Days 3 & 4: Austin for New Year's and Onward to Tucson

The last time we met, Joanna was sweating off Road Trip calories in the DoubleTree gym while I worked diligently on our Day Two installment. And now here we are - 900 miles closer to our new home, Joanna in the shower, Scooter bathing himself, and me in bed - groggy-eyed in my makeshift jammies - composing yet another entry. I'm sensing a trend here...

CitySearch tells us that there are a few options to choose from when considering spending New Year's Eve in Downtown Austin: (1) bar-hopping on Colorado and West 6th Streets; (2) spending heaps of money for a decent table at a half-decent restaurant; or (3) First Night Austin. Out of sheer curiosity (and severe lack of funding), we chose the third. You may have heard of First Night; in fact, there may be a First Night in your hometown.

FN reminded me of Doc Hollywood in a way (if you haven't seen it, it stars Michael J. Fox, a doctor who's come from CA to practice big league medicine in a small, po-dunk town and it's hilarious, rent it, I'm serious). A parade down Colorado featured flame throwers, dancers, a hip-hop ensemble, the local Little League baseball team and even a float asking Austinians to conserve water. Once it dissolved, we found ourselves at Jo's Coffee Shop (she couldn't resist...), where we bought a mint green travel mug in Jo's honor. We ate and ate and ate at a nice Mexican joint, enjoyed the sounds of bucket drummers and some Mexican jazz (whaaaaat), and rounded off the evening taking photographs of each other with two-dimensional cardboard characters and aboard a large, bucking jackrabbit. Back at our hotel with a bottle of Perrier Jouet and a chocolate chip cookie sundae (thank you, room service), we watched Austin's meager but colorful fireworks display and felt right as rain, falling right to sleep, alarm set for 5:30AM.

The drive to Tucson is roughly 13 hours, so we started out MAD EARLY. I took the first leg, zipping through western Texas at 80 miles an hour (speed limits are great in the middle of nowhere). We were one of maybe two cars on the road, being that it was New Years day and every single person in Texas was either hungover or still drinkin'. The radio scanned through every possible channel without finding a single station, so we listened to some mellow mixes we'd put together, along with Matchbox 20, Gnarls Barkley, Phish and an old tape from Brian's collection - Spin Doctor's "Pocket Full of Kryptonite." Stopping for lunch at a Subway in Fort Stockton (ghost town!!!), we decided to take Scooter for a walk around the premises, at which point he stopped, dropped and rolled, twisting his body around in the grey Texas dirt. He was absolutely filthy but one hundred percent satisfied.

Highlights from the road included massive wind turbines set atop large hills and self-operated oil rigs pumping away only yards from their designated Chevron and Exxon stations. We kept ourselves occupied (and awake) with Find-the-Word puzzles and a pack of Slang Flashcards (did you know "janky" is a blend of junky and skanky? well, you do now).

We arrived in Tucson around 8pm Mountain Time, grabbing sushi and meeting up with Joanna's friend Matt at his parent's house - a gorgeous, sprawling place in pale Mojave tones. I'm looking out the window now; it's all cactus and palm trees, desert wind and a mountainous backdrop. Today, after a stop at a local bakery, we'll be driving westward to San Diego, then up the Pacific Coast Highway to our new home.

Day 5 to come. Don't lose sleep now...

all our love,
bri (& jo) (& scooter)