The Austin Two Step

Austin burns in the background static of our Jeep’s rearview mirrors – that great mecca of creative culture, shimmering desert oasis in the flat canyon arroyos of central Texas. With antique moonlight towers scattered around the city still keeping an ongoing vigil of her mismatched multi-lingual enlightened citizens below, Austin is a beacon of fresh energy in a burned-out state with too much land and an oversized ego to match. Hoyle and I (of Hoyle,Tanner of course) will be home soon, intermingling once again in the heart of Cajun Country, where the fiddle cries in the night like a lost coyote drunk on too much red beans and rice. For now, Texas blacktop – bubbling in 100+ degrees like a molten river of liquid tar, rolls away beneath us. Cedars howls to his favorite harmonica tunes. And these two road-weary travelers share secret smiles at the thought of seeing old lovers, old friends, old family once again.

Still, as much as we feel like home is right around the corner, the Austin skyline is no further than the western horizon through the tinted glass of the Jeep’s rear hatch behind us. She was kind to us. Cedars spent his days making friends, and some enemies, at a local dog park on the banks of Town Lake, while the two boys tried their best to also spend some time outdoors; however, the incessant southern sun kept pushing us to pursue indoor activities again and again. When you don’t work yourself up to these hot summer days, and instead spend the first month and half of the summer in the cool of the north country, then all of a sudden find yourself in the heat of triple digits, it can be real difficult to bear. The sweat pulses out of you like a soggy pair of jeans squeezed tight by Aunt Martha’s strong hands in the noonday wash. When our hosts were busy, we spent our days on a couch soaking up some Austin air conditioner, watching whatever movies we could get our slick mitts on. Thus this list of moving pictures was created…

The A-Team
The Last Airbender
Predators
Harmony and Me
Roxanne
Labyrinth
Shawn of the Dead
310 to Yuma
The Mighty Boosh Season 2
Treme Season 1
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
Ong Bak 2

Intense summer sun can do such a thing to the fragile minds and bodies of lofty road travelers. We also took in a few free events, some live music, some tex-mex burritos and tacos, some art – the quintessential Austin candor. Dr. Richard Terp wowed the crowd at the New Movement Comedy Theater and the cool pools of Barton Springs brought both relief and leeches. Good times and a lot of relaxing. A fine way to put a cap on this marvelous summer road trip. We head home with bruises, scars, dirty clothes, leftover backpacking meals, tons of pictures and lifelong memories. We saw so much of this country, but there is still so much more to see. But I digress; this is Austin’s blog. And this is the end of it. For all you faithful readers, welcome your lost sons home. This adventure is coming to a close and there is but one more blog to write after this one. Before then, however, there is only seven more hours of open road and two states to travel through. Home we go. Hoyle and Tanner. To the end. And on and on.

And then this...