We have Driver's Licenses 6/15/21

And that about sums it up - except that it was a pretty big deal - and was the last piece we needed to get in place for our Texas residency to be established - and it means that we can now leave Texas until it cools off in the fall - so you know - kinda doing a major happy dance right now.

And… in case you think this was no big deal… let me paint the picture of how this was accomplished - because getting our drivers licenses required this sort of domino process that has taken us almost three weeks to complete. And then, if it had not been for the super nice lady checking people in yesterday at the DMV, we might not be sitting here tonight celebrating.

We had read up on how to go about this process. Lots of full time RVers have written about it on their blogs, made videos about how easy it was, and even written books about how simple the process should be. But that was before COVID when everything was open and you just walked in and got things done.

For us, it required a little bit more work. And we had our dogs in tow each step of the way which complicated things. We normally would have left them in Betty, but it is so hot right now we were scared that something could happen to the power and we wouldn’t know. So they came along for the ride - cause you know - 300lbs of dog makes everything simpler.

We started by setting up an appointment to meet with the people at the Escapees RV club which would provide us with our address and mailing services. Normally their offices are open and you just walk in - with COVID the offices are locked up tight and you make an appointment. Then you stand outside the locked offices and wait for someone to let you in. This requires calling into the office and letting them know you are there and then waiting. Once inside, (masks required), you sit in the lobby and fill out all your paperwork. Thank goodness they were so nice and answered so many of our questions. And the dogs slept comfortably in the car with the air conditioning on and us watching from the glass door to make sure no one drove off with them.

Address in hand we were able to go and register our vehicles. But this couldn’t be done on the same day because to do this have to have your vehicle inspected and guess what that requires? An appointment. So we set that up for the next day and on Jason’s lunch hour he drove back to Livingston and got the inspections completed. Did I mention we are trying to work while getting this all done?

The next day we got up super early and drove back to the office where we could register the car and Betty. This took well over an hour and included the most delightful young woman helping us by the name of Leanne. Unfortunately we found out later that she didn’t complete the tasks correctly and the registration on Betty has been delayed (requiring another trip to Livingston). But we did get registered to vote.

Now, keep in mind that you cannot get a driver’s license in Texas until all your vehicles show proof of being registered in the state. So another delay until we could get that wrapped up.

In the midst of this we bought a truck and turned in the our trusty old Hyundai - there goes another day.

We still needed to be able to show proof of our residency before we could get a license as well as proof of insurance for the registered vehicles. So we spent a couple of days updating everything with our new address and then finding a place to print all the documents off that we would need to take to the DMV.

But - remember about the COVID thing? An appointment is needed to go to the DMV - you can’t just walk right in. So we set up appointments but we couldn’t find any in Livingston - so we signed up for appointments an hour away in another town. But, after going through the registration process we learned that the State of California had left me off the registrations for our vehicles. That meant I might not have the correct documents to get my drivers license. Back we went to the approved list of documents.

Not sure if I would be able to get my license, we made the decision that Jason would go ahead with his appointment and I would wait in the truck with the dogs while he checked on my options.

And then the nicest woman in the world greeted him when he knocked on the door of the DMV to check in. She was efficient and fast and friendly - not something you find in a government agency very often. She reviewed all the documents, found two that would work for me, and agreed to sneak me in even though it was past the cutoff for my appointment.

And so we spent a couple of hours at the DMV - running outside every ten minutes to restart the car because we had the dogs with us - and the engine on the new truck will only run for ten minutes if you lock the doors while it’s running.

When I paid for my license, and was putting away all my papers, the woman at the counter looked up at me and smiled saying, “welcome to Texas”. It was so heartfelt and I felt truly welcomed.

We have been blessed by so many angels. The man who stopped to help with the tire, the woman at the Escapees RV club, the woman from the DMV - so much holding us up and getting us through this difficult process.

But now it’s done and we are free to head north until fall.

We arrived in Texas on May 30th. What used to take people one day to accomplish before the pandemic took us seventeen days to complete.

I foresee a celebration in our evening plans. And can’t you just see how happy we are in those DL pictures? That is the look of two very relived and excited individuals.