Scenes from a roadtrip

We're on the road again. We just made our (what seems to be) annual pilgrimage from Altus to Montgomery.

On the Altus > Dallas leg of the journey,

we paused here,

decided to hit this up next time,
 

and ended up at the Crowne Plaza where we had scored a sweet deal on a room. Friday night in Dallas began at the hotel's watering hole. Eric and I cooled our heels while we waited to be scooped up by our hostess with the mostess for the night, Jess, who lead us on fabulous bar crawl through Uptown Dallas. We made a stop for dinner at State and Allen Restaurant- so, so yummy! I had the turkey burger, which they claimed would be the, "tastiest burger you'll ever have," and it was. Our sampling of Uptown establishments ended on the outdoor patio of The Ginger Man, an awesome bar with a chill vibe and an extensive beer list.

There, we had tasty drinks,

learned valuable insights,

and made our mark on the world. He's writing, "JR + H 2K12." For the record, it's not vandalism if it's encouraged by the establishment.

The Dallas > Pearl (outside of Jackson, MS) leg of the trip started at Chick-fil-A (at lunchtime) as we took it upon ourselves to sleep in at the Crowne. It was the longest leg of our journey, about eight-ish hours, so we stayed busy by singing,

doing this,

doing this,

and being entertained by this,

the definition of, "full service stop." Efficiency Eric's eyes lit up upon seeing this, too bad we'd already eaten...

On Saturday night, we had some difficulty securing sleeping arrangements. I called ahead to my favorite hotel chain and reserved a room. The name of the hotel chain will remain unmentioned because I still love and respect the establishment. However, I discovered that the presence of bed bugs had (at one time) been confirmed at the particular hotel in which we were planning to stay. Any of you who know me know that if bed bug induced PTSD were a legitimate diagnosis, I would be the poster child. I briefly considered sucking it up and participating in some kind of self-lead aversion therapy, but the reality was there was no way I was staying there. Eric, wisely, just kept repeating, "do what makes you comfortable, sweetheart." The gentleman at the reception desk was very nice, polite, and understanding. He treated me with compassion when I walked in and announced,  "I am crazy and despite your assurances that those problems took place long ago and have since been resolved, I am unable to sleep here tonight...No, I would not like to see the room before I make my decision...have I mentioned I am crazy?"

We got back into the car and my heeby jeebies were acting up so badly that I made Eric drive clear to the next town before I could even consider courting another hotel. I put my smartphone into overdrive researching the available hotels in the next town of Pearl. I finally found a place that I felt comfortable stopping and we pulled off the road. I would have been content to sleep in the car, but Eric was not having any of that.

The hotel we ultimately chose was a Hilton Garden Inn. The folks at the reception desk were friendly, there were (really delicious) fresh-baked cookies for us to enjoy, the room was clean and comfortable, and the hotel was right next to the Lone Star Steakhouse. Score! We unpacked, napped (well, Eric napped, I fidgeted), and then walked over to the restaurant to have some red meat and cold beers.

The leg from Pearl > Montgomery was pretty short. It started here

  
and ended at Maxwell, AFB. When we arrived at our hotel, we did our routine: we unpacked, napped, then started thinking about food. Roadtrips will turn you into hamsters on a wheel of driving, eating, and sleeping. We ended our road food and "all the ol' favorites" binge at a healthier favorite,

This is what a person looks like after a ride on the roadtrip hamster wheel.

We went to sleep last night able to say that we had consumed a vegetable that day. Not a small accomplishment, I might add.

'Twas the place to be on a Saturday morning

The "Grate" Altus Spelling Bee of 2012 to support literacy (I'm avoiding the temptation to write, "for kids who can't read good") took place last Saturday morning. Sarah and I decided to attend after seeing the event widely publicized around town. When we first arrived, we were fairly certain that we were the only people to attend as spectators as most of the folks in the room appeared to be participants. The participants had team names and themes and were decked out in costumes of all sorts. It looked to be shaping up to be a heated contest.

The room slowly began to fill as an energetic and lively crowd gathered for the show. There were probably between 12 and 15 different teams in the competition. During each round, each team was given a word and the opportunity to come to consensus on its spelling before one person stood and recited the spelling. Teams could also purchase "mulligans," which would allow them to skip a word they found to be too challenging. If the team decided to use said "mulligan," they had to spell the next word they were given, no exceptions. Door prizes were given away between each round and side spelling competitions for adults and kids in the audience were held. A cake was raffled from June's Tasty Treats, which sold for a cool $180-something. The gracious couple who purchased the cake sliced it on the spot and shared it with the rest of the crowd.

The most comical moment took place during the first round when the team of pilots representing the AF (who told us themselves they came close to winning last year) were eliminated after misspelling "wary." They spelled the word, "weary." There was some back and forth (in jest) about whether the word was mispronounced (by the Vice Wing Commander who was the contest's official "word-pronouncer" by the way), but in the end, I think it was just too early...

As each team was eliminated, the balloon that was (supposed to be) floating behind them was to be popped to indicate the team was no longer in competition. Unfortunately, there was a helium malfunction in the room that morning so none of the balloons were actually floating, but the picture above is of the Vince Wing Commander popping the pilots' balloon. I was wary about posting this picture as one could argue the act looks a bit more sinister than balloon popping. Is it just me or does that pilot look a little nervous? But I grew weary of the worry and decided it was too funny not to include. Anyway, I was there and can assure you that everyone walked out of the room in one piece.

And let me just say, the pilots were really good sports as they endured (and probably continue to endure) their fair share of heckling over the whole thing. Not from me, of course...

Here is a look at some of the other scenes of the day:

The BEECH Bums

The BEE Jays

I think their team name was the BEEhards...

The BEEhard's MVP and arguably the coolest person in the room

Team Angry Words

The Master of Ceremonies & Queen Bee

Sarah and I stayed through the end of the fourth or fifth round and, unfortunately, do not know which team ultimately won. The teams really were quite good; the competition tough. When we left, there were still four teams in on the action. And I am not afraid to admit that by that point, Sarah and I had each quietly misspelled a number of the words. I don't claim to be a "grate" speller or anything, I'm just saying, the words weren't easy.

The "Grate" Altus Spelling Bee was actually a pretty fun way to spend a Saturday morning. The crowd was fun, the contestants were funny, and, let's be honest, what were we going to do with our time otherwise? Get caught up on the Shah's of Sunset? At least this activity was educational...Tonight we are planning to spend the evening with friends at Charlie's (the club on base) and last night I was asking Sarah what she was planning on wearing. Her response was,  

"Probably a dress, nothing fancy, though. You know, a dress like the one I wore to the spelling bee." The way that sentence just casually rolled off her tongue struck me as incredibly funny. Never in a million years did I expect a girlfriend and I to attend Saturday morning spelling bees for FUN in our twenties. C'est la vie!