Meandering with 10,000 Negative Ions :)

9-16-11 We are heading to Dallas for the weekend and Diana & Chris are going with us.  We get out of town about 4:30pm, and have to say it is a bit cool and overcast.  We have had a cold front come through, and the temp. is quite different than what we have been having.  It is in the 60's.  Not sure what to take cause it is supposed to get warmer, but we have chance of rain too.  So we take our coats, and rain suits.  I have only one light jacket on, and about a mile from the house, I can tell it isn't going to be enough.  I go ahead and tough it out until we get to our first stop.  Was glad to put on the sweat shirt in Ardmore.  I was putting on more clothes, and some of us, and I will not mention names, are taking some clothes off.  We decide to go ahead and try to make as much time during the daylight and get as far as we can, before we stop and eat.  Really is a very nice ride.  The temp. starts warming up as soon as we hit the red river.  We are getting some mist, but nothing that is bad, so we continue.  We go ahead and pull off at Sanger and decide it is time to get some food, and hope that the rain that is now falling pretty good, will pass on by.  We go to a Mexican food place we have always seen, but never tried.  They are pretty busy, but we get in quickly.  Had the nicest waiter take care of us.  Food and Margarita's were really good.  We head out to get our rain suits on, as the rain has just seemed to stall from Sanger to Dallas.  It's not a heavy rain, but the roads are pretty messy.  Chuck has gotten us rooms somewhere, and I have tried to guess where they are at, but he won't tell....so I guess we will just have to get there to find out.  We are close to 10pm by the time we get to the Las Colinas area.  It is raining pretty good, and Lupy takes us to what we think is our hotel, and the guy can't find our reservation and informs us that we are about 2-1/2 miles south of the one we have reservations in.  Oh well, it is only rain...back out in it.  We find our hotel, and they say we can leave the bikes under their portico for the night.  Really appreciate that as it is still raining lightly.  I know we all need rain really bad, but you know it is a bit trying when you are on a bike.  Have to say, Chuck navigated us there like a pro.  We are here, and we are safe, and now we can get out of these rain suits and chill for awhile.  The rooms are awesome, and can I say "cheap".  He really did good.  Time to get some sleep, so we can do some shopping tomorrow.

9-17-11...Breakfast at the hotel.  It was really good.  Indoor swimming pool and hot tub look very inviting...Maybe tonight!!!  Our day starts out looking for the "spyder" dealer in the Dallas area.  Didn't think that would be that hard, but Lupy is really trying us.  She directs us to the street right across from the Dallas Trade Market.  No spyder dealers here.  We put another address in for Richardson Motor Sports.  We plug in the address and take off.  The day is really nice.  Cloud cover and temperature is perfect.  Traffic is not bad either.  We find the dealership and when we drive up there is a red can am outside on display.  We go in, and they have several of them to check out.  Very nice sales people, and Chris and Diana find some great gloves.  Diana even finds Chris a cool shirt.  As they are looking around, one of the sales guys comes from out of the back, and gives her some spyder bandannas.  They make their purchases, and we head out.  As we are getting back to the bikes, Chris says he should have ask them about the mud flap that he needs to replace....(that is another story all together) so he goes back in.  As we are standing outside waiting, the one sales guy comes out with a new mud flap, and takes his broken one off, and puts the new one on.  WOW!!!  Service even....amazing.  Chris says he was paying for it and they were going to order him one and ship to him, and the one sales guy comes with one in his hands, and tells them to take the shipping off the ticket, that he just took one off a bike they had on display.  WOW again.  Nice bunch.  Think Chris will be back to this one for service in the future.  There is a Harley store fairly close, so we head there to check it out.  We pull in and there is quite a bit going on.  They are cooking dogs so we have to have one.  We do our shopping and all I come out with is a bandanna.  It was on sale and I thought I needed it.  Diana saw a Chihuahua Rescue just across the road, so we drive back over there, and pull in.  We go in and play with the little guys for awhile.  Sure was a cute little guy name Barley.  He is a long hair, and less than a year old.  Cutest little guy.  I don't think the ladies were very interested in me, when I said we had 3 heelers.  Guess they thought I wanted their dogs for "food" for the girls.  Failed to tell them that they love cats.  You just don't say the world "squirrel" around them.  LOL


 It is after noon now, and we are going to head to Grapevine Mill to let Diana and I do some much needed shopping therapy.  They are working on the roads as they usually are, but out by Grapevine they have a lot going on.  One of these days it really is going to be a nice road.  Again, I have to say, it is really nice to have someone (Chuck) that knows where the hell he is going.  I feel like we just go in circles, but I see places and things that I know I have seen before, so I kinda have an idea where we are at....Just don't drop me off anywhere, cause I would be totally lost.  Lots of people here, but also a lot of parking spots, so we find a good one, and head inside.  I am amazed that Chuck is actually going into a shopping mall.

He keeps telling us that we have a limit of time and we are burning up our time, as Diana and I are popping in and out of stores like crazy.  We go into  a Clair's Boutique, and hit the jackpot for Diana.  She is finding all kinds of cool spyder jewelry.  Got some much needed bling  :)

Rainforest Grapvine Mills 

A girl can never have too much bling!!!  We pass the food court and there is this guy selling these balls that when you throw them in the air, the hit the tile and splat...then they return to a ball in a few seconds.  We think we need some of these for the kids.  Not sure if they are really for the kids or ourselves, but we have to make a purchase.  We don't have a whole lot of spare room on the bikes, so this is really limiting our purchases.  LOL  Diana and I are really trying to pace ourselves.  There is a Spencer's there and we duck into it, and she finds some more really cool jewelry.  We had been in a luggage store, and I ask the guy there if the Rainforest Restaurant was still here, and he says yes.  Getting a little hungry as it is almost 2 and we have been doing a lot of power shopping.  So we make our way to the restaurant, and thinking the line is going to be really long, we go to see how long, and the guy informs us if we want to sit at the bar, we can go right on in.  Perfect...we will do that.  Sit where there is even a TV, so the guys can watch the Texas game.  Have to say the burger I got was absolutely great.  Too big, but really good.  I think we all gave it a thumbs up.  Of course the $80 bill for the 4 of us to eat was a bit surprising, but hey we are being entertained in the rainforest.  As we come out of the restaurant there is a kiosk that catches the guys eyes.  I run back to a store to check out something, and by the time I get back, the guys have both bought this "negative ion" bracelet.  Not just a negative ion bracelet, but a 10,000 negative ion bracelet.  They are going to have so much energy, and all their aches and pains are going to be gone. You should hear all the things these bracelets are going to do.. Chris keeps talking about how limber he is going to be.  Hmmmm, well, we will have to see how this plays out.
Finished shopping and time to head towards Strokers and see if anything is going on there.  Amazed to find a band playing and quite a few people there.  We go inside to get a drink and Diana wants to get a t-shirt from the store, so we go inside and check them out.  She finds a tie-died one.  Really cute.  Decide it is time to find a Walmart and get some stuff to munch on and go back to the rooms and chill.  We have to about 6 miles away in Irving.  We find it, and get some stuff for munching.  Think we might need some kind of liquor for tonight and we drive a complete circle trying to find a liquor store.  I have come to the conclusion that we are in a dry county.  None to be found in Irving or Las Colinas area.  The main road we have traveled to get to  Las Colinas has rows and rows of strip clubs, and liquor stores.  Think I understand the liquor store part, still not sure about the strip clubs.  :)  The bionic duo keep talking about going and visiting one, but as usual, they are all blow and no go...LOL    We find a liquor store and get some of the honey whiskey.  The same stuff that made Chris sick.  One glass and he was done.  We sit and watch the OU game.  Getting pretty close to 10pm, and we decide we need to eat something.  There is a Bennigans within walking distance, so we walk over.  I had checked on Urbanspoon and doesn't get too high of ratings.  Well, we can add our two bits on that now.  It really wasn't that good, and now understand the low ratings.  The pool and hot tub is supposed to close at 11, but we go ahead and try it out.  We were the only ones in there.  Chuck failed to bring his swimsuit, and kept talking about going commando, but that didn't happen.  Was a really nice and relaxing area.  The indoor pool and hot tub was great.  Time to call it a day.  Has been a very full and fun one.  Weather was great, but there is talk about storms in Dallas area sometime tomorrow, so we decide to be out of the hotel by 10am.  No one will have to rock me to sleep tonight!!! Think it's time to recharge the negative ions.
9-18-11
Negative ions are recharged, and Chuck has been able to stop the elevator door from closing, by using his ionic arm.  Wow these things are great.  The guys are just bouncing with all the energy they have from them.  We eat breakfast at the hotel again.  Really not a bad place.  Have to say it has been a very nice place to stay.  We figure out where to put everything on the bike, and we are heading back towards home.  Chuck ask if we want to take the direct route, or meander.  We vote for meandering.  We went thru Rhome, and Pleasant Texas.  Saw a sign for Wizard Wells, and of course we had to drive thru it.  Wasn't much of a town...but a very interesting name.  Weather is really nice, and actually starting to warm up quite a bit.  By the time we stop for lunch, it was really pretty warm.  We stop and get gas in Bowie, and ask the lady at the station where she recommends to eat, and she suggested Longhorn.  Well, guess we have to try it.  Very busy, and the marquis says that everything is cooked with love, so looks like  we better try it out.  The food was very good.  Nice variety, and plenty of it.  Even got ice cream for dessert.  What a deal.  I laughed as the guys were talking about their negative ions again, and man the stories are getting really large.  If anyone would overhear our conversations they would think we were totally crazy.  Never laughed so much about these negative ions.  The stories are totally amazing.  Think the guys need to be spokesperson for them.
Back on the road, we are reloaded with food in our stomachs, and as we cross the red river back into Oklahoma, the cool front has made it a little cooler and a very nice ride continues.  We stop at Chickasha for gas, and Chris no more gets stopped, and he has 2 guys around him asking about the spyder.  This is a common thing with them.  The guy at the Richardson dealership actually gave them some information cards for them to hand out.  LOL....I think Chris should tour the country and promote Spyders...Of course we would have to tour with him and Diana...LOL...just another one of those "stories".  Since there is a DQ in Chickasha we make our final stop there, and have some good ole DQ ice cream.  It was good, as usual.  We pull into Chukadi Acre about 5pm to some barking and howling dogs.  Think they were glad to see us.  Great weekend...lots of fun. Great rooms, and some good food....and some really great friends with 2 guys and their negative ion bracelets= lots of fun.  Mileage 638