Hello Austin!

I had a hot tip on a place to park Mander in the city. An Instagram buddy, Victorio, said he had stayed there in his van and had no problems. It had promises of being in a safe part of the city, a fun neighborhood and nice level ground. I was a little nervous to drive Mander’s big booty into a bustling city, but I did it anyway.

I found the parking spot via dropped pin from Victorio, and he was absolutely right! I was great! The street was boxed in by 2 vacant lots, a school and a cemetery. It was nice and quiet but smack dab in the middle of the East side neighborhood of Austin. I quickly settled in and couldn’t wait to have some relaxation! This was the first place I went to  since leaving, that I was stoked to explore. I had been busting my ass hard for over a year to get Mander on the road. Things hadn’t necessarily been easy since achieving that goal and I deserved a vacation. I was going to treat myself to everything I hadn’t had time for and had been missing dearly. That meant yoga classes, a good book, good food and naps! I needed to recharge in a big way and Austin had all the ingredients. Even some nature!

I went to Nasha for some Indian fusion food and then to my first food trailer, Curcuma, where I ate delicious sweet potato toast with avocado and charcoal lemonade.

For my birthday, I went to a donation based yoga class at Practice Yoga and treated myself to a fancy coffee at Vintage Heart Cafe where they make all their syrups in house.

I shopped at the local coop and stocked up on fresh, organic food. I started reading a book and took naps. Those two often go hand in hand for me. I was enjoying myself so much, I thought I would stay for a couple weeks and really explore the place. Well………I stayed for 3 months! I never, ever, ever would have predicted this would happen. When I thought of what my life would look like living in Mander, I was surrounded by mountains or trees or desert or the sea. Not the city. Ultimately, my dream was to surrender to the journey and let it take me where ever I needed to go. So when it decided it wanted me to live in Austin for nearly 3 months, I agreed. Who was I to fight it?

Of course, there are reasons as to why my stay got extended for so long, and I will cover them. Oh boy are there stories to tell! But for now, the next few blog posts will look a little different. I figure I should give you a guide to Austin! If you’ve ever wanted to visit, these posts will cover all the must sees and must dos, in my humble opinion. Austin is very tolerant to home on wheel dwellers, so if that’s how you travel, there’s no reason you shouldn’t pop in for a visit! Be careful though, if you’re into healthy food, creativity, active living, environmentally conscious choices, music and good people…it may just suck you in and before you know it, you might be accidentally living there.

Please consider donating to my Gas Money Pool on Paypal by clicking here. Any donation goes straight into Mander’s tank. At 6 mpg it sure costs a lot to keep the old girl on the road. With your help, I can continue to collect stories and take pictures to share with you on my blog and Instagram. Thank you for being a part of my journey!

You can also support me by shopping my vintage clothes collection, Freedom to Roam. These clothes are found at various thrift stores across the U.S. and purchases help keep me roaming!

Until next time, much love and Mander on!