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  • HEADING SOUTH

    March 2, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌫 17 °C

    This will be a short trip to Shreveport, and will be a “mini” family reunion of sorts. Tommy and Rena are hosting a “Sip and See” for family members who have not yet had the chance to meet their newest grandson, James. I figured it is a good opportunity to see most of what is left of our family in
    Shreveport at one time in one place. Louisiana is usually nice in March, so we are hoping for good weather!

    We left Fort Collins early -- 5:30 a.m. and drove to Canopy Parking in Denver. We flew on Southwest Airlines to Dallas and picked up our rental car at Advantage Rental, which proved not to be such an "advantage" after all. While we were waiting to get our rental car there was a black couple inside the rental office ahead of Ed. The couple had apparently reserved an SUV, but were told there were none available and they would have a minivan instead. All hell broke loose in a screaming, cussing and fist pounding episode like we have never witnessed before. We got our rental vehicle, which surprisingly was an SUV, and drove away quickly so the couple wouldn't see that we had an SUV. We are not sure just how the incident ended, but the couple had calmed down considerably by the time we left. We will not use Advantage again in the future for several reasons. First of all, the shuttle bus from DFW to the rental lot was pretty trashy with torn seats and a generally old and worn looking vehicle. Also, the customer service didn't appear to be very professional, as witnessed by the way the Advantage agent dealt with the black couple (I would have been angry too!), and lastly because before giving us our nice SUV they tried to pawn a trashed out Camry on us. After seeing the Camry, we requested a different vehicle.

    Traffic was pretty bad as we left Dallas. We had a near miss when an 18 wheeler almost hit us when he merged out of his lane.

    We checked in to our Residence Hotel on Monkhouse Drive in Shreveport. I called Kay and she told me it would be awhile before she and Dorothy and Arlena would be there, because they were at an appointment. We decided to drive around town a little while we waited for them. We drove by the house on Bryan Circle where Danny and I lived when we moved to Colorado. Next stop was by the house Mama and Daddy had on Garden Oaks Drive in Shreveport. Debbie and I were pretty little when we lived in this neighborhood. We then drove by Momo’s old house on Coral Street and then we drove by Virginia Avenue where I grew up, and the house on Corbett Street where Danny and I lived when Matthew was born. Then we drove by Werner Park Elementary, Midway and Fair Park. We then returned to the hotel. When Kay, Arlena and Dorothy arrived, we sat around the hotel room living room with the fireplace on (and the A/C!) and had wine and visited. We got Taco Bell for dinner, and it was real good, although they do not have “green sauce” like the Taco Bells in Colorado. It was late when they left and we went to bed.
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