Noah's going across country and he stopped off in Austin to skate a ditch with Sieben.
In my last trip log, I left off in the city of Las Cruces, NM, where Michelle and I found a bunch of ghetto-ass streets, teeming with cops and kids with loud cars, as well as a roadrunner constructed out of nothing but old recycled junk. From there, we continued southeast past hundreds of "Native American art" stores in search of a truckstop where we might find shower. We found one, rid ourselves of the Las Cruces scum we had attained from sleeping in a car the night before, and admired the truck stop's outdated strip tease arcade games. Maybe you've seen them before? Basically they're gambling games with pixelated women with huge pink nipples to the side of the dealt cards. We decided to pass on playing though, and continued our journey southeast. And then, it happened. We entered Texas. If this trip has taught us anything, it is that Americans are fascinated with large renditions of everyday objects: everything from lemons to pecans to fiberglass statues of cavemen, truckers, dinosaurs, and blue oxen. I like to think of Texas as the epitome of America ... kind of like the second capitol of the country. The state itself is massive. Any city in this state worthy of putting on a map is huge. The people are huge, the cars are huge, drinks at a restaurant must be close to 1L. Gas in the rest of the country is $.50 to $1.00 more per gallon, and it's just all really flippin' large. That said, it was no surprise to find that once we had entered our first Texas city, El Paso, that an entire Bible verse was written out in large white stones across the whole side of a mountain, accompanied by dozens of stake houses on either side of us as we drove down the road. It was not our kind of scene really, so after Michelle downed a gas station coffee as big as her head, we took off east on Interstate 10, 560 miles to our next destination, San Antonio.

The Interstate is meticulously maintained, and periodically there are signs that say things like, "Litterin is unlAWFUL" or "Drive Friendly" or "You can't afford a DUI!" In it's own right, Texas has some really pretty parts (not around El Paso though, where every once in a while, you'll see a random oil rig out in a field, or a gigantic, majestically-lit cross sitting proudly on a hill.)

Once we made it to our destination, we slept another night under the warm embrace of Wal-Mart, which aside from the San Antonio heat, was nice. We can fold back the seats of Michelle's car, lay out our sleeping pads, and there is actually enough room for Meesh to stretch out. Unfortunately, I was cursed with the height of a normal person ... Also, we have a portable stove, so we can fire it up and cook an awesome meal anywhere we go. After some shut-eye, we awoke in the humidity, and set off destined for the nearby Alamo.

The Alamo is an old Spanish mission that somehow ended up being the site of a battle in 1836 between a huge army of Mexican guys and 5 Texan dudes [including Davy Crockett] trying to gain independence for Texas. Naturally, the 5 dudes were killed, and almost 200 years later Texas is a very different place. The Alamo still stands as a popular tourist destination though, and everyone just talks about how brave the 5 dudes were while clutching their cowboy hats to their chests. Not unlike Michelle's parents' house, they had air conditioning and a bunch of sweet guns. After taking a short tour there, we spent a little more time roaming San Antonio, where I took pictures of a bunch of other big stuff.

Public art.

Statue outside the Alamo.

A head?

The pitiful Texas version of Seattle's Space Needle.

We walked at least a few miles around downtown San Antonio along their river walk, and this was the single piece of graffiti a saw the entire time ... A ketchup bottle.

Despite having low amounts of graffiti, the city still needs to work on keeping their handicapped crackheads from crossing the street, down to a minimum (at least during a green light.)

Soon we made it up to Austin, which according to urban legend, is the hippie liberal oasis of Texas. Everyone in Texas who isn't roping cattle, collecting firearms, watching Fox News, or scheming to destroy a small impoverished nation lives here. Our hosts were artist Michael Sieben and his wife Allison, who were much more than accommodating to us.

When we first arrived, we were able to catch the last world cup game with their friend Brian, and we even made it in time to see that one old French guy headbutt his opposing Italian team member! Besides that though, we spent a lot of time hanging out with them and their friends checking out cool sights unique to the area.

One being a ginormous natural spring-fed swimming hole. It was paved on the sides, crystal-clear with no chlorine, and especially refreshing after that previous night spent sleeping in the car. Plus there was some awesome people-watching too.

Allison had really cool red hair.

Michael. Going there was Allison's idea, and was a really great chance for us to sorta let loose and get to know each other, as well as being a nice place to shed the stink outta my pits.

We spent that same evening hanging out in the backyard of a gallery Michael runs with some friends, Okay Mountain. For some reason, their renter didn't want them painting over this old mural on it's side. Notice all the condoms toward the bottom.

There they introduced us to Lone Star, the [self-proclaimed] national beer of Texas. It's pretty much the same as PBR, but with a Texas flair [i.e. red, white, and blue labels with stars and the silhouette of Texas all over it], and you're supposed to drink it with lime salt. I had 2 or 3. Read all about it at puretexanbeer.com. Anyway, here's some of the stuff they had hanging up for a photo show they had just put up the night before.

Adam Schreiber made these, and apparently they were done in a clean room of some computer chip factory.

detail of the not photoshopped photo.

Andy Mattern.

Anna Krachery.

These polaroids were done by Michael's friend, Brian, The Brain, DeLaGarza. I met him while I was there, and he was super nice. He was also the guy who made the Michael Sieben Sent Me website.

After chilling at OKM, we went to a bridge dubbed "Bat Bridge" closer to down town. One million-plus bats live under this bridge, and every night during the summer, at dusk, they come out in a huge swarm to feed on insects. Also, one hundred-plus people come out in a huge swarm to cheer them on as they make their nightly exodus, and I was one of them.

Here's a vid. I warn you, it's kinda crummy.

Another thing we saw in Austin was the Banana Farm. This particular spot isn't known by most folks, but to skaters it stands as a legend. I don't know any of the doods who built it or anything, but I guess they all live in this one house in Austin where they built some huge, dangerous-as-hell ramp in their backyard.

There's Michael standing next to the "Sonny Bono Tree."

A little somthin' he painted for them upon request.

The things a total lawsuit waiting to happen though ... It's full of rusty nails poking out of brittle masonite, and just as we were leaving some kids aged some where around 12 or 13 asked if they could skate the thing. The owners weren't home so we told them they shouldn't, but they waved to their mom, perched in her Lexus, and went on in anyway. Oh well.

To get a better idea of how big this thing is, here's a little movie I made, which sorta scans the whole thing from up top.

While in Austin we also saw that one famous Daniel Johnston mural with the frog/alien guy.