Starbase, TX

Saturday - Today, we ventured south to Starbase. We had breakfast at the snack bar next to Boca Chica Village. We went on a tour of the Starship factory but no pictures were allowed. Huge, impressive facility. The main door to the Megabay was open with views of the booster and the hot staging ring.

After the tour, our nephew and his wife had a crawfish boil at their home with several of their friends most of them were engineers working on Starship or the SuperHeavy booster. 

No pictures could be taken while on SpaceX property but could be taken from the road. It was fascinating to see these locations as I have been following their progress since the started here in southern TX. 

There was a lot of food in the pot. This was just the veggies. After this was blue crab, andouille sausage, shrimp, crawfish, and corn on the cob! The pot was completely full!

This is the test vehicle for the Raptor engine. It took off and made a soft landing. I believe it’s called Hopper. It’s nice to see it still around. 

This is the new launch tower for Starship. It is right next to the highway. The older launch tower is in the background. It’s nice to see  things which I’ve only seen on YouTube. 

Downtown L.A.

Thursday - We drove the Jeep to downtown Los Angeles to pick up Kenji for shopping, haircut, and lunch. Not necessarily in that order. We hadn’t seen Kenji for a couple of years since we were last here staying in Culver City around Christmas. Initially, we stopped at a Walmart Supercenter to pick up some clothes and groceries. I took advantage of the stop to pick up some more ATF fluid for the hydraulic system. 

The next stop was Supercuts in Downey. Then Acapulco, a wonderful Mexican chain restaurant that I used to frequent. We’ll see how it has survived the years. The only significance of the coffee cup is that’s where I’m sitting while working on this post. And every post should have some sort of picture.

Yesterday, I saw a lot of frustrated people trying to take pictures in front of the Christmas tree at night and the tree would be perfectly exposed but their faces were underexposed. I couldn’t find a setting on the built-in camera app for fill flash or whatever it’s called. But it was easy to do other camera apps. On the iPhone camera, there is a flash setting for “on” which is what needs to be selected. I just couldn’t find it last night. 

Later - It was a slow drive from downtown back to the RV park. About 90 minutes for 35 miles. 

Corvallis, OR

Wednesday - We arrived in Corvallis, OR, yesterday afternoon after a brief stop at the RV. After the drive along the WA coast with its cool temperatures, the triple digit temperatures seems especially hot. 

This morning, we worked on Peter’s van a bit. The trailer connector was missing tail lights on both the seven pin and the four pin. It turns out that Ford chose to power the trailer tail lights from the auxiliary battery which is no longer installed. It was removed when the lithium batteries were installed. We simply moved the auxiliary battery cable to the positive of the chassis battery. Easy fix. 

Thursday - Tuesday - Family reunion. Not much time for blogging. In fact, this is the only picture I took of any reunion activities. But it was a wonderful time and we had a great turnout. 

Wednesday - We left Sun River this morning and are stopped in Woodland, WA. I had spent a couple of days here as guests of the Arnetts back in 2016 getting our 5th wheel RV ready for traveling. A lot has happened since then. 

We stopped at Dave and LJ’s RV RV Furniture again. We had stopped by here last fall looking for a new couch. We found exactly what we were looking for but didn’t pick it up assuming that we would be able to find something similar in Texas. We weren’t able to find anything. We now have one on hold until we get back to the area near the end of the summer and have it installed. 

4th of July (plus a few more days)

Thursday - Today was a cooking day. We made fish tacos using rockfish along with all the common sides such as Spanish rice, black beans, and Mexican corn. 

Friday - Another cooking day. I helped with the rehearsal dinner. Mostly with the pork ribs and chicken. This was the poké appetizer. Delicious!

Saturday - Wedding Day. Today we celebrated with my nephew and his bride. The wedding was in Anacortes, WA, and it was quite the event in a beautiful location.

Low Country Boil

Saturday - After yesterday’s activities, today was a slow day. I even fit in a test session after heating yesterday’s leftovers for brunch. This evening, there is a low country boil as a follow up to the wedding. We are making our way south through Kitty Hawk and Nags Head (weird town names!) to the bride and groom’s rental. I expect lots of family as he seems to come from a large family. 

The view to the north from the rental house. The sand is very soft where you slip back a foot with each step. The sand isn’t bright white like we saw in Florida. These houses seemed older with cedar decks and siding instead of the newer synthetic materials like Trex. 

The driveway was going to be pretty full so we opted to park in the public beach parking lot a short walk away. We were treated to a lot of custom cars, including hot rods and low riders, cruising up and down the beach road.

The chef was making the low country boil out in the carport. Corn, kielbasa, potatoes, elephant garlic, lemons, onions, celery, and a lot of Old Bay. Possibly hot sauce though he wouldn’t admit to adding much. But the bottles were over half empty. Shrimp were added Almost to the top of the inner strainer shortly after this picture was taken. 

And, here is the result. It was delicious. Very well seasoned and the accompanying garlic butter was fabulous especially on the corn and potatoes. Dessert was the leftover cupcakes and cookies from the wedding reception. After everyone had their fill, the leftovers filled a full-size steam tray. 

Duck, NC

Thursday - A somewhat busy day for me today. I’m serving a brunch on Friday morning for about 16 people including the bride. Prepped the quiche ingredients, two crusts, and an egg/potato casserole. Other items include muffins, breads, fruit, and mimosa’s. I hope everything turns out.

Friday - It came out pretty good. The quiche was tasty and the casserole wasn’t watery like it is sometimes. Even the mango/apricot mimosas were tasty. 

The wedding is later today out on a pier in Kitty Hawk. This is the view looking south from the pier. It’s a pretty nice location. 

The surf is right below us and the temperature is dropping as the fog is moving in. Bridget volunteered to take their dog back to their house after pictures. The roads were pretty crowded. 

A tradition that I had never heard of was a “cookie table”. Guests brought a variety of cookies. I hear it’s a Pennsylvania thing. 

Congratulations Jason & Kelly!!

Wilburton, OK - AirBnB

Monday - This was the view from the AirBnB that we used for only one night as most of the water pipes and drains were frozen. The heater was running almost continuously but it never warmed up inside above the low 60s (°F). We are now at another AirBnB about 20 miles to the west and it is really nice place. 

We made Spam musubi and a couple of unagi rolls using ingredients I had picked up in Minnesota. The kitchen was very nice for groups. 

Tuesday - We drove to Ft. Smith, AK, to the National Cemetery where Bridget’s brother, Robin, is being buried. At 9°F, the outdoor ceremony was brief but it still wiped out my iPhone battery as I recorded it. 

On the Road Again!

Sunday - Another road trip though this one is much shorter and without cat so there’s more room in the Jeep. This was the temperature just north of Dallas and now it’s 4°F here in Oklahoma. 

Snow flurries but not much accumulation since it is so cold. We are here for several days for a memorial service and staying at an AirBnB with Bridget’s brother and niece. 

The water in the AirBnB is partially frozen. No water in the kitchen or one of the two bathrooms. 

Portland, OR

Thursday - This morning, we drove south to Portland to meet up with family and do a bit of shopping. The first stop was an RV furniture shop in Woodland, WA. We then went to the Ikea near the airport to have lunch and look at couches. We then went to my cousins home and had a wonderful visit. We walked to a local, neighborhood Italian restaurant for dinner. I had a spicy, thin crust pizza (with anchovies!) and it was fabulous. Plus, there are leftovers!

On the way out of Portland near the waterfront, we went through this area with a lot of old RVs parked surrounded by a lot of trash. I guess this is the new normal...

Friday - Still in Chehalis TT for several more days. We went to visit friends in Centralia for homemade chicken paella. It came out wonderful!

Still in Fairbanks

Sunday - A nice 75°F day today with partly cloudy skies and no rain.

Monday - Today, my youngest son headed out of Alaska. His Subaru is pretty well loaded. Hopefully he makes it through Canada without any problems. 

Bridget has been busy selling things on FB Marketplace in advance of her garage sale this weekend. I gotta admit that I really dislike garage sales. But, it’s probably better than just throwing things away.

Tuesday - I went to coffee this morning at the Sunsprout Cafe. A good group of friends that meet every Tuesday and Thursday morning. And the coffee is pretty good. I moved most of the motorcycle and moto-camping gear onto the trailer. I need to add some more tie-downs for both the boxes as well as the Ural. Off to Lowe's again!

Wednesday - Bridget got rid of a few more large items and the garage is starting to look emptier (finally!). Today's “project” was making a deconstructed California roll. Sushi rice with crabmeat salad, furikake, avocado, cucumbers, Japanese mayo, and toasted sesame seeds. It turned out pretty tasty!

Merry Christmas

Sunday - We are still in West L.A. today and plan to head back to AZ tomorrow morning. We’ve had pretty nice weather while here though the nights are cool. We spent the day with Bridget’s son, his wife, and her family. Lots of delicious Filipino food as well as my traditional turkey, dressing, and cranberry sauce. 

Plus, Spam musubi as an appetizer. We had a fabulous time and way too much food…

Tomorrow, we head back to AZ.

Day 28, 29 - Walla Walla, WA, and Moscow, ID

Friday (28) - We are at the eastern side of Washington state after driving up the Columbia River gorge. The gorge was windy but at least it wasn’t a headwind. We are here in Walla Walla for a couple of days and plan to visit my cousin’s oldest son tomorrow in Moscow, ID. I preferred an RV park with power and a slightly lower elevation. Walla Walla is under 1000’ and it was almost 75°F when we arrived. Low tonight is a modest 55°F. 

It is a regular RV park. Parallel sites with grass in between. But it is level and paved. What is unusual is that you park nose-in and need to back out. 

It was 46°F this morning and the batteries were at 62%. I ran the generator for a couple of hours to run the block heater for easier engine starting by.

Saturday (29) - Last month, I picked up a gps enabled dash cam on Amazon. It is the Azdome GS63H. I finally got around to playing with it and have it mounted on the RV windshield near the bottom center. The video below was recorded as we were driving along the Columbia River. Resolution is 1080p, 60fps. Unfortunately, it doesn’t use the gps to update the date/time. You need to do it from your phone after connecting to it’s built-in WiFi. I just enabled motion sensing so it should start automatically when traveling. 

We drove up to Moscow, ID, and met up with relatives ChrisN and his family for a socially distant lunch. Best pizza I’ve had in quite a while. They had just moved a couple of weeks ago from upstate NY. Quite a change. 

The color of the leaves was pretty nice. Especially when you’re used to just yellow in AK. 

Day 53 - Las Vegas, NV - TT

Some may recognize where we are today. We stopped here after being treated to a wonderful lunch by my cousin, Jane, whom we last saw last March at the mini reunion.. She just happened to be in Las Vegas visiting with a long time friend from Hawaii. We went to a fabulous Japanese restaurant, Osaka Japanese Bistro. Jane mentioned that they just gone to Ikea and so it became our afternoon tourist destination.

Here is a picture of us in front of the restaurant. Pretty non-descript entrance complete with triple locks on the front door. But nice Japanese style tables with tatami mats and all. It was a great visit and a surprise.

My son and his girlfriend headed out early this morning for the 20+ hour drive back home. It was wonderful to see him and meet her. I think it’s been almost five years since I last saw him. He seems to be doing good! I was thinking of posting a picture but I neglected to ask.

Arlington National Cemetery

Today, we attended a service at Arlington National Cemetery where Bridget’s dad’s ashes were interred. Her brother arranged for a limousine as it would be more convenient than driving multiple cars  into Arlington.

I had  only walked by Arlington National Cemetery on my prior trips to Washington D.C. It was a very well done service complete with a twenty-one gun salute and a group of seven honor guards unfolding and refolding the flag.

Bridget’s niece, Kelly sang a wonderful hymn near the end of the brief service. The time available was controlled by the staff to ensure that things ran smoothly. E.g. the chaplain was given 7 1/2 minutes to speak. About every fifteen minutes, you hear another twenty-one gun salute.

Attending were Bridget’s brother, his wife, daughter, her boyfriend as well as Bridget and myself. There was a professional videographer so a video of the ceremony should be available at some point in time.