Touring in Texas is absolutely…cool. Elizabeth and I have taken what I like to call a “horseshoe route” of Texas… from Lubbock (northwest) to Del Rio (southwest), the San Antonio area (south), near Austin (central), Beaumont (southeast), up through Tyler (northeast) and north of Dallas.
I feel like we’ve been to ritzy exotic places—sometimes looking like Brazil or Hawaii—as well as “country bumpkin” towns complete with aproned women on porches, broken appliances and roaming babies and chickens in front yards. Last night we stayed in a guest house that looked like the love child of an Old West museum and a vacation home for Queen Victoria. The perfect end to this widely diverse tour!
By the way, if you’re not familiar with Elizabeth Hunnicutt, she is a (goofy, fun, talented) indie artist from Minnesota with a similar style (www.elizabethhunnicutt.com) and we got together by way of my friend Mark suggesting that we tour together. This was by far the most common question asked to us… By the end of the tour it started feeling like we were married (“How did you two meet??”)
Well, let’s see… highlights of the tour…
I don’t know if I should call this a highlight, but an experience that should be mentioned is the Lubbock wind. I’m talking nearly hurricane winds with tumbleweeds flying all over the road, corn husks and sheets of sand chasing behind, and birds flying into our windshield. Yes… we don’t think the bird actually flew into us. We’re pretty sure the wind just carried it, much like the cows in the movie “Twister.” We’re
going to think it survived.
In San Antonio, we played in a pumpkin patch! It was the coolest outdoor concert setup… pumpkins and fall decorations strategically placed all over the hill in front of the church, and we actually sang on a stage that looked like the porch of a saloon, complete with the swinging doors behind us.
The scenery changed significantly as we headed closer toward the border to Del Rio. Mesquite trees, cactus…sort of like a desert with tall grass. After the show at “Fiesta De Amistad” (outdoor festival), the church took us to MEXICO to eat dinner! Mmm, authentic Mexican food…there really is a difference!
I was amazed by the evangelistic drive at Del Rio Christian Fellowship. They were sharing the gospel to individuals at the festival, individuals on the street as we walked to the restaurant, and even a bouncer who used to be a youth pastor and nearly broke down in tears out of a longing for those days. He was encouraged not to feel shame and that God would still and always want to use him…not to give up. I think in this day and age it’s easy to make fun of people who go around sharing the gospel through street evangelism, when really, some people are so self-less that they will reach out and literally change lives, whatever it takes. And they did, right in front of my eyes. A couple who was witnessed to became believers that weekend.
In Kerrville, our concert was recorded on Live radio (no pressure…) and we got taken out to breakfast by the morning show co-host. Woo hoo! I do have to mention that I got to ride my aunt and uncle’s Harley to dinner after the concert the night before. That is a highlight. 😉
Back to San Antonio, where we had a free day! We ate at a restaurant called “The Magic Time Machine” where the servers dress up like any character they want (think Halloween continuously) and they have to stay in character the entire time. We got Westley from “The Princess Bride” who rather enjoyed picking on Elizabeth most of the night. I do believe she may have reminded him of Princess Buttercup. At this restaurant, they like to do things like announce very loudly and repeatedly when someone is heading to the restrooms…among other harassments. Oh, and he blew fire from his mouth. Yep… stood in the middle of the restaurant and spit out alcohol in front of a lighted match. Captain Jack Sparrow then grabbed his shot glass and exclaimed, “Oh goody! A little bit left for me” and staggered out of the room.
That night, we stayed in my sister’s “Rainforest Cafe” apartment. I make no exaggeration by the nickname! Kristi proceeded to show us around San Antonio the next day as we went to Alamo, explored the Riverwalk, rode the Riverboat, and ate beside the river. Beautiful! I think if I didn’t live in Nashville, I’d want to be in San Antonio.
On the road again… I believe it was on our way to Galveston that Elizabeth spotted a smoldering patch in the median of the interstate – which suddenly turned into a flame! I wish I had gotten Elizabeth’s call to the police on video, but alas… one of those moments you just stare wide eyed and do nothing else. We are also going to believe that situation turned out ok. (Just spiritually and physically saving lives, that’s what we do. *Stretch, yawn* …that’s just what we do.)
The scenery changed to palm trees, canals, and Spanish style buildings… probably my favorite scenic part of Texas.
I would also like to mention that we played a show in Katy, TX. It was nice of them to name a city after me. Even before I was born…the overall anticipation of the event… very nice of them.
Sunday was a very interesting, exhausting day! After 4 hours of sleep, we followed a friend to a cowboy church in Telephone, TX (what, you ask?? Telephone. This is the hay stacks and chickens in front yards part of Texas) We got lost a few times but eventually arrived, set up, and played for those who stuck around to hear a couple of city girls. I got to ride a horse around the ring a few times! I called it my blue heeler horse, cause that’s what it looked like… very cool. I wish we could have stayed longer. There was so much we could have done at the cowboy camp, but we had to pack up and head to Tyler, TX for our last show! Tyler is where we got to stay at the Cowboy Museum/Victorian mansion after the concert. I would like the lady who lives there to be my interior decorator someday…mental note to log that away in case I’m ever rich and famous. :-p
Today…just now…Elizabeth dropped me off at the Dallas airport. We didn’t want to see the tour end! I’m sure one reason for this in Elizabeth’s mind was the 15 hour drive to Minnesota that she IS going to drive today (*flashing light* crazy ~ crazy~ crazy~)! So I’m here a little early.
Whoa, this guy at the airport just paid for this massage chair in front of me and then left after a couple of minutes… the chair is now massaging nothing. It still has 5 minutes left on the timer!!
The chair should be massaging me.
I am SO taking advantage of this!
…Complete with headphones of gentle streams and rain sounds.
So basically, Texas rocked, very much so. Later! 🙂