Good Food And Fun Times With Old Friends . . .
Late night with old friends, so I’ll catch up tomorrow.
And I did it again, flipping yesterday and today’s blogs.
Sorry.
Thought for the Day:
Remember, if your Plan A fails, you still have 25 letters left.
Your Retro-Preview Highlights –
2009 – Coral Castle and Unrequited Love
2010 – Coastal Drive and More Elk
2015 – Dennis And Carol and The Black Watch
And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™
May 14, 2009
Unrequited Love and Turkey & Dressing…
As I said before, we’re parked at an RV community in Homestead (actually Florida City) FL called Goldcoaster RV Resort with over 400 sites, with most of them having mobile homes on the lots, but they have a lot of sites for rent.
One of the plants we’ve seen around here is a tree with large bunches of bright orange-red flowers.
We were first told it was a Royal Poinsettia tree, but finally found it was a Royal Poinciana tree. These trees really stand out.
After lunch at Cracker Barrel (Thursday is Turkey & Dressing Day which is a favorite of Jan’s) we headed a few miles north to the Coral Castle.
The history behind the Coral Castle is one of unrequited love. Edward Leedskalnin was jilted by his 16 year old fiancé the day before his wedding in Latvia.
Immigrating to America in the early 1920’s, he supposedly built the Coral Castle (then called Rock Gate) in tribute to his “Sweet Sixteen”.
The place was featured on ‘In Search of…” and “That’s Incredible” and there is some controversy about how this one man, working only at night, was able to move stones as heavy as 30 tons by himself.
If you want more info, click here for a pretty good article.
Here are some pics.
My Sweet Sixteen (Actually she was 19 when we met)
Tomorrow we head down to the Florida Keys for 5 days.
May 14, 2010
Coastal Drive and More Elk…
Today we headed out about 9 am to drive around the Redwood National Forest area. We first came across the Tour Thru Tree, one of several trees that allowed you to drive your vehicle thru them. We decided to check it out later and kept moving.
Next, we came to the town of Klamath and stopped for breakfast at the Klamath River Café. It turned out to be very good with really good coffee.
Then, heading north on US 101 we saw the place we’d been seeing signs for – Trees of Mystery, apparently the home of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.
They have a gondola sky ride above the trees, a trail thru the trees, and some other things. Another thing for a later visit.
We headed on up the road to Crescent City to scope out the place and do the Walmart thing. Coming back I stopped for gas and we headed back toward Klamath.
Seeing a sign for a coast trail we took a turn down the road and headed toward the ocean. The first thing we came across was a large herd of Elk just off the road, just lying around catching some rays.
Following the road along thru the forest, we came across a lot of fog in the trees.
Coming back past the rig we dropped off our groceries and headed back out to make a Coastal Drive thru the Redwood National Park that we found out about in some brochures.
And it was a great drive. Most of the road was a narrow one-lane gravel road winding thru the trees right along the Pacific coast.
And we finally got a closeup look at some big trees.
We got back to the rig about 3 pm and were in for the night.
A while later Jan cooked up a batch of her great Chicken Rice-A-Roni, along with some garlic French bread. For dessert we had some fresh cherries we got at a roadside stand today.
Tomorrow we’re going to check out the Tour-thru Tree and the Trees of Mystery, and then drive back down south to the Avenue of the Giants for more big trees.
May 14, 2011
40,000 and counting . . .
Today’s post covers both Friday and Saturday since I got a day behind due to our trip to LA.
Friday the 13th really was. We lost power at the RV park about 7:15, or at least, our half of it did,
Of course, it was our half!
At first, they said it would be back on by noon, then 3 pm, then 5, then 7.
Then maybe tomorrow, maybe.
We are so out of here, tomorrow, at least.
We did use our generator to keep cool, but finally just gave up and hit the road about 1 pm.
We first headed back over to Border’s Books for a while, and then next door to get in one last visit to Fry’s Electronics. I got a bigger (32GB) SD memory card for my digital camera, and drooled over some other stuff that I want, but don’t need.
After that, we were getting hungry so we ended up at the Lucky Star Chinese Buffet for our last meal in Vegas.
After that, we stopped by Sam’s Club so I could pick up some vitamins, then on to Wal-Mart. Jan wanted to get her hair done, and while she was doing that, I wanted to pick some pants at the coach to take back to Wal-Mart when I picked her up.
Of course, when we got back to the park, we still had no power, but it was cooler, and between the generator and our battery/inverter system, we did fine.
But I am glad we’re leaving tomorrow.
Saturday the 14th was certainly better than the 13th.
We’re heading out today to Boron, CA, a little over 200 miles away. It’s just a stopping-off point on our way to the Park of the Sierras in Coarsegold, CA, just south of Yosemite National Park.
We spent a week here last year and look forward to it again.
Jan and I left the park about 10 am, heading to the Shell station about 2 miles down Boulder Highway, where they had diesel for $3.939. A great deal since I’ve seen it around here for as much as $4.699. And when I last filled up over 3 weeks ago, I paid $4.109 in Camp Verde, AZ.
I didn’t really need fuel as I still had about 60 gals which would be plenty to get to Coarsegold. But I would need it soon after, and diesel is way more expensive in California. This way I won’t need more until we’re in Washington state, or after.
After we got fuel, we cut across the bottom of Vegas to get to I-15 S, driving straight through to Boron, arriving about 3:30 at the Arabian RV Oasis. It’s a Passport America park, so it was only $12 for full hookups and a pull-thru site. Nothing fancy, but the sites are level and the place is neat and clean. We don’t ask for much more.
Boron’s claim to fame is that it is where borax is mined, you know, the 20 Mule Team stuff.
One additional note is that about 20 miles into California from Nevada, we hit a new milestone. We’ve now put 40,000 miles on our coach since we bought it in Dec. 2007, and we’ve been from Key West, FL to Fairbanks, AK, and from San Diego to Newfoundland, Canada. Not bad for only 3+ years.
About 4 we headed out for dinner at Domingo’s Mexican Restaurant right down the road. We both agreed it was good, especially for out in the middle of the desert. Of course, not La Fonda or Esther’s Taco House good, but good, none the less.
When we got back, I got the satellite set up and we were in for the night.
Jan talked to Brandi about 6:30 to let her know that we’ll be on the road tomorrow morning so we won’t be able to Landon-Skype then.
We’re leaving here very early, about 7 am because we want to get to Park of the Sierras before noon, else the office will be closed and we’ll have to dry camp until Monday morning.
More tomorrow from Coarsegold.
May 14, 2013
Heading for cooler weather . . .
Today was pretty much a get-ready-to-travel day. And Jan got nervous when I told her the nearest Wal-Mart was 30 mile away from South Lake Tahoe where we’ll be for two weeks, so she wanted a Wal-Mart run before we leave tomorrow.
We started off with a Supreme Croissant Breakfast Sandwich from Jack in the Box, and then I topped off the toad tank with unleaded. I was surprised to see that the price had jumped 8 cents a gallon just in the last few days. Bummer.
After Wal-Mart, we ran a couple of more errands before getting back home about 2:30. Then about 3:30 I walked over to Jim and Peri Dean’s to take a look at the settings on their Cellphone Booster system. They’ve got a slightly different system than what I’ve got, but the settings are the same.
Then a little after 4pm we all headed up to the Boulder Station Casino for the buffet and some last-minute gambling. During our visit here, we won a $3 dining discount, a $5 dining discount, 1500 points on our cards, and Jan won a very nice polo shirt. Not Bad.
We got back to the rig a little after 7pm, and since it was still light enough, I spent some time stowing away some things for tomorrow’s travel.
While I was still outside, a friend of Peri Dean’s, Gail Grosman, showed up to say Hi.
We’re really looking forward to moving north to cooler weather tomorrow. The high tomorrow in Tonopah is going to be 81 degrees, and then a high of 72 in South Lake Tahoe on Thursday.
Sounds really nice after the 101 degrees here in Las Vegas today.
May 14, 2014
Cold, Wet, and Nasty . . .
Jan and I were up about 7:30 this morning, on schedule to head out about 9:30. And as forecast, it was pouring down rain. I was really glad that I had done as much as possible last night getting hitched up and ready to go. It was only 52° when I got up and it wasn’t supposed to get much warmer as the day went on. But the low temps meant we wouldn’t have to worry about needing to run the coach AC’s.
Our destination for today was Vandalia, IL, 185 miles away, where we’ll spend a few days visiting Jan’s sister Debbie, and her family.
Except for the fact it rained the entire way, the trip went very smoothly with a couple of stops. The one thing that was different from yesterday was the MPG.
As I mentioned yesterday, since we left the Houston area, we had averaged 9.16 MPG. This included a lot of hilly back roads and some city driving.
Then, after we filled up yesterday, we did 49.5 miles and used 4.9 gallons, giving us an MPG of 10.1 on the flat and level Interstate.
But today we only got a little over 8 miles per gallon. So what was the difference?
The transmission temperature, that is governed partially by the air temperature. When the air temp is at least 70 degrees or so, the trans temp stays in the 160 to 165 range.
But if the air temp is below that, the transmission never really warns up. In fact, on today’s run, the temp never got above 122° So the transmission fluid stays thicker, which results in more friction, which gives lower MPG. And this is with the TranSyn synthetic fluid I’m using. I assume it would be even worse with regular fluid.
About 1:30 we pulled into the Timber Trails Campground, a PassPort America park, we’ve stayed at a number of times before. It’s a nice park, about 10 miles outside of Vandalia, with level sites and good power and water. What more do we need?
About 3:30 Jan and I drove over to Debbie and Jim’s to meet up with them for dinner. Gwen, one of their granddaughters, was there too, and she’s a real cutie.
Tomorrow night we’re going to her band concert where she plays trumpet. Looking forward to it.
Our destination for dinner was a place we’ve at eaten several times before called Crossroads. It’s out in the middle of nowhere in a small town called Keyesport, but you know it’s good by the size of their big parking lot.
And it was just about full tonight because Wednesday is All You Can Eat Fried Chicken Night. And boy, was it good. Really, it’s Lambert’s good.
After saying our goodbyes, Jan and I headed back to the rig, which is actually not far from the restaurant. We’ll be meeting up with Debbie tomorrow for breakfast at a Mennonite Restaurant. Supposed to be really good.
BUSTED!
Our daughter Brandi sent this over. Here’s what Landon was doing when he was supposed to be napping.
May 14, 2015
Some Assembly Required . . .
First off, I want to thank everyone for their kind thoughts on the passing of my uncle. It is much appreciated.
It was supposed to rain all day today, and although we had a lot of thunder and lightning last night / this morning, the rain never really appeared, but mostly got pushed back until tomorrow. So now we’re looking at a 90% chance of rain over the next couple of days.
A little after 2pm, our friends Dennis and Carol Hill showed up for a visit. They’re staying over in Congress, AZ, so it was only about a 50 mile trip. We haven’t seen them since the Escapade in Tucson this past March so it was good to catch up again. Dennis quickly bonded with Mister, or maybe Mister bonded with Dennis. But they seemed to be pretty happy with each other.
Hopefully, we’ll be able to get together again before they leave the area. We’re certainly not going anywhere.
While we were back in the Houston area this past winter, my son-in-law Lowell gave me a jar of Scary Cherries.
These are Maraschino Cherries infused with extremely hot peppers, in this case, Moruga Scorpion Peppers, the 2nd hottest peppers in the world (the Carolina Reaper is now the hottest.). I really liked them, so much so that I went through them fairly quickly.
I was hoping they would have them at the Jerome Ghost Pepper Co. when we visited Jerome about a month ago, but no luck. So I decide to make up a batch of my own.
I started by buying a large jar of Maraschino Cherries at the Fry’s across the street. I then dumped in a couple of tablespoons of one of my hot powders, in this case, pure oleo capsaicin. I then shook the jar for a while and tasted some of the liquid.
It was hot, but not hot enough. So I added a couple of more tablespoons. And after testing, then a couple of more. Finally, it was right.
I figure that they’re now hot enough to just melt their way through an ice cream sundae all by themselves. We’ll see.
With all the furor over the new Apple Watch, I got to thinking about my first digital watch. It was the Sinclair Black Watch and it came out around 1975.
And even more attractive to me, was the fact that it was actually available as a kit.
If I remember correctly, it cost about $50 for the finished one, and about $30 for the kit. So being a guy that built the first two color TV’s that we owned (Heathkit’s), I couldn’t resist getting a kit.
Despite all the parts, it only took a few hours to put it together and get it up and ticking. They even included the solder that you needed for the assembly.
It lasted for a couple of years, until the part of the case where the pins are inserted for the band finally broke out. But by that time Casio had digital watches on the market for $10. And no assembly required.
I wonder if I can get an Apple Watch kit?
May 14, 2016
He’s FIVE . . .
Jan and Landon were up this morning about 7:30, and apparently played quietly together until I got up at 10. At least they didn’t wake me up.
We had originally thought Landon might be more comfortable sleeping with Jan in the bedroom, while I slept on the couch, thinking he might be a little scared in a strange bed in a strange place. But he was fine.
But he certainly tosses and turns through the night. A couple of times I was afraid he was going to roll off onto the floor, so I moved the moose footstool up against the side of the sofa.
And apparently, sometimes he even sleeps sitting up.
He sat up and moved into this position without ever waking. Note Miss Karma sulking off to the side, since Landon is occupying her usual sleeping spot.
BTW Here’s a Karma update. The Animal Alliance place down in La Marque where we are supposed to take her on May 26th to be spayed, called with a cancellation, so we’re taking her down there this Monday, the 16th, at 7am to have the operation done.
Jan said that later in the morning while they were watching the Cartoon Network, there was a Bugs Bunny cartoon about the Battle for Bunker Hill. (Yean, yeah, I know it was actually Breed’s Hill, and also that we ultimately lost that battle.) Anyway, sometime during the cartoon, Landon suddenly started paying attention and piped up, “Oh, that’s the battle for America.”
When Jan got over her surprise, she asked, “Landon, how do you know that? Landon looked back at her and said, “Hey! I go to school.” Like I said, he’s FIVE
And on that note, here’s the latest sample of his artwork.
Done with colored pencils, he certainly has a great sense of color and has no trouble staying within the lines.
Apparently, unlike the second day, the third day was the charm as far as Landon’s face boo-boo. I didn’t get a photo, but his face looked so much better it was hard to believe it was only one day later.
Jan and Landon spent a couple of hours over at the park pool this afternoon, and had a great time. Jan said he’s a really good swimmer and doesn’t need any wings, floaties, or rings. He just paddles around the pool on his own.
We headed out to take Landon back to Katy about 4pm. Being Saturday, we didn’t expect a lot of slowdowns, but between heavy rains that started after we left, and the several accidents, our normal 75 minute trip took us a little over two hours.
We met Brandi and Lowell at Little V Vietnamese Bistro, our favorite Katy restaurant for a great meal.
Jan, Brandi, and Lowell all had the Chicken Curry, which does smell fantastic. but I had to go with my favorite Shaking Beef Vermicelli Bowl.
And of course, finished up with our usual Crème Brulee spoons for dessert.
Just the perfect amount of dessert after a delicious meal.
It was once again raining when we headed home, but no slowdowns this time, so we got home about 8:15.
As far as tomorrow, we’ll probably sleep all day. It’s hard keeping up with a five year old.
May 14, 2017
Much Better . . .
When I went to bed this morning about 3am, the weather forecast was for high 50s and sunny today.
But when I got up about 11, it was 43° and completely overcast. And it stayed that way all day. And apparently, we’re looking at more snow on Tuesday.
But it brought the local fauna when about 3pm we looked out to see these Whitetails grazing their way through the park.
They’re a lot bigger than the ones we see around the Colorado River TT.
For lunch, we had our leftover sandwiches from our recent Sparrow Bakery visit. I had mentioned that I found my Monte Cristo kind of bland. So I spice it up with some Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, Orange Marmalade, and a couple of shakes of hot pepper flakes.
Much, much better.
About 5pm Jan dished out bowls of her chili that had been simmering in the slow cooker all day.
Very, very good. And spicy enough to put Cinco de Mayo’s ‘Hot’ Salsa to shame. And that’s a good thing.
And the other good thing is that there’s plenty left.
I was able to find a new coolant tank cap on Amazon.
The price, $9.78, was a lot better than the $125 the Dodge dealer wanted for a brand-new tank. And it fits perfectly.
Tomorrow we’re going back into Bend to see Colossal with Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis, and described as the best movie you’ve never heard of. I won’t give away what I’ve read of the plot, but it’s kind of a weird story.
May 14, 2018
Lubing and Legos . . .
Work today was another of those times when I took care of a bunch of small things, but just didn’t seem to get a lot really done.
I’m making a list (or lists) of all the things I want to have done before we leave on our 3-week trip to Illinois and Alabama in a little over a month. I’m still hoping to get the two websites moved from an in-house server up onto GoDaddy’s servers. We’ll see.
I mentioned yesterday that Brandi and her friend Chantelle are spending the week down in the Dominican Republic’s Punta Cana resort area, staying at the Hard Rock Resort & Casino.
And for free due to the sales contests that Chantelle has won.
And for a going-away present, Landon built this Mother’s Day artwork for her.
I swear the kid can build pretty much anything from Lego’s.
Recently the AC blower in our truck became intermittent and then died. At first, I thought it was the motor itself, which I had already replaced in 2015. But when I tried to pull apart the connector to check for 12vdc coming in, the motor roared to life . . . for a few seconds, anyway. And when I pulled the connector apart, I found that it looked like this inside.
So it was off to AutoZone to get one of these
to replace the burnt one.
I had planned to splice the new one in using crimp connectors, but didn’t have enough slack on one side so I had to solder those wires and cover them with heat-shrink tubing. Then I sprayed it with Strike-Hold and it was fixed.
This past Friday afternoon we had our RV Mobile Lube visit for our biennial (triennial?)RV servicing.
I asked for the:
Full Engine Service:
Change oil and filter, lube chassis and driveline, replace all fuel filters on diesel & correct tire pressure
Full Generator Service
Change oil and filter, change air filter, and change fuel filter
Coolant Test
Using Cummins Test Strips
And A Possible Air Filter Change
I was hoping I wouldn’t need a new filter due to the cost.
All of this took about 90 minutes. One thing new is that now I don’t have to run the RV and the Generator for a while to warm the oil up so it will drain properly. They use a vacuum pump that just sucks it all out. The tech appreciates it since he doesn’t have to work under a hot engine and generator.
On two previous visits, I had the transmission fluid changed out using TranSynd synthetic fluid. This extended my next transmission service out to 185,000 miles. Since we’re presently at 147,000 miles, it’s very possible that we’ll never need it serviced again before we hang up the keys, or they drop from my cold, dead fingers, anyway.
Richard, the tech, said everything looked good, and the coolant tested good, too. He did replace both the engine and the generator oil drain plugs since they were getting a little chewed up.
When he pulled the air cleaner out to take a look at it, I was happy to see that the output side that goes into the engine was clean and white.
But then he turned it over and banged the input side on the ground, and it looked like two or three ‘bird’s nests’ fell out. A lot of grass, twigs, bits of paper, etc., and the inside was brownish-black. So it had to be replaced.
And here’s what it looks like installed.
So now it was time to crank the engine to be sure that the engine was primed and ready to go. So I turned the key …and nothing. Just silence.
Richard said he could hear the lift pump starting up, so it was getting power. After trying a couple of more times, even using the AUX Start switch, we still got nothing.
Talking it over, Richard asked about a disconnected plug he had seen while he was replacing the air filter.
Having nothing to lose, I had him plug it back together, and . . . rumble, rumble, vrooom!. He said that the lock on the plug is apparently broken so it won’t stay together. I’ll ty-wrap it in the next few days.
So the cost worked out to:
$400 – Full Engine Service
$200 – Full Generator Service
$ 20 – New Drain Plugs
and the one that hurt –
$250 – New Air Filter
That totaled up to:
$870
But I’m good for at least another two years, maybe more, depending on how much we travel. The last time I had it Full-Serviced was 2015 so that averages out to about $250 per year for routine maintenance. Not bad.
May 14, 2020
What Do They Know?
Does Chase Bank know something we don’t?
Last night I logged into the Chase Bank app on my phone and deposited our Stimulus Check. And a few minutes later I got the usual emails saying it had been received and credited to my account.
Now normally, unless I deposit a check early in the morning, it’s the next day before the funds are actually available. But then this morning I had an email alert from Chase saying that they had put a one-week hold on the funds, but didn’t say why.
So I put in a call to Chase Bank Customer Service to find out why. And I quickly found out that due to the WuFlu, they don’t have any Customer Service. Or at least anyone that you can actually talk to. It’s all canned questions and answers, none of which covered my problem.
But later in the afternoon, I went back to my account and found the funds were now available, so I guess they finally figured out that the U.S. Government is still somewhat solvent.
May 14, 2021
Moshi, R.I.P.
Since this was an Alvin Opry night, there’s no real blog, but I did want to pass this on from our daughter, Brandi.
“Moshi went to Heaven today while lying in my arms. She was one of a kind. Hated pretty much everyone and could not be bothered with any of the boys in the house. My moody little girl has been by my side for 19 years. . .way before there was a husband, a son, or doggies. She was the Queen and will always be in my heart. 
“
May 14, 2022
180 and Done . . .
Lunch today was our new local Pho Barr once again, just as delicious as always.
Our next stop was the Lowe’s right next door to the WalMart on FM646 to return a bunch of leftover toilet repair parts, about $43 worth to be exact. When I was working on the toilet, and trying a number of ideas to repair the broken flange, I would buy every possible part that I might need, and then just return the stuff that I didn’t use.
Saves on trips.
Next up was a WalMart stop for a few things, before going by the PO to check our PO Box, and getting home about 3:30.
Then about 6pm Jan and I drove over to the Three Acre Truck Park on FM1764 to get some Clam Chowder to go. We noticed the other day that Cousin’s Maine Lobster’s truck was going to be there from 5-9pm today, and we’ve heard how great their Chowder was, so we got some to have for dinner Monday night.
Last night was my 180th, and last day, of using my Bone Graft Stimulator. I had to do it 30 minutes a day, though it was never really a problem.
When I got up for a bathroom break during the night, I would wrap it around my neck when I went back to bed. Laying my side I didn’t really feel it all. In fact often I would fall asleep and not wake up until several hours later.
But I’m still glad to be done with it. Though I guess it’s possible that I’ll need to use it again if I end up having the lumbar fusion at a later point.
May 14, 2023
Happy Mother’s Day . . .
After a so-so breakfast at our Sleep Inn in Pearl, MS this morning (no eggs, bacon, etc. Just waffles, cold cereal, and microwaved sausage biscuits.), we were on our way by about 10:45. And after getting gas at the nearby CircleK, we were back on I-20E heading for Athens, AL, about 320 miles away. But before we left Jan got Mother’s Day calls from both our kiddos, so that made her day.
Our first stop was at a Love’s the other side of Tuscaloosa for a pitstop and a fill-up which would take us all the way to Athens. But we did make another stop just a few miles outside of Athens just to check out the new Buc-ee’s there. It just opened a few months back, but they were working on it when we were here last year.
And about 15 minutes later we were sitting at a table at Catfish Cabin. It’s kind of a tradition of ours that our first meal here is always at Catfish Cabin. And as we usually do, we ate first before checking into our Day’s Inn
One really nice thing about this place is that they bring out a big basket of their hot, made-in-house hushpuppies to munch on while you’re waiting for your food. Their version of chips and salsa, I guess.
Jan got her usual Cabin Plate with a whole catfish.
While I got my usual Regular Seafood Platter, with Catfish Fillets, Boiled Shrimp, Fried Shrimp, and Fried Oysters.
I definitely did not want the Large Platter, which has 4 of everything. I had trouble finishing this one.
By 5pm we were in our motel room, and getting in contact with everyone to set up get-together times.
Can’t wait.
