12 - 18 December: Austin, Texas

Unfortunately we learned this past week that Louw, Gene's brother passed away in Cape Town at 38.  I will always remember Louw at 12-15 years of age playing the Metallica Sandman riff over and over.  I always had this theory that he never knew any song from end to end... but I was proven wrong.  The band he played in - Underbelly - was nominated for some South African award, and they did really well.  RIP.

Gene had decided to head down to Cape Town to go and help her sisters sort things out, so changed direction and headed down to Austin for some warmer weather and a place to store the Whale while I headed to Boston for Christmas and New Year.  Little did I know... (but that is for the next installment).

I bid Paris a fond farewell and headed to McKinney, TX - just north of Dallas for a Saturday 

South Indian lunch with a work colleague.  The lunch and company was great - turns out his brother-in-law and a friend had rented a u-haul to drive his worldly belongings to Colorado, and needed lots of info on driving larger vehicles.  Sim (or rather Sim's wife) provided some great curries - a vegetable and cashew nut, a boiled egg and a butter chicken curry with rice.  Delicious.  Only bad part was that it was pouring with rain in the Dallas area, so after lunch, I went and had a great snooze in the nearby Walmart parking lot.

Spent Saturday night in  rest stop again....

On to Austin and camped for the week at a KOA.  Great spot, but just too far to cycle into town, so I got an Uber, and life was good.

Die laaste van die boerewors...

Local wildlife - nog boerewors?

The camp braai

Austin East KOA campground

Wandered around Austin on Thursday afternoon.  Crazy how the city had changed since we were there last in 2008.  There is only 1 RV park along the Colorado river left - the rest are all condo's now.  The number of high-rises are crazy - looks a bit like the Seaport district in Boston - just cranes everywhere.  Walked along the river, drank a few beers in the old district, and popped into a few bars on 6th street where someone was playing.  Austin prides itself on being a great place for live music and 6th street  is the hub.

6th Street bar - not the most humming spot on a weekday afternoon, but...

Art becoming reality

Happy Y'Allidays - the Texas way

Wildlife on the Colorado river that runs through Austin

They do take their bats seriously.

Could not get a photo of the bats leaving their nest at 5 unfortunately.  Always an impressive sight. Austin's bats

New 'and improved' Austin

Better Austin

6th Street

Last photo of the Campground wildlife, and an idea for Gene's new advertising campaign.

Saturday I packed up and headed for Easy RV storage south of Austin. Kurt, the owner was just great.  Got the whale settled in, had everything bedded down for minimum 25F and headed to the airport hotel for a relaxing evening before my flight on Sunday morning at 8.

 

4 - 11 Dec Paris, Texas

 So packed up in Memphis and headed to Hot Springs, Arkansas for a Saturday stay-over.  Turned out to be a surprise.  I knew it had some hot springs, but not much more.

The drive was all flat and muddy - made me think of driving through Louisiana.  And then I got to Hot Springs - a few hills - nothing big, but a great town.  Cycled into town - about 8 miles - and by chance actually got to the hub of the town.  Very 1920s (I think) - most of the buildings must have been built around that time period.  Huge buildings and still a few active 'bath houses'.  The locals bring containers to the fountains in the town to fill them up with the spring water - apparently the water is quite healing - it was very hot - too hot to taste out of the spring....  Very touristy town.

Some one car town I passed through.  There was nothing more than these buildings

I prefer old Boston

The taps everywhere in town.

A Katarina in Arkansas?

One of the massive buildings (derelict) in Hot Springs

Had early dinner at a beer brewery and watch the Arkansas ?? beat someone else at basketball - locals were very enthusiastic.

Sunday was on to Paris, Texas... had to stop there as Nastassja Kinski was one of my pervs back in the day and she was in the movie.  Watch it - very slow and I am half way though watching it again.  Have not seen the town in the movie, but it is building up...as I said - slow.

Paris has two things... an Eiffel tower and a statue in the cemetery of Jesus with cowboy boots.

Note the judaic boots...

Photo is flattering - short and squat

and that is it... there are no tourists, there is nothing else.  The RV park was once again out of town and not within Uber reach.  However, there was someone in the RV park that would drive me around.  For $40 I got a tour of the town, did a walk along part of the Trail de Paris and got picked up and brought home.  Was actually quite pleasant.

When in Paris...

Actually an ice cream shop

 

Fun part was after walking the deserted streets looking for a t-shirt for Gene with "Paris, Texas" on it and getting lots of 'ooooh thats so sweet honey' from the older ladies in various stores, I finally get to a shop that has the right t-shirt.  I get it out, check the wording, and then asked the lady for a large - sleep wear for Gene.  End of the story is I get back to the RV, open the package to get a photo of the purchase for Gene, and... its got some stooopid rocket thing on it - no Paris, Texas.  So, Gene has a great new shirt for xmas.

Last night in Paris, I cooked a Cape Malay mince curry - first RV curry of the trip and it came out great - except that the whole RV reeked of curry for the next 5 days...  maar nou ja.

Cape Malay RV curry

Nov 28 - Dec 4: Memphis

 So Gene and Chris left, and I was in the RV park on the Mississippi.  Relatively unspectacular week.  Lots of rain, a few tornado warnings that came to nothing and with no Uber service, pretty much stuck.  The RV park was definitely a place for one-nighters passing through, and the cold kept everyone in their homes.... So one learns.

Did do a long cycle all the way to Memphis, but did not have enough time to go into Memphis.

So, wrapped up a week of work and headed west to Paris....

View from the kitchen

The mystic mississippi

By the hair of my chinny chin chin

The mighty mississippi

Double trailer - the Texan way....

My bike ride - looks like from a western movie

Crossing the Mississippi

Crossing State lines

Nov 20 - 27: Tennessee

 So Thanksgiving week was all setup.

1. Gene would fly in on Sunday and meet me in Knoxville.
2. We would explore for 2 days and then move on to Nashville
3. Meet up with Chris and have thanksgiving at the Liz's place and party in Nashville
4. Move on to Memphis and get the blues..

It all worked as planned.

We had a great - if hectic - time.

Knoxville surpassed expectations - but only due to an uber driver that came to pick us up the second time round because 'there ain't too many people called Kees in this area' (and we tip well).  We discovered a great rooftop bar, some live music, but nothing great and had a lovely lunch at Calhoun's on the river and a walk afterwards.  

Also did a great walk along the Tennessee river and through the Ijams marble quarry that started Knoxville.

In Knoxville town square

Decorations at our Campsite

Our walk in the marble quarry.

After lunch walk on the river

Our open-mic band at the Scruffy City bar

On to Nashville - a cacophony of sound - it just blasts from everywhere on Broadway.  Gene and I were there for the first night on our own and had a blast. Ended up in a bar with a band that was excellent - paid for too many requests, bought the band tequila shots, danced and had a great time.

 

Roof top bar somewhere with the strip below

Some crazy Brits - been coming for 14 years..

Girl has her dancing shoes on

Chris arrived and we immediately dragged him out to the strip.  The 'tour guide' - Gene - decided we needed to go to the Station Inn tavern - well recommended by one and all.  We walked past the JW Marriott - a beautiful building with a bar on the top floor.  Went up for a drink and had an awesome view of Nashville.  Ended up the Station Inn only opened at 7 and the band only started at 9 - which was waaay past our bedtime, so we headed back.  Walked past a bar where a great band was playing, stood in the window and listened and was invited in by the people at the table.  Climbed through the window and got entertained by a great band - no idea who.

RobC on base and TimB (without beard) on lead!!!

Next day was rest and recreation.  The KOA campground was great - Hot tub, pickle ball, etc. until it was time to head to Franklin for Thanksgiving dinner with Vic's parents - Liz and Steve and granny Gug, Eddy and James.  A great fun night was had by all.  Thanks to the Moi's.  On Thursday Chris started feeling a bit sick... and skipped on a great Thanksgiving dinner.

Black Friday we packed up, skipped the queues at the malls and headed for Memphis.  The RV park - Tom Sawyers RV park - what else... was on the Mississippi river which was awesome, but also on the West Memphis side (Arkansas) side of the river, so a bit isolated - no uber.  We decided to rent a car and lucked out by getting a Nissan double-cab - what else.  All worked out really well.  We went to visit the 10th largest pyramid in the world - a Bass Pro Shop that Chris new about... Lunch was spent at BB Kings bar listening to the best blues I have heard since Bob and Tom...  I was starting to feel a bit down.

 

The mighty Mississippi - at record low levels...

Tom Sawyer RV park

Low low levels

10th tallest pyramid

Sunday morning the tour guide had organized us a 2 hour bus tour of Memphis (shorted time to see/learn the most).  I was masked up, but we had a great time.  Memphis has a crazy history... real river town with mafia, yellow fever epidemics (200 people per day were dying in Memphis in the late 1800's - so much that they decertified it as a city as there were not enough people left).

In any case, saw the I am a Man memorial, where MLK was shot, at some great bbq and drank too much.

Saturday evening I opted to stay at the RV and Gene and Chris hit the town.  Great music and good times was had by them.

Blues

Beale Street

Gene - artistic license

Sunday afternoon I dropped off Chris at the airport, Gene was staying at a hotel at the airport for an EARLY flight on Monday and I headed home to the RV.  Serious fever and not feeling myself.

Gene got home on Monday, tested positive for covid and so now both of us are snotty, feverish and sore throats - but at least we are boosted, so it should not be too bad.

As for the dogs - we put both of them in the kennel with instructions that Stanley needs to be incorporated into the daily playgroup (for which we would pay $$$) so that he can adjust to normal living.  Unfortunately he failed the intake test and they decided he is not suitable to play with the other dog.  Milo was a star however.

 So be it.