When I arrived in Texas, I wasn’t sure if I was crazy about the state, but my next destination, Austin, changed my mind. It’s now one of my favorite places during my travels so far. I had a feeling I would like it when I found out their motto was “Keep Austin Weird.”
When Mitchell and I first arrived, we drove around looking for a place to set up camp, which brought us to Zilker Park. We found a spot populated with multiple buses, RVs, and box trucks. It seemed like the perfect location. We got out and talked with one girl who lived on a bus, and she told us about a place down by the river where everybody would go to swim. It was extremely hot that day, around 100°, so we decided to check it out right away.
The swimming spot ended up being better than we had imagined. It was a short walk through the woods, then it opened up to a clear, spring fed river. There were people lining both sides, relaxing, swimming, and swinging off ropes into the water. The river was also dotted with multiple people in paddle boats and kayaks. The entire place seemed to radiate joy.
We went down to a secluded area where we could lay out our towels and swim, and Maggie joined us in the water. After a bit we decided to explore the trails that ran along the river.
As we walked, we came to an area where the river opened up into a swimming hole with a waterfall. Apparently this was where everyone goes to hang out; there were people and dogs everywhere, all having a good time. We ended up staying there for a while, making friends until dark, as Maggie ran around freely playing with the other dogs.
We returned to the parking lot where we had parked and had planned on staying, but to our dismay, the cops rolled in not long after us, making everyone leave. The man who owned the box truck told us about a few other places we could try and park, one being on the side of a road. We didn’t have anywhere else to try, so we went to that spot.
When we pulled up, there were two other buses parked, which seemed promising. On the sidewalk, a guy and a girl sat with two dogs. We walked over and introduced ourselves, asking if this road was a good place to park. They said it was, and we sat and hung out for a bit with Jon Paul, who had a short bus and two dogs, and Alyce, who lived in a full size school bus with her boyfriend Mattie. They became good friends during our time in Austin.
That ended up being the spot we stayed the entire time we were in the city. The road was adjacent to a nice little park with picnic tables and garbage cans, and down the road a bit was a public bathroom with a water fill up station. It was the perfect spot, with everything we needed including our new friends. What could be better?! Thomas even loved it there, he had a manhole cover that he claimed as his and would always lay on.
That next morning, our bus neighbors invited us to go out for coffee. We all walked over to an adorable little shop. Half of it was a coffee shop, while the other half was a bicycle repair shop. The dogs were even able to come with us and hang out inside.
Afterwards we all went down to the river together. This time we sat at a spot that had a rope swing. With Texas having a record breaking hot spell, it was about 100°, it was nice to sail through the air on the rope before splashing into the refreshing cold water.
That night I went out to a bar with Jon Paul and Alyce, a honky-tonk. I had never been to one before. When we walked in, a live band was playing and everyone was doing the two-step. I felt a little out of my element, but it was so much fun being there. Everyone looked like they were having a blast dancing, and the energy of the bar was uplifting. I even tried two-stepping a little. I wasn’t the best at it, despite how easy it looked, but I’m glad I got to experience the fun.
I had been wanting to learn to drive Mitchell’s motorcycle for a while. The big problem, though, is that I’m too short; my feet don’t touch the ground. However, I was determined. I told Mitchell that I could sit in the front and drive, and it would be up to him to touch the ground whenever we stopped. He was reluctant, but eventually agreed. I have a way of wearing people down. At first I couldn’t get the bike to move at all because I stalled it every time. Eventually, I figured it out, but not quite how I meant to. I had the front tire off the ground and did a wheelie as we took off. I started zipping around everywhere. I wasn’t quite sure how the shifting worked, so I just kept guessing. I had a blast, but I think Mitchell seemed more terrified than anything, he hasn’t let me drive it since.
That night we watched the total lunar eclipse. It was a blood moon, which made the moon look reddish. We found the perfect location to watch it, the very center of a baseball field. It was surrounded by a fence that we hopped, passing Maggie off over the top, so we had the entire area to ourselves. The eclipse was beautiful, especially with the moon so big. You could vaguely see the outline of the moon in the dark area. The energy it put off was magical.
Every morning we were there, and even some entire days, we went out exploring. There was a long walking path that stretched throughout the entire city that we could enjoy. Other days we would take the motorcycle and explore everything that we came across that looked like it might be a path. Some paths weren’t all that exciting, but others took us to enchanted places with community gardens and tire swings that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.
Not only did Austin have amazing walking trails, but it also had the cutest plant shops. We went to one that had every kind of cactus you could imagine, some of them were even taller than me. They had all sorts of crystals too, and anybody who knows me knows I love both plants and crystals.
One night I got invited to go out rollerskating with Alyce, Jon Paul, Mattie and their friend Kobi. Mitchell was tired so he stayed behind and napped. It was adult night at the skating place, and it was packed. They had all sorts of different colored lights swirling around to the music. At the very center of the ceiling was a giant roller skate disco ball.
We skated for hours. Most of the time it was free-style skating, but once in a while they would announce that for the next song we should do something different, like skating backwards, or skating at full speed.
Rollerblading is one of my favorite activities. Mitchell had been looking for a pair for a while, and he was finally able to find ones that fit him at a second-hand shop. We took off to explore the city by blades right before the sun was going to set. We found an open concrete lot where we rollerbladed around before heading to the city. We stopped at a gas station on the way, where Mitchell treated us to ice cream and a slushy. We weren’t sure if we would get kicked out of the gas station for wearing rollerblades, but they didn’t even seem to notice.
We went everywhere throughout the city. We rolled down Main Street, which was flooded with cool bars. As we went past each bar we got to hear the music and pick up on the energy of each one. It was like experiencing bits of life in fast-forward.
The last place we ended up was the bat bridge. Austin has a bridge that has one of the largest urban bat colonies in North America. Each night the bridge is lined with people to watch the estimated 1.5 million bats fly out from under the bridge and into the city. We made it just in time to see them take off, and it was fascinating. The bats flew out together in a thick line, looking like a black, cylindrical cloud. They seemed never ending. Even as we looked far out into the city, you could still see the clouds of bats in between the buildings.
Everyone in our little friend group of bus life was going to be leaving Austin around the same time, but all in different directions. Jon Paul was the first to leave, just a few days before the rest of us, on his way to Colorado. For his last day we all got together and spent time at the rope swing by the water.
That night we all went to a little comedy club. It was at an outdoor area surrounded by food trucks. All new comedians were featured, testing out their skits, and each got three minutes on stage.
Some were really funny, and others made you cringe with tasteless jokes. There was a cooler of free beer off to the side, though, which helped with the less funny comedians. After the comedy show we said our goodbyes to Jon Paul.
Alyce and I met up one last time with just the two of us, a girl's day out. We started with coffee at a cute little coffee shop, and then on to a thrift store. When we walked in, the owner offered us wine, and called it sip-and-shop! That seemed like the perfect concept to me. What made the thrift store even better was that it was raising money for animals that needed to be adopted. Two different dogs roamed the store. One was a little Dachshund who was in a doggy wheelchair. He wandered the store freely and had a balloon tied to him so no one would inadvertently step on him. It was the cutest thing ever.
We finished our girl’s day with a little hike, then went to a diner for some food. Alyce was then off to New York City for a job. It was nice to hang out with a female friend. Hanging out with my friends is one of the main things I miss while I’m on the road.
I loved Austin, but felt like it was time for me to head out. I was ready to move on to New Mexico. Mitchell wasn’t quite ready to leave, so we decided to go our separate ways for a bit. I loaded up everything in my car, and Maggie and I and took off west again, onto our next adventure.
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