Don't Mess With Texas

It has been a HOT couple of days people. The weather website tells me that when we were strolling around Austin today, it was 106 degrees. That's uh... that's probably a little cooler than the tent in Texarkana was, but seriously, that has to be the hottest any of us have experienced.

Anyway, we got up yesterday and nipped across the road for our first Waffle House breakfast.



Waffles with chocolate chips, waffles with bacon, waffles with pecans... all with the jug of syrup. Yeah, it was a good breakfast.



The aim for the day was the 250 miles or so south to Austin. First up though, Suze The Sat Nav had taken a cold shower and regained her skillz. We headed 10 miles up the Interstate to Cowboys Stadium. Wow.



So this is the new home of the Dallas Cowboys, to be broken in starting in September. They haven't quite finished building it yet, there were construction guys doing bits and pieces, but they opened it for tours last week, and we had to take one. Very worthwhile.





Behind Neil and Steve you can see the world's largest television screen. It hangs 90 feet off the pitch at the moment, but they are worried that punters might be able reach it, so they're looking at how to raise. They need to lift it 10 feet in October anyway, because otherwise it would interfere with U2's stage set up. You gotta love it... If we remember right, it's 7 stories tall, 11,520 square foot, and has 3.5 million LED lights. That's per screen by the way, there are two of those size, and two smaller ones at the ends. It's incredible. Have a video.




The tour was great, we saw from a lot of stands, into a few exec. boxes, the locker room, really really worthwhile, but Steve felt a little guilty funding the enemy.



Oh, and how's this for a nice view of the Rangers Ballpark?!



So yeah, time to say goodbye to Fort Worth, and hello to the I-35.



It was a nice drive, Steve dealt with it very well, and it provided a good chance to sample some new varieties of Mountain Dew. Both WoW types. I liked the Fruit Punch a little more, the others preferred the Cherry Citrus. Both were great, would drink again.




We arrived in Austin, checked into the motel etc. etc. and got the bus into town. The Austin bus service is A.OK., we're big fans. It's dirt cheap, regular, air con is great, the drivers very friendly. Best bus service yet. Thumbs up Austin.

Austin seems to do everything really well though. I think we're all agreed that this has been the best stop we've made yet. Downtown is gorgeous, check out the State Capitol!





We got there around 8PM and it looked really quiet, but we tried the door and just walked right in. As impressive inside as it was outside.







From the front gate the Capitol building looks down Congress Avenue.



And a few blocks down is the famous Sixth Street, where apparently all of American's musicians, and most of their homeless people, hangout.



That's not really fair, there were only a few homeless people. And credit to them, they were for the most part, very friendly. We needed food, so settled for Buffalo Billiards which had happy hour all night, and half price appetizers. Good move. Enter potato skins, chili fries and Buffalo wings, for a grand total of about 8 bucks.



We had some beers, enjoyed the atmosphere and headed back to the motel, via the Capitol Building. Very nice.



We slept in a little this morning! Up at nine, had a little breakfast at the motel and got back on the bus, this time to the University of Texas Campus. How's this for a stadium?



Spent a little time and a little money in the shop, and struggled through the sun to the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum, which turned out to be the only free Presidential Library in the country! Nice coincidence, we really are Scots abroad. This is the front facing of the archive, which apparently has 45 million documents. No email back then, as the friendly door clerk reminded us.



Check Steve and Neil chillin' in the Oval Office, 7/8 of the real size!



Very enjoyable experience all round, and the shop at the end was my highlight so far, original McGovern '72 campaign buttons! I spent six months reading about this dude, might as well get me some buttons and a poster.

Anyway, enough culture, it was time for some barbecue. And I think we picked good. The Iron Works. If it's good enough for Willie Nelson and Jay Leno (who regularly gets their ribs shipped to LA, apparently), it's way too good for us.



You go in, queue up, order, they make your plate right there, you get a soda, you pay, and you sit down. The tables have BBQ sauce, Tabasco, and massive roll of paper towels. Just as well...



Doesn't Steve look happy? We all played it safe and went for the 'Sampler'. Brisket, sausage and beef ribs, plus the usual fixin's of beans, potato salad, crunchy pickles, onion and bread.





Mike, we're talking directly to you here. That was the single greatest meal we have experienced. Everything about it was perfect. Texas BBQ is as good a cuisine as the world has to offer. You want us to bring you a rib buddy?



Ok, that'll do for now. We're going out. Tomorrow, we're going to Odessa. Mojo Football baby!

CLEAR EYES FULL HEARTS CAN'T LOSE.


EDIT- Last minute update, the news just said that this was the hottest day of the year so far for Austin. Yeouch. At least it wont get any hotter. Right?