Mini vacation Part I: Traveling in Texas

A week ago, MyLove and I went on a mini vacation.  Trust me, it was needed!

This will be only one part of my vacation and it is about our traveling.

MyLove wanted to see a  Medieval Tournament as he had seen it before and wanted me to see one. We decided to stay in Arlington, go to the Medieval Tournament in Dallas and on our way back, make a detour north to Italy, Texas. He took charge and made all the arrangements.

Let me give you this tidbit. We do not have Onstar or a GPS. We didn't think of a map. We had Map Quest directions he printed out.  I figured he knew where he was going and he had what was needed, right?  We made it to Texas and when we neared  where we thought the  exit was we looked for the sign we needed. We drove and drove.

In fact, I kept thinking, we've gone too far calculating what Map Quest said and the miles we had gone. He was thinking we were on the right track. But then we saw a sign, and with our information we had, the exit was missed.. However, we were both depending on the other and didn't say anything trusting the other knew what they were doing.

I have to say to those who live in BIG cities with 6 lanes and speed limit 60, ya'll can have them. .

We obviously missed a "merge". You know those kind where there's six lanes (I may be exagerrating about the six but it seemed like it anyway, can't remember exact)  with signs with arrows going right, straigh and left. Idiots were going more than 60 mph because MyLove was going with traffic and people were passing us up!

I was so tense because we saw so many freaking near accidents. People cutting in with no blinker. I wonder where they got their driver's license. Do they even know where the blinker is? Do they even slow down? It's either you let them in or you are going to hit them.

I thought Louisianians were crazy drivers. I think I was wrong. My muscles hurt when we finally arrived at our destination. There is no doubt why we missed the exit, having to pay attention to crazy drivers and reading the MANY signs.

Thank God we don't have freeways like Texas!

An hour later we finally arrived at the "Luxury Boutique Hotel" The Sanford House.We checked in, walked around the grounds and rested. Around 6:30 we decided to venture out for supper. We had taken down addresses of a few places online
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To all future visitors of Arlington: BEWARE! If you arrive on a Sunday, it is like a ghost town, where we were anyway! Not many restaurant are opened except for Fast Food Chains and then, they are rare.  We could not find a single Steakhouse, Mexican or BBQ place opened! So we went to Plan B and ended up eating at a Panda Express Chinese restaurant. It was alright. I've tasted better Chinese.

It took us an hour to finally get to it with the crazy streets I mentioned and going to restaurants that were closed.One establishment had one of those papers that said the owner hadn't paid their lease so they were shut down.  MyLove and I have agreed next time we go into Arlington on a Sunday, we'll stop in the city before or bring sandwiches.

We got back to the hotel and jumped in the pool for an hour and retired for the night..

The next morning after breakfast, we went to a Model Train Shop MyLove had found online. It was fairly easy. But we figured out where we were suppose to have gone off I-20.Too late then though! HA!

After we went look for some cars.  MyLove has been searching online for a car to buy. He had seen some dealerships on Division Street onlinet. So we went check them out. Here's another tip: Division Street is THE AUTO STRIP there.  All you saw was cars!

Here's a pic of a garage we had passed. He had passed it, I looked back and saw it. I made him turn around to get this picture. Don't know what it says but I wanted the Smiley Face!

On our way back to the B&B we got into a fender bender. Here's a map I made. You can laugh. I've never considered myself an artist. Ha!

As you can see the B&;B was at the corner of Center Street and Sanford street. . Center street was a two way where the front of the house was facing.I just noticed I only put one arrow on Center  but it is suppose two as it is a two way, two lanes. Sanford Street was on a three lane, one way passing on the side of the house where we parked. We were coming down Sanford in the middle lane. I know I have only two lanes but I was tired of fighting with Paint and straight lines!

MyLove and I were trying to figure out where we were because we hadn't figured out the streets yet. Well, he was going maybe 10 miles an hour because we knew we were close. He passed the house looking the other way. I saw it go by and informed him we had just passed it 

He glanced into his rear view mirror and began to change lanes when simultaneously this car comes out of nowhere and whizzes by as we hear a LOUD Noise but the car continues.

As MyLove continues to change lanes and turn.we were startled so he stopped on the side and he asked  me if we were hit. I figured if we were hit, the air bag would have came out. Well the dude evidently saw us, backed up a good quarter mile back to where we were and stopped. He gets out of his car with a big ass clipboard and proclaims we hit him. He was a middle aged Hispanic man. I'll call him Lopez because he reminds me of George Lopez for some reason..

MyLove kept asking me if he hit something. So we're looking at my car and my bumper was scratched but I can't tell you if it was there before or not. The man had a dent on the passenger side but we had more damage than he did.Our damage was not coinciding at all.

So the man shakes hands with MyLove and asks if he was a Priest. That was all too weird.

MyLove said, "No, why? I had stayed back with my insurance, registration but I had forgotten my license at the B&B as MyLove was the driver.

Lopez chuckles, "If you were I'd let you off the hook."

I looked at the dude and thought he was freaking crazy. So he looked at our license plate, and wrote it down. He  asked if we were visitors. DUH!

MyLove said, "Yea." So Lopez asked if we had insurance. MyLove responded positively. MyLove also admitted that he had looked but hadn't seen him.

We say he was going like a bat out of hell from nowhere!

Lopez says we need to call the cops.

MyLove tells him, "I am not calling the cops. You call the cops."

The man looks around and starts walking to a building and says he is going look for a phone. MyLove approves, "OK", then asks, " You don't have a cell phone?"

Lopez continues to walk with clipboard in hand looking over his shoulder, "No, you?"

MyLove mutters  he does. Lopez stops, turns around and says, "Oh well you can call them."

MyLove says, "I'm not calling them, you call them." .

We were still unsure if we had collided or not and who was in the wrong. It didn't matter to me, my car is old and if it keeps running, I'm good. So MyLove hands him the phone.

The man takes the phone and looks at it like he was trying to read Chinese. He had no clue that he just had to press the numbers. We weren't offering!

He walks around the car again and says, "Know what? I have your license plate. And since you are out of down, I think I will let you go. But here is  a tip be careful around here because trucks come down here and can kill ya."

No Sh-t Sherlock!

MyLove and I just looked at each other.  MyLove then thanks him and tells him we appreciated it. We shook hands and made it back to our B&B. I told MyLove that was a sign to tell us to get off Texan roads for a while.

We made it to the Tournament in Dallas that night, about 20 miles away with one missed turn, again those damn signs! If you get off in the wrong place you are screwed for at least 20 minutes. It took us that long to find another exit to get back to where we were to go the right way. Thank God we left early!

The next morning we checked out of the B&aB and made our way to Italy, Texas. That was one long road to get to the place, or so it seemed..

We made it back to Louisiana without any problems especially after we passed Arlington.We felt lost most of the time we were there.

But you know what? As much as we were lost we never got impatient and upset with the other or raised our voices.

But we did learn to BRING A MAP!

Stay tuned to the rest of my vacation!