It was a 4:45 wakeup for my trip to Texas. Breakfast was coconut yogurt with trail mix and 20 ounces of water.
I headed to RDU with the usual smooth jazz XM channel playing on my car stereo.
I took my spot in Central Parking and was through security within 15 minutes. The outbound flight seemed tighter than the return flight. On my last count, there were 10 open seats and 10 people on the standby list. I had spot number 8, seat 20B. That would be the middle seat, which isn't an issue until you start dealing with second hand fat like i did. Nice guy, but... need to drink more water and eat some more salads... without the dressing.
Anyway, my earbuds were at 50 percent power. Not good. I had charged them the previous day, or so I thought. A's it turned out, I had only enough juice for one episode of Dateline.
We landed and the good thing is each of the five DFW terminals have their own ground transportation spaces. And that includes ride share. I was able to get an Uber less than 10 minutes after getting off the plane. Cost 35 bucks.
I was taken to the Unity Arch and Sculpture Garden. There were maybe four stone sculptures; so that took almost no time. Then it was the Medal of Honor Museum, which is brand new and is considered one of the best new museums in the country. It's round and elevated so it had a striking look from the outside. 30 bucks was a lot for admission, in my opinion. But it was a nice facility that pays tribute to those who have been awarded the Medal of Honor. They have some interactive exhibits including a conversations theater where visitors could ask questions of Medal winners. Basically these men had been asked questions in interviews and then when I activated my microphone and asked a question, the recipient would then answer. Technology is great when it functions properly.
After an hour, I was ready to go. So I stepped into the 95 degree Texas heat and walked a half mile to Texas Live. Basically it's a food and bar hall, and they're in other cities like Philadelphia and Kansas City. My target was Lockhart BBQ. I mean how does one spend a day in Texas and not get some BBQ?!
There was no line for the food counter at 11:15 and so I got to chat with the staff for a moment. I mentioned I was a first timer and they gave me a thick sample slice of their moist brisket. Just outstanding. Nice amount of bark, great seasoning. Two minutes later, I could still taste the black pepper in the back of my throat.
I ordered a half pound of both brisket and turkey. For sides, I ordered mac and cheese as well as their smoked beans. Also I was given three slices of white bread and as I was walking to my seat, I saw four huge jars of free pickles, chow chow, jalapeños, and pickled red onions. I was all over free condiments.
It might sound strange, but my favorite part my have been the beans. They added a lot of brisket into them and that smoked flavor just can't be replicated. Very good thick mac as well. But the brisket I was given was a bit dry, I needed some of their BBQ sauce.
Afterwards, I drank down one can of Surfside and began my usual walk around the stadium, Globe Life Field.
Now I'd been to the old Rangers stadium three times before, but not the new stadium. Admittedly, I was concerned with the retractable roof because those stadiums tend to feel pretty generic.
But air conditioning in Texas during a late summer afternoon... it's a reasonable trade. Outside, they have statues of Pudge Rodriguez and Nolan Ryan. It took me a good five minutes to get a photo of the Ryan statue. Not because so many people were trying to take pictures of it. But because there were two couples in their 60s, they were taking their time. And that wasn't what got me, it's that they stepped into my camera shot twice as if I wasn't even present.
It was Dollar Dog Wednesday in the stadium. I wound up getting one in the fifth inning. And it was weak. No snap on the dog. And when I see that really light pink color, it's usually not a good sign. Maybe the highlight was the relish. And another thing, how can a stadium in Texas have Sweet Baby Ray's as their bbq sauce? It's Chicago based and way too corporate.
Good music, a bit loud at times though. Plenty of WWE themes too!
Onto the game as the Texas Rangers played the ...A's It's ridiculous that there isn't a city or state attached to the team right now. To this point, I've been to 26 MLB stadiums, 23 of which are still active ones. Plus the only two MLB teams I have never seen live, as best I can recall, are the Dodgers and Royals.
Brandon Nimmo batted cleanup for the Rangers. Jeff McNeil batted 5th for the A's.
Thankfully I didn't have to suffer through watching Jacob deGrom pitch for another team besides the Mets. And I didn't have to deal with watching Kumar Rocker, a former Mets draft pick who wasn't signed.
The game was pretty crazy. 7 home runs were hit as the A's won 9-2.
Since there are no bus or train options in Arlington, I had to take another Uber to get back to DFW. And it wasn't going to be cheap. I settled on 40 bucks plus a 5 dollar tip.
After getting through security at Terminal A, which somehow only had one person checking IDs, I headed straight to Twisted Root Burger, a place I hadn't visited in 12 years. I took a seat at the end of the bar. And I just wasn't feeling beer, so I ordered their perfect margarita. Really excellent. I ordered the Western burger with pepper jack cheese, bacon, onion rings, and jalapeno peppers. Plus lettuce and tomato. Fantastic, thick 7 ounce patty cooked medium well. All that was really missing was pickles. I added a side of onion rings and some spicy aioli on the side. So really it was a double portion of onion rings. I couldn't even finish all of them.
My stomach was pretty messed up, almost to the point where I thought I might have to throw up. Thankfully, that didn't happen.
With a stomach throbbing, I took the Skylink to Terminal C. I swear I passed four separate Pappadeaux restaurants. But at this point, I didn't want to smell food or even look into a restaurant. The plane had 15 open seats, and only two standby passengers. I got an aisle seat this time, albeit towards the back of the plane. And a guy next to me who felt his elbow joints were ok to rest on my side of the armrests.... Anyway, three hours in the air and we landed shortly after midnight.
