Bill Does Dallas (or maybe Dallas does Bill)

I just got back from a short business trip to the DFW area. I have some suggestions for the DFW Chamber of Commerce, city officials, etc.  (1) Just blow US 75 up and start from scratch.  When you've got it so screwed up and confused that GPS won't work, it is FUBAR. (2) Make it a requirement that every innkeeper, no matter where in the third world they came from, know enough about their neighborhood to give directions to their establishment. (3) Make it a requirement that all inkeepers have some idea of what constitutes a reasonable hotel room in someplace other than the third world.

I started down mid-afternoon Monday and had a pleasant, uneventful drive all the way to McKinney.  I had reservations at the Ramada in McKinney.  I followed the Mapquest directions to the letter, until they started making no sense despite the fact that my GPS showed me exactly where I was supposed to be.   So for the next hour, I made circle after circle on the horrible service roads adjoining 75, consulting my GPS and actually talking to the Middle Eastern hotel clerk at the Ramada.  At one point after I described where I was, this gentlemen said, "I have no idea where you are, but I don't know much about the neighborhood."  My GPS showed me to be within half a mile of his establishment but no signs were visible and obviously, the road directions being given to my GPS did not match whatever had happened to 75 since the data was uploaded. I finally gave up, begged the guy to cancel my confirmation and decided to stay at one of the hotels I could see.

By the time I checked into the Super 8 in McKinney, I was not a particularly happy camper.  I was greeted

by a stylish, very European teenaged girl who checked me in.  So far so good.  When I got the room, I settled down and tried to turn on the TV. Remote didn't work.  So, back to the desk for that. I settled in to relax, drink a soda from the lobby machine and regroup.  By bedtime, the room was getting chilly.  I turned on the heating unit and the room was soon stifling.  When I tried to adjust the temperature, there was no knob.  I adjusted it with a Leatherman tool on the stub.  The walls were thin.  I slept fitfully.

The next morning, I began my morning routine only to find that there was no mirror over the bathroom sink. Someone had obviously stolen it and that fact had gone unnoticed.  I shaved in front of the dresser.  About halfway through my shower, the requested hand shower (which is standard equipment in handicap accessible rooms) sprouted a leak and was semi useless.

On my way out, I decided to take advantage of the "continental breakfast."  I wonder what continent they were talking about.  I would up having a packaged Honeybun and half a cup of regular coffee.  Of course, at eight o'clock in the morning, they had not yet filled the decaf container.   When I got to my car, there was a layer of dust so thick on the windshield that it took seven or eight spritzes from windshield washers to get it to the point that I could see to drive.

The moment I left McKinney, things started looking up.  By now, I knew several miles of the service roads on 75 by heart.  75 itself was a parking lot. So, I took the El Dorado Parkway across to Frisco and after a very pleasant little morning drive through the suburbs arrived at my meeting on time.

The Tavern at StoneBridge Country Club

The meeting turned out to be very pleasant.  After a morning's work, we had a very, very nice lunch at the StoneBridge Country Club.  After lunch, I spent a nice hour or so at their training facility, doing firearms drills on a laser simulator and shooting professional quality airsoft trainers.  The military and many police departments are now using these types of simulators to teach marksmanship and critical decision making skills.  I flunked the shootout test.  The bad buy in a traffic stop gone sour got off two shots before I fired.  Both of my shots were kill shots but unless the bad guy had missed entirely, it would have been too late. The whole thing might have take ten seconds. My host also has long gun training capability and I got a kick out of shooting the full auto airsoft AR-15 that is just about as close to the real thing as you are going to get.

As good a time as I was having, I had to get back to Tulsa in time for a good night's sleep to be ready for today.  So, I retraced my steps out of Dallas and was home in time for dinner.  The house smelled of good cooking when I arrived.  Sheila was just finishing cooking one of my favorite meals, chicken picatta with oven browned small potatoes and vegetables.  It was a great meal.  So, over all, despite the trials of US 75 and a third world motel, a good time was had by all.