And So it Begins

Today we begin a motorhome trip from Nacogdoches, TX to Southern California. This will be our first long trip since we traded for a new motorhome last summer. Our intention is to be in Newport Beach for the birth of our grand daughter. The distance is a few miles shy of 1,600. Today is Wednesday and we plan to complete the trip on Sunday afternoon. Oh, we haven't left yet, either.

We hope to be on the road around 3:00 or 4:00 pm this afternoon and drive 91 miles to the Cracker Barrel restaurant on I-20 near Tyler, TX. They allow overnight parking and have a very large parking lot. We will stop there and overnight so we can get an early start tomorrow after a great breakfast in restaurant. We will then have four full days to travel the remaining 1,500 miles. That's only an average of 375 miles of Interstate Highway a day, or about six or seven hours per day of driving time. It's mostly straight and flat so we should be there in time, unless Siena decides to make an early debut. No need to worry about something we can't control.

We will be gone about four weeks and I plan to post reports of the trip here. I hope that I have nothing exciting to write about, unless it is something we witness rather than being the subject of the excitement. We seem to have a knack for finding trouble when we go on long trips in the motorhome. Wish us better luck, please.

A New Chapter Begins

This past August we sold our 2007 Fleetwood Discovery and purchased a 2016 Thor Challenger. We went from diesel to gas, complex to simple, and, hopefully, more expense to less expensive (nothing is cheap about motorhoming!). If you have followed this blog in the past you may be aware of the bad luck that seemed to accompany us in the Discovery. Particularly on our long trips to Mexico and Canada. We hope the black cloud remained with the Discovery and better luck will follow us in the new motorhome.

Even though we have had the new motorhome for 4 or 5 months, we have been too busy to go on any trips in it. Until this weekend, that is. We went on a short trip with our local chapter of the Good Sam RV Club. It was 3 days and nights at a KOA in Rusk, TX, only about 45 miles each way. It was an almost eventless trip and our “fix it” list for the dealer is rather short and without anything major.

The key word in the previous sentence is “almost.” We did have one rather startling, yet humorous experience. It happened as we were getting ready for the group’s “pot luck” supper. Carol Ann was going to bake a corn casserole in the convection microwave (we use the gas oven as a bread box) if we could figure out how to use it! I got out the manufacturer’s manual which was not much help. There were about 15 pages of installation instructions and only about a half page of user instructions. After several attempts we managed to set it properly and the baking began. It needed 45 minutes of cooking time and due to the delay in starting would have to go immediately from the oven to the clubhouse once the time expired. We gathered our paper plates, utensils, and other necessities and put them in a shopping bag, ready to grab and go.

As soon as the timer reached zero, I removed the very hot casserole from the oven while Carol Ann filled two cups with ice and grabbed a couple of drinks from the fridge. At the last minute she decided to take a plastic pitcher of ice with us and as she was taking it from the freezer, lost her grip and ice cubes were bouncing all over the floor between the fridge and the motorhome’s door. The 3 steps in the step well to the door were covered in ice cubes. I got down on my hands and knees and began rounding them up but I managed to loose my balance and fall against the wall. All of a sudden there was a very loud “honking” noise and everything went white for a couple of seconds, much like being in a white out during a blizzard. I was a bit shaken until I realized as I fell against the wall I had bumped into the CO2 fire extinguisher mounted in the step well and caused it to briefly discharge. At least we know it works but we will have to clean up the white powder coating the lower portion of the fridge and the floor in front of it.

We hope this was not a portent of things to come in our new motorhome. We have a big trip coming up next month and are hoping it will be uneventful. Stay tuned to find out.

How to Legally Carry a Concealed Weapon in Your Home State Without the Hassle of a Permit from Your State

Did you know that a resident of Texas may LEGALLY carry a concealed weapon in Texas, or in about 25 other states, without having a Texas Concealed Handgun License (CHL)? Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

I recently received an email from Groupon, a deal-of-the-day website from which I have made several purchases at significant discounts. I opened the email to see what offer was currently being made and was surprised to find a coupon from THE CARRY ACADEMY. It offered an online concealed handgun license course for $25 (a $49.99 value according to the coupon). THE CARRY ACADEMY said this course would satisfy the requirement of about half the states in the U.S.

I read further to discover how this could possibly be. THE CARRY ACADEMY website boasts, “You don’t need range time or to spend an entire day in a classroom learning the basics of firearm safety.” And, “The steps needed to obtain a concealed carry permit have never been easier.” This was followed by these “quick and easy steps”:

1. Register online.

2. Watch the 30-minute handgun safety video.

3. Take a 20-question test.

There were two sample test questions displayed:

1. Mechanical safeties are foolproof and will never fail.

            A) True

            B) False

2. When cleaning a gun, it is important to:

            A) use as much oil as possible

            B) be sure not to over-oil

            C) read the handgun’s manual

I doubt anyone with half a brain would fail the test if those two questions were typical of the others. Even if you did manage to somehow fail the test, don’t worry, you may retake it as many times as is necessary to pass it. After passing the test simply print your certificate and mail it in.

Say this ain’t so! Surely this was a mistake. I began searching the Internet and I actually turned up a number of similar online courses. I couldn’t believe it. All seemed to follow the same basic format. Watch a video, pass a brief test, and print your certificate. According to the various websites the entire process should only take about 45 minutes of your time. The fees ranged from $19.95 to over $100.

One of the online CHL websites stated that any U.S. military veteran may be eligible to carry a concealed pistol without any training or testing what so ever in one-half of the states in the U.S. At least Texas limits it to only those veterans who apply during the first year after discharge. All they have to do is fill out a Virginia Non-Resident Concealed Handgun Permit application, provide fingerprints, photo, a copy of their DD-214 (proof of military service), and the $117 fee, of course. Virginia? But I live in Texas! I know for a fact that Texas requires 4 to 6 hours of classroom plus additional time on a firing range in order to demonstrate your proficiency with the firearm.

As it turns out, Virginia is one the easiest, if not the easiest, states in which to obtain a CHL. The state’s requirements are such that only a short gun safety video and passing a 20-question test are all the training necessary to apply for the Non-Resident CHL, which may be valid in your state. This is based upon something called reciprocity (more on this in the next paragraph). This bypasses the tougher requirements imposed by your home state. It is all done online and through the mail. You don’t ever have to leave your home state, much less visit Virginia. You simply provide the Virginia State Police with a passport photo, a set of your fingerprints on an official law enforcement fingerprint card, the certificate you printed after passing the online test, and $117 (for a five year license). The Virginia State Police will run a background check on you prior to issuing the CHL. If everything checks out you will receive your Virginia Non-Resident Concealed Carry Permit by return mail.

These CHL requirements don’t even come close to meeting the training and education requirements mandated by Texas state law (or about 25 other states). The fact is that Texas and these other states maintain a CHL reciprocity agreement with the state of Virginia. In other words, Virginia honors a Texas CHL and Texas honors a Virginia CHL. This means that a citizen of Texas who has a Virginia Non-resident Concealed Carry Permit, yet without meeting the classroom time or proficiency training required by the state of Texas can legally carry a concealed weapon in Texas. And the state of Texas may never even know! Just doesn’t seem right, does it?

As a retired pharmacist I am familiar with reciprocity of licenses. For a state to reciprocate a pharmacist’s license, the education and training requirements of the two states must essentially be the same. Even then a pharmacy law exam must be taken and passed in the state to which the pharmacist is moving. Apparently, the reciprocity of CHLs does not require the reciprocating states to have similar requirements of training nor is the applicant required to be familiar with the Texas firearms regulations. This is ridiculous.

Almost 600,000 Texans, roughly one out of every 45 residents, hold active Texas CHLs. Who knows how many more have nonresident permits from other states.

(NOTE: This blog assumes no responsibility or liability for any brainless actions that may be taken based upon the content of this blog.)

Abilene

Carol Ann and I are in Abilene, TX tonight. Abilene is 386 miles from our home in Nacogdoches (in east Texas), but is still not actually considered to be in west Texas. El Paso is another 450 miles west on I-20. We will be “dry camping” (no electric, water, or sewer) in our motorhome for the next four nights. It’s not exactly roughing it. We have our own generator, water tank, and waste tanks. We are here to attend the “Legends and Outlaws Music Fest,” three days of Texas music in an outdoor venue consisting of a large stage, plenty of open space for the audience, and RV parking in a lot behind the audience. There are a lot of trees, cottonwoods I believe, but there isn’t one leaf between all of them so they won’t be offering any shade. Shade would be good as it will be sunny with temps in the low 80’s. Fortunately the humidity is not high. It hasn’t rained an appreciable amount out here in years due to the extended drought.

There were a lot of little problems that seemed to plague us today. Before leaving this morning we were chasing cats around the house and in the backyard. We had planned to take three of our five cats with us but finally decided to make do with only one, Goblin. She is a bit overweight, tends to waddle when trying to run, and wasn’t fast enough to escape. The house sitter will have the other four plus our dog for company.

It was gray and overcast morning with a temperature of about 55 degrees when we finally got on the road. It soon began misting and then the rain poured down hard for a while. However, by the time we reached Dallas, the sky was clear and sunny with the temperature heading for the 80’s. West of Fort Worth the wind picked up as it often does out on the plains.  It wasn’t long before my neck and shoulders were aching from working so hard with the steering wheel to stay in my lane.

We stopped to top off our fuel and propane tanks when we were about 90 miles from Abilene. I wanted to make sure we had plenty of diesel for the generator and enough propane for the fridge, hot water heater, and heat if needed. Diesel fuel was no problem but the Flying J did not have the right kind of adapter to fit my propane tank’s fill valve so our propane tank is only about a third full.  That should be enough if we don’t need heat, and it doesn’t look like we will.

After we drove up the dirt road and across the red dirt RV parking lot our midnight blue tow car was completely red. The RV parking is in a field with very little vegetation but with a lot of red dirt. It was windy today so everything is coated with a fine, red dust. We disconnected the car only to find that it would not start.  Three guys helped me push it out of the way and after we got the motorhome parked and setup I got some help jumping the car off. 

If we need anything in the way of supplies we have to make sure we get them before 2PM tomorrow. That’s when the music starts and there will be no pass outs, which means we are locked in until Sunday morning. If the car doesn’t start in the morning I won’t be able to bet to the beer store!

Unless you are familiar with Texas music you probably wouldn’t recognize the names of many of the artists that will be performing over the next three days. I suppose the biggest name is Leon Russell. Unfortunately, he died a few months ago so will not be performing as scheduled. It’s unfortunate because Leon was a prolific songwriter, writing songs for the likes of Joe Cocker, Elton John, Tom Petty, J.J. Cale, Phoebe Snow, Ray Charles, Dusty Springfield, Whitney Houston, Willie Nelson, Christina Aguilera, and Michael Buble. Leon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

This is Leon doing one of my favorites, Delta Lady.

The others include:

·      Robert Earl Keene (this blog is named after one of his songs, The Road Goes On Forever)

·      Gary P. Nunn (he talks about one he wrote, Redneck Mother, and sings it at Up Against the Wall)

·      Ray Wylie Hubbard (one of his best is Screw You, We're From Texas)

·      Billy Joe Shaver (a good one is Live Forever)

·      Jason Boland (meet Jason and the band here, The Texas Music Scene)

·      Tommy Alverson (listen to Una Mas Cerveza)

The other dozen or more performers I have never heard of but am planning on enjoying them all. I’ll be sure and let you know all about it.

Post Script:  I have added a photo page (see right hand column) where I will be posting some of the picutres I take at the music fest.

"Django Unchained," The Movie

Carol Ann and I watched “Django Unchained” on DVD Friday afternoon. When it was over neither of us where quite sure what to say, except, yes, it was definitely a Quinton Tarantino movie. I don’t do movie reviews but I felt it my duty to say something about this movie. It was campy, violent, funny, exaggerated, totally unbelievable, and way over the top but it was certainly entertaining.

The movie has quite a cast with Jamie Foxx as Django (who seems to be channeling both Lee Van Cleef and Clint Eastwood); Christoph Waltz (never heard of him but he has won two Oscars!) as the bounty hunter/dentist Dr. King Schultz; Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie the owner of the Candieland plantation; Don Johnson as Gatlinburg, TN plantation owner Spencer Gordon Bennet (aka Big Daddy); Samuel L. Jackson as the sadistic old slave Stephen; and Kerry Washington (of TV’s Scandal) as Django’s wife Broomhilda, aka Hildi.

The movie begins with Django and five or six other runaway slaves being returned in chains, to their owner. Dr. Schultz, a bounty hunter/dentist, intercepts the group, kills the two cowboy escorts, and frees the slaves. Dr. Schultz was looking for Django because he can identify three slave overseers who are wanted dead or alive for murder. Django joins him with the understanding that after they find and kill the wanted men and collect the bounty they will locate and rescue Django’s German-speaking, slave wife, Broomhilda. They travel from Texas to Gatlinburg, TN, find the three overseers on Big Daddy’s plantation, and kill them. They then head out Greenville, MS to rescue Broomhilda.

When they ride through small towns on their way to Mississippi it is reminiscent of “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” By the time they reach Greenville Django has learned to read, his language has improved from that of a black slave to almost perfect English. While sitting at a bar, a white man asks him in a condescending tone, "Do you know how to spell your name?" Django replies, "D-J-A-N-G-0. The D is silent."  In addition his language skills improving markedly he also goes from never having touched a gun to being the fastest gun in the South plus an expert marksman who never misses his target.

In most movies when someone is shot they immediately drop dead without so much as a whisper. However, in Tarantino movies such as “Django Unchained” and “Pulp Fiction” the camera changes to slow-motion as the shooter’s bullet “thwacks” into the shootee’s torso with a spray of blood and then explodes from the shootee’s back in a torrent of blood and body parts while the unfortunate man screams and goes through gyrations that would make an Olympic gymnast proud before dropping to the ground and giving it one final twitch.

What I didn’t expect was the “Blazing Saddles” type of humor scattered throughout the movie. Don Johnson’s “Raid” on the bounty hunters was hilarious.  In revenge for the killing of his three slave overseers he forms a 30-man posse, which rides out into night with torches and wearing cloth hoods. When the posse stops near the bounty hunters’ camp to discuss strategy, they begin bickering among themselves about the bags because they can’t see well with them over their heads. The holes are too small, too far apart, or too close together. The hoods were made by the wife of one of the men, whose feelings are hurt because his wife had spent all day sewing the hoods. Don Johnson finally shouts, “Goddamn it! This is a raid! I can't see, you can't see! So what? All that matters is can the fuckin' horse see! That's a raid!”

If they are supposed to be the KKK that’s a problem because the setting of the movie is the pre-civil war south and the KKK wasn’t formed until after the war.

At the end of the movie Dr. Shultz is killed in the Candieland plantation house. A wild shoot out then ensues in which Django single handedly kills 20 men without suffering so much as a scratch himself. He and Hildi then ride off into the night as dynamite blows the plantation house to smithereens in the background. 

In addition to the violence, there was also some rather foul language. According to the IMDb website the N-word is used 116 times. There are 31 F-words, 13 S-words, GD is uttered 30 times, and there are scores of “ass,” “bitch,” “bastard,” and “hell.”

The Power of Influence (or Money)

In 2011, Alice Walton, the Wal-Mart heiress from Bentonville, AR was driving home from her 62nd birthday party in Fort Worth when she received a drunken driving citation (DUI) from a Texas State Trooper after being pulled over for driving 71 mph in a 55 mph zone in Parker County Texas.  She was booked and released on $1,000 bond. According to John Forest, the Parker County prosecutor, his office has two years from the date of the DUI citation to pursue (I assume that means prosecute) the case against Walton.  The Trooper who cited Walton was placed subsequently placed on a two-year suspension with pay for alleged misconduct.   His suspension will not be over by the October 7 deadline and thus will not be available to testify in the case.  Walton’s Fort Worth attorney, Dee Kelly, says the matter has been resolved without a formal charge being filed.

In 1998 Walton received a DUI in the Springdale District Court in Arkansas.  She was convicted of driving under the influence and hitting a gas meter.  Reportedly, she told the responding police officer, “I’m Alice Walton, bitch!”  She paid several hundred dollars in fines but received no jail time.

Walton was involved in a 1989 automobile accident in Arkansas that resulted in the death of a 50-year old woman.  No charges were filed.

Alice Walton was recognized by Time Magazine as one of the world’s most influential people of 2012.