When you’re camped out in the middle of a wild desolate landscape, without a cell signal and a silence so deafening that its roar squeezes your brain like a vise, it’s tempting to believe that you’ve fallen off the radar. You look around for miles and see nothing but desert landscape, imagining that there are no rules, laws or entities that have power over you.
But the truth is, you can’t escape. Ever. Because it doesn’t matter if you hightail it to Patagonia, or just hide out in the woods; the Man will find you.
In our case, the Man was the California Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Houston Police Department.
As we sat around the campfire and soaked in the rugged scenery last week in New Mexico, it occurred to me that we will be workamping in Colorado this August, when my driver’s license will expire. I called the DMV, and they told me I’d have to appear in person to renew it. No exceptions.
As much as I wanted to convince myself that Jim and I are freewheelin’ hippie nomad vagabonds, I accept the fact that I still need to maintain some kind of “legal” identity. I looked into getting a New Mexico license, but guess what? You need to prove you live there. And what address would I use?
So, because the start of our next workamping gig in Truth or Consequences New Mexico got delayed by a couple of weeks, we grabbed this opportunity to hightail it 800 miles west, renew my license and hang out with my family for a couple of weeks. It was great fun to surprise the heck out of everyone. My Mom just flipped when she saw us.
What’s The Houston PD Got to do with This?
A few days after arriving in L.A., we received a letter from the HPD. Apparently, someone is saying we pulled a Hit and Run on them, in solid bumper-to-bumper traffic on the freeway in February. Funny that we never once heard or saw anything indicating a collision, or that there isn’t a single dent or damage to our rig.
Nonetheless, someone is saying we hit their lovely Crown Victoria, and took off. The nice Texan officer we spoke with said we don’t have to appear in court, and we aren’t fugitives in the eyes of the law, but that he will be in contact with us once he hears from the accuser. Oh joy.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how much you try to get away from rules, regulations and the powers that be. We are born into the System, live in the System, and die by the System. Unless you want to live like a fugitive at the ends of the earth, you just gotta play the game, fulltime RVer or not.
Tax time? Thanks for the reminder!
sounds like a ‘paper accident’ to me..
Paper Accidents – Fabricating an accident report in order to collect insurance money for pre-existing damage.
they saw your out of state plates and figured you wouldnt come back to contest (depending on the $ amount of the ‘damage’ reported..
bummer…
When we first took off freewheeling it, I got called for jury duty, haha! I felt grounded having to go back home for a set duration.
Ahhh… this reminds me – tax time coming up, too… Ugh.
You have heard of the Escapees, I know.
Texas lets you renew your license on-line as do they let your renew your license plates on-line and Texas has no state income tax.
That is where Escapees comes in. Many, many full-time RVers are Escapee members who “reside” in Livingston Texas on Rainbow Drive.
What could be better?????
I’ve gotta thank my sister who forwards our mail for faxing the letter that indicated we must appear in the Houston court the next day, or else be listed as wanted …
Living on the lamb might add another twist of excitement to this fulltiming lifestyle, but I think Texas is the last place I’d care to be wanted. We might have a hard time making it back to Luck!
LOL…See, you were looking like you were having to much fun!!! I find that you get it from all the angles when you appear that way…LOL. Now being back home for awhile i find myself acting accordingly to what the public expects…Crazy behind the wheel (just to survive) Maybe it’s time for a trip with the R.V into the back country…(stocked) Keep having fun! Only a few do anymore..not sure what happened…any answers?
Yeah, no kidding.. how well I know.