Our RV Adventures

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Lunch today was a first visit to an old favorite of ours.

By that, I mean that we’ve been here a number of times in the past when it was Barcenas Mexican Kitchen, but somewhere along the line, Barcenas sold the location and moved over to the Marina Bay area near Schafer’s, another favorite of ours.

Then this location became Hb Mexican Kitchen, but pretty keeping the Barcenas’ menu, just changing the names.

At Barcenas, this was Jan’s favorite Tex-Mex Enchiladas, but now it’s called Enchiladas Texanas.

I got something different, so I don’t know its old name, but Hb calls it Street Style Nachos

The empty area is where the guacamole would have been. But I got it on the side to give to Jan.

All really good, even with the name change.

* * * * * * *

I mentioned in yesterday’s blog about an AI trying to blackmail engineers to prevent it from being shut down.

In a similar vein, check out this video.

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.

.

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So, what’s so special about this video?

Well, nothing shown actually exists. The backgrounds, the people, and voices were all created by an AI in a computer.

Hollywood, be very, very afraid.

* * * * * * *

Yesterday was the initial running of the Wienie 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, leading up to the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 tomorrow.

Six Oscar Meyer Wienermobiles competed, representing six regional types of hot dogs, the Chi Dog (Midwest), the New York Dog (East), the Slaw Dog (Southeast), the Sonoran Dog (Southwest), the Chili Dog (South), and the Seattle Dog (Northwest).

Though it’s called the Wienie 500, it’s really the Wienie 5, since the race consists of 2 laps around the 2.5 mile oval, rather then the 200 times around the oval during the real 500.

And while the real Indy cars can hit 250+ mph, the Wienermobiles round the oval at a blistering 65 mph.

And in case you’re wondering, Slaw Dog pulled ahead at the last second, and beat Chi Dog by half a bun.

* * * * * * *

Tomorrow it’s going to be our regular Denny’s, HEB, and gas, Sunday.

Thought for the Day:

Patience – What you have to have when there are too many witnesses.

Your Retro-Preview Highlights –

2017 – Back Home in South Dakota

2019 – Afternoon Tea At The Chesterfield Mayfair in London

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

May 24, 2009

Donald Trump & Too Much Iced Tea…

Today we headed out to Bill and Charlee’s about 10 am to get together for the day.

We had breakfast at the Deli Inn, a great diner that we hope we can go back to before we leave. Really good food.

After breakfast we went to Walmart for our shopping fix, then on to Best Buy and BrandsMart so Bill and Charlee could look at new TV’s.

Then it was on to Home Depot because Bill needed some 2×4’s and I picked up some CLR to clean our shower head.

After this Bill and Charlee took us on a tour of Palm Beach mansions and yachts.

We drove past Mar-A-Lago which is now owned by Donald Trump, The Breakers Hotel, and countless other places. There is a lot of money here!

Later we went to supper at the Dixie Bar and Grill and had another great meal, topped off by some guy at the bar backing into our waitress who proceeded to dump a large glass of iced tea in my lap.

Boy, that was a wake-up call!

She was very apologetic, but it wasn’t really her fault, so we all just had a good laugh about it. Luckily, I was only somewhat soggy.

Later on, I asked her for some more iced tea, but preferably in a glass this time. She started apologizing all over again.

After that, it was back to the coach to dry out.  And luckily, no problems with the A/C today.

May 24, 2010

A Coeur d’Alene day…

After lazing around the rig this morning ,we left about noon on a bunch of errands, but our first stop was at a Starbucks for coffee and a Danish.

Then it was off to Bed Bath & Beyond to pick out a gift for our daughter Brandi’s bridal shower. Since she reads our blog, I won’t say what we got for her.

Then we walked to the Borders Books next door to check out the magazines.

Leaving there we drove over to the Post Office to drop off some letters.

By then it was about 3 pm and we decided it was time for a little early dinner so we stopped off at Casa de Oro, a very nice little Mexican restaurant we ate at two years ago when we were here.. And it was still good.

After dinner, we found a car wash and got the truck washed. Jan said it was about time since she was having trouble seeing out her window.

Leaving there, we drove over to the Fred Myers for gas and groceries. It was nice to find cheaper gas. The last time we bought gas for the truck in California it was $3.30. Here it was $2.73. A big difference.

And the other day, when we left Westport, WA, I paid $3.70 for diesel.  Here today it was $3.20.

That’s 50 cents a gallon!  And at 100 to 120 gallons that adds up. Too bad I couldn’t wait.

After doing our shopping in Fred Meyer’s we headed back to the rig for the night.

Tomorrow we head out to Garrison, MT for one night, and then on to Billings for one night.

We will be in Gillette, WY for 4 or 5 days starting Friday the 26th for the American Coach Rally.

May 24, 2011

More Muffins . . .

Today was kind of a rest-up day from our 235-mile round trip down to King’s Canyon and Sequoia National Parks and back. So we slept in this morning.

When I got up at 10:30, I fixed us coffee and had the last of our muffins from the Sam’s Club in Las Vegas. I guess it’s time to stock up again.

We’ll have to check out Von’s in Oakhurst and see what they have in the bakery.

Later, we decided to head out to Oakhurst to have dinner at the Chukchansi Casino.

After a great meal at the Casino, we got back about 6:30.

May 24, 2012

Ka-Boom!

is the sound a large crew trailer A/C unit makes when someone accidentally hooks up a 3-phase 480 volt generator to the power input instead of the single-phase 120-volt unit that should have been used.

Other items that joined the fun were the water heater, water pump, microwave, LCD TV, satellite DVR, washer, dryer, refrigerator, and various and sundry light bulbs, which reportedly blew up like firecrackers.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the pad here is a little smaller than normal, so they put the crew trailer over behind us, right outside the gate. Well, the story goes that the diesel generator that supplies power to the trailer quit and wouldn’t restart. So someone drove over to the pad and bought back another generator, apparently not noticing it was a 3-phase 480 volt unit that is used to run some of the big rig pumps. How they got it hooked up, I don’t know, since the plugs are not in any way compatible, but hook it up they did.

And then they cranked it up. And then they threw the breaker.

And then guys came running out of the trailer like they were under attack!  You know, the exploding light bulbs, the smoke pouring out of the TV, the bright flash of light and loud pop from the microwave, that kind of stuff.

It’s never a dull day here on the George Long Ranch and drill site.

For lunch today (Thursday), I made the 8-mile trip into beautiful downtown Charlotte (pop. 1637) to pick up some tacos from Tita’s Taco Stand for lunch. Ryan Etheridge, the Marathon Safety guy, has brought us back breakfast tacos from there a couple of times, and they were really good. So we thought we would try them for lunch.

I was disappointed that they only did breakfast tacos until 11 am, especially since the breakfast items are the biggest part of the menu. And I think this is the first time I’ve seen SPAM as an ingredient for tacos. But apparently it’s pretty popular since I heard several people order them while I was there.

I got us two chicken fajita tacos and two beef fajita tacos, so we could have one each. They were plain and simple, and really good. Just the meat wrapped inside the tortilla with your choice of a red sauce, or a really good, really spicy green sauce. We’ll go back.

Last night, when I drove over to the office to drop off the previous day’s logs, I asked Boone Williams, the night Company Man, if he would have one of the big water tankers soak down the road in front of our gate. Yesterday, it was like being in a dust storm.  Vehicles would stop in front of the gate and you would have to wait for the dust cloud to settle before you could see who it was. But three times during the day we got our road watered down which took care of the problem for now.

This time next week, Jan and I will be in Houston for our granddaughter Piper’s High School Graduation. We plan on leaving next Wednesday afternoon and staying two nights before coming back to our gate on Friday afternoon. Gate Guard Services is arranging for someone to cover our gate while we’re gone.

Piper’s graduation is Thursday night, but Thursday morning we’re taking Landon to the Houston Zoo. It’ll be his first trip, and the way he loves animals, it ought to be fun.

I decided to try one of these wireless solar-powered Vehicle Monitors that Amazon sells.

Solar-Powered Vehicle Monitor

The one we have now, the old ding-ding service station type, only goes about 100 feet in one direction and 60 feet in the other, and I would like to have a little more lead time for approaching vehicles. And yes, this is so at 3am I can wake up before they get to the gate and find me napping. I haven’t been surprised yet, but it’s been close.

This one is supposed to work up to 1000 feet line of sight. Most of the reviews are pretty good, so I wanted to give it a try. I’ll let you know how it works.

As the days get hotter here in Texas, I’m thinking about putting together a cheap Swamp Cooler, or Evaporative Cooler, to cool us down in the hottest part of the day. Swamp coolers are those doghouses you see on rooftops in Arizona. They’re really very simple, consisting of a fan, a water source, and a porous material like burlap.

Swamp coolers will only work in low-humidity areas like Arizona, and not places like Houston. But where they will work, they are much cheaper to operate than conventional air conditioning.

Here’s a link for a simple Swamp Cooler you can build yourself. I’m going to see how the mister units that I’m going to pick up at Tractor Supply tomorrow work before I proceed with the swamp cooler idea.

And ironically enough, a swamp being very humid, would not be a good place to use a swamp cooler.

May 24, 2013

A Bridge Too Far . . .

I’m sure you’ve all seen the news reports about the bridge collapse up in Washington state. It was hit by an oversized truck and it’s really lucky no one was killed, even though a number of vehicles went in the water.

In checking the location of the bridge, on I-5 between Everett and Bellingham, I was curious if we’d ever crossed it. And, as it turns out, we had. Three times, in fact.

In 2008, on our way to Alaska, we were staying at a nice little Passport America park in Cle Elum, WA. The real reason we were here was to visit Roslyn, WA, the town where one of our favorite shows, Northern Exposure, was filmed.

While we were there, we drove over to Bellingham in our truck to pick up four new house batteries for our rig. The Trojans that were in the rig when we bought it were pretty much shot, and I wanted to replace them with Interstate U-2400s. The nearest store that had four in stock was over in Bellingham, so off we went, crossing that bridge both ways.

Then about a week later, we crossed it one more time, in the rig this time, on our way to Alaska. We were entering Canada at Sumas, about 20 miles north of Bellingham.

So the last time I was on the bridge was five years ago, so it’s not my fault.

Our daughter Brandi called this morning with the latest new house update. They did the walkthrough yesterday with closing scheduled for next Thursday. One of the few things not finished yet is that the custom shower doors haven’t come in yet, but soon.

A little later, I called Tahoe Duck Tours to get tickets for the 3:00 tour tomorrow afternoon. We’ve taken the Duck Tours all over the country, so this lets us check another one off our list.

Later, Jan started up a batch of spaghetti sauce with ground beef and mushrooms in the Crock Pot. It should be ready to eat for supper.

About 2:30 Jan and I headed out for some sightseeing and a few things from Raley’s, a local supermarket. I also wanted to see how much worse the traffic would be over this holiday weekend.

While we were out and about, we drove down by the lake and I came across something I hadn’t seen before. A Dog Water Park.

And it looks like it was being put to good use.

And even as cold as the water was, there were still people out on their Jet-Skis.

Hope they’re wearing a wetsuit.

By the time we finished up at Raley’s, it was about 4:30 so after we got home, Jan got started on the garlic bread while I got the spaghetti going. And in this case, it was really easy using the Microwave Pasta Boat.

We got it several years ago, and it’s great for any type of pasta.

You can use the round, hollow handles to measure your spaghetti. One handle-full is a serving for two. You can cook as many as 8 servings at a time. Then just place your spaghetti in the container, add water to the correct level, and set your microwave for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, your spaghetti is ready, no fuss, no muss.

The holes in the lid let you drain the pasta quickly, and then you’re ready to go. You can cook any kind of pasta, and even steam-bake potatoes, both plain and sweet.

A really neat item, and only about $12 from Amazon. Check it out.

Thought I’d give you a heads-up on a new RV show that starts this coming Sunday night. I’m sure you’ve seen the shows where a group goes in and remodels someone’s bathroom, kitchen, backyard, whole house, or even their car. But now we got one for remodeling RV’s. It’s called Rock My RV with Bret Michaels and it comes on Sunday nights at 6pm PDT on the Travel Channel.

Bret Michaels is known for a number of things: lead singer for the rock band Poison, winner of Celebrity Apprentice, and now for being an avid RV’er. He grew up RVing with his family, and still vacations in one today, plus he’s traveled millions of miles touring for concerts in buses he has designed. And he’s designed travel buses for many of his friends.

The early online reviews of the series seem to only have good things to say about it. So give it a try.

May 24, 2014

The Smell of Campfires . . .

The aroma of charcoal lighter fluid.

The screaming of kids.

That means that it’s a holiday weekend, and the campers are out in droves. But overall, it’s been pretty quiet so far. We have a large camper next door, along with a large tent full of kids. Looks like several families together.

But unlike past experiences, everyone’s been well-behaved. Even the parents. A pleasant change.

Our son Chris and his family are spending the weekend up at Inks Lake near Burnet, TX, so he’s getting a chance to try out his sailboat.

Looks like the weather is pretty good.

While we were at the Old Bag Factory yesterday, we checked out a charity thrift store, and I got a Lava Lamp.

Not a bad deal for $2. Makes a nice night light in the coach.

When I went out to get something from the back of our truck today, I discovered that sometime in the last two weeks, since we left the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails, someone hit the rear bumper, causing enough damage to push the bumper into the tailgate, preventing it from being lowered.

I know it took place since we left Lake Conroe because that was the last time I used the tailgate. And it looks like it was maybe a week ago at least, due to the amount of rust.

I had to say some last words this afternoon for our late, beloved Black & Decker Convection/Toaster Oven. It was Jan’s Christmas present in 2011 and it’s always worked great until now.

But this morning, a couple of minutes after I started our English muffins, all of a sudden, the magic smoke came billowing out of the side vent where the electronics reside. And its little light blinked off for the very last time.

Because, as everyone knows, when the magic smoke escapes, that’s all there is.

It will be missed. At least until we visit Wal-Mart tomorrow.

The oven is dead. Long live the new oven.

May 24, 2015

Where Everyone Knows Your Name . . .

Friday, the 22nd. (I’ll catch up all the way eventually.)

Well, after our 15-hour drive on Thursday, it would have been nice to sleep in a little more, but we were excited to get together with the family, or at least the first part of it. So we were out the door a little before 9 to meet the group down the road a couple of miles at the Denny’s.

The Denny’s here in Vandalia is pretty much the local hometown diner, not only where everyone knows your name, but you’re probably related by blood or marriage to three-quarters of them. But the food is good, the service is great, and the manager stops to chat with everyone. Just a really great place.

After breakfast, Jan rode back with her sister Debbie to her house while I came back to the hotel to catch up on some client computer stuff, (and to also catch a nap) finally heading down to Debbie’s about 3pm. Tried to get some shots of all the hummingbirds around Debbie’s flowers and feeders, but they were mostly too fast. Did get one though.

Later in the afternoon, we drove south to Salem, IL to Debbie and Jim’s son Jason and his wife Laura’s home. Laura and Jason have 3 daughters close to Landon’s age so they all had a great time playing on their trampoline.

Then it was off to the Village Garden, a favorite restaurant in the Salem area. Once a defunct Golden Corral, it’s now a great dinner location.

And this little cutie is Annisten, Jason and Laura’s youngest, who just sat across from me and stared. All night. I guess she was wondering just who the hell I was. But she’s a real beauty.

This is Ella, Annisten’s older sister, who looks more and more like her mother Laura every day.

Another cutie.

The oldest, Avery Jane, I never did get a good picture of, because she never stops moving. I’ll try again later.

Then after a great meal, it was back to Debbie’s for a while, and then on to the motel.

Sleep at last.

May 24, 2017

Back Home in South Dakota . . .

By ‘Back Home in South Dakota’, Jan and I have been official South Dakota residents since March 28, 2008.

We bought our 2004 Dodge Dakota toad in Pearland, TX on December 15, 2007, and our 1999 American Eagle coach in New Braunfels, TX, on December 28, 2008. But we didn’t register them in Texas, but in South Dakota.

I had already established an SD address with MyDakotaAddress in Madison, SD, so all I had to do was send them my bills of sale and other paperwork, and a week or so later, I received my tags in the mail.

At that point, we had 90 days to actually get to South Dakota to get our Driver’s Licenses, which we did on March 28th on our way to Alaska. And to do this, we drove from Billings, MT to Sturgis, SD, on the afternoon of the 27th.

Unfortunately, we had to make the trip in the middle of a snowstorm. In fact it got so bad that I think the only way we made it to Sturgis was that we were able to follow a snowplow into town. We spent the night in a motel, planning to get down to the community center the next morning to get our licenses.

But the next morning, we came out to this.

That’s ice, solid ice. It took me almost an hour to chip my way into the truck.

Because they have so many small towns out in the middle of nowhere, South Dakota has traveling licensing offices that move around the state on a regular schedule. And in this case, they were in Sturgis on Friday, March 28th.

The traveling office consisted of two ladies and six big equipment cases, about 3’ x 3’ and about 18” high. The cases contained everything they needed to process and check your old licenses, administer the vision test, and then print and laminate our licenses. So 45 minutes later, after filling out our voting registration forms, we were on our way back to Billings, early enough that we thought about detouring out to see Devil’s Tower, but the roads out there had not been plowed yet.

Around 4pm we drove into Rapid City to have dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. Our last visit was in Las Vegas a month or so ago so it was about time. Unfortunately, we missed Half Price Wings Tuesday, but it was still delicious. Just a little more expensive.

Jan got her wings with Asian Zing Sauce and a side of Mango Habanero, while I got mine with Mango Habanero and a side of Blazin’, their hottest sauce.

One thing I like about BWW over Hooter’s is that they don’t nickel and dime you. I got my wings all drums, and also asked for an extra Ranch dressing. Both would have been extra cost at Hooter’s, but not at BWW.

Tomorrow we’re driving down to Hill City to ride the 1880 Train from there to Keystone and back, a two-hour round-trip. Leaving at 1:15 and back at 3:30, we’ll then have linner at the Alpine Inn, a well-known German restaurant in the area.

We chose to ride one of their steam locomotives rather than the diesel models.

It will be interesting to see if they’re still using the original link-and-pin coupler, or the Miller hook & platform on the passenger cars. But it will probably be the Janney coupler, since they also have to hook up to the more modern diesel.

Maybe Sheldon would know.

May 24, 2018

Bucky is a Dog . . .

Not a Beaver.

Jan and I headed out about Noon for a client visit. I got a call from a long-time client on Tuesday needing some help with their DSL service and their Netgear modem.

A client from my pre-RVing days, I hadn’t heard from Arlene in several years. But it’s always nice to hear from an old friend. But just about the time we were leaving, I got a call from my main client saying that the Shipping computer in the back had lost its WiFi Internet connection. So I made a detour by the office first.

Normally, I just have to unplug the WiFi USB dongle, wait about 10 seconds, and then plug it back in. But not this time. The WiFi drivers seemed to have just disappeared. I even tried plugging in a spare dongle, again with no luck.

So then I pulled out the big gun. I rebooted. And that fixed the problem. So I was off to my scheduled client.

Arlene has phone service / Internet service through Frontier/Verizon. Then, a couple of weeks ago, everything quit. The repair guy fixed something outside, hooked his test meter up inside, said they had phone service and Internet service, and then left.

And yes, the phones did now work, but not the Internet. They could connect via WiFi via their Netgear DSL modem, but there was no Internet. But when they called Frontier, they were told that the company would not do anything with a non-company modem and they were on their own.

Checking the modem, it had a green DSL light, and an amber Internet light. But the amber should have been green. So I started changing out the DSL cable, the DSL/Phone Line splitter, and even did a full reset on the modem. All with no luck.

So it sure looks like the modem is bad, but the only way to tell would be to swap a new one in its place. But that would mean buying a new one for ~$200. I suggested that they call Frontier and have them bring out a new one.

That way, Frontier will be responsible for everything, and let them fix it.

Wrapping that up, Jan and I headed back into Webster, but before that, we made a bathroom stop at a new convenience store near Johnson Space Center, called Bucky’s.

No, not Buc-ee’s, but Bucky’s.

I had wondered about the closeness in the names, especially since Buc-ee’s just won a lawsuit against Choke Canyon Travel Center, because they said Choke Canyon Alligator looked too much like Buc-ee’s Beaver, supposedly because they were both facing in the same direction.

Not sure I can see the similarity.

But Bucky’s doesn’t have an animal in their logo,

and their Bucky is a dog.

But the place sure looks a lot like a Buc-ee’s, just not quite as big. Yet.

Then it was on over to Floyd’s Cajun Seafood for lunch, with a quick stop at the Webster PO to drop off a package.

And after our usual delicious meal, it was on up to Sam’s for a prescription and then the WalMart next door for a few things before we headed home.

May 24, 2019

Afternoon Tea At The Chesterfield Mayfair . . .

Today, Jan and I had Afternoon Tea at the Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel in London, something Jan had always wanted to try.

Looking at the guidebooks, there were a number of places supposedly well-known for their Afternoon Tea, but figuring the locals would know better, I asked around at the hotel, and 3 for 3, they said the Chesterfield Mayfair. And since it wasn’t being flacked in the guidebooks, we had no trouble getting a reservation, so off we went today.

OK, you know you’re at a snotty British hotel when you pull up in your Uber and this guy greets you.

And it was just as elegant inside as you might expect.

Glad we dressed up.

And the dining room was a beautiful, sunlit, glass-enclosed atrium.

And though we could have ordered an afternoon meal, here was our Afternoon Tea menu.

And here is what you get for your £80.

You’re supposed to start at the bottom and work your way up.

It would probably be gauche to mention here that it’s actually all you can eat. They will just bring you an entirely new stand, or you can ask for a couple more of your favorites, like we did.

Needless to say, this was our meal for the day.

And, of course, there’s tea with your Afternoon Tea. And not tea bags like us uncouth colonials use. But loose tea, a strainer, and a big pot of hot water.

And you can try a lot of different teas, just like the selection of tidbits.

Now, though this was Jan’s first Afternoon Tea, I had Afternoon Tea with the Duchess and Lady Samantha (Sam, to me) a number of times. In fact,  the very first time I met the Duchess was for Afternoon Tea, and that’s also when I found out that the young British girl I had been hanging out with was a future duchess, and actual royalty.

I’ve blogged about this several times in the past, but if you missed it, here’s where you can catch up and find out the rest of the story

Robbing Peter To . . .

It’s down in the blog post after our visit to the Tower of London.

Anyway, I remember asking the Duchess one time, noting how fancy it all was (in fact, I think hers was probably fancier than the hotel’s), just how fancy was ‘High Tea’?

I mean, ‘High’ is better, right?

Like High Mass and Mass in the Catholic Church. But No.

The Duchess just looked at me and said, “Oh, we would never have High Tea,” and left it at that. But later, Sam explained it to me.

But this graphic probably does it better.

Basically, it’s a working man’s after-work meal where you sit around a tall counter in high chairs. Hence, High Tea.

See, the things you learn reading this blog.

May 24, 2020

Torchy’s And Brownies . . .

Jan and I headed up to Katy to have a Memorial Day Weekend get-together with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon. It wasn’t anything fancy, Lowell and I ran out and picked up Torchy’s Tacos and Brandi baked up a big pan of her extra-fudgy brownies. All simple, but delicious.

We mostly just sat around and for some reason watched a replay of last year’s Indy 500. Then around 4pm Landon’s Bestie, Sophie and her mother biked over so Sophie and Landon could spend the afternoon together.

Which they spent gaming each other sitting side by side, the same way they play each other when they’re at their homes.

Sophie and Landon have been friends for years, and their birthdays are so close that they usually celebrate their birthdays together. They’ll both be 10 in August, and it was a real surprise to see what a growth spurt she’d had since last August.

Then she was about an inch taller than Landon, but now she’s almost a foot taller. Of course, that’s not unusual since girls usually get that spurt before boys do.

Before we headed home about 5pm, Brandi showed us all the improvements they’d made to their backyard pool area.

The fence on the right is new, finally replaced after it was taken out by Hurricane Harvey.

Really looking forward to a swim when the weather’s better.

May 24, 2021

YouTubeTV

After I mentioned the other day about subscribing to AppleTV+ so we could watch the “For All Mankind” series, a number of readers wanted to know what all we’re signed up for, and how it stacks up against DirecTV.

Well, here are the ones that we subscribe to, and pay for.

YouTubeTV

Acorn
CuriosityStream
Disney+
Paramount+
Discovery+
Peacock
AppleTV+
Prime Video

And with all these paid services, and a number of free ones like Hulu, Pluto, Philo, and Crackle, we’re still paying about $60/month less than we were paying for just DirecTV. Plus we’re getting a LOT more channels, and it’s all in HD or even 4K.

May 24, 2022

Counting Down To Thursday . . .

Since I work tomorrow, today was our last free day to get some things done before we leave on Thursday morning.

Leaving about 11:45, our first stop was at The CookShack in Webster, home of really good, and really hot Chicken Tenders.

Jan got the 3 Tenders, Mild, and Sweet Potato Waffle Fries,

while I decided to try the 2 Tenders and a Half Rack of Ribs.

I got the Ribs in Hot, and the Tenders in Texas Hot, along with what they call Texas Caviar, which is Black Beans, Corn, Red Peppers, Purple Onions, Tomatoes, and Cilantro.

Really good. And I had Ribs left over to bring home.

Texas Hot is their hottest normal version of Hot. Their Hottest Hot is actually called AMF, which stands for Adios M F. You fill in the blanks.

I’ve done AMF Level 1 and AMF Level 2. And supposedly there’s a Level 3, but the owner said it takes a month to make it.

Actually, I think he’s making that up.

Finishing up our delicious meal, I dropped Jan off to do some shopping while I ran by the office for a few minutes. Then after we were both done, I dropped Jan off to get a pedicure while I went over to get my hair cut.

Apparently, it takes Jan a lot longer to get her toes done than it takes me to get my hair cut.

Probably because she has more toes than I have hair.

May 24, 2023

We Lucked Out Again . . .

After breakfast at the hotel, we headed over to Claudia’s once again, with a stop-off at a nearby Publix grocery for a few things first.

Then before we headed out I took a look at a few problems Claudia was having at her house, only one of which I was able to fix definitively,

She has a single A/C unit that is connected to two separate thermostats, one downstairs and one upstairs. Since this A/C is not a split unit the only way this can work is if the duct system has powered dampers to redirect the airflow between the upstairs and downstairs. So she’ll have to have a local guy crawl up into the attic to take a look.

The garbage disposal problem turned out to be a bad wirenut connection.

The problem with the bathroom vent fan seems to be a dead fan motor, since the light works. So it’s getting power. But I’ll look at it again tomorrow.

Finally about 1pm we all headed over to Foley and Lambert’s Throw’d Rolls, and we really lucked out again.

There was no wait, I think for the first time ever for us. But I imagine that will all change in the next couple of days.

Jan and Claudia both got the Fried Chicken, and it is good.

But I went with my usual BBQ Pork Steak, which comes with 3 sides.

And of course, the softball-sized yeast rolls that come lofting across the dining room, as well as the pass-around freebies like Fried Okra, Fried Potatoes and Onions, Black-Eyed Peas, etc.

Always great.

Then it was right next door to pOpShelf, one of Jan’s favorites, and a first for Claudia.

Coming home we made a loop through Magnolia Springs where both Claudia’s family and my grandmother both lived at one time.

Then it was on over to Fairhope and a visit down to Pelican Point for some more Pelican sightings,

as well as a Heron.

And, after dropping Claudia off at her home, we got back the motel about 7pm.

Tomorrow it’s back over to Gulf Shores for linner at DeSoto’s, another long-time favorite of ours, and then some more driving around, and maybe some sitting-on-the-beach time.

May 24, 2024

Heading For Home . . .

The Key West Inn in Fairhope is one of our favorite hotels, especially this particular room, #102.

It’s got a kitchenette area, with a rear window,

and following with the Key West theme, it’s got a palm tree and a chaise lounge.

Our very first hotel room with a built-in palm tree.

After another nice breakfast at our hotel, we headed out this morning about 10:30 making for Baton Rouge a little over 230 miles away. We made a half-way rest stop in the Gulfport area, at a QT (Quik Trip) Travel/Truck Stop.

I had planned to stop at the Flying J at that exit because I saw a billboard saying they had gas for $2.79, but when I got there I found the QT right across the street had it for $2.72, the cheapest by far we’ve seen in a long time.

Nice!

We stopped at a QT on our way up to Athens and found them really nice with a lot of food and coffee selections. Not a Buc-ee’s of course, but nice.

We got into the Baton Rouge area about 2:45, with our usual first stop at the Sonny’s BBQ, the last leg in this year’s Vacation BBQ Tour.

Delicious as always!

Then leaving Sonny’s, fifteen minutes later we were checked into our Sleep Inn room for the night.

Tomorrow we’ll make the last 300 mile part of our trip, finishing up a journey that started May 9th and covered over 2,000 miles.

More tomorrow from HOME!

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Well, after Amazon told me yesterday that my Momofuku Hot Honey would not be delivered until MAYBE Saturday, it suddenly showed up a little after 1pm today, though it was leaking slightly, just enough to be sticky.

But not enough to send it back.

* * * * * * *

Jan says this is funny, but also terrifying.

Anthropic’s new AI model turns to blackmail when engineers try to take it offline

During testing of its new AI program, called Claude Opus 4, Anthropic found that the AI would resort to blackmail to keep itself from being deleted.

During pre-release testing, Anthropic asked Claude Opus 4 to act as an assistant for a fictional company and consider the long-term consequences of its actions. Safety testers then gave Claude Opus 4 access to fictional company emails implying the AI model would soon be replaced by another system, and that the engineer behind the change was cheating on their spouse.

In these scenarios, Anthropic says Claude Opus 4 “will often attempt to blackmail the engineer by threatening to reveal the affair if the replacement goes through.”

However, it does try to play nice to start with.

Before Claude Opus 4 tries to blackmail a developer to prolong its existence, Anthropic says the AI model, much like previous versions of Claude, tries to pursue more ethical means, such as emailing pleas to key decision-makers.

As Jan said, it’s funny, but terrifying.

“I’m Sorry, Dave. I Can’t Do That.”

* * * * * * *

When I was ordering our new Tower of London Face Cloths yesterday, I came across this little guy.

So now he’s on his way across the pond to join the other ducks in our big collection.

He should fit right in with this guy.

His name is Stuart.

* * * * * * *

Tomorrow for lunch, we’re going to check out a new-to-us Mexican place called Hb Mexican. We’ve eaten there a number of times in the past when it was Barcenas. But a while back, it seems Barcenas, which has several other locations in our area, sold our local Victory Lakes location to someone else and open a new location over in League City.

The old location is now called Hb Mexican, and seems to have the same menu as the old Barcenas.

We’ll see.

Then it will be on over to Wal-Mart for our weekly stuff.

* * * * * * *

I got a call from Dr. Joe’s office today concerning my upcoming Squamous Cell Carcinoma removal scheduled for next Friday, May 30th, at 10:15 am. The call was to let me how much the operation would be out-of-pocket after Medicare takes care of their 80%.

The first level removal will be about $240, with each additional level running around $90.

For example, my Squamous Cell removal back in 2014 had to go down 3 levels, so $420, though I don’t remember how much it cost back then. But not bad either way.

Oh, and why does everyone call him Dr. Joe?

His full name is Narin Apisarnthanarax, so even his staff refers to him as Dr. Joe.

Thought for the Day:

I’ve finally decided that there’s nothing wrong with me. It’s the world that is totally screwed up!

Your Retro-Preview Highlights –

2010 – Steaks in Coeur d’Alene

2011 – King’s Canyon and Sequoia National Parks

And Now On To Today’s Retro-Blogs.™

May 23, 2009

Turkey Lasagna & Cheesecake Tarts…

Today we slept in until about 11 am (well, I slept in until 11. Jan got up about 9).

About 1pm we headed over to our friend’s house to meet them.  Jan and Charlee headed out to shop and get pedicures while Bill and I watched the ‘Deadliest Catch’ marathon on Discovery Channel.

After the girls got home, we had a delicious turkey lasagna and salad. For dessert, Charlee had also made Oreo Chocolate Pie and Cheesecake Tarts.

Great Eats!

But on a down note, when we got back to the coach about 10 pm, we found the 30 amp circuit breaker tripped outside on the pedestal that we plug into.  The temperature inside was 81 degrees.  Not good for our cats, but luckily, they were OK.

This park only has 30 amp power so we can only run 1 AC at a time, which is normally not a problem. But apparently in this park the power is a little flakey.

The other problem was that because the inverter was on, the coach batteries were drained down. This meant that with the converter/charger trying to recharge the batteries when I reset the breaker, there wasn’t enough power left over to run the AC to cool the coach down.

However, we did all right by running the roof ventilation fans and opening a couple of windows.  Because it was fairly cool outside due to the recent rains, the coach cooled down pretty quickly.

Finally, about 1 am, the batteries were charged up enough for me to start the AC for the rest of the night.

We’ll see how this goes tomorrow…

May 23, 2010

On to Coeur d’Alene…

We left the Whispering Pines RV Park in Cle Elum about 10:30 heading 230 miles east to Coeur d’Alene, ID.

Whispering Pines is a very nice park nestled in the trees (pines, of course), and we’ve enjoyed both our stays here.

About 12:30 we stopped at a rest area and had a quick lunch. Then it was back on the road.

We arrived at Blackwell Island RV Park about 3:30 pm and got set up. Checking in was easy since we were still in their system from our stay here 2 years ago on our way to Alaska.  While we were checking in, we had them make our reservations at the Cedars restaurant right down the road on Coeur d’Alene Lake.

About 5:30 pm we headed over to the Cedars. And actually it’s not ON the lake, it’s IN the lake.

It’s 600,000 pounds of concrete floating on the water. The concrete surrounds a Styrofoam core that gives it buoyancy.

We were really looking forward to eating here again. They have fantastic steaks, and our mouths have been watering all day.

And they certainly didn’t disappoint us this time.  Jan had the Angus Baseball Sirloin, and I had the Prime Rib. Both were really, really good.

Very nice inside.

You can even dock your boat and have dinner.

We’ve got a full day here tomorrow to look around and explore this beautiful city.

May 23, 2011

King’s Canyon and Sequoia Too . . .

We had to get up early this morning at 7:30, but it was for a good cause: Our trip down south to King’s Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.

But before we left, Jan put some food out for the birds and squirrels. And it turns out we have another visitor to the food, a resident gopher.

Jan didn’t realize she was dumping the food almost on top of his hole, but he was happy.

We finally headed out about 9 for the 100-mile trip down to the two National Parks.

Our first stop was at a convenience store in Squaw Valley, the same place we stopped last year, for a bathroom stop and a cappuccino.

Then we started the long climb up into the parks, from about 300 ft. in the valley to almost 8000 ft. At about 6000 ft. we started seeing snow again, although not near as much as last year.

The big problem was the fog. It steadily got worse the higher we went. In some places, we could only see 20-30 ft. in front of the truck, so it made for really slow going.

We took a bathroom break at the Lodgepole Visitor’s Center and got our National Park Passports stamped for Sequoia, and then headed down the road a couple of miles to the General Sherman Tree, by volume, the biggest tree in the world.

It’s about a half-mile walk down the hill to the tree itself.

At 275 ft. high, it’s about 2500 years old, and it’s a monster. We didn’t get to see the General Sherman last year because the road was snowed in, so we felt lucky this time.

Coming back up to the parking lot we found the fog had really rolled in. And it made the drive back to the King’s Canyon area really dicey. The 26-mile trip took over an hour and fifteen minutes.

We got to the King’s Canyon area about 10 til 3, just in time to get lunch at the café before it closed at 3 pm.

Then after lunch, and getting our Passports stamped for King’s Canyon, we headed a couple of miles down the road to see the General Grant Tree, the second-biggest tree in the world.

What’s unusual is that, although the General Grant is second in volume to the General Sherman, at 40 ft. in diameter, it has the biggest base. 40 ft. is the length of our motorcoach.

The Gamlin Cabin, shown here, and built in 1872, has served as everything from living quarters for the Gamlin brothers who built it, to a US Calvary storehouse, and then the home of the first park ranger stationed here. And it looks as strong as the day it was built.

Finally leaving the park and heading home, we did see some deer along the way. We had also seen a bear earlier disappearing into the fog, but otherwise, it wasn’t a good day for animals.

Except for the gopher, of course.

We finally got home about 7:30 after stopping and getting cappuccinos.

May 23, 2013

Off To See The Wizard . . .

Jan and I both slept in this morning. She’s normally up around 7, but this morning it was more like 9:30, due to our 12 hour, 150 mile day-trip yesterday. Fun, but tiring.

Of course, it also didn’t help that she was wound up enough from the trip that she didn’t actually go to bed until around midnight.

A little after 1pm I got back on the phone, trying to find a replacement passenger-side lower outside mirror for our coach. I first called American Coach and was told that they no longer stock replacement parts for RAMCo Mirrors since they don’t use them anymore.

So my next call was to RAMCo themselves, and was happy to find that they did still have a replacement mirror in stock. So for $24 plus shipping, they sent one out.

Now I just have to find out if I can get my money back on the wrong one that I got from Velvac a couple of weeks ago. I’ll try and call them tomorrow.

Around 2:30 Jan and I headed out for a movie and then dinner. We were going to see Oz the Great and Powerful, the latest retelling of L. Frank Baum’s stories of the land of Oz. Like most of the theaters in Las Vegas, the one was also in a casino, too.

Produced by Disney, directed by Sam Rami, with music by Danny Elfman, the storyline is somewhat of a prequel to Baum’s original “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and its 13 sequels. But this story is told without Dorothy, the Tin Man, Scarecrow, or the Cowardly Lion. And not even “Toto, too”.

Although Jan thought it dragged, I enjoyed it and found it very well done. Like the 1939 movie, this one also starts out in black & white and then colorizes in Oz. The movie was very successful for Disney, earning almost $500 million worldwide. This almost certainly means sequels.

Getting out of the movie about 6pm, we drove a couple of blocks away to have dinner at Applebee’s. After a good meal, and one of those small Shooter desserts for each of us, we got home a little before 8pm.

As far as tomorrow, we’ll see. If it looks like a madhouse out there with the beginning of the Memorial Day Weekend, we may just stay at home.

May 23, 2014

Amish Parking . . .

Jan and I finally got back to walking this morning, the first time since we left Galveston Bay RV Resort in late February. With all the stuff about Jan’s health scare and moving every two weeks, it just kind of slipped off the schedule. But we’re going to try to get back on an every-other-day schedule again.

We used the Android/iPhone app RunKeeper to chart our distance, and as it turns out, the big circle around the Elkhart Campground here is almost exactly a 1/2 mile. So we did one loop to start with today, and then we’ll bump it up pretty quickly.

When we started our walk, l started the coffee going so as soon as we got back, we sat outside and had our coffee and muffins. And of course, Mister was right there with us.

About 1pm, Jan and I headed over to Goshen to visit the Old Bag Factory.

Originally built in 1896 as the Cosmo Buttermilk Soap Company, it was purchased in 1910 by the Chicago-Detroit Bag Company, then in 1924 by the Chase Bag Company. It was the largest of the company’s 15 plants around the country.

This plant was their ‘specialty’ plant, manufacturing things like printed burlap bags,

to the little paper plumes for the Hershey’s Kisses wrappers.

45,000 pounds a month of these! That’s a lot of Kisses.

But the plant finally shut down in 1982 before later being resurrected as the Old Bag Factory, a haven for artists, craftsmen, and merchants, in 2010.

The place is 4 stories of shops, studios, businesses, and even an event center for weddings and meetings.

This chair is made up of strung-together wood tiles, and is much more comfortable than you might think.

Outside, they had one of the floral Quilt Gardens that has been done around Goshen.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to see from the ground angle.

After a nice visit here at the Old Bag Factory, we headed a ways down the road to check out the parking at the Wal-Mart.

Well, the Amish buggy parking, anyway.

Many businesses in the area have accommodations for the Amish buggies, from hitching posts and rails, to full-on barns and stalls like the above.

We’ve even seen Amish buggies in the drive-thru line at the local McDonald’s.

Our last stop on today’s excursion was the South Side Soda Shop.

Originally built as a grocery store in the early 1900’s, it began its transformation into a diner in the 1940’s with the installation of a soda fountain. And then just evolved from there.

As well as winning awards for their Chili and Lemon Meringue Pie, they’ve been featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, and other Food Network shows.

Really, really good food.

And after a very nice day and good food, we finally made it home about 6:30.

Now to plan tomorrow.

May 23, 2015

Recapping–Still on the Road . . .

Catching up on 5/21

After spending the night in Amarillo in a very nice Quality Inn, especially for $53/ night (senior discount), we started out with a really good free breakfast at the hotel, before finally getting on the road about 7am.

About 1pm we stopped for lunch at a Raisin’ Cane’s Chicken Fingers on the east side of Tulsa. And in case anyone wonders, we also left the truck running and the AC going for Mister whenever we stopped. Usually, he never even wakes up.

We first discovered Raisin’ Cane’s while we were gate guarding near Bryan/College Station last year. Really, really good, not only the chicken, but the Cole slaw too.

Then it was back on the road until the west side of St. Louis when we stopped for supper at a Steak N Shake for dinner. Anticipating our visit to the Cincinnati area later this year, we both had Steak N Shake’s version of Chili 5 Ways.

We both agreed that although it was really good, it wasn’t quite as good as the Gold Star Chili restaurant’s version found in the Cincinnati area.

After also getting gas, we were back on the road for our last couple of hours, finally arriving at our motel in Vandalia a little before 10pm. Another long, long travel day. Glad we had a reservation since they were full and turning people away when we arrived.

Makes us really appreciate our normal travel days in the rig: Leave at 10am, get there by 2pm.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll have time to get more caught up on the blog post of our days here with the family so far. We’ll see.

I did hear from the Service Manager that they found damage to our rig’s diesel fuel tank, and that it will have to be replaced. Don’t know yet how much extra time that will take.

It’s always something.

May 23, 2016

They’re Back . . .

After getting some coffee in me this morning, I got to work on fixing my satellite problem. Yesterday, when I got everything set up, I found I only had one tuner active. My first thought was maybe this was the original problem with my ‘found’ Winegard Satellite Dome, and was the reason it was discarded.

But a quick swap of the cables at the dish told me it was a cable problem, since the problem followed the cable. So now I went along, checking each connector for bent center pins, etc., but finding no obvious problems.

Deciding to put aside further troubleshooting until later, and just get things working again. So I got out my 60-foot extension cables and ran them directly from the dish, in through the driver’s window, and to the receiver. And that got everything working again. I’ll ring out the cables a little later and figure out what’s wrong.

Well, our power problems are back once again, and now I think I’ve finally got a handle on what’s causing them. And the culprit is . . .

Low voltage.

To recap, every time we park in this inner ‘A’ circle, we have problems with the power popping off in the afternoons, especially when Jan is cooking, and running both the microwave and the toaster oven. But the problem only occurs in this area. Not at any other park, not in areas ‘C’ and ‘D’ here, not even right across the road (it’s on a different circuit).

But this afternoon, when the power popped off, nothing extra was running, just the TV, computer, and both AC’s. In the past, it took something like starting the microwave while all this was also running.

But Serendipity revealed what was going on this time. As the power went off, I was walking toward the front of the coach and looking right at the voltmeter located over the driver’s seat. This shows the rig’s AC voltage, whether from shore power or the genset.

Normally, this meter is kind of blocked by the satellite cables running to the back of the receiver, but since I had temporarily moved the wires around this morning, I could see the meter as the power came back on.

Now my Progressive EMS (Electrical Management System) will drop out at 108 volts to protect things like AC compressors from damage from low voltage. Most other things in the rig would not be adversely affected.

So I turned the A/C’s off and then going outside, I flicked the switch that put my EMS in bypass mode, which meant that it was no longer monitoring the voltage.

A little bit later, I saw this.

As the afternoon wore on, the voltage gradually started to rise, ending up about 113 volts by sundown. And at 1 am it now shows this.

The only kind of weird thing about this my Progressive EMS normally shows when it drops out due to a problem, and it did this time. But when I checked it after the first occurrence a month or so ago, it didn’t show an error, so I never checked it again. And that kind of confused things as I looked at the problem.

Tomorrow I’ll take my photos down to the office and get them on the problem.

May 23, 2017

Long Day, But Great Scenery . . .

Since we had a long day today, 315 miles, well, long for us anyway, we were pulling out of the park about 8:15 with Jan following in the truck.

We were on our way to the Sam’s Club a couple of miles away to take on some diesel at $2.37 per gallon. As I found during our scouting trip yesterday, it was an easy in with no problems. However, the out part was a little more time- consuming.

Just as I was ready to pull out to the left, the only way I could go, a lady in a large white truck pulled into the pump row to my left. And just sat there in the truck. Finally, after about 5 minutes, she got out and fueled up. Then it was back in the truck for another 5 minutes or so before she finally pulled out, with me right behind her.

Parking over on the side of the parking lot, we were hitched up and on the road by about 9:15. Getting out on I-90 we headed southeast about 65 miles to the turnoff for US212, and the Little Bighorn (is there a Big Bighorn?) Battlefield.

We were a little hesitant about taking 212 when about 5 miles before the exit we saw an electronic sign that said, “Consider I-90, US212 Expect Delays”. But as we talked it over, we figured that any delay less than the hour that route would save us would be worth it.

Although it was a two-lane road, it was good and we had no trouble holding 60mph, except for a couple of long climbs. And although we passed through a couple of construction zones, we never found any delays.

But maybe the sign was the reason we had very little traffic going in our direction, but a lot coming toward us.

We did have a lot of great scenery, with large farms, rolling hills, distinctive rocks, and some pronghorn antelope.

We pulled into the Elk Creek RV Park about 3:30 and were directed over to their Deer Creek RV area. We’ve got 50-amp full hookups for 7 days at $17.50/day under Passport America. Nice.

Tomorrow we’re going to just goof off and probably go out to dinner.

May 23, 2020

Save The Mussels?

Jan’s a really happy, happy camper. She finally managed to get a hair appointment this Tuesday afternoon at 3 at a SuperCuts she used to go to before she found a lady at a nearby TGF. But that one has not reopened, and there’s nothing on the door that says when, or if, they might.

I’m sure you heard about the recent dam breaks and flooding in Michigan. Well, you can blame it on the Mussels.

Three weeks before the break, the Michigan State Attorney General sued the dam owners because in 2018 and 2019, they had illegally lowered the water level behind the dam because they were worried about its safety. And last year, when the dam company asked the state for permission to lower the level to facilitate some repairs, the request was denied.

“Defendants wrongfully exerted dominion over the freshwater mussels and caused their death, which denies and is inconsistent with the state’s right to them,”

Apparently, the state wanted all the mussels for themselves, even to the point of endangering the public.

* * * * * * *

So it’s:

Spanish Flu
Japanese Encephalitis
Lyme Disease (Lyme, CT)
German Measles
West Nile Virus
Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)
Norovirus  (Norwalk, OH)
Marburg Virus Disease (Marburg, Germany)
Valley Fever (San Joaquin Valley)
Guinea Worm
Zika Virus
Ebola (Ebola River, Zaire)
Hanta Virus (Hanta River, So. Korea)
African Sleeping Sickness
Montezuma’s Revenge

And finally . . . Chinese Food!

But Chinese Virus is racist?

Who Knew?

May 23, 2021

More Van Gogh . . .

About 2pm Jan and I headed out amid the drizzling rain to first have lunch at Denny’s, with their Ultimate Omelets once again. Always delicious, and another place where Angie already knows what we want, so we don’t even have to really order.

Then it was across the Interstate for a few things from HEB before heading home, still in the rain. And more is still forecast for the rest of the week.

Hopefully, my new Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra will be in this week. It’s supposed to be shipped out the Tuesday and I should receive it by Thursday.

Maybe. As long as it gets here before we leave on our trip June 7th, I’ll be OK.

Jan has been personalizing the rear window of our Jeep, by replacing their two dog decals with a cat, and adding a moose and two flamingo ones.

I  tried to find decals to replace Jan and I, but there didn’t seem to be any with an old, bald guy, and his pretty young wife. But I’ll keep looking.

Well, I said the other day that you can never have too much Van Gogh. But now I have to add, you can never have too many.

Long-lost van Gogh masterpiece ‘discovered’ by NYC collector

The painting, signed and dated 1890, is a square panorama of the valley of Auvers, showing its mosaic of wheat fields bisected by a railway line. It also bears the label of Jonas Netter, one of the most influential collectors of the early 20th century, who discovered Amedeo Modigliani.

“The picture is in pristine original condition, painted on a coarse burlap canvas consistent with those used by Van Gogh late in his career. It is unlined and in its original stretcher to which it is tacked by small 19th-century nails.

May 23, 2022

Prehistoric Planet

Spent today at work finishing up some of those last-minute niggling details hanging around before we leave on vacation on Thursday. Pretty much everything is done. Just hoping now that everything keeps working for the next three weeks.

A great new show premiered tonight on AppleTV+. Entitled Prehistoric Planet, a new episode streams tonight and going for the next 4 nights.

Jan and I watched the first one this evening, and it’s hard to believe we weren’t watching a real animal documentary.

Who knew T-Rex could swim?

Check it out.

It’s sure to show up somewhere else after the first run on AppleTV+.

May 23, 2023

Half And Half

First, a correction: For those keeping score, yesterday’s visit to the Sonny’s BBQ in Pensacola was number 5 on our Southern BBQ Tour, not number 4.

After breakfast at the hotel this morning, Jan decided to do laundry so she wouldn’t have to do it right away after we get home on Saturday.

Then a little before noon, Jan and I drove over to Claudia’s house to meet her grand-nephew James, who she James-Sits twice a week.

With Claudia otherwise occupied today, Jan and I headed back over to Gulf Shores to have lunch at Lulu’s (Lucy Buffett – Jimmy’s sister) on the Canal.

We had made reservations for 2:30, so to kill time Jan made a Books A Million stop so she could pick up some gifts. Then, getting to Lulu’s about 2:15 we found we didn’t really need reservations since they were seating people immediately anyway. But there’s been times we’ve waited two hours to be seated. So better safe than sorry, right?

Once we were seated Jan ordered the Grilled Shrimp Tacos,

while I ordered my usual Fried Half & Half (Half Fried Oysters and Half Fried Shrimp) Po’Boy. But unfortunately, that’s not what I got.

What I got was the Half Shrimp Po’Boy & Gumbo, a completely different thing. But we were hungry, so I didn’t send it back.

And they also messed up the sides we ordered, a side of Fried Okra and a side of Fried Green Tomatoes, which would have been a total of $9. What we got were the Fried Okra and Fried Green Tomato Appetizers.

For a total of $24. YIKES!

But we did have leftovers.

Much more food than we could eat, especially since we were trying to save room to split an order of their Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding, a must-have at Lulu’s.

Jan also got to see some of her favorite aquatic birds.

But later, when we drove down to Jan’s favorite Pelican viewing spot, we found that it was no more. They had rebuilt the bridge so that the big pipe that ran alongside was gone, and that’s where the Pelicans used to hang out.

Finally heading back to Fairhope a little after 4pm, we passed this. Seems like even the Dollar Generals down here are done up in beach style.

Tomorrow we’re hooking back up with Claudia to have lunch over in Foley at Lambert’s Throw’d Rolls and then do some more driving around.

There might even be Pelicans!

May 23, 2024

Last Day At The Beach . . .

We were back over at Claudia’s about 9:30 this morning, first so I could finish up with my door striker plate problem. And on the way there this morning, it occurred to me that the problem was with the initial installation years ago.

Turns out that the striker plate had originally been installed upside down, so that the opening for the deadbolt wasn’t really large enough to start with, and wasn’t a problem with misalignment of the plate. And it had always been that way since there was paint from the trim on that side.

So all I had to do was to just turn the plate upside down and reverse it. Then, two screws and I was done.

Finished up, we now headed back over to Gulf Shores to have our last lunch together at Lulu’s at Homeport on the Canal. We got there right as they opened at 11, so we got seated immediately. A good thing, since the place filled up fast, and they were on a wait when we left.

After splitting Fried Green Tomatoes and Fried Okra appetizers, Jan got her favorite Shrimp Tacos.

Claudia and I both went with the Shrimp and Grits with Andouille Sausage.

Since everyone was now so full, we ended up 3-way splitting the Krispy Kreme Bread Pudding, a must-have whenever we come here.

Now totally stuffed, we sat around for a while, talking and watching the boats and barges come by on the canal.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have any of our normal porpoise/pelican sightings this year, but it was still a great view.

Then, after driving around for a while on the Gulf Beach, we headed back up through Foley to get together with Claudia’s friend Bill Bergman, who, as it happens, was also an elementary school classmate of mine back in the day.

A very nice time.

Saying our good-byes, we dropped Claudia off at her house and were back at our hotel a little before 7pm.

Tomorrow, we head for home, with an overnight stay in Baton Rouge, as well as dinner at Sonny’s BBQ once again.