Texas bites and Friday night lights

First, let me begin with the most uneventful and boring drive of the trip, Tuscaloosa to Dallas. George was starting to get annoyed with being in the car (as seen in the video below) and we were also ready for a break.

Once in Dallas, my family and I tried to make Kate's first trip to Texas a very Texan one indeed.



Salerno family minus Natty

This picture was taken at a fine establishment in Little Elm, TX called the Prairie House. The Salerno's convinced Kate that chicken fried steak, fried okra and sweet tea was the way to go. (Please note, they are not frying sweet tea yet to my knowledge. I do believe they do have fried beer though.)

After the meal we did what every other Texan does on a Friday night during fall:



Football in Little Elm, TX



To round out the true southern experience, Kate was able to witness a bit of overt racism. Way back when Little Elm was still little, you were typically related to or associated with one of two families: the Salernos or the Others. I am not going to name the Others because of their heavy drinking and heavy NRAing. Anyhow, we were lucky enough to sit by one of the Other's at the game. He was a true townie. He went to Little Elm High in the 70's (probably didn't finish), he has been at every game but doesn't have any kids on the team, and he lives and dies by every play. Apparently Little Elm finally has a black quarterback (and it only took 50 years after the movement!). The Other was not pleased with this decision. In the middle of the first quarter, he yells, "Put the white boy in!" He then looks around and says, "I ain't afraid to say it." Later in the game after much frustration and cursing in some inaudible Texas slang he announced, "I'm moving down there to sit with the White Supremacy." He walks down to a sea of cowboy hats and John Deer logos.

Kate's face was priceless. Oh, Yankees have so much to learn.

La Quintaracha

Let's talk about roaches. Not the ones you see in DC that crawl around on the ground and range from the size of a pencil eraser to a dime. How about ones that are bigger than a peach pit... and fly? No joke. What could make the idea of these roaches worse? Seeing one on your bedside table in your hotel room. And one in the bathroom. Those suckers are fast. They crawl up walls and fly at your face.

I bought a newspaper to use to help the roach situation, but the nice lady at the hotel said only a towel would work. Kat won't let me post the video of her actually using the towel to get the roach because she doesn't like hurting animals. Watch her try the humane approach.

Stereotypical?

Car facts:

• Time George has spent on our laps: 10 hrs.
• Songs that have made Kate roll her eyes: 2

           1. On the Road Again by Willie Nelson
           2. Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash

Kamping.

I haven't really spent much time in nor seen much of the south. Kat wants to change that, which is why we're taking the southern route to LA. My introduction to the south started at Lake Powhatan in the Pisgah National Forest (i.e. near Asheville, NC). I've only been camping twice, so the idea of going to a maintained campground with someone who knows the wilderness is the kind of camping I'm up for. On our drive there I was pretty excited. However, my excitement changed to legitimate fear to the point of wanting to find a hotel when, while driving through a stretch of Tennessee, Kat claims to have seen a coyote. Luckily, there were no coyotes where we went. This place was great, and the worst thing we had to deal with was a lot of daddy long legs. More camping pics after the jump.



Last Day of Work: Huge Compliment.

Quick update on the Roommate from Hell: Last night I went to talk to the landlord. He said that if we both agree to leave at the end of Sept. they would let us out of our lease with no penalty. Without prompting (or cursing) my roommate agreed. She also said that I was 'colorful' the night before. Huge compliment.
However, no celebrations until she puts it in writing. I am waiting...

Last night, George helped me with some packing:

Going through old pictures and journals is always fun. I showed Kate a team volleyball picture from high school and her comment was, "you look tough." Huge compliment.

Today I am sitting at my desk erasing all signs that I ever worked here....except for the data, of course. Only an idiot would erase data on their last day.

I will miss the view from the 4th floor:

I will also miss some of the craziness of this office. My coworkers got me a card that screams this Tina song:



and also made me this t-shirt yesterday:

Huge compliment. (and busty)