Catchin' Up - Part I

I’ve probably been voted worst blogger ever. Is everyone sick of the picture of me waving goodbye from my car? And my last blog exceeding 10 words was a couple of weeks ago. We found Waldo but WHERE’S CHERYL?

She's NOT in Texas.

Let me explain. Texas, it seems, has been suffering from severe drought for a couple of years. I’m not sure who should have told me that in advance but SOMEbody should’ve. Let me describe a moisture-deprived Texas. Beige. The grass is beige. Incessant winds are blowing the beige dust far and wide across the tree-deficient lands so that the cars are beige. Most of the people are beige. Got the picture? Even many of the abundant cows are beige.

I was tooling down the road after bidding farewell to the Palestinians and was soon passing pasture after beige pasture of cattle when I came upon a tiny town (oops, will have to add its name later). On the one developed block of Main Street was a restaurant. Jacques Downtown Bistro.

I ate there, of course. I had a spicy chicken enchilada. Sounds very Texas but not so very "Jacques" but it was tasty (though rather rich). The waitress offered to "accidentally" add more chicken to my remaining bit of tortilla and sauce so that I'd have some to enjoy later. Even hearts are bigger in Texas. Gotta love it.

It was around 6 pm when I reached Austin. I couldn't find evidence of camping facilities in the area, so I kept going. The sun did not set as picturesquely as the night before and darkness enveloped me without a bit of comforting tenderness. I was on a back road of some sort and found myself in Johnson City, which is more of a hamlet than a city. Still no campgrounds and the easiest accessible motel thought itself worthy of a ridiculous sum of money (in memory of LBJ, I suppose), so I journeyed on. I was contemplating roadside sleep but remembering childhood horror stories of murder visited upon occupants of parked cars, not to mention a few actual news stories of the sort. Finally at 8 pm a KOA sign loomed. Hooray. The office was closed but it happened that the manager was just driving through. She kindly opened back up so that she could register me. Ironically, they did not allow tent camping there (never mind the tent in the logo) but the next best option (economically) was a Kabin. (They spell it that way.) The security/maintenance guy told me the Kabins are little more than tents with walls but it seemed immensely safer than roadside slumber, so I checked in. The Kabins are more like Kabinettes. Really, they're Kute. And much more than tents with walls, as there are beds...one full and a bunk bed set. There is a window a/c unit and a portable heater and, thus, electricity. And there is a door that locks. There's even a little front porch with a swing. No bathroom but the bathhouse was nearby. I was in Fredericksburg, Texas, and the wind had kicked up several notches.