Austin-Days Inn University/Downtown

... street and some of the cross streets along the way looking for some music to enjoy for the evening. We came across Stubb's BBQ which is pretty famous for have great bands play there. Lucky for us they had one playing that night too, Buddy Guy. For being 73 that man can still play. It was a great show, minus the drunken retards that came there just to socialize and the millions of smokers all of which usually decided to stand in front of me ...

... the paganism's that were they believed were taking place. After the missions were completed we headed to the Lyndon B Johnson National Historical Park we took a tour around the ranch and a ranger led tour in the "Texas White House" and tomorrow we are going the LBJ presidential library. All in all, the day was very relaxed and easy. The cafe we had lunch in had an ...

Alaska Airlines I hear just started doing this direct flight from Seattle to Austin which is cool because it got me here in 3.5 hours. Another 20 min public bus ride for 75 cents and I was at my hotel. I spent the early evening walking around from 6th @ Guadelupe down to 2nd, as far east cas Neche, north to the State Capitol and a bunch of streets in between.

I did the game of count the ...

... biking in Moab and Durango, volcano hikes in Bali and Guatemala, nude beaches, the quest for freedom camping in New Zealand (and getting woken by locals at 6AM who didn't agree with our choice), chickens and Coke in a Chiapas church, 'Long Man' shout-outs, back sweat, sheep shearing in New Zealand, selecting cobra to eat in northern Vietnam, and most of all, the friendliness of travelers everywhere -- and thus concludes our very own Gringo Withdrawal.

... Davy Crockett made to the people of Tennessee before he headed to the Alamo, "Re-elect me or go to hell, and I'll go to Texas." He died at the Alamo.
- Decided that Riverwalk is a tourist trap. Although it seemed like a cool concept, it was nothing but what seemed to be over-priced, touristy restaurants. We took a look and kept going.

We then headed out of San Antonio and made the short drive to Austin. A ...

I'm a bad first date. Although, that’s a little misleading, because it sounds as if only the girl is not enjoying it. I also tend not to enjoy myself. But I’ve only been on a handful of first dates anyway, because they always go like this:

I, relatively early on, let the conversation go where it naturally goes: what do you study, what do you want to do, what kind of life do you think you will lead? Any number of roundabout questions requires me to ...

... home, after only a couple of years abroad, she turned 1. To recap, my brother had a girlfriend a day before I left, then when I got home, he had a 1-year-old. Time flies.

Eric is basically just a giant teddy bear, so he's an awesome dad. Libby was tons of fun to be around and we caught her at an amazing age. In front of our eyes, in the few months we were back in the States, she went from crawling to standing, then ...

... baseball most of my live, (forgot more than half the baseball stats that I knew, never really needed them or never used them I guess but some are still stuck in my brain) but always wanted to go to the Hall of Fame. Cooperstown is about 20 minutes away from the camp (past another Amish in a carriage) They have it set up nicely and was really enjoyable (Diane enjoyed it to, even though not much of a baseball fan) Lunch of burgers and fries and a beer in Cooperstown and home we headed ...

... NCAAs? Ended up getting in to Austin about 11:30 PM and Meredith and I met Forrest at the Draught House. Draught House is a great bar with picnic tables outside. Tailgating is also encouraged. It was surprisingly busy but we found a spot at the outside bar and caught up over a few pitchers. Friday Mere was off work so we hung out at her place for awhile and decided to get some lunch at Austin Java and go for a hike. We picked up Andy and he joined us for lunch. Then ...

... meet them. This would normally not be that big of a deal for an experienced traveler or even for me if I was going somewhere like Chicago or London. But this was Bangkok. And as much as I tried to convince myself that there was nothing to be worried about, I was still secretly scared deep down. So when I received an e-mail from Dane less than a week before I left saying that they would already be in Bangkok looking for jobs and might as well ...