Sidelined

We survived our 24-hour adventure roaming Austin waiting on the Dod. We spent a good chunk of time at the University of Texas Student Union reading and playing Nintendo DS. When the Union closed at 3 am we moved to Kerbey's, a 24-hour diner down the street. We continued to read, do crossword puzzles, drink coffee after coffee, and eventually split the early-bird $3 special.

"Mmm, this is a good book"

At 5:30 we left the diner to wander the streets a bit.

Ms. Ritz and Mr. Cash.

Chris with Stimpy AND Bob Dylan.

That's what I'm saying!

Austin is a ghost town at 5am.

We stopped at Einstein's Bagel's for a little before the Union opened back up at 7am. We found a table in a corner, put our heads down, napped and watched Hulu on and off.

The Dod was supposed to be ready around noon so we rode our bikes back to Groovy Automotive to wait it out. By 3pm we got the keys. We pulled out only to have the brakes lights come back on one block down the road. So, we turned around and the Dod stalled at the busy intersection. You can imagine the profanities... The mechanic ran out to give us a jump and we returned to have him flush the brakes one more time. then we were on our way.

By Friday evening we made it to Montgomery, just a little north of Houston, to Jenny and Michael's house. I passed out after being awake for 38 hours, but that night Shanelle and Adam, our hosts from Oklahoma City, arrived.

The next day we hiked through the woods and let the dogs, Duke and Sabre, stretch their legs.

When we got back Adam found a tick on his arm. We all performed thorough searches and Duke won with a grand total of 4.

That weekend we played Jenga and Beer Pong and had a lot of fun, so much so that I can't remember what we did which day. Oh well, good times.

These beautiful faces courtesy of Jenga and booze.

Beer Pong = Random Activities.

Later in the week our Dallas/Fort Worth host, Kelly, who happens to be Jenny's sister, came down and we worked ourselves into another haze of Jenga-fueled fun.

Oh yeah, we colored some stickers, too.

Sabre and I both wanted the same piece of cardboard.

However, Fortuna isn't done with the Dod yet. Little did we know our plans would be altered and our patience tested some more.

Because the brakes still felt spongy, I decided to take the Dod in to get it checked out. Likely it just needed to have the fluid bled. However, because of the way the Groovy Automotive Garage installed the power booster (the very same part which caused our four-day wait in Austin) the garage in said they couldn't work on it.

I called the Austin Garage and they let us know their work is under warranty through Napa, and we can have it fixed at any Napa in the country. It would have been nice if they had told us this in the first place. So, now we have to wait till Monday to take the Dod to the nearest Napa. Consequently, we will have to postpone New Orleans for a few days which means we'll likely miss Mardi Gras. Oh well. You gotta roll with the punches. Take it as it comes. Go with the flow. Life's a garden, ya dig?

Today was Angelina's 10th birthday and we celebrated at the Incredible Pizza Buffet, where we stuffed our faces and played arcade games and putt-putt all afternoon.

Yep, goldfish on the salad. Gourmet.

By the way, did you know about the Dod's famous cousin?

We all met his redneck cousin who transports goats across the country. Well say hello to the Superstar Transtar of the family, star of the Flight of the Conchords video "Ladies of the World." He makes his appearance around 2:48.