Deep in the heart of Texas

After a good night of sleep and a hot shower we bid farewell to the Cajun Cowboy Motel and RV Park and headed into Livingston.  All we have to do is follow Hwy 259 straight in, a piece of cake.  At least that’s what I thought. 

 

Nope.  It appeared that our Magellan GPS wanted to save us a few miles with a couple of shortcuts.  Now you need to understand that we travel with a GPS on the dash, a print out of Streets and Trips, an open large atlas and my phone navigation app.  You’d think a person couldn’t go wrong.  Well, think again. 

Okay, let me correct myself, we weren’t actually lost…we just took a short cut.  I had just started to think about how harrowing the roads seemed the other day and how thankful I was to be back on a highway.  I know following the scenic back roads sounds fun and romantic, but not when you’re big and heavy, tall and over 50 feet long.  It’s not fun at all…at least for me.  Left Brain seemed to be enjoying the hell outta himself and that just added to my angst. 

We went from Marigold Street to Verbena Street and finally ended up on Snap Dragon Street.  This was no casual walk through the friggin’ garden, let me tell you!  These were one lane roads with slopes to the side that would surely tip us over, laced with potholes and bumps and crowned with a wonderful arch of low hanging branches.  It would be a fun trip in a car, especially a convertible, but not so much in a motorhome. 

As we rounded one corner two huge vicious black dogs came charging out of the yard with teeth gleaming and jaws snapping.  I’m sure we were the biggest thing they had ever had the thrill of chasing, being the only idiots in an RV to attempt this road.   

The next corner presented us with a stunned old woman sitting on the porch who seemed to be mouthing the words “Shut the front door!”  It was when I started to hear the music from Deliverance that I really got nervous.  If we met someone on this road I’m not sure what would happen.  There was no possible way for two vehicles to pass each other.  I could just picture a pickup truck full of Billy Bob’s and Bubba’s with guns in the back window at any moment. 

We finally did emerge safely from the corridors of Hell and started to search out a place to have lunch.  Stopping for lunch in a car is such an easy thing.  You see something that looks interesting, pull over, park and go in to eat.  When you’re a large vehicle towing another vehicle you tend to choose your eating establishments based on the size of the parking lot and whether or not the entrance is steep or has large dips.  This eliminates a lot of fun places and we’ve learned that any kind of Mall is our best friend.  You can park easier and walk to something that offers nourishment. 

This is where we found ourselves parked by a Big K and walking across a busy highway to the Red Lobster on the other side.  As we did our walk around inspection of the rig and tow vehicle this is where we realized that we lost the windshield for the scooter.  I can imagine two black beasts on Snap Dragon Road playing tug of war with it about now.  We’re not going back for it.  I do love the Quick Pick lunch Red Lobster has to offer of the Jambalaya.  It did seem much hotter down here than back in Wisconsin, I soon lost feeling in the roof of my mouth and my nose started to run.  It was so good. 

Finally we reached our destination – our new home town of Livingston TX.  The first thing we did was stop at one of the vehicle inspection places to get all three vehicles inspected.  This involves a physical inspection of each as well as seeing the Declaration of Insurance to make sure you have enough coverage on each of them.  Then they put a sticker on the car showing it has passed inspection and a form to take to the vehicle registration.  Our first step in becoming Texans is complete. 

We then went and set up at Rainbow Park to stay for we don’t know how long.  It felt so good to put the jacks down (yes, they still work beautifully) and do a full set up with the rugs and chairs and everything.  Oh to be off the road and not rolling for a while is bliss. 

After enjoying a hot shower and the AC we settled in to watch a little TV now that we can.  The Wi-Fi Ranger failed to find any signal so we have to use the Sprint Hot Spot and it’s a pretty slow connection.  But we’ll deal with it.  I spotted our new friends Jerry and Sandy parked across the way from us, but we were too tired to go say hello yet.  There’ll be time for that tomorrow.

 

Long Live the Queen of Texas