Serving with MS webinar, Friday & Mab's 1st 5K!

Happy Veterans Day! 

On Nov. 13, the MS Society's Ask an MS Expert webinar will feature the challenges of serving while dealing with multiple sclerosis. This Friday, Air Force veteran Karla Clay will share her story of living with MS. One of my best and strongest friends went down this same difficult path: I'm watching for him.

Also, this lady ran her first official 5K! (She usually does one on her own every week.) She ran to raise funds for the Wounded Warriors Project.

For years she performed patriotic musical shows for veterans on this day. She got into her special audiences, and they were really touched by her show too. So many of them would thank her afterward and share their stories. It was one of her favorite days of the year. Now she misses those Veterans Days. Today she ran in their honor. Her write-up:

First, a big thank you to all the veterans out there - we owe you so much! Today I did the Carry Forward 5K for the Wounded Warrior Project (and another big thank you to all who donated.) The goal is to raise $600,000 by the end of the year and to date we're at over $586,000.  Of course, the temperature dropped from the 70's yesterday to 46 degrees today, but as you can see, I was appropriately ostentatious in my attire for the event.  I started by giving a flag to my neighbor across the street who is retired Coast Guard and ended by giving my Wounded Warrior Flag to another neighbor who is retired Air Force. My plan was to jog as much as I could, but I must have jolted one of those pesky inner ear crystals loose when I started to jog and got a little vertigo, so I ended up walking. Last Saturday, I walked out my course for the 5K, but when I got to the end my watch said I was only at 2.7 miles - so I kept going. Turns out the GPS from my phone wasn't connecting to the watch and I ended up doing an extra 1/2 mile (I'll be ready for a marathon soon --- NOT!)

Oowy chewy rich n gooey cheese - Spiral Diner, Dallas

1101 N Beckley Ave, Dallas, TX    214-948-4747

https://spiraldiner.com/

My first quesadilla since I went vegan! Seven years is a frckn long time. That's a big deal to me. Quesadilla is one of a handful of dishes I truly miss. Vegan cheeses just don't cut it in quesadillas, so I had written them off to my rearview mirror. Until today, when I saw it in the Spiral Diner online menu and locked in, and all day long I was a'yearning for the time when I could order. This miracle cheese is the real deal! It's gooey and tasty and something to sink your teeth into. What is it? How does it work? Cashews and something else that we can't figure out. Anyway, this fat quesadilla oozed with it and faux beef and had a chipotle sizzle even before I garnished with pickled jalapenos and guacamole. I was no mas after tackling this monster.

Mab got the barbecue nachos special, loaded with tangy saucy strips on crispy homemade chips and topped with queso. They gave us a tub of queso to make a mess with, which we bloody did. Definitely leftovers in the morning, mushy but too good to throw away. Spiral Diner's got its cheese down. What a fun meal. This place is exceptional. Big menu that I can't wait to see again, and three locations. Treat yourself, check them out.

Nearby camping, Cedar Hills State Park

flight museum, Frontiers of Flight

da Plane, da Plane! - Frontiers of Flight, Dallas

6911 Lemmon Ave, Dallas, TX   214-350-3600

$7–10 · flightmuseum.com

If you like planes, here is your happy place. Located at Love Field in Dallas, this mid-sized museum houses dozens of aircraft from all eras. Parts of flight simulators for the SR-71 and T-38, and a fun little tribute to Southwest Airlines that started at Loves, including an airliner built into the side of the museum, half-in, half-out. (In fact, isn't Southwest's stock symbol LOVES?) All wheelchair accessible.

A few small displays brought it home to me. The section on the earliest air balloons was all new to me. There's also a tiny recreation of the Wright Brothers shop, which I don't know if it was historically accurate or not, but it smelled of cedar, which took me right back to working on construction sites. The good smells from worksites, that is. Smells do that.

Back to FOF, my favorite parts were the real Apollo VII capsule and the models of the Wright Flyer, Sopwith Pup (I geek over World War I planes) and the Sputnik that was amazing to look at because it's only the size of a metal beachball yet it changed the world. The announcement of the beachball that was the first object in space was one of the high points of the Soviet Union and probably all of Russian history, and it sent wonder through the world and terror through Americans that led eventually to landing on the moon. A beachball with antennas did that. Like the Wright Flyer, disruptive technology.

Wright Flyer model, top left

Outer space disco ball: Sputnik model, top middle

Another of my favorites was a video playing way in back. It is a World War II P-47 pilot telling his stories, and he can tell em. I started listening out of a sort of duty because it was stuck behind another newer exhibit. I felt bad, thinking here's a vet literally elbowed out of the way, I'll give him a couple minutes. I ended up spending more time here than anywhere else, because the man tells some excellent yarns! Here he is, Charlie Mohrle. Wish I could buy him a few beers. Look for him in the corners of the World War II section. There's also a super-knowledgeable volunteer who walks the museum fishing for questions, but boy, some Texans can talk!

There are plenty other aircraft - military, experimental, helicopters - not pictured. We spent a few hours here, fun afternoon.

Also Dallas, the Mab Tower (Bank of America), 72 floors she climbed

Nearby camping, Cedar Hills State Park

Nearby messylicious vegan eats, Spiral Diner