Ah, carp
Drive in to Austin, Texas
Hostel
Post office visit
Night out
Capital building
Wholefoods, the home of the rich but not famous
REI outdoor sports gear
Thrift stores
Distance:
Total Distance:
Like my father before me, I don't cry over much beyond sad books and the odd film. Mostly this is fine, but there are times when I wish I was like I was as a child. Able to sit in a corner and let it all pour out. Let the tears wash away my worries. But I can't. So, forced to bear the weight without a simple way to let it go, I carried on as best I could.
On Wednesday night I lost my wallet. At home that would have been fine. But here, in America, it left me penniless and vulnerable. I was so tired after so long away from any sort of home. I just wanted the trip to be over. Just wanted to go and be surrounded by family and friends. People I trusted, could depend upon.
In the end it would be ok. Not easy. Stressful and hellish, but ok.
It was another long drive to Austin, Texas, the state capital. The slogan for the city is "Keep Austin Weird", unusually. Unlike the usual view of Texas as a bunch of Bible bashing, redneck, cowboys, the city attempts to keep things different, slightly liberal, and modern. It's certainly not keeping up with Melbourne, Wellington, or even New Orleans, in this regard, but it seems likely to be worth the effort given the rest of the state.
We were staying in a small hostel by the river some distance from the centre of the town. Down the road was a small post office. I hoped to send a parcel home as I had done in the other countries. Just a few bits and pieces, presents, trinkets, nothing much. It was in a small kiosk that I found the couple who had been running the post office for many years. There was a drive by facility for anyone who didn't want to make the three strides from the parking inside. Within I found them to be having a small argument, surrounded by boxes. Beyond the desk that divided the public from the post was a small wash basket. From it came a tiny bark-a chihuahua poked its head out from underneath.
We had a good chat about dogs and travelling as a box was found for me. They weighed it as I filled out the paperwork. Then they, thankfully decided to warn me. It was going to cost over $70 to post it home! I wasn't even sending that much! In NZ or Aus it might have come to half, probably even less, than that. So no, that was off. I returned to the hostel and pushed the little package deep into my rucksack.
That night we went out into Austin. We wandered up and down the dark, dingy street, beign offered "cheap" "deals" by the few promoters. The girls weren't too keen on anywhere, but eventually we found somewhere and had a few drinks. We met up with a friend of our tour guide, and met a few students from the local university.
Later on in the evening the students would take us down to the Capital Building. this is the centre of governance for Texas state. It is designed based on the Capital Building in Washington D.C., but is a little bit bigger. Apparently everything in Texas has to be bigger.
It wouldn't be for a few days that I would decide that I must have lost my wallet in the taxi ride between here and the hostel.
The next morning we went to Wholefoods. This is a supermarket chain in America which specialises in selling the best of the best, for the appropriate price. Its not cheap, but it is good. As well as the normal supermarket area it has a self service deli area with a wide selection. We had soup, yogurt, thai, chinese, pasta, salad. it was all excellent.
Afterwards we went next door to REI. This outdoor sports shop used to believe it had such high quality goods as to offer a lifetime warranty on everything. If you bought a jacket from them you had a jacket for life. Should a zip fail or you tear the jacket they would replace it, free of charge, no questions asked. Apparently even if you simply didn't like something you could take it back and get an alternative. Now that warranty has gone down to one year-but the same rules still apply. The price is really good too- less than for similar items in the UK.
At this point I headed off to the Police Station to report my wallet missing. My tour guide didn't seem to understand why I would bother, nor did the police. I'd already rung the taxi company, another move people didn't seem to understand why I'd bother. This is America. No one cares. No one was going to hand it back in. They'd take the cash I had and probably throw the rest. This is the level of faith in humanity America turned me towards. In some ways the UK can be like this, but less than half the time. In Australia and New Zealand I never felt like this-everyone was always so helpful and happy. I'd had enough of this country a long time ago. This was getting to be too much.
Finally we headed to the thrift shops. This was to be prepared for tomorrow night. We would be dressing up for a party that we would be having with another Trek America tour group. The other group would come from the opposite direction, starting in New York, taking the shorter route than ours, going inland and down to New Orleans, then west towards us.
Like my father before me, I don't cry over much beyond sad books and the odd film. Mostly this is fine, but there are times when I wish I was like I was as a child. Able to sit in a corner and let it all pour out. Let the tears wash away my worries. But I can't. So, forced to bear the weight without a simple way to let it go, I carried on as best I could.
On Wednesday night I lost my wallet. At home that would have been fine. But here, in America, it left me penniless and vulnerable. I was so tired after so long away from any sort of home. I just wanted the trip to be over. Just wanted to go and be surrounded by family and friends. People I trusted, could depend upon.
In the end it would be ok. Not easy. Stressful and hellish, but ok.
It was another long drive to Austin, Texas, the state capital. The slogan for the city is "Keep Austin Weird", unusually. Unlike the usual view of Texas as a bunch of Bible bashing, redneck, cowboys, the city attempts to keep things different, slightly liberal, and modern. It's certainly not keeping up with Melbourne, Wellington, or even New Orleans, in this regard, but it seems likely to be worth the effort given the rest of the state.
We were staying in a small hostel by the river some distance from the centre of the town. Down the road was a small post office. I hoped to send a parcel home as I had done in the other countries. Just a few bits and pieces, presents, trinkets, nothing much. It was in a small kiosk that I found the couple who had been running the post office for many years. There was a drive by facility for anyone who didn't want to make the three strides from the parking inside. Within I found them to be having a small argument, surrounded by boxes. Beyond the desk that divided the public from the post was a small wash basket. From it came a tiny bark-a chihuahua poked its head out from underneath.
We had a good chat about dogs and travelling as a box was found for me. They weighed it as I filled out the paperwork. Then they, thankfully decided to warn me. It was going to cost over $70 to post it home! I wasn't even sending that much! In NZ or Aus it might have come to half, probably even less, than that. So no, that was off. I returned to the hostel and pushed the little package deep into my rucksack.
That night we went out into Austin. We wandered up and down the dark, dingy street, beign offered "cheap" "deals" by the few promoters. The girls weren't too keen on anywhere, but eventually we found somewhere and had a few drinks. We met up with a friend of our tour guide, and met a few students from the local university.
Later on in the evening the students would take us down to the Capital Building. this is the centre of governance for Texas state. It is designed based on the Capital Building in Washington D.C., but is a little bit bigger. Apparently everything in Texas has to be bigger.
It wouldn't be for a few days that I would decide that I must have lost my wallet in the taxi ride between here and the hostel.
The next morning we went to Wholefoods. This is a supermarket chain in America which specialises in selling the best of the best, for the appropriate price. Its not cheap, but it is good. As well as the normal supermarket area it has a self service deli area with a wide selection. We had soup, yogurt, thai, chinese, pasta, salad. it was all excellent.
Afterwards we went next door to REI. This outdoor sports shop used to believe it had such high quality goods as to offer a lifetime warranty on everything. If you bought a jacket from them you had a jacket for life. Should a zip fail or you tear the jacket they would replace it, free of charge, no questions asked. Apparently even if you simply didn't like something you could take it back and get an alternative. Now that warranty has gone down to one year-but the same rules still apply. The price is really good too- less than for similar items in the UK.
At this point I headed off to the Police Station to report my wallet missing. My tour guide didn't seem to understand why I would bother, nor did the police. I'd already rung the taxi company, another move people didn't seem to understand why I'd bother. This is America. No one cares. No one was going to hand it back in. They'd take the cash I had and probably throw the rest. This is the level of faith in humanity America turned me towards. In some ways the UK can be like this, but less than half the time. In Australia and New Zealand I never felt like this-everyone was always so helpful and happy. I'd had enough of this country a long time ago. This was getting to be too much.
Finally we headed to the thrift shops. This was to be prepared for tomorrow night. We would be dressing up for a party that we would be having with another Trek America tour group. The other group would come from the opposite direction, starting in New York, taking the shorter route than ours, going inland and down to New Orleans, then west towards us.
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