Until We Meet Again Austin! - Cross-Country Road Trip 9.3

That extra 24 hours in Austin was just enough to convince us to consider moving here. I absolutely love the energy - so many runners, bikers, water skiers, rock climbers - just tons of active people. I love that Austonians are so into "staying weird", it makes me think that the city is going to maintain its eclectic-ness even as it continues to grow. The weather is great (I'll take hot summers over snow any day), the music never stops and I could make a full-time job out of trying all the different restaurants.

We spent Day 2 checking out some stores we didn't get to yesterday - a bike shop for James and a couple thrift stores for me - my next project is to set up an online high-end resale clothing store and see if I can't make some side money from my bargain hunting hobby...stay tuned! We had a delicious lunch at Bouldin Creek Cafe, a nice little vegan joint just out of the hustle bustle, then spent a couple hours driving around looking at houses.

It is absolutely unbelievable how much further money goes outside of Southern California. There were so many places that I'd love to move into tomorrow...very tempting! After our real estate rendezvous, we headed back to Congress Bridge to watch the bats fly. If you didn't know, Austin has the country's largest urban bat colony and it's quite a sight to see.

We said so long to Austin just after dark and started yet another long haul to Carlsbad, NM to have a look at the caverns out there. Something tells me, however, that I'll be returning to Texas sometime soon!

Sweet, Sweet Austin - Cross-Country Road Trip 9.2

The Magic Van got some mileage today driving around downtown Austin. Our day started with a killer breakfast at Kerby Lane Cafe (thanks Kent for the recommendation!) followed by some on-foot exploration of both the University and South Congress areas. I was in hog heaven hopping from one vintage/antique shop to the next and there were plenty of music and sports stores to keep James' browsing binge at bay.


Between all of the eclectic people, the Longhorn obsession, the seemingly infinite number of mom and pop restaurants and the welcoming, come-as-you-are atmosphere, we were like kids in a candy store - unsure of where we wanted to begin but absolutely certain we wanted to gobble up every last bite. We took a break from our visual sugar rush at Choy's Hula Hut (thanks Chris!) overlooking Lake Austin (which oddly enough is a river, not a lake) and agreed that Austin deserved a little more time.

Our original itinerary put us home on the 9th (tomorrow), which obviously isn't going to happen. We were going to push to be home Wednesday but now it's looking more like Friday. Interestingly, we left on a Friday the 13th so returning on Friday the 13th just seems like icing on the cake. We made some calls to the parents to make sure they wouldn't mind watching the pets a little longer - thank you guys! - and planned out the last few days of our trip (sniffle sniffle).

We got our next fix on 6th Street where we took in some live music, some electronic music and some conversation with cool folks - and, not to toot my own horn, we looked pretty good doing it too. I'd say we've mastered the art of cleaning up quickly and making ourselves presentable. After our social appetites were satisfied, we ironically settled into a parking lot next to the original Whole Foods Market (the company was founded here). This is probably a stretch, but maybe after such a virtual high all day, we needed some subliminal nighttime nourishment.

Austin Infatuation - Cross-Country Road Trip 9.1

We rolled into Austin late last night but since it was Saturday the town was very much awake. We circled around downtown for a while trying to find a spot to park. James had his tastes buds set on Stubb's BBQ so we were not giving up until we got some. We finally found a spot with an hour to spare before closing so we quickly freshened up and made our way. Dinner was good, and there was a concert downstairs so we hung out and listened a bit. James tried to be sneaky by finding a door that looked unmanned and he very gallantly sent me through. I was quickly stopped and told to turn around since I had no wristband. Thank James for feeding me to the wolves!

After Stubb's we decided to get some z's rather than fight the crowds everywhere. The streets were jam packed with cars and people so maneuvering the Magic Van was taking more energy than usual. It was a tough decision though because the instant we got here it reminded me how much I love this city. I've only been here once before about a year ago, but had such great
time I did not want to leave. I've not experienced such a connection to very many places but Austin is one of the few.


We found a Walmart just outside of downtown and quickly realized how tired we were. We
must have been running on the adrenaline of having finally arrived in Austin because we barely stayed awake long enough to brush our teeth.

A State and a Half in One Day - Cross-Country Road Trip 9.0

Phew! We covered a lot of ground today. Departure from New Orleans was at 9:30am and arrival in Austin wasn't until approximately 10pm with just a quick breakfast stop and a stretch stop in Houston. Other than that it was hard-core road-trippin'...not something I recommend for weak at heart. I wimped out for a little while and took a snooze break soon after we left New Orleans but James kept on truckin'.

We realized that starting our tour up north was genius not only because we got the cold weather our of the way, but because we gradually got to build up our road-trippin' tolerance. The 2 to 3 hours between cities on the East Coast were good training for these southern marathons we are now embarking on.

Houston turned out to be a nice stop. We went for a much needed run at Hermann Park that got our blood flowing and reminded our muscles that they are meant to do more than just sit around all day. We even stopped at The Beer Can House. Some guy saved his beer cans for 18 years so that he could cover his property in aluminum. Not exactly the look I would choose, but to each his own. It's a landmark and I'll bet now he's sitting pretty on a tropical island somewhere with nothing to do but drink more beer. I love this country!

Laissez les Bon Temps Roulez! - Cross-Country Road Trip 8.3

We opted to stay an extra day in New Orleans since Turtle had been out of town on business and we really wanted to see him. Not to mention the city is just that cool. James and I did a little more shopping and browsing on Magazine Street in the morning, then met up with Turtle and got some authentic po' boy sandwiches.

James and Turtle caught up while I got some blogging done. We talked about work and what we want to do when we grow up which was so exhausting we all had to break for a cat nap. I love the travel life! We woke up refreshed enough for Heather and James to tackle a speaker set up in the living room that they've been meaning to get to. A little light bulb flashed over my head...maybe next time we should travel the world and fix things around the house to earn our keep. You never know!

Later I was struck with an irresistible craving for those delicious waffle fries again so we headed back to the pub and gorged. Then we hit the town before hitting the hay. It's a long drive to Austin ahead!

Side note: My Sonicare battery just now ran out, which means it lasted for 22 days without being recharged. Quite impressive! As luck would have it, Heather and Turtle have a Sonicare too so I was able to give mine some juice for the rest of the trip.

When will things get better? - Cross-Country Road Trip 8.1

The drive around New Orleans was very eye-opening for me because the last time I was here was 3 months before Katrina and I really only stayed in the tourist areas. Now I was getting an up-close view of the devastation. Heather told us the story of how they left the night before Katrina hit and for an entire month, didn't know if their house was still standing. She drive us through areas that had been flooded and while I didn't see any FEMA trailers, I did see a couple houses with the "red x", a symbol of condemnation. She did say that a lot of progress has been made - many homes have been renovated - but it is quite obvious that a lot of work still needs to be done.

The major problem, and probably one of the reasons things are so slow to improve, is that the city is riddled with corruption. Many of the people who are supposed to be helping and leading instead are stealing and filling their own pockets. Heather is a teacher and she showed me pictures of the horrible conditions that she is expected to work in. It's literally something I would expect to see in a third world country; crumbling walls, filthy bathrooms, food rotting on floors, the list goes on. I don't know how she does it and I'm beginning to understand why New Orleans is the country's crime capital.

It has been a vicious cycle of poverty and lack of education for quite some time now. Children are raised on government handouts and have no sense of value or responsibility. Heather had to start charging for pencils because she got tired of spending her own money (orders placed by the school would arrive mysteriously half-empty) only to have the kids break them into pieces and throw them at each other. We saw a story on the news about an 8th grader who is serving a life sentence for murder. He got into a fight at school and went home only to be told by his mother to go back and "get his". She gave him the gun and was later acquitted of any charges.

It's a sad state of affairs that people in this country are still living this way. The fact that the average life span of a male in New Orleans is 24 years is appalling. I just wonder when someone is going to take a stand and do something to change it.

Getting the Road Out of Our System - Cross-Country Road Trip 8.1

Our stay in New Orleans was just what the doctor ordered, lots of relaxing walks, great food and a little bit of regular life again. We got to stay in the Garden District with James' friends, Heather and Turtle who were also hosts to Tim and Rachel during the Jalopy Tour. In fact, it was an extended stay while the traveling duo earned enough cash bartending to cover the 2nd half of their tour. Sounds like fun to me and if I didn't have 2 cats at home that I'm looking forward to seeing soon, I'd be very tempted to do the same.

We spent our first day walking around the French Quarter admiring the architecture. I guess we are both suckers for buildings, we seem to take many pictures of them wherever we go. We started with a nice breakfast at a french bakery in the Garden District before catching the street car to the Quarter. And just to remind us that we are true tourists, we didn't know we had to have exact change, so the driver let us off and we had to wait for the next car. It was a scenic ride and I couldn't help but chuckle at all of the beads hanging from the trees and electricity lines. We missed Mardi Gras by a week but the energy was definitely still there.

After the Quarter we met up with Heather and she took us on an eye-opening auto tour of the area, details of which will be in a separate blog. Then we did a little shopping on Magazine Street which is lined with eclectic stores, restaurants and even a few vintage shops! My bargain-finding blood couldn't resist and I ended up buying a sundress (it's nice and warm here!). Next it was a nearby pub where we shared the best waffle fries I have ever had in my entire life. They were so good I had to take a picture.

James and I were really in the mood to stay in and unwind, so we all ordered Indian, watched some tv and commented on how great it felt to just sit on a couch again. Ah, the little things. Their dog Abbey battled me for a position next to James on the couch (she won) so I decided to catch up on some LOST episodes before calling it a night.

Miles and Miles of Mississippi - Cross-Country Road Trip 8.0

The majority of our day today was spent driving across the entire state of Mississippi, from top to bottom. I'll admit I was apprehensive of simply being there because of all the scary KKK stuff I've heard about. But, we were just driving through on a major highway so we didn't spot any burning crosses or white cone heads lurking in the forest. In fact, the landscape surprised me with its lush green grass, its gorgeous fields and brilliant sunset. Maybe Mississippi isn't so bad after all.

All of the miles we put on the Magic Van were getting to James so I took over for a while. I'm not really supposed to drive since I don't have the same insurance as Tim but I think even he'd agree that me driving instead of a drowsy James driving was in everyone's best interest. I got used to driving such a big rig quickly and covered some solid ground while James rested his eyes. We only had a few detours - a quick stop for gas, an attempted dog rescue in the highway median (that's what happens when a couple of animal lovers are driving) and a quick dinner in McComb. Other than that it was a straight shot across Mississippi down into our next stop...New Orleans!

Memphis...Did we miss something? - Cross-Country Road Trip 7.6

Maybe we missed something, but there didn't seem to be a whole lot going on in Memphis. They do have The Blues and Elvis, but we were quite shocked to discover that almost half of the downtown area is a literal ghost town. Beale Street has the blues clubs and Graceland has all the Elvis memorabilia, but other than that, there were a bunch of run down buildings, lots of hagglers and beggars and just an overall weird vibe.

I don't want to make it sound like a horrible place - we did enjoy our stay at the Graceland RV Camp. Our temporary home on "Don't Be Cruel Lane" served us well. I had a nice morning jog with Elvis songs resonating from his prior residence and James enjoyed a tour of the Gibson Guitar Factory. And amidst the plethora of fried chicken, pork ribs and fried pickles, we did have one of the best lunches of the trip so far at a place called Automatic Slim's. I had a mouthwatering roasted vegetable salad with black bean soup that is to die for. James devoured his open-faced roast beef sandwich and we almost had a silverware duel over the last bite of our blueberry bread pudding.

Despite it being the main reason for coming to this city, we passed on the Graceland tour. Neither of us are Elvis fanatics, not to mention the basic mansion tour would have set us back $60. Instead we flipped through a Graceland picture book in one of the gift shops and got our fix. In my opinion it was a wise decision because while I like Elvis' music, I think he's pretty lucky that interior decorating wasn't his day job.

I do believe that the city is trying to improve it's image; we saw one of the guys who haggled us get arrested. If anything there is huge potential for some major redevelopment and, with all the history and culture here, I really hope that happens. As for this trip however, my experience was that Memphis is desperately holding on to what used to be instead of focusing on what is right now.

Side note: We watched a movie on the flatscreen tonight! James figured out that there is a dvd player up front that connects to the tv in back. All you have to do is turn up the volume and the surround sound makes you feel like you're in a theater!

Two-Steppin' in Nashville - Cross-Country Road Trip 7.5

Haha, just kidding about the two-steppin' part. We did watch some people two-step though, which should count for something.

We pulled into Nashville at about 5pm last night just in time for all of the museums to close. It was, however, just about time for Broadway St. to come alive with crowds and live music. We found prime parking on Broadway and bundled up (we're back to 30 degree weather) to go explore.





We wound up at a place called Tootsie's, which I guess is a landmark there. Autographed pictures of famous country singers cover the walls and some are so old they are crumbling away. There was a great band on stage and, while neither James nor myself are particularly into country music, we couldn't help but tap our toes and bob our heads. Tootsie's wasn't going to be our only Nashville experience so we walked around and ended up finding another great band that wasn't quite so country. A couple of the band members even came up to James after their set to ask him if he's a drummer (he is). They had noticed him air-drumming (a habit I have learned to accept) and just wanted to see what his story was.


Once we were "country'd" out, we weren't really sure if certain areas were safer than others so James wisely chose to park next to a police station for the night. We got some z's and woke up to a layer of frost on the window, just a little reminder that spring hasn't sprung quite yet. After defrosting, we took a tour of the Grand Ole Opry Museum which was educational for us since we didn't know much about the history behind the music. We passed on the Country Music Hall of Fame but did get a healthy dose of country music from the city speakers streaming songs from street signals all day.

All in all, I enjoyed the vibe of this bubbly music town. The people were friendly and weren't afraid "git up and dance" when the music spoke to them. There is a pride in the air in Nashville and, even though I don't share the same particular taste in genre, I can certainly appreciate the passion for it.

Thanks for all the comments! - Cross-Country Road Trip 7.4

UPDATE: I changed my settings so that you don't have to sign in to leave a comment. You now have an option to leave one anonymously but can, of course, leave your name in the text if you wish. Sorry about the confusion!

Thank you, thank you for all of the encouraging feedback! I'm really glad to hear that y'all (my new favorite word) are enjoying the tales of our road trip. I'm really having fun writing about everything, in fact, this trip has reminded me that I used to have a passion for writing as a kid. I guess the busyness of life kind of stifled that, but it's back in full force and who knows where it will lead!

I love reading all of the comments so please keep them coming!

Veganism will have to wait for California - Cross-Country Road Trip 7.3

The drive to Nashville was long, I'm not gonna lie. We tried to entertain ourselves as much as we could but there was no getting around the fact that it pretty much sucked. There were some beautiful spots - we were surprised to see snow again - and it was entertaining to see so many fireworks billboards. There was even a fireworks shop connected to a gas station, I kid you not. I would have snapped a photo for proof but it came upon us quickly and I couldn't grab the camera in time.

We stopped for breakfast as a place called Waffle House that we'd been seeing everywhere. James really wanted to try it so we stopped. We go in and it's exactly like those Southern diners you see in the movies. There's an older, grumbly lady doing all the cookin', a nice younger girl taking orders and a few customers scattered about the restaurant. We take it all in and seat ourselves on a couple of red barstools right up front.

Keep in mind, this is only a couple hours after deciding that I should become a vegan. So I'm looking at the menu wondering what my first vegan breakfast will be, and am horrified to see that there is hardly one thing that isn't beef, or pork, or beef and pork or drowning in pork gravy...you get the idea. Vegan or no vegan, is this really how people eat out here? Very sad. With such limited options, I realize that turning vegan while traveling through the deep south may not be the best idea I've ever had. I end up settling for some hash browns diced with tomato and a side of scrambled eggs. If not vegan, then at least I can ease into vegetarianism as a first step.

On the brink of veganism...Thank you Skinny Bitch - Cross-Country Road Trip 7.2

Last night I started reading Skinny Bitch - a no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous (thanks Marlene!). If you haven't heard of it, I highly suggest you check it out. It's very in-your-face, tell-it-like-it-is, humorous common sense advice on what you should and shouldn't out in your body.

For those of you who don't know, I'm an animal lover. I gave up eating pork one day about 10 years ago because I saw a video on how the pigs are killed in factories. It made me cry and I swore I would never financially support such violence again. Hypocritically, I didn't give up beef or chicken because I wanted to pretend their deaths were somehow not as cruel.

Well I'm halfway through Skinny Bitch and I'm feeling a need to address my hypocrisy. Almost an entire chapter was dedicated to publishing quotes of cruel and inhumane acts performed and/or witnessed by slaughterhouse employees. I literally felt nauseous after reading it.

It's now impossible for me to live in ignorance. Either I support the brutal mass-murders of hundreds of thousands of animals by continuing to eat them, or I take a stand and let my dollars do the talking. It's that simple. Maybe the FDA and slaughterhouse owners would eventually start listening if they saw a change in their bottom line.

The Pros and Cons to calling a Walmart parking lot home - Cross-Country Road Trip 7.1

Macon, GA 4:59am

I know what you're thinking..."What??? There are cons to sleeping in a parking lot?" Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but unfortunately it's not all puppies and roses on the Magic Van Winter '09 Tour.

Pros

• Anything you could possibly need is only 100 ft. away


• Well-lit and security monitored


• They're everywhere!


• That down home, American "Let's slowly strangle all small business by importing goods at such low prices the manufacturers will be forced to use foreign child labor just so we can sell jumbo-size Cheetos for 98 cents" sentiment

Cons

• Tour buses pulling up next to you at 4:59am and letting out douchebags who like to talk (in "I'm standing next to a jet engine" volume) about how unseasonable cold it is. Grrrr!

As you can tell folks, I am definitely NOT a morning person!

Skipping Asheville...On to Nashville - Cross-Country Road Trip 7.0

We made a slight change in our itinerary, partly because we are behind schedule (not sure how this keeps happening) and partly because we want to add another state under our belt. Instead of going back the way we came to see Asheville, NC, we decided to go south to Savannah, GA then will go through Atlanta and up to Nashville. It's the longest stretch so far at about 10 hours so it will be a true test of our road-trippin' teamwork skills.

We left Charleston at around 10am after waiting out some heavy rain. It was literally like a waterfall, but it did make for some gorgeous pictures during the drive. We stopped in Savannah for dinner and found an excellent sushi joint. We've been craving sushi this whole trip but just haven't had the opportunity...it pretty much blew my socks off. I mailed a letter to my little sister, Savannah, because I thought it would be cool for her to have that postmark, then we hit the road again.

James then powered through about 3 hours of driving to Macon, GA where we are now going to sleep. There's still another 5.5 hours until Nashville in the morning!