An interesting week without the Winter Olympics

As you remember from previous posts, the sport of Curling received a good many discussions by the four wanderers as we contemplated the finer points of such an exciting display of skill.  Since the Olympics are over, our conversations have switched to the use of ProBiotics.  Yep, that is correct - ProBiotics.  We are slowly but surely becoming well versed in this subject.  I bet you did not know that we are interested in such high level academic type discussions.

Well, when it comes to holding tanks, nothing is off the chart for us.  We are all into how to keep our tanks clean and the sensors working flawlessly.  We have spent the better part of a week now researching and discussing this subject.  We even have a plan in place to begin the actual experimentation of the usage of ProBiotics in the holding tanks.  So stay tuned for further developments in this exciting and terribly interesting subject area.  Don't let the girls try to fool you, they do not participate much in actual conversation but there is a considerable amount of facial expressions involved as they listen closely to every word spoken.

Having endured several days of extremely low visibility, the folks took advantage of a somewhat clear day to drive on the beach.  Here at Surfside Beach, driving on the actual sand next to the ocean is permissible (as long as you do not run over anyone sunning themselves or strolling along that is) and seems to be the thing to do if you are a dedicated fisherman.  This allows you to get your gear right to the water's edge without hauling it for a very long way.  There are numerous access points and you can drive for quite a distance once you are out there.  The only restrictive access are close to the actual town of Surfside Beach due to a large number of commercial enterprises with associated people traffic adjacent to the beach area.  Which is only reasonable since accidents would surely increase in a higher density of people on the beach.

Driving allows you to cover a much larger area in a much quicker time so the opportunity for seeing 'things' is exponentially increased.  In fact, the tour included a stop by a deceased Dolphin that had washed up on the shore, an RV actually on the beach, shady characters (at least in the view of those in the vehicle they were shady), a geologist type fellow with a strange contraption taking many measurements and notes.  All in all, a very nice trip to enjoy the sites and sounds of the ocean and beach.  Here is a shot of the vehicle of choice for such a trip.

Betty Boop with driver on Surfside Beach sand

Such a beach excursion demands a trip on the road so you can see the same sights from a different perspective.  Having already made most of the trip down the beach, it was decided a trip to Galveston on the road that parallels the beach would give the desired different perspective.  We saw many things on this trip.  Since we are driving parallel to the ocean, there is a bay that must be crossed that has a Toll Bridge across the water to allow us to get to Galveston Island proper from Surfside Beach.

Now this is not just any old Toll Road and certainly not what you are accustomed to seeing in the large metropolitan areas with the automated toll booths that automatically scans a Toll Tag as you drive along. No, no, no!  This road has a manned toll booth.  Yes, that is correct, a person sitting in a small concrete block house in the middle of the road whose sole purpose is to collect the $2 fee for traversing this 2-lane bridge that connects Galveston Island's west side to the rest of Texas via this highway.  We assume this is the case 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as we did not see any way to shut traffic down nor automate the process whatsoever.

This is the point where we begin to have suspicions about whether or not the State of Texas or any other governmental unit for that matter is truly operating this toll booth.  For you see as we approach the concrete block house and pull up to the window, there is a drawer that opens for you to put your money in a plastic bowl (similar to a Walgreen's store or a bank that has a drive up window) and then is retracted so the attendant can retrieve the payment.  What caught our eye was the plastic bowl.  Not just any old Tupperware bowl, mind you, it was the storage kind you buy at the grocery store to preserve leftovers until the next meal such as a Glad brand and then is disposed of as a non-reusable item.  The other piece of evidence we examined was the lack of receipt for our toll payment.  All we got was a grunted 'Thank You' from Alfredo the attendant a/k/a Mr. Personality as so named by Bibi.

On our trip back, several hours later, Alfredo is still manning the booth.  This is late at night with no other vehicles in sight.  This time we are on the other side of the concrete block house and greeted with the same plastic bowl and drawer and the lack of a receipt as well as the customary grunted 'Thank You.'  Now this overwhelming evidence that something is awry leads to considerable conjecture as to just who is getting this cash being put in the plastic bowls in the drawers manned by Alfredo.  The consensus in the car is that Alfredo happened upon this once manned but long since abandoned toll booth and seized upon the idea that he could continue the charging for his own benefit.  We can just imagine the phone call he made back home with news of his good fortune to his parents.  "Mom, Dad you will not believe what I am doing here in Galveston, Texas.  I found a way to make money and have a dry, clean place to live for free.  The best part about it, it costs me nothing and all I have to do is sit here and wait for the next car to come by and hand me money.  Wow, talk about the land of opportunity, this is it!"

Now if this is not the case, then our apologies to Alfredo.  But, it all seems to stack up, doesn't it?  Anyway, back to the purpose of the trip.  We wanted to see Galveston Island.  Remember the low visibility I mentioned earlier.  There is this 'sea fog' that develops when the water is colder than the ambient temperature of the air.  We have been in a fog for about half the time we have been here.  Since Galveston Island is just that, an island, we did not take into account the intense sea fog we would encounter when we finally arrive on the seawall.  Visibility is all but gone so our trip to 'see' the island is not very productive as we find ourselves at Bubba Gump's Shrimp House dining on Mama Blue's southern fried shrimp all the while staring out the big plate glass windows at a very picturesque view of ........... the fog.

The next day, not to be deterred, we make a trip to NASA to look over the Johnson Space Center.  It is a blue bird day and we are far enough away from the sea fog that we can see for miles.  We had a great day looking over the exhibits, learning about the history of the space program and getting up to date on what is happening now and what is planned for the future.  As we looked at the historical items, we all reminisced about what we were doing when Neil Armstrong first landed and walked on the moon along with other significant achievements during the period.  Today, all the shuttles are retired and our astronauts ride Russian rockets to the International Space Station.

It still boggles my mind how these astronauts could have gotten into these tiny capsules mounted on top of a rocket designed and controlled by a bunch of youngsters (average age 26) and let those kids 'blast' them into space.  Talk about faith, there is some kind of faith that you will survive and somehow come back to earth in one piece.  In looking over the Orion project and training center, we get a distinct feeling that we are in a Star Wars movie.  Which begs the question, 'Does science fiction eventually become reality or does science copy science fiction?'  They are making robots to help the astronauts do their work and they look (see some pictures below) like something out of science fiction.  They even bragged about the hands on the robot that can type an entire paragraph as an iPhone text message without making a single mistake.  How many of us can do that?

We saw the mission control room that managed all the trips into space through the moon visits and were astounded that it was so small (much smaller than it appeared back in the day on the TV) and the lack of fancy computerized equipment.  Then of course, we remember small computers did not exist back then, only the big mainframes of my college days.  In fact, your cell phone has much more computing capability than the so-called computer guidance systems on board the early spacecraft.

We learned about life on the International Space Station, including exercise, hygiene, eating, sleeping and bathroom issues.  Did you know the inhabitants have to drink recycled urine for water.  Talk about brave men and women.  I think most of the population would un-volunteer to be an astronaut once this fact is made known to them.  The other negative is each astronaut has to exercise at least two hours a day to overcome the weightless effects on the human body such as loss of muscle mass, osteoporosis, etc.  I am not sure about you but I like a little exercise (emphasis on little) but not a solid two hours worth daily.

Mission Control Room as seen from actual Visitors Gallery

Orion Capsule for trip to Mars

Some rovers and robots on wheels, notice the spider on the left (creepy)

See worker at table, programming for the robot hanging in front of him

Saturn rocket for moon launches, this thing is huge

See how big, this is in between the last two stages of the rocket

My personal favorite insignia patch

After wearing ourselves out, we decided to visit Kemah for a meal while we waited for rush hour traffic to clear out a bit.  Once we arrived at Kemah, we sat down at Saltgrass to enjoy our meal and the intriguing view of the 'sea fog' from the beautiful large plate glass windows once again.  We anticipate a day of rest and then some strolls on the beach as the next front comes through and changes the weather pattern a bit.

Until next time, take care.

Buc-ee's Fog and Curling

Well the last time I left you a note, I was deeply concerned about the recent chapstick episode endured on our way back to the beach.  Since this was so heavy on my mind, I forgot to tell about our last stop on the trip back.

Somewhere between Huntsville and Conroe, we decided we needed to get some gas before continuing any further.  We pulled into a small burg, named Madisonville, for no particular reason other than to make a quick stop for the gasoline.  Well part of the convenience store where we stopped has a Subway sandwich shop.  Since we are already stopped and there are a couple of hours driving left, we decide to refuel ourselves as well.  This further leads to taking a restroom break before hitting the road once again.

Well, as everyone knows, the guys have no problem with the restroom situation at any stop.  This is not the case with the girls.  There are the issues of cleanliness, privacy and clientele appearance that must be satisfied before approving the use of a place's facilities.  This poor convenience store failed on all three counts if not more.  So we struck out in search of suitable facilities.  We see a Buc-ee's on the other side of the interstate and head that direction.

Now for the uninitiated, Buc-ee's is a regional convenience store found in South Texas primarily.  It's logo (pictured below) looks like a beaver with buckteeth.  I have always wanted to stop at one to peruse the establishment because they look so interesting from afar.  Here was one that we could not believe our eyes when we topped the bridge and looked into the parking lot and gas pumps.  There must have been in excess of 100 cars and trucks.  Figuring this many people cannot be wrong, we forge onward to check out their facilities.

Buc-ee's Logo used on Signs at their locations

We guys waited in a parking space close to an entrance having already taken care of business whilst the ladies ventured into the melee inside the store.  While sitting there we conjectured on why so many folks had stopped at the store.  Casually watching the comings and goings, I noticed the large digital sign below the Buc-ee's sign.  It would flash various advertising messages to entice those travelers on the road to stop in before continuing their journey.  The one piece of information that really gave me a hoo-hah was the statement: "Two Reasons to Stop at Buc-ee's - - #1 and #2".  (Think about it for a minute - this is the exact reason we stopped)  And as if to confirm the message on the sign, the ladies came back raving about this place having the best bathrooms anywhere we have been before.  Very large (around 20 stalls), extremely clean and spacious inside.  Obviously, not many five-star hotels could compete with what I was hearing.  So the sign is exactly right, 2 reasons to stop!

Upon returning to the RV park on the beach, we have settled comfortably into somewhat of a routine.  A routine that involves walking along the beach.  There is a jetty some distance from us that leads into the Intracoastal Waterway that Bibi and I have set as our goal to walk to and from before we leave this location. David says if he walks down to that, someone will have to come pick him up in the car to carry him back. This may end up being the case for us as well.  We have walked so much that sometimes a planned second walk for the day does not happen due to tiredness and soreness.

The last few days have been marvelous temperature-wise.  An interesting phenomenon is occurring regularly. Because the water temperature is cooler than the ambient air temperature, we have London style fog all the time.  Most of the time the visibility is a half-mile or lower.  This morning, I got up and could not see the fence across the driveway in front of the RV.  This distance is approximately 50 -60 yards.  It makes for an interesting walk by the ocean when you cannot see normal distances.  There is an almost surreal feeling to the environment.  It also messes up your sense of distance since you do not have far off landmarks to mark how far you have gone, you can easily go too far.  Remember, wherever you start from and end up, you have to traverse this distance again to get back to your starting point.

Another interesting phenomenon is happening back at the RVs too.  Since the Winter Olympics are taking place, we naturally are interested in the different sporting activities.  But one 'sport' has evidently captured our collective East Texas imaginations.  It seems daily whenever we get together, the conversation turns to this particular sport and a discussion of the fine intricacies involved ensues.  Now mind you, none of the four adults in this conversation has ever participated in the sport (East Texas is not a hotspot for this sport) let alone even have read the rules associated with the sport.

Which sport you ask, why 'curling' of course.  Curling seems to be the epitome of being bored for so long during winter time, you have to come up with something to do to pass the long harsh winter days since you cannot work outside.  It is some kind of strange combination of bowling on ice and washer competition or horseshoes combined.  Supposedly there is quite some skill involved in putting the 'rock' exactly where you want it to be when it comes to rest.  We are not sure about what is being yelled during the competition because as you know, they participants are not speaking 'East Texas' but using their native tongues from around the globe.  So the purpose of and the information imparted by all the yelling has thus far eluded us as we gaze intently on the televised portions of this sport.

We have discussed everything from the handle on the rock, how the rock is made, what is the purpose of the brooms, why one person tries to hit another's rock versus the person that tries to go around the rocks and everything in between.  Our discussions get quite lively sometimes in discussing these finer details, which I must say is a lot livelier than the actual competition.  Except for those folks with the brooms which are quite lively, everyone else is standing around.  We did find out there are about 900 curling clubs in the U.S. with about 16,000 folks participating in the sport in this country.  Who would have guessed that?

Why this particular activity captures our interest and holds it for such lengthy discussions is beyond each of us.  We cannot explain it, nor escape it.  Every single time a 'curling' event is on, we stop what we are doing immediately and focus all of our attention to every single action and word uttered during the televised portion of the event.  Of course, each time one of us picks up on new information, we discuss it to the 'nth' degree. You would think we are aficionados or something.  Maybe it has to do with our age.  We have noticed a lot of 'shuffleboard' courts at RV parks.  Methinks, curling is just a winter version of this popular fair weather pastime that is played primarily by folks around our ages.  Just saying......

Until next time, may all your curling be done on ice!

The week that was......

It all started the week before innocently enough.  Matt, my son-in-law had mentioned the 97 Adventurer is for sale to a co-worker that is looking to buy a motorhome before retirement.  Well while in Surfside Beach, we get a text from Matt and Rikki wanting to know if we would accept a lower price for the 97.  I respond back with 'is this a firm offer or a fishing expedition?'.  The answer: it is firm.  Now mind you, the prospective buyer has not even seen the rig or asked for any pictures.  Well we countered with a higher price that is lower than the original asking price and it was immediately accepted.

Now begins the back and forth directly with the buyer to make final arrangements to swap money for the title and the vehicle.  It is determined we should be able to make a Friday work for both parties so we set our sights on that target.  Now we have to get back home to get the rig to the shop to have a step motor replaced, buy a replacement microwave to install and clean it out completely for delivery.  We announce to our co-travelers of the recent developments and invite them to make the trip back with us.  When we left on our trip, they had sold their piano and the home fridge had quit working so there was incentive to take care of these outstanding items.

They decided to go with us and with the weather and traffic, the decision was made to leave on a Tuesday afternoon.  This is the Tuesday before the designated Friday for making the swap with our buyer.  If we do not make this deadline, the next earliest time to meet will be Tuesday following due to a bank holiday.  All of this cutting into our play time down south at the beach.  So the pressure is on to git 'r dun.  The trip back is uneventful until we get to the Lufkin area and we run into the rain/freezing rain predicted this day.  In Nacogdoches we pass a truck that has lost its load of pipe on the road, partially blocking traffic.  Just outside of Nac, we see an accident where several vehicles have left the road and are in the ditch due to the rain/freezing rain.  We see plenty of ice building on the trees and power lines.

When we finally make it home, we stop and grab a bite to eat.  This is because there are no groceries at either couple's house and eating is mandatory before calling it a night.  After we eat, the road and weather conditions have deteriorated further, making it a slower go to make it safely home.  Thanks to God's watch care, we are all safe and sound but tired as we can be with a lot more to do this week.

Wednesday starts with delivery of rig to repair shop and getting a call later that the replacement part had to be ordered and will be shipped in the next day (Thursday).  So a call to the banker, the buyer and our co-travelers to coordinate the trip to DFW on Friday ensues.  Of course this delicate balance of timing is totally dependent on getting the frig fixed, piano delivered, steps repaired, microwave replaced, rig cleaned out and banker making its final inspection before delivery.  There is nothing anybody can do to speed up, change or affect these variables except live through them and be flexible to make last minute changes.

The good news is that everything and everybody worked well together and we made it to the DFW area on Friday to complete the transaction.  A special shout-out to my father-in-law and mother-in-law for making it happen.  We delivered the rig and made our escape from the DFW traffic during rush hour to make our way back to Surfside Beach just in time for improved temperatures and sunny skies.  Now comes the kicker to this entire episode.

I have already apologized to my valentine for the hectic valentine week, lack of card and flowers and no valentine dinner missed because of trying to put all these pieces together to meet this deadline.  I thought she was okay with it and fine that we agreed on a rain check, but obviously I missed some sign that this is not the case.  For on our way back my bride asked me for some chapstick.  Unfortunately, the tube is in my pocket, I am driving and cannot retrieve it for her.  Since I have already greased up, I offer her a kiss that will allow her to share some of my chapstick.  To my surprise, she REFUSED to kiss me on Valentines day to get some chapstick.  Now to hear her tell it, I was driving and it was not safe.  This does not hold water for me because in the past I have received kisses while driving;  I therefore, know there is something else at play here.  Needless to say, I am still in shock at this recent turn of events.

Good news is the 97 Adventurer is sold and gone but the bad news is I am not feeling the love for such a sacrifice of time and effort, if you know what I mean.  I will let you all draw your own conclusion from this tale and offer suggestions on how to extricate myself from such a quandary.

So this is how the week that was....., ended.  Until next time, see you down the road.

There is no such thing as a bad day in a RV

After settling in we discover there is a RV show in Houston this week and have decided to go take a look at the new models and explore the possibilities.  Besides, our good friends are seriously considering a purchase and need all the comparison information they can obtain before finalizing such a major purchase.  Sounded like a good rationalization to me and we are off to visit the show.

So we hit the show at Reliant Park and thank goodness it is all inside because outside is a dreary, cold, misty, nasty day.  Inside is warm and inviting.  Upon entering we notice there is a main aisle with some vendors and we make our first foray down this aisle collecting many pieces of literature.  Approximately 42.4 pounds of paper was collected.  After we returned to our RV, Bibi sat down with the 'loot' and culled out 97.3% of the stuff she classified as non-essential items.  Unbelievable!

Our next stop was to review the layout of the show and plan our attack.  Since Camping World had a huge presence and we knew from past experience they carry Winnebago, we decide to begin with their units. Upon arriving in their area, we see quite a few Itasca models but no Winnebago models.  We press on looking but are momentarily distracted by a 'Palazzo' that is intriguing.  Upon entering, we encounter a Factory Rep ready to answer any question we have about the unit.  I casually ask him who the manufacturer of the unit is to which he replies Thor.  Thinking I have obtained the information desired I proceed to look over the unit and pause by the cab area to rest while the rest of our party peruses the coach further.

Unbeknownst to me, the Factory Rep has signaled a Camping World salesperson and then he snuck up behind me trying to get me to sit in the driver's chair to get a 'feel' for the cockpit.  If you have been to enough of these shows, you recognize this as a ploy to get you 'excited' about the unit.  I politely refuse explaining, I am just surveying the rig, trying to take it all in.  By this time the salesperson, a very nice older lady from Florida that works for Camping World nationwide sales, has arrived to take an interest in my activities.

Bibi and Sophie have already departed the coach, obviously they saw what was happening and made a hasty exit, leaving me and David at the mercy of the dynamic duo.  So me being the nice person I am, asked another question and promptly received a reply.  Then out came the brochure for the unit and further explanations and information followed by the question, when do you want to drive this unit out of here?

Now mind you, we have just purchased a newer Adventurer and are not in the market for another coach, but I did like this floor plan and knew David needed more comparison information so I pressed onward by making a casual statement something to the effect, 'oh, maybe on Saturday.'  Well, you would have thought I had waved a huge juicy steak in front of a starving dog, the foam started appearing on the salesperson's mouth along with her cohort, the Factory Rep and the race was on.  Now during all this time, David is hanging back listening (and not saying anything which is quite smart with this pair) and gathering information as the questions and answers are flying back and forth with some regularity and speed by now.

Back to Bibi and Sophie, they have managed to view about 15 more coaches during the process of me letting the sales person down easy.  As we are making our escape from the non-pressure sales presentation, I  cannot help but notice the pair of spouses viewing from afar (a long way off) the goings on at the Palazzo. It is at this time I let the salesperson in on the secret that I am not the buyer, but David is the real prospect. Oh my, you would have thought I had just dumped 20 gallons of cold water on her head.  She immediately quit writing down my contact information and started swiveling her head to ask where he went.  I nonchalantly said, 'Oh he is around here somewhere."  She said, well let's find him, I at least want to introduce myself to him.  Okay, I said, relieved to be out from underneath the microscope and out of the line of fire.

When we round the Palazzo, David is nowhere in sight.  At this time I take my leave of the salesperson with her card, promising to give it to David once I locate him.  I find David a few coaches down and deliver the card.  As we round the corner, whom do we bump into?  You guessed it, the salesperson.  I pointed to David and said, "here he is!" then made a quick little sidestep to avoid being run over.  Leaving David in good hands I set out to find Sophie and Bibi.

Well to make a long story, a little longer, Sophie ended up getting sucked into the sales vortex David was caught in.  After 30 minutes or so, they extricated themselves and made their way towards us standing at the edge of the Camping World area.  We moved away quickly, constantly checking over our shoulders to make sure our escape was complete and successful.

We finally made it to some Winnebago models that were at the show and carried by a competing dealer. After perusing these, avoiding all signs of any salespersons, we managed to make the rounds and had quite an enjoyable day at the show followed by a nice mid-afternoon lunch on the way back to the RV park at the beach.  Thoroughly enjoyed regaling each other with tales of the sales adventure.  Note to all sales people, it would be wise to determine early on who the real buyer is in a group.  By the time this poor person had determined I was not the buyer, all bridges had been burned by ignoring my companion, David the real buyer.  Besides, Sophie did not approve of the coach anyway, so all bets were off.

Until next time, we are still adventuring....

Here we are again

Well we managed to find our way a little further south in an effort to escape colder temps.  We are at Surfside Beach with our traveling friends, David and Sophie.  Our trip here was somewhat uneventful, except for the following:

In an attempt to pass time by eating lunch before traversing Houston traffic we wanted to find a place to pull over and have a sandwich or buy lunch.  Never before in the history of man has this been more difficult than this trip.  After a couple of different stops to try out large parking areas (usually a WalMart) and not being successful to find an area large enough to accommodate one rig pulling a vehicle, much less 2 rigs at the same location, we moved on down the road to a Cracker Barrel only to discover the only one in North America without a designated RV parking area.  In fact, the closest parking was approximately 1/4 mile away so we decided to 'hoof it' to the restaurant.  Now in an effort to park the rigs around the previously mentioned WalMarts we had to do quite a bit of maneuvering to extricate ourselves from some pretty tight spots.  There were a number of U-turns, tight turns and crossing heavy traffic to go the desired direction.  All of these done in our 45 foot long times 2 rig caravan in very heavy traffic.  We could not decide what was up with WalMart as the parking lots of the two attempted parking areas were completely loaded with customers' cars.  Oh well, it was fun while it lasted, we think?

The next hiccup occurred on the freeway just south of downtown Houston.  I will spare the 'gory' details but there was a recently killed dog in the roadway that did not pass between my wheels cleanly and then was rolled over in front of David who thought he had possibly managed to miss it but due to the action of my jacks underneath the rig moved the carcass directly into his path.  Both of us have a small cleaning job on our towed vehicles before using them.  We can only hope the rain today washes away most of the heavy duty mess.

Regardless of those things, we are here and settled in for the night and looking forward to new adventures that await us.