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