Austin, Texas, November 7, 2018

AS SOON AS MY IPHONE ALARM went off at the ungodly hour of 5am, I went from being sound asleep to instantly WIDE-AWAKE. Mr. Coffee, set on a timer the night before, had already started puffing and gurgling in the kitchen by the time I planted my bare feet on the floor and lurched for the nearest coffee cup. I was gonna need lots of hot, highly concentrated caffeine today. My long awaited, long-planned, and long-assed journey thru west Texas, New Mexico, Arizona AND California was actually about to begin today. AND I was gonna be PULLING the tiny trailer this site is dedicated to a loooong way for the very first time.

I was a little anxious, to be honest, and I reckon that's what had me so alert and wound up so damn early in the morn. Mostly packed the night before, trailer details checklist checked-off, I was for the most part well prepared. I eased out of my driveway at a still very dark 6am, slowly speed bumped out of my neighborhood, and got on the highway a short mile later. Getting out of Austin while going along 290 West is a series of starts and stops darn near all the way to Fredericksburg. But right after Freddy came long stretches of open Texas road. The small towns of Harper, Junction, Sonora (where I rest-stopped and hit the head) appeared at timely intervals, then a long stretch of road before arriving at Fort Stockton, where I refueled. I had planned on spending the evening at Fort Stockton, at a rest stop I had researched that was considered especially well suited for overnight stays. There was still plenty of daylight, but I did not want to get too damn distance ambitious on the ATXBreeze's first very long haul journey. But with a full tank, I left the Shell station, passed the rest stop, and aimed the Forester west. Things were feeling good, the variables. The vibes. The drizzly clouds parted, the gray skies gave way to sunny ones, and I pushed allll the way to El Paso (9 hrs., 576 miles on day one). Putting the ATXBreeze through a waaaay longer trip than ever before, I strictly observed a 60mph self-imposed speed limit safety edict per internet recommendations. I also stopped every couple of hundred miles to inspect things. I was especially concerned with the tire wheel bearings because I had researched that unless satisfactorily greased (which I had done), they could fail. One way to check this is touch the tire hub and see if the hubs are hot, which I did. They never got above barely warm so all was good. - Max

NOTES on the state of things (pre-roadtrip) Oct. 18th, 2018 - September 20, 2018

ACL Music Festival ended Saturday, it's over. For the most part it avoided any kind of soaking. But the monsoon-minded-nagging-rain that's been plaguing central Texas (it mercilessly skipped the the music festival) is now laying it on like it's Seattle around here. Historic, unprecedented, non-stop - you get the picture. So then, can the preposterously wet weather conspire along with your narrator’s iffy conviction-to-split Any More Potently one may ask? Nah, don't think so. I'll just drive north west, where the wet, wet, wet doesn't seem to stretch stretch stretch (quite). Fort Davis, first stop, that's the plan (where Vicky “Tori” L. lives in a groovy straw bale constructed casa. It's a beaut. I can see the UT McDonald Observatory from her front yard).

Last airbnb guests depart on the 22nd - 2 kind guys (cousins) that have traveled a long distance to attend the Formula 1 race that happens every year here (my money’s on Lewis Hamilton). After that, Oct. 23rd thru Nov. 2nd, showers all about central Texas projected to persist with the occasional (only) cloudy, very occasional sunny day to brighten things up.

In 2011 we were in the midst of severe drought around here (granted, it was summer). And on September 4th of that year, the Bastrop fires began (half hour from here aprox). The enormous blaze decimated a State Park and many parts of the city of Bastrop. Folks lost their lives, and many more (over a thousand), lost their homes. It seemed like it would NEVER rain again. And now, right now, watching the doppler radar, and those enormous green and red swells sweep across the the Lone Star State, and listening to the local weather people breathlessly prognosticate (while strangely trying their hardest to apply a positive spin - they’re paid to, after all) with variations of the following “We need the rain!”, it looks and feels like the tenacious precip ain’t never gonna stop.

What's that kid's song? The one they chant like sorcerer's? About the rain. And “it” going away…

If the ATXBreeze ever hopes to dry out, it’ll be in Jeff Davis county, El Paso county, Bernalillo county, LA county and San Diego County. That’s the “plan” Jack.

October 7, 2018

Still haven't pulled the trailer anywhere near a vacation spot, argh! ACL has done its level best at keeping me at home with one more ACL weekend to go. 3 weeks blocked out on my calendar (as-in NO airbnb bookings) after that - I'm'a planning to get up and git soon there-after (there's that planning word again!)

September 20, 2018

I see you're back for another visit/update :) Well, still in the trip planning stages! I hope I'm not having a bout of that dreaded, common condtion of excessive planning leading to NO action. In fact, I think I'll invent a new word for it: Procrastripation. Running an active airbnb business doesn't help when it comes to taking/encouraging some time off. Neither does the idea of leaving my house empty for 3 weeks. Both of these "excuses" of course, can be easily remidied, but inertia (DOING NOTHING) is a powerful thing.

A preliminary short test trip is preliminarily planned for the end of this month for Bastrop State Park which is not too far from Austin. Then after ACL (Austin City Limits music festival - a particularly active and fruitful time for the short term rental racket) I've blocked out three weeks of no airbnb bookings, so that's the plan so far!