On the road again, Just can’t wait to get on the road again — oh wait, yes I can.  Those were my thoughts as we departed Little Rock for the “big city”.

Late night check  in
We left Little Rock around 6pm to head to Dallas for a little kid-free relaxation and some shopping.  Liz has been wanting to go to IKEA for a while to check out some stuff for the wedding and start getting ideas for the remodel of Hunter’s room.  I needed to go to the Micro Center to pick up a new power supply for my PC as my other was under powered.   I also wanted to hit up the recently discovered outlet mall up in Allen while we were nearby as I have been on a mission for quite some time to find a pair of shoes that actually feel good and look decently — you know, anything but those clown shoes the youngsters wear today.  But I digress.  We finally got out of Little Rock after a brief stint in traffic and headed out on the long, dark and relatively lonesome highway.

After a few quick stops for various reasons and a rather lengthy stop at a Dairy Queen in Hooks, TX, we arrived in Dallas around 11:15 — about 15 minutes ahead of schedule, surprisingly.  We pull into the Courtyard and there is a line of cars in the reception area — at 11:15pm.  I find a spot and hop out and upon entering the lobby, I see why there were so many cars.  There was some event going on in town and everyone (who all knew each other and lived in the same town) were driving separate cars.)  After waiting 20 minutes for the group to be checked in, I had another guy in front of me who was trying to pay for his girlfriends? room but she had already paid for two nights.  A small argument ensued with her (the girlfriend?) finally coming down to clear things up.  Luckily the night manager had come out of the back office and I was able to check in with relative ease.  As it was nearing midnight, I didn’t want to argue that our room was not as I had requested in the reservation, but it really made smoking a pain.  In any event, a pleasant and quiet night completed the long and winding trip that had begun nearly 6 hours ago.