A Beautiful Fall Day . . .

Or, what do you call a day where it’s bright and sunny, and 66 degrees at 1 in the afternoon?

And on the radio, the weather guy suggests a light jacket for tomorrow night’s fireworks.

This is July?

Jan awoke with her 2nd day migraine, but once again a Sumatriptan knocked it out pretty quick. Stand by for day 3.

Around 2pm I went next door to Nick’s to help him work on a problem he was having with Dropbox, trying to stop it from copying a folder of photos.

Then, about 4:30, Nick and Terry, and Jan and I headed over to King Wha for our last meal there for this year. And it was just as good as always. And to spice things up a little more, we took our own bottle of Sriracha with us.

In Texas pretty much any restaurant that offers hot sauces, like Tabasco, Frank’s, and Cholula, also has a bottle of ‘Rooster Sauce’ on hand too. But up here, it’s not stocked in grocery stores, and no one seems to have heard of it.

We sat around talking at King Wha for about an hour before heading back to Nick and Terry’s rig for a while. Then, since we missed out the other day, about 8pm we all headed back out for a DQ run, finally getting back home a little after 9pm.

A very nice day, as we wind down our time here in Elkhart for this year. Coming back to the rig this evening, we all talked about how much we like this area, almost like a second home to us. Hopefully, we’ll be able to spend some time here next year.

____________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. — Thomas Jefferson

ghdhgdg

Back Home . . .

As great as sleeping in late in our own bed for the first time in 5 days was, Jan still woke up with a migraine. Of course, taking her Sumatriptan damps the migraine down fairly quickly, but she’ll still feel kind of washed out the rest of the day.

And then of course, there may be the 2nd and 3rd day rebound headaches. We’ll see how it goes.

In the latest example of extreme global warming, the high here in Elkhart today was 74 with an expected low tonight of 53, and tomorrow, 71/47. And that goes on for next several days.

Because it was so nice, Mister spent most of the afternoon outside sitting in one our chairs. He’ll stay out for several hours and then come and bang on the screen door. When we let him in, he’ll visit the litter box, grab a snack and some water, and then bang on the screen to be let out again.

Smart Cat.

About 4:30 we all headed out for one last visit to Flipping Cow, our new favorite burger place here in Elkhart.

I debated having the Hunka Hunka Burger Love this time. It has two steak burger patties, peanut butter, jalapeno jelly, smoked bacon, and pepper jack cheese on a toasted pretzel bun, but I  ended up going with the same one I got last time, The Stella Moo.

It has two steak burger patties topped with smoked beef brisket, jalapeno bacon, onion straws, pepper jack cheese, and Alehouse BBQ sauce on a toasted wheat brioche bun. Then I added tomatoes, jalapenos, spicy mayo, and sweet heat pickles, And this time I got the ‘Cow Chips’ instead of Fries.

It’s easy to see (and taste) why this burger was voted the best burger in Elkhart County, and is one of two finalist for the best burger in the Michiana area. I know which one got my vote.

We had talked about making a DQ run after dinner, but everyone was too full of burgers, so we put it off for another time.

________________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

The CEO of Target recently asked customers to not bring guns into Target stores.

So you name your store ‘Target’ and you don’t like guns?

How’s that work?

fadfadsf

RV Sweet RV . . .

After the continental breakfast at the motel, I was at the windshield repair place at 8am to hand over the gasket that Jan and I picked up from American Coach yesterday afternoon. Then I headed back to the motel for a few hours, since it was more comfortable there. About 11 we checked out from the motel, and Jan and I loaded up the truck with all our motel stuff and headed over to the repair shop to wait for our rig.

When we got there they had the the driver’s side glass installed and were working on the new glass on the passenger side.

While we were waiting, we read our Kindles in the nice air-conditioned truck, rather than stay inside the hot rig.

Mister, of course, had his own way of dealing with the wait.

Josh said that, unlike the generic gasket that was too loose, this one was very tight, and they had to really struggle to get the glass in, especially the second one. He said a couple of times they were afraid they were going to break it trying to get the gasket over the edge.

After that, we just had to wait a while for the urethane sealant to set up for a while before we finally headed back to our spot at the Elkhart Campground about 3:30.

So we went from this,

asdfadsf

to this.

And in only FIVE Days.

After we got mostly set up, we headed out to Mancino’s Pizza with Nick and Terry, for what is probably our last visit this year.

Tomorrow will definitely be a sleep-in morning after all these days of getting up at 7am.

_______________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself.

dghghgggggggd

Finally . . . Maybe

Well, I was at the repair place at 8am this morning.

And then things went downhill from there.

When the guy from RV Glass, that was supposed to know all about installing this type of gasket on an American Eagle, didn’t show up, Josh, from Coach Supply, gave him a call.

And it turns out that the guy knew nothing about coming to help install my gasket. Nobody had said anything to him about it.

And in fact, he was already booked solid the rest of the week, anyway. And on top of that, he had never installed this gasket on any American Coach whatsoever.

At this point I threw a major snit fit (note the ‘n’).

I first called American Coach parts down in Decatur, IN to confirm, yes they did have the gasket in stock, and it was $266.69.

Then I got on the phone with RV Glass out in CA and jumped all over them, but politely.

The local RV Glass guy here in Elkhart had admitted on Friday afternoon that they were trying to use a cheaper, generic gasket instead of getting the real one from American. This, coupled with the phantom, know-it-all, no-show repair guy, was the last straw.

When I related all this to RV Glass HQ, that seemed to get the ball rolling. It took a little while but I later got a call back saying the gasket was waiting down in Decatur.

I had already mentioned that I was willing to go down and pick it up, so about 1:30 Jan and I hit the road for the two hour drive down there.

When we got there, the gasket was waiting as promised, and already paid for.  I had told Josh not to worry about trying to install everything tonight, since we were already on the hook for tonight’s motel room, but that we would get a early start tomorrow morning.

We got back to Elkhart about 5:30 just in time to get with Nick and Terry Russell to have dinner at El Maguey, probably our last time this year.

So hopefully, this time tomorrow we’ll be back in our rig.

We hope.

_______________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

If you don’t read a newspaper, you’re probably uninformed. If you do read a newspaper, you’re probably misinformed.

asdfadsf

Cabin Fever . . .

Jan and I headed out to breakfast at Bob Evans this morning about 10:30. It was either that, or take her down with a tranquilizer dart. And Mister too.

Both of them are getting severe cabin fever stuck here in this EconoLodge motel room. As far as me, I have my laptop, my Kindle, and my phone, so I’m fine.

But our breakfast was good. In fact we’ve never had a bad meal at Bob Evans, even when Nick steals my cappuccino.

About the time Jan was bouncing off the walls again, Nick called a little after 2, and we all headed over to Mishawaka for some shopping, finally ending up at Golden Corral for dinner about 5pm.

This is our third visit there and every one has been great. We’re going to miss it when we leave the area.

On the Landon front, he has his own version of the shish kabob. His is made from marshmallows and strawberries. Actually it looks pretty good.

asdfadsf

Chris sent over a better photo of his new Yamaha 1900 bike. He and a bunch of other retired firefighters are planning a trip out west later this year, and he’s really looking forward to it.

adsfadsfads

Tomorrow morning we’ll have the continental breakfast here at the motel, then I’ll head down to Coach Supply around 8amto see how things are going to work out with our windshield gasket. I’m also going to call American Coach down in Decatur, IN to confirm that they do have a gasket in stock and how much it is.

I want something decided by 11 or so, in case we need a gasket from American Coach. Either way, I’m afraid we’re probably looking at another night here in Cabin Fever hell.

________________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

I’d rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate. – George Burns

adfdfadsfd

I Miss My RV . . .

That’s what Jan said this evening watching TV in motel room. And I agree.

Yesterday, we had a number of comments wondering what Mister was doing during the whole windshield thing. And the answer is, as usual he was trying to get right in the middle of it.

At times he would even be hanging out the opening watching the guys work. Finally I put him on his leash and tied him off to a scaffolding by the rig and he just lay there and watched.

Jan and I both got up early this morning, (well, 8am early, early for me) so we could check out the free (that always gets my attention) continental breakfast here at the motel. And it wasn’t bad at all.

They had muffins, English muffins, toast, and Belgian waffles, as well as cereal, milk, coffee, and OJ.

About 9:30 Jan and I drove over to our coach to pick up some more things for our extended motel stay. While we were waiting for Josh to open the shop, we met Jerry and Tish Unterkoefler who showed up in their Monaco Diplomat. They wanted to talk to Josh about getting some new Captain’s Chairs for their rig. Said they were next heading down to Decatur, IN to have Monaco replaced the seals on their slide.

Started to ask them if they could pick up the correct windshield gasket from American Coach.

Leaving Coach Supply we headed over to Wal-Mart for some cat food and chips, and then on the way back to the motel, we stopped off at Steak and Steak for lunch.

This time I had the Jalapeno Crunch Steakburger.

And Jan had the Chili 5 Ways.

Both very good, just like our last visit.

Although we don’t usually eat two meals out a day, we made an exception and met Nick and Terry at the Wings Etc. over by the Wal-Mart. And by the time we left, we both hurt.

But, as Jan said. it was a ‘good hurt’.

I guess Nick just doesn’t see enough of me now since we’re not parked right next door, so he called a little before 9pm with some made-up computer problem just to get me to come over.

But I did come home with strawberry-rhubarb pie and warm chocolate chip cookies, so it was all good.

_______________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

"The defect of equality is that we only desire it with our superiors." – Henry Becque

asdfasdfadsf

I love it when a plan comes together . . . or not!

Well, today got off to a good start. We were up about 7am, had our coffee and muffins, cranked up the rig at 8:40, and then pulled out at 8:45, heading about 6 miles up into Michigan to Coach Supply to have our passenger-side windshield replaced.

We pulled into the bay about 5 after 9, and a few minutes later Josh and his helper started removing the old windshield.

erqere

The driver’s side took a little longer because they wanted to be careful to get it out in one piece since it will be reused.

erewrewr

Next the old gasket came out and area was cleaned up and the new gasket started to go in.

rtwretwret

But then the first problem showed up and it was a big one. The gasket was the wrong sized. It was too big.

So after a lot of back and forth with the supplier, Josh headed down to south Elkhart to get a new gasket.

And after comparing the old-new gasket with the new-new gasket, the new-new gasket was noticeably smaller. So things were back on track.

Soon the new gasket was installed and they were ready to reinstall the driver’s side glass. The new-new gasket still seemed to be a little large, but they were hoping that the glass would seat it into place.

But when they got the glass in place the glass was still gapping around the gasket. So they took the glass back out, and the gasket back off. So we went back and compared the original gasket with the new one, and the differences were obvious.

Not only the size difference, but even the corners were rounded differently.

So now we’re stuck. I suggested they get a new gasket from American Coach down in Decatur, IN. But now RV Glass is sending a guy out on Monday morning who says we don’t know what we’re talking about and he can make it work. We’ll see.

So now Jan and I will be spending the night in a motel for the weekend until at least Monday, maybe Tuesday.

______________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

"The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government." –Tacitus

gfsgfdgsfd

It’s All Nick’s Fault (again!)

Head Update: So Far, So Good

It looks like some of the swelling has gone down, but I still wouldn’t be surprised if I  have a dent in my head when this is all over. We’ll see.

Well, it looks like our windshield repair is still on for tomorrow. Josh, of Coach Supply, wants us at his shop a little after 9am. Says he picked up all the parts this morning.

I was relieved to hear that as I was worried about getting a windshield gasket for a 15 year old rig. American Coach said they had one in stock, but companies sometimes say that until you try to actually order one.

It’s less than 4 miles up to Coach Supply in Michigan, so we’ll be ready to head out about 8:45. Josh said it should only take about 4-5 hours or so.

They’ll pull out both windshields, remove the old gasket, replace the gasket, and then reinstall the old driver’s side glass, and install the new one on the passenger side.

We’ll see how it goes.

__________________________________

Apparently Landon’s ‘school’ is doing dinosaurs this week.

I made the mistake of calling it his daycare, and he, very indignantly, said, ‘No, it’s School’.

______________________________________

Sometime in the next week or so I’ll be switching this blog over to a new site.

You can check it out here. New Site

As I said, Nick has been nagging me to start running ads on my site like he does on his. But to do that, I have to move the blog from the free area of WordPress onto a paid site. And since my original theme, DIgg 3 Column, is no longer available, I also had to choose a new theme. Nick suggested that I just use his theme, but I figured that would be just too incestuous.

This new one, Brava, is not perfect, but it’s the best one I’ve found so far. That’s not to say I won’t find a better one in the next few weeks and change to a new one.

Later this evening, Terry Russell invited us over for warm Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie. Really, really good.

And Nick’s still trying to get me to switch over to his Suffusion blog theme. Nag, nag, nag.

_____________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function. – Unknown

adsfadsf

Mooooooooooo!

Well, except for waking up about 5am with a dull headache that a couple of Advil took care of pretty quickly, my first night with a new hole in my head went pretty nicely.

No real pain except for the occasional headache, and a feeling that the top of my head is tight, I guess because my scalp was stretched to cover the wound.

About 10 Jan took off the bandage to clean and moisten the wound. I’m supposed to use Vaseline or Neosporin to keep it moist each time I re-bandage it so it won’t scab over

While I had the bandage off, Jan took a couple of photos, but since some people might feel they’re a little gross, I posted them on a separate page if you want to look.

Head pic 1

Head Pic 2

But don’t blame me if it puts you off your feed.

Jan and I sat outside with our coffee and muffins for a little while, but, although it wasn’t real hot, it was pretty muggy, so we didn’t stay out as long as usual, much to Mister’s dismay.

I don’t know if it’s because of the surgery, but I did feel kind of washed out today, so I pretty much goofed off the entire time.

Finally, about 3pm Jan and I drove down to Martin’s Supermarket to pick up a few things, including more gauze and tape for my head. While we were there, I got a call from the Doctor’s office just checking up on me to be sure everything was all right.

Nice people.

About 4:30 we headed out with Nick and Terry to have dinner at the Flippin’ Cow. a new-to-us hamburger place on Lake Simonton near our RV Park.

The last time we ate here it was called Lakeshore Grill and was pretty good. Apparently the same people still own it, they’ve just changed it over to a burger joint.

And a very GOOD burger joint.

In fact, their ‘Stella Moo’ burger has been voted The Best Burger in Elkhart County, and is now in the runoff  with one other place for the Best Burger in seven counties that comprise the Michiana area. The winner will be announced July 7th.

And if I can find where to vote, I would certainly vote for the Stella Moo that I had, shown below.

It has two steak burger patties topped with smoked beef brisket, jalapeno bacon, onion straws, pepper jack cheese, and Alehouse BBQ sauce on a toasted wheat brioche bun. Then I added tomatoes, jalapenos, spicy mayo, and sweet heat pickles,

This has got to be the absolute best burger I’ve ever eaten. And Jan said the same about the one she got.

We’ve already planned to go back next Wednesday because it’s $1.99 burger night and the burgers are cheaper.

But as much as I like the Stella Moo, I’m also tempted to try their Hunka Hunka Burger Love. It has two steak burger patties, peanut butter, jalapeno jelly, smoked bacon, and pepper jack cheese on a toasted pretzel bun.

Decisions, decisions.

_______________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don’t want the patient to get well." – Booker T. Washington

gafdasdfa

Just in Time . . .

Well, we were up about 6:30 this morning, way too early. I mean, this, and I have to have a hole drilled in my head too?

Anyway, we headed out about 7:15 with a stop for breakfast at a nearby McDonald’s, before getting to Dr. Roger Moore’s office about 7:45.

I was taken back to the treatment room a few minutes before 8, and the doctor came in about 5 after. A very nice guy, he had me carved up in about 15 minutes, and then I went back out to the waiting room to wait for the results. It apparently takes about an hour to freeze the carcinoma, section it, and then look at it.

In my case, he didn’t quite get it all the first time. He needed to go a little deeper.

So it was back into the treatment room for another 10 minute session, and another hour wait. But when I got called back in the next time, the doctor said they got it all that time, and he was now ready to stitch me up. Which again took about 15 minutes.

I never felt the slightest bit of pain from the beginning to the end, even from the local anesthetic needle.at the start. All I could feel was dull pressure.

They take digital photos along the way, and I got a look at how my head looked after the stitches and it’s really puckered where the skin was pulled together over the hole.

But right now it looks this this.

We were out of the office about 11:30, which meant the entire procedure took about 3 and a half hours, which is about what they said it would be. I will not have to go back since the stitches they put in are dissolvable.

So hopefully, this will be the end of it.

As far as the Just in Time part, we were really lucky that there was a cancellation so I could have the procedure done today. As we were walking into the office there was a sign on the door saying they would be closed all next week for the 4th of July Holiday, so we would have had to delay our leaving on July 7th as scheduled.

To reward myself for being such a good patient (after all, I didn’t get a lollipop or anything.), and since it was lunchtime, and we were hungry, we stopped for lunch at the Steak and Shake near the RV Park.

We both wanted to try their version of Cincinnati’s Chili 5 Ways, so we got one and split it.

Jan actually liked their version a little better than the Skyline version we buy.

Jan had the Garlic Double SteakBurger with a bun topped with, what else, garlic butter, and then toasted.

I had the Bacon Lover’s Double Steakburger.

It’s been a while since we’ve eaten at a Steak and Shake, just like Taco Bell the other day, and like Taco Bell, this was really good today. We’ll have to go back.

I do want to thank everyone for their good wishes and prayers this morning. It’s always nice to know you have friends who care.

_______________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

“The purpose of power is power.” — George Orwell

fadsfadsf