Tuesday early December 2014 & Austin observations as promised

Yeah hi Fans. Recall last last entry a post script (ps) promising observations, follow up & completion of the report from the journey down that highway we call I-35 to Austin, the capital of the Great State of Texas.

Well, the delivery person IS delivering !

We left the hotel after making final checks to sure no items were left behind in either room.

I met VA in the posh lobby. I like to get there early, find a paper, the exits before the client. The overstuffed chair was like one I have been searching for in the cloud. You sit down, sink, settle, shimmy & then settle down further still. Think about sitting on a cloud.

Breakfast was the first item on the agenda. After a brief self-directed tour of the center of the city proper by car, we ended up at SOCO 1600 on Congress Street at the café. The briefest of waits saw us seated at a prime table overlooking the pedestrian traffic strolling by the window on this overcast Sunday morning.

The menu was most def ‘upscale & trendy’ & thoughts went back back briefly to a vegan joint in Nashville I think the name was choke & gag but that was another life & a total train wreck.

Coffee was first & we browsed selected reading material watching an interesting collection of eclectic passersby.

There is what appears to be an active & on-going campaign and I have NOT FIGURED OUT if it is serious or not to ‘Keep Austin weird’. Fans, I am here to testify that the citizens & population are getting the message.

The vast number seem to be buying into getting 'into' or being weird.

If you have ever been to Austin, you know what I am talking about.

If you have NEVER BEEN, you must go just to say that you have. This will IMMEDIATELY

ELEVATE your social standing/status & you will be cool chatting at the next cocktail party.

Such a wide variety & diverse collections of humans I have not witnessed in some time. It is like being at an airport … times 1000. I mean you can see a camel herder walking with a super model & wonder where did one go SO wrong ?

And people wearing SHORTS !

One dude riding a bike by the window, with gloves & a hoodie, hood up … yep. Shorts & tory birch flip-flops. I had to keep glancing at VA with this look … ‘is this real?’ Am I seeing what I THINK I am seeing ? Better said, WITNESSING … ?

We split a portobella-spinach-artichoke omlette which was truly indeed a mouthful. VA requests the waiter Derec (rhythms with ‘wreck’) for some maple syrup for the pancake served up as a side. I witness the whole thing & something is wrong so I stop her inches from pouring the syrup.

‘Check the menu again before you douse that in maple syrup. I believe the menu called it a potato pancake with smoked gouda (as in cheese) …’ not exactly an appetizing combination to me anyway. So she takes a little precautionary nibble & agrees.

SHE SAID I WAS RIGHT!!! Second time today !!

We finish up and decide against a ‘hike’ by the river rescheduling for another time & beat feet for the highway. It is chilly & probably uncomfortably cold even in McK.

On the drive North-bound, VA reads articles of weirdness from a free alternative ‘newspaper’ we picked up somewhere. Yes, Austin may be the capital of weird or certainly is a regional head quarters at the very least.

One article, a couple visiting from NJ, the Timmermans, arrested in a bizzare account of public intoxication under the title ‘Suspicion of MS.’ Another title, the article too long to read but intriguing none the less ‘Who’s Afraid of Accoutnability?’ and the one we debated most intently ‘Hate in the Heart.’ Steve McQuilliams was first labeled a ‘homegrown American extremist’ but deeper in the article a ‘high priest’ of the Phineas Priesthood.’ I mean he gives ‘loners’ a bad name.

Larry Steven McQuilliams, 49, it seems, was well-armed when he shot up, apparently in this order, the federal courthouse, a local bank, the Mexican consulate and finally the Austin PD. The rampage began at 2:18 am less that 20 minutes after the bars closed (go figure if alcohol was involved) & ended with a single shot from APD officer Adam Johnson’s handgun at 2:32 AM. No one was injured except Mr McQuilliams of course to his credit.

I argued that he was not a terrorist at all but a freedom fighter. VA debated briefly before moving on to the next story from the Twilight Zona aka Austin.

That’s what I like about VA. We can debate & discus a topic rationally & intelligently without things heating up, twisting subject matter to a point that escalates into WWIII or IV.

We finally see the skyline of Big D in the distance & VA rings up the McK airport to have the plane ready for a hasty departure. Following the signs misdirecting traffic thru construction downtown, we round-aboutly get to 75 continuing North to the airport.

I grab her little Louis Vitton sea foam green caiman overnight bag from the trunk & get her on the plane as it is afterall Bill’s ESCORT Service.

‘You want a check?’ she axes.

‘Nah. Just wire it when you get home. That seems to be working OK.’

‘Fine.’ She’s off & wheels up.

Arriving home, whose car is ALREADY in the drive?

Right. Patty.

Looks like I dodged another bullet.

NEXT TIME … post party report.

Bill out