We are in Austin!

We have arrived but I'm a little beat after two days of traveling and my rather lackluster first Walmart overnight experience.  I celebrated passing the Texas border yesterday morning by getting a weird tomato, lime, salt, and bud light concoction at the flying J's. It was kind of like a bloody mary, not too bad...then I picked up some Fat Tire amber ale since I've heard so much about it but never could find it locally. It was an alright beer but I've had better. I've definitely enjoyed trying the various local beers we come across. Lazy Magnolia southern pecan brown ale was a good one from a Mississippi brewery.

So we passed through the hellish city of Houston yesterday and ended up in another busy city at the Walmart. I guess it wouldn't have been terrible had it not been for the fact that we were parked right next to the on ramp of I 10. I'm already a light sleeper and I've had quite a few bouts of insomnia lately....so I'm going on two nights with very little sleep. I've heard people say they don't mind staying in the walmart parking lots so maybe this was just a bad experience. I can't say I'm looking forward to it again. I think if I had to choose boondocking in a parking lot or way out in the woods somewhere I would definitely go for the latter.

I gotta say that I thought Texas would be ugly but  I've been pleasantly surprised. From the Louisiana border through to Austin I have seen the most amazing wildflowers along the side of the road. I never knew they grew in such vibrant colors like neon orange, purple, yellow, and bright red altogether at once. I wanted so badly to stop and get a closer look or some pictures but we didn't. I told Ellery we should definitely paint a wildflower scene for our schooling next week. I'm also thinking of some knitting projects inspired by the colors we saw.

So wow, now we are here and I want to be excited but I need a good night of rest. I got a chance to look at the local newspaper and I'm in awe of all the stuff to do around here. There is even a place here with raw kombucha on tap! I am so going there. I've never seen a place with so many live music venues. It is pretty overwhelming so I'm glad we have an entire month to take it all in. That gives us plenty of time to relax before we head out toward New Mexico.