I was excited to be there, not to see Dallas but to stay in the luxurious Fairmont in downtown Dallas. Nice room, comfy bed and great pool. What more could a GURL want? A wonderful place for me to hang out while Randy attended his meetings. The valet and bellman were a little freaked out when we pull into the hotel driveway on our Harley's. They rushed over and wanted to make sure we had a reservation. I was glad that I checked in early because the Hotel already had a room and keys assigned to us. Made it easier for Valet realize that we were "real" guests. We unpacked our bikes and they escorted us to the Valet Parking. The valet commented that they weren't allowed to ride our bikes...like we would have even let them!!! We laughed out loud at his comment.
Being in Dallas was a little surreal. After living on the road and wearing biker clothes all the time, we were transported back to our previous lives. Randy was a little scruffy and through YELP, I found him a barber to get a haircut and shave. He went to the "The Menz Room" and the barber, Terrell, cut his hair and gave him a shave. Well, funny thing is Terrell, was African-American and told Randy that he had never cut a "white guys hair". Randy was his first and I'm sure the barber shop is still abuzz about Randy's visit. Terrell cut his hair a little short and I almost didn't recognize Randy when he came back!
We needed different clothes for this part of our trip, so we mailed a box filled with a couple of button down shirts, wool dress pants, dress shoes for Randy, and a couple of dresses for me. Dressing up in professional garb after a month of casual felt a little weird. Looking presentable, we joined friends at the Dallas Fish Market. Yum! A remarkable dinner of Ahi Tuna, Sushi Rolls, delicious wine and green apple cotton candy!
Saturday Randy started his meetings and I spent most of the day at the pool blogging and enjoying the beautiful warm weather. The best value I found at the Fairmont, was my ice tea which was only $6.00 and having it delivered by the pool attendant felt luxurious.
While I was at the pool in the afternoon Randy and our friends from San Diego, Boyd Richardson and Karen Fulton, headed out to the JFK Museum and to see the grassy knoll.
Saturday night, we had a delicious and decandent steak dinner at Dakota Steak House. Before dinner, I enjoyed a refreshing Cucumber Basil Martini made with Bombay Sapphire Gin.
The restaurant had lots of great cocktails on their menu and I took a picture of the cocktail menu so I can figure out how to make this at home - it was fabulous. Just writing this makes me thirsty!
We dressed up for Saturday night and almost didn't recognize ourselves. We looked so fancy compared to the previous month even the previous day. I think we looked great, but it felt a little odd at the same time.
Randy was in meetings all day Sunday and we went to dinner at a fun Mexican restaurant, Meso Mayan. Casual, comfortable and authentic. I had a ceviche salad that was delicious and refreshing. When I get home, I'm learning how to make ceviche and we're having that at home more often. It was excellent.
Checking out of the Fairmont was fun because the bellman, valets, security and parking attendants, again, were a little nervous when we rode our bikes to the front lobby area. By the time we packed up our bikes, everyone was our friend. Everyone came by to ask about our bikes, our journey, road trips, and their dreams too. Harley's really do bring people together and in the oddest environments
We had a great time seeing our PIA friends in Dallas but it brought us back to reality fast. Even though we'd been on the road a full month, we still hadn't figured out what we want to do with our lives. We've had lots of discussions and ideas but no answers. Dressing up in professional clothes was different and like going home to our comfort zone. However, it was also odd for us as well. It was as if we were now different people and the clothes weren't our style any longer; not really us anymore. Our journey has changed us and we're realizing the life we were leading before, might not be who we are or who we want to continue being.
Our next stop was Austin and we knew that we still had a week to start making some decisions about our lives. Fun as Dallas was, it was a harsh reality check for both of us.
It was time to get on the bikes and to put Dallas and uncertainty behind us and just enjoy the ride and the rest of our journey.
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