Road Trip To Texas - Day 9, 10 & 11

Waking up after the  night out round New Orleans was not the nicest in the world. I don't know how Evan did it but I slept most of the day in the car feeling sorry for myself. He on the other hand topped up his trucker arm to the point that there was a perfect line where the sunburn hit. "I'm colour blind and even I can tell that it's red." I couldn't have put it any better myself.

Main Street

Pulling into Austin we parked the car up and had a walk down the main street. Things were all over the place as the Texas Track Relays were in town so police numbers were much higher than usual. Deciding to sleep in the car again before hitting the town we had to decide how we are going to shower? The answer was to buy two big bottles of water and try our best to wash in the car park using the door as a makeshift shower curtain. I've not had a shower that cold in a very long time as the water had come straight out of the shops fridge. There were plenty of yelps coming from our little shower as we tried our best to clean up. The funniest part was when a couple of lads walked past, "I've done the exact same thing." Made me feel a little less like a homeless bum. 

Our first stop was the Mooseknuckle pub where we got chatting with the barman, who in turn gave us free tastes of all the beers on sale. I asked why the road is blocked off and all the police. Apparently it's normal but not to the extent that it was on this weekend. "They block the road to stop people getting hit by cars when they're drunk but there is probably four times the number of police than usual." When I asked him why he responded with. "Theres a track meet in town. Track meets attract blacks, blacks attract police. A lot of pubs, restaurants and shop close for the weekend as they want nothing to do with them." As he tells us this he does so with a very matter of fact tone to his voice. 

Wikipedia

In response to cold-weather conditions at the Kansas Relays, the Texas Relays started as a men's-only competition in 1925 by coach Clyde Littlefield and athletic director Theo Bellmont.The Relays were held at Memorial Stadium until Mike A. Myers Stadium was opened in 1999. The meet was not held in from 1932-1934 as a result of The Great Depression. Women's events were added in 1963. To encourage attendance in the early years of the event, various publicity stunts were staged. The most successful was a 1927 stunt in which three Tarahumaras were invited to the Relays. These men were famed as runners who never stopped running. A race was staged between the men from San Antonio to Memorial Stadium. After 14 hours and 53 minutes, the 89 mile race ended in a tie. In 1977, electronic timing was introduced at the Relays, and Olympic gold medalist and Texas Longhorns football player John Wesley Jones recorded a time of 9.85 seconds in the 100 meter dash. This would have set a world record, but it was determined that the timer malfunctioned, and the time was unofficial. The Texas Relays are currently the second largest track meet in the United States, behind only the Penn Relays. Today, approximately 50,000 spectators and 5,000 athletes attend the events.

It was noticeable as the evening went on how many black people there were. It seemed that all the whites went home at around 10-11pm leaving Evan and I as the only white people around. When it came to closing the streets were heaving with people stood around. Groups of men with their tops off stood on the side of the street posing as they yelled out to the women. Police on horseback tried to move everyone on but it took a lot longer than they hoped. 

Early In The Night On The Streets

Without Hongi around to supervise us things went a little pear shaped as Evan and I got separated. When I finally found my way back to the car, he wasn't there so I headed back out to look for him. I must have gone down every back alley in Austin looking for a beaten up Evan but there was no sign of him. Walking the streets and getting lost resulted in me having to pay the homeless to walk me back to the car park to see if he'd arrived back. Still no Evan so off I went in search again and again and again, each time having to pay a bum to guide me back; all the while my boots were cutting into my feet like razors. Finally deciding to stay by the car I had a little nap sat leaning against the wall. When I woke up an hour later, there was still no Evan and my phone had died. Things did not look good, so I went to the little shop beneath the car park and asked if I could borrow the guys phone charger. After explaining the situation he was more than helpful, giving me his charger and allowing me to use his phone to ring the police station and hospital - no sign of Evan. He told me his name was Elmer and the woman was called Alma. They asked if I had money for food and allowed me to use the staff bathroom to clean up. It turns out that Elmer is from Pennsylvania and his father was in the military so he travelled all around the country before settling in Austin. 

With my phone charged and still no sign of Evan I decided to simply wait by the car and eventually he turns up with a smile on his face after spending the night elsewhere. When I took my boots off it looked as if I had grown another toe the blister was that big. We ended up with a bit of luck as our car park ticket would have cost a fortune, but as we went to pay a group of girls had an automatic pass and just let us out free of charge. Every cloud I guess.