Legends of the Road

Back in the early days of my American adventure, I was joined by a couple of Brits to undertake the first annual road trip. Since then I've taken the whole road tripping idea quite seriously, travelling with Allison down to Utah, and taking in some of the Northeast, solo. But we all knew the time would come for a second installment with the same crew, and a few weeks ago, it happened. In the South.


It all started in a little town called Dallas. Actually, it started in next-door Fort Worth, with which Dallas shares an airport. But whereas Dallas was all grassy knolls and ten-gallon hats, its neighbour felt surprisingly like an American Croydon, replete with mega-pubs and hen nights. Fort Worth was however notable for one thing in particular: the first one-armed waitress of the trip. We saw only the one one-armed waitress last year, but this early sighting gave us a lot of hope that we might set a new record this time out.

From DFW we headed South, to the college town and state capital, Austin. (Do you know your state capitals? Some surprises in there.) Brilliant city, though it was disappointing to've missed Henry there by just a few months. Luckily, he left friends behind, and S guided us to some decent food, local beer (Firetruck 5? Fireman's 4? I don't think I ever mastered it) and superb country music. But it turns out that Austin's not just about country music, and is somewhat well known for its indie scene. Here I am in front of Daniel Johnston's landmark:


So, yeah. Texas was going well. And I should mention that thanks to William Shatner and Priceline, we'd been for the first two nights staying in some pretty swanky hotels. You might even say the best hotels.

That was all to change in Anahuac, TX.

Turkey Day

Yes, I know you're bored with stories of how brilliant the US is, but one of its holidays is, yes, brilliant. It's thanksgiving.

I'm no expert on the history. But in my three thanksgivings, I've enjoyed the company of some awesome friends, eaten too, too much food and gotten drunk. Plus, I've avoided the excessive present-giving and card-sending that can infect Christmas. It's my perfect holiday: revelry without the reverence. Oh, and we get a four-day weekend.

In the spirit of the day, we again had many people around to eat turkey, and share their own excellent recipes, and I had a great time. I give thanks for Allison, for my friends and for my family. Roll on next year.

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Music-wise, I give thanks for Bibio. I listened a lot to this guy a couple of years back, when he was in a folk-electronic phase. His latest album, Ambivalence Avenue has so much variation, I don't know whether I'm listening to Boards of Canada, Prefuse 73, Radiohead or Badly Drawn Boy. Here are three snippets:



Could perhaps have been an edgier addition to Bewilderbeast? And now the track that got me hooked on this album. Listen at least til 1:39, when it blew me away:



And then



Enjoy your week.