ALL IN TEXAS ROAD REPORT FEATURING ALPACAS
Thursday: Start, Hill Country. go to court in San Antonio with two of my teenagers, then drive to Magnolia Texas, to drop them off with my oldest daughter and my granddaughter, who loves everyone but is always a bit concerned when I hold her. Drive back to Hill Country, get back around 8. Keep working.
Friday: Wake up, try to work as much as possible (hardly at all), then load up the car with Lawful Wife, Lawful Jr., and Lawful baby, who's three and not really a baby but she's the youngest of 7 so she'll always be the baby. Drive to Maypearl, Texas, to the home of the Legendary Alpacas. Arrive 6 ish. Feed the alpacas, jump in the pool while they stare at us menacingly. Feed them again, attempt to get Lawful Baby to feed them and she just throws the feed at them. Order pizza, get down, try to get to bed at a reasonable hour, Lawful Baby declares she's staying up all night.
Saturday: Wake up 6ish, get to small town grocery store right when it opens get supplies Lawful Wife will need while she and Lawful Baby fend off the alpaca-lypse. Lawful Jr. and I have VIP Challenger tickets, so we check into Globe Life 9:30. Lawful Wife makes a bountiful breakfast, we go off. Hour drive to Arlington, get to Globe Life, parking literally across the street (for $55!)! Head in, get our lanyards and our first stop is the merch table, with minimal wait time. Look into the stadium and they're testing out various entrance themes, entrance videos, etc. There's actually wrestlers in the ring, but couldn't make out who was who (mostly women wrestlers - kinda maybe Skye Blue but not sure that makes sense).
After paying $50 for a Y'all In T-shirt for Lawful Jr., we're ushered downstairs for a chance to take pics with championship belts! Also, VIP Bathrooms! Thank god. After waiting in line (we also got some swag -- actually I have no idea what it was. I'm thinking a little flag that says AEW All In Texas? After waiting in line, Lawful Jr. is now the International champion and I'm the new TBS Champion? Anthony Bowens comes out jumps on a table and announces that Daddy Ass is under the weather and can't appear at All In, but guides us to sing "Scissor Me Daddy Ass" to make him feel better. Gates of Agony appear (in suits looking sharp!) and Lawful Jr. gets a photo op. MXM Collection come out next for a Q and A and I shit you not literally every question was about either Anime or some video game I've never heard of. Get off my lawn.
We head up to our seats and figure out there's a Golden Chick in the building! Of course it's on another concourse and on the other side of the stadium so at least we got our steps in. They were only selling tenders so none of that delicious spicy dirty rice, but we good.
I'm not going to do a breakdown of all the matches, you know they were all fantastic.
Show appeared to be packed. Yes, they closed off the outfield on the hard cam side, but it sure looked like every other seat was filled. In my section we had a Timeless Toni Storm cosplayer (one of several we saw walking around).
During the FTR / Outrunners, there was several murmurs going around until people collectively figured out they were dressed as Newports. A slight "we want Newports" chant went out, hope it made it to the broadcast.
Pop of the night might have been when Baretta pie-faced Big Justice, but the crowd came around to cheer for Big Boom AJ for the finish.
Overall, it was a somewhat nervous crowd -- there was a lot of tension in the Bucks / Ospreay / Swerve match. Like, there was a legitimate fear that the Bucks would win. I sensed a similar fear in the Toni / Mercedes match and the Main Event. But in the end everything was fine.
I hugged Lawful Jr. after the main event. Didn't quite get teary eyed, but it was a little dusty. Not sure how many of these I have left with him before he goes off into the world, so I have to cherish every chance we get.
After the show, drove home in a horrendous thunderstorm and lightning that went horizontally across the sky, lighting the whole world up for a second or two, which actually was helpful in trying to navigate back to the alpaca farm.
Sunday: pack up, feed the alpacas again -- Lawful Baby was actually brave enough to do it this time! She named one Hayseed and another Brainy. I have no idea why. Then the four hour drive home which with breaks and lunch and everything in between was like 8 hours or it felt like it.
10/10 best show I've ever been to, would do again.
If you've read this far, I know you're a good person. Please donate to this gofundme.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/join-us-in-giving-naomi-lynn-a-proper-goodbye
My wife's stepsister Naomi died tragically Saturday night. She was only 32 and had a 10 year old daughter. Her mom Melissa had just lost her mother 7 months before and Melissa's husband recently had a catastrophic stroke leaving him bedridden and Melissa as the sole full time caregiver. Naomi was the sweetest, kindest, best. Always first with the hugs. She was the same age as my big kids, and her and my oldest daughter were best friends. She was an angel with my little kids, and if life didn't get in the way, she would've loved Lawful Baby. And now she'll never got the chance to meet her.
Life is terrifying. Hug your loved ones, hug your babies, never forget what's important.