I've now been in the Texas Hill Country for a week. So what are my thoughts about Austin and Texas? It's a huge state. West Texas (from El Paso almost to Austin) is pretty bland. There are a few nice spots in the roughly 600 miles between the two. But it's mostly pretty darn boring. And windy. And hot.

Austin is no little town. It's growing rapidly, from what I've been told. And what I can see. There's a whole peck of construction going on, both highways and buildings and apartments and housing developments. A "bustling" city. With all the accompanying problems. Morons on the roads, certainly. I know that if I decide to settle here, I will not live anywhere near the city. I'll become a commuter. From somewhere in the Hill Country.

Ah, the Hill Country! This is a piece of heaven. For me, anyway. Rolling hills covered in live oaks and other small trees and shrubs I have yet to identify. A lot greener than I'd anticipated.

Speaking of which, today I finally realized what was puzzling me about riding the bike out here. See, in the Northwest, if the terrain is green, you are on the west side of the Cascades. Therefore it is usually mild, seldom hot.

If it is HOT, you are almost certainly on the eastern side of the Cascades, and the terrain is NOT GREEN. It is near-desert. Here in the Hill Country, it is hot AND green. It has taken a bit of getting used to, but I like it. When I'm looking for a place to pull off for a coffee break, I make sure to find a nice shade tree to settle under, important when the temperature and humidity are both in the 90's.

A little research shows that the climate might be as near to perfect (for me) as you might find in the continental US. 320 sunny days a year on average. Around 25 inches of rain on average. Most of that falls in relatively hard storms, rather than long, drawn-out misty rains. Summer on average 95 high and 75 low. Fall and spring on average 80+ high and 65 low. Winter on average 65 high and 45 low. For a biker, this is seventh heaven. For a software dweeb with a skinny butt that hates cold weather it is also heaven.

It's not pure heaven, of course. It gets humid. Damned humid. Right now it's much more humid than the NW, but is tolerable. Of course, this all depends upon what one is doing. If one is on vacation, it is quite tolerable. I am certain that there can be times when one curses the humidity and heat. The Gulf of Mexico dictates the weather here, and gleefully sends up tropical moisture on a whim.

Thunderstorms happen here, too. Those big, violent thunderstorms we Northwesterners read about in the paper. Central Texas is not as prone to them as other areas not too far away. But they happen. I saw a funnel cloud near El Paso in Western Texas on the drive in to Austin. Snapped a picture of it, but who knows if it will come out.

The days are not quite as long as up in the NW, since it's so far south. However the converse is true in the winter. There was a full moon last night that was picture perfect.

Riding in the Hill Country is pretty damned awesome. Reminds me of the areas of central Washington that I love so dearly. Like the road up to Chinook Pass on Highway 410, perhaps my all time favorite. The main difference is that here you don't gradually gain altitude. And there are no mountains in front of you. Or anywhere in sight for that matter.

I guess you can say that one bummer is that you don't have magnificent mountain passes to go over in the summer. And one positive point is that you don't have snow-clogged mountain passes to go over in the winter.

The roads seem to be mostly in great shape out in the boonies. I'm guessing the lack of regular freezing weather is a factor. And no studded tires! I've already found a number of roads that wind through picturesque ranch countryside, pastures and meadows, rivers and streams, many dry as a bone. Very pretty. And very little traffic on some of the best roads. The main thoroughfares are busy. And the most popular rigs seem to be pickup trucks. Big surprise, right? Good ole boys in pickups, predominantly FORDS, which says something, I don't know exactly what. Inbreeding, maybe...

One difference from the NW is that the vast majority of the pickups are outfitted with these big metal deer guards. That's right. One thing that kind of concerns me about riding out here is that the white-tailed deer population is huge here. To quote one of the factoids I've gleaned: "There are over a million white-tailed deer in the Hill country. It sustains one deer for every 5 acres of range, which is the highest concentration in the world."

Now this might be great for naturalists. But for me it means I've got to be really on my guard riding these country roads. I've seen more deer on the sides of the roads in a week than any place I've ever been. And we all know that deer are the stupidest, most unpredictable animals other than humans. I do not wish to have any kind of vehicular encounter with them.

Speaking of insects, I've yet to run across any of the mosquitoes that I've heard Texas is famous for. Don't know if I'm just lucky or the season is not quite right. I do know that down near the Gulf they have mosquitoes big enough to carry off a small cat. But why would they bother???

On Sunday I got caught in a good thunderstorm. And as luck would have it, it seemed to be traveling in the exact same direction and same speed as I was. I put on the rain gear, but I got thoroughly soaked. About 65 miles of riding in this rain. However, there was one big difference between here and the NW. I didn't get cold. It was, relatively speaking, warm rain. Anyone who's spent time in the NW will tell you that if it's raining, it cools off quickly. Not necessarily here. Some thunderstorms can drop the temperature quickly, along with some hail. But this storm did not. Made it darn muggy, though!

How about the BBQ? Durned good! I've stopped at a few places chosen at random. Seems the default serving style here is meat (sans BBQ sauce) on a plate. With it you get bread and a couple sides like potato salad and beans. It's then your choice whether you put the BBQ sauce on. The preparation and taste of the meat has been pretty consistent. The sauces have varied widely.

Yesterday I found a real interesting place. I was somewhere outside Kerrville and the hunger pangs were nagging at me. I approached a small intersection with a couple buildings. Not a town or anything. One of the buildings had a whole bunch of cars - sorry, I mean pickup trucks - parked around it. Otherwise the little area was pretty deserted. Then I saw a small hand-painted sign reading "Tiny's Texas Bar-B-Q". I couldn't resist.

The guy behind the counter was probably the largest human being I have ever seen in person. And the most likable. He has a booming voice emitting nothing but friendliness and southern charm. And he worked at the counter right in front of you with a vicious looking knife grandly slicing up the portions of each and every dish prepared for the customers. He did it with style, too. The guy had undoubtedly never been inside a Benihana restaurant, yet his slicing and dicing artistry was easily as entertaining and flamboyant as any you'd see by the professionals. It was a great show. The meat seemed to magically disappear from the big slabs on the counter and glide onto the plates, each a perfect portion.

This is no place for vegetarians, mind you. The meat was proudly displayed in full view of the customers. Big, juicy, perfectly cooked slabs of beef, pork and chicken. And ribs! The guy took a sort of manic joy in celebrating the meat, chattering nonstop in a booming, syrupy Texas drawl about how he'd worked years to make sure that not a smidgen of flavor was lost. Most of the time he wasn't talking directly to anyone. He was just evangelizing about what was obviously his favorite subject. BBQ. He did BBQ right, and it was a fine meal.

Guess what? He was not the "Tiny" whose name was on the sign outside. Turns out that's a little shrimp of a guy who ran the place. Go figure.

Went down to San Antonio on the Fourth to have lunch with an old friend from Microrim days. We ate at the County Line BBQ, a popular joint. The excellent meal was augmented by the wonderful presence of Mel, my honorary cousin. It was so good to see her again!

Then I went to downtown San Antone. Saw the Alamo. One thing quite different about many Texans is the fierce pride they take in their state history. Unlike any place I've ever been. You would be well advised to refrain from making jokes about Texas history in the presence of the average Texan. The results can be negatively unpredictable. It's probably a good idea for me to avoid politics. And sports!

I had an another interesting experience today. I stopped at a roadside picnic area for a coffee break. Some nice local citizens came over to chat about the bike, as nice local citizens are wont to do. After a few minutes, a Texas State Trooper whizzed by. Then there was the sound of his braking rather quickly and his tires chirping as he made a U-turn. He pulled into the picnic area and stopped 2 feet from my bike.

The nice local citizens all moved away from me, casually but quickly (I know Teri can relate to that!).

The trooper got out and walked over to me, putting on his hat, his gun belt creaking, his boots grinding the gravel as he approached. Now, what the heck did I do?? He commenced to say that he had his first Harley on order and was expecting it within the next few days. And he couldn't resist scoping out my bike. After the preliminaries, he smiled and said, "I noticed I seemed to have scared away your friends. Sorry 'bout that!"

So I told him my Dirt Bag joke (What's the difference between a Harley and a Hoover?

- The location of the dirt bag!). I pointed out the potential disparity between his image (in the eyes of those nice local citizens he scared away) as a law enforcement officer and as a dirt bag. He admitted he was sort of looking forward to it!

I pressed him to make sure he was going to take some motorcycle safety classes (my personal crusade) . I told him that, badge or not, I didn't want him on the same road as me without training! He chuckled, and said "Yes SIR!". But after my relentless pressure he agreed to take the classes, particularly after I told him what he could learn and why it was important. He left after his radio squawked something unintelligible.

The nice local citizens still kept their distance, reluctant even to make eye contact with me.

To get a taste of the real flavor of Texas, I had to go no further than a photo development shop. I was standing there waiting to pony up for the film I was buying when I noticed a sign. A prominent sign. Instead of offering to produce a picture of you for your passport (so common in similar shops in Seattle), this one offered a special deal on photos for your Concealed Weapon Permit. Yup, I'm in Texas!