First of all, happy birthday to my sister Jillian! The closer she gets to 30 the closer I get to 40 uh oh! Mum’s birthday is next. All my families bday’s are over 2 months – April and May. Unfortunately this year I won’t be around for any of them….but I’ll make up for it!
For the past 2 months here in Austin the temp has always been around the 90 degree mark. Its April and I reckon they are getting set for a long and hot summer. I hate this heat. My nose runs, I can’t cool myself down, I can’t go outside, it’s just to hot for me.
Its been a month of ups and downs for me. I’m coming towards the end of my time here and once again I’ll have to say goodbye to some close friends. It’s getting a little old doing this (saying goodbye that is) and I really look forward to settling down even though there’s no doubt I will always travel, just not for as long next time.
I’ll start off with the reason I came to Austin in the first place, rugby. We had Nationals in Birmingham, Alabama a few weeks ago. This was the pinnacle event for the season and everything was on the line.
I’d have to say it was one of the lowlights of my 18 year career. We came 7th out of 8 teams and came into the tournament ranked 4th. We had a shot at making the final and I truly believed that we could, especially after we competed with some really tough teams. But we played like amateurs and just couldn’t get our shit together. If it did anything it made me want to come back here next season and make up for it. I learned a lot about what not to do for next time.
I’ve complained about it enough already in previous blogs so I won’t go on. I am thankful for getting to spend time with old mates though. I played with Zupan in 1997 and the following year I played with another guy on my Rampage team, Steve Kearley. Steve is about to be married so I wish him all the best for that.
Now for the good stuff. I’ve added a few road trips to my list of adventures.
Mark and I decided on a whim to make our way from Austin to Charlotte, North Carolina, 1200 miles away, to see his brother. We called into Atlanta on the way to catch up with the guys we both lived with back in 1997.
We left Austin at 11pm and drove through the night. I didn’t mind this prospect. I figured there would be less traffic and we would be on freeway’s the whole way so scenery wouldn’t be that exciting. 13 hours later we arrived at Marks Aunt Marcia’s place to freshly made sandwiches, fresh fruit and the first hot cup of tea I’ve had since I’ve been here. Dam good too. We took a shower, had a nap and then ventured into town to meet the boys.
Out of the 5 other guys we lived with in a student house in Atlanta 2 of the lads live in Austin. The other 3 have gone on, after completing their Engineering degrees from Georgia Tech, to become successful husbands, house owners, dad’s and all have great jobs. Georgia Tech is a top engineering school and we lived in a shitty old 2 storey house across the street from it. All the lads played rugby for Georgia Tech while Mark and I played wheelchair rugby for the Atlanta Rolling Thunder. It was a wild ole 6 months. I was 19 at the time and had to use Zupan’s I.D. Seriously looking back now I don’t know how I lived like that. Student living is no fun at all even though at the time you are having the time of your life.
We’d support the boys at rugby games by giving them beer at half time. They’d take me to frat parties and I’d get so drunk I’d fall into closets, call my mum crying and wake up without remembering a thing.
We are all 13 years older now and consider a good night to consist of a dam good burrito, a few beers, some wonderful laughs and then home to the wife. It really was great to see those guys. If you want to go out in Atlanta check out Little Five Points….it’s dirty, grungy and real…I hung out there all the time when I lived there.
So, onto Charlotte. Another 3 hour drive. Just to note we are in the A6 Audi with a radar detector so we are doing above average speed, most of the time. Jeff had no idea we were coming so when we pulled up the look on his face was awesome. He was brushing the dogs hair and nearly fell over when we pulled up and abused the hell out of him from the car.
We spent the next few days eating, drinking, cooking, playing dominoes and having a great time. I didn’t see much of Charlotte but what I did see I was impressed. It’s country like but not backwards like other places I’ve been….remember we are in the South here.
Apparently I need to go to Charleston to learn about the civil war stuff and look at some impressive architecture. Maybe next time.
Next stop was Point Clear, Alabama, which was 9 hours drive away. Pt Clear is a holiday spot for the rich, half an hour out of Mobile. I don’t know why but Mobile is a place I’ve always known of. What I didn’t know was that is was coastal (Gulf of Mexico) and is was kinda swanky. I pictured Mobile to be a backwards assed hick town and Alafuckingbama. Its nice to be wrong sometimes.
We stayed at a $2.3m holiday home with its own dock (I call it a jetty). Hurricane Katrina came through there and did a good bit of damage that is still evident. But that was far from out minds as we were sipping on a few cold ones overlooking the Gulf. Marks friends family rents it every year for family get togethers. I sampled some good ole southern cookin before a massive storm came ripping through. I guess people are a little apprehensive about storms after the effects of Katrina. There were constant updates on the TV making me nervous but it all blew over eventually. We headed out the next morning and although it was a great place to visit I’m certain it’s a place I could never live.
We jetted home past New Orleans and got back to Austin in no time. In 6 day we did nearly 3000 miles.
Music has featured a lot throughout my trip. I’ve seen some awesome bands like Against Me, Motorhead, Clutch, Rise Against, Bad Religion, Naked and Famous, but the one band I desperately wanted to see was Mumford and Sons. Ever since I bought their album I’ve thrashed it. I love their energy, their message and their talent.
One night a while back we got online and bought tickets to see them and it just so happened we would see them 3 times in one week. The first being in a West Texas town called Marfa. 200 miles from El Paso (on the border of Mexico). Marfa is a 7 hour drive from Austin through the best of what Texas has to offer. Its much like driving through Aussie; dry, flat, brown, but stunning and no Roos or wombats to run over. And unlike the previous trip where we stuck to highways and bypassed the good stuff this time we took roads where we went through little towns like Fredricksburg (a small town Zee Germans settled). Of course we had to stop at the local brewery and add to the stock of beer we already had in the cooler. Oh I forgot to tell you that we did this trip in a minivan with our mate Greg (or Lil Hank as we call him), a fellow ginga. I was in the back of the van next to all the luggage and the said cooler.
The concert was to be played at a camp ground in Marfa but we decided to drive the day before and stay in a place called Alpine, in the comfort of a hotel. You can have your camping! That night we were treated to a beautiful meal at a restaurant our mate Gabe helped to set up. It was a good ole Texas steakhouse. Dam good food or as they would say, Dang good food.
Marfa is supposed to be known for its art….well this was a boys trip so there was no sightseeing or any malarkey like that along the way…A to B with nothing in between (apart from the stop at the brewery….Priorities!!) .
Marfa was only 30 miles from Alpine and we arrived around 11 and some of our mates had already set up camp. They had stayed last night…suckers! They only had a 3 man tent and there was 6 of us so I made plans to sleep in the car…what a mistake that would prove to be.
Fortuitously (eh…I surprise myself sometimes), yes, Fortuitously, they had set up camp in direct view of the stage (about 60 meters away), primo! We basically sat under a shade tent and drank and ate until the bands came on. I did venture towards the stage to get a closer look but mostly we stayed put…couldn’t ask for a better spot man.
Old Crow Medicine Show was on first…they were cool. Surprisingly, Mumford & Sons came on 2nd and Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros finished it all out.
There was a definite festival/folk/hippie feel to the gig and there were some interesting people for real. I managed not to stand out too much…well until I over played a dance move and ended up on my head, ass in the air, in the dust. Thanks to Shaz Nasty who gave me a shove back into my chair and dusted me off…god dam freak show!
All in all it was a superb experience. West Texas is something to see. Mumford did not let me down. I became “one” with the dust and dirt and port-a-loos and bloody rough terrain….I complained not once!
The only complaint I had was freezing my ass off in the car. Thanks Dad for txting me the Warriors scores at 5am….I was still awake…Buzzing off my chops on Red Bull and chattering like a fool.
The New Orleans Jazz Festival is on this weekend…..in New Orleans duh! We have a hotel booked. Lil Hank is joining us and we also got tickets to see another awesome band on Sunday night, Authority Zero….its gunna be good. I’ll fill you in next week.
For now, see ya, hope you are well.
Much love
C
