dear readers, my sincere apology for the long hiatus. hopefully the next one wouldn't be as long :)
read
part 1 here,
part 2 here,
part 3 here and
part 4 here.
If you haven't noticed, one of our activities during the trip is taking pictures of welcome signs at every state border. By the time we reached Texas, we had a pretty impressive list, not missing even one of the signs (okay, maybe we missed the welcome to Pennsylvania sign, but Pennsylvania and Delaware are, like, one state, totally):
West Virginia
Kentucky
Ohio
Tennessee
Arkansas
Day 5 - Friday, August 22 2008
What follows is probably the most arduous part of our journey. We drove into Texas at midnight not even knowing that we had crossed the state border. We were also a bit disappointed, as we were not greeted with a welcome sign to add to our list above. In front of us was the sprawling
Interstate 10, half-swallowed by the dark of the night. The only thing keeping me uncomfortably awake was the random bug or two crashing into the windscreen. We decided to make our first stop, still irritated by the fact that we did not see a welcome sign. As a consolation, we got this instead:
Welcome to Texas
TexasIt wasn't so much about not finding the welcome sign. It was more about reaching a point, but not realizing that you have reached it, expectations not only not met, but left without any indicator that they were not met. Probably it wasn't even about Texas than it was about us.
We didn't stop at a camping ground or rest area that night, they were all out of the way. I drove for as long as my eyes would stay open until at last I succumbed to steering wheel slumber at a gas station somewhere outside Houston. I remembered why we decided to take the southern route instead of the northern one - SP wanted to go to El Paso (Kill Bill is one of her favorite films) and I wanted to see Austin. SP's head lolled to one side of the headrest, and I saw a glimpse of a trucker walking back to his truck's cab with a cup of coffee in his hand. It was morning, and all I needed was some sleep.
When I woke up, the sun was shining full blast. I automatically started driving through the heavy morning traffic, my brain still numb from the brief sleep. SP drifted in and out of sleep, sporadically looking out the window and muttering unintelligible syllables, until she finally woke up as about an hour after I started driving. We made our first stop at
Belton Lake, en route to Austin.
SP and Belton
Hus and BeltonThe view of the lake cooled us down a bit, we were both a bit cranky before, affected by the heat. Earlier we had decided to skip Houston and Dallas, and go straight to
Austin. Why Austin? It is the capital of Texas, plus it was where
Waking Life, my favorite movie, and many other
Richard Linklater films, were produced. That, coupled with the recommendations from many of my American friends installed a certain urgency in us to experience Austin.
The clouds began to congregate as we entered the city, and it seemed like someone was switching the sun on and off in semi-quick succession. We parked the car and walked around in search of a place to rest and get a drink. We found a pizza place with fountain drinks, and gulped icy cold sodas while chatting to the cashier, who suggested that we go check out
Town Lake, and take a dip in it (which did not happen because we didn't have time).
Downtown Austin
Downtown Austin
One of the charming old houses near the UT Austin campus
Irish pub @ Austin, notice the bike hung up on the right wall
SP at the Littlefield Fountain, UT Austin
Texas Capitol Building
Texas Capitol Building
Posion (sic) ivy at Town Lake park
The wind was blowing furiously and sand floated in mini tornadoes on the street as we were walking back to our car. It started drizzling again. Such is the weather change of a city in the middle of the desert, and it made me think of the changes that happened throughout the journey, some sudden and abrupt, some just unexpected (like the absence of the sign) and some inevitable (we will discuss this more in a later part).
Our Texas experience was far from being concluded at this point, albeit not because of the lack of the usual longhorns-steak-cowboys-Dallas-Houston-space-station elements. Somehow that made me glad, knowing that SP shared my sentiment against engaging in touristy activities. A preference grounded in the noble, yet impossible, search for the authentic and the colloquial, for one in the other and vice versa.
I drove into I-10 anticipating the long drive through the night, my head devoid of any plans to stop and camp anywhere. SP voiced her concern about not having enough sleep over and over again...unfortunately all I could say in response, to this, like so many other things she asked from me, was "We'll see".
lisa and sunset(to be continued)
