Trip to Austin and Cyclepath Comes Home

Tuesday, February 9, I'm up at 8:15. The low is 37 degrees and the high gets to 45 with a sharp north wind and sunny skies. I had to clamp the cover back on my bike first thing this morning as it was about to blow off. There is too much excess material now that Bob's bike is in the shop. My hands froze and I had to go back out a second time to get it right.

We have a light breakfast and stretch. Bob hooks up the water. It never froze last night but better safe than sorry. Another Big Freeze is predicted over the next two days. I send an email to Glenda to ask about lunch on Friday instead of Thursday as we may not be able to leave our pipes on Thursday. I find an email from Tom and Nan-Marie. They will be our neighbors at Southern Oaks in Aransas Pass. They made reservations for a month and will arrive shortly after we do. They got a discount for the clubhouse not being open just like we did. They mentioned a new Thousand Trails membership that they will take advantage of in their new lifestyle. Many RVers we run into have invested in this way of getting reduced campground fees.

Before heading off for the day we fill our freshwater tank. The hose flips out so it wasn't filling up but we finally 'got er done'. At 11:30 Bob and I leave for Austin taking 183 to 290 to Airport to eat at China Palace. This favorite spot of ours was especially good this year. I enjoyed the new Seaweed Salad. And as always their Summer Rolls with Plum Sauce and Pot Stickers with Soy/Ginger Sauce are excellent. They have the best tofu here.

After lunch we stop at Capital Camera on Lamar. We found a battery for our bathroom scale but a snarly guy behind the counter said we'll have a hard time finding the old-style Memory Stick for my five year old Sony camera. He says we'll probably have to have an adapter stick and use a new SD card. And no, they don't have any, and good luck finding one; maybe Fry's or something. The bike repair guy calls while we're in the camera shop and I can barely hear him. Bob's bike is ready and he's open until 6:00 tonight.

On a whim we decide to kill 45minutes across the street at Central Market. We love that place. As we drive across Lamar I remember there is a Wolf Camera store next door. We find the adapter and a 1 meg memory stick for $19.99. Sold!

It is nostalgic browsing through Central Market. We sure miss this place and didn't realize just how much until we roamed up and down the aisles. We found a 9-grain honey bread for $2.49/lb. We couldn't find our favorite chicken sausage. But we score the last of the season's Honeycrisp apples and Oolong and Prince Edward Breakfast Teas. We try Pinata apples for $1.49/lb. And I'm happy to find the Kohana coffee beans that Blair told me about; I try Flores Bajawa. Bob finds a paper on the second try by the express lane.

He drops me off at Dr. M's front door and parks on the roof of the parking garage to read the paper. I'm out of there in 45 minutes after hearing all about Dr. M's three-week cruise to Alaska with a Denali side-trip. He wants to go again this year and take the kids.

Bob is enjoying a view of Central Austin from the top deck of the parking garage after I run up the stairs to the top level. We take Lamar to Ben White all the way to the bike shop in Bastrop where we part with $28.00 for a spoke replacement and the handle bar bushing work. Bob chats about kayak trips on the Colorado River with him. I browse some nice bike shorts/cycle pants for $52.00 but pass on them.

We toss the bike in back after opening the tonneau cover and skipping the bike rack since it's a short trip home where we stow the bike in the 'garage.' Now maybe the cover will stay on since both of our bikes are home. Cyclepath and R2D2 have been reunited. We read the paper and watch both NCIS episodes as well as the Good Wife. Leftover stoup for dinner. It's 8:37 p.m. and 41 degrees with 42% humidity. There is a freeze predicted tonight.