Our RV Adventures

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We were finished up with my 6-month Lumbar Fusion follow-up in about 30 minutes with a clean bill of health, and another follow-up in 6 more months.

Then it was on up to the office for about 30 minutes, before heading down to Bacliff for another Doggone Crazy Food Truck visit.

Jan, of course, got her usual Plain Jane, with Stout Chili, Cheese, and Onions.

I started out with one of their Frito Pies,

and then went completely off the reservation, and instead of my usual Drunken German, I got this beauty, The Hang Ten.

Starting with a Sourdough Bun, and a Jalapeno Cheddar Link, then topped with Asian-Styled Pulled Pork, and Gouda Cheese. Wrapping up, it’s garnished with Purple Onions, Rum Margarita Flavored Island Sauce, and finished off with Bourbon Maple Pickle Relish.

Just WOW!

Jan said Doggone Crazy is now on our Two-Week Rotation, i.e., every other Thursday.

It’s that good.

* * * * *

Boeing Starliner Was a Minute from Disaster in Space Station Docking

It turns out that besides stranding the two NASA astronauts on the ISS, the Starliner came within minutes of possibly killing them.

The Starliner was likely 30-60 seconds from total loss of control and potential crew loss if a fifth thruster had failed before the first reset, or if the reset had not restored functionality. The critical period spanned the minutes between the fourth failure (loss of 6DOF) and the successful reset, with Wilmore’s manual skill and Mission Control’s quick decision-making bridging the gap. The crew’s decision to prioritize docking over an uncertain deorbit burn, combined with the partial thruster recovery, narrowly averted disaster.

IF the reboot was not done before the fifth thruster failed then Starliner could have started tumbling out of control.

Strangely enough,

The NASA and Boeing coverage did not talk about the failing thrusters.

This also explains why NASA did not want to bring the astronauts on the Starliner. If the thrusters had malfunctioned during reentry, the capsule could have easily burned up in the atmosphere.

* * * * *

Looks like the weather may hold tomorrow so I may be able to get back on my Jeep’s brakes.

We’ll see how it goes.

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Thought For The Day:

How soon after walking into someone’s house is it acceptable to ask for their WiFi password?

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

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April 3, 2009

Trivial Pursuit…

We ended up staying two nights here in Carrabelle, FL, riding out some bad weather that was passing through.

Thursday night, we went to a small local restaurant that was recommended to us called 2 Al’s, and it was really good. So good, in fact, that we went back this morning for breakfast.

But last night was interesting in that we ended up in the middle of 2 Al’s weekly Trivial Pursuit contest.

The 6 teams were divided up by tables and we were the only 2-person team. And we were in the lead too, until another couple and a lady joined our table. It was all downhill from there.

The guy part of the couple was three, maybe four, sheets to the wind, and kept yelling out wrong answers. His companion couldn’t make up her mind about anything, and the other lady kept getting upset that we weren’t asking for her input, but when we did, she never had any answers, right or otherwise.

We finally came in third. We’d have been much better off if we had sat at a table for two, instead of a table for six.

This morning, after breakfast at 2 Al’s, we headed out for Old Town, FL, about 140 miles away, getting in about 3pm. We’re staying at a Passport America park called Old Town Campground. It’s a small park, only about 100 sites, and really out in the woods.

As I mentioned, this is a Passport America park. We like these when we can find them, because as a Passport America club member, we can stay here for half price, in this case, $12.50 a day instead of $25.

Hey, it adds up!

We plan on being here for a few days seeing the sights in the area.

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April 3, 2010

“The light of a thousand suns”…

We got up at 6:30am this morning (man, that’s early!) and after grabbing breakfast at the hotel, we headed about 85 miles south of Albuquerque to the town of San Antonio, NM.  San Antonio is the jumping-off place to Stallion Gate, the northwest entrance to White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) and Trinity Site.  I used to enter WSMR through this gate back in the early 80’s when coming back from the White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) in Los Cruces.

But before we left San Antonio I stopped and filled up at the one and only gas station in town. We had read that they also have fantastic homemade fudge, and it looked great. So we decided to stop back by on our way out of town.

After making the 12-mile drive out to SR 525 we turned south and entered Stallion Gate about 3 miles later. They had people handing out directions and security guards checking I.D.

Then it was another 14 miles out to Trinity Site itself.

Along the way, we came across this sign several times.

If I hadn’t seen this sign in 2007 when we visited the WSMR Missile Museum I would have been very confused. That’s an Oryx. And Oryx are native to Africa, specifically the Kalahari desert area. So what the heck were they doing here?

It turns out that in late 70’s, 93 Oryx were brought over from Africa and their offspring were introduced into the White Sands Missile Range. They were expected to stay on the Range, but apparently, the Oryx didn’t read the signs and they began to wander far and wide as now animals have been spotted from 60 miles south of Albuquerque all the way down to West Texas.

And without any natural predators, their population exploded. The coyotes and mountain lions in the area were no match for the large antelope with their razor-sharp horns.

Someone then looked at importing the Oryx’s natural enemy. But this came to a screeching halt when it was discovered that the Oryx’s natural enemy was lions. And no one could get the lions to promise to stay on the Range either.

So now there are over 5000 Oryx in the White Sands area, more than there are in the Kalahari.

It’s not smart to mess with Mother Nature.

Arriving at the Trinity Site parking area about 10 am, we found a large number of visitors already there.

Making our way to the entrance, we encountered Jumbo.

Originally it was 25 feet long, 12 feet in diameter, and weighed 214 tons!

This is what it looked like in 1945.

Before testing the first A-bomb, called Fat Man, scientists were worried about whether the bomb would actually work the first time.

The bomb was to be triggered by a large conventional explosion which would then trigger the chain reaction. But, if the chain reaction didn’t occur, they didn’t want the precious plutonium scattered all over the area. But by the time of the first test, scientists were more confident of the bomb’s success, and Jumbo wasn’t used. Later the Air Force detonated 8 500-pound bombs in Jumbo, blowing out the ends as seen here.

Next, we made the 1/2 mile walk to the fenced-in area of Ground Zero itself. There in front of us was the marker commemorating the first A-bomb.

Nearby are the remains of the 100-foot tower that held the bomb before the test.

This shows what a 10-million-degree fireball will do to solid steel. And here’s what the tower looked like before.

Also inside the fenced area was a mockup of the Fat Man bomb itself.

There’s a joke here, but I won’t go there.

Ground Zero is littered with Trinitite, a green rock/glass, created by the searing heat as it fused the sand into glass. It is a Federal Offense to remove any of this from the area. And it’s also radioactive.

Trinity Site is an eerie place to visit. It’s hard to imagine the destructive forces unleashed here, even hotter than the surface of the sun. On the other hand, it’s hard to tell if anything ever happened here.

The scrub grass looks the same here as it does miles away. There is no crater remaining. In fact the original crater was only about 4 feet deep and 240 feet in diameter, more of a small depression, rather than a distinct crater.

The observers were in a bunker about two miles away when the bomb went off. Windows were blown out 120 miles away and the shockwave was felt 160 miles away. Other observers, 10 miles away, said they could feel the heat, like opening up an oven door.

To conceal the test, the Army said that a munitions storage area had accidentally exploded at the Alamogordo Bombing Range. The secret wasn’t revealed until the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6th.

Leaving the site about 11:30 am, we were glad we had come early. There was a solid line of cars, about a mile long, lined up at the gate waiting to get in.

Arriving back in San Antonio, we decided to eat lunch at the Owl Cafe and Bar, one of only two restaurants in town. I had read about their great green Chile cheeseburgers and we wanted to give them a try.

The place was already pretty busy and we waited about 10 minutes to put in our orders. A little later waiters were telling their tables that the food would be a “long” time, as a tour bus had come thru and they were being served first. Well, didn’t we feel special!

While waiting, I pulled out my Blackberry Storm 2 and started checking the Internet for recent reviews of this place. And they were uniformly bad. After talking it over, I left a $5 bill for my ice tea and we hit the road.

To the gas station right next door with the great fudge. And this time the reviews were right. The fudge is fantastic.

About 10 miles down the road we stopped at K-Bob’s Steakhouse, a western chain of restaurants. And I had a fantastic green Chile cheeseburger, so there!

After topping off the tank at the station next door, we headed for Gallup, NM where we are going to spend the night.

Tomorrow, on our way back to Las Vegas, we plan on stopping off at the Petrified Forest National Park about 65 miles west of Gallup. The Painted Desert is also part of this, so we have a lot to see.

And now I have some sad news to report.

Moose is gone. Or rather, Moose 2 is gone.

This is the 2nd Moose Antenna that has been stolen by nefarious moosenapping thieves, probably to be stripped for parts and sold on the black market.

He will be sorely missed, but quickly replaced by Moose 3. Or maybe Mickey Mouse, or an M&M.

Fame is fickle.

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April 3, 2011

Landon Skyping . . .

I went out early to Home Depot for some project parts, and before heading home, I ran next door to the Fry’s to pick some blueberry muffins for Jan, who had stayed back in the rig. I also grabbed a bouquet of fresh flowers for my sweetie. I consider them a kind of a ‘Get Out of Jail’ card, for when I screw up at a later date.

And you know I will.

Later I fixed coffee to have with our muffins, and we settled down to get ready for our scheduled video Skype session with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon.

Lowell skyped us about 10 am and we had a great time seeing and talking to Landon. It was obvious he could see and hear us, based on his looking at the screen and reacting to our voices.

Our call lasted about 15 minutes, and it was amazing to see how much Landon had grown and changed since our last Skype.

Our call ended much too soon, and then it was back to the RV life.

For lunch, we first decided to try Hog Wild BBQ again, hoping not to be blocked by another shooting. But as it turned out, it only needed to be Sunday to block us. Hog Wild is closed on Sunday.

So our next choice was to try the gas station-looking burger joint we’d seen earlier. It turned out to be Bing’s Burger Station, complete with a

shiny red 1950 Plymouth at the pumps. And inside it had the look of a 1950’s diner.

The staff was very friendly, and even better, the food was delicious! Jan had a burger and fries, and I had the Steak Sandwich, made with a REAL steak, a 7 oz. Sirloin Strip, on a hoagie roll, with all the trimmings.

Just the BEST steak sandwich, ever. We’ll definitely be back.

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April 3, 2012

Las Cruces in the Rear View Mirror . . .

Today was the day, we hope.

We left Coachlight RV Park about 10:30 to take our rig back over to Rush Truck Center to hopefully finish up our repairs and get us back on the road. But on the way we pulled into the nearby Pilot station for what turned out to be 118 gallons of diesel.

And just in time too. When we got diesel, it was $4.05 ($4.03 with our Pilot Loyalty Card). But later in the day, it had gone up to $4.09.

We pulled into Rush’s right at 11am, got parked, and our tech, David, got right to work. It turns out that our parts had come in early, and they were ready to go.

While they were working on our coach, Jan and I decided to have one last meal at Chachi’s. But we weren’t going for more Mexican this time. We were going for their hamburgers.

Every time we had gone there we noticed how many customers were ordering hamburgers, not Mexican dishes. We asked our waiter and he said they’re known for their burgers, and it’s one of their best-selling items. So we had to try them.

Jan had a Cheeseburger with Guacamole, and I had the Works Burger with Cheese, Hatch Green Chilies, and two pieces of thick-sliced bacon. And along with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onion, they were really, really good. It’s easy to see why they were so popular.

Getting back to Rush Truck Center about 12:30 we found David close to being done. At 12:45 we started the engine and let the air system come up to full pressure until the valve popped off, and David checked for any leaks.

I noticed the air pressure came up quicker now, and the coach came up on the airbags faster too.

After settling up the bill, we pulled the coach out of the bay and over to an area where we could hook up the toad. I also took a few minutes to add some hydraulic fluid to our PowerGear leveler reservoir. When we left the park, the levelers came all the way up, but I was still getting a “Jacks Down” alarm. This normally means the fluid level is low and some needs to be added. And so it was this time.

As far as improvements from the exhaust manifold replacement, it was certainly evident.

I now have much better low-end power and acceleration, especially from a standing start heading uphill.

But the big eye-opener was the increase in MPG. Even driving at 60 instead of my normal 55, I traveled 239.1 miles and used 24.2 gallons of diesel. That’s 9.88 miles per gallon. WOW!

That’s better than I usually get at 55. And I’m really looking forward to seeing what I get doing 55.

We got into the Saddleback RV Park at Balmorhea about 6:50pm (We lost an hour going from MDT to CDT) after a very smooth trip.

Jan fixed us a great supper of cheese and bacon quesadillas and warm cookies for dessert. Hmmm!

Sometime during the next few days, I will go over in more detail what I had done on the rig and why.

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April 3, 2013

I’ve been waiting 4 years for this . . .

or Snap, Crackle, Pop, Bzzzz !

This morning started out nice and easy, at least until about 11. That was when the front A/C came on for the first time today.

And that was when I heard the Snap, Crackle, Pop, Bzzzz from overhead. Oh, yeah, and the burning smell, too. Definitely a burning smell.

The first thing I did was to turn the front A/C off, and then the rear A/C on with the thermostat turned down so it would keep running. Since the front and rear A/C ducts are cross-connected, this puts some cold air up front too.

I was pretty sure I knew what the problem was, but since it was warming up quickly I decided to wait until this evening when it was cooler to go up on the roof and take a look.

My next task was to get on the phone with Direct TV to try and get them to send me a new DVR. Mine has started randomly rebooting three or four times a week. I had already talked to them last Friday and thought it was all set up. I was just waiting until we got to Apache Junction for two weeks since I didn’t know if they would ship it to me, or send a tech out.

But this time they started out telling me that it wasn’t rebooting often enough to be replaced. Basically, they said I had to wait until it started rebooting 3 or 4 times a DAY.

WTH?

As soon as I was told that, I asked to speak to a Level 2 supervisor. Any time you’re talking to tech support and aren’t satisfied, always ask for a Level 2 person. And if Level 2 can’t help, ask for Level 3.

Level 1 guys have no power. They are usually reading from scripts that cover standard problems and have no technical knowledge. Last week they were probably asking, “Do you want fries with that order?”

Anyway, within about 5 minutes with the Level 2 guy, he was taking my name and address and said my replacement DVR would be shipped out Overnight Express, and should be here tomorrow. We’ll see.

About 1:30pm Jan and I headed out for sightseeing and shopping. We drove over to the Gilbert area, just driving around, and finally ended up at SanTan Village.

SanTan Village is an inside-out shopping mall consisting of over 1,200,000 square feet of shops, stores and restaurants. Configured like a small town, it seems to be the new version of the old-style mall.

After driving up and down several streets, we were happy to see a couple of our favorite restaurants. You’ve got to like a place that has a Famous Dave’s BBQ and a Grimaldi’s Pizzeria on the same block.

We first made a stop at Barnes & Noble to pick up a couple of magazines, then headed across the street to the Wal-Mart for a few things before heading back to the rig for the night.

After a dinner of left-over Chinese from Tucson, it was time to tackle my A/C problem. My thought (and hope, because it would be easy and cheap to fix) was that it was the Start Capacitor on the A/C compressor.

Back in May 2009 when we were in Titusville FL, the Start Cap in the rear A/C went out. Finding a local RV parts store that had a replacement, I bought two, figuring that the front one would go soon.

And it only took 4 years.

I got my extension ladder out to get up on the roof because I really don’t trust the 14-year-old screws that hold the rig ladder on.

Nothing but RV’s and RV parks as far as the eye can see.

The first task was to get the four screws out and get the shroud off the AC,

so I could get to the AC chassis.

Getting the access door off, the first thing I noticed was a big mud dauber nest. But since it was only attached to one of the wires, it didn’t look like it had anything to do with my problem. Probably a remnant of our oil rig gate-guarding gig last year.

I loosened the wire strap holding the unit’s capacitors and pulled them all out. There are three caps in this unit: the start and run caps for the A/C compressor, and the run cap for the A/C fan.

This is the new one that I’ve been saving for four years, just for this moment.

There are only two wires so it was an easy replacement.

And here’s everything tucked back in and fastened down, ready to go.

Buttoning everything up and replacing the shroud, I got down and went inside, and crossing my fingers, turned the A/C on. And in just a couple of minutes, I had cold air.

Nice!

Then it was time to join Jan back outside and enjoy the beautiful sunset.

Life is good.

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April 3, 2014

All Things in Moderation, especially Moderation . . .

OOPS!

A terrorist in Dublin, Ireland was trying to set up a car bomb, and apparently blew himself up because he forgot to allow for the recent change to Daylight Light Savings Time.

Don’t you just hate it when that happens?

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I knew it!  I just knew it!

A recent scientific study now shows that high-mileage runners have shorter lifespans. In fact they have the same lifespans as people who get no exercise at all. Moderate exercisers live the longest.

Walking from the car to the restaurant and back, that’s ‘Moderate’, right?

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I was up about 9 this morning (early for me) because I wanted to equalize my 4 6V house batteries. These Interstate U2400’s are 6 years old and I’d like to nurse them along for one more year, if possible. They’re doing OK, but then we don’t really boondock or use the inverter very much.

One of the things I do is run an equalization cycle on them once or twice a year. My battery charger will do it, but the batteries need to be taken offline and separated into 4 individual batteries. The equalization cycle takes about 90 minutes so I start one up and then go off and work on other things.

While that was going on, I packed away the last of the winter stuff into Vacuum Space Bags, compressed them, and stored them under the bed.

Later in the afternoon I got to meet Tom Shaughnessy, our next-door neighbor, and talked about our travels for the year. Hopefully, we’ll meet up down the road.

For dinner, Jan and I fixed our version of Taco Salads, starting with lettuce, spinach, and spring mix (weeds). Then we mixed up a box of this Texas Chili Beef Chili,

a can of black beans, and a heaping amount of the really good homemade salsa that Gregg McHenry gave us recently. We also added the remainder of the hot salsa we got at Los Cabos Mexican Grill over in Columbus when we ate there last Sunday with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon.

Heat up the chili/bean/salsa mixture, layer it over the greens, and top with shredded cheese. A really great meal.

We try to keep boxes of this frozen chili beef on hand for quick meals. It’s really good and can be used in all sorts of meals.

Jan also made us a great dessert with starting with Rice Pudding with raisins, and then mixing in fresh sliced strawberries, sliced bananas, and peaches, and then chilling it. Quick, easy, and really, really good.

Tomorrow more chores, and then dinner tomorrow at Peters BBQ for their great Friday night buffet with Lynette and Gregg McHenry, and Jim and Peri Dean.

Really looking forward to it.

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April 3, 2015

It’s A Keeper . . .

Last night was our first night on our new Dream Serenity 2” Memory Foam Gel-Filled Mattress Topper that we got from Wal-Mart a couple of days ago. And it looks like it’s a keeper. At least I hope so, since we threw the old one away this afternoon.

Jan said the first thing she noticed was that when she slept on her side for a while last night, she didn’t wake up with hip pain like she did on the old one. So she’s happy.

And I noticed that, although I couldn’t say the new topper was any ‘cooler’, at least it didn’t get ‘sweaty’ like the old one. So I’m happy, too.

I spent the afternoon working on some client website issues, as well as working on a couple of other small problems. Then one of my clients called about some missing email addresses, but I finally squashed that bug too.

About 4:15 Jan and I headed over to Los Gringos Locos for a last dinner here since we’re leaving in a few days.

Tomorrow I’ll start putting away some stuff outside, check the tire pressures and fluids, and load some things in the truck to get ready to leave Sunday morning and make the 135-mile trip up to the Verde Valley Thousand Trails where we’ll stay for two weeks before moving on to Las Vegas.

Then later tomorrow afternoon Jan and I plan to have linner/lupper at the Famous Dave’s BBQ over in SanTan Village and then pick up a few things at the Wal-Mart there.

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April 3, 2016

WOW! XLTE . . .

Jan and I pretty much took the day off today, and did pretty much nothing. All in all, a very nice day. I didn’t even work on my A/C problem.

I did make a stop by Barbara’s, the park ranger who was looking for a new refrigerator. She found one at Lowe’s and it’s being delivered tomorrow. Unfortunately, Jan and I will be in Pasadena while I take care of a couple of computer clients so I won’t be able to help out, but I told her I’d check in with her on Tuesday. And I still want to take a look at a taillight problem she’s having.

For the last couple of days, I noticed that our usual 3 bars of Verizon 4G had been replaced by 2 bars of 3G. But then today it all changed.

Around noon I happened to look at the signal strength graphic on my Galaxy S5 and saw that I now had 5 bars of 4G. So to check out what I suspected, I ran the SpeedTest app on my phone and WOW!

XLTE has now come to Columbus, TX, and the Colorado River Thousand Trails. At 48.51 Mbps, that’s over 5X the speed here the last time I checked. And the upload speed is about 10X before. Very Nice!

Recently whenever I tried to update programs on my Galaxy Tab 4, I would get an “Insufficient Storage Space” notice. I would go through and delete some seldom-used programs, and then finally I could get my updates. But it kept getting worse.

This was especially galling since when I looked at my memory, it showed I still had almost 750 MB of storage space. But then it was Google to the rescue.

Apparently, the Android OS is a little weak on keeping a program’s cached data cleaned up. So the fix is to go through each program in the Application Manager and clear the cache.

Or, much easier, you can just download the App Cache Cleaner from the Play Store and let it take care of it for you. And even better, it’s free.

Check it out.

As we’ve traveled back and forth on I-10 just outside Katy for the last few years, we’ve always checked out the Hamilton Metals scrolling sign.

For the last several years the sign has displayed the latest price of a barrel of oil, the latest price of a mBtu of natural gas, and the weekly rig count. And they’ve all been falling off a cliff. Among other things, Hamilton supplies drill pipe and casing to the oil industry, so they also have stake in the prices.

I  remember a couple of years ago, the rig count was up over 2000, but the last time I saw the count it was 419.

How the mightily have fallen.

But somebody at Hamilton has a sense of humor. A sarcastic sense of humor, maybe. But a sense of humor, anyway.

When we were traveling here to Colorado River from Lake Conroe a week ago, the sign no longer listed any counts. It just said, “WE’LL START REPORTING AGAIN WHEN IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE!”

And yesterday, coming back from Brandi’s, it said, “WILL TRADE PIPE FOR FOOD!”

Like I said, a sarcastic sense of humor.

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April 3, 2017

Road Trip!

I spent the morning and early afternoon answering a bunch of questions and finishing up a website proposal for a new client so I could email it off.

Then about 2pm we headed out to take back my non-working Moen Cartridge Puller to Home Depot and get a new one at Lowe’s. But since it was in the area, we did another run at Woochi, nee #1 Eastern Buffet, over on Signal Butte. And it was just as good as last time. Which actually was just this past Saturday..

Although I had to backtrack, I first went to Lowe’s to pick up the new puller, the one that had worked last time.

Then it was on to Home Deport to take back the one that didn’t work.

I did it in this order so I could show Home Depot that I had really bought another one first so they wouldn’t just think that I had used it to pull the cartridge and then brought it back.

Getting home about 5pm, I decided it was kind of late to get back on the shower with the new puller, so I took a nap.

Funny how that worked out.

I don’t know where it came from, about 8:45 this evening the wind really picked up, enough to really rock the coach and flap the window awnings. Then right before the rain hit, the satellite went out. But not from the rain, but from the wind blowing over the satellite stand.

But it was raining so hard for a while I waited out the storm before I went outside to set it up again. I just left it on the ground for now, and in a bit, we had DirecTV again.

A little after 4pm I made a phone call that set up our road trip tomorrow. Jan had been craving a Shrimp Burrito from Sofia’s Mexican Restaurant down in Gila Bend, and I wanted to use the trip to renew my membership at the Gila Bend Elk’s Lodge.

But I wanted to be sure that someone would be there in the afternoon to renew me.

So we’re good to go.

Road Trip!

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April 3, 2018

Happy 96th Birthday, Aubrey!

After an easy-going day, Jan and I headed out about 5pm, first to drop off some prescriptions at the WalMart and Sam’s Club on I-45, and then over to Friendswood and Ellie’s Greek Kitchen for dinner.

But more importantly, we were there to celebrate the 96th birthday of our long-time friend Aubrey Weldon.

We’ve known Aubrey since the late 90’s when we first started going to the Alvin Opry and it’s always good to see him again.

We’re not really into Greek food, but we both found something good.

Jan had the Grilled Tilapia with Broccoli and Potatoes, along with a Greek Salad.

I went the Soup and Salad route with a Small Greek Salad and a bowl of really good Cabbage Soup. All of it good for both of us.

We had a great turnout with almost 20 people attending.

And then there was cake for dessert for the Birthday Boy.

Finally saying our goodbye’s and getting in a last few hugs, we headed out about 8:45. We made a stop at WalMart for a few things, but were too late to pick up our prescription. So it will have to wait until Thursday.

Tomorrow I’m back at work.

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April 3, 2019

The Sadness Will Last Forever . . .

Following up on yesterday’s blog, after our lunch at Katz’s Deli, and stocking up on hot stuff at iBurn, we got to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts about 1pm for our much-anticipated visit to their Van Gogh, His Life In Art exhibit.

We picked up our pre-paid tickets at the Will Call desk and joined the small crowd entering the hall. ‘Small’ is the reason we went on a Tuesday, and it worked.

First up was one of his most famous works, ‘Sunflowers’, though in this case, it was a reproduction.

This is probably the prime example of Van Gogh’s Yellow Period, painted when he was staying in the Yellow House in Arles, France, along with then-friend, Paul Gauguin.

Next up was another reproduction, ‘Undergrowth’.

‘Undergrowth’ is a prime example of Van Gogh’s ‘Pointillism’ phase. Pointillism is a method of painting using small dots (points) of paint, rather than stroked with a brush.

Van Gogh later incorporated this style as well as several others, combining them to come up with his own style.

Another famous work, and another reproduction, is his ‘Blossoming Almond Tree’.

Earlier Van Gogh had become fascinated with Japanese styles of painting with ‘Blossoming Almond Tree’ one of the results.

Next up, and the last reproduction in the exhibit is ‘The Potato Eaters’.

Considered his first true masterpiece, it was painted in his native Netherlands, before he moved to France. He was intrigued with the faces and figures of the farm families and workers in the Dutch countryside and painted many scenes of the area.

The dark lighting and gaunt faces held his interest through many paintings.

Van Gogh painted more than 30 self-portraits during his career and this is one of the most famous.

And also the real thing, on loan from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, a place we hope to visit next month.

One of my favorites, this next work, painted only about a month before his death in July 1890, shows off his combination of styles.

‘Portrait of A Girl In A Straw Hat’ with its bright colors and tight composition. His muted and almost impressionistic background makes the figure of the girl stand out from the canvas, almost in 3D.

‘Irises’, also painted only a couple of months before his death, combined several of his favorites, irises, Japanese style, and his favorite color, yellow.

Fittingly, the last ‘painting’ on the tour was actually his very last work. ‘Wheatfield with Crows’.

I said ‘painting’ because it was actually a photo-reproduction, blown up to about 10’ x 12’ and mounted on the wall as you leave the exhibit. The size allows you to see how he took Pointillism and then elongated the points, using slashes of paint that capture your eye, and at the same time, blend into a complete picture.

However the wall was not big enough to show the entire painting, so here it is below.

On July 27, 1890, at age 37, Van Gogh shot himself in the chest with a 7mm revolver, and died 2 days later, not from the actual gunshot, but from the infection that set in due to a surgeon not being available to remove the bullet and treat the wound.

In fact, if he had been treated he very possibly would have survived since there was no obvious internal organ damage and he was able to walk back to his room after he shot himself. He was sitting up, smoking his pipe, and in good spirits, when his brother Theo arrived the next day. But then quickly went downhill, dying on July 30th. According to his brother, Theo, his last words were, “The sadness will last forever.”

I’ve just given you the highlights here, but there were many more paintings in the exhibit, showing the evolution of his style.

One thing I didn’t know, or may have forgotten from my art classes, was that Van Gogh was not a ‘natural’ painter. It was not something ‘he always wanted to do.’

After failing at a number of other occupations, one day he just ‘decided’ he wanted to be a painter. So he started off copying drawings and paintings from books, and even took some lessons at an art school.

But I guess there had to be some real talent buried in there somewhere.

The Van Gogh exhibit is here in Houston until June 27th before it moves on around the country.

Well Recommended. See it if you can.

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April 3, 2020

Bad Combinations?

On the way home from work this afternoon, I stopped by WalMart and Sam’s Club to drop off some prescriptions and pick up a couple that Jan’s doctor had sent over directly.

Getting home about 4pm, Jan and I got right back on the storage shed, in case it did rain all weekend as forecast.

I got the roof rollers installed, and with a little adjustment, the roof moves back and forth very smoothly. After that, it was only a few minutes to get the doors installed and screwed down.

It’s really nice how the sliding roof lets you get to the rear of the shed without stooping over.

Now all we lack is to screw the walls down to the flooring and install some inside bracing and the door hardware. And then we’re done.

Once it’s done, Jan and I will slide it back onto the rocks behind the concrete patio. I’m looking at getting a 4’ x 8’ x 3/4” sheet of marine-grade ground-contact pressure-treated plywood as a base for that. That way I won’t need any pavers to to keep it off the rocks.

---

April 3, 2021

Letgo My Lego . . .

Following up from last night, we lost power here at the RV park for about 5 minutes around 7:30. So no problem. But then a little before 8pm it went off again and didn’t come back on until a little after 10.

And it wasn’t just us. Looking at CenterPoint’s Outage Map, it looked like it was most of the Santa Fe area.

At least it wasn’t off for 3 days like last time. And speaking of ‘time’.

It’s About Time.

As I’ve mentioned before, Jan and I are big Murdoch Mysteries fans. So we were really happy to hear back in January that Season 14 would be premiering on February 20th. But much less happy to hear that it would be premiering only on Ovation TV. Which only seemed to be available on Apple TV or cable systems. And not on YouTubeTV or any of the other streaming services we use.

But it was just announced today that Murdoch is finally being released into the wild, and is now streaming on Acorn TV, where we’ve been watching it in the past.

Apparently gangs of ‘International Lego Thieves”? are roaming the world stealing Legos.

Toy shops in France have been targeted by a gang of international Lego thieves who attempted to steal valuable collectible sets, police allege.

Officers took three people into custody — two men and a woman — who had traveled from Poland to Yvelines, a town outside Paris, where they were allegedly caught raiding a shop.

While millions of children have grown up playing with the plastic bricks that start selling for around $10, rare series such as “Lego Ultimate Collector’s Series Millennium Falcon” have reached $15,000, while a “Taj Mahal” first edition had a value of around $3,864.

An officer quoted in Le Parisien newspaper confirmed the arrests, saying: “They come to France, set up in a hotel in the Paris region, then set about raiding toy stores before returning to Poland to sell off their haul.

And it’s not just Europe. Lego robberies have happened in the United States as well. Last month, a man in Oregon was arrested after local police suspected he stole $7,500 worth of Lego toy sets.

There’s a lot of money in Legos. Lego sets come out in limited editions and they soon become collectors’ items.

Landon had better guard his collection, I guess.

Jan and I will be heading up to Brandi’s in Katy about noon tomorrow for a weekend

And finally, a funny Easter story about Mister Landon. Brandi asked him if he wanted an Easter basket this year, or would rather have some money put into his online gaming account.

He thought seriously about it for a moment, and then said,

“You know, I’m getting pretty old for Easter baskets, so this may be my last year for one. So I’ll take the basket.”

He’s 10 years old.

---

Now, catching up on today.

We got to Brandi’s about 1pm, and though it was only about 65° and overcast, we all headed for the heated pool. At least everyone but Jan did. She decided to sit this one out.

Lowell had it heated to 90° and it felt great.

At least Jan was available to take pictures.

While we were all out in the pool, Brandi had a Prime Rib sous-vide’ing in the house.

If you haven’t heard of sous-vide, it’s a method of cooking using precisely temperature-controlled warm water. In other words, if you want your steak Medium Rare, you set your Sous Vide cooker to 132° and the phone app determines the time needed..

Here’s what I said about Sous Vide cooking a couple of years ago.

---

Later on, Brandi went inside and put the steaks on. Well, she put them underwater, anyway.

The kitchen utensils are just being used to weigh the bags down and keep them under the water.

She has one of these Sous Vide Cookers from Amazon.

It’s controlled by the cell phone app and the app even notifies you when your food is done.

Sous Vide is a method of cooking by placing the food in plastic bags and immersing it in water heated to an exact temperature. In fact, if you got a steak at a restaurant recently, there’s a good chance it was cooked vis Sous Vide and then thrown on the grill for a last-minute sear.

You can learn more about Sous Vide here.

Everyone likes their steak at least Medium Rare, so this was perfect. Miss Jan, however, is more of a Medium person, so Brandi put hers under the broiler for a few minutes.

All delicious!

---

So after Brandi’s Prime Rib sat in the 132° water for about 3 hours, she popped it in the air fryer for a few minutes to brown it up, and it came out looking like this.

And then plated it looked like this. Just perfect.

And paired with Jan’s Broccoli-Cheese Casserole, Brandi’s Stacked Potato Slices, and homemade Honey Butter Yeast Rolls, it was a real Pre-Easter Feast.

And finally, another Mister Landon/Miss Piper story from Brandi.

Landon was working on a school science project and was adding some drawings to it, and I jokingly said he gets it all from me. Of course, the White sarcasm gene is strong and he looked at me dead serious and said ” My uncle (Chris) can draw anything and can build awesome chimes, and you draw stick figures, I think not”.

I just died. Someone can take this kid, and Jack the dog, please.

Then Miss Piper came back with this.

Hahahah! ugh no thank you!! This is why I can’t have kids. I can’t handle my own sarcasm.

More from Chis and Linda’s Utah trip tomorrow.

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April 3, 2023

The 3rd Time?

Today was another typical day at work at my IT consultant job, in that I spent most of it out in the parking lot trying to install a new seat trim/control panel on my client’s ‘95 Thunderbird.

Next up, a new left rearview mirror on his wife’s Nissan Altima. I’ll be replacing it for the 3rd time.

Don’t Ask.

With warmer, sunnier weather coming on, it’s time to put our solar screens once again. I put up the side ones yesterday, and I’ll do the windshield ones tomorrow. Always fun.

It’s always something.

Jan and I have started firming up our Alabama trip for the middle of next month. We plan on leaving here on the 13th of May, and after an overnight in Jackson, MS, spend the next two weeks working our way down the state, catching up with relatives and old friends. And then finally getting home on Saturday the 27th, leaving us Sunday to rest up.

Sometime in the next week or so, it will be the first launch of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Super Heavy Starship.

Hopefully.

When it goes up it will be the tallest, most powerful rocket ever launched, more than twice as powerful as the Saturn V.

Our son Chris send over this great video, an animation of the first flight.

Check it out.

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April 3, 2024

Good To Go . . .

Not much going on today, so not much in the way of a blog.

Looks like Rob’s new sites are ready to go, since this sign appeared on Monday.

But no takers yet, though someone left the old area this past Monday.

Our daughter-in-law Linda texted us this afternoon saying that RV boondockers are already showing up at the Wal-Mart parking lot in Marble Falls. However, it looks like the Eclipse viewing in Marble Falls isn’t predicted to be any better there than with us up in Killeen.

But here’s hoping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember, to access our blog links,
Right-Click on The Link and Select ‘Open in New Tab’

I finally gave up trying to get our Zebra 2844 Thermal Printer working on our new Win11 Pro Shipping Computer. We use this printer to print both UPS and USPS shipping labels, and also package labels like ‘Fragile’ and “Do Not Bend’.

The problem is that there are no Win11 drivers available. Ours is a 2008 model, and the printer hasn’t been made since 2012

I tried every trick in my book, and even made up some new ones, but no luck.

It would kind of work on some labels, but others wrapped around sideways.

I looked at buying another, newer printer, but then stumbled across the fact that we can actually ‘rent’ one from UPS.

For $2/month.

Let’s see. $2 per month vs $250 for a new one.

Easy choice.

It will be here Friday.

* * * * *

I blogged on Monday night about the SpaceX FRAM2 Crew Dragon launch taking 4 astronauts into a polar orbit for the first time in history. And the photos/videos coming back are really something.

And this Crew Dragon sports the largest window ever on any spacecraft. The glass dome is 2,000 square inches giving these great views.

And check out this great video.

This past Sunday, Isar Aerospace attempted the first launch of their ‘SpaceX Killer’ Spectrum rocket from their launch site in Norway.

It did not go well.

I’m sure SpaceX is now shivering in their boots.

NOT!

* * * * *

Tomorrow I’ve got my 6 month follow-up with my neurosurgeon, then a quick stop by the office to drop off some Amazon orders. Then after a Wal-Mart stop, it’s back over to Bacliff and Doggone Crazy for our hotdog fix.

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Thought For The Day:

Why Be Just Part Of The Problem When With A Little Extra Effort You Can Be The Entire Problem?

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

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April 2, 2010

Albuquerque…

We left Las Vegas about 7:45am heading for Albuquerque, NM, on our way to the Trinity A-Bomb Test Site on Saturday.

As I said yesterday, Trinity Site is opened to the public twice a year, on the first Saturdays in April and October. I had wanted to visit the site when I was working for NASA out at White Sands Missile Range in the early 80’s. But my schedule never matched up.l

Since we were leaving early, I decided to take the shorter route over Hoover Dam. Later in the day, the heavy traffic of the tourists visiting the dam would have meant a very slow trip.

This time we did have to pull over and get inspected before driving over the dam. They were curious about all the stuff in the back of our truck. But it only took about 5 minutes and we were on our way.

We found that in the last few weeks since we visited the dam, not much more had been done on the bridge.

I still don’t think they’re going to have this bridge finished by August as they promise.

About 5 miles past the dam, we did have a 10 minute delay due to the construction being done on the road approaches to the new bridge.

About 70 miles out of Las Vegas we passed the turn-off to the Grand Canyon Skywalk. The Grand Canyon Skywalk is the glass-bottom walkway built out over the Grand Canyon 4000 feet below.

This is something else that has been on my bucket list, and if we have time I want to visit it on the way back to Las Vegas. I’ll probably have to get Jan a little drunk to get her out on it. On second thought, maybe a LOT drunk.

We stopped off in Kingman AZ about 10 am for Starbucks Coffee and a bathroom break.

On our way toward Flagstaff, we encountered a lot of snow still on the ground along the roadway.

And even more still on the nearby mountains.

We got into Flagstaff about 12:30 and ate lunch at Coco’s. It was in the high 40’s there and large snow drifts were still piled up everywhere.

One of the reasons there’s still so much snow here is that the elevation is over 7000 feet. We had climbed almost a mile in altitude since we left Las Vegas this morning.

About 35 miles out of Flagstaff we passed the turn-off to Meteor Crater. We visited the crater when we were thru here two years ago. And it’s a really stunning site.

The crater was created about 40,000 years ago when a meteor, about 150 feet in diameter, and traveling at around 30,000 mph, stuck the Arizona desert. The meteor weighed over 300,000 tons and created a crater 4000 feet in diameter and almost 600 feet deep. The rim around the crater was pushed up almost 150 feet high.

A few miles further east we drove through Winslow AZ, as in “standing on the corner in Winslow Arizona” fame. This song, “Take it Easy” by the Eagles, is really Winslow’s only claim to fame. It’s actually a pretty run-down place since the Interstate bypassed the town. Previously, the town was a main stop on the old Route 66, but it had been all downhill since then.

Today a statue commemorates the spot and the song.

And it’s complete with a ‘flat-bed Ford”.

We tried to get up close to the spot but there is so much construction in the area that you can’t get anywhere close to it except by walking three or four blocks.

I had decided to get gas in the Winslow so I had been checking out prices. When we came off the Interstate there was a Shell station with unleaded at 3.099. Ouch.

I decided to wait a while. And I’m glad I did.

While we were at the Flying J we saw a really nice bus conversion, complete with dogs hanging out the window.

The nameplate says it’s called ‘OLROVER”

After stopping for a bathroom break at a Petro Truck Stop about 80 miles outside of Albuquerque, we arrived at our Holiday Inn about 7:30pm.

After having dinner at the hotel restaurant, we turned in for the night. We want to get an early start tomorrow.

More from Trinity Site tomorrow…

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April 2, 2011

Grey Valves and Faucet Woes . . .

I got up about 10 this morning to find Jan already up and feeling well. It’s good to have her back to normal.

So the first thing was to get the coffee started, check the email, and talk about the day’s plans.

As it turned out, we had none. Isn’t retirement grand!!

Around 11, Nancy Bertling, a former coworker of Jan’s called to say hi and ask for some suggestions for a laptop for her father. We’ve known Nancy for a long time and it was good to hear from her. Hopefully, she’ll keep in touch more often.

About 1 pm Jan fixed a lunch of cheese toast and chips, and of course, homemade bread made it perfect.

After lunch, I replaced the foam air filter in the rear A/C after cleaning the one in the front yesterday. But the rear one was starting to shred so I just replaced it instead of trying to clean it.

It’s amazing how much better the A/C’s work without all the Yuma and Tucson dust clogging them.

About 2 pm I decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and install the new grey tank valve that I got at Camping World before we left Tucson.

Unlike the black tank valve, I installed a week or so ago, the 4 bolts came off with no problems. This of course, warned me that I would have more trouble with something else later. And I was right.

Removing the old valve and seals was no problem, but one soon appeared. The instructions tell you to install the seals on the ends of the pipe and then slide the valve into place. And this worked fine on the larger, thicker black tank valve.

But the grey tank valve is thinner, and no matter how I tried I could not slide the valve body between the pipes without pushing the seals off.

So my next idea was to apply silicone grease to the valve seal area and to the seals, and then stick the seals to the valve and slide it in place. But the first time I did it with the valve open, and when I closed the valve to test it, I could tell a seal had come loose and was in the way.

So the second time I closed the valve first and tried it again. This was much better, but after tightening things down, I had a small leak around the valve handle. So back apart it came.

And the third time was the charm. One of the seals had shifted slightly and was pinched, so I slathered on more silicone grease to hold it in place better, and that worked great. No leaks.

Since it was almost 5 we decided to eat supper at Hog Wild BBQ. But alas, Hog Wild was not to be.

Our friends, Bob Parker and Donna Huffer, were already there and called to say there had been a shooting nearby and the police had the road passing by Hog Wild closed, but they thought we could come in from the other direction.

As it turned out, they had the road closed at both ends and we just couldn’t get there from here. They were letting people out of the area, but not in. So Jan called Bob and Donna and told them to meet us at the Sizzler steakhouse outside the cordoned-off area.

It’s been a long time since we’ve eaten at a Sizzler, but it turned out to be pretty good. I think everyone was happy with what they had. I know my 16 oz. Ribeye was very good, not quite Texas Roadhouse good, but good, nevertheless. And the salad bar, although extra, was excellent.

Oh, yeah, the shooting turned out to be a Suicide by Cop.

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April 2, 2012

Last Day in Las Cruces . . .

We hope!

I headed over to Rush Truck Center about 10 this morning to be sure that our air system rebuild kit had been ordered, and I was assured it was on its way. They want the rig there about 11am, but we plan on leaving the RV park about 10:30 to stop off on the way to take on some diesel.

Coming back to the rig, I picked up Jan and we drove up the road a couple of miles to El Comedor for breakfast. Jan had the Huevos Rancheros and I had the Huevos con Chorizo, both delicious

Coming back to the rig, we detoured by the Pilot//Flying J to check out the best way to get in and out without problems, and of course, we also got cappuccinos, since we didn’t have coffee at home this morning.

About noon, I called American Coach Parts to get a price on a new clear plastic grab bar to replace the broken one on the entry door of our rig. Ours still lights up, but the constant exposure to ultraviolet light over a long period of time causes them to become brittle and ours snapped the other day.

The price wasn’t too bad, about $42 plus shipping. I’ll order one when we’re parked long enough for it to arrive.

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing some cleaning around the rig, and finishing up some projects I’d been working on.

Our daughter Brandi called about 1:30 so she and Jan could rave about how smart and wonderful Landon is. And why wouldn’t they? He is smart and wonderful.

We pretty much goofed off the rest of the afternoon, before heading out about 5pm to have one last dinner at Chachi’s. We’ve had the same waiter every time, and he now remembers our drink order, and how Jan doesn’t want lettuce on her taco. Really on the ball, and he got a good tip.

Getting back to the rig, I spent some time getting things ready to travel tomorrow, hopefully all the way to Balmorhea, and not just across the road to the repair place.

We’ll see.

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April 2, 2013

Hippity Hop . . .

Today started out as a work/chores morning with me working on computer/website stuff, while Jan drove down to the park laundry to do some rugs and a quilt that are a little too big for our rig washer.

Lowell sent over some Landon Easter pics. It’s amazing how much he seems to have grown in just the couple of months since we last saw him. That’s Brandi’s BFF, Shawna with him.

Later in the afternoon, I worked on repairing a couple of cables, one was the power cord to my Winegard Carryout Satellite Dish,

There was a locking pin on the 12v power connector where it plugs into the dish that is supposed to keep it from accidentally coming loose. But instead, it makes it very difficult to get it loose when we stow it away for travel. So a little quick work with a pair of needle-nose pliers took care of the pin.

Next up, I resoldered a loose wire on the cable for the Remote Alert System for my BrakeBuddy Braking System.

This is what provides the auxiliary braking for our pickup when it’s being towed behind the RV. The Remote Alert lets me know that the BrakeBuddy is activating properly when we’re on the road.

The rest of the afternoon I mostly puttered without really accomplishing a lot, but it was fun.

A little after 5pm we headed out for supper at a local Mexican place called Los Gringos Locos (Crazy White People?). Although our waitress was a little hit or miss, the place was busy, the food was good and, as usual, the conversation was a big part of the evening.

Leaving the restaurant, we drove out of town toward Tortilla Flats for a little ways to check out the RV parking at the local Elks Lodge, and get a good view of Superstition Mountain, the fabled home of the Lost Dutchman Mine.

Tomorrow, probably more of the same.

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April 2, 2014

And they don’t ship fast anymore, either . . .

Remember the good old days when your Fantastic Vent fan pretty much had a ‘forever’ warranty? Then a few years ago they were bought out by Attwood, and that great customer service went away.

A few years ago, Pre-Attwood, I needed a lift motor for our bathroom fan and they sent me a new one completely free. Then last year I needed to replace the same motor again. Now Post-Attwood, it was $37 plus shipping.

Then last month I needed a new fan motor for the kitchen fan. And it was $69 including shipping. But it did ship out the next day.

Then last Thursday, I ordered a fan for the bathroom unit, because I like the power of the new one in the kitchen. When I called Monday to get a UPS tracking number, they didn’t have one yet. Said it would probably ship out that day, and to call back Wednesday, i.e. today.

So when I called today I was told that there was still no tracking number because . . . wait for it . . . it hadn’t even shipped yet. When I questioned why, I was told that they had changed procedures in the warehouse. When I asked, “To make things slower?”, I got a “Well, ah . . . “ answer.

This means it almost certainly won’t be here by Friday and we leave here to go back to Conroe on Monday. At least I had it sent to our daughter Brandi’s, so I won’t have to track it down back here at Colorado River.

On the upside, Brandi called this afternoon and said my slideout shear pin had come in. Jan and I will go over there Saturday afternoon and pick it up. And of course, we’ll use it as an excuse to eat at Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro once again.

* * * * *

Today’s project was to pull out our Splendide washer/dryer and reattach the dryer vent hose. It had come loose at the dryer end since I last worked on it in January 2013, and the only way to fix it is to pull the unit out.

First up, both doors have to come off, as well as the top latch hardware.

Next, the bottom retaining strip comes off.

Then I pulled the straps from underneath the unit. The last time I worked on it I installed these to make it easier to pull the washer out of the cabinet.

As you can see there’s really no room to get a grip to pull it out.

And after a lot of tugging, it starts to move.

The floor dolly makes it much easier to handle. The dolly also makes it easier to move the unit out into the kitchen when I actually need to work on it.

Almost out.

The string is used to pull the drain hose out of the way as the unit is pushed back in so it doesn’t get crimped.

Here I’ve re-installed the vent hose on the washer and am using the stick to guide it to the outside vent hole.

And here it is all fixed in place.

And all buttoned up. Then to double-check, I started the dryer and checked to be sure I had airflow from the vent.

Another repair checked off the list.

* * * * *

While I was outside working on the dryer vent, blog reader’s Jim and Perri Dean came by to say ‘Hi’, when they were cruising the park to pick out a space to park their 5’er. We last saw them in Las Vegas in May 2013, and it’s good to get back together again

* * * * *

For dinner, Jan headed up the leftover fish and shrimp from last night’s seafood meal. She also did up a can of the Bush’s Grillin’ Steakhouse recipe beans. And along with a salad, it was a really good meal.

Tomorrow, who knows?

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April 2, 2015

A Successful Test Nap . . .

Well, after last week’s +1 rig count, it just goes to show that one good week does not an increasing trend make. This week’s count dropped by 48 rigs.

* * * * *

When I got up this morning I opened our new Dream Serenity 2” Memory Foam Gel Filled Mattress Topper and unrolled it on our bed. Out of the box it was about 3/4” thick, but within a couple of hours, it had expanded to its 2” height and was ready to install.

It took us about 45 minutes to get the bed stripped down and the old mattress topper removed and dragged out to the living room.

Around 2 I decided to make the sacrifice and protect Jan from a rogue topper, so I took a nap on our newly topped bed. Turned out to have a different feel, but was very comfortable. You can definitely feel the Memory Foam, but if it’s going to be any cooler in hot weather, I don’t know. We’ll see tonight, I guess.

* * * * *

About 3:45pm we drove over for our antepenultimate meal here and we’d decided we wanted to go back to Joe’s Farm Grill over in Gilbert.

Jan had the Pesto Grilled Chicken Sandwich with the Asian Slaw, while I again did the Mix N Match with a Carolina Hot Dog topped with BBQ Pulled Pork and Coleslaw, and a Sonoran Hot Dog wrapped in Bacon and topped with Beans, Sour Cream, Cheese, and Jalapenos. Both delicious and sating my hot dog craving for a while.

Jan and I also shared a Grilled Wedge Salad and another order of their Fried Green Beans. The Grilled Wedge Salad was another of Joe’s dishes that was featured on Diner’s, Drive-ins, and Dives, and was really good.

After dinner, we walked next door to check out their produce stand and coffee shop, before heading home for the night

Tomorrow will be our last time here, since we’re leaving for Verde Valley on Sunday morning.

Fun.

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April 2, 2016

It’s A Small World After All !

Now try getting that tune out of your head.

Jan and I  were up a little after 6 this morning, so we could be on our way by 7. We were meeting up at Brandi’s about 8:15 to head down to Galveston to meet up with Chris and Piper.

After a pitstop at the La Marque Buc-ee’s, we met up with Chris and Piper about 11am at the Sunflower Café on 14st in Galveston. We have eaten here for breakfast a number of times and it’s always delicious. And lucky for us, this morning was no exception.

Pretty much everyone went with their favorites, with mine being their Migas, with Fried Potatoes and Refried Beans.

Jan had her usual “Small’ Breakfast

though I’m not exactly sure why they call it “Small”.

Lowell and Miss Piper had the Belgian Waffle with Fruit.

Now that looks delicious.

Brandi had a big bowl of their Sweet Tomato Basil Soup with Rye Bread, while Landon had his Kid’s Pancakes.

Is this a handsome group, or what? Probably because I’m not in it.

Leaving Sunflower Café around 1pm, we all drove over to check out Miss Piper’s new apartment. She’s on the 3rd floor here,  in an attic efficiency. The skylight on the roof opens to her living room/bedroom.

And she’s got a great view of the city.

And a nice balcony to enjoy it on.

This is her living room/bedroom. We love the way she’s decorated it.

The apartment comes with all appliances, including this full-size washer and dryer. The refrigerator is behind me to my left.

And it has a beautiful all-tile shower, really, really nice.

Piper’s place is only a few blocks away from the Seawall, and only five blocks from UTMB Hospital where she works. So she’ll be able to ride her bike to work when the weather is nice.

And her father Chris is very happy her apartment is in a really good neighborhood.

After getting our good-bye hugs, Brandi, Lowell, Landon, Jan, and I headed back to Katy, and then we left for Columbus, getting home about 5

After we’d been back for a while, I went out to the truck to get something, and a gentleman walked over,  introducing himself as Jim. He said he owned the 2005 American Eagle that is parked behind the American Dream that’s right across from us. And since there’s also another Eagle up front, we’ve got a mini-American Coach rally going on.

I think it’s the first time I’ve seen this many American Coaches in one spot since the American Coach Rally we attended in Gillette, WY in 2010, when there were over 120 American Coaches clustered in one place.

We talked for a good while about our travels, and repairs and problems on the road. And then one of those “It’s A Small World After All/ Cue the Twilight Zone Theme” moments occurred.

Yesterday, I posted this on the blog concerning getting help online about my recent AC problem.

I did get some help from my posts on RV.net and the Yahoo American Coach group. One guy said that on his friend’s 1995 Dream they found the front junction box in the same overhead cabinet as the Slide Control Panel, Tank Level Display, and Inverter Panel. He said they found a removable panel there. The problem is I don’t have a removable panel there. I may try removing a couple of the control panels to see if there’s anything behind them.

The guy also said that the one for the rear A/C was located in the back of the TV alcove in the bedroom, but I’ll wait till I need that one before I look for it.

And today, as I started relating this story, Jim started chuckling. And then he said that he was the Jim S, that had posted about his friend’s 1995 Dream, and that was the Dream in question parked right across from us.

Now that’s just spooky!

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April 2, 2017

Mmmmm . . . Bacon!

For some reason, I tossed and turned a lot last night, so I didn’t get up until about 11:30, and then got coffee started.

Jan was watching an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives about a place that does specialty waffles. Jan looked over at me and said, “Waffles really sound good.”

And my answer to this was, “Oink, Oink!” So 15 minutes later we were on our way to the Oink Café over in Tempe.

We had eaten at the Oink Café in Tucson a little over a week ago, and really enjoyed it. How can you not like a place whose slogan is “Breakfast, Lunch, Bacon!”

And a spur-of-the-moment trip is not unusual for us either. Years ago, early one Saturday , we were jonsin’ for a good bowl of gumbo. And this was before there were any good gumbo places in the Clear Lake area. So with 15 minutes notice, we were on our way to Mulate’s in Breaux Bridge, LA, 225 miles away. And you haven’t lived until you’ve spent a Saturday night listening to Zydeco music and watching Cajun dancing.

And this runs in my family too. Back in the summer of 1964 after a late lunch, my parents started talking about doing a trip out west, and an hour later, we were on our way for a three-week trip, doing Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and even Disneyland.

Getting to Oink, we had about a 15-minute wait before we got seated, but as before, worth the wait. And of course, we both went with waffles. Jan’s with Strawberries and Whipped Cream, while I went with a Waffle Combo, with an egg.

and Jalapeno bacon.

In addition, following up on my Half Flight of Bacon last time, I got another one this time, trying out the other 4 bacon flavors.

Last time I got Applewood Smoked, Honey, Jalapeno, and Pepper,

while this time I got the Hickory, Sugar Cured, Pecan, and Apple Cider.

All were delicious, but I will say that the flavors that stood out the most, that I could identify by taste alone, were Jalapeno, Pepper, Hickory, Pecan, and the Apple Cider.

Getting home, I finally started working on changing out the cartridge in our Moen shower faucet. After removing the coverings, I used a pair of slip-joint pliers to try and pull the cartridge out of the housing. But it wouldn’t budge, no matter how hard I pulled.

But I was prepared for this, having a specialized cartridge puller from my last time doing this.

But I quickly discovered that sometime since then, the screw tip had broken off, leaving it too short to screw into the cartridge handle. So it was off to the nearby Home Depot to get a new one.

The one they had was completely different, and was a Danco product,

a company I’ve not been too happy with in the past.

And getting it home and trying it out, I still don’t like Danco. Despite fooling with it for over an hour, I still wasn’t able to get the old cartridge out.

And in fact, I didn’t expect to have a problem getting the old one out this time since I had thoroughly coated it with Plumber’s Silicone Grease the last time.

So checking the Internet, I found that Lowe’s sells the old one, the one that worked last time, so I’ll pick one up tomorrow and take the Home Depot one back.

Hopefully, it’ll work this time.

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April 2, 2018

Doctor Says I’m Normal . . .

Jan says it’s more like Abby Normal.

When the labs came back from my recent doctor’s visit on the 19th of March, I was told that a number of my values were out of whack, I.e. calcium, kidney function, liver, electrolytes, etc., and they wanted me to come back in last week and do a retest. So today I was surprised when the doctor’s office called to tell me everything was fine, i.e., normal.

So now I’m confused. Why were a bunch of my levels way out of bounds last week, but perfectly normal this week? Did they really need my additional $80 that badly?

I’ve had a couple of requests from blog readers wanting further explanation on things I mentioned in the blog.

When I reposted the blog about our visit to the Cat Tails Zoological Park outside Spokane, WA in 2011, I mentioned wiring up a transfer switch bypass, and a reader wanted to know more about that.

And when I posted my list of cars I’ve owned in yesterday’s blog, I mentioned a 1992 Ford Ranger that I broke in half on the Atchafalaya River Bridge in Louisiana in 1994. So another reader just had to know the story behind that.

I’ll post more info on both these in the next couple of days.

BTW I’ve already received car lists from several of you, so get yours in ASAP so I can post them here.

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April 2, 2019

Who’s In Charge Of This?

We were out the rig door and on our trip about 9:45 this morning, heading into Houston for the day.

But our first stop was at my client’s to pick up some things and drop off some things. Actually the dropping off was the initial reason, but then the UPS truck pulled up with some things that I had ordered, so it was just serendipity, I guess.

Then it was on up to the Montrose-Westheimer area to have lunch at Katz’s Deli once again. And this visit was much better than the last one, with the waiter that we had just abandoned us. Jaygi, our waitress this time, took great care of us.

We had planned to once again have their great Broccoli-Cheese Soup, but they were out because a delivery didn’t show up. Bummer!

But when I found out that Jan had never had Bagels with Lox and Cream Cheese, I ordered us some of that.

I first had it in the early 60’s when we were flying back and forth to Colombia, SA where we were living at the time. We (me, my mother, and my little sister) would always stay at a hotel in Miami Beach while waiting for my father to catch up with us. And there were small Jewish deli’s everywhere.

So I learned to love Bagels, Lox, and Cream Cheese, Matzo Ball Soup, Potato Latkes, Chocolate Rugelach, and of course, a big bowl of Chicken Soup.

Howard’s mother would be so proud.

Jan got her usual Open Face Tuna Melt and Steamed Veggies,

while I had the Reuben Dog with their made-to-order potato chips.

Both really good, especially the pickles. Jan always used to give me hers, until I insisted she try one. Now I only get mine.

Next, it was on around the loop to the IBurn store on Bellaire,  a place we don’t visit enough, because they’ve always got new stuff. Hot stuff.

Jan got some Habanero Salsa and a new bottle (a big bottle this time) of her favorite Marie Sharp’s Belizean Heat, her go-to hot stuff.

I got a new bottle of my fav, Volcanic Pepper Dust, that’s now been upgraded with Carolina Reaper peppers, and a jar of their Scary Cherries, with the cherries soaked in Carolina Reaper-infused syrup. My son-in-law Lowell turned me on to these, so it’s time for a new jar.

Jan and I had a nice talk with the young lady owner, especially about the ‘fabled’ Pepper X, which is supposedly more than twice as the Carolina Reaper. I had hoped to buy some, but they didn’t carry it. She said that they think it’s all hype.

It has not been officially tested and rated yet, it’s just all hearsay. And the company wants a VERY large order guarantee. So they’ve passed for now.

And of course, as I mentioned before, it’s not being sold on Amazon.

Hell, everything’s sold on Amazon, so I guess I’ll wait and see what happens.

Next, we headed over to the Museum District and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts to see the Vincent Van Gogh exhibit. But this blog’s running long and I have a lot of photos for you, so I’ll save our visit for tomorrow’s blog.

Finishing up for today, I wish that whoever is in charge of these things would come up with a pronunciation and stick with it.

Back in college, I took several Art Appreciation classes for electives, and it was always Vincent Van ‘Go’. And this was from French guys with doctorates in Art History. And yeah, I know Van Gogh was Dutch, but it’s just the next country over, and he did most of his painting in France anyway, and died there too, so don’t confuse things.

But now it seems like it’s Van ‘Goff’ or even Van ‘Goth’. And this is not the first time they’ve pulled this stunt.

Leading up to 1986, everyone was talking about how Halley’s comet was coming. And it was always pronounced ‘Hey-lee’s’ Comet. Then suddenly one day it was ‘Hal-ee’s’ Comet.

Who decided?

And there was when Your-Anus (Uranus) suddenly became Urine-Us

Like that’s a real improvement?

And don’t get me started on why for 76 years Pluto was a planet, and suddenly it’s not.

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April 2, 2020

Almost Done . . .

Jan and I went out about 11:30 to get in some work on the shed.

The first step was easy. Just screw the two pieces of the gable together and then fasten it to the rear wall.

Off to the left, you can see the on-the-site supervisor keeping a close eye on things.

But after the gable, everything slowed down, a lot. After fastening the two black roof sections together along the ridge, I then started to assemble the metal frame that strengthens the roof. But no matter how I tried to fit it together, it just wouldn’t line up.

I twisted and turned the pieces trying to make it match the manual without a lot of success. Until I finally figured out that the diagram in the manual was printed as a mirror image, instead of the way it actually should be. Once I figured that out it went pretty smoothly and we ended up with this.

We went in for a while when the sun came out, but then later in the afternoon, the clouds rolled back in so we headed back out to work on the front part of the roof, the part that will slide back and forth on a track. And we ended up with this.

Next up, for this weekend if it doesn’t rain, is to install those tracks and get the roof working. Then all we’ll lack is putting the doors and latches on.

So hopefully the weather will hold.

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April 2, 2022

It Turned Out To Be ‘The Other’ . . .

First off, I mentioned a while back that we were planning a trip up to Alaska later this year. In most cases, we’re going to be revisiting old haunts from our cruise in 1998 and our workcamping there for 5 months in 2008, but we also want to visit Soldotna and Homer, where we’ve never been.

So I thought I’d throw this out to our many readers.

What things do you recommend that we see/do in that area?

And nothing to do with fishing, please.

I said in yesterday’s blog that we were going to eat at Pho Barr today, one way or the other. In other words, we were going to eat at the new one if it was open, or go on up to Webster to eat at the old one.

And the ‘old one’ it was.

When we got to the new one, we found this notice on the door.

And according to Theresa, the owner of Cowboy Coffee, that’s a regular problem in this area. She spent weeks waiting for the inspectors to come by after she called them. Then they would finally show up, look at something for a minute or so, scribble their name,  and then leave.

Then it was on to wait on the next guy.

So now we’ll be checking every day next week.

When we got to the Webster location,  Daniel, our usual waiter, said he was worried that we might be upset that he had ‘misled’ us. We laughed and reassured him that we weren’t mad.

And of course, the food was just as delicious as always. Just hope it’s closer to home soon.

Finishing up for the day, it was on to our local WalMart for our weekly stuff and then home.

This is Pink Floyd, the African flamingo.

Also known as No. 492 due to the number on the leg band, the flamingo, and another one, No. 347, escaped from a Kansas zoo in 2005 after the zoo forgot to clip their wings that year. And though No. 347 disappeared soon after, No. 492 has been on the lam ever since.

And, identified by the leg band, the flamingo has been seen as far north as Wisconsin, but has apparently wintered over in south Texas for the last few years.

A really beautiful bird.

I spent some time this evening upgrading one of the hard drives in my Dell computer here at home. The C drive is a 500GB SSD (Solid State Drive) with contains the Windows operating system, and my D drive, or Data drive was a 1TB regular hard drive, that contains all my other libraries and files, like the Documents, Pictures, and other standard folders. But it was starting to get full.

So I got a new 4TB HDD, hooked it up externally, copied the entire old drive over to it, and then swapped them out. Only took about 30 minutes.

So now I have plenty of space.

Until I fill this one up, I guess.

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April 2, 2023

A Lazy Day Home . . .

So lazy in fact that we didn’t even go out to eat. And we really enjoyed it.

And I did use the time to take care of a couple of chores.

One of my first jobs was to replace the bedroom A/C’s thermostat. Don’t know what happened to it, but since we came back from our Hill Country weekend, it won’t stay set. Over a period of a couple of days, the set temp will gradually increase up to the maximum of 85°.

Now in the past when it went ‘wonky’ (a technical term) replacing the two AA batteries fixed it up. But not this time.

So it was time to just replace it with one I found at WalMart. Another Honeywell model, in fact.

And this is 3rd Honeywell thermostat we’ve had in the rig.

When we bought the rig at the end of 2007, it had those round Honeywell models for both A/C’s.

So while we were up in Alaska in 2008 I replaced both with these Honeywell digital models.

And they’ve both worked fine until now, 15 years later.

So now I’m replacing it with another Honeywell model.

And it only took a few minutes, since the mounting holes from the old Honeywell lined up exactly with the new one.

And in just a few minutes I had this.

And then this.

Finishing up our Hill Country trip, as I mentioned yesterday we made a Pottery Ranch stop

And the first thing she saw as we got parked was this guy.

I told her that if it would fit in the Corolla, she could have it. Well, at least until I saw this.

Yikes!

Well, maybe not.

But she did find some other (smaller, cheaper) things she wanted.

Including this Roadrunner for Brandi.

They had a little bit of everything.

Including this flock of flamingos.

And Jan almost brought home this hippo, but couldn’t figure out where she’d put it.

Finally, on our way home, we did stop for some photos of a nearby abandoned stone farmhouse in the middle of a field of Bluebonnets.

Just beautiful.

As is this Bluebonnet close-up.

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April 2, 2024

It’s Not Looking Good . . .

I finally had a chance today to look over the old PowerMax Power Converter that I had replaced on Sunday. And what I discovered is that the cooling fan was completely clogged by dust, dirt, cat hair, etc., so I spent some time cleaning it up and cleaning it out.

And it seems to be working fine, and running a lot cooler. So now I guess I’ve got a spare one, or maybe a light-power tack welder, if I get some cables for it.

* * * * *

This is a 5 Megabyte IBM Hard Drive being delivered in 1956. It cost $50,000 ($575,000 in 2024 $) and weighed over 600 pounds.

This is a Seagate SCSI 10 Megabyte HDD that I paid about $1000 for in 1990. With its enclosure, it was about the size of a shoebox.

And this is a 1 Terabyte Micro SD Memory Card, that costs $120 and is about the size of a fingernail.

So we’ve increased memory size by 200,000 times, decreased the price by almost 5000 times, and the size more than you can track.

Modern Technology at its best.

* * * * *

It’s not looking good for our eclipse viewing up in Killeen this coming Monday. Right now The Weather Channel is showing cloudy with a 48% chance of rain. Not that this will keep us from making the trip. After all, a few weeks back when we made our trip up to Fredericksburg/Kingsland, the weather wasn’t forecast to be very nice, but it turned out to be really good.

Either way, we’ll have a nice drive through the Texas countryside, and almost certainly some good food.

But the city of Killeen is not taking any chances and has made a Disaster Declaration for the time period, so who knows?