The Trouble With Austin
23. Jun, 2009 
8 Comments 
It’s beautiful in Austin: Texas hill country, with low rolling treebanks as far as the eye can see. The Colorado River rambles through the middle of town, and scores of springs bring forth cool water even in the hottest months. You can hear great music wherever you go, and there’s art on every corner. But despite all this, Austin is TROUBLE.
This town, you see, is both too easy and too hard. Too easy, with its air conditioning and its liberal, anything-goes attitude; too hard, with the oppressive heat and the vast distances between things.
What I mean to say is that I didn’t get much done in Austin. I had the time of my life, but it was not a productive time. Whenever I stepped outdoors I started sweating; when I wanted to go someplace, I had to find a ride. Too hot to ride a bike, too far to walk. And it was so comfortable indoors, with my fascinating friends and their A/C units and big houses with extra rooms for me to stay in. So, aside from cold-chillin, not much was achieved.
You can’t get around in Texas if you don’t have a car. You can barely cross the dang street without getting run over. Either Texas drivers hate pedestrians, or they just don’t expect to encounter any; either way, they don’t slow down for crosswalks.
The bus system in Austin is great though: $1.50 for a 24-hour pass, and the buses run pretty much on time. But waiting at the bus stop means sitting in your own sweat while being conversated at by saggy-eyed street folk and groups of men sipping beer and wine. At 11am on a week day, one fellow told me I looked like a nurse and then offered to find me a job and a car; another lifted his shirt to show me the portraits of his daughters inked onto his beer gut. In context, these were valiant and well-meaning attempts at conversation! But I didn’t want to talk. Not now, not like this.
Nonetheless I rode the bus quite a few times. It worked out fine for short trips, but didn’t get me everywhere. Here are some places I didn’t get to visit in the Austin area:
- Tiny Texas Houses – Inspired by Steph and Tammy, I’ve been trying to get a glimpse of a bona fide tiny house for some time now. But the Tiny Texas Houses HQ is in Luling, an hour’s drive from Austin with no bus route available. There’s one tiny cottage at the Park Lane Guest House, but they never returned my calls. Too bad so sad.
- Johnson’s Backyard Garden – Inconveniently located just outside the public transportation coverage area, Johnson’s have a great thing going—organic produce in exchange for a half day’s work—for anyone who owns a car. I asked two different people to come work with me so I could see the place, but somehow nobody was interested in manual labor at 8am on a Saturday. Nobody except me, anyway.
- UT-Austin School of Architecture – After learning about their work on PBS’ e2 series, I was all fired up to talk to them about sustainable building and voluntourism. I actually did visit the Dean’s office. But after figuring out how to get there, then walking all over the massive campus looking for the building, I arrived a sweaty mess. Must have made a horrible impression as I never heard back from them.
Still, I enjoyed Austin. It softened me up. Everybody there is soft: gentle, friendly, maybe packing a couple extra pounds… It’s all the beer and barbecue and good friends with generally sedentary lifestyles. The good life á la Tejas.
And it was nice, for a while, to lose my own edges. Texans genuinely enjoy and appreciate themselves and others, and that’s a rare (and precious) attitude where I come from. So it felt good… but things weren’t getting done, and they weren’t getting done. It became time to accomplish something, or leave town.
By the time I did leave, things were starting to turn around a little. Here’s what I saw while in Austin:
- The bats.
- Krause Springs.
- The Colorado River (tubing!).
- The HI hostel.
- Chicken Shit Bingo (okay not totally on topic).
- The Republic Of Texas bike rally (definitely not on topic!)
I’m gonna write about all of them, except maybe the bike rally. I might write about the things I didn’t see, too, at least briefly. The point, though, is this: getting around Austin without much money is difficult, and trying to do so sustainably is almost impossible. Too bad; it’s otherwise a very cool town. You just can’t live there without air conditioning and a car. Even if you could, you probably wouldn’t want to.
And that’s the trouble with Austin.
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Thanks for the link love. It’s too bad you didn’t get to see the Tiny Texas Homes! Ohhh I would love to go visit them.
Austin is a cool town. I was there for SXSW and loved it. But it was so HOT and I was surprised by the urban sprawl. I envisioned the city totally differently. But the people were so so nice and friendly, which is always a huge travel bonus.
Hugs and safe travels.
BTW – if you are ever in Sacramento, CA send me an email. You are more than welcome to crash with us.
You nailed it. Austin is wonderful because of the warmth of the people. All of the best memories that I have from Austin, involve finding it easy to get some quality time with pretty genuine people, what ever brand of crazy they might be.
It is HOT here in Austin, I’ll give you that, but only during the late spring and summer months (at least in my opinion). I moved here last year in July and was deeply frustrated with our inability to enjoy the outdoors between the hours of noon and 7pm.
The months went on and the air became cool and comfortable all hours by late September. My family and I were finally able to enjoy and thrive in all of the beauty and wonder this fantastic city has to offer in so many ways over the next eight months. This summer, despite the record highs in June (which are unusual for this area) we found ourselves much more acclimated and outdoors working in the yard and garden, hiking and exploring and doing many things outside all hours of the day.
We feel for our visitor’s suffering with the heat and humidity. We too remember how it once felt. And we remember feeling like not getting outside and getting anything done, slaves to the air conditioning with a need for it like oxygen. It does get better the longer you’re here, I promise! People can and do get things done in Austin…eventually!
I wish I would have known you were here, I would have loved to have taken you gardening at 8am in the morning on a Saturday!
Thank you for writing! I very much enjoy your blog!
am only just now getting around to catching up on your travels…
austin is known to many as ‘the velvet rut’ for all the reasons you mentioned. it is remarkably easy to just get by here and be perfectly satisfied and happy with one’s existance. a survey a few years ago determined that the average education level of certain grocery store workers in austin was the same or better than in most fortune 500 companies. “that guy sacking your groceries at whole foods has a masters in zoology” kinda thing.
but by that same token, while it may look like nothing is getting done here, it is. austin has a very active, vibrant community of do-ers – arts, community, small businesses, industrial activism, government, etc etc. i think you just have to have been in the flow here long enough to stretch your feet out and feel the strong undercurrent.
and yeah, austin can be rough in the summer. this year was a record kind of misery too, with no immediate relief in sight. however, the great thing is, once the downward slope of the summer begins, you couldn’t ask for a better climate. our winter is notoriously brief (a couple weeks of uncomfortable cold/wet in february) with long pleasant autumn and spring on either side. my a/c usually goes off sometime in mid-september and does not come on again til april or may. at that point, riding a bike or waiting for a bus is far less daunting.
had i known you wanted to go any of those places, i would have been happy to go (ok, maybe not the 8am in luling… i have my limits). we texans are very accomodating, and thrilled at any chance to show off our stuff, but we are not (completely) psychic.
was good to meet you. float through again!
Hey, thanks for stopping by!! You’re the best
Actually you were one of the people who impressed me the most with your git-up-n-go. It would’ve been great to have lots more adventures with you; maybe I should’ve suggested it instead of assuming I was taking too much of your time & generosity!
You might be right: maybe I just don’t quite get it yet. Not in a bad way, just… I wasn’t there long enough to really get the hang of things, most likely. I’ll have to come back and hang out for longer, eh?
um….of course you cant ride your bike everywhere in texas. its the second biggest state. maybe you forgot that when you came here. Austin however is tiny compared to a lot of texas cities. it is incredibly easy to ride your bike around austin, and there are plenty of people who do it daily. it is never too hot to ride. it is understood and even attractive in austin to be drenched in sweat from a good bike ride. maybe you are just not used to riding your bike and not driving. i am glad you had a great time here, most people do, but maybe you should think twice about your title.
D… Hmmm. I am aware of the size of Texas, though I’m not sure where you got the idea that I was trying to ride across the entire state. If you read the post a bit more carefully, you’ll see that I consider the roads unsafe for bikers, as the drivers are not cautious.
If you knew me, you’d know I gave up my car in early 2007, and commuted around the Bay Area on bike for two years. But last I checked, riding up and down the hills of Austin in 100-degree heat is not a wise maneuver for someone who isn’t accustomed to the local climate. How many days of 3-digit temperatures did y’all have this year? And although you asseverate that Austin is comparatively tiny, I did not have the luxury of staying in the downtown area. My lodging was pretty far from all the good stuff; even the grocery store was almost a mile away.
Anyway, thanks for the advice. I just thought about my title again. That was fun! Now I’m going to think about something else. I’m glad I had a great time in your town, and super glad I never met you.
Haha… yep, definitely a few different flavors of crazy. All the more reason to love people, in my book.