Having not done any serious training since leaving, I needed to go for a run. I woke up at 6:30 AM, checked the weather on my phone and it was all ready 82 F out. Oh well, could be worse. Went out and did a 5-mile run along the Mississippi and through the neighborhoods of Memphis. The houses were very nice and some of them were sitting up on the bluffs looking out over the river. Once back at the hotel I woke up Nick and took a quick shower. Then it was time for breakfast. What’s better than a fresh breakfast before setting off on a 7 hour drive? A FREE fresh breakfast!! It was a good start to the drive.
The drive itself wasn’t awful except we missed the “Welcome to Texas” sign. We hadn’t missed a state yet and somehow we missed the sign that I assumed would be the most obnoxious of all. Oh well, we’ll get it somehow. As we headed across the Lone Star State, the terrain slowly started becoming more plains and less trees. I told Nick from the start of the trip that we would see a bunch of green, then yellow, then red. We were now entering the yellow section of the US.
We had tickets for the Rangers/Twins game that night and felt like we wanted to be Rangers fans for the night. Since they are in the AL and we used to live in Texas, it’s acceptable. So Nick wanted a hat, and I wanted a shirt. We were going to hit up the Galleria mall which I remember from my childhood days in Dallas. Before the mall, we had to make a little more memorable stop.
We headed to the house that Nick was brought home to from the hospital when he was born. We moved from the house when he was about one year old, so he didn’t remember anything. It was still sentimental for the two of us to be back at that house again after 17 years. I wanted to go inside, but no one was home, so no luck there, but I did point out areas of the neighborhood that I memories from. We then took a quick trip to my old elementary school, Brentfield. This was the school that Nick would have gone to. It was almost surreal to see the same playground that I used to play on everyday. A rush of memories game back that haven’t entered my thoughts in years. We then took a quick drive to the soccer fields where I learned to play soccer. This one was tough because soccer was definitely my life for a long time. I would say that it is by far my strongest passion and it has slowly been taken away. Maybe I’ll have time to join a team this year, hopefully.
We then headed for the Galleria Mall. I wasn’t sure if they would still have the distinguishing feature that I remembered so well about it. But they did. In the middle of the main courtyard of the mall was an ice skating rink. Nick was very impressed with that and also with the mall overall. I always remembered Dallas as having awesome malls, Blockbuster, Chik-fil-a, and other random stores like that. But it did leave an impression on me. Nick bought a sweet Rangers hat and I got a Hamilton shirt. We were ready for the game.
Our timing was not perfect, as we hit Dallas rush hour. Couldn’t complain too much because it was our first traffic since Delaware. We then got a little lost trying to find the hotel, but nothing the “sense-of-guy” couldn’t help us figure out. For those who don’t know, “sense-of-guy” is the innate ability that males have to know directions, how to build things, and do other manly things without being taught. It has proven to work for me multiple times; dare I say, the sense is strong with me.
I almost had a conniption in the hotel lobby. I feel like I am very patient with many different situations, but there are some situations I just can’t take. When we walked into the hotel there was a group of 30 people on a church mission/retreat that were so loud. Kids were all over the place screaming, babies were crying, and the adults were trying to talk about all of it. Thank god, the check-in didn’t take very long. We dropped off our bags and headed for the stadium.
We ended up tailgating in a Six Flags lot, and were the only people tailgating. I was perfectly OK with it. I continued my dominance in washers, but did try to give Nick a few pointers. He started getting a little better towards the end, but by that point it was time to go in. Rangers Stadium was really nice and we walked around to see the Cowboys Stadium that was gigantic. That’s the obnoxious Texas I was expecting. But I really like the Rangers Ballpark, and our seats were middle level 3rd baseline. Not too shabby. The most exciting thing about the game was that it was a Dollar Dog Night. Apparently this isn’t as big of a deal in Dallas as it is in Philly. The Rangers are one of the hottest teams in baseball and the stadium was nowhere close to full. Oh well, just tells me that Philly fans are more dedicated. The game didn’t go too well, they lost 7-2, but still a fun time and a cool experience. We then headed back to the hotel to watch some Family Guy and crash. ULTRA day 5/39: COMPLETE
JM
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