6/18/2011 Dinner at The County Line

We ate dinner tonight at The County Line. Barbecue!! Very yummy barbecue, actually. This is the view from the patio.

6/18/2011 SoCo

South Congress Street (SoCo) is artsy, trendy fun. Very Austin. Probably part of the inspiration for the "Keep Austin Weird" campaign. The food trucks we visited are on South Congress (there are other areas of town with food trucks). We looked around (just a teeny bit). An art show was just setting up. Here are some earrings made with string art (good old geometry) . . . we mostly saw jewelry at this show.

Next was the Uncommon Objects. What an amazing place! It really was all uncommon objects--part junk, part antiques, all uncommon. The place was packed with stuff, but it was so artistically arranged, you just enjoyed the looking. This Statue of Liberty replica (not to scale) was only $1600.

I photographed this roadrunner for my mom but check out what else is on that table...keys and bobbins and typesetting letters displayed in china bowls.

Outside the store window announcing their 20th anniversary:

I love how Congress Street dead ends into the state capitol.

6/18/2011 Food Vehicles

Food trucks, food carts, food trailers . . . it doesn't matter what you call them, they are very popular here in Austin and the ones we visited for lunch had delicious food. Yes, we left Franklin Barbecue without getting to test America's best BBQ. We met up with Joann, a Girl Scout buddy of mine, who is a native Austinite and a heck of a lot of fun. When we made the decision to leave Franklin, she called her brother who knows all the good food places in town. She told him we wanted something delicious and very Austin-ish. We had heard about the food trucks, but there are many of them all over town. He knew the best collection in the most fun part of town. Even though it was after 11:00 on a Saturday when we arrived, Austin folks must not get up early because few of the food trucks were open yet.

This particular location on South Congress is going to be a luxury hotel, but until they start construction, these trucks are set up here. There's even a parking lot (for which you have to pay $5 in order to utilize.)

This one fascinates me. What might look like an ice cream place is really a lunch place. They serve all their food in paper cones! How clever. It makes everything really portable. Check out the picnic tables, there are even holders to keep your cones upright so you can get more than one at a time. We learned from this vendor that Austin doesn't have fried food, it's only "highly sauteed."

We went shopping and then came back. By then, Fry Baby was open and I had fresh sweet potato fries that were delicious. But the proprietor's secret caramel sauce on top was amazing. I wonder if I'll ever enjoy naked sweet potato fries again.

The food at this one wasn't as great as the trailer, but it was still fun.

KMO got a pulled pork taco from this place featuring New Mexico Hatch green chiles. Yum!!!

6/18/2011 Award-Winning BBQ

We heard about it on the news last night and decided we really had to go here today. Franklin Barbecue was declared best BBQ in the United States by Bon Appetit magazine!! It started in a little trailer/food truck and just a year and a half ago, opened in this building. They only serve lunch and they serve until they're sold out and then that's it for the day. Aaron Franklin uses beef raised in Montana in a cruelty-free environment and cooks it for 18 hours. Rumor is you have to get here by 10:30. We figured since it was on the news, we might should get there a little earlier. We figured wrong. We should've gotten there a lot earlier. Here was the line when we arrived (and you can't even see the front of the restaurant or the front of the line in this photo):

About 5 'til 11, Aaron himself came out to tell the folks in the back of the line that their chances were pretty slim of there being any food left by the time they got to the restaurant, and it would probably be over an hour before they even got there to find out.

At least Aaron let us take a photo with him. :-)

6/17/2011 Farewell to the Truck

Yesterday we stopped at the Penske place and got help getting the car off the carrier and unhooking the carrier from the truck. The Penske people let us park the truck on their lot overnight. Today, we went back and got the truck and met 3 guys from Worry Free Moving (KMO found them through the movinghelp.com Web site) who unloaded the cargo off the truck and stacked it in the storage unit. I was most impressed with the guys who loaded KMO's truck for her back in Richmond. They did a great job. But these unloading guys did a great job, too...and in this heat! Ugh!!!

One of the goals of our driving trip was to never have to put the truck in reverse. (Backing up big vehicles is hard enough, but with a trailer on the back??? No thank you.) And we pretty much accomplished that! The exception was the two parking spaces at the last hotel, we had to back up about 3 feet in order to have enough room to pull out. And both times, we were backing straight up, so it really wasn't a problem. And then today, KMO had to back up to get the truck in the right position to unload it. But she did it beautifully. I'd say we pretty much met that goal.

So here's a pic of our last moments with Big Yellow. Thanks! It was a great ride!!

6/17/2011 Eating Our Way Through Austin

Dinner last night at Chuy's set the bar high for where to eat. But Austin is known for lots of really great restaurants. Let's see how many we can find before I leave. :-)

Lunch today doesn't really count. But there's a Cheddar's less than 10 minutes from Karen's casa and she'd never eaten at one, so even if it's not a local or an Austin-based restaurant, it's just a great restaurant that you have to go to. We split a spinach dip appetizer and an order of Spasagna and it was up to par. I do love Cheddar's. And I found out that it was founded in 1979 in Arlington, TX, so at least it's a Texas-based restaurant!

Don't know the history of Santa Rita or where it started, but this is only 5 minutes from Karen's casa and it's Tex-Mex so we went and it was quite enjoyable.

6/16/2011 Austin! We Made It!

We made it! Here we are at Karen's new casa. (Well, it's hers until October.) But this was the destination and we made it. :-) Notice that the car is not on its carrier anymore. Tomorrow is serious unpacking. Most stuff is going straight into storage as the house is furnished.

What's the first thing one should do upon arrival in Austin? Chuy's! The Arbor Trails Chuy's is less than 10 minutes from Karen's Casa. Thursday night special: stuffed avocado. ... with green chile. I'm a happy camper!

This is the inside of the stuffed avocado. It was sooooooo yummy! "An avocado filled with chicken, cheese & green chiles, panko-breaded and lightly fried, served on Queso Blanco and Hatch Green Chile Sauces, with green chile rice & refried beans." Tex Mex AND green chiles--this is heaven!

At Chuy's. 'Cuz don't you want to know your silverware has been sanitized for your protection?

6/16/2011 Columbus, Texas

We had lunch in cute little Columbus, TX. This turret is in the same town square as the County Courthouse that's under renovation with support from the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program.

There were lots of other quaint old buildings on the square, we just drove by too quickly and there was no way we were navigating our way back around in that van pulling the car.

6/16/2011 Houston

Houston! We are getting closer.

R E A L L Y big flags outside of Houston. We saw about 4 pairs of these big ones and lots of little ones. It's so great to be in Texas--the only state that's allowed to fly its state flag at the same height as the national flag. :-)

On I-10 heading north out of Houston where the shoulder (break-down lane) can be used as an "Evaculane" in case the city has to evacuate for a hurricane. I guess this is the international symbol for Evaculane.

I'm not sure the difference between this plain white symbol and the blue and white one, but they both are marking the Evaculane. I'm glad they had this painted every mile or so. It took several tries to get these shots. I wanted them without the antenna in the way, but that didn't happen!

This must be the result of the disaster of Hurricane Rita evacuation--a classic case of locking the barn door after the horses were stolen.

6/16/2011 Greetings from KMO

This is the front of the card that Karen gave me on the first day. Sure looks like Thelma and Louise to me!!

It's perfect!!! Thanks, Louise! It was an awesome ride.

6/16/2011 On the Road Again

We had to park away from the hotel last night. So this morning, KMO decided to get "the car" and bring it closer. No easy feat! Fortunately, with our leisurely departure times, the lot was pretty empty. Today we will get to Austin! Today's predicted high temp? 103 with a "comfort index" of 135. 135!! The highin Maine today will be 83 and will feel like 83. Even in the sunshine...and the sun is shining today in Maine. I think it's time to head back. :-)

6/15/2011 T E X A S ! ! !

Yeeehah! We are officially in Texas as we cross over the Sabine River.

Nice Lone Star at the Tourist Welcome Center.

Cool! This is the actual "Welcome" sign on the highway, but viewable from the safety of the tourist welcome center. We can take a photo of the real thing while still being safe.

Mindy would really like to take over the driving. (Or maybe she really wants us to stop driving.) Okay, Mindy, we'll stop. We are safely in Baytown for the night.

6/15/2011 Our Weight is Okay

Very fancy electronic system that checks out the trucks as they pass under sensors and then tells you whether to pull into the weigh station or, as was in our case, "truck okay to bypass weigh station." We were okay both coming into and going out of the state.

6/15/2011 More Water

Here's the bridge over Lake Charles (it's much bigger in person). I'm not sure why I feel the need to take photos of bridges and water on this trip. But here are some more. Actually, Karen took these photos for me because I'm driving!! Outside Baton Rouge, around 4:00, we stopped to fill up on gas and road food and Karen decided I could drive. w00t!

The really big river/water source that feeds into Lake Charles.

6/15/2011 Flag Day in Rosedale

We pulled over at a truck stop in Rosedale. We didn't need gas yet (you can go much further on a tank of gas when it starts out full). We were actually going to change drivers! So I took Mindy for a walk and KMO went inside for a pit stop. She came out with refreshments AND she came out refreshed. She decided to continue driving. At least we got to see this nice flag display. I assume it's from Flag Day which was yesterday, or maybe they put their flags out from Memorial Day to Labor Day like a lot of towns in Maine.

6/15/2011 The Mississippi (in Louisiana)

Here comes the Mississippi River!! (Note: Objects in camera may appear smaller than in real life.)

Mississippi River:

More Mississippi River:

Proof that it's the Mississippi River:

Okay, one last shot of the MIssissippi. We know from the news that there's lots of flooding up river . . . it just looks "very full" from here.

6/15/2011 Water Everywhere

Bogs, marshes, lakes, streams, rivers, . . . lots of water. According to the GPS. (This is right outside Hammond, LA where I-12 (the bypass of New Orleans) meets I-10.)

Bogs, marshes, lakes, streams, rivers, . . . lots of water. According to real life out the smudgy window.

6/15/2011 Politics

This highway is literally littered with billboards. They're atrocious. I can't believe the governor of Maine wants to allow this to happen to Maine. (Trust me, it looks a lot worse in person.)

Ugh, more billboards, both sides of the highway. Maine has had beautiful highways for over 30 years. Don't do it, Maine!!! Don't allow this to happen to us!!