Day two...

The RV park last night was decent, the lady at the office put us close to the showers.  This morning, we work up to more drizzle.  Yesterday, the forecast for the area and north was for sunshine.  Didn't happen.

A boat in the RV park...

No, that's not our satellite dish.  Apparently someone else rents this site on a long term basis and leaves it for others to use when he's not there... doesn't help us any, since we have Dish and this is DirectTV.

A patio alongside, that we didn't get to use...

Just across the street from the showers...

Nice showers.  Friendly people.  It was just off the Interstate, but with a small hill between, it was quiet.  They take Passport America, so the price was only $14.  Perfect for an overnight stop.

Joan made Izzy a new bed from the memory foam for the v-berth - she can barely keep her eyes open...

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Plenty of construction on I-35.  In one corner where the road surface was irregular and crowned badly, the trailer on the semi that was passing us swung into our lane!  He pulled to the left, I pulled to the right... I was watching him in the side mirror; I thought for sure that he was going to hit us.  Joan shrieked with that hard maneuver... perhaps something to do with the cement barrier on her side of the truck that quickly got closer!  I never felt any bump, but we stopped at the next rest area, just to take a closer look.  I thought he might have nicked our port side bunk... nope.  Whew!

The drizzle continued all morning as we continued north.  Just south of the Ft. Worth area, we began to see patches of blue sky and the rain stopped.  By the time we got to the RV park, it was beautifully clear and sunny.

The ladies at the front desk of this RV park were chatty and friendly - they had LOTS of questions about our travels with the boat.  "Do you have a bathroom in there?"  "A shower?"  "Can you cook in there?"  "Is your cat OK with traveling in the boat?"  "You have cable TV in there?"

Yep, yep, yep, yep, and yep (satellite, too, but there are too many trees in this park).

A guy in a golf cart escorted us to our site, we plugged in power and cable TV, and awaited word on meeting up with the rest of Joan's family later today.

We're down for a couple nights.  Since the ground is dry here, little Izzy got to go for a short walk on her leash.  She has a spot by the window where she can watch the birds - she is a happy little girl.

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On edit: Little Izzy learned a new skill today.  She waits for me to pick her up and put her on the boat when we're on land (she has no issue going from the dock to the boat when we're on the water).  She wanted up today, and I told her to jump up there; I gave her encouragement to go from the step ladder to the swim platform, then into the cockpit.  She balked a few times, then went to the step ladder.  She hissed when she didn't get placed in the cockpit, then acted like she was going to jump.  "Go ahead and hiss - you can do this on your own.  Use your Supercat jumping powers!"  She reared back, shoved off with those powerful back legs, and landed on the swim platform... then looked around as if to say, "See what I did?"  ;-)

With the sunshine, we opened the bimini to give us some shade.  Warm to go with the sunshine, it is in the 80s.  It is comfortable in the boat with the a/c running.

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When I called for reservations here, the lady on the phone said she would have to get the OK from the manager to have a boat in this park.  They have rules about: no converted school buses, RVs more than 10 years old are only allowed on inspection.

First night out...

It always takes me a couple nights to get used to a different bed.  And, a v-berth in the boat is certainly different from the Select Comfort that we have in the house and the 5th wheel.  But, it is surprisingly comfortable.  We put a new memory foam with gel mattress topper on before we left.

The noises are different, as well.  The fridge is only a couple feet from the berth, so you hear the compressor cycle on and off.  A couple more nights in here, and that drifts off into the background.

Mostly, the motion is different when the boat is on the trailer: you feel the trailer suspension flex as you move... not the pleasant rocking motion when the boat is on water.

We added a dehumidifier this year.  That, along with the solar exhaust fan we installed should make day-to-day living in the boat less damp... of course, the rain we had yesterday and last night didn't help in that department. ;-)

Fresh cinnamon rolls this morning, and we're ready to roll.

Rolling north...

It took a bit longer than I anticipated to get out this morning.  Trying to time things going through San Antonio and that whole corridor north of Austin so we didn't hit rush hour.  That didn't happen... we got to San Antonio around 3:30, which put us in the worst of the I-35 bumper-to-bumper traffic from Austin north past Round Rock.

Joan said, "It would be horrible to have to drive in this mess everyday."

I replied, "Well, I would think the locals would know alternative routing to keep them out of this mess.  But, if that were the case, there wouldn't be so many dumbass local drivers darting from lane to lane."

The weather was pretty pleasant until south of San Antonio, when Mother Nature opened up the skies and pounded us with rain.  We drove through several cells after that - stuff that I damn sure wouldn't have flown into in my pilot days.

Joan pulled up weather... yep, flash flood watches in the area.

We made it to an RV park about an hour behind our intended arrival, but before the office closed.  We had called ahead, and when she found out we were traveling with a boat as our "camper," the lady in the office said, "Well, nothing surprised me anymore, but you will be the first boat we've ever had."

We backed into our site, got Izzy settled in the boat, hooked up electric, then went out for a relaxing supper...

"Don't I get to come with you??"
 
The rain was really pounding again when we came back to the boat.  Joan wasn't so sure we'd need an umbrella... "Um, we are heading to the Pacific Northwest."

On the bright side, the rain cooled things off enough that we didn't need the air conditioner in the boat for the evening.  We saw temps fluctuating from the upper 80s to the mid-60s today... back and forth, up and down, as we drove in and out of the rain.

Little Izzy was a travel champ.  She sat by me most of the day... it's true: petting a cat really does help lower your blood pressure.  It was a long driving day, 400+ miles.

I checked hubs and tires each time we stopped - all is good.  The truck got almost 13 miles per gallon on our last fill-up.  There were some gusty winds around the storm cells, but light the rest of the time.

Making miles.

Arc-y, Sparky...

That's what my buddy, Steve, from South Dakota used to call 'em.  We'd sit under the biminis on our boats and watch the thunderstorms roll in from the west.

The forecast for the next couple days was hot and sunny.  Until this morning... and now it is: thunderstorms are coming.  We were already loading at a steady pace, but we kicked it up a notch.

Here's little Izzy playing in the piles of stuff to go to the boat and the truck...

And, the early morning "stuff-runs" to the boat...

That wheeled cart makes the loading process easier when we have to take the stuff across the street to load it.

While Joan put stuff away, I took batteries out of the scooters and chained down the cargo trailer.  Patio furniture came in... anything that could become a "missile" in a hurricane has to go away this time of year.  I started rolling down hurricane shutters.

Joan packed the bed of the truck.  Here's why there was no room for the scooters...

By mid-day, we could hear the rumble of thunder to the west.  We hurried to get the last cart load of stuff to the boat.  While Joan was stowing that stuff, I put the cart into our storage area... as I was closing the door, the first of the rain started coming down.

The weather weasels are saying this one will have a lot of precipitation in it... some some areas.  Further up the valley has already received more than an inch of rain.  Thunderstorms are predicted to be over us through the night...

We need the moisture.  Of course, it could wait until we are outta town.  Ummm... nope.

She knows...

A flurry of activity as we get Wild Blue loaded.  Stuff carted, stuff put away, starting to close down the house.  Little Izzy has stayed out from under foot, but she knows what all this activity means...

We'll be rolling soon.

No drizzle, but...

Hazy sunshine, temps in the 80s, and a light breeze... hey, look - the humidity is 387%!!  Yep, it's time to work outside.  We had to clear out most of the cargo trailer to get the fiberglass tonneau cover out and on the truck.  That cover used to weigh 120 pounds or so... with the heat and humidity, it has ballooned up to 387 pounds... I see a trend here.  You may see some exaggeration here.  ;-)

We moved stuff from the storage area under the house to the dock... from the dock to the driveway... then combined it with stuff from the cargo trailer... then, into the truck bed.  It was a close race, but the Blonde and I tied for the "who can sweat the most" title.  Did I mention it was humid??

We heard from the folks who run a storage facility in Anacortes - we snagged a place to leave the boat trailer; the last piece of the puzzle.  We should be good to settle in after we make that long, long, long drive.

The big stuff is loaded.  We are down to clothes, some food, and cat stuff.  Before that happens, we'll start closing down the house. 

We took the scoots to our favorite little Mexican restaurant, just off our island.  Ran to the Post Office to get a check to the storage place (who doesn't take credit cards these days??)...

That photo is mostly for me, so I'll have something scooterish to look at for the next several months.

With boat/truck stuff out of the cargo trailer, there is lots of room in there for the scooters...

Nope.  No way to hook that behind Wild Blue's trailer.  Oh, well... we'll be working... this isn't like we're going out there to have fun. ;-)

More of the same...

Today was supposed to be cooler, with the precip clearing off... that didn't happen.  It has been the same drizzly weather as yesterday, minus the wind.  It looks like it should be winter when you look outside...

It's too wet to start the loading process, so we're busying ourselves with piling stuff up inside.  Little Izzy isn't sure about all this activity...

That's her worried look... made even more so by the wide angle lens. ;-)  She knows something is up.

We drove over to the island for lunch.  Drove, not rode... as much as I enjoy the scooters, the drizzle would be miserable to drive in.  Heck, we got wet just going from the house to the truck.  The Causeway here runs 2 1/2 miles across the Laguna Madre - you couldn't see either shore from the middle of the Causeway.  The temp is decent: 69º and no wind (probably why there's fog).

Not complaining, because we need the moisture - I was counting on dry to get the truck loading started, though.  Weather permitting, we'll make up for it the next few days.

Some bright news on this gray day: we heard from the nice lady at Friday Harbor who handles the slip assignments... this slip we had last year got rented before we could get it this season... until this morning, when those folks wanted to move to a different slip.  Yep, we'll have the same slip as last year.  While the slips are all pretty much the same, we like our neighbors there, AND we know we can get a clear shot at satellite TV reception.  ;-) 

We are pumped!

A norther in April...

We knew this front was coming.  The weather weasels could even predict the time: between 7:30 and 8:00 am locally.  It was 73º when I got up this morning, humid and still.  Right on time, the wind kicked up from the north, the palm trees started swaying, and the temp dropped into the 60s.  It rained for about 43 seconds.  Not enough to wash off the dust from our lack of precipitation, but it will give the next layer of blowing dirt something to stick to. ;-)

Joan said, "No scooter riding today."

I'm thinking, "No outside work today... I'm tired of cleaning and waxing things."

Baby needs new shoes!

Well, if the baby is Wild Blue, and the shoes are the tires on her trailer.  We were up early and hauled the boat and trailer to Brownsville... the closest place for us to buy trailer tires.  We arrive there early (we're always early); they weren't open, yet, and there was a tractor/trailer with tires being unloaded.  I was fascinated by that process...

In the bottom photo above, you can see how they unload that truck: one tire at a time, by hand... the guy in the truck rolls 'em out and there are two guys inside the shop, catching and stacking.  I thought this would be a fork lift kinda thing, but I can see that this is probably faster  and more efficient... well, with a bit of manual labor involved.

I had an appointment for as soon as they opened... they went to work on the truck and trailer like an Indy pit crew: Wild Blue got new tires (10 ply) all around, Big Red has recent tires, but she got hers balanced and rotated.  They were working on both at the same time.

90 minutes later, we were pulling away.  The wind really kicked up on the way home; a warm south wind.  Tomorrow, a cold front is supposed to move through the area, dropping our temps (down to the 60s), bringing a strong north wind and a chance of some potentially severe thunderstorms.  No spring storms here since we've been back.

In spite of the wind, we decided to take the scooters for lunch out.  We got caught behind a park home with an add-on room being moved - it took up the entire road.  Interesting to watch, though.  When we were able to get by that, we saw that the swing bridge was out... and, there was a tug with two barges run aground on our island side of the Intracoastal Waterway...

While we were waiting in line at the bridge, the guy in the Saab behind us came up and asked the "Big 3 quetions": how fast, how much, what kind of fuel mileage?  We visited for a while; he was considering a golf cart (how many folks on the island get around, even if they don't play golf - but you can't take it off the island), but really liked the idea of a scooter.  Yeah, we like the idea, too.

We speculated on why the tug had pushed the barges aground (wind, not lined up for the bridge, bridge not full open as the tug approached)... we won't know.  The tug captain backed the barges off, put the coals to it, and cruised through the open bridge... close on both sides.

Check out the brown water being churned out on his aft port - that tug is using some horsepower.

Lunch was good, the scoots did OK, even when the gusts topped 35 mph... of course, the speed limits in town are 30 mph.

B. O. A. T.

Every boat owner knows what that stands for: Break Out Another Thousand.  Tomorrow, Wild Blue's trailer gets new 10 ply tires.  The onboard battery charger crapped out... again.  Those two things are going to cover that amount.

Talking with the manufacturer of the battery charger was an exercise in futility.  The "tech support" guy said, "I've never heard of such a thing.  No one has problems with this charger."

I told him, "Well, this is my third one, and in visiting with other boat owners, I know I'm not the only one who has had an issue with this charger... I don't think you'll be able to use the phrase 'No one' after today."  Yeah, he wasn't much help.

Our local boat stuff store had a Guest charger (the model the tech support guy recommended)... when I got there, it was for a trolling motor set-up... I would have to change out the wiring to make it work for a cruising boat application.  I don't think so.

Joan finished scrubbing the interior of the boat: floor to ceiling, stem to stern.  I serviced the bearings and spent time with the multi-meter trying to track down the problem with the charger.  We put in our "8 hour day" on boat stuff.

In the middle of the day, I offered to take the Blonde out for a lunch break.  She suggested our favorite beach (well, bay) bar & grill, that we haven't had an opportunity to get to since we've been back.  "I'll get the scooters out," I offered.

It was a nice break, taking the scooters across the Causeway.  It was warmer and more humid today, but still a pretty fine day in the Tropical Tip; the water looked beautiful as we scooted across the Causeway.  It almost made me want to plunk Wild Blue in... but we'll be leaving soon, and I would just have to bust my butt getting her cleaned up again.  Nope, I'll stick to the plan.

In front of Palm Street Pier...

And inside, looking out at the water...

It really was a nice break from the boat work... and the little scooter escape was refreshing. :-)

New Toys...

No, we didn't buy anything for the scooters today.  This evening, I grilled steaks, while Joan made baked potatoes in the oven.  Before Joan started the oven, she said, "You know what I hate?"

I looked around to see if there was something I did wrong!

"I hate reaching under appliances and finding something soft and furry!"

She found all these under the stove...

Yeah, those are all cat toys.  Izzy has a basket full of them, and apparently has an aptitude for hockey, using the stove as the goal.  ;-)

She was grateful for her Mommy rescuing her toys...

Sweet little face.   :-)

Getting her favorite toys back is just as good as new toys!

Beach 'n scooters...

We took the day off.  Oh, there are things that need to be done with the boat, yet... but, we needed a "no work" day.  And what a day it has been - easily the nicest weather day since we've been back in Texas!

We took the scooters across the Causeway to see if there were any bikes left from the Beach 'n Biker Fest... not so much.  We rode up to the Convention Center, but the parking lot was pretty much full of cars.  There were some bikes riding up and down the main drag... and the highlight of what we saw was a group of Honda Ruckus chopped scooters... Ruckuses?  Ruckusi?  Four or five stretched and lowered Ruckus scooters, with WIDE rear tires.  Which brings up the question: wha??  I didn't get a photo, but here's a look snatched off the internet of what I'm talking about...

They seemed to be having fun, riding down the main drag of South Padre Island. 

We were having fun, too... a perfect day to be out enjoying the scoots.  We decided to stop for a few photo ops, with the Laguna Madre or Gulf of Mexico in the background...

And a nice lady coming off the beach got recruited into getting a photo of the two of us...

Of course, she and her friend said, "Those are SO cute!  That looks like a fun way to get around the island."

Yep.

The days last rays...

So, you're asking, "How's Izzy?  You haven't posted anything about her in like a day or two!"

She's fine; keeping the homestead safe from those pelicans and seagulls...

And because I haven't posted a sunrise or a sunset image in a while... well, I missed the sunset, but this sky was shortly after...

Beach 'n Bikers, 'n Bottom...

Bottom paint, that is.  Today was the perfect day for touching up the Wild Blue's bottom paint: temperature in the 70s, very little breeze, sunny, and reasonably low humidity.  I gathered up my supplies, carted them to the boat, and went to work...

Joan got these photos early on in the process - no paint on me or the drop cloth, yet...

I used a creeper to get under the boat, but the trailer supports didn't give quite enough room for me and the creeper, so I had to slither to the middle part.  With the toughest to reach places done, I taped off the waterline and prettied up the sides.  She will be ready to go back in the water... whenever we are ready.

While I was working on the boat, Joan was sitting on the couch, watching TV and eating bon-bons.  NO, I'm kidding... she was hard at work, sewing the cover and making fitted sheets for the v-berth...

Some folks have looked at that v-berth and said, "Can you two fit in there?"  It takes a king-size memory foam to cover the v-berth.  Well, you have to cut some away where it tapers down to the "V" (Oh, so that's why they call it a v-berth!)... so you have plenty of room at your shoulders, and you get to play footsies when you sleep.  Here's a look at the memory foam with the cover on top of our queen size bed...

Alternatively, you can sleep on a diagonal and have more foot room.  I don't mention that to the Blonde, 'cause I like the footsies part.  ;-)

I was done before Joan, but it took me a while to put away the supplies and clean the paint off my hands... time for a soak in the jacuzzi tub to ease the aches and pains.

When I was taking used paint stuff to the garbage, one of our neighbors said to me, "Did you see all the motorcycles in town?  They are everywhere!"

I told her a bit about living in the Black Hills and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally... "I've seen that on TV," she said, "It looks scary to me."

Nowhere near as scary as her job: teaching middle school.

We took the scooters to get a bite to eat and run some errands.  The Beach 'n Biker Fest is in swing on South Padre Island.  We did our running in Port Isabel, and there was definitely more bikes in town than normal.  Not what I would call "everywhere," but there were bikes.  Not the hundreds of thousands we saw for 30 years of the Sturgis Rally.  ;-)

I asked Joan if she wanted to ride over to the island, but she had more work to do.  I rode home with her, put her bike away while she carried groceries inside, then I headed off for South Padre Island... well, it's just on the other side of the Causeway.

I was expecting WAY more bikes on the main drag of South Padre... umm, not so much.  At a stoplight, I heard the people in the SUV next to me talking, "So, where are all the bikes?"  Yes, the Honda PCX is so quiet you can hear the people in the vehicle next to you talking.  ;-)

I stopped to wait for some photo ops, but the biggest group of people on motorcycles was about 6 at a time... and the cars on the street outnumbered the bikes by about 50 to 1.  Still, it is more bikes than a normal weekend.  For full disclosure, I didn't go up to the Convention Center where the activities are based.

There were a few bikes at the different restaurants and bars, but I'm sure my take on this is colored by the endless sea of bikes on Sturgis Main Street...

... on a "quiet morning" during the Rally.

For more info on Beach 'n Biker Fest:  http://www.beachnbikerfest.com/

Cooler...

It was 30º cooler today.  And, instead of wind out of the south, it roared out of the north.  I had two layers on to finish the waxing.  Joan worked inside the boat.  (OK, I know you folks from the frozen northland think 63º is an OK temp... here in the Tropical Tip, that is like a chilly January day.)

Yes, she is scrubbing the walls.  And the ceiling.  And inside every cabinet.  The exhaust fan we installed earlier this year did a good job keeping things fresh inside while we were gone.  Still, none of our supplies go in until Wild Blue is clean as new, inside and out.

After I had everything sparkling outside, we tried to open the helm side window... it wouldn't budge.  Aw, crap!  That means there is gunk in the window track.  The fix: stick a hose in there and blast it out... yep, dirty crud ran down the sides of my freshly waxed boat.

This is fun.

If you find you have too much free time in retirement, buy a boat.  And an RV.  So far this year, I think I have spent somewhere around 122 days cleaning and waxing stuff... and this is only day 109 of 2013... I am counting quite a few nights where I had nightmares about waxing.

I trimmed the new king-size gel-infused memory foam for the V-berth.  I think I need to lay down on it and take a nap.  ;-)

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The Beach and Bikers Fest starts today on the island.  While we were out for lunch, we saw 3 or 4 bikers braving the brisk north wind... outfitted in heavy jackets.  It is supposed to be in the 70s tomorrow, but it doesn't bode well for the bikini bike wash today.  I asked Joan if she wanted to participate in the bikini bike wash; she said, "Sure... I'm OK with someone in a bikini washing my bike."

Great... now I have to find a bikini in my size.

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On edit:

I braved the cool weather, got the scoot out, and ran to our mailbox.  I was expecting some scooter bling.  The Honda is a really neat little scooter, but it is lacking one piece of instrumentation... no, not the GPS or satellite radio... there's no clock.  I ordered a couple clocks made for motorcycles...

That's it on the center section of the handlebar.  Seiko workings, made to fit on a motorcycle or scooter (or your bicycle).  The clocks came from a place called Clocks4Bikes.  That IS their business.  When I called to order them, I spoke with Linda (husband and wife team) - she was an absolute delight, and assured me that the clock would be a perfect fit on our PCX handlebars.  I ordered on Tuesday, and received them this afternoon.  The clocks come with an allen wrench and a spare watch battery.  Great service, a quality product, and a very nice hand-written notecard from Linda.  Big companies could learn from these folks!

Here's a link to their website, if you'd like to check them out...

www.clocks4bikes.com/

So, I had a plan...

Start waxing on the top of the boat.  The temperature is supposed to cool off some tomorrow, so finish the waxing then.  The Blonde lured me... she made me a nice breakfast... it would be rude to miss a nice breakfast 'cause you were out waxing a boat.  Then she said, "Will you play some music after you wax the boat?"

"Umm, I'm pretty sure my hands won't be in any shape for the guitar after that buffer."

"Well, why don't you play some music now and wax afterwards?"

I'm totally good with putting off physical labor... "OK, since you asked so nicely."

With the concert complete, I put on my waxing outfit (a well-worn long-sleeve white shirt, old shorts, and a wide brim hat), gathered up the ladder and cleaning supplies, and headed for the boat.

It was HOT.  And to go with that, it was humid.  As in: temps pushing into the 90s, with the humidity percent close behind that.  I climbed to the top of the boat... even though it is white, it was hot to the touch.  I tried some wax on there, and it turned to a consistency of old chewing gum on a hot sidewalk.  Yeah, I'm going to be changing this plan.

I moved all my waxing stuff to the starboard hull... it was the shady side of the boat.  Starting at the stern and working forward, everything got two good coats of wax.  Areas where the fenders hang most frequently got a couple more coats.

I came back in the house to hydrate, medicate, and have a late lunch.  Continuing with the new plan, I will go to the other side of the boat when the sun has moved far enough to put the port side in the shade.  Sitting down wasn't part of that plan... it was hard to get back up after lunch.

Back into the heat and a repeat of the first round on the other side of the boat.  My arms were feeling a bit rubbery by the time I finished that side.

When I came in, Joan said, "Looking at the hourly reports, the weather is supposed to turn.  That hot southerly wind is going to clock around to north.  And really blow."

It had been windy most of the time I was out there.  It was still and hot when I came in... here comes the change.

I crawled into the jacuzzi tub to soak away the aches; by the time I got out, the wind was out of the north at 20 and increasing.  The temp had dropped 15º.

No doubt there is going to be some spotty precip sometime in the next few hours to go along with frontal passage... I am sure the boat will get spotted up, but there is a very pretty wax job under that... of course, I may be the only one who appreciates that.

I had planned for a scooter ride after I was done cleaning up... yeah, that didn't happen, either.  Maybe tomorrow?  After I finish waxing the cabin top?  But, I'm not making any firm plans.  ;-)

The change-over begins...

We pulled Wild Blue out of storage today.  She was grubby on the outside, but otherwise looked fine.  I had disconnected the batteries and put them on a small solar panel - it did a fine job of keeping them topped off.

With the water restrictions in effect in our area, we stopped at the boat ramp on our island and rinsed the dirt off the boat...

We now have her back home; I will put a coat of wax on her and touch up the bottom paint as the weather permits... it is supposed to cool off to the 70s this weekend.  That should be a lot more comfortable for climbing all around and under the boat.

We'll start the loading process after that and get ready for the long trek to the Pacific Northwest.

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On edit:

Working on other stuff.  I cleaned the "mustache" at the bow and down the waterline - that Attwood Premium Hull Cleaner does a better job than anything else I have ever used.  Just be sure to keep it off the bottom paint and trailer!

Joan brought the v-berth cushions into the house to size up and cut the new gel memory foam topper we bought for that...

Of course, she had to test out the comfort factor.  ;-)  In order to get enough width, it takes a king-size topper.  After letting the memory foam expand for a day or so, we'll cut it to fit the shape, and Joan will sew a pad and cover for it.

Little Izzy didn't come out to lay with her... after getting shots at the vet yesterday, the poor little thing is a bit lethargic, and just wants "me time."  Pretty sure she holds me responsible for that trip.

Yes, Dear...

I have a motto: never do today what you can put off 'till tomorrow.  That rarely works out for me.  Today, it was time for Izzy's annual trip to visit Julie the Vet - check up time.  Little Iz is good with traveling, but she knows when the trip is to the vet... and even though it's "for her own good," she knows that strange people are going to poke her, prod her, and stick a thermometer up her butt.  She really doesn't like that.

As the examination came to an end, Julie said, "That is interesting - Izzy's weight is exactly the same as last year, right to the tenth of an ounce."  Julie declared her "very healthy," remarked about her pretty fur, and Izzy scampered back into her carrier.  "Yeah, I'm pretty, now get me outta here!"

We took Iz home and got the scooters out - time for lunch.

Joan was in the mood for pizza, I was in the mood for food... pizza it is.  The waitress at Pizza Hut knows us - she brings our Diet Pepsi as soon as she sees us sit down.  She knows what we are going to order for a pizza.  The food is good, the service is nice.  When she brings our check, she brings us Diet Pepsi in to-go cups.  That works out great when we have the truck... not so good when we're on scooters.  Joan didn't want to hurt her feelings by telling her we didn't have a way to carry the sodas on the scooters... so, out the door we went, with a plan of figuring out what to do with sodas on scooters.

After trying various places that didn't work, I decided to just hold the cup in my left hand while driving.  OK, not the best solution... but Joan really didn't like my idea of standing the cups up under the seat!  This sorta works on a scooter, since you are not operating a clutch with your left hand.  Of course, that means you are running the throttle and the front brake with your right hand, while that is the only thing holding you onto the scooter.  I had real misgivings about this.

In spite of that, we made it home just fine.  Oh, this is the Tropical Tip of Texas, it is warm and humid, and the to-go cup was sweating way more than I was.  But, nothing spilled, no close calls.

The original plan for the afternoon was to get the boat out of storage.  When we got home, I had a few phone calls to make, and Joan started on some laundry.  She then said, "Would you be OK with putting the boat off until tomorrow so I can get this laundry done?  You can go for a scooter ride."

She didn't have to ask me twice.  I put on a helmet and gloves and set out... I wanted to stop by Herb and Wilma's to tell them good-bye, since they are going out on business and we won't see them again until we all get to Washington State.  Herb and I visited about motorhome stuff, while Wilma made repeated trips carrying stuff into their coach.  Yeah, this looks familiar.

Good-byes done, I was off.  Well, almost... apparently my scooter doesn't have enough mass to set off the gate where Herb lives; I had to get off the scooter, walk around the gate, and punch in the code to get it to open.  I guess it's not just the other drivers who can't see me. ;-)

When I got home, Joan thanked me for getting out from under foot while she got the laundry done... "Yes, Dear; glad to do my part."

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I had to chuckle today... since we are heading out soon, Joan said to get a couple things ordered that I have been looking at.  One of those things was some riding shoes, something less heavy than riding boots, but more than plain ol' sneakers.  I liked the look and reviews of the TCX X-street waterproof high-tops... leather, with a casual look, and grippy soles.  I called a place to make sure they had my size in stock and ordered them.  The young man on the phone was very pleasant and helpful.  Looking at their website, they specialize in performance stuff.  He asked, "What kind of a bike do you ride?"

When I said, "A Honda PCX," there was a pause, then... "Oh."