Our RV Adventures

Well, our babysitting job this morning was called on account of the fact that no one really wanted to go out and sightsee.

So Brandi called before we left to let us know that our previously-scheduled 10am arrival at her house could be pushed back to a 1’ish time frame. Great since the pain reliever that Jan had taken for her back pain last night, took care of her pain, but left her very nauseous today.

So the delay allowed her to get some extra rest before we headed into Brandi’s.

And as we did head to Katy this afternoon we passed 260,000 miles on our 2004 Dodge Dakota truck. And then there’s the additional 80,000 miles it’s got on it chasing the RV around the country.

When we bought it in late 2007 it was specifically to tow. We spent several month prowling the used car lots looking for just the right truck. And when we found this one at a small family-owned lot in Pearland, it met all of our of requirements, along with nice extras.

First and most important, it was 4WD and thus easily set to tow mode.

In fact it only takes about 10 seconds. Just put the transmission into ‘N’, put your foot on the brake, and then press the little recessed ‘N’ button on the small 2WD/4WD/4WD-L panel using a ballpoint pen or something similar.

And with a click/clunk you’re in tow mode. Then put the transmission in ‘P’ and you’re ready to roll. And roll is what will happened at this point if you’re not already be hitched up or have the parking brake on, because the truck will just roll away. To exit tow mode, just reverse the procedure. Easy Peesy.

The second requirement was that Blue Ox had an easily-installed baseplate, and so they did.

Everything else was just a extra perk.

1. It already had a nice camper shell.
2. It was a 4 door model.
3. It had a V-8 engine.
4. It was white in color (important in Texas).

According to CARFAX, our Dakota was originally owned by T-Mobile, and was a supervisor’s truck. As such it had regular dealer maintenance and was in great shape. And it’s been a great vehicle for us too, he said, crossing his fingers.

Otherwise today was fairly slow, with everyone just hanging around the house, watching TV while the kids swam at the pool. Then later Curtis grilled hot dogs and hamburgers on our Weber grill. Great times.

Jan and I headed home about 7:30 and noticed the US Rig Count had been updated to 940, an increase of 7 over last week’s 933. Which was an increase of 6 over the previous week.

So based on the fact that they gained 157 rigs in the 5 months since we left on our trip, they’re averaging a gain of about 7 per week, great news for this year’s gate guarding.

As far as tomorrow, we’re not sure yet.

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Jan and I had the day off today while the rest of the horde went sightseeing in San Antonio.

So I spent the morning working on a new client’s website, trying to get all the photos cleaned up and sized correctly. The company sells custom-made knives, 14 different hand-forged blades with your choice of over 30 different handle and bolster materials, both natural and man-made. Here’s a sample.

This is a Short Sword, with a Mountain Maple bolster and an Ocean Fleurinite handle. It runs around $400, depending on bolster and handle materials. Just beautiful workmanship.

Long time friend and blog reader Tricia took me to task this morning for not using a timer on the camera so Jim and I could have been in the group photo also.

I said, “Just give me another day or so, and both Jim and I will both be in the photo.â€

And actually, everyone wasn’t in the original photo either. Here’s the actual original one.

Not that Annisten, the little girl in pink sitting on the right sofa armrest, wasn’t there. She was taking a nap.

So after she got up, I took this photo of her, by herself. standing in the same position with the same lightning.

Then with the magic of Paint Shop Pro (my Photoshop clone) I got this, the one you saw.

So as soon as I can get photos of me and Jim standing behind the sofa we’ll in the photo too. Stay tuned.

About 4pm Jan and I went in to Columbus to have dinner at Los Cabos once again. She’s been fighting back problems the last couple of days, but she was feeling a little better this afternoon so we made a last –minute trip to eat.

Jan had the Combo Fajitas,

while I had the Plato Loco,

with a Soft Beef Taco, a Beef Tamale, a Cheese Enchilada, and a Beef Enchilada. All really good.

Then coming home I made a quick stop for a few things from Brookshire Bros.

Coming back to the rig, I dug our Weber grill so we can use if for our cookout tomorrow. It’s been a while since we’ve used it so I hope the propane bottles haven’t leaked down. We’ll see.

Tomorrow Jan and I are going to be on babysitting duty, watch all the kids while Brandi and Lowell take all the adults sightseeing. So we’ll be getting an early start so we can be at Brandi’s by 10am. Yikes.

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