My plan for the first day was to drive to Huntsville and see the statue of Sam Houston again
(I had seen it once before, but that was too early in the morning and the gift shop wasn't open), then drive
to Waco and buy Dr Pepper made with sugar from the Dr Pepper museum gift shop, and then make as much progress
towards Memphis as possible.
On the way up I-45, it started to rain a bit. I was worried, because if it was raining when I got to the statue, I would probably give it a miss. Fortunately the rain cleared up by the time I reached it. Unfortunately... I really had to go to the bathroom!
I reached the Statue's Visitor Center and asked if they had restrooms.
They did, whew! After I went, I returned to my car and got my camera to take
pictures with. The statue itself
is an impressive sight (Warning: HUGE picture!),
whether driving by or standing before it.
The gift shop has various items: Texas memorabilia, T-shirts, books, postcards, etc. I bought a miniature
replica of the Statue, and some rather odd items: a toy wooden sword marked "KING ARTHUR - Whoso pulleth out
this sword of this stone is rightwise borne King of England". I had no idea what connection this had to Sam
Houston, but later I looked in the brochure I got from the Visitor's Center and it mentioned "local crafts".
And later, my mom reminded me that the Statue is not far (for Texas values of "not far") from the Texas
Renaissance Festival grounds. So that makes sense. I also got a "Retro Phone". You plug it into your
cell phone and you can make calls on it, looking like you're speaking into an old-fashioned phone handset!
Again, nothing to do with Sam Houston, but a cool idea, so I bought one.
After leaving the Statue, I stopped in Huntsville for lunch at Dairy Queen. Then I continued north on I-45 until I reached Fairfield, where I got onto US 84 to cut across to Waco.
In Waco, I visited the Dr Pepper museum. I'd previously been there during the Matrimania trip,
where I discovered to my delight that they sell Dr Pepper made with real cane sugar! They sell cans and bottles
of it in the gift shop, and serve it in cups in the snack bar. So I had a cup of it, and then went into
the gift shop to buy some cans for myself, and bottles to give away to friends at MFM.
Then I went to the big Hastings store elsewhere in Waco. I'd heard online that Hastings was selling Cars toys, so I went to see if they had any left. Hastings is a big store that sells music, movies, books, T-shirts, and toys. I found "The Ultimate Cars Sticker Book", which would come in handy as reference material for drawing fanart, but the only toy I found was a Sheriff Pop-the-Hood flashlight. I bought it, making it my first and so far only Sheriff toy. I also got a set of Over the Hedge figurines and a Finding Nemo calendar.
I headed north on I-35, and when I got to the part where it splits into 35W and 35E, I took 35E to Dallas. I went around the city, taking I-20 to I-635 to I-30, and started looking for a place to eat. I stopped at Chili's. I was interested in trying something other than a burger, so I ordered the Chicken Ranch Sandwich. As I waited for it, I noticed a sign saying "Eat More Chili". But Chili's doesn't actually serve chili! They serve other spicy crap, though, like the spicy sauce that I was surprised to find on my chicken sandwich. It was too spicy and not yummy enough, so I couldn't finish the sandwich. I had cheesecake for dessert and hit the road again.
As I approached Greenville, I was getting tired, so I stopped at a Motel 6 for the night. I decided to try out
the Retro Phone I got at the Statue Gift Shop, but it turned out to be broken! The earpiece speaker had come
loose and was rattling inside the handset. I wondered if maybe at least the wires were still connected, so
I tried using it. It came with three adapters, one of which fit my phone, once I figured out how to plug it in.
I tried making a LiveJournal phone post with it, but I could barely hear the voice on the other end, and when
I tried to record a message and play it back, all I heard was silence. It could not pick up my voice.
The thing cost only about $11, not worth trying to get a refund for, so I just threw it away.
When I went to my car to get something, I saw there had been a major accident on the interstate! There were big trucks and police cars on the road, and people standing around at the motel watching. One of them said a red car tried to do something crazy and got creamed by an 18-wheeler. LIGHTNING MCQUEEN!!! NOOOOOOO!!!
I was too tired to start drawing the diary, so I went to bed.
