Today I finished my drive to Austin Texas. I since this is a big city, and parking would be limited, I decided to stay in a Hostel right outside of downtown Austin. The people there were very friendly. Everyone was introducing themselves to me. After I got settled in, I decided to ride my bike into the city to explore for a bit. It was raining, but that didn’t stop me. I rode from the hostel to Congress Blvd. This is a main road where you can pretty much access all of the highlights of Austin. I first toured the State Capital building. I believe this one is even bigger than our nations Capital. Like they say, everything is bigger in Texas. I then rode down the famous 6th street. This street is absolutely packed with bars and restaurants. You can hear live music starting as early as 5 o’clock everyday. I returned home to the hostel to get cleaned up for the night. After about an hour of working on my blog, I met a girl named Eve. She was very nice and talked to me about her move to Austin. Since I planned to live in a hostel in Denver until I found my way, this was a pretty interesting person to talk to. Shortly after I decided to head back into the city for some live music. This place is even jamming on Monday night. I went a blues/Jazz club called Maggie Mae’s. They had an incredible band playing for about an hour. Then they opened it up to an open jam session. People can bring their instruments into the club and play onstage with other random people. This sounded like a recipe for disaster, but the people who played were amazing. I even say a 11 and 12 year old brother combo play some of the best guitar riffs I have ever heard. This truly is the live music capital.
Tuesday I decided to ride my bike into town again for some more sight seeing and hiking. I went to Zilker Park (home of Austin City Limits). I really wanted to go to this show, but with a limited budget and a race against snow, I decided to pass. My favorite band Dave Matthews Band is actually headlining right now. I traveled into a mountain biking trail inside the park. I was able to see some pretty amazing rock formations and canyons along the trail. Check out the video attached. The trail had so many rocks that at one point I had to abandon the bike and hike the rest. After about a 3 hour hike, I made my way back to Barton Springs. This is a natural spring right in the heart of Austin. The view was amazing. I swear this was the biggest swimming pool I have ever seen. After I returned back to the hostel, Eve invited me to go out with a group of other hostelers to go to a swing dance club. They were offering an hour of free lessons. We all did pretty well with the lessons and continued to use our new found skills on the dance floor to some live salsa music. We then went out for a few more drinks and then headed back to the hostel.
Wednesday I wanted to ride the Lady Byrd trail around town. This is a very famous trail. You can find President G.W. Bush, Matthew Mcconnohay, Owen Wilson, Lance Armstrong and many other famous people on the trail. Earlier that morning I made plans with Eve to go to the Barton Springs pool after my ride. I was cutting it pretty close as my back tire on my bike went flat about 4 miles from the hostel. I made it back on the rims. Eve and I headed off to the pool for some swimming and relaxing in the sun. This spring is known for topless girls, but I didn’t see any. But what I did see was pretty darn cool. Eve and I were just talking shop about cycling as she is a huge cycling fan and even bigger fan of Lance Armstrong. She left to go to the bathroom only to be stopped by security. She was informed that LANCE ARMSTRONG was doing a photo shoot for Oakley sunglasses in the woman’s bathroom. She absolutely freaked out and ran to get me. We stalked outside the bathroom for about 15 minutes until he came out. We both got a picture with him and she got his autograph. This was so cool. I have only been on this trip a month and have already met a celebrity. And not only a celebrity, but the best cyclist in the world. After the spring, I decided to head to my next destination, New Mexico.
10-1-2009 New Mexico
After a long drive and a bad nights sleep in the shadiest gas station parking lot I have ever been to, I arrived in New Mexico. My first stop was Carlsbad Caverns National Monument. This place blows away any cave I have ever been to. I thought Lurray Caverns in VA was good, this place was amazing. The great room inside was over 14 football fields big. After touring the cave for about 2 hours, I decided to check in with the park rangers and get my back country camping permit. Here you can go on a hike and camp out in the wilderness for free. Considering my tight budget, this was pretty appealing. I went to Rattlesnake Canyon for the hike. I really prayed that the canyon didn’t live up to its name as I was planning on sleaping there. Luckily I didn’t get bit by a snake. I had an amazing view of the sunset from my car. I had to sleep there because I had some issues with my tent. I made my way a mile into the hike and found the perfect spot., Only to find out that I left my poles in the car. I left all of my gear and sprinted back to the car. I was in a race against the sun as it was setting in only 20 minutes. I made it back to the car only to find out that my poles were nowhere to be found. So then I had to sprint back to the campsite and gather my gear only to sprint back to the car. I made it just before I was too dark to seee. You have to be very careful where you walk out here because the place is covered in cactus plants. After enjoying the sunset on the deserted desert, (unfortunately) slept in my car. It actually got down to the 30’s that night. I was absolutely freezing. The next morning I spent 2 hours rearranging the trailer and finding my poles. Being homeless is pretty difficult, but it sure is fun. I then headed off to my next location, White Sands National Monument.
10-2-2009 White Sands National Monument
I made it to the park about 3 hours before sundown. Today I will experience my first back country camping trip. I checked in with the ranger and got my pass to hike/camp. I headed to the campground parking lot and notice some people dune surfing. Since I had a trailer full of all of my sporting equipment, I just so happened to have a boogie board that I could use. I surfed for about an hour before I had to hike to my campsite for the night This place is amazing. I have never seen so many pure white sand dunes in my life. I hiked about a mile out to my spot and set up the tent. The sunset came next and was incredible. It seamed to last for hours. While enjoying the sunset, a nice family came up to talk to me. The were asking about my trip and had some suggestions as to where to go next. I seem to be leaving my travels up to people advice that I meet along the way. He was raving about Gila National Forest. He told me that there was amazing cliff dwellings and natural hot springs. Since he chewed my ear off about the place, I decided to pay it a visit. Camping was going well until the sandstorm hit. I was awakened by my tent flipping over with me in it. I feared that I was in the middle of a tornado. You have to see the video attached. After packing all of my gear in the collapsed tent, I hiked my way back to the car only to beet the rainstorm that was headed our way. The good thing about being homeless, is that you can simply pack up and head to good weather. Today I will head to City of Rocks state park and Gila National Forest.
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