Our "high centering" offroad mishap set back our road trip a few hours, so the last day of our 5.5 day seven state road trip was a push to Dallas. Ben did the night driving from New Mexico to Texas on some very dark lonely roads. We crossed into Texas at Texline (get the name?) and entered Texas time (aka Central Time). We arrived in Dalhart a little after midnight to crash at a newly built Hampton Inn. We had an inkling this was a cattle town due to the "fragrance" in the air, and then learned the helpful fact that cows outnumber humans 70 to one in this town. We slept in a bit and enjoyed the Texas shaped waffles the next morning in our included breakfast. Lest you think the fragrance put me off, I really liked Dalhart. A very friendly town.
Our next major stop was Buc-ee's in Amarillo, TX. Buc-ee's for those uninformed, is a Texas institution. It is the gas station convenience store on steroids. If you have not experienced it, you have not experienced it.
100 gas pumps and a "convenience" store that is the size of a department store.
And then there is Buc-ee the beaver, the mascot of this enterprise. Buc-ee's face is emblazoned on clothes, food, band-aids, everything. There is even a sweaty person in a large Buc-ee's costume greeting toddlers. You can't not like Buc-ee just like you can't not like Mickey Mouse. I'm a fan. I could not resist. I bought a tank top with a glittery picture of Buc-ee.
From Amarillo we pushed on to Dallas, stopping at several rest stops along the way. Now, in Texas everything is bigger. And so are the rest stops. These modern archiectural marvels are indoors with A/C (of course, of course), two stories high with bathrooms and vending machines. But they also contain a DOT office, a miniature museum, public service announcements, and a tornado room. While I didn't tour the tornado room, it was a comfort to know it was there.
I would be remiss in mentioning we also saw the world's largest bowie knife, in Bowie, TX. Not kidding. Guiness record certified.
Finally, finally, we made it back to Ben's apartment in Dallas. There commenced the sweaty unloading of his packed Cruiser. The temp was 93 degrees, in March.
Ben promised BBQ before he dropped me off at Love Field airport to my flight back to the Bay Area. It was delish. And so ends the road trip tale. See our approximate path below.
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