This week, I’ve worked with two new (to me) technologies. Javascript and jQuery, which is programming written to run, not on the server, but on the browser, after the page is loaded, and also using web2py, which is a framework for building web applications. I spent lots of time Google-searching and reading, since one doesn’t want to manually write code that duplicates what the frameworks and utilities already provide.

The challah is 2/3 risen, and will go into the oven at 9:30 AM. We go to my folks tonight for Shabbos Dinner.

Yesterday, we drove down 1 about two miles, crossed over the bridge to A1A, drove up to Atlantic Ave, and came back over that bridge.

A1A runs up and down the small bit of land east of the Florida East Coast Canal, which is part of the Intracoastal Waterway. It’s lined on both sides by what seem to be expensive condominiums and expensive houses. It was about four miles of nothing but residences, with no public beach access. North of Linton, there’s some beach access.

We stopped in Delray Beach, just north of Linton, at a spot where there was a beach access, so we could say hello to the Atlantic Ocean. On Feb 29 of 2010, we said goodbye to the Pacific Ocean. It took us a bit, but we got all the way across, on I-10, the first time I’ve crossed the southern states.

We also visited the “Publix” supermarket. I’m suffering from grocery sticker shock. I can’t believe how expensive things are, here in South Florida.

Orange Juice, 1/2 gal, from concentrate: $2.50 here vs $2.00 in Texas.
Hard cheeses, sliced, supermarket brand: About $6-7/lb here vs $5 in Texas.
Produce: Seems about the same prices, but the selection is smaller, quality is lower, and the stock work is more poorly done. Price stickers and products don’t match up. PLUs are not marked on price cards.

Beef: Very nice beef, but about 50% higher per pound.
Chicken breasts: $2.50/lb vs $1.50. Apperance seems poorer, and I didn’t buy any.
Chicken Thighs: $1.69/lb in both places. Appearance seems about the same.

Eggs: $1.89/doz vs $/1.29 for Large.

On the up side, it’s been in the 70s and occasional 80s every day here.

We persevere.

The significance of this observation is that we are no longer in Mississippi. We made our escape yesterday, after the truck was returned to us. Much work was done, some under warrantee for a repair done last fall, and we left town at about 4:30 PM. We drove till 11, and when we passed the time-zone change to Eastern Time, we realized that it had suddenly become midnight, so we stopped and slept.

We continue on.

Things have not gone according to plan. After our nice overnight in Beaumont, Texas, we spent Sunday on the road heading another 260 miles to Slidell, Louisiana. This was a nice travel day down I-10 into Louisiana, to Baton Rouge, where we did laundry at a college oriented laundromat just adjacent to the LSU campus. We ate lunch in the trailer while the laundry was drying.

I-10 goes down south of Lake Ponchartrain at this point, heading through New Orleans, but we found it “easier” to avoid the Big Easy, by taking I-12 across the top of the lake. Place names are cool here, including such as “Grosse Tete”. We passed a Camping World in Hammond, and got almost all of the small parts we have been looking for, then continued to Slidell, where we spent an uneventful night in the Elks Lodge RV area. Nice spot.

It was cold and rainy when we left Slidell, expecting it to be a four-state day, passing through the very southern tips of Mississippi and Alabama, ending in DeFuniak Springs, FL. It was, however, not to be.

We entered Mississippi by crossing the “Big Muddy,” passed Gulfport, and while we were passing Biloxi, I decided to stop and stretch. It’s a good thing I did. When we hit the bottom of the ramp, I discovered that the truck was not developing full power, that there was black smoke, and that things were Not Good. We pulled into the parking lot at the Home Depot to investigate.

One of my blog commenters — you know who you are — always gives me a hard time about mechanical breakdowns, and yes, here will be another chance.

The end result was that we dropped the trailer in the back parking lot of the Super 8 Motel in D’Iberville, then put the truck into the local Dodge Dealer for diagnosis. We checked into the Super 8. (I suppose I could have tried for a campground, but they were all far out of town, and the Super 8 is right down the block from the Dodge dealer.)

We arrived here on Monday. It’s now Wednesday night — er, Thursday Morning. The diagnosis was low fuel pressure. This is the same problem that afflicted us in Fort Stockton, TX last March, although I didn’t really recognize it. They found the new fuel pump, questioned me about it, and followed their diagnostic procedure, which included dropping the fuel tank, cleaning it out, checking for sediment, and blowing out the fuel lines. While we were at it, I had them put in a new fuel sender, so I’ll have a working fuel gauge again.after 12 years. Once they reassembled the truck, they found that it still didn’t have fuel pressure, so, armed with the receipt from the last time, they are installing a new fuel pump, covered by warrantee. I don’t expect them to cover any of the diagnostic labor.

I want to tell you about the town of Biloxi, MS. It’s a very nice, modern place. I believe that there was lots of rebuilding after Katrina. It’s also a resort town. It has about a half dozen large casino hotels. It has a decent collection of restaurants and stores, and it has both the appropriate auto-repair facility and an Enterprise Rent a Car. In short, it has everything we need to ride out this lilttle bump in our road.

Other than the casinos, the main attraction seems to be fishing. Of course, the weather isn’t really suited for that, and I don’t think we’d be going out on the gulf in any event. There aren’t many museums or other attractions that I can find. Most of the brochures in the motel lobby are for Mobile, AL. We’ve driven around and seen things. We ate in a few Casino Buffets, but there are no particular shows that we want to see, and we don’t gamble any more. Mostly, we’ve been playing Gin Rummy and Cribbage :)

Now, as for the weather. The entire northeast and midwest are suffering from what is being called the “Blizzard of 2011.” Another term I’ve heard is “snowpocalypse.” Here in Biloxi, we’ve got rain, close to freezing temps, and the threat of sleet. We had temps in the 70s on Monday, and in the 30s on Tuesday and Wednesday, with another cold rainy day expected today, Thursday.

I’m hoping to be on the road Friday, and to make it to Florida by Sunday night, after a weekend of driving. We have about 750 miles to go.

We’ve decided to spend the rest of winter, and maybe a bit of spring, with  my parents in Delray Beach, FL.  We left Austin, and now we’re in Beaumont, Texas, where we overnighted at the Elks Lodge.  I’m writing this from the Waffle House.

Yesterday was a perfect travel day, marred by the need to traverse Houston.  Austin to Houston is easy. Just down US-290, a mix of two-lane and four-lane through rural Texas towns.  Houston to Beaumont, is done on US-90, which is another delightful shunpike.

Unfortunately,  Houston was beastly. Not only was there traffic, but we got trapped on the frontage road, where all the entrances to the freeway were closed. The result was a massive backup on the frontage road, that all funneled into one final entrance. It wasn’t pretty.

Anyway, we got there, with nothing but a bit of aggravation, and today, the drive to Slidell, LA will hopefully be easier.

I love to read on my Android phone, using the Aldiko reader, but I don’t buy content that way. I download free content, but still read paper books.

On Sunday morning, about twenty miles east of Fort Stockton TX, the fuel transfer pump on our truck gave up the ghost and died. We were towed back to Ft. Stockton, the trailer was placed in back in the site we had just vacated, and the truck towed to Monahans, TX to the Dodge dealer.

We expect to get it back Thursday or Friday.

On my way back to Fort Stockton in the rental car, I stopped and saw this:

Butterfield Overland Stage Line Historical Marker

This morning, I went to Shul at Chabad of El Paso. Rabbi Greenberg has a fine Chabad House going. Had a good service, got called to the Torah, and we had a fine kiddush afterwards.

Returning home permitted a nice Shabbat nap.

We went out to dinner at Pullaro’s Italian Restaurant. It was very nice.

Monday we are moving on to El Paso.

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Lordsburg had an interesting reputation. If you got your info from reading traveler reviews, you would get the impression that driving by without stopping was the correct approach. I refused. I said that there must be a redeeming feature. In fact, I thought the place was delightful. They had a nice downtown, friendly people, and a good lunch at Kranberry’s Restaurant. The KOA Kampground seems to have a bad rep, and we didn’t visit it, but on the west end of town we spied a gravel field with hookups and a sign saying $20/night. This does not seem to be in any of the books or web sites.

On to Deming. We had stopped at the tourist info booth at the Lordsburg rest area and picked up a brochure for the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum. Built in the old Armory, this is a definite must-see, with collections of dolls, antique vehicles, military memorabilia, art, china, silver and household effects. It’s associated with the Customs House on the other side of the street, which contains an exhibit of the use of the building as a Port of Entry from 1852 to 1900 (or so.) The rest of the house is dedicated to showing antiques and artifacts of earlier times. All well worth seeing. Note, you’re standing in the middle of history. All this is part of the Gadsden Purchase.

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We’re camped at the Dream Catcher RV Park, run by the Escapees organization, of which we’re members. I met a family in the rec room that is traveling to Carlsbad with their children. They’re full-time on the road, and homeschooling. I recommended that school be in session at the museum tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow we’ll go get our mail in Las Cruces, and overnight, either there or in El Paso, Texas!

It was a frustrating day driving, with some road work, some mistakes, like getting stuck in an outlet mall instead of finding a freeway entrance, etc. I need to learn to take things easier.

Since this was a travel day, here’s a chance for me to share a photo of our home, rigged for travel:

Here's a shot of our rig, bicycle, truck and trailer and barely visible spouse, ready to hit the road.

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