Saturday, September 29, 2007

Happy Birthday Grandson!!!

Location, Houston, TX

Today is Matthew’s birthday. Ivy spent the night with us and wanted to go back to her house as soon as she woke up as Matthew had asked for doughnuts for his birthday breakfast. We drove over and watched Matthew open his presents and then Tim fixed a quick breakfast. Matthew got clothes and a Wii which for the uninitiated is an interactive computer device connected to a TV. One or two people can play games such a baseball, boxing, tennis, etc with it. Kids love it.

Matthew had a soccer game at 1 PM so we all drove to George Bush Park south west of Houston. We set up a shade canopy as it was hot in the sun. Matthew’s team is in second place in his league and they were playing the first place team. It was a close played game but Matthew’s team scored two goals and shut out the other team. They now hold first place and are 4 and 0. A great birthday present.

The kids spent the remainder of the day playing with the Wii and another computer game. The day ended with birthday cake and a few rounds of a card game called “Impulse”.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Busy day

Location, Houston, TX

Last minute shopping this morning for things we need and things we don’t really need but would be nice. I’ve mentioned it before, how nice the shopping is here in Copperfield, actually, Northwest Houston.

I have been working on the food assignments for our upcoming desert trip in late October. I have it down to a science by now but there usually is a wrench in the works at the last minute. Today was no exception. I no more than sent out the preliminary assignments than someone had a change of schedule. I will need to take a longer look at the changes that causes before I resend the information.

Tonight was soccer practice for Matthew and Brownies for Ivy so the ladies went to the Brownie meeting and the guys went to soccer practice. After practice, we stopped to eat. Matthew decided to order a large piece of chocolate cake for dessert which was too large for him to finish so he brought most of it home. Of course, Grandpa had to have a few bites.


Tomorrow is the big 9th birthday for Matthew. He also has a soccer game in the afternoon. It will be a busy day I am sure. We will celebrate his birthday on Sunday afternoon.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Chance encounter

Location, Houston, TX

The other day, one of those chance encounters happened which I only read about on someone else’s blog. I had been scanning the “Hitchitch” website and happened to read “the Odyssey” travelogue. I saw that “Odyssey” was located in Traders Village so at 9:30 at night I told Clyda I was going for a walk to see if I could find it. “It” was parked 2 rows behind us. Because we were busy the next day, I finally decided to email Sean and Louise to see if we could meet before we left on Monday. Louise answered and we got together at 3 this afternoon for an hours conversation. Thank you Sean and Louise. We hope our paths cross again.

Check out their website on Hitchitch.com for a really unique motor home.

As I write this we are getting our first rain in 2 1/2 weeks and I forgot to roll the windows all the way up on the truck. If I go out now I will get drowned. What a bummer.

We spent the morning getting haircuts, shopping for short pants for me, picking up supplies at Costco, and buying a few groceries.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

A Chamber of Commerce promo

Location, Houston, TX

I have mentioned in past blogs that we are at Traders Village in Houston. This a very large commercial “swap meet” area which is only open on weekends. Next to it is the RV Park with lots of sites with grass between each site. The sites are somewhat close together but the area we are in, the transit area, is fine.

I really like this part of Houston. We are located in the far northwest along the Hwy 6 beltway and Hwy 290 junction on Eldridge Road. When we first started coming here several years ago there was still a lot of open property designated for commercial development. Much of that open space has been and is being developed now. Of course, that means more traffic. There has been a very noticeable increase in traffic since we were here 2 years ago.

Even with the increased traffic, I still really like the area. All of the residential areas have parkways in the center of main routes with trees and plants which are maintained by home owner’s fees. It gives a very nice clean look to the developments. Home Owner’s Associations help maintain clipped lawns and trimmed plants by “dunning” the home owner if the property is not taken care of.

The major traffic routes are also the main commercial areas. There are lots of stores, services, and eating establishments within a few minutes drive, in any direction. The grocery stores are plentiful and for the most part, large and new. Our choice of shopping is unlimited.

So much for the Chamber of Commerce tour.

Yesterday we dropped by a local used book store to browse. We have shopped this store before but found the books to be rather “pricey” this time. We did find a few “bargain books” which made the trip worthwhile. After grocery shopping in a nice big, fairly new Kroger’s, Clyda got dinner items ready to take over to Tim and Diane’s house around 4:30. We BBQ’d chicken breasts and had salads with mint brownies for dessert. We all watched a movie before we came back to the RV.

Today, Sept 25th, I bought oil and will get the oil changed tomorrow. I also bought new windshield wipers as the old ones were coming apart.

We took Ivy to her ballet lesson after lunch and Clyda stayed to help with reading school work while I came back to the RV to back up the data from the laptop to my portable hard drive.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Soccer

Location, Houston, TX

Yesterday was the weekend sale day at Traders Village. It was very warm and less than a capacity crowd showed up. I wanted to see the used book lady but apparently she has quit the business as her space was occupied by someone else. I took a quick look around but did not find any used books. Bummer.

Clyda meanwhile had taken the grandkids to the pool. There were other kids there so they enjoyed that.

This morning I delivered Clyda to son Tim’s house at 8:30 while on my way to church at 8:45. After church I came back to the trailer and washed the dishes and loaded stuff in the truck for Matthew’s soccer game at 1:45 Pm. Tim and family and Clyda came directly from church services to the soccer field. The game was held in Bear Creek Park which is soccer fields as far as you can see. Matthew was invited to play in a traveling league a while back and this was the third game for the team. So far they have won all three games. For 8 and 9 year olds they did very well. What was impressive was the team play moving the ball down the field which they had practiced on Friday. It worked to perfection.

Matthew (in white) moving the ball.

After dinner tonight, Diane made ice cream in one of those plastic balls you roll around to make it freeze. The ice cream mix is in the center while the ice and salt crystals surround it. The kids rolled the ball around on the trampoline which keeps the ball clean and works very well. Tonight we had cinnamon flavor. Tasty!!

Good looking grandkids!

Friday, September 21, 2007

Computer time

Location, Houston, TX

I hate to say it but I spent most of the day on the computer again. I have been working on the desert trip menus and schedules. I called Main Street Station in Las Vegas and have a reservation for 12 nights in their RV Park thanks to www.casionocamper.com. This will be really convenient while my sister and brother are at The Four Queens. I had planned to move to the KOA at Circus-Circus on the 18th but may just stay a Main Street Station. It certainly is cheaper.

I did go out in the afternoon and wash one side of the trailer with the brush. It does an ok job but not as good as an old fashioned scrub mitt. I will work my way around the rig next week.

We went to the grandkids house around 3 PM and played math games with them. They really are smart kids and I am always amazed at their math skills.

Tim BBQ’d marinated sliced pork loin and zucchini strips with oak wood and rosemary to provide a smoky flavor. Wonderful flavor!!!

We had a fire in the chimenea on the patio until the mosquitoes drove us inside.

Matthew is spending the night with us and we will take him to soccer practice tomorrow morning.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Layed back day

Location, Houston, TX

The day started slow and with a lot less humidity than yesterday. I finally pumped up the tire on the truck and we drove it to Discount tire where they repaired it for free. What a deal!!!

We had some other shopping to do so finished up those chores and came back to the RV for lunch. I fixed a few more things around the trailer. We have glass fronts in some of our upper cabinets which are glued in. This glue is drying out and the glass is loose. I used glazing points to secure the glass. Later, we drove over to have an early dinner with the grandkids and then attended Matthews Cub Scout Pack meeting. After the meeting we completed a rousing game of “Life”. Matthew won the game.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Work, work, work!!!!!

Location, Houston, TX

This was a work day. I started by emptying part of the front storage bay again to complete the drying out process. I put the small fan on to dry out the area that got wet from the shower drain.

I noticed the driver’s side rear tire on the truck was low on air again. It had been fine since the valve stem was replaced in Canada. A quick check didn’t show anything obvious so I pumped it back up. I washed the truck and vacuumed the inside. It looks almost normal again.

The next project was the vent cover in the kitchen area. I removed the Maxxair cover and the vent cover fell apart when I touched it. Several minutes of work and it was removed. I decided to wait until after lunch to buy a replacement.

The temperature was climbing by this time along with the humidity so I took lots of breaks to cool off inside and check emails, etc.

The nearest RV parts store is only a few miles from here so in a mater of minutes I had a new vent cover. A half hours work and it was installed. The parts salesman said to wax the cover with a good UV protectorant, which I just happen to have, to prolong the life of the cover.

Next I tackled the shower drain leak. I removed the u-trap completely and put a coating of pipe dope on the threads before I re-installed it. I hope that does the trick.

A recheck of the truck tire showed it loosing air. This time the culprit, a nail, was obvious. So tomorrow, I will pump it up and find a tire shop.

Tim came by this evening and showed us some of his power-point presentations he uses for work. Great stuff!!!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A weeks worth of blog

Location, Houston, TX

To back up a few days or I should say, several days to catch up with the blog.

We left Texarkana, TX on Sunday, Sept 9th and drove to Greenville, TX in time for lunch with Bill and Marilyn, our daughter-in-law Diane’s parents. Shortly after we arrived the sky let loose and we had 3.5 inches of rain in an hour and a half. We watched as the water level rose towards the front door step and the streets flowed from curb to curb. It was quite exciting and ultimately caused us a lot of wet carpet in the bedroom as the slide seal on one side wasn’t working as it should. I turned on the AC and put a small fan on the wet area. Because of the humidity, the carpet smelled after 2 days so we spread a liberal coating of baking soda over it all. The AC, fan, and baking soda did the trick. What also helped was no rain for the last week.

On Monday Sept, 10th we drove to Dallas after lunch and visited the Kennedy museum at the Texas School Book Depository at Deally Plaza. I had been here shortly after the assassination but there was no memorial then. It was quite interesting to look back at that time.



The "X" marks the spot where Kennedy was shot.

We left Greenville on Tuesday and drove to New Braunfels, TX and camping on the Guadalupe River with son Tim, wife Diane and grandkids, Matthew 8 and Ivy 6. The river was way up because of the amount of water being released from Canyon Lake. Most campgrounds had some flooding and campsites were much smaller because of the high water. I had concerns about backing my trailer up to the water because of the soft ground. I did get stuck but managed to unhook the trailer and Tim poured gravel in my tracks and we did get the trailer parked.


Flooded campsites with raging river in the background.

On Thursday and Friday Tim’s family floated down the Comal River on inner tubes and Clyda and I acted as pickup drivers at the take out place. The Comal is a short river which goes through New Braunfels. It is also cold water as it comes from underground springs. On Thursday everyone was quite chilled when they reached the take out point after two and one half hours.

On Friday, Tim and Clyda floated the river while everyone else played in the water. Matthew and Ivy swim like fish.

On Saturday, Sept 15th we all went to Schlitterbahn which is a very large water park built in three sections. One admission price covers all the properties. We carried in our drinks and lunch and stashed them in a convenient place. After a liberal coating of sun screen, we floated the man made river which also has waves much like the ocean. It is only 3 feet deep so lots of people walk/swim the loop. It really is quit nice. There are three tall rides which drop from a large platform. The Black Knight is a 2 person tube ride inside a black pipe which Matthew and I did. We had a good ride. The Master Blaster is a 2 person tube ride which blasts you uphill with water jets. Hang on to your swim suit on this one as the water jets tend to “de-pants” you! The Wolf Pack slide is a raft slide with up to 4 persons in the raft. The more weight, the better the ride. Tim, Matthew and I had a great ride. We almost tipped the raft over while in a turn. The raft folded like a taco with Matthew on the high side. His eyes got real big for a few seconds.

On Sunday Sept 16th, the last day Schlitterbahn was open for this season, we did lots of rides in the older section of the park. Of course, there were much fewer people because traditionally the park sells this day to large groups. Most people don’t know the park is even open on Sunday. The kids spent most of the day in the water and swam the rivers like fish. It is a great family water park.

On Monday, Sept 17th we had a big breakfast of French Toast and packed up to leave. It is about 180 miles back to Houston and we arrived about 5:20 PM. For most of our previous stays at Traders Village we have a lousy campsite because our trailer was small and could be put anywhere. There are lots of live-in people here and at times the place could use a good cleaning out. This time however because of the larger rig, we got a premo site and for $14.95 a week, good Wi-Fi internet.

Today, Tues Sept 18th, we spent the morning cleaning the river sand and yuck out of the trailer. I removed stuff from the storage bay to dry it out. We have a leak from the shower when we fill the shower holding tank too full. This has only happened once before and that was last year in Texas also while camped for a week. I usually empty the tanks oftener but didn’t want to move it on Sunday just to dump the tank. I guess I will try to fix the problem for good this time.

We need a new vent cover for the roof vent in the kitchen and I need to replace the roof caulk around all the skylights. The one over the shower leaked during the last rains. Oh, the joys of owning an RV.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Live in Houston!!!!

Location, Houston, TX

Contrary to rumors, we have not fallen off the face of the Earth, but have been out of internet and cell phone access for a week. Thanks to all of you who called and wondered what had happened to us.

The truth is we spent a week with our grandkids camping on the Guadalupe River near New Braunfels, TX. The grandkids really do come before the blog anytime.

We are now at Traders Village in Houston for 12 days. More on our adventures tomorrow.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Barges on the Mississippi River

Location, Texarkana, TX


We watched tugs pushing barges both up and down the Mississippi River from the camper last night and this morning before we left Tom Sawyer RV Park in West Memphis. Pretty neat!


We drove I-40 to Texarkana today. It is a boring drive but you really need to be on your toes all the time because of the trucks passing. I-40 is truck heaven. We probably saw 5,000 trucks today, no kidding. The road is mostly in good condition but there are parts that try your soul. The old concrete is warped and buckled and really bounces the trailer around.

We are stopped for the night at a KOA. After arriving we drove downtown to see the post office/courthouse building which sits half in Arkansas and half in Texas. The crepe myrtle in front of the building was in bloom and looked really nice.


A story from 2 days ago: some people may remember the song “Convoy” by C. W. McCall from years ago. In the song the truck convoy picks up a truck load of pigs going to market. The smell is so bad; they tell the driver to get way back in the convoy. Well, I can vouch for the smell. We followed a truck as it entered the Interstate in Illinois loaded with large hogs. The smell was so bad that I dropped back until I was at least a mile behind and we could still smell the pigs.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Tom Sawyer in Memphis

Location, West Memphis, AR

We left St Louis early this morning to beat a rainstorm which hit as we left the campground. It continued to rain hard as we crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri and traveled south on I-55. This is a very good road which is concrete that has been shaved by machine for a nice smooth ride. Of course, as soon as we hit the Arkansas state line the road went to heck so I dropped our speed way down.

We planned to stay at Tom Sawyer Campground on the Mississippi River but the maps and Trailer Life were wrong. We ended up crossing the river into Memphis before we could turn around. We did find the campground and yes it is on the river and it is very nice. They have a new area set aside for 5th wheel trailers. The concrete pads are so level that the water doesn’t drain from them. We got set up just as the sky let loose and it really rained. They also have free WI-FI which works. Yahoo!!!!


We saw tugs pushing barges past our window.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Gateway

Location, East St Louis, IL

We had a change of plans this morning. Originally, I had planned to go south from Davenport, IA on Hwy 61 and 67 to St Louis. However, after looking at the time involved too travel this route; I decided we should go via the interstate system. We drove south from Davenport on I-74 then I-55 to St Louis. This is a faster and fuel saving route.

It rained shortly after we started and intermittently through out the trip. We camped at Cahokia RV Parque in East St Louis which is in an industrial area but an OK park. They did have WI-FI for $4.25 a day but I elected not to use it.

I thought there was a casino next to the park but got it mixed up with another campground near by which is at a casino. We did drive through some of the worst areas of East St Louis to get to the casino that I have ever seen. A lot of it was dilapidated industrial area and some was being rebuilt but my goodness, what a mess. There was a new Ethanol plant going up along the river, a part of the big Ethanol push. Passing under an overpass we had to cross a large pool of water which was about 10 inches deep. The drain must have been plugged.

The Casino Queen has a new building and was very busy last night. The slots were full of people but I didn’t here of many winners. We ate at the buffet which featured filet mignon for tonight. Mine was not very tasty but Clyda’s was very good. The Cardinals baseball team played yesterday and the game had a long rain delay so many of the people came to the casino after the game. We did get a nice picture of the Gateway Arch from the casino parking lot.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Commentary

Location, Davenport, IA

I want to add some comments that really belong in yesterday’s blog. When we drove south from Dorchester we drove 2 lane country roads to Mauston, WI and then to Cazenovia. South of Necedah they are building a huge ethanol plant. This is one of a possible three new plants for this area.

Anyone who drove through farm country this summer is certainly aware of how much corn was planted this spring. Corn is the pre-dominate crop his year. A radio program we heard earlier in our trip reported that US farmers planted 14 million more acres of corn this year than last year. All are trying to get on the government dole for the new ethanol push which is supposed to help with our oil imports.

Environmentalists are all ready complaining about the effects of planting more corn on the pollution problems with our rivers. All that extra fertilizer flows into streams which eventually flow to the ocean. It is a real not an imagined problem which no one else appears to be addressing. As usual, people will jump on the latest hot money making scheme even if it hurts the country as a whole.

End of political statement.

We had a little problem this morning while trying to dump our holding tanks. The kitchen sink grey water dump valve wouldn’t open. Of course the tank is full. I cut a hole in the belly covering under the trailer to see if I could get to the valve. I can see the valve but I think the slide part disconnected from the handle so it won’t open. I tried to get the trailer into an RV dealer when we arrived in Davenport but all are booked for weeks to come. I did buy a new valve this afternoon and hope to install it while in Greenville, TX in a few days. In the meantime, we will do the dishes in a dishpan and dump the water into the bathroom sink. More on this later in the week.

It is amazing how much the trees have changed in the last 2 weeks. We thought the early fall colors were due to the lack of rain in northern Wisconsin but found that trees are changing colors all the way south. This tree was in Lime Ridge in southern Wisconsin



We drove through southern Wisconsin to Dubuque, IA then south on Hwy 61 to Davenport. It was only about 132 miles total. We are staying at Interstate RV Park north of Davenport off of I-80. The country is all farming with rolling hills. Tomorrow we will travel the interstate as we have almost 300 miles to do.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Here We Go Again!!!!

Location, Spring Green, WI

On Monday we grilled hamburgers for my folks and then said our goodbyes. I know they wish we were staying around here if nothing else, for the meals we prepare each day. But, we need to move on. We then drove to Marshfield to see my cousin Jim and his wife Sharon. It was good to see them both even if only for a few hours. We need to keep in better contact by email. After supper, we went to our friends Sharon and Kenny’s in Dorchester house to play “Catch Phrase” along with Lawrence and Joanne. We had a great time and played until near midnight. It made it hard to get up this morning.


We left Dorchester this morning and drove to the Carr Valley Cheese Company out side of La Valle, WI. We stopped here last year and watched them make cheese. Today they were all through making cheese but the finished cheese was still in the press. We bought a few items but mainly cheese curds to take with us.

We drove back to Cazanovia, WI and stopped at my Cousin Shirley’s house. She and her husband Ed live next to a small lake which flooded their basement in the recent heavy rains in this area. We haven’t seen each other since the last family reunion in Dorchester several years ago. They are very busy with some remodeling but were kind enough to spend a few hours catching up on family affairs.

From Cazanovia, we drove to Bob’s Riverside RV Resort along the Wisconsin River in Spring Green, WI. Wonder of wonders, they have WI-FI and it works in our trailer! I have really missed having a constant connection to the internet. I downloaded 197 emails.

There are several things to do in this area so we may get a late start tomorrow and check out a few.

Monday, September 3, 2007

My Birthday!!!!

Location, Dorchester, WI

Labor Day and my Birthday!!!!


The sign my sister Judy made.

I celebrated with a Carmel sundae at Culvers. Single scoop.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Reunions

Location, Dorchester, WI

Well, the big All School reunion is over and what a great time we had. The hall was packed with grads from as far back as 1942 and up to 1965. The school closed in 1965. There were a few people missing from the expected 285 but not many. It was wall-to-wall tables for dinner and of course the bar did a brisk business.

I managed to talk to people I had not seen since I left for the Navy 50 years ago. You always wonder how someone you knew intimately turned out in those 50 years. I saw old neighbors, old girl friends, relatives, and old friends. Several of these people were a real treat to talk too. Anyway, I had a great time and we were some of the last people to leave.

On Saturday night we went to my 50 year Class Reunion. It was held at a local bar and dance hall. There was no band for the night so it all worked out fine. There were only nine classmates out of the 20 remaining alive who attended. Several others had been at the All School reunion on Friday night and I did get to talk to them. In all, we had 16 people for dinner. The others sent excuses or failed to respond. Oh, well, we had a good time. The dinner was off the menu and was very good. With so few of us we had lots of time to talk.

Today we celebrated my birthday at my parent’s house. My sister and her husband and my brother Ray came in the afternoon. We dug my dad’s potatoes because all the tops had died back. We only got about 10 gallons of fairly large potatoes. The dry weather affected the size of the crop.

We grilled brats and hamburgers for dinner and as usual had more food than we needed. It was a great birthday.