Dallas day trip

Hi friends,

So on Sunday Anne has this idea, turns to me and says, "I have an idea, and I'm not sure you are going to like it". She asks if I'd like to go to Dallas by myself on Monday to visit my friend Phillip. I took her up on it. It was going to be costly and tiring to haul the RV up there and back. The city traffic would be dreadful, the forecast for Wednesday is bad, and Anne has her heart set on the BBQ in Huntsville on Thursday. We need to do something till then, so........why not?

At noon Monday I left Anne, Dixie, and Beasley at Heartland RV Park and drove up Highway 45 for 3 hours. I was free as a bird, big wide open highway, bright sunshine, IPOD blaring and shuffling my favorites. The family doesn't appreciate or allow for that, probably nobody would, so I seize the moment.

Phillip would be home from work at 6pm, so me arriving at Dallas at 3pm I 'takes a ride' out Highway 30 towards Arlington to see if I could get close to Cowboys Stadium. I wasn't sure since Super Sunday was just yesterday. Well, it was a spectacle, and The Rangers Ballpark is neat too and right next door. I get a charge out seeing these stadiums !!

I met up with Phillip 20 miles north of Dallas at his home in Plano at 5:45pm. Traffic on the way was a buzz. He and his daughter Bailey (18) are excited to take me out to show me the sites. We had dinner at the oldest Mexican restaurant in Dallas, El Fenix, then they gave me the grand tour. Phil has lived here his entire life so I was in good hands. As we go, Phil describes the colorfully lit skyscrapers and I just gaze at them all.

We circle the American Airlines Arena where the Mavs were playing the Cavs, and we caught a 'real time' glimpse of the game on a giant 'Texas sized' wide screen TV outside. We don't have that in Boston, instead we have banners hanging from the rafters.

Then we went over to the famed 'grassy knoll' where JFK was assassinated. As we sat there at a stop light, Phil pointed out the window (up and directly in front of us) from which Lee Harvey Oswald fired the fatal shot. He also pointed down to the left to the police station/jail where Jack Ruby later 'took out' LHO. From there we drove down the ramp past the knoll, and we followed the same route the limo took as it rushed President Kennedy to the hospital that awful day in Nov, 1963. I was in Mrs. Higgins 6th grade classroom that afternoon, and I remember (like it was yesterday) when the radio announcement was played over the loud speakers throughout the Intermediate School in Wareham, MA.

What a good exciting night I had with these friends. By 7am Tuesday Phil and I had had a cup of coffee and a banana, I was on my way back to Huntsville and Phil on his way back to work in Fort Worth as we each drove in packed, 4 lane, stop and go traffic clear thru to the other side of Dallas, me the south side and Phil the west side.

It was a sub-freezing morning and apparently, the night before, a homeowner had watered his lawn, overspraying well into the right hand lane of Legacy Drive. With 2cars ahead of me we were all slowing down approaching a red light. Suddenly I was forced to lock up my brakes as the truck began sliding on the only patch of ice in Plano. I just knew I was about to hear the sound of metal on metal. I did stop tho, just short of the car ahead of me, and as I slid I watched in my rear view mirror as the car behind me did the same thing, fish tailing to miss me. Whew,,, I can see it now, the embarrassing headline, "Maine man involved in fender bender on icy spot in surburban Dallas."

At 10:30am, having made the appointment on Monday, I exited the highway 40 miles north of Huntsville at Madisonville and had the oil changed in our truck at Henson GMC.

By 12:15pm I was back home with my family, safe and sound, thankful and grateful to have been able to take a fantastic 24 hour side trip.

Anne says she wants to do something similar in Mesa, AZ. She has a long lost girl friend there. I should've known when she set me free that she had a motive, but no problem, it's all good. It'll be my turn to stay with Dixie and Beasley and do the laundry that day.