Houston, Hot Springs, Des Moines Turkey Trot
Hello, Welcome back! Erik here. Writing this post at a cafe in Sedona, AZ. Just found out there will be a mt. bike festival here this weekend so we will be sticking around for a little longer than expected. It just snowed last night, but I think it will melt off before the festival begins. Fingers crossed.
Snowfall in Sedona
I am using this "snow day" as an opportunity to catch up on the blog. In the last post we were leaving NOLA after staying there for like 5 days. It was such a cool experience living like a local with Danny.
In this post I write about our time in Houston with Dallas. This is where we made the decision to head north to Iowa to help my Dad on the farm in preparation for his knee replacement surgery. We stayed for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and through the New Year! My Dad's knee surgery was successful and the rehab was almost complete by the time we left in mid January. We will write more about Iowa and Mexico in our next post. That's right, I said MEXICO! So stay tuned for that.
November 16th - 20th
In this episode of "Adventures in Van Burgundy", I will be taking you along for a wild ride through Houston, TX! Our tour guide on today's episode is my good friend Dallas Van Wyk. (We took many of the same classes at ISU and rode the same CyRide sometimes lol.)
Dallas and Houston.
Dallas was the ideal host. We crammed so many activities into the 3 day stay. He introduced us to Torchy's Tacos, took us indoor rock climbing, showed us the famous Beer Can House, and even took us Rallycross racing in his Subaru with his good friend Jim. He was the best host ever! Thank you Dallas for showing us such a great time in Houston! Here are the pics:
Remembering how to belay with with Dallas climbing.
Dallas showing off his mad skills on this tricky green route!
Me putting my trust in Dallas to belay me on the tallest wall in the place.
Taking a little break, phew. I made it to the top eventually.
Belaying Emma up a tricky yellow route. Way to go Emma!
My favorite bouldering trick.
Here is Dallas and Jim's Gambler 500 Project car that we took Rallycross racing. A Subaru Impreza they fixed up and put on Forester struts. SO FRICKIN' COOL! We drove out to Brianne Corn Raceway that night and we camped out amongst the "car collection" that was there on the hill. We got to meet the owners Brianne and Kevin. They were super nice and inviting with very cool racing lifestyles. Check out her website and racing bio here: http://briannecorn.com/
Here we are waiting for our turn. Dallas, Jim, and I all raced the Subaru that day. So it got used 3 times as much as some other peoples cars! And it held together all day! We each got 10 runs and there were 2 heats. So that's 60 laps. Not to mention the fun laps at the end of the day. It was a lot of fun.
At the starting line.
Dallas coming through the finish line sideways.
Some of the cars from the collection.
This is a one of a kind 1974-1977 Mazda Rotary Engine Pickup (REPU)!
The Mazda REPU rear view.
A mean 1970's Ford Pinto. Very cool. Just don't rear end it.
The rear view of the Pinto. The last thing some people saw before the end.
I have no idea what this little guy is, but it was sooo tiny and cool!
The next day Dallas took us around Houston. Here is the Beer Can House. An old guy cladded his house with beer cans that he and his wife drank. What a life.
Everyone thought he was crazy, but whos laughing now? Actually we are still laughing...
You wear the hat this time!
Outside of The Art Car Museum.
A 1980s VW Rabbit. I should have done this to mine!!!! Instead, i just poked a bunch of holes in mine then sold it for parts.
Oh! One time I used it to haul a bunch of cardboard boxes to the landlord's place to be burned. "Get that thing out of my driveway!" Good times. :)
Rear of the VW Rabbit.
The other car outside the museum: a VW Karmann Ghia with a crazy tentacle art all over it.
We had dinner with Jim and his family that evening. It was delicious! We also got to meet his pet birds who had so much character. One of them was pushing 30 yrs old!!! It was an excellent visit.
The next day we said goodbye. Dallas had to go back to work, and Emma and I hit the road to Hot Springs, AR.
November 21st - 23rd
Hot Springs, AR and arriving in Iowa.
Free Parking upon our arrival in Hot Springs. Free parking is always nice.
This place felt like a replica of Saratoga Springs! They even had a horse racing track!
Some of the old hot spring Bath Houses along the main street. The National Park is actually part of the town!
Stained glass in one of the Bath Houses. Beautiful.
Crystals down below.
"its not that hot."
Ohhh, Hot hot hot hot!
I love this one 8)
Took this picture in a house turned coffee roaster.
Toured the Mountain Valley Spring Water museum in town. This was one of the last things we explored in the town before heading up to IOWA!
With Thanksgiving approaching, we felt bad we were missing the Turkey Trot in Saratoga. So we got online and signed up for the Des Moines Turkey Trot! We arrived in Madrid, IA on Thanksgiving eve, so first thing the next morning we drove back down to Des Moines to trot! It was a great time, and we got these cool "stocking caps".
We spent about 2 months in Iowa. Emma will be writing about that in the next blog post. Won't that be so interesting? I think so :)
Some junk in the shop. Not too many Flynn's in Iowa. But this has been sitting there for 40 years+ probably!
Moon Rise on the Farm. Emma doing some chores.
The High Trestle Trail (about a mile away from the farm)
So that's Texas and Arkansas. Get ready for Emma's version of our time on the family farm. We were a huge help to my parents and we didn't drive each other crazy! I think we were all a little surprised at that, and pleased too.