Today marks our 3rd month completed on the road! To commemorate, I thought I would share what our travel map is looking like these days. The rule in order for a state to be added is we had to spend at least a night there in our RV. In all of them other than Missouri we stayed multiple nights. Missouri was one night at a rest stop, but we did have day trips to Springfield and Branson.
The big headline for Livingston is we are now officially Texans! Our vehicles and trailer are registered and insured, we received our new driver’s licenses, and yesterday we took a concealed carry class so we could get our permits. Ed had his in WV, but this is my first time as I am not really a gun-toting kind of gal. However, with all the traveling we felt it was time for me to get more familiar with the laws and what we are carrying.
The class was composed of just us and another couple – and get this – they are full-time RV’ers who are originally from Parkersburg, WV! That’s just an hour from where we lived! We decided to meet up for dinner so we could get to know each other and chat more about the places we have been, plans for the future, RV life, our families back home, etc. They have been traveling for 3 years now so we learned a lot from them. It was such a nice evening, I hated for it to end. We have met such quality people to make friends with on the road, and it’s nice to keep up with where they are , what they are doing, and watching for that opportunity to link up again!
We enjoyed meeting David and Bonnie! We didn’t realize when we snapped the pic we caught a glare in Bonnie’s glasses so we added one of their instagram photos so you could see them in a better picture on one of their amazing adventures. They have a class C RV and tow their jeep.
As I mentioned in my last blog, Livingston doesn’t really offer much to write home about. We have done some unnoteworthy (but enjoyable) hiking and biking. Ed did a fair amount of testing out his new metal detector, and I relaxed in the hammock reading a good bit.
This led me to make another friend, of the furry sort. Meet Newton! He lives in one of the trees beside our RV. He was very curious about me and hung out with me anytime I was out there. He spent some of the time gathering nuts, but he seemed to like attention. He would do funny quirky things if I talked to him, and if I wasn’t paying him attention he found ways to change that (like getting up on the table and staring me down).
We did take a day trip to Houston last weekend and visited the Johnson Space Center. They have an interactive science museum there where you can learn about their past missions, their upcoming mission to Mars, lots of video based games and some virtual reality offerings. There is also a space shuttle just outside that you can go in and tour, which was interesting. We spent most of our time taking the tram tours to various parts of the campus. We were able to visit the Rocket Yard, and the Astronaut Training Center. Seeing one of the Saturn Rockets was a highlight, it was incredible to see how large the fuel tanks were that burn off in seconds!
We were also surprised by the wildlife – the tram guide explained their grounds are also a nature sanctuary. There were lots of deer, some longhorn cattle, we spotted many turtles and even an alligator randomly hanging out in a ditch. Other than the cattle which are fenced for obvious safety, the animals just freely move about the campus.
Afterwards, we went over to check out their huge mall, The Galleria. It has 400 stores, an ice skating rink, countless restaurants (many of them were swanky, including the famous Nobu), and at least two hotels that we saw. We regular-folk ate in the food court, but it was an Asian fusion place with it’s own seating. I have to say it ranked in one of our top meals since we left! I had the short rib on a boa bun and some Asian-style brussels and Ed had a noodle dish. We left wishing we had a second stomach! The mall was a spectacle for window shopping. We have both been shopping in many major cities but this place was Texas-sized luxury, Houston style!
I also mentioned in my last post that we didn’t have any reservations past next week in Galveston until Eddie comes to Austin for part of his Christmas break from WVU. I worked on that this week and we decided to spend a month in Port Aransas. We already had discussed maybe traveling down the coast from Galveston since it’s been a long time that we’ve gotten to see the ocean, and I found an ocean-side resort there for $250 for the month. Sold! We have sometimes paid that much for a week! After Eddie visits, I am guessing we will start heading West to spend the winter in a warmer climate. I kind of have in mind spending the last week of January celebrating our 20th anniversary in Big Bend National Park, but we will see how it all shakes out. We are working on expanding our business right now in a few ways and that may slow down our travel temporarily depending on what happens.