A Miserable Start to a Wonderful Week (Don't Drive in Austin, Texas!)
I hope my subscribers will join me for my 65th birthday retreat. It started with a bang!
A wonderful friend blessed me with a one-week stay in a mind-blowing Air B&B that she manages for her husband. We are celebrating our birthdays and have invited girlfriends to participate in our retreat in Kingsland, Texas.
Brigit’s birthday was yesterday. I turn 65 on Monday. I’ll spend my special day celebrating with a bevy of lovely ladies and enjoying a great meal in a nice restaurant. She spent hers battling Austin traffic to get to this fantastic place. From what I experienced making my way here, it’s no way to spend a birthday.
Kingsland is 108 miles from my home in Smithville, Texas. I wasn’t supposed to check into the property until 4:00. I planned on stopping at the Costco in Austin on the way, and it was raining, so I left home at 12:45, preparing to take my time. Very few people drive less than 80 miles an hour on the freeways in Texas, but I had no intention of doing that in the rain.
I was able to use the cruise control for about 30 miles of the 108-mile trip. The freeways in Texas are more confusing than a squirrel at a nut factory grand opening. GPS instructions aren’t clear, and can’t keep up with the constant construction changes. By the grace of God, I made it to the Austin Costco in a little over an hour, giving me plenty of time to shop.
My list was short, but I hadn’t been to a Costco in ages. Because of the morning rain, I got very few of my daily 10,000 steps in, so I decided to peruse every aisle. The variety of items you can find is mind-blowing. Along with staples like tissue and bottled water, I found many great snacks for the ladies to enjoy at the AB&B.
When I hadn’t received the retreat’s front door code from Bridgit, I decided to look for a Big 5 to purchase some much-needed walking shoes. My New Balance walkers were way past the replacement stage, and I was hoping to get another pair just like them. I was surprised that a Big 5 didn’t appear anywhere close on Google Maps, so I entered New Balance into the search bar. There was a New Balance Outlet only five miles away. Eight miles was offered if I wanted to avoid traffic, so I chose that route. I’d already experienced enough traffic to last me for a long while.
Let me state for the record. There is no route anywhere in Austin where you can avoid traffic. When I finally reached the store, it was on the left-hand side of the road, which I couldn’t get to, and there was no parking in front of it anyway. I wound up pulling into a parking garage well past the store because I didn’t know how far I’d have to go before I could turn around.
The sign at the gate said the first ten minutes of parking was free, and I didn’t intend to take much longer, so I planned on paying cash. Explanations were unclear at the gate, so I was thrilled when a man who was exiting pulled up. I asked him how to enter if I wanted to use cash, and he told me to push the button that said other, and it would spit out a parking slip and open the gate. True to his word, it worked, and I was now in the enormous parking garage.
As I was pulling into the garage, I thought I’d spotted an empty parking spot to my right, so I prayerfully went that way. I have no sense of direction, and I figured if I could lose my car in a Walmart parking lot, getting too far from the entrance of the ginormous garage was a dangerous proposition.
The garage was jam-packed. I thanked God when there was one empty spot near the entrance. I got in more needed steps walking to the New Balance store carrying my old shoes, hoping to get another pair like them. A friendly salesman greeted me immediately. I showed him my old shoes and asked if they still stocked them. He told me they didn’t but offered to help me find a pair that would work for me. I said, “After the hell I went through to get here, I’m not leaving without a pair of shoes!”
After a snafu of him bringing me a men’s pair of 9 ½ shoes when the size nine he got me was a bit too small, I left the store with a pair I liked. I wasn’t the least bit happy about the $97.00 price tag, but it is what it is.
The entire transaction took 15 minutes, and I told the salesman that the parking fee shouldn’t be too bad. Boy, was I wrong! As it was when entering, the instructions on how to pay were not clear when exiting. When I finally figured out how to put my tag into the reader, I was shocked to find I owed $12.99 for parking less than 20 minutes!
I’d hoped that the worst of the trip was behind me, kicking myself in the backside for choosing to buy shoes on the way to the AB&B. My New Balance tennies cost me a whopping $110.00 when including the parking fee.
My GPS told me to turn right when exiting the parking garage. There was no way to see the signal light without parking in the middle of the pedestrian walkway because of the steep hill at the exit. As with all lights in Texas, it took forever to turn green.
I was on the HWY 71 frontage road when my GPS instructed me to turn right. I missed the turn because it was immediate, and the street sign was so faded that you could hardly see it. I pulled into the parking lot of a business directly after it, hoping to find a way to turn right that wasn’t too far off my path. Once behind the company, there was no way to exit the parking lot, and I had to return to the frontage road. The street I needed to be on was one driveway away but impossible to get to. I’ll confess that if traffic hadn’t kept me from doing so, I would have made an illegal turn to get to my street.
When the GPS didn’t instruct me to turn right for over a mile, I wondered how far out of my way I’d go. When I was finally advised to turn right, left, and right again, I feared I was on another GPS joyride. I was so relieved when I got onto HWY 71 proper. I was now only 45 minutes from my destination, which looked straightforward. Thank the good Lord it was.
I backed my car up to the front door of the phenomenal AB&B, and the first thing I unloaded was my small ice chest, which housed my Smirnoff Selzers.
My pal Bridgit thought she’d arrive about the same time as me, but it was now after 5:00 pm. She was stuck in terrible traffic when I called her. I wanted to take a picture of the lake from the master bedroom window and couldn’t figure out how to open the drapes. She guided me to where the remote should be, and I was awestruck when my view was unveiled. Despite the cloudy skies, it was awesome!
I’ve never stayed in a place as astounding as this, and I could never afford to. My friend has blessed me with a one-week stay in an AB&B that normally charges $1800.00 a night. I’m beyond grateful. I look forward to sharing my week with you.
My first night here was a fun comedy of errors. I’ll get to writing about it later. It’s almost 11:00 am, and I haven’t even ventured outside. It’s time to get in my 10,000 steps. I will have plenty of stories to share tomorrow. Thanks for tagging along.
Charisse Tyson is a retired biker bar owner, author, blogger, and full-time RVer. You can follow her on Medium, Facebook, Linkedin, X(Twitter)