Saturday, May 31, 2008

How to become a Texan




With a title like the above one's mind could be wondering what test or ordeal would be involved in becoming a Texan? Do you have to stand on the street corner and yell YEEE- HAW or prove you can walk in Cowboy boots or some other stunt? Perhaps one has to take a test on TEXAS history?
Nope none of those Pardner.

What one has to do (Ya'll) is get your vehicles registered and insured in TEXAS then obtain a TEXAS driver's license where one takes an oath, no not to TEXAS, just that you told the truth on your application... oh you have to pass an eye test, give up your previous license and have your picture taken and thumb prints taken. Oh I forgot the vehicles have to be inspected also. OY, vat a pain in the tush, of course I had to get TEXAS insurance and also had to have the trailer weighed so that added more steps to the procedure. Now I feel like I can proudly swagger down the street wearing my best Cowgirl Outfit with pride.... unless the wind catches my Cowgirl hat and I go chasing it down the street :)

Ya'll have the inside scoop on how to become a TEXAN :)

The Journey Begins




Sunday morning we awoke and packed up the trailer and hitched the truck and trailer.
After a walk around check and head count we pulled away from the house and down the farm road. I had worried about the last turn in the farm road that went around a tree, that turned into a none problem. I was overjoyed that I had not rubbed the awning off the trailer and forgot to make a wide enough turn to get on the highway and got the trailer stuck in the ditch! Now my truck was blocking the road and holding up folks in cars, truck and buggies going to church. A man came by and suggested using four wheel drive in reverse to back the rig out of the ditch, darn if it didn’t work. Yahoo, we were out of the ditch. A quick inspection and it was determined that we didn’t do too much damage to the trailer and proceeded on our journey.

As we drove by our friends and neighbors farms I was feeling sad to leave this place, few places in my life have I ever felt sad leaving, usually I feel overjoyed to be leaving, not this time. This time I had made friends and that is a significant change for me.

We headed down route 127 to Russell Springs KY and picked up the Cumberland Parkway and turned West to pick up Interstate 65 to Nashville. We spent he night at the Flying J West Memphis TN. This is where a strange thing happened some guy knocked on our door and wanted money, he said he was trying to get home, that he had been fired and needed money for gas. We turned him down and later watched him get in his car and drive off. I think he was just trying his luck to add to his wallet.

The second day we drove through Arkansas and we decided to stay at an RV camp near Texarkana. The first one we choose was in a book we had, when we found it the placed looked so bad we turned around and retraced our route back to Flying J and went to an RV park near them.
It turned out to be he best choice we had cable TV to get the news and weather. In the morning we had breakfast at Flying J and departed to Texas, which was only a few miles away. In no time at all we picked up Hwy 59 in Texas and soon we were passing familiar places from our trip a few months ago. Before long we were in Livingston Texas and parked at the Escapees RV Park there.

The rig did okay, it got us here, we had a problem with the truck over heating when going up hills and had to turn the air conditioning off in order to keep the engine cool, we’ll have to have that looked after once we are settled. We found that we have a leak in the trailer that will be fixed soon also.

Backing he rig takes some getting used to especially if one doesn’t have much experience in backing. I figure that with experience I’ll get better at backing.

Other than thinking we had lost one of our cats no other big deals happened. The cat story is that when we left the first Flying J we thought she was with us, and when we got to Texarkana we couldn’t find her and we were all depressed thinking she had escaped out of the trailer back in Tennessee. After a few hours she come waltzing out acting like she was some celebrity. She has found a place in the trailer to hide and as yet we haven’t located it, her name is PIA, short for Pain In the A** Cat. She lives up to her name now and then.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Closer and Closer to leaving

The new owners showed up and brought their stuff with then in a big moving van and rental truck.Their stuff filled the upstairs part of the barn. Odd to see so much stuff in the barn.
They have four children three boys and a girl. The children had a great time running about and exploring the barn, house and fields.

This is that awkward time between going and not going, neither here nor there. There are things to do, but only in the right order.

The weather has cleared and it is a bright beautiful day with a light breeze, the sun and breeze feels so good on one's skin, a very nice day.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Getting even closer to leaving


The farm sale is almost complete the closing was the other day and now I am waiting
for the auction to clear out all my tools and equipment. So we are getting closer to the
day we can hitch up and leave.

I am living in the trailer now for the most part still have some odds and ends to put in the
trailer, but most of the work is done accept for setting up for the auction.