I'll Ride the Wave Where it Takes Me

Note: post will be made from an iPhone. I apologize for autocorrect errors or otherwise.

As it stands now I am in the Sanchez Building of the University of Texas.

As expected it is hot, humid, and huge here. The trek here was an eventful one. Yesterday, my mom and grandma's birthday (happy birthday!) I flew down here to prepare for an 1800 mile bike ride.

The flight from Moline to Chicago was cake. The pilot was in a hurry and we made it about 30 minutes, which provided me with ample time to find the gate and wait for my next flight. The problem was the flight never came. I had an old gate number and didn't check my flight status so after watching the USA Men's VB team and others leave the adjacent get for Frankfurt, I hurriedly left to find a United employee to double check my status. Turns out the gate was switched a mere terminal away. The ill-fated news gave me 3 mins to make what felt like a mile. Naturally I missed my flight. From disappointment did not come defeat, as I made my way to the customer service area.

After waiting in line behind a very annoyed pair of Swedish women, I finally was able to talk to an associate who got me on the last flight to Austin that day- nevermind the fact that I had to travel to DC to get there. another monotonous walk through the never ending commercial stands of sustenance and entertainment lead me to my gate. Upon walking into the plane I had the pleasure of meeting our of the happiest (and only) Spaniards I have ever met in my life. Their boisterous discussions helped drown out the mid-forties woman in front of me who must be struggling to raise the single most loudest screaming son I have ever encountered. One hour and 38 minutes later...boom I'm in the capital.

Upon arrival in DC, I had 24 minutes to find my gate and locate food. I found the gate rather quickly. That task being completed, I consumed a 6.99 Kwik Star-ish wrap with a 2.99 20oz lemonade and I was sound as a pound. Well maybe not sound, as the lemonade was about 69 grams of sugar so I discarded the sugar water for a few minutes of wi-fi.

After a paging of Mr. Schneenberger (pronunciation issue) for a seat change, The following flight from DC to Austin was rather uneventful. I was perturbed by the fact that before we could take off we had to wait for 17 people from a United flight from Philly to reach our plane before we could leave. No one waited for me! The inflight movie was awful, so I lost myself in thought to Pearl Jam live in the United Center Chicago 2006 and a six dollar Heineken.

Shortly after touchdown, Mr. Hembry completed the extraction and we stopped by the local dive bar, Nomads. Surrounded by the aesthetics of a "typical" keep Austin weird cadre we caught up with a few local brews and a wide ranging collection of sounds from Sex on Fire to grind core. Tattoos, hipsters, and sweaty patrons abound the place was quite inviting and the people nice.

While thus far the wide expanse of the urban Austin sprawl has barely been explored I find this town pretty cool. A more cleaner Cedar Rapids type than Des Moines (comparison or the Iowa folks) with the huge UT campus and the capital as its crown jewel.

I am very grateful to the airlines workers that helped me get here as I know that their job consists of so many complaints. I made sure to say hello and ask how their day was and after a smile I received help. I have a feeling that they aren't usually spoken to in high regard.

While I didn't care for the seven hours of flight time I logged as I usually hate flying (aka am scared), it was nice. Flying by the end was fun and the day spent in three major hubs wasn't a bad gig. People watching can be quite entertaining. All in all, I logged about 2400 miles traveled. If you think about that in comparison to the fact that NYC to LA is about 2440 it might better help you grasp the distance.

Alls well that ends well. Now onto exploring Austin and some training rides before the Sunday departure. As Eddie Vedder once sang, "I'll ride the wave where it takes me." Yesterday's wave was a big one, I'm interested to see where and how big the next wave is.

Until later,
KRS