We Are Still In Texas

We are supposed to be in Arizona in the sunshine, but where are we?  We are near Dallas. We arrived in Dallas on Thursday and since then we have encountered, snow, ice, cold and now rain.  This is not the vacation we had planned.


The view from the RV Friday morning.

Okay, so what happened?  Well, our plan was to visit Livingston, TX for a few days and take care of business.  Dad needed to update his driver license for driving the RV.  In Texas, you have to have a Class B license if your RV is over 26,0001 pounds.  Ours is not when it is empty, but when it is full it is.  Dad wanted to make sure he was legal, plus we are hoping to get an even bigger RV, but we will tell you about that later.  We arrived in Livingston and Dad took his written test and then he had to schedule a driving test.  They will not let you schedule it until you pass your written test.  Texas has a waiting list for driving tests.  Dad was able to schedule his test for two weeks later.  That meant we had to cancel the Good Sam's Rally in AZ.  The folks drove from license office to license office trying to get an earlier appointment.  The offices do not answer the phone, so that is what you have to do.  Unfortunately, you have to wait in line just to ask a question at the offices. The folks waited in line for 2.5 hours at one office.  Mom felt it was hopeless.  She found a number for customer service and the website said the best time to call was between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m.  Mom started calling at 7 a.m.  She finally was put on hold at 7:40 a.m. and was able to speak to an operator at 8 a.m.  She was told there was an appointment available on February 23rd in Austin.  We took that appointment.  Since Dad was pretty sick with a cold, we kept putting off leaving Livingston.  We ended up leaving on the 22nd.  The weather in Austin was cold and ice was predicted.  The folks were nervous that the appointment would be canceled.  We followed Dad to the license office in the Jeep because it was too cold to stay at the campground without the RV.  We arrived an hour early and the test started 15 minutes late.  Dad passed!!!  We figured he would except we had heard he might have to parallel park.  Who parallel parks a 40' RV?  All appointments after Dad's were canceled, so we lucked out.  We were told most appointments are three to four weeks out and that will only get worse due to more budget cuts. 

The 23rd was Mom's birthday.  She hit the big 5-0.  It wasn't exciting because everyone was pretty worried about the driving test.  She did end up getting two birthday dinners out of Dad.
 

Steak dinner at Texas Land and Cattle

Chips and Salsa at Trudy's in Austin

Steak fajita chimi

Blackened Red Fish

 The folks really liked Trudy's.  The menu had a lot of different things.

Scout sleeping...yes, she is sleeping.  I think the flash made her open her eys.

The folks did do a few fun things in Austin.  We will tell you about that next time and then explain to you why we are near Dallas and not in Arizona. 

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Is Not Enjoying The Texas Weather