Austin

It's hard for me to write about a city that I already feel so comfortable in. When we got to Austin, it felt like we just got home, like we were taking a break from the tour. But I like being consistent, and it was just as much part of the trip as the other places, only way more familiar, so I'll just try to remember as much as I can about our time in Austin and write it down any way. The first night, Rob and Adonis took us out to get food from their work. We got fed every day by our friends in food service jobs, and it was all delicious! On the way to the carts, Rob got pulled over and ticketed for riding on the sidewalk/running a red light, which was pretty lame, but then it was redeemed when we got some free + amazing japanese/korean food, mmm pork belly. The night ended "early", as in we didn't end up doing much else, but it was probably pretty late by the time we crashed out.

On Thursday, Mims, her friend Kyle, and I went to a seasonal watering hole that had just filled up from the rain a few days ago. The water was amazing, but I felt a little sick, so I didn't get to fully appreciate it. That night I stayed home and recovered while the others went out bowling and drinking. Friday, woke up and felt much better, got some delicious vegan ice cream and worked on the motorcycle all day. First, we had to take off the wheels, and take them to the shop to get them swapped with some new tires Larsen had. We took the wheels to Bub's, a Harley shop on Cesar Chavez. Larsen was geeking out over all the old motorcycle parts. They put the tires on for us, and cut us a great deal (was going to be 60-70, but they did it for 40). We brought it back to Mim's and worked on it some more, replaced the fuel filter, fixed the clutch lever, replaced the breaks, put some lube in some places, cleaned some shit out, put some shit back together, got attacked by mosquitos, then by the time we were done it was about 11pm. Then we got on the bike and met up with some Skidmarxxxx at Double Down. We showed up right as it was closing, so we followed the group to the house where the Skull By party was. We watched some girls play shitty pool and drank home brew, then I drove a drunk Marcus home in his van while Larsen took the motorcycle alone. On the way home, I see Larsen riding in the opposite direction next to Rob on his tall bike. Apparently they went to see if Aprille had arrived from LA yet, but she wasn't home (what a dick).

Next day, a bunch of us spent the day at Uncle Billy's Bar&Que, and got day drunk, then we all rode over to the Yellow Bike Project and ate some vegan donuts and drink free beer for days, LarMarMims leave early and I stayed to watch the yellow and black marching band (can't remember what they are called). Later on Larsen and I headed over to Highball and Mim's gave us a tour, which included visiting Kyle in the DJ booth and partying in some random person's karaoke room. The whole place is impressively decorated and easy to get lost in, way classier than the people inside. Afterwards we hit up Whataburger for their reknowned "honey butter chicken biscuit" which is served on the 11pm-11am breakfast menu, and consists of honey, butter, and chicken in a biscuit. We also get a basket of chicken strips for Mimsy. When we get back to the house, to our dismay, we realized that they FORGOT THE BASKET (oh the horror!). So Larsen and I go back and we get a free texas toast and lemon pie in addition to our neglected chicken basket!!

On Sunday, we headed over to the deli Keely works at and grab the keys to her scooter, which Larsen fixed the first day we were in Austin, and she fed us some amazing highly acclaimed Ruben's and got a bag of Zapp's, cuz they remind me of New Orleans. Then, I finally got to ride my first motorized two wheeled vehicle! It was so insanely fun. Larsen rode on the back while I drove (role reversal's are fun too)! With the scooter, we went to the watering hole and met up with Mims and her room mate Phil. We waded around a bit and watched people get pulled around by rapids, then we said Hi to Nathan at a unicycle flag football game, then to Shangri-La for some more hanging out. Afterwards we all headed over to a party where Kozmo was hanging out where there was meat, crusties, beer, and friends. Bichael gave my back an assessment, it was creaked from the motorcycle ride and from trying to lift the scooter earlier on it's center stand. Since it was our last night in Austin, we said goodbye to every one, but we know it's only a short goodbye, because every time we come back, we see how close it really is to Los Angeles.