Category Archives: Grilling

Can’t Get Enough

I had an early start to the day when Ozark, our new cat, rousted me out of bed at 5:30am yesterday. It was her first overnight in the coach. We kept her in the bedroom with the door between the kitchen and bathroom closed. Her litter box was in the bathroom. Until I know for sure that she’ll use her scratching post and leave the furniture alone, I want to be able to keep an eye on her.

She woke me up by softly mewing and pawing at the door to the kitchen. She was hungry. I found out throughout the day that she was hungrier and more exhausted than I realized. I fed her small amounts of dry kitten food and she had plenty of water. She would eat, explore around for a short while, then nap. After about two hours, she would be at my feet calling for more food and the process would repeat.

This went on all day as I went about my chores. I removed the tire covers, cleaned them and put them away. I checked tire pressures and added air to the trailer tires and scooter tires. Every two or two and half hours, I would go into the coach and Ozark would tell me she was hungry.

I loaded the scooter in the trailer and put away the windshield cover. I should mention a moment I had when I was putting the scooter into the trailer. The rear of our site slopes down considerably. The rear ramp/door of the trailer was steeply angled down due to the slope. To get the scooter into the trailer, I ride it slowly up the ramp, park it against a wheel chock and strap it in place. The ramp was at such a steep angle that while riding slowly up it ,I came to a stop and had to open the throttle. The rear tire spun and drifted sideways before it caught traction and I shot into the trailer! No damage done, I was able to stop without hitting anything inside.

Then I cleaned the windows and also partially cleaned the coach and trailer. I won’t accept a site with a mimosa tree in the future. This tree sheds so much debris that it’s impossible to keep up with.

I grilled a couple of spicy Italian sausages made in-house at the Harter House grocer. Donna prepared a marinara sauce and served it over whole wheat angel hair pasta and a bed of sauteed peppers, onions and summer squash.

Spicy Italian sausage marinara over spaghetti and peppers

Spicy Italian sausage marinara over spaghetti and peppers

After dinner, I enjoyed an unusual brew. It was Equinox from Lagunitas Brewing in Petaluma, California – one of my favorite craft breweries. This beer was a unique pale ale brewed with oats. It had a creamy texture and was well balanced.

Lagunitas Equinox

Lagunitas Equinox

Around 8pm, I fed Ozark her final meal of the day. I was hoping her appetite would be satisfied and she would sleep soundly through the night. I gave her a few dry kibbles and a small can of food and she ate it all.

I wrote yesterday that I thought she was about four months old after comparing her body size to kittens I saw at Petco. This isn’t a very good way to determine the age of a cat. There are too many variations in cat sizes. I did a little research and examined her teeth. She was very accommodating and let me pull back her lips and open her mouth. Her molars have erupted making her at least six months old.

Ozark slept soundly through the night at the foot of our bed. She stirred and crawled up to our pillows at 6am. She wasn’t mewing for food, she was just ready to get up. After a while I got up and put dry food in her bowl. She seems so much better now. She didn’t scarf the food down – she munched for a few minutes then walked away with some food still in her bowl. As I’m typing this an hour later she returned to her bowl to finish the meal. I’m hoping she settles down to a few feedings per day.

I still have to pack the grill and get the ladder out. I want to go on the roof and sweep the mimosa tree droppings before we leave. We’ll head north and probably dry camp tonight before we reach Des Moines tomorrow.

Letting the Cat In

Thunderstorms rolled in sooner than we expected on Friday, so we didn’t make it to the farmers’ market. With rain coming down off and on all day, we stayed indoors. Our stray kitty friend hung out underneath our coach. At one point, I enticed her inside and we fed her some cooked giblets from the chicken Donna roasted for dinner.

On Saturday morning, she was back under our coach. When Donna went out for a walk, the kitten followed her to end of the grass on our site, then she sat down and watched Donna walk away. It seems like she had set a boundary for herself. When I looked outside again later, she was gone. Donna walked for about an hour and when she returned, I saw her with the cat at our picnic table. The cat never left – she was hiding under our coach.

Donna came inside, got some money and walked back down the road. She had found a few things at a thrift shop and went back to buy two blouses and a pair of shorts. When she returned, we invited the cat inside again and fed her some leftover chicken.

We played with the cat for a while and then came to a decision to adopt and make her an RV cat. Once we made the decision, I rode the scooter to Petco in Branson to get some items we would need. A hundred dollars later, I had 25 pounds of cat gear strapped to the scooter. I bought a litter box and litter, kitten food – both dry and canned – a scratching post, nail clippers and dishes for food and water.

Cat stuff on the scooter

Cat stuff on the scooter

Comparing the cat’s size to kittens I saw at Petco, I think this cat may be about four months old. She isn’t a feral cat – she’s obviously had human interaction and socialization. She enjoys attention and keeps herself clean. We have no idea of where she came from, but she obviously no longer had a home when she appeared under our coach on Wednesday. We had been in Turkey Creek RV Village for two weeks at that point and never saw the cat before. We decided to call her Ozark since we found her alone here in the Ozarks.

Donna and Ozark snoozing and bonding

Donna and Ozark snoozing and bonding

Ozark

Ozark

I’ve been feeding the cat small amounts frequently. The cat scarfs the food down like she’s trying to make up for days of starvation. We’ll have to find a way to get her to a vet soon for shots and have her spayed.

She learned to use her litter box right away. I’m hoping she learns to utilize the scratching post and doesn’t tear up our upholstery.

I downloaded the Dutch Moto GP race from Assen and watched a very entertaining race yesterday. Last evening, I grilled a pork tenderloin that Donna prepared with her mojo marinade. She served it with baked cayenne sweet potato fries and local green beans.

Delicious dinner combo

Delicious dinner combo

I followed up the delicious meal with a special bottle of beer. The beer was a collaboration created by three brewers – Stone Brewing in San Diego, Ecliptic Brewing in Portland, Oregon and Wicked Weed Brewing in Asheville, North Carolina. It’s a Belgian trippel-style beer aged in barrels that originally held red wine before being used as tequila vessels. Stone blended the trippel with a double IPA they brewed. The result was fantastic – smooth, complex and beyond description. It has a kick at 9.5% ABV.

 

Belgian trippel and double IPA blend

Belgian trippel and double IPA blend

Today I need to organize and pack the trailer for travel. I’ll also remove the tire covers and windshield covers this afternoon while they’re dry. Tire pressures will be checked and adjusted in preparation for travel tomorrow. We plan to dry camp tomorrow night somewhere around Kansas City, then move on to Des Moines, Iowa. I hope the kitty doesn’t get car sick.

Cat Call

We rode the scooter back to the College of the Ozarks yesterday – I wrote about our visit there last weekend in this post. We wanted to see some things that weren’t open on the weekend.

First, we stopped at the tractor museum. The College of the Ozarks has an agriculture program, so a museum with farm tractors and other implements is fitting. The displays are housed in an air-conditioned building with three rooms. They have farm tractors from the early 1900s up to a tractor that was used by the school in the 1990s.

The first successful farm tractor in the U.S. was built by Charles W. Hart and Charles H. Parr in Charles City, Iowa. I don’t know if the name of the city has anything to do with their given names. In 1903, they built 15 farm tractors with two-cylinder gasoline engines.

The early tractors had steel wheels with cleats for traction. Around 1930, lugged rubber pneumatic tires for tractors were developed and retro-fitted on some tractors. These tires proved to be better – they offered better traction and fuel savings. They didn’t ruin pavement where the steel cleats would punch holes. And they could be used to cultivate around trees without damaging the roots. By 1932, tractors were coming from the factory with rubber tires. Instead of giving a blow-by-blow account of the museum, I’ll post pictures.

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Hart Parr

1929 Hart Parr

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1930 Rumely

1930 Rumely

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1919 Wallis

1919 Wallis

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Farmall

Farmall

John Deere

John Deere

Oliver Row Crop 77

Oliver Row Crop 77

1954 Chevrolet truck used by the college

1954 Chevrolet truck used by the college

After I had enough of the tractor display, we went to the Edwards Mill building. This is a working old-fashioned mill that stone-grinds grains.

Donna by the water wheel that powers the mill

Donna by the water wheel that powers the mill

Mill stones that were used for 100 years

Mill stones that were used for 100 years

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

The main floor of the Edwards Mill is a store. They sell a variety of stone ground flour, sausage, jerky and jellies made on campus. They also have books and a few other items. Upstairs, they have a weaving room with looms of all sizes.

Two of the looms in the weaving room

Two of the looms in the weaving room

Our next stop was the Dobyns restaurant at the Keeter Center on campus. We didn’t have reservations and the wait would be 30 minutes or more. We were hungry, so we took a quick look around the beautiful Adirondack-style building and left.

We had lunch at the Brunch Club by the Harter House store on the way home. I ordered their Chinese lunch special – General’s chicken. It was a mistake. Donna enjoyed her catfish, but we were left wishing we would have waited at Dobyns. Donna bought groceries at Harter House, including two bacon-wrapped filet mignons for dinner.

When I was grilling chicken the other night, a cat appeared under our coach. The cat was very skittish and wary. It was also skinny. When I approached, it ran off and hid under our neighbor’s coach. I broke off a couple of chunks of grilled chicken and tossed them in the grass near the cat. It waited until I was back inside our coach before it came out to eat the chicken.

Last night, as I was grilling the filets, the cat appeared again. This time I knelt down and clicked my tongue softly. The cat approached me and let me pet it. I came inside and had Donna open a can of tuna. She put about half the can of tuna on a paper plate. I went back outside and the cat approached me again. I put the plate down and the cat scarfed the tuna quickly.

Cat visitor dining on tuna

Cat visitor dining on tuna

While I grilled the filets, Donna gave the cat a little milk for dessert. The filets came out great. I also grilled fresh corn on the cob to go with the steak. I like to soak the corn in the husk for about 20 minutes before I put it on the grill. Some people say this isn’t necessary, but I do it to keep the husk from burning and it also steams the corn inside the husk. The bacon-wrapped filets and fresh corn on the cob were outstanding.

Bacon wrapped filet mignon hot off the grill

Bacon-wrapped filet mignon hot off the grill

While we ate, our new feline friend hung around. She rubbed up against our legs as we dined and then laid next to the table to take a snooze.

After dinner nap time

After dinner – nap time

We’ll head back over to the College of the Ozarks for the farmers’ market this morning. Hopefully we’ll beat the rain in the forecast. Thunderstorms are a certainty by this afternoon according to the weather guessers.

 

 

Pickleball in Branson

After posting about finding a good grocery store that required a long run through heavy traffic, Donna found another store nearby on Sunday. We scootered over to Country Mart, about two miles south of here. I haven’t gone out in that direction much and was unaware of the store. It turned out to be a nice grocery store with a selection of organic produce and other items.

We stocked up on groceries, but took a little too long doing it. Just as we were loading the scooter, it began to rain. We rode home through the rain drops. It was warm and the rain didn’t fall too heavily, so it wasn’t a big deal.

We had thundershowers off and on all afternoon. I kicked back and watched the Moto GP race from Catalunya, Spain – I’d downloaded the European coverage of the event earlier in the day. Later in the afternoon, Donna and I took a walk during a break in the weather. We chatted with some neighbors and then offered to help them carry their kayaks to the creek. Their kayaks are made of plastic and weigh 50 pounds each – much heavier than we expected. We haven’t gotten around to inflating our kayak yet, but we definitely want to take advantage of our close proximity to the lake.

A guy pulled into the park towing a travel trailer behind his truck. He was alone and appeared to be struggling to back the trailer into the site across from us. As I was going out to see if I could help, he got out of his truck and approached another neighbor. The neighbor got into the guy’s truck and started to back it into the site. He was having a little trouble as the owner of the truck was just standing there and not giving any guidance. I walked over and directed the guy in the truck and we got the trailer lined up in the site. Then I found out that the guy that owns the truck and trailer was feeling under the weather and had been driving long hours to get here from New Mexico over two days. He was out of it. He didn’t even unhook the trailer from the truck before he went in to lie down. I rolled up his truck window and closed the driver’s door which he had left open.

Donna prepared spiced pork tenderloin with maple-chipotle sauce for dinner. She served it with asparagus and mashed sweet potato. So good!

Spiced pork tenderloin with maple-chipotle sauce

Spiced pork tenderloin with maple-chipotle sauce

Yesterday’s forecast called for thunderstorms to pass through starting around midday. We took our chances and scootered across Branson to the north side out to the Branson Sports Club. It’s about a 20-minute ride from here. They have indoor pickleball on Mondays from 9:30am to 11:30am. It costs $3 per person to play there. We met a great group of people and played for two hours. There were six courts set up, but we only had enough players for three games at a time.They pushed the time limit and we didn’t finish our last games until 11:45am.

I was getting anxious as I could see a large storm cell approaching from the west on my Radar Express app. We didn’t linger after our last game. We hit the road and made our way back through Branson. We were riding away from the storm cell so I felt comfortable making a quick stop at Macadoodles liquor store. I picked up some IPA brewed in Colorado by Odell Brewing Company. This is a tasty IPA – much better in my opinion than the offering from Mother’s Brewing in Springfield, Missouri.

Odell's IPA

Odell’s IPA

Once again we had a series of thundershowers all afternoon with brief breaks of sunshine in between. I spent most of the afternoon reading a preposterous Clive Cussler novel. It was written in 1975 and it was funny how it illustrates the chauvinistic mores of that time.

During a respite from the rain, we went out and walked to stretch our legs. I was a little stiff and sore from the pickleball activity. My S Health app showed over 8,500 steps on the pickleball court.

I grilled boneless chicken thighs that Donna marinated for dinner. She served it with a delicious zucchini side. The zucchini was cut in quarters, topped with parmesan cheese and herbs and baked to a crispy finish. The chicken thighs were marinated in lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and fresh herbs.

Grilled boneless chicken thigh with zucchini

Grilled boneless chicken thigh with baked parmesan zucchini

Today we expect the weather pattern to continue with thunderstorms rolling in around noon.

Another RV Conversion

The weather guessers had the forecast for this week all wrong. They called for thunderstorms Monday through Thursday. It was enough of a warning to make me decide to take the Gibson tour on Sunday – when no work is being performed. Well, we’ve only had one small shower and that was on Monday evening. It’s been mostly sunny and warm. There isn’t a cloud in the sky today here at Tom Sawyer’s RV Park on the west bank of the Mississippi River. (Map)

Donna started Tuesday out with a bike ride. She rode a 34-mile loop, clocking herself for the first 25 miles to gauge how ready she is for her upcoming race. Her goal now is to shave off 20 seconds per mile over the next few weeks.

While Donna was out, I washed the coach. I used a waterless method using a product called The Solution from a company called Super Seal. I don’t have any affiliation with this company – I’m providing a link because I really like the product. I was put on to this stuff by our friends and fellow Alpine owners, Lynda and Dave Campbell. The first time I used it, I went through more than a quart to wash the coach. Lynda told me I was using too much, a little spray goes a long way. She was right, I think I can get two washes from a quart now.

Clean and shiny

Clean and shiny

I spent about two and half hours on a ladder cleaning our rig. It looks great and was worth the effort. The humidity had me perspiring heavily though. I had to take a few breaks and come inside to cool off.

While I was up on the ladder, I saw our neighbor load up his motorcycle with baggage and head out. He had a Kawasaki KLR 650 dual sport bike. These are often called adventure/sport bikes as they can be ridden on pavement as well as off-road. He has an interesting rig. It’s an old work van that he’s converted to an RV toy hauler. The back half of the box is set up as a garage with two motorcycles, a bicycle and tools. The front area, separated from the garage by a wall, is a bunk, kitchen and bathroom with toilet and shower.

Rv Conversion

RV conversion

That's a hang glider strapped to the side

That’s a hang glider strapped to the side

Kawasaki KLR dual sport bike

Kawasaki KLR dual sport bike

I met him later. His name is John and he hit the road three days ago. He’s a software developer and can work from the road. He plans to travel to interesting hang gliding destinations. He also has a road racing motorcycle and wants to ride track days along the way as well. His RV is a work in progress. He told me he’s thinking about putting signage on the van that say something like “Simple Septic Solutions.” That will make it look like a nasty work van and deter thieves from breaking in. Interesting concept.

After he pulled out of the park this morning, we noticed he left his laptop table out on the picnic table. Within minutes, a woman came walking over from a few sites down, picked up his laptop table and started to walk away with it. I went outside and said, “Ma’am, John’s coming back – he wants his table.” She said, “Oh, I wondered why someone would leave a nice table like this behind. Thanks for telling me.” Then I walked up to the office and told the attendant that John left his table behind. They had his cell phone number and called him.

Last night, I grilled chicken sausages stuffed with poblano and cheese for dinner. While I was out manning the grill, I enjoyed the view of the Mississippi River.

Our backyard view last evening

Our backyard view last evening

We’ve had a good time here in West Memphis. Today I’ll organize and pack the trailer. I’ll clean our wheels and set the tire pressures and take down the front window covers. Tomorrow we’ll pull out and head over to the Turkey Creek Escapees Park across the river from Branson, Missouri.

Mississippi River Barges

The earliest super-highway for transporting goods in America was its rivers. The Mississippi River was a major artery in this system. French settlers south of St. Louis would float their harvest down the river as did fur trappers and traders. The barge era began when steam boats came about in the mid-19th century.

Here at Tom Sawyer’s RV Park in West Memphis, we see and hear barges on the Mississippi River daily. I’m fascinated by them and did a little research. In an earlier post, I described a raft of barges pushed by a tug boat. My terminology was incorrect. When barges are lashed together, they are called a tow. I think this name comes from early barges that were towed along canals by draft animals. The boat, which has a flat bow plate and is tied to the back of the barge tow, is called a tow boat – even though it pushes the barges.

The standard barge is 195 feet long and 35 feet wide. It can draft 9 feet of water and has a capacity of 1500 tons. Some modern barges used in the lower Mississippi are 290 feet long and 50 feet wide. The lower Mississippi is the portion downriver from St. Louis. Upriver from St. Louis, the Mississippi isn’t as deep and wide. It also has locks that restrict the size of tows in the upper Mississippi.

Multiple barges are lashed together to create a tow. The payload usually consists of grain, coal or petro-chemicals in special tanker barges. This is a very economical way to transport goods downriver.

The tow boats range from 35 to 200 feet in length and 21 to 56 feet wide. They can be powered by diesel engines ranging from 600 to 11,000 horsepower. When I see a tow going downriver, I can hear the diesel engines in the tow boat as it cruises along. The Mississippi River is such a large body of water here in Memphis that it appears to flow lazily. This is deceptive. When you see a piece of driftwood floating in the current, you can see how fast the water is actually moving. Transporting a load downriver, the tow boat isn’t working very hard – it’s turning the propellers just fast enough to maintain control over the rudder.

Coming back upriver is a different story. Once offloaded, the empty barges need to be pushed back upriver to pick up another load. At least I think they’re empty, I haven’t found any reference to shipping goods upriver. Going upriver, the tow boats are running hard. They sound like a freight train running at full speed, but they are only covering a few knots per hour. I can hear one going upriver right now. It will be within sight and ear shot for the next 20 minutes.

28 barge tow - six barges long and four deep lashed together

28-barge tow – six barges long and four deep lashed together

Tow making the turn up river

Tow making the turn upriver

Once the barges in the tow are lashed together and the tow boat is connected to the rear, it becomes one large vessel controlled by the tow boat. It’s amazing to watch these things make the turn in the channel upriver from the RV park.

While Donna was out walking yesterday, she sent me a text message telling me I ought to check out the coach and trailer getting ready to pull out from a riverfront site. I walked over to the riverfront area and saw a beautiful, 45-foot Millenium Coach built on a Prevost chassis. This million-plus-dollar coach was pulling a large stacker trailer that had to be 13 feet high. I don’t know what he had in there, but this type of trailer typically has a hydraulic lift that can raise a car, making room for another underneath. Or it can be configured with a platform with work benches and storage that can be lifted and a car stowed underneath for travel.

Millenium Coach with large stacker trailer

Millenium Coach with large stacker trailer

What a set-up! Triple-axle stacker trailers typically weigh in the neighborhood of 9,000 pounds empty, so you need a large, powerful coach with heavy towing capacity to utilize one. Very few coaches have that much capacity. A Prevost chassis is usually outfitted with 20,000 pounds of towing capacity. Our coach is limited to 10,000 pounds. Many coaches only have four or five thousand pounds of towing capacity.

Millenium Coach with stacker heading out

Millenium Coach with stacker heading out

When I grow up, I want one of these!

Last evening, I grilled turkey burgers loaded with diced green chiles, onions, cilantro and spices. Donna topped it with shredded Mexican cheeses and guacamole and served it over spring mix greens with grilled zucchini on the side. The zucchini was seasoned the same way we had it two nights ago with salt and lemon zest. We dined al fresco at the picnic table. A healthy, delicious and nutritious meal.

Turkey/green chili burger topped with cheese and guacamole

Green chile turkey burger topped with cheese and guacamole

It’s going to be hot today. We expect the temperature to reach 90 degrees. Donna headed out for a bike ride at 8:30 to try to beat the heat. The humidity yesterday was 89% and we expect the same today.

This afternoon, I have a reservation for a tour of the Gibson guitar factory in Memphis, birthplace of my ES339 guitar.

 

 

Crossing Arkansas

I was up early Thursday morning. I walked about a half mile to the Whataburger to buy breakfast. Their breakfast taquito was more like a breakfast burrito – scrambled eggs with cheese and sausage wrapped in a soft flour tortilla.

Donna did her exercise routine in the Walmart parking lot where we spent the night. It was early and the lot was almost empty. We were ready to pull out and leave Texarkana behind by 9am. We hit I-30 and stopped at the Arkansas Welcome Center a few miles later. Donna went in a picked up a state road map and brochures with points of interest and bicycling information.

I-30 to Little Rock was smooth sailing. It runs through heavily forested terrain. The deciduous trees have kudzu vines growing on them. We made a short pit stop in a rest area to eat lunch, then continued on to the I-440 loop south and east of Little Rock. This stretch of road is terrible. We pounded through uneven pavement with poorly filled potholes. Most of the road is elevated over swamp land and the surface is anything but flat and level.

Once we hit I-40 east, the road was better until we were about 60 miles from Memphis. Then the road surface deteriorated once again. All of the rivers, ponds and lakes we saw on the way were flooded. Some of the rivers had crested over the levees and flooded farmland. I wondered what the Mississippi would look like when we arrived at Tom Sawyer’s RV Park on the bank of the Mississippi River. I looked up the river level the night before and it was showing 15 feet. Flood stage is over 31 feet so I thought it would be okay, but seeing how everything was flooded on the way there had me wondering.

When we arrived at the RV park, a sign at the office showed the river level at 15 feet and said the park doesn’t flood until it reaches 32 feet – so we’re fine. The park is located on the west bank of the river in West Memphis on the Arkansas side. It’s in a forested section of land that has been cleared out with large grass fields. Some of the sites are paved, the rest are on gravel. The paved pull-through sites on the riverfront are priced at $270/week while a gravel pull-through by the grass field is $186/week. We opted for the gravel pull-through by the grass field. The view is nice. The river front might be a nicer view, but I don’t think it’s worth the price difference.

Donna prepared a flank steak with lime marinade and I grilled it along with zucchini for dinner. Donna topped the flank steak with an herb salad and the zucchini with lemon salt made from chopping zested lemon and kosher salt together.

Lime marinated flank steak with herb salad

Lime marinated flank steak with herb salad

We dined al fresco at the picnic table in our site.

View from our site at dusk

View from our site at dusk – the clay bank is the Tennesee side of the river

We took a walk through the park and watched barges going up and down the river. Some of the barges are huge – we saw one tug pushing 21 barges rafted together.

A small barge on the Mississippi

A small barge on the Mississippi

It’s quiet and picturesque here. I’m looking forward to a relaxing week. We might take an Uber or Lyft taxi downtown and check out some of the clubs on Beale Street this evening.

River bend north of the RV park

River bend north of the RV park

Beating the Storm

The weather guessers had me scrambling yesterday. I wanted to get things done since they were certain we would be in for a wet and stormy Sunday. I packed up the tire covers and the windshield covers. I wanted to store them away while they’re dry – packing them when they’re wet makes a good environment for mold.

I broke out the ladder and climbed up on the roof. Our front air conditioner shroud is cracked. I put duct tape over the crack. Then I checked the rear cover – it’s cracked as well. I need to order new shrouds soon. I thought the shrouds were made of fiberglass but it appears to be molded plastic. Baking in the sun on the roof eventually leads to deterioration. Our air conditioners are Dometic Duo Therm Penguin 15,000 BTU heat pumps and parts aren’t cheap. The plastic covers are about $100 each!

Workers here at Copano Bay RV Resort were also going double time to beat the weather. The park is pouring new concrete. The workers are prepping unoccupied site pads. About a dozen of the pads already have new concrete. They’ve prepped about a dozen more over the past couple of days. I’m thinking they should be using rebar in addition to the wire mesh to strengthen and reinforce the concrete. After all, there may be a 40,000+ pound RV rolling over it. But they’re the experts, not me.

Pad ready for concrete

Pad ready for concrete

I don’t know when they will pour the concrete. They need a window of dry weather for a day or two.

Donna took the scooter grocery shopping in the morning. When she returned, I rode it to Walmart and picked up a case of water and restocked my beer supply. Then I finished organizing the trailer and loaded the scooter in preparation for Monday’s departure. I figured we wouldn’t be using the scooter on Sunday if it’s stormy and I might as well have the trailer packed and closed up while it’s dry.

My daughter Jamie came up from Robstown with her friend Ruby, two of her step-kids – Rayleen and Ariana – and their cousin, Victoria. Donna took them to the community pool while I was packing the trailer.

The rain held off while they were at the pool. When they returned at 5pm, I could see a storm approaching on the weather radar app. We said our goodbyes and they left, trying to beat the storm home. I don’t know when we’ll see them again, but we plan to return to this area at some point – hopefully at a time when the weather isn’t so wet. May has been a very wet month – more than twice the average rainfall for the month.

One of the things Donna bought at HEB was jalapeno salmon burgers. These are made fresh at HEB, not frozen. I fired up the grill to cook them and also toasted onion ciabatta rolls. Donna made a remoulade sauce and garnished the burger with lettuce, avocado and remoulade. These were the best salmon burgers I’ve ever tasted.

Jalapeno salmon burgers and toasted onion chiabatta rolls hot off the grill

Jalapeno salmon burgers and toasted onion ciabatta rolls hot off the grill

One tasty sandwich

One tasty sandwich

We rarely buy bread, but when Donna asked the guy at the seafood counter if the salmon burgers were good, he told her how he makes them and it sounded so good, she had to do it! Since she had to buy the onion rolls in a package of six, she bought four more salmon burgers and stashed them along with the rolls in the freezer.

It started raining while we were watching Homeland. The lightning made a great backdrop for the show.

This morning it’s dry out. The forecast has backed down from the dire storm warnings. Now they say there’s a 30% chance of thundershowers this afternoon. Oh well, I guess it didn’t hurt to make our preparations for travel a day early.

 

Jumbo Shrimp

Yesterday’s early morning thunderstorm dropped a little over a third of an inch of rain, bringing the month-to-date total to over 7 inches. Once the storm passed, the skies cleared and the wind settled down to about 10 mph.

Donna went to the community pool and swam a mile again around noon. I spent a lot of time sitting at my laptop trying to decide on a route out of here. Originally I thought we would follow the coast toward Galveston and skirt around the east side of Houston. With so much flooding in the area I changed my thinking. Now I think the best bet is to head north to College Station. We might spend a couple of days there, then move on to Shreveport, Louisiana before we settle in for a week in Memphis, Tennessee.

We rode the scooter south of town and stopped in at Paradise Key Dockside Bar and Grill for happy hour.  I thought they had live music on Friday afternoon, but the entertainment doesn’t start until 6pm. We sat on the deck in back and watched boaters come and go while we sipped a couple of beers and snacked on their homemade tortilla chips and queso. Their queso dip is outstanding – it’s spiced with finely chopped tomato and jalapeno.

On the way home, we stopped at Flowers Shrimp Market. Donna wanted to buy shrimp for dinner and she had read reviews saying that they had the best shrimp. While we’re here on the gulf coast, we’ve been taking advantage of the fresh seafood. Flowers Shrimp Market is a tiny place with coolers of seafood on ice on a counter top. The fresh shrimp were still in the shell with the heads removed and the jumbo shrimp were huge – about 11-13 per pound.

Donna spiced the shrimp with garlic, crushed red pepper and olive oil and skewered them.

Spiced and skewered jumbo shrimp

Spiced and skewered jumbo shrimp

I grilled them over medium-high heat. Three minutes on one side, then two minutes on the other and they were done.

Skewered shrimp hot off the grill

Skewered shrimp hot off the grill

Donna served them with a side salad of black rice, mango and blackeye peas – another new recipe. We’re already looking forward to the leftovers.

Grilled shrimp with XXXX

Grilled shrimp with black rice, mango and blackeye pea salad

The weather guessers are calling for thundershowers to move into the area this afternoon. Rain is expected to continue on Sunday. I’ll pack the wheel covers and front window covers before it rains. I think I’ll organize the trailer and pack the scooter too. If it’s raining tomorrow, we won’t be using the scooter. With that done, we’ll be ready to hit the road first thing Monday morning.

Key Allegro Island

A guy posted a question yesterday on one of the RV forums I visit. He said his coach was in storage for five months. When he took it out of storage and hooked up at an RV park, he dumped his gray water holding tank. He said the discharge was dark, more like black water and had black flakes of solid material. He suspected black water sewage had somehow infiltrated his gray water tank.

There were several responses to his post with lots of theories on how black water could have ended up in the gray water holding tank. My take on the situation is this – he doesn’t have black water in his gray water tank. His gray water turned dark because he left untreated gray water in the tank with organic matter in it for five months.

The gray tank holds the water coming down the drains of the kitchen sink and shower. If you cook and wash dishes in the sink, a certain amount of organic matter (bits of food) will drain into the tank. Some soaps contain fats and oils which are also organic. Leave this stuff in a tank of water for an extended period of time and it will become a science project gone wild. Bacteria and molds will thrive.

Some people think the gray water tank is benign and doesn’t create a sanitation challenge. I disagree. The gray water tank needs attention, just like the black water tank. Gray water tanks can create foul odors if left untreated. That’s why I use TankTechs RX in my gray tank. I wrote about it in this post. I’ll get off my soapbox now.

The run of nicer weather continued yesterday. We had a high temperature of 86 degrees with partly cloudy skies. It wasn’t as windy as it’s been. Most of the time we’ve been here, we’ve had steady winds of 15 -20 mph. Yesterday it calmed down to about 10 mph.

I ran a couple of errands on the scooter and while I was out I explored Key Allegro Island. Key Allegro is a small island community in Rockport. Riding north on Broadway, I could see the island looking east across Little Bay. I made a right and crossed the bridge to the island where Broadway becomes Fulton Beach Road.

View of Key Allgro across Little Bay

View of Key Allegro across Little Bay

The entire island is developed with very few unoccupied lots. The beach areas are private. Most of the properties back up to canals that criss-cross the island. It’s a boater’s paradise.

View from one of the few undeveloped lots

View from one of the few undeveloped lots

One of the Key Allegro canals

One of the Key Allegro canals

When I returned, I told Donna about Key Allegro. She was going out on a grocery shopping run on the scooter. I suggested heading out to the Grog Bar and Grill on Key Allegro for happy hour when she returned from shopping.

The Grog Bar and Grill is located at the Key Allegro Marina. We took a look around the marina – it was filled with sportfishing boats and luxury yachts. We found a table at the back of this large, beautiful bar overlooking the marina. We were the only people there!

Vie from the Grog Bar and Grill

View from the Grog Bar and Grill

We sipped a couple of beers and watched the antics of sea birds in the bay. I had an IPA brewed in Houston by Saint Arnold Brewery. It wasn’t anything special – it can’t compete with San Diego’s IPAs. We were there for close to an hour and no other patrons showed up. I took Donna for a scooter tour of Key Allegro before we headed back home.

After we returned home, I grilled herbed chicken thighs. Donna served it with sauteed haricots verts (French green beans) with cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives. Donna duped me into trying anchovy vinaigrette dressing by not telling that what was on the green beans. I’m not a fan of anchovies. The vinaigrette was a little salty for my taste but the flavor was good.

Grilled boneless chicken thighs with green beans, tomatoes and kalamata olives

Grilled boneless chicken thighs with sauteed green beans, tomatoes and kalamata olives

We finished the evening with two episodes of Homeland from season two.

Our run of nice weather ended abruptly at 5am this morning. Donna and I were both jolted awake when a bolt of lightning struck nearby followed by a loud crack of thunder. Wind was rocking the coach as torrential rain fell. I got up and closed the living room slide as a precaution against wind or water damage. I looked at my weather radar app and once again we were in the thick of it.

We are the blue spot in the center of the storm cell

We are the blue spot in the center of the storm cell

I went back to bed and listened to the thunder and rain and drifted off to sleep again. When I woke up at 8am, it was still raining but not as hard. The wind had died down. By 9:15am, the rain showers quit and sun came out. The forecast calls for partly cloudy skies with no rain until early Sunday.

I think I’ll remove the tire covers and windshield covers once they dry out. We’ll pull out of here Monday morning and I don’t want to pack wet tire and window covers.