July 9, 2007 - The first step of this whole process is to get the car and the motorhome inspected. Sounds simple enough right? Wrong. Since the motorhome is BRAND NEW I had hoped that it wouldn't have to be inspected. Wrong. If we had bought it in TX then they would issue an inspection sticker sight unseen. But since we bought it in Colorado, I guess they don't consider it a NEW vehicle. We downloaded the map from the Escapees website that showed the locations of all the places we would have to go to get all this done. Starting with the inspection, two of the three locations were no longer in business. The third was in business but the computers were down and they could not do inspections until Tuesday. So back to the Escapees office to get a new updated map. Yep, the one we just got off their website was OUTDATED. There were two new locations on the map. Neither one would accommodate a 40 foot motorhome so it's back to square one. Day One: NOTHING ACCOMPLISHED.

July 10, 2007 - We arrived at Harrison's Body Shop at 9 AM with the motorhome and car. When we pulled in there was plenty of room to get the MH in there. Within 15 minutes, 17 other cars/trucks pulled in and totally blocked us in. They inspected the car first. Rather than inspect the MH where it was, I had to move it in front of their bay door, basically move it over about 20 feet. Heaven forbid they have to walk 20 feet to do this inspection! This involved getting ALL these people to move their cars. 20 minutes of fun ensued and I finally got it in front of their door. 10 minutes later, inspection completed I go to back it out. Naturally, someone decided they needed to park immediately behind me and would not move. So plan B was put into effect. I backed up anyway. Yep, they moved.

Next step: Register the car and Motorhome. We took the MH back to the park and drove the car back into town and attempted to find the office where you register vehicles. Once again, the Escapees map was wrong. We finally went to the courthouse and they gave us excellent instructions on how to get there. Once there, we found we didn't have a Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin (MCO) for the motorhome. The dealer we bought it from FAILED to give us this vital piece of paperwork. The clerk at the DMV (Madelyn) was very helpful and called the Dealer for us and asked them to OVERNIGHT the required paperwork directly to them. Day Two: Inspection Done

July 11, 2007 - The OVERNIGHT delivery was supposed to be there no later than noon. Noon came and went, NOTHING. We called the Dealer ourselves. Surprise, someone dropped the ball. It didn't go out until TODAY. Now we're stuck again. All the things have to be done in order so we're dead in the water today. Day Three: NOTHING ACCOMPLISHED.

July 12, 2007 - The required paperwork arrived precisely at noon. The good point so far is that the dealer sent the Sales Tax check and they overestimated by $2K. We will be receiving a refund check from the state in two weeks.

License plates in hand (Yay!) we head over to the Department of Public Safety to get our Texas driver's licenses. I knew in advance I would have to have a Class B endorsement to drive the motorhome since it is over 26,000 lbs GVW which would involve a written test and a driving test. I studied the chapter in the handbook that dealt with this, however, it was all for Commercial Driver's Licenses and not for Non-Commercial, so I just skimmed it and figured none of this would be on the test. WRONG again. Debbie got her new TX license and I proceed to fail the test because the questions were about: Taxicabs, Dump Trucks, Pole Trailers etc. NOTHING at all about the vehicle I was getting a license to operate! I can take the test again tomorrow. Day Four: License Plates, Debbie has her TX license.

July 13, 2007 - I decided to play along and not complain about the stupid test that has nothing to do with motorhomes. I studied their handbook and only missed two. I did point out to the lady that those two that I missed were NOT IN THE BOOK. I KNOW, I read the stupid thing four times. No slots were available for the driving test until Monday at 9:30. Day Five: Written Test Taken and Passed.

July 16, 2007 - Driving test was a piece of cake. Passed. We're ready to leave Livingston now!

Thoughts About Livingston: There seems to be something in the water here. Most people we have encountered are either brain damaged or just don't care, I'm not sure which. Everyone moves at a SNAIL's pace (except when they're driving, then it's FULL SPEED AHEAD!) This being the headquarters for the largest RV Club in the world, I certainly expected it to be an "RV Friendly" town, meaning, that the places like the DMV, inspection stations etc would be accessible by RV's. That's the furthest thing from the truth. Many of the streets have no posted names. Most of the time you have no idea what street you're on. There are almost no green turn arrows. Traffic stays backed up constantly while cars attempt to turn left. Maneuvering a motorhome in Livingston is a chore!