Our RV Adventures

With another Clear Lake work day on tap, I was on the way south about 9:45, getting there about 11pm

I spent most of the day catching up on long-missed product/price corrections to the paper catalog and online website that had been neglected for months. Then I got back searching through the computer’s folders one at a time, cataloging and renaming them. For some reason the ex-guy just stashed critical files all over, in folders called Temp, New Folder, Stuff, etc. So one folder at a time, I’m gradually finding what I need.

I was on my way back home by 3:45, hoping to get ahead of the traffic, but today the traffic got ahead of me. Don’t know if there had been an earlier wreck, or it was just Friday, but it was bumper-to-bumper, stop and start, from Fuqua all the way into the I-69/US59 split. But after taking 59, it was full speed around to the Hardy Toll Road and on up to I-45. Even with speedup, the 1:15 trip took me 2 hours.

But it did have a nice ending, because our friends Debi and Ed Hurlburt had picked Jan up at our rig, and then we all met up at El Bosque Mexican Restaurant for dinner about 5:45pm.

Jan tried something new this time, the Pollo Mar, a chicken breast topped with shrimp, mushrooms tomatoes, cilantro, and jalapeno cheese.

She said it was really good and she’ll definitely have it again.

I went back with my favorite Beef Fajitas Poblanos.

It’s Beef Fajitas with bacon-grilled onions, poblano peppers, mushrooms,    tomatoes, and two white cheeses. Again really good, as usual.

We always have a great time with Debi and Ed, and it’s amazing how much we all have in common. Just really great friends.

Tomorrow we’ve got another day-trip in store, first down to our son Chris’ in Friendswood, and then on down to Galveston to have breakfast at the Sunflower Café before heading over to Moody Gardens to check out their new Aquarium Pyramid and their da Vinci exhibit.. This is actually a dual birthday celebration, for our granddaughter Piper’s 24th birthday on September 7th, and our daughter Brandi’s . . .  well,she’s one year older today, the 15th.

The only downside to all this is that we have to be on the road by 6:30am, way too early.

Finally, under the heading I Could Have Told You That.

The University of Pennsylvania just released the results of a study showing bald really is beautiful. The UP study was composed of three major tests given to students on campus. Male and female students were asked to rate photos of men according to attractiveness, confidence, and dominance.

And bald men won out in all categories. What else were you expecting?

For my part, very soon after Jan and I got serious, I told her I was almost certainly going to be bald by the time I was 25. And the reason I knew this can be seen in this photo of three of my mother’s four brothers. And the fourth one was bald too.

They say the baldness gene comes down the mother’s side. And it did.

Luckily for me, it turns out that Jan liked bald guys.

adfadadf

Please remember, Our RV Adventures is an Amazon affiliate. When you do your shopping through any of the Amazon links here, including the Search Amazon box in the right sidebar, it won’t cost you any more, but we’ll get a small commission on everything you buy. Just click on the Amazon link, then shop as usual. Thanks.

Plus, many of you are sharing our blog with others using the “Share this:” buttons at the bottom of each blog. Again, Thanks.

Jan and I left the rig about 1:30, heading out for lunch and groceries. But our first stop was at the park Ranger Station to try and extend our stay another 3 days, until the 20th of September rather than the 17th. And to also pay them for our stay here, the $5 a day, and the $3 a day for 50 amp. When I tried to do this last week the computer wouldn’t take the extension. It said the park was full.

But when they tried to ‘test’ extend someone else’s stay, it worked fine. So it was just me. And when they got the main office to try, they couldn’t do it either. And no one knew why it wouldn’t work.

But I suggested a workaround that did. So now we will check out on the 17th, but then  right back in again for the next 3 days. Of course the rig will never move, but the paperwork will work out. And that’s what’s important, right?

I think this probably has something to do with the fact that when we finally do leave here on the 20th, we will have been here for 34 days straight. Certainly a new record for us.

Our lunch destination was the Chuy’s Mexican down near the Woodlands, a location we’ve never been to before, although we’ve eaten at several other of their places around town.

We actually go to Chuy’s for their salads, mainly their Mexi-Cobb salad, which is what I got this time.

Really good, especially with their Creamy Jalapeno dressing.

Jan decided to try their Chicken Fajita Salad for a change, which she said was good, but she’s going back with the Mexi-Cobb next time.

We both really like their sauces and queso. With the chips, they bring out the usual Pico de Gallo, but also a bowl of their Creamy Jalapeno dressing, but as a dip. Then we also ordered a small Guacamole for Jan, and a Queso for me.

Again, really good.

Then, after a great meal, we headed back up to Conroe to the Wal-Mart for groceries and gas at the Sam’s next door, finally getting back to the rig a little before 5pm.

Recently there has been a debate among some of our blog commenters about whether or not my blogs about computer stuff, the ‘never ending math’ about where to stay, or even ‘defragging a coffee pot’, are boring. Some thought so, but others came to my defense.

So maybe I need to talk about the origins of this blog. It started in January 2009 at the beginning of our 2nd year on the road. In 2008, our first year, we  traveled all the way up to Fairbanks, AK where we spent five months workcamping, before heading back toward home on September 20th.

By the first part of November, we were in Gatlinburg, TN, before getting back to Houston the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

The blog started as a way to share our travels with family and friends as we traveled, but over time and repeated references to our blog from my friend, Nick Russell, the blog has a much wider following. In fact we had a little over 400,000 visitors last year, covering every continent except for Antarctica. (BTW if you know anyone on a science expedition to Antarctica, please ask them to visit our blog.)

I do this blog every day, and in 9 years I doubt I have missed more than a couple of dozen days. But as anyone who has tried this can tell you, doing a blog every night is not easy, as the many abandoned blogs around the Internet will tell you.

So I have to write about things that interest ME. It’s really the only way I can do this blog day after day. I’m not really a ‘creative’ writer like Nick. My forte has always been in ‘technical’ writing, doing manuals, courses, and how-to’s, for NASA, the DOD, manufacturers, and colleges. So I can write what I know and what I see. That’s about it.

Now when we’re traveling, seeing the sights around the country, blog writing is pretty easy. But when we’re wintering over here in Houston, or even gate guarding, it can get a little dicey. Because many days we don’t leave the rig, just reading, relaxing, computing, and enjoying life.

But of course this doesn’t leave a lot of hot topics to blog about, so you pretty much get my life, boring as it is. What we did, what we saw, where we ate, and what I’m working on, that’s about it.

Some readers refer to this as ‘reading my diary’. kind of a voyeuristic pleasure. Or maybe like peeking in your neighbor’s window.Anyway, maybe you can look at it this way.

You know how sometimes your favorite magazine has a ‘theme’ issue, and it’s a theme that you could care less about, or maybe even hate. But then the next month it’s a theme you’re crazy about.

Pretend it’s like that. Come back tomorrow and maybe you’ll like it better.

Thought for the Day:

Saudi Arabia actually imports sand.

The sand in the Arabian desert look like tiny crystal balls under a microscope. Pretty to look at, but useless for making concrete  because it’s so smooth. Concrete requires a rough, jagged sand so it all bonds together tightly and makes a strong block.

So every bit of sand in every skyscraper in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, etc., is imported, in some cases from as far away as the US.

fhjfhj