Days 6 & 7, Dallas TX, 1/28-29/12

So Saturday was mostly uneventful, had a lot of HW to do. But I did find time to go with Jimmy to a gun show... another very TEXAS thing to check off of my list :D Dallas is a funny place, on any given weekend there is guaranteed to be a gun show somewhere in the city. It's amazing how a guy can walk right by you calm and casually carrying an assault rifle in plain view and you barely even notice! I like TEXAS!!! Jimmy bought a Glock 17... very nice pistol :) See him very happy below...

Sunday involved a lot of HW again, but found time to go- not to a gun show, but to a gun range! Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures, but had a great time. In Texas they allow you to rapid fire. I don't know if it was jut the range I went to in Florida that didn't allow it, but it's good to know what it feels like. Feels great! The Glock 17 shoots lovely. I'm currently debating whether or not to rent a P90 they got there next time we go... looks sweet!

Then for dinner, we went to SaltGrass Steakhouse for another genuine TEXAS experience... the Texas T-Bone!!!! The picture almost does it justice... but not at all!!!

Rex enjoyed the t-bone as well! I wouldn't recommend trying to take it from him... unless you wanna lose a finger lol

Had a great time in Texas, so I will be staying another week! :)

Day 5, Dallas TX, 1/27/12

So today was a busy day. I got to work on my final essay for one of my classes, which is due this Sunday. I wrote about 5 pages, which is more or less half of what I need. For lunch I went to a place called SmashBurger and had a BBQ Bacon Cheddar Smashburger. It was good, but I think maybe too salty or something... 5 Guys still reigns supreme. Also took a trip to he local Walmart AND Walmart Neighborhood Market. The neighborhood market is weird... it's green instead of blue. Other than that it was a pretty decent supermarket. When I was leaving I put a shopping cart up on the curb instead of in the right place, and some people actually stopped and stared at me... don't think anyone in Miami would have even noticed or cared.

Later on we went to go see the Mavs play! There was a great energy in the building, and our seats gave us a nice view. Had a great time. Also took a walk through the Katy Trail which runs through Dallas, very nice, exactly the kind of thing Miami is missing. Also went to a couple bars out there, don't recall the names. One had a really nice view from the roof, as you can see above. It was a very cold night!!!

Day 4, Dallas TX, 1/26/12

All of days of not sleeping a lot, and driving, and madness finally caught up with me. I woke up for an hour or two during the day, but I slept mostly. Then woke up and did some hw and organizing. I managed to choose a topic, find sources of information, and write about a page or so.

Later on I went with Jimmy to the aquarium store, Dallas North Aquarium, which considering that Dallas is essentially landlocked was very nice. It's actually nicer than anything I've seen in Miami,  with some really cool fish, and eels, and corals. You can see eels above.


After that, we went to Ghengis Grill for some stri fry mongolian food. It was pretty cool, you fill a bowl with all the ingredients you want, then hand it to them to cook it for you, then they take it to your table when it's ready. You kinda have to know what you're doing to not mess it up because you have to add your own spices and sauces, but mine came out pretty well. They only real catch was that it was pretty expensive, but it was good, and can be as great as you can create it.

Tomorrow I go to see the Dallas Mavericks!

Day 3, Dallas TX, 1/24/12

So I'm finally in Dallas. It was cold as hell and pouring rain when I arrived last night, but I was just happy to be done with that leg of my journey. My friend Jimmy had prepared a nice place for me to sleep, so I didn't have to do much once I arrived... thanks Jimmy! We hung out for a bit and then I knocked out.

Poor Rex didn't get to use the bathroom much last night because of cold and rain, but he managed. I wasn't sure how he would take to the cold in the morning, and we was a bit hesitant at first, but once we went downstairs and he got to exploring and realized he was in a totally new area he got excited and started to enjoy himself. If you look closely you can see him in the pic above.

I gotta say, I like the landscape out here... rivers, hills, etc. I find Miami's flatness to be rather boring and lacking in character. But that's just me. Still haven't seen any mountains though, but I'm sure I will soon! Also saw scene from Alfred Hitchcock movie with the birds....

Also helped Jimmy set up his new tv. Then went to a bar, The Flying Saucer. Tried a couple new beers, Spaten Oktoberfest and something else, all i remember is that it was an amber ale from Denver, CO. The Spaten was better. Supposedly it's what they serve in Oktoberfest... ??? Was a very cool place, like 100 beers on tap or something.. Prost! 

Gotta do hw tomorrow... ugh

Day 2, Gainesville to Dallas, 1/24/12

So after approx 5 hours of sleep, I woke up around 8:30am. Had a fancy breakfast at BK with my brother, where he shared some of his roommate horror stories with me (with video- one of which would be well suited for a nasty website), then did a quick tour of University of Florida campus. Made me wonder why I didn't go out of town for college... looks like a fun place to study. So I finally hit the road for Dallas at 11:00am, two hours behind schedule. I don't really know what I was thinking, or how I figured that it would be a good idea to drive 15 hours, over 1000 miles, in one day, but i did.

As i mentioned in Day 1 post, I had gotten a lot done that day. One of those things was to stop by the Vet's office and pick up some doggie tranquilizer. I wasn't sure how it would work out, but I knew that rex would probably go crazy trapped in a car for 15+ hours, so I did us both the favor and got these to try it out. It was actually pretty funny at first, too bad I didn't get it on video, he was all woozy and stumbling around. I kinda felt bad about it, but it worked out really well overall, so I don't regret it. I don't plan on giving it to him again, but if for whatever reason I end up having to drive an extremely long time again, I would.

So my trip took me through 5 states on day 2; Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. I entered Texas at approx. midnight eastern time.

I had been very fortunate to encounter very little, light rain on most my journey, but as soon as I hit Dallas there was a downpour and it was freezing cold! not cool!

Day 1, Miami to Gainesville, 1/23/12

So by this point, I had quit my job, and made arrangements to terminate my lease. I had been slowly furniture out of the apartment beforehand so I could have as little to do on day 1, but that didn't quite work out as planned. I was planning on leaving early afternoon, 4-5pm latest, but instead didn't end up leaving until about 8pm. On the bright side though, I did get a lot done, and I randomly ran into an old friend who was able to help me out and turned out to be a lifesaver... thanks Danny! From there it was off to Orlando, where I had a quick dinner and took my dog for a nice walk around the block with my buddy John. I wasn't sure if I would make it to Gainesville, but I still had energy and decided to go for it. I arrived around 2:30 am, chilled with my bro for a quick minute then knocked out. I don't know how crazy it sounds, but in reality it was freakin nuts!

As I considered leaving in the month(s) leading up to my departure, I posed the question, hypothetically, "why should I stay in Miami?". All I will say is that Miami gave me a strong answer, but I still need to go see what my options are. I will definitely miss Miami!!!