Legal Texans at Last

Lake Livingston

Mark and I left Livingston yesterday morning around ten o'clock, heading for the little town of Stromford, TX, which is about fifty miles south of Haskell, our ultimate destination for completing the driver license road test requirement. We did our due-diligence advance planning and found a Walmart Supercenter there where we could park for the night. We meant to leave by eight o'clock, and that would have worked perfectly, but with the later start time, we ran out of time and daylight, and pulled into a Walmart in Abilene instead, which is about fifty miles south of Stromford. We were tired, but with the knowledge that this should be the last hard push to get somewhere on a schedule, we were okay with the long day.

We arrived in Haskell this morning and found an empty lot to park in that was close to the county offices where Mark would take his road test. There we unloaded the car from the trailer, separated the trailer from the coach and hooked the trailer to the car. This way, Mark would only have to worry about the motor home on his test. Then we drove the vehicles separately and parked them at the curb near the testing center. He went in to find out where he should wait with the RV until his testing appointment, and then he promptly drove to that spot.

Don't park and tex

So there I was, parked along the road in a wide shoulder area across the street from the local drug store. A woman in a white SUV proceeded to back out of her parking spot ...across the oncoming lane of traffic (which was clear), across the center turn lane (which was also clear), across the lane of traffic she was planning to enter (clear)...and into the shoulder lane, which was decidedly not clear. I was at that moment sending a brief text to Mark to tell him I was going to move the car to the empty lot where we disconnected and wait for him there. I never saw her coming. Apparently, texting and parking is just as dangerous as texting and driving. She smashed her rear bumper right into my driver's side headlight. Had I been looking up instead of at my phone, I would have laid on my horn and hopefully averted the impending disaster.

Hard to see, but headlight is smashed and fender dented below

The bang and crunched of getting hit is very unnerving. Once I had recovered my senses, I attempted to open the car door so I could get out and talk to the woman who had by that time pulled over in front of me. Except the door wouldn't open. So I had to climb over the center console to the passenger's door to get out. I walked over to the lady, put my arm around her and gave her a hug. What else could I do?

Without going into every detail, we exchanged information, I had a nice chat with Teresa (the assailant) and her daughter, and spoke with the police office who showed up about five minutes after he was called and told us if we wanted to settle the matter among ourselves that would be fine. Teresa then directed me to the paint and body shop around the corner to see if they could at least get my driver door to open, assuring me she would take care of any charges.

All during this time, I was trying to get a hold of Mark, who was still waiting to take his road test. Eventually I gave up and drove over to the body shop to take care of the door. In the meantime, (I found out later), Teresa had seen where Mark and the motor home were parked, stopped to talk to him and the testing officer whom it turns out she knew personally, and then pulled into the body shop just as I drove up. She walked into the office with me and talked to the owner, whom she also knew personally, and in no time at all, he had popped out the dented fender so that my door would open and close.

Ya gotta love small towns.

The car is drive-able, at least. Teresa was very sweet and apologetic, and her insurance agent (State Farm) assured us they would take care of us. We can get the car fixed any place of our choice, anywhere in the country. And, at this point, it will probably be Spokane, since we won't be anywhere else long enough to get it done.

Mark holding his Texas Class B CDL

Oh, and by the way, Mark passed his test with flying colors. Unfortunately, the excitement of his success was somewhat dampened by my own personal drama.

"This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." ...even when things don't seem to be going perfectly. God is good. Always.

Another issue that came up on this trip is an overheating problem. We'll have to once again take our house into the shop for engine work. Mark says it likely needs to have the radiator flushed. That will be next week-- AFTER the air conditioner is installed.

Tonight we're in a rest stop on Interstate 44, south of Oklahoma City. We were both exhausted from the stress of the day by the time we pulled in a little after five o'clock. And we once again committed to trying very hard to keep our travel time down to 300 miles, or no more than six hours.

After all, we ARE on vacation... I think.