Don't mess with you-know-who

Howdy partner, let's raise and rope broncos! That's right, I'm in Texas.

(more photos here)

I got the itch to move on the other day while in New Orleans, so I packed up and headed west to Houston. I can't say that I'd ever had a burning desire to visit this large state, but so far so good. I'm couchsurfing in the city and went out with my host and some of his friends last night to a place where you get unlimited free appetizers with drink orders, but get this - it's all local/organic food and gourmet. I was in heaven.

Today I'll probably try to navigate the city's public transportation and check out some museums and the business district...

Earlier this week while still in the Big Easy, I got to hang out with some couchsurfers, Erin and Patrick - a good time was had by all. We did a walking tour of the garden district, drove through the lower 9th ward to see the (very minimal) reconstruction efforts there by volunteers, ate lots of food, went to a drag king show on Bourbon St... the list goes on. It actually rained quite a bit this past week, and one day had an absolute downpour for about an hour... As a result, the roads were flooded, the streets were deserted, and the trolleys lost power. Erin and I had a trolley car all to ourselves in the middle of a busy intersection outside Harrah's casino (which we also took shelter in; I lost $1.30) for a little while. It's experiences like these that may seem like inconveniences at first, but really you end up slowing down a bit and taking everything in, not a bad thing.

Miriam and I attempted to go see Rebirth Brass Band play on Wednesday night, but when we showed up to the seedy bar where they were scheduled, it wasn't even open and there were unsavory types loitering nearby, so we hightailed it out of there. Too bad, I really wanted to hear some live local music!

Up next for me is Austin, then who knows? I have to pull out an atlas and work out where to go between here and L.A. Suggestions are welcome for obscure places to go in the southwest!