Work has been kind of slow the last few days…perhaps it’s due to the holidays, as people are enjoying their family time. Whatever the case, don’t be afraid to share a link to our WEBSITE or to our FACEBOOK page with your friends.
We’d be happy to discuss the benefits of having disc brakes on their trailers. And keep in mind disc brakes aren’t just for ‘campers’…they’re beneficial for utility trailers, boat trailers, horse trailers, cattle trailers, etc. Disc brakes will stop you 50% faster than standard electric brakes.
Ok…enough of the infomercial!
We continued working on getting our Texas residency established this past week. On Tuesday, we made plans to get the vehicles registered and get our Drivers Licences done as well. We wanted to be at the tax office as soon as they opened so we left home just before 7:00 am and arrived about 15 minutes after the office opened.
The ‘Tax Man’!
While any state we’ve ever gotten our licenses in we’ve gotten everything taken care of at the DMV, it’s a little different here in Texas. It’s a process. First, you must get your vehicles inspected. Second, you must get your insurance switched to Texas. Third, you have to go to a tax office and get your vehicles registered in the state of Texas. And fourth, you will need to go to a Texas Department of Public Safety office so you can finally get your Texas drivers license.
When we arrived at the tax office it was fairly quiet and we didn’t have much of a wait after we were told which forms we needed to fill out…one for the truck and one for the coach. I was very diligent the day before to make sure that we had all necessary documentation. However, when Michael got the registration cards out for each vehicle I didn’t notice that he’d actually gotten out two for the truck and nothing for the coach.
Michael spent what seemed like forever on the phone with different offices in South Dakota trying to get someone to fax or email us a copy of the coaches registration. He finally found a woman who was able to do it and she emailed a copy of the registration straight to the woman we were working with at the tax office in Texas.
Michael also wanted Disabled Vet plates but didn’t have his VA letter with him but he did have his laptop so I was able to sign in to E-Benefits, bring up the letter, save it to his desktop and then email it to our customer service rep as well. Finally, (after about 2 hours) with all of the necessary paperwork we were able to get both vehicles registered. We were given a Texas plate for the coach and a temporary plate for the truck (the DAV plate will come in the mail in a few weeks).
I want to take minute here to talk about the young lady at the tax office that helped us. She was calm and patient as she explained to us what we needed to do. She had us step out of line as we found a way to get the missing documents, allowed us to step back up to her window between customers to ask questions or provide her with information she needed. She made what could have been a very stressful situation, much better. We made sure to pull her supervisor aside and tell him how much we appreciated her help.
We left the tax office about 10:15 and made our way to the Texas DPS office about 2 miles away. This place was busy! Parking lot was packed, waiting area was crowded. We had already filled out our drivers license applications online and each had a copy in hand. However, when we arrived we found that Michael needed to fill out a different application because he has a CDL and wants to keep it.
Michael filled out the correct application and then we began our wait. We watched the numbers get called and saw that our number was WAY down the ranks. We waited for about an hour and finally decided to give up when only about 10 people were called in the hour we were there… we still had 60+ numbers ahead of us. Not a big deal we’ll just go back another day…we’ll get their as soon as they open and we’ll also use the ‘Get in Line’ online feature before we arrive…that way we’ll be pretty much be moved to the head of the line when we arrive. So…we’re almost there!
A big reason we didn’t wait any longer was because Michael had a doctor’s appointment at 1:30 with his primary care provider for his yearly visit. It was obvious that we had at least a couple more hours of waiting at the DPS office and we were both hungry too!
So we grabbed some lunch at one of my favorite Chinese Buffets, King Buffet, which is conveniently located just down the street from the DPS office and Michael’s doctor’s office!
Crazy traffic on the way home…we finally arrived home 13 hours after we left.
Michael’s appointment went well. Blood work was pretty good although his blood sugar was a bit high. So we’ll keep an eye on that…just like we do mine. He was given a new prescription for his acid reflux meds as the old one is no longer covered by Express Scripts.
Michael’s been having some tummy issues for a month or so…pains in his upper abdomen…kinda like where the gall bladder is but he had his gall bladder removed in 2008. The nurse practitioner ordered an ultrasound to check things out…might be a hernia. Now we wait to have ultrasound scheduled.
After all of the earlier errands we were ready to relax with our movie of the week…Wonder. Wow! What a good movie. It’s definitely one for all ages and is a good learning lesson for all. I’ve seen a lot of people who have taken their children to see it…and I commend them for doing so.
We had been invited to join a potluck here at the park for Thanksgiving but never heard another word about it and decided to opt out and go back to our old tradition. When we moved to Alabama in 2009 and it was just the two of us for holidays we started going to a movie (sometimes TWO!) and then going out for dinner. Most restaurants were closed but normally the buffets (Ryan’s, Golden Corral, etc) were open so that was where we went.
We haven’t been able to do our new tradition for the past few years because we were gate guarding and we both really enjoy it so we decided to go back to it this year.
Although, there weren’t many movies we were interested in seeing but after a little research we chose to see Roman J. Israel, Esq. Neither of us had heard of it…nor had we seen any previous for it at the theaters. It starred Denzel Washington (which was a big plus) but only had an IMDB rating of 6.2. It just goes to show you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. We both really enjoyed the movie and I think that the 6.2 IMDB rating is a bit low. It probably won’t be a box office smash but it’s a good movie with a good story line.
A Thanksgiving ‘Usie’ – making the most of waiting in line!
For our Thanksgiving dinner we went to Golden Corral, which was just a few miles away from the theater in New Braunfels. The parking lot was overflowing when we arrived but we weren’t in a hurry so that didn’t scare us. We got in line and prepared for a long wait. However, we only ended up waiting about 25 minutes as the line moved fairly quickly. Once we paid for our meals we had another 5 minute or so wait to be seated at a table.
While there were a lot of people helping themselves to the various buffets, the food was fresh and plentiful and I was also very surprised at how clean the buffets were…no spilled food on the counter tops as it any spills were cleaned immediately.
Our server was very attentive – clearing plates almost as quickly as we finished with them, refilling glasses when needed and she was friendly too!
We were back home about 5:00 pm and spent the remainder of the day relaxing. We watched a movie off the DVR, watched a couple of shows we were behind on. It was a good day. Hope yours was too!