DAY 18/19 - Dallas, Tx - Lubbock, Texas

After a whole week of partying and touring the main cities in Texas, we packed our bikes and we were off on the road again. I noticed that as we drove more west towards Arizona the scenery changed very fast to more dull and dry land with a lot less greenery. This is the Texas I imagined. The warm air hitting your face while cruising at 75 mph and the enormous bugs that hit your arms caused the ride to be harder than expected. We have spoken to each other about taking a break between one to three in the afternoon due to the extreme heat, but all our talk doesn't cause us to change the way we ride. It is an ironic recurring phenomenon, that we sit down the night before and plan ways to improve our tour together and after the conversation we really feel that things will change. But the minute we wake up in the morning we go into auto, and do the same routine like the day before.

Uri and I were riding together from Dallas but Dovid was in Austin so we planned on was meeting in Lubbock tonight. Riding in two is a lot easier than a group. Even though we weren't experienced riders before this trip, we did know some basic formation rules on the road. However the more we ride together the better we get at staying close and cluster-like, while obeying the traffic laws. It's mind boggling how we started our bike trip almost 2000 miles away and have gone through more than 10 states and still haven't gotten across America! This country is just so big.

We stopped on the way at a historic landmark, which literally was a stone with some minimal information about the town. There was no one on the 2 lane road but us which made the ride more enjoyable, but also we felt more remote from civilization. We stopped in Seymour and walked around a bit. There is a feeling the more west we go in Texas the less people there are, and the stronger the southern accent gets. The triangle of the large cities, Houston, Dallas and Austin, gives a tourist the impression that Texas is like any other state, but the minute you head west you understand it isn't. It is the second largest state in America and the only one that had independence before the deceleration of uniting all the states. Texans are very proud of their heritage and don't mind showing it too. The Texas flag is the only one that is allowed to be set at the same height as the United States flag, and we see way more of them around here.

We arrived at Lubbock just an hour ago and are waiting for Dovid to come in. Just a few minutes ago Uri just got a call from him and had to got jump start his bike. Sounds like he has an electrical issue with it and may need to be towed. We all hope this isn't a serious issue cause even though it seems as though we have all the time in the world, we actually don't and have a very tight schedule of our travels.

We planned on camping out tonight but because of the event today we will stay at a motel to regroup and evaluate the situation and think of our further plans.

DAY 16/17 - Austin, Texas

We drove down Friday morning to Austin. They have this fun tradition of floating the river on a inner tube near San Marco. So we met up with Darrin, a close friend of Matt's, and right when we arrived we rented these tubes and floated down the river. It was real relaxing and the weather wasn't too hot, so we were happy. It was packed with people and took us more than three hours to get down, which is a really long time, but we enjoyed it a lot.

Austin is known to be hill country of Texas and the scenery sure is different than Houston or Dallas. The
terrain has more mountains and it's hard to distinguish it from any other place in the States except for the fact that it's 100 degrees every day here in the summer. Darrin took us to this local cafe which started our day perfectly. The University of Texas is the second largest university in the States and has close to 60,000 students enrolled every year. Now that school isn't in session there are a lot less people in town cause all the students are on break, but they say Austin is quite a party town anyhow.

Like any tourists we wanted to see a bit of the capital of Texas so we asked Matt to show us around. We went to this huge graffiti wall right next to the cafe, cause it has an interesting story. The Owner of the land permitted for anyone to come and spray graffiti art as a recognition that it isn't a crime. We took some pictures there and were off to see a bit of Austin. We drove around the grounds of the UT campus and then went to visit the state capital. Everything is Texas is big, the cars, food portions and especially the buildings. The architecture of the capital and the house of the representatives was quite admirable considering the fact they have session once every 2 years. We took a tour inside and got a glimpse of hour law making works in the south.

When we got back to the apartment we went to tan and chill by the pool which is part of the complex. Too bad life in Israel isn't as easy as here, but then again we are on vacation here so the grass is always greener.

We went out tonight for the last time this long weekend and had a blast. 6th street in Austin was packed for the celebrations and we really had a great time. It is a bit similar to Bourbon street in New Orleans but not as grungy and more high class to my feel.

Now back to Dallas to pack up and tomorrow morning we are off on the road again.

DAY 15 - July 4th Weekend Celebration

Still in Dallas having a blast with Matt. Its fourth of July so we had quite a day of partying. We saw the fireworks show in near down town and then went to uptown to see the scene there. We met up with his dad and had an awesome night. He took us out and showed us all the bars in the area.

The day of the forth was just a different party scene. Matt took us on his friend's speed boat to lake Louisville to party cove. We as Israeli's don't celebrate this holiday but being in the States you have to play the game. And who will pass up on a day on a boat with music and fun..?

The weather was just great. It wasn't too hot and the breeze riding at high speeds on the lake made it real fun. We were shocked by the scene at party cove. There were hundreds of boats in lines all tied up to each other and people just blasting music. Everyone was so nice and you can just boat hop to where ever you want to go. It's like a huge club on the water made of lots of boats which served as a deck to get from one side to another.

Now we are off down south to Austin for the weekend. We are staying with another of Matt's friend's who lives in the city.