1/30/08

I can’t believe January is almost over. Where is this year going? Just kidding, I wanted to be the first to say that this year. Ok, so here’s the Houston trip story. When we left off, I was headed to the Sycamore School Road exit off of I-35 in south Fort Worth. John texted me to ask if I was in my way and I replied, “Indeed.” I took the exit and saw a light colored Versa pull into the Subway parking lot several hundred yards ahead. I followed it in and then noticed it was not John. First off, it was silver instead of white and it was sitting on its tippy-toes on stock wheels. I whipped on out and headed to the Home Depot/Jack in the Box parking lot. I saw a dude standing next to a first generation Toyota MR-2 so I pulled up next to him. I rolled down my passenger window and asked, “Are you meeting John Roper here to go to the Japanese car show in Houston?” He replied in the affirmative so I parked and got out. We introduced ourselves and waited. John Ullom showed up in his Volkswagen and parked with us. John Roper called to say he was at the Exxon station on the corner and asked where we were. I told him and then went in to JITB for a hamburger. I came back out and saw John’s car sitting about 100 yards away from us in another section of the parking lot. I'm not sure how he missed seeing us parked and standing around, but he did. After a few minutes he drove off towards the Whataburger and finally John Ullom called him to ask what he was doing. We all got together and talked for a bit. The wives finally got tired of us chatting and got us on the road. We rolled south on I-35 to Waco. We took a detour to the south side of Waco to a Walgreen’s so Samantha could have a prescription filled. I bought a pair of reading glasses because I forgot mine. Eventually we headed out again. We took Hwy 6 south out of Waco and right about Marlin I stopped for gas. I sent the rest on their way and said I'd catch up. I hauled ass at about eighty to eighty-five, only slowing for small towns and traffic. I caught a glimpse of the rest of the convoy just before Calvert when they finally got past a Budweiser truck. I didn’t get past it until after leaving Calvert and didn’t see them again until after Hearne. When the road divided back into four lanes, I took off again and caught them well before Bryan/College Station. We stopped at a Dairy Queen in B/CS, which was good because my tiny little eight-year-old-girl bladder was about to pop. After peeing, I ordered a medium dipped cone and we stood around and chatted for a bit more. The wives, again, got tired of us talking and got us on the road, again. We blazed a trail to Houston. John called the dude organizing the show and found out there is a full service car wash right down the road. The plan was to stop in at the show location then we’d take the two Versas to the wash. We passed the car wash and then drove another two or three miles, it seemed, down Westheimer to the car show place. John backed into a spot and I did the same next to him. I didn’t ask but it seemed apparent that we weren’t going to go back to the car wash. I was cool with that. More cars began to trickle in. There were a few Datsun Z-cars, several Toyota Corollas (AE-86s), and a smattering of other Japanese iron. The coolest thing by far though was the Toyota Starlet. It was all tricked out with carbon fiber flares and stuff and had the meatiest tires front and rear that I think I've ever seen on a street car. The slammed Corona parked next to us was neat as well but needed the front wheels to match the rears. A 1960 Datsun Fairlady pulled in and drew a crowd for a while. When the sun went down and the night progressed, the older folks began to take their Z-cars home and more of “The Fake and The Fatuous” street racer crowd began to roll in. One pair of Japanese dudes was checking out my car and I heard one ask the other if he thought my Watanabes were real. Oh yeah, they are. John said I could expect to hear that question a few times. I didn’t. I called my friend Roger who lives in Houston We chatted and looked at cars for a few hours. Around midnight, I'm guessing, we decided to head over to the Denny’s for some food. Roger was aghast that we’d settle for crap when there was real food to be had. We settled into the booth and sat there for a while. Finally the waitress took our order and we sat for a good hour waiting for the food. They screwed up the order too. John Ullom is not one to take a screwed up order lightly so he pitched a bitch. We waited in the parking lot for him to finish inside then rolled out to find a hotel for the night. The dude with the MR-2 wanted a flea-bag type motel but the wives vetoed that. Roger said we could get the BNSF rate at the Hampton Suites in the Woodlands and led the way. He drives like there isn't anyone following him. I knew this but forgot. I took the back-door of the convoy and almost got left behind when he cut off an eighteen-wheeler getting onto the freeway. We did finally make it to the hotel and checked in. MR-2 dude and I shared a room and split the cost. In the morning I hopped out of bed and got ready to go at around 0700 h. I knew the two Johns had to be back by noon so I figured they’d be leaving around 0800 h. I went to the continental breakfast area and ate while watching the door. Oh, I took my bag out to the car and saw that both their cars were still there. John and Samantha came down first and joined me. John and Jamie came down a little later and ate as well. Before leaving we checked on MR-2 dude, I think his name was Jeff, and told him we were all leaving. He bid us farewell and I ask that he not wreck up the place since the room was in my name. We headed north on I-45 but lose the Ulloms somehow. John called to say they were going to stop at the big statue of Sam Houston to take some pictures. We took the exit but instead of turning right, like the sign said to do to get to the statue visitor’s center, we got back onto the freeway. Just after we passed the sign that said, “No stopping for the next mile,” John pulls off onto the shoulder. I do not. They call and ask why. I tell them about the sign and keep going. They get back on the freeway and take the next exit and head back to the visitor’s center. I take an exit and head back myself. I find the two cars parked in the lot and park with them. I contemplate yelling out, “Marco!” to see if they’d reply, “Polo!” so I could find them. I didn’t do it. I found them at the statue and said, “We should commission a giant statue of Kevin Fort Worth.” They all laughed. We got back in the cars and headed north again. John called to ask how far off I-45 downtown Corsicana is on 287. I said I didn’t know but thought 287 hit I-45 in Anus. That would be the town of Ennis but I just can’t call it that. He assured me that it hit in Corsicana. When we got to Corsicana, sure enough, there was an exit for 287. It was an exit for 287 south though. We took the exit and turned left onto, I'm guessing, business 287 into Corsicana. Of course it didn’t go into downtown. We stopped at a sleazy looking gas station and bought sodas and candy. They had watermelon flavored Pop-Rocks. They were good. We took off on “287” again and it dropped us right back onto I-45. I laughed and said to myself, “I knew 287 was in Anus! Take that John.” He called to tell me that John Ullom was going to be turning off before we got to Mansfield and I said I figured as much. I asked if he knew we were back on I-45. He didn’t. He wanted to know when that happened and I told him. I also told him that we’d be taking the 287 exit in Anus which came up right after we hung up. I laughed. We cruised through the fog in Anus and right after the new bypass in Waxahachie the Ulloms turned on 360. The Ropers and I continued on through Mansfield and up to I-20. I shot into the left lane and waved as I passed them to head west while they went north on Loop 820. I got home and found my Altezza-style taillights in the hall. It was about 1300 h and mom wanted to go have some dead cow so we went to the Saltgrass Steakhouse. When we got back home I got to work installing the taillights. I think I'll save that tale for tomorrow though. It’s noon and I'm hungry. Have a day.