Our RV Adventures

Today was another Clear Lake travel day, so after gassing up at the Kroger’s in Willis, I was on my way about 9:45.

While I was getting gas I was checking out the SigAlert app on my phone, looking at all red (heavy) traffic lines moving through downtown Houston. I was already planning on taking the Hardy Toll Rd. into I-610E and then back over to I-45, but then it all bogged down into bumper-to-bumper cars, especially around the I-10 interchange.

But looking east of town I saw that I could go east at I-610 instead of west and then hook up with I-69/US59 south, which would bring me back into I-45 below the downtown area, and all the heavy traffic

And it worked. It was just smooth sailing with almost no slowdowns, never dropping below 50mph. And even better it looks like it will work in reverse as well, when I’m coming back to Conroe.

Things went pretty well at the client’s today, except for the USB WiFi adapter Win7 install. I was able to track down a number of things in the system that I had been looking for. It’s amazing all the weird places the ex-guy found to squirrel things away.

But the USB WiFi adapter install on the Win7 is still a dud. I uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers several times, I tried 3 different USB ports on the machine, and I swapped in the working adapter from the Win10 machine.

All with no luck. So now it’s a email off to the the seller, and we’ll see how it goes.

Since I was picking up Jan in Katy this afternoon, I was on the way about 3pm trying to stay ahead of the traffic, especially since leaving Brandi’s, we’d encounter even more traffic heading up to Conroe.

So Jan and I were on our way from Brandi’s a little after 4, taking the 99 Tollway up to I-45 and then on up to Willis for . . . Whataburger!

Tomorrow we’ll rest up and later get groceries, as well as take care of a few other things.

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When my WiFi adapters came in this past Monday at my client’s, also in the Amazon box was another Wireless 4 Channel Remote Control Unit like the ones that I not use to control our rig’s slide and rear AC’s.

My next project was to remote our outside ‘porch lights’ so I can turn them on from the truck when we come home at night.

Of course I only need to use one of the four relays for this, but when I checked the price on Amazon the single relay models were only a couple of bucks cheaper.

Using my 12v power supply I hooked it up using alligator clip leads and it worked perfectly. But when I tried to wire it into the 12v in the pedestal by the door I found that the 12v wasn’t consistent. It measured 12vdc on the meter but when I put the load of the module on it, the voltage dropped to about 7v. And although the unit lights up, that voltage is not enough to operate it. So I’ll have find another 12 voltage source in the pedestal.

The Critics Are Wrong!

The Orville, is a new science-fiction series from Seth MacFarlane, who both created the show and stars in it.

MacFarlane, better known for his other TV shows, the cartoon’s Family Guy and American Dad, stars as Captain Ed Mercer, new captain of the exploratory ship, The Orville.

I guess that’s a better name than The Wilbur, but not by much.

The Union (think Star Trek’s Federation) is short on XO’s (Executive Officers – think Commander Riker on Next Gen) and so Mercer is force to accept his ex-wife who he caught cheating on him with a blue alien, who Mercer calls Papa Smurf.

The back and forth bickering between the two, even while under attack, is a refreshing change from the stiff attitudes of most similar shows.

Set in 2418, he crew is the usual ragtag combo of aliens, both organic and mechanical, including a gelatinous blog voiced by Norm MacDonald. In addition, the special effects are great, the equal to anything I’ve seen recently.

The critics are all over the map about the show. It’s too much like Star Trek or Galaxy Quest, or not enough like them, but they pretty much uniformly hate it.

Which right off the bat told me I was probably going to like it. And I did.

Sure, there were a few rough spots, pretty much standard in any new show, but I’m sure it will all gel down the road.

Well Recommended!

Tomorrow it’s back on the road down to Clear Lake for the day, and then coming home in the afternoon, I’ll detour over to Katy to get my wife back, and then it’s home, probably with dinner along the way.

Hopefully, I’ll get to keep her for a while this time.

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