Day 17. Austin to Carlsbad, New Mexico. 454 miles, 8 hours, 55 minutes (including stops).
Our Austin stay lasted almost a week, and we packed in a lot, enough to get a real feel for the place. Not counting the eclipse, which seemed more celestial than tied to any spot on earth, my favorite Austin experiences were…
1) the barbecue (see above). It was a shock to realized I’d never had Texas barbecue before. And a bigger shock to learn how delicious it is. How did it take me so long to discover this?
2) Catching a performance at Esther’s Follies, an institution on the ultra-lively Sixth Street. Mixing fast-paced extremely topical comedy skits, music, and big-stage magic, it felt like a weird combination of vaudeville and Saturday Night Live. We laughed a lot.
3) On Sunday morning, we visited the wildflower reserve established by Lady Bird Johnson. Its big vistas…
… dazzling close-ups…
… and everything in between filled me with happiness.
But now we’ve left Texas behind and will tackle two national parks in the next two days. Up tomorrow: a visit to the largest underground chamber in North America.
At home and abroad 
I’d love to see Lady Bird’s gardens. Thank you for the photos of them.