lol - I know what you mean. It isn't that far for me, about 10 hours drive time, one way. Probably the biggest advantage to driving is that, when the conference is over, I can go visit my son. He's about an hour east of Dallas - in Commerce - and I don't see him nearly often enough to suit me.
Got to thinking about it, might actually be less expensive to fly. I'll have to check into it.
And you can bet I will bombard . . . er . . . share what I learn there.