Arriving in Austin

Greetings from Austin, Texas! The Adventure Tour officially relocated and it has been a week since we arrived in Austin, and it has been an interesting one.

After the long drive last Wednesday, I went to our landlord’s house to pick up the keys and deliver our first month’s rent. They have lots of cats, and I think embraced a more gothic lifestyle before they had children. Now they are fairly normal parents who happen to have pens topped with little crystal skulls that light up when you write. But I digress, I got the keys and got back on the road to head further south to our new house. I didn’t get lost, but there was a lot of traffic and Tori and I were very ready to just get out of the car.

Driving up to a house you have never seen before, knowing you have to live there for the next 5 months is a daunting task. Even if it was the nicest house in the nicest neighborhood, I would have been a little nervous.

The first thing I heard when I opened my car door was a rooster. Okay, weird, but not so bad.  Then I open the door to the house, which doesn’t stay closed unless you deadbolt it from the inside. They warned me about this, but it is a pain. I look around the house quickly am not thrilled. On the side of the house is a once-enclosed patio area. It is missing some panels but is useful storage, until we discover how much it leaks in the rain. Then I go to the backyard, which is large but in need of some attention. Along the back fence of the yard is a long structure, when I first looked into it I just walked away. It was kinda scary and I envisioned someone (or something) jumping out and killing Tori and I. When Dunte arrived about an hour later, he made a joke saying maybe a goat lived in there. As it turns out, a goat did previously live in there.

Oh and the garage reeked, I mean really reeked of cat pee.  I know this sounds like a long list of complaints, and so I sat on the floor with my mother-in-law and freaked out until Dunte got there. I just looked out the window and complained, a lot.

All of our stuff in the living room the first night we arrived.

Dunte got there and looked around, once he agreed that it wasn’t exactly ideal I felt a little better about my list of complaints. We agreed the next logical step would be to order pizza. Tori went to bed and Dunte lay on the floor not wanting to move. We were tired from driving and loading everything by ourselves the day before, but I wanted to unload as much as we could while it was less than 100 degrees (which is after 9 pm) and while Dunte’s mom was there to help us. After a bit of coaxing, Dunte got off the floor. We ended up unloading just about everything.

Tori really likes the "new house" she has a new big girl bed and a bigger room!

The next day we unpacked all day long. We would take 10 minute breaks every few hours and sit on our recliners, which were facing each other about 10 inches apart and surrounded by a fort of boxes.

Thursday and Friday were mostly just more unpacking and getting lost. I got lost going to Target, going to Once Upon a Child to sell some of Tori’s old stuff, and going on a run in our neighborhood. I was grumpy because I was missing the Olympics and we didn’t have hot water. But we got an antenna (cable is not in our budget for a couple months at least), and our hot water and the door were fixed on Saturday.

One of the first things to
 hang on our walls.

On Sunday I went to a very strange church, and missed Lubbock and my church there a whole lot. Yeah, you heard me, I said I missed Lubbock. Not in an I-want-to-go-back kind of way, but I do miss it. Sunday afternoon I went on a little downtown adventure. I am applying for an internship at an art museum, and wanted to see the place before I finished my cover letter. I milled along in traffic to get downtown then had to navigate the issue of parking. I found a parking garage, went it and parked in a compact car spot I was convinced I would never get out of. To get out of the parking garage I went down three flights of stairs that let out into an ally off of 7^th street. The door wasn’t marked, and as far as I know, this was the only entrance and exit to the place. I was then convinced I wouldn’t have to worry about getting out of the spot, because I would never find my car again. All of these realizations made it very clear to me that I have never lived in an actual urban city. Lubbock is a city, but far from urban. Parking and unmarked ally doors and constant traffic have never been part of my everyday concerns.

On Monday we went to the library to use the Internet, this particular adventure took us away from I-35 traffic and yuckiness, which was very nice. I was looking for a place to sell some old clothes and stumbled upon a vintage clothing shop on 1^st street called Flashback. It was awesome! While I was digging through the racks admiring all the clothes I had another distinctly city experience. I moved on group of hangers and unsettled a fairly large cockroach. I gasped, stepped back and yanked my hand off the hanger. But I played it cool and calmly walked to another rack and continued my search. We ate lunch at an iconic Austin taco place, Torchy’s, which was delicious!

Monday night I had a meeting with Austin Woman Magazine, I will be interning with them this fall and this was my first meeting. I stressed about what to wear and left an hour early (not completely unnecessary). The offices are in a house off 49^th Street, and the staff seems to be comprised of smart, funny, hard-working women. I will be writing a few articles for the web in the upcoming months and I very excited about the opportunity. It looks like I will still be able to write for them when I get a full-time job and I hope this will lead to something full time in the next year. 

Adventures will ensue, and hopefully there will be slightly less getting lost involved.