DAY 13/14 - Dallas, TX + Oklahoma

We are staying in Dallas for the week so we decided to take a day ride up north on I 35 to Oklahoma. I always imagined Texas being a dry and desert like state, but it really is not. Dallas is known for it's lakes and it is really gorgeous out here. The ride up was a bit windy but the view from behind the visor of the helmet was very nice. We stopped on the way for a small snack near where the Kichai and Lenape native Americans used to live before the white settlers came.

We spent our short visit on the Oklahoma border at this huge casino. The Winstar casino is on an Indian reservation which makes it legal enough for anyone over the age of 18 to gamble. Winstar is one of the casinos which resides on the biggest portion of land. We got free drinks and even made a bit of cash. Even if we didn't make any money it would be a fun experience.

Today we had time so we went to the local Walmart to do a motor oil change. We thought it would take less than an hour but we had some issues with Uri's bike. We had all the right tools but the nut that needs to be released to get the oil to spill out, was just stuck! We were right at the Walmart so we tried so many different tools to get it loose, but with no luck. So changed the oil on my bike and tomorrow or some other time we will go to a motorcycle shop and get that fixed.

4th of July is getting close and the party scene is going to be amazing here. Texans are known to be very patriotic, so i have no doubt we will have a great weekend.

We plan on driving down to Austin for the celebration but also go out tomorrow night.

DAY 11/12 - Houston, Tx - Dallas, Texas

We drove on I 45 north from Houston to Dallas and honestly there wasn't much on the way. I stopped at the Sam Houston statue which was right off the highway and checked out the visitor center. I found out that the
statue which is 77 ft tall is the 3rd largest statue in the United States, after "our lad of the Rockies" in Butte, Montana, and the Statue of Liberty. The ride was extremely windy and I had to fight with the bike to keep it going in a straight line.

We got to Dallas and arrived at Mathew's house. I haven't seen him since we were together back in the army, so it was quite an exciting meetup. We are so happy that we are staying with him and plan on doing a lot together in this city.

Even though we did extensive planning and research for this motorcycle tour, we still have days which are slower than others. Cities across the globe are more or less the same, with a small difference of latitude or longitude. We thought that every city has it's unique attributes and there must be dozens of things to do everywhere. Well, I am sure if we really work hard we can find museums and things to do off the beaten track, but overall it's okay to say that some places are just more boring than others.

We rode to the Methodist university near uptown Dallas and walked around the campus. One of the most irritating things to me in the States is to compare our university campuses in Israel to the ones here. Well there is no comparison. The universities here are just beautiful, and it will be really hard to get used to the dry and desert like campuses back at home.

DAY 10 - Houston, Texas

I got up early enough to go to Shul. Before we got to town I started doing some research to find services of various congregations in the area where we were staying. Even though I found more than a couple Jewish communities in the Woodlands area, most of them didn't have Shabbat day services. I don't like resorting to Chabbad but they were the only ones that claimed they held morning service (and lunch afterwards of

course). I made my way to the address the Chabbad website said to go to and found the house. There was a Mezuzah on the door but no answer. It was still early enough to go to another synagogue in the neighborhood, so i decided to head towards it. Their website claimed they only hold morning service when there is a Bar/Bat Mitzvah, so I crossed my fingers and hoped there was one. And I was right.

The Temple was very unique. It wasn't the architecture of the building that astonished me, but the way the Bar Mitzvah service was led. The Beth Shalom Reform Jewish congregation had interesting rituals that I thought made the place special. It wasn't the Woman cantor or the mini wailing wall they had in their entrance that wowed me, but the way the Rabbi conducted the service with authority, but also included the audience too. I was hoping for a small brunch after service to be served but unfortunately there were buses waiting at the door and I assumed it was invite only, so I headed back to our room at the motel.

Houston is a huge city with very complicated roads and bridges. I am not sure it was the heat or the fact that we didn't know many people in town, but we started getting short with each other and ended up splitting up in town. I found out that there was a huge Gay Pride parade which held music stages and fun activities, so we went there. It definitely was the right place to be at. There were thousands of people there, and even though we didn't fit in with the crowd it sure was an interesting scene!

We spent the afternoon in the city roaming around the festivities, and chilled on the grass near our bikes. I am pretty sure many people there thought Uri and I were together which is funny, but I see no reason why a straight person can't go see the pride parade just for fun.

We drove back to our motel which took us a long time due to the huge amount of traffic leaving the area.

Texas is a HOT state! Too hot.