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September 12, 2011
Big D
Somehow, I'm in Dallas again. Dallas is all billboards and freeways. Ginormous vehicles. Tahoes. Suburbans. Yukons. After so long in San Francisco, I began to feel like I was the last person on earth to own a Tahoe. But now, here, it seems there are other people that don't care about gas mileage besides me. I haven't seen a single prius since I landed. And no bicyclists either. They're not missed.
The temperature today is supposed to hit triple digits. Right now, it's 88. Everyone here wears short sleeves and I roll up in a leather jacket, khakis, with a handbag full of long sleeve shirts.
Beneath and grackles' watchful eyes, the crepe myrtles and Lantana explode - pink, red, white, orange and yellow. .
I was supposed to be at work at 8:00 a.m. It's noon. I'm not even sure where to go, really. Only I have a general sort of vague idea. I'm in the right part of town, anyway. So I stop for lunch at a place I've never been before - Mike Anderson's BBQ. Sign says "Don't hold the dang door open. Lets flies in. Lets cool air out. Makes Mike mad as hell!"
I walk in, order some beef brisket and sit down in the corner. While I watch, the place goes from empty to completely packed - elbow to elbow. Chop. Chop. Chop. The slicing of the beef brisket never ceases. It never ends. A trillion cows served up daily.
I check my email to see where I'm supposed to go. There's an address in there. I get directions to it from Google maps. Somehow, I drove over my GPS in the Great American desert so now, I'm sort of winging it. I don't have an iPhone, so I have to power-up this old-skool jury-rigged laptop/cell-phone-as-tethered-modem.
I see where I'm supposed to go. It's only two blocks away. I'm in no rush to get there.
I dunno why I still do this. I've been beating this drum for a long time now. Nothing ever changes, it seems. The guys that did Long Way Round and Long Way Down are supposed to be driving through South America this year on their next adventure. Maybe I'll ring them up and see if they need a photographer.
Posted by Rob Kiser on September 12, 2011 at 11:38 AM
Comments
Those long way around guys are copy cats:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Ji342XdCN3QC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Posted by: mgb on September 13, 2011 at 10:05 AM
That is pretty wild. Where'd you stumble across that gem?
Posted by: Rob Kiser 
on September 13, 2011 at 5:05 PM
It was a pure stumble. Here is the full book for free in PDF format:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31111/31111-pdf.pdf
Posted by: mgb on September 14, 2011 at 11:11 AM