We become Texans

Monday, May 31st, Memorial Day, we hitched up the Casita, again, and drove to Livingston, Texas (in Polk County) where we had scheduled our drivers' license exams - in TX you have to apply for your driver's license in your county of residence. We stayed for three nights in the Escapees Rainbow Park, where all our mail goes before being forwarded to us wherever we may be. We arrived early in the afternoon. It was quite warm and we ran our new A/C for the first time - it worked.

June 1st - in the morning we registered our truck in TX and got new plates - the title will be mailed to us. 

Since we are selling our mobile home (MI26 at the Royal Oaks Mobile Home Park in Dundee, FL) we have a bunch of things to attend to in connection with the sale: notifying the Park, arrangement for a check to come to New Orleans, switching the electricity service to the new owners, cancelling insurance, etc.... 

In the afternoon we went to the Library for internet access, we had joined when we were here last year. Also drove around town. With three banks, a number of churches, restaurants, stores, car dealerships and farm supply stores it seemed like a fairly large town - turned out the population is just over 5,000, a surprise since we'd guessed it was bigger than Amherst. Also took a walk in the park - nice - with a swimming pool, paved paths, par-course, and an abutting golf course.

Wednesday morning early we went to the DMV for our driver's licenses. We'd brought our passports and lot's of mail to show that not only were we US citizens but that we also were TX 'residents.' We'd been concerned that we might not pass the eye test but both passed -  both eyes and both of us - since the test was reading the fourth row on an eye chart pasted to the wall behind each desk. They also had a record of our having been Texas residents back in the early 2000's - we had moved to Florida after Katrina did a number on the house in New Orleans and we bought a mobile home in Dundee. Unlike Florida, where titles and drivers licenses are printed out and given to you right in the office at your time of application, in Texas these will be mailed to us.

Then we took other 'residential' steps like opening a bank account at the First National Bank of Livingston. I'd already 'joined' St Luke's Episcopal Church and we both had library cards. To celebrate we had a very nice sushi lunch and we're surprised at how busy the place was - guess fresh fish was not really a problem since we're less that 100 miles from the Gulf  and maybe there are more Democrats than we expected in the area, can't imagine a Texas Republican eating sushi. We ended up back at the library for more emailing about the sale of MI26.

Thursday (6/3) we hitched up the trailer and drove to Lake Fausse State Park near St Martinsville, LA, real Cajun country. Rain was very heavy along the way, on I-10 west of Lafayette.

The park was not very full and much of it was pretty wet, it had been closed for several weeks in Late May because of flooding. While checking in we talked with a local chap who had the broadest Cajun accent I've ever heard - he invited us to stay for lunch on Saturday. Rain continued in the evening so we were 'house bound'.

Friday we visited the Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site. 

Because of the weather, there were no other tourists in evidence, we had the park to ourselves walking through the old house and around the farm. In the house we met two woman, one was oiling old saddles that were kept on display, the other was a friend from nearby. It turned out that she had gone to school in Dieppe, NB near Moncton so we shared maritime stories with her. Had lunch in the Casita and then debated returning to New Orleans (in the rain) or going back to the park for a second night which we had already reserved. We decided to go back the park where we took a walk between the drops. There was a sign ... and then we crossed a bridge on our way to the levee ...

The other reason we stayed was 

Saturday morning, it wasn't raining, much. At 9 o'clock I walked over to the area where  cooking was being set up and met a lovely group of people who are really into Dutch Oven Cooking on charcoal fires. They were members of the International Dutch Oven Society and had everything figured out about how many briquettes go under a pot and on the lid to cook or bake anything from corn bread to jambalaya. The number of briquettes used depends on the size of the pot and the temperature desired, e.g. a cast iron 12" Dutch Oven for baking at 350 requires 18 briquettes on top and sits on 6 briquettes - cooking time is the same as in an electric oven. There are different numbers of briquettes for baking, roasting, stewing, and frying, all adjusted depending on the size of the pot and temperature desired. And they had some excellent boudin.

Around 10 am we left, drove south to pick up US 90, driving on to New Orleans in light rain. Got in around 2:30, unpacked the trailer, and settled in for a quiet evening. An interesting few days. We now plan to stay in New Orleans through July while Melanie gets new eyes (actually lenses - cataract surgery). During that time we hope to explore some more of the bayou country south and west of New Orleans. Then we plan to hook up again and head north to cooler weather - toward Calais, ME and the Canadian border - we continue to hope the border will open some time in August - if not we will tour New England and New York during September/October before heading back to New Orleans in November and maybe Dundee for Thanksgiving???