Greetings from Austin

So, our day in Austin got off to a late start. As you may have already read, we left Ozona shortly after 9 am, anticipating a 3 hour drive. This would likely have been accurate, but as it turns out, Texas hill country is beautiful and we kept pulling over so I could take pics. 3 hours turned into 4, but it was totally worth it. 230ish miles, one basket of peaches, and a serving of homemade peach ice cream later, and we rolled into Austin.

Our first stop was Torchy's tacos, which sits in a dirt lot with 2 other carts. This seems to be common in Austin:  old, empty lots have now become something like food courts, as 3 or 4 trucks team up and some even offer free wifi. Torchy's was pretty damn good, but when we walked up the street and found Izzod's taco truck, I have to say it may have been even better. Initially we were headed to the JMueller BBQ truck across the street, but, sadly, they had sold out maybe 10 minutes before we arrived. That one tempura shrimp taco I ate at Izzod's may have been the single most delicious thing I ate all day.

After tracking down our motel, we headed back out for the evening. The first stop was BBQ Heaven, for our first full plate of Texas BBQ. The pulled pork was delicious and the brisket was good, but the ribs left a little to be desired. Not to worry though - we've decided to stop for BBQ lunch in Houston tomorrow. We still have a lot of Texas left to cover and ample time for more brisket.

We decided to walk off our BBQ with a wander down 6th Street, Austin's live music hub. We tried 2 different bars with 2 very different bands before we found our spot on the 3rd try. Although the Austin Amber Ale we tried at the last bar unfortunately left something to be desired, the shaved ice/soft serve combo we picked up in between was a nice end to a day of culinary adventures.

On a side note, the day brought two rather odd (food un-related) highlights: The first happened when we pulled into what we thought would be a Bank of America drive-through ATM. Instead we found a number of stalls outfitted with pneumatic tubes. As soon as we pulled up and began to scratch our heads in confusion, a voice came over the intercom telling Joe to put his bank card and ID in the tube. After receiving the cards, the tube was sent back with a withdrawal slip, which was then exchanged for the returned cards and cash. Throughout the whole experience, I couldn't help wondering how this could be in any way more efficient than an ATM. Why? Just ... why? The second highlight of the day occurred as we sat on a curb in downtown Austin eating our shaved ice. Directly in front of us, a large motorcycle pulled up to the red light, driven by your standard big, burly biker dude. All of this would be totally normal, except he was blasting reggaeton on his bike. Oh Austin, I think I could love you.