Unlike Thursday’s schedule, today’s went off without a hitch.
It started off about noon with Jan getting her toeies done at Galaxy Nails while I read my tablet at the King’s Bierhaus right next door.
She and her sparkly toes showed up about 1pm and we ordered pretty much our usuals.
Jan got a cup of their Tomato Basil Soup, which she actually likes better than the Katz’s Deli version,
while I got a cup of the Hungarian Goulash. As I’ve said before, when we were in Hungary, I was surprised to find out that Goulash is pretty much just Beef Vegetable Stew with a lot of Paprika.
Of course, I spiced it up more with a good dose of my Carolina Reaper flakes.
Jan got her fav Shrimp Tacos with the Cucumber Side Salad.
Jan says that these are even better than the ones at Schafer’s.
I got the BBQ Bacon CheeseBurger, that’s made with a 1/2# patty of Angus Beef.
All really great, and because of the soups, we had half our meals to bring home for another meal.
Then, because we’d already done Wal-Mart this past Thursday, we just came straight home.
Nice!
Ever wonder why bug sprays don’t seem to work very well? Well, it’s because they don’t work very well.
Simple, right?
If you want to stop a cockroach infestation, most consumer products offer ‘absolutely no benefit.’
Common consumer insecticide sprays and aerosols are ineffective against German cockroach infestations, according to a study published August 14 in Journal of Economic Entomology. The findings have big implications for the management of one of the most insidious household pests, and for how pesticides are regulated and marketed.
Past research has repeatedly demonstrated that the vast majority of free-living German roach populations have evolved resistance to pyrethroids, the class of insecticides most commonly found in consumer pest control products.
“If you can find a bug to spray with a product, you can also just hit it with a hammer,” DeVries says. In essence, there’s no more benefit to one of these bug sprays than a well-timed shoe.
So, maybe we mis-remembered?
Jan and I always seemed to remember that when we were dating during the summer of 1967 in the Titusville/Cocoa Beach, FL area, that we regularly ate at Sonny’s BBQ, as well as a competitor chain, Fat Boy’s BBQ.
So we were a little confused a few years back when were at the Sonny’s location in Pensacola, FL, and saw a sign that said, “Since 1968”. At that point, we thought maybe we were just eating at the very first one, before they started the chain.
But that wasn’t correct, either.
Sonny’s BBQ celebrates founder’s birthday
Sonny put Gainesville on America’s barbecue map in 1968 when he opened its first barbecue restaurant at 2700 NE Waldo Rd. Now with 91 locations across the South, the home-style restaurant franchised into one of the largest barbecue chains in the country.
So now we’re wondering where we were actually eating. We know it was a BBQ place, but which one?
Thought For The Day:
Some people wonder what we should do about a class of people who rely on government handouts without doing any work?
Well, kicking them out of Congress would be a good start.
Your Retro-Preview Highlights –
2009 – Moose River, VT
2011 – Uh Oh! 30 amps!
2013 – The Birthday Boy
2014 – A Sandspur Invasion
2015 – Two Repairs in Two Days
2017 – Hacking Into A Server
2019 – A Day At The Pool
2022 – Our Next Family Get-Together
And Now On To today’s Retro-Blogs.™
August 17, 2009
On the road again…
Well, we did a 20-mile test drive and it looks like we’re good to go!
As soon as I can find another filter, I’m going to buy one as a spare so I’ll always have one on hand. I probably wouldn’t be able to install it on the road because I would have to hang over the very hot muffler to install it.
So I would have to wait a few hours for things to cool down.
The park we’ve been at for the last several days here in St. Johnsbury, VT is called…
Unfortunately for Jan, the only moose we saw there was this cutout at the entrance.
It’s a very pretty park with very friendly owners.
No Moose, but at least there was a river.
The only problem with our parking spot is that there is no shade, but then the satellite reception is great!
Now that the coach is ready to go, today is our last day here at Moose River.
Tomorrow we’ll drive about 50 miles over to Gorham, NH. Since I couldn’t find a decent RV park in the area, we’ll Wally-dock for the night.
August 17, 2010
Books and Bagels
This morning it was time for another road trip, so at 9:45 Jan and I headed about 80 miles north to Allegan, MI, and we had a nice drive through the country to boot.
Coming back to Elkhart, this time we took a different route back to Elkhart – through Kalamazoo and Portage.
Our first stop in Portage was at Gander Mtn. to pick up some outdoorsy stuff, then down the road a few blocks to Red Robin for lunch. It was our first time at one and we really liked it. I had the chicken sandwich, and Jan had the Cobb salad. All very good.
Our first stop after lunch was at Panera Bread for some Asiago Cheese bagels. But unfortunately they only 3 left, not the dozen we wanted.
Next I dropped off Jan at the nearby Bed Bath & Beyond while I played with my computer in the truck. Then it was just down to the block to Barnes & Noble for some reading material.
Since we were driving by on our way home, we stopped at Phoenix Commercial Paint to check in with Michele to see how our cargo bay door repairs were coming. As you can see below they’ve done a great job in repairing the lower edge of the door panels.
I’m going to take the last four panels over to her tomorrow.
Getting back to the park about 4:30 Jan and I sat outside with Mister for a while before we drove over to the DQ for an evening snack.
August 17, 2011
Uh Oh! 30 amps!
We had one last breakfast at Robbi’s Restaurant this morning with Debbie, Jim, Tana, Gwen, and Jan and I. We really had a great time visiting with Debbie and her family, and, of course, seeing Brandi, Lowell, and Landon too.
After saying our goodbyes, and getting last-minute hugs, Jan and I headed back out to the RV Park to get ready to leave.
I’d gotten up at 6:30 and pretty much had everything done before we left for breakfast, so all we really had to do was hitch up the toad, unplug the power, and head out.
We pulled out of our site right at 11, and a few minutes later we were on I-70 heading east toward Terre Haute. It warmed up pretty fast so about 40 miles down the road I started up the generator so we could run the house A/C’s.
Then about 15 miles west of Terre Haute we turned north on SR 1, heading through Paris, IL to the small (very small) town of Blanford, IN. Right outside of Blanford, we entered Indiana and the Eastern Time Zone. This means that during our travels this year, we’ve been in all four US time zones. Jan was happy to see a Super Wal-Mart as we passed through Paris which is only about 15 miles from our park.
A couple of miles north of Blanford we arrived at the Horseshoe Lakes Thousand Trails Resort.
This Thousand Trails is kind of unusual in that you don’t check in at the guardhouse, but at an office down a side road. Then once you’re checked in, you come back out of the side road and enter the park itself using the gate code you now have.
As we’ve done with a couple of the other large, heavily-forested TT parks, we left the rig at the office, and after unhitching the toad, we drove it around to find a spot. I took my compass with me so I would be able to check for satellite availability. Finding a good spot, we left a bag chair to hold it while we went back for the rig.
We found a really nice site, across from the lake, with some trees for shade, but open enough for good satellite reception, and 3 bars of 3G on my phone.
All that, along with the really good water pressure means a happy camper.
So far this looks like a really nice park, and hopefully we still feel the same way at the end of our two-week stay.
I’ve got a lot of projects lined up, and maybe I can make a dent in the list.
The only problem we’ve had so far is when Jan was fixing supper, and everything suddenly got very quiet and very dark.
Then I hear Jan say “Uh Oh! 30 Amps!
So, no, she can’t run the microwave and toaster oven at the same time that the A/C and the dryer are running.
August 17, 2013
The Birthday Boy . . .
While Jan and I were having our coffee this morning, Richard King and Mark Didelot came by to say ‘Hi’. They’re blog readers of mine and are here with a group of Tiffin owners, and noticed we were here too and came over to meet us. It’s always nice to meet blog readers along our travels.
This Tuesday, August 20th is Landon’s birthday, but today was his birthday party, and a party it was. Jan and I headed out about 10:30 to get his presents and also pick up a few supplies at Wal-Mart, and then it was back here to do the wrapping.
We got over to Brandi’s about 1pm, and found our son Chris and his family, wife Linda, and daughter Piper already there. They were all blowing up balloons and Piper was putting the streamers up.
Landon’s birthday cake was really neat.
The theme for the party was Pirates, and the cake was an ocean with an island, and it was all made of individual cupcakes covered over with icing.
Landon in the meantime, was taking a nap with his other Nana so he would be fresh for the party that started around 2pm.
The highlight of the party was a Water Slide that they had rented for the occasion, and it was a big hit.
There were over 50 adults and children at the party, so Brandi and Lowell’s big house came in handy. There was room enough for everyone.
Finally it was time for Landon to open his presents, and he had a ball. Got some great gifts too. Jan spent a good while picking out just the right wrapping paper for his presents at Wal-Mart this morning, and I kept telling her it wasn’t necessary.
Kids, especially boys, just don’t care what a present is wrapped in. It could be wrapped in old garbage bags or newspaper, and as long as the kid thinks there’s a toy in there, it’s history. Again, he just doesn’t care.
After all that, Landon settled down long enough to have some of his birthday cake.
Then he finished things up with a Happy Birthday kiss from his cousin Piper.
Everyone was pretty much gone by 5pm, so we were able to spend some time together as a family, just catching up. Jan and I finally headed out about 8:30, and I’m sure Brandi was glad to see us all go. If only for the peace and quiet.
Tomorrow afternoon we’re going over to Chris and Linda’s and Chris and I are going to put new brake pads on my truck. Then we’ll eat supper at Barcenas, one of our favorite local Mexican places.
August 17, 2014
A Sad Day . . .
On a sad note, since we got here to the Colorado River Thousand Trails Jan and I have been fighting a sandspur invasion. And apparently it’s all Mister’s fault.
When we were at Maxie’s Campground in Broussard, LA a couple of nights ago, we let Mister lay outside on his leash for an hour or so. And it seems that the ground he was lying on was full of sandspurs. And then he brought them in the rig on his coat. And then the sandspurs apparently stuck to our rugs better than Mister.
So all of a sudden Jan and I were stepping on sandspurs IN the rig. By the time we figured out what had happened, and I checked Mister over, there were none left on his coat. They were now all over the rig. And even though I’ve gone over the rugs several times, we’re still finding them, the painful way.
About 4:30 Jan and I headed into Katy to have dinner with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro, our favorite local Asian place.
We were surprised about how much traffic we encountered heading into Houston. In fact we hit on and off, bumper to bumper traffic as soon as we got on I-10E. It slowed things down enough that it took about an hour and twenty minutes for the normally one-hour trip.
While we waited for Brandi to get home, I helped Landon assemble a present we got him while we were up in Elkhart, IN. It’s a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton kit. But it’s more like a puzzle.
There are no real instructions, just pictures, and the parts aren’t labeled in any way. But after fooling with it for a while, we finally got it finished.
What’s really strange about this photo is that the T-Rex skeleton is flat black in color. But when it’s hit with the flash from the camera, it fluoresces bright white, almost glowing. The pieces seemed to be made from some sort of stiff wood or paper, very light, but strong, and the black color goes all the way through. It’s not a paint. Strange.
Little V’s seems to make pretty much everything from scratch, even Landon’s Corn Dog Bites are made in-house.
As far as us grownups, everyone went with their favorites. We started out with an order of their Pork Spring Rolls, also made in-house, and to order. Even the Peanut Sauce is homemade.
Next up was our favorite Shaking XXXXX Bowls. Jan’s XXXXX was Chicken and my XXXXX was Beef. Topped off with Sriracha and some of their special hot sauce, it’s hard to describe how good this is.
And no meal at Little V’s is complete without a spoonful of Crème Brûlée, the perfect end to a filling meal.
After getting our Landon hugs, Jan and I drove back to the rig, getting home a little after 9pm, and luckily encountering a lot less traffic than our trip in.
August 17, 2015
Two Repairs in Two Days . . .
I hope.
I checked the water level in the radiator this morning and found it hadn’t dropped any since we topped it off yesterday at Chris’. So that’s one problem out of the way.
Next up, the A/C/Heater blower fan in the truck. I mentioned when we were back in Prescott, AZ last June that it seemed like our A/C blower wasn’t putting out as much air as it should. The first thing that comes to mind is the blower motor itself. So I did a little Googling and found that in most cases it’s not the blower, but the resistor pak that is used to regulate the blower speeds.
So before I replaced a $50 blower motor, I thought I’d replace the $8 resistor pak first. So right before we left Prescott after our two-month rig repair, I picked one up at a NAPA Auto Parts.
But one thing led to another, and with all our traveling, I never got around to changing it out. Part of the procrastination was that the manual seemed to show that you have to remove the glove compartment and part of the dash to get to it.
But a little more Googling showed me a video that said different. In fact it only turned out to be 15 minute job, and that was because I managed to drop the two screws in the grass and had to use a big magnet to find them.
The resistor pak is mounted in the airduct to help keep the resistors cool and hides right behind this plastic panel.
From underneath you can see it’s held in with only two screws.
Remove those and the plug harness falls right out.
Some people online mentioned a problem with a melted harness and/or connector but mine looked fine. So after unplugging the old one, I sprayed the connector with Strike-Hold magic elixir, and plugged the new one in.
Once I found the screws in the grass, it only took a couple of minutes to get the unit remounted.
For a quick test, I cranked up the truck and turned on the A/C. It seems to be blowing harder, but I don’t think I can really tell until we’re on the road.
And that will be tomorrow when we drive into Katy to have dinner with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon at Little V’s Vietnamese Bistro.
It’s a 55-mile trip, and we won’t even have to stop for water.
August 17, 2016
Recuperating . . .
After several days of early risings, I finally got to sleep in this morning, made much nicer by the steady rain on the rig’s roof.
It’s nice to just sit back for a while and not do much of anything. After coffee and toast, I spent the morning catching up on some web stuff that was delayed during our recent traveling.
Then I started looking through some recent ads I’d seen for gate guard openings. I’m also trying to track down a listing I saw recently for wind farm gate guarding jobs in OK. I know I saved it off somewhere.
About 2pm I went down to the park office to settle up for our stay here. We used up our 50 free days a good while ago, since we alternated between Colorado River and Lake Conroe every two weeks. So now we’re paying $5 day plus $3 a day for 50 amps. So we’re paying $8 day, still a very good deal.
Of course our projected 12 day stay here may get cut short if we get a gate in the meantime.
This coming Saturday is Landon’s 6th birthday, and Brandi is having his party at the Main Event Entertainment Center in Katy. With bowling, bocce ball, billiards, laser tag, and a rock climbing wall, it’s got something for everyone. Should be fun.
We got Landon a couple of robot kits for his gifts, a Table Top Robot Crab that runs around the table top and when it senses the edge, turns and goes in another direction,
and a Solar Powered Transforming Robot that makes a number of different units.
They’re both for 8 years and up, but he’s really good at building up the animated Lego kits so I suspect he’ll have no trouble with these either.
August 17, 2017
Not A Happy Camper . . .
or RV’er either, for that matter.
But at least we’re home.
We left Lowell and Brandi’s this morning after Jan’s 12 day stay and my 11 day one. heading back over to Big Wheel Diesel & Wrecker in Hammond, LA to pick up our RV and get back on the road.
With two of us, we were able to take the Katy HOV lanes right into Houston until everything came to a sudden stop around the I-45 exits.
As best I can figure all of the folks in the left two lanes wanted to be in the right two lanes, and all of the folks in the right two lanes wanted to be in the left two lanes. Now you would think that all these folks could have gotten together and worked this out ahead of time. But no, they were going to fight it out right there on the spot.
Which left those of us who just wanted to go straight up the middle pretty much casualties of the scuffle.
But finally getting through, we made a gas/breakfast/bathroom stop at the Buc-ee’s in Katy before getting back on I-10 East,
We stopped at the Pilot/Flying J in Breaux Bridge for lunch at Arby’s and met another RV’ing couple who were there with an 80’s vintage Airstream they’re rehabilitating.
Finally getting into Hammond about 4:30, our first stop was a nearby Chase bank to take out $1900 in cash to pay the tab. They told me on the phone that they charge a 3% surcharge for credit/debit cards, this on top of the 10% sale tax. I’m already giving these people enough of our money without throwing another $57 at them.
Arriving at Big Wheel, I gave them a lot of money and then waited for them to bring the RV around so I could hitch up the truck and we could get on the way.
Turns out that you can have plenty of propane to keep your fridge running for two weeks, but only if some idiot doesn’t hit the coach battery disconnect and turn off all 12 volts to the coach, including the fridge.
A lot of people don’t realize that when your fridge is on propane, it also needs 12 volts for the electrical part of things. Obviously, no one at Big Wheel did.
When I got in the rig it was 100° so I tried to turn on the ceiling fans to start cooling down the rig while I got the generator running to get the A/C’s going. But the fans wouldn’t work, and the generator wouldn’t start, wouldn’t even crank. Turning to look at my voltmeter I had no 12 volts in the coach, even with the engine running.
My first thought was that they had disconnected the coach batteries while they working on the coach, but when I asked they had just used the battery disconnect switch by the door. For some reason, I didn’t even think of the switch. Hot and tired, I guess.
It was only after everyone was gone, (they close at 5pm) that I thought to check the fridge. Yep, totally defrosted, with the thermometer showing 82 degrees inside.
Damn!
But at least it seems like nothing has rotted inside.
Pulling out of the Big Wheel lot about 5:15 we were quickly back on I-10 west, heading for Breaux Bridge and Poche’s RV Park, about 95 miles away. The coach ran great, with no overheating, and no problems with the power steering. So it looks like at least that problem has been fixed.
We pulled into Poche’s about 7pm, and pretty much just plugged in power and water, and collapsed.
It has been a very long, hot day.
Tomorrow we’ve got a 270 mile run to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails where we’ll be for nine days. We’ll probably just sleep the first two.
August 17, 2019
A Day At The Pool . . .
We didn’t get home from Brandi’s up in Katy until kind of late this evening. So I’ll just post a few pictures of the day.
August 17, 2020
I Don’t Like To Read Books Anymore . . .
I have a number of favorite books, mostly sci-fi paperbacks, that every few years I pull out and reread. Now many of these I’ve bought again in Kindle versions just to have them available, but some of them were from back in the mid-90’s and were never converted to Kindle.
One of these is called Anti-Ice written by award-winning, best-selling author Stephen Baxter. So when I saw my old copy in my bedroom cabinet, I thought I’d give it a try.
And that’s when I discovered I don’t really like books anymore, at least the real, touchy-feely, wood-pulpy kind.
You know, the ones that you can’t read in the dark, the ones that you can’t make the print larger when your eyes are tired, or the ones that you can only carry a couple around with you at any one time.
No, I now prefer the ones that light up in the dark, the ones that I can resize the print with a squeeze of my fingers, or easily carry around the 1527 books presently in our Kindle account.
Those kinds of books.
August 17, 2021
An Alvin Opry Get-Together . . .
Our long-time friend Chris Yust, who’s actually now on a Carnival cruise in the Caribbean, was nice enough to send Jan these beautiful Flamingo earrings, her new favorites.
Thanks, Chris!
Jan and I left for our lunch date about 11:15, to meet up with a bunch of old Alvin Opry friends at the Cheddar’s up in Webster.
Starting off next to Jan on the left, are Connie Taube, Maria and Bob Sutton, Sadye and Harry Dudley, finishing up with Hugh Jordan on the right.
We’ve known Bob and Maria since the mid-80’s, and the others since the late-90’s when we first started going to the original Alvin Opry.
We had a great time, so much so that we’ve already scheduled the time and place to do it again next month.
So good seeing everyone.
August 17, 2022
Our Next Family Get-Together . . .
We’ve been talking about this for a while, but this past Monday we finally pulled the trigger.
Jan and I had wanted to revisit the Snake Farm (now Animal World & Snake Farm Zoo) in New Braunfels, and also eat at the Magic Time Machine nearby in San Antonio, both long-time favorites of ours.
Though we’ve visited the Snake Farm over the years, the last time was December of 2008 after we wrapped up our first year of RV’ing. And that’s when we discovered Miss Piper’s love of big snakes.
And then the next year when Piper and Brandi visited us up in New York City in July 2009 she found another one.
The Magic Time Machine is a unique restaurant location, as much entertainment as a restaurant.
Inside it’s a maze of alcoves, cubbyholes, and other Nooks and Crannies.
The Salad Bar is actually a Salad Car, a 1952 MG-TD outfitted as their Soup and Salad
And the servers are all dressed as characters from movies, TV shows, and literature.
Over the years we’ve had Wonder Woman,
The Joker,
and more recently, twice in fact, Lady Ga Ga.
And our food has always been good too.
One time back in the 80’s we were there with Chris and Brandi, and one of the servers was dressed as Tarzan, just wearing a loincloth. There were lit candles on each table, and as he was bending over to serve one table, he backed into a candle on the table behind him, setting his loincloth on fire.
When he realized what had happened, he started jumping around, yelling, and grabbing glasses of water from the tables and throwing it on his rear end.
And all of us at the surrounding tables started laughing and clapping, thinking it was part of the show.
It wasn’t.
Finally, he ran out of the dining room, with a trail of smoke behind him, while he still had some dignity . . . and a loincloth.
We’ve got this scheduled for October 15-16, and it looks like everyone’s on board. We’ll drive over on Saturday morning, about a 3-1/2 trip, and meet everyone at the Snake Farm. Then sometime around 5 or so, we’ll make the 20-minute drive to San Antonio for dinner at the Time Machine.
Afterward, Jan and I plan on spending the night nearby, then doing some more driving around, before heading back to Santa Fe on Sunday afternoon.
Tomorrow is Landon’s first day as a 7th Grader, and then this Saturday, the 20th, he turns 12.
It’s a big week for him.
And to celebrate, we’re all meeting up at the Rainforest Café in Katy for his birthday.
Really looking forward to it.
August 17, 2023
Fall Is Officially Here . . .
Pumpkin Pie Coffee Creamer has appeared on store shelves, and Shipley Donuts now has Pumpkin Spice Donuts in stock.
But more importantly, our nighttime temps have started to drop. During the summer our nightly lows tend to be in the low 80’s, 82-83 or so. But now we’re looking at the high 70’s, or even lower. In fact this morning it was down to 74°.
Nice
And this is pretty much normal for this time of year, and was why we would always try to start gate-guarding toward the end of August. It started cooling off pretty quickly.
Tomorrow afternoon I’m heading up to Katy to pick up Jan from Brandi’s and bring her home. But there will be a detour along the with lunch at the Grimaldi’s Pizzeria over at La Centerra, and then a Trader Joe’s stop right next door.
I came across an interesting article today, the second in a series on how to pick a mate.
He’s the One: Measuring male marriageability
And it has a lot of interesting stuff. Some pretty obvious, and some not.
Plus there are these gems:
“Women marry hoping their husbands will change; men marry hoping their wives won’t change. And they’re both usually disappointed.”
“What I really want is for my man to just tell me the truth!” – which usually, but perhaps not always, should be understood as meaning “What I really want is for my man to just tell me what I want to hear – and for it to be true!”
A much simpler rule is to just watch how a potential mate treats service people (hotel staff, airline employees, retail salespeople, Uber/cab drivers, etc. but ESPECIALLY waiters/waitresses) b/c that’s how s/he will be treating you in 6 months.
Being too stupid to know that when she became her mother’s age she would turn into her mother.
Find a girl who looks at you the way your dog looks at you when you get home . . . if you can.
And my favorite from the Comments.
“Let me note that my wife and I celebrated forty years of marriage in June, and we are still happy. We still appreciate my Mom’s comment, made about six months after we were married, when she said, “It’s a good thing you two married each other so you didn’t spoil two normal marriages.”
Jan and I both agreed that this is so us.
And as I’ve told Jan in the past, if I say something that taken one way makes you mad, and taken the other way doesn’t make you mad, I meant it the second way. I mean, why would I want to make her angry?
Believe me, after 56 years together, why would I want to poke the bear?
Words to live by, guys. Don’t Poke The Bear!
Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q
