The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

Sunday was the first day on this tour when I did not fire up Speranza’s engine. I had a relaxing day and slept like a baby. So yesterday it was time to lay down some rubber. I drove for over eight hours, stopping twice to refuel the car but surviving myself all day on a pleasant (but not special enough for the price) JW Marriott breakfast. In my opinion it was a good symbol for the hotel itself. I have been lucky enough to stay in the best hotels in the world and it is not amongst them, despite the efforts of some individual members of staff.

New Orleans people are just as friendly as all the Americans I have met so far, but funnier. Funny is good. And they don’t go home to bed (or, worse, look as though they wish they could) just when a European visitor is getting hungry and thirsty.

The drive through Louisiana and Texas was great. Speranza performed beautifully. She made another new friend at our first gas station in Texas, when a young gentleman informed me she was “sick, man”. He seemed to mean it as a compliment, but I prefer “bad ass wheels” to be honest.

There was a little bit of theatre at the Texas welcome center. A local policeman was conducting an interrogation as I parked and had progressed to the arrest as I emerged. All terribly courteous on both sides, remarkably. It didn’t dampen my enthusiasm at being in Texas for the first time in my life although I am just passing through in this direction and will have more time to explore on the return leg of my trip.

I had been too clever in selecting my stop for my first night in the Lone Star state. I thought Dallas and Fort Worth would be no fun to drive through on a business day and so chose Arlington instead – largely because it has a bedandbreakfast.com “diamond collection” B&B like the one Q and I enjoyed so much in Hannibal MO. This B&B may be in the same collection but is not in the same league. The rooms are fine, but the service is distinctly impersonal and the rules a bit severe – or at least severely expressed. The owners are so clearly off the premises, they might as well be off the planet.

Arlington also appears to be smack in the middle of the Dallas/Fort Worth conurbation, so the rush hour traffic jam took the trip from the 7 hours 30 minutes the computer had consistently predicted to 8 hours and 7 minutes. Those extra minutes were spent in traffic performing an immensely complicated dance of lane changes to stay on the same road. Thank goodness for air conditioning, generally gracious Texan drivers and my Garmin satnav.

I anxiously checked the weather reports as soon as my computer was set up. I had established there were no tornado warnings for this part of Texas before setting out, but the local meteorologists are now forecasting “severe, damaging storms and possibility of large hail”. I have been concerned about hail ever since a gentleman in a bar in Dearborn explained the damage it can do to cars in these parts. On advice from the desk clerk, I have moved Speranza under a tree. Let’s hope the storm doesn’t bring that down on her.

By the time I made my way to downtown Arlington, everywhere was closing up. Still I had a draught draft Shiner beer, an excellent margarita (in a pint beer glass) and some food-approximation to soak it up. I am not inspired, but I am nourished. And I now know what a hoagie is, having had it explained to me by a fetching, but rather icy, Texan maiden. She could certainly not have melted the butter for it in her mouth. But then, though the preacher would certainly not condone her Daisy Dukes, she probably belongs to one of the four ferocious looking churches I spied on my half mile walk to her place of work.

I can tell you where I had planned to go from here – Wichita, via Oklahoma City. But in the light of recent events, that may need to be revised. On the other hand, the most severe storm warnings now seem to be for here, so it’s time to head out. I have the phone number for the Oklahoma State Troopers’ weather alerts report and will check it from time to time as I progress.