We rolled into Austin midday on Thursday. We had given the Teczar’s a heads up, because they were still both at work, but we were able to make ourselves at home (read: we did our best to empty their beer fridge). Tara and I hung out and relaxed, but I think Murphy may have been the most comfortable. Ran into the back yard, made friends-ish with the neighbors dogs and we just relaxed until Christina got home.
Our plan for the night was to just grill at their house and relax and catch up, and fill them in our trip so far. When Christina got home, she grabbed me and Tara, and we headed to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner… Texas does grocery shopping right. What do I mean? I mean Sip’n Shop. You walk into the grocery store, stop at the bar, grab a beer, and drink a beer while you walk around. They also have a ton of free samples too… We indulged. We grabbed some shrimp and chicken, and headed back. We met Danno at the house just as we pulled in. It was great to see him despite his sheepish grey “corporate” pants… We spent a long time sitting out on their back porch drinking, eating, and just catching up in general. It was a great relaxing night that I think Tara and I both needed. Oh, and Max their 3-ish year old some (I’m terrible with kids’ ages) was gracious enough to give up his room and sleep with his parents so that Tara, Murphy and I would have a place to sleep…in an actual bed.
The next morning we woke up and Christina had to run to work for a little, despite being up too late drinking and then all evening with the newest member of the Teczar clan, Jackie-O (as his mom so affectionately calls him)… Little Jack makes them work… all night. Dan made Tara and I breakfast, his new specialty is “egg in a hole” which were awesome. Dean cooks much like I do, he starts cooking and almost immediately is swearing about how he screwed it up… he pulled through though. Dan also hooked me up with his beard guy. Yeah, Dan has a beard guy. It’s David from New York. That’s all I got as an explanation, that’s all you’ll get too. So I ran down to get my first ever beard trim along with a hair cut. David from New York did a great job, a touch closer than I would have liked, but I either way, I was rocking my first “shadow beard”. I headed back to the house and since Dan and Christina’s kids were at daycare, we headed out for lunch… the adult kind, when you have alcoholic drinks before even looking at the menu… where you judge other people’s kids… that kind of thing… it was great. I do forget the name of the place though, but they served a Bloody Mary only instead of vodka, it has a Pacifico beer in it. Super refreshing… I think they called it a Bloody Marcholo… that’s definitely not it… but I can’t remember… After that, we headed to the Oscar Blues Brewery, which I believe has just opened in Austin. Tara and I have been drinking their beer since being introduced to it in Colorado at the Applegate’s. So it was a really cool stop. The brewery was great and pretty industrial looking. We had a few beers and then headed towards the Texas campus, that’s where the kids day care is and Tara and I needed shirts. Tomorrow, we’re going to watch the Texas Longhorns play Baylor. An in state rivalry.
Dan and Christina had an event that they were attending that night, some super important award that is given to UT alums each year. From my understanding it’s the highest award the University can give. Tara and I used the evening to…. well, we sat on the couch, watched TV and napped. That was it, and it was everything we wanted it to be.
Saturday Morning…. GAME DAY. We’re up, couple eggs in some holes and we’re getting ready to go to the game. Christina’s dad was able to get us some tickets, so he stopped by in the morning and we talked a little about the Longhorns’ season so far. It’s been a rollercoaster, but with more downs than ups. I also found out that Baylor was currently ranked #6 in the country and UT… well, they weren’t ranked. At all. Baylor was favored by about 30 points going into the game… Oh well, we’re here for the experience. Oh and what an experience that was. I didn’t go to a big D1 college, I went to a big high school and called it college. This place was madness. People were everywhere… all over the campus, and the stadium was huge. We started by receiving the super special treatment with our parking pass, which let us park at the stadium. Then, we watched the UT band play and march into the stadium. Tara and I were really excited. 
There is so much pageantry and tradition at a UT game, we’ve never seen anything like this. We found our way to our seats, which were great and just under the only area of the stadium that has a covering. Perfect, it’s about a million degrees out, and I’m a sweater. Not like the clothing but like, I sweat, a lot. We drank beer, ate nachos, popcorn, and a pretzel. Some time around half time, the stadium started to play the Matthew McConaughey chest pumping song from the Wolf of Wall Street, and sure enough, up on the big screen, there he is, beating his chest routing on his alma mater UT. I feel like we would just be BFFs if we ever met. Just a total normal, millionaire, fantastic actor type guy. The score to the game was really close from the start but with about one minute left, UT scored and went up by 1. It was 35 to 34 and Baylor had really done whatever they wanted the whole game, but in this final minute, Texas’ defense started to play like every member was an all pro. Sacks, fumbles…. the defense came through and stopped Baylor. UT, unranked, just knocked off the #6 team in the country… it was crazy. At the end of the game, Tara and I also got the watch a Texas tradition, where all the players walk to the corner of the field where the band is and sing “The eyes of Texas are Upon you” Pretty great stuff.
We cleared out with Dan leading the way dodging through a sea of orange, towards the tower in the center of campus lit up in UT colors. Oh, and the sunset was pretty fantastic too… Tara actually asked Christina’s dad who he had to call to get the win and the sunset. He laughed, and wouldn’t reveal his sources.
We headed back to the Teczar ranch where Christina’s sister and brother in law were watching the kids (Murphy included). We grilled some steaks, drank more beer, and wine and finally called it a night. Big day, big win. I now bleed orange and I think Tara does too.
The next day we relaxed and watched the Pat’s game. Jack and I had started being able to communicate in a fashion he taught me. It involves making noise and moving your fingers around in front of your mouth, and Max made some pretty impressive barricades to keep Jack where he wanted him. After the game, unfortunately, we had to say good bye. We had a 3 hour drive ahead of us to our next stop, Bedford. After quite a while of good bye’s and final peeks in our camper for Max, we were on our way.
Huge thank you to the Teczar clan. We had such a great time as usual. We really hope to see y’all again soon.
withoutwhatifs 