Texas Again!

Hello Friends,

So we’re still in Texas. At the beginning of this trip, I thought this week would be the slowest and worst part of the trip. I was definitely wrong, because each day in Texas has been amazing in its own way. Our second night in Austin was so cool, in a completely different way from the first. First, we banded together to collectively cook a feast! Between the six of us, we made steaks, vegetable skewers (w/ mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, and onions), corn on the cob, rice, and couscous. Huge success! Then, we saw the phenomenon simply known as “the bats.” Each night, at about sundown, somewhere around a million bats fly out from under a bridge into the city, which is obviously known as “bat bridge.” The cool part is that we were watching with a crowd of hundreds of people that show up every night just to see the bats. I wonder how many times a bat has flown down and given someone rabies?

Now then, Marisa took Sam and I to what I’ll call Mecca. Let me attempt to paint a picture for you. This bar has Tecate Tuesdays, which means $1 cans of Tecate and Tecate Light (think Corona, but better). It also has just about every bar game you can think of. Just to name a few, there’s pool, ping pong, shuffleboard, Golden Tee, Big Buck Hunter, Ms. Pacman and Galaga (on the same machine!), and my personal favorite…SKEEBALL!!! Besides the fact that I’m incredibly rusty and basically sucked at skeeball, it was more fun than I can describe in words.

Our next mission of the night – our first of course being $1beers and skeeball – was to find Sam a tattoo parlor. After a few tries, we found one that could fit her into the schedule. In reality, they didn’t fit her into the schedule but the artist was kind enough to stick around past the time they were open to tat up Sam…at 3 o’clock in the morning! Now, this was a great night, but it was time to cash in considering we had a long drive the next day.

After Austin we headed North towards Dallas, but took a detour to spend a day with Bob and Marlene, good friends of my parents from when we lived in Tennessee. They live near Athens, TX! For those without a map, it’s about 70 to 80 miles southeast of Dallas. Bob and Marlene live in a place where the majority of roads are County Rds. Bobcats, think Co Rd 25, only more secluded. Their backyard walks down to a personal dock overlooking a beautiful lake! I’ll spare all of the details, but here is the gist of how yesterday, last night, and this morning went…

Floated in a raft on the lake with a book and a beer. Laid on the dock and soaked up some sun listening to S&G. Bullshitted and swapped stories with Bob and Marlene at happy hour (mostly stories about how my parents used to be back in the 80s in Tennessee – their partying days). Were fed delicious burgers and baked beans. Took a ride on their boat at sundown. Watched the sunset from the water, with a full cooler. Slept like a baby, in my own bed. Woke up early enough to enjoy sitting on the dock – before the Texas heat arrived – and reading for a few hours while gazing out at the entire lake.

Why should I ever get a job? I could do this for the rest of my life.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK MARISA AND THERESA FOR LETTING US STAY AT YOUR PLACE AND SHOWING US A KICK-ASS TIME IN AUSTIN. I LOVE IT THERE AND I AM SERIOUSLY CONSIDERING A RETURN TRIP FOR ACL. THANKS ALSO TO BOB AND MARLENE FOR SHOWING ME HOW BEAUTIFUL TEXAS CAN BE, LETTING US ‘CHILL’ FOR A DAY, AND SHARING SOME GREAT STORIES ABOUT MY PARENTS!

Random side note:

Sam called her last entry “Everything’s Bigger In Texas.” Here are some random observations that make me believe that statement…

The Capitol building in Austin is larger than the U.S. Capitol in D.C.

At lunch in Austin, the water cups were at least as big as mega mugs (32oz).

The County Roads aren’t double digit like in Ohio…there’s Co Rd 2830.

I think there are more billboards from Houston to San Antonio than anywhere else on

Earth. (And at least twenty for one giant travel stop called Buc-ee’s)

The turtles I saw in the lake this morning should be in the Galapagos.

More from Texas soon… 

Peace,

Matt