Still in Round Rock today, just lazing around, not planning on doing nothin' in particular.
For one thing, Dana and Brian had a whole case of Vernors in the fridge when I arrived! So I will see if I can make a dent in that for them.
The Alpine hidden in the garage was quite a hit... They insist on leaving the 'Pine in there while relegating their brand new Honda CRV to driveway parking. Nice kids!
I have heard from a number of you that you have not received all 5 of the "long posts." I have tried to respond to you individually and resend the missing posts but don't have a lot of faith that it is working just right. During this trip I am using my Powerbook laptop with a 2400 (yes, gang, only two zeros on there!) modem, a set-up that I have not used in half-a-dozen years and which is incredibly sloooowww. I am also using AOL, a service which often disappoints.
The long post series (of which this message is NOT a part) is being posted only to the Alpine and Tiger mailing lists. I considered posting to Britishcar and a couple of the others but it just got to be too big a hassle.
I think that those of you who, like me, use one of the digests are having difficulty getting these posts though I don't know why. I note that the long posts have failed to appear on ALL of my Alpine Digests but from individual emails I know at least some of you Alpiners have received them. The posts have shown on up on the Tiger list every time.
Go figger.
I have also attempted individual messages to many of you and think some of them may not have gone through, God knows why.
It does not help that I am often writing and sending this stuff while running on the thin edge of exhaustion. In Brenham the other day, at maybe 4 PM, whilst Janet napped on the bed I was diligently typing away, paused to think a moment and managed to fall asleep at the keyboard! Fingers poised on the keys and everything.
Well, better to fall asleep at the keys than at the wheel...
It looks to me like I have a couple of hundred emails in my account queue. I am trying to respond to direct questions and comments based on senders' names and subject lines. The rest of the stuff I am leaving in the queue for some later date.
I thought I could get all caught up today by using my daughter's HP with 28.8 modem and so forth but I had a hell of a time trying to figger out something called "windows." You have to click on a whole bunch of little icons to have it do much of anything and then it is usually the wrong thing, at that.
So now I am back on the old Macintosh Powerbook, slow but intuitive. The Powerbook and me, both.
So anyway, if you missed a "long post" and would like it just let me know and I will resend. If you ask me to resend and you still don't get it, shake my tree again as it will probably mean that I tried and did not succeed in sending it along.
The current plan is to spend several days here in the Austin area and leave Sunday-Monday, something like that, depending on what may be going on at our place in NM.
We used to live in this area, actually in Wimberley which is about 45 miles from Austin. It is a beautiful area and has an abundance of nice folks but very few LBC's. Also, I can't understand how this area's weather could get so much worse in the last 10 years. Hot and humid as it is here, it is a veritable garden spot when compared to the Gulf Coast and Louisianna.
This area does have great bobbycue and fair Mescan food although the fajitas around here are really great.
The immediate concern for me will be trying to find someplace where I can get theAlpine's radio worked on and another place where I can buy a suitable aftermarket coolant recovery system and a couple of other goodies.
I may try to deal with the bonnet latch but am growing fond of my bungee cord arrangement... I feel it adds a touch of panache, donchaknow? Janet says that all those times I read and re-read "The Grapes of Wrath" have finally paid dividends. The Joads would be proud of us as we motor westward.
--Colin Cobb, Getting Ready For A Nap Outside Austin, TX