Life in Austin, TX

As many of you have heard by now the trip has hit a major snag already in the first week. After an enjoyable stop in New Orleans and a quick stop in The Woodlands the car broke down on day three. There was just a little vibrating at first but nothing that would cause me to stop driving as I’ve had other similar issues in the past that turned out to be nothing. Then, the vibrations became intense but only for a couple seconds because it was a smoother ride once the front right tire broke off and went flying past the passenger window! My car dropped to the pavement with a thud and there I was driving on my rotor at 60 MPH. Luckily I was in the middle of no-where, in the right hand lane, and there wasn’t much traffic behind me. The tire rolled into the median, a small grass fire started on the side of the road from a spark, and I was able to pull safely off to the side of the road. Right at that moment I knew that I better prepare myself for a long stay in Austin. All of this happened near Bastrop, TX about 30 miles outside Austin. To shorten things up, I’ve been in Austin all week staying with my friend Nicole, State Farm is paying for the repair and a rental car, the car won’t be fixed until Monday, I will lose at least 2 days of a hotel I already bought on Hotwire in San Diego, but the surf camp dude said to show up whenever and I can pay per day so that was like totally gnarly(?).

One good thing is that now I’ve seen enough of Texas so I never have to come back. First of all camping in New Orleans was good except the rednecks living in their tent complete with TV across the driveway. I saw downtown and the damaged areas. Lots of abandoned buildings still but there were quite a few tourists. Then I visited the Phelan family home in The Woodlands in which we lived for 6 months in 1981. Everything looked a lot smaller 25 years later. But everything else about it was the same. On Monday I spent the day in Austin touring the capitol and watching about a million bats fly out from under a bridge. Tuesday I drove to Dallas. I spent the afternoon at the JFK museum on the 6th floor of the old Texas School Book Depository building and taking pictures of the grassy knoll and triple underpass. Tuesday night I went to a Rangers game with my favorite ACA consultant who happened to be in town, although she cried all night about wanting to ride the roller coasters at Six Flags next to the stadium. I walked a few miles around downtown Dallas the next day and headed back to Austin. I really enjoyed Dallas and would recommend it for a visit. Wednesday night Nicole, two of her friends, and I all went to watch Shaun of the Dead at an outdoor showing in a park here. It was funny and the weather was perfect. Today I drove to San Antonio to check out the Botanical Gardens and the Riverwalk/Alamo. I have been quite impressed with all three Texas cities I’ve visited so far. On Saturday I’m heading to Houston to watch the Astros play the Diamondbacks and do a little swimming at the beach. I plan to stay the night down there and come back here on Sunday.

Although I’m stuck in Texas and going to miss the Grand Canyon, things still aren’t going too bad. At least I’ve got my health…..for now. Nicole has been great about letting me stay here. I just need to talk her or her roommate into driving me out to Bastrop on Monday. One more thing, I stopped in a beautiful little town outside San Antonio called Gruene. I also recommend it to anyone in the area. Make sure to stop at the Grist Mill for a bite.
See you in SoCal.

Pictures: Bats in Austin, The Grassy Knoll, My Car without a Wheel, Jackson Square N.O.

Can you believe it's all over?

It's hard to believe that 11 months have already gone by. Overall I enjoyed my time here and I'm glad that I did it. It was a great learning experience in many ways. As you can see above, we finished the mini-golf course this week. Laying the turf was a lot of work but we got it done. I didn't win the first round on the new course but I did well with the exception of number 8. We had a little going away dinner tonight. I made lasagna for Heather and 5 Americorps/Habijaxers at the house. Then a total of 8 of us went to the Suns game. It was Thirsty Thursday and all draft beer was $1. Turns out the stadium is the place to be on Thursday nights because it was shoulder to shoulder in the concourse area with people just socializing and drinking. I don't know how many people were actually watching the game. I thought I was in Wrigley for a minute. I haven't seen that much flesh since the Florida/Georgia gameday festivities here last fall. It was a good time for all though. It was nice to see everybody before I take off tomorrow. I will really miss some of the people here. I head out around 9 tomorrow morning for the long drive to New Orleans. I'm planning on at least 8 hours. I have to make it before sunset so I can set up my tent in the light. I will write from the road when I get somewhere with an internet connection. Take care and I'll see you soon.

Jonathan

5 Work Days Left

I hope I make it. They tried to kill me today. I did landscaping work all day today. It was about 90 and sunny. We had no shade. To make matters worse we weren't just laying sod, first we had to rip up all the old dead sod first. Then after a full day I went to the Boys and Girls club and worked on the course for almost 3 hours. We only have 4 holes left to lay grass on. At least I don't have to worry about the turf not taking and going back and ripping it up. We should pretty much finish up the course tomorrow. I'll take pictures. My brain feels swollen right now. I'm a serious redneck right now too. And I was on the beach all weekend trying to lose the farmer's tan. Oh well, in a few months I'll have no tan and be getting ready for snow. Other than the golf course I'm not too crunched for time in my last week. I have a few loose ends to tie up but I've got it under control. Packing my car will be the real test.

I went to an old plantation on Monday. It is part of the National Park system. It's called the Kingsley Plantation and it is near the ocean northwest of the city. It is unusual because it was owned by a white dude who married a freed slave and they ran the plantation together. The original house, barn, and slave quarters were still intact. They had a garden so you could see all the crops they used to grow there. The big cash crop was Sea Island cotton. The land hasn't been farmed in 100 years so now it's a forest. They had a little presentation where they showed us how the cotton was picked and ginned (de-seeded). Eight to ten hours a day of picking that in the heat down here is unimaginable.

Going into my last weekend here. It doesn't seem like the end is almost here but after today I'm definitely ready to move on. I tested out the tent last weekend and made my reservations at a campground outside New Orleans. Should be an adventure. Well, that's enough for me tonight. I'm off to start watching A Clockwork Orange, which just came from Netflix. One of my favorites. Have a great weekend.

Some Pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Sorry there isn't any adult content above but it didn't seem appropriate. I just got back from another weekend trip. This time was Atlanta. I had a good time hanging with Niez. We played golf on Sunday. It was damn hot but I managed a solid 84. On Monday we toured the city a little. He showed me the zone that he used to work nights in. It was rough but it didn't look quite as bad as the neighborhoods where we build houses but, of course, we aren't out there at 3 a.m. We checked out the "Underground" area which is basically Navy Pier without the water. I checked out CNN HQ and saw the Coke museum. The last picture above is the fountain area of Olympic park. That night we took in a Braves game where I got to see Pujols hit one out and the Braves win so everyone was happy. Yesterday I dropped Niez off at the airport for his flight back to MI and then I headed to Savannah, GA. I spent about 3 hours walking through Savannah. It is a beautiful old city. Very similar to Charleston but larger with more parks (they call them "squares"). The city was getting all ready for the fireworks. It was a great place to be on the 4th. The picture second from bottom above is the city hall. It was just one of many old buildings and it was nearly as old as most. I also included a Father's Day picture of the old man and brothers at the course. We had a good time. And the top picture is just a view from the plane that I enjoyed. I really liked the defined cloud line and the dark blue sky that you only see from 30,000 feet or more.

Thanks for the excursion recommendations. If you think of anymore, particularly San Diego because I'll be there for a week surfing, please feel free to post them. I'm going to pick up a AAA tour book today which should offer some good suggestions. I'm off to play some golf.