We had so much to do today we
actually set an alarm. YUCK!!!! I won’t say how late we normally sleep but
suffice it to say we feel we may need to start setting an alarm everyday to
become “normal” people rather than vampires!
Anyway, back to the busy day…We
decided to get weighed today, and isn't that always fun. We wanted to find out how badly we had
over-packed our 5th wheel. I
won’t go into detail everything that is required before you get weighed, but it
seemed to be a lot. Plus, you have to
“break camp” which is never much fun but especially when you aren't even moving
to a new destination. Anyway, on the few
minute drive over to the RV weigh station (available here in the Escapees’
Rainbow Park for $55.00), we were talking about all of the stuff we could get
rid of so we could lose weight. Of
course, I could think of lots of things we could get rid of, but Clark began to
notice it was all his stuff!
I am happy to report that for the
first time in either of our lives, we don’t have to lose weight! We were so shocked by this we celebrated with
ice cream…just kidding. We really were
surprised though. The one area we can
work on would be to try to balance the weight a little more evenly but we were
better than we expected. If we want to,
we can get a re-weigh for $25.00 if we do it within 6 months.
After completing that process, it
was time to get our truck and 5th wheel inspected as is required by
law in Texas – annually. That didn't
take too long and the guy who did it was very friendly. That cost $31.00. He said it would be $31.00 for both, I
thought he meant each, so I gave him $62.00.
Thankfully, he was honest and said no, $31.00 total. Nice guy!
Anyway, he said it would be something like $15.00 next time; it was just
more this time because it was the first time we were registering in Texas.
Now for the fun part, we went to
the Polk County Tax Office to register our vehicles and get our Texas tags –
yee haw! Let me start by saying that we
stopped into their office while we were in town yesterday to make sure of what
we would need so we would be prepared.
Unlike the horrid office back home, there was no line, no numbers to
pull, not even chairs to sit on because you won’t be there long. That was pleasant and that is about where the
pleasantness ended. The gal we talked to
yesterday told us we would need proof of insurance and the inspection form as
well as our titles so we walked in there today with those items.
We got a different woman this
time (she was mildly friendly). She took
all of our paperwork and asked us if we had completed the forms yet. Forms?
What forms? Oh, the forms that
someone could have given us the day before when we were in the office asking
what we needed? Oh and also, did we have
a picture of our rig? No, didn't know we
needed that. Yep, but at least they had
an email address we could send it in to them.
So, home we came to get pictures of the rig and the info on the cargo
weight, etc. and complete the paperwork to the best of our ability. Also, I would interject here that she asked
us if we wanted new titles that said Texas so they would match the tags. We hadn't even given that a thought but if
you are planning to do this anytime soon, you should decide that in
advance. She also told us she noticed
our Kansas titles said Clark and/or Sandra.
She said Texas doesn't recognize and/or, it has to be both. I think there may be a lot of things Texas doesn't
recognize!
Back to the tax office for round
three. This time we got the most
unpleasant woman I believe I have ever encountered in a public position. No kidding.
I had to remind myself of what Pastor Mark always tells us and that is
you never know the circumstances in that person’s life that may be causing them
to behave in such a manner so show God’s love and be kind. There were a few blanks on the form we had
not filled in because we had questions.
She was not happy that she had to answer them, she was not happy that
she had to get the email to get our pictures and basically I don’t think she
was happy that we were breathing either.
Anyway, she told us what we needed to complete and then pretty much told
us to move somewhere else to complete the form.
I very happily obliged and moved way down the counter and told Clark we
would stand there until the office closed if that is what it took to get a
different gal to wait on us. I thought
that would be the best way show kindness.
We did get a different gal, sort of.
We got the gal from yesterday who was so helpful with giving us the
information of what we needed except the part about the forms! She processed our paperwork and gave us our
tags never smiling or saying have a nice day or welcome to Texas…nothing. She just took our $426.00 and slid us our
tags. It was such a pleasant experience
I can hardly wait to do it again next year!
Oh yeah, almost forgot…remember
how much fun I said it was to move?
Well, we did such a poor job of leveling when we got back from weighing,
we are going to pull in the slides tomorrow and try again. Maybe we should do it tonight in the
dark. After all, we did a better job
when we came in on Tuesday in the dark than we did today in broad daylight! Well maybe after a good night’s rest with all
of our blood rushing to our heads we will be able to do a better job!
Until Later…God Bless!
