Southern Friends, Trees & Coffee

Day 9:  Pro tip #432 - don’t park the car facing a freeway or loud street, because you won’t sleep well at all. Kind of a no brainer, right?  Chad and I had parked in an Austin, TX Costco lot in the back, which happened to be near a freeway.  The loud cars continued all night long and I even ended up sleeping with ear plugs.  It helped, but I could still hear everything.

I awoke many times to the car shaking for just an instant and I thought there was something outside rubbing on the car or someone trying to get in.  Not good!  I realized later that whenever Chad rolled around in his seat, it would shake the car and I couldn’t hear him rustling. The ear plugs really work for little noises haha.  The coast is clear, no creepies or animals trying to break in!

After the sun rose, I started to work on the blog in my pillow palace seat while Chad continued to rest.  Everything was going well for about 20 minutes and then the tacos from last night came back with vengeance.  Gurgle. Gurgle.  Uh oh.  

“Chad, wake up.  I’ve got to go and it’s urgent. Like, 'I-need-a-stack-of-wet-wipes' urgent and that tree out there won’t do. Pack up your things!” 

Groggy, and basically still asleep, Chad readjusted his seat methodically. I was moving 90 miles an hour shifting pillows and gear to get myself as ready as possible for a quick escape out of the car. 

Chad drove to a hotel right around the corner and I bolted as calmly as possible inside the entrance. Ba-boom!  So, maybe the fried food in the taco didn’t agree with me and it should be avoided?  Absolutely!

Feeling much like myself again, I set the GPS for us to visit my friend Brianna at her place.  Last night at dinner, she mentioned that she and Nick had two little hedgehogs at home.  They were a must see and their place happened to be in walking distance of a coffee shop, which made for a grand morning adventure.

Henry the hedge hog was super cute! He had surgery the week before because his eye fell out (I guess they have shallow eye sockets??) and had it removed. Now Henry is a one-eyed fella who has the cutest little sniffer nose and nibbles on your fingers. So cute!

Brianna, Chad and I walked to their local grocery store to share some coffee and conversation. The vibe of the place came across similar to a Minnesota Trader Joe’s and there were people everywhere.  We snagged four drinks to share – a fresh watermelon and matcha tea drink, a regular cold press coffee, an iced vanilla latte and a specialty coffee drink with chocolate and a hot spice.  After tasting and voting on them, the regular cold press was the least favorite and the spicy concoction was the winner.

We placed ourselves outside on the patio and proceeded to chat from early morning until late in the afternoon.   The caffeine from the drinks totally took their toll on us as we covered a crazy amount of topics – below lists just a few!

• Brianna’s study abroad to South Africa and her stories of bareback horse riding on the beach, being trapped in the mountains at night, the animals and people she met while visiting for five months.
• Chad and Katie’s west coast road trip adventures
• The physiology of micro expressions, leading by example, body language, understanding people’s emotions, gut bacteria, fasting, cavities, etc.
• Future places to travel and suggestions on places to see in the world

Throughout our conversation time, there were dive bombing black birds that would come out of no where and act like they were going to peck your eyes out.  It’s like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds! There were even times where we had to fend off lunches left on the table while the owner went to grab napkins.  Those tiny little vultures wouldn’t quit!

After realizing almost four hours have passed in caffeinated conversation, we decided to tour the grocery store.  This wasn't just any regular grocery store.  There’s outdoor seating for the restaurant and coffee shop bustling inside, chair massages, and unique winding paths within the store that open up to different sections based on their climate needs.

The produce section had its own door to go through and we walked into a massive market.  It’s like Whole Foods on steroids. But, the food prices were pretty affordable!

Brianna recommended trying kumquats, prickly pear fruit and a golden apple.  Say what?  Chad said he thought that ‘kumquat’ was considered a cuss word and not the name of a fruit.  Reality shattered.  The really cool part about the produce section was the automatic labeling system available.  After selecting a fruit/veggie, you weight it and print out a sku sticker for the checkout person to scan.  How convenient is that? We need those in Minnesota!

After wrapping up the grocery exploration, we started to make the loop back to Brianna’s apartment around a little pond.  There were wild flowers growing all over the grass, including little Blue Bonnets. 

There was a massive tree in middle of the nature area (it had earned the Tree of the Year award apparently) and we went to stand under it.  While looking around, I was hit from above with a splat of black bird poop.  Casualties included my left side shoulder, thigh and calf.  What a blow! 

Back at Brianna’s place, we cooled down from the afternoon heat by trying out the different fruits we purchased.  The kumquat was for sure the most surprising flavor!  Chad and I have never had one before and we popped the little orange-looking things into our mouths.

One bite down, and the world exploded into a sour flavor causing me to pucker up like a baby trying a lemon for the first time.  Who knew it would be sour!  Continuing to chew, the sour instantly went away and was taken over by the ultimate sweetness.  They are so good!

The prickly pear was peeled and then cut into chunks to share.  They have a very subtle taste with the texture resembling the less-flavorful part of a watermelon rind and are littered with seeds, similar to a pomegranate.  After having just tried the kumquat, this fruit was extremely tasteless in comparison. 

The golden apple tasted like eating a yellow pear, with the crunch of an apple and sweetness of coconuts/bananas. It was the craziest apple I have ever eaten. Brianna mentioned this variety of apple doesn’t go brown after cutting it and has tested this theory to make sure it was true.

The coffee encounter truly lasted longer than expected, but we wouldn’t trade it for all of the museums in Austin. Thanks Brianna for your company and it was great catching up with you. See you later when we come back for a visit 😊

Chad and I drove to downtown Austin for a walk and to stretch our legs. We ended up walking the entire strip and making our way down to the Colorado river. While on our river walk, we worked on improving our walking form to minimize the jarring/stomping in our legs.

No more heel to toe walking! It’s way easier to run on our toes like sprinters than it is to walk on our toes. Looks like there is room for improvements! Either way, we walked and walked trying out different ways to place our feet on the ground based on previous research we have done.

Finishing in a large walking loop, we packed up the car and drove out to have dinner at the 888 Pan Asian Restaurant. Chad and I had stumbled across this place during lunch for an all-you-can-eat $10 lunch special when we came to Austin back in October for a long-distance rifle shooting class (side story at the bottom).  We tried the panang curry and duck as well as the lemongrass vermicelli noodles with chicken.  NUMMY. 

Our sleeping space for the night was a few hours out of town towards Houston at a Cracker Barrel.  The night was hot again and Chad had the idea of freezing us out with the AC all the way there so that when we parked, we would stay cool while falling asleep. It worked pretty well! Night night!

Long Distance Rifle Shooting Side Note: 

Chad and I ventured down to Austin, TX  in October 2018 to complete a four-day training on how to shoot a target at long distances.  The course, held by Accuracy 1st, is designed to train military snipers and is offered to civilians as well. All classes are highly sought after and getting a class for two people can be tough since they fill up fast.

After completing training, I was able to hit gongs set into the Texan rolling hills over 1200 meters away with a .308 and Chad (dealing with the setting sun and dark shadows) was able to get out to 1000 meters before the landscapes were unreadable. 

It was a great experience and the coolest thing ever was to pull the trigger, count out two or three Mississippi seconds and hear a ‘ting!’ at the far end of the range.