Luckily the trip from Dallas wasn't a long one.....mileage-wise, because the weather and the traffic made it a much longer trip than anticipated, time-wise! The traffic through Austin was horrendous! We crawled along at 20 mph for about 20 miles or so. Sometimes even coming to a complete stop. For nothing! Just a ton of cars on roads not designed to move so many all at once! And this was 2:30 in the afternoon! I can't even imagine what rush hour would be like!
It was another pissy-drizzly-foggy day so we put the full-facers back on, once again! We opted not to get fully suited up though...which was a good call because it really warmed up! Even in parts where it was full-on rain I didn't mind! It felt pretty good!
We stopped at the Central Texas Harley dealership in Round Rock. Super nice folks there! We asked for some lunch recommendations and he salesmen said there was Chuy's nearby! We like Chuy's! He was surprised to hear that there's one in Nashville. It's an Austin area chain. (Yes, we ate at a chain! But this isn't the usual chain type restaurant!) The saleslady there was really nice, too! We were picking out some shirts and she pointed out some shirts they carried that had a pile of donuts pictured on the back! What the...?!?!? I guess there's a famous donut shop nearby. Only it's not THAT famous.....and the dealership ordered a shit-ton of these shirts with the donuts on the back...and nobody wants to buy them because they don't look macho enough and/or nobody knows why there's a pile of donuts pictured on the back of the Harley dealer shirt! Hahahaaaa! Tom made a joke about being a cop so he really can't wear that shirt for fear of ridicule...then the saleslady tried to get us to buy about 40 off these shirts to take back home for the guys at work!!! Hahahha! We explained to her that the new generation of cops prefer bagels anyway! Donuts are old-school! So we found some shirts we liked (I found one on the clearance rack! Hooooooray! I LOVE the clearance rack!). And...as a bonus, the nice lady gave us a 10% law-enforcement discount because Tom mentioned he's a cop! Good thing we struck up a conversation about the silly donut shirts or it would've never come up! We said goodbye to the nice people at the Dealership and headed for Chuy's! There was a ton of people waiting to be seated but there we're some empty spots at the bar! Hooooray! So in we slid! Chuy's serves this creamy greenish sauce with their chips. I think it might be a jalapeño-ranch thing. Anyway....this stuff is soooooooo freaking delicious! I just wanna drink it! Hell....I wanna bathe in it! Their regular red salsa rocks too! I was going to order something light, as is usually try to do while on the road.....but their special was the Frito Pie Enchilada! 2 enchiladas loaded with chilis, sauce, cheese, ground beef, and Fritos! Served with rice and beans! Ugh! I must have this! But there's still 100 miles to go! Screw it! I'm getting it! And order it I did! As did Tom! Looking back, we should've just ordered one and split it but....oh well!
Back on the road again. Someone REALLY turned up the heat outside while we were eating lunch! We bought those "CoolMax" things...as seen on TV! Add water, put them around your neck, and stay cool for hours! And they really do work!! Hooray!
As we riding through Waco on I-35 I noticed a man up on one of the overpasses. He was dressed in an orange robe, had a turban-type thing on his head, and had 2 large staffs, one in each hand. He was slowly waving these staffs around...putting them together in front of him and slowly separating them and pulling them back together...as if to part the Red Sea or something. He really got my attention! Who is he? What is he doing? Is he blessing us? Is he CURSING us? The whole scene was a little surreal!
After crawling through more slow traffic thanks to a couple accidents near San Antonio, we finally arrived! We checked into our hotel, decompressed, got cleaned up, and headed out to meet my cousin Chrissy at Taco Haven! Our hotel doesn't have a shuttle so we called a cab. No biggie!
Taco Haven was hoppin'! We got the last available table! This place was loud! Lots of excitement!
There was a band setting up, preparing to play. Our waiter was super nice! Tom and I ordered a bucket of Dos Equis Amber. As he was delivering it to our table and older gentleman....apparently the manager, came over and started yelling at him...."why aren't you taking care of that table over there?" Referring to the table behind us. Really?!?! You're gonna yell at this poor guy as he's serving us? Our waiter looked embarrassed and apologized for the cranky man's behavior. I observed Mr. Cranky-Pants afterward. He generally just made his rounds amongst the restaurant staff, yelling at everyone and generally being an obnoxious jerk. It turns out Mr. Cranky-Pants is our waiter's Dad. This is a famiily-run operation and Mr Cranky-Pants' father was the founder of Taco Haven. When he wasn't yelling at the staff he would sit there looking like King Shit of Turd Island. All puffed-up and full of himself! I found the whole scene to be quite amusing! My cousin Chrissy arrived shortly after all the yelling! Hooooray! I haven't seen Chrissy in forever! She's been living in San Antonio for a few years, employed by the San Antonio Silver Stars as a strength coach. It was kinda hard to talk because it was so loud in there but we caught up as best as we could! The food there was reeeeeally good! We ordered an appetizer that consisted of a bowl of melted cheese with chorizo, served with warm tortillas. Calories don't count while on vacation, right?
Here we are......
Chrissy had to take off early but we made plans to meet for dinner tonight....Saturday.
One thing I gotta say......I didn't feel like I was in the United States anymore in this place! After Chrissy left us Tom and I were the only gringos left!
After finishing what we could, paying our bill, and tipping our waiter VERY well....(so well that he came over to thank us and shook Tom's hand! He was awesome! He was slammed with customers...getting yelled at by Cranky-Pants...and still served us with a smile!). Anyway, from there we ordered a cab and had him dump us off at the Riverwalk!
How cool this Riverwalk area is!
Lots of restaurants, bars, shops......with no railings! This could never happen in Cleveland! There'd be people jumping...or falling...into the water daily!
We wandered around and were drawn to the sound of some great live blues! This guy sounded a LOT like Austin Walkin' Cane, a fantastic blues singer-guitarist from back home in CLE. He and his band (a bass player and drummer) were set up outside at a place called "The Worm". A tequila bar! Hooray! There was an open table right in front of the band so we took it...and spent the evening sitting outside, sipping tequila, and enjoying this guy's awesome sounds! At the end of the night the singer came over and gave us a CD and button. Sweet! I guess their band is called "Step Aside"? You should check them out!
After the band packed it up, the crowds started to thin, and we decided to hoof it back to the hotel. It's only a 15 minute walk from the Riverwalk to our hotel. Very do-able!
After we got back, the image of the guy on the overpass was still in my head. I asked Tom if he saw him. Tom had not. I tried describing him the best I could... Perhaps I just imagined seeing him!
So then I Googled "man in robe on overpass"! I didn't think I'd get any hits. But hey! Check this out!!!!
He does exist! His name is Virgil Bell and he spends most of his time praying for the motorists!!!
Here's some pictures I borrowed off the site....
See?!?! Wouldn't that image stick with you if you saw him!?!?
So our first night in San Antonio was awesome! Today we're gonna do some more sightseeing, perhaps see the Alamo, and probably head back to the Riverwalk!
Talk to ya soon!
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