We Got It -- We Hope

It didn't happen like we thought it would, but hopefully we now have what we need to renew our truck license plates in Colorado. Our round-trip drive of 700 miles to get the emissions test in Austin was a complete failure--unless you factor in the wildflowers we saw along the way.

Tuesday, we woke up in San Antonio, had breakfast, and called an inspection station in Austin. Then we drove another 60 miles to get the emissions test. After taking our registration and insurance card, the Oriental gentleman walked out to our truck, only to return immediately and tell us in broken English that they don't do emissions tests on diesel trucks! "Don't tell me that," John said. But it was true. I called the state and they don't test diesel vehicles in Texas.

A call to the Arapahoe County, Colorado, Clerk's office gave us the information that our next option is a VIN verification, done by a police officer. Doesn't sound hard, does it? Think again.

We turned around and drove south, stopping in George West for a BBQ brisket sandwich at Vann's #2. It had rained hard for several hours overnight in San Antonio. A little ways to the south, several tornadoes were spotted. In George West we saw some of the damage.

This morning, we set out to get the VIN verified, after downloading the proper form from the county web site. First stop, Pharr PD. No, they don't do it. Go to this address.

Went to that address--in McAllen. That is where they issue driver's licenses. (Good news that we couldn't do it there because there must have been 30 people waiting to be helped.)

We drove across the street to the McAllen PD. No, they don't do it. Call this number. We did. They gave us their address, in Edinburg, but informed us they only do VIN verifications Monday through Friday between 8 and 10 am. By then it was 11 am and we are doing tram tours the next three days.

So, we did our grocery shopping and returned to the RV. Then John set out to accomplish something--getting the leak in the rear truck window fixed. On the way he saw 3 Pharr police cars at a Subway shop. He went in and asked for help. After one officer made a call to his sergeant, he filled out the form. Hallelujah! Hopefully, we can mail it tomorrow, everything will be in order, and they will mail our renewal stickers here in the next couple of weeks.

On a lighter note, here are some wildflower photos.





Some are sort of blurry--it is hard to get clear pictures when the truck is moving at 70 mph. At least you can see the colors.





I don't know what the yellow flowers are, but the orange flowers are on a Huisache tree. They were just covered with blooms.



Live Oak trees have such a beautiful shape.