Saturday, 18 November 2023: Back in Austin

Justin switching all our travel
 treasures from one car to another...again.  

Yep, we've been back at Dellene’s for about a week in our new 2022 Hyundai Tucson.  Not the new plug-in hybrid, but in our new Tucson regular hybrid. Not our fabulous Tuscon Limited but our still somewhat cool Tuscon Blue.  Not the one with 8,000 miles, but this one with 12,000 miles was still new enough for NFCU to give us the new car interest rate… that’s a good thing.  Our entire Ground Hog day debacle went from a SNAFU to a cluster*_@!  about ten days ago.  We have just been through the wringer.  

At one point, we did have a guy in Matamoras tell us he could get us the needed TIP for only $300.  Yeah, right.  And how much more once we got there.  Holy moly I do not want to spend any time in Mexican jail.  That is not why I retired!

We were back at Dellene’s waiting for the paperwork to come through.  Several years ago we bought a car in Austin and headed south with temporary plates.  At that time both Justin and I were Texas residents and we had Texas drivers license.  The idea of driving with temporary Texas plates into Mexico didn’t seem like anything.  As it turned out, the temporary plates we had mailed to the hotel in Celestun never arrived (now I know that was to be accepted as the norm as there simply is no mail service in our part of Mexico).  Thankfully, Dellene picked up new plates for us and mailed the to Kim in Florida who brought them to us in her suitcase.  This time around, as the holder of Wisconsin drivers licenses, we decided to wait it out in Texas until all the paperwork was finalized.

Justin and I explored new neighborhoods in Austin and spent time on the trails in Sun City.  Gemma was always eager to join us but she didn't care one bit about making friends with the many deer we saw.  

This  wait gave Dellene and me a chance to go to The Christmas Affair, the annual Junior League fundraising extravaganza held in Austin.  We’ve talked about his for years and years.  This year, we go to go together.  What a coup!

We also got to watch Luke play in a championship baseball game — something I don’t get to do with grandkids in Wisconsin.  Everyone was there almost.  In addition to Luke, we got to see Kim and Harper and Brewer.  We got to see Chris and Kara and we even saw Paul.  Luke's team did not take home the prize but everyone gets trophies in youth sports.