2 days in Austin

After the Dallas show, we all crawled into our bunks and slept until our arrival in Austin. Our first day in Austin was a team scavenger hunt day. The teams consisted of: Ben and myself, Brittany and Sarah, Dave and Chelsea, and Cody and Zach. The scavenger hunt was a fun idea, as it got us out into Austin and we had the opportunity to explore the city. I think the best part of this adventure was swimming in the 4 Seasons pool with Dave, Brittany, Ben, Chelsea, and Sarah for 40 points and an abundance of laughter. The fact that our attentions spans are short came into play fairly quickly when 2 two teams ( Brittany/Sarah, Chelsea/Dave) decided to have fun in Austin and play…this included going to a dog park and paddle boating/kayaking. Ben and I walked around ALL of Austin, went to some incredible parks, witnessed a car accident, ate spring rolls by the water, and also gave into the temptation to just play! Luckily Cody and Zach decided to take it very seriously and rented motorized bikes to take them to the spots on our scavenger hunt list. Cody and Zach won…hands down…nobody else even came close. What did they win…they got the opportunity to help Chad create the set list for the Austin show the following night.
After the scavenger hunt we all met at the Austin flagship Whole Food….which is pretty much a Whole Food department store ( they sell shoes, food, clothes ect….). We picked out food selections (Dave had his first sushi experience) and went to the dog park so Lefty could run around and play. After dinner we headed to the bus so we could journey to the movie theater for Half the Sky. Before the movie a hand full of us went to check out Wolfman, it looked pretty entertaining but we were there for a much more important reason—The one night movie event for Half the Sky. I have read Half the Sky; I devoured every page in the book. The message behind it resonates in me….Women and education are critical to this world. The movie was okay, I think the short movies they are making out of the real life stories discussed in the book will be amazing. The film showed Marisa Tomei’s short documentary, Woineshet, about a women in Ethiopian who was raped, kidnapped, and then fought the law in Ethiopia which stated a man could not be charge of rape by a women he later married (often women are shamed into marrying the man because she is "ruined"). Half the Sky is filled with stories like this about mass rape, honor killings, sex slavery, genital mutilation, and infant and maternal mortality. The facts in this book blew my mind, the stories broke my heart, and the opportunities given to these women make me optimistic.

After the movie in Austin, our group talked…A LOT. We talked to Sybil about her life experiences, being tour manager, life/love, and Matisyahu. We talked about women’s rights, discrimination, harassment, and role models. It is safe to say every girl on the trip adored Sybil; collectively we all agree our time with her was inspiring. Later that evening Zach, (breaker from Florida) accompanied by Brittany and Chelsea, went to get his first tattoo. While that was happening the rest of us either sat in or participated in a jam session with Chad. It was truly amazing, he is such a kind person and you just know there is never a judgmental thought in him (another person to look up to for their kindness).


The next morning we woke up VERY early to test Capital Metro’s new trains in Austin. The line will have nine stations, and service will run every 35 minutes during the morning and evening commuting hours. There will be a total of 19 daily runs: six southbound and three northbound in the morning and six northbound and four southbound in the evening. There will be connector buses waiting for the trains at the MLK Jr. and downtown stations, with five bus routes to the University of Texas, the Capitol complex and other points in the central business district. We got to test the trains and the connector buses. In Austin we had fans…. people who truly loved that we decided to come volunteer for a week. We did phone interviews, took pictures, and talked to countless people. We were VERY tired by Austin day 2 and Maria (our leader from Cap. Metro) was FANTASIC and very accommodating of the 9 exhausted crows.

This was by far my favorite show of the week, the set list was amazing (thanks Zach and Cody), the band did phenomenal, the crowd had energy, and the group (CAC) was photographed by a photographer who does pictures for Rolling Stone! It was a remarkable night filled with fantastic friends, birthdays (Ben turned 20!), fun strangers, beautiful music, and as always….. laughter.