Breakfast at the Sunset Café, no priests this morning, thank god. As Andy chugged his last bit'o'coffee we watched the flag swing around on its pole in the square. The day went from being \"cake\" to bad in the time it took the wind to shift. Shouldn't have laughed at the religious last night. Hard to concentrate on the beauty of the hill country as we slugged it out against stiff and gusty winds at our face. I was looking forward to making a right turn away from the wind and onto Texas 290 to finish out our last 30 miles and arrive in Austin.
290 wasn't a dream date. Four lanes, undivided, small shoulder with a bad surface, impatient drivers and still a nasty head wind. Stopped at a roadside bakery and met Laura and Anthony. Laura was laid-off from Apple was moving to Johnson City to live in a barn with an outhouse leaving Anthony in Austin. Within two seconds of Anthony offering us a ride into Austin (getting us off the nasty and dangerous road) we had our bikes in the back of his truck thus forever marring the integrity of our coast-to-coast ride. Now mourning this loss in the comfort of our hotel watching the largest urban colony of bats leave the Congress Avenue bridge at sunset.
Birthday, be back in a few days.** +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | **13 April, Austin to La Grange, 77 miles** | | | | Austin and New York were a welcome break from the hardships of the | | road. In New York Fred stayed out late exploring the East Village | | homo scene, while I got up early every morning to spend time with the | | little one, who is more amazing than ever. Each time I see him, I am | | overwhelmed by the desire that he won't change any more and stay | | exactly as he is.
Back in Austin, we were hosted by extra-friendly | | Jeff, who even picked us up at the airport. We spent a day catching | | up with our mail and bill-paying before dining with Fred's new friend | | Tim at the bar of a busy restaurant filled with prom-goers and | | assorted trendoids. The two girls seated next to us, Dina and | | Catherine, hit on us mercilessly until we set them straight about | | being queer. They had grown up together in a place called Nacogdoches | | (pronounced something like \"naked duchess\" in Texan) and had | | apparently o.d.'d on estrogen.
Dina was the more hyper of the two, | | unable to utter a syllable without *scray-ming* it in her | | high-decibel twang, and neither of them was capable of keeping her | | hands to herself. They explained that it was customary for Texan | | girls to be friendly towards men; Tim calmly verified this claim. | | | | Our hiatus from pedaling had lasted nearly a week, and the calluses | | on our butts were anxious to be reunited with our bicycle seats. The | | air was crisp and cold (twenty-five degrees below normal, we later | | learned on the Weather Channel), yet spring was in it in the form of | | pollen.
I cried and sniffled all day in spite of taking megadoses of | | Tylenol Allergy-Sinus. Biking out of the segregated neighborhoods of | | Eastern Austin, I was reminded of Charlie's bar the previous night, | | which was neatly divided into Mexican, Asian and Black sections. Also | | striking was how quickly we were in the countryside again, surrounded | | by an extraordinary array of wildflowers. The road to Bastrop, where | | we had lunch, was busy and shoulderless and full of butthead drivers, | | but that soon changed, thankfully. | | | | Just out of Bastrop, we turned onto a road leading through two state | | parks, and were surprised by the sudden appearance of pine trees and | | legions of other cyclists.
The presence of the latter was quickly | | understood, since what followed were fourteen miles of sheer cycling | | joy. Sure, the hills were the steepest we had ever seen, but none of | | them were very high (my altimeter showed us gaining and losing the | | same sixty feet over and over), and the many sudden twists and dips | | were thrilling. Nearly every one of the cyclists we encountered made | | the same comment --\"You guys are really loaded down\"---thus | | exhibiting their powerful Texan powers of observation. | | | | Approaching La Grange, we encountered our first oil pump of the trip | | (the kind that looks like a giant praying mantis) as well as the | | first billboard advertising alligator meat; we were definitely | | entering new territory.
Dinner was at Dairy Queen, which was invaded | | by a group of scary Christians sporting rainbow-colored outfits and | | accessories shortly after we arrived. I first mistook them for a gay | | group, but quickly dismissed this possibility based on their | | flamingly heterosexual behavior. They were doubtless just another | | group of pinheads-for-Jesus, oblivious to their having borrowed an | | emblem from the gay movement. Judging from the way that one of their | | adorable offspring hid his cross in his shirt and proceeded to flirt | | with us, they may soon have a defector on their hands.
| | | | When we checked into our motel, the friendly Gujarati owner gave us | | news of all the cyclists who had recently passed through (including | | the elusive Mike, whom haven't spotted since the very first day in | | San Diego), and had us sign a special guest registry. The best | | discount I could chisel out of him was only two dollars though; he | | must have sensed that we were too exhausted to argue or to seek | | shelter elsewhere. | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+