So hot Tarzan couldn't take it...
Well, maybe not that hot but we knew coming to this part of Texas at this time of year was going to mean being exposed to some heat, and we were not wrong. Temperatures for the two days we have been here have been in the mid-90's with the RH in the mid-80's. The heat index has been hovering between 105° and 110°F. I don't care who you are, that right there is hot!
While we had hoped for quick resolutions to getting all the legal documents changed over to Texas paper, it is no big surprise that it is not happening that way. The tag office is closed two days for renovation. The place that we should be using to get our truck and trailer's safety inspection sticker (required to have it in order to get your tags) is out of stickers! We'll have to drive a ways to find a place that does big rigs like ours. We are going to hook up the rig on Monday and drag it over to Onalaska, TX and see if we can get stickered there.
We also had an air bag failure on our 5th wheel hitch. When I called to get repair parts I was told that my model was so old (12 years old) that they no longer made replacement parts for it. I had to order two towers (the frame that holds the air bags) and a yoke (the cross-bar between towers that the hitch head is mounted on).
Except for the Binkley hitch head I am getting a whole new hitch. That's okay except for the chunk of money that was not budgeted for it. I worked out an agreement with a local RV repair shop to let me use them to send the crate of motor freight to them and then they will help me lift out the old frame (about 200lbs), drop in the new one and dispose of the old iron for me.
All of this is well and good except that it will be the middle of next week before I can even begin to think about seeing the crate arrive. I am pretty sure we will be going to the RV park office and signing up for more days here in Livingston. We may loose our whole time we had allotted for staying in Caprock Canyons State Park. Oh well, such is the life of a full timer.
The lawyers that I had been working with via email for the past couple of months said; "Just come on in and we will get those wills and power of attorneys ready for you". Today I learned that 'just come on in' is code for call for an appointment and we might get to you. The earliest anyone can see me is in five days.
All this running around trying to work with the different services has given us a small look at the community. Livingston was voted into existence in 1846 as a town and as the county seat. A few prominent structures were built in the years prior to the Civil War but most of the original families that owned them lost their property brought on by the hard times of the war. Post-war times saw the construction of a brick factory with several buildings still standing made from some of the first bricks made locally.
In typical fashion of the time, the town built a square where the county courthouse was erected. The community has pride in its heritage and has done a good job of keeping the place looking nice.
Like many of the public buildings built in this part of the country at the time, it is built of limestone, has a columned entrance and 12 foot ceilings. The gazebo is a very recent addition.
On our first day in Livingston we had been driving all day, starting at the Mississippi River that day and pushing hard to get to our destination. While I did say in a previous post that it was a beautiful meander through the moss-draped woods (and it was) we did stay at it and for-went stopping to eat. By the time we got checked in, parked and hooked up I was so hungry that my bellybutton was rubbing a blister on my backbone.
The camper was heat soaked from the day's drive, there was no way we were going to go in and try to fix something to eat. The best thing to do was to get both the A/Cs going full blast, leave and let them do their thing for an hour or two and come back to a cool little cabin. So we headed into town, about 6 miles away and started looking for some grub.
It was rush hour traffic in this little burg so I was having to watch my driving but Cyndee's keen eye caught sight of chance at a good supper. We pulled into Shrimp Boat Manny's, a Cajun place. SCORE! They had po'-boys, read beans and rice, gumbo and my favorite, etouffee (crawfish that is).
Cyndee ate way more sensibly than I did. She had grilled chicken salad for her main with a little cup of red beans and rice on the side. Me, I couldn't help myself, I had to have some etouffee. A huge plate of white rice smothered in that Cajun roux with mud bugs all through it. It was everything I had hoped it would be.
We thought it was as good as it could get until the waitress told us about a new desert they had - fried pecan pie. Oh my. They take an already outstanding piece of pecan pie, dip it in cheesecake batter and then deep-fry the whole thing. Even though we split one piece between us, we both had to go home and sleep it off. Neither one of us is used to eating like that anymore and it carried both of us well into the next day.
We have a couple days of downtime since everything we need to do is closed on the weekend. If the heat is not too oppressive we'll do some exploring.
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| It may be hot but it is a nice spot. This is a typical commercial campground with rigs spaced pretty close together. |
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| From the driveway you can see Cyndee's geranium on the picnic table (click to enlarge). So far she has kept in good shape across five states. |
We also had an air bag failure on our 5th wheel hitch. When I called to get repair parts I was told that my model was so old (12 years old) that they no longer made replacement parts for it. I had to order two towers (the frame that holds the air bags) and a yoke (the cross-bar between towers that the hitch head is mounted on).
 |
| If one air bag goes flat, they all go flat. |
All of this is well and good except that it will be the middle of next week before I can even begin to think about seeing the crate arrive. I am pretty sure we will be going to the RV park office and signing up for more days here in Livingston. We may loose our whole time we had allotted for staying in Caprock Canyons State Park. Oh well, such is the life of a full timer.
The lawyers that I had been working with via email for the past couple of months said; "Just come on in and we will get those wills and power of attorneys ready for you". Today I learned that 'just come on in' is code for call for an appointment and we might get to you. The earliest anyone can see me is in five days.
All this running around trying to work with the different services has given us a small look at the community. Livingston was voted into existence in 1846 as a town and as the county seat. A few prominent structures were built in the years prior to the Civil War but most of the original families that owned them lost their property brought on by the hard times of the war. Post-war times saw the construction of a brick factory with several buildings still standing made from some of the first bricks made locally.
In typical fashion of the time, the town built a square where the county courthouse was erected. The community has pride in its heritage and has done a good job of keeping the place looking nice.
Like many of the public buildings built in this part of the country at the time, it is built of limestone, has a columned entrance and 12 foot ceilings. The gazebo is a very recent addition.
On our first day in Livingston we had been driving all day, starting at the Mississippi River that day and pushing hard to get to our destination. While I did say in a previous post that it was a beautiful meander through the moss-draped woods (and it was) we did stay at it and for-went stopping to eat. By the time we got checked in, parked and hooked up I was so hungry that my bellybutton was rubbing a blister on my backbone.
The camper was heat soaked from the day's drive, there was no way we were going to go in and try to fix something to eat. The best thing to do was to get both the A/Cs going full blast, leave and let them do their thing for an hour or two and come back to a cool little cabin. So we headed into town, about 6 miles away and started looking for some grub.
It was rush hour traffic in this little burg so I was having to watch my driving but Cyndee's keen eye caught sight of chance at a good supper. We pulled into Shrimp Boat Manny's, a Cajun place. SCORE! They had po'-boys, read beans and rice, gumbo and my favorite, etouffee (crawfish that is).
Cyndee ate way more sensibly than I did. She had grilled chicken salad for her main with a little cup of red beans and rice on the side. Me, I couldn't help myself, I had to have some etouffee. A huge plate of white rice smothered in that Cajun roux with mud bugs all through it. It was everything I had hoped it would be.
We thought it was as good as it could get until the waitress told us about a new desert they had - fried pecan pie. Oh my. They take an already outstanding piece of pecan pie, dip it in cheesecake batter and then deep-fry the whole thing. Even though we split one piece between us, we both had to go home and sleep it off. Neither one of us is used to eating like that anymore and it carried both of us well into the next day.
We have a couple days of downtime since everything we need to do is closed on the weekend. If the heat is not too oppressive we'll do some exploring.
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