USATourist Community

I got up pretty early when smelled food cooking in the adjacent kitchen. I'd slept on Catherine's couch and everyone was up very early making breakfast. They're all doctors and med students, so it's programmed into their circuitry to wake up very early no matter what time the night ends...

I stayed in Austin, writing and wandering around for much of the day. On 6th street I ran into this old hotel. I went to the Whole Foods store again to get some food and ran into Sy. Sy was born in India, but has lived in Texas for years working as an engineer and a teacher. He is a very friendly guy...

The next morning I wandered around downtown, checking out 6th street with all the bars, restaurants, venues. It's always interesting to get oriented in a new city. It's like plunging into a novel or a movie set. You have certain ideas of how it will be, but feeling the sidewalk, smelling the...

The next morning I made the short drive to Austin. Austin is known as the liberal heart of Texas, the music/art/intellectual heart of Texas, the coolest city in Texas, and other similar things. I drove there early and found a campsite at McKinley State Park south of the city. The ranger looked at me...

Of those two choices, I woold prefer Dallas/Fort Worth over Houston. Both of them are large cities with a lot of choices for nightlife and for restaurants. I think Houston is just too big, too sprawling, too congested and too commercial. Dallas is a bit more manageable. If I had my choice of any city...