Finding Del Rancho

Momoko wanted us to eat at Del Rancho. They are known for their huge fried steak sandwiches. The closest one was in the big city. We took a drive on the back roads to get there. When we arrived, I was surprised that this was a car hop. I assumed it was a restaurant. They did have indoor seating if your wanted.

We went in and all ordered some fried steak sandwiches. Momoko and Little Kat also had fried ocra, while I chose picklos. Those are deep dried pickles. On the way home, we found that grandpa did not know the code for us to get into his garage. He locked up and armed the house. We had to wait until a relative was contacted for the correct code. Ooops.

After grandpa came home, Little Kat was put to work to use a wey-dry vacuum to clean out the storm shelter. I thought they had some water down there. Nope. Grandpa needed the leaves cleaned out of there. I used the opportunity to check out the shelter. It was smaller than I imagined. There was a steep set of stairs down into it. The seats were small too.

Meeting Love's

Early in the week, we went to visit the small town where Momoko's grandfather lived. There was still some family in the area. First I got some diet coke with diet cherry at Sonic for Momoko. Also got some ear plugs at Walmart to protect the ears from gun fire.

We stopped at a gas station called Love's. I filled up the minivan. Momoko spotted a $22 fatigue jacket for Little Kat. He did not want us to buy it. At our destination, the small town had a lot of red dirt roads. Luckily they were dry. We met with Momoko's great uncle and aunt.

Great uncle led us to a shooting ridge with his 4x4. It had a flat tire so he had to fill it with air. Little Kat rode with him, and spied on all kinds of treasures in his barn when they filled up the tire. This was like a scene out of American Pickers.

Great uncle filled pumped water from a well into a large bin for cows to drink and frackers to use when mining oil. Many cows came by because great uncle fed them. However the cows avoided humans. We filled up four empty Tropicana orange juice jugs to use for target practice. I was surprised that we could hit the targets from a good distance using the 22 caliber rifle and 20 gauge shotgun.

We needed to get closer to the targets with the 45 caliber pistol. I cut my left thumb due to gun recoil when using the 45 caliber. While leaving the small town, we visited the graveyard to find elaborate headstones including pictures on them. Then we got some Diary Queen for a late lunch, followed by a long drive home.

Kit Kat Departs

Kit Kat needed to leave for home the day after we arrived on vacation. Her spring break did not coincide with everyone else's. There was only one direct flight home for her to take. It was the red eye. I woke up early and my iPad said it was 5am. It took about an hour for me to realize my iPad was on the wrong time zone. I woke up too early.

Eventually everyone else got up. I warmed up our rental. We dropped Momoko and Kit Kat at the departure lane. Grandpa and I drove the rental to the edge of the airport and waited. Momoko called maybe ten minutes later saying Kit Kat was past security. Her flight was so early that it was not full like ours.

The family went to Walmart later that day. We bought some cheap 20 gauge shotgun shells for around five bucks. Little Kat, grandpa, and I planned to go shooting early in the week. At night we got a dinner for four at the local Chinese food restaurant. It was a lot of food.

Vacation Begins

Vacation finally arrived. We arrived early at the airport. We were sitting there at the gate for over two hours. A guy from the airlines motioned for me to come over to the desk. He asked if I was with my family. I said yes. He gave me some pre-board passes to go to the front of the line during plane boarding. Sweet.

When I got on board, there were some flight attendants talking. I waited near the door of the plane. Then one of the attendants walked down the row a little bit. He spent a long time trying to get a back in the overhead. I decided to move to the next row. I could not get by him. The dude got rude and told me to wait. I said okay. After struggling for a while, he got the bag in and repeated that I needed to wait. I shrugged and said what do you want me to do? I was waiting. He then directed me to my seat.

Little Kat was disappointed that since we got the pre-board passes, we sat in the same row with him in the middle. Momoko and I liked it because we were the first people to leave the plan at our destination. When I got in the airport, I went to the rental car place because our plane was late. I was happy to find that they rented me a Toyota Sienna minivan. I thought we would only get a Dodge Caravan.

We used Little Kat's phone for navigation. At one point, the phone instructed me to turn right on the ramp. How vague. Momoko hand carried a letter that Kit Kat received back at home. Kit Kat started her vacation a week earlier. And we met her at grandma's. Kit Kat got a grant for around $4000 per year. Unfortunately that is just a dent in her expensive four year university costs each year.

Vacation Duties

Last year I tried to take Christmas week off from work. I was not allowed. At that point I declared that my next vacation would be two weeks long. And now I am on vacation. I scheduled my first week to coincide with Kit Kat's spring break. That did not do me much good because we sent her to visit grandma for spring break.

So on my week off, I am taking care of as many items on the To Do list as possible. The biggest item is the patio. The far side of the patio is falling down. The reason is the retaining wall holding it up is in disrepair. I tried to ask my handyman to work on this, but he does not do masonry. Then I called our concrete guys. They must have been too busy because they did not get back to me.

The wall is made of lots of relatively thin flagstone. Looks good. But the construction was shoddy. So I have been hauling loads of cinder block and crushed drainage rock from Lowe's to our house with my pickup truck. The only good news was that there was a layer of flagstone buried at the base of the bottom of the wall. I left that in there.

I built up cinder blocks from the base after tearing everything down. When I got to the top, I chose smaller cinder blocks and concrete slabs to even out the top. I made sure crushed rock was directly behind the wall to control water drainage. Everything is a pretty snug fit. Might need to mix some concrete to seal the deal.

Kit Kat Leaves Us

Yesterday afternoon, Kit Kat printed out her boarding pass for her flight today. She was at the end of the A section. That is good enough to get any seat she wants in the back of the plane. This morning we got up and went to lunch together as a family like normal. Kit Kat had her suitcase in the back of the car because we would take her to the airport right after lunch.

At the restaurant, the host tried to seat us in between two tight tables. I asked if he could put us in the corner where we like it. He made a note to sit us there in the future (we go to the same restaurant every Saturday). At lunch, I asked Kit Kat is she had any cash. She said she found a few dollars. Doh! You should always have a bit of cash while on travel. So right after lunch we walked to my bank, and I got a bunch of Andrew Jacksons out of the ATM.

Little Kat had to drive Momoko's car today. His car is in the shop getting some axle work done. Little Kat drove us to lunch, but wanted someone else to drive to the airport. I took the wheel. We confirmed that hourly parking charges a maximum of $22 per day. That is good because when Kit Kat returns, we plan to just leave the car in hourly parking for her to pick up.

The lines at SouthWest were really long. Luckily Kit Kat had printed her boarding pass already. So we got in the fast moving line. Kit Kat checked her one bag. Little Kat liked that suitcase because it has four wheels and moves easily. We all watched as Kit Kat waited in a short line to pass security. When she got through and I could no longer see her, we left the airport.

This evening we tried out a new steakhouse close to our home. But that's a story for another time.

Vehicle Maintenance

Little Kat drove to pick up his friend the other day. Kit Kat had to come with him since he is not allowed to drive friends alone (that's the rule of the law, not my rule). As they were coming home with Little Kat's friend, a lady waved them down and informed them that they lost a hubcap.

Not a problem. It happened to me before. I just order a new one online. It came in a few days. Little Kat and I put it on the car. Little Kat exclaimed that it looked different than the others. It was shiny and had no scuffs. That will not last long.

I had been spying something hanging from Little Kat's car. It was visible from the back underneath the bumper. Today I drove his car into our carport. I put down a blanket and looked under the car. Yep. Some duct tape that was holding the plastic bumper cover in place was coming undone.

I showed Little Kat what was happening. Told him I have a few band aids keeping the cosmetic pieces of the car intact. I secured the piece with more duct tape and some rope. That will hold for a few years. Next up - the family says that Little Kat's car makes some noise when it turns. Time to take this thing into the shop to get it checked out.