Reby's Weight Loss and Breast Cancer Journey: Good Showers and Austin

My calories were perfect yesterday; I walked three miles around the Austin state capitol building; my weight remained the same at 265.5. Whew! Got that all out of the way.

Mostly my mind is on showers this morning. At home, I take a good shower for granted. There were years in some of our houses where the shower was better than others, but in Florida we had our master bath shower remodeled shortly after we moved it, so it is perfect. On the road in various motels, you never know what you'll get.

The Clarion here in San Angelo, Texas has been the most perfect one yet!

What makes a perfect shower for me? There are several things: good water that is not too soft so the soap rinses off well; strong water pressure, a shower head with good distribution and coverage at a good height; non slip tub surface, plenty of hot water, easy to turn on/off and regulate; curved shower curtain bar; grab bar; shelf space to hold all my supplies; a drain that drains well. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, because it is hard to get ALL of that in one place.

In Houston I had very few of those things. The tub was so slippery that I was literally afraid I would fall, plus it had no grab bar or shelf to put things on. There was literally nothing to hold on to. I spoke to the front desk after the first of the four nights, so they literally went to some store and bought me a bath mat! That made me very happy. In San Antonio, the shower head was so high that I could not reach it at all. It sprayed the water nearly all the way at the back wall. Tough to use for a short person like me. The water also did not drain at all well in San Antonio, and the water was a bit too soft for my taste.

Ah...this Clarion has it all. I have no complaints this morning. Sadly, we are only here one night, so who knows what we'll get when we check in tonight in Abilene, Texas. We will be there two nights and then three nights in Amarillo before heading to New Mexico. I am hoping the showers will be good ones.

Austin was great but short. We only went to see the state capitol building, which was amazing. We took a free, hour long guided tour, went to the Visitor Center, and strolled around the beautiful 22 acre grounds looking at all the statues. It was three miles of walking and two and a half hours of time, but totally worth it. There is also a kosher deli and shopping area in a local grocery store in Austin. Mark got a grilled chicken and avocado wrap, and I got a pastrami sandwich on rye. Both were fabulous! There is only one clothing optional public park in all of Texas, and it is just outside Austin, so naturally, Mark wanted to see it. It is called Hippie Hollow, and it's on Lake Travis. The lake is HUGE and formed from damming up the Colorado River, the same way Lake Mead was formed by damming up the other Colorado River in Nevada. The views of the lake as we drove to the park were spectacular. I declined to go down the steep stairs to get to the rocks below. Mark never did fully understand how people got in and out of the lake to swim, although he saw three swimmers. Mostly people sun themselves on the big flat rocks. It is ADA accessible with a switchback path and some benches in the handicapped section. Mark sat on those benches, sunning himself for awhile and talking to the other people there. There were quite a few cars in the parking lot. I sat in the car playing puzzles on my phone and looking at Facebook for the hour that he was in the park.

At 3:40 p.m. we then faced a four hour drive to San Angelo, Texas. What a drive! No interstate takes you from Austin north to San Angelo. It was a beautiful drive through rolling hills and then large, flat ranches and farms on two lane country roads that were marked SEVENTY-FIVE MPH! Yes, 75 on a two lane road. Such fun. Well mostly it was easy because there was not a lot of traffic. We made it to the San Angelo Denny's by 7:30 p.m. and checked in to this beautiful Clarion hotel by 9 p.m. Another good day.

Today we are going to Fort Concho National Historical Landmark. Then we will visit Miss Hattie's Bordello in downtown San Angelo, and we plan to eat there for lunch, too. Then off to Abilene.

Here are pictures from Austin.

This is actually in the Denny's in San Antonio on our last night. We ate there three nights in a row, so he finally decided he must have a picture with Pancake!

First view of the capitol building.

Historic Land Office building is now the Visitor Center.

The original painting of Houston on the ground talking to Santa Anna. We have seen diaramas and reproductions of this painting in many places on this trip, but I did not realize the original was here in Austin! And it's very BIG!

Looking up into the dome from the rotunda, main level.

Senate Chambers. The legislature only meets January to April in odd years.

Listening to the tour guide, who was excellent, speak about this painting, Dawn at the Alamo.

This building was the first one in Austin to get electricity. There are two chandeliers like these that are original and the first to light up in Austin. Note the bulbs spell out Texas!

We toured the entire original building, including the basement, and then went down to the sub-basement level and over to the modern Capitol Extension area, all underground.