Day 8 - New Orleans to Dallas

Day 8

The sun filtered through the curtains and we were up. After our “Gourmet” continental breakfast we headed to the car with our bags in hand. We had a long day ahead, 520 miles ahead of us! Eight on the dot we left; Dallas here we come. The hands of fate had already chosen Jamie to Drive, and so it was up to him to lead us out of the magical city of New Orleans!
Rowena drove for 2 ½ hours and she had her foot on the accelerator for that time, only to find out later that she could have used the cruise control! (it maintains the speed you initiate it at until you brake or accelerate more) In her own words she was flipping around like Long John Silver when she got out of the car.

As we saw the approaching skyline and it skyscrapers, we knew that Dallas was upon us. In some way it was reminiscent of New York having not seen a city skyline in what seemed like a life time. Unfortunately for Charis, she was driving the last leg of the journey and so had to navigate through a nemesis of a freeway, by crossing six lanes within the space of a few minutes.
Once we paid our toll to enter Dallas, we went in search of Misty’s (Beverley’s friend) apartment. We were lost. The Tom Tom would not accept the address we were given by Misty, so we had to call her for directions. On our way we happened to see amazing houses, and we drove up Beverly Drive (without the ley at the end). It seems her name is popping up everywhere; first the Coke product and now a street!

By the time we arrived at Misty’s the sun was setting. Jamie and Beverley were going to stay there while the rest of us were going to stay at the Radison, a hotel. We met Misty and she invited us for refreshments in her apartment, before she was to guide us to our hotel, as the Tom Tom would not accept the address we had.

At the hotel, to our delight (Jamie and Beverley’s chagrin) we had air beds in the room which we could adjust to make it softer or firmer.

Misty works for the Dart, the transport system in Dallas, and she was able to get us some travel passes. She, as our guide, led us to a Mexican restaurant by the name of Monica’s. On the way, we were harassed by a disabled man and to Misty’s credit she as our host she saved us, and we learnt a thing or two on how to handle such a situation.

Trying to save money (being thrifty) on ATM fees, we stopped in a Seven Eleven convenience store, which offers a Citi ATM machine in most of their stores.

At Monica’s we all enjoyed our complimentary “tortilla chips” with endless salsa, that quenched our hunger before our entree’s were even served! Our entrees could only be described as gastronomically delightful! They had a live Mexican band. We enjoyed $3 Lime Margaritas, and joined a conga line in which half way through a guy poured fiery tequila down our throats!
Exhausted from an eventful day of driving, we all retired for the night. On to the next day.....