Texas... the big one...

MrGrumpy was up at 4:00am, not really a problem as he had not really slept. By 4:20am he was waiting outside in the dark for the cab to arrive. 10 mins and $45 later he was at the airport, another $25 at checkin (for luggage), he was almost out of cash and he had not made it through security yet.
He checked in and went through security using his California driving licence, he did have his passport with him (just in case there was a problem).
5:20am time for coffee, flight leaves for Dallas, Texas at 6:20am.  

Once he landed, he checked how far it was to Plano, 35miles, 39 minutes, uhm does not sound like a cab ride.
Off he went to find MrHertz (as the office had not booked a rental car, and he had assumed the airport was not as far from the office/hotel). After a 10 minute shuttle bus ride, MrHertz said he could get the corporate rate (upon showing a business card), has asked for whatever with MrCrapNav (Herz AlwaysLost).
The MrHopeless managed to forget to put MrGrumpy on the agreement and had to redo all the paper work. He told MrGrumpy to goto bay 433 where he would find a Silver Sonata, off he went. Well at bay 433, there was not a silver Sonata, not even a Hyundai, there was a White Dodge something. He asked a passing MrIParkCarsForMinimumWage, he spend several minutes trying to compare the barcode number on the car and the agreement (finally MrGrumpy pointed out the last digits were significant not the first 4 which were the same).
Back at the desk MrGrumpy explained the silver Sonata was now white and a Dodge. MrHopeless apologised and fiddled with the computer, MrGrumpy said he would be happy with a free upgrade to a Camero or Mustang convertible like his car in California (he did not mention his was 13 years old). Anyway MrHopeless did upgrade MrGrumpy (for free) to a Nissan Altima 2.5s Coupe. This time the right car was in the right bay, but as he got close he could see damage on the rear quarter, "more hassle" he thought, now he had to fill in a form showing all the damage when he collected the car. He went round marking every minor ding and mark on the paperwork before he left.

After the usual fight with the UI, he left the airport and headed for the hotel. A couple of minutes later he was hunting for the lights and wipers, there was something on the windscreen he had not seen for months, yes rain... and in Texas, really not what he expected.
After the rain stopped and several almost wrong exits on the freeway thanks to MrCrapNav he got to the hotel, seems to be in the middle of nowhere right next to a freeway.

He checked in an managed to have a chat with LittleMissNaughty before he decided to take a drive out for the rest of the afternoon. While he was chatting he was searching for what is nearby, he found Southfork Ranch was only 5 miles away, that sounded like a plan and it was quite cheap (which meets MrGrumpy's criteria).

Taking Personal Shopping
to a new Level...

He went on the tour, it does not take very long, he found out that all the interior shots were done on a lot in California and even the outside shots used wide angled lenses to make the pool etc. look much larger than they actually are.
MrGrumpy was going to get some food there, but he was too late, last food was at 4:00pm, he tried at 4:05pm...

Back to the car, he again fought with MrCrapNav to search for restaurants, he found that the next town was called Allen, well he had to head there, other than somewhere called Grumpy it was somewhere he had to visit.


Once the PhotoStream catches up, MrGrumpy will add some photos, meanwhile this link is to the photos taken at Southfork Ranch.