We have been in travel mode again and are now in Alamagordo, NM near White Sands and the observatories at Sunspot and Cloudcroft. We plan to spend 4-5 days here seeing the museums, observatories, scenic drives etc.

More to follow in a few days.

Today we woke up to a very cold morning. The temperature went from 93 yesterday to 53 this morning.

We opened up our shades and in our "front yard" we had 7 deer. The deer here are a grayish color vs. the normal brownish color. Interesting. We are on a point of land, looking at the lake. Great sunrise. No one else is here. Peaceful, very quiet.

Today we left Livingston bright and early. We had to be in Dallas area by 2 PM to get our balancers installed. If we didn't make it we would need to wait in their parking lot until morning. Luckily we were there by 1:30 so everything worked out. 

Tonight we are staying on a Lake Benbrook, a COE campground and we are on a lakeside site. Here are some pictures of our location. 

We had encountered a lot of rough roads today. I really didn't want to open the refrigerator or any cabinets. When I opened the refrigerator nothing fell out..........amazing. When I opened one cabinet the maple syrup fell out, lost about 1/4c. on the floor. YUK!!! That is all the problems we had, I expected a lot more.

 

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.