and go to austin i did. and san antonio. and memphis. it was an 8 day road trip, with rotating passengers, and sadly, a non-working ipod charger. i can break it into 3 sections; section 1: the emily portion; section 2: the emily and richard portion; and section 3: the richard portion.
the emily portion
we left chicago on a wed afternoon, narrowly missing the horrendous storms and tornadoes that came thru the area a bit later that day. for us, it was only sunshine and fields of corn. we drove 9 hours to west memphis, arkansas. there aren't any real highlights from that day, except for emily wanting to kill people at mcdonald's somewhere in the middle of illinois and me having taco bell for dinner. oh and watching the video for "are you ready for the sex girls" on emily's phone while driving, somewhere in missouri.
the next day, we stopped at a diner for breakfast that also had a buffet. already we knew we were in the south-the "y'alls" and "darlins" had begun. i, for one, enjoyed it. somehow, i skipped the breakfast buffet and ordered pancakes. the drive that day was the rest of the way to san antonio or about 12 hours. we ate at olive garden in texarana, tx, as is our road trip tradition. we saw a flying saucer gift shop in italy, tx called "starship pegasus". 
sadly, it was not open. but when we pulled in to take the picture, a young man emerged from a shed behind the saucer, gave us his card, and asked us to please e-mail him any pictures we took. the gas station across the street had a sign boasting free samples of the best beef jerky in texas. oddly, i did not go in. we stopped at dairy queen and had a funny conversation with the young girl behind the counter about all the cool things to do in san antonio. the six flags water park and "big movie theaters" were among her list of must do items.
we hit a bit of a snag in the last hour of driving when we stopped at the world's slowest mcdonald's drive thru for professional sodas. i think we sat there for literally 30 minutes. and before you ask why we didn't just leave, it was the kind of drive thru you couldn't get out of once you were in. i wanted to be anywhere but there. the people in the car in front of us were drunk and it seemed like the workers in the store were too.
we hit a bit of a snag in the last hour of driving when we stopped at the world's slowest mcdonald's drive thru for professional sodas. i think we sat there for literally 30 minutes. and before you ask why we didn't just leave, it was the kind of drive thru you couldn't get out of once you were in. i wanted to be anywhere but there. the people in the car in front of us were drunk and it seemed like the workers in the store were too.
the second snag came when we got to san antonio. we arrived at the motel 6 where i had reserved the room and found that our room had been given away. it was frustrating and moods weren't good, but we did find a travelodge for that night, and although it was less than savory, it sufficed and no one perished.
friday morning, after checking out of the travelodge and a quick run to the motel 6 to make sure our room was secured for the rest of our stay, we headed to the "daisun recommended" blue star brewery. we got there too late for breakfast, which kinda bummed me out, but they did have 6 different, housemade craft sodas in their gun, so i couldn't complain. i got fish and chips and had a bite of emily's coconut cream pie. after lunch, we drove around the area and tried to see if there was any fun shopping, coffee shops, etc. we didn't really find anything and soon we were in the suburbs. so we went to target, of course. we also passed this awesome, old ass pizza hut sign:
after getting some fruit, sunblock, a box of wine and 2 liter of coke (for emily) and vitamin water (for me) at target, we decided to check into the motel and spend the afternoon in the a/c. it was 105 degrees out and humid. i had chosen this particular motel 6 because it was one that had a groovy new, mod makeover. it really did look like this:
i spent the afternoon eating grapes, laying on the bed, and watching a "say yes to the dress" marathon (i don't have cable, cut me some slack), and emily went to the pool. we decided to get an early dinner at another of daisun's recommendations, a mexican place called jacala. it was kinda out of the way, but worth the trip. we ended up sitting outside, under a covered patio that was semi-air conditioned by a ginormous, freon pumping fan. that was fine with the exception of the flies. but the ramp into the restaurant looked dangerous and a huge party was arriving, so it seemed like the best option. i ordered the #7-ladies special, which consisted of 2 beef puffy tacos (think masa patties deep fried) and 2 cheese enchiladas. emily had some sort of chicken thing, which she wasn't impressed with. we also split an order of pork tamales, which were tasty. everything we had did seem to be covered in hormel chili, but i didn't mind so much. i finished with flan, which was just fine.
we called it an early night partly because it was really still oppressively hot out and partly because the next day was going to be kind of early. i'm sure emily went right to sleep and i'm sure i watched some questionable show on cable.
saturday was spa day at the watermark. we got there early to have breakfast at the hotel restaurant. this time i wisely chose the buffet and had delicious french toast, pastries, eggs, bacon, and sausage. plus never-ending orange juice. we were still pretty early once we were done, so emily got a margarita, which they are apparently known for, and i had, well, more orange juice.
we finished and went upstairs to check into the spa. we shared an elevator with an older, sunburned drunk man who stumbled in and then seemed to forget what to do once the doors opened again. as we were standing in line waiting to check in, he caused more trouble trying to buy a bottle of sunblock, not understanding why he needed to wait his turn to be rung up. either way, it was too late for sunblock and him anyway.
we did wait our turn, quietly, and were escorted up to the changing area, given robes (i hate a robe, btw, but at least this one actually fit me), and shown to the relaxation area/waiting room. i sat down on a puffy settee and read about a paragraph of an interview with anna paquin before i was called for my massage. the massage was lovely. 80 minutes, spanish rosemary, no talking. the music was hilariously new agey, but it always is. then back to the relaxation room for some grapes and water before i was taken for my manicure. the manicure was eh. i get better ones at bien assorti at home for less than half the price. but, this was about pampering and the end result was that i had even more massage, my hands were extra moisturized, and my nails were painted. unfortunately, i ruined that in less than 20 minutes. but, i'm not particularly precious about these matters. c'est la vie.
i wish i had taken a picture of the shower stalls. they were like little turrets and you felt a little like you were in a castle. anyway, it was in getting dressed after my shower that i ruined my nails. stupid zipper. i went down to the spa shop to look at over-priced baubles and waited for emily to finish. when i checked out, i was told that my car had a flat, which didn't surprise me, as it looked low the day before. with help from the valets and a can of fix-a-flat, we were on our way to get richard at the airport.
the emily and richard section
the airport is laughably small and we found richard immediately outside. notably, there were no workers in yellow reflective vests telling us to keep moving. that was a reminder that we were not at home. we got richard checked into his motel and moved onto dinner. the plan for the night was to go to a steak house. i had researched them the night before and found a couple that seemed suitable downtown. sadly, we found that neither of them were accessible. so, we decided to head out a bit toward the suburbs where we had passed a mall with a bunch of restaurants earlier. we ended up at a place called the county line, a small chain serving bbq and steaks. locals probably hate it, but i loved it. the decor was busy like a friday's, but it had more personality than that. it was like a roadhouse. (i'm sure it was nothing like a roadhouse, but that's how i imagine it). we got a bbq sampler as an appetizer, which had turkey, brisket, sausage, baby back ribs, and beef ribs. the turkey, sausage, and baby backs were divine. i got a steak and veggie kabob for dinner, with garlic mashed red potatoes (mmm) and an order of homemade wheat bread with honey butter for the table. for dessert i had pecan pie, which was a little disappointing.
while waiting for me to get out of the bathroom, emily and richard made a friend:
i believe his name was mike. he was the restaurant security guard. oh yeah, that was something we noticed: san antonio restaurants had security. we weren't sure whether the be happy or sad about that.
we headed back to san antonio and decided to try to drive by the alamo. we eventually found it, it's very small. during our search, we also found hemisfair park, which contained a space needle similar to the one in seattle. emily looked it up and it turns out that it was erected for their world's fair in 1968. we were very sad that we didn't know about the restaurant in the needle prior to eating dinner, although i did really enjoy county line. we dropped richard off at his motel and made our way back to ours for sleep and more bad cable.
sunday morning, emily was leaving for home, so it was another trip to the airport. we checked out, got richard, and attempted to find some breakfast. this was surprisingly difficult, as restaurants, even those serving breakfast, seem to not open until 11, likely after church. we ended up at the cafe in a whole foods, which turned out to be just fine. afterward, we dropped emily off and headed to walmart for another can of fix-a-flat, just in case. thankfully, we did not have to use it. emily called to let us know her flight was cancelled, but she got a later one and all was well.
richard and i headed to live oak for a wrestling show, which was the original reason for this trip, aside from going to austin being on this list. we stopped for lunch at a fairly nondescript chain, although they did give the option of fries, onion rings, or a mix of both for a side and then onto hooligan's (kinda trashy, suburban bar) for the show. This was ACW's Queen of Queens, so mainly women, with some men's events thrown in for entertainment's sake. i do not pretend to know anything about wrestling, as this was my 3rd show. i can tell you that there was no blood this time, which was nice. i was in the line of fire for that last few matches, namely the main event, where the ladies were literally wrestling against my chair. i'm sure there's a picture forthcoming. basically, it was spending the afternoon in a bar, drinking diet cokes, and watching more people in spandex than the average day. richard had many lone stars and made friends with a guy named bowie (bew-ie). sadly, i didn't think to take a picture.
after hanging with bowie for a bit, we said our goodbyes and headed to austin. and we got kinda lost. not really lost, but we weren't on the right road at all. we were going the correct way. 2 gas station stops for directions, a twix, and lone star later, we made it into austin. we checked in to our motel and headed for yet another off the daisun list, casino el camino. while walking to the bar, we saw an alley cat, which richard promptly (and drunkenly) chased in hopes of catching. this did not actually happen. i had left a facebook message for chad saying i was in town and got a swift response saying he'd meet us. within 10 minutes, chad and his friend, anik joined us for hot dogs and drinks. chad also told me that casino el camino was the sister bar to delilah's back home. nice. we hung with them for a bit there, moved down the street to another bar called the jackolope. after 1 more drink, we said goodbye and headed back to the motel.
in the morning, richard and i headed to juan in a million for giant breakfact tacos. please observe:
delicious, although i ate *maybe* 3/4 of one of those. very filling.
we spent the rest of the day driving randomly. we stopped in a few stores, including toy joy, which daisun described accutately as uncle fun on steroids. they also had vegan frozen yogurt. the flavor of the day was pink lemonade and it was refreshing. we checked out the capital and the university (in a driving by kind of way). we decided to get a jump on traffic, so we left around 4 and headed to dallas (technically, grenville). on the way, oh my god, i was so excited, we stopped at SCHLOTZSKY'S! i couldn't believe my eyes when we first drove into texas and saw that they still have them there. emily hates it or i would've gone already at this point. richard had never tried it before, so i was hoping he'd like it. and he did. i was in heaven. i wanted to get 2 sandwiches, but i knew that would just be bad. so, i settled for 1-my favorite-smoked turkey. they didn't have horseradish, but they did have black pepper potato chips, so it didn't matter. we left, with me in a state of schlotzsky's euphoria, and headed to greenville. i don't remember much that was terribly eventful about the drive except for the fact that greenville was farther past dallas than i had thought and that we had to stop at a lowe's to pee. then it was another motel 6 and probably more random cable tv.
tuesday, we were off to memphis to see daisun. the drive was again, uneventful. i can't even remember what we ate on the way. the main thing to know is that once we got there, these things happened: #1 daisun came to our hotel and picked us up, which was awesome since i'd been driving for 7 days at that point; #2 i had the BEST fried chicken of my life; #3 richard had 2 40s with said fried chicken, and #4 i had the most fun i had had on the whole trip having diet cokes with daisun, his friend scott, and richard at a bar called murphy's. it was a lovely way to end it.
wednesday, we drove the remaining 9 hours home with cheap trick on the stereo, a stop at culver's, and a surprising rush of cool air once in the chicago area. that was a welcome change from the 100 degree days we had been experiencing.
sorry it took me a month to get this up :)
