Just Another Grocery Day

The highlight today was to go grocery shopping for sale items only.  We went to H.E.B, Aldi and Kroger grocery stores all within a short distance of each other.  We only got 3 items at each store.  They were great sale items and the only ones we got.  How about milk $1.79 a gallon for an example.  Our frig is jammed packed.

We lived this far without a microwave and it is doable.  We had to actually turn on the AC yesterday.  It got into the 80’s and the humidity was high which was the killer. 

I grilled one of the sausages we got today.  Four for $5.  It was good.

The earlier rain, the high winds and even the fast moving grass cutting machine didn’t mess up our satellite dome that we had setting on the ground.   It’s the initial set up that was a lot of trouble.  Maybe when we get back to Livingston it will do better.

See ya…………………

Sleepy

Took a Sleep Test last night (Wed) in Conroe, TX at a sleep facility.  It was terrible.  Over 40 wires were hooked up to me.  Now try to sleep in those conditions.  Yes, I was uncomfortable and couldn’t sleep my “normal” sleep.  I see the sleepy doctor Monday…. oh well.

It rained most of the day (Wed) so outside activities were at a stand still.  There was a break around dinner time and I quickly broke out the grill and LP tank.  Dinner on the grill was possible and accomplished.

Then I went to the sleep facility about 8:30 PM and started the sleep test.  It was like a hotel room and it had two cameras also.  The rest is history.

See ya……

Camping Again

Now camping in Thousand Trails Conroe Texas.

We got the Sat dome working after a call to Direct TV and Winguard about us not getting a dome dish signal.  A connection was not tight – my bust!

Since I got two Dr appointments and one medical test in the next week we decided to do some more test camping.  We got a lot more “things” in it now.  You would think since we’ve been full timing for 15 years we would have it pretty much down.   Nope.  We have a good carrying capacity but not enough places to put it.  There’s a difference.  Not as much “stuff” so we have to set priorities.  Plus we need access to what we store without unloading the camper to get to it.

It’s been raining since last night.  We knew it was going to rain so what a better way to test the camper.  We are staying in the camper

We will try go to Betty’s RV Park in Abbeville, LA next month before we leave in May in the big RV (home).

We thought we saw just about everything.  There’s always one more.  Here’s a lady “walking” her dog who is pooping.  It was a light rain and only the dog and it’s mess was in it.  Yes, she walked out and picked up the poo.

See ya……..

Doing Nothing While Invaded

Caterpillars everywhere.

So what do we do……we were told to just hang around a couple of weeks and they all will be gone…

See ya…………..

Easter

It was a quiet and calm day of setting out and watching the caterpillars take charge of our lot.

See ya…………

We’ve Been No Where…

We’ve had two party nights and then a recover night.  The first night we had a total of 9 people I think.  Yes we had pulled pork and people brought side dishes that were really good.  The second night with different people we had a total of 6 people.  It was a blast too.  One couple was a no show no call and another had prior obligations.  That’s really not nice when you invite somebody and they don’t respond at all.  I guess they don’t like my smoked pork.  Or I guess it’s my new me.  I got a haircut that left my hair less than a half an inch.  Plus I cut all my beard off.

I gave my dead Rand McNally GPS to Mark a few days ago to see if he could breathe life into it.  He returned it working but the battery life was gone.  I also gave Jon Glick my dead Garmin.  He’s working on it.  I think I had a bad plug  that I used on both of them that made them go dead.  Jon is still working on the Garmin.

I really like my Rand McNally with GPS.  I can check fuel prices along a given route.  That’s really cool.

Carol & I straightened up the place after the two nights of smoked pork.  What was nice having back to back smoked pork dinners.  Everything was already prepared for the second night.

I was in a wash and wax mood.  I washed the Mariner and then only waxed part of it.  Mainly the front end because it gets the worst of the road grime. 

Next was the camper front end.  I washed just the front end and then waxed it.  I got to wash the entire body before we leave for the East Coast in early May.  The camper stays and we take the big RV (home).  The camper will stay under the carport (RVport) until we return in the fall.

See ya…….

Here Comes The Butt…

Kitty can sleep anywhere and does.

Just a few cables

and a few more.  I finally got it to work and even programmed the remote for the receiver and TV.  That was the easy part.

I found this old flat cable for going thru windows.

What have we here….

I bet the people setting here will want that butt but smoked.  But butt?

Carol’s garden with 10 bags of mulch and a lot of hard labor and love….

Why not have two sats

If you put your glasses on and search you can see how I ran the cable over to the RV.

Mark came over and looked at the camper’s microwave.  He officially pronounced it dead.  Now to find a cheap replacement that fits.

So the butt went into the smoker and will come out tomorrow.

See ya…………

Camper Fire For Us

Well, 40 some years of camping/RVing and we finally had a fire inside the camper.  It was a tiny one and in the microwave.  Sparks turned into spits of fire and flame.  I turned off the microwave and the flame went out.  It’s like a piece of metal was inside of the microwave but there wasn’t any.  I wiped off the burn marks and found it was a cover for a lightbulb that decided to go up in flame.  Interesting……now what?

We spent the last two nights here at a COE park and it was calm and peaceful.  We plan on doing it again next week over in Conroe while doing some medical stuff for me.

We left when we were ready about 10:30 AM or so for the 60 mile trip.  The little camper did fine in the winds that couldn’t decide which direction they were coming from.  I fueled up and the little camper V10 engine got 8.3 MPG (340 miles) towing a car in high winds in rolling hills.  I think it will come up in the future.

We got back and remembered why we left – a lot of projects going on.  Carol worked on the flower beds and I worked on the motorhome sat cable TV.  Dave Wilson came over and he couldn’t figure out anything either and left after giving it a good try.  I finally figured out to reset the remote.  Then after disconnecting everything that looked like a cable and reconnected only the necessities – portable sat dish to receiver – TV to receiver – IT WORKED!  Now I got all these loose cables all over the place.  Plus, early May I have to put everything back and have it work when we are out from underneath of the carport.  Oh well.  Worry about it then.

Then it was the camper’s time for me to entertain myself.  Since the sun was out most of the time I figured it was time to check out the solar.  The readings were almost zero.  I got up on the roof and the solar panels were really cruddy from the pollen and dew.  I cleaned them up real good.  Wow, solar power now.  In it’s best reading it got up to 18.3 amps coming down off the roof.  Then the controller boasted it up to over 23 amps going into the two batteries.  That’s outstanding.  I tried running a heater on low and the system shut down.  Oh well.  It did run 5 oscillating fans.  Then I hooked up the frig.  It ran fine but the sun must be out or it it drops below 12 volts pretty quick.

About then it was dinner time.  Carol wanted Little Caesar’s pizza and why not.

We ate, we watched TV, we went to bed.

See ya….

Camping Day Two

The day was in the 60’s with just a little wind.   We walked around for about a mile or so just looking.  We think quite a few of these campers/fisherman come in and get a site and leave their camper and all and return on weekends.    We’re back in there somewhere.

What’s this thing?  I think it’s for those things called rug rats.

We asked this guy not to cut our lawn for obvious reasons.

We put our camper ignition keys on the antennae crank.  We haven’t drove away with our antennae up yet.  The eye balls are to keep the cat from jumping into the cubby hole.

These pine cones become projectiles under high powered mowers.

Carol is happy because I’m cooking dinner.  See where the cat is sleeping.  This is her spot to sleep during the day.

Since this is a blog it’s time to put a picture of food on it.  Seasoned Tilapia with broccoli & cheese.

The day was in the 60’s with just a little wind.   We walked around for about a mile or so just looking.  We think quite a few of these campers/fisherman come in and get a site and leave their camper and all and return on weekends. 

Camping–Return to the basic….

It’s a Crops Of Engineer Park called Sandy Creek.  It’s off route 190 here in Texas between Woodville and Jasper.  We got 50 AMP and electric for $9 with the Golden Access Pass.  True we can’t use the 50 AMP but there’s more selection of campsites when I paid the extra $1.  The asphalt driveway was level enough too!It’s close to the water and pretty quiet.  It’s windy as hell and it’s keeping the fishermen off the water so you know it’s bad.  This is a fishing campground for sure and with kids.  Most of the campsites are taken but very few people outside due to the wind/cold.  We are here to see what’s it like for us both to be in this camper.  You know, it’s not as bad as we thought especially having the slide out.  We have plenty of inside storage.  It’s the counter space around the stove and sink that is lacking.  I would say that’s pretty normal for a camper this size (actual 25 ft).

The sat dish wouldn’t work due to the abundance of trees.  We did get some local channels and the major networks so we were fine.  I did some rerouting/removing of lines to the stock TV and VCR that I removed.  I put in a TV that has its own DVD player in the TV.  I think it’ 7 yrs old and does fine.  I’m glad the TV gets local air channels.  I was concerned and this was the first test.  Great……!

The LED light bulbs work great.  Not real real bright but very usable for sure.  Better that the standard bulbs for sure.

We will be here for a big whooping two nights and it’s 60 miles from home.

The two door frig works great and it is the right size for this camper what ever it is.  Not sure of the size.

We used a tiny heater on low with a thermostat and it held the camper and 65 degrees.  The outside temperature this morning was 39 degrees.  This camper will work perfect in the ports of the Alaska Marine Highway in April and May.  Temps will be in the mid 50’s and low 40’s usually with very little wind if any.

The kitty don’t like traveling at all and even less in the camper.  I guess because it’s louder and not as smooth.  Once we stopped she was investigating every little cubby hole.  She gets away from us by jumping on the sleeping area above the driver/passenger seats.  We use it for a ittle storage at this point.

We are not hooked up the water.  We came in with about 30-40 gallons because that’s about what we will be usually carrying.  We are not conserving at all with only two nights of camping.  We have 50 gallon capacity which is great.  I think the gray is 35 and black 25 gallons which are nice.

Carol has her camper rocker inside and uses it a lot.  I set at the table.  I think we will bring her small table next time for her.  We know with a camper that when we are finished using something that it has to be put away.  Space is still a premium. 

Getting here the wind was pretty strong but doable and safe.  We towed the Mercury and I was working the tow/haul mode off and on plus it was rolling hills.  Not sure of the mileage yet. 

So we went to bed about 9 PM and it was a comfortable night.

See ya….

Going Camping

It seemed a little different to “load” the camper up to go camping.  Usually we will just batten down the hatches so things don’t move while we go down the road and leave in our RV.  Now we have to put “stuff” in a camper because it’s a camper.  Meaning we are using it for short trips for now and we don’t really store much in it.  We might leave some stuff in it now but it will go back into our home, the big RV, when we return.  It’s a lot of work moving stuff into it.  Food, drinks, clothes, bathroom stuff, kitchen things, bedding, etc..  Just think.  We use to do this a lot when we had jobs and worked and then on weekends go camping.  Now we live in a RV and don’t have to move in and out of it on weekends.  We move stuff around between our home, the mobile, the barn and now a camper.  Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with that many storage places and where something is.

So, that is what we did today…moved stuff around.  Tomorrow we leave in the camper.

In the evening we went of over Mark’s for his chili.  It was good.  Then for desert we had chocolate pudding cake with Blue Bunny velvet almond ice cream and a lot of whipped cream.  We pigged out……….

See ya………

Getting Ready To Go Camping

Which door do I put stuff in?

There’s storage bins underneath these tubs.  I like using tubs everywhere.

This will go too.Organized believe it or not.

The Rand McNally GPS that was in the upper left went hard down.  Then I had a Garmin GPS that went hard down.  Mark has the Rand McNally and is taking it apart to see what’s going on.  I got another Garmin that I don’t care for that much that I will use.  Of course it won’t break!

Oh I went grocery shopping for sale items only.The big rig isn’t moving for over a month so I loaded up…all on sale like veggies 2 for a $1, Progresso Soups a $1.25 each and so on.

See ya….

Two Packages - YEA

Got two packages from Amazon today.  I think we all like to get a package from them.  One had my floor matts for the camper.  They fit perfect…

They’re  that rugged type that holds rocks along with a couple of pints of water.  Every vehicle we’ve had in the past I had these types of matts.

The other package had our (Carol) balancer for the camper.  Carol wanted something she could see without squinting for 5 minutes.As you can see the frig is level and that’s why all the green lights.  Carol can see this one from about a foot away!  Here is where we will have it when going into a sight…..

Then put out boards that tires can drive up on to level the camper just so you can get close to being level.  That’s the short story.

 

I'm still messing with the sat dish stuff.   I’m past the point of knowing how to put it back like it was…..

See ya…………..

What Happened to Tuesday?

Yesterday, Tuesday, we got caught up in the day.  I had to measure where our RV home (Journey) was going to fit under the carport.  I measured and I measured.  I laid down a rope where the tires had to be so all doors could open up on both sides without hitting the structure.  Carol backed our RV along the line….

front and rear….

Then it was time to open the doors…..first the driver side.  It was close but made it…..

and so did the passenger side door.

I didn’t have a total of three inches between the biggest doors and the structure.  I love a plan when it comes together.  I originally planned this before I ordered the carport.  I got lucky too!

Here’s where our RV home was….FHU was to the right.  The right side is where I went crazy with saws, etc…..

Here’s the greenery I cut down prior to Carol backing the RV out of the driveway.

Then today, Wednesday, we drove the 105 mile south to pick up the camper.  It was ready and no problems.  They replaced the right leaf spring along with some fittings.  Before the camper leaned about  1 and 1/2  inches to the right.  Now only about a half inch.  I can adjust that level with the airbags with no problem.  It leans because the manufacture put all the heavy stuff on the right side…. duh….

We made 20 mile or so detour to Liberty.  They have fresh seafood and we got some big shrimp dinners to go for later.

I think the camper is getting 9+ MPG pulling a car.  Won’t know until I fill it up.  We got back and parked the camper where the big RV was.  No bigee.

Then I had to hook up satellite receivers/sats for the mobile and the big RV (home).  Our sat dish on the big RV is under roof now.  I got one of them to work in the mobile.  The one inside the big RV is a bitch.  I will have to work on it more.

We ate our dinners and watched TV in the mobile.  Then we went home.

See ya……..