Remembering the Alamo

Making our way out west. We stopped in Guadalupe State park north of San Antonio. Now just a little note about Texas State parks. We booked 3 nights at $24.00 a night. Not to bad we thought. We pull into the park and pay the balance. What we didn't know was they also charge you $7.00 a night per person on top of the camping fee. Plus now we have the second vehicle which added another $5.00 a day. So now our 24 dollar a night fee is now 43. Sheesh. States parks are pricing themselves out of our budget anyways. We can stay in a RV park with full hook-ups for 13-18 dollars a night with Passport America. A no brainer. We are currrently at a RV resort with pool, laundry and every thing for $35.00 right now.

No more ranting. Sorry. I have always wanted to see the Alamo.

It is actually a Texas Shrine. It is a very important peice of Texas history. It was a very solomn  experience. The grounds are immaculate. And to tour the Alamo is entirely free. You can't beat that. They had a picture of David Crockett who defended and died at the Alamo. 

But he doesn't look anything like John Wayne.

After the Alamo we walked over to the river walk. I was here once before in 1982. I had a day pass when I was in Basic training and my family picked me up and took me down there. It wasn't what I remembered but it was very nice to walk around there.

Best sight of all.

It is a little bit like Venice with the canal there. We had an over priced lunch at the Agave Bar. It made a nice day trip for us.

Time to get back in the saddle.

Lay over on the Mississippi gulf coast

After Amazon and after our quick trip to Minnesota, we are making our way out west to Quartzite AZ. We have been putting on a lot of miles so we wanted to spend a few days relaxing at the beach. Last year we were in this area and kind of liked it. This area was hit hard by hurricane Katrina and you can see that it has not recovered after ten years. There are so many houses that have been destroyed and nothing left but foundations and empty drive ways. We went for our morning walk one day and came across a condominium that was in the process of being built until Katrina hit. It has been abandoned and just sits there on the beach empty.

We are staying in Pass Christian. Pronounced Pass Krissty-anne. this is right between Gulfport and Waveland(where we were last year). What I like about this area is the beaches. I got out my metal detector and made 6 cents. Adding that to the 57 cents I found last year and I can almost retire.Granted we have been here both times in the winter and the beaches are deserted, but they are beautiful.

Not to mention the sunsets. There is also a little beach bar that we like to go to. Shaggy's. Nice place to visit if you are driving by.

This area is known for its shrimping. According to some literature I read, it has the largest shrimping fleet in Pass harbor. So I had the shrimp basket at Shaggy's and it did not disappoint. 

I would like to add more to this blog post, but we are in an area with poor Verizon service and each photo is taking 30 minutes to up load. So another day then. West ward HO!

Open mouth, insert foot

They say that hind sight is 20/20. I guess that that is true. This is what I mean.

Example one: This is before we started this lifestyle. We were camping in a 27 foot travel trailer in Lanesboro MN. When we camped, we were always outside. We never stayed indoors unless it was raining. So we were outside around a fire with the kids, across the road a huge fifth wheel pulls in and sets up. After they are set up they go inside and we don't see them again all weekend.(the camper wasn't even rocking). I said to Lisa "Gawd, we are not going to ever get one of those monstrocities. That is not my way of camping"

Well as fate would have it we did end up with one of those fifth wheels. (would I like fries with that size 10?) Ours is 36 feet. Not the largest and not the smallest, just right.

Example two: This was just recently. We like to walk around campgrounds and look at other peoples rigs and what they have and how they do it. You can get lots of good ideas just from looking at other peoples stuff. But one thing I have always noticed and I think Lisa has also is the number of cars parked at a camp spot. We would walk by and again I would say to Lisa "How many cars do people need to travel with, Gawd!" (would I like dessert with that size 10?)

It is always a learning experience. We have learned that we do need a Jeep for fun day trips and it makes a good grocery getter. So we have a Jeep traveling with us. Lisa drives it behind me and that is working out good for both of us. She can stress out all she wants in her own vehicle and I lead the way. Win-win.

Time for a cold one!

Arctic explorations

We are not actually in the Arctic, but you would not know that from the weather.

After Amazon we came home to Minnesota for Christmas and to spend some time with family before we head south to warmer weather. 18 below zero is quite cold and if you factor in the wind chill it is probably feels like 30 below. That is one of the biggest factors of why we left this area. But on a positive note the sun is out today. We have not seen the sun since we got here Dec. 23rd and it is Jan. 10th. When it does get this cold you can see something rarely ever seen by most Americans. Snotcicles. Just use your imagination.

This is what 18 below looks like

Surprisingly, the truck starts. I have to keep it plugged in though. And the Jeep starts with out being plugged in. It turns over very slowly and makes some gawd awful noises until it warms up. Don't even think about washing anything here when it is this cold. For one thing the car washes close when it gets below 0 and if you do wash it the doors freeze shut.

Filthy vehicles

Somethings I had to re-learn when we got here. How to walk on ice again. You have to do the heel toe shuffle. Driving on ice also. It is always a butt cheek tightening experience. It keeps the adrenaline pumping sometimes. Fashion goes out the window. Now you just dress to be warm.

My son Roman

This is my son Roman who is going to the Vikings game today. The game is outside in Minneapolis. Negative 6 with a windchill of negative 25. I was asked if I wanted to go and I said I was not going to freeze my butt off for that.

There is a big scandanavian influence up north here. You could probably tell by our accents if you have met us. Guess what that says and what it is.

That is it in a nut shell. We are not frozen yet, but getting there. We hit the road again next week!

Our 4 month expedition down the Amazon has finally ended

How do I sum up our experience for the last 4 months. I had already started a blog entry on this subject but decided not to use it. It was filled with everything I hated about the whole situation. What was wrong and what needed to be changed. It was quite lengthy.  But after a couple of days thought I decided to scrap that one for the following reasons.

When we started this, in orientation they told us quite frankly that they did not want our suggestions. They did not want to hear how things could be improved(and let me tell you there is a lot of room for improvement). All they wanted from us was to be a warm body to fulfill orders. Nothing more. Quite often you would hear them on the radio saying that they need some bodies in this department or that department. We weren't people, just bodies.

So on that note, I will say this. Could I recommend this to others? Honestly I couldn't. But if you do go there and haven't been there before you will be worked very hard.

Will we go back there? I don't want to at this point, but we may. You never know. But now we know what to expect.

So if you see me sitting around a campfire. Give me a couple of beers and I will fill you with so many stories about that adventure, it will make your head spin. You will laugh a lot and you will shake your head in disbelief a lot.

We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We are looking forward to getting on the road again. To see what is out there to explore.

Just finished an awful day at the Amazon

It was awful, but not for reasons you might think. The reasons that I am talking about are more from a personal aspect. Reasons that I will share as a public service so that someone else in the future may benefit from it. My explanation may be a bit explicit for some. Just a warning.

When we went to work here in August, it was very hot in the warehouse. So much so that I was chaffing in areas not meant to chaff in. So my son tells me about a type of underpants that professional athletes wear. They are sold at Amazon and are expensive(remember that for future reference). The brand is called SAXX and they have a built in pouch to support some very important things. So my wife buys me a pair and I decided to wear them this morning. Nothing wrong with that.

So after a couple of hours into our shift I run into Lisa and tell her how uncomfortable these underpants where. I was just sick of them. A couple of hours later I am in the bathroom in a sitting position and I make a discovery. I discovered three things.
1. They must have the air conditioning on for one thing.
2. My underpants are inside out.
and 3. They are on backwards.

REALLY!!!!!  OMG!!!! I wasn't drinking or coming home from a bender or anything like that.

"So what did you do?"  Well I did what any married man would do. I blamed my wife for putting them in my drawer like that. Duh!

"Did you go into the bathroom and fix them?"

No! With my luck Security would walk in with my pants off and say "Why are you naked?" and the only answer I would be able to come up with would be "Just waiting for the next customer?" Plus they sell those here and that would be hard to explain. So I suffered through the entire day. Walking around with what felt like a giant wedgie and the total lack of support for certain things. So when I discuss the importance of well fitting underpants with my wife and mother-in-law, who both by the way don't want to talk about it for reasons I can't get into right now, I can give them today as an example.

In conclusion I can only think of two explanations for why this might happen. First getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning just doesn't work for me and this life style. And two, this job is so mind numbing that I don't know how to dress any more.

I hope this helps others.

Hell week by the numbers

We did it! Hell week is in the bag so to speak. Hell week is our term for this week, not our employers. We work for the largest on-line retailer so hell week starts with black Friday. It then goes through a long holiday weekend and through cyber Monday. So with out further adeau.

Steps-?
Miles-?
Calories-?

Apparently both of our step counters said "To hell with this" and committed suicide the same week. Cheap Wal-mart crap. Should have shopped Amazon I guess.

What I do know is that we worked 55 hours starting Friday. I know, crazy. But now I remember why we quit the working world. It sucks. Black Friday is history along with Cyber Monday. It was more hype than anything. It seemed like any other day to us, and the only perk we got out of it was that we each received a 5 dollar Kroger card(Kroger is the local grocery store) for working 11 hours on a day we already planned to work. Cha-ching!

22 days and a wake up!

This reminds me of a saying from one of my all time favorite movies. That is "The Outlaw Josey Wales". Starring one of my all time hero's, Clint Eastwood. That saying is this-

"Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining" How fitting.

Guys are probably remembering that now and girls are like "what???" Because it really isn't a chick flick although Clint was in "The Bridges of Madison County".

Oh, and some more numbers. We have 24 hours off till we go back again and there are 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not.