be 10 in August, and it was a real surprise to see what a growth spurt she’d had since last August.
Then she was about an inch taller than Landon, but now she’s almost a foot taller. Of course that’s not unusual since girls usually get that spurt before boys do.
Before we headed home about 5pm, Brandi showed us all the improvements they’d made to their backyard pool area.
The fence on the right is new, finally replaced after it was taken out by Hurricane Harvey.
Really looking forward to a swim when the weather’s better.
May 24, 2021
YouTubeTV
After I mentioned the other day about subscribing to AppleTV+ so we could watch the “For All Mankind” series, a number of readers wanted to know what all we’re signed up for, and how it stacks up against DirecTV.
Well, here are the ones that we subscribe to, and pay for.
YouTubeTV
Acorn
CuriosityStream
Disney+
Paramount+
Discovery+
Peacock
AppleTV+
Prime Video
And with all these paid services, and a number of free ones like Hulu, Pluto, Philo, and Crackle, we’re still paying about $60/month less than we were paying for just DirecTV. Plus we’re getting a LOT more channels, and it’s all in HD or even 4K.
May 24, 2022
Counting Down To Thursday . . .
Since I work tomorrow, today was our last free day to get some things done before we leave on Thursday morning.
Leaving about 11:45, our first stop was at The CookShack in Webster, home of really good, and really hot Chicken Tenders.
Jan got the 3 Tenders, Mild and Sweet Potato Waffle Fries,
while I decided to try the 2 Tenders and a Half Rack of Ribs.
I got the Ribs in Hot, and the Tenders in Texas Hot, along with what they call Texas Caviar, which is Black Beans, Corn, Red Peppers, Purple Onions, Tomatoes, and Cilantro.
Really good. And I had Ribs leftover to bring home.
Texas Hot is their hottest normal version of Hot. Their Hottest Hot is actually called AMF, which stands for Adios MF. You fill in the blanks.
I’ve done AMF Level 1 and AMF Level 2. And supposedly there’s a Level 3, but the owner said it takes a month to make it.
Actually I think he’s making that up.
Finishing up our delicious meal, I dropped Jan off to do some shopping while I ran by the office for a few minutes. Then after we were both done, I dropped Jan off to get a pedicure while I went over to get my hair cut.
Apparently, it takes Jan a lot longer to get her toes down than it takes me to get my hair cut.
Probably because she has more toes than I have hair.
