BACK IN AUSTIN

I arrived yesterday, Monday the 4th of Dec in the morning. I put 4700 miles on the rental car in just over two weeks. By the time I got back I was tired of driving, and I really like driving in the country. 

I had planned heading out on my bike tomorrow but find that rain is called for and it will be around 45 so I'm going to spend tomorrow waiting out the weather. It is supposed to begin to warm up (a little) on Thursday. I would really like to get back on the road. I biked around Austin some yesterday and it felt good. 

I rented a small SUV to take my bike north with the idea of riding some and keeping in shape. I did not ride once. In large part because it rained much of the time, but mostly because I didn't want to. Biking around Austin yesterday I was happy to find that I had not lost much of what was gained in the first section. 

The first three photos adorn the side of a 7-11 like store in Austin. They are made with broken mirrors colored mortar.  

The next two photos are of a great raised concrete bike path along the lake (I swear it looks like river to me but everyone here calls it a lake) that leads to the hostel I'm staying at. I wanted to try the hostel because they are so rare around the US. It is an OK place although I caved on the second night and rented a single room for two nights because I did not like the dorm. But the community part of it is nice and it is on the lake (I just looked it up, it is the Colorado River except that where it runs through Austin they call a piece of it Lady Bird Lake. Sorry, it is STILL A RIVER!)