And again, to the road. The perfected time of winter, when many brush off travel, and stay locked away for weeks at a time, blue and warm. That's when the Hook of Texas is at it again, like some massive, magnetic rock formation pulling at all my senses; see the mountains, hear the silence, feel the music, smell the clean air, taste the 44 Farms ribeye, balance it all. But first to Austin, for the Bob Schnieder Monday night show at the Saxon Pub. If ya know, ya know.
Arrangements for this perpetually incomplete adventure were made a couple of weeks prior, with beaching family trips booked on the horizon, this was my chance to get back, drive around, know more. From Austin, I'll go west, likely to Van Horn. Close to the Guadalupe Mountains. Then, south to the El Veijo Adobe, my spot in Alpine, to launch days of smaller road trips. Out there, it's divide and conquer.
A loose list of aspirations include: Bob at the Saxon with my Austin cousin, bike ride downtown and Barton Creek, some live music at Don's Depot, some medium level hiking, revisit Chinati, wink at the Mystery Lights of Marfa, play LaJitas, check out the renovated Big Bend Museum, jam out with the Cool Arrows. Come what may, with an inclination for the new and undiscovered, an eye for the unknown. At a peaceful pace, there is no hurries, no frantic dashes. Just wandering and wondering. And words.