As of June 1st, Ryan and I packed most of our possessions into the little white toaster and started heading east along the Gulf Coast. The day out was insane. An abrupt awakening at 10 am after a thoroughly intense last night in Austin, we armed ourselves with roommates and cleaning products and swamped out a house that was more than half full of everyone's junk. Many trips to the church dumpster, sweating profusely over the shower scrubbing, tossing gear into the car, stressing and moving, towards a 6:00pm deadline with the landlord to get our deposit back. Dear friends stopping by for a last hug, checks were signed, and we pulled away from the house in a frenzy of grime and exhilaration.
To wash away the day, and just as the sun was dipping down into the treetops, we stripped down to our skivvies and jumped into Barton Springs off the twitchy, bouncy diving board and felt baptized in the weird prayer of the road. I thought about my life in Texas thus far and the many side trips to cold water and the warmth of this boy's skin against mine, wrapped in a towel, welcoming the night.
heather mcgrath took these pictures
you should look at her work because she is rad.
A cheeseburger and a parental phone call later, we found 290 South and sped into the big Texas night. I was shaking with excitement. At our first stop we realized I had dropped my wallet in the burger joint parking lot, but so silly thrilled with the freedom we felt, didn't even flinch and headed back out. An ambitious idea to try and move a whole house and clean it and then make it to New Orleans in one day, ambitious and wrong. We stopped around Lake Charles at 3:00am and spent our, so far, only night in a hotel. One more night alone before nola.
.jpg)