Wichita

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Well Fed In Wichita

Normally when I do driveway camping, I’m on my own for meals. Oh, I of course have a few with my hosts, but we pretty much stick to our own routines. L informed me upon arrival that he had stocked up on extra groceries for my visit. He made a nice breakfast my first two mornings and a really yummy saukerkraut and pork chop crock pot dinner last night.

His daughter and I got talking about food and when it came out that I love Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food, she suggested we have lunch yesterday at Le Monde cafe and deli, a cozy restaurant with a mostly Mediterranean menu. What a joy it was to share an entrée of hummus and pita with someone!

This morning, L and I went next door to B&S’ for brunch (a couple I had met on the beach). I had breakfast burritos for the first time! I don’t eat eggs, so I’ve always stayed cleared of those, but S’ mix was much heavier on the sausage and veggies than the eggs, so they went down just fine.

After gabbing and about a gallon of coffee each, L and I headed out for an afternoon of sightseeing.

We started off by taking in the Keeper of the Plains, a monument that stands at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers (Ar-kan-zes, not Ar-ken-sa!).

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This monument represents the local indigenous peoples and marks their sacred ground. There are some informational panels near the monument.

Next, I asked that we go downtown so I could photograph the statues along main street. We had a lot of fun getting photographs with those, but I’ll go easy on L and not publish the rather saucy ones. 🙂
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Next, we headed over to the River City Brewery for something cold (and non-alcoholic) to drink where L left me in charge of his valuables.

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We then went across the street to the Museum of World Treasures, one of the most amazing museums I have ever been to. It is an eclectic personal collection of everything from dinosaur bones to Egyptian mummies, WWII memorabilia, and autographs. We could only take pictures on the third and first stories, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that the war and royalty exhibits were impressive!
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We then headed back to the River City Brewery for a late lunch/early dinner. The Brewery makes a variety of beers and only serves its own brews. We put in an order for the pulled pork special and L asked me if I wanted a beer because he wanted one. I took a glance at the menu and suggested we order the sampler, which got us NINE small glasses of beer (it came out to about two beers per person).

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We were a little surprised to discover that our BBQ pulled pork sandwiches came topped with creamy coleslaw, but it wound up being really yummy!

The beers were mostly great! There were a few that neither one of us liked and a few that one of us disliked, but we mostly agreed. I really liked their fruity Maibock as well as their Old Town Brown. L like the brown one too as well as the Emerald City Stout, while I found that latter one lacking in mouthfeel and preferred, to my surprise, the milk stout that had a maple syrupy finish.

We had our stouts with a stout and pretzel brownie, not that we were able to finish it. 🙂

It was a really fun day. Thanks, L!

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All the Gruesome Details

Warning, this post contains GROSS photos below the video. Proceed at your own risk!

I was not able to get video of the damage, but I do have pictures. Again, these are GROSS.

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So as you can see, the pipe that goes straight down into the tank as well as the top of the tank are all melted away. The tank is not patchable or usable.

Now, even if I found an RV shop that had the right tank in stock (not likely; research tells me this is a order it and get it in a couple of weeks type of product as there are too many to keep a selection in stock), it’s one more expense that I am going to struggle to cover cover. And that’s the subject of my next post.

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The Situation Goes From Bad to Much, Much, Much, Much Worse

L is in the process of repairing the grey water line. Not a problem, that’s going well. There is a but coming.

All that time under the rig has enabled him to get his bearings and he was able to find proof that the blowout caused the exhaust pipe problem because there are skid marks on the bottom of the black water tank.

And not only that… the heat wicked up the top of the black water tank and there is a fist-sized hole in the very top of it.

I think I’ve earned the right to go cry now. I don’t think I even need an estimate on what it’s going to cost to pull and replace my black tank to warrant shedding a few (lots of) tears because we all know it’s going to be beaucoup bucks.

I’m so depressed.

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An Engineer’s Assessment

L has spent considerable time under the rig today and his professional opinion is that the blowout, not the jack, caused the exhaust and plumbing problem. He thinks that, based on the angle of the pipe break, the shredded tire caught the exhaust pipe and brought it up while also breaking the water line.

I think that this is a case where we’ll never know for sure. The only other clue I have is this photo:

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We can clearly see that the exhaust pipe is missing and that the jack handle is exactly where the exhaust pipe would be sticking out.

If what L says is true, then the exhaust pipe was already up against the sidewall, which means Cramer didn’t see it and that that issue is absolutely not their fault.

That doesn’t eliminate the fact that the ‘new’ tire they put on is bad (L tried to add air to it and it wouldn’t stay inflated), but Cramer’s part in this drama does seem to be significantly reduced.

This is why I like to get all the facts before I start saying bad things about people or start waving my fists around.

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Good Food, Good Friends, Not So Good Movies

L has a ritual that he goes out with some of his friends a few weekends a month for dinner and a movie. I was invited to tag along tonight.

I was asked for my vote for dinner and didn’t want to suggest anything since I prefer for locals to choose the best option. Cheddar’s Casual Café came up as a definite finalist and I was happy to agree to that.

I had the same thing as I did at the Cheddar’s in Selma, a spicy sweet chicken and shrimp combo. Nothing else on the menu was as remotely appealing, even though everything looked great! I ordered mashed potatoes with gravy on the side and the gravy was white! I need to order gravy at every stop and see when it changes to brown! 🙂

For the movie, we went to see ‘Mud’, a coming of age story with a lot of potential but too much length. I’d give it a 4.5 and L would give it at 3. It’s one of those movies where the characters are much more interesting than is the story. It was the first movie I’ve seen in a theatre since I left Virginia!

The movie is set (and was filmed) in Arkansas. Why is that state ‘Ar-ken-sah’ while the state I am in right now, Kansas, is ‘Kan-zes’?