Hey guy's how are y'all?

I apologize for my last blog entry, I read through it again now that I've just picked up my new glasses and would have to say it didn't make a lot of sense. It was quiet painful trying to type out without glasses and I'm pretty sure I'd had a couple of bevies by then :)

Well Vegas was a crapload of fun where I met some really awesome people, some of who I have already made plans to visit when I travel through California. From Vegas I made plans to travel to Dallas Texas! I had met an aussie guy who was based there and said good things so thought it was worth a look! I arrived at the airport which is a fair way out of Dallas and organized a shuttle bus to take me to the hostel. Thing was that I hadn't taken down the zip code for the hostel so when they asked for it I just typed in the address I had in my maps on my phone entering in Dallas! this turned out to be a very bad idea because apparenetly the hostel wasn't in Dallas it was in a seperate city called Irving, which we found out after a phone call!!

So the shuttle driver angrily dropped me off at the right location and didn't charge me anymore. I had hardly walked thriough the door of the hostel when the manage (an old native indian looking guy named Carlos) was trying to rush me to put on my best clothes as he was taking all the guests to a bar!! The hostel was a pretty small size but was a very chilled out relaxing vibe (taking away from Carlos pushing me out the door), everything was pretty much free clothes washing, shower products, internet and he drove us around a heap as well! Staying at the hostel as well where only 3 other people an old guy of about 60 yrs old named Bill, a Chilian women of 42 yrs old (can't remember her name!) and a young swiss lad 20yrs old (we'll just call him sven?).

The bar Carlos took us to was a big open ranch style building, inside there was a large group of about 60 people taking two step dancing lessons, they where all congregated around a middle dance floor listening in on the instructor then practicing the routine in a fluent moving circle. I wasn't long settled in my seat with a beer when Carlos was shoving me in front of a lady telling me to go and have a dance! He did this quite a few times and they all anded very quickly as I had no idea how to dance the two step and was constantly tredding on the ladies feet :(
This just made Carlos even more persistent and he wouldn't take no for an answer as he proceeded to try and teach me the two step in front of everyone, he kept telling me that anyone can learn the two step as it was designed to be easy to teach cowboys! among the most stupid people on earth :). So after an hour or so of embarrassment we made tracks back for some sleep.

The next day me the swiss lad an the chilian lady hopped on the train into central Dallas, we walked around most of the CBD, it was blistering hot (would have had to be close to 40 degree heat). We took refuge in a huge shopping mall at one stage, where they had a big ice rink in the middle, there was a group of 8 to 12 yr old girls playing around and a couple of them where absolutely amazing to watch doing crazy moves for there age!

For that night Carlos had organized us to head to a big cowboy hangout called Billy Bob's, it was in a diferent city called Fort Worth, about 40 mins away on the train. So I quickly booked my bus ticket foir the next day down to Austin (a city 3 odd hours south of Dallas), whilst getting ready another guest arrived he was an aussie guy from Melbourne Duncan he is 26yrs old and one of the first things he told me was that he had hired a car and was driving down to Austin the next day F@*!, I was devasted as I couldn't cancel my bus trip.

Anyhow we all took off for the train for Fort Worth, where then you catch a transferr bus to the heritage area where Billy Bob's is. The heritage area was really cool it basically was like an old western style set up with old wooden shop's and bars. As we where walking up the alley to Billy Bob's a guy and girl with clip boards pulled us up in the street and asked us if we wanted to be part of a music video! Of course we said yes and they ushered us through to this bar and we grabbed a drink each and found a seat. The clip was for a young upcoming Country music singer I can't even remember her name but she was a dead ringer for a young delta goddrem (really hot!), we hung around for about an hour then took off for Billy Bob's.

Billy Bob's is hard to describe, but I'll try, it is a massive square building where they have a couple of dance floors, about 15 pool tables, shops, food venues, bars and a big stage. This particular night they had a big country music band playing (I think it was 'big little wheel"?). Our hostel group hung out the back for a while playing pool and talking to a few locals having a few drinks. After a while we finally built up our courage to walk down and check out the dance floor. To our surprise they where all dancing two step! We sat back for a while then I decided to hit a few girls up for a dance. Thankfully I picked a group who where from out of town and didn't knoew the two step very well either so with the lessons Carlos showed us I looked like an expert (nicceee), it was really wierd coz you basically find a spot and you all just move orderly around in a big circle. Any way after a while I decided it was enough of this two step nonsense and started producing some of my best Patrick Swayze moves (rest in peace). Well didn't this open up a can of worms! all of a sudden these cowboys started tossing girls around and flipping them and all kind's of outta control moves!

The next day Carlos dropped me off at the bus station, my bus for Austin was 40 mins late, I was already spewing enough not travelling down with Duncan, the bus ride was long as well with heaps of traffic trouble and we arrived in Austin over an hour late. When looking for places to stay in Austin I had struggled as all the hostels where booked out! Carlos gave me the number of a contact he had down there. Right now this guy was really random from the start I called him he grabbed my email and sent me details through that. In his email he stressed that it was not hostelling it was airbunking? he called himself Scooter? but I could not complain as it was a place to stay! He even offered to pick us up from the station for $10 although he was over an hour late as well.

Scooter is a funny looking geeky 30 odd yr old guy who really for a lack of a better word was a tripper! we got to the accom and it was a small apartment that he had thrown a heap of bunk beds in. He pretty much gave me a key and took off, also staying at the place where 3 argentians who where working together in Houston and had come to Austin for the weekend. There where 2 girls and a guy and they where very friendly and a lot of fun. We grabbed a bite to eat together and joked about our friend scooter. Anyway it was Saturday night and we where keen to have a big night out as Austin has quite a reputation for a party town! Scooter insisted on being our escort for the night and almost straight away I could see it was probably a bad idea. I had heard from several people that all the action in Austin is on 6th st, but scooter did everything he could to avoid it. He took us to a load of random alternative bars that don't get me wrong where cool but pretty quiet! After a while me and the argentians told scooter we where going to check out 6th st, relunctantly he took us there and it was awesome they basically close down a large section of the street from traffic and it was just crowded with people going crazy up and down the street, there where even a fair amout of naked people strolling around!!!! We checked out a heap of different clubs all to scooters dissapointment (he was really giving me the s***s at this stage). The worst part about the night though was that in Texas the law with bars are that they have to close at 2am so we where out on the street in the maddness having to go home all amped up!!

The next day I just took a bus into town, trying to avoid scooter and checked out all the local sights (in which included a kick arse small tram like thing that had a driver but fitted about 20 people who each have a pedal which powers the tram and in the middle is a keg which they all drink out of "gold"). I had an early night as I had an early flight to Nashville the next day.

till next time lots of love willo