On the Road Again

Ah yes, Taco Cabana. If you want to know the one thing I miss the most from the Southwest Conference, and the excuses to go to Texas, it is the Cabana. Think In-and-Out for Tex-Mex -- a highly regional, virtually single-state chain of some of the most awesome fast food around.

I grew up in Monroe not thinking of New Orleans like many of my friends, but focused on Dallas. The siren call of the Big D an easy five hours straight down I-20. I cut my teeth on urban driving negotiating the tight on-ramps and aggressive "Texas lane changes" of North Central Expressway. SMU was my alternate college of choice coming out of high school (followed in order by Hawai'i-Manoa and Slippery Rock).

Remembering how no one would ever live out on the I-635 loop -- what a boondoggle -- it seems today the traffic begins at the Red River. That part has become a bit unmanageable as Dallas becomes like Houston in interstate sprawl.

Getting back to some road notes -- if you have an iPhone and drink their coffee, the new Starbucks app is a must, the perfect echo-locator for the bean crazed. Yesterday's shower was the coldest hot shower I've ever had in a major hotel change (wide open, still tepid) and was complete with Cloverfield-like sound effects as the piping shuddered.

Yes, JerryWorld is a massive on the outside as it appears on television; perhaps even more so. And we're pleased to report, there is a brand new Wal-Mart directly across the street. That's just to clarify again for any of the old SWC era folks that Arkansas still rules.