Blue Spot In A Red State

17 April - Set my alarm for 7 but for some reason my phone was still on Mountain time (it updatts automatically but I must have been too close to the border for it to pick up the new time) so I slept in a little more than i'd like. However, got back on the road and made very good time along the I10 and eventually 290 all the way to Austin, Texas (the one blue spot in a very red state). Got there a little after 1o'clock and found that all the coops were full and the one hostel I had a listing for had no checkins till 5. Abunch of people at the hostel all needed to go to Walmart for various bits and sundries so having nothing else to do I gave them a lift. Walmart is a horrible place - pretty much like Kmart or Target but huge. It was an interestingexperience but not one that should be repeated anytime in the next lifetime or two. As with all hostels there ar a couple of strange ones - one of the most interesting individuals i've met on this trip so far is John, a native Foridian who used to work as a chauffeur and now seems to be supporting himself as a stripper - the purpose for his visit at WalMart was to purchase some earrings and a thong for his work that night. Got in touch with Stacey, the friend of the two Texan lasses from Santa Fe who was going to show me the town - we headed into town to the Saxon Club (nice name, nice race) where we wereentertained by monterey jack (apparently a bit of a local institution, he's kind of the big cheese so to speak ... Hrrumph) who was probably more entertaining to me in his banter than his music but still some pretty good music. Afterwards we drank some more American beer at another of the town's numerous saloons before realising that the Austin corporate world would not stop on my arrival in the city so headed back to the hostel and was entertained by a swede singing the blues (i'm not really sure what she had to be bluesy about but she had a nice voice).