USA Trip - Part 5 - Austin TEXAS

It was about 5.30pm when we got clear of Waco, the satnav is excellent when set for a city and the navigation was easy anyway. We had not previously decided on where we would stay, Waco, on route or Austin. As we drove we settled on Austin and agreed on a Best Western level of hotel. We should have been a bit clearer on the geography of Austin as it would have made life easier for us later. As we reached the outskirts of the city it was now about 7.00pm and we needed a zip code and address of a hotel. I had a Best Western on the south side of Austin in my file but the satnav couldn’t deal with the address. We phoned ahead and they only gave the same address, our next move was to spot a McDonalds and pull into the car park, true to form, there was wireless internet reception, and we looked up the hotel again. This time we got the name of a street close by and the satnav was happy to get us there. Writing this factual account makes it seem cool and considered but the reality was far tenser and, that it had taken an extra hour in the city road system, meant we were stressed when at last we entered the hotel. It didn’t seem like the best of areas and the hotel itself seemed a bit run down.
In the foyer we were accosted by a guy who was offering us a beer, there seemed to be some party going on, but we were not at our best for socializing, so we brushed him off and booked in. We then realised that the random guy in question was the manager and the party was the weekly free manager’s reception. We booked in for one night with the option that we might stay over the following night also and, having taken our bags up to a perfectly servicable room, we returned to the foyer. We were chilled now and more than happy to socialize with the manager and hopefully drink his beer but, too late, the foyer was clear. We had been in the car enough for one day so we walked next door to the Chinese Restaurant, which was apparently run by the local junior school. We got a table without delay, not surprising as we were the only customers, and ordered that first cooling beer. I didn’t take it well when the young waitress told us that they had no license. Judging by the age of everyone we saw working in the place they had nobody old enough to buy a beer let alone apply for a license. We managed with lemonade which didn’t hit the spot as our first choice would have but was nice. The food was fine and we soon retired to our room and, it being Wednesday, we were able to watch back to back NBA games.
The following morning we had formalized our plans, although we were on the wrong side of Austin for our planned evening meal with Megan and Creed Poore who live on the north side of the city, we were on the right side to escape towards Fredricksburg the next day. We therefore decided to stay another night in the hotel and have a quiet day on that side of town. Since we had explored Austin on a previous visit we felt we could give up a day of sight-seeing and chill out.
We enjoyed the free buffet breakfast and had waffles which entail pouring a cup of waffle mix into the waffle iron and turning the iron as instructed by the iron. Unfortunately the first waffle had decided to superglue itself into the waffle maker and I had to report our incompetence to the lady on reception. Our failing was that we had not sprayed the iron with the liquid release agent prior to adding the mix. We were not therefore the most popular couple at breakfast as others were now waiting to use the waffle maker. We did however end up weith successful waffles in due course.
We had already logged onto the free WiFi in our room and therefore caught up with emails. We then looked up Academy Sports as they are the biggest sports chain in the Texas region and found one just three junctions up the highway that we were next to. We were still pursuing the basketball boots which Sarah liked and I’m always keen to check out cheaper tennis accessories, grips and strings. We drove the relatively short distance but the sports shop only had the boots in children’s sizes. The very helpful staff told us that they were expecting the adult version soon so other branches might already have them. Next door to Academy was a Wal-Mart and that sorted out our other requirements, we took back to the hotel milk, cookies and a six-pack of beer, purely for emergencies.
At about 5.30pm we drove across Austin and successfully met up at the restaurant. On the way we were at traffic lights and a huge flock of birds had settled the nearby trees and phone lines it was like a scene from a horror movie with all the noise they were making adding to their scary effect.
We had a great meal with Megan and family, Megan came over to Britain two or three times to see her dad, Kevin Wall, who we became close to when he coached the Derby Storm profession basketball team in the 2000/01 season and went on to coach the Scottish Rocks team in 2001/02 and 2002/03 seasons. Their family is great and, like we did, they expect their kids to cope with social events. It’s always a joy to socialize with Creed and Megan and the girls Carter and Harper are delights, Carter was shy at first but was soon talking especially to Julia who has a gift for getting on with children.
When we were talking about our plans it emerged that Megan and Creed love Fredricksburg and in fact Creed proposed to Megan there. They suggested that we should book a hotel on the main street to be able to enjoy the German beers rather than having to drive, we had already booked our hotel, Best Western again, but I was confident it was on Main Street so that seemed to be fine.
We were hoping to all meet up with Ryan Huntley, one of Kevin’s ex-players whom Megan also knew, at the restaurant but he had called saying that he would be later due to work. He is no longer playing and is in the accounts department of a law firm in Austin. The timing worked out well, just as the girls had finished their meals and were becoming restless and their bed time was approaching, Ryan arrived. There was just enough time for Creed and Megan to socialize with him before they headed back home with the kids. It emerged that it was Ryan’s birthday and he was meeting up with his brother later so he did not need to eat but it was great catching up over a drink. He had taken the next day, Friday, off and insisted on meeting up with us for breakfast before we moved on to the Texas Hill country.
On our way out of the restaurant Ryan introduced us to his car. He is a powerfully built 6’4” and always struggled with the small cars provided to players in Britain so it was no real surprise to us that he drives a large Ford Explorer type truck. All over Texas we lost our rental car in parking lots because it was always dwarfed by every other car.
We met Ryan successfully on our side of town at the IHOP which was pretty much opposite our hotel. We had omelets which made a good start to the day and took with us the pancakes which were part of that menu item. They would make a lunch when we reached the hotel in Fredricksburg.