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.
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Die laaste van die boerewors...
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| Local wildlife - nog boerewors? |
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The camp braai
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Austin East KOA campground
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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.
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6th Street bar - not the most humming spot on a weekday afternoon, but...
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Art becoming reality
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Happy Y'Allidays - the Texas way
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Wildlife on the Colorado river that runs through Austin
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They do take their bats seriously.
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Could not get a photo of the bats leaving their nest at 5 unfortunately. Always an impressive sight. Austin's bats
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New 'and improved' Austin
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Better Austin
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6th Street
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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.
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