1,000 Foot Ore Freighter, Soo Locks, MI

1,000 Foot Ore Freighter, Soo Locks, MI

Near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia

Near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia

Colorful Truck Sales, Weed, CA

Colorful Truck Sales, Weed, CA

Hollywood Sign

Hollywood Sign

Mackinac Bridge, MI

Mackinac Bridge, MI

Pelicans, Grays Harbor, WA

Pelicans, Grays Harbor, WA

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park

Right-Click It . . .

First up, as a number of you let me know, the links on yesterday’s blog don’t work. This is a problem with WordPress that comes and goes.

If a link won’t open normally for you, just Right-Click on the Link And Select ‘Open Link In New Tab’

Data Breach Checker

(Right-Click on Link and Select ‘Open in New Tab’)

And now there’s this.

National Public Data Published Its Own Passwords

Now it turns out that National Public Data that the passwords that let hackers steal all their data were publish on their own website.

New details are emerging about a breach at National Public Data (NPD), a consumer data broker that recently spilled hundreds of millions of Americans’ Social Security Numbers, addresses, and phone numbers online. KrebsOnSecurity has learned that another NPD data broker which shares access to the same consumer records inadvertently published the passwords to its back-end database in a file that was freely available from its homepage until today.

Following last week’s story on the breadth of the NPD breach, a reader alerted KrebsOnSecurity that a sister NPD property — the background search service recordscheck.net — was hosting an archive that included the usernames and password for the site’s administrator.

A review of that archive, which was available from the Records Check website until just before publication this morning (August 19), shows it includes the source code and plain text usernames and passwords for different components of recordscheck.net, which is visually similar to nationalpublicdata.com and features identical login pages.

* * * * *

Tomorrow we’ve got our monthly Alvin Opry Group get-together at Saltgrass Steakhouse once again. Last month’s was cancelled due to illness and bad weather, so we’re looking forward to seeing everyone again.

* * * * *

I mentioned the other day that Fall was here because I had made the first Pumpkin Spice sighting. But the weather is turning also. As it has for the last few years, this is when our first cold front moves in, with temps dropping from the high 90’s and low 80’s, to the low 90’s and mid to high 70’s at night. And this has actually been a coolish summer anyway, since we’ve not had a 100°day so far. In fact I think the hottest it’s been is 98°.

Cooler weather on the way.


Thought For The Day:

Just be yourself isn’t always good advice, especially for me.


Your Retro-Preview Highlights –

2010 – Your Landon Update for Saturday, August 21st!!

2013 – Landon And The Big Green Frog

2014 – Landon’s 4

2015 – A Clean Bill Of Health For Jan

2016 – A New Gate

2017 – Silver Alerts and Beaver Nuggets

2020 – Steaks, Gates, And Henry VIII

2021 – Hot! Hot! AMF Hot!

2023 – More Power

And Now On To today’s Retro-Blogs.™


August 21, 2009

Cruisin’ to Nicky’s

Today was another very restful day.

I spent some time on the phone with American Coach concerning some upgrades to our coach I’m thinking about.

Going outside I was surprised to see another American Eagle like ours parked next door.  Don’t know what year it is, but it’s newer than ours, since it has two slideouts. We’ll try to get to know the owners soon.

Then we headed out for a late lunch at Nicky’s Cruisin’ Diner,  a 50’s style place with jukebox controls at every booth, and 50’s memorabilia on the walls.  Food was good too.

After lunch, Jan wanted to drive around Bangor and its suburbs, so we spent an hour or so cruisin’ around.

After stopping off at Sam’s for some new wiper blades for the coach, we stopped back by Nicky’s for some of their soft-serve ice cream.  Uniquely, Nicky’s has 26 flavors of soft serve, whereas most places just have vanilla, and maybe chocolate, too.

Returning to the rig, we were again surprised to find ANOTHER American Eagle on the other side of the one from this morning.  It’s unusual to find one other Eagle in a park, much less two.

We’re supposed to have rain tonight and tomorrow.


August 21, 2010

Your Landon Update for Saturday, August 21st

Latest Brandi and Landon Morrison Update.

Lowell (the new baby daddy) called a little while ago and said the doctors had been in to give Landon his checkup. They said he was A+ on everything.

YAY!!!

Brandi might come home this afternoon, but it will probably be around noon tomorrow.

LATEST PICTURES:

Jan and Landon —

Jan and Landon

Landon with his full head of hair —-

Landon with Hair

About 2 pm I drove over to Goshen to pick up some things for the rig, and then a little after 5:30 pm I headed over to North Garden Chinese Buffet right down the road.  Great as always.


August 21, 2011

It’s A New Record!

We’ve been parked here at the Horseshoe Lakes Thousand Trails Preserve since last Wednesday, and we haven’t left the park since we got here. In fact Jan hasn’t left the rig since we got here.

And that IS a record.

But tomorrow we head to town for a full day of stuff; a movie, hair and nails for Jan, Lowe’s and Radio Shack for me, Wal-Mart, Sam’s, and somewhere in there, dinner.

Like I said, a full day.

After coffee the first thing, and then lunch later, we worked on a few of the things on our chore list, but really didn’t accomplish much. It was kind of nice to just take it easy today.

If you were interested in yesterday’s topic on “Running two A/C’s on 30 amps”, you might want to check back on the comments. We had several interesting questions and answers since the original post.

That’s about it for today.


August 21, 2012

Closing Out Another Chapter . . .

Well, we pulled out of the Whitsett Gate Guard Services about 9 pm this morning, closing out our 4 months of The Adventures in Gate Guarding.

It’s kind of hard to sum up in just a few words, but maybe the best way is just to say “It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t hard.”

More than anything it can be just boring. Based on our average of about 60 vehicles a day coming through the gate, and about 30 seconds per vehicle, we actually only worked about 30 minutes a day, and that’s for a 24-hour day. Jan read 84 books during that time, and I lost count of how many I read.

I’ll talk more about our time on the gate in the next few days, and of course, Jan and I will reveal all at the Gate Guard seminar we’ll be giving at an upcoming rally in Celina, OH.

Following up on today’s trip, we stopped off for lunch at Fuschak’s BBQ in San Marcos. We’ve eaten here a number of times, but never in the RV. The parking lot was too small for us, but I was able to pull off to the side along a vacant lot.

Back on the road, about 3:15pm we pulled into the Lake Whitney Thousand Trails in Whitney, TX, about 50 miles north of Waco. After driving around a little, we found a 50amp pull-thru that was long enough so we didn’t have to unhitch the toad since we were going to eat at home tonight.

One “rut roh” moment happened about an hour into our trip when our Onan generator up and quit. And wouldn’t restart. We were running it so we could use the roof A/C’s.

It would crank and then catch for a second, before quitting. My first thought is a fuel problem. The filter was changed back in February, but it could be the fuel pump.

It was raining a little when we got here, so I’ll check it out tomorrow morning before we leave. It may be that I can’t do anything about it until we get to Celina OH. Luckily for us, it’s getting cooler as we head further north so hopefully we won’t be too uncomfortable.

I’m back to daily blogging again, but this one is going to be short since I’m a little under the weather with a bad cough and a sore throat. Don’t think it’s a cold since I’m not stopped up or sneezing, so it may be allergies.

Tomorrow we’ll travel about 200 miles up to Mount Pleasant TX.


August 21, 2013

On To The Gate . . .

Today is our last day here in Houston for a few months and we still had some last-minute things to wrap up. So Jan and I headed out about 1pm

Getting down to the Clear Lake area, our first stop was at a client’s office to look at a few problems that they were having. One of them I couldn’t do anything about because the client was trying to run a new piece of software on an old laptop running Win XP. He just couldn’t understand why it wouldn’t work. I told him he had to buy a new laptop at least once every 10 years or so.

Then after a quick stop at a nearby CVS, we headed over to the Friendswood area to get haircuts. I dropped Jan off at a SuperCuts and then I headed over to the barbershop I have used for about 20 years. I was in and out in less than 15 minutes (Hey, I don’t have a lot to work with), and went back over to wait for Jan.

An hour and a half later she finally came out. She said the place was jam-packed. Don’t know why it would be on a Wednesday afternoon. Maybe because school starts on Monday?

I then called a take-out order into King Food and we headed over there to pick it up. Brandi and Lowell have really been jonesing for KF Chinese since they moved up to Katy. So we’re taking a big batch up there to have a last dinner with them.

Finally on our way to Katy, we made a quick stop at a Sam’s Club to pick up a few bulk things. The nearest Sam’s to where we’ll be gate guarding is about 60 miles away so we wanted to stock up on a few things.

We got to Brandi’s about 5:30 to find Lowell already there and then Brandi and Landon showed up a few minutes later.

After a really good dinner, Jan wanted to recreate a series of photos we had made of Landon sitting in the same chair with his big green frog.

Here he is at about two months. He’s not really sure what that is sitting next to him.

Landon and Frog 6

And here he is at about 7 months. Happy Go Lucky and the frog’s his best friend.

Landon and Frog 12

However now is a whole ‘nother story. Same chair, same frog, but now with a 3-year-old. Here’s what we got this time.

Landon and Frog 30

Landon and Frog 31

Landon and Frog 32

Landon and Frog 33

And we only got the last shot right before he threw the frog at me.

After saying our goodbyes and getting last hugs from all, we headed home a little before 8. Tomorrow we’ll leave out about 9am, heading for Whitsett, TX and the Gate Guard Services yard about 255 miles away.

We’ve got several stops planned along the way, the first being at the Buc-ee’s in Luling on I-10 for coffee and kolaches. Then after we turn south onto I-37 at San Antonio, we’ll stop at the Pilot at exit 125 to top off our diesel. Last we’re going to stop at the Wal-Mart in Pleasanton to stock up on groceries, just like we did last year.

Don’t know yet how long it will be before we get a gate. Last year it was about 10 days, but that included driving down to Corpus Christi to apply for our Security Guard Licenses and then waiting for the OK to come back. That was only about 4 days, so we’ll see how it goes.


August 21, 2014

Hunkered Down . . .

First off, Jan wanted me to thank everyone for their best wishes on her good breast cancer checkup. She really appreciates the nice thoughts.

Jan and I started this morning with coffee and a couple of the Cranberry Nut muffins we got yesterday from Bucee’s.

Besides the fact that these muffins are delicious, they’re HUGE, about 5 inches across.

Bucee's Muffin 2

Now that’s not all muffin. But it does have a really nice overhang.

Bucee's Muffin 1

Bucee’s uses specially-made muffin tins that give you this wide rim. And the rim is part of what makes this muffin so good. It has a chewy, crusty texture that adds to the cake-like taste of the muffin body. And I don’t know if it makes it taste any better, but these are baked right in the pan, no paper cups used.

The rest of the day Jan and I just hunkered down and tried to stay cool. It hit 100 degrees today here in the Columbus area, and it’s supposed to be 101-102 for the next few days.

We picked up our Sunshield Vent Insulator covers at Brandi’s yesterday and installed them last night. And installing them just meant taking off the plastic wrapping and sticking it up in the opening.

It has a fuzzy fleece side.

Vent Cover - Fuzzy Side

And a shiny insulated foil side.

Vent Cover - Shiny Side

And as they say, keep the shiny side up.

Vent Cover - Installed

And they do seem to make a difference.

But even with them, the rig A/C’s run pretty much non-stop all day when it’s 100+ degrees, but the rig did stay comfortable. And we do have our sunscreen shades up on the windshield and side windows.

And when we’re on a gate, and it’s 108 degrees, then it’s even worse. Depending on where we end up this year, I’ve thought about getting a small window A/C unit to put in the driver’s window. A 5000 BTU unit should take some of the load of the rig’s A/C’s.

We’ll have to see how it goes.

Yesterday was Landon’s birthday. You can see which one here.

Landon is Four

They even celebrated his birthday at his school.

Landon the Birthday Boy

Although Landon’s real birthday was yesterday, the 20th, his big party is this Saturday.

We’re really looking forward to it.


August 21, 2015

Clean Bill . . .

Although tomorrow is Landon’s Birthday Party, yesterday, August 20th, was his real birthday, so Brandi and Lowell took him to his favorite place, The Rainforest Café in Katy Mills Mall.

792

Looks like he really liked their version of his birthday cake.

Jan and I headed for Clear Lake this morning, leaving about 8am. We noticed as we drove through Columbus that the sky was really black to the south and east of us, just the direction we were going to be going. We made a stop at the Jack in the Box for a breakfast sandwich, and when we came out, the rain had started.

It just got worse as we headed into Houston, sometimes slowing us down to 30mph on I-10. But by the time we got onto the South Beltway it had started to clear up, and the sun was out by the time we got down to Webster.

Jan’s appointment was just a 6-month checkup for her past breast cancer, and everything was fine. So we were out of there in time to meet our son Chris at another of our all-time favorite places, King Food for lunch.

After our great meal, Chris headed home and we stopped off at Kroger’s for a few things before meeting up at Chris’ to pick up some gate guard supplies. Then after a Wal-Mart stop to pick up some more 150-pound strength rope for my upcoming A/C project, we stopped by Starbuck’s for a couple of iced Cinnamon Dolce Lattes before we headed home.

Tomorrow we’re driving into Katy to Brandi’s about 9am to help her get ready for Landon’s birthday party. Then after the party, we’re all getting together at Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro to introduce Chris, Linda, and Piper to their great food.


August 21, 2016

Hawkwood and Indian Woods . . .

Jan and I headed out about 9am to have what may be our last meal out together for 3 months or so.

Unless the gate turns out to be like last year’s gate outside Carthage, TX.

We can only hope.

We had the great Sunday breakfast buffet at Schobel’s in Columbus, and then made a quick stop at Brookshire Bros. for a few last-minute things. Coming back into the park, I stopped off at the office to let them know we were leaving a week early.

Hopefully, my $56 that I paid for next week will show up in my HOA account (that’s what TT calls it) A while back I had some dollars credited that just disappeared somehow.

I finally was able to get in touch with the Indian Woods Campground, the Passport America park outside Normagee where we were planning on staying tonight. Our full hookup site will be $12.50 and looks to be a nice park.

We pulled out of the Colorado River TT and headed up toward La Grange on US71 to get diesel before turning onto US77 and heading for Normangee. Getting close to town, we thought we saw the pad site, but I had a line of traffic behind me so I couldn’t slow down too much to check it out.’

But as soon as we got parked, we headed back to check out the pad, about 30 minutes back up the road.  So now we finally got some more info about our gate guard site. It’s about 10 miles west of Normangee right off TX-OSR (Old Spanish Rd.). Jamie of Gate Guard Services said it’s a Hawkwood  Energy site with a Nabors workover rig, and maybe the largest pad we’ve ever worked.

Hawkwood Site 1

Looks like our spot will be heading in toward the portapotty right inside the gate. There are about 8 trailers on site, so it looks like they’re here for the long haul which bodes well for filling out our full 3 month stay.

Jamie’s going to meet us there about 8am to get us parked and set up with our support trailers. The workover rig is not on site yet, so I don’t know exactly when we’ll actually start. We’ll see.

We’ll head out from here a little before 7am to allow us plenty of time to get there by 8am.


August 21, 2017

Silver Alerts and Beaver Nuggets . . .

When you’re driving along and see one of those Silver Alert signs,

Silver Alert Sign

do you check it out to be sure it’s not you?

Us too.

Jan and I spent the late morning and early afternoon watching the eclipse , , , on TV, starting with the beginning out in Newport, OR, where we’ve been.

One thing I found very interesting was the visibility of the solar prominences on the right side of the disk.

Solar Eclipse Flares

Here in Conroe, it started getting noticeably dimmer around 11:45, with totality (for us, at least, about 67%) about 1:15pm. The most obvious change for us was the fact that the A/C was cycling on and off at noon, something that doesn’t normally happen in August.

I really liked this photo from Houston’s Lunar and Planetary Institute showing the totality here from one of their telescopes, again showing the prominences erupting from the sun’s surface.

Lunar-and-Planetary-Institute-presents-EclipseOverHouston-viewing_083819

The next total eclipse for the US is due in April 2024, with a path that includes Texas this time. So get your RV park reservations in early.

2024 Eclipse Path

I spent a couple of hours this afternoon, on the phone and TeamViewer, setting up a client’s daughter’s new laptop, installing anti-virus, anti-malware, and iDrive online backup software, and taking off some of the crap that comes installed on new machines. It went very smoothly.

Finishing up, for those of you in the Katy area, the new Buc-ee’s there is now scheduled to open at 6am on Monday, the 28th, so your Beaver Nuggets craving is almost over.


August 21, 2018

Passports and Satellites . . .

Jan and I headed out about 1pm with our first stop at the Santa Fe Post Office to get a PO Box for our local mail. For the first time since we started RV’ing in 2008 we no longer have a local address.

We could have used our daughter Brandi’s up in Katy, but then it’s always a hassle getting it from her in a timely manner.

I could have it sent to my client’s like all my Amazon packages, but the packages are easy to separate from their stuff. But mail maybe not so much. So a PO Box was probably the best idea.

And it turned out to be pretty painless. I was in and out in about 10 minutes. The only thing kind of funny was the fact that I needed an ID with my photo on it and an ID without my photo on it. BUT it had to be one with and one without. When I tried to use my Driver’s License and my Passport, no dice.

But they did accept my auto insurance card, so I was good to go with a 5” x 5” for 6 months for $38. Not bad.

Then it was on up to the Clear Lake area to have lunch at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood. Grilled Catfish with Grilled Veggies for Jan, and Shrimp Gumbo with a side of the Grilled Veggies for me. Delicious as always.

Our next stop was Friendswood Post Office to renew our passports. They expired last fall, but we kind of forgot about them until we started planning our European trip. So we want to get a jump on getting them renewed. Turns out that we can do it all by mail, so we got the forms to take home with us.

Then it was by Sam’s Club for a prescription, followed by a visit to the Kemah Boardwalk area so Jan could get some new essential oils at Bodhi’s.

From what I’ve been reading, it seems like that DirecTV is dropping all their SD (standard definition) channels sometime next year. Although we already have an HD DirecTV we only got it for the bigger hard drive and more storage space. We don’t have HD because our Winegard CarryOut Dome won’t receive HD signals, just SD.

Winegard Carryout

So I guess at some point I’ll have to replace it with a new HD dish, something more like this.

DirecTV HD Dish

Certainly won’t be as convenient and easy to set up.


August 21, 2019

At It Again . . .

I meant to mention this yesterday, but somehow I left it out.

Yesterday was our grandson Landon’s 9th Birthday.

Happy 9th Birthday Landon

Hard to believe that he’s 9 ready.

I spent this morning before work looking at a YouTube video detailing a rear brake job on my 2004 Dodge Dakota, my Job One for tomorrow. Assuming it doesn’t rain like it did today, but they’re still only showing a 20% chance, so we’ll see.

Then this evening I watched a second one . . .  and found out I wish I had watched it first. It’s been 50+ years since I’ve replaced rotors and I forgot about the fact  that the rotors come covered in a lubricant to keep them from rusting.

I probably could come up with something to get it off, but I think I’ll make an O’Reilly’s run tomorrow morning for a can of brake cleaner spray before I get started.

I did tell them at work today that I might not be in on Friday if I couldn’t get the truck back together by then. And once I get the brakes apart I’ll have to take an Uber to get more parts.

I’m at it again.

Getting home this afternoon, I started disassembling our new Mr. Coffee. And it turned out to be as easy as I hoped after I looked it over yesterday. I just removed one screw underneath the front and the entire control panel just popped right out. And on this model, the cable is long enough to actually work on the board.

And then two more screws and the board is loose. It really looks like this model was designed to be repaired.

New Mr Coffee Upgrade 1

Or at least for me to modify it.


August 21, 2020

Steaks and Gates . . .

Brandi texted us this morning with another Landon story.

Went to tell Landon it’s almost time for class and he is watching a video, I asked what it is and he said “Henry the VIII”

I mentioned Catherine Parr and he right away said “yes, I am watching about he did not hang her like the others” and I told him we are related to her. Of course, he was excited.

I asked how he ended up watching that and he said, “I was watching a youtuber and he had a coin with London Fire of 1666 on it and I wanted to know what that is, so I looked it up, and the fire video led to Henry the VIII, and here we are”!

This kid

Jan and I decided it was time for a nice dinner out, and for us, that means Saltgrass Steakhouse.

As usual, we both started out with our favorite Wedge Salads.

Saltgrass Wedge Salad 8

Then Jan got her usual Filet,

Saltgrass Kemah Jan's Filet

and I got the Pat’s Ribeye.

Saltgrass Ribeye 8

Delicious as always.


August 21, 2021

Hot! Hot! Hot!

About 1pm Jan and I headed up to Webster to try a new place that’s getting good reviews, The Cookshack. Located in the old Black-Eyed Pea building at the corner of Bay Area Blvd and Hwy 3, it’s been open now for a few weeks, so it’s time to give it a try.

The Cookshack

It’s a simple menu, with just different combinations of Chicken Tenders, Waffles, and Ribs, and like a number of places where we’ve recently been, you order at the counter and then they bring it to your table.

Jan got the 3 Grilled Chicken Tenders and a Side Salad.

The Cookshack Chicken Tenders and Salad

I ordered the Chicken and Waffles, with Sweet Potato Fries as a side, and then the young man asked me, “How hot?” As Jan chuckled, I said, “As hot as you’ve got.” And he said, “OK, Texas Hot”

But when I looked up at the menu board, though it’s hard to see here, there was a whole other area to the right of ‘Texas Hot’ called ‘AMF’.

The Cookshack Heat Level

So I told him I wanted ‘AMF’. He looked at me kind of wide-eyed, and stammered, “You’ll have to sign a waiver.” So he rang us up, apparently so flustered that he forgot to have me sign the waiver.

As I headed over to our table, the owner said that he should have told me just to get one tender at the AMF level since I wouldn’t be able to eat one, much less four, and they would just go to waste.

The Cookshack Chicken and Waffles

Jan chuckled … again.

When the owner came over later, he was amazed that I was not only able to eat one, but two. And the only reason I didn’t eat all four was that I also ate two waffle pieces and some of the fries. So I was just full.

He told me that he had started requiring a waiver because at his Houston location he had people demand their money back because they were too hot, and in a couple of cases, several people almost passed out and had to be helped out of the restaurant. He did seem a little upset when I told him that I hadn’t actually signed the waiver.

He did tell me that he actually has two more levels hotter than what I got today, but I got the idea that nobody has ever ordered it.

Now as far as how hot these tenders were, they were very, very hot, possibly the hottest thing that I’ve ever eaten in a restaurant. But I’ve made things hotter myself using my Carolina Reaper Pepper Flakes.

And it didn’t take long for my personal hot food meter to begin registering. For me, my bald head starts sweating and my nose starts running. And boy, did it this time.

Now, as far as next time, I’ve got to take up the challenge and try the ‘Two Levels Hotter’ version. But only for one tender. The rest I will probably get at the Texas Hot level.

Sometimes it’s worth beating a challenge, and that’s why I’ll try one at the very hottest, but overall it’s just not pleasant to eat. So a little less heat next time.

But we will definitely go back. Soon.


August 21, 2022

Best Buds . . .

Jan and I were on our way out for lunch/HEB about 1pm. It’s been a while since we’ve both been to Pho Barr, though I had lunch here while Jan was up in Katy Landon-sitting.

And as always it was delicious, and we both had enough to take home for dinner tomorrow night.

Then it was on up to HEB for this week’s stuff. And then Tuesday I’ll be time for WalMart, and maybe Costco stuff.

One thing very noticeable about our time at Andretti’s Indoor Karting & Games yesterday was the very high noise level. But it did give me a chance to cycle through the 4 environmental settings of my BeHear NOW Hearing Assistants. However none of the 4, Indoor, Outdoor, Crowd, or Live Music did anything about damping the noise. So finally I just turned my BeHear off.

But that didn’t reduce the noise level that much. In fact it was still very loud even to my bum ears.

I’ve mentioned before that Sophie and Landon are best buds, and have been for a number of years.

Landon and Sophie at Andretti's

They’re both computer nerds, and their birthdays are only 4 days apart, with Sophie being 4 days older.

Until a year or so ago they were pretty much the same height, but as girls often do, she got her growth spurt early.

I’ve told this story before, but it’s worth repeating. About four years ago, while Jan and I were up in Katy Landon-sitting, we were out driving around and Landon was on his iPad in the backseat, and talking to someone. By himself

When I asked him who he was talking to, he said, “Sophie.” So I said, “But isn’t Sophie in Sweden visiting her grandparents?”

And he said, “Yeah, so?” Now that’s a long-distance call.

Kids today have it so rough.

My missing package, the one that had been orbiting around in Florida for almost two weeks, finally showed up the other day. Last seen over Hialeah, FL, it suddenly appeared at our front door with no intervening tracking. Apparently UPS is magic.

Since we were only subscribing to Acorn TV so we could watch the latest season of Murdoch Mysteries. And since we recently watched the last two episodes for this, the 15th season, I canceled our Acorn membership last night. No use paying $6.48 a month for nothing, right?

But I was happy to read the other day that Murdoch has been renewed for a 16th season of another 24 episodes, though no word on when the next season will start up. But whenever it does restart, I’ll re-subscribe.


August 21, 2023

More Power . . .

I’ve been thinking about getting an inverter for our rig. Our rig originally came with a 2500W modified sine wave inverter that was part of the Heart Interface Source Manager 25 unit that was located under the bed. Along with the Inverter, it also combined the Automatic Transfer Switch and a 3 Stage Battery Charger to keep both the Engine batteries and the House batteries charged. So when the unit died, I lost everything.

After checking the cost of repairing or replacing the unit, I decided to go another route. For a while, I would manually switch the plugs back and forth when we used the generator, and just used a separate battery charger to keep the rig batteries charged.

Finally in 2014 I installed this Progressive Dynamics Automatic Transfer Switch,

and this Powermax 110 Volt to 12 Volt DC Power Supply Converter Charger

They ran about $170 each, a lot cheaper than trying to have the Source Manager repaired.

At the time I didn’t worry about the inverter function, since we didn’t really boondock where we would need it.

But now I’m thinking about adding an inverter to our system, and I’m looking at this Renogy 3000W Pure Sine Wave Inverter that runs about $380, a lot cheaper than pure Sine Wave inverters used to be.

I’ll pair it with these two Deka 1005 Amp 12 V Tractor Batteries that I replaced our worn-out 4 – 6V ones back in 2018 and they’re still working great.

So I’ll have plenty of juice to feed the inverter when I need it.

The Renogy Inverter seems to be one that’s installed by a number of RV dealers, and the ratings are pretty decent. And actually I’m just looking for something that will power things in the rig if we lose shore power for a few hours, not for anything long-term.

I’ll keep you informed.

Supper tonight was the leftover pizza from Grimaldi’s last Friday. Still great as before.

Tomorrow looks to be another of our usual stay-at-home Tuesdays.

Always nice.

 

 

 

 

The Birthday Boy . . .

Happy 14th Birthday to our fantastic grandson Landon.

Love you, kid!

Lunch today was at Texas Huddle for the first time since they reopened . . . again. But first up, we got our haircut at our local CostCutter’s. For me, it was more like getting sheared, rather than cut. Think Leslie took off enough hair to stuff a small throw pillow. Not off the top, of course. Just the sides and my beard.

Dehaired, we were on our way up to Webster to Texas Huddle.

Glad to see they still had the same menu, we both started with their Side Salad, in place of fries.

Then Jan went with the Breaded Chicken Tenders, coated in their Golden Honey Mustard.

For me, I got what brought me here in the first place, the PB&J Bacon Cheeseburger.

But I replace the regular Apple or Grape Jelly with their Flaming Raspberry Wing Sauce.

Really good and spicy.

* * * * *

You probably have seen something recently about this massive data breach covering 2.9 Billion people in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.

Massive data breach that includes Social Security numbers may be even worse than suspected

(Right-Click on Link and Select ‘Open in New Tab’)

The company whose data breach potentially exposed every American’s Social Security number to identity thieves finally has acknowledged the data theft — and said hackers obtained even more sensitive information than previously reported.

National Public Data, a Florida-based company that collects personal information for background checks, posted a “Security Incident” notice on its site to report “potential leaks of certain data in April 2024 and summer 2024.” The company said the breach appeared to involve a third party “that was trying to hack into data in late December 2023.”

In the meantime, security experts say, make sure all of your online accounts use two-factor authentication to make them harder to hijack.

It’s also important to look for signs that an email or text is not legitimate, given the spread of “imposter scams.” Using messages disguised to look like an urgent inquiry from your bank or service provider, these scams try to dupe you into giving up keys to your identity and, potentially, your savings. Any request for sensitive personal information is a giant red flag.

Here’s a website where you can check to see if your data has been compromised.

You just enter your First Name, Last Name, Birth Year, and the State where you live, or have lived.

In our case, it’s Alabama and Texas.

They show you everyone in the state with your name or close to it, the address, and the last two digits of the associated SSN.

We found 2 or 3 entries for both of us, dating back to 1972 in Birmingham, AL. But some of them are useless since the associated SSN is incorrect.

Check your data out here.

Data Breach Checker

(Right-Click on Link and Select ‘Open in New Tab’)

* * * * *

Finishing up, here’s a great shot of the Northern Lights and The Perseid Meteor Shower over an 11th Century U.K. castle.


Thought For The Day:

Sometimes I can’t tell if I’m just in a bad mood or if everyone around me is just really, really annoying.


Your Retro-Preview Highlights –

2010Landon Thomas Morrison’s Birth Day !!

2011 – How to run both A/C’s on 30 Amps

2015 – Why I Got Nothing Done On The A/C Today

2017 – Happy 7th Birthday Landon Thomas Morrison!

2019 – The Operation Was A Success, But

2020 – Happy 10th Birthday

2021 – I’m Jealous

2022 – Start Your Engines

And Now On To today’s Retro-Blogs.™


August 20, 2009

Oriental Jade…

After sleeping in this morning, we drove over to Bangor to a Chinese restaurant, Oriental Jade, that we’d seen yesterday on our way to Pepina’s.

It turned out to be really good, especially the Hot & Sour Soup.  We’ll try to go back.

Leaving the restaurant, we drove down the street to Sam’s Club and then on to a brand-new Walmart down the road a piece.  This may have been the biggest Walmart we’ve ever been in, and the layout is completely different from any we’ve ever been in.  Except for the checkouts being in the front, nothing was where it was supposed to be.

I think it took us twice as long to shop as it normally would.

Getting back to the rig, we let Mister play outside for a bit while we enjoyed the nice weather.

Don’t know how long that will last though.  I can’t believe we’re almost in Nova Scotia and we have to worry about dodging a hurricane!

We’ll see how the weather goes.


August 20, 2010

Friday, August 20 – Landon Thomas Morrison’s Birth Day !!

Jan called this morning a little before 9 am EDT to say that Brandi’s labor is coming along fine, and Landon should be making his appearance sometime later this afternoon.

Update:
Jan called around 11:45 am EDT.  Brandi’s still doing fine, with Landon expected between 1 and 2 pm EDT.

More updates as they come in.

UPDATE !!!

Landon Thomas Morrison was born at 1:02 pm CDT weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces.

Mother and Baby doing fine.

YEAH!!!!!!

Presenting Landon Thomas Morrison !

Landon Thomas Morrison

A little after 5 pm I headed over to Mancino’s Pizza for great pizza and some good conversation.

A nice quiet end to a very exciting day!


August 20, 2011

How to run both A/C’s on 30 Amps . . .

or, Happy 1st Birthday to our grandson, Landon Thomas Morrison.

We both slept late this morning. Even Jan didn’t get up until about 9:30 and I followed about an hour later. Later, along with our morning coffee, we caught up on a bunch of TV shows from our DVR.

After lunch I set up the computer so we’d be ready to Skype Landon’s Birthday Party later this afternoon. We’ll just wait until they call.

Then I got back on my chore list. Since Jan planned on cleaning out some more stuff under the bed I thought I’d make my AC modification today.

A week or so ago I had a problem with the front AC not getting any power, but the circuit breaker was OK. After a call to American Coach, I found out that the front AC passes back through the Heart Source Manager Inverter/Converter Transfer Switch through an AC Lockout relay.

Why, I don’t know. And I also don’t know why it suddenly engaged, even though the Source Manager is mostly disconnected due to my previous transfer switch problems.

Anyway, at the time, the solution was just to pull the wires off the relay and tie them together like below.

AC Bypass 1

This not only fixed that problem, but gave me the solution to another problem.

I had been thinking for a while about a way to break out the power leads to one of the AC units so that when I was plugged into 30 amps I could power one of the A/C’s separately from the additional 20 amp outlet that most pedestals have.

I originally thought about tapping into the circuit breaker panel, but kept putting it off. But this seemed to be the perfect solution.

The first step was to replace the wire nuts with a set of male and female power plugs. Note that the end that supplies the power has the female plug for safety.

AC Bypass 2

This allows me to plug them back together to get back to normal.

AC Bypass 3

But it also allows me to plug the AC into an extension cord that I run in through the bedroom window. The other end is plugged into the 20 amp receptacle on the power pedestal outside.

AC Bypass 4

This of course was only a test. I used it to run both A/C’s all afternoon with no problems. Now I’ll run a permanent cord down through the engine bay and into the power bay. That way I can just plug in from outside whenever I need it.

This will probably only be used occasionally, Right now we only have 30 amps, but since the temperature is in the 80’s, one AC works just fine. But we have sometimes been in high 90’s temps and with only 30 amps available, one AC really can’t keep up.

So now you know how to run two A/C’s on 30 amps. If you have any questions, let me know.

About 2:15 our computer rang and we were online Skyping Landon’s birthday party. Our signal quality varied a lot, so the photos do too.

The party started off with Landon opening his presents. Although sometimes he seemed as interested in the wrapping paper as to what was inside, he did a good job tearing everything open, And he seemed to be happy to find toys and other stuff inside.

Video call snapshot 233

Video call snapshot 236

Video call snapshot 237

Of course, after the presents, it was time for cake and ice cream. And Landon got his own cake.

Video call snapshot 266

And he dug right in and really enjoyed it.

Video call snapshot 270

Video call snapshot 287

Video call snapshot 288

We were online for the party for almost 30 minutes, and really enjoyed being included in the festivities. As a follow-up Brandi called about 5:30 to bring us up to date.

On another note, we’ve been noticing the first signs of Fall here. There is a slow but steady rain of yellowing leaves floating down from overhead. I’m sure everyone around the country will be happy with the cooler temps. I know we will.


August 20, 2013

Wrapping things up – Almost . . .

Today we started wrapping up our time here in the Houston area. So Jan and I headed out about noon down to the Clear Lake area.  Our first stop was Monterey’s Little Mexico, down in Dickinson. No way could we come through the area without getting a big bowl of their Chicken Tortilla Soup. the soup that all others are compared to.

And it’s always nice to see Julie, our favorite waitress, who still remembers what we order, and how we want it. Even the young man who brings the chips and salsa to our table remembered we always want two red salsas instead of the normal one salsa and one green sauce.

Finishing up at Monterey’s and telling them we’ll be back in November, we headed up I-45 to Academy Sports. I was looking for a canopy for our gate guarding sojourn.

Based on our experiences last year, we wanted a canopy that has an air vent at the top, and has a UV coating to shield out some of the sun. But after looking at Academy, Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart with no luck, I’ll probably order this one from Amazon

Coleman Canopy

Coleman 13 x 13 Canopy

It’s Amazon Prime so two-day shipping is free, but what may be the only downside is the fact that at 13 x 13 feet, it’s 69 square feet larger than the 10 x 10 one we had last year.

Our next stop was to check in with one of my clients for a few minutes before making a stop at Half-Price Books so Jan could stock on Gate books.

Then, after another stop at our storage room to pick up some gate-related things we had stored away last year. Then it was on to Chris’ to kill some time before we met Piper for dinner at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood, our favorite local Cajun place.

Gooood Gumbo!

It was really nice to have Piper all to ourselves and be able to catch up on what’s going on in her life. It’s really hard to believe she’ll be 20 next month. It seems like only yesterday she looked like this.

PiperComputer1a

or like this.

PiperComputer2

Yep, she started on computers early.

Tomorrow we’ll wrap things up here in Houston, and then have dinner with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon tomorrow night.


August 20, 2014

It’s All A-OK . . .

Jan and I headed out this morning about 9:30, way too early for me normally, but we had a full day of stuff planned.

Our first stop was about an hour away at Brandi and Lowell’s to trade out trucks. Lowell had been nice enough to offer us the use of his Toyota Tundra for the day since we had a lot of driving planned and still no A/C in our truck.

Getting down to the Webster area about 11:30, our first stop was at Twin Peaks to have lunch. Unfortunately our favorite waitress, Lauren, was off today so we didn’t get to see her, but our lunch was as good as always.

After lunch, and after a quick client visit, we headed over to Texas Oncology for the real purpose of our trip down here; Jan’s six-month checkup after her breast cancer operation.

Based on her post-op visit right before we left Houston last May, she figured it would take a couple of hours or more, but they called her in right on time, and she was out in 40 minutes.

The Doctor told Jan everything looks good with no problems. Her blood work was normal and she has not been having any of the possible side-effects from the Tamoxifen that she’s taking. The Doctor just wants to see her again in six months.

Insert ‘sigh of relief’ here.

Our next stop was down the road a piece to the Buc-ee’s on League City Parkway to pick up some of their great Cranberry Nut muffins. Turning into the place I was really surprised to see their price for diesel.

Bucee's Diesel Price

You just never have an RV with an empty fuel tank around when you need one.

Our next stop was the home of Bob and Maria, pretty much our oldest friends here in the Houston area, who we’ve known since the mid-80’s. After checking their new dog we all headed over to Monterey’s Little Mexico for dinner and talk. A lot of talk. About two and a half hours of talk.

Hey, we had a lot of catching up to do.

After saying our goodbye’s and getting our hugs from Bob and Maria, Jan and I stopped off at our storeroom to pick up our gate guarding stuff, I.e. our canopy, tarp, big fan, misting system, etc. Wanted to have it handy since we hope to get a gate sometime next week.

Before leaving the area we stopped by Chris and Linda’s for a few minutes, and found Linda had a warm Blueberry Bundt Pound Cake to take with us.

Great! Now we have muffins AND pound cake.

Finally about 8:30 we got our truck back at Brandi and Lowell’s, and headed home, arriving about 9:30pm.

A long day, but one with good news, good friends, and great family.


August 20, 2015

Why I Got Nothing Done On The A/C Today . . .

Rainy Days Radar

And since tomorrow and Saturday are booked up with doctor’s appointments and Landon’s Birthday Party, it’ll be Sunday until I can get back on it. Bummer!

Later this morning Jan and I changed the sheets on our queen-size bed and commented on how good they still looked. No pilling, no fading, and no snags.

We’ve had these for over a year and a half and they still look new.

Milani Sheet Set

Striped QUEEN Sateen Sheet Set

We bought one set, used them for a month, and then ordered a second set. They’re 1500 thread count, come in a bunch of colors, and are only about $30 a set.

Check ‘em out.

The last couple of mornings we’ve been enjoying the coffee Brandi and Lowell brought us back from Costa Rica last week.

Britt Tres Rios Coffee

It’s called Britt Tres Rios Valdivia and it’s really good. Very bold, but still smooth, and a different taste than other coffees we’ve had. And even better, we don’t have to go back to Costa Rica to get more. Turns out it’s also available on Amazon.

Café Britt Tres Rios Valdivia Ground Coffee

The last several parks we’ve been at, I was disappointed in the water pressure. That is, until we got back here to Colorado River TT, where I knew the pressure was great. Then I thought about my Camco EVO Water Filter, so I bypassed the filter and got good pressure back. But I noticed that in the shower I could smell the chlorine in the water, where I couldn’t before. So it was still working, I guess.

So this past Monday I ordered a couple of new filters from Amazon and picked them up from Brandi’s yesterday. This afternoon I pulled the old filter and this is what I found compared to a new one.

Old vs New Water Filters

Quite a difference, and the old one is about twice as heavy as the new one. And as I figured, replacing the filter took care of my pressure problem. And I’ve got a spare for next time.

Jan got a new toy this week, a new Oster electric skillet to replace her old one.

Oster Skillet

Oster DuraCeramic 12-Inch Electric Skillet

The only problem with her old one was that there was almost no Teflon left on it. That was probably because, when we got to thinking about it, we’ve had it for about 40 years. We don’t remember exactly, but it was from Sears& Roebuck and we got it before we moved to Texas in 1978. They don’t make them like that anymore.

Plus this new one has a ‘DuraCeramic’ coating that’s supposed to last 4X longer than a normal coating. So I guess in about 160 years we’ll be ready for another one.

Tomorrow morning Jan and I will head down to the Clear Lake area for Jan’s doctor’s appointment, and then lunch and some other errands.


August 20, 2016

We Got A Gate!

A Short Bog Tonight!]

Because we’ve got a lot to do.

We don’t have all the particulars yet, mainly the exact location, but it’s northeast of Bryan/College Station in the same general vicinity as our 2014 gate near North Zulch.

It’s a 3-well workover project that should take about 3 months . . . we hope. And even better, no FRC’s. The only downside is it’s $125 a day, and not $150 like last year. But it’s a Gate, so It’s hard to complain.

The only other problem is that we have to be there at 8am Monday morning, so we’ll have to travel up to that area tomorrow afternoon. Luckily, going the back way through La Grange, it’s only about 120 miles.

So after Landon’s birthday party in Katy, tonight we had to drive down to our son Chris’ to pick up our canopy frame. Then tomorrow morning we’ll pick up some groceries to last us a while, before we head out about 1pm.

I’ll have to update you on Landon’s birthday later.


August 20, 2017

Happy 7th Birthday Landon Thomas Morrison!

I spent the morning and afternoon working on the client’s computer stuff, mostly trying to figure out the mail server situation at my client in Clear Lake.

I use TeamViewer, a program that once installed on the client’s computers, allows me to log in and control it remotely. So I can do a lot of stuff from the rig and not have to travel down to Clear Lake quite as often.

Last night I dumped a box of baking soda in a bowl and left it in the fridge overnight and almost all of the remaining odor is gone. Now to restock all the staples we had in there.

About 3:15 Jan and I traveled down to the Katy area to meet Brandi, Lowell, Landon, and Lowell’s sister Sherry, at the Rainforest Café in Katy Mills Mall to celebrate Landon’s 7th birthday.

We took the Grand Parkway around this time, since we’d never done it in this direction. And since I updated our Garmin GPS a couple of months ago, that’s the way it wants to take us anyway, and not by the Sam Houston Tollway as before.

Rainforest Cafe 1

Jan and I got to the restaurant and got seated along with Sherry, as we waited for the birthday boy, et. al.

Jan had the Shrimp Tacos,

Rainforest Cafe Shrimp Tacos

while I had the Awesome Appetizer Sampler.

Rainforest Cafe Awesome Appetizer

Plenty to share with Jan, and plenty to take home for later.

For dessert, and to celebrate Landon’s birthday, we all shared Rainforest Café’s famous Volcano ice cream cake, complete with sparkler

Rainforest Cafe Volcano

About every 30 minutes, a rainstorm rolls through the jungle, illuminating things with flashes of lightning as the thunder rolls on.

Rainforest Cafe Sky

Landon opened one present from his Aunt Sherry,

Landon at Rainforest Cafe

but the rest waited until we got back to Brandi’s.

If you want to see the eclipse here in the Houston area, it will start about 11:45am, and will be at its maximum at 1:45pm, before fading away around 2:45. At its peak, it will look something like this,

Eclipse In Houston

with about 2/3’s of the sun obscured.

Don’t forget your special glasses and don’t look at the sun without them.


August 20, 2018

Pho More . . .

Today was another work day for me, mostly catching up on price changes and catalog corrections.

Coming home about 3:30 it started pouring down rain just as I got off I-45 and kept it up until I got into Santa Fe. But stopped before I got home.

I told Jan I was hankering for some Phở so we headed right back out to have dinner at nearby Phở 20. Jan went with something new, Chicken and Veggies Lo Mein,

Pho 20 Chicken and Veggie Lo Mein

while I got my usual Chicken White Meat Phở with Extra Veggies,

Pho 20 Chicken Pho with Veggies 2

along with an order of the Shrimp Spring Rolls.

Pho 20 Shrimp Spring Rolls

Tomorrow I’m going to raise the bed and take a look at the top of the engine to see if I can get a handle on my oil leak. Wish me luck.


August 20, 2019

The Operation Was A Success, But . . .

The Patient Died.

Also known as OOPS!

When you last were here, I had successfully interfaced my WiFi Module to my Mr. Coffee machine, allowing me to control it remotely from anywhere in the world, and also set up timed brewing without worrying about power glitches erasing the times. And last night it worked fine with no problems, making our nightly decaf brew.

And this morning, it again worked fine . . . for about 5 minutes, and then it shut off, never to work again. When I tried to restart it, it just beeped like it was finished brewing and then quit. Over and over.

Now, Jan’s first thought was that I broke her Mr. Coffee, and she was not happy without her caffeine this morning. So to soothe her withdrawal pangs, I heated up water in the microwave and poured it over the grounds.

I looked back over my wiring and found nothing loose or changed. So was this somehow the fault of my modification, or just bad luck that our 8! year old Mr. Coffee just up and croaked.

Maybe it just died of old age.

About 1pm Jan and I headed up to the Clear Lake area for lunch at Snooze and then mutual haircuts for the both of us, as well as a Wal-Mart stop for more stuff.

Apparently we can never have enough ‘stuff’. At least that’s what I assume, because we just keep buying more.

And of course, one of the things from WalMart was this shiny new RED Mr. Coffee machine.

New Mr Coffee

And it looks like it might be even easier to get into to modify than the old one.

You didn’t really think I was giving this up, did you?

I will say that Jan made me promise that if I do kill this one, I have to leave the new one alone.

Yes Ma’am.

We did have a nice cool snap today, with our temps staying in the 80’s with a lot of overcast. It would be really nice if it holds for Thursday for my brake job.

And assuming I not still working on my brakes on Saturday, or maybe Sunday, I’m planning on crawling under the rig and trying to replace the oil filter adapter gasket.

Hopefully, that will fix my rig oil leak problem once and for all.


August 20, 2020

Happy 10th Birthday . . .

Ten years ago today, Landon Thomas Morrison looked like this.

Landon Thomas Morrison

Then nine years ago, he looked like this.

Video call snapshot 287

Five years ago he looked like this.

Smith Ranch 4

Three years ago he looked like this.

Landon at Rainforest Cafe

And this is Landon recently doing his online classes with Jack helping out

Landon and Jack in his Online Class

Of course, Landon’s birthday wasn’t all cake and presents today. Earlier this morning Brandi texted this over.

Poor Landon.

He is on a Zoom with his music teacher and was trying to tell him it was his birthday, but it autocorrected to “It’s my bitch”!! 

He came to me crying and showed it to me. I ran over and you could tell he was reading it because he stopped mid-sentence and was kinda shocked for a few seconds.

Still kinda upset.

He did text back and told him he was trying to say “it’s my birthday”. 

I called the school so they could tell him too. He’s very worried he’s going to get in trouble.

Of course, I could not stop laughing.

I told him to not try to type so fast. LOL


August 20, 2021

I’m Jealous . . .

Jan went into work with me this morning so we could leave for Brand’s from Clear Lake rather than me coming back to the rig to pick her up first, saving us an hour on the trip up to Katy.

And Brandi was already for Landon when he got home from school this afternoon.

Happy Birthday Landon Yard

And then once Lowell got home Landon got to open his presents first before dinner.

Happy Birthday Landon Presents

After a delivery dinner from Hasta La Pasta, I got a look at Landon’s computer setup. And I’m jealous.

Happy Birhday Landon Computer Setup

That curved monitor is really something, and very sharp.

One of the birthday presents he got was a specialized gaming keyboard and mouse, and it does everything but the dishes. He got the keyboard installed and configured pretty quickly, but had some trouble with the mouse and asked for help.

I think the problem is that that mouse has more buttons and adjustments than the Space Shuttle. Seriously, the mouse has 8 different buttons on it, and 3 computer screens of setups and configurations.

And when we looked at the tiny manual, even he with his now 11-year-old eyes, wondered, “Why do they print it so small?”

And even worse it was in about six different languages. So he went back to his old gaming mouse, and said he’d do some research online to get get some help.

And the lighting effects alone on the keyboard are really something. It’s a lightshow all by itself, with the colors rippling back and forth across the keys, and even doing the wave.

A really nice setup.

There’s not much on the agenda for tomorrow. We’re probably going to have lunch at a new place up in Webster called The Cookshack, specializing in Chicken, Waffles, and Ribs.

Sounds like our kind of place.


August 20, 2022

Start Your Engines . . .

Jan and I were on our way up to Katy by about 10:45 this morning, meeting Brandi, Lowell, Landon and Sophie at Andretti’s Indoor Karting & Games in Katy. Though we encountered a lot of on-and-off heavy rains, the trip was pretty smooth.

And once we got close it was pretty easy to find.

Andretti's

The place is huge, bigger than a football field.

I dropped Jan off in front while I found a place to park on the side of the building, not too far from the front door. And parked right next to me was a high-end Cadillac SUV. And I don’t know how he got here, but I don’t think he’s leaving anytime soon.

This was his passenger-side front tire,

Andretti's Cadillac Wheel 2

and this was his rear tire.

Andretti's Cadillac Wheel 1

And his driver’s side front tire was almost flat, but the wheel didn’t appear to be damaged.

Getting inside we found Lowell and Brandi in the Food Court area, while Landon and Sophie were out and about playing games.

Brandi and Lowell had already eaten so Jan and I ordered ours from the Food Trucks.

Andretti's Food Court

You put your order in and they bring it right to your table.

Jan got the Buffalo Chicken Wrap with Fries,

Andretti's Jan's Buffalo Chicken Wrap

which she said was Delicious!

I got the Bacon Cheeseburger with Ghost Pepper Cheese, and Onion Strings.

Andretti's Greg Burger

Also really good.

A few minutes later Landon and Sophie showed up to say Hi.

Landon and Sophie at Andretti's

One thing neat about this place is that none of the games or rides use money. You’re given a card that’s loaded with money at the front desk. Then every time you want to play a game or ride a kart you just swipe your card.

About 1pm Landon and Sophie’s ride number came up and we all walked over to watch them.

Andretti's Cars Landon & Sophie 1

That’s Sophie in the 2nd kart on the first row, with Landon right behind her.

Andretti's Kart Start

And here’s Landon coming up the hill in front of us.

Andretti's Cars Landon 1

And here’s Sophie passing by.

Andretti's Cars Sophie 1

This is a short video of Landon in his yellow shirt passing by.

And here’s Sophie with a little wave.

Besides the karts, there are also hundreds of video games. Every type and kind you can think of.

Andretti's Games 1

Andretti's Games 2

Andretti's Games 3

And of course, what’s a game area without crane/claw machines?

Andretti's Games 4

But this one in the center is the most popular.

Andretti's Games 5

And here’s why.

It’s full of dinosaurs.

Andretti's Games 6

But your chance of actually winning anything is determined by the computer inside and not your skill.

Here’s a blog from 2015 where I talk about how they can be programmed for any rate of profit you want. Just like a slot machine. The Crane part is about halfway down.

Trains And Cranes

And how about a crane game for adults?

The Lobster Claw

Of course, you could get a prize the good old-fashioned way.

Kid in Crane Machine

Just climb inside.


August 20, 2023

Happy 13th Birthday, Landon Thomas Morrison . . .

Everyone watch out world. He’s a teenager now.

Looks like we’re all getting together the weekend of 9/9 to cover Landon’s birthday, as well as the others in September. Really looking forward to it.

Today was pretty laidback, with lunch at our favorite Yummy Yummy Chinese Buffet, and then moving on to HEB for our weekly stuff. And then home.

As I said, a laidback day.