Full Circle - Austin, TX - 12,560 Miles

Well, it's time to wrap this thing up. After Amarillo we spent five nights in Dallas primarily to catch up with friends. It also gave Terry the chance to spend one day in the office for the first time in over four months. To me that sounds like the proper ratio. Then we continued to Austin, the official end of our trip, to see our son and find a new home. Some items of note:

- We visited 12 states and 9 state capitals.

- We visited 5 national parks.

- We stayed in 31 hotel rooms, with one in-law, with one friend, and one son. Hopefully my brother-in-law learned when someone has no fixed address, you don't say, "Stay as long as you want." Our son didn't have an option.

- We obtained twenty-seven hotel rooms via Priceline. I began keeping track of how much money we saved on each room, but tired of it and quit. My best guess is Priceline saved us over $5000.

- I had two haircuts, got the car washed twice, and had two oil changes (the car, not me).

- We crossed the Continental Divide countless time. On a single day in Yellowstone there were five.

- Our highest elevation was 14,110 feet. Our lowest was zero. The car made it to about 12,000 feet.

- On a few days I would have preferred being in my apartment on my sofa, but when you have neither an apartment nor a sofa you press on.

- Since I've always been able to find interesting things in the simplest of settings, I knew I would have no problem, but I don't think anyone could have taken this trip and been bored.

Once in Austin our apartment hunt went much more quickly than expected. We signed a lease after four days. We knew the complex we preferred and they had a suitable unit available. The place borders a nature preserve and our main criteria were a view and a second floor apartment. Whether from the windows or the 10x14 balcony it seems almost like a tree-house.

Then the shopping commenced - TV's, bed, sofa, etc. Everything has been delivered except the furniture for the balcony including my coveted chaise lounge. I considered a hammock, but tying cushions to the chaise was all the assembly I wanted to tackle.

We get a lot of visitors near our balcony. The first evening a group of six doe, one fawn, and one buck wandered by. The next morning five doe passed right below us. Some people feed them so they come by regularly. A neighbor said on the ground floor they'll stick their heads through the patio railing looking for food.















The final chore will be retrieving our remaining stuff from Plano and Houston. After over four months successfully living from a suitcase, I'm tempted to just abandon it all and start over. I don't think Terry would go along with the idea though.

Remember the words of Confucius, "No matter where you go, there you are."
















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