Flat Lucas Visits a Texas Mall

A trip to Houston would not be completed without visiting the Galleria, a posh mall just outside of downtown.

The Galleria has an indoor ice rink!

Flat Lucas causing trouble.

Flat Lucas loves candy.

There's no Flat Lucas in this picture but I am wearing my belt buckle on the outside of my shirt, just like a true Texan.

Flat Lucas Goes To Court

I was in Houston with my friends Cassandra, Jason, Bobby and Paul. They were there to compete in a mock trial competition. A mock trial is like a "fake trial" where two teams compete to win a case--it's kind of like watching a movie or a TV show with courtroom drama.

The Harris County 334th District Courthouse was the site of the 2007 National Trial Competition.

In between trials, the team had a lot of time to fool around. In this case, we put Flat Lucas on trial for allegedly stealing a Flat Cookie from the Flat Cookie Jar. Paul is the defense lawyer and Flat Lucas is the defendant. Free Flat Lucas!

Jason was the prosecutor and I was the judge. Flat Lucas is on the stand defending himself.

Flat Lucas watching the trial (nervously).

Flat Lucas is free! He had great representation.

Can you spot Flat Lucas... look towards the judge's chair.

Flat Lucas making a mockery of Auxiliary Court 1.

Flat Lucas Becomes A Cowboy

The whole NTC team made their way to Cavender's Boot City--the place to buy western wear like cowboy boots, hats and jeans. If we were going to spend time in Texas, we wanted to look the part.

Flat Lucas Enjoys His First Texan Barbeque

The first thing we did after arriving in Texas was have some bonafide Texan Bar-B-Q at Pappas. We were all starved from our travels.

Pappas Bar-B-Q sign behind a Texas sized truck.

The Suffolk NTC 2007 Team: (clockwise) Paul, Jason, Bobby and Cassandra

Flat Lucas attempts to become Fat Lucas.

The leftovers.

Flat Lucas Flies to Houston

The flight from Seattle to Boston was a long one: 2,489 miles and over 5 hours long. Now Flat Lucas and I were set to fly to Houston, Texas. Unlike our flight to Boston, which was nonstop, our flight to Houston stops in New York City at JFK Airport, the busiest airport in the country!

Boston is the pink tack on the map, New York City is the green tack, and Houston, Texas is the light blue tack. Our flight takes us from the East Coast to the heart of the Southland.

Our flight left at 6:30AM, so Flat Lucas and I had to get up at 4AM. Flat Lucas was not used to getting up so early so he slept most of the flight. I didn't have the heart to wake him during the flight, but I snapped some photos from the plane anyway so Flat Lucas could see what he missed.




The flight to New York City was 191 miles. The flight from New York to Houston was 1,415 miles. So the total travel distance to Houston from Boston was 1,606 miles.

So far, Flat Lucas has flown 4,095 miles with me--not including the flight he likely took in the mail from Minnesota to Seattle. To put this in perspective, a drive from Flat Lucas' house in Dodge Center to Grandma and Grandpa Walker's house in Albert Lea is approximately 55 miles. So, 4,095 miles is like driving back and forth from Flat Lucas's home to Grandma and Grandpa's home 75 times!

The drive from Flat Lucas's home to Grandpa and Grandma Walker's home is approximately 55 miles.