Looking For A Lull

It's not even been two entire weeks and I miss Chappy.  Since we took him out to the summer campground I've been really wanting to go out there and this long holiday weekend is the perfect time. The site that we were put at is very nice.  It has a deck that was made by the last residents and it works perfectly for us.  We'll be heading out there after I get done with work and I can't wait to sit on the deck and enjoy the fire pit tonight with a cold beer and maybe my pipe.

Wow!  I forgot just how humid it gets in Houston.  It's only 75 degrees or so today but we are running the air in the trailer to keep from sticking to stuff and keep the dogs happy.  It felt like I was swimming out to the truck after we finished picking up some groceries during my lunch break today. We had a great night out last night.  We went to a local cajun place just south of here and the food and the music was terrific.  Not sure how much site seeing we will be doing because I'm working all week, but so far so good. Eating dinner with family! We splurged and had some dessert too. Yes, of course I had a Bloody Mary! 

Our trip to California was great and we had a wonderful time visiting with family, but it is great to be back in AZ.  It's crazy how expensive it is out there.  Food, Gas, Housing you name it and it is noticeably more expensive than 'normal'.  Beautiful state, nice to visit, wouldn't want to live there. Meanwhile, back in AZ we have been enjoying relaxing after our vacation time.  Its funny how being back to work feels like I'm getting more rest than I did when I was off.  One amazing thing about AZ is the spectacular sights you get at sunrise and sunset.  It's truly amazing.  Here are a few shots just to give you an idea. Not exactly "Sunrise", but not long after... ...that is the Moon BTW...

We're still getting things ready with Chappy.  I got the spice rack put in and the carpet covers for the stairs so the dogs won't slip as easy.  I still have a few things to repair but we are on track for sure. I've been looking at the Roadlink C2 as another possible weapon in my internet connection arsenal.  Pretty cool little device.  It manages wifi connections and has a broadband connection of it's own using AT&T.  The service from AT&T is separate, but they offer a 1 year unlimited data plan for $360.  That is an awesome price! I found out that the RV dealer near me is supposed to be a place to go to get one of these and after they called me about my tank handles I ordered coming in I though I'd ask about getting one and having it installed. (The tank handle story I really need to do as another post for sure, but lets just say the the "Parts Guy" doesn't like me after that fiasco.)  I talked to the parts lady and she quoted me the ...

Last week I took Bodie on the first long road trip (sans Chappie) down to Atlanta.  Here are my observations. The seats were extremely comfortable and I love the lumbar support for long trips.  With record high temps in ATL the week I was there, the cooling feature kept me from getting stuck to them as well. For some reason, I really love the button that folds in my mirrors.  Not sure why. The large backseat easily held all of our stuff with plenty of room. The Android Auto integration is sweet!  Audible and Waze both accessible without touching my phone.  Very nice! My buddy discovered his phone has wireless charging and totally took over the charging area in the center console. :) Very nice road trip.  Now I can take her in for her first oil change.

I'm taking a step back a couple of weeks with this post to talk about my trip to Puebla, Mexico for work.  It's been pretty crazy the last month so I've not updated as often and I normally do and that has resulted in me having much more to discuss now than before. The Mexico trip was nice and we accomplished a lot, but the travel was interesting to say the least.  We had issues on the way down with our flight out of Houston to Puebla and didn't get in until very late.  Our flight from Puebla to Houston going back was cancelled due to the tropical storm and we had to re-route out of Mexico city and leave the hotel at 4AM to have our driver take us there. Puebla is a beautiful place with wonderful people and I can't wait to work more with them. The view from the balcony of the hotel Church and convent in Cholula Inside of the church Reconstruction of the pyramid in Cholula We had an earthquake drill while in the office.  Walking down an...

The last few weeks I've not been able to update as much as I normally do.  I traveled to Mexico, came home and got sick, recovered a little and then off to Atlanta for a week.  I'm home now and I'll try to get back into my routine.  Just a quick catch up: The house: So the first insurance check came through and the work should be starting soon we hope.  The cabinet guy came over and did some measurements and started doing his thing.  It doesn't look promising that the work will be complete by the time we leave for AZ.  Plans are plans however and we are not backing out. The trip: So I've started my list for next month.  I have a TON to do for us to get ready to leave.  I can't wait it will be awesome. Recent travels: Mexico was beautiful and my coworkers down there are AWESOME!  I'll try to follow up with some pictures of Puebla, the volcano etc.

Adventures don't just happen when you are travelling for fun.  My trip to Mexico for work had it's share of interesting happenings last week. It started with my plane from Houston leaving the gate only to return again due to a brake light.  They put us on another plane and by the time we arrived in Mexico, made it through customs and then to the Hotel it was around 1:00 AM.  The trip back was crazier.  Due to the tropical storm dumping rain all over Houston out flight got canceled and we had to re-book out of Mexico city, two hours away.  We got up at 5AM, rode to mexico city, and flew into Newark where my flight was again delayed to Cleveland.  I finally made it home around 11 PM.  Long travel days, for sure. It was worth it though.  We accomplished a lot while we were down there and I got to see some things that were pretty awesome.

Ok so no new news on the house front;  The kitchen is still tore up and we are still waiting on the insurance and contractors to reach an agreement so they can start putting us back together.  This does not stop us from planning though, because life moves on even if everyone else isn't ready. I've been looking around and doing some research lately into what we may need to consider while we are in AZ and of course that means making another list so here it goes.   It's warmer there but still gets cold.  Packing clothes to match those dips in weather isn't the issue rather keeping Chappy warm and free of frozen pipes etc, is where I'm looking.  Much to consider here and I get the feeling I should maybe have started looking into this earlier however I'm formulating a plan that involves some heat tape, a small space heater and using our fresh water tank as primary water source most of the cold times.  I'll have to remember to come back report on our final ...

It's been a busy week with work, but that is a good test.  Only a couple more days left on this trip and then we will start working on the next one. It has not been the smoothest of trips, or months for that matter.  The Donk got bit by something we think and had an allergic reaction.  She has not been eating right the whole time we've been here either so she has been a pretty miserable puppy.  We also found out that something leaked back at the house while we've been gone and we have a bit of water damage to contend with when we get home.  It's easy to get discouraged when you have so many things that go wrong in a short time, but we just have to remember that it's not always like this and just because everything isn't going your way at the moment life is still good. Sad puppy wearing her sock to cover her bug bite.

So I've spent the last few days working from the trailer and I have to say it's been pretty smooth.  First the cell signal has gotten better here over the last year and I have not had to use the WeBoost at all. I've been using my Sprint phone for hotspot and with a 50GB monthly limit on hotspot data, I've worked out that gives me around 20-25 days of work time.  Being that the phone has unlimited data to itself, we've been using it to stream Prime Video and Netflix, sharing the screen with the TV.  I still have the Google Fi hotspot to use too if I need it and in case of dire emergencies, I could relocate to the truck and use it's wifi. I want to experiment working at different locations in the trailer to see what will be the most comfortable and convenient.  I think next week I'll try putting a chair in the bunk room and setting the laptops up on the top bunk to see how that goes. My current work setup. Thinking about putting a chair on that ...

Well, we are gearing up for our much needed Michigan getaway!  We will have grandpuppy next week and then we will be heading out for a 5 hour jaunt to Michigan.  I'm excited to see how Bodie tows! I plan on practicing hitching up again when we go to the campground this weekend.  I'm hoping that my first attempt and it's difficulty will not be a normal thing and that there is some "Trick" that I'm overlooking besides repeatedly bashing the kingpin into the hitch. (Ok, bashing is not quite the right word but you catch my meaning.) I'm also exploring putting a bed cover on Bodie to keep the hitch covered when not in use and give us some more cargo space out of the rain when we are not hooked up to Chappie. This is what I'm looking at.  ~$300 I also need to really give Chappie a good bath.  I keep saying that I'll do it and then I don't.  The rain just isn't quite enough to get all of that road grime off. I'll have to take some ...

Aside from work things have been slow around here for a change, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been filling my time with projects.  It seems like we've been in GO mode for three straight months and its nice to have a little break in the action to recharge.  That said, I've gotten some things done around the house and still have more on my list. I've replaced the kitchen faucet, we've put in the air conditioners, and done some weeding but it doesn't feel like I've yet scratched the surface of my to do list yet.  My to do list is long and contains some pretty ambitious items along with some smaller ones as well; Things like Fix/replace the roof over the deck Repair the water damage in the ceiling from my mouse friends that ate through a water line. Replace the tub faucet and hardware upstairs. Trim the trees that I can reach Finish cleaning the gutters. Repair some of the cracked/settling on the ceilings Build a planter box for the front ...

The two week vacation was a great time but, as vacations often are, it was packed and busy and there was always something going on.  It was also preceded by my son moving, moving my office, and all the prep work and followed by Karen's Mom visiting and my awesome Aunt and Uncle visiting after that.  This is the first week in a while I haven't had a ton of stuff going on except for work and I'm trying to rest up. We went out to the camper this weekend to stay, rest, and test the new hitch.  It was a nice quiet get away and we'll do it almost every weekend until we hook up again for our Michigan trip. The Michigan trip will be a working trip for me and a another good test of the setup and equipment for working on the road before heading south for winter.  It will also give us an opportunity to spend time with friends and family up there as well. Getting ready to Hitch Bodie and Chappy the first time!

We stopped by the campground this past weekend even though Chappy is still at the Dealership.  It's probably a good thing he's still there as the ground was very soggy and they had not yet fixed the electrical at our site.  Regardless, I'll probably call the dealership today and see if they can give me an update since we are fast approaching our next big trip! There is a lot going on around here.  TW found an apartment and we started helping him move his stuff over the weekend, all of this rain lately has really made the grass grow so I need to mow again, with Chappy still gone we are falling a little behind on our packing/planning/cleaning that we had planned, and to top it off I'm on call for work this week which means that I'll probably end up rushing around next week to get most of my stuff done before we take off. I hate being rushed.  When rushed I find it easy to try to blow through the checklist and then something inevitably only gets half done or skippe...

We found a local campground for Chappy!  We are excited about having a place for him to sit during the summer months that we can go when we aren't on the road with him.  The campground caters mostly to families with young children as it has a small lake where there are slides and inflatables, batting cages, a goat petting zoo, and things of that nature, our kids even went there years ago for a homeschool event, but it also checks off all the items on my list. It's only 15 minutes from the house!  I wasn't really expecting to find somewhere that close. They like puppies.  (They say only two in the rules but said they would make an exception because Sara is so old she will rarely leave the camper.) It's a corner lot.  A bit larger than the other lots they had available, and easier to get in and out.  It's not a pull through but if you are going to back in regularly it's close to perfect. The cell service (Without the WeBoost) is strong enough for me to...

On Wednesday I worked all day again.  That Weboost still is holding strong, even with heavier winds blowing around stuff today.  Luke told me earlier in the week he wanted to go out on the boat for a sunset cruise and we of course were excited about that prospect.  He came and picked us up in the boat and we headed out into the gulf and over to a neat little seafood restaurant.  Karen and I shared a basket of clams that were excellent. The ride back was beautiful as well.  A bit cold with the wind biting at you and occasional spray of water soaking your clothes.  It was such a great time.  I really can't explain so I'll let some pictures speak for me. The Clan -1 out for dinner View from the restaurant Some of the best fried clams I've had The sun is setting, will we make it back before dark? Heading out to the gulf wow Wow...Again ...We didn't make it back before it was totally dark, which made it that ...

I spent the day working from the trailer.  Not a glitch with the internet all day and it was a pretty busy day.  It's nice to be able to walk along the river during lunch or have the option to take the laptop outside and enjoy the warm weather! We met up with Jackie for dinner at a Polish restaurant called Krachovia over in Spring Hill, about 10 minutes from the campground.  The food was good, a little pricey for what it was, and the deserts were not something I'd order again if I went back.  My cheese cake was more like cake than cheese.  Jackie at Krachovia Business suit After dinner we came back and I started a fire and spent a couple hours relaxing and soaking up the heat. Cutout Fire pit Other side

Traveling to campgrounds and visiting family in rural Michigan has proven that there are challenges that must be overcome if I am to visit without burning vacation days.  I work remotely so I need a solid internet connection to do my job. Campgrounds usually have some sort of WiFi, but it is unreliable and often times when it does work good it's not long before all the bandwidth is sucked up by people streaming cartoons for their kids or downloading the entire catalog of "The Simpsons" or that's at least how I imagine it when I try to check my email. Campgrounds are also located in rural, quiet, remote areas where cell phone service is also often problematic.  The old camper was located at one such campground.  My cell would work well sometimes and there would be no signal at others.  I recall working from the trailer one time and my connection went up and down more often than a toddler at bedtime. We often stay at my Mother-in-law's house in Michigan when w...