Road Sanity

I awoke to the sound of my cell phone ringing. It was just a few minutes after 8:00 am. My wife and I had not set the alarm because we did not have to be anywhere until 11:00 am and, besides, we had stayed up rather late. I missed the call, but called back quickly to find that two people who were to attend my client meeting today were stuck in San Antonio by high water and more storms on the way.

After getting that bit of information, we drove to South First Street, where we had a nice Mexican breakfast at La Reyna. Lots of other places looked very inviting, but my wife had seen something about La Reyna and so that's where we went. My wife had a taco de carne guisada in a flour tortilla and a migas taco; I had a taco de carne guisada, one taco de barbacoa, and an order of carne guisada y pappas, the latter of which turned out to be slightly flavored slices of boiled potato. Everything else was outstanding. And the salsa picante was flavorful and hot enough to make me break a significant head-sweat.

My meeting took place....over at 1:30. Off we went to Lockhart, waiting to worry about where we would have barbeque until we reached town (only 30 miles from Austin). We opted for Smitty's, which is housed in what once was Kruez Market and is owned by one of the former owners of Kruez Market, which is now located in an old building nearby. We decided on Smitty's because we loved the sensations the place gives us. Walk in the front door, past an indented spot on the concrete floor where oak logs are burning...you have to be careful not to brush against them. Smoke is thick in the room and the odor of smoked meat is almost overwhelming. Order and pay in the hot room, near the grill, and take the meat (wrapped in waxed meat paper) inside, where you can buy accompaniments if you wish.

I got some brisket and a couple of links of sausage. My wife got ribs. It was delicious, but too much food. We packed away a good bit to take home with us. Of course, we also got a bit of potato salad, coleslaw, jalapenos, bread, etc. By the time we finished, rain was pouring down in sheets. I dashed out to get the car, drove close to the door, picked up my wife, and off we went toward Bastrop.

By the time we got to Bastrop, the weather looked pretty evil and I was not in the mood to ford rising waters, so we decided to stay overnight. A brief look convinced us that the Comfort Inn was the best deal, despite being a bit pricing.

After checking in, we drove around Bastrop, viewing the town through raindrops. It's a pretty town, with a beautiful courthouse and an attractive little downtown area with nice little restaurants around the square. We stopped during a brief respite in the rain to get out of the car and attempt to get a look at the Colorado River, which is flooding well beyond its banks. The only place we know to get a very good view is on the bridge from one side of town to the other, but we decided to wait to see if the weather is more cooperative tomorrow to try to walk across that bridge.

For dinner, we went to The Roadhouse, where we both had bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches, jazzed up a bit with slices of avocadoes. I added jalapenos to mine. The Roadhouse has live music a little later, but we decided to get back to the hotel and settle in to watch HBO...at least my wife will. I'll seek information and record my ideas and avoid too much television.

Tomorrow, we're going to play it by ear. We must be home by about 3:00 pm so we can do our wash, prepare for the upcoming week, and decompress.

I do love these little trips, even short ones wrapped around business meetings. They allow me to prove to myself that I still have a little sanity left, and just enough craziness.