On The Road Again

Like life and all good things in it, our time in Austin has been too short and went too fast. Tomorrow morning we once again mount our trusty tuned-up Truckers and ride determinedly Eastward. The next leg of our journey begins, and only time (which slows to a numbing grass-grow pace the moment our butts hit our saddles) will tell what adventures await. Of course we'll do our best to capture each one through language and lens for you, our devoted readers. For now, I leave you with a short poem about my old friend (and college roommate) Tim. Happy belated birthday, ol' buddy, and forgive me for not writing this "thank-you" a few days ago, but every second with my Nicolina is precious, and I couldn't spare even a moment. I'm sure you understand.

A Timerick for Lim:
There once was a fellow named Tim,
Who never did go to the gym,
He ate like a pig,
But never got big,
In fact, he remained rather slim.

He liked this place called "The Corral,"
And we went every week without fail,
The burgers and fries
Were the typical size,
But the chicken wings came by the pail!

And Timmy, he'd eat two or three,
Which was 'bout one or two more than me,
But when we were through,
He still weighed One Five Two,
And I still weighed Two Thirty-Three.

See, Tim was a good-looking guy,
A twinkle he had in his eye,
He dressed rather well,
And he had a nice smell
Cuz his armpits were usually dry.

And Oh! Did the lasses love Tim,
From Lauren to Jackie to Kim,
Had he wanted to try,
He need merely say 'hi,'
And they'd cater to his every whim.

But Tim was a rare bird, it's true,
Both good-looking and trustworthy, too,
Any girl he took out,
Would be home without doubt
Twenty minutes before her curfew.

And guys liked him almost as well,
Even when you first met you could tell,
That Tim was a friend
Who'd be there to the end,
And a rare pal like that is just swell.

And though we dint always agree,
The truth is that Timmy and me,
Were once pretty close,
And still are I s'pose,
In that cool way old pals can be.

When I next see my roomie from past,
It will be as though no time has passed,
We'll catch up over beer,
And we'll laugh til we tear,
Thinking back on a time that dint last.

And such is what I can recall,
When I look back and think of it all, We had good times and rough,
(Being roommates is tough,
Especially with dorm rooms so small!)
And though we don't often talk or hang out, I'm just glad I still know him at all.

Gnight from Austin

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Alex B and the bats!

Big thanks and a happy birthday to the most powerful woman in Santa
Cruz, Alex B. I've been meaning to say congrats on Alex's new digs for
awhile now but haven't gotten around to it. Looking forward to playing
done wii and bbqing. Hope u had a great birthday.

Went and saw the Austin bats tonight and they were amazing. If I lived
here I would have to go watch all the time. It us the USA's largest
urban bat colony and when the babies are born in June it will number
1.5 million. They come out for ever and are a solid line for miles.
It's crazy! Yet another reason to add Austin to your list but to see
the bats you have to come between march and October.

More pics tomorrow. I promise.

(Some video I took of the bats)

Down time in Austin

First off, if you have never been to the city of Austin. I highly recommend you come for a visit. It is a great city and if you love live music it is a must. We were lucky enough to catch it at the tail end of South by Southwest Festival, so it was even more musicafied then normal but it isn't called the Live Music Capital of the World for nothing. But besides the music, it has great food, great outdoor escapes and many other fun sightseeing adventures. It will be very hard to leave here on our bikes on Friday and even harder to say goodbye to the ladies on Thursday, but we won't think about that right now.

Need to send Happy Birthday Wishes to one of our best sponsors - who has been our sponsor since St. Patrick's day and was one of the first people to jump on the Sponsorship program. Tim Lynah is one of the great people that came into my life in Geneseo, NY. He was one of my residents but quickly became a friend. Tim was part of one of my favorite road trips. He, the Holtz brothers and I went to Cedar Point Ohio for some Roller Coaster madness. Looking forward to doing the 10 year reunion trip in a couple years. Timmy - hope you are having a great birthday. We will drink one for you tonight in Austin.

Photos from Phoenix to Austin will be up tomorrow.

South by southwest

Memphis Blues Night. Good times.

The ladies made it!

Made it to Austin!

Road Magic

Can you believe that we haven't set up our tents for the last three nights? We have been cashing in on some travellin' karma we've racked up over the last six weeks (today's our anniversary by the way). After we reluctantly winded our way out of the Twisted J Ranch two days ago we headed toward Boerne, TX (pronounced "Bernie"--ya got me) with only a vague idea where we might stay the night. Sitting at a Chevron picnic table we started calling local hotels and motels (and yes, Holiday Inns) to see if we could find a cheap St. Patty's Day bed. Well Joe got on the phone with a local B and B booking agent and told him our whole deal. Turns out the guy, Mike, was also the owner of a really nice looking place called The Crescent Inn, which was right across the street from our picnic table, but by the look of it quite obviously out of our price range. Well it also turns out Mike's brother in law biked from Brooklyn to Cali, and a wave of the road-magic wand later and we're staying in a terrific room at a cool old western-type hotel for half-price. No tax and free breakfast to boot! I'll tell ya there may be something to that luck o' the Irish thing (everyone's Irish on March 17th, right?). We enjoyed a second night of great sleep in a row and rolled outta town at the crack o' noon today, absolutely sure we'd be bedding down in the ol' sleeping sack at some RV park this evening. And we were fine with that.

But Mr. Road Karma had other plans for us. As Joe came to a screeching halt halfway down a hill enroute to Wimberly this afternoon, I looked over to see an unexpected site. It was a sign for a Disc Golf Ranch. That's right kids an entire Ranch devoted to disc golf. Well we got to the gate and to our disappointment the ranch was closed for some revamping. But two golfers noticed us and came over to explain the situation. Turns out that they are both pros on the disc golf tour. And we didn't know it then, but Jay and Des turned out to be just about the coolest people you could hope to meet. They invited us back to their place for the night, and we enjoyed one of the best evenings of the trip, drinking a great locally brewed Porter and talking about everything from backpacking to BBQ. And of course disc golf. We will sleep in beds for a third night in a row, and we'll add another set of names to the list of incredibly friendly and generous people we've met on this trip--many of whom happen to live in West Texas.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry