Howdy y'all! (yes, they actually say that here!)
I survived 36 hours on a greyhound, whoop! Now never again! It was just the last 12 hours that were the worst. We kept getting delayed and then got caught in a wildfire just before Dallas. there was this really annoying man behind me on that bus, and when the driver stopped at the side of the road because the fire had spread on to the freeway and he blatantly couldn't get through, this guy shouts 'why don't y'all just drive through really fast?!' Er yeah, brilliant idea, we all know fires can't burn you if your going more than 60mph! At least the driver had sense. The cops came and got everyone to turn around, so we had to go back on ourselves an hour to catch another road.
I couldn't get a hostel in Austin, apparently there's some big music festival this weekend, so I'm staying in some cheapo hotel. Now I realise why it's cheap, although it's next door to the greyhound station, it's like a 20minute bus ride from Austin. But it's not too bad. I went to the state Capitol, yes another one! But this has to be the most interesting, Texas has kind of got more to it's history than the other states I've been to. It used to be the Republic of Texas, a country on it's own after it gained independence from Mexico. I went to the history of Texas museum, and you go into this theatre where there's a little show about the history. It was another one of those interactive shows where the rattlesnakes hiss air at your feet and then a tube raises up in your seat to make it feel like a snake slithering past.
The weather is stinking hot here, it's so dry and arid. The tour guy told me it's the worst drought in quite some time, hence the wildfires. So walking around the city I kept having to stop and dive into a cafe for some water! I finally got down to the bat bridge - Austins claim to fame. Underneath the bridge lives the worlds largest urban bat colony of around 1.5 - 2 million bats. I started at a restaurant downstream to meet the kayaking tour. We had to kayak upto the bridge where he gave us some information on the bats etc. And YES I paddled straight:) it's so much easier in a single kayak! But Debbie our wonky kayakig wasn't our fault! There was a couple going into a tandem and be explained to them what to do, it's an art, which our non-English speaking kayak instructor failed to tell us!
Anyway, just before sunset the bats start coming out, and it's the craziest thing I've ever seen! We were right below and they all flock out together and it looks like a long line of black smoke! It's amazing! There's that many of them it takes 30-40 minutes for them all to come out! Then we had to paddle back in the dark, he had us going so fast that I got blisters.
I had a quick walk along 6th street, where Austin is famous for it's live music. There's a band playig in every bar! The city has a motto 'keep Austin weird', I can see that in how quirky everyone dresses!
Off to Houston today, hopefully without any wildfires on the way! Angela is picking me up at the station and I'm staying with her and Mick. I can't wait to see the girls!
Catch you all soon!
xXx