One of the day’s highlights (particularly since it was a driving day) was that Meredyth’s mom called us this morning with the exciting news that we received our first post card from someone in Ohio. It wished us luck on our trip, said it was great to have us in the store, and gave us an inspirational quote. Hopefully this is the first of many postcards to come… It did make us question if by just asking people to write anything that meant that we’re going to get a lot of post cards that are along the lines of “Great to meet you, have a great trip” So we are trying to decide if we should give more direction. There are pros and cons to both, so who knows what we’ll decide to do.
Our day started with waking up early and having to say goodbye to everyone. Terri, Richard, Maggie, and Lili (and their dogs Chewy and Rue) were incredible hosts and tour guides and made visiting New Orleans an incredible experience, as usual. They spoiled us with amazing food, company, and fun things to do. We couldn’t have asked for anything more, and feel so lucky to have been able to visit them twice this year!! Ashley just hopes they visit her in California!
Before we got on the road we had to stop at a mechanic station that Richard recommended because when we got to New Orleans, there was something dripping under our feet. Ashley’s grandpa generously got the car completely tuned up before we embarked on our trip, so we knew it wasn’t serious, but we decided it was good to get it check out, particularly somewhere that Richard trusted. They unclogged the air conditioning as well as made sure that our tire pressure, oil, etc was still in good shape. The only problem still remaining is with the cigarette lighter….the whole thing just keeps sort of coming out. This wouldn’t normally be a huge deal except that it currently is powering the GPS, allowing us to use our ipods, charging our phones, etc. You may be wondering how one cigarette lighter is able to do all of this. The answer is that Ashley bought a wonderful device to split the cigarette lighter into three and while it is fabulous, we think the weight of it may have been what is making the whole lighter socket come out. So yea… we’ll have to fix that one of these days…
Next up was the drive from New Orleans to Austin. A lot of the adventure really begins now because the rest of the trip is all places we have never been before because neither of us have visited the Southwest and have heard wonderful things about all of the rest of our stops. Since drives don’t lend themselves to as many stories, we mainly have observations.
Observations:
- Taco bell sells margaritas, but they contain no fruit juice and no alcohol. Does that mean 7-11 sells “margaritas” too?! Tell it like it is, Taco Bell.
- Texas has different speed limits depending on whether it is day or night.
- Both Texas and Louisiana have signs for roads that have a map of the state with the road number printed in it. They’re pretty cool.
- We plan to learn all of the words to Magic by BOB by the end of the trip.
- In Texas, there are many cows. And often white birds around each cow. Are they eating their poop? Or bugs from the cows? Ashley believes there must be some sort of either communalism relationship (where one of the species benefits) or mutualism relationship (where they both benefit). Yes, Ashley loves her environmental science ecology.
- We saw a billboard for the Bluebell Ice Cream headquarters, which advertised the opportunity to take a tour and visit their factory store. Meredyth almost crashed the car because she gets their newsletter and is in love with their ice cream (definitely an ice cream theme on this trip).
- As we drive around Texas, you can definitely tell there are many places that were part of old western towns that give the roads tons of character. Meredyth definitely feels as though she is falling in love with parts of Texas. We have declared that Texas has the cutest “side of the highway.”
- The song “Dynamite” may be one of the easiest songs to learn given that it is basically a repetition of 2 lines. Too bad all you reading this blog can’t view some of these dance parties we are having in the car…but many of you who have experienced DPs with either of us can only imagine…
- Texas loves their state flag and it is everywhere.
- Texas also has many signs for things with arrows but no explanation. For example: “Historical Marker -->” but no explanation of what this historical marker is….or how far… or any details about it whatsoever….
- We passed a billboard that advertised the number “1-800-R-U-Hairy?” Naturally, we called it.
- Not sure if you have heard about the Austin bats, but there is this thing in Austin where all these bats fly from this bridge – Ashley has learned about it in several classes and seen videos of it and is really excited to see this. Meredyth didn’t know about it but is likewise excited. What we find extremely amusing about the whole thing is that there is a bat hotline to call to get information on the bats’ activities for the night (like what time to get to the bridge to watch them fly, where to get the best view, etc). We think these bats might be Austin’s biggest celebrities…
- Houston has a lot of traffic – for the first time so far on this trip (and hopefully the last), we ran into a traffic jam while driving through Houston. It added about an hour and a half onto our already 8.5 hr drive. Huge bummer.
- Sometimes the GPS doesn’t know right from left (sounds like Ashley…).
- Austin’s traffic lights are sideways! Instead of the 3 light tri hanging down from wires, they are attached horizontally above the roads. We have yet to figure out why exactly this is the case…
So after we arrived in Austin, we checked into our hotel (um, let’s just say you get what you pay for… $45 per night...but we knew minimal time would be spent hanging out there anyway, although regardless Red Roof should have a bathroom door that is the right size to close and the shower should drain, in our opinion). First on the list was to try to go see the bats right away. We got to the South Congress bridge and were able to see some of the bats still flying, but we had apparently missed the bulk of the experience. It was still pretty cool to see all the people crowded around to witness the spectacle. We decided we’d have to come back to the bridge the next night to see the whole thing from the beginning.
We were STARVING so after asking some local people’s opinions (people we randomly flagged down on the street) about where to eat we settled on this cool place called Woodland on South Congress street. South Congress (which knew we would have to explore further after being told how fabulous it is by several Austin lovers that we respect) is this street in Austin with tons of quaint restaurants, eclectic stores, boutiques, markets, and food shops. After dinner, we had cupcakes from a food truck called Hey Cupcake and headed down to 6th street. We had heard 6th street was known for its bars, many of which have outdoor rooftop patios. 6th street was awesome! Parts of it reminded us of Nashville (honky tonk piano bars, lots of live music and neon signs) and other parts reminded us of DC or even Charlottesville (college town bars with cheap drinks… and when we say cheap we mean practically free). We went into several places, but our favorite was called Maggie Mae’s (thanks for the suggestion, Kristen!), which had the coolest rooftop bar we’d ever seen. There was live music, a huge projection screen, a beautiful view overlooking the city, and great dancing. We decided if we lived in Austin, we’d definitely be regulars.
After a night on the town, we headed back to our hotel, which was SO FRUSTRATING and took FOREVER because a not-so-fun fact about Austin highways is that they are impossible to turn around on. If you miss your turn into somewhere on the side of the highway (like we did) you literally have to drive another 10 minutes before you have to exit, get on a side street, turn around, go the other direction on the highway, and then exit again to turn around to go the other direction again (or at least that is the only way we could figure out how to fix our mistake). Austin may not be the best city for the impatient...but is good practice for Ashley. We finally eventually made it back and pretty much passed out immediately.
Miles to go: 2,008
Total Post Cards Given Out: So yea… we've lost count. We've given out a lot. We’ll let you all know when we’ve given out 110 (when we run out!).
Post Cards Received: 1!!!!!!!
States Traveled: VA, MD, WV, PA, OH, KY, TN, MS, LA, TX
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