Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away

I've always dug Willie Nelson, and in a few hours Wifey and I are off to his native land, Texas. We're going with many friends to watch the Canes open up the season against LSU, alma mater of David Duke, at Jerry's World, which is supposedly the finest sports stadium in America.

We're staying in SouthLake, which is somewhere between Dallas and its poorer sister, Fort Worth. A bunch of us are booked into the Hilton there, on the recommendation of Becky, and old Miami friend who ditched her husband Rob and Miami, and is now living in Fort Worth.

I've been to Texas twice. The first time was a college conference, in the Fall of '81. I was active in something called NCHC, which was a national council of honors' programs, and in that year it was hosted by Texas Christian U.

I remember the trip well. It was near Halloween, and the TCU kids invited us to their big bash -- a showing of the then 5 year old movie, "Halloween."  I was used to a bit more racy fun back at UM -- parties in the Grove and all, but I remember thinking how exotic Fort Worth was to this LI born and raised guy.  We went to a country bar, of course, and everyone kept yelling "Dallas sucks!"  I guess there was a rivalry...

The second trip was for less than 24 hours. The Canes were playing in the Cotton Bowl, and on NYE my boss Frank called -- his travel agent friend had, last minute, package trips to leave early on the First, see the game, have a barbecue, and then fly home. I think they had sold for $600 or so, but the friend was unloading them for $150. Some friends were over at our pre-Andrew house, and we decided to pack it in early and leave .

We got on the charter 727 and Captain Cane, who always dressed for the games, refused to remove his shoulder pads -- the stewardess said we wouldn't leave until he did. After we all yelled at him -- grumpy on New Year's Day at 530 am, he relented, but warned the Canes might now well lose since he NEVER removed sacred Canes garments on game day.

Well, superstition was damned -- the Canes blew out the Longhorns in a game famous for the amount of penalties we got. We loved each minute of the game -- I was surprised how freezing cold Dallas could be.

This trip we get to see more of the place. Tonight we have a reservation for nearly 30 of us at a place called Lonesome Dove Bistro, in the Stockyards 'hood, which I'm told is now their Williamsburg -- lots of cool bars and galleries.

Sunday is game day, and Mike rented a van for us to tailgate -- I have a feeling he'll buy a barbecue and do it up, like we did in Lincoln, Nebraska a few years back.

College games have the best atmosphere, though given LSU's size and proximity to Texas, I'm guessing they'll outnumber Canes fanes like 70-30.

But that's ok -- we ALWAYS have a blast.

Wifey's no big football fan at all, but she has memories of huge belly laughs from our trips to Tennessee, New Jersey, South Bend, and Atlanta.  When you convene a fun group of fun loving folks -- well, that's my kind of trip.

So we're off to DFW. Hopefully the Canes win. Regardless of the game's outcome, I'm fairly certain we'll have a terrific time.