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Jan and I spent some more time watching YouTube Cruise videos again, especially ones that talk about weird things people bring, or try to bring, on a cruise. Things like Coffee Makers, TV’s, Irons, Ironing Boards, full-size Blenders. Hot Plates, or Microwaves.
And like a Roomba.
Now why someone would bring a Roomba with them when they’ve got a cabin attendant coming in once or twice a day to clean the room?
In at least one incident, the cabin attendant opened the room door, only for the Roomba to escape and go careening down the hallway with the attendant hot on its heels . . . or wheels, maybe, chasing behind it.
Would like to have seen that.
* * * * *
One thing I was happy to find out is where our RCL Jewel Of The Seas cruise ship gets their WiFi Internet from, since I had heard stories about how dreadfully slow it could be. Not very conductive to doing a blog every day.
So I was happy to find out that a while back all RCL ships were converted to SpaceX’s Starlink system, which means download speeds between 40-60 Mbps, a little faster than we have here at the RV park.
So it all should be good.
* * * * *
Got a couple of things going on this week. First up, is our monthly Alvin Opry group get-together, at the Saltgrass Steakhouse as usual. Then on Friday we’re going to check out the Great Wolf Lodge’s version of the Nutcracker Christmas Market, followed up by dinner at BoomerJack’s once again
Fun!
* * * * *
SpaceX’s President Gwynne Shotwell says that they hope to do 400 Starship launches over the next 4 years, so 2 a week at some point. That’s really ramping up.
And just a reminder about SpaceX’s Starship #6 launch tomorrow the 19th, with the launch window opening at 4pm CST.
Thought for the Day:
When you’re dead, you don’t know you’re dead. It’s only difficult for others.
It’s the same when you’re stupid.
And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™
November 18, 2009
Stars fell on Alabama…
Today is our last full day here in Athens, AL. Tomorrow we will head south about 380 miles to spend a few days at Gulf Shores, AL before heading back to Houston next Monday.
We started off by having lunch at Dub’s Burgers, a place that I used to eat at over 40 years ago, And it’s still great!
After lunch we took care of some errands, stopping off at Tractor Supply Store, U. G. White’s, a great old-time hardware store in downtown Athens, and the Post Office.
Leaving there we drove by our old house here in Athens that we lived in starting in 1963 when we moved back from Colombia, South America.
The house and the subdivision still look good.
About 4:30 pm we picked up cousins Glee, Dave, and Joy and drove over to Huntsville to have dinner at Rosie’s Cantina, the same place where we ate lunch a couple of days ago.
And again we had a great time. Hopefully it won’t be another 40 years until we get together again.
November 18, 2010
Up Late and Falling Behind . . .
Today got started before I even got up. Some days are just like that. The day just takes off and leaves you behind.
Starting our, I had calls from two clients waiting for me.
After talking to the two clients, setting up appointments, and catching up on my email and computer stuff, Jan and I headed out for our walk. We’re up to a mile and a half now, and hopefully we can get back up to the 3 miles we were walking before. We’ll see.
Later in the afternoon we headed up to League City to have lunch at Cracker Barrel. Once again it’s Turkey and Dressing Day, Jan’s favorite.
Then it was time for a special treat. We went by Landon’s day care and picked him up early to get some time with him.
And of course we had to show him off, so we took him by our friends Bob & Maria’s house for a while.
Next it was on to Sam’s Club to pick up some things. Then we went by Brandi and Lowell’s to get some Amazon packages that we knew had come in. Found Lowell already there, but told him we were keeping Landon . . . at least until we met him, Brandi, and our Chris at Café Adobe for supper. Unfortunately, Linda, Chris’ wife was working, but we did get to see our granddaughter Piper, since she works there as a hostess now.
The food was good, and getting together with the family was even better. Too bad Linda couldn’t be there, but we’ll see her soon.
Finally got home about 7:30 after a busy day.
Hopefully I won’t start out behind tomorrow.
November 18, 2011
Last Day in Gulf Shores . . .
Today was our last day here in Gulf Shores so after coffee we headed out to visit some of our favorite places in the area.
Our first stop was Tallulah’s Treasures, a really neat gift shop that used to be known as Tootie’s Yellow Broom. This is probably the most unique gift shop I’ve ever seen, and believe me, we’ve visited a lot of them over the years. They have some really nice stuff.
When we were last here in March of 2009 this really high-end RV Resort was going up in Orange Beach right across the road from the ocean.
And when I say high-end, I mean the lots started at $500,000 and went to over $1,000,000. The sites were nice, and although not very large, they did include a small house or casita on the lot as you can see in this photo.
Well, this is what it looks like now. Overgrown and out of business.
Guess those million-dollar lots didn’t move as well as they thought.
Our next stop was in the Romar Beach area where my parents once had two beach houses. At one time they owned all the property from about 100 feet behind me over to the big condo building on the right
And, before September 2004, both sides of the road here were filled with houses, but after Hurricane Ivan hit in September 2004, this is what’s left. The pink cottage on the left is one of my parent’s houses, and the only one to survive Ivan.
Originally there were two of them, and they were side by side on the right (beach) side next to the condo. But over the years they sold both of them. One was torn down and replaced by something bigger. The one now on the left was moved there and also replaced by a bigger house on the beach side.
And I’m sure if the other hadn’t been torn down it would have survived too. My father knew how to build for the beach and it showed.
Below is the beautiful ocean view from our beach houses.
Later we drove down the west beach to the bridge where we always see a lot of Jan’s favorite pelicans. There is a large water main along the bridge and the pelicans really like to rest there.
It’s a lot of fun to watch them jockey for position and push each other off the pipe.
While waiting to hear from the U-Haul trailer guy we drove over to the beach and took the walkway out to the ocean.
I’ve visited beaches all over the continental US and in South America, and I still think Gulf Shores beaches are pretty much the most beautiful around. These sugar sand beaches can’t be beat.
About 3:30 we headed over to pick up the car trailer we were renting to tow our truck home. Normally we would have to pick it up ourselves by taking the rig over there, but I offered the guy $20 if he would deliver it. So after signing the paperwork, the guy followed us back over to our site and dropped it off.
One thing I was surprised to learn is how heavy this thing is.
I had hoped to be able to push it the last 15 feet to hitch it to the back of the rig tomorrow morning, but this sucker weighs 2200 POUNDS. So I’m going to have to back the rig up to it, and hope to get it aligned. We’ll see how it works out.
About 4:30, after getting the trailer delivered, we picked up Eldy and Jeanne and headed up toward Foley to Lambert’s Throwed Rolls. They had never eaten there so we wanted them to give it a try.
This time I just got the veggie plate, which along with the pass-arounds, was a great meal. Jan had her usual Fried Chicken, as did Jeanne, while Eldy had the Fried Catfish, which he thought was delicious.
Eldy and Jeanne are staying in the area for another week or so, so we gave them a number of other places to eat and visit. Hopefully they’ll enjoy the area as much as we do.
Tomorrow night we’ll Wally-Dock in Breaux Bridge, LA before arriving in Houston on Sunday. We’re really looking forward to seeing everyone.
November 18, 2012
The Last Day of 2012 . . .
or Shake, Rattle & Roll.
Yes, this is our last day of travel for 2012. We ended up traveling 7151 miles this year, quite a bit less than our usual 10 to 12 thousand or so. But we might make it up next year. Who knows?
After yesterday’s sunset picture, I got this sunrise with the fog floating over the lake.
We left Poche’s RV Park a little before 8am, heading for the Galveston Bay RV Park about 230 miles away, which will be our home for the next two or three months.
We stopped to top off our diesel tank right before we got back on I-10W. We had planned to grab a breakfast sandwich from the Quiznos Subs at the service station, but it turns out Quiznos doesn’t do breakfast like Subway so that was out.
Instead we ended up at the Cracker Barrel about 8 miles away in Lafayette. Love their RV parking.
Our trip was mostly fairly smooth with some intermixed Shake, Rattle & Roll. Since we no longer had the rear airbags, the ride was rougher than normal with a lot of vibration. We kept our speed at 55, but even so, we’d hit rough patches that caused the rig to start porpoising and bouncing.
But we survived and pulled into the park about 3:30. On our way we stopped right up the road and topped our diesel off again. I also added a dose of algaecide to the tank before I filled up to forestall any problems with condensation in the tank.
And on a pleasant note, diesel was only $3.53, a nice change from the $3.81 in Breaux Bridge this morning. I love Texas.
About 5:30 we headed up to the park clubhouse for Thanksgiving dinner. Jan made a batch of her Heavenly Hash last night in Breaux Bridge so it would be all ready to go this afternoon. We had a great meal, and a fun time meeting old friends and making new ones.
We even found some French Canadians. The couple was from Quebec and said they were heading to Mission, TX for the winter. Jan asked if they’d been to Florida, and the husband said he didn’t like Florida in the winter. When Jan asked him why not, he said there were too many French Canadians down there.
Tomorrow will be a busy day, checking in with a couple of clients, picking up food for our Thanksgiving, and get ready for our trip to Marble Falls on Wednesday.
Busy, busy, busy.
November 18, 2013
. . . before the storm !
Well, we had gotten the idea that our gate would pretty much shut down after we left on Saturday and everyone would have to unlock and relock the gate behind them as they come and go.
But that calm came to a screeching halt this morning when we found out that starting today a new rig is coming in, but not a full drilling rig, but a work-over rig. It looks like they’re still working on problems at the frack site.
And our vehicle count jumped up from the 25-30 we had been having, to almost 75 today. Hope we can stand the pressure.
* * * * *
Question: What is 62 °?
Answer: That’s the temperature range we’ve had here in the last couple of days.
A few nights ago it got down to 35° here at the gate, and then yesterday it got up to 97°. Quite a spread, and keeps things interesting on how to dress.
* * * * *
Then last night it was so foggy and humid that water was dripping off the edge of the canopy like it was raining. But it did make for a really nice light with the flare going all night. It was just a large orange ball in the fog that lit up the whole area like a big light bulb.
Of course the flare been pretty active in the daytime too, with this going on a few days ago.
This one came with a big “WHOOMP”. It’s always nice to have sound effects with your light show, but I’m glad we’re not any closer. We can feel the heat as it is.
Right now it looks like a 70% chance of thunderstorms on Friday, and since where the rig is parked gets really muddy, I don’t want to take any chances on not being able to pull out on Saturday morning. Jan would either be homicidal or suicidal, or a little of both. (Actually, probably a lot of both.) So Wednesday or Thursday I’m going to back up the rig about 10 feet which will put the rear wheels firmly on the gravel area where we park the toad
I had planned on cranking up the rig anyway on Friday just to be sure everything’s working, the levelers come up, etc. This way I’ll just do it a little early, won’t even unhook the power or bring the slide in. Easy Peazy.
After a long dry spell, we got another free meal today, this time from Choke Canyon BBQ right down the road. We get BBQ there every other week or so, so we know it’s good. Really looking forward to having it for dinner tomorrow night.
Wrapping up, I came across a neat website today that solves a regular problem. Of course, I may be the only one who didn’t know about it, but it’s called PrintFriendly.
Ever try to print a webpage and it comes out all scrunchy and unreadable? Well, PrintFriendly does a really good job of fixing that for you. You can even set it up as a PRINT button on your blog or website so visitors can easily print something. Neat!
Check it out.
November 18, 2014
Lost Puppies . . .
Today started with hot coffee and a plea for help on Facebook. Donna Huffer and Bob Parker were having electrical problems with their Discovery so I went over about 12:30 to see if I could help.
At first we thought it was a problem with the transfer switch since everything worked OK with the inverter on, but on shore power, nothing was getting through to the coach from Line 2.
But tracing it out finally led us to the output relay board on the circuit breaker panel. Power was coming into the panel, through the circuit breaker, going into what I think is the EMS (Electrical Management System) board, and then not coming out.
I tried to find a copy of the manual for this Intellitec Model 900 system Bob has, but every link I found online was dead. So no help there. I finally headed back to our rig about 2pm because I told Jan we’d go out shopping about then. Bob was going to follow up with the Intellitec people to see what they said.
Jan and I headed out a little after 2pm with our first stop right down the road at Omega Farm’s RV Park. We have to be out of here at the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails on Friday before we head over to Escapee’s Park in Livingston on Saturday. We can only stay here for 5 days if we want to be able to come back here on the 26th for a two-week stay. I had hoped to be able to ‘buy’ a day here, but found out that it still counts against your in/out days. And complicating things is the fact that we need to be down in the Clear Lake area for Jan’s oncologist appointment Friday afternoon. So it’ll be easier to just move a couple of miles down the road for one night.
Next up we stopped at the Love’s Truck Stop one exit up north on I-45 because I needed another bottle of Diesel Biocide to prevent algae growth in our fuel tank with all the cold, wet weather we’re having. But no luck.
Jan reminded me that the last time we bought some, it was at an Academy Sporting Goods in their boating department. So I’ll try there tomorrow.
By this time Jan was getting hungry so we made another run at El Bosque, tracking down their new location. We had tried to eat there Sunday night but found they had moved to the new location, so we ended up at the Ryan’s across the street.
The food was just as good as we remembered it, the new location is very nice,
much larger and brighter with a lot of windows. But as one reviewer wrote on Yelp about the new location, the wait staff wandered around like ‘lost puppies’. We would ask our waiter for something and he would disappear for several minutes, then come back out of the kitchen, see us, and suddenly remember what he was supposed to do for us, and then scurry off to get it. Like he said, “Lost Puppies”.
Our last stop for the day was the really nice Kroger’s over in Willis for a few things before we finally headed home.
Thursday night we’re driving down to Katy to have dinner with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro, one of our all-time favorite places. And hopefully we’ll be able to have dinner Friday night with Chris, Linda, and Piper when we’re down in Clear Lake for Jan’s doctor’s appointment.
And even better, no bells.
November 18, 2015
Raw, Not Grilled . . .
Well, after being told that they were finishing up the Flowback & Testing tomorrow (Thursday) and then we’d be down for 4 or 5 days before the Workover rig moved in, it all changed.
About 6am this morning, the Workover rig crew started streaming in. And our vehicle count went from about 35 a day to 60 vehicles today. Relatively a big jump, but still not really busy.
I went in to go to bed at 7am, and when I came back out about 11:30, the workover rig was up and a lot of the setup crew had started leaving.
About then I headed into Carthage to pick up lunch at Sonic. Jan wanted, as usual, one of their Regular Chile Cheese Coney’s, and I went with my usual, the New York Dog, but this time I asked for raw onions and not grilled like I got last time. I thought that maybe it was a mistake, but when I checked their website, Yep, they now put grilled onions on it.
In the past when I’ve gotten one it’s always had raw onions, and I don’t know why they changed. I’ve had New York Dogs IN New York, and never came with the onions grilled. The raw ones provide the perfect little bit of crunch to go with the sauerkraut and the spicy mustard.
I will say this is one of the busiest Sonic’s I’ve seen, especially for a small town. They have a total of 36 stalls, and I had to drive all the way around to find an open one. And that 36 includes 6 new ones that they recently added off to the side. I’m assuming they’re new due to the cleanness of the concrete pad.
But even as busy as they were, they still got me my order faster than either Whataburger or Chicken Express, and I didn’t have to tell them 3 times, “No! I don’t want any lettuce.” In fact, from the time the speaker clicked off after taking my order, it was 5 and a half minutes until the car hop was at my window.
Now that’s fast.
After lunch I got out my Sear’s 150 psi Air Compressor to top off all my tires, the rig and the truck.
PORTER-CABLE 150 PSI Air Compressor
I bought mine from Sears, but they no longer sell them. They were apparently made for Sears by Porter-Cable, who now sells them under their own name. The only difference seems to be that my Sears’ one is red.
For the first year of our RV life, I aired up the coach tires by dragging out a 75’ air hose and plugging it into the coach air compressor connector. Then I would have to start up the rig engine to get the job done. A real pain in the rear.
I don’t know about most other rigs, but we have an air connection in the front bay under the driver’s seat. It’s so that if the rig is being towed wheels down, the tow driver can hook his tow truck air system into our rig’s to release the air brakes. There’s also one back in the engine compartment.
I knew that our tires would all be low because the last time they were aired up was in Prescott, AZ back in July, and the temps were running between 95 and 100°.
But now it was in the 40’s last night and the 50’s today, and every tire was 10 to 15 psi low, the difference being whether the tire was in the direct sun or not.
But rather than the usual 20 minutes it normally takes to air up all ten tires, it took off and on all afternoon. Because I could only be hunched over for so long before my back started screaming, and then it would take about 30 seconds before I could stand all the way up straight again.
I didn’t realize that getting old would be so painful.
Anyway, the reason I had to hunch over was so that I could hold the air chuck on the tire valve while I was adding air. And the reason I had to HOLD the air chuck on the valve was because my locking air chuck, the one on my Power Tank Tire Inflator decided that today was the day to quit working.
After 8 years, now it quits?
About the same time I bought the air compressor, I also purchased this Power Tank Heavy Duty Tire Inflator system.
And like the air compressor, it’s also been a real workhorse. Just lock the chuck on the valve stem, stand up, and add air by squeezing the lever. Then when you release it, you can read the pressure on the very accurate gauge. Easy Peazy.
And quick. And no hunching over.
But now the locking air chuck on the inflator just would not lock. Hence the ‘hunching over’. If I’d known this this morning I could have picked one up in Carthage.
Oh well. It’s done and another thing checked off my ‘Leaving The Gate’ list.
So far tonight, it’s beginning to look like we may be back to a 12-hour gate again for a while. At least we were tonight.
The last vehicle out was the Company Man, who left a little after 6pm. Unfortunately he didn’t stop and tell Jan they were done for the day. So poor thing, she sat outside until about 8pm before giving up and coming inside.
The pad is completely dark with no activity at all. Our logs show five vehicles still in, but those are probably just big rigs with equipment (pumps, filters, separators, etc.) that will stay here the entire time.
So if this schedule holds for tomorrow night, Jan and I may get another night on the town in Carthage.
Hope so.
November 18, 2016
More Stuff We Use and Abuse . . .
Here are some more things that Jan and I use in our RV life.
The FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer is one of her favorites. She regularly cooks up a big batch of ground beef in her electric skillet, and then seals and freezes it in 1 pound bags. She also does the same after poaching a bunch of chicken breasts to use later for soup.
FoodSaver Vacuum Sealing System
I always keep both of these replacement fuel filters for the Cummins 350 ISC diesel in our coach. And I’ve had to replace the 1022 fine particle filter twice while we’ve been on the road.
Fleetguard Fuel/Water Sep FS1242
For the first several years we were on the road I went through several different brands of dually valve stem extensions with little luck. They would last for a couple of months and then start leaking. But I put a set of these on 4 years ago and not a leak since.
Pacific Dualies 7″ Braided Stainless Steel Valve Stem Extensions
Seems like wherever we park I need to hook up a second hose to use the pressure washer or do something else. So I always install one of these before I hook up shore water. That way I’m always prepared.
Nelson High Flow Dual Outlet Kink-Free Flex Hose Adapter
Jan and I each have one of these LED rechargeable Book Lights. I use one on my laptop to see the keyboard at night.
Book Light Clip on Table Light
I have this as a standby waste tank valve. If either my Black or Gray tank valves malfunctions and stays open, this one connects to the waste tank output between the rig and your sewer hose.
Valterra 3″ Waste Valve Twist On
Everyone should have one of these Kill A Watt Electrical Monitors. It lets you check your voltage, line frequency, amps, or watts used. And know how much power every appliance in your rig consumes.
P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor
Well, I was up at 4am this morning, out the door at 4:30 and on the gate by 4:50. This gate doesn’t require any logging at all. I just stop each vehicle, be sure they’re where they’re supposed to be, give them the rules, and send them on their way. So not bad.
But tomorrow back up at 4am.
November 18, 2017
That’s Hedley!
Jan and I left the rig about 11:45, heading up to the Clear Lake area for lunch and new brakes.
But our first stop was at our old favorite, King Food. So good that after almost 40 years we still love it.
I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of photos of our fav Chicken with Hot Garlic Sauce and Jalapenos, XXXXX Spicy, so I’ll spare you this time. But it was as delicious as usual. Especially with the Hot and Sour Soup.
Then it was on over to our son Chris’ for our scheduled brake job. As usual Chris was well prepared with his floor jack and jack stands at the ready. And once he got started it only took him about 45 minutes per wheel, replacing both the rotors and the disc pads.
In between Jan and I started going through stuff from the attic, especially a bunch of old slides and photos from over 50 years ago.
Here’s one of me and my little sister Beth in 1965-66. I was probably 16 or so.
Brake job finished, we drove over to the nearby SuperCuts so Jan could get her hair cut. Jan still uses the same lady that’s been cutting her hair for about 15 years, as well as her mother’s when she lived with us.
Then after a quick stop at Kroger’s for a few things, our last stop was at Tuesday Morning for Christmas cards. Jan likes the high end, expensive cards she finds there for very cheap prices. Apparently they’re last year’s cards, but with no dates on them, who knows, or cares.
This is a Frilled Shark.
Supposedly it died out about 80 million years ago. Or maybe not. Last week scientists caught one of them off the coast of Portugal.
With over 300 teeth arranged in 25 rows it makes short work of its prey. However like a snake, it can open its mouth wide enough to swallow prey whole.
Tomorrow Jan and I are meeting Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at Sugar Land Ice, the rink where Landon does his ice hockey. It’s starting up again so we’re going to be at his first practice this year.
Then we’ll have a late lunch at the nearby Floyd’s Cajun Seafood where we eaten several times before. Always good.
Then Jan will go back home with Brandi, et. al, while I’ll come back to the rig. Jan’s going to be Landon-sitting until Tuesday since Landon’s out of school all this week.
I’ll go back and pick her up around Tuesday noon and drop Landon off at Brandi’s work.
Really looking forward to it.
“Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.” – Hedy Lamarr, co-inventor of the spread spectrum, frequency hopping technique used in today’s cell phone system and Bluetooth technology.
November 18, 2018
Finally . . .
Although Jan really enjoyed her Pumpkin Pancakes at Snooze yesterday, she was still jonsin’ for her fav Avocado Toast, and since we both like breakfast any time of the day, any day of the week, we left the rig about 12:45 to have brunch at The Egg and I once again.
We were hoping that with Snooze open right down the street, we were hoping the Egg wouldn’t be as busy as usual, and though they were busy we got seated in just a few minutes.
After a delicious as usual breakfast, we drove by our old house to check it out. We found the sidewalk still ripped up just as it was a couple of weeks ago.
Looks like this had something to do with replacing the water meter box, which is new. Though now it looks like someone is living there. Also there’s now a big dent in the left side garage door, to match the one on the right side that Jan put in it about 20 years ago.
Our next stop was the Oasis Car Wash over on Bay Area Blvd for a rainy car wash. We were trying to get the last of the rig oil leak residue off the Dakota. And because it was raining we’ll get two washes for the price of one, since if it’s raining, or rains in the next 48 hours, you can get a 2nd wash free.
Then it was on down the Interstate to League City Cracker Barrel to order a big pan of their Cornbread Dressing, or as Jan calls it, the only ‘real’ dressing. Jan says CB’s is ‘almost’ as good as hers, and she doesn’t have to fix it, so it’s a win-win.
I’ll pick it up Wednesday afternoon to take up to Brandi’s on Thursday morning.
Our last stop was the Victory Lakes Marble Slab for a couple of small Coffee ice creams, the perfect to finish off a rainy, cold, overcast day.
Updates:
The truck is still running fine, with no problems. I do hear a slight high-pitched whine that I assume will go away as all the new gears settle in. We’ll see.
The new Lasko heater is working well with the recent 30’s weather we’ve had. And the old Lasko is also hanging in there, maybe because I threatened to rip its guts out to try and fix it.
Finally:
Yesterday afternoon I noticed that my head has finally started to peel after my recent Photo Dynamic Therapy.
It’s about time.
Tomorrow afternoon I’m taking Jan up to Brandi’s to Landon-sit while he’s out of school this week. Then I’ll go up on Thursday (with the Cornbread Dressing) for Thanksgiving Dinner and then bring her back Thursday evening.
Really looking forward to it.
November 18, 2019
We’re Not Home Yet . . .
But I guess the good news is that the rig is in the shop getting the oil leak problem looked at.
However that’s not the main reason the rig is in the shop.
After a nice smooth trip from Kingsland, through Austin, and on down US183 to I-10, we made a coffee/kolache stop at the Buc-ee’s there.
However when we came back out and I cranked up, we had no air pressure coming up to either the brakes or the airbags. Walking around the rig, I couldn’t hear any air leaking anywhere which probably meant that the air compressor itself was not compressing air.
So about an hour after calling Good Sam Roadside Assistance, we were on our way 3 miles back up US183 to Dix’s Diesel Center in Luling.
So we’re staying the night in the nearby La Quinta, right off the Interstate. And since it’s in the shop for the air compressor, I gave them the history of the oil leak problem and told them to take a look at it too.
So we’ll see.
November 18, 2020
The End To Fun and Frivolity . . .
Yesterday’s short blog didn’t actually get posted until this morning due to a wide-spread Internet outage, effectively shutting off access to large numbers of sites. Including mine. But everything was fine this morning.
Later in the afternoon we headed into the Houston Medical Center area to meet up with our long-time friend, Chris Yust, who had come up from Florida to visit family and catch up on a couple of doctor appointments.
And to see us, of course.
So we met up at her hotel, and after some catching up, we headed out to have dinner at Pappadeaux’s Seafood Kitchen down on the 610 Loop a few miles away. It’s probably been about 20+ years since we’ve eaten here since we don’t get up this way very often. But it was as good as our somewhat dim memories recalled.
Chris and I started out with the House Salad, with a really good house-made Ranch dressing.
Then Jan had the Redfish with Butternut Squash,
while I had the Blackened Catfish with Green Beans Almondine.
Chris, however, took a somewhat simpler route with a Shrimp Cocktail.
Everything was really delicious, and really pricey, too.
My Blackened Catfish wasn’t really any better than what Jan and I get locally at Dickinson Seafood, and it was more than twice as expensive. And Jan felt the same way about her Redfish.
I guess that’s why we haven’t been back for 20+ years.
But being able to get together with Chris more than made up for it.
Hopefully it won’t be as long before we see her again as it was this time.
Got an email from Dakota Post this morning saying they had received my Jeep registration paperwork and would get them in process today.
Tomorrow is the end of all my fun and frivolity. I pretty much took a week off from working on the rig, but tomorrow it’s back at it, trying to get the bad Helicoil out.
November 18, 2021
Well, I Guess This Is My Fault Too . . .
Jan and I were on the way up the Spring area about 9:30 this morning, to meet up with long-time RV friends, Debi and Ed Hurlburt, at the El Palenque Mexican Restaurant there, Jan driving of course.
So we would have more time to talk, we there at 11 this time instead of our usual Noon.
And after our usual great time, as well as setting the time/date/location for next month’s get-together, we were on our way back home by about 2:30, luckily still ahead of the drive-time traffic.
Getting back into our area a little before 4pm, we made a Cowboy Coffee stop before settling in back at the rig.
A really nice day.
Our granddaughter Piper sent over this photo of her and her SO Derek spending time in the Big Bend area this past weekend.
A really nice guy.
And on the subject of grandkids, here’s on Piper and Landon from two years ago.
A couple of really cute kids. Love them both.
Finally I guess it runs in the family.
After suffering for a couple of years from neck/arm/back pains, and trying yoga, massage, etc., and now seeing what I have been going through, our daughter Brandi finally went to see an Orthopedist today.
After getting X-Rays, her doctor said he does not usually see a neck this bad in someone my age.
The 4 & 5 disc have no space between the bones and one bone is a little out of place. He said the degeneration is pretty bad. Need to do an MRI to look at the nerves.
So I guess it begins now for her.
Sorry, Brandi. They say it can be genetic.
November 18, 2022
The Ninth Time’s The Charm . . .
Getting into work today, I first found that my computer had rebooted, probably due to Microsoft’s monthly Tuesday updates. But everything seemed to be working OK until I started trying to scan some invoices that needed to be emailed.
But when I started the Scan app it said it couldn’t connect to the scanner. So having seen this before after previous updates, I just unplugged the printer/scanner power and plugged it back in.
No joy.
So next time I went whole-hog and powered off and repowered the computer and the scanner.
Again, the same.
So even though the printer part worked OK, I next replaced the printer cable.
Still nothing.
And running the HP Troubleshooter was no help either, just telling me it couldn’t talk with the scanner either, and to try all the stuff I had already tried.
I knew the scanner itself worked since I could manually scan from the printer’s control panel, and even use the Scan to Email function, which is what I did to take care of the scans I was trying to make to start with.
So then I started working my way through all the multiple ways you can install the drivers and software – USB, Ethernet, Wireless, and combinations of all of them. And nothing worked.
I knew the USB port was good, though I did swap them around, so I started looking at new printers from Amazon, thinking that was about the only solution to the problem.
But not ready to give up, I tried one more iteration. And suddenly it worked, the ninth time I tried.
I guess the threat of being replaced scared the old printer into working.
Hopefully that’s it, at least until the next Microsoft update.
Tomorrow we get to meet some old/new friends.
Ron and Anne, long-time blog readers are snow-birding down from New Brunswick, Canada and are staying in the area and wanted to get together. So we’re taking them out for Mexican at Jimmy Changas tomorrow afternoon, and then we invited them to have Thanksgiving dinner with us up at Brandi’s in Katy.
We’ve reserved one of those Cracker Barrel Heat N Serve complete Thanksgiving Dinners so we’ll have plenty to go around.
Really looking forward to meeting them in person for the first time.
Well, on the 5G front we have a new record.
On our way up to Conroe yesterday I saw they had 5G at the Flying J north of Houston, and checked it out.
Yes, that’s 304 Mbps! the fastest I seen yet.
But still only 4G here at the rig.
Bummer!
November 18, 2023
Sideswiped!
We had a great time at the Alvin Opry last night, especially since we were joined by long-time friends, Maria and Connie.
And though we enjoyed all the performers, we were all looking forward to seeing other long-time friends,
Mary Dooley, and
Tony Booth.
Both of whom we’ve known for over 20 years.
Great seeing and talking to them again.
Before the show, we had our usual great meal at the Alvin Monterey’s Little Mexico, with Jan getting the Large Beef Fajita Nachos, which we shared,
and I also got a bowl of the Chicken Tortilla Soup.
Yumm!
Getting back to today:
This afternoon Jan followed me in the Jeep as I drove Ole Faithful (or Ole Smokey), our 2004 Dodge Dakota, over to the NTB Tire Center to drop it off. I wanted to get a new tire installed on the front passenger side and a slow leak fixed on the passenger rear, so I had made an 1pm appointment since I know Saturdays can be busy.
And as always, it started right up, even though it’s probably been 6 months since I last started it. I do keep a float charger on the battery and Stabil in the gas tank so it’s always ready to go.
I thought I’d save time and record the mileage for the NTB guy. It was 314,677 miles, plus another 100,000 or so being dragged around behind the RV. Although it runs fine, and everything works on it, it’s actually been a V-7 since around 295,000 miles when one cylinder just up and died.
What’s up with that?
We had planned on having lunch at Jimmy Changas, which was almost right next door to NTB, but somehow ended up at Barcenas, which is right next door to Jimmy Changas. Which is right next . . . well, you know.
Jan has gotten the Tex-Mex Enchiladas for 25 years since Barcenas opened their first location right outside our subdivision in Heritage Park.
She said it was as good as always.
For my meal, I got something a little different, the Fajita Flameada
It’s a piece of Fajita Steak covered in chorizos and white cheese. Really good, and I had half to take home for dinner next week.
This past Wednesday as I was coming home from my client’s office another car decided he wanted to be in my lane more than I did.
There are two left-turn lanes here. My lane is supposed to end up in the center lane of the feeder, and the right-turn lane goes into the right-hand feeder lane. It’s actually marked on the roadway.
The far left feeder lane is actually for the loop-around lane under the Interstate, though as you can see, a lot of vehicles end up there from my lane. And I’ve seen several wrecks here just because of people not staying in the correct lane.
And now it was my turn.
The white truck on my right is hanging back because he actually is trying to get out of the turn lane and go straight. And as soon as he did that, the red car came over from the straight lane into the turn lane.
And then came over into my lane.
CRUNCH!
is what I heard when we collided. The crunch of metal is what it sounded like. Note he didn’t even attempt to slow down, but took off like a bat…
I wasn’t worried because I not only had the accident on video, I also had his tag on video. So I didn’t even stop to look at my damage until I got down to the Santa Fe and stopped for gas.
And this is what I found.
Nothing!
He had just bounced off the heavy ABS wheel well fenders and didn’t even leave a scratch.
But since I know I heard the crunch of metal, I’m pretty sure he had more damage than I did.
But things like this are why I have a dashcam.
Tomorrow looks to be our usual Denny’s/HEB once again, along with hopefully picking up the truck.
