Home alone

January 11, 2015 katheross 1 Comment

It’s been a week of firsts.

Maurice went to work in the Chevron office in Houston and I was left at home alone for the first time since we arrived.

It was strange being left behind in the apartment all by myself. I pottered around for while and then set off to walk to the nearby TJ Max which is basically TK Max – with a J instead of a K – strangely.

While shopping, Maurice called to arrange for us to meet up with Matt, our realtor guy, again. He came to the apartment mid afternoon to collect me and we met Maurice at another property to view.

The property was very nice, a spacious modern house in a lovely street, but in a gated complex which provided very little outside space and a cramped feel at the sides and front of the house. We did not rule it out – the area was certainly a good one. This was the ‘Medical Center’ as it is so close to all the hospitals in Houston. I imagine many of the residents around here will work in these hospitals, although I think the consultants will be living in the mansions we saw when we were practising driving the other day. Outrageous palatial homes with huge grounds and ornate features which line the desirable boulevards of Memorial Drive and River Oaks.

We checked out another property in West University. It was ok, had a spacious feel, plenty room for us, although the kitchen was pretty tiny, but the garden was flooded and plumbing problems were in the process of being fixed. We didn’t think this was for us.

Then we went back to Buffalo Speedway, also in West U, and re-visited a lovely house with a pool. We decided to go ahead and apply to become tenants with some modifications to the original proposal. Just had to wait and see if we would be accepted.

The next day I visited the gym in the apartment complex for the first time. Not a bad wee facility, all the machines you need and tvs to watch too – with rather macho ‘Dave’ style tv channels chosen. I was the only one there.

After my gentle work out, I had a go on one of the massage chairs available. This felt rather like being in a car wash for humans, without the water. I was poked, squeezed and vibrated from all sides in an unpredictable sequence of electrically controlled undulations that successfully removed any stiffness from my muscles. Very strange.

Later that day we heard that we had successfully secured the house on Buffalo Speedway! So just the paper work and money to sort out now.

Wednesday passed pretty much like the other two days home alone, this time I walked to the Galleria and rummaged around in a few of the huge choice of stores, really just to get out and get some exercise.

When Maurice came home, we set off to see a car that he had spotted for sale online – a 2011 Nissan Sentra. A tad more sensible than the Corvette. And before we knew it, he’d bought it. Spurred on by a young sales guy who said another customer was interested and coming along ‘any time now’ to buy, and a reduction of $500, Maurice said yes – and initialled what can only be described as a scrap of paper with a handwritten note on it saying – ‘I will buy this car if you reduce it by $500’. I thought it was all a made up wee story about the other customer – but then he arrived and even said to us – ‘you beat me to it’! So he wasn’t fictitious he was a real person.

The dealers make it very tempting and easy to commit to buy, then hit you with the usual array of paper work. It’s not a whole lot different to buying in the UK but different enough to feel quite alien, when you don’t know all the legalities. A very lovely lady called Becky guided us through the finance and then that was that. We couldn’t drive it away, but everything had been put in place.

Maurice works a 9 day fortnight and this first Friday was the planned ‘TDO’ or tenth day off so, a four day week for him to start the year nice and gently. Thursday was his last work day this week. I went to the gym again and braved some more ambitious settings of the massage chair – the ‘relax’ setting I found to be far from that – and watched some more bloke tv about trains braving the elements in Alaska through all weathers. The train hitting a dog on the track was a low point.

We had a ‘date night’ at a local Galleria hostelry in the evening to mark the start of the weekend.

Then Friday was a very busy day!

We had all the finances to sort out for the car and the house and were panicking slightly about how to get much needed funds over from the UK accounts to the US in the most economic way. I happen-chanced upon a recommendation on the Martin Lewis Money Expert website which proved very fortuitous and we managed to navigate our way to a reasonably smooth money transfer. After an initial delay when I thought we had signed over all our worldly goods to a total stranger, a confirmation popped through and we could breathe again. Phew.

A morning of emailing, phoning, transferring and confirming passed in a flash. Later than intended we set off for Maurice to get a hair cut and to buy a satnav for our new car.

The barber was ‘Mike’s’ although precisely who Mike was remains a mystery as the establishment was entirely staffed by Latino women who spoke in Spanish, very fast, and in a screechingly high pitch and volume up at max. Only one apparently occupied to actually cut hair, although there were half a dozen barber’s chairs lined up in this pretty basic shop, each with a plaque above, hanging at various jaunty angles and proclaiming that the named individual was a ‘certified cosmetician in the state of Texas’. A tv in the corner was showing a Spanish game show of some kind and one of the ‘cosmeticians’ was riveted to it. It appeared to be quite an amusing programme as the regular, deafening squeals of laughter testified.

The hair was cut – looks ok and only cost $6 plus tip. Can’t complain about that. But don’t think Mike’s will be for me, certified or not.

Best Buy is a bit like Comet (RIP) but of course bigger, like all things Texan. We selected a cheap satnav and spotted some good bargains for future reference in the fridge and tv sections too. Here’s hoping Best Buy doesn’t suffer the same fate as Comet, or at least, not until after we have bagged some bargains.

World Market was next door. Liked the selection of furniture and accessories in here and not too pricey either. Another place to keep in mind when we need to start getting ‘stuff’.

After lunch at a Thai cafe we headed back to the apartment before going out to collect our new car. By this time it was nearly rush hour and I was not confident about driving alone so we took a cab to the dealership, got the keys and drove our first owned US car back home. It is a lovely roomy car – very comfy and of course, automatic. You get a lot more car for your buck over here, that’s for sure. This one will be Maurice’s work ‘mule’ and will do very nicely.

It was Friday night so we popped around the corner to an Argentinian restaurant and lounge for a beer and a wine or two. There was a guy playing flamenco guitar there which was lovely and the place had a great atmosphere. We didn’t eat here but the menu looked good – a possible for another night.

Saturday was baltic. Absolutely freezing – well nearly. And at one point, colder than Aberdeen.

We had elected to complete a 6 hour Driver’s Ed programme to help us pass the theory test which was set at the end of the day. We were a collection of nationalities, a group of around 15 mainly Chevron employees, it appeared. We went through the driving manual section by section and heard some colourful driving tales from our teacher Mrs Bo-something (she didn’t give us her first name – strangely). Her husband was there too – but in an unknown capacity other than being called upon to answer a question relating to school buses, and her mother was the secretary for the day, her father having passed away some 9 months prior. Quite the family affair.

I was left feeling, I never wanted to ever, ever risk driving in Texas ever, ever, ever.

We both passed the test – a two part test of regulations knowledge and traffic sign identification. So we can now progress to the practical test once we have been resident in Texas for 30 days. I will book some lessons to get my confidence up, that is definite. Once I am behind the wheel I’m not too bad, but moving between lanes is still a bit scary and certainly driving on the Freeway is not my idea of fun. I guess I will get used to it.

So, a new car, a new house, a first haircut in the US, a load of new experiences from ‘driver’s ed’ to massage chair.

First impressions from our first 2 weeks: it may just be because we are ‘aliens’ but imho this is a bureaucratic country (or maybe it’s this state), soooo much paper work. And the form designs will never win any plain English awards – legal terms of obscure origin appear preferable to the everyday alternatives. But everyone we have met has been really helpful and friendly. It is just a tad concerning when the driver’s ed teacher tells you she owns a gun ‘there are some crazy people out there’ and keeps it handy ‘especially for over this holiday period…’

At least there is some familiar cold and miserable weather. Beginning to feel at home.

Getting started

Cars, trains and flying saucers…Phil Dunphy and Gustavo

January 5, 2015 katheross

Driving the wrong way and heading towards a train which has dazzling headlights on and is sounding its horn, in a thunderstorm is not to be recommended…more of that later.

We awoke pretty early on New Year’s Day and had a leisurely start to 2015. The weather was not great – again – so we decided to go for a drive and take an external look at the houses we have selected to view tomorrow.

First we ventured to a couple slightly to the north of where we are currently in an area called Rice Military. These were relatively new build houses, looked smart, but had very little land space to speak of and were in an area that looked a bit random – lovely one minute, shabby the next. We drove around and felt that perhaps one had potential.

We then headed south and drove to an older property that looked drab and shabby from the outside – very brown. However, on the plus side the neighbourhood was wonderful. Maurice had a squint through the windows and confirmed that the inside looked pretty run down. Shame really.

We drove past another couple in this area which were more promising and took note of these for our visits the next day.

Then we drove to the Lexus car dealership which was open on New Year’s Day.

Well, it’s all very tempting. Firstly the dealership was amazing. Not a bit like Arnold Clark! It had it’s own little cafeteria with free eats as well as coffee and tea. The salesman, Ken, was extremely helpful and not a bit pushy. I don’t know if there is a subtle shift in sales technique over here of if it is just how it has always been but the emphasis is on making the customer relaxed and happy. Very low key, very effective. We checked out a couple of options but didn’t get to the test drive stage – hopefully that will follow. I was impressed though.

We were going to go to CarMax but saved that delight for another day, heading back to Sage for some lunch across the road at a Mexican restaurant. This was an interesting place – the experience was not unlike visiting Los Pollos Hermanos – maybe slightly more upmarket to this. And I would not have been surprised if the top man there was called Gustavo.

The rest of New Year’s Day passed…

On the Friday we were up to meet Matt our realtor. I hope he doesn’t mind that I think he looks identical to Phil Dunphy – only a good deal younger. He is a lovely helpful guy.

We had researched a few more promising places to visit and set off with Matt in his Jeep. The first we visited was the very drab brown house. It was equally drab and run down inside. A great place to buy and make over, but not to rent. But the area was fantastic. We checked out 2 more in this area, one with a pool which we were both taken with. It was a bit old fashioned and the pool was both a plus and a minus as the cost reflected it, but it quickly became our preferred choice.

Then there was another very brown house. On the inside this time. All on one floor, very dingy and very brown. Again, such a shame as a bit of TLC would have this place very desirable.

We were getting a feel for the area and what you could – or indeed couldn’t – get for your money. This is your AB15 equivalent in Houston. Your West End of Glasgow or your Morningside of Edinburgh. Lovely but pricey.

We discussed with Matt the pros and cons of this area as opposed to the lovely larger houses elsewhere and both of us feel that location has it over house size. There are only the 2 of us so provided our house has enough space for the odd visitor then we can be more practical.

Then we saw Plumb Street. A lovely little house in an amazing street. The house is perhaps not so little, but the kitchen is tiny, the rooms smallish by US standards and it is a curious shape and layout. Most odd is the huge room in the loft which is shelved on both sides from floor to lie in ceiling. We are very curious to learn what went on in this room with so much shelving.

Anyway, it quickly became our number 1 choice both due to location and price.

We went up to the Heights area to visit another we had identified previously, so that Matt could show us a newer house with all mod cons.

It was lovely but too big really for our needs. The ground area round about was miniscule. So we set about putting in an application for Plumb. A bit of paperwork to complete – and we are still waiting to hear…fingers crossed.

One of Maurice’s old Harley buddies, and former neighbour of ours, was in town on a lay over with his job – he works for BA. So we made contact and headed into the downtown area to meet him for a drink on the Friday night. But meantime the heavens had opened and we were treated to a major Houston thunderstorm. Rivers of water ran alongside the roads and pavements. Maurice drove – windscreen washers set at full speed couldn’t cope with the combination of torrential rain and spray from the other traffic.

We were glad to get into town in one piece. Parking proved a challenge but we eventually just parked at Paul’s hotel, met him there and crossed the road to the Flying Saucer pub which was pretty busy on a Friday evening. A couple of hours of chat and beer pleasantly followed.

I was the designated driver for going home having stuck to Perrier.

My condition had been to stay off the Freeways – I know you can do this – but even though the satnav was programmed thus, I found myself hurtling on to 59 North or whatever, and wanted off again immediately. Coming off was a mistake.

We got lost in the dark one way system of downtown which also has the added peril of the metrorail.

This is a tramway system – the rails for these pop up in unlikely places and you are left puzzling over if you are allowed to drive there or not. I figured not when I was faced down by a large tram with its headlights on heading towards me – I was apparently going the wrong direction on a one way tram line/street. A sharp turn right and I pulled in to the side of the road to both calm down and to get our bearings.

I decided to brave the freeways. I was relieved to come on to the 8 lane highway which seemed so preferable to a warren of one way dark streets. I navigated home with the help of satnav and Maurice who remained remarkably calm throughout this whole experience – must have been the Lawnmower beer.

I needed a few vinos when I got home.

The next day, Saturday, had a bit of a strange feel about it. One of those in between days when it is hard to figure out what day of the week it actually is.

Our mission today was to look at used cars at CarMax.

This is a supermarket for cars – mega, mega huge with a confusing choice of options. Maurice had seen a Mustang he was keen on (I’m not) and so we sat down with the ever-so-helpful sales person to look at the deal. One thing about CarMax – you get what you pay for and there is no negotiating involved. What you see is what you get which does make things straightforward.

We do need to buy a car before 12 January or pay for additional rental costs ourselves. Chevron pay for 2 weeks and give you that time to get sorted.

We also checked out the VW Tiguan and Maurice kept salivating over the Corvette in the showroom – a truly ridiculous car that he would love and I would hate.

Onwards from there we stopped by The Burger Palace for a lovely lunch before heading home.

After a short break we headed out to the Galleria where I had been the day before, to give Maurice an idea of how close we were and what was there.

He did think that over $2000 for a skimpy jacket in Neiman Marcus was ridiculous and I thought $500 for a really uninspiring work style skirt was completely overpriced.

We won’t be shopping there routinely.

Sunday was a lovely day. We headed to Hermann Park for a walk and a wee trip on the kiddie train.

We tested out routes from our preferred house on Plumb to the office and Maurice practiced driving to Smith St for the start of work tomorrow. I practiced driving too – with less success but still – I managed, albeit it always nearly ends in divorce or tears or both! We lunched at the quiet Thai restaurant near Randalls and then chilled for the evening so that Maurice could be rested for his big day tomorrow.

Can’t believe we have done so much in such a short space of time. We know (roughly) where we would like to live, we have options on cars – just need to choose and get Maurice to remain sensible, and we are beginning to quite like Houston.

That could now all change – we really can’t take the house on Plumb – they only want to lease for 6 months which is no use so back to the drawing board…

Arrival

The paper work – Happy New Year!

January 2, 2015 katheross

Oh dear God the paper work!

We have to get Social Security Numbers – forms to complete and a visit to an office which is every bit as you may expect.

Although, on the plus side, not a mega long line and it doesn’t take long. I find it quite an old fashioned place, no automation, but as Maurice said, maybe it’s actually quite nice to just have the personal touch. It strikes me that there must be a more efficient way of doing this. It is very staff intense – but then again – at least these people have jobs. Many of the others queueing up just don’t and maybe can’t work. I shouldn’t knock it. And it had very clean toilets.

A short interview and then, phew – that’s out of the way.

Next – a phone. This is not easy. However, an hour or so later and I get a brand new iPhone 6 and a contract for a ridiculous amount of money. Probably 10 times my previous cost. I had maximum loyalty benefits from Orange. Starting from scratch over here – no credit for loyalty in the UK. Most hilarious were the ‘security’ questions. Have you ever lived in any of these streets – answer ‘none of the above’. Have you ever worked in these companies – answer ‘none of the above’, and have you ever lived in any of these cities – you guessed it ‘none of the above’. Passed security with flying colours. Oh well that’s that then.

Lunch – chicken wings and chilli. Thinking I am needing to get a major ingestion of vegetables soon. Feeling bloated and unhealthy. Still a bit jet lagged but have finally located my melatonin so that will be taken before bedtime tonight and tomorrow – I’ll be in the central US time zone. Just in time to welcome 2015 which I’ll have to do at 6pm and midnight!.

We forgot to fill in an important customs form – but actually I thought we had to leave it blank. So not guilty. It has to be printed and filled in and then what? Not sure – have left that to Maurice. Honestly, it is no wonder this country has so many immigration issues – most people would really just not bother, not because they are doing anything illegal, but just to avoid the mountain of paperwork. And actually not sure that the government has the resources to bother pursuing you either.

The bag finally arrived – 2 days late. But thankfully with all the contents intact, and that was important. Maurice will sleep better tonight.

Hogmany dawns another ‘gy dreich’ day in Houston. The weather could not be more Aberdonian if it tried, albeit not as cold.

We venture out for shopping with me in the driver’s seat – back to the rather nice store Randalls which we discover is actually a Safeways. We get the store loyalty card too to benefit from their saver prices. And then spend rather a large amount on what appears to be not an awful lot…

Maurice in Guitar Centre — Kid in a sweetie shop

We find the local guitar centre where Maurice was like a kid in a sweet shop. An amp had to be tried out. Lots of passing shoppers in there commented to Maurice on his playing which gave him a thrill – he is good and does need to be reminded that he is! I bought him a tiny gizmo which fits into his guitar for silent jamming – a mini amp and it connects to headphones and iPod to provide his backing tracks. And was amazingly cheap. Christmas pressie sorted, a bit late.

Back in the apartment we chilled and I cooked a large curry before skyping the girls and Maurice’s sister after midnight UK time. That was hilarious – to see people rather merry when we were stone cold sober in the US. And unsurprisingly rather butterfingered with their tablets and phones. Screens went blank a few times. I have already skyped Iain and Sheila too – while they and we were sober – it is amazing how technology can bring you so close to people at the other side of the world.

We could barely keep awake for midnight. I watched a Hard Day’s Night and then 10 minutes short of all of Gimmee Shelter to keep me going and to see in the New Year. US non-contract tv is a bit pants but you can find some hidden gems if you search hard enough.

So Happy New Year to one and all! Hope y’all have a very healthy and positive 2015.

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Starting our adventure

December 30, 2014 katheross

Hi y’all! We made it!

Hectic, frantic, stressful, and, at times, terrifying.

That is actually what it was like preparing to move to this whole other country of Texas, USA.

The past few weeks have been maniacally busy from preparing for the packers to come to take all our worldly goods to our final clear out from Woodcroft Gardens on Saturday 27 December. I have hardly been able to breathe without remembering yet another important thing I had forgotten. There have been lists and more lists. Forms and more and more forms, and some.

And why did my contact lens order only arrive in Boots the day we were leaving, necessitating an unwanted trip into town (of all places) on the day after all the sales had started? And my pay-as-you-go SIM to replace my UK contract has not yet arrived, more than a month after ordering, despite the earnest promises of the lovely lad in India. So lots of last minute loose ends still hanging about.

Sister Sheila transported us to a hotel at the airport with our five bags and assorted hand luggage before farewells to her. Our final evening in the hotel at ABZ was spent with Maurice’s girls and their friends. A fitting last night with a small amount of wine and beer drunk and a few tears shed. I now felt that sensation of reality – up to now this had been so far in the future, something to imagine and plan for, but now it was actually happening.

We were up at 4.15am Sunday 28 December.

The flight was uneventful although our connection to Houston was pretty late leaving Amsterdam. One bag did not make the journey – we were left guessing which one – and it would be Maurice’s main one – with all his clothes and some precious items in it. We will worry until it arrives safely later today. His guitar, lovingly transported as hand luggage, had an overhead bin on its own from ABZ – much to the frustration of the other passengers on this very busy flight.

Did I mention we were flying Business Class? Oh yes! Maurice might be used to such luxury, but I took full advantage of the larger in flight entertainment screen, the flat bed seat and the tasty array of snacks. I have now seen the first 2 episodes of Game of Thrones so I will need to check when that’s on over here so I can catch up with everyone else on the planet. I could have consumed as much alcohol as I liked too, but didn’t want to arrive groggy and hung over (or still drunk) in Houston. So I was good. We both were.

No don't take a pic. — No don’t take a pic.

We were met in Houston by the Chevron appointed re-location advisor some 10 hours later – 3.30pm Central US time, 9.30pm GMT. Jeanne Marie is very friendly and efficient, welcoming and extremely helpful. She took us to our apartment which is a one bedroom spacious temporary home for the next 6 weeks, until we find somewhere more permanent to rent. A lovely welcome pack of all sorts of goodies awaited us and the most enormous container of milk I have seen independent of a cow. And a bottle of red wine too.

We sat down for a briefing from Jeanne Marie. There was rather a lot to take in, most of which I didn’t. I am not sure either of us did really – but hey, we can phone her and ask again. Importantly she took us to a rather lovely local store where we bought some more essentials, I mean beer.

Forgot to mention the weather – actually dreich – really dismal, cold and raining. So we felt at home.

After she left, we freshened up and ventured to a local hotel for some refreshments and food, returning to bed around 11pm – 5am GMT so we had been awake for pretty much 24 hours.

Our first morning started early at 8am with our driving assessments. Chevron pay for a car rental for 2 weeks but only if we both pass a driving assessment. This took most of the morning – we did not collect our hire car until 1pm – we were thoroughly assessed. Debbie was our instructor and she took us all over Houston and on the Freeway too. I have finally driven on the 8 lane highways! We both passed our assessments – I have a ‘tendency to drift’ and Maurice isn’t quite correct with indicating timing but other than that we were not too bad. We can apply for Texas driver’s licences in 30 days time, once we have passed a written test and taken a few more practical lessons.

And so that has been our first 24 hours in Houston TX. Still no sign of Maurice’s bag – but it is on its way.

Time to relax before the next exciting brush with officialdom – our appointment with the Social Security Office tomorrow at 9.00am

Here’s hoping it is not a whole morning…

I can see blue sky now and the sun is out at 4.30pm – so I now know I am not in Aberdeen.

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Prologue – the holiday

October 27, 2014 katheross

View all our images on Picasa

This is the first post in this series – a holiday report on getting to know this whole other country that is Texas!

I arrived on Thursday after an uneventful flight which had been delayed at Amsterdam. 9 hours later I was in Houston!

Taxi ride to the hotel and within a short time was ensconced at the bar with Maurice, ‘enjoying’ the company of a rather drunk Texan, regaling us with stories of gloom and doom, from Ebola to worldwide water shortage! That was fun!

I was not too tired considering my body clock thought it around 4 in the morning and I managed a g and t before heading to the room for room service food then bed.

The next day we began our road trip. Navigating out of Houston was fine if scary and eventually we were well under way. We stopped at a wee place called La Grange for lunch which proved very pleasant. After eating at Bistro 108 we explored the town centre which was basically just a wee square, and found the old county jailhouse which is now a museum. Zee Zee Top apparently wrote a song about this place.

On to Austin and it didn’t fail the hype. A lovely city with a great vibe. We had a quiet hour or two while I took advantage of the pool area and Maurice relaxed in the room, then we ventured out for an explore, walking along the lake walk then back up to the road and past the convention centre. We heard an amazing racket of birds in the trees roosting at dusk. Then found our way to Rainey Street. Basically a street of bars, converted from old bungalows and a buzzing place to pass a few hours with a few (!) beers. Our favourite that evening was Blackheart and it was mobbed.

In the lift at the hotel we met a guy who had been playing with Chvrches that day at ACL festival – our destination on Sunday.

Saturday was our bus trip day. Again we walked a bit further up the Colorado River and then back into the town along 6th Street to find the visitor centre where the trip started. After a reckie in the centre we got on the bus and were surprised to find ourselves on the bus with 2 couples from Aberdeenshire! Small world right enough. The tour took us up to the Capitol Building and to the University of Texas campus where the place was heaving with tailgaters – which means everyone just camps up in car parks and on the streets and has food and drink before the game – which was a home game for the Texas Longhorns. A sea of garish orange was before us! But everyone was very good natured, there were hardly any police, no litter and just a lot of people out having fun. It was a spectacularly beautiful day too which added to everyone’s good humour.

We found an interesting Mexican restaurant called Manuels for lunch – deserted but good food and great service. We then headed back to the hotel for a short siesta and refresh before venturing out.

The tour guide had told us about the bats under Congress Bridge and so we walked up the path alongside the lake to see what we could see. Dusk fell and a huge crowd of people straddled the bridge and adjacent paths hoping for a spectacle. Boats under the bridge drew up in place and shone their lights to allow the passengers to see the host of bats about to emerge. From where we were standing, there was no amazing spectacle although we did see a number of bats and it was lovely to see the sunset over the river. The main spectacle was the number of people and small boats which turned out to see a few rather shy bats.

We ventured back to Rainey Street and found another bar at the south end which was called Javelina and where the beer was cold and cheap! The night was jumping – Saturday night was certainly lively. We went back to the hotel and sat at the bar with a number of folk who had been at the ACL festival that day including one girl who had been singing with a group there. She was with band from Oz called The Falls and the bartender then downloaded their album so we could hear them. She was pretty drunk and got into full Dolly Parton mode. Troy the bartender, was excellent. Very friendly and accommodating.

The next day was Sunday ACL day for us.

We registered for B cycles and ventured off with our un-steerable jalopies along the river walk to the venue at Zilker Park. It was a great way to travel: $8 for a day and we could check in and take fresh bikes as often as we liked. The festival itself was as expected and also unexpected. The music, vibe and venue were fantastic. And no litter! None. Not a bit, well, not until much much later when you might expect things to get a bit messy. Maurice even managed a dance, well, march, with the cool lead singer of the Soul Stirrers. He probably features in a number of facebook pics as a result. We spent 2 or 3 hours there before coming back to the hotel for a break. I even had a swim in the pool as it was so hot and we were a bit sticky to say the least.

The second half of the day was equally great, no lines to get in, no problems with the bikes, and great music and wonderful characters. Watching the Turnpike Troubadors we were standing beside some young lads who were drinking from a flask shaped like a pair of binoculars which is a permitted item at the festival and a couple of oldsters with the full works for their tequila shots, including lime wedges!

The night was finished off with Pearl Jam then a swift if scary ride back along the path in the dark to Rainey Street where we finished off the night out with a drink at the Blackheart. Back at the hotel we had wings and chicken tenders with our last beers. Austin all but over.

After a late and leisurely breakfast we set off for Fredericksburg taking a short detour en route to see Johnson City where LBJ was born. Not much there so we headed to our destination for the night, the Fredericksburg Inn. A pleasant hour was spent relaxing by the pool before exploring the town and its many interesting shops and restaurants.

After a brief stop back at the hotel we ventured off to Luckenbach which was a very different experience. A cluster of ramshackle buildings centred around a shop and bar where a collection of oldsters and one young lad were playing guitar and singing lovely country songs. The bartender is a direct descendent of Davy Crockett allegedly! It’s a must see place and a wonderful relaxing 2 hours was passed here. Great music and a wonderful laid back vibe with chickens and cockerels running around, undisturbed by the two lazy cats. We came back to the town for a drink at the Silver Creek bar where a blues band was playing and finally collected a subway to enjoy back at the side of the pool with a night cap.

After breakfast on the Tuesday we set off for San Antonio. We decided on a short detour to visit the Enchanted Rock but unfortunately the rock was ‘closed’. Or at least the national park surrounding it was. Not sure why. Took a pic or two and ventured back to take up the route from Fredericksburg to San Antonio. An uneventful journey saw us arrive at our destination a little after 1 pm and we settled into the rather odd hotel. The Riverwalk Plaza proved to be not too palatial, however it was clean and conveniently located. We set off for an explore, and found the Riverwalk. It was hot and quite busy so we chose a Mexican restaurant for a bite to eat which was actually very good! The chilli con carne was made with large and succulent chunks of beef and melted in the mouth. Strangely the young English couple we had met the evening before at Luckenbach arrived to eat at the same restaurant and were sitting right across from us. Another Small World moment.

After lunch we took a river boat cruise and were treated to the Riverwalk sights from a flat bottomed barge. We ventured back to the hotel around 4.30 for a siesta and a short dip in the pool. In the evening we partook of a few beers at an Irish bar before coming back to the hotel around 10 for our nightcap, and bed.

The next day we set off pretty late to find some place for breakfast, eventually settling on McDonalds of all places, and just too late for breakfast. We then wandered up to the Alamo for an explore, buying a few rather pricey souvenirs, and taking lots of pics. The trolley tour was our next port of call and we were lucky enough to have Leroy as our tour guide. Setting off at around 13.15 we were taken to the Mission San Jose and various other stops on a tour lasting over an hour. Back at the Alamo at 14.30, a cowboy hat was purchased at the Menger Hotel shop and then we spent a few relaxing hours at Durty Nelly’s beneath the Hilton Hotel. It was lively place to sip a few beers and enjoy the Riverwalk once again.

A rest was then needed after which at 19.45 we headed out for our evening beverages. Our last evening in San Antonio – tomorrow we would be on our way back to Houston and then home.

We breakfasted in the hotel before checking out and leaving San Antonio to travel to Houston, with a slight detour to Gruene. This was a lovely spot, getting set up for a weekend music and wine festival which we would miss, unfortunately. This was a reclaimed old village, at the centre of which was a dance hall – the oldest in Texas reputedly. This was a very simple wood and corrugated iron construction which did look like something from the wild west. We lunched in a nice restaurant overlooking the Guadeloupe River and part of a larger complex which provided bed and breakfast accommodation. I enjoyed my chicken dinner with mash and guacamole but Maurice was not so keen on his country fried steak. We wandered up to a small ramshackle group of shops which included a place called Fickle Pickles which of course we had to take photos of.

We continued on our journey to Houston, battling rush hour traffic to get to our hotel around 5.30. We had a short interlude in the bar before a wee rest and then back down for a drink and food later on. It actually proved to be a very pleasant hotel and we were grateful for a relaxing last night in pleasant surroundings.

Breakfast in the hotel was followed by a short relax at the pool for me. The last morning in Texas passed quickly and then on to the airport where a delay of 2 hours kept us in the lounge rather longer than we would have liked. Home some 12 or so hours later, without our bags. Looking forward to starting the adventure in earnest.

Whole Other Country