Whee! My first update from the road! I’m sitting in a hotel in Austin, TX. But how did we get here? Glad you asked!
Friday was the bittersweet start to our journey to the coast. Indi and I ventured to Waffle House early for our final Tulsa meal. We were met by our two favorite waitresses and they graciously took care of us and really made us glad we made it our last stop. Reva and Virginia – I’ll miss you both.
Brad’s van was taken into the shop mid-day on Thursday to make sure it was road worthy. Several hundred dollars later and some rear axle work later, it was. Brad and I picked up the van in the morning and rounded everyone up. Dropped off my car at Mom’s (and said a final g’bye) and headed out. Indi, Nikki, Brad, Lorrie, and I all in the Van of Awesome and headed to Dallas!
The road trip between Tulsa and Dallas was hell. We took 75 south (wrong) and ran into the worst windstorm in the world. Brad had to fight the van for miles and miles to keep it on the road. We made it into Dallas in good order, though. We had a nice night with Jim and James (we went to Eatzi’s, yay!) and had a great night chatting.
This morning was bittersweet again as we said goodbye to Indi’s Mom and the Jims. We had such a good visit, it was a good high note to start the adventure. Texas gets rather beautiful once you get a bit south of Dallas … at least, along I-35. When we rolled into Austin, we met up with one of Indi’s old friends from college (Japan, no less). Meredith works as a special effects artist for motion pictures. We got a tour of her shop (awesome!) and she showed us around town for a bit.
As the evening wore on, we found our way to 6th Street, Austin’s party district. We had a beer at the Driskill Hotel (haunted!) and went to the Alamo Drafthouse to see a Master Pancake Theater presentation of LOTR: Fellowship. Master Pancake is live version of MST3K and it was HILARIOUS! Haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. Also, we got flashed by a hot chick near the front row. Good times all around.
Now we’re preparing for bed. Drive to Flagstaff tomorrow. Sixteen hours. Argh. Many pictures uploaded to Flickr, that should be a regular also-update whenever I post to the blog.
Rhys' Pieces 
Have a safe trip, keep updating.