So far, so good. It is day 2 of the trek. I stayed with Roberta at the home last night and met some of her friends. The food is really good there. Diane, Gordie, and Colen came by and we spent a few minutes with them. They are all pretty haggard but have a house lined up just down the street from the old one.
I'm now in Van Horn Texas, I think. Was going to stop just past El Paso for the night and later found that just past El Paso is almost 150 miles down the road! It turned into a 10 1/2 hour day looking at sage brush and rocks and white lines.
So, 2 days, 4 states, 2 time zones, I'll take it easier tomorrow and be in Houston on Friday.
I will put pictures up on the web site but am too tired to go back downstairs to the Blazer.
Left Van Horn at 6:30 this morning. I decided to go down the road a couple of towns for breakfast, 200 miles and 3 hours later I found the second town and had breakfast. You don't want to skip many gas stations out here!
This is what it looks like:
About noon I saw a tree! I think it was a tree, maybe just a tall bush. It was the first one since I left Hemet.
I'm now in Seguin, Texas about 40 miles east of San Antonio and will make Houston in the morning.
The GPS works great and tells me useful stuff like "continue 380 miles on I-10 East". That is not to my destination but to the next interchange where I might get on the wrong road without it!
The truck hunt starts tomorrow.
I finally got off of I-10. I started this morning about 7:30 and did my usual go down the road awhile before breakfast. I got about 45 miles down the road and said, "where did I put the cell phone?" It wasn't on the seat, the dash, or in any of my pockets! I pulled over and searched my suitcase and the computer bag, no cell phone. Back to the motel with the GPS yelling all the way that, "you're going the wrong way". It was still in the room, so I lost 92 miles.
I got into Houston and found my way to the car dealer. A couple of hours later and the deal is done. I pick up the truck tomorrow or Monday, depends on how soon they can get it here. It was a little more than I expected but, I got more for the Blazer than I expected.
I checked into an extended stay hotel, kitchen, microwave and refrigerator for $32 a day! It took 6 trips to get everything out of the Blazer and into the room using the luggage cart. The maid will have it easy as the room is full, nowhere to clean. The best part is right next door is a WAFFLE HOUSE, yea, I have arrived.
Here's some pictures of my "temporary domicile":
I will start visiting the RV dealers in the morning, I hope to pick up the RV in 10-12 days.
I found the RV! I had been looking at a particular model over the last several weeks and watched them being sold for the last few days. There is an RV dealer with 3 lots near Houston and only one of them had the trailer listed this morning so I went to the farthest of the three. It was sold yesterday! They did happen to have a 2003 of the same model and were asking $20500 for it. I looked it over, real clean, no leaks, had all the manuals and had originally been sold by this dealer. I went and had breakfast and went back. I offered them $18,500 and after the groaning stopped they said if you buy it today it's a deal. I put $500 on the table and I have a trailer.
No call from the car dealer so expect to pick up the truck on Monday. Then off to Livingston to get a Texas Drivers License and break in the truck. I will be in this hotel until the end of next week then trailer life starts.
After a day of rest yesterday, I went out to look for a TV for the RV while waiting for the car dealer to call. I think I found the TV so went back to the hotel to wait for the call. I waited till about 4:00 and no call, so I called them. It seems that the truck I had picked out Friday was sold before they locked it up! They spent the day trying to find one like it and the only one they found was in Florida!
They had one similar on the lot with bench seats instead of the buckets and grey instead of white and $2,000 cheaper so I took that one. I now have a really big truck and almost need a boost to get in it. It will take awhile to get used to it, hope I don't have to parallel park it! Lots of new knobs to play with too.
I'll start the breaking tomorrow and see if everything works. I might even take a picture, it's too dark now.
I drove up to Livingston and took care of transferring my auto insurance to Texas. It ended up being $400 a year cheaper for the new truck than I was paying for the Blazer in California! I wandered by the RV Park that the club runs and it is huge. I asked what the procedure was for getting a spot and they said, "just show up"! I will head up that way with the trailer after I'm sure that everything is working right, about 2-3 weeks from now.
I went out for breakfast and there were two constables there so I wandered over and asked them about getting a Texas Drivers License. They said to go to the DMV and have the old one transferred. I said is there a drivers or written test? No, said they. It figures, the way people drive around here I knew that there couldn't be much of a test, they just write tickets and learn one law at a time! It was around 8:00 when I went out and it seemed that there was a school zone in about every other block with flashing lights and 20 mph zones. They mean it too, I saw three people getting tickets.
Still waiting for the RV people to figure out what it will cost to get the RV set up for satellite TV. Then we can finalize the deal and do the installation and the truck prep. It should all be done by the end of next week.
So far I'm getting 18 mpg in the truck. I've driven it about 300 miles and the tank is still half full! It holds 36 gallons. I may need to call the credit union before I fill it up! I'm having the "Truck Steps" installed tomorrow so that I don't need to carry the step stool around any more, it is a tad bigger than the old Blazer. I'm having a satellite dish installed on the RV and it should be ready the end of next week, still need to pick up a TV, some dishes and sheets then I'll be mobile.
The hitch will be installed on Tuesday and they are going to let me bring some of my stuff down and put it in the trailer. I may be able to turn around in my room then. Things are looking good for delivery on next Friday. I was back at the car dealer today and the new truck was parked next to the Blazer:
As you can see the new truck, on the far side, is a tad bigger, at both ends!
Yesterday I went to fill up the truck, it all went well until the pump stopped at $50 and the tank wasn't full. It seems like "pay-at-the-pump" has a limit!
I took off for Livingston to get my drivers license anyway, a 150 mile round trip and got 20 mpg in the truck. I also got the drivers license after handing them $24 and being able to see the eye chart, "you mean that thing with the E on top?", yep gud nuff.
In the afternoon the RV dealer called and said that the credit union hadn't started the loan yet! I called and got them moving, the dealer wasn't worried, he had checked my credit.
This morning I went back and finished filling the truck, another $33. Well I had driven over 600 miles so I guess it's OK. Had breakfast and went back to the hotel and put my first load of stuff into the truck and off to the RV dealer.
I can now turn around in my room without having to open the door and step out into the hall! The dealer put the hitch put on the truck and I put some of my stuff in the trailer. The satellite dish arrived and they will put that on tomorrow.
The credit union called this afternoon and the loan has been funded, the check is in the mail, yea sure. I lined up an RV Park for five days beginning on Friday that is about 10 miles from the dealer. Then I can start getting sheets for the new bed, dishes and maybe some food. After that I'll drag the trailer up to Livingston for a month or so. Then on to Dallas and wait for the bikers!
The day started good with a search for a tool box for the truck. I ended up back at the Chevy dealer and he sent me to another place and they put in on in about 15 minutes. Back to the hotel for a nap but the RV dealer called and said he couldn't find anyone in the area to install the satellite receiver! So back to Best Buy, pick up a receiver and I'll take it there in the morning and see if it works.
