So, we are back! As usual, we had a great trip, but damn, it is nice to be back home. For those of you who want to start at the beginning of the trip, go here. Or at least go to this entry and see me with a turtle on my head.... Today's entry was written in the car on the way back, and I'm too tired to do anything but copy it over... 12:42 3/10/2003
JD had told me how to get through Dallas the last time that I visited him, but I had forgotten, so I had him reiterate it for me, and I will put it here so that the next time I forget, I can look it up.
The secret to me "not getting lost in Dallas" is to stay on I-45 until it runs out, and then stay on it some more. Yep, there will be a sign saying that I-45 ENDS, and it turns into US-75 for a short while. For a coupla minutes there, I was afraid that I would wind up going off of the end of one of those uncompleted freeway bridges that are seen frequently in places like Dallas and Houston.
But the real trick is recognizing the name of the road that I want to be on, 'cause that's tricky. Y'see, the trick is that there are *TWO* roads named I-35, an I-35 East and an I-35 West. It splits when you're coming from the north, with I-35 West going to Ft. Worth, and joins when you're coming from the south. So, instead of the sign saying I-35 NORTH, it says I-35 East, making me think that it goes East. Silly me, I want to go on I-35 NORTH all of the time, since I want to go NORTH on I-35.
So the name of the road should be I-35 East, northbound, or something like that.
Anyways, it has fooled me every time that I didn't get explicit directions, but no more, no more.
So, it's almost 13:00, and we're only 35 miles north of where we started this morning, and we got up at 10:00. "So how can that be?" you ask. Well, let me tell you. First thing, we started off going the wrong direction, but that was OK, since we wanted some breakfast. We stopped at an IHOP at the next exit and had an omelette and I screwed up and ordered the wrong one, I wanted a Colorado and I ordered a Country... the country omelette was filled with hash browns, which I decided not to eat... I didn't want to spend the carbs on hash browns.
So we started off going north, and there was a northbound traffic jam. After five miles of single-lane traffic, about an hour's worth, we came upon the problem. Twelve guys standing around watching two guys shovel asphalt into potholes. Not even tamping the stuff down, just throwing it in the general direction of the pothole.
Karen made the comment that this was even worse than the detour that we ran into in North Carolina a coupla years ago coming back from Jon and Lynn's' home.
Anyways, we're 138 miles away from OK City, and we should get home around 20:00 or so, I think... Karen is driving, and she tends to drive a little faster than I do.
When we went by Tylers' house last night, his gerbil or hamster or miniature hamster or whatever it is was running in his little wheel (I know that there's a better word for it, but neither Karen nor I can think of it right now) and I was wondering about the mindset of the guy that figgered out that those little rodents would do that... were there chemical substances involved? Or just sheer genius? And why don't we know this guy's name, along with Henry Ford and Einstein and George Washington Carver and all those other famousus people? Was it a one-shot wonder, like so many entertainers who do one hit song and then you never hear from them again? Is he panhandling somewhere in Florida right now, or is he dust in ancient Egypt?
17:07.. But it will be good to get home, it will... and sleep in our own bed, although the bed in the motel last night was pretty comfy. Well, that might have just been my attitude, I could have slept on a rock.
I think, since Karen is driving, that I'll get out my books and try to do some reading, it's pretty hard writing with the glare on the screen here in the car.
In the Mail: On the shelf:
We're getting ready to cross into Kansas from Oklahoma... we ate at a Braum's in Norman, and we needed to get out and walk a little bit, so we stopped at the rest stop to use the restrooms and walk a little bit... but, dammitallanyway, it was COLD out there! Yep, no more southern Texas warmth for us... we didn't get much walking done, I'm afraid..