5. USA: Santa Fe to Tyler, Texas

Monday, June 10, 750 mile drive, 4:15 a.m. to 7:15 p.m., Santa Fee to Tyler, Texas.

Today is our longest drive.  We head southeast through New Mexico in the darkness to a magnificent sunrise and breakfast at McDonald’s in Amarillo, then south to Wichita Falls and its chocolate colored falls.  I am surprised at how green Texas is.  I listen to cassette recordings of The Firm and a Dick Francis mystery.  Cathy dozes.  The children watch "Thunderball" and "Quackbusters" in the back seat.

By five o’clock we are circling Dallas in a rainstorm, as we continue east.  I call the office from a gas station on the road.  No problems.  Pushed as far as we can go, we select as our stop the Sheraton Hotel in Tyler, 100 miles east of Dallas, picking it out of the AAA Travel Guide.  Robert says the clouds are uglier here than in Las Vegas.  It is very humid.  In the evening we eat at a very nice fish restaurant where we're sure the waiter has affected his "Y'alls" for the tourists. 

Before breakfast the next morning, Jeffrey and I go for a run on the beginning of a warm, muggy day.  Responsible Robert brings the younger ones down for breakfast.  Breakfast is $4.23.  Robert, a fifth grade whiz at times tables and math sheets and armed with a lesson from me on how to figure 15%, says it is too complicated and leaves a $5 tip. 

The most complicated thing so far is learning how to access AT&T so I can use my firm calling card.

The Road

Tyler