Day thirty - Moving on to Dallas

Sally and Rod, being teachers, were up and ready-to-go early. I decided to pay another visit to Starbucks before my trek to Waco and Dallas. I didn’t need to go so much for the coffee, just for the ‘office space’ and internet access. I’ve now visited so many Starbucks across the nation I don’t even bother to get photos snapped. It’s become my home away from home. If it weren’t for Starbucks, half of these blogs wouldn’t even get done!

Rod hopped in my van and directed me to the closest Starbucks. It appears Starbucks is a haunt for Rob and Sally too, but mostly for ‘take out’ coffee on the way to work.

I was looking forward to my drive. I had never been to Waco before and was curious to have a look. Actually, it turned out to be just a nice small quiet city.

My first stop was at The Learning Center, where I visited with Carol Birdsong, the owner. Carol has had her store for 24 years and seems to have enjoyed every minute of it. Before that she taught in the classroom for three years so we had a lot to talk about. Her store was big, bright and cheerful and when she does special orders for her customers she prides herself in usually being able to provide ‘next day’ delivery.

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Carol Birdsong, owner of The Learning Center [top left], Inside The Learning Center [top right] and Outside The Learning Center
[bottom ].

Just around the corner from Carol’s store, I found my next destination, The Compass Christian Lifestyle Super Store. This huge place included a nice selection of educational resources. Unfortunately, Holly Pennington, the owner was unavailable but I did meet with two young sales people, Dan Roberts and Kenda Herring. These two seemed very capable, articulate and enthusiastic. I think that Holly is lucky to have Dan and Kenda on her staff.

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Dan Roberts and Kenda Herring [left] and Outside The Compass Christian Lifestyle Super Store [right].

Then, it was off to find my B&B hosts for the night. Francille and James were fantastic hosts and we had much to talk about. Francille is a vocalist and retired music teacher (having taught from kindergarten through college). James worked many years in the oil industry and then as a teacher of Industrial Arts and Cooperative Training. This unassuming couple has done a lot of things. Little things just slip out in conversation, like the five years they spent in South America and the time they lived in Edmonton, Alberta. They still, it seems, have a very full life and travel when Francille is not performing as a storyteller and editing the national magazine for the Association of Storytellers.