Category Archives: Texas

Hello Betty

We hit the road Monday morning a little later than I intended. By the time we had the trailer hitched up and rolled out on to the highway, it was 9:40am. Our route took us from Aransas Pass up TX35 to Angleton where we hit TX288 north to Houston. This was a familiar route as we came this way in 2015. There was plenty of water along the way in the creeks and lakes, but the fields weren’t flooded like they were in 2015.

We made a stop in a Walmart parking lot in Bay City before we reached TX288. I walked over to Subway and bought a sandwich for lunch while Donna made a salad for herself back in the coach.

TX288 took us to I-610 – a loop around Houston that ostensibly avoids the traffic crossing the city. In fact, I-610 is just as congested as any other portion of interstate through a large city. There were construction zones and sections of rough pavement. Once we hit I-10 east and headed away from Houston, the pavement was rough for several miles. Eventually the road surface improved and the traffic thinned out.

We drove through a swarm of bugs – there were so many of them hitting the windshield, it sounded like large raindrops were falling. I don’t know what kind of insect they were, but they were all over the front of the coach.

We hit a swarm of these

We made our second stop at the Pilot/Flying J travel center in Baytown and topped up the tank with $203 worth of diesel fuel. Donna found a free overnight boondocking spot at a county park in Winnie, Texas. This park is where they hold the Texas Rice Festival and they have dozens of RV sites with 20 amp electrical outlets. The electricity was turned off so we didn’t bother with the RV sites and parked on level pavement outside of the livestock area. The place was deserted when we arrived a little before 4pm.

Level dry camp

In many of the photos, our coach looks like a low rider. That’s because I dump the air from the suspension, lowering the coach before I put the jacks down. The ride height going down the road is four or five inches higher.

We took a walk to town a few blocks away. By the time we were heading out, several people had come to the park. A couple of families were having a picnic dinner near the children’s play area and several other people were walking laps of the park for exercise.

A block away from the park we saw a sign that said “The Secret Garden” and another sign that said,

“The kiss of sun for pardon

The song of birds for mirth

One is nearer god’s heart in a garden

Than anywhere on earth”

Secret Garden

We couldn’t figure out what it was all about. It looked to be someone’s backyard garden.

When we came back to the coach, Donna heated up a cowboy casserole she had made the day before with leftover cornbread, chicken and vegetables that was very tasty. We ate outside and after dinner, I lit up a cigar. Jamie and Francisco gifted me with a bundle of four cigars they bought at the Texas Sand Fest. Although I said I wouldn’t make a habit of cigar smoking, it’s quickly becoming a habit. Two other smaller rigs pulled into the park and spent the night. It was mostly quiet and I wouldn’t hesitate to spend a night there again.

Donna walked over to Burrito Express in the morning and picked up two breakfast burritos that were excellent and very filling. We got back on the road at 9am. The wind was blowing from the southeast, but it wasn’t too bad. I wanted to follow a route down through McFaddin National Wildlife Refuge and Sea Rim State Park, but Nally – our Rand McNally RV specific GPS wouldn’t route us that way, even when I put way points in. I took that to mean the road wasn’t suitable – maybe a low overpass or weight limited bridges. So we headed east on TX73 through Port Arthur and Bridge City.

There are huge refineries there and waterways from the Gulf through Sabine Lake for ships to offload at the refineries. To cross these waterways, the road had high – I mean very high – and steep bridges. These bridges allow clearance for the tankers to come through. I was happy to have mostly a tailwind over these high bridges – a strong crosswind would not have been fun.

When we got back on I-10 about five miles from the Louisiana border, we hit what has to be the worst stretch of Interstate pavement anywhere. It was ridiculous. After we crossed the Sabine River and entered Louisiana, the road surface improved. Although Donna and I both have been to New Orleans several times, this was our first trip to the state in our motorhome. We left the Interstate near Crowley (The Rice Capital of America) and took a series of county roads – narrow and often rough – to our final destination at Betty’s RV Park.

We booked a week at Betty’s based on a recommendation from our friends John and Sharon Hinton. Our friends Brett and Cheri also stayed here. John send us a message a while back telling me the park might be tight for a rig our size. I looked at it on Google earth and saw what he meant.

We were feeling some trepidation as we rolled through the narrow streets of Abbeville and saw narrow driveways on several properties. When we pulled off of State Street at the park entrance, we were relieved to see that parking would be a piece of cake. Betty had a spot picked out for our trailer and it was easily accessible. After dropping the trailer, I made a loop of the small park out onto the street again and re-entered to back into site #4.

Parking spot for our trailer

Site four

The park is small – maybe a few acres with 17 sites. The attraction here is Betty, the owner, and her daily happy hour potluck gathering. Everyone meets at a covered patio area at 4:30pm to share hors d’oeuvres and stories over their beverage of choice.

Happy hour potluck patio

I’m not the most gregarious person, but in a park this small, getting together with neighbors is inevitable and Betty makes it fun. We’ll be here for a week and plan to explore the area.

We’re at an elevation of 30 feet above sea level. The weather is warm – highs around 80 and very humid. Looks like thundershowers may arrive by the weekend. I hope there isn’t too much rain as we want to attend the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival!

Castles Made of Sand

Wow, our time here at Aransas Pass has flown by. On Saturday morning, Donna and I rode the Spyder to Rockport for more pickleball. The games there are loosely organized. There were about 10 of us on the courts by the high school with various skill levels represented. We had fun and got a couple of hours of play time.

Francisco came back from his delivery run to North Carolina Saturday morning. In the afternoon he and my daughter, Jamie, and his son Trey along with Francisco’s sister Ruby came to the RV park to pick us up. We were headed over the Redfish Bay causeway to Port Aransas on Mustang Island. To get there we crossed a couple of bridges on the causeway, then had to take a short ferry ride. We were going to Port Aransas for the Texas Sand Fest – a beach sand sculpture event.

The Sand Fest draws a huge crowd to the beach on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We waited in line over 45 minutes to get on the free ferry. They had four or five ferries running to accommodate all of the traffic. The ferry boats are fairly small – the one we took only held about 15 vehicles. They’re nothing like the ferries found on Puget Sound in Washington.

View across Humble Basin toward Roberts Point Park in Port Aransas

Ferry boat departing behind us while another one loads at the dock

Oil rigs and a tanker near the ferry dock

There were three large oil rigs near the dock. We think they were towed there for maintenance work. A large tanker ship passed through the narrow basin where the ferry boats crossed.

We found our way to the Beach Road on the southeast coast of the island. The Beach Road is an unpaved one-way thoroughfare on the sand. The sand on Mustang Island is very fine and seems to have clay – I couldn’t find any information to confirm this. But the sand on the road was packed solidly and had fine particles of dust along with the sand. I think this would make the sand ideal for sand sculptures as it sticks together when moistened.

The area of the beach where the sculptures were being made was fenced off with temporary chain-link fencing. Entry costs $10/person. There was a vendor strip with food and goods and a beer tent. Many of the Master’s Class sculptures were cordoned off with yellow or orange tape and many of them were still being worked on late Saturday afternoon. Here are some of the sculptures I was able to take photos of.

Entrance to the sculpture area with sponsor acknowledgements

Detailed eyes on this dog

Artist still at work

How were they able to do the top of this sculpture?

There was an anatomically detailed heart in the split of this bust

Another tall one

One for all the cat people

We spent a few hours admiring the artwork and browsing the vendors. Between pickleball in the morning and walking the beach in the afternoon, I had well over 12,000 steps for the day. The ferry ride back was just as crowded with quite a traffic tie-up. We were on a larger ferry boat this time, but still nothing like the ferry boats in Washington.

Ruby, Trey, Donna, Jamie and Francisco at Port Aransas beach – that’s a sand tower in the background

On Sunday morning, I watched another crazy Formula 1 race from Azerbaijan where the two Red Bull teammates spent the race racing against each other, eventually taking both cars out!

Then I got busy. I had noticed a few drops of oil under our generator. A quick inspection revealed a loose oil filter – I tightened it. This is the second time it’s happened. When I change the oil, I’ll have to inspect the filter flange. I suspect that the O-ring from an old filter may have stuck to the flange. This creates a double O-ring situation when the new filter is put on. I usually inspect the filter every time I remove it to make sure the O-ring came off with it, but the last time I changed the oil and filter on the generator, we were in Nebraska and I was recovering from a virus. I may have neglected to check it – the only way to know is to pull the filter.

I also checked tire pressures on all 10 tires – six on the coach and four on the trailer. Then I cleaned the Weber Q and Traeger, relined them with foil and packed them in the trailer. I cleaned our battery bay and batteries with baking soda solution and filled the 6-volt lead acid batteries with distilled water. Phew!

By the time I showered and changed clothes at 2pm, Jamie and Francisco had arrived. We went to Redfish Willies Waterfront Grill for a late lunch/early dinner. Donna and I both had the blackened redfish plate – it was delicious. Jamie had the blackened salmon special with pineapple pico de gallo and Francisco went for the bleu fish sandwich. The food was good and we enjoyed a panoramic view of the marina.

Me and Jamie by the marina at Redfish WIllie’s

Tomorrow morning, I only have a few chores to make us ready to roll on toward Louisiana. There’s a 15% chance of showers by noon, but we should be well on our way and heading away from the weather. It looks like we’ll see a high in the upper 70s. Our plan – if you can call it that – is to travel about 200 miles or so and find a place to boondock overnight. Then we’ll head to Abbeville, Louisiana where we have reservations at Betty’s RV Park.

Are You Overweight?

Someone posted a question on an RV Facebook group yesterday asking how to determine the carrying capacity of their RV. Weight ratings can be a bit confusing at first glance. You need to understand a few of the terms first.

You must know the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) – this is the maximum amount of weight the vehicle can support. There should be a placard in the RV that lists the GVWR. Next you need to know the unladen or dry weight. I learned that RVs produced after 2009 have standardized the unladen weight to include fluids and propane except for the fresh water tank. Before 2009, dry weight may or may not include propane or other fluids – refer to the placard.

Weight placard in our Alpine Coach

Our placard shows a GVWR of 31,000 lbs. It also lists the unladen weight plus calculations for water, propane and passengers to find the carrying capacity for our household goods. Another important weight rating is Gross Combination Weight Rating (GCWR). This rating shows how much total weight the vehicle can handle when towing. The GVWR cannot be exceeded – tongue weight of a trailer, for example, will add to the vehicle weight. Our GCWR is 41,000 lbs – we can tow up to 10,000 lbs as long as we don’t exceed the GVWR of 31,000 lbs. The GVWR can never be safely exceeded.

I weighed our fully loaded rig after we bought it. When we bought the new, larger trailer and the Can Am Spyder, I had the rig weighed again. Another important consideration is maximum axle weight. Our 31,000 lb GVWR breaks down into 12,000 lbs on the front axle and 19,000 lbs on the rear axle. When I had our rig weighed I got the axle weights and the trailer weight. The tongue weight of the trailer is included in the axle weight. We’re near our rear axle limit but under the GVWR and our trailer axle weight is well below the trailer rating of 7,000 lbs. Our total weight is 35,000 lbs – well below the GCWR of 41,000 lbs. When I weighed our rig, I had the fresh water tank full and the fuel tank full to give me the actual weight when we’re fully loaded.

My advice is to locate your rig’s weight placard and get your rig weighed. Lots of bad things can occur if your vehicle is overweight, including poor handling, broken axle and/or suspension, and tire failure. Be safe out there!

The main reason we came to the Gulf Coast of Texas was to visit with my middle daughter Jamie and her family. She has four stepchildren and lives near Corpus Christi. Jamie came by on Wednesday evening to visit and we planned to have dinner together on Thursday. Her man, Francisco, is a trucker and is away this week hauling goods to the East Coast.

Donna bought two whole roaster chickens and I prepared them by cutting out the back bones and cracking the breast plates to cook them spatchcock style. I seasoned them with Sweet Rub O’Mine and roasted them on the Traeger wood pellet smoker/grill. I did it differently this time.

One of the issues I had with spatchcock chicken on the Traeger in the past was not getting the skin crispy enough. It can come out a bit rubbery. This time I started the chickens at a fairly low temperature – the setting was at 300 degrees and the pit temperature was about 270 degrees. After 45 minutes, I raised the setting to 350 degrees. Then, 15 minutes later I raised it to the maximum setting bringing the pit temperature up to about 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

That did the trick. The skin was golden brown and crisp. The meat was tender and moist. I think I’ve got this figured out now.

L to R – Trey, Donna, Jamie, Rayleen, Ariana and Jennalee

Donna made sides of southern fried cabbage with bacon and whipped sweet potato. After dinner, Donna and the kids enjoyed a cup of Rocky Road ice cream while I sipped a dram of scotch and puffed a cigar. I think the last time I lit a cigar was more than 35 years ago when my first daughter, Alana, was born. When we were in San Diego, my friend Tim Witucky gave me a few empty cigar boxes for storing odds and ends – Tim’s a cigar aficionado. It turned out that one the boxes still had a cigar sealed in a wrapper in it. I decided to try it out.

I don’t think I’ll make a habit out of it, but I might like to puff one occasionally.

The weather has been mostly agreeable here in Aransas Pass. We had a passing shower Wednesday night, but not the thunderstorm that was predicted. Yesterday was cooler with the thermometer only reaching the low 70s. Wind is fairly constant coming off of the water to the east, making it feel cooler at times. The forecast calls for the low 80s through the weekend. I can take that!

Rockport Rebuilding

As we approached the Gulf Coast region of Texas on Monday, we saw lingering signs of the damaged caused last August by Hurricane Harvey. We didn’t plan on coming here originally, thinking the area had been devastated and probably wasn’t fully operational. Rockport, Texas suffered a direct hit from Harvey with sustained winds of 130 mph on August 24th – just eight months ago.

We learned online that many of the RV parks were operational here and tourism was returning to normal. Northwest of our current location in Aransas Pass – just 11 miles south of Rockport – we saw many houses in rural areas with the roofs or porches missing. I saw a number of what I presumed to be FEMA trailers set up next to damaged homes.

Once we reached town, things were looking good. Many construction projects are ongoing, but so much has already been repaired. The damage from Harvey was estimated to be 125 billion dollars – the equal of Hurricane Katrina. The recovery here seems much quicker than what happened in New Orleans though.

Apartments being rebuilt outside of Ransom Road RV Park

I puttered around Tuesday. I cleaned the bugs off of the windshield, then washed the windshield cover and installed it. In the late afternoon, Donna and I walked to the marina next to the RV park and had a cold one at Mickey’s Bar and Grill.

I grilled ribeye steaks on the Weber Q for dinner and Donna served it with baked potatoes and steamed green beans.

Level, paved site 124

This morning, we rode the Spyder to Rockport for pickleball at the Rockport-Fulton High School. About a dozen players showed up – just right as we had three courts to play on. Rockport is a little more upscale than Aransas Pass. They’ve done a great job of rebuilding there also. We were told the fences around the tennis/pickleball courts were just finished a month ago. The community center where Donna went swimming when we were here in 2015 doesn’t seem to be worse for wear – I’m sure a lot work went into it though.

One of our favorite grocery stores is the H-E-B chain in Texas. The store in Aransas Pass was a little disappointing though – they didn’t have butchers on site like they do in Rockport. After pickleball, we stopped at the H-E-B in Rockport and were pleased to find the jalapeno salmon burger patties they make there – we really enjoyed them the last time we were here. Donna bought four – I’ll grill a couple in the next day or two and we’ll freeze a couple for later consumption.

The weather forecast deteriorated – now they say a thunderstorm will come in later this evening. The rest of the week still looks good with temperatures reaching the upper 70s. You never know around here – it can change quickly.

 

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Hydraulic Miracle

The weekend of racing at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas was pretty much as expected. We watched the bikes scream around the road racing course and walked through the vendor areas in between sessions, shopping and people watching. I’ve been involved in motorcycle road racing both as a racer and crew chief at the club level in the past. I’ve been attending international level races – World Superbike and Moto GP for a few decades.

Donna and I went to our first Moto GP together in 2006. We were newly married and she had a freshly minted motorcycle license when we loaded up our bikes with our gear and rode from our home in Mesa, Arizona to Monterey, California for the Moto GP event at Laguna Seca. We made this an annual exercise and Donna became used to traveling light with two weeks worth of clothing in her saddlebags.

When we moved to Michigan, the USA Moto GP event changed venues and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana. Perfect. We rode from Rochester Hills, Michigan to Indianapolis to attend. We made our last trek to watch Moto GP in 2012 – so this is our first event in six years. As always, we had a good time. I’m more into the racing than Donna, but she supports me and I think she likes the people watching as much as the racing.

We had great seats with a view of the back straight where the Moto GP bikes were hitting speeds over 200 mph before braking hard to enter turn 12 in first gear at about 40-50 mph. Then they had a series of 180-degree turns through 13, 14 and 15 – the slowest corner – before accelerating right in front of us to turn 16. We also had a big screen monitor by our grandstand to see the action on the rest of the course.

Part of the view from our grandstand seats – bike on the course at turn 13, big screen monitor at center-right near the pedestrian bridge

Donna and her new friend – even cowgirls are bigger in Texas

After the last race Sunday afternoon, people started packing up and many of the RVs in the dry camping area pulled out. I’m sure many people took a long weekend from their workaday lives and had to head back to reality. We had a quiet night. I grilled chicken thigh quarters that Donna marinated in something called pretty chicken marinade sauce.

This morning we packed up. I talked to the folks at Fleet Maintenance of Texas on the phone about our hydraulic issue. We spent the weekend here with the jacks up – I got as level as I could with pads under the tires – and only one bedroom slide out. I didn’t dare open the living room slide for fear of not being able to retract it if I got it open. The living room slide still wasn’t in the fully closed position – it was nearly an inch open and wouldn’t close any further. After we packed up and were ready to leave, I tried to close the slide again to no avail.

We made the drive across Austin to Fleet Maintenance of Texas. Cameron helped us there. When I described the issue, he came up with the same thought I had three weeks ago. He said he thought it was a fluid level problem or maybe air in the system.

I removed the cover from the compartment housing the HWH hydraulic reservoir and pump system. I was surprised to find the compartment wet with hydraulic fluid and crud. Here’s the thing – I open this compartment every time I get fuel, I store my Biobor JF fuel treatment there. It wasn’t wet when I fueled up on Thursday.  After 15 minutes or so, Cameron came out with one the techs – his name escapes me – to look at it. He checked the fluid level, then told me to run the jacks down so he could look for leaks in the manifold and lines.

I ran the front jacks down. The pump sounded normal – it had a different pitch when the problem started. The jacks hit the pavement and lifted the front of the coach. What? Next I tried closing the living room slide. It popped right in and closed tight.

Have you ever had a toothache that disappeared once you were at the dentist? That’s how I felt. I couldn’t believe it, everything seemed to be working. The tech told me he didn’t see any signs of leakage. He asked me to lower all of the jacks, then operate all of the slides. Everything worked like magic.

I came back outside scratching my head. We talked it over. The tech said he thought I must have had air trapped in the hydraulic fluid – remember when I said that back in Benson? He told me that the air in the fluid is dispersed when the pump cavitates and millions of tiny bubbles are in the fluid making it milky or almost frothy. Of course the air is compressible, so you cannot reach maximum hydraulic pressure. The tiny bubbles slowly coalesce into larger bubbles which then find their way to the high points in the system. The highest point is the reservoir, but to get there the bubbles have to make their way through junctions and valves.

He theorized that the air finally made its way through the valves as we were driving to the shop and burped into the reservoir, causing some fluid to blow through the cap vent, thus the fluid we found in the compartment.

Messy hydraulic compartment after a cursory wipe to check for leaks

I had to agree with him as I can’t think of a better explanation. Cameron voided my repair order and didn’t charge for checking the system. Nice! I’ll need to thoroughly clean the hydraulic compartment.

We drove from the shop to a nearby Walmart to regroup. I hadn’t made any reservations thinking I needed to know what our situation would be once we hit the shop. Donna walked to a pizza place at the other end of the shopping plaza while I looked at options.

We decided to head east to the Gulf Coast. I found a nice RV park in Aransas Pass and booked a week. This will give us a chance to visit with my middle daughter Jamie. We’d like to explore a bit – we stayed near here at Copano Bay outside of Rockport two years ago.

We had a quick lunch – the pizza was very good! Then we made the four-hour drive to Aransas Pass and arrived around 4:40pm. We were escorted to our site where we dropped the trailer and quickly set up in a full hook-up site – jacks down and level, slides out!

The weather forecast for the coming week looks promising – high 70s to low 80s. Not showing much in the way of precipitation, but I know a thunderstorm can kick up around here quickly at this time of year.

 

Austin Moto GP – Day One

Our last couple of days at Lake Buchanan were low-key. I got up on the roof to check out the air conditioners. The condenser coils were dirty so I cleaned them but I could’t find any faults in the wiring. I’m not sure why we had trouble with erratic operation earlier. Donna took a few hikes in the area and we fished from the park piers. The fishing wasn’t so good – the wind whipped up large swells on the lake and the water was turbid. I landed one catfish.

I should mention that Lake Buchanan was formed when a dam was built on the Colorado River in 1939. That’s right, Colorado River. This name confused me at first. When I think of the Colorado River I think of the river that flows west of the continental divide through Lake Powell and on to the Grand Canyon, Lake Mead, Lake Havasu and so on down to the Gulf of California. But, there’s another Colorado River (Texas) that flows from Dawson County generally southeast for about 860 miles, then empties into the Gulf of Mexico. I’m always learning something new on the road.

We pulled out Thursday morning around 10:30am. We followed a couple of numbered ranch roads that had light traffic and smooth pavement south to TX71. This highway took us east. Our first stop was at Bee Cave where I had scouted out the Specs Fine Food and Liquor on Google Earth. It looked to have easy access and ample parking. I restocked the beer supply and bought a bottle of Scotch there and we were back on our way.

Our next stop was Walmart for some provisions. In many parts of Texas, a frontage or service road runs parallel to the highway. These roads are generally one way on each side of the highway with numerous ramps to enter or exit the highway. At times this confuses Nally – our RV specific GPS. Civilian GPS units aren’t totally location accurate – they can have a tolerance of several yards. At times Nally would advise me to prepare for a right turn when I actually needed to go left ahead. I figured out that the GPS had me on the highway, not the service road and was advising me to exit the highway right, then go left from the service road. Confusing for sure since I was already on the service road. This made me miss our Walmart stop.

We drove on to the Pilot Travel Center in Mustang Ridge and topped up the fuel tank. We’ll be on generator power for the next few days at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) race track and I wanted a full fuel tank. When we arrived at the track, we had a few issues with the signage. We went the long way around the track but never saw lot N where we had dry camping reservations.

After finding a place to get our rig turned around, we backtracked and saw the entrance. Coming from our original direction, the sign and entrance was hidden behind a large tree. We found a site and dropped our trailer, then set up. The sites are not at all level, but we have easy access to the track.

Donna and I went for a walk to check out the track and find our grandstand seats.

Fast S section

Turn two – workers walking the track to check for debris

It was windy but the temperature was pleasant. We rode the Spyder to a nearby grocery store/Mexican market and picked up a few items.

Friday morning action started with the free practice sessions. We were trackside a little after 9am for the Moto 3 free practice (FP) 1. Moto 3 is the entry into international motorcycle road racing. The bikes are single cylinder 250cc machines. They’re very lightweight, the racing is close and drafting on the straights is key. Riders must move up or leave the class by the age of 28.

Next up was Moto GP FP 1. Moto GP is the pinnacle of the sport. The bikes are 1000cc and make around 250 horsepower. They’re very sophisticated and extremely fast. The most popular Moto GP rider is nine-time World Champion, Valentino Rossi – The Doctor is his nickname.

Marc Marquez – the villain of the Argentina round enters turn 16

The Doctor coming up on a slower rider at 16

The day was overcast and the wind made it feel colder than the mid 60s the thermometer showed. Before lunch, Donna went back to the coach for a warmer jacket and brought one back for me.

We had lunch at the track and walked around between the 45-minute sessions. We left around 3pm during the Moto 2 FP 2. Moto 2 is the second level of international motorcycle road racing and feature 600cc motorcycles with identical engines, but different chassis manufacturers. Honda supplies the engines.

Back at the coach, I read for a bit and took a short nap. We went back to the track for a pit walk open to premium pass holders – we had it and an invitation. The pit walk was very loosely organized. We wandered the pits and took a gander at the bikes and watched some of the teams preparing for Saturday. At the Repsol Honda garage, the mechanics had repaired Marc Marquez’s bike – he took a fall in FP 2. They also serviced his back-up bike and were test running them.

Honda mechanics running bikes to check for leaks and proper function

Here are a few of the bikes.

Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha

Working on Maverick Vinales’ Yamaha

Andrea Dovizioso’s Ducati

Jack Miller’s Pramac Ducati

Cal Crutchlow’s LCR Honda

Scott Redding’s Aprilia

On the pit lane – the hill into turn one in the background is much steeper than it appears

After we left the pit lane, we walked through the MotoAmerica paddock. MotoAmerica is an American National Championship road racing series. I talked to Roger Hayden – a team Yoshimura Suzuki rider and asked about the bumps on the track a lot of the riders were complaining about. He said the back straight was bumpy and a so were a few other spots, but he didn’t think it was as bad as some of the riders were saying. Of course, he’s on a production based 1000cc Superbike, not a Moto GP prototype that’s going a bit faster.

Today we have thunderstorms in the forecast. If it happens, it may create problems for some of the sessions. FP 3 is scheduled this morning then FP 4 in the afternoon followed by the qualifying sessions. If the rain floods the track, Free Practice times will be used to set the grid instead of the usual qualifying.

We’ll dress accordingly and check it out. But if we have hard rain, I’m coming back to the coach to watch it on TV!

Drats – No Bats!

In my last post Friday morning, I said we would make a decision on traveling or waiting out the high wind forecast. Friday the 13th didn’t start out great. I ground coffee beans and filled the coffee maker, but it didn’t turn on. Then I realized the digital clock on it wasn’t displaying. Our new coffee maker was dead.

I think I know what killed it. I’d left it plugged in the whole time we were boondocking. I didn’t give it much thought. I figured it only draws current while brewing and it seemed to be doing that fine until Friday morning. Then I thought about the clock – the coffee maker was drawing a small amount of current whenever it was plugged in. Our inverter is a modified sine wave unit. A pure sine wave has the voltage rising above zero in a smooth curve before it turns down and goes below the zero line. A modified sine is a series of square steps rising above zero then falling below the zero line.

For most applications, this works fine. However, some electronic components don’t get on well with the blocky modified wave. I’m guessing delicate components in the coffee maker controller burned out from the modified sine wave.

By 8:30am, the wind was already blowing out of the northwest. We decided it would be best to stay off the road and spend another day in Alamogordo in our sheltered spot at the abandoned shopping plaza. The wind speed increased throughout the day with several hard gusts shaking the coach. We went over to the Elks Lodge for happy hour in the evening.

On Saturday morning, the wind was much calmer. We headed out of Alamogordo and went north on US54 to Tularosa. We picked up US70 there and headed northeast over the Capitan Mountains. Near the Mescalero Apache Reservation, we topped out on Apache Summit at nearly 7,000 feet above sea level.

US70 merged with US380 and eventually took us to Roswell. We stopped at a Target store there and bought a replacement coffee maker – we have to have our coffee. On Friday morning after I discovered our coffee maker died, we broke out the Keurig – we still had it packed away along with some K-cups. I can hardly believe we were ever happy drinking that stuff – the fresh ground beans brewed in a thermal coffee maker is far superior.

We had lunch at a Subway sandwich shop after parking in a free city parking lot downtown. We were the only vehicle in the lot! Coming into Roswell, Donna saw a sign that proclaimed Roswell, New Mexico as the dairy capital of the southwest. When I think of Roswell, I don’t think about dairy. I think about alien space invaders and a town with a funky artwork and an alien museum.

Mural downtown Roswell – hey, that critter on the left is called Mike!

From Roswell, we took US285 to Carlsbad, New Mexico. We found an Elks Lodge there and dry camped in their RV area. The Elks Lodge is right next to the Pecos River, across the street from a conference center and riverwalk. Donna went for walk along the river – here are a couple of photos she took.

Riverwalk path

A guy fishing from a pavilion on the riverwalk

Later, when we went inside the lodge for a cold one, we met a guy that drove up from Mentone, Texas for dinner. That’s about 88 miles away! He said there isn’t much in Mentone and he’s temporarily based there working as a safety officer in the oil fields.

He asked me where we were heading. I told him I thought we’d go east to Hobbs, New Mexico then turn south to Big Spring as we make our way to Austin, Texas. He said that was a great route and said we’d really like US62/US180. He said it was a divided highway – two lanes in each direction and nice pavement.

We planned to go over to Carlsbad Caverns National Park Sunday. We could stay in a nearby RV park for the night and check out the bats coming out of the cave after sundown. Before we moved, I looked at the Radar Express app and found weather advisories in the area. High wind warning for the area all the way from the Guadalupe Mountains to the west of Carlsbad Caverns to Big Spring, Texas from Monday morning to Tuesday afternoon! Oh no!

We need to be in Austin by Thursday – I’ve paid for tickets and dry camping at the Circuit of the Americas there for the Moto GP race weekend. If we got stuck in Carlsbad because of dangerous wind conditions, we might not make it to Austin. We decided to pass on Carlsbad Caverns this time and hightail it out of the area.

We took US62/US180 east to Hobbs where I topped up our tank with $160 worth of diesel fuel. It was $3.17/gallon – the most we’ve paid in the last year. Our route took us across the Texas border – where we lost another hour as we transitioned to Central Time – through Seminole and Lamesa.

From there we took US87 south and planned to stop in Sterling City and dry camp at a city park there. The park turned out to be a bust – low hanging tree branches prevented us from entering and it didn’t look like a great place for a big rig anyway. We continued south through San Angelo and found a boondocking spot at the Twin Buttes Reservoir. Our plan now is to head down to an RV park at Buchanan Dam, which will bring us within 70 miles of Austin on Monday. We’ll take it easy for a few days with full hook-ups to catch up on laundry, fill the freshwater tank and dump the holding tanks. Then we’re off to the races.

It looks like we’ll have warm weather in Austin – around 80 degrees. I need to figure out why the air conditioners didn’t operate when powered by the generator.

 

 

Big Texan

Wednesday was our last full day in Amarillo. I spent the afternoon packing the trailer. Donna went to the pool and swam laps. We made plans to visit the iconic Amarillo attraction, the Big Texan Ranch Steakhouse. The Lee family owns Big Texan and they recently bought the Amarillo Ranch RV Park. They offer a free ride from the RV park to the steakhouse.

As you approach Amarillo on I-40, you’ll see signs advertising a free 72-ounce steak at Big Texan. The gimmick is this – you must eat the whole entree with included side dishes or you pay $72 for the meal. Donna made a reservation at the RV park office for the limo ride to Big Texan. Our driver showed up at 5pm – we wanted to arrive early for happy hour before dinner.

Usie in front of the limo

Us in front of the longhorn limo

Big Tex limo

Big Tex limo

The exterior of the restaurant is a typical touristy facade.

The Big Texan Ranch Steakhouse

The Big Texan Ranch Steakhouse

Okay cowgirl

Okay, cowgirl!

Once we went inside, the place reminded us of Lambert’s (Home of the Throwed Rolls) in Missouri. We were seated family-style at a large rustic table. We started out by sampling the beer brewed on site. Donna went for a pecan porter that she absolutely loved. I had a sampler flight with their Rattlesnake IPA, Whoop your Donkey double IPA, a palate cleansing honey blonde lager and finally the Whiskey Barrel Stout.

Beer flight and pecan porter

Beer flight and pecan porter

The double IPA and the stout were good beers. For dinner, Donna ordered the prime rib plate and a second pecan porter. I went for the baby back ribs and a pint of Whoop Your Donkey. The menu says the baby back ribs are dry rubbed – well they were, but they were also slathered in barbeque sauce Kansas City style. The ribs were tender and good, Donna’s prime rib was exactly what she expected from a steakhouse – excellent. Everything is bigger in Texas and these entrees were enough for two meals and more – we took home leftovers.

While we were there, a guy took the 72-ounce steak challenge.There are rules of course. There’s a one-hour time limit. He was seated front and center, spotlighted at a table on a raised platform so he could be seen. If anyone got up there with him, he would be disqualified. He was told if he got up or threw up, it was game over. On the start signal, he started chewing as the crowd cheered.

Taking the challenge

Taking the challenge

Our waitress told us that at least one person per night has a go at the big steak – as many as five or six on Friday and Saturday nights. She said about one out of ten guys eat the whole thing and about one in eight women finish it. Her take on that was that fewer women make the attempt – those who do are pretty sure they can do it. I can’t imagine ever stuffing down four and half pounds of steak.

Big Texan rocking chair

Big Texan rocking chair

Ozark spent most of her time in Amarillo watching the big, boat-tailed grackles strut around our site. The birds would walk past every day with Ozark either perched on the dash watching them or on the back of the sofa. Eventually she would doze off and dream of catching them.

Ozark dreaming of catching a bird - she's not falling off, it just looks that way

Ozark dreaming of catching a bird – she’s not falling off, it just looks that way

On Thursday morning we hit the road. The surface on I-40 was rough in places through the city, but once we hit the outskirts of town it improved. West of Amarillo and into New Mexico I-40 is mostly smooth sailing.

We climbed through rolling hills. We gained elevation every mile of the way. The terrain changed from shortgrass prairie to sagebrush country. I liked seeing the table-top mesas and rock formations in the distance. When we were taking the limo ride back from Big Texan, we shared the ride with a couple from Alabama. The had been out west and were heading back home. They remarked how happy they were to be back in tree-filled landscape. As we drove through New Mexico, Donna remarked how happy she felt to be back in the southwestern desert.

We stopped in a small town called Santa Rosa where we heard of a couple of boondocking possibilities. We checked them out and parked in one of them – a paved lot on the main drag. Donna went for walk to the Blue Hole – a natural swimming hole 60 feet in diameter and 81 feet deep in a county park about a mile away. I tried to find a level spot on the lot – there wasn’t one. I found beer and a bag of ice in a store nearby.

When Donna returned from her walk, we decided to move on another 40 miles to the Flying C Ranch. This is a tourist trap gift shop and Dairy Queen in the middle of nowhere. They offer free overnight parking in the lots surrounding their store. We found a quiet spot on the west side of the property in a partially paved gravel lot. It’s very level and we set up next to a stand of trees.

Sunset out our door at Flying C Ranch

Sunset out our door at Flying C Ranch

We’re at an elevation of 6,200 feet above sea level. As the sun set, it cooled off quickly outside. We slept with windows open and enjoyed the cool, fresh air.

We’re up early this morning. We’ll head up to Santa Fe today. We haven’t booked a site there, but we’ll find something on our way.

RV Museum

I ran a few errands on the scooter yesterday. Getting from the east side of Amarillo to the west side on a scooter requires planning. I don’t like to ride the scooter on the interstate. Here in Amarillo, I-40 has one-way service roads on either side of the interstate. On the north side of I-40 it runs west and on the south side it travels east. There’s a snag though. I-40 passes over a large rail yard just before you reach downtown. The service roads don’t go through the rail yard.

Going westbound, you have go north to SE 10th Avenue before you can get past the railroad tracks. On the south side of I-40, you have to loop south to SE 27th Avenue to get across the tracks. I learned the way quickly and it’s a minor hassle (map).

In the afternoon, I scootered Donna to her hair appointment at The Plant Studio. The stylist there, Johnny, was recommended by a stylist in Tempe, Arizona, who attended one of his classes. She told Donna, “If you’re ever in Amarillo, stop and see this guy.” While she was having her hair done, I rode over to Jack Sisemore’s Traveland to check out the RV museum.

Traveland is an RV dealership with a very friendly atmosphere. Jack Sisemore has a great story leading to his successful business. He started by borrowing $2,400 from his grandmother to open a gas station – I think it was in 1962. He added a second station soon after. He bought a motorhome for family camping trips and rented it out at his gas station to offset the cost. Within a year, he had six rental units.

In 1974, he opened his RV dealership on a small lot. He expanded that to over six acres of land. Later, Jack and his son, Trent Sisemore, were founding partners in Keystone Travel Trailers. They sold 1,000 Keystone Travel Trailers the first year. Production ramped up to as much as 1,000 units built per month!

The receptionist at the dealership walked me out back to a warehouse where the museum is. Entry is free and it’s open to the public Monday through Saturday from 9am to 5pm. In addition to the RV collection, Jack collects motorcycles. He had old cars, boats and motorcycles along with memorabilia from earlier times. I was free to walk among the displays and enter the old RVs. Here are some photos I shot.

1941 Westcraft

1941 Westcraft

1941 Westcraft interior

1941 Westcraft interior

This 1941 Westcraft was owned by a defense worker. He lived in it in a special workers’ camp that provided restrooms and showers. After the war, he relocated to Arizona. This is a very rare trolley roof model.

Wally Byam's Airstream

Wally Byam’s Airstream

Wally Byam was the founder of Airstream travel trailers.

Max Factor's 1976 FMC

Max Factor’s 1976 FMC

This 1976 FMC was owned by cosmetics mogul, Max Factor. FMC coaches were 29 feet long and were built from 1973 to 1976. The were pricey, selling for $27,000 to $54,000. At that time, you could buy a house for the same cost. Only around 1,000 were built.

1948 Flxible Bus used in the movie RV

1948 Flxible Bus used in the movie RV

Interior of the Gornike's Flxible

Interior of the Gornike’s Flxible

This 1948 Flxible was used in the movie RV starring the late Robin Williams. Jeff Daniels played the part of Travis Gornike who traveled with his family in this bus.

Teardrop trailer pulled by a 1948 Ford

Teardrop trailer pulled by a 1948 Ford

1963 Chris Craft speed boat

1963 Chris Craft speed boat

In addition to the RVs, cars and boats, there were many interesting motorcycles – mostly hanging from the ceiling.

1967 Bultaco Matador in the bed of a 1967 Chevy El Camino

1967 Bultaco Matador in the bed of a 1967 Chevy El Camino

1973 Triumph Bonneville

1973 Triumph Bonneville

He had many Harleys on display. The one that caught my eye was this 1977 XR750 flat track racer. The number plate was signed by nine-time National Champion, Scott Parker. Flat track bikes are raced on dirt oval tracks. They don’t have brakes and are pitched sideways to power through the turns.

1977 Harley-Davidson XR750

1977 Harley-Davidson XR750

The other bikes that caught my eye were the Bultaco machines he displayed. Bultacos were built in Barcelona, Spain from 1958 to 1983. They sold first-rate racing machinery to the public and dominated Trials competition with Sammy Miller riding in the 1960s and 70s. Their motocross bikes were capable of competing with factory teams in that period as well. The Bultaco Astro was a formidable flat track machine. Their enduro bikes competed and won in the International Six-Day Trial competition. They also built road racing machines that won world championships. The name Bultaco comes from the founder – “Paco” Bulto. He took the first four letters of his surname and the last three of his nickname.

1968 Bultaco Pursang

1968 Bultaco Pursang

There were many smaller displays of period artifacts such as these motor oil containers. Prior to World War II, oil was dispensed from glass containers with long metal spouts attached.

Old motor oil containers

Old motor oil containers

Do you remember these?

Do you remember these?

I spent about 40 minutes in the museum before I went back to pick up Donna.

One of the errands I ran earlier in the day was to exchange my sewer hose at Walmart. I’m happy to report the replacement Rhinoflex hose doesn’t leak.

This morning, it’s uncharacteristically foggy out. I plan to load the trailer today – I hope I can find a self-serve car wash to clean the scooter first. This evening, Donna and I will take a free limo ride from the park to a local favorite – Big Texan Steak Ranch.

Tomorrow we’ll leave here and head to New Mexico. We’ll probably head to Santa Fe, but our plans are flexible.

 

Gray Water Drip

Amarillo Ranch RV Park was nearly filled to capacity over the Labor Day weekend (map). Lots of grills were cooking on Sunday although most people stayed indoors to beat the heat. We didn’t grill on Sunday – Donna made shrimp fra diavolo on the induction cooktop instead. Served over whole wheat angel hair pasta mixed with zucchini noodles, it was outstanding.

Shrimp creole over angel hair pasta

Shrimp fra diavolo over angel hair pasta

On Monday morning, we saw rig after rig pull out of the park as people headed home and back to their workaday lives. We started the day with a treat. Donna cooked up a frittata – which is an Italian egg dish similar to a quiche without the crust. Donna filled it with bacon, potato, mushrooms and green onions and topped it with extra-sharp cheddar cheese and fresh basil. Yummy start to the day.

Frittata for breakfast with fresh cantaloupe

Frittata for breakfast with fresh cantaloupe

A while back, I noticed our sewer hose had damage. It looked like it had been stepped on or maybe hit with a mower. The three-inch hose is reinforced with a steel wire coil inside the polyolefin hose. The steel wire was kinked near the end. I use Camco Rhinoflex sewer hoses because of the heavy-duty construction. Anyway, when I dumped the gray water, the hose had sprung a leak near the end where it had been kinked.

On Monday afternoon, we rode the scooter to Walmart. Donna bought groceries and I bought a new Rhinoflex sewer hose.  We had a full load on the scooter coming back home. I took the old hose to the trash dumpster and set up the new one. I opened the gray water valve and saw water dripping from the fitting on the RV end of the hose. I closed the valve and disconnected the hose. I loosened the locking ring on the bayonet fitting that attaches the hose to the RV drain. I made sure the bayonet fitting was fully seated in the hose end, then tightened the locking ring. I opened the gray water valve again and saw water dripping from the fitting. I looked closely and saw the problem. The fitting is made from two pieces of plastic swaged together to allow the fitting to swivel. This one was defective and leaking where the two pieces are joined together. I’ll have to return it and try another. I’m not having much luck with sewer hoses.

Later, I fired up the Traeger while Donna marinated chicken thighs in sriracha sauce and lime juice. We had plenty of open space around our rig as the park had really emptied out. I cooked the bone-in thighs skin side down for 45 minutes on the Traeger wood pellet fired grill/smoker. When I took them off the grill, Donna basted the chicken with equal parts honey and sriracha and let them rest for a few minutes. This was a new recipe and it was very tasty – you have to like spicy for this one though. Donna served it with a side of colorful cauliflower rice, another new recipe.

Honey-sriracha chicken thighs

Honey-sriracha chicken thighs

Speaking of eating, Ozark the cat has an incredible appetite. We put nearly a quarter cup of dry food in her dish in the morning. We refill it in the afternoon. By bedtime, she’s crying for more food. Donna is concerned about her getting fat. I think she’s still a growing and developing kitty – she’s about nine months old now.

Does she look fat?

Does she look fat?

We had a few raindrops overnight – hopefully it knocked some of the pollen out of the air. The ragweed pollen count has been very high and I’m feeling it.

Today I’ll return the sewer hose and run a few errands. This afternoon, I’ll take Donna to her hair appointment and have a look at the RV museum at Jack Sisemore’s Traveland.