Okay, for those who are paying really close attention, you'll notice we've altered our itinerary just slightly. Tonight, I'm in Plano, Texas, just a few miles from Parker, Texas -- home of Southfork Ranch! We hit quite a bit of traffic today in Austin and Dallas and didn't reach Southfork while it was still open, and since it didn't look like we'd make it to Marshall until very late, we decided to stay here, so that I could see the inside of Southfork, and so we could get some sleep! So, we're at the Days Inn in Plano.

It's been a long, interesting day in Texas. We awoke in our San Antonio suite, and immediately headed out to explore the Riverwalk and the Alamo. Cindy was amazed to learn that the Alamo is right in the downtown area, since in pictures it always appears to be out in the middle of nowhere. But it's actually amidst the downtown hubbub. The Riverwalk was pretty -- it's a pretty city, and we spent some time walking around there before checking out of the amazing hotel and beginning our drive up to Austin. PS, there was a cowboy trying to get people to go into some weird museum of animal antlers or something there, who asked where we were from and when we told him, he responded-- Oh, Santa Monica, are you near Montana Ave? Third Street Promenade? Great. The cowboy now knows where we live.

We sat in traffic going up to Austin. We were driving behind a barn for a while, yes, a barn. And at the gas station Cindy opened the gas flap and found two giant locusts in there. All I can say is it's a really good thing it wasn't me or you all would have heard my screams from around the country. No idea how they got there.

Anyway, Austin was a traffic nightmare, but seemed like an interesting city. Mykl introduced us to Bubble Tea, which I had had once before... but this time I was wise enough to order it without the little balls of tapioca. If you've had it, you know what I'm talking about, if not, well, I guess you're just not up on the latest trendy foods. Anyway, for those who are interested, Mykl is doing great in Austin, even if he is calling himself Zaius there. ;) You can see the picture of him above.

Then we headed out of Austin, hoping to get to Southfork in time to attend the tour of the ranch -- but alas, the last tour was at 4:30 and with the Dallas traffic, we didn't get to the area until after 6. So, as I mentioned, we wound up staying here in Plano. Once again, our hotel was out of standard rooms but they offered us a suite for the standard rate... okay so it's no St. Anthony's, but we've got a nice spacious room in the Days Inn here for just $55. And hey, a bonus... cable here seems to offer an Air Force channel here, where you can learn how to plan an attack and bombing raid. Things I never wanted to know were out there...sigh...

So, after the tour of the ranch tomorrow, we're heading to New Orleans as fast as we can get there... More updates then!!