#Vacation – Big Wheels Keep On Turnin'

Life Lately: Pop-Ups, Beyoncé, and a Bit of a Scare

It’s been a little while since my last post, but thanks to some encouragement from a friend, I’m doing my best to get back into writing. A lot has happened since then!

For starters—I got engaged! I also launched a new business, Seasoned Simplicity LLC, where I sell my personal spice blends, peach cobbler, banana pudding, and more recently, cake pops, pretzel rods, and rice crispy treats. And of course, in between it all—life has been life’n.

Catching Up: Business, Beyoncé, and Birthday Wings

During this little break from posting, life has been a mix of prepping for pop-up markets, planning the wedding, cooking, spending time with friends and family… and making a trip to see Beyoncé in Houston (more on that later).

One of the biggest highlights? I had the honor of cooking 120 pounds of wings, plus a peach cobbler and banana pudding for my friend’s son’s 16th birthday. My fiancé made cake pops for the party—and let me tell you, they were a hit! Right after that, it was full steam ahead with pop-up market prep.

The Pop-Up Hustle

Our first two markets were in Dallas. The first one was The Market on the Strip in Oak Lawn—also known as the Gayborhood. It was hot, but we had a great time setting up our tent and tables, and getting a feel for how everything would come together.

The organizers invited us to try a new venue the following Friday, and we gladly accepted. This second event was hosted in part by Beyond the Bar, a shop that specializes in zero-proof cocktails. It was their first market, so things were a little slower, but the vibes were great. We’re already looking forward to coming back for future visits.

These first two events taught us so much—like how long setup and teardown actually takes, how to better gauge how much product to bring, and the power of social media. After the events, we used payment links to sell the rest of our inventory from home!

Longview Pride: A Standout Event

The last pop-up we did was at Longview Pride, and wow—it was a perfect event from start to finish. We had a line the entire time and everything from the cake pops to the seasoning blends flew off the table.

It was so good seeing familiar faces too—friends, and even a former teacher-turned-friend. We caught a drag show, enjoyed some food truck goodies, and soaked in the love that makes Pride so special.

A Big Thank You to Our Village

Huge shoutout to my friend Israel and his wife Hannah for letting us basically turn their house upside down with all our bins and supplies. It takes a special kind of friend to let you chase your dream under their roof.

Also, thank you to my “lil bro” Dalton and his wife Joanna—we switched houses during the trip so we wouldn’t overstay our welcome at either place. Y’all made it possible.

And last but never least—my ACE, Katrina. You were in the trenches with us: prepping, bagging, stickering, helping out at Longview Pride, and even assisting with wedding stuff. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Queen Bey in Houston

After all of that hustle, it was time to unwind—with none other than Queen Bey herself!

We headed to Houston on Sunday and checked into our VRBO for a little downtime before the show. It was Jessica’s first stadium concert and my second Beyoncé concert (the first was the Lemonade tour).

Y’all—Houston showed out. From H-E-B decorating their doors with “Welcome Home, Bey” messages to cupcakes and cookie cakes inspired by Cowboy Carter, it was a full-on celebration.

The concert itself? Flawless. The only artist I think comes close to matching Beyoncé’s level of performance is P!nk. Everything was phenomenal. Katrina and her son joined us too, which made the experience even more memorable.

And Then… A Curveball

Because life always finds a way to keep things interesting, I had a bit of a health scare.

For a few years now, I’ve had difficulty swallowing. Food would get stuck right before entering my stomach. I chalked it up to poor chewing, swallowing too fast, or maybe GERD. But on the afternoon of July 4th (yes, after taking an Allegra D—go ahead, laugh), I couldn’t swallow at all.

After trying everything I could think of to fix it, I ended up in the ER at Christus South Broadway. They saw me quickly and tried a few methods to relax the esophagus—glucagon injection, dissolvable pills—but nothing worked. I was transferred to the main hospital to wait on a GI specialist.

Eventually, I had an endoscopy, where they found the pill lodged in the lower third of my esophagus—right before food enters the stomach. They were able to remove it and also took a biopsy to test for other issues. I’ll get those results soon.

Turns out, my esophagus was only dilated to 1cm, and it needs to be at least 1.5cm to swallow normally. The procedure was quick, and I was released shortly after. I’m still a little sore, but overall doing fine. And I really appreciate everyone who checked in—it might’ve been routine, but it was still a procedure, and your support meant a lot.

Wrapping Up

This trip home was definitely a wild ride—but one full of love, hustle, music, support, and growth. From starting a business to seeing Beyoncé, and yes, even a hospital stay—I’m grateful for every bit of it.

If you’ve read this far, thank you for sticking with me. I’m excited to keep writing and sharing as the journey continues.

Until next time,
❤️

Well, where do I begin? For those that do not know, my girlfriend is a truck driver, and has been for our entire relationship. Meaning she has been home maybe 7 days a week every month. As many people could assume, yes it put quite the strain on our relationship in many ways. But we pushed through. When we got together I was working for a beer distributor and hated it. I later found a job at Lowe’s working the Admin Office, and I loved it, until I didn’t…lol After that a friend and old supervisor of mine assisted me in getting a job as General Manager at a local convenience/grocery store. Which was also going pretty good, until of course, until it wasn’t. That is one of the things that I’ve learned, that while working jobs for other people in jobs that don’t go anywhere, and you stop learning may start out all fine and dandy, eventually things will start to dwindle.

We had been talking about team driving for a while, and after things started going south at my last job, we set a date and decided to take an actual vacation, one in which neither of us had really had and then begin the journey together. I had put in my two week notice the week of July 4^th, and set my last day of work for the 20^th of July. It was easy to leave my job, but difficult to say goodbye to the people that I had spent time with grooming and teaching management to and just basic professionalism to. But it had to be done.

Upon quitting, we decided to pack up our two bedroom two bath apartment and stick everything in storage. I spoke with a recruiter, filled all the appropriate paperwork out and went for a physical and drug test. Once that was approved I scheduled the written portion of my CDL with the DMV in Texas City (my dad’s) so I had an official appointment thanks to COVID, everything is done by appointment now, and I wouldn’t have been able to get an appointment until September in Smith Co. We decided to have a little get together and invited a few close friends, yes we know we are in a panorama, but the house was Lysol’d down, restrooms were equipped with soap and hand sanitizer as well as masks on deck for those that wanted any. But needless to say it was a good night with good food, drinks and company. Since my house has been the “meeting place” for so long it really didn’t set in that I wasn’t going to be the host for my friends. For those of you that know me, my door is always open and there is usually a soda, cold beverage of the adult kind, and food in the fridge, pantry, or cooking that you are welcome to. But this is me just being me and making sure that everyone around me is taken care of. Realizing that made me tear up several times throughout the night but I didn’t let myself slip. lol The next day was for moving the final things and preparing for the first leg of our vacation. The first leg (week) of the vacation was spent in Las Vegas, at The Strat, at the end of the strip looking 360 all the way around Vegas. We had a blast. The first night once we landed and got checked in, we met up with my uncle who was on vacation with his daughter from California. We ate at the buffet at Circus Circus, and walked down to Bellagio to watch the water show (Elton John’s ‘Your Song’ was the song of choice for the show) We went sightseeing at The Grand Canyon West and the Hoover Dam, went to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, and had 2 hours of free drinks at Senior Frogs (was only supposed to be 1 hour but our bartender was pretty cool), chilled in the pool at the hotel and did lots and lots of eating and walking lol.

Once we got back to DFW we went to a friend’s house to crash and get ready for the next part of our vacation. We went to S4 in Dallas the next day because why not? YOU NEED TO GO SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL QUEENS!!!! I got to meet up with some more of my friends and one that I have not seen since 2009 as a freshman in college and that was so refreshing to know that everyone is doing well for themselves. Drinks and a good time was had. The next morning we all got up and got ready for the 1^st inaugural BAEcation, which was created by me and another friend in order for all of us to stay in contact and have a good time once a year. This year we settled on floating the river in south Texas. 4 couples split an Airbnb, food and stuff and took off for a weekend get away. LOTS of food was made for all meals, but this is just how we do.

Upon the end of that weekend we continued on to Texas City to see my father and my grandmother, and to take my test. We went straight to the beach and to ride the ferry once we got in because that’s what you do when you go to the coast, and eat Bahama Bucks too. The written part of the Texas CDL exam to get your permit is tricky. There are 5 parts of the test (there are more but I only had to take 5). Texas Special Rules, General Knowledge, Air Brakes, Tanker, and Combinations. You have 3 tries to pass each exam. If you fail any part of the test, you have to come back the next day and attempt again, upon your 3^rd attempt if you fail, you have to start all the way over including paperwork, and payment. We aren’t gonna get into the logistics of things just know that ya boy messed up on the Texas Special Rules and Air Brakes both once lol. Pretty good to be self-taught in my book. One that stress was over we went up to Friendwood to meet a friend for lunch and catch up with her. It was fun as always.

After leaving Texas City, we were on our way back north to Tyler, to pick up Leo (the pup) and Jessica’s truck to get the stuff we put in storage for the truck and we kept on towards Kress (my Mom’s) along the way we stopped and had dinner with Jessica’s mom and relaxed for a bit. Then we kept trucking with her in the truck and me in the car. After about 10 hours we made it to the other side of Texas to visit my mom, brother and his kids, and to see his house he has rebuilt. After chilling there for a few days, I left my car at my mom’s and we made our way to Springfield, Missouri where I am now in the training portion of my employment.

I will say that this has probably been one of the biggest leaps that I have done personally. But what is life if we aren’t living it!? I hope you all enjoy this blog and my progress into making it into the truck with Jessica.

~Ron