I’m Back (Final)
And now for the rest of the story. We flew back into Dallas and after we got the bags I hopped on the shuttle to go get the rental car. I had previously booked and paid for the car through Priceline. When I got to the counter the lady there was giving me a hard time because I showing her a Debit card (with a MasterCard Logo, by the way) and I did not have a return ticket. I explained that I was a Soldier on leave from Iraq and that the government does not issue me a ticket for the plane ride back. The company was National Rental car, I told her that Hertz didn’t give me a problem using a debit card and that the car was already paid for anyway, so I don’t know what the problem was. She finally gave me the car. I went back to Pickup Jamie and the kids and by that time Carol’s flight had arrived. I had to make 2 trips because of all the luggage, but the Hotel wasn’t that far.
We stayed in the Hotel Grand Sheraton, but it wasn’t as nice as the Comfort Suites that we stayed in while in Tyler. We relaxed that day and got a good night sleep. The next day we got a lazy start and made our way to Tyler to pickup Carol’s car from Tyler Auto Body. We had a nice visit with my parents and went to Chinese for Dinner. By the time we got back it was after 10:30 Pm and we were all tired again. The next day we went and did Laundry (I know sounds like fun, huh?) and Jamie and Kimberly got mani and pedi’s while Carol and I slaved over the laundry. We went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant (can’t remember the name) and it was really good. We then drove around downtown Dallas trying to find Cold Stone Creamery and after much sight seeing we finally found an equivalent. During the time at the Hotel we swam in the indoor/outdoor pool a few times and just relaxed. The next morning was Sunday and it was time for Jamie, Carol and the kids to start their drive back to Virginia. We had breakfast and said our goodbyes.
I had a little time before dad showed up and we left for the Nascar race at the Texas Motor Speedway. I got us started going in the wrong direction, so that helped to add time onto our trip and then we hit the line of cars, miles before the exit. We made it into the complex in time for the start of the race, but we decided if we ever do that again we will leave much earlier. We had seats on the back stretch in the 2nd row. It was such a rush as the cars go by doing 170+ MPH. There weren’t many wrecks but we had a good time and both got sunburned. The sun really zapped the energy out of us so we ate dinner and headed back to the hotel. I had a lot of fun going to the race with dad and I think he enjoyed it also.
The next morning we ate breakfast and got ready to go to the airport. I turned in the car and after I signed back in dad was able to accompany me back past security to wait for me to board the plane. We had a couple sandwiches compliments of the USO and I read Kimberly and Mikayla a book while being video taped at the USO reading room. I had a good flight back to Kuwait with a row all to myself. I ended up having to stay the night in Kuwait, but made it back to Iraq the next day. We had a great time on leave and it didn’t go by as fast as I thought it would. The rest is history and not very exciting. I will write again with updates since I have been back to Iraq. Until later…