CuRVWander

We have mixed emotions about getting back on the road.  On one hand we are looking forward to what Waco, TX has to offer tourists but on the other hand we are unsettled by our tire problems.  We have confirmed that our total load is within limits and that our load balance across each axle and even each individual tire is also within limits.  But after more hours than I care to think about researching and getting on forums it is clear that the Goodyear Marathons I am running are a tire with a reputation.  And it is not a good reputation. The number of reported failures of these tires was astounding.  It was not possible to read all the search hits about problems with this tire.  Of the couple hundred I did read the theme was common, tread separation and blowouts under conditions that these problems should not have happened.  One condition that did seem to be an issue in a large number of the failures was hot pavement.  Like me, many of the people...

Being in Livingston, TX puts us close to several of John's cousins.  Of course close is a relative term when your talking about Texas.  One was two hours away in Sugarland, another one an hour away in Conroe and the third an hour away in Montgomery.   By the way, did you know that you could always tell if you were talking to a Texan if they spoke in terms of travel time instead of distance?   When we were in high school we made a few trips from our hometown of Borger, TX (up in the panhandle, north of Amarillo) to Galveston Island, TX.  To this day I have no idea how many miles that drive was but I know it was a 14 hour trip with 70 mph speed limits.  During the oil crisis when speed limits were dropped to 55 mph we quit making long-distance weekend drives.  There just was not enough hours in the weekend to do more than make the drive, with no time to spend at the destination. Before our stay in Livingston was finished we had managed to meet with all...

The second day of jury duty was a lot like the first, hot and boring.  The A/C had not been fixed yet so it was plenty hot.  The heat coupled with the not-so-interesting law suit made for drowsiness.  One of our jurors, a twenty-something, actually dosed off, but within seconds of the first head-bob the bailiff was all over her letting her know that behavior was unacceptable. That perked everybody in the courtroom up. By the end of the day we, the jury, had found in favor of the plaintiff and awarded them the $150,000 they had been swindled out of.  We had now fulfilled our civil obligations.  Mark this one DONE! It was time to move on to the other objectives we (Cyndee and I) had come to Livingston for.  I made an appointment to get our truck and trailer weighed with SmartWeigh and headed to the tax commissioner's office to secure the title to my truck. It has been three years since we moved from Georgia to Texas.  All legal documents have been ...