My Austin City Limits (Part III of My Road Trip 2008)

As I awoke in my sweet, sweet bed at the Tex Inn, I knew that I had plenty of time on my hands. My friend didn't get off work until 5:00 pm and it would only take me six hours to drive to Austin, so I took my time and cruised through eastern Texas and into the southern part of the giant.

One thing that shocked/disappointed me: it seems as though Dallas and the areas around it are just one giant strip mall. Am I alone in this thought? Am I alone in being disappointed by this? It's almost as if Dallas has opted not to clean-up/develop the inner parts of the city, but instead have allowed it to spread uncontrollably across the landscape, ruining what could be some nice scenery?

Well, luckily I escaped Dallas and made my way to Austin. On the way, I passed probably the town with the worst reputation in the state, if not the US in general: Waco, TX. Is there a town with a worse reputation? I mean, think about it: If you're a random cult or a little odd in the religious department, what better location than Waco!

Okay, enough Texas bashing (for now). I got to Austin with plenty of time and then walked around downtown a bit. I really enjoyed being in the city and being able to wander a bit. We had dinner that night and then walked around a bit.

Me and a sweet statue

The next night we went kayaking on the river with some International students, which was a lot of fun. The last time I was kayaking was in Egypt, so I enjoyed being out on the water again. We saw some sweet turtles and were yelled at by some serious crew teams (rowers). One woman even screamed, "You just lost me 40 seconds!!!" Hilarious.

The International crew

On Thursday night, we had a sweet game of footy with the Internationals. Now if I've every spoken to you about footy with Internationals before, you'll know where I'm going. Unfortunately, everyone wants to be a forward or to try and score goals, which can be very, very frustrating. That leaves myself and anyone else I can convince to play defense, which drives me nuts (because it turns out to be four of them vs. two of us....every time!).

Friday was to be my last day. I got up early and began my 13.5 hour trek to Albuquerque. A long, long road ahead.

Good-bye to the Capital of Texas.

My Journey through the South (Part II of My Road Trip 2008)

I got up very early after the wedding, had some breakfast with friends and then made my way to Lexington, KY to hang out with my buddy Mike and his wife Lianne for a day. Unfortunately, they had some plans that day, but luckily I was able to tag along to the BBQ. I was exhausted, but I had a good time at the party and enjoyed spending some time with them.

The next day I rolled out of bed and drove to Louisville, where I met a new friend for lunch. I enjoyed a tasty lunch at Panera, was given a couple of sweet CDs and then began my journey south to Texas. Now I knew that I wouldn’t get to Austin in one day, but I wanted to get as far as I could.

As with any road trip, loud music and windows down are a must. I cruised through the rest of Kentucky and then flew through Tennessee as well. I loved driving through these states! The trees and the rolling hills were absolutely beautiful and it would have been nice to be able to go to a park and enjoy some of the gorgeous scenery. But alas…..I had driving to do.

All was going well…..until I hit Arkansas. Now this was the first time I had been to Arkansas and to be honest, it will probably be my last! After cruising through the hills/forest of Tennessee….I crossed the bridge in Memphis and in front of me was nothing but flat farmland. I honestly thought I was going to fall asleep due to sheer boredom…..but luckily I stayed awake.

And then…..I hit Little Rock…..which is when the rain came. I could see the storm clouds building on the horizon and I knew something was up. I thought I had moved past the worst…..but it just kept raining and raining and raining. Finally, when I thought that it was about to stop….it rained some more! For the next four hours it rained on me and at times I couldn’t see anything more than the lines on the road and the tail lights in front of me.

When I started the day, I wanted to make it to Texarkana, TX by the end of the day and luckily, around 9 pm, I made it to Texarkana. However, when I made it there, due to the pounding rain and apparently the college orientation day, all the hotels were full…even the Super 8 and Motel 6! So I called my friend Andrea and I continued on. As we were chatting, I keep driving and driving and after 10 minutes, made it to New Boston, TX and I stopped at the lovely Big Tex Inn, which was just as amazing as it sounds (including a hobbit-like shower-where the shower head hit me in the chest). Good times.

My Buddy's Kentucky Wedding (Part I from My Road Trip 2008)

I arrived back in the States almost two weeks ago…..and I have yet to really post anything on here. Well, now that’s about to change with a lot of posts…..all in a span of a couple of days. Currently I am on my Road Trip for 2008….which, to be honest, is a really, really long one! Here goes:

Last Friday (June 6th), I took off very early in the morning to head for Louisville, KY for my buddy Richard’s wedding. Richard and I worked together at Blank Park Zoo and we have been friends since high school. He and his amazing wife, Sarah got married last Saturday (June 7th) at a beautiful Methodist Church in Louisville, where they live.

The service was great and it was really nice in the church. The touching moment came during the vows….as Richard was saying his vows, he had to take a moment to compose himself, as he was about to cry. To be honest, that was one of the more touching things I had ever seen at a wedding and it was one of those moments where you can just tell how much they care about each other.

After the wedding, the scene shifted from the church to the official Kentucky Derby Museum, which was pretty sweet. We got to learn about the Derby and then we were seated in the room where they show a short movie and our tables were named after previous Triple Crown winners, which was a sweet touch.

Dustin and I racing horses at the Museum

As we looked around our table, Lianne & Mike Farley, Sara and Dustin Miller, Brad’s fiancée Tiffany and myself were all seated at the same table and there were four vacant seats. After some discussion, we were wondering who on Earth Richard would set next to us, knowing that we were going to be a bit wild (we hoped Brad was going to sit with us, but he was the Best Man, so we weren’t sure).

Sara, Lianne and Mike

Then, after we had some snacks, the wedding party arrived! After a nice intro, we then got to see who was going to sit near us…..Brad and then Richard and Sarah joined us as well! To be honest, we felt pretty special to be sitting with the Bride and Groom.

After some incredible food, we had the usual wedding fun, the bouquet toss and the garter throw. Then….the dancing began. I’m not going to lie, things got crazy. Eventually we were all out there, dancing and having a good time. At one point Dustin was dancing to Thriller, then my leg was used as a guitar, Brad was dancing with his suspenders……I can’t relay all the fun that we had (and some things happened that can’t be spoken of).

Preparing for the "garter toss"

Dustin and Brad are dancing, I'm not quite sure what I'm doing

It had been a long, long time since I’ve had that much fun and it was great to be back with all the guys. It was also a great start to Road Trip 2008! I also made some new friends, one of which I met for lunch on Monday on Day 1 of my drive to Austin, but that’s another story all together…..

Dios les bendiga

Uh-oh.....

oh….by the way….yes, I caught the garter—but I was set up! All the other “single” guys were about 5 years younger than me and then there was Richard’s brother Ryan, who is two years younger. As Richard shot the garter, all the young guys in front of me ducked and low & behold, it landed right in my hand. Thanks Richard.

My slacking ways.....

Wow...I am such a slacker....again!

So the good news: I'm back in the States.

The bad news: I still don't have a job. : (

Awesome

I've been applying at Districts all over, so hopefully something will come about. At this point, it looks as though I'm going to be in the States next year, but don't worry, we'll still continue the blog....US style.

Currently I'm on my Road Trip, 2008 style. When I have a free moment (and find a coffee shop with Internet) I'll post on the trip so far......

Dios les bendiga!