What’s Up Doc

The Doctor said, good job on me losing 25 lbs (originally 35).  Then when the results of my blood test come back he will reduce my meds.  My blood pressure is at its lowest in over 10 years.  It’s called normal. Carol did good but her blood pressure was a little up probably due to thanksgiving day coming up.  She’s a worrier.

We got back to Livingston from the Dr’s 62 miles away and got the Beast ready to go to the shop for the awning. 

Late in the day I went I picked up the Beast.  Newmar – sad & disappointing continues to be an understatement.  That’s all I’m saying for now.

Escapees changed a link to the Boot Camp page so here is the new link.  Click on Boot Camp above.

See ya…….

Old RVer

Today was haircut day but the barber shop was closed on Mondays.  It’s been several months and I don’t even remember when or where.  Not unusual for an RVer not to remember things like that.  I noticed the last few days that my hair is turning grey, all over.  People have accused me of actually coloring my hair in the past.  I’m too cheap for that.  I guess this last year of not working made it grey.  Maybe it was the Tiffin or the Newmar.  OR maybe it’s just old age.  Nah, it was the manufactures, it couldn’t be old age.  I’m only 6…….ish.  Damn, I am old!  Reality, it’s a bitch.

Look out here comes Vicki.  Got herself a RV and gonna be a new full timer in a couple of weeks.  Go girl!!!!!  See ya in Quartzsite and Boot Camp.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) will be Dr appointments 75 miles away.

See ya.

Fulltime RV Visitors

Dan & Jenny Sheppard arrived in the afternoon.  We will put them up here on our lot. 

They're here to visit and for the Escapees Thanksgiving Dinner.  Since Carol & I are in charge of the dinner I think we just found two more volunteers.  They are coming from Betty’s RV Park down in Abbeville, LA and were tempted to stay for her Cajun Thanksgiving Dinner.  I know we would have been tempted too knowing Betty.

Pork Butt update….. At 7:30 AM the pork butt reached 190 degrees internal temp.  I took it out of the smoker, wrapped in foil and then in two heavy towels.  Then it went into a cooler to soak in the juices of everything.

Today I washed the the lower part of the RV.  It had dirt splash up from the rains last week.  Then I damped wiped and then wiped with a micro cloth.  Of course the wheels are shiny.

I kept the butt in the cooler until about 4 PM.  It came out at about 120 internal temp and ready to serve.  It was nice and juicy and pulled apart very easy.  Real good bark (black outer edges). We attacked it..along with some buns, cole slaw and beans.  Life is good.

Then we went to the Activity Center for Ice Cream Social at 6:30 PM.  We didn’t get out of there until about 8 PM.

See ya…….

Rib or Butt

Today is Butt.  I’m trying something new with this 10 lb pork butt.  Mustard, salt, pepper, and brown sugar all as a rub.  Then into the smoker with smoking the butt for 6 hours.  I spray it ever so often with apple juice.  It will be in the smoker over night at 220 degrees.  If I get up in the night I will spray it down again.  I will start spraying it in the morning in either case.  I will stick a thermo in it and wait tell the internal temps reaches about 160.  Then wrap it up in foil and back in the smoker until it reaches 190 degrees internal temp.  I have several options from that point.  I think I will wrap it up in two towels and put in a cooler and wait for dinner with Dan & Jenny Sheppard.

During the day I went into the mouth of the Beast and turned on the Hydro Hot heat system.  Just making sure it works.  I went thru my area and got rid of “my stuff” that I haven't used this “stuff” since being here in Livingston last.  I put it the mobile.  It took me about three hours.  Then I rubbed out some areas on the Beast’s skin that got junk on it from the different repair shops like putty and silicone smears.  That took about an hour.

NASCAR – the little guys races were today for the last time until next year.  It was an anxious type race.  Tomorrow the big boys race.

See ya……..

Smoking Pork Ribs

Today I smoked some pork ribs.  This was my second attempt for them.  I got a rack of 5 lbs that cost about $11 bucks.  These babies were meaty and would feed two people with ease.  I changed a few ways that I smoked them this time.  The first time they were a little on the dry side and not falling off the bone.  The flavor was off also but overall they were OK.  About a 5 on the 10 scale.  This time they turned out juicy like running down the corner of your mouth juicy.  They pulled off the bone just perfect.  The flavor was still off.  Too much of a salty taste for me.  That was from to much Pappy’s rub.  Overall, they were pretty dog on good.  Now for the flavor.  I think I will change the rub to just a little brown sugar base next time. This will sweeten them up for the kill.  On a scale of 1 to 10 I think I’m about a 7-8 right now.  I will wait until after the holiday before I try again.  I still got two pork butts to cook.

No pictures due to too busy eating them.

We are still working on putting on the Thanksgiving Dinner for the park.  We got about 70 people signed up right now and expect it to go up to about 80 or so.  Everything is going smooth.  I tried talking them into letting me cook pork butt but I was voted out.  All them to me of one.  Oh well, here comes the turkey…

See ya….

Volunteered

Today I volunteered to help someone obtain their RV in another state due to their medical problems.  It was in a repair shop and was completed so I went and got it.  A friend asked for help and that was that.  No need to say who other than say it was a friend.  I needed to do that.  I’m behind in helping others.

See ya…..

Awning Installed-Nope/Catfish & Ribs

The Beast was at Joel West RV Repair for installation of the new awning fabric at 8 AM again.  Newmar sent the wrong one again.  Now the Beast will return again Tuesday when the 3rd one is due in by then.  Newmar got an ear full from our repair facility.  Then I called their emergency number (after hours).  They will express overnight the third awning tomorrow.  They thought I was disappointed in them before.  Now they are positive.  I sent them a special email.  I expect a special phone call tomorrow.  Getting about that time to write another letter to the CEO, Mr Miller.

I filled the LP tank on the Beast at the local lumber yard called the Barn.  It took 25 gallons at $2.92 a gallon.  It was below “E” and the frig was still running.  I think it’s a 30 gallon tank which means an 80% fill is about 24/25 gallons.  Last time I got LP was in January near Quartzsite.  Not sure of the price but probably about $3 a gallon.  Now the Beast only uses LP for the stove and then the frig when not hooked up to electric.  Heat & hot water is a diesel burner.  If going down the road it’s the engine heating system like a heater in a car that runs the RV systems such as the heating and hot water.  Neat system….Driving in cold weather is real nice and warm.  The warmest rig we’ve ever had while driving down the road and no extra cost.

We park the Beast and Carol smells LP.  I say let it burn.  Carol wasn’t excited by that statement but agreed.  I found that the LP guy hadn’t turned the excess LP air valve all the way off.  I gave it about a half of turn and the smell went away. That might have gotten real nasty.

For dinner, George & Valerie took us out to Florida's for ribs and catfish.  I love their catfish.  The catfish was great and the fries are the best I ever had. The ribs have flunked the last two times I tried them.  I think with a little work I can be as good or possibly better.  But this time their ribs were back to being great.  Man were they fall off the bone juicy.  Their warm BBQ sauce is real good make the ribs even better if that’s possible.  Oh no, I’m a food critic.  We sat there until almost 8.  We got their before 5.  We all shared and had a fun time.

Tomorrow will be an interesting day.  I’m suppose to go and pick up a Tiffin RV 125 miles away. Details to follow.  Plus, expecting another apologetic call from Newmar.  They will probably call when I’m in the Tiffin driving and smiling.

See ya……

One Little Pork Butt.

At 7 AM I pulled the pork out of the ice chest.  It’s been wrapped and in the box for 5 hours.  The temp was 140 degrees when removed.  During that five hours the juice cooked the pork more.  It was the most juiciest pork I’ve cooked so far.  The removable fat was about the same.  The bark was black but tender and could be easily pulled and put with the meat itself. No hard bark.  This added to the flavor.  

After one hour of “pulling” this is what I had.  Nice clean pork with the bark in it.  I also had the juice that I poured over it.  It is so goooooooooooooood!!!!!

Then I put it in freezer bags.  You can see the soft black bark in it. 

I got a clean 4 lbs from a 9 lb pork butt. That’s about normal, a little less than 50%. I usually figure about 40%.  I use about 1 lb of rub seasonings (Pappy’s) plus I injected some vaulted vinegar both for flavor and tenderness prior to smoking in this one. I smoked for 6 hours at 230 degrees and used Bradley’s Special Blend briskets.  Then let it continue cooking in the smoker for an additional 6 hours (230 degrees) for a total of 12 hours and it went to an internal temp of 160 degrees.  At that temp out of the smoker and spray with apple juice.  Then roll it up in a tight foil fit and in the oven at 200 degrees for 5 hours.  Not over yet…then took it out of the oven and roll it in two towels and put in a tight container like an ice chest for another 5 hours.  Remove it for the final move.  Now you pull it apart.  I take all the fatty pieces out and pour the juice over it when done.  Oh so goooooooooooooooooooood!!!!

So is your mouth watering yet?

See ya………..

1,000 Posts/RV Repairs

For you bean counters and curious people today is my 1,000th post on this blog.  I have had 219,498 views since day one.  I have viewers from 10 different countries.  That’s something.  I guess they want to see what us foreigners are doing.  I will just go on doing my little typing..

RVers have to learn to work on their RVs.  If not, it can get expensive.  I’m no mechanic but I figure if something is broke then I can’t hurt it too much more.  Today I worked on one of the compartment doors.  I have three doors that were getting more and more difficult to close.  The lock keeper on the RV frame had screws that were stripping out.  I figured I would work on one today.I got bigger screws and a drill bit and went for it.  The doors work better and will hold for a long time.  To get them done at a repair shop probably $100 to $200 bucks.  My cost was $5.

Next it was time to clean the battery terminals.  They seem to corrode more with age.

I got some red spray cleaner and some preventative spray stuff and just went to work on cleaning.  Not hard work, just work.  I noticed my battery monitor said it was go through an equalizing charge of the batteries.  This is good.  The system charges the batteries in a special way so as to make them “equal”.  I don’t know much more than that other than it’s good to do that to your house batteries ever so often.  My system decides when that is some how.  Way above my level.  I will complete the cleaning another day.

Next was to work on my Pressure Pro tire system.I got one bad one out of 12 sensors with no spares.   The bad one happens to be the driver side front of the RV.  I will take the left rear of the Jeep and use it.  I want to know when my front tires are a little low more than the Jeep.  I might order a another sensor if I get around to it.  They use to cost $50.   Well, I couldn’t reset the sensor in the new location for some unknown reason.  I will try again another time.

Now if you're counting I started 3 jobs but did not complete none.  That’s OK.  Tomorrow is another day or maybe a few days or more I will do more.  for now that was enough.

In the mean time I’ve started another pork butt.It’s a little harder now that the weather has changed.  Smokers don’t like the temps when they get below 50 degrees or so.  Tonight it will get into the 30s. That means it really slows the cooking process down because the smoker can’t hold the temps.  I will bring the pork butt in after it smokes for about 9 hours and finish it up in the oven.  Never done that.  Plus I used another special rub mixture that I’m experimenting with.  I need some guinea pigs again.

For dinner a bunch of us (14) went over Marks.  He had his famous smoked meat loaf.  He added a twist to one of three he prepared.  He added jalapeño peppers.  It was well liked by those who eat that kind of stuff who includes me.  Fun was had by all. 

We got back about 9 PM and it was time to move the pork butt from the smoker to the oven.  I wrapped it up and in it went.  Five hours later that night my temperature alarm went off.  It reached my temp setting.  Yes, that was 2 AM.  I wrapped it up in towels and put it in a ice chest.  I will open it and pull the pork when I get up.  Sometimes the cook has to sacrifice a little for supberg results.  At least I hope so.

See ya………..

Twenty Four Notes

That’s how many music notes are in TAPS.  It has been played across the United States many times today, Veteran’s Day.  That really hits home for a lot us. 

One short story.  I returned from Marine Corps boot camp Parris Island in 1968.  I was proud and thus went to church wearing my Dress Blues.  The preacher asked me not to wear my uniform next time to church.  I did not return.  Today….that would not happen and that is my point.  Military do not necessary support the political reasons for fighting/conflict/war but understand that they do what they are told.  Thus, we are a free country and it is due to our military soldier..  Fighting/conflict/war might appear to be for the wrong reason at times but that is not the soldier’s fault so don’t hold them accountable.  Back in the 60s and 70s the soldier was held accountable.  Not anymore and that is what is so great.  I’ve heard more “thank you” in the past few years than I‘ve heard in the past four decades.  NOW, I thank you!

Another kind of Boot Camp ended today.  Not as rough as the USMC Boot Camp but it seemed tiring at times.  Escapees Boot Camp has ended.  A lot was learned and new friendships were gained.  Here are the instructors..

and their 75 students.

Later George & Valerie grilled some nice steaks for Carol & I for dinner. 

Then we all went to the Veteran’s Appreciation Ceremony here at Rainbow’s End.  Did you know that this was the first Veteran’s Day with no living World War I veteran survivors? The tribute to the local veterans was very appropriate and then ended with ice cream.   It would have been even better if it was free for the veteran’s.  I don’t think it was a thought but more of an over look.

NASCAR racing earlier in the day…WOW!

See ya….