Texas. The Rodeo. And the highs and lows of travel

After the whirlwind that was SXSW I lingered in Texas for a week or so, taking in Austin, Dallas and Houston. In retrospect I wish I'd ventured beyond the major cities, perhaps visiting somewhere like Marfa or Paris, but now I've left Texas behind and will perhaps return to its more rural areas another time for a different experience.

It was during this time I had my first major setback while travelling -- all part of the process, I suppose -- but it's certainly given me pause. But more of that later -- first, some of the highlights of Texas.

The Capitol

Austin was much more subdued after SXSW wrapped up and I managed to take in a few of the non-festival sights. Visiting the state Capitol building was pretty cool, seeing where Wendy Davis hangs out and does her fabulous stuff (Texas Senator Wendy Davis has a bit of a Sydney-based fanclub!) and stumbling upon a live orchestra playing film theme tunes. I also enjoyed a sneaky non-festival screening of Grand Budapest Hotel at the Violet Crown Cinema. Their bar is fabulous and beer range splendid. I sipped a chocolate and coffee brewed porter, fast becoming my favourite beer of the trip.

There's Wendy!

Where Texan Senators hang

Some awesome battle scene

They played Star Wars and Batman, oh yeah

I also spent an afternoon at the LB Johnson presidential library, where I learnt all about the man who succeeded the presidency after JFK was tragically assassinated. He was president during a tumultuous time in the USA's history, fighting for civil rights legislation while also grappling with the Vietnam War issue. Overall I found him to be a visionary man who succeeded in passing some far-reaching legislation in the 6 years of his presidency, covering Medicare, Medicaid, civil rights, the arts, urban and rural development, education, public broadcasting and the war on poverty. And of course he was from Texas. It was fun seeing his personalised cowboy boots and memorabilia from his Texas ranch on display in the museum. His wife Lady Bird Johnson also sounded lovely, a shrewd businesswoman and fearless campaigner in her own right. Correspondence between her and Jacqueline Kennedy was touching and gave a great insight into that challenging time, as well as their respective roles as first ladies.

The LBJ archives

JFK & LBJ!

LBJ pinbadges

Order of Obama's first inauguration

The seal

The speech JFK never got to make

The Oval Office

Not satisfied with one historical museum I also visited an exhibition at the University of Texas dedicated to Great Texan Women, and learnt all about some fabulous groundbreaking women through time, in this great state. And of course it was fun to hang out on campus, as it always is.

The University of Texas at Austin

Willie Nelson

Austin was also my first Airbnb experience, which I have been enjoying ever since. I will blog more about this later, but it has led to me meeting some lovely local people and hanging out in their homes (usually with their dogs!) in between sightseeing. My hosts in Austin were a lovely couple who had fixed up their home really tastefully and I felt very welcome. Their dog Huck was super friendly too. It's much nicer (and cheaper!) than staying in hotels, and there isn't really a proper hostel scene in the US like there is in Aus.

Next stop was Dallas, where it all began to unravel... My time there started ominously, with a huge delay on the Amtrak train leading to my arrival late at night instead of early afternoon. Believe me, you don't want to be standing at a bus stop with a huge backpack at 11pm in the suburbs of Dallas. (Unless you have a gun, I guess.) My hosts here lived an hour's train ride + bus ride away from the centre of town (note to self: do more research next time) so my days were bookended by rather long commutes. Thanks to the magic of the google I did discover a lovely little cafe called the Crooked Tree, where I spent a day lounging on a sofa taking advantage of their free WiFi. I also had my first healthy meal in a long time at a little wholefood cafe where a rather dishy chap played electric piano and sang Rufus Wainwright songs, while the sommellier (who looked like Ed Norton's dad) plied me with free wine all evening. I spent a sobering afternoon at the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, the site of JFK's assassination, where I learnt even more about that dark time in US politics, heard some of JFK's rousing speeches and discovered a plethora of conspiracy theories surrounding his death. I marvelled at the extensive, eclectic collection at the Dallas Museum of Art. So there were positives about my time here...

Yes, this is a chair made of pandas

I just want this

I liked the light

Nudes are great, aren't they?

JFK was shot from that square window on the 6th floor

X marks the spot, and the grassy knoll

Old and new architecture

View from the sniper's window

But a couple of scary experiences knocked the wind out of my sails (getting scammed at the railway station, being harassed by lone car drivers at night, being scared while walking on the pavement-less streets) and made me a more cautious and unfortunately nervous traveller. Also I spent a great deal of time trying to sort out a disastrous situation with a house back in the UK (those who know the back story know what I mean, those who don't -- believe me, it's a mess and you don't want to know!) which ultimately led to me making an extremely difficult decision. I have had to sink the entire remainder of my travel savings into sorting out this mess. It's not of my creation but unfortunately is mine to fix, so now I find myself in the middle of the USA with not a penny/cent to my name, and no means to raise a substantial amount of money any time soon! Disaster. Initially I was terrified and for a split second felt like packing it all in -- returning to London or Sydney with my tail between my legs and picking up any kind of job. But no! I will not let someone else's irresponsible actions ruin my year. I've been planning and yearning for this for so long, I'm not going to abandon it now. I'm being philosophical about it, and luckily I have some amazing friends and family who have been sending me encouragement, moral support, and some paid writing gigs. Ah yes, necessity is the mother of invention. I'm now (a little earlier than scheduled) pursuing a writing career in earnest, and finally being paid by the word. (And if any more comes my way, it would be amazing: no joke, bring it on!)

Oh, it's been a tough few days. There have been tears. There has been despair. But I have a credit card which I'm now cringingly putting everything on and, quite frankly, sod it. Yes, I'll land in the UK in November with a humongous debt from travelling and somehow have to pay that off while scraping together my airfare home. But this year means so much to me, I'm just going to enjoy it in the moment and not worry about what comes next. I know that opportunities will come, I can feel it, and you might call it blind optimism but I just know it will all work out.

So, with a spring in my step, it was onwards to Houston. Here my host was Bobby (a lovely guy I met at SXSW), along with his folks and their three dogs. It was much better to experience a Texan city through the eyes of a local, and I enjoyed being shown all the little out-of-the-way places I never would have discovered on my own. But the highlight here was undoubtedly the Houston Rodeo. Now those of you who used to read my Australia blog will know that I visited Tumut Rodeo back in 2010, but this was a real Texan rodeo. With real Texan cowboys. And, as you may have heard, everything's bigger in Texas.

Starting with the food. A foot-long corn dog (a sausage wrapped in sweet doughy batter. Um, yeah, as crazy as it sounds) and an entire turkey leg. Not a vegetable in sight, no siree.

My first corn dog

An apparently 'small' turkey leg

Then there were trucks, livestock (pigs! chicks!), merchandise (dammnit, I've already purchased my cowboy boots!), trailers -- it was kind of like a cross between the Royal Easter Show and Harrogate Fair. Unfortunately there was no wood chopping or axe-throwing, but I did get to see the finals of the bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, barrell racing, steer wrestling and bullriding (winners here, if you're interested). Quote of the day came from Wade Sundell, the mullet-sporting champion saddle bronc rider: "If you ain't livin' life on the edge, you're takin' up too much space." Indeed, Wade, indeed.

"He's my redneck Romeo, She's my tan legged Juliet"

Some cowboy

Calf lassooin'

Mutton Bustin'

What better way to end a day at the world's largest livestock show and Rodeo than with a performance by the Zac Brown Band. I caught these guys at Bluesfest Byron Bay last year and I really love them. On a revolving stage in the middle of the Rodeo arena they were even better! And they played so many of my faves.

Texas is certainly different from the other US states I've visited. I'm now heading further into the South of the US, with my seventh state being North Carolina. It's interesting to observe people's relationship with their nationality, especially in comparison to how I observed Australia's when first arriving there. Where in Sydney I marvelled at the Easter Show crowd singing:
"We are one
But we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream
And sing with one voice
I am
You are
We are Australian"

... in Houston I witnessed firsthand the sense of American Exceptionalism I first encountered through reading de Tocqueville at the beginning of my American Literature degree. The 'City on a Hill'/Manifest Destiny style pride was very much in force at the opening of the Rodeo, where a stadium of 80,000 people rose with hands on hearts for the Star Spangled Banner (complete with Rodeo chick carrying the flag and finale fireworks, natch!). The pride in the armed forces was even stronger: the biggest cheer the Zac Brown Band received was when they brought a Navy war hero on stage with them.

It's all very spine-tinglingly impressive, but I'm struggling to reconcile this with the very real poverty and social injustice I've witnessed while travelling here. It's been fascinating to talk with people who live in the US about their views on the healthcare system, the treatment of returned servicemen, the lack of funding for homelessness and mental health problems, the huge disparity between the rich and poor. In particular with Bobby, who has degrees in Government and Political Science and comes from a surprisingly liberal family in a staunchly conservative state. Also with Neet and Brian in San Francisco, where there is a massive homeless problem, and of course with the various healthcare professionals I've encountered along the way (public and private). It's evident in bumper stickers, billboard signs, casual overheard conversations too. As I journey through North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisianna I shall talk and think about it some more, and perhaps summarise my thoughts and those of people I meet in a later post. But as with so many things, there is no black and white, only many, many shades of grey. My time in Texas has been interesting, enlightening, very different... oh and disastrously waistline-expanding! The delicious Texan barbecue, Tex-Mex and Texan portion sizes are ensuring that I leave 2 dress sizes larger than when I arrived. Talk about disaster. Carolina bushwalking, here I come!

BBQ and photobomber