Dallas and Wichita

It's a long drive from Carlsbad to Dallas so by the time we get to our hosts house it's the evening. Zac and Virginia welcome us in and make us a gorgeous vegan meal (so it can be done!). We talk into the night and swap traveling stories.

Zac and Virginia have already told us that Monday is the day that everywhere is shut so we're not expecting to get much done today! It's a bit depressing that the number one thing to do in Dallas is visit where JFK was shot but with so many conspiracy theories you can understand why. We go to the book depository and the 'grassy knoll' to have a look for ourselves at the possibilities but it's the finals of a basketball tournament in town so loads of fans are doing the same. No one was lying on the X in the middle of the road thankfully.

After a walk around the historic downtown we want to explore some of the other neighbourhoods so we catch the free bus to Bishop Arts. It's a leafy suburb with some cool looking shops and nice street art but it's a little deserted as it's a Monday. We moved onto an area called Deep Ellum where there is lots of funky artwork and more cool looking shops (closed of course!). We stop for some water and the assistant quizzes us on why we've ended up in Ellum! It's a gorgeous day so we settle down in a beer garden, there are plenty of bars to pick from so e just head for the music. We text Zac and Virginia to see if they want to join us but we get a reply to say it's a wrong number, doh! That'll explain why they never answered our calls on the drive to Dallas. Eventually we go back to the house ready for another drive tomorrow but miss the last bus. D'oh again!

In the morning we say goodbye to our hosts and aim for the Hare Krishna temple to enjoy a lovely vegetarian buffet before starting the drive to Paul's Valley. They are just as disappointed as us about the phone issue and missing out on a drink but we're forgiven! The temple is tucked away on a normal neighbourhood street and we don't see it until we get right up close even though it's so big. We enjoy eating all the vegetables we've been missing out on and eat some more for good luck! On our journey we stop at Chickasaw Park which is really pretty and peaceful. We have a walk around and see a giant terrapin sunning itself, awww. We spend a while in the park before checking into a motel and getting some more planning done.

 We skip the offer of continental breakfast (fruit loops) and set off to Wichita. It's back to couch surfing again as we meet our next host Ty. After getting some information about the area we leave Ty to finish his work and stroll through the beautiful parks towards Wichita. We see some people playing disc golf but we're too shy to ask if we can have a go, plus we'd probably throw the discs straight into the river!
The next stop is the giant Indian statue by the river where we read all about Indian history and culture. Unfortunately we're not going to see it's fire show tonight. We buy a giant ice cream each before wandering the streets and bobbing into some shops. Stopping for a drink we text Ty and he comes to join us with his friend. Apparently we have to show her that couch surfers can be normal people to convince her to host in future (we think we did OK). On the way back to the house Ty gives us a tour of Wichita then we go back for a few beers next to the fire pit before a gorgeous dinner of beer can chicken and sweet potato (yeahhh!!).
We have loads of fun chatting through the night, we're glad we don't have to be up early tomorrow!