Thursday, March 21st – Sunday, March 24th, 2013
I’m sure the suspense is killing you to pieces. Good news! The van was finally fixed this time. After getting coffee, we were told that it was only a rubber grommet that needed to be replaced on the leaky hose and it would only cost us $75 to fix (quite the relief). We swore off local auto repair shops for good after that circus. From now on, any future repairs would be done by warranted Chevy dealers.
We left La Grange via 71-North, but took a pit stop at locally famous Weikel’s Bakery to taste their Kolaches (Czech pastries filled with fruit). We took 71 to I-130 to the Route 35 Bypass to get to Salado, TX to spend some time with our good friend, Jess. Shortly after we arrived, Jess had to go to work so we passed the time straightening up her place (she’s a single mom with two wild, crazy and adorable kids), played with her dogs and cats, and lounged around before we went to visit her at her work at the saloon in Harker Heights, TX.
Trevor has been, and will be, called “Jesus” wherever we go given the resemblance. So much so, a man playing on a slot machine walked up to him and asked him to touch the machine for good luck. Trevor did, and the machine spit out money. As you can imagine he would become every gambler in the building’s best friend, and was asked by all of them to touch their machines too in hopes of winning some cash. We returned to Jess’ place and watched more of the NCAA championship before crashing out in the van, a place which has started to feel more and more like home.
The next two days were pretty mellow. Some highlights:
- We found a black widow in the dog bowl which we disposed of.
- A lady stopping Trevor at Super Walmart to ask if she could touch his hand since he looked, “like a very spiritual person”.
- Trevor painted the windows black by hand after failing to do so successfully with spray paint in order for us to sleep in stealthier areas in the future without being seen.
- I would later question if I had been letting someone else’s cat in the house to eat the food off the floor as they were both orange. I was right.
- We questioned ourselves, “Why are the people of Texas always in such a rush?” This is coming from a full blooded “Yankee”.
- We played Frisbee outside and I noticed we had llama spectators across the street.
Although it was nice to unwind for a bit, we decided it was time to move on.
We waited for Jess (who worked the night shift) to wake up, to tell her we were heading into Austin. We felt bad bailing on her while she was so busy, but we still planned on heading to our next destination, Austin, TX, to visit more friends. We hugged her goodbye, and then took 35-South to check out Nat and Robert’s new digs.
We gathered some food at the H.E.B. grocery store (a location that plays the likes of James Brown over the intercom), and got ready for a cook out. Friends came by and although we weren’t partaking in the libations and there was some neighbor drama over street parking, we still had a good time. Adventures in Austin coming soon!
Jump Back to Part 07: Houston, We Have a Problem
Jump Ahead to Part 09: Bats, Bloat & Fusion
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Start Over at Part 01: The Blue Bubble, Freebies & A Rude Awakening
Stubbs Rambles On 