I left Austin after having spent a bit more time sightseeing and a last lunch in the afternoon to drive past Waco to shortly before Dallas, where I spent the nicht in a motel with an indoor pool in order to get at least a bit of exercise. I found that swimming for more than 30 minutes hurts my arms and think, I should do that more often.
The next day I drove right through to Hot Springs National Park in Arkansas. The hot springs have been used already by the native Americans in the area for long time and they were put under federal protection long before there was any other National Park. Today the whole downtown is NP. It reminds me a lot of some rundown places in Germany like Bad Ems, especially as the landscape is very similar to German Mittelgebirgen. The people visiting seem to be all elderly as well, but that might be the time of the year. This is the town where Clinton lived as a child and they just had the last day of their documentary film festival. Of which I met the organizer in the evening in the local bar, where I drank to much, listened to music, danced and generally had a lot of fun until they closed. HS is surrounded by three big lakes and a lot of low forested hills and is not far from the Ozarks, which seem to look similar. People talk very southern and althought there are many black people in town, I didn't see any in the restaurants and bars downtown. People in the bar where I got drunk made remarks about the racism, but still there was no black guest there either. Cycling was wonderful and there is a bikeshop and a HS bicycle webpage organized through the owner of the bikeshop it seems and there signs along one road which mark a bike route, I saw only two people on bicycles from far away, nevertheless I had a beautiful ride.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
25th of October - Austin
In some scary way facebook knew that I was in Texas and I got an invitation from the Austin cycling association to join their new to Austin ride at 10 in the morning. I thought it was a very nice idea to have a city tour on the bike. The way from the hotel to the city center led me past the football stadium where they prepared for some kind of big game or they have always as much going on if they have a game in town, I don't really want to know. Austin might be progressive for Texas but it is still Texas. Everybody was dressed in orange and so was I - accidently fitting in, later I found out orange was the color of the enemy.
At the convention center was a pretty big group of cyclists which was the city tour group and a road ride group. I wanted to have a longer ride than the short city tour, but still decided to have it afterwards. It was a really nice way to see the city and thanks to other well informed Texans I learned a lot, which I would probably not have learned alone. After the ride four of us had a nice Mexican lunch and than went to Lance Armstrongs shop, where somebody took the broken aerobars of my bike. I talked to several people working there, one guy just moved there from SF where he lived in the Haight. I left the aerobars there to pick them up by car on the next day. Sunday had a big fundraiser where people went with Lance A. on a live strong ride for which you had to have raised or begged for at least 500$ for the lowest level. We had one woman on the ride who was in Austin to ride there.
the rest of the afternoon I followed the route Norman who guided the city tour recommendet and found out that Austin has a lot of really steep hills and nice riding, if only for that texan pavement.
Austin is nice for a vacation, but it is still much to spread out for my taste and than it lacks ocean and mountains. I would not like to live there, but I haven't expected anything else.
At the convention center was a pretty big group of cyclists which was the city tour group and a road ride group. I wanted to have a longer ride than the short city tour, but still decided to have it afterwards. It was a really nice way to see the city and thanks to other well informed Texans I learned a lot, which I would probably not have learned alone. After the ride four of us had a nice Mexican lunch and than went to Lance Armstrongs shop, where somebody took the broken aerobars of my bike. I talked to several people working there, one guy just moved there from SF where he lived in the Haight. I left the aerobars there to pick them up by car on the next day. Sunday had a big fundraiser where people went with Lance A. on a live strong ride for which you had to have raised or begged for at least 500$ for the lowest level. We had one woman on the ride who was in Austin to ride there.
the rest of the afternoon I followed the route Norman who guided the city tour recommendet and found out that Austin has a lot of really steep hills and nice riding, if only for that texan pavement.
Austin is nice for a vacation, but it is still much to spread out for my taste and than it lacks ocean and mountains. I would not like to live there, but I haven't expected anything else.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
24th of October - Austin
I tried to ride early in the morning the country road of the day before, but the temperature was 34 degrees and I was with short gloves and without beanie, so I had to give up after 2k because I just could not move my fingers any longer. I took a shower and went the road by car to Pedernales State park, where I wanted to hike a bit and see the falls. I hiked the recommended hike for some miles and was bored out of my shirt, the landscape was pretty but did not change at all. Going on a belt in the gym gives you more entertainment. So I tried the falls where nothing fell. But all was nice and warm and I had some exercise, what more did I want. I went to Austin in search of the Ramada, that I booked through hotwire. It was the "Central" one but still miles out of downtown. Google map told me that it was at the intersection of 35 and 290, but it did not tell me that there were two of them. So I came to the southern intersection and there were plenty of hotels. I had problems with the internet in the last motel and could not verify the address in the morning but I thought that I shouldn't have too many problems locating it. I cruised for an hour, asked people who told me with complete certainty where to go and called meta to check my email again and look at google maps. By the end I called the hotel and drove the 12 miles to the other side of town, did finally my laundry hat a bite to eat in the neighborhood and called it an early night.
23rd of October - Fredricksburg and LBJ's Ranch
I stayed in a weird motel, which called itself resort but seemed to cater to retiree group travel. The kitchen was at five minutes past nine already closed and the bar could serve me only drinks. There was a country cowboy band playing and two couples shared the dance floor. As this is in Texas everything was BIG: bar, dance floor and air conditioning, only the crowd was pretty meager, I had one beer and after that I was not far from being frozen stiff, so I left as long as I was still able to. In the morning I left for Fredricksburg an touristy place in the hill country where they make quite a bit of wine. I walked through town, tried some wine (brrr! Texas needs still some time until it will become a wine and food lovers destination.) and I had a buffalo burger in a place with buffalo head.
From Fredricksburg I drove to Johnson City which is named after a cousin of LBJ. I cycled a bit around the farm and tried to make the tour on my bike. But they do allow the self guided tour only by car. I complained widely and people told me that they might change that soon and when I would come the next time I could perhaps enter already by bike. the tour of the farm would have been an ideal little bike tour, but whatever...
Overnight I stayed in Johnson City where I asked for a nice route to cycle on. The girl behind the counter told me she wouldn't know, but the on little road just up the street were always cyclist to be seen even as it was really hilly. She was right, it was a nice road for cycling - rolling hills, moderate traffic and pretty landscape. I went for a full work out ride. It was nice to exhaust myself without thinking about all the miles I would still need to go. I really like riding short and intensive better than long and moderate. Next to the hotel was one of this barn like huge and empty dinner places that they seem to have everywhere in the Texan countryside. I saw already before that a lot of Restaurants advertise themselves with superlatives like best hamburger in town, Texas or world, which is the same anyhow. This place said best chicken fried steak and behind it - nearly three dozen sold! I love this kind of humor, today I saw a big highway billboard which said: "Dirty birds to clean up? Birdbaths next exit!" By the way, I only learned on this trip what a chicken-fried steak is. It is a hamburger breaded and fried over which a white gravy (weisse Mehlschwitze) is poured. I cannot recommend it, there was until now not realy new and good food. Quite a bit of the stuff I tried was new to me but I don't really care for any of it. I was in this one country diner (only open one town), where I needed all but two items on the menu explained to me. I heard or read gizzards often but I don't really know what it is. But if you look at the photo of the gizzards and liver, I am happy, that I didn't have that - not that I had something better!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gizzards
From Fredricksburg I drove to Johnson City which is named after a cousin of LBJ. I cycled a bit around the farm and tried to make the tour on my bike. But they do allow the self guided tour only by car. I complained widely and people told me that they might change that soon and when I would come the next time I could perhaps enter already by bike. the tour of the farm would have been an ideal little bike tour, but whatever...
Overnight I stayed in Johnson City where I asked for a nice route to cycle on. The girl behind the counter told me she wouldn't know, but the on little road just up the street were always cyclist to be seen even as it was really hilly. She was right, it was a nice road for cycling - rolling hills, moderate traffic and pretty landscape. I went for a full work out ride. It was nice to exhaust myself without thinking about all the miles I would still need to go. I really like riding short and intensive better than long and moderate. Next to the hotel was one of this barn like huge and empty dinner places that they seem to have everywhere in the Texan countryside. I saw already before that a lot of Restaurants advertise themselves with superlatives like best hamburger in town, Texas or world, which is the same anyhow. This place said best chicken fried steak and behind it - nearly three dozen sold! I love this kind of humor, today I saw a big highway billboard which said: "Dirty birds to clean up? Birdbaths next exit!" By the way, I only learned on this trip what a chicken-fried steak is. It is a hamburger breaded and fried over which a white gravy (weisse Mehlschwitze) is poured. I cannot recommend it, there was until now not realy new and good food. Quite a bit of the stuff I tried was new to me but I don't really care for any of it. I was in this one country diner (only open one town), where I needed all but two items on the menu explained to me. I heard or read gizzards often but I don't really know what it is. But if you look at the photo of the gizzards and liver, I am happy, that I didn't have that - not that I had something better!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gizzards
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
22nd of October - Texas Hill Country
Garmin says : 79.40 km 2749 cal 1122 m ascent
After leaving this morning I drove to Leakey (which is seemingly pronounced lieky instead of leaky). I had an early Lunch and took a tour which included a part of the southern route. In the beginning was street construction and a street worker called out of his truck: Are you going to Florida, too? The first 16 miles which are part of the southern tier had some of the steepest climbs of the tour. It was pretty exhausting. the worst part was the last 11 miles against furious north winds, I thought, that I would never get back to the car, Driving and riding eats quite a bit of time but I can go to places where I will have very attractive riding. The texan hill country was settled pretty much only by Germans and you still recognize this in the names. Until WWI most people here spoke actually German, but with America joining the fight against Germany that changed.
After leaving this morning I drove to Leakey (which is seemingly pronounced lieky instead of leaky). I had an early Lunch and took a tour which included a part of the southern route. In the beginning was street construction and a street worker called out of his truck: Are you going to Florida, too? The first 16 miles which are part of the southern tier had some of the steepest climbs of the tour. It was pretty exhausting. the worst part was the last 11 miles against furious north winds, I thought, that I would never get back to the car, Driving and riding eats quite a bit of time but I can go to places where I will have very attractive riding. The texan hill country was settled pretty much only by Germans and you still recognize this in the names. Until WWI most people here spoke actually German, but with America joining the fight against Germany that changed.
October 21st - El Rio to Brackettville
After Justin was late again and hadn’t researched the greyhound bus, that would have meant to complete the country crossing, I should have known that he wouldn’t do that. He said: “I don’t take buses!” - “Have you ever tried?” - “No.” What else is new. Andreas and I cruised the north eastern corner (Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Niagara, New York State all over) for four weeks and it was one of the most interesting travel experiences of my whole live and I was five month pregnant at that time.
He stole four more hours from me, still fidgeting next to me and relying on me, Just how does he survive on his own? I cannot say how often I asked him to stop that on this trip. He thinks it is my personal tick to be irritated by this. His parents really didn’t teach him anything, they are seemingly religious weirdos and might live with the hope that God will fix that all.
After dropping him at the airport and throwing another 300$ onto him - he should be extremely proud to have ripped me off like that. Normally people like him are just too repugnant to other people to be a con artist. Reality hit me: I am free! I started to be tired of the long straight rides on abysmal road surface. So now I will create my own tour. I still have a month until Andreas will arrive in Orlando and I will plan a new tour of the south on which I can get every day some riding in. I tried for quite a time to find maps or more in El Rio. They have only one bookstore, a Waldenbooks in their Mall, which didn’t even have a Texas road atlas. The only bike shop in town doesn’t have bike maps either, but worse the owner doesn’t ride bike. Who has ever heard something like that?
After several gas stations I hit a Walmart, where I finally found a big book road atlas, which doesn’t include one more information than the US road atlas and lacks distances, mountains and green dotted scenic drives. I bought a charger for my MP3 player, just to find out that it doesn’t work any longer. I deserve that for buying at Walmart.
I am now in a historic army fort where part of it is a motel. It is very pretty here and if the roads around here would have better surfaces I would stay longer, but after 10 miles I gave up on all 3 roads out of town. I will go tomorrow early in the hill country and try my luck there. I had dinner today in a joint where I had them explain 80% of the items on the menu, I felt like in a really foreign country and I got my water bottle filled in a drive through bottle shop. In reality a barn with front and back door open. The people in Texas are really friendly, that was not what I expected and the more I go towards the east the more I hear really southern talking. Yesterday a couple started a sentence with: “And we was…”
He stole four more hours from me, still fidgeting next to me and relying on me, Just how does he survive on his own? I cannot say how often I asked him to stop that on this trip. He thinks it is my personal tick to be irritated by this. His parents really didn’t teach him anything, they are seemingly religious weirdos and might live with the hope that God will fix that all.
After dropping him at the airport and throwing another 300$ onto him - he should be extremely proud to have ripped me off like that. Normally people like him are just too repugnant to other people to be a con artist. Reality hit me: I am free! I started to be tired of the long straight rides on abysmal road surface. So now I will create my own tour. I still have a month until Andreas will arrive in Orlando and I will plan a new tour of the south on which I can get every day some riding in. I tried for quite a time to find maps or more in El Rio. They have only one bookstore, a Waldenbooks in their Mall, which didn’t even have a Texas road atlas. The only bike shop in town doesn’t have bike maps either, but worse the owner doesn’t ride bike. Who has ever heard something like that?
After several gas stations I hit a Walmart, where I finally found a big book road atlas, which doesn’t include one more information than the US road atlas and lacks distances, mountains and green dotted scenic drives. I bought a charger for my MP3 player, just to find out that it doesn’t work any longer. I deserve that for buying at Walmart.
I am now in a historic army fort where part of it is a motel. It is very pretty here and if the roads around here would have better surfaces I would stay longer, but after 10 miles I gave up on all 3 roads out of town. I will go tomorrow early in the hill country and try my luck there. I had dinner today in a joint where I had them explain 80% of the items on the menu, I felt like in a really foreign country and I got my water bottle filled in a drive through bottle shop. In reality a barn with front and back door open. The people in Texas are really friendly, that was not what I expected and the more I go towards the east the more I hear really southern talking. Yesterday a couple started a sentence with: “And we was…”
October 20th - Big Bent National Park
Justin was not ready at the time I said. This time he said it was on purpose, but it was like always, that I had to adjust my day to my so called help. I was just fed up. He just doesn’t get the idea. I have the feeling that he thinks, he gets a wonderful vacation paid, because I enjoy so much to have him around. I think he is not aware that he was chosen as driver because he is just so absolutely unattractive, that Andreas really doesn’t need to worry about him. Ugly and boring, I thought I would be able to handle it, but he is obnoxious too. He just talks the whole time without saying anything of substance, interesting or witty. He eats like a pig. After some days I just couldn’t stomach that any longer and I told him. I would be really ashamed if somebody would tell me that. He took it in and ate the same thereafter, it is really disgusting, even if nobody taught him ever how to eat properly, he could have asked what it is what nauseated me about his eating.
However after he was not there on time in the morning I told him to put his stuff in the car and meet me at three at the headquarter of Big Bent, where the road back to Marathon starts. He put stuff in and slammed the backdoor (He always slams the car doors, that is probably, why the lock of the driver door fell out.) and I took off, considering that I had only 5 hours left to see some more features of this huge park, which requires quite a lot of driving. Justin wanted so much to come to this park. “I was never in a National Park and it will be cool.” But he is not interested in nature and doesn’t like hiking. He never tries new things. That is the fact about him which is the worst, besides his repugnant physical aspects (eating, PERMANENT nervous ticks, like fiddling around or pulling out his knuckles, he never sits still. He has ADD plus hyperactivity and is still totally slow, if I would have known, I would not have taken him. He seems to have no intention to get a grip on this as well as he seems to have no intention to do anything which would give him learning possibilities. He lacks every intellectual curiosity, which is to me the worst form of stupidity. He doesn’t watch movies, he doesn’t read (except for fantasy novels, but as he never really went to school he misses the basics and he doesn’t even try to replenish that by himself). He has no interests, at least none which would lead him to a serious commitment. I am sure that is his ADD. But he was supposed to be able to drive the car for less than 2 hours a day and do his own thing with the rest of the day. But he was hanging onto me and did not get the hints at first and when I started to get extremely annoyed and unfriendly, he still followed me like a duckling his mom. I am so happy that I got rid of him.
What really annoys me is that it cost me thousands of dollars to have been annoyed by this total idiot for three weeks and I paid him even more to get rid of him. Last week I knew already that I just couldn’t stand to have him around me and I bought a flight ticket from Orlando to SFO. I just didn’t want to let go of the cross country bike ride for which I planned nearly two years and which was supposed to be my biggest trip yet and I put so much hopes and expectations into it. All this was destroyed by this little creep and I still felt like had to give him money. I feel he has a moral debt to me which is huge and I hope his bad Karma gets him, although I think anyhow that he never will amount to anything else than a pathetic unsuccessful bore (if he ever even looks for something he wants to be successful in).
That I gave this nobody the power to my shatter dreams tells me to listen to my gut feeling, When I saw him the first time, he was really eager doing this. But he looked so repugnant that I could barely look at him. It took month to get used to that, but I thought I should not be so shallow. - Next time I know that I get never at least subconsciously over this, unless they have a strong and interesting personality, which comes in rare cases with vapid expression.
I don’t know what Colleen sees in him. He really things she loves him so much more than he loves her. That I really doubt: a cute vivid intelligent and social girl like her, will not stay for long with a socially inept loser than Justin. The attraction of somebody needy who saps on your motherly feelings usually doesn’t last long.
Now I vented enough - much too much energy spent on that. Lets eat the loss and get over it!
When he didn’t show up at he ranger station, I was considering to just take off, would have been neat, but I don’t do that - let a helpless kid alone. I picked him after waiting there for 30 minutes about 10 miles (midway between motel and rendezvous spot) up and told him that he should take a bus from Del Rio to Orlando. I gave him time to 9 h in the morning to research all this and that would be it. My mood would have been really lightened, if he wouldn’t have sat next to me fidgeting and making knuckle noises. Yuk, just writing this I feel vomit coming up.
However after he was not there on time in the morning I told him to put his stuff in the car and meet me at three at the headquarter of Big Bent, where the road back to Marathon starts. He put stuff in and slammed the backdoor (He always slams the car doors, that is probably, why the lock of the driver door fell out.) and I took off, considering that I had only 5 hours left to see some more features of this huge park, which requires quite a lot of driving. Justin wanted so much to come to this park. “I was never in a National Park and it will be cool.” But he is not interested in nature and doesn’t like hiking. He never tries new things. That is the fact about him which is the worst, besides his repugnant physical aspects (eating, PERMANENT nervous ticks, like fiddling around or pulling out his knuckles, he never sits still. He has ADD plus hyperactivity and is still totally slow, if I would have known, I would not have taken him. He seems to have no intention to get a grip on this as well as he seems to have no intention to do anything which would give him learning possibilities. He lacks every intellectual curiosity, which is to me the worst form of stupidity. He doesn’t watch movies, he doesn’t read (except for fantasy novels, but as he never really went to school he misses the basics and he doesn’t even try to replenish that by himself). He has no interests, at least none which would lead him to a serious commitment. I am sure that is his ADD. But he was supposed to be able to drive the car for less than 2 hours a day and do his own thing with the rest of the day. But he was hanging onto me and did not get the hints at first and when I started to get extremely annoyed and unfriendly, he still followed me like a duckling his mom. I am so happy that I got rid of him.
What really annoys me is that it cost me thousands of dollars to have been annoyed by this total idiot for three weeks and I paid him even more to get rid of him. Last week I knew already that I just couldn’t stand to have him around me and I bought a flight ticket from Orlando to SFO. I just didn’t want to let go of the cross country bike ride for which I planned nearly two years and which was supposed to be my biggest trip yet and I put so much hopes and expectations into it. All this was destroyed by this little creep and I still felt like had to give him money. I feel he has a moral debt to me which is huge and I hope his bad Karma gets him, although I think anyhow that he never will amount to anything else than a pathetic unsuccessful bore (if he ever even looks for something he wants to be successful in).
That I gave this nobody the power to my shatter dreams tells me to listen to my gut feeling, When I saw him the first time, he was really eager doing this. But he looked so repugnant that I could barely look at him. It took month to get used to that, but I thought I should not be so shallow. - Next time I know that I get never at least subconsciously over this, unless they have a strong and interesting personality, which comes in rare cases with vapid expression.
I don’t know what Colleen sees in him. He really things she loves him so much more than he loves her. That I really doubt: a cute vivid intelligent and social girl like her, will not stay for long with a socially inept loser than Justin. The attraction of somebody needy who saps on your motherly feelings usually doesn’t last long.
Now I vented enough - much too much energy spent on that. Lets eat the loss and get over it!
When he didn’t show up at he ranger station, I was considering to just take off, would have been neat, but I don’t do that - let a helpless kid alone. I picked him after waiting there for 30 minutes about 10 miles (midway between motel and rendezvous spot) up and told him that he should take a bus from Del Rio to Orlando. I gave him time to 9 h in the morning to research all this and that would be it. My mood would have been really lightened, if he wouldn’t have sat next to me fidgeting and making knuckle noises. Yuk, just writing this I feel vomit coming up.
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