March Madness

1-31 March 2022

I spent the month of March in at Rainbow's End RV Park in Livingston, Texas.

It's the headquarters for Escapees RV Club. They are an RV club that offers support services such as mail forwarding, and help establishing your domicile (state residency for full-time RVers). Education resources like SmartWeigh (RV weight management) and RVers Boot Camp, as well as discounts on RV parks and gatherings/rallies.

The park isn't bad. I was under trees so the shade kept the trailer reasonably cool on warmer days which was nice. I was able to open the windows and not have to run the AC. When renting by the month you have to pay for electric so this kept the cost down. There was a nice bathhouse if I wanted to take a long shower, inexpensive laundry mat ($1.25 to wash and $1.25 to dry) and the people were friendly. I've made a couple of friends that we're going to try and meet up this fall/winter and camp together.

My new friends, Matt and Wendy. Such a sweet couple.

This is Kathy. Her husband's name is Bob so they go by the nickname BobKat. How cute is that!?

To establish my domicile I first had to get a physical street address which I did through Escapees, switch my insurance policies to Texas (rates went up from what I was paying in Georgia), have both my truck and trailer inspected then register and get plates for them. Once I did that, I was able to get my Texas driver's license and register to vote. I thought that was a strange order because in Georgia you have to have your license before you can register your vehicles. What does your state do? I also had to move the contents of my storage unit here from Georgia. So as of 14 March I'm a Texan!

The month hasn't been without drama though because, hello? This is me we're talking about! In preparation for my "turn and burn" trip to Georgia, I went to my storage unit here in Texas to take the generator, e-bike and other things I didn't need out of my truck. Well, y'all know how graceful I can be...while getting out of the truck bed I tripped and fell out hitting my head on the pavement. As I was falling my first thought was "this isn't going to end well". My second thought was "this is really going to hurt". It did. Badly. Of course, my storage unit was in the building at the very back of the lot and the only people there had just driven off so I was alone. I laid there for a couple of minutes because my head hurt so bad I couldn't move. Once I established nothing was broken, I got up and still had to take my last load up to the storage unit because what choice did I have? Did I mention I'm stubborn like that?

Bruise on the outside of my thigh. I had an even bigger one on my butt cheek but I'm not showing you that one!

I decided I should probably go to the emergency room to get checked out. Luckily, I'm extremely hardheaded and praise God didn't have a concussion or brain bleed. I had a huge knot on my head, a couple of scrapes and a few really colorful bruises but other than that I was okay. God is good and was certainly looking out for me! It could've been so much worse. I have to say, that for a small town hospital with so-so reviews, I received really good care. The nurses were wonderful and believe it or not, even with having a CAT scan, I was in and out in 2.5 hours. Anywhere else I would've been there for at least 8 hours. Anyway, I was cleared to drive so I left the next morning for Georgia.

Of course the drama doesn't end there. My mom was in the hospital in serious shape and as I'm driving I get a text message from my sister that my dad was taken to the ER with heart issues. Calm down people, I know what you're thinking! I have UConnect in my truck and Siri plays the text message for me. I wasn't physically texting and driving. Then my cousin who lives outside Montgomery AL calls to tell me there's been a tornado spotted in Greenville...just as I'm passing the sign for Greenville!

So I'm on the interstate, a semi in front of me and a semi beside me and the sirens go off and there is nowhere for me to go. I'm like "okay God you got this". I never saw the tornado so I don't think it was near but it was pretty scary being helpless. As for my dad, they ended up finding a blockage and placed a stent. He's home and doing well. My mom is still struggling and I would appreciate prayers if you're so inclined.

I got to Georgia without further incidents and was able to pick up the U-haul trailer, pack up and head back to Texas with no problem.

Gable is such a good travel buddy

I was able to have a very quick visit with a couple of friends and wished I'd been able to stay longer but I needed to get back. The weather forecast for Livingston when I returned was for strong thunderstorms and possibility for damaging hail and tornadoes. I'd had enough of that and as you know trailers and tornadoes don't mesh well so I swung by the trailer to get the cats (I had taken Gable with me but my friend Wendy watched the cats while I was gone) and headed to a hotel. Luckily the Weather Channel was wrong again and while we had a lot of heavy rain and winds, the hail and tornadoes passed us by. Whew!

The fur kids were quite perplexed as to why we were in this strange room.

I didn't really get out and do much while in Livingston. Honestly, there's not much there. It's a small town, about 5000 people and in the middle of nowhere. There's a Walmart, but no shopping centers. A few fast food places and mom and pop restaurants. That's about it.

One interesting thing I found was this old movie theater. If you don't know, my maiden name is Fain and it's not all that common. I knew we had a branch or two settle in Texas so I'm guessing this was theirs. I couldn't find out much about it other than The Fain Theater was built around 1950 and closed in 2015. I did manage to find a picture of it lit up at night. It would've been really cool to go there for a show. Oh well.

Fitzgerald ended up charming half the park. I'd take him on a walk and people would come out to greet him like he was a rock star. He has so much fun being outdoors. As soon as he hears the velcro on his harness rip he comes running! Gable made a few friends along the way too. He loves everyone!

So that's it for this week. Next time I'll be back on the road and will hopefully have something exciting to show you!