"The Way West"...Day 72...Friday, August 24, 2012

It's hot here...90's during the day and humid. And, unlike a mountain camp site or an air-conditioned hotel room, it doesn't cool down THAT much at night. So, while I slept through the night OK, I'm feeling hot this morning.
I set up the coffee maker and, while coffee is brewing, I head off for a shower. I keep the water cool, and I start feeling a lot more comfortable.
All my new friends from the Park stop by this morning...and I'm happy to share some coffee with them. Rob, my UM buddy, is going to the Alabama game, and we discuss our chances...slim, but hopefully we at least look good and keep the score close. Another guy reminds me that Tuesday is "$2.00 Pint Night" at the Brewpub next door.
I'm hungry for a burger this morning. And, lucky for me, there's a great burger place about forty yards from my camp site. A bacon cheeseburger, onion rings and a few Shiner beers...all excellent!
I've got errands to run so, after lunch, I head downtown to a Bank of America. I'm lucky to get a parking spot right in front...which would have been great had I not forgotten my wallet (and Bank Card). So...back to camp...back downtown. There's a CVS Pharmacy (with a Chase ATM) across the street from the Bank of America, so my banking is quickly completed. Next, I stop for gas and, later, ice for the coolers.
Back at camp, I listen to some music and work on my netbook.
Austin is a legendary bar hopping town...and the place to "hop" is 6th Street. So...around 7:00PM, I call a cab and head downtown. 6th Street certainly lives up to it's reputation...five bars or so per block, both sides of the street, eight or ten blocks long...well...you get the picture.
So...I bar hop...a beer here...a beer there...fun bars with friendly bartenders. Around 9:00, I'm hungry so I duck into a nice restaurant, Trulocks, for a "snack"...a crab cocktail and a jumbo crab cake...washed down with a few glasses of J bubbly from California.
I find a Techno Club...some decent "house" and a little "trance". The manager seeks me out and encourages me to come back tomorrow night...great local DJ. I end up in a place called "Frank's" which specializes, curiously, in sausages of all kinds. I meet a couple...he from Austin, she from Pennsylvania. They talk me into having something called a "bacon shot"...bacon-infused whiskey, a small glass of beer and a shot of pickle juice. It turns out to be, perhaps, the most vile drink that I have ever consumed...an absolutely horrible combination of nasty "flavors".
It's enough for me to call it a night. Hail a cab...back to camp...asleep by 1:00AM...quite the night, tonight.