Austin

Somehow I feel that a mini milestone has been reached by arriving in Austin. Austin was certainly a fixed destination in terms of all the great things I had heard about it and also because I had decided to get my wheels rebuilt here, as again I had heard that there was loads of really good cycle shops.
I had somehow put a lot of pressure on myself to get to Austin and now that I am here I feel that that pressure has been lifted and the rest of the journey can run its course. I arrived in Austin on Thursday, having had a day off the previous day, with a good 130km the day before that! Got a little bit of heat stroke the day after the 130km so I was glad for the day's break before the 55km into Austin.

And Austin really rocks! What a fantastic city. Really pretty and with a great relaxed yet cosmopolitan vibe...and again everyone so friendly. It is big enough to have everything but small enough to get around fairly easily. And really anything goes here - it has it all, with smiles all round. It is the home of Texas University so has a young trendy feel about it.

Affordable accommodation was again a problem as I am sure it will be in any big city with many of the camping grounds being for RV's only, and the other camp sites being quite far out of town. To cap it all this weekend there was a motor bike rally so pretty much all available accommodation was taken up with 'the bikers!' But I found a great spot on "Airbnb' an internet site that people can advertise their homes for short or long stays. Eric and Bridget rent out a space in their garden for people to put up their tent, or Eric can supply a tent. He very kindly gave me a special offer for four days while I got the wheels sorted, and they are such great people with their two lovely dogs. So it is working out really well.

Well, except for the wheels. I sourced a really good bike shop and was amazed to hear that they could not find me the rims I wanted and they would have to order them direct from the dealers which would take 10 days....and then they would still have to build them. Anyway, I asked them to check out the rims and if they were alright to go ahead and rebuild the existing ones with new spokes. However, the message did not quite get to the bike mechanic and he went ahead and put on the new spokes and when I went to pick the bike up he reported that the rims were pretty useless......so I was a bit annoyed that he went ahead and put the spokes on....so, not good enough I said, find me some good rims and redo!!! And so we wait, with a bit of disappointment - but Austin is a great place to wait. I went to Barton Springs yesterday almost in downtown Austin - ice cold crystal clear water welling up from the ground, and relaxed in the waters - great for the legs!!!

And also visited the most amazing whole food shop - as big as a supermarket with everything you can think of under the sun - all organic and natural....well........! I could move to Austin just for that shop!!!!

Austin is apparently one of the few cities that is actually expanding in spite of the recession - there is a lot of major road building and construction going on, which in one sense I suppose is a good sign.

Very apt, I thought.

Still very hot days though - around 100F which is about 35C, and mosquitoes that can carry you away!!!! Got to have central heating here.