Camping, Princess Style

kayb · April 29, 2020

Safe travels!

**Smithy** · April 30, 2020

Life on the road has changed - improved, I say - dramatically thanks to cell phones and the Internet. I did some Googling, found a tire shop in El Dorado (the town where we stayed the night) and within 2 hours of our phone conversation the gentleman had retrieved our tires, tried unsuccessfully to repair them, and replaced them with new ones. It was an expensive morning, but successful as these things go. We were on the road by 10:30 a.m. That's unusually late for days when the trailer is mostly packed, but not at all out of line for days when we've had to do a full repack-and-close.

While we were waiting on the tires, I donned a mask and went into the Walmart whose parking lot we'd used for the night. I found hand sanitizer, bread (we're running low and I didn't make any in Llano), tomatoes, celery and asparagus, and a few types of salami. I'd never seen Calabrese-style salami before, so I bought it. I hope I like it as well as the New York Style Calabrese sausages I like so much. Maybe I'll be able to figure out the seasonings. I also grabbed what Walmart likes to call an Italian Hero Sub. Seems like a redundant name to me, but one made a good breakfast.

Once on the road again, we found ourselves dealing with yet more road construction. Uneven pavement! Road equipment! At least they're fixing the potholes and building some new bridges. We suspect road debris is what blew those two tires yesterday. It's ironic that most or all of our tire failures have happened on Interstate Freeways.

When we stopped for a brief rest, I glanced casually at the refrigerator / freezer. All looked in good order.

Then I looked again.

Why were there freezer containers in the sink? What were the ice cube trays doing there?

I opened the freezer compartment. (I know, it's still full. Mostly.) See that big gap on the right?

Somehow, during one of our lump-bump-swings (maybe going through Kansas City, where I-35 gets pretty wild) that door popped open, a bunch of stuff jumped out, and the door slammed shut again. Maybe the gremlins are still having fun with us. That's a ROUGH road! I put it all back together...

...and made sure the door was firmly shut.

Here's my road sandwich for lunch: looks soggy, tastes great. Uses the last of an old lettuce heart.

The redbuds in Kansas and Missouri are blooming. I love the sight of them!

heidih · April 30, 2020

Aahh redbuds. We even get them here. Such a great shade of deep pink (and I despise pink)

JoNorvelleWalker · April 30, 2020

I love redbud. They are in bloom here also.

**Smithy** · April 30, 2020

Billboard seen in southern Minnesota: "Spam Museum: not a tasteless tourist attraction!"

**Smithy** · April 30, 2020

A year ago, this was the scene at the Lakeside Casino (once Terrible's) in Osceola:

The game show team for "Wheel of Fortune" was there with their bus and mini-show, auditioning for contestants. The place was jammed.

This year, the scene was utterly different.

An upper parking lot for trucks was open, and we took a spot. I had time for a long walk, and discovered that the Lakeside Casino really is on a long lake, and there's a small parking area with launch ramps nearby. The ramps and restroom were closed, but the walking was great.

Last night we had - what would you guess? - more leftovers from Cooper's! No, we aren't tired of it yet. You may be.

And we still have some left. We've agreed that the exorbitant amount of money we spent there in 5 days isn't as outrageous when amortized over the number of dinners we're getting from it. Besides, we like those people and want to see them stay in business. I'm looking forward to being home and doing something similar with some of our favorite restaurants. It will be more of a challenge, because of the drive to and from town, but we'll make it work.

I went for another walk after dark. I didn't get a picture of the casino all lit up. It was at once beautiful because of its gaudy cheeriness and sad because of the lost business it represents.

Today I had time to take a better picture of the (second) Italian Sub Hero I bought at Walmart yesterday. The crust had a beautiful reddish orange color that may have gone along with crunch when the sandwich was fresh. This one tasted good anyway.

I'm looking forward to bread-baking again, and want to learn how to get that color. I seem to remember that Dutch Crunch bread (aka giraffe bread) gets that coloration.

Other road food: cheese and crackers (not shown) and asparagus and red bell pepper.

Neither of the latter is as flavorful as it should be. I think they'll be better cooked and added to something. Tacos or burritos, perhaps.

Nancy in Pátzcuaro · April 30, 2020

Your episode, Smithy, with the freezer eruption reminded me of the time we were driving our Class B van to a birthday party in the mountains (this was when we still lived in Colorado). I had made a cake (Marcella Hazan's Fresh Pear Tart, p.589 in Essentials) in a 10-x14 Pyrex baking dish and stashed it in the fridge. These refrigerators are half-sized and are placed under the counter or microwave about a couple of inches off the floor. (You have no idea how much I covet your fridge and freezer...)

The road was a typical curvy mountain road, and at one particularly tight left curve the refrigerator door popped open and the cake launched itself across the floor and ended up at the foot of the door. Along with several other things, none of which was as important as the cake. No broken dish, just a slightly mussed up cake. After the party we drove directly to a hardware store to buy one of those slide locks and installed it on the door, which you might consider for your fridge. Latching it is now on my departure checklist.

By the way, that's a wonderful cake. I've made it so many times the book falls open at that page. I make a streusel topping with pine nuts that kind of fancies-up the cake. Oh, and I add a tsp. of almond extract to the batter, which enhances the pear flavor, I find. Hazan comments that this cake is so simple that only an active campaign of sabotage could ruin it. That's my kind of cake!

heidih · April 30, 2020

Ha thanks Nancy. Reminded me of the fridge beer incident. Big bump, improperly locked down camper fridge door, beer bottles flew and exploded. My avatar dog launched his very large body halfway through the window into the cab.

**Smithy** · April 30, 2020

22 minutes ago, heidih said:

Ha thanks Nancy. Reminded me of the fridge beer incident. Big bump, improperly locked down camper fridge door, beer bottles flew and exploded. My avatar dog launched his very large body halfway through the window into the cab.

I know the cleanup wasn't fun, but the visual of the dog is hilarious!

**Smithy** · April 30, 2020

1 hour ago, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:

Your episode, Smithy, with the freezer eruption reminded me of the time we were driving our Class B van to a birthday party in the mountains (this was when we still lived in Colorado). I had made a cake (Marcella Hazan's Fresh Pear Tart, p.589 in Essentials) in a 10-x14 Pyrex baking dish and stashed it in the fridge. These refrigerators are half-sized and are placed under the counter or microwave about a couple of inches off the floor. (You have no idea how much I covet your fridge and freezer...)

The road was a typical curvy mountain road, and at one particularly tight left curve the refrigerator door popped open and the cake launched itself across the floor and ended up at the foot of the door. Along with several other things, none of which was as important as the cake. No broken dish, just a slightly mussed up cake. After the party we drove directly to a hardware store to buy one of those slide locks and installed it on the door, which you might consider for your fridge. Latching it is now on my departure checklist.

By the way, that's a wonderful cake. I've made it so many times the book falls open at that page. I make a streusel topping with pine nuts that kind of fancies-up the cake. Oh, and I add a tsp. of almond extract to the batter, which enhances the pear flavor, I find. Hazan comments that this cake is so simple that only an active campaign of sabotage could ruin it. That's my kind of cake!

I'll look for that recipe. It sounds great, especially with your additions.

My parents' trailer fridge had that sort of sliding lock. (It was to my father's everlasting woe that Mom forgot to lock it not once, not twice, but three times!)(On the other hand, I don't think he ever tried to doublecheck before starting to drive.) I didn't know it could be purchased as an aftermarket addition. Thanks for that idea!

suzilightning · April 30, 2020

21 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I love redbud. They are in bloom here also.

Half a state north and the trees are confused.... forsythia bloomed in March, the shad bush bloomed the last two weeks, any other deciduous trees - which usually would have leafed out by mid April - are barely in bud. I dread when they do bloom!!!!

Kim Shook · May 1, 2020

4 hours ago, Smithy said:

Those green beans look amazing and I sure wish our Walmart made a sandwich that looked that good!

**Smithy** · May 3, 2020

We're home!

We spent the final road night in yet another Walmart parking lot, and were up very early thanks to a street sweeper cleaning the parking lot at 5:30 a.m. The happy result of that was that we got going earlier than usual. I threw together very perfunctory breakfast sandwiches, and away we went.

This may not look inviting to you, depending on the environment you're used to, but to me it's a sign that we're coming home, and spring is beginning. The pictures don't show it, but there's a faint blush of pink on the maple trees and the barest hint of green wash on the birch.

My flower bed is starting to sprout!

The ramps and chives are coming up!

We have room again! I've been shuffling food from the Princessmobile's freezer and refrigerator and pantries back into the house. I realize that as trailer kitchens go the Princessmobile's is pretty good. Still, it's nothing like home.

Princessmobile:

House:

Of course, in a perfect world there wouldn't have been much to move back in -- but you already know that I failed utterly at paring down the food when grocery stores were readily accessible and filled with items we can't get here. Now the excess should help us minimize trips to town.

I have access to the CSO again! We really, truly finished the last of the meats from Llano for our homecoming dinner. There was one pork rib from Cooper's to be reheated, and 4 stuffed jalapenos from Miller's that got a steam-convection bake treatment in the CSO.

Dinner included potato salad and cole slaw from Cooper's, neither of which is shown here. The peppers were wonderful.

When we finished dinner, my darling said, "See? I told you we should have bought more barbecue in Llano!"

It's been 6 months and some 8,055 miles. You've been great company along the way. I saved this last Lone Star rebus for y'all, since it's so appropriate.

Thanks for reading along!

**Shelby** · May 3, 2020

I'm so glad you're home safe and sound! And your house is so clean! Mine would have 6" of dust lol.

blue_dolphin · May 3, 2020

Yes, welcome home and thank you for taking us along! I always enjoy trips in the Princessmobile and will be looking forward to our next one!

**ElsieD** · May 3, 2020

Welcome home. It's been great travelling along with you.

kayb · May 3, 2020

Always fun to travel along with the Princessmobile! PJ looks happy to see his very own yard again.

Darienne · May 3, 2020

There's always something so wonderful about coming home...mixed with the sadness that the trip is over. Glad you are safe and sound once more.

Porthos · May 3, 2020

As ever. thank you for taking us along.

Kim Shook · May 3, 2020

Mr. Kim had to solve the rebus. I got to the thing after the "U" and got stuck because I thought it was a still. I was like: "You booze tent?", "You liquor camp?"...Completely lost.

JoNorvelleWalker · May 3, 2020

3 hours ago, Smithy said:

We're home!

...

Thanks for reading along!

Beautiful. If I lived where you live I would never want to leave. Thankfully the same can be said of where I actually do live.

**Smithy** · May 3, 2020

1 hour ago, Kim Shook said:

Mr. Kim had to solve the rebus. I got to the thing after the "U" and got stuck because I thought it was a still. I was like: "You booze tent?", "You liquor camp?"...Completely lost.

So did he (and by extension, you) get it?

robirdstx · May 3, 2020

I must confess to looking it up on the Lone Star web site. I will not reveal the answer, but the bird in the first line was the part that made it so hard, for me, to solve.

demiglace · May 3, 2020

4 hours ago, Smithy said:

We're home!

We spent the final road night in yet another Walmart parking lot, and were up very early thanks to a street sweeper cleaning the parking lot at 5:30 a.m. The happy result of that was that we got going earlier than usual. I threw together very perfunctory breakfast sandwiches, and away we went.

This may not look inviting to you, depending on the environment you're used to, but to me it's a sign that we're coming home, and spring is beginning. The pictures don't show it, but there's a faint blush of pink on the maple trees and the barest hint of green wash on the birch.

My flower bed is starting to sprout!

The ramps and chives are coming up!

We have room again! I've been shuffling food from the Princessmobile's freezer and refrigerator and pantries back into the house. I realize that as trailer kitchens go the Princessmobile's is pretty good. Still, it's nothing like home.

Princessmobile:

House:

Of course, in a perfect world there wouldn't have been much to move back in -- but you already know that I failed utterly at paring down the food when grocery stores were readily accessible and filled with items we can't get here. Now the excess should help us minimize trips to town.

I have access to the CSO again! We really, truly finished the last of the meats from Llano for our homecoming dinner. There was one pork rib from Cooper's to be reheated, and 4 stuffed jalapenos from Miller's that got a steam-convection bake treatment in the CSO.

Dinner included potato salad and cole slaw from Cooper's, neither of which is shown here. The peppers were wonderful.

When we finished dinner, my darling said, "See? I told you we should have bought more barbecue in Llano!"

It's been 6 months and some 8,055 miles. You've been great company along the way. I saved this last Lone Star rebus for y'all, since it's so appropriate.

Thanks for reading along!

I'm glad you are home safely. I always enjoy your trip south. Thanks for taking us along!

Kim Shook · May 3, 2020

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

So did he (and by extension, you) get it?

He did. He correctly interpreted that is was not, in fact, a still, but a bird.

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