We were on our way up to Conroe a little before 10am this morning to meet Debi and Ed Hurlburt at the Golden Corral for our monthly get-together.
We had to skip last month’s since we were back in Alabama so we had a lot to catch up on.
A great time, and we’re already looking forward to next month.
It’s Stuck?
Last week NASA was finally able to launch the Boeing Starliner capsule up to the ISS Space Station. It had encountered a number of delays, mostly due to helium leaks in the maneuvering thruster system.
They knew they already had one leak when they launched, though they had tried to stop the leak for several weeks. So they decided to launch anyway.
Well, now they have FIVE helium leaks, and this caused Boeing to call off its initial try at docking due to thrusters malfunctioning, though they finally managed to connect up.
So now NASA has extended the mission for an additional four days to have time to decide if the thruster problem might cause a problem with undocking from the ISS and returning to Earth.
I guess it’s possible that SpaceX might have to send a Dragon capsule up to the ISS to bring the two NASA astronauts home. SpaceX has already sent 13 Dragons to the Space Station, while NASA just has this one under its belt, so it shouldn’t be a problem for them.
Here’s how they compare –
And both SpaceX and Boeing were given a contract for these capsules at the same time.
Finishing up, I’m looking for some recommendations on what club I should use on this lie.
It’s a Par 4 hole.
Thought For The Day:
“If the human race is to survive, then for all but a very brief period of its history, the word ship will mean space ship.” – Arthur C. Clarke
Your Retro-Preview Highlights –
2009 – Visiting Beaufort Again
2010 – Pie Town And The VLA
2011 – Landon Eats A Locust
2013 – Pilot Butte And Baldy’s
2015 – Mister Brings Me A Present
And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™
June 13, 2009
Mermaids and Blue Jays…
Today was our day to drive over to Beaufort, SC where we lived in 1969-1970 when I worked for the Department of Defense at the Marine Corps Air Station there. We were here for almost a year.
We were able to find the two houses where we lived while we were there. One of them looks great, but the other one looks a little more rundown.
Of course, it was 39 years ago, so I guess it was to be expected.
Here is the first house we lived in, a two-story duplex.
We only lived here for a few months.
This is the other house.
At first, we weren’t sure if this house was the right one. When we were there, the room on the right with the double doors was a carport. Plus we were looking for a large oak tree to the right of the driveway. Then we saw the large stump behind the garbage can and that sealed it.
The tree was significant because when we lived there we had a cat. And the large oak was home to a mother Blue Jay and her chicks.
Whenever Jan would let the cat out the front door, the mother Blue Jay would dive-bomb the cat and peck him on the head. It wasn’t long until the cat had a bare spot on the top of his head, and didn’t want to go outside anymore.
Finally, Jan would stand outside with a broom and escort the cat out to the bushes by waving the broom at the Blue Jay. Then she would go out later and escort the cat back in.
We also found that like other cities, Beaufort had erected mascot statues. In their case, it’s a mermaid.
We also saw horse statues in Kentucky, and these moose mascots in Coeur d’ Alene, ID.
And of course in Seabrook, TX where they have pelicans.
After a delicious lunch at the Magnolia Bakery Café, we drove out to the entrance of the Marine Corps Air Station where I used to work.
It looks better. They didn’t have those planes out front when I was there.
In driving over to Beaufort we were amazed to find all the very high-end subdivisions located on what used to swamp land.
And the previously two-lane road is now four lanes.
Coming home we detoured over toward Hilton Head Island to find the nearest Starbucks. The traffic was really heavy heading to the Island, probably for the holiday weekend.
Tomorrow we plan to eat lunch at Uncle Bubba’s Oyster House. Uncle Bubba is Paula Deen’s brother, and has his own restaurant. I guess it runs in the family.
Afterward, we’re going to take the Old Town Trolley Tour of Savannah, just like the ones we took in Key West and St. Augustine.
June 13, 2010
Pie Town Bound …
We finally left the Elk’s Lodge in Show Low, AZ about 10:30 am. A little over an hour later we crossed into New Mexico, heading for Magdalena, about 115 miles away. This is kind of a short day for us, but I wanted to be able to stop and see the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope facility about 20 miles before Magdalena.
Plus I knew we would lose an hour crossing into New Mexico because, even though Arizona and New Mexico are both in the same time zone (Mountain), Arizona doesn’t observe Daylight Savings Time, so we still lose an hour.
Once again we were treated to some great scenery along the way. Rolling hills and sweeping vistas, punctuated by even larger hills jutting up from the terrain.
A little before 2 pm we started seeing signs for Pie Town, NM, and specifically The Pie-O-Neer pie place located there. So we decided we had to stop.
I mean it’s pie, right?
In a place called Pie Town.
It had to be good, right?
But it wasn’t just good, it was fantastic!
And it didn’t hurt that we we hungry.
And, although the place didn’t look like much on the outside, the inside was a complete surprise. It was bright, colorful, and tastefully decorated, with a lot of homespun touches.
The Pie-O-Neer got its start in 1995 when Kathy Knapp and her family drove 150 miles from Albuquerque to have pie in Pie Town.
What they found was The Old Thunderbird Trading Post.
Here’s what Kathy said about that visit, “Crossing the steps of the frontier-style porch we were anxious. “What kind of pie would they have?” Much to our dismay, NONE. The owners were old and tired and had a sign on the door that read “There used to be pie in Pie Town, but there ain’t no more — FOR SALE.”
So she bought it. She said a place called Pie Town should have PIE!
And it used to. Here’s a little bit of the history of Pie Town.
The small menu, which seems to only exist to give you an excuse to come there for pie, consists of two sandwiches, a Deli Sandwich and a Grilled Cheese with Tomatoes and Green Chiles, (sometimes three on BLT day. Don’t ask), a Spinach Quesadilla, and two soups, Green Chili Stew and the Soup of the Day.
And today the Soup of the Day was Carrot-Ginger. Huh?
Jan had to try a cup of the Carrot-Ginger and I got a cup of the Green Chili Stew. And we split the Grilled Cheese.
Our waitress told us to go up to the counter and pick out our pie now, because otherwise our selection might be gone. The pies are baked one at a time all day long, and are pretty much served warm from the oven, cause they don’t last long enough to get cold.
Jan picked a slice of Chocolate Cream pie and I got a slice of Pear-Pineapple-Ginger.
And everything was delicious. Who would have thought of Carrot-Ginger soup? And my Green Chili Stew was great, just full of chunks of chicken and potatoes.
Kathy, the owner, says she also uses turmeric, a ginger cousin, in her dishes, because it’s a little more spicy, and slightly bitter.
Jan said the pie crust on her Chocolate Cream was the best she’d ever eaten. Turns out that the secret is to use half butter and half lard in the crust. The butter gives it flavor and the lard makes it flaky.
MMMM! Lard!
The crust on my Pear-Pineapple-Ginger was really good. It was like a Deep Dish Crumble crust, kind of crunchy, but melted in your mouth.
Jan asked Kathy if she had a cookbook and she said yes. It was a compilation of pie recipes from people in the area, including Kathy, so Jan got one.
Hopefully, that means more pie soon.
Leaving (reluctantly) Pie Town, we once again crossed the Continental Divide a few minutes later, this time at our highest point so far, 7796 feet.
No wonder our ears were popping.
About 20 miles out of Magdalena we got our first glimpse of the VLA.
From this distance, it’s hard to tell how big the dishes are. Hint- They’re really big.
A sign told us the Visitor’s Center was open until sunset so we decided to go on into Magdalena and get set up.
And Ding, Ding, Ding! We have a new winner!
The Western Motel and RV Park is now officially the worst park we’ve ever stayed in. The previous winner, the Casper East RV Park in Casper, WY, that we stayed at two years ago on our way to Alaska, has been soundly defeated.
The things wrong with this park are almost too numerous to mention.
1. They advertise 30 or 50 amp, but only have 30.
2. The hookups are at the front of the site, not the rear.
3. It is almost impossible to maneuver in the park. I hope the guy to my right leaves early, otherwise I might have to back out of here. So much for a pull-thru.
4. The place is a junkyard of old cars, refrigerators, and other miscellaneous stuff, all just scattered around.
5 The water doesn’t work, but there’s no discount for that,
6, Even with 25 ft. of sewer hose I can’t hook up because the connection is too far forward. And there’s no discount for that either.
7. The place is Passport American and it’s still $20 blankety-blank dollars a night! So that means some people pay $40 a night? Yeah, right.
The problem is that there are no other RV parks in town. The other two are closed. And apparently you can’t park anywhere else either. As we were coming into town we saw a couple in a 5th wheel setting up in a wide open area beside the road. When we came back by about 30 minutes, they were almost finished packing back up.
And when we came back from the VLA about an hour later they were gone. We assume someone told them to move on.
About 5pm we headed out to the VLA in our truck to take a look. Turning off US 60 we crossed one of the railroad track arms of the array.
The radio telescope array consists of three arms made up of railroad tracks, each arm 13 miles long, like the letter ‘Y’, but each arm is the same length. The large telescopes are moved up and down the arms, depending on what they want to look at.
When the 27 dishes (9 on each arm) are spread out to the far ends, it’s like a camera lens zoomed in on an object.
When the dishes are brought in close like they are here, it’s like the wide-angle lens on camera, looking at the broad picture.
The dishes are moved around on a regular schedule during the year, from all the way out to all the way in.
Below you can see the tracks and the 90 degree sidings where the dishes are parked when in use. The track itself is kept open so that if a dish fails it can be brought back in for service and replaced with a spare.
The dishes are enormous. They are 96 feet high, 82 feet wide, and weigh 235 tons. Yet they can be positioned to a faction of an inch on the track, and aimed to a fraction of a degree in the sky.
Here’s a shot of the maintenance shed where the dishes can be repaired out of the weather, and a spare dish waiting to be needed.
We got back to the park about 6:45 pm and were in for the night. I didn’t even bother setting up the satellite dish, since nothing much was on tonight. So we just read, computered (Yes, I know that’s not a word, but it should be) and listened to music.
A little later Jan heated up our left-over wings from last night (Still great) and we topped it off with a sopapilla from a few nights ago.
Tomorrow we head out from Fort Sumner, NM, about 215 miles away, hopefully with a better RV park.
June 13, 2011
Locusts and Chicken . . .
First off, I have to pass on this hilarious email from our daughter Brandi concerning our grandson Landon’s weekend antics.
Had a great weekend. Landon is loving the pool. Now he leans WAYYY over in his floatie and dunks his head under the water. I think he is drinking the pool water!!
YUCK!
OH, also your grandson ate most of a Locust yesterday!!
GROSSSS!
I am gagging just thinking about it.
Apparently, Kitty (their 105 lb. Black Lab) likes to kill and eat them, and she must have brought one in to snack on at a later time.
What’s worse is it happened on MY watch right in front of me. I had just vacuumed and was folding some clothes in the living room and he was by the fireplace playing with something, being very quiet.
Well, I am learning that when it’s quiet it usually means he is up to NO good!! When I went to inspect what he was up to I found him chewing and sucking on the remainders of a green slimy bug.
YACK YACK!
I immediately took him to the kitchen and tried to wipe out his mouth (to no avail) and sanitize him as much as possible.
I found a pair of wings, YACK BARF! clenched in his hand and his tongue was green and covered in some slimy stuff.
GAG BARF!
I think I may have even seen a leg in there.
GAG!!!
He did not seem bothered by it, but was more than happy to drink some juice and eat some banana puffs. He soon after took a nap.
While he was asleep in my arms I could make out the other half of the bug’s body still by the fireplace. When Lowell got up from his nap I made him go inspect it and make sure our son was going to be OK.
He said it was a Locust and looked it up online. Apparently, in some countries it is a yummy snack so it looks like I need to chalk this up to the first of many yucky things my son will put in his mouth.
Love ya,
Brandi
FYI Locust is just another name for grasshopper.
Hmmm! Looks tasty.
Getting back to this morning, I got up about 10 and did the usual coffee and muffins thing. The last of them as it turns so we’ll need to stock up again soon.
After doing client Internet stuff, I worked outside cleaning off the bugs from our front cap that we’d picked up on our trip here from Weed. They look like some kind of flying ant, but a little Awesome and a microfiber cloth, and a final rinse with the hose, took care of them.
We had decided that today was a stay-at-home day, so Jan put a batch of her famous Tuscany Chicken in the crockpot and whipped up a pan of Tastefully Simple’s Nana’s Apple Cake Mix using fresh apples, that she got from Jeanne Sparks in Yuma this past March. We tried a number of the Tastefully Simple products and they’ve all been good. Check’em out.
After being taunted all afternoon by the delicious smells, we finally ate about 5 pm, and it was even better tasting than smelling.
Tomorrow Jan and I going to make the 130 mile trip down to Crater Lake National Park. The trip would only be 85 miles, except for the fact that the north entrance is still snowed in. So we’ll have to drive 100 miles south on US 97, then come back up 30 miles into the park.
Right now the temps are in the low 50’s in the daytime, and in the mid 20’s at night. Here’s a webcam shot of what it looked like this morning at the Park Headquarters.
And yes, those are 20 foot snow drifts surrounding the parking lot.
June 13, 2013
Last Day in Bend . . .
Well, we had our first so-so weather here today with a light rain most of the morning. Luckily it’s supposed to be clear when we leave tomorrow.
I went outside just as it started sprinkling and put the canvas chairs up so I won’t have to put them away wet tomorrow. I also added some air to a couple of coach tires and plugged in the coach engine’s block heater since it will be in the high 20’s/low 30’s tonight. It went down to 29 degrees last night. With the block heater on, my engine oil won’t be the consistency of Jell-O when I crank up tomorrow.
Several readers have asked for more info about the park files that I mentioned yesterday, the ones that show every park we’ve visited, TT park, places to see, etc.
Actually they start out as CSV (comma separated variable) database files
that I compile by hand.
Alyeska Resort,Arlberg Ave,Girdwood,AK,99587,US,N60.97058,W149.10495
Amarillo Ranch RV Park,1414 Sunrise Dr,Amarillo,TX,79104,US,N35.193021,W101.770971
American Sunset RV Park,N Montesano St,Westport,WA,98595,US,N46 53.973′,W1246.352
Antelope Valley Fairgrounds RV Park,,Lancaster,CA,93536,US,N34.72599,W118.1756
The form is shown below. Note that each item is separated by a comma.
Park Name,Park Address,Park City,Park State,Park Zip, Park Country, Park Lat, Park Long
They’re just text files saved with a .csv extension instead of .txt.
I then use the XData function on my Delorme Street Atlas GPS program to pull
them in and convert them into Delorme database files.
Whenever I need to, I just add the new park to the CSV file and then
re-import it to Delorme. Since I only do one or two new parks at a time, it’s not very time-consuming.
Microsoft Streets & Trips will let you do the same thing with a slightly
different procedure.
Hope this helps. If anyone has any more questions, just let me know.
About 3pm Jan and I headed out for our last afternoon in Bend for this trip. First up, we decided to take a run at the summit drive up Pilot Butte, and this time we lucked out. The gates were open. In fact, Jan spotted a car on the climb from many blocks away so we figured it would be open.
The drive to the top was a little bit dicey a couple of times. The road is really narrow, and meeting oncoming cars is interesting, to say the least. Then throw in the walkers and joggers along the road’s edge, and you’ve got your hands full. But the drive was worth it.
The view was great, but a little uncomfortable. It had started raining, and with the wind up there, it got kind of cold, so we didn’t stay long. But it was certainly worth the trip.
Leaving the Butte, we drove a few miles away to have our last meal here at Baldy’s BBQ. Jan had her usual ribs, with au gratin potatoes, and beans, while I went back to what I had the very first time we ate here. The Beef, Chicken, Pork Combo with a side salad. And of course, a side of their great beans.
After another great meal, we headed back toward home, with a couple of stops along the way. First up, we stopped and got gas. Oregon is one of two states, along with New Jersey, that will not let you pump your own gas. I can only assume that Oregon authorities figure that their residents are too stupid to be allowed to pump their own gas without setting themselves on fire.
The other problem I see is that large gas stations like the Fred Meyer’s with 16 pumps, is that there always seems to be a line of cars, because they don’t have 16 attendants, only about 4. So instead of 16 cars filling up at once, the 4 guys can only handle about 8 at a time, at most. Dumb.
Our last stop was at Wal-Mart for a few things before we hit the road tomorrow. Jan also wanted to get some more cherries at the fruit stand out in the parking lot, but they had already closed for the day. Jan’s hoping the lady will be out at the front of the park before we leave tomorrow.
We plan on leaving tomorrow between 9 and 10, getting diesel and hooking up the toad at the Shell station a few miles down the road. Then we’ll have about 170 mile trip down to Princeton, OR to stay at The Narrows RV Park for one night. Should be a nice trip.
June 13, 2014
And This Too Shall Pass . . .
First off, I want to thank everyone for their kind words and support. I don’t expect any real problems, but of course, you never can tell. But hopefully, it will all be taken care of in the next few weeks. I will let you know how it goes.
As far as this morning Jan and I drove over to Goshen about 11 am to do a walk-in visit at the FMCA GLAMARAMA /Fleetwood Rally being held at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds. We had a little trouble getting there because the main road approaching the Fairgrounds was closed for construction without any detour signs giving us directions. But after zig-zagging around for a little while, we finally found our way there.
The first people we ran into were Phyllis and Dick Schell who were just leaving, so it was just ‘Hi’ and ‘Bye’.
The main thing we were there for was to visit the many vendor booths, which were spread over two adjacent buildings. You always hope to see something completely new and novel, but like most rallies, that didn’t really happen.
But it was fun to run into friends we haven’t seen for a while, like Mac McCoy, the Fire Guy, and ones we just saw earlier this week, like Jim and Chris Guld, the Geeks On Tour.
Jan did find a couple of things, but I came home empty-handed. A little later Jan and I checked out an American Revolution, which used to be the top for the Fleetwood line, but is now the lower end of the American Coach line.
Like many high-end rigs we’ve seen recently, the Revolution came with a residential-type Whirlpool refrigerator, an induction stovetop, a stacked washer/dryer, and 1-1/2 baths. These rigs no longer use any LP gas. Instead, they had 8 6 volt house batteries and a bigger inverter.
We were done by about 1:30 so we headed out to have lunch. And right after leaving the Fairgrounds, we came across another of the local Quilt Gardens that are scattered around the Goshen area.
Very pretty.
Our lunch destination was our usual in the Goshen area, the South Side Soda Shop. And we were really looking forward to the fact that today being Friday, the soup of the day would be their renowned Seafood Chowder. And we were not disappointed.
Featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, and other Food Network shows, our food was as delicious as usual. Well worth a visit if you’re in the area. And even if you’re not.
I mentioned a while back that Ella, Jan’s sister Debbie’s granddaughter, had swallowed a quarter, and they were waiting for it to show up, as it were.
Well, it finally did. And turned out to be a penny. Which is why as Debbie said, Laura, Ella’s mother, ‘almost missed it’.
Turns out that Ella thinks ‘all’ change is ‘quarters’.
It was Field Day at Landon’s Day Care and this is him playing what they call “The Spy Game”, but using red strings instead of deadly laser beams.
Which is a good thing because it looks like he’s already tripped over one.
June 13, 2015
Mister Finally Earns His Keep . . .
After our busy day yesterday, we slept in and just vegged out today. About 2pm Jan fixed us up some of the Hog Wild BBQ we brought home from Cottonwood yesterday.
Ribs, Pulled Pork, BBQ Beans, Coleslaw, and Potato Slaw and we have enough left for a 2nd meal later. We always get the Sampler Platter which gives us some of everything. YUMM!
Mister finally did something last night that he never has in the 9 or so years we’ve had him. He killed a mouse . . . and brought it to me.
Jan noticed a week ago that she thought she saw some signs of mouse visitation, so a few days ago I set out three traps baited with peanut butter. But until yesterday we had no hits.
So after being gone yesterday on our Jerome/Cottonwood day trip, I was working on my blog last night when Mister came up to my chair and patted me on the leg with his paw. Now normally this means he wants up in my lap, so without looking down, I turned slightly and tapped my leg for him to jump up.
But he didn’t. After a few seconds, he patted my leg again, this time giving me some claws, and again, I tapped for him to jump Nothing, just another tap, with more claws.
So finally I looked down and there Mister sat, proudly looking up at me, with a mouse dangling from his mouth. Then when he saw I was looking down at him, he dropped the mouse and used his paw to push it toward me.
Awwww! Mister brought me a present.
He would look up at me and then push the mouse around with his paw. Grabbing up a paper towel, I scooped up the mouse and put it in the trash can. Then, remembering I hadn’t checked the traps today, I found two of them now occupied. So after taking all 3 intruders out to the dumpster, I rebaited the traps to see what would show up again.
Since we’ve been here for over six weeks, I would assume we got them here, since we haven’t seen any sign of them before now. And hopefully, we won’t see any more before we finally leave.
Whenever that is.
June 13, 2016
Hot Buns . . .
I spent part of the morning on the phone with GoDaddy again, trying to work out the problems with my PHP script that connects with my MySQL database.
Actually, I’m pretty sure the problem is not with my script but with the info I’m getting from GoDaddy, since I can’t even get the script to open the database. All that is needed is the hostname, the username, and the password.
I know the username and password are correct because I set them on the database. And GoDaddy tells me that the hostname is the server’s IP address and port number. And I know the script is actually executing, because it gives me the programmed error message saying it can’t connect right now.
So the only thing that makes sense is that the hostname info is incorrect. But I know the IP address and port are correct themselves, since that’s on the database page. So maybe the hostname is not the IP/Port name.
So it’s back on the phone with GoDaddy tomorrow.
Jan and I often buy the King’s Hawaiian Buns to make slider-sized sandwiches, and King’s has come out with something new that bumps the taste up a notch.
It’s a jalapeno version of their regular ones, and they’re really good, and fairly hot. For lunch today Jan made us each a couple of Pimento Cheese sliders using the new buns, and with Jan’s great homemade Pimento Cheese, they really hit the spot.
A little before 5pm Jan and I headed right down the Interstate to meet up with Dick (not Ed) and Judy Mott for dinner at Mama Juanita’s Mexican Restaurant. They had their grandson Logan visiting them so he was there too.
We had invited our friend Randy Lazarine to come along with us, but he already had plans, so it was just us.
Dick and Judy had been here before, but this was our first time. Our friends Brett and Frankie O’Neal had also recommended the place, so with two great recommends, we knew it had to be good.
And it was.
Jan had the Combo Fajitas Gratinada and I had the Beef Fajitas Poblanas,
with Dick and Judy both having the Lemon Shrimp.
But even better than the food was the company and conversation. And as many times before, we were there over 3 hours, talking, laughing, and comparing stories.
We finally shut the party down a little after 8pm and headed home for the night. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get together again before we leave for Colorado River on Sunday.
Tomorrow afternoon we’ll be driving down to our daughter Brandi’s in Katy to have dinner and pick up our packages, including the part needed to repair our Sharp Microwave, which Jan is really looking forward to.
June 13, 2017
Alfredo and Parmigiana . . .
Today is our last day in North Platte before we head south again, this time to Assaria, KS, about 10 miles south of Salina, and another Passport America park.
After our coffee, I made another call to get the last reservation for our trip on the way home.
Then I went outside to take a look at the rig’s windshield wipers. A couple of weeks ago we ran into some rain along the way and I noticed that the wiper blades weren’t doing a very good job cleaning the center of the windshield. I had just replaced the wiper blades back in March so I knew they weren’t the problem. The problem was how the blades were mounted on the arms.
As far as I can tell they no longer make blades that fit our rig’s arms, The mounting is completely different from anything I’ve found made lately. So I have to modify the blade frames with a little drilling, filing, bending, and cussing.
So this morning I drilled out the mounting holes a little larger to allow the blade to move around a little more. And that, and a little more bending, took care of the problem.
Finished with that, I got out my Karcher Pressure Washer to get some of the road dirt and grime off the rear of the rig, after first spraying it all down with Awesome.
After my chores were done, we headed out about 3:30 for some shopping and dinner, with our first stop at Wal-Mart for haircuts for both of us. We also were going to get some groceries, but decided to wait until after dinner because we were getting some cold stuff.
Our dinner choice tonight was another Yelp-favorite, Luigi’s Italian Restaurant.
And once again the 4-star rating was spot on.
We started out with our salads and a Cheesy Garlic Bread appetizer.
For our entrées, Jan went with their Chicken Alfredo,
while I got the Tour of Italy, with Fettuccine Alfredo, Chicken Parmigiana, and Lasagna.
Everything, rolls, bread, salad dressings, and of course the entrées, were all homemade and delicious.
And the servings were large enough to have leftovers for tomorrow night.
Then it was back to the nearby Wal-Mart for a few grocery items before heading back to the rig.
Tomorrow, after getting diesel, we’ve got a 320 mile day down to Assaria, KS for just one night. Hopefully, we can get a long pull-thru so we don’t have to unhitch.
We’ll see.
June 13, 2018
They Lied. It’s Not . . .
Work was pretty smooth today, with no fires to put out. I’m mostly going over stuff to be sure I’ve got everything covered for the three weeks we’ll be gone.
Later, getting home and changing, I went outside to clean the rig wheels on the shady side (Driver’s). And that’s when I found out that they lied. The guy at O’Reilly’s, I mean.
He told me that the Eagle One Aluminum Wheel Cleaner that he sold was just as good as the Busch’s brand that I talked about in an earlier blog. But it wasn’t.
When I went to buy more Busch’s locally I found it wasn’t available here, just from Amazon and Busch’s directly. So I went to O’Reilly’s to see what they had.
The Eagle One just didn’t get the heavy crud off the wheels, even after scrubbing with a heavy brush and leaving it on longer before I rinsed it off. But it’ll have to do for now, and I’ll order some Busch’s when we get back from Illinois/Alabama.
I did pick up something at O’Reilly’s that I really like. It’s Turtle Wax Wax & Dry and unlike the Eagle One, this stuff really works.
You just wet down the area, spray it down, and wipe/buff it off with a soft cloth. It not only shines it up really nice, it also takes care of any white streaks, water spots, and dirt. A great product.
But it still doesn’t make up for the Eagle One recommendation.
Tomorrow we’ll close in on wrapping up the storage room stuff, finish up cleaning and waxing the rig, and start sorting through the stuff in the back of the truck. And somewhere in here, we’ll hopefully find time for a WalMart run and some Pho 20.
A busy day.
June 13, 2019
Goldilocks Eggs . . .
We were out the door about 8:50 this morning for the drive up to Webster for my Dermatology appointment to check out my Photo Dynamic Therapy treatment back in December.
The doctor wants to check for any remaining lesions. I knew I had a couple, but I was hoping he would just be able to freeze them off, so I wouldn’t have to have my head fried again. And he was, not only taking care of the two I knew about, but a few more he found.
I was in and out in about 15 minutes and didn’t have to come back until December for a check up.
Then it was off to have breakfast once again at SnoozeAM. This place is always busy, with a 10 minute wait, even on a Thursday morning. But always good.
But once again, I ended up with Goldilocks Eggs. I always get the Snooze Classic,
with three eggs over medium, 3 strips of crispy bacon, fruit instead of hash browns, and an English muffin.
But for the 2nd time they somehow managed to cook each egg of the three, three different ways. One of the yolks was cooked solid, over hard, while another one was so lightly cooked it was almost sunny-side up.
However, the third one was just right. But I have absolutely no idea how they manage to do this.
Then we headed back home for a few hours, before Jan’s appointment at 2:30, with the same Dermatology office, but at the much closer League City location.
Hopefully, I’m going to be able to borrow a floor jack from my client which will make changing out my truck’s brake pads on Saturday.
Wrapping up, Brandi sent over a copy of Landon’s 3rd-grade STAAR Test results. STAAR is the acronym for Texas’s “The State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness”, which is given every year from the 3rd grade through the 8th.
And turns out that he tested better than 81% of ALL Texas 3rd students in Reading, and better than 84% of ALL students in Mathematics.
WOW! Way to go, Landon.
Tomorrow it’s back to work putting some final touches on the website.
June 13, 2021
Southern BBQ Tour – The Second Leg . . .
We left Jan’s sister Debbie’s a little before 9 this morning, heading south for the second leg of our Southern BBQ Tour.
We had such a great time at this reunion, and are already planning to do it again next year, but on a beach somewhere down south.
We passed through Illinois, Kentucky, and then into Tennessee, where we made the second stop on our BBQ Tour, at long-time favorite Famous Dave’s BBQ. We first came across Famous Dave’s staying in Billings, MT on our way to Alaska in 2008, and since then we’ve eaten there all over the country.
So when I found that there was one in Nashville, well, Hermitage, anyway, it became a must-stop on our trip. And it was as good as always.
We both had the Ribs, Jan’s with BBQ Beans and Fries, and mine with Beans and Collard Greens.
And of course, we had to split an order of their Bread Pudding.
Jan says it’s pretty much the best Bread Pudding around. I think maybe it’s a toss-up between this one and the Krispy Kreme Donut Bread Pudding at Lulu’s in Gulf Shores, AL.
One thing we noticed about this Famous Dave’s is that though there was hardly a mask in sight, and all the people who were waiting for a table were sitting side by side in chairs in the lobby, they still had every other table shut down.
So why?
We got into Athens and our Day’s Inn about 5pm, and since we’d had a big lunch, we were in for the night.
Tomorrow I’m going to start contacting relatives to set up times when we can get together over the next couple of days.
Then Wednesday we’ll head down to Birmingham for more friend get-togethers,
June 13, 2022
Up Close And Furry . . .
Catching Up On Sunday, the 12th of June:
After an OK breakfast at our Sleep Inn Hotel in Baton Rouge, we were on our way back to Santa Fe at about 9am, with our first stop being the Pilot in Breaux Bridge about an hour away, for a bathroom stop, as well as topping off with gas. Though we filled up yesterday before we checked in at the hotel, the trip home is about 300 miles, and our Jeep Liberty will only go about 270 miles on a tank full.
Next up was our usual stop at the rest area at the LA/TX border. But even before we crossed the Sabine River, which is the border, the traffic had slowed down to a crawl. And it continued to crawl when we rejoined the traffic.
And about 45 minutes later, we found that the problem was that they had the Interstate closed about 2 miles ahead, with the traffic going down to one lane, and then crawling off onto the feeder for a few more miles before rejoining I-10.
Finishing up, our last stop was about 90 minutes later at the Baytown Buc-ee’s for a final bathroom stop. And while we were there, I had a rare sighting of the mythical Buc-ee himself.
So, of course, I had to get a photo. I mean it’s almost as rare as getting a shot of Nessie, right?
But after I asked for a photo, this lady photobombed my shot by running up and hugging him.
We finally got back to the rig a little after 3pm, but only stayed for a few minutes. I had left the AC set back to 82°, so we took in a couple of bags, while I turned the thermostats down to 75°. Then we headed back out to have dinner at Denny’s, and then pick up some stuff at HEB. And by the time we got back home, we had a nice cool coach.
Then this morning, I put out our new Flamingo Door Mat that we found at a Gift Shop in Gulf Shores. It adds a nice touch.
Tomorrow it’s errands and X-Rays before my 6-month checkup next Monday, after my surgery back in November.
June 13, 2023
I Give Up . . .
I went outside this morning to make one last attempt to locate the mystery Radiator Cooling Fan Relay on our Jeep Liberty, even to the point of sticking a mirror down in there to help get a better look. But no luck.
So it looks like it’s going to be up to my mechanic, Joe, to figure it out. But it may be a week or so until I take it over to him. We’ve got stuff going on the next couple of weeks, Jeep-wise, and since my temporary fix is working fine, I don’t have to be in a big hurry.
So giving it up as a lost cause, next I pulled out my Sears Air Compressor and aired up all 14 tires on our vehicles, and yes, that includes the RV.
I got this back in 2010 because, at 150 psi, it was capable of easily airing up our RV tires to 120# with no problem. And the Powertank adapter with the built-in gauge makes it really easy.
So that will take care of that for a while.
