Our RV Adventures

No, not the beer kind.

We’ve been firming up our Kingsland family get-together, now scheduled for March 15-16. But we might have thought about it a little more before we picked that date.

We’d tried to stay at our usual Lake LBJ Inn in Kingsland, but everything was booked, so Jan and I, and Brandi, Lowell, and Landon will be staying at the Quality Inn over in Marble Falls, about 20 minutes away.

And the reason for that is that we pick a weekend right in the middle of the two Spring Break weeks here in Texas.

Doh!

But we’ll make it work. We always do.

And as we’ve done previously, Jan and I are going up a day earlier to spend some time over in Fredericksburg, a favorite location of ours. Fun shopping, great German food, Jan’s favorite Wildseed Farms, and now something new.

Longneck Manor

Longneck Manor is a 100-acre wildlife park, with giraffes

and rhinos.

But what’s neat is that they lodging in and around the animals,

including windows that overlook the animals.

But what we’re interested in is the daily tours they give through the area, getting to feed them, and pet them.

Even the rhinos.

Tomorrow’s another of our stay-at-home Tuesdays, a chance to get some things done around the rig.

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Thought For The Day:

I don’t know. I might actually pay extra for a real haunted house.

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.

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February 19, 2011

Wind, Dust, and Tumbleweeds . . .

We left Las Cruces this morning a little before 9:30am, but right before that, our daughter Brandi called to check up on us and give us the latest on Master Landon. He just started eating vegetables, and apparently he really likes peas.

About 10 minutes out on I-10 I pulled over and let Jan drive for a while. She didn’t drive at all last year, so she wanted to get in some practice. And it only took her a few minutes to get back in the groove, especially after I put a small piece of tape on the dashboard to help her keep centered.

In about another 30 minutes we pulled into the Bowlin souvenir place at Akela Flats, one of our favorite stops. Jan always loves looking at the jewelry, although this time she didn’t buy anything. But I made up for it.

We did spend $380.00 for 102.7 gallons of diesel. That was $3.699 a gallon. OUCH! The last time I filled up was September 13 right before we parked for 5 months in Houston and it was $2.499 a gallon.

One thing that was interesting about getting diesel was that my Silverleaf computer engine display said I had 47 gallons left in my 150-gallon tank. And I put in 102.7 gallons.

You can’t get much more accurate than that.

Jan was a little nervous, but had no problems getting in and out of the parking area and back on I-10. I was really proud of her.

About 11:30 after a Rest Area stop I took back over the driving chores. The wind was starting to pick up, the tumbleweeds were out in force, and this was not to Jan’s liking.

About 12:30 we were coming into Lordsburg, NM and I saw the signs for Kranberry’s Family Restaurant and asked Jan if she wanted to stop. We had eaten here last year coming thru the area and knew the food was good, and maybe more importantly, they had RV parking in the back.

The only real problem with the RV parking, however, is that it’s just a big gravel lot with no markings, so everyone just parks willy-nilly, every which way. In fact, we pulled in thru the front, out the back exit, down a block to turn around, and came in the back, heading out toward the front. This is to be sure we wouldn’t get blocked in, and would have an easy exit.

As usual, our food was good, but coming back to the rig, we found this bad omen. If tumbleweeds are blowing thru the parking lots, what’s the Interstate going to be like?

When we got back in the rig, we could see dust clouds on the horizon, and figured the weather was going downhill.

And it did. But luckily, not too bad. The high winds got worse, but we got out of the heavy dust areas fairly quickly, and never had a visibility problem.

We did have several instances of the rig wanting to change lanes without me turning the steering wheel, however. Not good. I think we had some gusts in the 40-50 mph range, but they weren’t as bad as when we were coming into Dawson Creek, BC in April of 2008, and the 60-80 mph gusts were blowing semi’s off the road, and trying to open our big awning. And on top of this, it was 19 degrees.

I don’t even want to think about what the wind chill was.

We finally pulled into the Pima County Fairgrounds, still in one piece, about 4:30pm. Then our biggest problem was finding where to go to check in. The sign at the gate said ‘RV Office’ straight ahead.

However straight ahead would have taken me right into a big crowd of kids and families all milling around. They were having some sort of high school event and the place was really crowded. So I finally found a place to park off to the side of the lot and took off on foot looking for the office. After getting two sets of bad directions, I eventually found it and got checked in. And one of the staff was nice enough to bring me back to the rig by golf cart. Much appreciated!

We got parked and hooked up, and then set off for Poco & Mom’s, a really great Mexican place that our friends Al & Adrienne Cox had introduced us to about a year ago.

It’s a small place, only about 10 tables and 4 counter stools, but boy is it good! I had the Green Chile Pork Stew and Jan had a New-Mex combo platter. Here’s a shot of my Pork Stew.

New-Mex is like Tex-Mex, only different. They have more pork dishes, and use a lot of the Hatch red and green peppers. MMMM Good!

Of course, this being Arizona, why isn’t it Ari-Mex?  Or something?

For dessert, Jan and I split a fruit-stuffed Sopapilla. Since we couldn’t decide on apple or cherry, they did it half ‘n half. Really, really good!

And cheap, too. Only $2.50!  My kind of food. Good AND cheap.

And, of course, lots of it.

Leaving Poco’s we headed over to the nearest Wal-Mart, according to our GPS.  However it was not a SuperStore and didn’t have groceries. So we went by a Fry’s that we’d seen on the way and picked up some stuff to fix in Gila Bend, since the restaurant choice there is lacking.

Coming back to the rig, I stopped to get gas, figuring it would be even more expensive out in the middle of nowhere in Gila Bend later this week.

But in finding a place to fill up, I ran into one of those mysteries of life. You know. one’s like

“If the early bird gets the worm, why does the second mouse gets the cheese?”

or

“If you’re going to shoot a mime, do you need a silencer?”

In this case there are two gas stations. One on either side of the street from the other. The first, a ‘Gas City’ station, is selling regular unleaded for $3.259. The other, a Diamond Shamrock, is selling regular unleaded for $3.059. That’s a 20 cents a gallon difference! Helloo!

Why does the ‘Gas City’ station have any business at all?  Are people just too lazy to make a left turn at the light into the Diamond Shamrock? Or don’t they realize that $3.259 is larger than $3.059?

Just what is it?

Anyway, getting back to the rig, I decided not to set the sat dish up since there was nothing we wanted to watch or record. We thought we’d just watch some of the stuff we’d already recorded on the DVR.

And therein, I found a problem. Apparently, if you are not connected to the satellite, the DVR won’t let you watch anything you’ve recorded.

BUMMER!

Tomorrow we’ve got a 137 mile run to Gila Bend, AZ. We’ll be there for several days, while, hopefully I can get the rest of the carpet up and start putting down the new laminate.

More tomorrow from Gila Bend.

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February 19, 2012

‘Honerary’ Uncle Butterbean . . .

Finally we woke up to the sun this morning. And after coffee and some of the delicious muffins she and Gina made yesterday, Jan and I headed over to Gina’s about 11:30.

Jan was happy to see it was a 1 gate day again, since yesterday it was a 2 gate day, and it was raining, and Jan was on gate-opening duty again. (That’s what happens when you keep losing at “Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock”)

Before I forget, here’s a shot of the 55” TV Matt Jones and I installed for Gina in her bedroom. Right now it’s just pretty to look at until the Direct TV guy comes out on Tuesday to wire the satellite to it.

Later, while Jan brought Gina up to speed on Pinterest, her new favorite obsession, I drove over to the Little Blanco river crossing to see if we’d be able to go this way on our way to lunch this afternoon.

Believe it or not, there’s a roadway underneath there . . . about 6 inches underneath.

I’ve crossed it this deep before, but we’ll have guests with us this afternoon so it will be better to take the long way. There’ll be less screaming.

This is what can happen if you gun it as you’re climbing the hill out of the river bottom and side-slip on the slick pavement and off the edge. We came across this sight a few years ago.

About 1:45 our blog friend ‘Butterbean’ and his lovely wife Joyce showed in Canyon Lake. They live about 75 miles from San Angelo and had driven over to finally meet us in person.

After meeting up at the Exxon station, we caravanned over to Salt Lick BBQ, about 45 minutes away.

We’ve eaten here a number of times, and our daughter Brandi even had her wedding reception here a couple of years ago, but we’ve never seen them this busy.

We were told there would be 90 minute wait! We have never seen crowds like this. Don’t know if it was because it was a holiday weekend, or what, but it was wall-to-wall people here today.

But luckily they overestimated the time and we only had to wait for about 40 minutes.

Salt Lick serves family style, with sliced brisket, ribs, sausage, beans, potatoes, coleslaw, and bread. And they just keep bringing until you give up.

Here’s Butterbean and Joyce getting ready to chow down with the rest of us.

And for dessert, they have pecan pie, blackberry cobbler, or peach cobbler, or you can even get a combo of blackberry and peach, with Ice cream, which is what Jan and I split.

All in all, a great meal, with great company.

Brandi has declared Butterbean, Landon’s ‘Honerary’ Uncle, and we enjoyed getting to know him and Joyce, and wish we had had more time together. But by the time we finished eating, it was a little after 5 pm, and they had a 200 mile trip back home. Maybe we’ll get to spend some more time together next trip.

Getting back to Canyon Lake, we dropped Gina off at her house and then headed back to the rig for the night.

Tomorrow we’ve got an early start for a 375 mile trip to overnight at Saddleback Mountain RV Park in Balmorhea, TX, before heading onto Las Cruces for two days.

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February 19, 2013

So Far, So Good . . .

Well, our first real travel day of the beginning of our 6th year of Full-Timing got off to a great start. We pulled out of our site back at Galveston Bay RV Park about 10:30, and made our first stop about 8 miles away.

We have a tradition that on our way out of town every year, we stop off at the Monterey’s Little Mexico in Dickinson for one final bowl of their Chicken Tortilla Soup before we hit the road.

There is a large parking lot right next door so there’s plenty of room to park. In fact this is where we normally hook up our toad before we eat.

We were on our way by 11:45, heading up I-45 and then west on Beltway 8 to hook up with 1-10 West. Our first stop was at the Buc-ee’s in Luling, about 3 hours later, another of our travel traditions. We headed back out with hot coffees for us, and a bag of cherry kolaches for our friend Gina who we’ll be visiting for the next week.

We pulled into our destination, the Lake Pointe RV Resort in Canyon Lake, TX about 4:30 and got set up.

Lake Pointe is a Passport America park so we can stay here for two weeks at $12 a night for 50 Amp, Water & Electric. Sewer is not a problem for us since they let you drain your drain your gray tank on the ground, and we can go for two weeks on our black tank. And there’s a Honey Wagon available if you need it.

A little after 6pm we headed over to Gina’s place, about 10 minutes away, to visit for a couple of hours. We haven’t seen Gina since Thanksgiving so it was good to get together again.

Finally heading back to the rig, we stopped off at the Italian Garden Restaurant in Canyon Lake for supper. Jan loves their Meat Ravioli, and I had the Grilled Chicken with mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus in garlic-olive oil sauce. Really good.

Tomorrow I’ll be running some errands while Jan stays with Gina, and then we’ll all try to grab some dinner later.

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February 19, 2014

Muffins and . . . well, more Muffins

Well, it was another early morning today. Up at 7:45, out the door at 8:30 (sans coffee), and at the clients at 9.

This was supposed to be my wrap-up visit with this client, but it didn’t quite work out that way. One of the things I was supposed to do was hook his external hard drive to his old desktop computer and backup all his old data and prepare the unit to be given away. But the computer, not used since this summer, had developed a problem. It would no longer read a keyboard. I tried two different ones,using both the PS2 keyboard socket and two different USB ports, all with no luck.

Since the computer is no longer operational I’m just going to take the HD out and put it in a external HD case and that will be his backup. I brought the computer home with me and I ordered a case from Amazon which will be here tomorrow. But it still means another trip back there to drop it off.

Coming home, I made a hardware store stop for some more screws to fasten the metal trim down around the pedal area under the dashboard. I want to try to get that finished up before we leave here on Monday, but I may run out of time.

Last up was a stop at Buc-ee’s for some of their delicious Cranberry Nut Muffins. Not only are they delicious, they’re big enough for a meal. Besides breakfast, we often have one with coffee for dinner.

They’re that good.

But no muffins for us tonight. Our original dinner plans fell through, so it was time for some Hooter’s. You can never have enough Hooter’s.

Coming home we stopped off for gas at Wal-Mart and found the price has jumped 15 cents in the last week or so. Where’s the Keystone pipeline when we need it?

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For some reason we’re seeing a lot of white pelicans around this year, along with the usual brown ones.  It must be caused by Global Warming.

Pelicans are one of those animals that are so ugly they’re beautiful.

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February 19, 2015

Blades and Bistros . . .

First thing this morning I got back on rig work. Yesterday I had started to install these new wipers on the rig, Denso Wiper Blade, 26″ (Pack of 1) , but ran into a problem.

The new ones, although the same model that I bought before, were slightly different. They only had one mounting hole, not the two on the previous ones. And the metal frame was a little bit wider. I was able to drill a second hole with no problems, but when I made the blade holder wider, I found the mounting screws were now too short. So coming home from our friend Bonne’s last night, I made a Home Depot stop to pick up some longer ones.

Once I had those, it didn’t take long for me to install the new blades. The only problem was that the wind coming off Dickinson Bayou was so strong that I had to be careful that the gusts didn’t blow me off the ladder..

Later,  about 3:45pm, Jan and I headed up to Katy to meet Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at our favorite Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro, probably our last visit until we’re back here in August.

As usual the food was delicious. I don’t know what they do to the beef chunks in the Shaking Beef Bowl, but they’re so flavorful and tender they just melt in your mouth.

And of course, you can’t forget the Crème Brule Spoons for the perfect light dessert.

* * * * *

After trying to clean the haze off the truck headlights, I finally took the advice of my son Chris, and son-in-law Lowell, and just ordered new headlights off of eBay for $85. I ordered them Monday and they came in today. Very fast service.

According to the shop manual I have, it looks like only 3 or 4 screws to change them out. But you never know.

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We haven’t seen as many birds here this year as usual, probably because of the construction going on nearby. But I did get this long-range shot of a bunch of them on a small island about two hundred yards out, at the limit of my zoom.

Looks like a real family get-together, with egrets, ibises, pelicans, and ‘Pinky’, our Roseate Spoonbill.

Tomorrow Jan has her oncologist appointment to get some blood work done, and her Anastrozole prescription renewed. Should be just routine since her mammogram / ultrasound was clean.

Then it’s back on rig stuff.

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February 19, 2016

A Bunch of ‘News’ . . .

Since we were heading out for lunch about 12:15, that was our excuse for not walking this morning. But I did get in a call in to Westland Sales about my Splendide drain pump problem.

As I mentioned yesterday, I noticed that when I turned the fan shown below,

the white pump impeller shown below did rotate. But when I turn the impeller itself, the fan didn’t turn.

Now my first thought was that there was some sort of slip clutch on the impeller so that if a sock or something got hung up, it wouldn’t burn out the pump but would just spin free. But I wanted to be sure before I went any further with the repair.

And it turns out my thought about the clutch was correct, and that’s the way it’s supposed to work.

So tomorrow, first up I’ll put 120vac to the motor to be sure it works, and then put the washer into spin/pump mode to be sure it is sending 120vac to the pump. This part may be interesting since the washer is presently upside down in the kitchen, but I’ll make it work somehow.

Then I’ll disassemble the pump as much as possible and clean it up, and then try to get some lithium grease into the bearings. Hopefully this will get it working again.

And before I put the bottom panel back on, I’ll spray it with the black Rust oleum paint I bought the other day to paint my re-welded screen door hinge. The panel is kind of rusty so it could use a little clean up.

We head out about 12:15 to meet blog readers Sherry and Clark for lunch at the nearby Asian BBQ & Grill. Neither of us had ever eaten there, but Sherry’s son, who lives in this area, recommended it.

Based on the Yelp reviews and pictures, we were hoping for our own local version of our favorite Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro. Since Little V’s is out in Katy near our daughter’s, and over an hour away, we don’t get there as often as we’d like, so we had our fingers crossed.

Getting to the restaurant, we were warmly greeted by Sherry and Clark, and spent some time getting to know them. And we quickly discovered that there’s a bunch of ‘news’ in their lives.

Sherry is newly retired, as in just last week, and she’s still trying to adjust to the big changes in her life.

And Sherry and Clark are on their way to being new ‘semi-full-timers.’ They have a new Jayco 31ft Class A, and are planning to check out the fulltime lifestyle by taking several months this summer to travel the East Coast all the way up to the Escapees Escapade being held in Essex Junction, VT the last part of July. They did a one month trip last year, so this will be another step in that direction.

But the most important ‘new’ is the fact they’re ‘Newlyweds’, only married for 42 days.

So Congratulations to the happy couple!

Finally we got down to ordering, starting out with an order of their Shrimp and Pork Spring Rolls, Really good, with a great peanut sauce.

For our entrée’s, Jan and I tried to duplicate our favorite dishes from Little V’s. We both got the Grilled Lemon Grass Chicken over Vermicelli, while I added a skewer of grilled shrimp to mine.

Our meals came with the Fish Sauce above, but we also asked for some of their Dragon Sauce. Really hot, and a lot of flavor too.

Jan and I both really liked our meals, and though we both agreed it wasn’t quite up to Little V’s, it was a delicious replacement, especially considering it’s about half the cost of Little V’s, and a lot closer. Always a favorite of mine.

We will certainly go back.

Finally saying our goodbyes to Sherry and Clark, and thanking them again for the Pumpkin Muffins and bottle of Cupcake Moscato they brought Jan, we drove over to the nearby Sam’s Club for a few things before moving next door to Wal-Mart for a few more things. Then on the way home we stopped off at Starbuck’s for a caffeine pick-me-up. Jan went with her usual Cinnamon Dolce Latte, while I tried out what is now my new favorite Starbuck’s drink, a Smoked Butterscotch Latte.

Tomorrow we’ll try to get our walking started up again, and then I’ll get back on the pump repair.

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February 19, 2017

Smooth As Silk . . .

Once again we were up at 7am and out the door by 8, once again heading down to the Clear Lake area so that our son Chris could again work his mechanical magic on our truck replacing the shocks.

But getting down there our first stop was the nearby O’Reilly’s Auto Parts to pick up the correct front shocks. The ones they gave me yesterday would have fit our Dakota, but they were a different type. And it’s not a good idea to mix two different types of shocks on a vehicle.

Finally at Chris’, he started on the hardest one first, the driver’s rear. It’s the hardest because of  the location of the upper mount. But 45 minutes later, he was moving on to the passenger rear.

One thing nice about these Monroe shocks is that they pre-compress them for you, making them a lot easier to install.

Finishing up, it took him about 2-1/2 hours from start to finish and now the truck rides smooth as silk. Really nice.

Thanks Chris.

About 2pm we all headed over to Rudy’s BBQ for a great meal.

With ribs, jalapeno sausage, moist brisket, lean brisket (or as I called it, dry and tasteless), creamed cord, and new potatoes, it was a real feast, and certainly worthy of us.

Saying our goodbyes, we detoured by Kroger’s to gas up before heading back to Columbus, finally getting home about 5:30.

And tomorrow, we get to do it all over again. This time for Jan’s lab work and mammogram.

And even better, it’s supposed to be pouring down rain all day with a strong chance of flooding.

Oh, Boy!

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February 19, 2018

Well, I Know What It Isn’t . . .

I spent most of today at work trying to track down a slow data problem on the local in-house network. Our office manager wants to be able to call up customer info from one computer to another. But it can take as long as 15 seconds to pull up over network, where it just takes a second or so on the local machine.

It’s not a network problem since the UPS shipping program does the same thing, but in the other direction. And it runs just fine.

I did try repairing and then compacting the database which did help a bit, but it really didn’t fix the problem. So now I know what it’s not.

I’m beginning to think that the problem might be the way that the program sorts the data to find the requested customer. As it sorts it may be moving large chunks of the 3.5 MB data file back and forth. So my next thought is to see if I can pre-sort the customer database by the customer name rather than the customer number.

I’ll give it a try on Wednesday and see if it makes a difference.

Coming home I stopped off at the Victory Lakes Jason’s Deli to pick up soup, salad, and sandwiches for dinner. I had pre-ordered and pre-paid for it using their phone app so it was ready when I walked in the door. I would have/ could have used the drive-thru lane, but  there were already 4 cars in line. So it was quicker to just park and go in. Seems like more and more places have these apps and it’s really convenient.

Tomorrow a stay at home day, though we’ll probably go out for dinner. We’re thinking Rudy’s BBQ, but we’ll see how it goes.

I had a couple of people asking about the new LED headlights l ordered. They should  be in on Wednesday, so I’ll let you know. I’ll probably replace one first and see the difference.

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February 19, 2019

You Decide . . .

After a nice morning Jan and I headed out about 2pm for lunch and stuff. And lunch was the Cheddars up in Webster once again.

And as usual Jan got her Key West Chicken and Shrimp with Green Beans and Carrots, while I got the Veggie Plate, with two Green Beans and two Carrots, and also comes with a bowl of soup and one of their Honey Butter Croissants.

I always get their Chicken Tortilla Soup which is really good. Not quite Monterey’s Little Mexico good, but good. However when we were at the Cheddars in Katy last week, I saw that they didn’t have the Chicken Tortilla soup, but instead had something called Crispy Chicken Tender Noodle Soup, Turns out it was really bad.

It wasn’t a very good Chicken Noodle Soup, i.e. I’ve had better from a can with Campbell’s on it. And the ‘Crispy’ part consisted of some rock-hard nodules like oversized Grape Nuts, but didn’t taste as good.

So when I got my soup today I asked to speak with the manager to put in my vote for them to keep the  Chicken Tortilla version. Especially since the corporate website lists the Noodle Soup as the norm.

Turns out that this location is actually a franchise, not corporate, and they can have whatever soup they want. Great!

Next up was a quick stop by Harbor Freight to pick up some Alligator Clip Leads for work, and then it was on to my client’s to pick up my Amazon orders, including my new Panasonic FZ80 that came in.

On that note, yesterday I came across this Extra Battery and Car Charger for the FZ80 and ordered one.

Should be here tomorrow.

Then it was on to the Ace Hardware to pick up some stainless steel bolts, nuts, and washers to redo the windshield wiper mounting on our RV. They don’t make wipers that fit our arms anymore so I’m going improvise something that will work better than the kludge that I’ve been using.

So actually I’m coming up with a new kludge to replace the old kludge. So a better kludge, I guess.

Then it was on over to the WalMart for some supplies before we headed home.

Ok, y’all get to decide.

With her recent 50 pound weight loss, I’ve been encouraging Jan to change her look a bit, mostly by switching to darker, slightly redder hair color sort of like this.

She’s reluctant, having been blonde for so long, but she had dark red hair when I met her in 1967, and still was a redhead here in 1975, here with our daughter Brandi at Gulf Shores, AL.

So you decide, and let us know.

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February 19, 2020

Not Much Blog Today . . .

I didn’t get last night’s blog posted until this morning due to computer problems with my desktop unit. My Windows Live Mail won’t open, and neither will Chrome. But the old Internet Explorer works.

I spent most of today at work trying to get a new ad card ready for our mailing company to send out. When I left for Alabama last Thursday they had decided not to do a March sale. But they changed their minds while I was gone, so for the last few days I’ve been scrambling to get the card ready to go for the March sale.

Right now here’s how it looks. But I’ve still got some more tweeting to do.

Of course it doesn’t help that the products they want to sell, and the prices they want to charge keep changing.

Hopefully I can finished it up and get it submitted tomorrow.

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February 19, 2021

Home Again, Home Again . . .

Jan and I checked out of the Texas City La Quinta about 10:30 and were back at the rig by 11am, finding it nice and toasty inside since we left the heaters running overnight.

Before I headed into work for a few hours, I doublechecked that our onboard water was still working without any leaks. And so it was. And since we’re supposed to have temps back down into the 20’s tonight, I’ll wait to hook us back up to shore water until tomorrow. And I’ve left the heat lamp going in the water bay just in case.

Hard to believe that by Sunday it will be back in the 70’s again.

It seems like a lot of the restaurants in the area are connected to the Texas City water system, so just about the time they got back open from the loss of power, they had to shut down again due to a Boil Order from Texas City. But hopefully everything will settle back down soon.

But it looks like the whole shipping/delivery thing is going to be awhile before everything comes back up to speed. Items that were supposed to be delivered from Amazon this past Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are now scheduled for next Thursday, though I imagine they will probably show up before then.

Also a number of things we had coming into the office from suppliers via UPS have just disappeared into the system somewhere. The tracking numbers come back as No Information. Check Back Later. So I guess we’ll see when they finally turn up.

Our room at this La Quinta was an upgrade from what we usually ask for, which is just a King Bed, Non Smoking, like this.

But what we got, at no additional charge, was a Deluxe King Studio Suite, which also has this.

A sitting area with another 50” TV. Not exactly sure what we were supposed to do with two TV’s, but it was more comfortable watching TV sitting on the sofa than lying in bed.

Might have to ask for one the next time we travel.

Nice.

Tomorrow will probably be a nice stay-at-home day, while we work on the big pot of chili Jan made today. Really spicy, and perfect for this cold weather.

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February 19, 2022

Adult Supervision Needed . . .

Jan and I had lunch once again today at our favorite Pho Barr, starring with their Grilled Pork Spring Rolls.

Then Jan got her usual Grilled Chicken Vermicelli Bowl, with enough left over to take home for lunch on Monday.

I got my favorite Pho Ga, which means it has Chicken in it.

It’s actually hard to believe how much chicken is in this.

And once again, our regular waiter just shook his head when I asked about the progress on the Pho Barr down in our area.

Finishing up, our next stop was at the office to drop off a bunch of my Amazon boxes for us to use to ship out stuff. Our office manager says it seems that I’m the one that keeps them in boxes with all my Amazon orders.

I also picked my my battery-powered drill that I for a project here at home.

Probably the best drill I’ve ever owned.

Next it was on back down to our area for a WalMart run.

One thing I noticed is that while they weren’t real busy, they had 9 of the 12 checkout lanes open. But the last time we were there and they were very busy, they had only 4 lanes open. What’s up with that?

Then home after a nice day.

Tomorrow it’s Gator’s Bar & Grill  and HEB, along with a quick stop at our storage room to get a photo of what we have in it so we can show the movers to get an estimate for moving us to a new storage location.

I mentioned earlier that our present place had jumped our rate for a 10 x 20 Climate-Controlled unit from $152/month to $232/month, an $80 jump, or over 52%. This after a $20 jump last year. And when I called them this past Thursday to confirm that the letter I received, the young lady immediately offered to drop the increase to $40. So maybe they’re getting some pushback on this.

I took it of course, since my next payment at the new amount comes due next Wednesday, the 23rd. But I’m still moving our stuff.

I just didn’t tell her that.

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February 19, 2023

PDT. . .

In yesterday’s blog I jumped the gun saying lunch today was going to be at Los Rameriz. Los Rameriz is going to be Tuesday.

Today was Dickinson Seafood.

But HEB was still on the schedule.

But in between the those two, we got an oil change at our local Take 5 Oil Change located in between. This was our 500 mile post engine rebuild change (well, closer to 600 miles, actually)

We’ve got an somewhat busy week coming up.

Tomorrow I’ve got my PDT (Photo Dynamic Therapy) or as I call it, The Devil’s Easy Bake Oven.

It’s been almost 5 years since my last one, and my dermatologist thought it was about time to do another one.

The treatment itself only takes 16 minutes, 40 seconds. (I was afraid to ask what would happen if it went 16:39 or 16:41) But the prep takes two to three hours.

They smear a solution on your head and then let it dry. Then they check the coverage and reapply it to any thin spots. So I get to set out in the lobby for a few hours with this white stuff on my head.

Fun!

Then Thursday we’re heading into downtown Houston to first have lunch at Katz’s Deli before taking in the King Tut’s Tomb exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Really looking forward to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was a typical Sunday for us, with lunch at Denny’s, HEB, and the gas on the way home.

Easy Peazy

The upcoming week is relatively quiet for us, with only our monthly Alvin Opry group get-together this Thursday, at Saltgrass Steakhouse

A number of you asked about the solar patio light I referred to last night that I’m using to light up my site number.

Solar Light

One thing I like about it is that it’s not only solar powered, but can be plugged in to recharge it. So since I only plan to turn it on when I’ve got a night-time order coming in, I won’t really have to worry about solar charging.

Neat.

Got a text message from our park owner this evening raising our park rent $20/month, starting April 1st. Not really unexpected since when I talked to him a couple of months ago, he mentioned how much his taxes and water had gone up.

Turns out that in the last 3 years property taxes have gone up almost 700%.

Yikes!

So now our rent here is $450/month, up from our original $400/month when we moved in here in 2017, really not bad at all, considering it includes water, WiFi Internet, and garbage. We only pay extra for electricity. Which usually runs from $90 to $130 per month.

We’ve firmed up our yearly Kingsland get-together, now set for March 15-17. We weren’t able to get hotel rooms in Kingsland, so we’re back over in Marble Falls once again, about 15 minutes away.

It’s always fun to get the entire bunch together.

Looking forward to it.

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Thought For The Day:

“Life is so much simpler when you don’t really know what’s going on.”

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

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February 18, 2011

Shorter, but still Sweet . . .

Since today was a short run of 240 miles. we didn’t have to leave until about 10am, especially since we’ll gain an hour crossing into the Mountain Time Zone.

Before we left I did want to add a little air to my driver’s side rear outside dual. It seems to have a slow leak, but I don’t know if it’s the tire itself, or possibly, the tire pressure sensor. I’ll have to keep checking.

Anyway, it was so much easier using my new air compressor, rather than using the rig’s onboard air compressor.

A little before 10 I walked the garbage over to the dumpster, so we wouldn’t have to stop on the way out.

We left the park about 10:15, heading west on I-10 to Las Cruces, NM, a 240 mile trip. Much shorter than yesterday’s drive, but still great scenery.

About 80 miles later, we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone, gaining an hour. As we approached the outskirts of El Paso, we had planned to take a new route suggested by friends. It’s called the TransMountain Dr., or SR-375 Loop. It’s a bypass around all the traffic going thru El Paso.

But when we came to the exit, traffic was backed up onto the feeder from that direction. Don’t know what the problem was, maybe a wreck up ahead, but it didn’t look like a direction we wanted to go. Luckily I was able to get right back on I-10 with no problems.

We got into Las Cruces about 2:15 and got a site at the Coachlight RV Park, another Passport America park. The sites are kind of tight, but we had no problems getting parked.

As soon as we got set up, we headed over to Old Mesilla (pronounced ‘Ma-see-ya’) to eat at La Posta, one of our two favorite restaurants here in Las Cruces. We wanted to get there early because on Friday nights they get very busy very fast.

I first ate at La Posta in 1981 when I was working with NASA at White Sands on the first Space Shuttle flights. I told Jan how great it was, but she didn’t get to eat here until we visited Las Cruces in 2007.

La Posta is the last remaining station on the old Butterfield Stage Line, and has been visited by the likes of Billy the Kid, Kit Carson, and Pancho Villa.

In the 1800’s Mesilla was a booming community. In fact until 1881, when it was bypassed by the railroad, it was the largest city between San Antonio, TX and San Diego, CA. But after that, it died a long, slow death.

It’s been a restaurant since 1939, and it’s still going strong today. It’s a beautiful place,

and the food is just delicious. This is my La Posta Grande dinner. It comes with a toss salad, queso, a sopapilla, and an empanada with ice cream for dessert. All this for $14.

Boy, were we both stuffed.

This is our other favorite restaurant in Las Cruces, El Comedor. It’s only about a half mile from La Posta. We normally eat at both places while we’re here, but with only one night, it was La Posta.

Leaving the restaurant, we drove over to the nearest SuperCuts so Jan could get her hair done. And then it was home for the night.

Getting back I got the sat dish set up and we settled in for the evening.

Tomorrow we’ll make a 250 mile run to Tucson for the night, and then on to Gila Bend on Sunday.

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February 18, 2012

Muffins and No Hot Wings . . .

Well, it rained all night and all morning again, but started to slack off in the early afternoon. At least tomorrow is supposed to be nice before we head out on Monday. Maybe Jan will finally have a chance to use that deer corn.

After our morning coffee and watching the rain pour down, Jan fixed us a lunch of our leftover Italian from Thursday night and we watched some more rain.

Then about 1 pm Jan and I drove over to Gina’s where Jan and Gina spent the afternoon making wonderful muffins and cupcakes, cranberry, lemon, lemon poppy seed, crystalized ginger, almonds, etc. They made a bunch so we’ll have some to freeze and take with us. I got to sample half of one (that’s all that Jan would share) and they were delicious

While they were busy in the kitchen, I spent the afternoon cleaning out and speeding up Gina’s computer. Then about 5 pm we headed over to Wimberley to have dinner at the Cypress Creek Café.

In the past when we’ve eaten here, I’ve always had the Devil’s Breath Hot Wings, made with Ghost Chilies.

And as the menu says, they make you sign a waiver before you can order them. But in this case, “Been there, done that”.

So I decided to try the other dish the Cypress Creek Café is known for – their Chicken Fried Steak and Chicken Fried Chicken. And I’m glad I tried it.

Really, really good.

The batter they use is great, really crispy and crunchy. A very, very good Chicken Fried Chicken.

After that great dinner, we drove back to Gina’s for a while before heading back to the rig for the night.

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February 18, 2013

The Best Laid Plans . . .

Well, we pulled out of site 80 at Galveston Bay RV Park at 7:30am, right on schedule. And then drove a whole 6.7 miles to Taylor Automotive in Dickinson, TX.

We were there to have the passenger side rear axle oil seal replaced before we head out for this year. After we got the RV checked in, Jan and I headed out in the truck up to Webster to have breakfast at The Egg and I. Love their Hazelnut coffee.

After breakfast we drove over to one of my clients for one last hand-holding session. I think he’s suffering from premature separation anxiety.

By this time a couple of hours had elapsed so we drove back down to Taylor’s to check in to see how things were coming, and also to pick up a couple of things from the rig. When we got there I was glad to see that the rig had been pulled around back, but unfortunately, they hadn’t started on it yet. Since it was now almost 11, it was pretty obvious that we wouldn’t be on our way by noon, which meant we would probably end up spending the night in a hotel.

We decided to while away the afternoon at Brandi’s since it was nearby. Finally about 3pm we head back to Taylor’s to pick up some clothes for the hotel, and also feed the cats.

But that didn’t quite work out. About 10 minutes before we got there, Taylor’s called and said there was a problem.

Ruh Roh!

It turns out that after getting the tires off, they were unable to get the brake drum off the axle. They tried every way they could, but no luck. Said they’d run into this before, and I would have to go to a dedicated truck repair shop that was set up for this.

I’ll probably wait until Las Cruces to have it checked out by Rush Truck Centers. They did a good job for us last year. The seal is not really leaking, it’s only weeping a little bit, so it should be OK.

The really nice thing in the middle of all this is that Taylor Automotive didn’t charge me a single cent for the attempt, even though they spent a couple of hours on it. Bill, the service manager said if they can’t fix it, they don’t charge.

So, Taylor Automotive in Dickinson, TX – Well Recommended.

We then checked with Galveston Bay RV Park to see if they still had our space open. Lucky for us it turns out that they did. In fact they had two other open sites from people who had also left today.

So rather than park back in our old space, which takes a little maneuvering due to the angle of the turn necessary to get into and out of it, we parked in one of the pull-thru sites near the office. Easier to get into, and cheaper.

So our first day of travel for this year covered a whole 13.4 miles. We’re off to a running start, I tell you.

Since we were here for an extra night, we decided to check out a place we’d wanted to try, but didn’t get the chance: Bone Daddy’s House of Smoke.

Bone Daddy’s is the latest entry in the restaurant genre known as ‘Breastaurants”. Except that unlike Hooters and their chicken wings, Bone Daddy’s concentrates on BBQ.

And a really good BBQ it was. Their sauce was good, tangy with some heat to it. And some very tasty beans and fried okra to go along with it.

Definitely worth going back. And the scenery is nice, too.

Tomorrow we’ll head out to the Canyon Lake area in the Texas Hill Country to spend some time with our friend Gina before we head further west.

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February 18, 2014

Last Meal(s) . . .

Well, A/C weather is back, at least for a few days. It made it to 81° here yesterday, and 78 today. And that’s A/C weather when it comes with 80 – 90% humidity.

Can you say ‘Sticky’?  I knew you could.

One of the first things I did this morning, after coffee, of course, was to call Thousand Trails and get my Lake Conroe reservations worked out. For some reason, when I tried to book it online, it wanted a $30.00 deposit, even though I was able to book a reservation at Colorado River for the two weeks before and the two weeks after Lake Conroe with no problem. I had read on the TT Facebook site that this was a problem with the new website that they just put online a few weeks ago, and my phone call confirmed this.

So as it stands now, we’ll be at the Colorado River TT February 24th to March 10th. And then on to Lake Conroe from March 10th to March 24th. Then it’s back to Colorado River from March 24th until the 7th of April.

Then we’ll start heading north working our way toward Goshen, IN for the Escapade from May 12 to the 17th. Along the way we’ll visit some relatives and see some sights. Pretty much as normal.

Then it was outside for some more stuff. First was to lubricate all the slide mechanism with silicone spray. While I was underneath there, I also checked out the manual crank on the slide. We’ve never really had a problem getting the slide to go and out. The only time it’s a little balky is when it’s cold and maybe we have a little tilt in that direction, so that motor is pulling the slide uphill. But usually rocking the IN/OUT switch a few times gets it moving with no further problems.

My next job was to remove the worn-out carpet strip across the front of the steps and replace it with a piece of flooring. But first I had to get the carpet off. It looks like they put it on with contact cement, so it didn’t come off easily. In fact, I had to chisel it off.

But finally I got it cleaned off and then I cut out a strip of flooring and stuck it on temporarily with double-stick tape to see how it would look.

I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with the black area right above. That’s actually the edge of the floor side that comes out and covers up the steps when we’re traveling.

I did cut out a test strip for that area too, but I’m not sure if I like it or not. I might just spray paint the area with a fresh coat of black and leave it like that. I’ll think about it some.

About 3 PM Jan and I headed into Clear Lake to wrap up the last of Jan’s medical appointments for this year with a mammogram. That’s it until next year.

Our next stop was at Rudy’s BBQ for one of our last meals for this visit. Tomorrow it’s King Food, and then Thursday it’s Twin Peaks. We’ve got several other places in mind but we have to coordinate everything with last visits with family and friends.

But we know it will all be good.

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February 18, 2016

Washed Up ???

I woke up this morning feeling under the weather so we didn’t walk. But I still wanted to tackle my washer problem. But first I had something else I wanted to fix

When we parked here this past Sunday, the pavement looked strong enough to not need the leveler pads. But the last couple of days have proved me wrong, and we started tilting a little. So before I started pulling the washer out, I cranked up the rig, raised the levelers, put down the pads, and then releveled.

My first task was to empty the water that was stuck in the drum, and the only way to do this is to open the lint trap and let it run out into a bucket.

Next up I removed the wooden retaining strip that keeps the washer from sliding out while we travel. Three screws hold it in place.

Once that’s done, then I can pull out the canvas straps that I installed previously. I use these to help pull the washer out of the enclosure.

When I was down in Clear Lake yesterday, I got my furniture dolly from my son Chris’ to help move the washer once I get it out.

After that it’s just a matter of working it out, little by little, using the straps and also pulling from inside the door.

The reason the washer is so difficult to get out of the enclosure is shown here. It’s almost a jam fit like this on both sides. Every time I pull it out, I tell myself that I’ll cut it down, but somehow I never do.

Then it’s just a matter of dragging it out onto the dolly.

Once it’s completely on the dolly I can roll it aside enough to unplug the power, and then remove the water hoses and the drain line.

My next step was to turn the washer upside down so that I could remove the bottom panel and get to the drain pump itself.

After removing the two screws that hold the pump in place and then loosening the hose clamps from the input and output hoses. Then after unplugging the power wires, I was able to completely remove the pump and take a look at it.

The first thing I did was do an ohmmeter check on the power leads. I got a reading of 7.0 ohms which is about right for a motor this size and also tells me that the windings are good. So the motor is probably working, but I’ll test it with voltage later if necessary.

The next thing I noticed was that when I initially tried to turn the fan by hand, it was kind of hard to turn, but then freed up slightly.

Then I removed the three screws that hold the pump housing to the motor. I kind of expected the housing to have some lint or other debris inside, but I didn’t find anything.

One thing I did find unusual was that although when I turned the fan by hand, the impeller did turn, when I turned the impeller it just spins without turning the fan. So I don’t know if that’s the way it’s supposed to be, so that if that something clogs the pump, it won’t burn out, or if it’s broken.

I’ll call Westland Sales tomorrow and find out.

Checking eBay, I did find a new pump for $185, or a ‘used but working’ one for $100. But I’ll hold off until I find out more about my problem.

Earlier in the afternoon I found blog readers parked on both sides of us. Our friend Randy Lazarine showed up yesterday, following us over from Colorado River yesterday.

And blog reader Brett O’Neal recognized us when he and his wife Frankie parked on the other side of us. They just started full-timing recently, and are just getting on the road and heading to Florida.

Later they came by for a local restaurant recommendation, and we sent them off to El Bosque, our favorite local Mexican place. Hopefully they enjoyed it as much as we do.

And hopefully we’ll get a chance to get together and get to know them better.

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February 18, 2017

Old Friends and New Friends . . .

We left the rig yesterday morning about 8am, heading for our son Chris’ house down in Friendswood, so he could replace the AC condenser fan in our 2004 Dodge Dakota truck.

It died last year, enough that it shut down the AC system. So I rewired it so it would work, but I had to manually turn on the compressor with a switch. The only problem was that that engine would run hot when we were in slow traffic.

This electric fan goes between the radiator and the engine to provide extra cooling to pull heat off the AC condenser coil itself.

Dodge no longer carries this fan, so I was happy to be able to find one made by a 3rd party on Amazon. And for a lot less money than the last one I bought. I had to replace this same find about 6 years ago, so I hope this one lasts longer.

It only took Chris about 90 minutes to replace the fan and then we were off to King Food with Chris for lunch. We’ve been jonsing for their Chicken in Hot Garlic Sauce, XXXX hot, with jalapenos.

Really, really good.

Next up was a stop at the local O’Reilly’s Auto Parts to pick up the shocks we ordered for the truck a few days ago, Chris’ next job on Sunday.

Then it was haircuts for both of us (mine takes a lot less time than Jan’s), and a stop at Kroger’s to stock up on our favorite coffee.

Finally after killing some time, we headed down to Seabrook to have dinner at the new Tookie’s Seafood with our friends, Barbara & Tom Linklater. We’ve eaten at Tookie’s Hamburgers next door since 1978, but it’s our first time here. And it was really good.

Jan had the Crab Cake and a cup of the Lobster Bisque,

while I had the Texas Shrimp and Grits with Tasso ham in the sauce.

That’s the grits in the shape of Texas.

We got here about 5pm when it was not very busy, but by 6 it was jam-packed. And after tasting the food, it was easy to see why. We’ll definitely go back.

After dinner we went over to Barbara and Tom’s house for a while so I could take care of a couple of computer problems they were having, and it also gave us more time to talk in a quieter atmosphere.

Finally about 10pm we were on our way home to Columbus, arriving around midnight.

Another fun day.

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This morning, and the rest of the day, for that matter, turned out to be a do-nothing, rest-up day. So, very nice.

Early in the afternoon I thought to check the shocks I had picked up to see if they were the correct ones. Turns out the front ones were correct, but not the rear set.

Well, they weren’t really wrong. The rear ones would have worked on the truck, but they were a different Monroe product than the front ones, and the counter guy said he would recommend using the same type front and rear. So they ordered the right ones and said they’d be in tomorrow about noon.

But then they called about 8pm this evening and said they had already come in. Great Service!

About 4 we headed out to meet our friends, Debi and Ed Hurlburt, for dinner at Los Cabos Mexican Restaurant over in Columbus. But on the way out I stopped off at the office to settle up. When we left here back in October we had money on account so I wanted to get that credited correctly.

And when we got there we found Ed and Debi there too. Along with Mike and April Mott, the son and daughter-in-law to our good friends, Dick and Judy Mott. Like old home week. So we all headed over to Las Cabos for dinner, with Mike, April, and sons Colby and Ben joining us.

A really fun group. And very well-behaved kids too.

Tomorrow it’s back on the road down to the Clear Lake area for the new shocks and a dinner get-together.

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February 18, 2018

Lifetime Headlight Bulbs?

Jan and I left the rig about 10am for our trip up to Brandi and Lowell’s in Katy. We were all getting together, along with Chris and Linda, to check out Brandi’s new house.

They moved into this rent house this past January after they sold their other one.

They’re going to spend the next year looking for a new one, maybe a one-story, but definitely with a larger backyard, or at least a pool-sized one.

Unfortunately Miss Piper didn’t make it this time,  but hopefully we’ll catch up with her soon.

Lowell picked up roasted chicken and all the fixin’s from a place over on Mason Rd. called Pollo Bravo. The fixin’s consisted of Yucca Fries, Sweet Plantain Chunks, Rice, Beans, and Avocado Salad. And a really good green sauce that everyone loved. Nice and Spicy.

After a delicious meal, Jan and I got our hugs and headed home about 2:30, getting back to the rig about 3:45pm.

The perfect end to a very nice weekend.

We’ve had a number of nice comments and emails about our new awnings, and we’re really happy about how it turned out.

I was looking at photos I took back in Conroe when we first started seriously thinking about doing this. I wanted to get some idea on it would look like.

So I took this photo of the rig with the old, drilling-fluid-stained awnings.

Then I used my Photoshop clone program to replace the old awnings with the new ones. I used a color that I had seen online and hoped to use.

And I was surprised to look back and see how close I came.

Pretty close, I think. Of course I still have one more to go over the slideout on the other side.

I ordered some new headlight bulbs from Amazon this evening that should be here on Wednesday. For the past 10 years or so I’ve used the Sylvania Silver Star Ultra halogen bulbs, but this time I decided to bump things up a notch and go full-on LED.

Based on online reviews, and over 2500 Amazon reviews (4.3 out of 5) I went with these Cougar Motors versions.

Cougar Motors 7200 Lumen Headlight bulbs

They’re over 200% brighter than standard halogen bulbs, but still within the legal limits. And for cooling, they have a solid aluminum heat sink base and a built-in cooling 10,000 rpm fan. In addition to being waterproof, they’re supposed to last at least 50,000 hours.

OK, so let’s see. 50,000 hours divided by, maybe, a half hour a day average, gives you a100,000 hours. Or over 11 years.

So if I’m still driving when I’m 80 years old, I still won’t need new bulbs.

Nice!

I just hope my warranty is as good as the bulb’s.

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February 18, 2019

Zoom, Zoom . . .

Work today consisted of printing out a bunch of labels for the many products we sell under our brand name, including some that we have formulated to our specs.

Also, I put an Amazon order in for 50 feet each of red and black Pomona test lead wire and a couple of dozen high-end banana plugs, so we can start making up our own patch cords.

I noticed the other day that we sell 6-foot test leads for epilators for about $25 each. When I asked how much we paid the wholesaler for them I was told about $17. WOW!

You’re talking about a couple of bucks for the wire and a couple of bucks for the banana plugs. Call it $5. So I’ll make them up and we’ll price them for $10.

Saves everyone money.

I’ve mentioned lately about how more and more of my Amazon orders are being delivered by Amazon vans, and not USPS, UPS, or FedEx. But yesterday’s delivery left something to be desired.

Normally when they do a Sunday delivery and no one is there they just deliver the next day. But yesterday was different. This is how we found the package this morning.

Not exactly what I expected.

But on a more positive Amazon front, I noticed that they now offer a payment plan on high ticket items, though I don’t know what the price point for that is. But when I went to purchase my new Panasonic camera, it offered 5 payments at $59.60 each. And even better, there’s no interest. Just the purchase price divided by 5.

And not willing to give anyone my money before I have to, I took the deal.

I found this cat sweatshirt on Facebook and ordered Jan one.

And she really likes it. She says it’s very soft and comfortable.

It also comes in Gray and White, so you can get it out below.

https://whiskertonsco.com/products/spy-cat-t-shirt

For my part, I recently ordered this neat mini scope which has an 800X optical zoom and 10X digital zoom, for 8000X magnification. Supposedly you can connect it up to your phone or camera.

And it has night vision too.

Check out the video of the zoom. And it’s less than $50.

https://nomadrecreation.com/this-video-will-freak-you-out/

Wrapping up yesterday I forgot to post this video of another of our favorite groups, Pentatonix, and their version of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

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February 18, 2020

Updates and More . . .

They’re still counting, and recounting, and re-recounting in Iowa. And they’re running even more scared in the Nevada Caucus. A quote, ‘a total meltdown expected’.

For our recent road trip back to Alabama, I used trivago (yes, it’s supposed to be lowercase) to book the four hotels that we stayed in. My requirements were, as cheap as possible (of course), good ratings, and nice-looking photos. And I also wanted name-brand places, not independents.

On our way up to Alabama, we stayed at a very nice La Quinta in Slidell for only $50 a night. Comfortable queen-size bed, nice hot shower, and really good free breakfast. Even the free Wi-Fi was decent.

We’ve stayed at La Quinta a couple of times before, most recently with our rig’s Air Compressor problems in Luling this past November, and we’ve always been very happy.

Next up was a three-night stay in Montgomery, this time at a long-term residence hotel, an Extended Stay America. And except for some initial fumbles with the keycards, it was also a very nice room, with a queen-sized bed and a computer/dining table. Though we didn’t use it, we also had a 4 burner stove, a microwave which we did use, as well as an apartment-sized fridge.

The only downsides were a spotty Wi-Fi signal and a ‘Coffee Bar’ free breakfast.

But that just gave us a good excuse to have breakfast at the Golden Corral right down the street.

While we were in Athens, our final destination, we had a six-night stay at the local Day’s Inn.

This time we got a comfortable king-sized bed, a nice computer table, a good hot shower, and big fluffy towels.

And the breakfast was very nice too.

Coming back home on Saturday, I had planned to stay once again at the same La Quinta. But when I went to book it I found that their weekend rates jumped $30 a night to $84.

So I found a very nice Super 8 right down the road for only $50 a night.

Again a king-sized bed, a large computer table, and a good breakfast.

I did notice that all the cheapest rates I found on trivago were through Expedia. Which made sense when I discovered that trivago, a German corporation, is majority-owned by Expedia.

All in all, a very nice, and cheap, trip.

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February 18, 2021

Almost Back Home . . .

The power at the rig stayed on all night, so about 11 Jan and I drove over to get it ready for our return Friday morning. We didn’t move back today, because we had already paid for tonight here at the hotel, and we wanted to turn the heaters on and get the temperature up in the rig.

This was because the temp inside when we got there was 34°. So we wanted to run the heaters overnight to warm things up.

Right now we plan to move back home tomorrow morning.

Then it was on up to Clear Lake to check in at the office. According to my monitoring, the power had come back on there about the same time that it came back on down here. I checked that all the computers had come back up with no problems, as well as the network. And since it all looked OK, I’ll go back to work tomorrow after I get Jan moved back to the rig.

I got several comments yesterday about my blog post about the cold weather problems with Texas’ wind turbines, one essentially accusing the state of ‘cheapening out’ on the turbines because they didn’t have the cold weather kits installed. Which from what I’ve been able to ascertain, must be either installed during construction, or the turbine must be completely disassembled and the kit installed on the ground.

So why weren’t these kits installed to start with? Well, besides the 30% cost increase per turbine, it’s hard to justify the cost when they’ve never been needed before.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime freeze event, so how do you prepare for that?

It would be like buying a car in Texas, and having to spring for all the extra options to prep your car for life in Fairbanks, Alaska where it can get to –70, just in case it might get that cold down here.

But wait, there’s more. The power to run the cold weather kit comes from the output of the wind turbine itself, reducing the effective output to the grid.

Even worse, if it’s very cold but the wind is not blowing, then power must fed back INTO the turbine to keep it warm. Otherwise, when the wind finally starts blowing, you’ve again got a frozen turbine.

Another reader said that wind doesn’t supply much overall power to the state and that natural gas is our main energy source. Well, I guess it depends on how you define it.

About 56 percent of Texas’ energy comes from natural gas, just under 24 percent comes from wind, 19 percent from coal, and almost 9 percent from nuclear energy.

So almost 25% of our power comes from the wind. And half of that went away with the freeze.

And there were also problems with our natural gas plants, due to the cold too. Once the temps get low enough, there are problems moving the gas around.

Natural gas wells and pipes ill-equipped for cold weather are a big reason why millions of Texans lost power during frigid temperatures this week. As temperatures dropped to record lows across some parts of the state, liquid inside wells, pipes, and valves froze solid.

Ice can block gas flow, clogging pipes. It’s a phenomenon called a “freeze-off” that disrupts gas production across the US every winter. But freeze-offs can have outsized effects in Texas, as we’ve seen this week. The state is a huge natural gas producer — and it doesn’t usually have to deal with such cold weather.

And the photo I posted the other day about defrosting the blades still holds.

This same defrosting is still necessary even in cold climes where the cold weather kits is installed.

Only recently has a way been found to efficiently deice the blades using a carbon fiber coating that can be heated to remove/prevent the ice buildup. It’s almost pretty pricey, uses power from the turbine output, must be powered externally if there’s no wind, and can only be retrofitted with the turbine and blades disassembled and on the ground.

Another expensive option.

But of course, solar power will save us.

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February 18, 2023

Old Haunts . . .

After dropping off a couple of items at the dry cleaners, we had lunch at our local Torchy’s Tacos once again. This was our first time here on a weekend day, and we were surprised at how busy they were. There was even a line.

Both of us went with our favs, Jan getting two Chicken Fajita Tacos,

while I got my usual Cheese Jalapeno Sausage Dog and a Brushfire with Jamaican Jerk Chicken.

I, of course, heated up my tacos using this new bottle of Volcano Dust, with Ghost Chili’s, Moruga Scorpion, and the hottest of all, Carolina Reaper.

My old one is still around, but it’s several years old and I was thinking maybe that it had lost some of its ‘potency’. So I got a new, fresh one.

Leaving Torchy’s we headed out NASA Rd. 1 all the way to SH 146 to check out how the new roadway was coming along. They’ve still got a lot of work to do on the elevated portion, but it’s looking good.

It was nice to check out all our old haunts along the way. I say that because for 4 years or so we spent every winter down here at Galveston Bay RV Park.

Originally they had about 80 sites, but a while back enlarged it to over 160.

But somewhere along the way they priced themselves out of what we were comfortable with.

In fact right now their top sites are $800/month, while we pay $430 here. Of course the view is not as nice here, but the extra $370 will buy a lot of other stuff, like electricity.

Jan did enjoy seeing all the Sliders out sunning themselves.

Tomorrow looks to be Los Rameriz for lunch and then HEB for our weekly HEB stuff.