Sunday - afternoon

Yesterday morning, we headed over to 6 Flags. The parking fee was excessive and shocking. I mean, I was shocked: $45 to park a vehicle in a parking lot for one day.  I was on the far left pay booth lane and was looking at all the traffic heading into another parking area much further away...then the entrance to one right there It was the only entrance, immediately to the left, to that parking area that was opened, but people were going in there. Yup, I got in there and saved a lot of walking.

It was hot yesterday, there was no denying that.  We were all sweating all day long.  That didn't stop us from having fun, we had lots of fun on lots and lots of rides.  We didn't just do kiddie rides either, the boys did many "adult" rides that I thought they would be terrified of. Well, they admitted some fear but they worked through it and were glad they did.  The only ride of any visible fear was the Pirate boat one.  It's a boat that glides through an underground cavern with a pirate theme and also a them of "Spleelunkers" that don't like pirates.  Besides being a fun ride, it was very cool in there and I wanted to go again, lol.  

Actually, we tried to go on that ride in the morning, it closed down after waiting for around 40 minutes. We were close to getting on the boat, but, one of the boats was sinking, yes we could see it was submerged in water.  In fact, fully 7 rides we were going to go on had closed down either when we got to them or while we were waiting in line.  Others were closed for "refurbishing".  

The plus side was the fun, the downside is the excessive prices you will pay regardless of what amusement park you go to.  Disney, MG, Six Flags, mom and pops, they ream you. It's why we don't' go very often. Actually, we don't go on vacation often at all.  It's just too pricey, spending $18 on a glorified hot dogs with fries? $18 for a double cheeseburger?  

We were there from the time it opened until the time it closed. If we gonna pay that much, we gonna take advantage of it. The problem for me was when it was time to drive home. I thought I was good to go, the kids were still with me. But 30 miles down the road I said no.  The kids wanted to go to a hotel again anyway, so in Terrell, TX, I got off the Interstate and started going to various hotels. They were all completely filled up. There were only 2 places left after I went to the better hotels:  Motel 6 or Super 8.  I used to like Motel 6, they were obviously lower end but they took care of the places. 

At some point in time, they let the chain degrade into dive hotels and I refuse to go there unless there is no other option. Super 8 had many rooms available, I got one with 2 queen beds. I don't want to sleep with kids, thanks.  They move around all night long, they take up space, I want my own bed.  But, they were as exhausted as I was and they fell asleep at 11 pm and did not wake up until 9am. I didn't even try to get them up, I just decided it would be better to let them get a full 10 hours of sleep, there was no agenda for today, I blew getting home in time for church off.  

Oh, and Marriott, well I wrote about that in the previous entry but my, I just love those places. This one didn't disappoint. An indoor pool.  See, I was looking at satellite pics of that place and didn't see a pool, I thought a "mandatory" inclusion on those properties was a pool. I had never been to one with an indoor pool and thought didn't cross my mind.  We had as much fun playing in the pool as we did at 6 flags.  

The drive home today was uneventful. There was an IHOP in the area we stayed, so we went there for breakfast and drove straight through.  I was figuring on stopping on the way back for the kids to go pee, but I made them go to the bathroom before we left IHOP and they didn't say anything about a bathroom break all the way back, which was nice, we got it over with. It's really not that far to Dallas, it's the constant traffic on I-20 that I despise.  It's one of those highway corridors where they need to have 3 lanes on each side. There are many Interstates in the US where an upgrade to 3 lanes is really quite needed.  They spent all those trillions of dollars in the last 5  years on what, exactly?  

I did realize, however, that I need new tires.  One of them is vibrating but they are all in need of replacement.  I won't do that until next paycheck. I only need drive around town right now, 10-15 miles max on any given trip.  It also needs an oil change and the rear brake rotors are pulsing the brake pedal when I hit the brakes, so those and new brake pads.  Talking $800 worth of maintenance.  Oh well.

Maybe I will take a paycheck from the business after all to pay for that stuff.  I especially dislike driving around with a tire you know is going to fail sooner or later. If it fails in the way of the tread coming off, that can do extensive damage to your vehicle. It's cheaper to just replace the tires than to have to have body work done AND replace your tires.  

Home.  I can tell you I have nothing else planned for today.  I don't want to go anywhere, I don't want to do anything but kick back, relax, recover, rest and get myself read for another work week. Cause' honey, 5:30 am comes awfully early and I have issues with the truck that need fixed. However, I don't plan on dealing with that until Tuesday unless a tire blows out.  Love's broke a lugnut and I still have the tire vibration going on that Love's was supposed to fix - until they broke the lugnut in half.  I'm going to have to take it to the yard and Tuesday will undoubtedly be another very long day.  I won't be surprised if they don't want me to wait for them to do the repair and replace the tires that need replacing.  

But, as I said, that tire could give way before then. I'm just going to take the chance and hope that it won't.  It will pass any DOT inspection, it just did in fact even after telling them a tire is bad.  It's just I know a tread is going to come flying off sooner or later unless, of course, I get it fixed first.  I tried!  

Farmer bill called yesterday and said he has some "good news" for me.  No idea.  I haven't had any problems with them after I gave them a direct warning to cease and desist or vacate the park. I haven't heard a peep out of them or from anyone complaining about them, so if they want to stay, that's up to them.  As long as they follow my directive to keep the laser gun junk to themselves.  They are going to - and already have - find that no park anywhere wants to deal with that kind of nonsense. If you want to entertain conspiracy theories, that's your business....until you make it everyone else's. 

I dunno what else. Trying to think.  It would be nice tomorrow to go up through Carthage and stop by the tractor place.  But I dunno if I will, depends on the truck and whether it's giving me hell or not and also how long it takes to get done.  If it goes like it has been going, getting done is going to be early and very well received.  

Well enough.  Already 4:00 pm, the day is flying by.