Day 26: I am not as good as a wall

DAY 26: Waxahachie, Texas
Miles traveled: 3,915
States visited: 15 (just added: Texas)
Weather: 85, sunny

I spent the past couple of days meandering through Oklahoma and Texas. In eastern Oklahoma, I encountered lots of cattle farms. The cows approached my van as I drove past. Sorry fellas, there’s nothing I can do for you.

I also passed a Choctaw casino, where I decided to live on the edge and proceeded to gamble away the rest of the money I had saved for this trip. (Just kidding.)

As a passed through Choctaw territory, the song Indian Outlaw by Tim McGraw came on the radio. I thought that was an incredible coincidence. Or maybe they just play it every hour here.

The town of Paris, Texas is evidently the antiques capital of the world. While walking through the town square, I spotted no fewer than eight antiques stores around the square. This town has lots of banners of the Eiffel Tower (with a cowboy hat on top.) I wonder how bad things got here during the “freedom fries” era.

I started to head in the direction of Dallas, but the traffic jams started 19 miles outside the city, so I stopped in the town of Richardson. This town had a ton of public parks. I saw lots of golf courses and lamented that I didn’t bring my clubs. I saw lots of tennis courts and lamented that I didn’t have an opponent.

And then I spotted a big green board against the fence, which I realized was designed to let individuals play against themselves. I was reminded of the Mitch Hedberg joke:

The thing that’s depressing about tennis is, No matter how good I get, I will never be as good as a wall. I played a wall once, they’re fucking relentless.

So I played the wall. And I lost. But it was a great workout. My exercise on this trip has consisted only of walking and a couple of jogs. Some solo tennis action was just what I needed.

Then it was off to a disc golf course in BB Owen Park in Dallas. The course was challenging and the wind was brutal. This was my view from the first tee.

Three of my first four throws hit trees so I got off to a rough start. But I recovered to make my first birdie ever, and a 20-foot par, my longest shot ever. I finished +20, seven shots better than my score in Charlotte.

Now it’s off to Austin, to meet up with some old Pittsburgh friends Dan and Andy, and to meet up with Jason, who is flying in from L.A. The intital solo leg of the journey is over!