Well hello again. It has been a while, but I haven't had anything to
say--yeah right. Truth be told I never write about stuff around home.
Period. But, we are not at home now. We are at a Good Sam's Rally in
Daytona, Florida located in the infield of Daytona Motorspeedway. And
yes, I have seen a couple "In Rememberance of #3 Dale Earnhardt" signs.
Geez Louise will these people ever give up? Ding, ding, ding, the
answer is no. I equate those Earnhardt folks with the women that drive
wittle minivans with "Soccer Mom" bumperstickers. In the first case,
those folks likely never got closer to Earnhardt than their TV screen
and should get a life. In the later case, those people should find
something more constructive to refer to themselves and should also get a life. I must say I am
thankful for both cases, because I can start my fun poking session
right off the bat. Let's talk more about the rally.
This rally
has tons of RV related manufacturers in attendance including every
motorhome made. This is truly something to see if you like RVs. As far
as my eye (my good eye) can see there are RVs parked with colorful people
walking around. And the best part is that I am one of the youngest people here. Yeah buddy.
RVers are known for being cheap or rather a small group of them have
exemplified that behavior which ultimately resulted in the majority
being given a label. Regardless, the idjits are plentiful and give me
lots of funny ammunition to talk about in the blog.
Yesterday
we registered for the rally at the registration area located in the
race car inspectors building. The event staff gave us an armful of
printed crap about the rally and one of the pieces was a couple numbers
printed on huge stickers that said "find your matching number and get a
free prize" or some nonsense along those lines.I knew as soon as I saw the stickers that this was going to make the blog. Well here it is. The free prize so eloquently referred to is a stupid t-shirt that I wouldn't walk
across the street to pee on to put it out if it were ablaze. But everyone was asked to
wear the stickers and look for their matching numbers on the other
morons wearing the numbers. Now you probably guessed The Big Ole Dumb
Southern Boy ain't wearing any stupid sticker and neither is The Queen of
the Big Ole Dumb Southern Boy's Doublewide. But as you can guess lots
of people did and some actually carried ignorance to an American Idol
level. One woman walked up to me and shouted a number in my face and
said something trailer trashy about being her match. I thought that my
only match with her would be my big ole hairy butt and her face, but my big ole hairy butt had less hair than the monkey butt that she called a face. This woman probably was in the Dale
Earnhardt trailer. What compels a woman to obsess over a t-shirt other
than stupidity or Jim Beam? Holy moly, I would have to remove half my
brain to be married to her.
Tomorrow, I am going to walk the
raceway's track which is only about 3.5 miles. That is less than my
daily walk so it shouldn't be too much trouble other than the 30 degree
banked turns. Yes, ladies and gentleman, I did say 30 degree paved turns
and that is physics at its best. The Love Boat is moored about 100
yards from the track's finish line in the infield. I think the road we
abut (no abut not my big ole hairy butt) is part of the motorcycle or
infield racing track. Beats me how that works, however, the inner track
is now the walking path for the attendees going to and from their
Earnhardt decorated manufactured mobile housing units. This huge track
is a little town all to itself with Yankees, Big ole Dumb Southern
boys, Doublewide Queens, every breed of dog ever known, and idjits with
Earnhardt and "Are You My Match" stickers as inhabitants. For a guy
like me with a sense of humor this place is superb.
In case
you picked up on the reference to The Love Boat, yes we are in old
motorhome. The new motorhome is moored in Raleigh and mired in a lawsuit
to which I cannot discuss. I can say that the new motorhome's odometer
was tampered with. I can't discuss this further until after the lawyers
finish. I will gladly name names later.
Kenny Rogers is
the entertainment tonight and Reba McEntire is tomorrow. I am going to
carry my camera today because I don't have words to describe some of the
stuff that I see. Oh, I have not seen a BO for prez bumpersticker in
the entire area but dozens of Romney ads.
Bye for now.
Friday, November 2, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Home, Sneering--Raleigh, NC Jan 21, 2012
Good golly Miss Molly we are home. We drove from Greenville to Raleigh today. The Love Boat and Roadrunner are moored at the state fairgrounds awaiting cargo removal and cleaning before dry docking at the storage facility. Dang, I carried the nautical theme too far. We are going to wash and cleanup both motorhomes before they go to storage. Both motorhomes are filthy from the mud and rain. Yes, I said rain. It is a foreign concept to us as we became desert dwellers. The rain has been fun to watch.
Roadrunner is a fast motorhome. It drives and rides so much better than The Love Boat. We miss The Love Boat though. That motorhome has been shelter and transportation to us for 2 NC to CA trips and 1 NC to Saskatchewan trip--to you Americans (pronounced A MUR A KINS), Saskatchewan is that spot on the map above Montana and North Dakota. You know where the map stops and the world ends according to most A MUR A KINS. Anyway, you might say The Love Boat took us to the end of the earth as known by A MUR A KINS. We will miss it. I will not miss sleeping in Roadrunner's bathtub or commonly called that stupid leaking Select Comfort mattress. This is where I sneer with disgust after not having a working mattress for 2200 miles. Actually this where I double sneer for not having a working mattress for 2200 miles. You can take my word I am really sneering now. Really.
I took Walter and Melissa to Walter's aunt's house tonight to get Melissa's car. I should mention that Walter pronounces aunt like AAAAAANTTT with a long A instead of ANT like the rest of us heathens. Anyway Walter's AAAAAAANTT's name is Kat, and Kat told me that a nice lady from church who was 100 years old "finally" died. Of course Kat didn't mean to say finally but the word left her mouth and frolicked around the yard, hit the house and 2 neighbor's cars then bounced off the pavement and FINALLY jumped into our ears. I looked at Kat and said that she just FINALLY made the blog and she laughed. Well Kat, here it is. The lady that died will be deeply missed by us all and (finally) Kat too.
Anyway, it is getting late and I need to go sleep on a regular mattress that won't deflate. I'll write more manana. Oh, I start my third class in Spanish this week. Oh goody.
Al
Roadrunner is a fast motorhome. It drives and rides so much better than The Love Boat. We miss The Love Boat though. That motorhome has been shelter and transportation to us for 2 NC to CA trips and 1 NC to Saskatchewan trip--to you Americans (pronounced A MUR A KINS), Saskatchewan is that spot on the map above Montana and North Dakota. You know where the map stops and the world ends according to most A MUR A KINS. Anyway, you might say The Love Boat took us to the end of the earth as known by A MUR A KINS. We will miss it. I will not miss sleeping in Roadrunner's bathtub or commonly called that stupid leaking Select Comfort mattress. This is where I sneer with disgust after not having a working mattress for 2200 miles. Actually this where I double sneer for not having a working mattress for 2200 miles. You can take my word I am really sneering now. Really.
I took Walter and Melissa to Walter's aunt's house tonight to get Melissa's car. I should mention that Walter pronounces aunt like AAAAAANTTT with a long A instead of ANT like the rest of us heathens. Anyway Walter's AAAAAAANTT's name is Kat, and Kat told me that a nice lady from church who was 100 years old "finally" died. Of course Kat didn't mean to say finally but the word left her mouth and frolicked around the yard, hit the house and 2 neighbor's cars then bounced off the pavement and FINALLY jumped into our ears. I looked at Kat and said that she just FINALLY made the blog and she laughed. Well Kat, here it is. The lady that died will be deeply missed by us all and (finally) Kat too.
Anyway, it is getting late and I need to go sleep on a regular mattress that won't deflate. I'll write more manana. Oh, I start my third class in Spanish this week. Oh goody.
Al
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Opelika Update, Campground here--Greenville, SC Jan 21, 2012
Well we survived the night in haunted campground in Opelika, AL just fine. This morning we spoke to the caretaker about the park. He said that the swimming pool was a spring fed pool for 70 years that was tremendously popular up until a quarry started and the spring went dry. The idea of a swimming pool meeting its demise do to lack of water when water lines are 75 feet away made me go humm. I think the pool was haunted and contracted a Opelikaness Monster or something. The caretaker said that the campground part was built with money from a government grant. I ain't buying it. I think the money came from some evil person that wanted campers to get hacked up during the night. The caretaker said that the town plans on renovating the old house back to its grandeur. I ain't buying that either. I think they tried to renovate it, and the construction workers got hacked up too fast. A couple of the RV sites looked like it had fresh mud with gravel on top that certainly was from Yankees getting hacked up and buried under the camp spots. Now you are asking yourself how does he know that only Yankees get hacked up by the ghost? It is simple, Southern ghosts don't hack up Southerners that would be barbaric.
Man it rained in Atlanta today. The robotic weather voice on the weather radio said high winds and a tornado watch happened just as we approached the storm. Oh goody. We made it through the storm and didn't stop but some people did along the side of the road which is fine with me. All of the people on the side of the road had on their hazard flashers like they should. The really stupid people drove really slow with their hazard flashers on so that people would come up on them suddenly and think they were on the side of the road and smash into them then have to bury the stupid people on the side of the road so that the stupid people would later become stupid ghosts that haunt the road. So, you should either drive without your flashers on or pull off and turn on your flashers. Otherwise, you become deadmeat for driving with your stupid flashers on. Morons.
We are staying in a "campground" near Greenville. This "campground" was carved out of a pasture when someone put in water, sewer, and electricity. I guess they spent all of their money on the utilities as the campsites are not even close to something that would resemble level. The leveling jacks couldn't level the motorhome at all because the jacks were too short and the rear wheels left the ground. Duhhh. The site next to us resembled a drive-on pit that used to be popular. You know a pit about 6 feet deep and wide enough to pull a car onto to work on the underside. This site looked like a drive on pit with two each 1' wide by 20' long strips separated by about 4'. In the center of the two strips was a pool of water that would have been where the pit was. I wouldn't pull a motorhome up on something like that. In the defense of the "campground", it is in the middle of a nice open field with a nice pond even though they did convert a drive-on pit into a campsite. I'll bet they did that so that campers would drive onto the pit and fall in and drown so the campground owners could feed the Greenvilleness Monster living in that pond in the field. It really is expensive to feed a Greenvilleness Monster, and who really cares about stupid people stupid enough to drive onto a drive-on pit filled with water. Not me of course.
Tomorrow we arrive in Raleighwood. YEAH. This has been a long trip, and we are looking forward to sleeping in our on bed with a real mattress on it. See Yall manana.
Al
Man it rained in Atlanta today. The robotic weather voice on the weather radio said high winds and a tornado watch happened just as we approached the storm. Oh goody. We made it through the storm and didn't stop but some people did along the side of the road which is fine with me. All of the people on the side of the road had on their hazard flashers like they should. The really stupid people drove really slow with their hazard flashers on so that people would come up on them suddenly and think they were on the side of the road and smash into them then have to bury the stupid people on the side of the road so that the stupid people would later become stupid ghosts that haunt the road. So, you should either drive without your flashers on or pull off and turn on your flashers. Otherwise, you become deadmeat for driving with your stupid flashers on. Morons.
We are staying in a "campground" near Greenville. This "campground" was carved out of a pasture when someone put in water, sewer, and electricity. I guess they spent all of their money on the utilities as the campsites are not even close to something that would resemble level. The leveling jacks couldn't level the motorhome at all because the jacks were too short and the rear wheels left the ground. Duhhh. The site next to us resembled a drive-on pit that used to be popular. You know a pit about 6 feet deep and wide enough to pull a car onto to work on the underside. This site looked like a drive on pit with two each 1' wide by 20' long strips separated by about 4'. In the center of the two strips was a pool of water that would have been where the pit was. I wouldn't pull a motorhome up on something like that. In the defense of the "campground", it is in the middle of a nice open field with a nice pond even though they did convert a drive-on pit into a campsite. I'll bet they did that so that campers would drive onto the pit and fall in and drown so the campground owners could feed the Greenvilleness Monster living in that pond in the field. It really is expensive to feed a Greenvilleness Monster, and who really cares about stupid people stupid enough to drive onto a drive-on pit filled with water. Not me of course.
Tomorrow we arrive in Raleighwood. YEAH. This has been a long trip, and we are looking forward to sleeping in our on bed with a real mattress on it. See Yall manana.
Al
Friday, January 20, 2012
RV Park--Opelika, Alabama Jan 20, 2012
If you read the title line, you are saying where is Opelika, don't ask me. I know it is on I-85 about halfway between Montgomery, Alabama and Atlanta. In other words it is in the middle of who knows where. We are staying in a campground run by the city. We were walking around this very old house on the grounds, and I was kidding Melissa that a ghost lived there. Deb read online that the original owner of the house and land may have been stabbed to death in the house then beheaded on the grounds. Oh goody. The park here is almost deserted with only one other RV. It seems like a nice park but it is located a long way from the interstate. Normally we would not venture so far from the interstate for an overnight stay, but in this part of the woods R V parks are few and far between and haunted RV parks are even fewer. This blog is beginning to sound like B grade horror movie plot. We walked around in the park, and the park had a municipal swimming pool that is now overgrown and abandoned. Holly molly this is starting to sound like a slasher movie.
We left New Orleans this morning and drove about 375 miles. We plan to stop in Greenville, SC tomorrow for a dinner meeting with some Christmas display folks. We should be back in Raleighwood on Sunday, YEA. The Puppies want to run in the backyard of their home and they have had enough of riding in RVs-- I agree with them. Traveling can be fun but coming home from a long trip can be fun too.
We stopped in Mobile, Alabama (pronounced mo bee al) today. I throughly enjoyed speaking to people with a Southern accent. What continues to amaze me are the trees and grass. I keep looking for the rock and sand of the desert and can't believe it is gone. But it is gone and cold weather is near. I am looking forward to it.
Yall have a good day and don't let the beheaded ghosts keep you from it.
Al
We left New Orleans this morning and drove about 375 miles. We plan to stop in Greenville, SC tomorrow for a dinner meeting with some Christmas display folks. We should be back in Raleighwood on Sunday, YEA. The Puppies want to run in the backyard of their home and they have had enough of riding in RVs-- I agree with them. Traveling can be fun but coming home from a long trip can be fun too.
We stopped in Mobile, Alabama (pronounced mo bee al) today. I throughly enjoyed speaking to people with a Southern accent. What continues to amaze me are the trees and grass. I keep looking for the rock and sand of the desert and can't believe it is gone. But it is gone and cold weather is near. I am looking forward to it.
Yall have a good day and don't let the beheaded ghosts keep you from it.
Al
Huge Billboard, French Quarter--New Orleans Jan 19, 2012
Hello from New Orleans. We arrived at 8pm last night after a tough drive from San Antonio as traffic was bad. The park we are in now is 3 blocks from The French Quarter and is quite nice but in a very bad part of town. Our site overlooks a graveyard and has a huge sign board directly above Roadrunner and The Love Boat. Here is a picture of the sign board.
I wonder what the Powerball drawing is tonight. We are about 1/2 inch from Interstate 10 and an emergency vehicle with sirens comes through every 4 minutes (24 hours a day). I am not kidding, every 4 minutes. Surrounding the park is a tall masonry fence with spikes at the top to keep out stuff that is afraid of spikes. Somewhere along the line New Orleans stopped being fun for me. I think it was about 50 years before I was born. My days doing disaster relief here left some images in my head that are hard to shake. I feel every so often God intentionally gives me reassurance that all isn't as bad as I thought and today was one of those occasions.
Let me make this clear that I came here during this trip strictly so Melissa could see New Orleans. I have given this place the widest berth that I could simply because Deb and I spent time here with the church doing disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina. I did not want to ever return again. Today we walked around in The French Quarter, and I saw drunks galore which bothered me immensely due to the very recent death of someone dear to me who allowed alcoholism to consume him. Images of pain and suffering haunted me most of the day. But the tide changed suddenly today when we walked into a church that sits prominently in the French Quarter. The church was beautiful and reassured me that life goes on regardless of the pain and suffering that profoundly happens around us. Tonight Walter and Melissa went into the French Quarter for dinner, but Deb and I went to the warehouse district instead. We ventured upon a restaurant that some say is the oldest building in New Orleans. The restaurant was superb and the evening was beautiful. I am glad we came here again. But, I now will have visions of Powerball dancing in my head for years.
Melissa said something worth mentioning a few days ago. Walter was kidding her about her having to learn to use the toilet in The Love Boat. Because a toilet dumps into large tank on a motorhome, flush toilets are replaced with boat style toilets that have a valve that you push a lever and the waste is briefly washed into the tank with very little water. Believe me when I say that RV toilets take getting used to (yes I end the stupid sentence with a preposition). Anyway, Walter was teasing Melissa about using the toilet and stinking up the tanks. Melissa corrected him with, "My pooh doesn't stink as bad as your pooh". That was too much information for me. This has been a tough trip.
The Roadrunner is doing okay. We may have most of the stuff fixed on it by the time we get home on Sunday. Walter and I fixed the water heater today so showers will be normal henceforth. Deb is happy about that fact. Both motorhomes are filthy from light rain that we encountered while driving. We have been gone almost 2 months with most of that time spent in the desert where rain is very uncommon. I have not seen rain in 2 months.
Dude, the blog is becoming a letter home from camp again. I have a bunch of photos to post but will need to wait until we get home.Tomorrow we leave for someplace between New Orleans and Greenville, SC. We are stopping in Greenville, SC to have dinner Saturday night with the folks from that area that have animated Christmas displays. I am looking forward to that dinner and to getting home. The Puppies are gypsies now and will love getting home too.
Geez, my sense of humor has throttled back since getting Roadrunner. I promise I will share with you some fun stuff later.
Al
Let me make this clear that I came here during this trip strictly so Melissa could see New Orleans. I have given this place the widest berth that I could simply because Deb and I spent time here with the church doing disaster relief after Hurricane Katrina. I did not want to ever return again. Today we walked around in The French Quarter, and I saw drunks galore which bothered me immensely due to the very recent death of someone dear to me who allowed alcoholism to consume him. Images of pain and suffering haunted me most of the day. But the tide changed suddenly today when we walked into a church that sits prominently in the French Quarter. The church was beautiful and reassured me that life goes on regardless of the pain and suffering that profoundly happens around us. Tonight Walter and Melissa went into the French Quarter for dinner, but Deb and I went to the warehouse district instead. We ventured upon a restaurant that some say is the oldest building in New Orleans. The restaurant was superb and the evening was beautiful. I am glad we came here again. But, I now will have visions of Powerball dancing in my head for years.
Melissa said something worth mentioning a few days ago. Walter was kidding her about her having to learn to use the toilet in The Love Boat. Because a toilet dumps into large tank on a motorhome, flush toilets are replaced with boat style toilets that have a valve that you push a lever and the waste is briefly washed into the tank with very little water. Believe me when I say that RV toilets take getting used to (yes I end the stupid sentence with a preposition). Anyway, Walter was teasing Melissa about using the toilet and stinking up the tanks. Melissa corrected him with, "My pooh doesn't stink as bad as your pooh". That was too much information for me. This has been a tough trip.
The Roadrunner is doing okay. We may have most of the stuff fixed on it by the time we get home on Sunday. Walter and I fixed the water heater today so showers will be normal henceforth. Deb is happy about that fact. Both motorhomes are filthy from light rain that we encountered while driving. We have been gone almost 2 months with most of that time spent in the desert where rain is very uncommon. I have not seen rain in 2 months.
Dude, the blog is becoming a letter home from camp again. I have a bunch of photos to post but will need to wait until we get home.Tomorrow we leave for someplace between New Orleans and Greenville, SC. We are stopping in Greenville, SC to have dinner Saturday night with the folks from that area that have animated Christmas displays. I am looking forward to that dinner and to getting home. The Puppies are gypsies now and will love getting home too.
Geez, my sense of humor has throttled back since getting Roadrunner. I promise I will share with you some fun stuff later.
Al
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Alamo, Caverns, Weird Campground--San Antonio, TX Jan 17, 2012
Howdy yall from San Antonio, TX. We got here yesterday and will leave in the morning for some place between here and New Orleans. I know, why are we going to stop in New Orleans? The answer is because Melissa hasn't seen New Orleans. I could give a rat's butt less for the place, but it has some charm to folks that haven't seen it yet. In a couple days Melissa will say to herself, "Why did we stop in New Orleans". Oh well, New Orleans here we come.
Walter, Melissa, and myself went to the Natural Bridge Caverns today. It cost around $19 each to walk down into that big ole dumb hole. Big deal, Linville Caverns in Linville, NC is just as neat and half the cost. Walter and Melissa went to the Alamo yesterday and liked it. We went to The Riverwalk for dinner last night and had a good time. Geez, the blog is beginning to sound like a letter to my mother from summer camp.
I should have started with where we spent the night after leaving Tombstone, AZ. We stopped in Junction, TX, and we pulled in around 8pm to an RV park out in the middle of nowhere in the total darkness. I think you could call the place Junction, TX even though it was 15 miles from Junction, TX, I prefer to call it WhereInTheWorldHaveWeStoppedForTheNight, TX. Geez, in that part of the southwest, the towns are almost non-existent for long stretches of territory. To get to the place we exited the interstate in the middle of nowhere and drove down a road that was scary in the daylight and downright terrifying at night. We turned off the scary road onto a dirt road that branched several times, and I had to stop and contemplate which branch to take. Low and behold we got to the campsite which was a mile off the road. It was as dark as Robert Downy Jr's liver outside. There was a big sign that said stop at trailer #1 to register so we did. Deb was gone quite a while as I stayed in the Roadrunner (the new RV's name) with The Puppies. She was gone an inordinate amount of time, so I opened the window and found a heavy woman walking up to The Roadrunner. The woman was dressed in a housecoat and told me to, "Drive around the circle because we were too far back up, and I'll meet you there". So I said huh or something along those lines and she repeated herself about driving around the circle. Now remember it was really dark with no lights. I asked here where was the circle and where do I meet you ole esteemed woman of the housecoat cloth? She pointed at a road that branched 3 times simultaneously, so I picked the middle one and toured the campground. The road wound around and came back to nearly where I was started so I suddenly realized why she called it a circle. When I got almost back to the trailer #1 slot I saw a road to the left and took it. Well low and behold there was our casual evening wear clad woman standing in the middle of the dirt road. She motioned for us to follow her or rather watch her waddle in front of us to the campsite. Now this is the funny part. What I should tell you is The Roadrunner has big headlights like a semi and this woman was waddling in front of our 40' long, 12'2" high, 8'6" wide motorhome, down this dirt road in the middle of God knows where. It took a minute or two and we got to the slot and parked. This had to be the scariest entrance into a park that we have ever encountered. I called Walter on the CB radio (Walter is/was driving The Love Boat behind us) and told him that if we heard banjo music I was leaving. But we didn't and it turned out to be a beautiful park in the day light. A bazillion deer lived there and ran free through the park. On the way out we saw a huge pecan orchard on the left of the road and an abandoned pecan orchard on the right side of the road. I guess you could say a pecan and pecan't orchard lined the road. We drove into Junction and got fuel at Bubba's truck stop and across the parking lot was a Texas BBQ place. Deb ran over there and bought some brisket for lunch, and it was astoundingly good. Folks, that is what RVing is about.
I guess I should update you on The Roadrunner's condition.The new name, The Roadrunner, was picked for several reasons but the greatest reason was because it it very fast climbing mountains thanks to its huge diesel motor. We have fixed a bunch of stuff on The Roadrunner and lots of stuff will not get fixed until we reach Raleighwood. I guess you might say that we love the new motorhome. That stupid Select Comfort (yeah right) mattress on our bed leaks the air out, but we have resigned to putting up with it until we reach home. The shower now actually puts out water after I was forced to work on it buck naked with soap all over me when the water suddenly quit mid shower. We have fixed tons of little and big things. The prior owner must have been a complete nincompoop as most repairs were easy for me and some things were intentionally disabled because the person may not have known how to operate it or was scared of it. Regardless, we are progressing and life is getting easier.
It was 78 degrees here today, and I was told it was in the 20s last week. Now that is screwy weather.
Yall have a good day, and I promise funny stuff tomorrow.
Al
Walter, Melissa, and myself went to the Natural Bridge Caverns today. It cost around $19 each to walk down into that big ole dumb hole. Big deal, Linville Caverns in Linville, NC is just as neat and half the cost. Walter and Melissa went to the Alamo yesterday and liked it. We went to The Riverwalk for dinner last night and had a good time. Geez, the blog is beginning to sound like a letter to my mother from summer camp.
I should have started with where we spent the night after leaving Tombstone, AZ. We stopped in Junction, TX, and we pulled in around 8pm to an RV park out in the middle of nowhere in the total darkness. I think you could call the place Junction, TX even though it was 15 miles from Junction, TX, I prefer to call it WhereInTheWorldHaveWeStoppedForTheNight, TX. Geez, in that part of the southwest, the towns are almost non-existent for long stretches of territory. To get to the place we exited the interstate in the middle of nowhere and drove down a road that was scary in the daylight and downright terrifying at night. We turned off the scary road onto a dirt road that branched several times, and I had to stop and contemplate which branch to take. Low and behold we got to the campsite which was a mile off the road. It was as dark as Robert Downy Jr's liver outside. There was a big sign that said stop at trailer #1 to register so we did. Deb was gone quite a while as I stayed in the Roadrunner (the new RV's name) with The Puppies. She was gone an inordinate amount of time, so I opened the window and found a heavy woman walking up to The Roadrunner. The woman was dressed in a housecoat and told me to, "Drive around the circle because we were too far back up, and I'll meet you there". So I said huh or something along those lines and she repeated herself about driving around the circle. Now remember it was really dark with no lights. I asked here where was the circle and where do I meet you ole esteemed woman of the housecoat cloth? She pointed at a road that branched 3 times simultaneously, so I picked the middle one and toured the campground. The road wound around and came back to nearly where I was started so I suddenly realized why she called it a circle. When I got almost back to the trailer #1 slot I saw a road to the left and took it. Well low and behold there was our casual evening wear clad woman standing in the middle of the dirt road. She motioned for us to follow her or rather watch her waddle in front of us to the campsite. Now this is the funny part. What I should tell you is The Roadrunner has big headlights like a semi and this woman was waddling in front of our 40' long, 12'2" high, 8'6" wide motorhome, down this dirt road in the middle of God knows where. It took a minute or two and we got to the slot and parked. This had to be the scariest entrance into a park that we have ever encountered. I called Walter on the CB radio (Walter is/was driving The Love Boat behind us) and told him that if we heard banjo music I was leaving. But we didn't and it turned out to be a beautiful park in the day light. A bazillion deer lived there and ran free through the park. On the way out we saw a huge pecan orchard on the left of the road and an abandoned pecan orchard on the right side of the road. I guess you could say a pecan and pecan't orchard lined the road. We drove into Junction and got fuel at Bubba's truck stop and across the parking lot was a Texas BBQ place. Deb ran over there and bought some brisket for lunch, and it was astoundingly good. Folks, that is what RVing is about.
I guess I should update you on The Roadrunner's condition.The new name, The Roadrunner, was picked for several reasons but the greatest reason was because it it very fast climbing mountains thanks to its huge diesel motor. We have fixed a bunch of stuff on The Roadrunner and lots of stuff will not get fixed until we reach Raleighwood. I guess you might say that we love the new motorhome. That stupid Select Comfort (yeah right) mattress on our bed leaks the air out, but we have resigned to putting up with it until we reach home. The shower now actually puts out water after I was forced to work on it buck naked with soap all over me when the water suddenly quit mid shower. We have fixed tons of little and big things. The prior owner must have been a complete nincompoop as most repairs were easy for me and some things were intentionally disabled because the person may not have known how to operate it or was scared of it. Regardless, we are progressing and life is getting easier.
It was 78 degrees here today, and I was told it was in the 20s last week. Now that is screwy weather.
Yall have a good day, and I promise funny stuff tomorrow.
Al
Sunday, January 15, 2012
The New Motorhome (LB2)--Las Cruces, NM Jan 14, 2012
We have been busy, too busy to even write this blog. But, I do have a couple minutes and thought that I should say something. We are in Las Cruces, NM in our new motorhome. The new motorhome, LB2, has been a handful of problems. Some of the problems, we are correcting immediately as they are show stoppers, i.e. no oil in the generator. Other problems are more involved and will require parts that I must order, i.e remote electric locks for the basement door when an old fashioned key works perfectly well.
Shortly after we took possession we drove the motorhome to Tuscon, AZ where I tried to start the barely used, $10,000 diesel generator. If would not start and the dealer told me that they changed the oil in the generator and it was ready to go. After repeated attempts to start it, I checked the oil and no oil was present. It turns out they took out the oil but didn't replace it. I took the generator to a repair facility who put in oil and started it, and it worked fine for them. It may have permanently damaged the motor though, but we won't know until we get home and have the manufacturer check it out. Let's say the dealer will owe us a $10,000 generator if it is ruined. The mattress on the bed is a Select Comfort which is a fancy air mattress with pumps. The bed leaks or rather fully deflates, and so we are sleeping on a foam mattress topper. This can wait until we get home. There is a long list of things that needs repairs. RVs constantly need repairs and the new motorhome was priced right, and we expected problems but not as many as we got. All of the problems will get fixed by me as we progress. I am making this sound more dramatic than it actually is, however, I have had little time to do anything but repair stuff.
Enough with the bad. The motorhome is nice or at least we think it is. It is far more powerful than I expected. I am seriously tired of talking about the motorhome. I'll write more tomorrow as it is getting late here. We drove to Las Cruces, NM via Tombstone, AZ today. I have several funny things to write about but am seriously tired tonight.
See Yall manana,
Al
Shortly after we took possession we drove the motorhome to Tuscon, AZ where I tried to start the barely used, $10,000 diesel generator. If would not start and the dealer told me that they changed the oil in the generator and it was ready to go. After repeated attempts to start it, I checked the oil and no oil was present. It turns out they took out the oil but didn't replace it. I took the generator to a repair facility who put in oil and started it, and it worked fine for them. It may have permanently damaged the motor though, but we won't know until we get home and have the manufacturer check it out. Let's say the dealer will owe us a $10,000 generator if it is ruined. The mattress on the bed is a Select Comfort which is a fancy air mattress with pumps. The bed leaks or rather fully deflates, and so we are sleeping on a foam mattress topper. This can wait until we get home. There is a long list of things that needs repairs. RVs constantly need repairs and the new motorhome was priced right, and we expected problems but not as many as we got. All of the problems will get fixed by me as we progress. I am making this sound more dramatic than it actually is, however, I have had little time to do anything but repair stuff.
Enough with the bad. The motorhome is nice or at least we think it is. It is far more powerful than I expected. I am seriously tired of talking about the motorhome. I'll write more tomorrow as it is getting late here. We drove to Las Cruces, NM via Tombstone, AZ today. I have several funny things to write about but am seriously tired tonight.
See Yall manana,
Al
Saturday, January 7, 2012
LB2, Painting, Rabbits--Palm Springs, CA Jan 07, 2012
The motorhome will not be ready until Monday or Tuesday (Jan 9-10, 2012). The body painting is taking longer than the dealer anticipated. Deb is pacing back and forth with the same demeanor and swagger as Captain Bligh after hearing of a mutiny. Life inside The Love Boat isn't all peaches and cream right now.
Speaking of painting, we are having a unicorn spray painted onto the rear of the motorhome just like every other redneck especially those from the South. I thought about maybe having something with a Lynyrd Skynyrd motif, but a unicorn seemed much more appropriate. You know why I picked a unicorn, right? Because a unicorn is a useful, mystical creature that is elusive and supposedly brings happiness to people--kind of like a democrat; however, I couldn't bear to put a picture of BO on LB2 (still haven't got a new name for the new motorhome). Also, I'm having a bunch of NASCAR numbers put on the side just in case we want to take it to a race. I know little or nothing about NASCAR, but a guy really can't be too careful about such matters. I couldn't decide which numbers I wanted to paint on, so I used my Big Ole Southern Boy mind and picked the numbers 00, 50, and 12. I really like those numbers, 00 represents the number of clues democrats have, 50 represents the number of years required to pay off BO's stimulus package, and 12 represents the number of teeth on the people at the front row of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. You might call the new motorhome The Big Ole Southern Boy's Redneck Mobile Trailer. Wee haw.
The weather here has been hot, and I do mean hot. The daytime temperatures have been in the 80's with 40-50's. at night. The Puppies don't seem to mind the heat so much which is rather strange. We started the air conditioning in The Love Boat yesterday. I know what you guys in the cold areas are saying right now, you're whining about how cold it is there. Well shut up. You tuned into this blog to hear me whine about stuff and the background noise from you folks is deafening. Where was I, I remember now. I got sunburned twice this week even with 30 SPF sunscreen. I was working outside on my in-law's house, and the sun got to me. The desert is dry too. A few days this week I looked like a Big Ole Dumb Southern Prune after working outside in the sun all day. Please keep the cold weather whining to a minimum please. I drink about 10 gallons of fluids each day and still want more due to the heat. Alright, you cold weather people are getting on my nerves, please quit complaining about how you are freezing your big ole hairy butts off. Geez. I'm going to change the subject now, so please quit whining. But before I do I would like to say this to you cold weather folks, that cold feeling that you are experiencing will continue for quite a while, and it is so hot here. I tried to make a democrat joke out of this but decided to hold off because you cold weather folks are freezing your butts off, and because I'm not it would seem too cruel.
Monty who is part of the puppy duo, The Puppies, has been in rabbit heaven the last couple of weeks. We walk each day around the perimeter of the park and dozens of rabbits come out at night along the golf course which resides behind the park. Monty loves to "chase" the rabbits even though he is on a leash. What is amazing is the number of rabbits that will congregate together at one time. I'll bet we have seen 20 rabbits huddling together in open. If you walk another 100 yards you will see a several more. I'll bet we see 40 or more rabbits each night. We have only seen one coyote on one occasion. You would expect with that many rabbits there would be more predators but that doesn't seem to be the case. The rabbits seem to have free roam of the area or at least for the most part. Now you know there is a democrat joke coming don't you? You know dern good and well that I set this paragraph up to make a democrat joke, didn't you. Well you're wrong. I am not going to parallel the subject of free ranging, plentiful rabbits to those idiots in Washington. I would never parallel how something so innocent looking as rabbits could be a problem to Washington. Nope, never, except in the following children's poem.
Al
Speaking of painting, we are having a unicorn spray painted onto the rear of the motorhome just like every other redneck especially those from the South. I thought about maybe having something with a Lynyrd Skynyrd motif, but a unicorn seemed much more appropriate. You know why I picked a unicorn, right? Because a unicorn is a useful, mystical creature that is elusive and supposedly brings happiness to people--kind of like a democrat; however, I couldn't bear to put a picture of BO on LB2 (still haven't got a new name for the new motorhome). Also, I'm having a bunch of NASCAR numbers put on the side just in case we want to take it to a race. I know little or nothing about NASCAR, but a guy really can't be too careful about such matters. I couldn't decide which numbers I wanted to paint on, so I used my Big Ole Southern Boy mind and picked the numbers 00, 50, and 12. I really like those numbers, 00 represents the number of clues democrats have, 50 represents the number of years required to pay off BO's stimulus package, and 12 represents the number of teeth on the people at the front row of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. You might call the new motorhome The Big Ole Southern Boy's Redneck Mobile Trailer. Wee haw.
The weather here has been hot, and I do mean hot. The daytime temperatures have been in the 80's with 40-50's. at night. The Puppies don't seem to mind the heat so much which is rather strange. We started the air conditioning in The Love Boat yesterday. I know what you guys in the cold areas are saying right now, you're whining about how cold it is there. Well shut up. You tuned into this blog to hear me whine about stuff and the background noise from you folks is deafening. Where was I, I remember now. I got sunburned twice this week even with 30 SPF sunscreen. I was working outside on my in-law's house, and the sun got to me. The desert is dry too. A few days this week I looked like a Big Ole Dumb Southern Prune after working outside in the sun all day. Please keep the cold weather whining to a minimum please. I drink about 10 gallons of fluids each day and still want more due to the heat. Alright, you cold weather people are getting on my nerves, please quit complaining about how you are freezing your big ole hairy butts off. Geez. I'm going to change the subject now, so please quit whining. But before I do I would like to say this to you cold weather folks, that cold feeling that you are experiencing will continue for quite a while, and it is so hot here. I tried to make a democrat joke out of this but decided to hold off because you cold weather folks are freezing your butts off, and because I'm not it would seem too cruel.
Monty who is part of the puppy duo, The Puppies, has been in rabbit heaven the last couple of weeks. We walk each day around the perimeter of the park and dozens of rabbits come out at night along the golf course which resides behind the park. Monty loves to "chase" the rabbits even though he is on a leash. What is amazing is the number of rabbits that will congregate together at one time. I'll bet we have seen 20 rabbits huddling together in open. If you walk another 100 yards you will see a several more. I'll bet we see 40 or more rabbits each night. We have only seen one coyote on one occasion. You would expect with that many rabbits there would be more predators but that doesn't seem to be the case. The rabbits seem to have free roam of the area or at least for the most part. Now you know there is a democrat joke coming don't you? You know dern good and well that I set this paragraph up to make a democrat joke, didn't you. Well you're wrong. I am not going to parallel the subject of free ranging, plentiful rabbits to those idiots in Washington. I would never parallel how something so innocent looking as rabbits could be a problem to Washington. Nope, never, except in the following children's poem.
- Little bunny Foo Foo (democrats)
- Hopping through the forest (Washington)
- Scooping up the field mice (American people)
- And bopping them on the head
- Down came the Good Fairy (common sense), and she said:
- "Little Bunny Foo Foo
- I don't wanna see you
- Scooping up the field mice
- And bopping them on the head!
- I will give you three chances (stimulus package, Cash for Clunkers, health care reform)
- Then POOF you're a Goon (spelled gone).
Al
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Spicy food, Shampoo, Medical Weed--Palm Springs, CA Jan 2, 2012
Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you have a healthy and happy life in the coming year.
I noticed something (the hard way) about life out west. Foods are far more spicy in the west than in the east. Mexican restaurants in the east serve picante sauce that is actually more like ketchup than hot sauce. Good Lord, picante sauce here is always spicy hot even when it is called "mild sauce". What in the world? I do believe that people west of the Mississippi have burned out their tastebuds? In Arizona the degree of spiciness is even hotter than here. Geez Louise. Texas in my opinion has the right balance of spiciness. As you already know, I am studying Spanish and I routinely stop and look at stuff that is written in Spanish. Yesterday I went into Rite-Aide and was perusing the candy display in the center of the store as it was all Mexican candy. I didn't want to buy anything, I was just looking at the "candy" and snacks on the display. I saw watermelon flavored hard candy coated in chile powder, sweetened beans coated in chile powder, caramel coated in chile powder, and dried fruit covered in chile powder. On the other side of the display was nuts coated in chile powder and corn chips coated in chile powder. Did you catch the common ingredient of chile powder? Good Lord, Mexicans consider chile powder candy. Holy guacamole.On the Rite Aide display I saw nothing without chile powder. Oh let's do some scientific extrapolation using my huge Southern Boy brain of that "candy" display in Rite Aide. Okay, if you were to eat everything with chile powder on it, then you will have an intense desire to leave a country and cross another border for a better life. You also will work hard, take care of your family, and not complain. I have figured out how we fix the US. We feed chile powder to democrats, and they will all leave and go to Mexico or Canada where the Promised Land awaits them. Remember the key to fixing our country is chile powder.
Deb and I have been working on her parent's house mostly painting. At the end of the day I walk home, but Deb has been showering there and taking The Crapper back to The Love Boat. The reason Deb has been showering at her parent's is because we are both pretty much covered in wet paint after working on the house all day. If she didn't clean up at her parent's then she would get paint in the car. Get it? Good. Deb washed her hair tonight with her mom's shampoo. Her mom uses Pantene Pro-V Silver Expressions Daily Color Enhancing Shampoo for Gray to Silver Shades, Sterling to Snow. Oh come on, my mother-in-law must have bought that shampoo just so I would have something to talk about in the blog. Deb said the shampoo was dark blue, and Deb was worried that it would turn her hair some weird color due to Deb being a bleach blond. Now that would be funny. Deb said I wouldn't like her running around town next to me with orange or green hair. I told her I would find it funny, furthermore I would immediately post her predicament here to allow all of Yall to share in my fun. Deb knew I was telling the truth too. Is it apparent we have been married a long time?
Well Melissa and Walter are on track to arrive in Palm Springs, CA on Jan 10, 2012. They will stay here overnight, and we will start our journey home which will take about 10 days or so. The new motorhome will be delivered on Friday, January 6, 2012 or shortly before. Now this should be a fun trip home. Stay tuned in to see what happens.
Oh before I forget, we were in the parking lot of Costco today, and some "sick people" were openly smoking "medical marijuana". I thought I was at a rock concert or something. The act sort of caught us off guard. Just when I think I have seen it all, then some Califunknian bellies up to the bar with something new. I thought I should go inside Costco and buy a big tub of chile powder and give it to those folks.
Al
I noticed something (the hard way) about life out west. Foods are far more spicy in the west than in the east. Mexican restaurants in the east serve picante sauce that is actually more like ketchup than hot sauce. Good Lord, picante sauce here is always spicy hot even when it is called "mild sauce". What in the world? I do believe that people west of the Mississippi have burned out their tastebuds? In Arizona the degree of spiciness is even hotter than here. Geez Louise. Texas in my opinion has the right balance of spiciness. As you already know, I am studying Spanish and I routinely stop and look at stuff that is written in Spanish. Yesterday I went into Rite-Aide and was perusing the candy display in the center of the store as it was all Mexican candy. I didn't want to buy anything, I was just looking at the "candy" and snacks on the display. I saw watermelon flavored hard candy coated in chile powder, sweetened beans coated in chile powder, caramel coated in chile powder, and dried fruit covered in chile powder. On the other side of the display was nuts coated in chile powder and corn chips coated in chile powder. Did you catch the common ingredient of chile powder? Good Lord, Mexicans consider chile powder candy. Holy guacamole.On the Rite Aide display I saw nothing without chile powder. Oh let's do some scientific extrapolation using my huge Southern Boy brain of that "candy" display in Rite Aide. Okay, if you were to eat everything with chile powder on it, then you will have an intense desire to leave a country and cross another border for a better life. You also will work hard, take care of your family, and not complain. I have figured out how we fix the US. We feed chile powder to democrats, and they will all leave and go to Mexico or Canada where the Promised Land awaits them. Remember the key to fixing our country is chile powder.
Deb and I have been working on her parent's house mostly painting. At the end of the day I walk home, but Deb has been showering there and taking The Crapper back to The Love Boat. The reason Deb has been showering at her parent's is because we are both pretty much covered in wet paint after working on the house all day. If she didn't clean up at her parent's then she would get paint in the car. Get it? Good. Deb washed her hair tonight with her mom's shampoo. Her mom uses Pantene Pro-V Silver Expressions Daily Color Enhancing Shampoo for Gray to Silver Shades, Sterling to Snow. Oh come on, my mother-in-law must have bought that shampoo just so I would have something to talk about in the blog. Deb said the shampoo was dark blue, and Deb was worried that it would turn her hair some weird color due to Deb being a bleach blond. Now that would be funny. Deb said I wouldn't like her running around town next to me with orange or green hair. I told her I would find it funny, furthermore I would immediately post her predicament here to allow all of Yall to share in my fun. Deb knew I was telling the truth too. Is it apparent we have been married a long time?
Well Melissa and Walter are on track to arrive in Palm Springs, CA on Jan 10, 2012. They will stay here overnight, and we will start our journey home which will take about 10 days or so. The new motorhome will be delivered on Friday, January 6, 2012 or shortly before. Now this should be a fun trip home. Stay tuned in to see what happens.
Oh before I forget, we were in the parking lot of Costco today, and some "sick people" were openly smoking "medical marijuana". I thought I was at a rock concert or something. The act sort of caught us off guard. Just when I think I have seen it all, then some Califunknian bellies up to the bar with something new. I thought I should go inside Costco and buy a big tub of chile powder and give it to those folks.
Al
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