We have a planned week in Livingston, TX. We will become Texans as a first step toward our full time life style. We also need some work done on the RV which is scheduled.

As a first step we needed to get the MH and car inspected. The car had a problem, the "spoiler"(don't know how else to describe it) had come loose. We thought we would need to buy a whole new bottom "cover" for the car. The inspection was done at a body shop so we asked them to look at it. They had a good laugh at our "repairs". Duct tape and zip ties, it was a good temporary fix. They did indicate it they could get the parts and have the car fixed this week. After examining the car it was determined we need some plastic screw like things(clips?) to hold the 2 pieces together. That was all. 1 hour of shop time and $1.25 for parts.

Next was getting the cars registered. Stopped at that office next and registered all 3 vehicles, very easy to do. Next we went to the drivers license office, unfortunately they were closed(a water pipe had broken).

We were planning to go to Conroe to get new batteries from Sams for the MH and decided to stop at the Cleveland DL office, line was out the door. Later this week we will try a smaller office in a small town. Hopefully that will work better.

Our week progressed according to plan. This is amazing in itself. We went to a smaller town(DL office only open 2 days a week) and got our DL's. Another step completed.

Took the MH in for its servicing. We had a broken window replaced, new batteries put in and a new battery monitor. The service facility had an extensive parts department so Tom kept adding things he has been looking for to our bill. In then end we were there for 3 hours  but everything is done. On Monday we have our last appointment near Dallas to get some permanent wheel balance's put in.

After all this we can start our wanderings toward Phoenix again.

We went out to dinner last night at the local Cajun restaurant. Food was very good. Entering the restaurant we saw this(make sure you read the sign):

All and all we had a quiet week. Would have liked a little more "home" time to get things better organized but we managed all the basics and our full-timing life is beginning. Now we just need to sell the house and we will be on the road.

This week I also had a computer problem the has chewed up a lot of "home" time. It has been resolved so I am now just playing catch up on the computer backlog.

Some random info about RVing:

We know we are in Texas when the speed limits are 70-75 on country roads, many 2 lane and some with minimum shoulder. I don;t think the police want to  be bothered with speeding tickets so the speed limits were increased. I personally  think 60 is more reasonable and I have a heavy foot,

Slow traffic drives on the shoulder and you never know if you should pass them or not. Then, they may pull out in front of you.

Y'all is the normal greeting.

Lots of Cajun and BBQ places.

Many small towns appear to be dying.


                            

I haven't written anything for a few days as we have been on the move. With Maria coming we left Nags Head and began our trip to Texas. We had no plans for any stops along the way. We are having an interesting trip. Traffic has generally been good, very good roads except for a spot in South Carolina. We have been seeing an inordinate amount of police on the road and broken down cars. Don't know what is going on. In addition to that  we have seen 2 car fires and a fire at the Atlanta Airport that had flames going 50-75 feet in the air and a lot of black smoke. We tend to travel 225-275 miles a day, driving the motor home is not like driving a car and we are in no rush.

As we are going to be in Livingston, TX for a week we are busy making appointments. First was the motor home to get the broken window replaced, a battery monitor installed and some new batteries. I won;t even go into the battery saga in full detail but we have truely abused all the batteries in the motor home and are getting AGM batteries plus a better battery monitor to check on them. We need to go to 2 different Sams Clubs to get the batteries for installation so one day is dedicated to getting our batteries. Mostly we have filled up the entire week with things to do or appointments.

We will become Texans while here to begin our full timing life in the RV. With that in mind we need to have our wills etc. updated so have an appointment with a lawyer(who is an RVer) that caters to full time RVers and their unique problems. It is wonderful to belong to an organization with all this support. Makes our  lives so much easier.

After Livingston we need to go up to Dallas to get some wheel balancers installed and then we will spend some time in New Mexico. Except for the Balloon Festival we never seem to spend any time in New Mexico, just drive through.

Every time we try to visit the Outer Banks we seem to have something that goes wrong and our plans fall apart. I think this is the third time we have tried to come here and haven't been successful yet. We had planned to leave Wednesday but may leave on Tuesday. We will make that decision later today.

With Maria bearing down and changing her course we are giving up on the Outer Banks. We will be leaving the area and begin heading toward Livingston, TX. We have an appointment to have some work done on the RV while in Livingston including replacing the window that broke while in storage. Everything is working out for the best.

Today we drove down to Cape Hatteras Light House, We arrived there to find out all visitors had to be heading north by 12N in 45 minutes, Long drive for not much. Good thing we had decided to move to a commercial campground the day before and made a reservation as all campgrounds in Cape Hatteras were shut down.

   This is the lucky ranger who told us we all had to leave.

  Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, unique base

First thing we did today was visit the Wright Brothers Memorial. A new visitor center is being built, not much else going on. We toured the site and took our pictures. Brass sculptures of the initial flight were done and are quit fascinating and beautiful. 

Today we went up to Corolla and the northern end of the island. We stopped and visited the Currituck Lighthouse and the historic park. I can't walk very long yet but am working on it. It is not so much the knee when walking it is the repercussions later in the day, the knee slowly gets tired. Nothing unexpected, just frustration at not being able to do what I want to do.

Several items of note on our drive. The number of rental units is phenomenal. I never knew that renting an "apartment" was so popular. I guess groups or families get together and rent a unit for a week or two for vacation. We were just surprised at how many units are available. The road is only a 2 lane road, traffic in the summer must be bumper to bumper. There doesn't seem to be many restaurants or stores on the northern end to support what the summer population must be.

We had planned to visit the wild horses in Corolla but the area is totally commercialized. The horses are only viewable with a 4wd vehicle or a commercial jeep tour. Not like Assateague where the horses just wander around for everyone to see. Very disappointed in the commercialism and we were not interested in the jeep tours.

                                                            

Currituck Lighthouse