Well I'm in Austin. The first order of business when flying in and starting a work project is picking an appropriate rental vehicle. Ideally you want a rental vehicle that accents your hotel room...like this:
For anyone on the fence about buying a Jeep because they're worried that the doors won't fit on a luggage cart and in an elevator...don't worry, they will.
With the rental vehicle decision made it was time for a couple overnight shifts leading up to the 4th of July. Having the night of the 4th off I debated making the drive to Big Bend (8 hours), but decided I really needed two days to make it worth the trip. Hoping I can arrange that sometime during my month here...
Today the dive bars were packed, downtown was crazy busy and it's 103 degrees so I decided to take the Jeep and go wander around. I hit up random roads making my way toward the
Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge offers limited hiking and human access (it's a refuge for animals), and there wasn't a lot in the way of views from the areas I accessed. Unfortunately the hills in Texas "hill country" would barely register as hills in the majority of the rest of the country. I did, however, find plenty of single and double lane back roads that meandered through nothing. With the air rushing through the Jeep, the radio blasting Eddie Vedder and the sun shining down it was the perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of the holiday in Austin.
One road in particular meandered along Cow Creek. The creek was pretty low, but the exposed creek bed and the water that was flowing made for some very interesting road side stops. The bridges over the creek are designed to have the water flow over top during flooding. If the marks on the flood gauges are any indication there are times that these crossings have been 7 or 8 feet under water.
Toward the end of the road where it rejoined the highway there was a piece of private land that had a deep pool of green water with a small waterfall flowing into it. I wasn't able to get a good picture of it without trespassing (something I'm firmly against), but if I were this land owner I certainly would have been enjoying a swim in this pool today.
After tomorrow night I'll have my schedule for the remainder of the month nailed down and should know if I'll be able to make it out to Big Bend while I'm here. The areas around Austin seem pretty developed, but I'm sure there's some more exploring to be had...
