Day 18 Austin and a change in plans.

Sorry it's taken me so long to get around to a new update. I've been distracted exploring Austin, and I think I could live here.

Very first thing I noticed. QR code stickers and graffiti are everywhere!

The highway system isn't as bad as it's told, but traffic is still pretty terrible. Everything is relatively close together, but the highways don't always make it a quick trip.

Just crawling along for most of the day, and it's even worse off the highways.

That's probably why Austin is such a bicycle-focused city. There are bikers and bike shops everywhere. That doesn't mean it's safe though.

It's called a Ghost Bike. They are put up when a cyclist loses his life in a traffic accident, often when the vehicle driver isn't found.

Most of the time here I've spent hanging with my friends from college who emigrated over the last couple of years. That means Dungeons and Dragons, which I didn't get any photos of because if you've seen one game you've seen them all. I was also introduced to a new tabletop game called "Paranoia". It's pretty interesting, because the first rule is that knowing the rules is against the rules.

A bunch of geeks and nerds sitting around a table, painted figurines, maps, paper, and dice, and books.

There's a few things that I've seen around town that have pretty much cinched it for me as a possible place I'd like to live. Firstly,

Austin has a sense of humor. I like that in a city.

Secondly,

Torchys Tacos. The very best taco joint I have ever eaten at. The three tacos in the picture you see are The Libertarian (deep-fried jalepeno sausage), The Democrat (slow-roasted barbacoa), and The Crossroads (Smoked beef brisket). All so very good, and suited perfectly to real Dublin Dr. Pepper.

I haven't gone to many events yet, but I'm going to hit up a concert or two this weekend. You might as well when you're in the live music capital of the world!


As for the change in plans, I've been on the road for close to three weeks now. I've seen some friends I haven't seen in a long time, and I've had a lot of time to myself to think. When I left Houston, I left someone that I've spent the better part of the last seven years of my life with. I'd say that I'm homesick, but it's not for a place, it's for a person.

As such, I'm going to be changing up my schedule a bit. I'm heading to Buffalo on Sunday to see family and enjoy the last of memorial day weekend, then I'm heading back to Houston until I head to LA for the Electronic Entertainment Expo. After that, I'll return to Houston again. I'll still make road trips out to see the world, but I like having a home to come back to.

Day 7

What a first week! I've seen a whole lot of San Antonio, and I think I've started to set some good habits for myself.

For starters, every day I try to start it off by patronizing an independent coffee shop. I've hit four different ones so far, and the best one I've been to so far in San Antonio was Olmos Perk, near Olmos Park. Great design for a shop, good coffee, and the internet was fast and unfiltered. In comparison, Grace Cafe, attached to a Seminary YMCA, had merely OK coffee, bland design, and an internet connection with a prudish filter.

Didn't get a shot of the Olmos Perk, but here's another cafe I visited during the SA storm last week.

After that, I start hunting for interesting things to see and do. So far, I've hit nearly every museum in San Antonio and a few of the parks besides. The Witte museum is more of a children's educational thing than an actual museum, but SAMA, the art museum, was wonderful.

I still like new art better than classic art.

I also had the chance yesterday to go out to a shooting range. It's been a few months since I've handled a firearm, but I can still shoot six inch groups at five yards with an unfamiliar weapon after I've put half a box though it. The rangemaster was also a former shooting instructor, and he ran us through some entertaining drills just for fun.

.40 S&W Sig Sauer. Plenty of kick, makes me wish I could bring a gun along for my trip if only for the chance to go plinking.

My current tentative schedule has me hanging about in SA for another two days, then heading for Austin on Thursday morning. I'll be staying with Roy, a friend from my college gaming group. And if you think of anything in SA or Austin you think I should see, let me know!

Day 3

It's been an interesting couple of days so far! I've spent time with my dad, as well as some old college and highschool friends.

Don't you give me that look, Celia!

It was also time for some nostalgia. Visiting Tomball College where I completed my associates.

Looks like they did manage to change their name. I liked the old one better.

Turns out that despite the new library under construction, it hasn't changed as much as I thought. While almost nobody from my original circle of friends is still there, the geeks, dweebs, and nerds are still the biggest social circle in the commons.

Not pictured: Discussion of the merits of various champions in League of Legends.

All told, it was a wonderful way to spend the last couple of days. I'll be heading out for San Antonio here in an hour or so, and I've got a wild hair about video blogging. We'll see if the microphone on my camera is up to the task.

Today's the day

I've left home today.

I was expecting it to be hard, leaving everything you've ever known behind you and striking out for the unknown always is. Packing up and making ready for the road isn't the difficult part, it's saying Goodbye to people you know and love.

I'm looking forward to all the new places that I'm going to get to see, but I'll be bringing a piece of everyone along with me.

My plans for the next few weeks.

It feels like I'm starting to be ready to head out, so I've set a date. On May 9th, my birthday, I'll leave my home here in Houston and get started on the road.

Until then, I'll be visiting people around Houston. Let me know if you want me to come by.

After that, I'm heading to visit a friend in San Antonio, then Austin, which should round out my May. After that, it's a toss-up and we'll see where I end up.

Leaving my job

Yesterday I got home from my last day at my job. Hostgator has been one of the best companies I've ever worked for, and I honestly hope they open up an office wherever it is I end up as I would really enjoy working there again.

That being said, I'm now hard at work getting ready for my next job. I'm not sure what my new title should be, professional vagabond or perhaps citizen of the universe. Regardless, progress is being made in casting off the things I don't need anymore and gathering up the things I suspect I will.

I've found some help in the usual place, a book recommended by a friend. Stephen Graham published "The Gentle Art of Tramping" in 1927, and while it's more intended for those that go walking to explore the world, I've found it's chapters useful as it discusses things I suspect may be a large part of my life such as idleness, swimming, stopping in places for long periods of time, and boots.

More important is the chapter on books, in which he recommends taking along a single book with large margins. Graham recommends great works of poetry or inscrutable prose, the kind of book you can chew on for months. I've found for myself some public-domain textbooks on philosophy and invested in both an anthology of the most important works on the subject as well as a collection of modern studies. Between these and my usual collection of newsfeeds, I could very well fill my time with literature alone.

I'm off now to start sorting out my clothes. While I'll have a bit more space to work with than a pedestrian tramp, I'll still need to sort out four years worth of favorite t-shirts down to a handfull.

Packing up

A little more than a week and time for another update. Preparations for the trip have been going along smoothly during my downtime in my last couple of weeks on the job. I've managed to get enough packed up that I can take a carload of stuff up to my Mom & Stepdad's house for storage while I'm wandering.

Other than that, I haven't been able to get much done. It takes a surprising amount of work to lighten a load and get a house in order, but I'm moving forward, and I'm happy about that.

Goodbye Houston!

I've wanted to get out of Houston for a very long time.

I don't know where the desire came from, but I do know when I made it a life goal. One year ago this month.

A year ago I set a deadline of five years and started saving. The goal was six months salary, enough scratch to get me by for half a year while I wandered the country to try and meet a new city to call home. If I didn't have enough saved by that point, I would go anyway.

Plans like this rarely survive contact with reality, and 10 months after I started saving my mother passed away. She was the most adventurous person I've ever met, and I know that if she were still around, she'd be rooting for me as I finished scraping together everything I needed to get underway under my own power. But she thought ahead, so the person that I inherited my wanderlust from is also enabling me to get a four year head start.

For my family and friends in Houston, I'd like to take this time to make public my intent. By Summer, I want to visit all of you as prepare for the road. I'll be lightening my load of material things and packing my life down into the trunk of my car. I don't know how long it will take to get everything in order, so I'll be starting today. You can keep up with me here as I prepare and make my journey, as I plan on updating this travel-blog.

For family, old friends, and the new ones I'll meet outside Houston, I'll be visiting you too! Let me know if you have a couch for me to surf on and if there's something cool in your town that I should see or do before moving on, I want to hear about it.

For anyone else that may stumble across my wanderings, stay tuned. This travelog will be your guide through one persons' discovery of the world.