Mercury Mariner

The Mercury Mariner is the Lincoln/Mercury version of the Ford Escape that I own. My rental vehicle wasn't a hybrid like mine but was a six cylinder. It was also the 2008 model which is slight redesign.

The Mariner definitely feels more like a car than a truck. The interior is nice and the seats are cushier than mine. The controls are pretty much the same as the one in my vehicle. I really like the big windows and the big side rearview mirrors. The hood seems a lot longer than mine. That may be part of the redesign.

There is so much room in the interior that one of my passengers thought it was an Explorer! I might have to consider the Mariner hybrid version if I ever trade mine. Definitely worth a look if you are looking for a nice SUV. The gas mileage indicator showed an average 21 mpg.

Dallas - freezing

Back in Dallas again this week. And it is freezing...in the office. The combination of keeping the building very cold and all the air-conditioning dumping into our conference room combines to an absolutely freezing environment.

If there were enough moisture in the air, I think it would be snowing!

Toyota Corolla

This week's vehicle was a very basic model of the Toyota Corolla. It didn't even have power locks.

Not much to say about it. Drives okay. Looks okay. Not that I need bells and whistles but simply nothing extraordinary good or bad.

What a difference in Lattitude

Dallas was in the low 100's Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. A 'cool' front came through on Thursday bringing high 90's instead!

Flew home last night and arrived to a beautiful mid-70's. If you look at a map, Dallas and Minneapolis are almost in a line north and south. You only have to take one Interstate between the two cities - I35.

It is supposed to stay in the mid-70's the rest of the week.

Pat and Judy Kelly

My friend, John Arnone, introduced me to Pat and Judy Kelly of Dallas, Texas a few months ago. Pat and Judy are a professors at the University of Dalls and head of the theatre department.

They invited me over to dinner last night and we had such an enjoyable time. They are the nicest people and have wonderful theatre stories from all over and especially the Guthrie when Sir Tyrone Guthrie was there.

Many thanks to John for hooking us up and many many thanks to Pat and Judy for entertaining a lone traveller away from home.

Dallas. Ah, real heat.

Heading to Dallas this week. Checked out the weather and it looks like its going to be a scorcher.

A Coke commercial

You may see my nephew, Raymond Reed, in a Coke commercial one of these days. He won the Coke Race at his recent Horse Barrel Race competition. Someone gave his name to a commercial agent and there was a video shoot this past week.

Here he is running the race...

The photo source is here
And another photo is here