Say it isn't so, Austin!
They say that everything is big in Texas.
The storm that I drove through was. The amount of trafffic in Houston and Austin was. The bug that flew a kamikaze mission into my windshield definitely was. What I didn’t see were big smiles, unfortunately. Sorry Austin but you bummed me out!
Right away it seemed that my time in Austin was doomed. Upon exiting the interstate, I made a left turn to head towards downtown. I immediately got into the right lane but was made aware of another car.
Directly behind me honking, cussing, and fingering was what seemed to be a rather irrate woman who decided to direct whatever anger she had inside, towards me. I waved her by and watched with amazement - I swear there was fire coming out of her eyes and horns sticking out of her head! Well, not really but I imagined it that way.
I let her by, that was the most important thing. I was free of the beast. And two blocks down - she made a left turn. Which, yes, means that she didn't even need to be in the right lane. Welcome to Austin, Chris!
I was hoping to get in a track workout at the University of Texas complex. There appeared to be a camp going on, so no dice. My next option was Shoal Creek Park just down the street. It looked appealing with a trail running through the long, narrow park and along its creek.
I started out in a direction that looked a little more wooded. It was, but the trail went from paved to rocky, rugged terrain – something that I would expect to see in a mountain trail like at Harney Peak in the Black Hills. It seemed strange and out of place and really wasn’t what I had hoped to find.
After taking that for about 200 yards or so, I was ready to turn around. Getting back to where I started, I hit the paved segment again which turned into a crushed rock surface. This went for about a quarter mile before turning into pavement, again. My feet were getting confused! What seemed promising in the beginning turned to disappointment. It was, actually, the trail from heck!
I needed to get some sort of workout in so I headed up the street towards the capital building. It consisted of 2 good sized hills so that part of my run went well. I repeated those hills and was able to get a little bit of burn going.
The workout wasn’t what really bummed me out – it was the people! Not one smile. Not one hello. Not one howdy! I did receive a few one fingered salutes, though. Maybe that's how they say hello here in Texas. Maybe it was just because it is Monday. Or maybe it was the heat - it was rather humid.
And so ends a disappointing visit to Austin, Texas. A city that I had recently thought about moving to.
Next up, a town that I am very “alien” to – Roswell, New Mexico. Should be interesting.
Peace
Road song of the day: “Carefree Highway” by Gordon Lightfoot