AimlesslyChasingAmy

Since I got back from Vegas a couple of weeks ago, I’ve done little but prep for the trip back.  I’ve been packing, shopping (never paying retail, of course), and getting the camera and computer equipment up to their best performance levels.  With my seven week WSOP stay commencing in just a little more than a week, I realized I needed to do something non-Vegas related.  I needed to bond with small town Texas before I headed back to the neon capital of the world.

So Saturday afternoon, I threw some clothes in a paper grocery bag and kicked the green monster into gear.  It takes longer and longer to make it past Austin’s suburban sprawl.  Every time I head out of town, there are new housing developments, apartment complexes, and strip malls that have popped up like stucco’d pimples on the face of Hill Country.  About 15 miles out, I hit the sprawl transition zone; seemingly empty ranch land with “for sale” signs posted along the road - signs of sprawl to come.  Another five miles and I drove over my first cattle guard and was safely in the sprawl-free zone.

Route 1431 is one of the prettiest drives in Hill Country.  The road is relatively sparsely traveled by ranchers’ pick-up trucks and motorcycles.  It was especially pretty this week-end.  We’ve had a wet spring and wildflowers are still in bloom.  I saw some longhorns - and plenty of goats.  By the time I pulled into Marble Falls, Vegas was the thousand plus miles away I needed it to be.

I got a room overlooking the “lake” - which is part of the Colorado River system.  I spent the late afternoon sitting on a pink granite bench along the edge of the bank.  Marble Falls is famous for its granite; supplying the pink stone used for the Texas State Capital in 1885 when Governor John Ireland successfully resisted a push to use non-native limestone.  For a Saturday, the lake was pretty quiet.  A few families launched their boats.  A few people sat along the shore fishing. 

I headed over to Cafe 909 for dinner.  This was technically a breech of my small town theme, as Cafe 909 will cost you a good deal more than the blue plate special at the Bluebonnet Cafe or Donn’s BBQ - but damn it was worth it.  A couple of bubblies to the wind, I decided to stroll the town - which was pretty easy as it is a couple of blocks at best.  I heard some amazing music coming from one bar, but I didn’t want to commit until I had covered the entire terrain.  There were a few bands to choose from - but I was drawn back to the first one I heard.  In Austin, you can always find a blues band - but finding a great blues band can be a challenge.  This band was the motherload.

As I walked up to the club, there were two guys out front.  One said, “We’re technically not open for business.  We’re just having a pre-opening private party.  There’s free beer, good company, and great music, if you’d like to join us.”  They didn’t have to ask me twice.  I walked through the comfortable road house to the covered deck out back.  I immediately recognized some of the players - it seemed like they scored every talented musician Hill Country had to offer.  The bass player waived at me just as Cherry, one of of the owners, came to personally welcome me.  Within twenty minutes I think all of the forty or so people had come by to meet me.  Within a half an hour, I felt like I had known them all for years. 

Musicians came up from the audience, taking turns on the stage.  All of them were playing for free to wish Cherry and Matt luck with their new club.  House of Blues Lights looks like it will be worth going out of your way for.  I suspect when I get back after my seven week stint in Vegas, it won’t take much of an excuse for me to head back out there.

So I’m back in Austin, continuing my travel preparations.  But I feel more grounded now that I have had a little dose of small town Texas.