Previously…
Whew, this is finally the last day of this trip! If you recall, from day 3, I had stopped off in Amarillo on my way to Dallas. Even though I live in Houston, a work situation caused me to need to be in the Dallas Area Tuesday. Hence the stopover. This is the short tale of day 4. Promise this one will be shorter *grin*
Eastbound and down!
It’s been a long haul, but this promises to be a short day, so I took my time easing out of Amarillo. My target for today was only The DoubleTree Hotel in Farmer’s Branch, TX. For those of you not familiar with the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, Farmer’s Branch is one of the many little towns that have all grown together to form the “D/FW Metroplex,” or as most of the rest of Texas refers to it, “Dallas.” Whatever you call it, I only had 350-ish miles to ride.
Going this route, I took US287 rather than US87/I-27. Which essentially means I got to see a bit of new countryside. It was a nice change since I had done the Lubbock to Amarillo part of that route twice already this year, and…. well, no offense to my folks from the Lubbock area, but boring as hell to drive through.
This way was better, going through Childress and Wichita Falls. For some reason, I was kind of pumped to go through Wichita Falls, and I spent a good few hours wondering why. Wichita Falls, I still don’t get it. I think it was in a song or something, but the only thing I can recall is Wichita Lineman, which is NOT about Wichita Falls, but rather Wichita, Kansas! It’s still a mystery.
Lunch in Childress
A few hours in, I stopped in Childress for fuel and water. I noticed it was getting pretty close to lunchtime, so I asked the cashier if there was a good place for a meal and perhaps a beer or margarita?
“Right across the street at the Plaza,” she said.
The Plaza Restaurant & Bar. Oh.My.God. I can’t say enough about how good this place is. From the friendly hostess that showed me to the table to Paul, the server that helped me, the service was close to perfect. When Paul brought out chips and salsa, I realized that the chips were freshly made. Right then, I knew I was in for a treat.
I ordered a giant margarita (huge) and the “enchiladas and quesadilla roll” plate. What is a quesadilla roll, you ask? Yeah, so did I. It’s a chicken and cheese quesadilla that is then ROLLED UP AND FRIED. So so very good, and the best enchiladas I’ve had in a while. It’s obvious that things are made from scratch here. Paul told me it was a family business and the most popular place in town. He wasn’t exaggerating either. When I got there at around 11:15, it was about half full. By the time I left a little after 12, it was packed, and people were waiting. Childress is not a very large town, so I bet most people who work in town go there.
Wichita Falls and onward..
That’s a slight overstatement. I stopped for gas in Wichita Falls and, while drinking a bottle of water, tried a couple of Google searches to see if I could figure out what I semi-remembered about Wichita Falls. All I could come up with was it’s the birthplace of Governor Greg Abbott, Dr. Phil, and a slew of professional football players. /shrug/ It’s too dang hot to dwell on it, so I headed on to DFW.
Dallas and done
I pulled into the DoubleTree in Farmer’s Branch about 3:30, so I went up to the room to change into swim trunks and head to the pool. After days of riding in the heat, the pool was heavenly! Of course, one can only splash around in the pool by yourself for so long before boredom sets in, so I dried off and headed upstairs to change.
Dinner was at Twin Peaks for all the obvious reasons, plus it’s right next to the Wal-Mart where I needed to buy a shirt with a collar for work the next day. Belly fed, shopping done, it was back to the hotel to call it a night—all in all, not a terrible way to end a long weekend. Certainly home would have been better, but at least I’d be home by dinner Tuesday.