Austin, TX

Coming to Austin was a great relief to me for a number of reasons. For one, I felt like I was escaping from San Antonio and the unpleasant experience I’d had there and at the same time it felt like I had finally arrived at my destination, or the end of the first leg of my journey. 

When I set out from Edmonton six months before, my idea was that I would drive as far east as I could before the weather got too cold for me to continue comfortably, considering that I wasn’t equipped for freezing temperatures, and then I would head straight south, to the warmth of the southern US.

I knew that I would probably not get much further east than Saskatchewan, possibly Winnipeg at the most. This would still allow me to end up in Texas.

My friend Tyson lives in Austin, and I’d had a few things sent to him. Whatever I needed to have mailed somewhere, it either went to him or to Edmonton, depending on how soon I wanted to get my hands on it. At that point I had a month’s supply of Soylent waiting for me in Austin, as well as a mosquito-repellent wristband. Both had been projects I’d supported on Kickstarter. I was also waiting to get a pair of shorts mailed there from Santa Fe, but as far as I know these haven’t arrived yet.

I got to Austin on Saturday evening and found a Target close to downtown where I parked. I didn’t have anything to do and it occurred to me that I hadn’t been to a movie theater in a while, so I found one not too far and biked there. The selection of movies playing in Austin at that time wasn’t necessarily to my liking (not that this would necessarily be different elsewhere or at a different time, as I’m quite picky about what I watch) but I was going more for the experience of sitting in a cinema than anything else, and I was craving good popcorn. The movie Wild was playing and I thought I might enjoy that as it was about a backpacker. When I arrived at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Wild was sold out, as was Birdman. I considered the half-hour bike ride to another theater but finally settled on watching The Babaduk. 

The Alamo had a somewhat trendy and hipster (is that a contradiction?) feel to it, and as I found out when I entered the auditorium, it is a very unique venue. The feel of the auditoriums is spacious in terms of seating space, and this gives it a cozy ambiance as each seat feels personalized. The food experience is different from other cinemas because rather than ordering outside and bringing snacks and drinks inside, the venue offers restaurant-style service right at one’s seat. There is an extensive menu which ranges from popcorn and drink to full meals, hot beverages, even alcohol. There are servers, each of which caters to a section of the theatre, and as there is a no-speaking policy once the screening begins, they use a simple system of notepaper which is inserted into a rail in front of one’s seat, making it visible to the serving staff, and alerting them whenever a customer wishes to order or get a drink refill.

I thoroughly enjoyed both the film, an Australian horror feature, as well as the entire experience. The service was friendly, and the popcorn delicious.

Sunday was somewhat gloomy and looked like it might bring rain. Despite Austin’s reputation for diversity and weirdness, there were only a few things that I knew of which I was interested in seeing. One of these was the Cathedral of Junk, an unintentional art installation made up of random items of junk which had been built up over many years by a local man in his backyard. I arranged an appointment in the afternoon and made my way there on my bike. The installation was great and I took a number of photos before heading back to my van.

The other two things I’d wanted to explore in Austin were a tiny house project being built for homeless people on the northwest end of the city, and a food project named Food Is Free. I didn’t get to see either, however. Food Is Free has now moved to Kansas, where they have recently obtained a large piece of land, and the tiny house project, Loaves and Fishes (yes, it is Christian), had limited space for volunteers and I never did get through to anyone to arrange a time for me to visit.

My friend Tyson had invited me to come stay at his property just outside of the city in a town called Garfield. I drove out there in the evening, and by the time I settled in, it was getting dark. Tyson had originally said he would swing by there on his way home (he currently resides in Austin proper) but his plans changed and I ended up spending a few hours talking to his friend Eric, who lives there along with another friend, Cary.

The next day, Monday, I tried to set up my slackline in the yard but the ground was thorny and unpleasant so I decided to bike back to Austin, a 1.5-hour journey down the highway. Though somewhat uncomfortable for the high traffic I was exposed to, I made it to the city, had some lunch, and found a Starbucks to relax at. Afterward I made my way to a nearby park and slacklined for an hour or so before grabbing some groceries and heading back.

Unfortunately I had not picked the best time to do this as it was rush hour by then and the sun was on its way down.

Making my way back out of the city was much more challenging and perilous than it had been the other way, and I was glad when I finally made it back to the van close to two hours later.

I spent that evening on my own, reading.

On Tuesday morning I finally got to see Tyson. He came by with some provisions and we got to chat again after a long time. I had only met Tyson once before, during Z-Day Vancouver in 2013, and since then we had only communicated over facebook. He’d gained my trust shortly after when I bought an item on Ebay and needed a US-based address to have it mailed to. He was the first of my American friends to offer me help and he came through, which is why I’d asked to use his address as a mailing base. As I mentioned in my previous blog post though, he surprised me in a much bigger way and demonstrated his kindness and generosity to me when I was in San Antonio. At the time I had mentioned to him my straitened financial circumstances, and he immediately offered to wire me a sum of money which would tide me over until my return to Canada. The sum was considerable in my circumstances, and the offer caught me by surprise. Until then I had experienced the closeness with which American people (and Canadians too, I suppose) guard their money despite their otherwise generous natures, and this gesture seemed completely out of character. Not for Tyson, however, and I believe that our mutual interest and support for the vision of a moneyless society contributes to this.

Tyson couldn’t stay for long, however, so we agreed to meet for brunch in the city the next day. I spent the rest of the morning puttering around and cleaning up Dharma, then headed back to Austin in the afternoon after parting with Eric and Cary.

On Wednesday I biked to Casa de Luz, a New Age center that offers various courses, childcare, as well as a vegan cafeteria. This is where Tyson and I had lunch. We chatted for about an hour, then Tyson drove me to the South Austin Popular Culture Center. Along the way I mentioned that I intended to sell my bicycle, which Tyson offered to buy from me.

At the SAPCC I met Henry, former roadie for the country band Asleep at the Wheel and currently curator of this small museum of Austin’s pop culture. He gave me a tour and talked to me for a long time about his adventures both with the band and with various tourists who have visited the center. He gave me a poster of a jazz musician as a parting gift. Before heading back I stopped at a small coffee shop named Picnik, situated inside a refurbished shipping container. This establishment specializes in the now-mostly disproved Paleo diet, and one of the items they are known for is their butter coffee, which is a generic version of Bulletproof Coffee. I had read a bunch of stuff about this meal replacement and though at this point this has also been shown to be more hype than substance, I wanted to try it to see how it tasted when prepared properly. I had tried mixing butter into my coffee before and quite liked it, but had less luck with coconut oil as I didn’t blend it, so it was disgusting.

I didn’t enjoy the butter coffee very much, but at least I could say I gave it a try.

On Thursday I had planned to visit Tyson at his place, pick up my mail, and drop off the bicycle, but instead I ended up having to get Dharma towed to a garage. Her starter wasn’t working and after a “diagnostic” (a tap on the starter with a hammer), which cost me $70, I was told that I should replace it soon, though in the meantime it was still operational. I drove Dharma back to Target and biked downtown, a part of Austin which I hadn’t seen yet. The day was gloomy and somewhat chilly so my motivation to explore was low and instead I went to the library. 

Later I met Manue, a friend of a friend from couchsurfing, with whom I had food and drinks at a local watering hole called the Spider Cafe. She invited me to join her and her friends at the Austin Trail of Lights that evening, to which I acquiesced.

We met at Zilker Park in the evening and walked around for an hour or so, enjoying the light installations. 

Friday was to be my last day in Austin, and after breakfast I made my way to the Hope Outdoor Gallery, a graffiti park which Manue had insisted I must see before leaving the city. It was a worthwhile stop and I took a bunch of photos. 

I stopped by Tyson’s place afterward, though he wasn’t home. I picked up my mail, four large boxes of Soylent, and said goodbye to my bicycle. I wouldn’t need it on this trip anymore. I was on my way to Houston, my last stop in Texas.