PTParaD TRs and Shenanigans

[bama_ed]

Evidently Convoy the movie, a la Kristofferson, is too obscure for giphy, so we'll have to settle for Snowman and Cletus

If Convoy was a movie, none of us south of the Mason Dixon Line ever saw it. Maybe it was ahead of its time. But we will happily settle for "Smokey and the Bandit" movie pictures, you Midwesterner!

Trust a redneck like me to know.

Bama Ed

PS - and for the record, it was Jerry Reed (Snowman) who sang the "Eastbound and Down" song in the Smokey movie. But everybody knows that, of course. Who is this Kris Kristoffersun you speak of?



PPS - and yes, I have consulted imdb.com for the relevant information.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

If Convoy was a movie, none of us south of the Mason Dixon Line ever saw it. Maybe it was ahead of its time. But we will happily settle for "Smokey and the Bandit" movie pictures, you Midwesterner!

Trust a redneck like me to know.

Bama Ed

PS - and for the record, it was Jerry Reed (Snowman) who sang the "Eastbound and Down" song in the Smokey movie. But everybody knows that, of course. Who is this Kris Kristoffersun you speak of?



PPS - and yes, I have consulted imdb.com for the relevant information.

Pig Pen, Rubber Duck, what!? You have to be pulling my leg

Convoy (1978 Film)

 

[bama_ed]

Pig Pen, Rubber Duck, what!? You have to be pulling my leg

Convoy (1978 Film)

Dude, we know the song. It was played endlessly on the AM radio channels. Back then we listened to all the hit songs on the AM radio.

But you were like 3-4 years old in 1978 maybe? Some of us were in our prime movie going years as teenagers then. That movie must have come and gone in a week across the South.

Convoy grossed $22M in 1978 domestically.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0077369/?ref_=bo_se_r_1

Smokey grossed $126M in 1977 domestically (year earlier).

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0076729/?ref_=bo_se_r_1

Seems like Convoy WAS more popular on AM radio than at the movie theater.

That reminds me of a song. (from the 90s)

Bama Ed

PS - did I mention one my early avatars on this forum was Sheriff Buford T. Justice?

 

[Teamubr]

Jim flies low to the ground from Illinois to the Alabama Gulf Coast.

And a little lower if I forget to blow up the airbags.

One stop at Buckees rolling in on fumes to fuel back up and we are almost there.

j

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Dude, we know the song. It was played endlessly on the AM radio channels. Back then we listened to all the hit songs on the AM radio.

But you were like 3-4 years old in 1978 maybe? Some of us were in our prime movie going years as teenagers then. That movie must have come and gone in a week across the South.

Convoy grossed $22M in 1978 domestically.

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0077369/?ref_=bo_se_r_1

Smokey grossed $126M in 1977 domestically (year earlier).

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0076729/?ref_=bo_se_r_1

Seems like Convoy WAS more popular on AM radio than at the movie theater.

That reminds me of a song. (from the 90s)

Bama Ed

PS - did I mention one my early avatars on this forum was Sheriff Buford T. Justice?

I'll make you feel even better and older...I wasn't even born in 78. Still a few years later before I started consuming oxygen. I'm just an old soul. Most of my taste in movies and music lives in the 70s and 80s.

I'm not saying it was a good movie. Way better than Chuck Norris' buddy CB movie, Breaker! Breaker!, but nothing compared to Smokey and the Bandit. Jackie Gleason is pure gold. I watched many a Honeymooners episode with dad back in the day.

I misspoke in my original post. I my memory pulled up that Cletus was the beagle, but it's Fred. Jerry Reed's character is Cletus Snow. I guess it's about time to rewatch that movie about a "...truck driving legend in the South today, a man called Bandit from Atlanta G A..."

 

[Sjm9911]

 

[tetera]

.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

It's spring break time. I didn't get a whole lot of pics for the first few days, but here we go:

-Friday, 3/10 - KC to Tulsa
We got on the road at 9 like we wanted. Load out and hook up went fairly smooth. The drive from KC to Tulsa was pretty routine. We've made the drive many times. DW's brother and fam lives there.

Obligatory we're on the road picture

We got to Tulsa, specifically Bluff Landing Corps of Engineer campground, around 2 pm. We got set up and headed over to brother in law's house for dinner.

- Saturday 3/11 - Tulsa
We spent the day with brother in law and family. We ate at a fam favorite for lunch, Braum's, and dinner at their place. It was nice to visit with them outside of a holiday weekend or a big family event. We don't get to have our two families visit without a big agenda very often.

- Sunday 3/12 - Tulsa to Galveston
Looking at the map, I estimated we'd take 11-12 hours to make the trip so we decided to wake up early. "Conveniently" it was the start of daylight savings time and we decided to get on the road no later than 6...so some early wake ups (I'm totally pro daylight savings, but the timing was unfortunate). We woke up at 5 and everyone was on point with their jobs for packing up and hooking up. We were at the dump station at 5:50 and on the road at 6:10. Way ahead of expectations.

Our first major stop was at Buc-ee's north of Dallas for lunch and fuel. It was busy, but not obnoxious. The food was on point and we had some entertainment too.

DS pumped to hang with the Beaver


For the entertainment...These gentleman were trying to figure out how to secure a 2kW generator on a receiver hitch rack to run while they were going down the road. There was a lot of duct tape, straps, and head scratching. I don't know why they needed to run the generator as it was in the low 50s, but we all had a laugh while we ate in the truck and watched. I love the RV community, but we have some crazy folks in our town.

Traffic through Dallas was typical, but livable. After we got south of Dallas is where the fun started. So many slowdowns. So many inconsiderate drivers. Apparently I should be able to stop my rig in 10-20 feet at 50+ mph to the Texans south of Dallas.

Houston traffic was oooof. The roads are in terrible shape. We were also treated to an accident at the north end of Galveston before all of the exits started. So we got across the water on to the island and sat for an extra hour to get to the CG.

We rolled in to the CG just after 6 pm. After setting up, we heated up some leftovers and passed out.

- Monday 3/13

We headed up to the south end of Houston to the Houston Space Center. We had a really good time. The kids were really excited to learn about space and surprised me about how engaged they were the whole day.


The kiddos in front of a Saturn V rocket that was built for one of the cancelled Apollo missions

We got back to Galveston and grabbed dinner at a Texas favorite of ours, Taco Cabana. It's not the classiest fare, but if you're surprised that I was excited for cheap fast food tacos then we haven't met yet. Back at the CG the kids headed to the pool while I dealt with a problem on the truck.


It wouldn't be a trip without some maintenance. The speaker in the door blew out or I don't know what. It wouldn't stop crackling. So I just disconnected it. I'll figure it out later.


Our site. The CG is full, but it's pretty roomy


The sunset wasn't the best, but it's nice to be down here.

We're all snuggled in for the night. Ready to attack doing absolutely nothing tomorrow. Now that I'm caught up, I'll have smaller posts for the next time.

 

[bama_ed]

Ahhh, spring break. Thanks for a camping update.

The weather forecast has 70s this week there. Nice.

How far ahead did you have to book the campsite to get one during this busy time?

ED

PS - Kids might like a day trip to the Kennedy Space Center on the next Disney trip to visit all the NASA stuff. Or stay at Jetty Park nearby for a few days.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Ahhh, spring break. Thanks for a camping update.

The weather forecast has 70s this week there. Nice.

How far ahead did you have to book the campsite to get one during this busy time?

ED

PS - Kids might like a day trip to the Kennedy Space Center on the next Disney trip to visit all the NASA stuff. Or stay at Jetty Park nearby for a few days.

The confirmation email is dated 11/26. So not horrendously far out, but I guess still nerd level planning timelines.

The weather is way better than back home, but windy.

We had planned Jetty Park and Space Coast stuff on our trip in 21 that was cut short by Hurricane Elsa. I was thinking it'd be more realistic, timing wise in the nearish future, to stop in Huntsville on our way to GSP .

 

[jbrostek]

What a fun Spring Break! This year will be our last Spring Break with Lauren before graduation (next year she is with her father) so we chose Puerto Rico rather then a RV trip south.

TX is on my to-do list, not as easy a tow from the Mid-Atlantic.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

3/14 - Bums at the CG
The temperature was pleasant, but the wind was just relentless. We had some plans, but we just decided to lay low in the CG. The kids were intrigued by the pickle ball courts so they signed out the equipment and all 4 of us played for about an hour. DW and I used to play a lot of tennis. It was a fun revisit to those skills. After pickleball and lunch, the kids played bingo put on by the CG and then they swam after dinner. I even got in for a while too. It was a nice relaxing day.


The lazy river is warmer than the pool and the hot tub is off limits to kiddos. Lazy river it is.

3/15 - Ferry to Bolivar Penninsula
We headed to the east end of the island to catch the ferry to the Bolivar Penninsula. We planned to zip around the wildlife refuges on the penninsula, drive up to I-10, grab lunch, and take the mainland highways back to the campground.

The ferry is pretty nifty. It's part of the TX highway system. It's free and fairly efficient. It's not a bad view for free:

You can ride in your vehicle or head up to the upper deck.

Once off the ferry, there is the Bolivar light. I wanted to visit, but it's closed to visitors currently.


We drove and explored the peninsula all the way up. We didn't go too deep into the wildlife refuge as planned, but enjoyed bopping around looking at the water, houses, etc.

We stopped at the Cattleman Kitchen and Cakes in Winnie, TX for lunch. 8 thumbs up from the crew. It's a small place with just 5 or 6 tables and run by a ranching family. All of the hands were in eating lunch when we were there. I had steak fries, DD and DS had the ribeye "grilled sammich", and DD had the pulled pork and mac and cheese melt. The fries were hand cut and the sweet tea was syrupy in the most right ways.

My steak fry basket. The breading was perfectly crunchy.


DS posing with his ribeye grilled sammich. I really enjoyed my basket, but that sandwich was pretty darn good.

When we pulled up the phone to get the route home, it suggested we go back to the ferry as there were some wrecks on I-10 and the roads to get back down to the island. So we headed back the way we came. The wait was a bit long, but it worked out.

In the evening we met some friends in the area at The Spot in the heart of the touristy part of Galveston. The dinner and company were great. After dinner we parted ways and headed back to the CG. DS and I played a little pickleball (he's hooked) and we knocked out some laundry.

We have one more day on the island before heading back to a soon-to-be iced over Kansas

 

[Teamubr]

Great TR.

The confirmation email is dated 11/26. So not horrendously far out,

What year? I know how you plan, so this couldn't be 2022.

What cg is that and would you recommend it? I always thought Galveston was too far, but it is actually 100 miles closer than WDW.

j

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

What year? I know how you plan, so this couldn't be 2022.

It was 2022. I originally had reservations to Galveston Island State Park in like April of 22, which is right on the beach. Over Thanksgiving I was doing some research and saw the average air and ocean temps for March and decided to book here because of the heated pool...leading to second question:

What cg is that and would you recommend it? I always thought Galveston was too far, but it is actually 100 miles closer than WDW.

We're staying at the Galveston Island KOA Holiday. The short of it, yes I would recommend.

Pros:
-Entirely new campground (so new not on google map satellite images) and it's very well laid out for sites and amenities. The sites are huge. The pad is one of those double wide about 3/4 of the way back and then on the trailer side it goes back another 20 feet. So I have a paved patio and would have room to park 2 vehicles and the trailer. The nice thing is there is still about 30 feet between sites, so I don't feel crowded at all.
-Speaking of amenities, it has a lot. Pool, hot tub, lazy river, pickle ball, basketball, cornhole, horsehoes, and on.
-Staff is really nice
-Price beats the other comparable (there are a few doozies that are cheaper and I see why) private CGs on the island, but the state park obviously blows it out of the water.

Cons:
-It's not right on the beach. The CG is surrounded by vacation homes (most of which I assume are rentals) and It's about an 1/8 mile to a public access point across a busy highway. The redeeming quality is most of the year, you can drive your vehicle right on the beach. The sand is quite hard and driving wasn't touchy at all.

Pro for me (or Con depending on what you like):
-All of the touristy stuff for Galveston is on the east side of the island. It's surprisingly big. The KOA is 30+ minutes from all the big time restaurants, hotels, beaches, and bars. I wouldn't have minded being a little closer, but this side of the island is quite calm. No kids racing or any dumb college spring breakers. Just families mostly. There is a small town called Jamaica Beach about 10 min away that has 3 or 4 nice sleepy beach town feeling restaurants.

The summary for today is coming a bit later. Right now it's time to pack and prepare for jump to hyperspace. We're leaving at 5:30 am tomorrow to try to beat a storm coming in and Houston traffic.

 

[bama_ed]

If it was a KOA, then yes you can make a reservation later in the fall for spring than the cheaper state parks. But sounds like it is a nice quiet area.

Sorry you have to bug out due to weather. I've heard of the traffic in Houston (surpasses Atlanta horror stories by my estimation) but I understand. Hope the family (and you) enjoyed your time there.

Ed

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

If it was a KOA, then yes you can make a reservation later in the fall for spring than the cheaper state parks. But sounds like it is a nice quiet area.

Sorry you have to bug out due to weather. I've heard of the traffic in Houston (surpasses Atlanta horror stories by my estimation) but I understand. Hope the family (and you) enjoyed your time there.

Ed

Fortunately/unfortunately we are leaving on the correct day, just leaving earlier than humans should be awake to miss the weather.

I don't know that Houston on its own is worse than ATL, but DFW, Houston and the roads that connect are abysmal.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

3/16 - Last day in town and Oil Rig Museum
This morning the weather was finally what we expected from the Texas Gulf Coast. It was in the mid-70s, pretty humid, a little more windy than desired, and beautiful blue skies. We headed to the beach in earnest for the first time.
The kids always like to build a wall/fort in the sand to try to control the water. Too bad for their wall, but to the parents' entertainment, the tide was coming in. The dug a bit and the tide blasted the wall. I helped a few times to give them some thoughts on how to get the wall higher more quickly, but mama nature always wins.

Not a bad set up. Only downside was all the sea spray on the truck. The glass was so dirty. The truck is going to need a big bath when we get home.


Feeble attempts at wall digging


The engineer offering tips that fell on mostly deaf ears


Watching the destruction of the fortifications from the comfort of the tailgate

After the beach, the kids cleaned up and we headed to a place just up the road for lunch, Nate's Westend Seafood and Steaks. It's by no means fine dining, but it's my speed of a sit down place. Down home, simple, and reasonable prices. DW and I got a shrimp po boy, DD got a burger, and our seafood addict got the Shrimp-Tastic. Grilled, stuffed, fried, and peel and eat shrimp with 2 sides. Here he is halfway through:

He finished everything but 2 or 3 okra and a handful of fries.

After lunch, we headed east into the fray of the tourist. Down by the port there is the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum. It's an old oil rig that is preserved and has exhibits about the oil and gas industry. While some of it felt a bit like a lobby for big oil, it was truly interesting. There is some fascinating technology and engineering feats to find oil in the ocean floor. I didn't take a ton of pics, but here's a shot of me walking away from the drilling derrick:

It was not the easiest place to park and the admission was more than I liked, but I would recommend it.

When we got home from the Ocean Star we played a bit more pickle ball at the CG, ate leftovers for dinner, and then laid around a bit. DD is gearing up for track season, so she asked to go for a run on the beach. I walked her over and she ran 2.55 miles while I walked a bit. She's an animal.


After the run we settled in for the night. We're prepping to get on the road early tomorrow. The only things left is to dump tanks after showers tonight, pack up the poop hose, pull in the slides and hook up in the morning.

We should wake up to threatening rain and high 60s and after about 2 hours and 100 miles north we'll lose 20 degrees. When we hit our stopover point for the night in OK, it'll be in the low 40s. It's spring, right?

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

A little south of Dallas. Current situation.

I broke a belt or something on a pothole I'm sure. The tire was bowed like it was overinflated 200 lbs.

At least it didn't blow out. About 150 miles to go for the day. Ready for a stiff drink and a nap.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

3/17 - Galveston to OK/TX border

Storms blew into the Galveston/Houston overnight. We tried to guess the time it was going to land based on all the apps and we didn't guess quite right. We thought we'd beat it all if we packed up by 5:30 am. However, the storm arrived in force by 3 am and woke us all up. So we stared at the radar waiting for the chance to get out and pack up the cord and hoses.

It started ok, but by the time I was finishing hooking up it was raining sideways. I sent the crew to the refuge of the truck and I took the hit. I was absolutely soaked to the bone by the time we squeaked out of the site. I stopped just off the site to go back and check to make sure we didn't leave anything behind and do a final walkaround and of course it let up for a few minutes.

We got on the road by 5:40 am. It was a long slog in the rain and dark to get through Houston. We took a different route heading out and the traffic was surprisingly lighter. As we were driving I kept noticing one of the trailer tires was giving some odd psi and temp rating compared to the others. I kept my eye on it most of the way.

We stopped for fuel and lunch at Buc-ee's south of Dallas. On my walk around I focused on that tire. As I mentioned in the previous post, I must have broke a belt in the tire. The tire had the look of a bike tire. It was curved across the width of the tire and had some really odd wearing on it. I called around to 4 or 5 shops and found one finally about 30 min away with a tire in stock.

We took the trip slowly to the shop. I expected to be at the back of the line and the ordeal to take at least an hour or more of waiting. To my surprise, when we got to the shop a worker was waiving us into a bay. The office had the tire pulled from the rack ready to go. We were back on the road in about 20 minutes. It wasn't the brand nor price I was seeking, but the turn around alone can make me overlook those issues.

With a fresh tire on the rig we drove another 100 miles to the TX/OK border to the Winstar Casino's Fun Town RV Park. The park isn't anything remarkably special, but it's right off the highway and full hook ups for $60. When we went to check in, they noticed that we'd never stayed before and gave us a players card that we needed to validate in the casino. After we validated it, the stay was free. It didn't quite offset the cost of the tire, but it was a nice surprise.

Right now we're just relaxing and resting for tomorrow. We have about 450 miles to go. Fingers crossed it goes smooth.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Oh bother. Waking up this morning to a 50 degree camper. Not out of propane. The furnace won't light. I'm not going to try to troubleshoot til we get home, but I'm guessing igniter or a dirty or kaput sail switch. I guess I'm glad it decided to show up on the back side of our only spring camping.

I'm fortunate to camp with the family and enjoy the open roads. If my nice rig has some maintenance issues along the way, life is still pretty good, right?

Shortish drive today. Stretching and caffeinating for was Murphy has in store.