Dallas, Texas

I just spent a couple of nights in Dallas this week on a quick business trip. I had not been to Dallas for a long time (in the early 90’s I used to visit quite a lot) and I realize that I haven’t missed it one little bit.

When I got in my rental car at the airport, I was struck by the number of religious radio stations at the bottom end of the FM dial. Usually when I get into a rental car I tune the radio in to the local NPR station and, without exception, these all seem to be at the bottom end of the dial. In Dallas it seemed like there was an awful lot competition from religious stations in that part of the spectrum. Not that there is anything wrong with that but it did make me realize that I was in the Bible belt.

The other thing I noticed was the frigid air conditioning in my hotel room. It is just another characteristic of Texas as far as I can see - warm muggy weather outside, and frigid air-conditioning inside. My hotel room was particularly extreme in this respect. I wore a sweater in the room, and took it off when I went outside.

Another issue I had, and I don’t mean to be picking on Texas, but when I came to the rental car counter I was offered my choice of a compact Chevrolet for $69 per day, or a Hummer for $99 per day. Now I have never been offered that before, and I bet you can’t get rental Hummers in Sacramento at all, never mind at only a $30 premium over a Chevy. There’s just something wrong about that.

That’s just a few of my gripes about Texas, I am back home in California now, where I know where my NPR station is and where I can control my air conditioning and where I can still grumble about Hummers.