Day 4: Dallas (IceStorm)

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Woke up at the hostel and checked the weather report. The ice storm did a lot of damage to Dallas and it was advised to stay off the road. I went out to take a look at my car. It was encased in ice and I had to use my ice scraper to shatter the ice while I set the heater to the highest level. Took a bit of time but I cleared the ice.

I had spoken to my local friend Jillian at this point and we arrange a meetup at her place for pizza. I was considering heading into Dallas to look around but there was really nothing I wanted to see so I held off. So I have no pictures of Dallas landmarks. First time I ventured out was to drive Salira to Dallas Lovefield Airport. Her flight was not cancelled but I was skeptical it would takeoff and I told her if she was stuck at the airport feel free to call me back. The roads were icy and the bridges were especially dangerous because it was going above and below freezing causing a lot of icy spots with water spots. I got Salira safely to the airport and headed back to the hostel. If you have a car at a hostel than you will be asked to drive people around. I anticipated this so I had no issue with it. Next drive was to take a car full of people to walmart. It was Max, Naveen and some lady's whose name escapes me. I took the opportunity to grabbed a meal as well. We dropped Max off at a nearby post office before going back to the hostel. I had nothing else to do that day and after Salira's flight took off I was not needed for driving duty. For the record Salira's flight came from San Franscisco on its way to New York City. So once it landed even in the tough conditions it had to take off again or would trap a whole lot of new passengers.

I took a nap until it was time to head to Jillian's house. It was still rather icy on the road and I took my time getting to there house. When I got to their place and parked in the driveway I had a strange moment. I stepped out of the car and noticed my car was sliding slowly down their slanted driveway. I watched it for a minute as it slowly went into the street. I pulled out of the driveway and went in again this time angling the tires of my car so they held this time.

Jillian and Melia opened the door and their dog Hattie was barking. Hattie is female Schnauzer Labrador mix and is quite a friendly dog. I will admit I did take a lot of her hair with me on my clothes. I had met Jillian several years back in Madrid and I will admit I was quite attracted to her. As it turns out my gaydar was not that good because I found out later on she was a lesbian. Oh well these things happen and it gives me something in common with her wife Melia as we are both attracted to Jillian 😊. Melia I had met at their wedding in Syracuse last year and I remember a commercial she had done awhile ago where she played a woman using a laptop.

After settling in I gave both ladies a customary gift of maple syrup. Just spreading Canadian culture around the world as I go along. I told them it was a good idea they had not ventured out on the road that day because I had winter tires but anyone who didn't have them was going to have a lot of trouble. The ladies were good enough to buy me pizza and sat down and chatted. I really liked both of them and just seeing them was well worth the trip to Dallas. We chatted about basically anything and everything. Into the evening the weather was getting worse so I decided it was time to call it a night. Oh I forgot to mention they have a very lovely home as well.

Drove back to hostel slowly as it was dark and the roads were still quite icy. I may or may not have driven on a toll road. I am not hundred percent certain of that. For the record the Americans use speed cameras on the highways so I suspect I have tickets pending from all over the USA but I am wondering how they will identify me for the tickets.

I spent the rest of the evening chatting with other people at the hostel. At that table was Max, Lisa an Aussie lady who was travelling the USA, Naveen who was another Aussie also travelling the USA and Stephanie who was from Washington DC. We watched Into the Woods but I didn't hang around for too much of it because I needed sleep for my early morning drive to Austin.

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