Monthly Archives: May 2023
I Thought They Were Awfully Big . . .
First a correction: For those keeping score, yesterday’s visit to the Sonny’s BBQ in Pensacola was number 5 on our Southern BBQ Tour, not number 4.
After breakfast at the hotel this morning, Jan decided to do laundry so she wouldn’t have to do it right away after we get home on Saturday.
Then a little before noon Jan and I drove over to Claudia’s house to meet her grand-nephew James, who she James-Sits twice a week.
With Claudia otherwise occupied today, Jan and I headed back over to Gulf Shores to have lunch at Lulu’s (Lucy Buffett – Jimmy’s sister) on the Canal.
We had made reservations for 2:30, so to kill time Jan made a Books A Million stop so she could pick up some gifts. Then getting to Lulu’s about 2:15 we found we didn’t really need reservations since they were seating people immediately anyway. But there’s been times we’ve waited two hours to be seated. So better safe than sorry, right?
Once we were seated Jan ordered the Grilled Shrimp Tacos,
while I ordered my usual Fried Half & Half (Half Fried Oysters and Half Fried Shrimp) Po’Boy. But unfortunately that’s not what I got.
What I got was the Half Shrimp Po’Boy & Gumbo, a completely different thing. But we were hungry so I didn’t send it back.
And they also messed up the sides we ordered, a side of Fried Okra and a side of Fried Green Tomatoes, which would have been a total of $9. What we got were the Fried Okra and Fried Green Tomato Appetizers.
For a total of $24. YIKES!
But we did have leftovers.
Much more food than we could eat, especially since we were trying to save room to split an order of their Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding, a must-have at Lulu’s.
Jan also got to see some of her favorite aquatic birds.
But later when we drove down to Jan’s favorite Pelican viewing spot, we found that it was no more. They had rebuilt the bridge so that the big pipe that ran along side was gone, and that’s where the Pelicans used to hang out.
Finally heading back to Fairhope a little after 4pm, we passed this. Seems like even the Dollar General’s down here are done up in beach style.
Tomorrow we’re hooking back up with Claudia to have lunch over in Foley at Lambert’s Throw’d Rolls and then do some more driving around.
There might even be Pelicans!
Thought for the Day:
I’ve finally decided that there’s nothing wrong with me. It’s the world that has issues.
May 23, 2009
Turkey Lasagna & Cheesecake Tarts…
Today we slept in until about 11 am (well, I slept in until 11. Jan got up about 9).
About 1pm we headed over to our friend’s house to meet them. Jan and Charlee headed out to shop and get pedicures while Bill and I watched the ‘Deadliest Catch’ marathon on Discovery Channel.
After the girls got home, we had a delicious turkey lasagna and salad. For dessert Charlee had also made Oreo Chocolate Pie and Cheesecake Tarts.
Great Eats!
But on a down note, when we got back to the coach about 10 pm, we found the 30 amp circuit breaker tripped outside on the pedestal that we plug into. The temperature inside was 81 degrees. Not good for our cats, but luckily, they were OK.
This park only has 30 amp power so we can only run 1 AC at a time, which is normally not a problem. But apparently in this park the power is a little flakey.
The other problem was that because the inverter was on, the coach batteries were drained down. This meant that with the converter/charger trying to recharge the batteries when I reset the breaker, there wasn’t enough power left over to run the AC to cool the coach down.
However we did all right by running the roof ventilation fans and opening a couple of windows. Because it was fairly cool outside due to the recent rains, the coach cooled down pretty quickly.
Finally about 1 am the batteries were charged up enough for me to start the AC for the rest of the night.
We’ll see how this goes tomorrow…
May 23, 2010
On to Coeur d’Alene…
We left the Whispering Pines RV Park in Cle Elum about 10:30 heading 230 miles east to Coeur d’Alene, ID.
Whispering Pines is a very nice park nestled in the trees (pines, of course), and we’ve enjoyed both our stays here.
About 12:30 we stopped at a rest area and had a quick lunch. Then it was back on the road.
We arrived at Blackwell Island RV Park about 3:30 pm and got set up. Checking in was easy since we were still in their system from our stay here 2 years ago on our way to Alaska. While we were checking in, we had them make our reservations at the Cedars restaurant right down the road on Coeur d’Alene Lake.
About 5:30 pm we headed over to the Cedars. And actually it’s not ON the lake, it’s IN the lake.
It’s 600,000 pounds of concrete floating on the water, The concrete surrounds a Styrofoam core that gives it buoyancy.
We were really looking forward to eating here again. They have fantastic steaks and our mouths have been watering all day.
And they certainly didn’t disappoint us this time. Jan had the Angus Baseball Sirloin and I had the Prime Rib. Both were really, really good.
Very nice inside.
You can even dock your boat and have dinner.
We’ve got a full day here tomorrow to look around and explore this beautiful city.
May 23, 2011
King’s Canyon and Sequoia Too . . .
We had to get early this morning at 7:30, but it was for a good cause: Our trip down south to King’s Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.
But before we left, Jan put some food out for the birds and squirrels. And it turns out we have a another visitor to the food, a resident gopher.
Jan didn’t realize she was dumping the food almost on top of his hole, but he was happy.
We finally headed out about 9 for the 100 mile trip down to the two National Parks.
Our first stop was at a convenience store in Squaw Valley, the same place we stopped last year, for a bathroom stop and a cappuccino.
Then we started the long climb up into the parks, from about 300 ft. in the valley to almost 8000 ft. At about 6000 ft. we started seeing snow again, although not near as much as last year.
The big problem was the fog. It steadily got worse the higher we went. In some places we could only see 20-30 ft. in front of the truck, so it made for really slow going.
We took a bathroom break at the Lodgepole Visitor’s Center and got our National Park Passports stamped for Sequoia, and then head down the road a couple of miles to the General Sherman Tree, by volume the biggest tree in the world.
It’s about a half mile walk down the hill to the tree itself.
At 275 ft. high, it’s about 2500 years old, and it’s a monster. We didn’t get see the General Sherman last year because the road was snowed in, so we felt lucky this time.
Coming back up to the parking lot we found the fog had really rolled in. And it made the drive back to the King’s Canyon area really dicey. The 26 mile trip took over an hour and fifteen minutes.
We got to the King’s Canyon area about 10 til 3, just in time to get lunch at the café before closed at 3 pm.
Then after lunch, and getting our Passports stamped for King’s Canyon, we headed a couple of miles down the road to see the General Grant Tree, the second biggest tree in the world.
What’s unusual is that, although the General Grant is second in volume to the General Sherman, at 40 ft. in diameter, it has the biggest base. 40 ft. is the length of our motorcoach.
The Gamlin Cabin, shown here, and built in 1872, has served as everything from living quarters for the Gamlin brothers who built it, to a US Calvary storehouse, and then the home of the first park ranger stationed here. And it looks as strong as the day it was built.
Finally leaving the park and heading home, we did see some deer along the way. We had also seen a bear earlier disappearing into the fog, but otherwise it wasn’t a good day for animals.
Except for the gopher, of course.
We finally got home about 7:30 after stopping and getting cappuccino.
May 23, 2013
Off To See The Wizard . . .
Jan and I both slept in this morning. She’s normally up around 7, but this morning it was more like 9:30, due to our 12 hour, 150 mile daytrip yesterday. Fun, but tiring.
Of course it also didn’t help that she was wound up enough from the trip that she didn’t actually go to bed until around midnight.
A little after 1pm I got back on the phone, trying to find a replacement passenger side lower outside mirror for our coach. I first called American Coach and was told that they no longer stock replacement parts for RAMCo Mirrors since they don’t use them anymore.
So my next call was to RAMCo themselves, and was happy to find that they did still have a replacement mirror in stock. So for $24 plus shipping they sent one out.
Now I just have to find out if I can get my money back on the wrong one that I got from Velvac a couple of weeks ago. I’ll try and call them tomorrow.
Around 2:30 Jan and I headed out for a movie and then dinner. We were going to see Oz the Great and Powerful, the latest retelling of L. Frank Baum’s stories of the land of Oz. Like most of the theaters in Las Vegas, the one was also in a casino, too.
Produced by Disney, directed by Sam Rami, with music by Danny Elfman, the storyline is somewhat of a prequel to Baum’s original “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and its 13 sequels. But this story is told without Dorothy, the Tin Man, Scarecrow, or the Cowardly Lion. And not even “Toto, too”.
Although Jan thought it dragged, I enjoyed it and found it very well done. Like the 1939 movie, this one also starts out in black & white and then colorizes in Oz. The movie was very successful for Disney, earning almost $500 million worldwide. This almost certainly means sequels.
Getting out of the movie about 6pm, we drove a couple of blocks away to have dinner at Applebee’s. After a good meal, and one of those small Shooter desserts for each of us, we got home a little before 8pm.
As far as tomorrow, we’ll see. If it looks like a madhouse out there with the beginning of the Memorial Day Weekend, we may just stay at home.
May 23, 2014
Amish Parking . . .
Jan and I finally got back to walking this morning, the first time since we left Galveston Bay RV Resort in late February. With all the stuff about Jan’s health scare and moving every two weeks, it just kind of slipped off the schedule. But we’re going to try to get back on a every other day schedule again.
We used the Android/iPhone app RunKeeper to chart our distance, and as it turns out, the big circle around around the Elkhart Campground here is almost exactly a 1/2 mile. So we did one loop to start with today, and then we’ll bump it up pretty quickly.
When we started our walk, l starting the coffee going so as soon as we got back, we sat outside and had our coffee and muffins. And of course Mister was right there with us.
About 1pm, Jan and I headed over to Goshen to visit the Old Bag Factory.
Originally built in 1896 as the Cosmo Buttermilk Soap Company, it was purchased in 1910 by the Chicago-Detroit Bag Company, then in 1924 by the Chase Bag Company. It was the largest of the company’s 15 plants around the country.
This plant was their ‘specialty’ plant, manufacturing things like printed burlap bags,
to the little paper plumes for the Hersey’s Kisses wrappers.
45,000 pounds a month of these! That’s a lot of Kisses.
But the plant finally shut down in 1982 before later being resurrected as the Old Bag Factory, a haven for artists, craftsman, and merchants, in 2010.
The place is 4 stories of shops, studios, businesses, and even an event center for weddings and meetings.
This chair is made up of strung-together wood tiles, and is much more comfortable than you might think.
Outside, they had one of the floral Quilt Gardens that been done around Goshen.
Unfortunately it’s hard to see from the ground angle.
After a nice visit here at the Old Bag Factory, we headed a ways down the road to check out the parking at the Wal-Mart.
Well, the Amish buggy parking anyway.
Many businesses in the area have accommodations for the Amish buggies, from hitching posts and rails, to full-on barns and stalls like the above.
We’ve even seen Amish buggies in the drive-thru line at the local McDonald’s.
Our last stop on today’s excursion was the South Side Soda Shop.
Originally built as a grocery store in the early 1900’s, it began its transformation to a diner in the 1940’s with installation of a soda fountain. And then just evolved from there.
As well as winning awards for their Chili and Lemon Meringue Pie, they’ve been featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, and other Food Network shows.
Really, really good food.
And after a very nice day with great friends and good food, we finally made it home about 6:30.
Now to plan tomorrow.
May 23, 2015
Recapping–Still on the Road . . .
Catching up on 5/21
After spend the night in Amarillo in a very nice Quality Inn, especially for $53/ night (senior discount), we started out with a really good free breakfast at the hotel, before finally getting on the road about 7am.
About 1pm we stopped for lunch at a Raisin’ Cane’s Chicken Fingers on the east side of Tulsa. And in case anyone wonders, we also left the truck running and the AC going for Mister whenever we stopped. Usually he never even woke up.
We first discovered Raisin’ Cane’s while we were gate guarding near Bryan/College Station last year. Really, really good, not only the chicken, but the Cole slaw too.
Then it was back on the road until the the west side of St. Louis when we stopped for supper at a Steak N Shake for dinner. Anticipating our visit to the Cincinnati area later this year, we both had Steak N Shake’s version of Chili 5 Ways.
We both agreed that although it was really good, it wasn’t quite as good as the Gold Star Chili restaurant’s version found in the Cincinnati area.
After also getting gas we were back on the road for our last couple of hours, finally arriving at our motel in Vandalia a little before 10pm. Another long, long travel day. Glad we had a reservation since they were full and turning people away when we arrived.
Makes us really appreciate our normal travel days in the rig: Leave at 10am, get there by 2pm.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll have time to get more caught up on the blog post of our days here with the family so far. We’ll see.
I did hear from the Service Manager that they found damage to our rig’s diesel fuel tank, and that it will have to be replaced. Don’t know yet how much extra time that will take.
It’s always something.
May 23, 2016
They’re Back . . .
After getting some coffee in me this morning, I got to work on fixing my satellite problem. Yesterday when I got everything set up, I found I only had one tuner active. My first thought was maybe this was the original problem with my ‘found’ Winegard Satellite Dome, and was the reason it was discarded.
But a quick swap of the cables at the dish told me it was a cable problem, since the problem followed the cable. So now I went along, checking each connector for bent center pins, etc., but finding no obvious problems.
Deciding to put aside further troubleshooting until later, and just get things working again. So I got out my 60 foot extension cables and ran them directly from the dish, in through the driver’s window, and to the receiver. And that got everything working again. I’ll ring out the cables a little later and figure out what’s wrong.
Well, our power problems are back once again, and now I think I’ve finally got a handle on what’s causing them. And the culprit is . . .
Low voltage.
To recap, every time we park in this inner ‘A’ circle, we have problems with the power popping off in the afternoons, especially when Jan is cooking, and running both the microwave and the toaster oven. But the problem only occurs in this area. Not at any other park, not in areas ‘C’ and ‘D’ here, not even right across the road (it’s on a different circuit).
But this afternoon when the power popped off, nothing extra was running, just the TV, computer, and both AC’s. In the past it took something like starting the microwave while all this was also running.
But Serendipity revealed what was going on this time. As the power went off, I was walking toward the front of the coach and looking right at the voltmeter located over the driver’s seat. This shows the rig AC voltage, whether from shore power or the genset.
Normally this meter is kind of blocked by the satellite cables running to the back of the receiver, but since I had temporarily moved the wires around this morning, I could see the meter as the power came back on.
Now my Progressive EMS (Electrical Management System) will drop out at 108 volts to protect things like AC compressors from damage from low voltage. Most other things in the rig would not be adversely affected.
So I turned the AC’s off and then going outside I flicked the switch that put my EMS in bypass mode, which meant that it was no longer monitoring the voltage.
A little bit later I saw this.
As the afternoon wore on, the voltage gradually started to rise, ending up about 113 volts by sundown. And at 1 am it now shows this.
The only kind of weird thing about this my Progressive EMS normally shows when it drops out due to a problem, and it did this time. But when I checked it after the first occurrence a month or so ago, it didn’t show an error, so I never checked it again. And that kind of confused things as I looked at the problem.
Tomorrow I’ll take my photos down to the office and get them on the problem.
May 23, 2017
Long Day, But Great Scenery . . .
Since we had a long day today, 315 miles, well, long for us anyway, we were pulling out of the park about 8:15 with Jan following in the truck.
We were on our way to the Sam’s Club a couple of miles away to take on some diesel at $2.37 per gallon. As I found during our scouting trip yesterday, it was an easy in with no problems. However the out part was a little more time consuming.
Just as I was ready to pull out to the left, the only way I could go, a lady in a large while truck pulled into the pump row to my left. And just sat there in the truck. Finally after about 5 minutes, she got out and fueled up. Then it was back in the truck for another 5 minutes or so before she finally pulled out, with me right behind her.
Parking over on the side of the parking lot, we were hitched up and on the road by about 9:15. Getting out on I-90 we headed southeast about 65 miles to the turnoff for US212, and the Little Bighorn (is there a Big Bighorn?) Battlefield.
We were a little hesitant about taking 212 when about 5 miles before the exit we saw an electronic sign that said, “Consider I-90, US212 Expect Delays”. But as we talked it over, we figured that any delay less than the hour that route would save us would be worth it.
Although it was a two lane road, it was good and we had no trouble holding 60mph, except for a couple of long climbs. And although we passed through a couple of construction zones, we never found any delays.
But maybe the sign was the reason we had very little traffic going in our direction, but a lot coming toward us.
We did have a lot of great scenery, with large farms, rolling hills, distinctive rocks, and an some pronghorn antelope.
We pulled into the Elk Creek RV Park about 3:30 and were directed over to their Deer Creek RV area. We’ve got 50amp full hookups for 7 days at $17.50/day under Passport America. Nice.
Tomorrow we’re going to just goof off and probably go out to dinner.
May 23, 2020
Save The Mussels?
Jan’s a really happy, happy camper. She finally managed to get a hair appointment this Tuesday afternoon at 3 at a SuperCuts she used to go to before she found a lady at a nearby TGF. But that one has not reopened and there’s nothing on the door that says when, or if, they might.
I’m sure you heard about the recent dam breaks and flooding in Michigan. Well, you can blame it on the Mussels.
Three weeks before the break, the Michigan State Attorney General sued the dam owners because in 2018 and 2019 they had illegally lowered the water level behind the dam because they were worried about its safety. And last year when the dam company asked the state for permission to lower the level to facilitate some repairs, the request was denied.
“Defendants wrongfully exerted dominion over the freshwater mussels and caused their death which denies and is inconsistent with the state’s right to them,”
Apparently the state wanted all the mussels for themselves, even to the point of endangering the public.
So it’s:
Spanish Flu
Japanese Encephalitis
Lyme Disease (Lyme, CT)
German Measles
West Nile Virus
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)
Norovirus (Norwalk, OH)
Marburg Virus Disease (Marburg, Germany)
Valley Fever (San Joaquin Valley)
Guinea Worm
Zika Virus
Ebola (Ebola River, Zaire)
Hanta Virus (Hanta River, So. Korea)
African Sleeping Sickness
Montezuma’s Revenge
And finally . . . Chinese Food!
But Chinese Virus is racist?
Who Knew?
May 23, 2021
More Van Gogh . . .
About 2pm Jan and I headed out amid the drizzling rain to first have lunch at Denny’s, with their Ultimate Omelets once again. Always delicious, and another place where Angie already knows what we want so we don’t even have to really order.
Then it was across the Interstate for a few things from HEB before heading home, still in the rain. And more is still forecast for the rest of the week.
Hopefully my new Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra will be in this week. It’s supposed to be shipped out the Tuesday and I should receive it by Thursday.
Maybe. As long as it gets here before we leave on our trip June 7th, I’ll be OK.
Jan has been personalizing the rear window of our Jeep, by replacing their two dog decals with a cat, and adding a moose and two flamingo ones.
I tried to find decals to replace Jan and I, but there didn’t seem to be any with an old, bald guy, and his pretty young wife. But I’ll keep looking.
Well I said the other day that you can never have too much Van Gogh. But now I have to add, you can never have too many.
Long-lost van Gogh masterpiece ‘discovered’ by NYC collector
The painting, signed and dated 1890, is a square panorama of the valley of Auvers, showing its mosaic of wheat fields bisected by a railway line. It also bears the label of Jonas Netter, one of the most influential collectors of the early 20th century, who discovered Amedeo Modigliani.
“The picture is in pristine original condition, painted on a coarse burlap canvas consistent with those used by Van Gogh late in his career. It is unlined and in its original stretcher to which it is tacked by small 19th-century nails.
May 23, 2022
Prehistoric Planet
Spent today at work finishing up some of those last minute niggling details hanging around before we leave on vacation on Thursday. Pretty much everything is done. Just hoping now that everything keeps working for the next three weeks.
A great new show premiered tonight on AppleTV+. Entitled Prehistoric Planet, a new episode streams tonight and going for the next 4 nights.
Jan and I watched the first one this evening, and it’s hard to believe we weren’t watching a real animal documentary.
Who knew T-Rex could swim?
Check it out.
It’s sure to show up somewhere else after the first run on AppleTV+.
Another Day, Another Leg . . .
This is our first stay at a Key West Inn, and we really like it. The room is nice, the towels are thick, and the shower is scalding hot.
Even the breakfast bar is very well stocked.
Six different flavors of creamers, three flavors of coffee syrups, two different flavors of waffles, hot chocolate, grits and oatmeal. Really good.
About 10:30 we drove over to Claudia’s to pick her up for our day of fun and frolic over in Foley/Gulf Shores/Pensacola, with our first stop at a long-time favorite, Tallulah’s, nee Tootie’s Yellow Broom, a combination gift shop/dress shop. We’ve been coming her for years, and in fact Jan was wearing a top that she bought there last year and they recognized it.
Then we took the road out to the area on the beach where my parents used to have their rental cottages.
This is the only remaining one of the two.
Originally both of them were located down at the end of this row where the blue house is now.
Still looks good.
Next up we took the bridge over Alabama Point to Florida, ending up at everyone’s favorite Sonny’s BBQ, the 4th leg of our Southern BBQ Tour.
Jan and Claudia both got versions of the Pulled Pork Sandwich.
I got the Two Meat Combo Plate, with Pulled Pork and Baby-Back Ribs, and Beans and Beans.
Turns out that Sonny’s is one of Claudia’s favorite place too.
Then it was into Pensacola to visit Artesana, another of Jan’s long-time favorites. We’ve been coming here for 25 years, but it was Claudia’s first time.
Finally, with everyone full and giftshopped out, we made the 90 minute drive back to Fairhope to finish up a very nice day.
Tomorrow Claudia is grandson-sitting, so Jan and I will be heading back over to Gulf Shores to have lunch at Lulu’s and more gift-shopping.
Thought For The Day:
Life Happens. Coffee Helps.
May 22, 2009
Palm Beach
Well, we did make to West Palm Beach today with no problems except for a lot of rainy weather.
We got an early start (for us) about 8 am since we knew it would take us about 3 hours just to get off the Keys since so much of the drive is at 45 mph speed limits and even 35 mph.
We got back into Homestead about 11 am and parked the coach in the WalMart parking lot.
After unhooking our toad, we headed over to GoldCoaster RV Park where we stayed last week to pick up some mail that hadn’t made it before we left for the Keys.
After that we had lunch at Sonny’s BBQ before heading north to West Palm Beach. The rains really picked up after we left Homestead and followed us all the way to West Palm. But luckily it slacked off just as we arrived at the park so I didn’t get soaked setting up.
We pulled into the Palm Beach Gardens RV Park about 3:30 pm and got things plugged in and set up.
The friends we were here to see (the same ones who met us in Key West last weekend) showed up about 6:30 pm and we headed out to Riviera Beach to eat dinner at a restaurant at the marina.
After that we came back to our coach and visited for a while.
May 22, 2010
Bloody Mary’s and Northern Exposures
Be sure and check out yesterday’s post which I didn’t get posted until this afternoon due to a bad Internet connection in Westport, WA
Also forget to mention in yesterday’s post about the Bloody Mary’s that Al and I had at The Half Moon Bay restaurant last night
First off, they use peppered Stoli Vodka so it’s really hot and spicy. And they also include all the 5 basic food groups. In addition to the normal stalk of celery, we got a piece of Slim Jim, a piece of cheese, two steamed green beans, a pearl onion, a green olive, a cherry tomato, a boiled shrimp, and a lemon slice. By the time you finish the drink, you’re almost too full for supper.
We left the American Sunset RV in Westport, WA about 9 am after saying our goodbyes to our good friends, Al and Adrienne Cox. We first met them in Fairbanks, AK two years ago and have kept in touch ever since.
We only went about a quarter mile down the road where we stopped and got diesel at a local Chevron station. The station canopy said the height was 12’ 4”. Since the coach is 12’ high, I didn’t want to take a chance on scrapping it, so I dumped the air bags which dropped the coach height about 6”.
The only real problem I had is one I’ve had before. Slow fuel pumps. It took about 20 minutes to take on 115 gallons.
Finally we got back on the road and headed toward Cle Elum, WA, 195 miles away, our stop for the night.
About 11:30 am we stopped for lunch at the Super Buffet Chinese Buffet in Du Pont, WA, about 15 miles west of Tacoma. We saw their sign along the Interstate and decided to give it a try. We were just hoping we would be able find a place to park the rig. And we lucked up. We found a place right beside the restaurant.
And the buffet was really good. Maybe the best one since Yuma.
About 40 miles before Cle Elum we started seeing the mountains of Snoqualmie Pass, complete with a lot of snow.
We got into Whispering Pines RV Park in Cle Elum about 2:30 pm and got set up.
Well, everything got set up, except the satellite dish. There were a lot of trees and I just couldn’t get a good sight line.
So I gave up for a while, and about 3:45 pm we headed about 5 miles away to Roslyn, WA. .
Roslyn’s claim to fame is that it was the town of Cicely, AK in TV’s Northern Exposure.
And it’s all still there.
Ruth Anne’s store is still a store.
Dr. Joel Fleischman’s office is now a gift shop. We came here because Jan wanted to replace some of her Northern Exposure T-shirts that she wore out since we were here two years ago
And the iconic Roslyn Café is…still a café.
And of course, Chris’ KBHR studio, which still seems to be a TV show set.
And the Brick is still the Brick, although it looks completely different inside from what it did on the show.
We got back to the site about 4:45 and I started working on the satellite again. Finally I found a place about 50 feet out in front of the coach where I could get a signal through the trees.
Now Jan’s happy, so all’s right with the world.
Tomorrow we will head out for Coeur d” Alene, ID for a couple of days.
May 22, 2011
Fresno and Landon . . .
I got up a little early this morning, about 9:45, because we weren’t sure exactly what time we’d be Landon-Skyping.
While we were waiting I fixed coffee and had a muffin for breakfast, then about 11:30 I went down to the office to re-up here at the park until the 31st.
I got back just in time to answer our Landon-Skype call.
Landon was his usual rambunctious self, showing how he could pull himself upright with no problems. The way he’s going he’ll be walking soon.
Brandi said Landon said “Mama” yesterday, but this morning he mostly just squealed and laughed a lot. He always seemed to react to us on the screen when we talked to him, so hopefully he’ll know us when we see him in August at our family reunion in Illinois.
We spent about 20 minutes online with Landon, Brandi, and Lowell before setting up our next call in two weeks and saying our goodbyes.
A little later Jan fixed us a lunch of cheese toast using some great bread, and Salt & Cracked Pepper potato chips. Really good.
About 2 pm we headed down to Fresno about 35 miles away for some shopping. Our first stop was Sam’s Club for some staples. Next up was World Market where Jan did some shopping, before repeating the thing at a Bed, Bath, & Beyond right done the road.
By this time it was about 4:30 and we were getting hungry so we decided to try the New China Buffet, listed as one of the best Chinese buffets in Fresno. It turned out to be very good . . . and also very busy.
Leaving the buffet, our last stop was at a nearby Wal-Mart before heading back to the Park of the Sierras. But we did stop off and get cappuccinos before getting home about 7:30.
May 22, 2012
A New, New Record . . .
I’ve been trying to upload this blog for about 3 hours now with no luck. I don’t know if Verizon is working on things or what. But every night a little after midnight, I lose data service on both my Droid and my aircard. Normally I get it back between 3 and 4am, but not tonight. Here it is 5:30 and still no service. Hopefully it will come back before I knock off at 7.
Today (Tuesday) was pretty laidback with only a normal amount of traffic (70-80 vehicles), but yesterday was a madhouse.
For some reason the pad for this site is apparently smaller than normal, and yesterday they had so many big trucks coming in carrying casing pipe, drilling mud, water, and other fluids, that they didn’t have enough room on the pad, and so had to start restricting access to 4 rigs at a time.
Believe me, truck drivers do not do “waiting patiently” very well,
In fact, not at all.
At one time, I had nine rigs parked along side of the road waiting their turn to get in. And it really didn’t help things when the Company Man called me and said to send in a couple of the rigs from the middle of the pack, because their drilling mud was needed NOW.
I thought I was going to have a riot on my hands. The drivers were yelling and jeering at the two trucks that got to jump line, and the two drivers were yelling back. Finally about 6:30pm we got caught up and things settled down. I should have gotten extra pay as a traffic cop/anger management consultant.
Our previous vehicle record was 128 vehicles as our old site was shutting down before moving here. Our new record is now 148 for this past Monday. Still don’t know yet if this is normal for a new rig starting up.
They do seem to be making good progress here. The hole is down to about 4800 feet, but the computer said the bit was at about 200 feet. Don’t know if they’re putting down casing, or just changing bits. I’ll try to find out tomorrow.
Looks like our days are now permanently in the 90’s. It helps that the humidity pretty much stays in the 20% range. Tractor Supply sells some misting units that I’m going to check out for when it gets hotter.
It’s still very comfortable at night though, with temps in the low to mid 60’s. In fact I usually wear a long sleeve shirt at night for a little warmth.
May 22, 2013
. . . just to watch him die.
We headed out on our 150 mile daytrip about 8:30 this morning, but our first stop was only a few miles up the road for breakfast at Denny’s.
Back on the road by 9:30 we drove up the west side of Lake Tahoe on SR89 for about 30 miles until we came to Tahoe City. Along the way we passed a lot of spectacular scenery overlooking Lake Tahoe.
At one turnout near the head of Emerald Bay, we looked down on Vikingsholm, a Scandinavian castle built by Lora Knight in 1929.
One of the first summer homes built on Lake Tahoe, it welcomed celebrities such as Will Rogers over the years.
Besides the castle, Mrs. Knight also had built a rustic 16 x 16 ft. teahouse on Fannette Island, the only island in Lake Tahoe.
Located at the highest point on the island, all of the stone had to be ferried by boat over to the island.
It seems like every turn just brought more great scenery into view.
A little way before we reached Tahoe City we encountered these two really neat old cars.
Don’t know what they are.
Reaching Tahoe City, we turned away from the lake and headed north to I-80 and Truckee. Reaching Truckee, we turned west for a few miles and ended up at Donner Pass State Park.
The museum covered not only the Donner party, but also the many emigrants who passed through here on their way to California.
Unfortunately, because of the way the many displays were lighted, I wasn’t able to get any good photos. But they did have this model Conestoga wagon loaded up with typical supplies.
And this was something I’d never seen or heard of before. It’s a snowshoe made for horses.
Leaving the museum, we headed down the nature trail that lead toward the area where some of the Donner party wintered over from November 1846 to February 1847.
None of the cabins survived, but this rock was the wall and fireplace of one of them.
This monument, near the museum, commemorates the hardships suffered here, and also marks the spot of another cabin. The height of the monument base, at 22 feet, marks the depth of the snow in the area that winter.
Leaving the area and heading east toward Reno, we thought about the irony of the fact that the Interstate I-80 now runs along the route that the Donner party was trying to take.
Getting into Reno, we turned south toward Virginia City, climbing about 2000 feet up into the mountains, with another set of great views along the way.
Coming into Virginia City, we found a quaint, old fashioned town clinging to the mountain side. Most of the town buildings date from from after the big fire of 1875, when most of the town burned to the ground. Only one partial block was left standing.
Over 2000 buildings were lost, leaving 10,000 people homeless. But the entire town was rebuilt in less than a year.
Our first stop was “The Way It Was” museum. Housing thousands of artifacts from Virginia City’s heyday, it details many facets of the townspeople’s lives.
Home of the fabled Comstock Lode, the many mines around the area yielded up over $400 million dollars of gold and silver. That’s billions in today’s dollars.
One of my favorite exhibits was this scale model showing only 250 miles of the interconnected 800 miles of mineshafts underneath the town.
Sorry for the so-so photos, but the sunlight coming through a skylight washed it out.
Next we took a tram ride around town, with our tour guides pointing out the many mansions in the area, and also the many brothels. Unfortunately a number of places we wanted to see were still closed for the winter, and won’t reopen until this weekend.
One thing I did see was a new personal record for a mountain grade. My previous best had been 12% going through Canada, but that was in the RV.
But 15%, even in the truck was pretty good.
Leaving Virginia City, and getting back to Reno about 4pm, we stopped off at Famous Dave’s BBQ for dinner. And as usual, really, really good. But Jan and I were both somewhat disappointed that this franchisee doesn’t the Firecracker Green Beans as a side dish. Bummer. They’re really good.
After dinner, Wal-Mart, and Sam’s Club, I stopped off at a Home Depot to pick a new drinking water faucet for our kitchen counter.
Hopefully this one will last as long as the first one did.
Getting home about 8:30, we were both pooped after a long but very fun day. But tomorrow will be a do-nothing day, let me tell you.
When we got home, we found Landon’s school class photo that Brandi had sent over. That’s him on the upper left. Love those plaid shorts he’s got on.
May 22, 2015
Anything But Goodyear . . .
Wednesday 5/20
Jan and I were on the road by 6am, heading for Vandalia, IL 1534 miles away. We didn’t want to miss a long-scheduled family reunion with Jan’s sister Debbie and her family, so a road trip was in order. We planned on making it in two days, stopping for the night in Amarillo, TX.
But about 10 miles south of Flagstaff, our journey came to a halt with a big BOOM! But with not as much resulting excitement as our blowout on the rig a few weeks ago. So, yes, my second Goodyear tire, the driver’s rear, blew out.
The day before we left, I’d had replaced my passenger front tire because the Goodyear on that wheel had popped open along a sidewall seam and had also developed a wobble. The tire guy at Big O checked my other tires and said they looked good.
I had just started to jack up the truck when an Arizona Highway Patrol officer pulled in behind me. He was kind of worried because we were parked just past an entrance ramp onto the Interstate, but he put out some cones to help guide the traffic entering the Interstate around us.
After getting the truck jacked up, I lowered the spare tire from underneath the truck bed, and quickly discovered that Goodyear had struck again.
Last February, my son Chris had swapped out my right front tire with my spare because it felt a little funny, like it was out of balance, or something. I figured it would still be a good spare for a few miles if I needed one.
But when I looked at the spare I found that it had blown out while it was underneath the truck. It looked like it had exploded from the inside, blowing several large chunks of rubber out of the sidewall. You might think that this might have been caused by road debris, maybe even from something thrown out from our rig blowout, but no. The damage was on the topside of the tire where it was shielded up against the bottom of the bed. The tire had just blown out all on its own.
I called my Good Sam ERS and told them I needed either a new tire, or a tow. But when I was told 45 minutes to an hour, the Highway Patrol officer said he would have to call the Patrol’s tow service because they could be there in 20 minutes, and he wanted us off the road as quick as possible. And of course I would have to pay for that tow. But Good Sam said I might be able to get reimbursed.
So, 55 minutes later, the OFFICIAL tow service shows up.
And an hour later, and $143 poorer, we were sitting in the waiting area of a Big O Tire Store on the east side of Flagstaff having two new tires ($273) put on our truck. Finally two and a half hours after the BOOM we were back on the road.
We had planned to have lunch in Gallup, NM, but ended up at a Carl’s Jr. in Holbrook instead. I tried their new All-American Burger that has a little of everything, including a hamburger, a hot dog, and even kettle-fried potato chips.
It was good, but confusing, with the taste of both a hamburger and a hot dog.
Mister of course was with us, but couldn’t settle down, going back and forth from the front seat to the back. This is the first time he’s traveled more than a few miles in anything other than the rig, and he couldn’t figure out what was going on. He just knew something wasn’t right.
What Jan and I missed most was our bathroom in the rig, especially with signs like these at the rest areas.
It was a real pain keeping track of upcoming rest areas, figuring how far to the next one, and then finding it closed. It’s much more convenient to just pull over when you have a wide shoulder and take care of things.
For dinner, we ended up at another Carl’s Jr., this one in Santa Rosa, NM. But this time I just ordered a Double Bacon Cheeseburger which was really good.
We finally pulled in to the Quality Inn in Amarillo about 10:45pm, very tired after a long day. Besides our tire delay, we lost two hours changing from Arizona’s non-Daylight Savings Time (the equivalent to Pacific Time) to Texas’ Central Daylight Time.
I’ll catch up more tomorrow.
May 22, 2016
Happy 48th, Chris!
I was up about 6:30, with Jan following about 7 to get ready to roll this morning. We didn’t have breakfast or coffee because we planned on grabbing something at the Flying J.
We hoped to pull out by 8:30, but beat that by 15 minutes, and were out on I-45 by a little after 8:30. And about 30 minutes later we were pulling into the RV lanes at the Flying J on I-45. And although it was faster than last time, it still wasn’t exactly speedy.
Last time, the first pump I used was flowing about a gallon every 30 seconds, so it would take about an hour for 120 gallons. This time it was twice as fast, at 4 gallons a minute, but still that’s slow. I’ve often seen pumps flowing a gallon every 4 or 5 seconds. Here’s what happened that time.
https://ourrvadventures.com/2016/01/rv-checklists/
Normally this is a clogged filter on the pump, so I told them about it while I was inside getting our coffee, as well as a couple of very tasty Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Biscuits.
We were back on the road a little before 10 for our trip down to Brandi’s in Katy. After taking the Beltway around, rather go out I-10 and take the winding FM 1463 to Brandi’s, we went straight across I-10 and down to the Westpark Tollway and took that out to the Shell station at the corner of 1093 and 1463 where we were going to park for the afternoon.
We got there a little before 11, and as I was leaving the rig, Brandi and Landon pulled up next to us. I told her that was perfect timing, since I had planned to call and have them pick us up.
She said she was on her way back from the grocery story and just happened to see us pull in. But even more coincidental, as I was walking over to the convenience store to ask permission to park for a few hours, we saw Chris, Linda and Piper there picking up something for our dinner.
Getting to Brandi’s we had a great meal and an even better family get-together.
Chris got a Cheeseburger Ice Cream Birthday Cake with Star Wars characters on it.
And of course, here’s the obligatory family portrait.
Is that a great looking family, or what?
We were back on the road by a little before 3pm, head for the Colorado River Thousand Trails about an hour away. Coming down from Brandi’s we’d just been running the fans, since as forecast, the weather was very overcast and about 75 degrees. And it was supposed to be the same this afternoon.
But as we got back to the rig, the sun was coming out and temps were rising. So we turned off the fans, closed the windows, and cranked up the generator to run the A/C’s.
The generator was being a little cantankerous, however, at least at the start. The first time it ran for about 5 minutes and quit. The second time it ran about 10 minutes and shut down. But the third time it ran all the rest of the way. I’ll have to check the generator error codes to see if it shows anything.
We were checked in and set up at Colorado River by a little after 4pm, after a busy, fun day.
May 22, 2017
HuHot and Old Cars . . .
Beautiful weather here in Billings today, with temps in the high 60’s and a lot of sun. But since it’s supposed to be in the low 40’s tonight, I plugged my engine’s block heater once again for a toasty engine tomorrow morning.
We’ve stayed here a number of the times over the years and you can’t ask for a nicer park.
There’s even parking for two vehicles if you need it.
For breakfast this morning we had our Wheat Montana treats from yesterday’s visit.
She got a Chocolate Croissant while I got an Almond Bear claw. Both really good. Too bad we didn’t buy more.
Jan spend an hour or so at one of the two nearby park laundries doing our heavy floor rugs, the only thing she doesn’t normally do in our rig’s Splendide Washer/Dryer combo.
About 4pm we headed out to have dinner at our other favorite Billings’ eatery, HuHot Mongolian Grill.
Like the Genghis Grill, HuHot gives you an empty bowl and you go down a cafeteria-type line filling your bowl up with all the meats, veggies, and sauces you want.
Then you give it to the grill guy who tosses it on a big circular grill and cooks it up for you while you watch.
And what starts out like this,
ends up like this.
One thing kind of funny was the grill guy’s reaction when he tossed my bowl on the grill. I had loaded it up with all of the really hot and spicy sauces, so when the steamy vapors hit in the face, he jerked back saying :”WOW”. When he looked over at me, I just smiled.
As we were leaving HuHot I saw this really nice 1937 V-8 Ford in the parking lot.
I really like those taillights, but I don’t think they’re original equipment. Note the gas cap in the nearest one.
Then it was off to the nearby Sam’s Club to pick up a prescription for me and a case of Joint Juice for Jan. We also scouted out the gas station to get some diesel tomorrow morning before we leave town.
Besides being close by and an easy in and out, at $2.37/gallon, it’s the cheapest in the area by about $.20 a gallon.
Later, coming home from Sam’s we passed another bunch of old cars.
Don’t know why they’re stored there, but they run the gambit of really old to fairly new.
One of our blog readers noticed the helper springs on our wiper arms in the photo of Karma sleeping on the dash yesterday..
I found these at a truck stop a few years ago, but you can get the same ones here on Amazon.
They work great to keep the blades firmly against the glass, and even better, here on Amazon they’re half the price of the truck stop ones. Check ‘em out..
Looking at our route to Rapid City tomorrow, I noticed that if I take US 212 past the Custer Battlefield, it makes a 50 mile shorter route around to connect back up with I-90 right above Sturgis, turning our 363 mile trip into only 313 miles.
So off we go.
May 22, 2018
What A Burger . . .
I spent the morning and early afternoon mostly working on website stuff, both the Knife website and the the Big Huntsville Storage website.
Around noon our power went off here at the park. It seems to happen every couple of weeks or so, and usually comes back on pretty quickly. And it was back on in just a couple of minutes . . . and then back off again. And then off again. And then back on.
This raised my suspicions so I got up to check the LED that monitors our shore power voltage and found it, not at the normal 122-124 volts, but showing 131 volts. And as I watched, every so often, it would bounce up to 132 and then back down to 130. But then it momentarily hit 133 and our Progressive EMS (Electrical Management System) disconnected us from shore power to protect the coach
I took my new 50 amp tester out to the pedestal to check things out.
And I had 131-132 volts on both legs so it wasn’t an unbalanced voltage situation. I watched it for about 15 minutes without it ever going above 133 volts, so I switched the EMS into bypass mode so we’d get power back in the coach. I did keep monitoring the voltage in the coach, and about 15 minutes later it was back down to normal. So a little later I switched the EMS back into the circuit.
I don’t what the problem was, but it seems to have been a power company problem. I’ll keep an eye on it.
But I did get another plastic tub filled up which we took over to the storage room a little after 4pm. Then it was on up to Whataburger for dinner. #6’s for both of us. Plus I got an Apple & Cranberry Salad to bring home for dinner tomorrow night.
May 22, 2020
A Lot of Pent Up . . . Well, Something
Going into the Memorial Day Weekend, traffic coming home was pretty much back to the pre-Wu normal. And maybe a little more, since the traffic was heavy heading down toward Galveston for the weekend.
But the real indication that things were finally opening up, was that the Heartbreaker’s Gentlemen’s Club right along the Interstate was open again. And it was more crowded than I’ve ever seen it. Not only was the huge parking lot full, but people were parking out along the feeder.
Like I said, a lot of pent up . . . something.
One thing funny about this club is that every few years some do-gooder in League City decides to shut down this den of iniquity. But that only lasts until the first City Council meeting when they present their petition. And then they’re told that their taxes would more than double, since that club is the largest single tax-paying business in the city, by a wide margin. And then it all fades away until next time.
This past Tuesday we once again had lunch at Saltgrass Steakhouse, the second time since they reopened. And then yesterday we had supper at Los Ramirez Mexican Restaurant, our local favorite, and where we last ate back in March the day before everything shut down.
Every other table was taped off, and the waitstaff were all wearing masks, but the food was as delicious as always. And like a look of places, they used their dine-in downtime to repaint the place. Really nice.
May 22, 2021
End Of School . . .
Thought first I’d catch with our Thursday get-together up in Huntsville with Debi and Ed Hurlburt, and Janice and Dave Evans at the Farmhouse Café.
We were beginning to get a little worried with the route our Garmin GPS was taking us through the backstreets of Huntsville, but we finally found the place tucked in behind Sam Houston State University. And it turned out to be just as good as advertised.
Jan got the Grilled Chicken Breast with Fried Green Tomatoes and Green Beans,
while I got the Chicken Juarez with Turnip Greens and Green Beans.
Ed Hurlburt also got the Grilled Chicken Breast like Jan, but with a Loaded Sweet Potato and Fruit.
Dave Evans, however,went in a piscatorial direction, with the Fried Catfish, Fries, and Hushpuppies.
I never got a look at what Debi and Janice had since they were on the other sided of the table, but I didn’t hear any complaints.
Already looking forward to our get-together in July, since we’ll be gone in June.
Finally broke down today and subscribed to AppleTV+ so Jan and I could watch For All Mankind, the alternate history of the U.S.- Russian Space Race. A lot of family/friends have been recommending it.
As I always do, I registered using one of the Privacy.com limited credit cards so that I can easily drop my subscription at any time without worrying about continuing charges.
For lunch today we went to Los Ramirez once again and it was delicious as always. Plus you know you’ve been to a place a lot when the lady getting our drinks tells us what we want, and also that we want no chips but two green sauces, and only one straw. And the waiter taking our order walks up and just repeats our order to us without any prompting.
Our daughter Brandi and several other mothers got together and had an End of School party for the kids, including a BIG water slide and a Taco Truck.
Looks like they had a lot of fun, and managed to dodge all the rain and lightning.
Though I doubt if the kids would have minded the rain under the circumstances.
May 22, 2022
It’s Finally Set Up . . .
I think I finally got GoDaddy to make the changes I needed, and several readers have said that they’re seeing the blog now when they weren’t below.
So if you’re seeing it now, please let me know.
Lunch today was King Food once again, always delicious.
We both got the Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce with Jalapenos, along with Fried Rice and an Egg Roll.
And of course starting with their Hot & Sour Soup.
And as I noted the last time we were here, they have a perfect way to keep from having to reprint their large menu to keep up with the rising prices.
After lunch we headed over to the office so I could finish setting up the UPS Remote Station connected to the new Shipping computer without having to work around people during the day. And with no interruptions, it only took about 30 minutes to finish up.
And that completes everything that needs to be done in setting up the new Shipping computer.
