I will explain the title of the post in a little bit but we are back in Texas for 2 primary reasons.
- Register our new car we purchased in Illinois.
- Attempt to get my CDL exempt B on my drivers license.
Livingston
We needed to go back to Livingston to register our new car and take the CDL exempt B written test. When we were in Chicago we needed a second car since Patti and I were both working. We purchased a Ford Focus with a transmission that is automatic but also has manual shift. Yes, that is not a typo. The transmission can be manually shifted without a clutch. The purpose for this purchase – this car can be flat towed for our continuing RV adventure. What is great about this is Patti can drive the car without having to shift and it also has Android Auto with a big display screen. This is huge for us since we can use our cell phone GPS and display the route on the screen. Awesome! So we updated our car insurance for Texas, got the new vehicle inspected (along with the RV) and went to the County Tax Office to register the new car and get our Texas plates. Very easy! We still have the Hyundai Accent, we simply left it in Sycamore IL when we return next summer.
Now adding the CDL exempt B to my drivers license is not so easy. Although not a full CDL, exempt B simply means I can legally drive an RV over 26,000 lbs. I have been lazy getting this license upgrade and have been illegal for 2 years. If I would have gotten this 2 years ago, I only needed to pass a written test. But now it takes a written and driving test! Ugh!!! So while I was in Livingston, I decided to take the written test. It only covered Section 14 on the full CDL test and since I studied and took numerous practice tests on the Web, I passed the written part with no problems. Now the driving test which I plan to take in Houston.
Houston
We have not been here before and there were a few things we wanted to do however I am focused on the driving test for the exempt B!
I was nervous about this only from the standpoint of the driving tester taking me down roads that a 43 foot long, 13 foot high RV should not be on. However I found a Texas DMV Mega Center just 10 minutes away. I took a drive over to scope out the place and find out where to take the RV. I’m glad I did because the driveway for Trucks/RVs wasn’t marked and I had to ask a very nice lady where the driveway was. I scheduled the test online for the next day.
I had to be there an hour early and I showed up in plenty of time to be fifth in line. Surrounded by semi truck drivers trying to get their CDL. By the time it was my turn, there were 11 trucks behind me. I was the only RV. The shocking thing I witnessed – the 4 trucks ahead of me flunked the first test, backing up in a straight line. They had several attempts to pass but after a certain number of tries, the tester failed them and they had to leave the truck and walk back to the DMV center. Now that’s a walk of shame!
When it was my turn, I drove the RV to the starting position of the back up test. All I had to do was back up in a straight line between 2 rows of cones to where the tester was standing. So this was the easiest part of the test since I have Comfort Drive, all I had to do was line it up, put in reverse and not touch the steering wheel. Comfort Drive keeps the wheels straight for me, of course nobody knew that!! So I was the first person of the day to pass this test and I am certain the truck drivers watching me were in full hate mode.
My tester joined me in the RV, she had to take a couple of minutes to look around inside the RV and was very impressed. She went over the rules, I asked her if the route contained low trees and she assured me that the route is what all trucks with trailers take for the test and there shouldn’t be a problem so we got on our way. She told me what turns to take and I worked on just relaxing. Fortunately we had been in the area for a few days and I already knew the surrounding roads. She had me take a bunch of left turns and we were on the road for 30 minutes but I knew I crushed it. When we got back to the DMV she announced I passed with flying colors but did point out I didn’t drive with both hands! That surprised her. I laughed and explained how easy the RV was to drive with Comfort Drive and showed her how I could turn the steering wheel with 1 finger and let go with the steering wheel straighten itself out. She laughed and thought that was awesome. She went inside and came back out with my new paper drivers license showing my exempt B! My updated drivers license was going to be sent out in 2 weeks. I was thrilled and felt like a great weight had been lifted – I was legal! Now the fun stuff!
Houston Space Center
I always wanted to visit this place! I am the typical baby boomer that wanted to become an astronaut and a huge study of the Apollo program. It was important to go early because they have 2 tram tours that are first come first serve. We took the NASA Tram Tour fist while the Historic Tram Tour was in the afternoon.
NASA Tram Tour
This tour covered the current Mission Control for the ISS (International Space Station), a training facility for the astronauts and then a look at a complete Saturn V rocket.
This is the ISS Mission Control Center. As you can see it is very modern and utilizes up to date technology. This particular room is used for training and not the actual control center. They have a simulated mission with problems thrown at them to see how they are resolved. If you look at the big screen on the right you will see most of the items are in yellow and 2 of them are red. The red items are high priority failures that need to be resolved immediately. It was cool watching these trainees work on the failures however we were told in the real control center it is rare that a yellow failure appears and never a red one.
The historic tram went straight to the building that houses the original Mission Control Center. They restored this center to the original look and feel right down to the ashtrays and suit jackets hanging on the rack. This was the coolest thing we did! They had a 20 minute presentation of Apollo 11 landing on the moon with the actual audio from the flight director and controllers. The big screens and control stations changed with the presentation. Growing up in the sixties and seventies, this place always had a sense of “awe” to me. It was very exciting being here.
Lakewood Church
This was truly an experience. So this is Joel Osteen’s church and we are a big fan! If you know the history, the building used to house the Houston Rockets and Lakewood Church got a great long term lease for the building in 2003. It is massive and the worship and message was awesome!
Outside of having great bbq at Rudy’s, that was it for Houston.