Day 1307

I woke up before 7 and couldn't get back to sleep.  I stayed in bed until about 8 though.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing we packed up the trailer and headed for Medford.

The road there is all up and down.  There are three passes to go through - up one, down, and then up the next.  It wasn't a fun drive.  When we got to Medford we went to a large shopping mall where they were holding an RV show in the parking lot.  They had more than 50 RV's there.  We met the sales guy there and spent the next two hours or so talking, answering questions, and signing papers.

As we expected they didn't give us much for the trade ins.  The total was $19K.  That didn't even pay off what we owed on the Cougar.  I didn't care though, I just want out of Salem.  It does mean I don't feel bad about not telling them about the Mobile Suite problems. 

The deal is a little weird.  The trailer is in Bend, but they want us to bring the Cougar to Medford.  Apparently they want us to bring the trailer to Medford and then drive to Bend to pick up the new one.  They claim they'll put us up in a hotel in Bend.  This means we won't be able to keep the mattress from the Cougar.  That's OK, we were planning on replacing it anyway.

After the deal they recommended that we eat at a Hawaiian place half a block away.  We got food there and brought it back to the show.  It was good, but how could a "Hawaiian" place not have SPAM?

We went back home after eating lunch.  The drive was just a brutal as the one coming down.  When we got back we set up and did some surfing.  About 5 we went to the Casino.  We played a couple of slots and then had dinner.  We ordered "light" dinners and still couldn't finish them.

After dinner we went back to the trailer and took the dog for a walk.  We went to the travel store.  It's actually a pretty complete small grocery store.  I got both milk and bananas there.

After the walk back it was TV and surfing.

Day 1306

We got up at 6.  I would have been out before 7, but Ellen decided to pull the top off the cat box cabinet when she was scooping the cat box.  It turned out that the bolts that hold the thing together had loosened.  I had to tighten them all up.  We eventually got out about 7:11.

The whole trip was long and boring.  Devyn wouldn't quit yelling, so he got put in the trailer when we stopped at Baker City.  We stopped at Boardman for fuel.  I went across the street and got a donut even though I swore I'd never go there again.

There was quite a headwind in the gorge.  We barely got 10 mpg.  We were about 60 miles outside of Portland when the RV guy texted me to ask when we'd be in Medford.  There had been a misunderstanding.  I was waiting for his OK and he thought we were coming.  A whole lot of texts and a phone call ensued.  The upshot was we decided to drive through to Seven Feathers and stay the night.  We'll go in to Medford tomorrow morning and then come back to Seven Feathers on Friday night.

We stopped at the club on the way to get info on the Mobile Suites and to take pictures of it.  We also picked up the mail at Gervais.  The trip down from there was uneventful except for the DirectTV cable coming loose.  I had to stop on I5 in Salem to tie it up.  Traffic was really heavy for much of the trip.  That's even though it was just a Thursday afternoon.

We got to Seven Feathers at 5:30.  That was 10.5 hours to do a trip that Google said should take 8.5 hours.  It was 541 miles, with 4 gas stops, two stops at Gervais, a stop and photo shoot at the club, and a slow drive out of Richland.  I don't think that was all that bad.  I was pretty wiped out when we got there.

We set up when we got to the park, but didn't unhook.  After feeding the pets we took the shuttle to the casino.  We ate at the buffet.  We started to walk around the casino, but Ellen shit herself.  So we went home.

The rest of the evening was TV and surfing.  Did I say I was tired?

Day 1305

We got up about 7:30.  We did the pet stuff, but didn't have breakfast.  That's because we were taking Dan and Patsy to breakfast at the Richland Cafe.  We surfed until 9:30 when we went to meet them there.

We had a good breakfast and of course conversation.  We bought some cookies to take with us on the boat.  After breakfast we stopped at Thorny's to get some sausage.  The OLCC guy was there, so we decided to come back later.  We went home, got the dog, and went back to Dan's.

I helped Dan get the trailer ready and did some surfing.  We left for the river a little after 11.  It was just starting to rain.

It rained for most of the trip out to Sag Road.  It was OK though.  I sat in front and got a little wet.  Ellen and Dan's friend sat behind and stayed dry.  Lucy sat with me for awhile and then went back to sit with them.

The rain stopped just before we got to the first fishing spot.  After that it got sunny and warm.  We spent several hours moving from one fishing spot to another.  Everyone caught fish.  I caught 2 or 3 and hooked two more that got away before I landed them.  It was fun.

It started raining again just after we got back.  Richland was actually surrounded by three thunderstorms.  It got sort of the edges of two of them.  As soon as we got back I started to dump the tanks.  So I got a little wet.  I had to flush the black tank 5 times before it was clean.  When that was done we went back  to Thorny's, got some sausage, and took it back to the trailer.

Then we went back over to Dan's.  Of course Dan was messing with the boat.  I helped him a little.  After that we surfed for quite awhile.  Patsy cooked us dinner and we listen to Fox news.  They are all a bunch of windbags.

Dan and I took the Bronco over and parked it.  When we got back we said our goodbyes and Dan took us back to the park.  We did as much packing up as we could.  Then it was a little surfing before going to bed early.  Tomorrow will be an early and long day.

Day 1304

We woke up a little before 8.  We were going to start the wash before pet stuff, but they'd turned the water off.  Apparently there's another water leak at one of the sites.  So we did the pet stuff, had breakfast, and went to Dan's.  Nobody was home there, so we sat on the porch and surfed.

After awhile Dan came back from running the dogs.  Patsy showed up too, but I don't know where she had been.  We talked with Dan while he got the boat ready.  Patsy's new computer showed up so we helped her set that up, too.  This took most of the morning since Dan was waiting for someone to show up to fix the AC.

I had Ellen text the trailer guy saying we wanted to buy a trailer.  That got some action.  I got a call from the sales guy.  He wanted pictures of the Cougar.  He also said that buying the Mobile Suites in Salem was no problem.  I also talked to Sue.  She said the guy in the storage unit will be out by then end of June.  Our "exit the gun club" plan is coming together.

We left for fishing after 11.  The weather was great - sunny but not too warm.  The hills are all an amazing green from the rain.  The reservoir is 4 feet from being full.  That made for a really scenic boat trip.  That was good, because the fishing sucked.  Dan caught 2, and a friend of theirs caught one.  I got several bites, but didn't hook one.  It was a fun trip though.

We got back about 6.  We went straight home to do the wash.  Dinner was pizza.  Then it was washing and surfing for the rest of the evening.

Day 1303

We woke up at 7, but didn't get out of bed until almost 9.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  We put Lucy in the Bronco and drove over to Dan's.  He wasn't there, but Patsy had a couple of things she wanted us to buy.

The drive to Baker was uneventful.  I'm beginning to get the hang of it's handling characteristics.  Our first stop was Bi-Mart where we got some fuel additive for Dan's boat.  We also got some air freshener for the Bronco.  Mice have pissed in the air vent intake and it stinks a little.

The next stop was Albertson's (really Safeway with another name) to get some groceries that Patsy wanted.  After that it was O'Reilly's to get spark plugs for Dan's boat.  By then it was after noon, so we stopped at the Chinese place for lunch.  There was a lot of food and we both ended up taking some home.

There was a park across the street from the Chinese place.  We took Lucy for a walk over there.  She really enjoyed it.  I'd have given her some treats, but she had a little diarrhea this morning.  The last stop was the grocery at the edge of town just to see what it was like.  We were only in nthere for 5 minutes or so.

In that time Lucy got into the Chinese food.  She skipped my Kung Pao and went for Ellen's General Tso's chicken.  She ate it all.  There wasn't a trace of it in the Bronco.

We drove through a thunderstorm on the way home.  It was neat.  Every time there was a lightening strike we'd see it and hear it on the AM radio.  After a delay we'd hear the thunder.  Ellen's asshole was giving her problems, so we stopped at the rest area.  There was a close strike while she was inside.  It shook the Bronco and Ellen said it shook the toilet, too.

The storm never got to Richland.  We left the food we'd bought at Dan's.  Dan was out fishing, so we went to the trailer and surfed.  We wen back to Dan's and had hamburgers for dinner.  After dinner was a movie.

Day 1302

We didn't get up until after 9.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  There was absolutely nothing to do today and virtually everything in Richland was closed.  So we surfed for hours.  I did look up some TV's for the guy at the church.

Lunch was sandwiches.  Then I was too bored to surf.  The sun had come out finally, so I went to work on the Bronco.  I replaced the windshield wiper and the rear view mirror.  I tried to glue the rear defroster contact, but the stuff I'd purchased wasn't worth a damn.  It had absolutely no adhesive properties.

A big thunderstorm came in just as I finished.  So it was more surfing.  We fed the pets and then met Dan at the sportsman's access to run the dogs.  After that we had dinner (ribs) at Dan and Patsy's.  After dinner was a movie.

We got home late.

Day 1301

We didn't get up until almost 9.  I really wanted to stay in bed.  That doesn't happen if I wake up early, but it almost always happen if I wake up late.  After that it was pet stuff and breakfast.  Then we put the dog in the Bronco and went to Sumpter. 

We stopped in Baker to fill up the Bronco.  We'd gone 80 miles and gotten 20 mpg.  Not bad.  Then  I stopped at Bi-Mart and got a windshield wiper for the Bronco.  I also stopped at O'Reilly's and got a door lock post.  I'd discovered that you can't lock or unlock the passenger door with the key.  You have to use the door lock post.  It had an anti-theft post, which made it impossible to lift the post up when it was down.

All that stopping meant we didn't get to Sumpter until noon.  The weather was OK, but threatening.  We had a good time looking through the dredge and got a lot of pictures.  It started to rain just as we went back to the car for the dog.  That was OK, we'd both brought rain jackets.

It was 1:30.  We tried to eat at a restaurant, but they wouldn't serve us.  We were sitting outside with the dog and the just ignored us.  All of the food vendors on the street were packed.  We ended up eating corn dogs just because that was all that was available.

After "lunch" we walked around some and followed some signs that pointed to a place three blocks off the main street.  Apparently that was where the main market was.  They had much better food truck there and even had a covered area with tables.  Unfortunately by that time Ellen's asshole was giving her problems.  She spent 45 minutes or so in ad out of the toilet.  I sat with the dog.  When she was done the sun was shining.  I wanted to look at some of the vendors, but she insisted we go home even though she could have just sat at a table next to the can.  I was kind of pissed.

We drove back to Baker and got some money at US Bank.  Then we stopped at a chocolate place Ellen had seen.  It was a kitchen store with a small case of chocolate.  We also stopped at a place she found on the web.  There chocolate wasn't interesting, but they had a coo wind chime made out of a air tank that I bought.  I called Dan, and he told us where the chocolate store Ellen was looking for was.  We went there and bought fudge for them and ourselves.

Our last stop was Safeway.  We wanted to get replacements for the sloppy joe makings we ate last night.  They were having a sale on ribs, so we bought some for all of us to eat.  When we got back to Richland we took them to Dan and Patsy's.  Patsy was fixing hamburger tonight, so we'll eat them some other time.

We went home to feed the pets and set up the satellite antenna.  Ellen didn't get to work on the antenna after I set it up because it started raining hard.  We ended up surfing and playing games on the computer.  Dinner was macaroni and cheese with Korean BBQ ham.  It was good.

Day 1300

I woke up at 6:30, went back to sleep until 7:30, and got up about 8.  After pet stuff and breakfast I went out to put the new speakers in the car.  I didn't have the right spade connectors, so I had to go to the hardware store to get some.  Then I cut the wires on one speaker and crimped connectors on.

That's when I discovered that the new speakers wouldn't fit.  The screw holes match, but the speakers are just a little bit longer than the OEM ones.  So I connected the new speaker and left it on the back seat.  I'll have to get something else.

By then it was 10 and time to go to Dan's to help him rewire a pontoon boat.  He wasn't there, so we went to the Richland cafe for coffee and pastries.  We bought Dan and Patsy cinnamon rolls.  Dan was there when we got back.

The problem was it was raining cats and dogs and the boat was out in the open.  So much for that.  John from their church had talked to me just before I got to Dan's.  He needed help with their PA system.  So Ellen and I went over to New Bridge.

It took us awhile, but we managed to get their new mixer/amplifier talking over bluetooth as well as doing the RF mike inputs.  Unfortunately Ellen's asshole was giving her problems while we worked on it.

It was after 1 when we got done, so we went back to the trailer for lunch.  We surfed for awhile.  I looked for any place in Baker that sold car speakers.  No luck.  I found a good pair on Amazon, but Prime won't get them here until next Wednesday.  So much for 2 day shipping.

Eventually we went back over to Dan's and talked for awhile.  The rain stopped, so we went with him to run the dogs.  We went to the sportsman's access.  Lucy recognized the place and went hunting all around.  She even ran hard for 3 hundred yards or so on the way back.  We also stopped at the pontoon boat.  It's going to take a lot of work.

When we got back to Dan's we took Lucy home for dinner.  Then we brought hamburger, buns, and sloppy joe mix to Dan's place for supper.  After that we watched a movie, talked a little, and came home.  There was a short surfing session followed by bed.

Day 1299

WE woke up before 8, but didn't get up right away.  We really didn't have any plans.  When we got up we did the pet stuff and then went to the Richland Cafe for breakfast.  It was really good.  As we finished they were just putting out fresh baked cinnamon rolls.  We took two with us.

We went to both of the parks just to look around.  It was really weird to see the water as high as it is.  All of the docks that we're used to seeing on dry land were floating.  We took Lucy for a walk at Holcomb.  She decided to go on a walkabout which pissed me off.  She ended up on a leash after that.

When we were finished with the parks we drove to Halfway.  The hardware/grocery store there was half wrecked.  It had the center half of it removed.  Apparently the roof was damaged in a snow storm and the whole center part of the building needs to be replaced.  The hardware store end was functional though.  I bought a few parts for the Bronco.

When we got back we had sandwiches and cinnamon rolls for lunch.  Then I got to work on the Bronco.

I built up mounts for the 12V receptacles and the GPS.  That took quite awhile because I kept mis-measuring things.  It might have had something to do with the beer I had for lunch.  When I went to solder the connections I found out that the soldering iron didn't have a tip.  I looked all over for it and finally went to the hardware store and bought another.

When I got home I plugged the soldering iron in, but it didn't get hot enough to melt the solder.  In fact, I could touch it with my finger.  I put the tip in the old iron, and it did the same thing.  I finally put the tip back in the new one and plugged it into the power pole rather than the trailer.  It finally got hot enough to do the soldering.

I mounted the GPS and plugged it in.  It worked fine.  That was kind of neat.  Then I replaced the right headlight.  The light worked, but it had water in it.  I had to take the grill off to replace the light.  Finally, I took out one of the back speakers to see if I could replace it.  I needed to remove the brackets on the new speakers and find some connectors first.  I decided that could wait until tomorrow.

Cleanup was a pain because I'd dumped a bunch of hardware out of the tool box.  Just as I got done Dan called to say it was time to go to Mexican night at the Shorthorn.  We met them there.  The place was really busy and it took awhile to get the food.   The food was good, though.

After dinner we went back to Dan's and watched TV for awhile.  Apparently we're going to look at a boat tomorrow that Dan says needs some repairs.

Day 1298

We didn't get up very early today.  There was no need to.  We only needed to go 150 miles.  So after pet stuff and breakfast we took our time getting hooked up.  I think we got out a little before 10.

We fought a really strong headwind all the way.  We got 8.5 mpg on a stretch we usually get 12 to 13 on.  It was so bad that in some sections I was hitting the gas pedal hard to go down hill.  It didn't help that there were two regens.

We entered the pacific timezone, so we gained and hour.  I stopped at BiMart in Baker to look for new blades for my razor.  It barely shaves me now.  They didn't have any.  Then we went on to Richland.  When we got there we stopped at the Richland Cafe to get coffee and pastries.

After that it was pull in to the park and unhook.  Apparently the heir of the guy with the storage unit hasn't cleared it out yet.  Crap.  After that we had lunch.  As we were finishing, Dan came over.  We talked for a little while and then he took me over to get the Bronco.  The interior guy did a great job on it.

We went back to the park for a few minutes and then went over to Dan's.  We talked until it was time to walk the dogs.  Lucy did pretty good on the walk.  Then it was back to Dan's for awhile, followed by taking Lucy to the park for dinner.

Then it was back to Dan's for more talking.  Patsy fixed chicken legs for dinner.  After dinner was more talk until after 9:30.  When we got home it was showers and bed.

Day 1297

We got up at 7:40.  The first thing we did was start the wash.  This place is big, but it has a small laundry.  Once the wash was started we did the per stuff and had breakfast.  Then we surfed until the wash was done.

Ellen had identified two trailers that she liked.  A dealer 8 miles away had both, so we went to there to see them.  We liked both trailers.  One had a nice outside place for a cat box, but it was a little small.  The other is larger, but the cat box would have to be inside.  Basically we decided on the larger one.

We spent a couple of hours there at least.  It was after 1 when we finished.  We ate lunch at a Thai place.  It was pretty good.  Then we drove around downtown Nampa, but we didn't see anything we wanted to stop at.  The last stop was an Albertson's to but more food.  Tomorrow we travel to uncivilized Richland.

We watched TV and did a little surfing when we got home.  A little after we got home a heavy thunderstorm moved through.  The bedroom fan didn't leak.  I'm still not sure about the closet.

Dinner was a frozen pizza.  After dinner was more TV with a little surfing.

Day 1296

We only had 150 miles today, so we didn't get out of bed until almost 10.  We did the pet stuff and breakfast.  Lucy had the runs again last night.  We think it's because of the dry dog food.  She's going back on pumpkin, and we'll throw the dry food away.

We hooked up and left a little before 11, which was the checkout time.  The trip was uneventful.  There was some hard rain at times, and a 17 mile stretch of construction.  We still got to Caldwell by 1:15.

We unhooked and set up.  The rain actually stopped between the time we checked in and the time we got parked.  After lunch we went to see Caldwell.

The first stop was Wally World to get a new water filter.  Then we stopped at Albertson's for some groceries.  After that we just drove around looking at the town.  It isn't very interesting.  We did stop at the pet stores for more dog food, but that was it.

We called Dan to see if he wanted us to pick up anything in Boise.  He said Patsy was driving there as we spoke.  He suggested that we call her, so Ellen did.  Apparently Patsy is going to be too busy to meet up.

After that we went home for a little surfing before dinner.  Dinner was a ready made thing I bought a few days ago.  It was chicken and noodles and was pretty good.

After dinner Ellen contacted a shooter she knows who is in the RV business.  Apparently he's a pretty big guy - 15 dealerships.  He deals in the trailer Ellen wants, and will sell us one for $2K over invoice.  He's also willing to take the other two trailers for trade.  It sounds like one of my biggest worries about leaving the club may be fairly easy to do.

It rained really hard for about an hour and a half tonight.  The bedroom fan didn't leak.  I'm not sure about the closet.  It could have still been wet form yesterday.

Day 1295

We woke up at 7:30, but didn't get out of bed until after 8.  It was raining.  We got up, did the pet stuff, and had breakfast.  It was still raining.  It was raining even harder at 9:15 when we needed to leave for the shoot.  Therefore, no shoot.  FUCK.  That's the third place I've gone to specifically to shoot and haven't been able to.

We ended up surfing for awhile and then leaving to check out Twin Falls.  I'd decided to do that, and then go see John Wick at 12:30.  One bit of good news.  The park at Richland has had a cancellation, so we'll be able to go there when we wanted to.

The problem with sight seeing in Twin Falls was it was Sunday.  So all of the small shops were closed.  The old downtown area was dead.  All of the large chain stores were open though.  I stopped at Lowe's o get some dielectric grease.  I was in luck.  They had the grease, and hey also had the battery powered jig saw I've been wanting on special.  I got a battery and charger for it for free.

We still had time to kill, so we walked through the mall that the theater was in.  It's not a big mall, and there was only one store of interest.  Ellen found a nice pair of shoes there and bought them.  We ate in their 3 restaurant food court before the movie.

The movie was great.  I was highly entertained.  Unfortunately Ellen didn't see all of it because her asshole was giving her trouble.  I'll be buying the blu-ray though.

It was still raining when we got out.  In fact, it rained into the evening.  We just went home and surfed.  Dinner was BLT's for the third night in a row.  That's the last of the bacon though.

After dinner was TV and surfing.

We only have to go 150 miles tomorrow.  That means we'll be getting a late start.  Otherwise we'll get to the new campground too early.

Day 1294

We woke up about 7:30 and did a little surfing.  Then we got up, did the pet stuff, and had breakfast.  We took our time getting hooked up, but we were still on the road at 8:45.

We made good time all day in spite of a couple of slow construction zones.  Devyn screamed from the time we started out.  I finally got sick of it after about an hour and a half.  I stopped, but him in the carrier, and put the carrier on the bed in the trailer.  It was so nice not to have to listen to him for the rest of the trip.

We got over 13 mpg for the first 100 miles.  That was expected, it was quite a down hill.  We got a little over 10 for the last 150 miles.  We got to the park a little after 1.

After setting up we went to Wally World.  I wanted to get some Flex Seal tape to repair the bedroom slide.  The sealer tape I tried before never hardened and mostly fell off.  I also stopped at hate chicken for a really late lunch.

When we got home I stripped off the remaining sealing tape from the slideout.  I put new adhesive caulk on the gaps and then covered them with the Flex Seal tape.  We'll have to see if it works.  I also caulked the corner of the bedroom fan that's been leaking.

After that Ellen and I took the dog to the dog park.  We had a nice conversation with a guy who used to put out oil rig fires.  Then we went back to the trailer and talked to the next door neighbors.  They just started full timing.

Dinner was more BLT's.  After dinner was TV.  Both the campground and Verizon internet connections are really crappy.

Day 1293

We woke up about 7:30.  We decided to do pet stuff as well as breakfast because we weren't going to leave right away.  Even then, we were out about 8:30.

It was pouring rain when we left.  The road ran through a deep canyon.  It was very picturesque, but I had to pay attention to the road.  It was very curvy.  Eventually the rain stopped.  Then the climb started.  To make it even more fun we had a strong headwinds. 

The climb was to about 8500 feet.  Between the steep incline, the altitude, and the headwind at one point the best the truck could do was 40 mph.  Mileage was terrible.  It was so bad that we stopped after 60 miles to fill up.  We still got 8.5 mpg.  I thought that was pretty good.

The rest of the trip was mainly a boring drive through a high plateau.  We did go through a couple of podunk towns and one fairly good sized one.  It must have had at least 8 stop lights.

We were originally going to stop at Green River, but the park wouldn't tell us if they had a space, go figure.  So Ellen found a place in Rock Springs.  It was only a little after 12 when we got there, so we decided to go another 100 miles to Evanston. 

The extra 100 miles wasn't a big deal since it was all freeway.  I did have to play you pass me, I'll pass you with several trucks.  There was also 8 miles of single lane following some asshole doing 35 to 40.

We got to Evanston at 2:30.  We quickly set up and went into town.  They had a roundhouse that had been made into an exhibit.  We found it easily, but the visitor center was closed and the roundhouse was being used for a private party.  We drove the old downtown instead, but it was really uninteresting.

We ended up just getting fuel and going back to the trailer.  We surfed for awhile and then Ellen fixed a really good dinner.  We had BLT's, beans, red jello, and cake.

After dinner was surfing and TV.  The park has really filled up.  It will be nice to just have to go 250 miles tomorrow.

Day 1292

We got up a little after 7 today, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  There was no hurry getting started today, so we didn't leave the park until after 8.

The first place we stopped was the dinosaur museum.  It was fantastic.  It started out with displays of the earliest fossils.  The exhibits continued form one celled life to primitive collections of cells, to the first plants and animals.  Then they chronicled how these organisms made the leap to land.  Finally they got to the dinosaurs.

Apparently there are very rich fossil beds outside of Thermopolis.  Many of the bone mounts were from there.  There were other mount from around the world.  The most impressive were the Tyrannosaurus, the Archepetryx, and a large plant eater that was 100 feet long.  These were truly impressive animals.

The displays also showed how dangerous veloceraptors were.  They hunted in packs and each one could easily kill a human.  Other mounts included hadrosaurs and stegosaurus.  The explanations clearly showed dinosaurs weren't lizards.  Some had feathers, some had fur, and many were built like birds.  We spent about 3 hours there.

After that the morning clouds had cleared up to a sunny day.  We went to see the shops downtown.  There weren't many, and none were particularly interesting.  Then we went back to the state park to walk Lucy around.  We went to the places we'd gone before.  The lighting was much better than yesterday and I had my camera.  A lot of pictures were taken.

We stopped at Day's Inn to have lunch, but the Safari restaurant wasn't open until 3.  So we had hamburgers instead.  We made a short stop at a buffalo fur store just to see what they had.  Then we took Lucy back to the trailer.

We fed everyone lunch and then left for the town museum.  It was amazing.  They had a large two story building filled with artifacts.  They also had many old photos, some dated in the 1800's.  Most of the exhibits were organized as rooms.  For example a bank, a barbershop, a blacksmiths shop, a family living room, a settler's cabin, and many more.  They even had an old ornate bar that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had drunk at.  We spent a couple of hours there.

When we were done we went back to the Safari restaurant.  We ordered a nacho appetizer and some drinks.  The nacho was so big we could only eat half of it.  A thunderstorm with hail came through while we were there.  Fortunately it was small hail.

When we got home I dumped the black tank.  Another thunderstorm came through while I was doing it.  I sat it out inside and finished the dump after it was over.

We didn't have dinner because of the nacho.

We've made a serious miscalculation.  Memorial day is next weekend, not the following like we thought.  It's not clear that we will be able to stay in Richland.  If not, we'll have to stay somewhere else until the next Monday.  The lady at Richland will tell us if we have a space tomorrow.  In the mean time we'll go to Green River tomorrow, and Twin Falls on Sat and Sun.  We'll shoot there on Sunday and then try to find someplace near Boise to spend a week.

Day 1291

We woke up about 7.  We took our time this morning getting ready to leave.  I also took the time to check the lug nuts and grease one of the wheels.  We finally got going at 8:30.

The first 70 or so miles were uneventful.  Then the EGT's started to go up for no discernable reason.  Finally Ellen looked on the web and found out that we were bucking a 20 mile an hour headwind.  There wasn't any vegetation that was flexible to indicate this.  As we were continually gaining altitude I had to watch the EGT's like a hawk.

This lasted until our first fuel stop at 140 miles.  We still got 10 MPG.  Fortunately it died a little after that as we drove another 70 miles on I90 and fueled again up when we turned off.  We needed to because we were headed into a desolate area.

The road took us over the Big Horn mountains.  We started at 4200 ft, went up to 9600 feet, and back down to 4300 ft.  Going up was nasty.  Sort of like going up emigrant hill, except it was twice as high and much longer.  At times I couldn't go any faster than 40 without getting the EGT's too high.  The area above 8,000 ft was covered with snow.  Fortunately there wasn't any on the road.

Going down the other side was worse.  It was 16 miles of 6% downgrade.  Tow haul was only a little help and my brakes were going away halfway down the hill.  To make it worse, there were two tight 25 mph 180's.  I stopped before the second and let the brakes cool.  Then I did the rest of the 7 miles down in manual shift mode with the 4-way flashers on.

All in all it was the the nastiest, or next to nastiest drive I've ever made with the trailer.  Fortunately the last 50 miles or so were more or less normal secondary road driving.

Thermopolis is a neat little town.  We got there at 2:45.  The sign on the door said they opened at 3:15.  So we decided to pick out a space and setup.  By the time that was done and the pets were fed the office was open and we paid.  Then it was off to see the town.

We drove through the town.  It's kind of cool, and of course totally oriented to tourism.  A lot of it is based on the hot springs.  We went to the hot springs state park.  We walked around the whole park and looked in two of the bath houses just to see what they were like.  There are some amazing formations built up by the water from the springs.  We should have taken Lucy.

We ate dinner at a little hamburger joint.  It was good.  The evening was spent watching TV.  It's a small park, but the signal here is better than most parks we've been in.  The internet is really good, too.

Day 1290

I woke up at 6:40 today.  For some reason I didn't feel like going back to sleep, so I did a little surfing and then got up.  After pet stuff we went over to the clubhouse to have breakfast.  We had "combos" - pancakes, bacon, and eggs.  The pancakes were great.  I wasn't very hungry, so Lucy got a little bacon and a lot of eggs.

When we were finished with breakfast we put Lucy in the trailer because it was warm and sunny.  Then we left to do errands.  The first stop was the RV parts place where we had them make us two more keys for the new door latch.

We needed pills and a new clothes hamper (Cooper killed the old one).  So we went to Target because there's a CVS inside.  We had our pills and a new hamper in about half an hour.  From there we went to Cabela's because we both needed socks.

Cabela's was having a 10% off for card members day.  So we looked all over for things.  I got socks and a new pair of really nice slippers.  They retailed for $99 and I got them for $45.  We also got Hooch a knife for his birthday.  I wasn't the Benchmade that we were looking at, but it's really nice.  I didn't want to get a Benchmade anyway after what they did in Oregon to the guns.

After that we went downtown and walked around.  We only went into a few stores.  We ended up buying a wallet for me when I noticed that my current one was falling apart.  Ellen bought a cool wood model to put together.

We thought about going to the airplane display, but neither of us really wanted to.  So we went to lunch at a place near Cabela's.  It had a really good Monte Cristo sandwich.  It also had $2 Long Island Ice Tea and Guinness on nitro.  I had one of each.

We stopped at a grocery next because we're about to go to some isolated places.  The last stop was for fuel.  I had to work hard to clean the dead bugs from yesterday off the windshield.

When we got home I did some surfing and then dumped just the grey water tanks.  I don't have enough sewer hose to reach the sewer inputs.  I had a good talk with the people next door while I did it.  There was supposed to be a thunderstorm with quarter sized hail, but it ddin't materialize.

Dinner was leftovers from lunch.  After that it was TV and a little surfing.  Cooper knocked my computer off the table.  The case is cracked on one corner, but it still seems to work.

Day 1289

The cat decided to make our bed a racetrack at 6 this morning.  For some reason I couldn't go back to sleep.  So I surfed for awhile and then got up.  It was a little more surfing after breakfast and pet stuff.

It was a little over 100 miles to Devil's Tower.  About 3/4 of it is on I90.  I did 75 all the way on I90 and 65 on the other road.  There was also a steady uphill on I90 and a lot of up and down once we got off.  We got 17.9 mpg for the round trip.  I think that is pretty good.

The tower is really impressive.  There was a small, but nice, visitor's center.  After going through that we took a 1.3 mile trail around the tower.  Of course Lucy had to stay in the truck because the government hate dogs.

There were a whole lot of very good places to take pictures, and I took a lot.  The lighting was good on the far side.  I got a lot of pictures of people climbing the tower.  They're nuts.  With all the picture taking it took quite awhile to do the trail.  It was sunny and warm.  I was worried about Lucy by the time we were done.  She was a pretty hot dog when we got back.

There are two tourist places just outside the park entrance.  We went through both, but didn't buy much.  We did get ice cream and Sioux City Sarsaparilla.  We'd seen a place on the way in that advertised Elk burgers.  It was after 2, so we stopped.  I had one.  It was good.  It's been many years since I had wild game meat.

The trip back was uneventful except for an accident just out of town.  There was a crashed motorcycle in the median with an ambulance picking up the rider.  About a quarter mile down the road there was a pickup facing the wrong way with an overturned flatbed trailer in front of it.  The trailer had had a load of lumber.  We're not sure what happened.  Fortunately it didn't delay us much.

When we got home the deadbolt lock on the trailer had gone tits up.  I couldn't get it unlocked.  I'd left the bedroom window open in case this happened, but Ellen had locked it before we left.  SHIT.

I went to the RV place we'd gone to the other day.  Fortunately they had a replacement door handle assembly.  I knew the old one was unfixable.  I also knew I'd have to destroy it to get in.  Having the new one gave me a strategy on how to get the old one open.

I tried jamming the lock by hammering a screwdriver into it.  No joy.  So I got out the drill and started drilling the lock mechanism out.  Fortunately it was made of soft aluminum.  I worked on it for awhile and finally drilled out enough that I could get to the actuating mechanism at the end of the lock.  I jammed a screwdriver into the actuator and managed to turn it enough to unlock the door.

After that the hardest thing was vacuuming all of the metal shavings off the step carpet.  Putting the new one in was pretty easy.  The new latch is a slightly different design and work s better than the old one.

After feeding the pets we left for Menards to get a copy of the new door key made.  Unfortunately their automated key maker couldn't do it.  So we went to a restaurant that was on the way to Lowe's.  It was good yuppie bar food and had Guinness.  I had two.

Lowes had two key machines, but neither could make the key.  I'll ask the RV place if they have blanks tomorrow.  If not, we'll go to a lock smith.

We got home about 8.  The rest of the evening was surfing and chick flicks.  We each had one of the donuts that we'd bought in the morning.

Day 1288

We got up at 7:40 again today.  No special reason, just woke up and didn't want to go back to sleep.  After pet stuff and breakfast it was time to fix the trailer.

I started on the inside step.  It took a fair amount of time to remove all of the stuff in the basement and put it on the picnic table.  Once that was done I took the panel off the basement wall.  It held an antenna connection and a wall plug, so I turned off the AC and batteries first.  Fortunately the panel came off fairly easily.

Access to the step was good, so the next stop was Menards for materials and tools.  The store is incredible.  It's a better hardware and home store than Lowe's or Home Depot.  It also has a lot of home oriented stuff including groceries.  I wish there were some in Austin.  I came back with a 2x4, long wood screws, a hand saw, and some shims.

I measured the length of 2x4 support I needed.  It was kind of a guess, since I couldn't get really good access to the bottom of the steps.  It turned out that I measured it perfectly.  I put in two supports and screwed them down.  Then I put the panel back and put everything back in the basement.  Not actually, I identified a few things that I didn't need.

The next project was to put the patch material on the bottom of the bedroom slide.  That went pretty well, except it didn't stick well.  This part went pretty fast because I had Ellen clean off the old sealant while I was working on the step.  I didn't put new sealant on because I wanted to wait for the patch material to dry.

The final trailer project was to put a handle on the power cable storage panel.  That will save grief if it jams up again.  I also vacuumed out the truck.  It was full of food crumbs from Ellen eating.

By then it was noon, so lunch was a sandwich and crackers.  Then we went on errands.  We stopped at Menards to return the shims and get some paper towels.  Then we went to Sam's club for water, almonds, and hearing aid batteries.  We stopped at CVS for a back scratcher, but they didn't have one.

There was a sporting good place next to CVS.  We went there just to look around.  It was really a lot  like Cabela's.  They had a fantastic collection of high class hunting rifles.  They also had a 20 ga Browning BSS.  I had to remind myself that I'm not buying guns any more.  They also had an indoor mini bowling alley that Ellen really liked.

The last stop was Goodwill to leave off the stuff from the trailer.  Hooch called while we were there.  He had Mom and brunch and said he'd have her call when they were done in 20 minutes.  We drove over to the Fireman's restaurant downtown, ordered some food, and waited for the call.

Mom sounded much better than in the past.  I think the new doctor and reduction in drugs was a very good thing.  When I was done talking we sat and ate for awhile before going back to the trailer.

Lucy hasn't had an interesting couple of days, so I took her for a walk around the perimeter of the park.  She liked that.  Then I surfed and Ellen watched chick flicks for a couple of hours.

Since we'd eaten at 3, we were planning on having salmon and cheese for dinner.  Unfortunately the cheese was moldy.  So we drove to Safeway for more.  I also fueled up for tomorrow.  I think we'll go to Devil's Tower.

When we got back it was 8.  We had salmon and cheese.  Then I surfed and Ellen watched chick flicks.

Day 1287

We got up about 7:40.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  Isaac called to say he'd be going to the house today.  So I texted Lee to tell him.  Lee said there was a small rut in the driveway from the rain.  He said he'd fix it.  I wanted to stop at a RV parts place, but they weren't open until 9.  So we delayed leaving for awhile.

The RV place has the best parts dept that I've seen in a long time.  I bought what I needed.  I also stopped for coffee.  They were a bakery, so we bought some for later.  Then we headed to Deadwood.  The trip was short, but the weather sucked.  There was heavy rain and as we got near Deadwood it started hailing.

We drove around getting the lay of the land.  Then we parked.  Most parking is fee.  We paid $5 to park all day.  The first stop was to buy Ellen a sweatshirt.  She only had a light one and the temp was 40 at best.  She found a nice one.  I bought another twirling key chain.  I've decided that's my new collection item.

Deadwood is basically several blocks of casino/bars and tourist shops all playing off the history of the town.  Some of the buildings are restored originals, and some are newer.  That's not surprising since the town was destroyed twice by fire and once by flood.  There are interesting historical marker all around town describing the history.  Of course Wild Bill Hickock figures large.

We kept buying stuff - trinkets, t-shirts, a pendant for Ellen, etc.  Prices weren't bad, as all of the shops were shifting from winter to summer wear and discounting old stock.  We had lunch at a nice restaurant in one of the casino/bars.  We'd met some people on the street that told us the place had a trove of old photos.  They were right.

Ellen's asshole started giving her trouble before we even ate.  It gave her a lot of trouble afterwards.  We spent a lot of time with her in the can and me waiting for the rest of the day.  That wasn't bad, because we had been hiding out in stores all day as the intermittent storms went through.

We timed out about 3 and started home.  We stopped at the hobby store on the way home.  It was a great store, at least as good as Tammies.  Then we went home.

Lucy was really happy to see us.  We took her out and she immediately pissed and shit.  At least the shit was solid.  Then I went outside and worked on the trailer.  I replaced the carpets on the steps and the outside door latch.  After that dinner was leftovers from lunch and donuts.

I'd planned on working on the trailer tomorrow.  It's getting warmer and I don't feel like driving anywhere.  This became mandatory later when I stepped down from the bedroom and the step caved in.  I have no idea how I'm going to fix it.  I'm going to have to remove the panelling in the basement and then formulate a plan.

The rest of the evening was surfing and TV.

Day 1286

I wasn't really looking at the clock today.  I think we got up about 8:30.  Then it was pet stuff - neither of us wanted breakfast.  Lucy has the runs again, so she got some of the canned food.  After that we put the dog in the car and went to the badlands.

It was 50 miles back to the badlands turnoff.  Then it was another 8 to the park.  The trip was worth it.  It was nice that I could go 73 mph.  The limit is 80, but I didn't want to go that fast.  We got a little over 17 mpg for the trip.

The badlands are basically 25 miles of eroded cliff.  It's sort of like Bryce, but there's no colors or Hoodoos.  It's spectacular though.  There's a 24 mile road that winds through it all.  The roads have plenty of turnouts and lookouts.  We stopped at many turnouts and all of the lookouts.  We even took a short hike at one.

Unfortunately the government doesn't like dogs, so Lucy had to stay in the truck.

There's a lodge with a restaurant and gift shop near the far end of the park.  We stopped and ate there.  It was good.  I also bought a buffalo wallet and this cool multi-tool pen.  The parks visitor center is next door.  It had some really neat exhibits explaining the geology of the place as well as the ancient animals that lived there.  Apparently the badlands are really rich in fossils.

I took well over 100 pictures.  We were there until 3.

The park road returns to I90 about 20 miles from the entrance.  When we got back to Rapid City we stopped at a Petco to get Lucy more canned food.  Then we went home.  Ellen's asshole was giving her trouble again.

Dinner was the last of the Rudy's BBQ in a sandwich.  After dinner was surfing and TV.

Day 1285

We got up at 7 and were on the road at 8.  It was cold and windy, but no rain.  Did I mention windy - 20 mph north wind that lasted all day.  It cost us.  The mileage today was mainly 8.5 mpg.  It caused us to make an extra fuel stop.

The road out of Grand Island was rough.  It stayed that way for maybe 60 miles.  Then it smoothed out for the most part with some rough patches.  Traffic wasn't a problem.  I think I passed two vehicles and only got held up by slow people once.  The road turned to shit in South Dakota though.  It was miserable until we got to I90.

We got to the campground after almost exactly 8 hours on the road.  That works out to 54 mph.  That's pretty good considering the extra fuel stop and all of the podunk towns that we had to drive through.  It also included driving through Grand Island, Broken Bow, and another smaller town with stop lights whose name I forgot.

The campground is really nice except that the sewer connection is so far from the water and electric that I'd have to buy two more hoses to connect to it.  Hopefully we won't use the toilet much.  The campground toilet is a short walk away.

After setting up we went to Wally World to buy Velcro and aluminum foil.  We filled up with fuel and went home.  It was 5 their time and 6 our time.  Dinner was Rudy's sausage and mac and cheese.

Ellen wants to go to the badlands.  We passed them on the way here.  We could have stayed there if she'd just mentioned it.  We'll end up driving 50 miles back on I90 tomorrow to get to them.  Crap.

The campground serves breakfast in the morning.  We'll eat there and then leave.

Day 1284

We woke up at 8 today.  It was raining, so we stayed in bed until 9.  It rained most of the night.  The bedroom fan started leaking again before we went to bed.  I put the waterproof sheet on the bed with a towel on it to soak up the water.  In the morning the towel was sopping wet.  When I got out the other to replace it, it was sopping wet because the closet had starting leaking during the night.

After breakfast Ellen took the closet towel over to the laundry to dry it.  I went outside to determine the closet leak.  It turned out to be a design/manufacturing defect.  On seam on the bottom of the slide came apart after I sealed it.  That's because the support roller causes the bottom to pull away from the frame.  With no wind, there's no leak.  When the wind blows the rain comes in through the seam. 

I also took the interior trim off the bedroom fan.  It turns out the leak is a steady drip from one corner of the fan.  With a flashlight I could see that they hadn't sealed about an inch of the fan bottom at that point.

At least I now know the source of the leaks.

After Ellen came back I replaced the towel on the bed and put a plastic container on top of it.  It was still raining hard and had no sign of stopping.  That meant no shooting today - 54 and raining is Oregon weather.

Instead we went started off to Home Depot to get sealant.  Interesting trivia - there's no Lowe's in Grand Island.  We had to go by the RV place on the way, so I decided to stop there.  It was good we did.  They not only had adhesive sealant, they had some patch material that should work really well on the bottom of the closet slide.

We still went to Home Depot to get a handle for the power cord storage panel.  I had to use it again yesterday and it's a pain to pry out.  We had lunch at Freddie's nearby.

We filled up the truck on the way back.  When we got back I decided to wait on plugging leaks until a day when it wasn't cold and raining.  I emptied the pan on the bed instead.  It had a cup of water in it.  I did have to go out in the rain to dump the tanks.  That wasn't pleasant.  I also scrubbed the sinks.  Ellen dried the other towel while I did that.

After the tanks it was surfing until dinner.  Ellen has started looking at new trailers.  I think she's already picked out one.  I hope we can make a deal to get rid of both of the other ones.

Dinner was leftover pizza and salad.  After dinner was some more trailer shopping, surfing, and some TV.  The bowl on the bed had another cup of water in it at 8.

Day 1283

Last night sucked.  There was a big thunderstorm that started just as we went to bed.  It lasted for an hour and made it impossible to get to sleep.  It finally calmed down, but a couple of hours later it started raining so hard that it woke us up.  Back to sleep and a little later I woke up with a nasty coughing fit.  I must have coughed for 20 minutes.

Eventually we managed to sleep until 7 when people leaving woke us up.  I turned over and went back to sleep until 8.  Then it was breakfast and getting ready to leave.  That was made better by a morning thunderstorm that soaked me by the time we left.

I screwed up for the first time ever by not disconnecting the power cable when we left.  Fortunately I noticed it just as we turned on to the main road.  So I'm on the side of the road in the pouring rain putting it away.  The red handle had come off, so I took a side street to go back to get it.  The street looked like it dead ended, so I turned around in a vacant lot.  It was so soft that i almost got stuck.  Fortunately 4WD got me out.

Finally, on the way out of town we had to wait for 10 or 15 minutes on the highway out of town.  All this shot before we had left the city limits.

It was raining really hard when we left.  The highway had so much water on it that I didn't drive over 55.  About 4 miles out of town I almost lost it when we hit a big pool of water.  We did luck out when we got to the highway turnoff 7 miles down the road.  They had the road we weren't taking blocked off because of flooding.

The hard rain lasted for 50 or 60 miles.  It was some of the hardest driving I've done with the trailer.

After the rain let up things were easier.  Devyn even was a little quieter.

We didn't make very good time thanks to the crap before we left town and the endless number of podunk towns that we had to slow down for.  Most of them had stop signs or traffic lights.  We averaged 53 MPH.  We mad a little over 10 MPG for the first 70 miles.  After that it was 9 to 9.5 for the rest of the 250 miles.

We got in to Grand Island about 1:30.  The office was closed and there was nothing in the preregistration box.  We were just about to choose our own spot when someone showed up and told us to wait.  About 15 minutes later someone showed up and we checked in.  It is a nice place and they are nice people.

It's cold here.  It was 47 when we got here and warmed up to 52 later.  We're freezing.

After setting up we went into town.  I finally found a place that had the RV parts I needed.  We also stopped at Wally World for much needed groceries.  Then we took a quick tour of beautiful downtown Grand Island.  It was nice to see a place that wasn't dying.

When we got home we ordered a pizza from the park and started the wash.  The pizza was really good and only $10.  I had a mango Mike's, which was great.

After dinner was surfing and TV.

Day 1282

We got up at 8 today.  There was no reason for an early start, we just couldn't sleep anymore.  Last night sucked.  I now have Elen's cold, and we are both coughing, sneezing, and blowing our noses frequently.  I did a little surfing with breakfast, but it wasn't long before I decided to leave.  Getting ready was easy, we hadn't unhooked yesterday.

The day's drive was 300 miles through flat nowhere.  Gas mileage was good - between 10 and 12.  We made good time, 55 mph average.  That doesn't sound good, but it is when you take into consideration all of the stop sign equipped podunk towns we had to slow down for.  We also made two unnecessary fuel stops.  That's because the place we're staying at doesn't have a gas station in town.

Some of the towns we went through were almost dead.  Their business districts were block after block of empty stores.  Others, the larger ones, seemed to be doing alright.  Kinsley, where we're staying seems to be on the decline.  The campground is nice though.  It's by Coon Creek and has a nice walking path.

Setup was easy, just lower the jacks on the LEVEL concrete pad and connect water and electric.  I don't think I've met a completely level pad before.  There's no TV though.  The internet was great at 2:30 when we got here.  People have moved in now and it's almost unusable.

When we were done setting up I sat down in the easy chair and tried to sleep.  I feel like shit.  coughing or sneezing every few minutes doesn't help.  My nose is running more than it does when I'm in Oregon with allergies.

Dinner was a frozen pizza.  After dinner was a short walk and some reading.  The walk included downtown Kinsley.  I don't think 25% of the store buildings had occupants.  Some of the empty ones were quite sad.  The display windows had leftover merchandise that had probably been there for years.

There's road construction in town that blocks the highway we have to leave on.  It's one way with a temporary traffic light.  I did figure a way around it, but it's awkward.  I'll only use it if things are backed up tomorrow.

Day 1281

We got up at 8, had breakfast, and hooked up.  We were on the road by 9.  That's pretty good time considering I had to hook up also.

The trip itself was uneventful.  Unfortunately Devyn screamed for hours.  I couldn't listen to the book because his screams overloaded my hearing aids.  He finally quit with a little over an hour left.  That allowed me to listen for a little while. 

We made pretty good time, 58 mph, considering that we were going through several small towns with speed limits and stop signs.  We got good mileage, too - about 11.5 or better.

We got to the park at 1.  We just sat around for the afternoon.  There wasn't any reason to unhook because Quanah and Childress don't have any redeeming social value.  Tomorrow's stop, Kinsley, isn't any better.  In fact, it doesn't have a gas station.

I spent the afternoon surfing, TV, and napping.  Dinner was HEB BBQ and malshed potatoes.  We wanted to get rid of the containers.

After dinner was surfing and TV.  We're waiting for a thunderstorm that is heading in our direction.  Luckily it seems like the worst is yellow with maybe a small amount of red.

Day 1280

Lucy was up to here diarrhea tricks again last night.  She ended up getting me up several times about 7, so I just got dressed.  I didn't feel like breakfast though.  Instead I surfed until I'd found 4 things that we might do today.

Before we did any of them we went to the two pet stores in town, Pet Smart and Petco, and got Lucy some easy to digest food.  Then we went to the first place on the list, a craft fair.  It was supposed to start about an hour before we got there.  When we got there there was no one there.  So we went on to #2, the railroad museum.

The museum was a great choice.  There was a volunteer there that ook us through the whole place.  He discussed the history of the railroad and explained all of the exhibits.  He was really entertaining.  I left a $20 donation because he was so good.

There was a car show across the street, so we went there.  They had some very impressive cars.  Some of them were really expensive.  The work on some rivaled the car shows I watch on TV.  When we were done we looked for activity #3, a Cinco de Maya celebration.  It turns out we were at it.  There were supposed to be other things besides the car show, but there wasn't anything else to see.

The last item was an area by in the river park.  There was supposed to be a min-golf, vendors, music, etc.  It was deserted and the mini-golf was closed.  We walked along the rive for awhile instead.  It was lined with people fishing, but no one seemed to be catching anything.  Lucy liked the walk, and I even let her off lead to chase a couple of squirrels.

By then it was after 1 and we were hungry.  There was a burger place by the river.  We had to park 2 blocks away because their parking lot was small and full, as well as the street places.  When we got there it turned out that the place was one where you stood in line to order, then waited until it was cooked before sitting down.  There were 40 or 50 people inside.  I bagged it.

We ended up eating at a little hole in the wall place we'd passed in the morning.  It was just the kind of place I like and it was good.  On the way home we stopped at HEB to get canned pumpkin for Lucy and some hamburger buns that I'd forgotten.

When we got home it was nice outside.  So I took the computer out to the picnic table and surfed.  Later on the shade went away and I went inside to do more surfing.  Ellen watched TV.  Neither of us felt hungry, so we only ate a small dinner of HEB BBQ and mashed potatoes about 8.

After dinner it was more surfing.

Day 1279

We got up about 8.  Lucy didn't wake us up last night, so I guess the pumpkin worked.  There was a thunderstorm with a couple of loud thunderclaps that did.  Lucy has not been thrilled by the weather.

There was no pet stuff because we were going to travel.  We only had 150 miles to go though, so we took our time getting started.  We took the dog to the dog park and then sat on a porch for awhile.  Then we hooked up and left a little before 10.

The trip was uneventful.  We got over 11 mpg, so there was no reason to stop for fuel.  I did anyway, because I don't like the tank to get really empty.  We got to the park a little after 12.  There was a thunderstorm shortly after we got there.  It rained off and on for hours. 

We unhooked, had lunch, and did a little surfing.  I looked for something to do, but there didn't seem to be anything.  Then we went to a Wally world to get some PB blaster.  There was a HEB across the street, so we stopped there.  It's probably the last shopping at HEB that we'll do until late October.  HEB is one of the things I miss about Texas.

We just surfed and watched TV when we got home.  Dinner was HEB BBQ we bought in San Antonio.

After dinner I looked up the gun club web page to find it's hours.  I noticed that they had a charity shoot tomorrow.  I called and they told me that they won't be open to the public.  FUCK.  We'll end up doing some lame thing tomorrow to kill time.  I really wanted to shoot.

The rest of the evening was TV.

Day 1278

Lucy had diarrhea again last night.  I ended up getting up at 4 and 7.  I did manage to sleep until about 8 though.  Then it was get up - no pet stuff or breakfast.  Instead we just packed up, hooked up, and left.  I think we were out sometime before 9:30.

By then there was no traffic to worry about.  There was a wind, but it was more a crosswind than anything else.  We got good mileage, almost 12, for the first 130 miles.  The only real hassle was the GPS.  Once we turned off I37 it kept trying to get us to turn back to it.  The GPS was adamant that we go through San Antonio.  It was 30 miles before it gave up and went the way we intended.

We got to Kerrville a little after 2.  We got set up in short time and then went back into town.  We stopped at a RV place, but they didn't have the parts I needed.  Then we went to a pet store for cat food and pumpkin food for Lucy's diarrhea.  We also got some water and cookies at HEB.

When we got back we were going to take Lucy for a walk.  We only got a little way before it started raining.  We thought it would quit.  It got harder instead.  We were soaked by the time we got home.

The thunderstorm lasted for over an hour.  It knocked out both the TV and the internet.  That was bad, because the Verizon signal here is very weak.  So I read instead.

Lee had texted a good place to eat.  We were tired though and wanted to eat some of the HEB meals that were getting kind of old.

After dinner was more reading and some really slow surfing.  Eventually the TV came back on and we watched some.

The showers closed at 10.  So we took early showers and then went to bed.

Day 1277

I got up today at 7.  The dog wanted out because she had diarrhea.  Apparently she got Ellen up several times last night.  I couldn't get back to sleep, so I surfed for a little while and then got up.

After the pet stuff and breakfast I did a little surfing while Ellen made camping arrangements.  Then we went to the office and bought discount tickets to the aquarium.  They were $33 apiece.  After that it was off to the aquarium.

The aquarium is an impressive place.  It' 4 stories tall with nice views of the harbor.  It's filled with amazing tanks of exotic sea life.  Some of them are the walk through variety.  It was all reall interesting.

They also had some exhibits of animals from areas around the gulf.  I especially liked the flamingos.  The exhibit allowed you to get within 5 or 6 feet of them.  I spent a lot of time there.  We also got to see some of the shows - dolphins, sting ray feeding, and a animal/raptor show. 

All in all I thought it was worth the money.  Unfortunately the restaurant was closed.  That meant we didn't get to eat until after 2.  We went to Joe's Crab Shack.  It was OK, but I doubt I'll ever go again.

We went home, got Lucy, and drove out to the park at the end of the road on Padre Island.  There's a nice visitor center there as well as beach access.  We took Lucy to the beach.  I took off my shoes and took Lucy (on lead) for a walk in the surf.  It was really cool to walk in a warm ocean.  It's surprising how much power even the smallest waves have.  Lucy wasn't thrilled with walking in the surf.  She kept trying to go walk with Ellen instead.

The visitor's center had a shower station at the end of the beach.  I used it to rinse Lucy and myself off.  We toweled off Lucy and drove back.  We stopped at a pet store on the way and bought her a treat to make up for the surf.

We fed the pets when we got home.  I drained the tanks.  I also texted Lee, but he's working too late to join us for dinner.

We went to the catfish place for dinner.  It was surprisingly busy.  I had the gumbo, which was good but not as good as the place in Austin.  Ellen had the catfish - she wasn't impressed.  We also had a bacon wrapped shrimp appetizer.  It was really good.

It was past Kong time when we got home.  After that it was some surfing and bed.