Our RV Adventures

About 1:15 Jan and I drove over to the Victory Lakes area to have breakfast at a new place that we just noticed called First Watch. They’re one of those Breakfast / Brunch / Lunch places that closes at 2:30pm.

Jan got the Tri-Athlete with an egg white omelet with house-roasted Crimini mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and green chilies, along with house-made pico de gallo, whole grain artisan toast, all-natural house preserves and fresh fruit.

I got the Traditional Breakfast with two fresh cage-free eggs over easy, smoked ham, whole grain artisan toast, all-natural house preserves and fresh, and fresh fruit.

So why would you keep your eggs in a cage, anyway?

In addition, we had to split an order of their Million Dollar Bacon, It’s baked with brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne and a maple syrup drizzle.

Really good. The right-hand strip is for Jan who likes her bacon burnt.

But as good as it was, we probably won’t go back. It was just a little too ‘fru-fru’ for us. A lot of quinoa and kale, and the like. For a good old American breakfast, it’s IHOP or Cracker Barrel. And if we want to upscale a bit, it’s The Egg and I.

After breakfast we drove next door to the Home Depot to look for something I couldn’t find at the Lowe’s across the street. And while I was there I thought I’d go ahead and pick up the duplex box and wall plate that I’m going to use for my Remote Dump Valve project figuring they would have the same one that I got from Lowe’s for my 50 amp tester.

But they didn’t. The only one they had didn’t come with any of  the blank plugs that are used to cover up the unused holes. So it was on over to the Lowe’s anyway.

And there I found an even better box with only one hole that I’ll use to bring in the 12VDC power to the remote control modules. Perfect.

Then it was on to the WalMart next door for a few things. And as we were checking out we ran into some old friends, Sharon and Richard Arnhart. ;We’ve known them since our early days going to the Alvin Opry, probably the late 90’s.

Of course we just saw them this past Friday night at the Alvin Opry Reunion show at Billy’s Event Hall up in Pearland. But it was nice to catch up without trying to talk over the music.

Richard and Sharon spent most of the their time traveling the country performing their Gospel-Country Music Ministry at churches in a number of states. You can check out their schedule here at the TheArnharts.com.

And as it turns out we know another family with a traveling ministry.

Back in 2014, when we were staying at the Wilmington OH Thousand Trails with Nick and Terry Russell, we met up with the Boggs Family, Davy, Kelly, and their daughter, Odie, of the Boggs Family Ministries. We got together at a good Mexican restaurant in Lebanon, OH and had a really fun time getting to know one another.

https://ourrvadventures.com/2014/07/two-sets-of-new-friends/

The Boggs travel around the country in their beautiful Prevost Bus holding revivals at local churches. They even have their own tent if need be.

And this is Davy, Kelly, and Odie.

Davy                                           Kelly                                             Odie

Then in January 2016, we met up again when they were in Livingston, TX, and had a great time catching up on the last couple of years, but finally we had to part company a little after 5pm so they could get ready for tonight’s service. Then on Sunday they’re heading down to Sweeney, TX for another revival there.

Really nice people doing great things. Hopefully our paths will cross again soon

After WalMart we got gas and then headed home for the night. Another nice day.

Finishing up for today, RV Mobile Lube called me late this afternoon to ask if they could push my appointment back from 3pm to 5:30, so I told them no problem. They’re really booked up this time of year. In fact they’ve brought over their two techs from Austin and San Antonio to help catch up.

Thought for the Day: 

Today In History

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Amazon really came through on my missing Azio Lighted Keyboard. As a reminder, last Monday I got a text message saying my new keyboard had been delivered to the office.

I had ordered it the previous Friday to replace our 3 year old one that had gone wonky on us. But , although the tracking info said it had been delivered and “handed to a residentâ€, it wasn’t one of the three ‘residents’ who ‘reside’ at our office.

And in fact, after that initial disappearing act, it never reappeared. So, on Thursday, after our mailman told us it was lost and they had no idea where it was, I emailed Amazon, explaining the situation and 15 minutes later, they had credited my account the $29.99. Nice.

And this morning the replacement one that I ordered Thursday afternoon, showed up right on time.

Way to go, Amazon!

My phone’s ‘OK Google’ voice input works again. A couple of weeks ago I noticed saying ‘OK Google’ and then asking a question no longer worked. It worked if I typed something in the Google box, and it worked if I pressed the little mic button and ask my question.manually. So I knew it wasn’t a mic problem.

I had checked it on line a couple of times, and tried a couple of recommendations, all with no luck. But today it fixed itself.

While we were at lunch, I got a notice that there was a Security Update available for my Galaxy S8+. So I clicked OK, and a few minutes later my phone rebooted and it was done.

The RV Mobile Lube people called today and we’re now scheduled for this coming Friday afternoon around 3pm or so. Just one more thing out of the way before our trip.

I’m in the planning/ordering stages for my remote dump system. I think I’ll use the same box to hold the components that I used in my 50amp tester project, along with a blank wall plate. Then I’ll drill holes in the plate to install the two 1/4†phone jacks where I’ll plug in the two actuators. Since they both come with 1/4†phone plugs, it makes more sense to use that and not cut them off.

Inside the box I’ll mount these two remote controller units that I ordered today.

Then it should be just a matter of mounting the actuators  and connecting them to the dump valve handles. Easy Peezy, right?  Well, that’s the fun of a project like this. You never know what problems will pop up.

Not wanting to take any chances with our newly-arrived keyboard at my client’s office, Jan and I headed into the Clear Lake area to pick it up, and while there, eat lunch. And for the fourth time since Sunday, we ate again at the East Star Chinese Buffet. So that’s Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and today, Saturday.

The place is ready good, with everything fresh and hot, and done in small batches. Even  the pizza must be really good, since they seem to have trouble keeping it supplied. I think it really says something about a Chinese buffet when people like their pizza too.

Of course, eating at the same restaurant 4 days in one week is not a record for us. That honor belongs to the late-lamented Burrito King back in the early 80’s. In that case we ate there every night for a week.

Yes, seven days in a row. Because that’s where everyone wanted to go for dinner. Over the years we became friends with the owner’s, the Montoya family, who owned other BK’s out in California. At one time there were two her in Houston, and over 20 total in the chain.

But out Webster location sadly closed when the family members moved on to other careers. According to this article, Burrito King, over the years the chain has faded to just two remaining units in California. The piece is an interesting read, with the details matching up with what we knew at the time. And I think a lot of the same problems caused the downfall of the local Ninfa’s restaurant chain here in the Houston area.

A local institution for many years, it crashed and burned due to family infighting, over-expansion, bad decisions, and mismanagement. Another sad loss.

Thought for the Day: 

Sometimes when I think I’m losing my mind, I reassure myself  that as long as I don’t misplace the part that tells me I need to pee, I should be OK.

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