There has been a lot going on, but not a lot that’s newsworthy. By the time this post goes live I will be leaving Texas and making tracks northeast. It was supposed to happen in early June but whatever…life often has its own plans. I’ve made good use of my time in Texas though, on many levels.
The main mission was to sell stuff for Motorcycle Missions, who need both less stuff (to move into a smaller space) and more money (to afford a smaller space). I was on the job. Though not full-time, I managed to sell several motorcycled, get rid of old tires, sell take-off parts from their old custom builds, and help fulfill some of their regular orders from the online store.
It has been nice being useful; winter time is a long malaise of me cleaning and prepping things for the next summer’s trip, i.e. doing stuff that only affects me. And in the summer I’m out traveling and it affects plenty of people sure—anyone I interact with, the businesses I patronize, and anyone following my story online—but in the end it is still just me going around and looking at stuff, then sharing what I saw.
Motorcycle Missions is a chance to do something that isn’t about me at all. Even when I work events for them I get the payoff of meeting people and sharing stories, but at the shop it’s just a lot of answering moronic questions on Facebook Marketplace, sweating in the central Texas heat as I search for parts, taking pictures and making listings.
That’s not a complaint: when you do something purely for the benefit of others, the payoff is still there, but it can only be felt…it isn’t a way to humble-brag or share to strangers on the internet.
Ride>Eat>Repeat
One thing I’ve been up to for my own enjoyment though is my new blog. Ride>Eat>Repeat has been a good use of time, simply because it’s a topic I enjoy. It’s also been for my own enjoyment because no one actually cares: I think the only subscribers are me and my sister. But it’s a chance to do a deep analysis on where our own identity ties in with the foods we eat.
I wrote a short piece about my strange love affair with Taco Bell’s Enchirito. I actually gave up on Taco Bell around the first jump in prices during the COVID-19 outbreak. Their food was good because it was cheap, but it was even more important than burger joints, because and actual taco truck could make infinitely better food than Taco Bell for only a little bit more. Once the gringo taco goes above a dollar or a buck-fifty, they lose all appeal to me. Unless they’re HUGE and stuffed with meat and cheese and usually some added tomatoes, it’s just cheap crap: like running your car on isopropanol instead of gasoline.
The enchirito is of course just a lazily folded small burrito, which is the basis for an enchilada. But they’re strangely good and Taco Bell keeps them off the menu. Since they’re back for about a month, I’m back to “taking a run for the border” and getting the occasional enchirito.
I also wrote a short piece about TexMex in general by mentioning a brief stop at Chuy’s. It’s one of the only places in Lexington, KY to get decent TexMex and it was born in Austin, so I had to go while I was in the greater Austin area. Naming dishes after Elvis and Priscilla Presley is odd, but TexMex is odd, so I loved it and was happy to see the place full of actual Texans, who of course appreciate TexMex.
I also mention another TexMex spot from Austin called Taco Casa. They’re fast food and don’t fight for the same reasons as Chuy’s, but they’re a great alternative to Taco Bell, and have the Chilada—their own take on the burrito/enchilada hybrid.
Lastly I did a piece on the benefits of overnight oats and the many things you can do with rolled oats as the base. Hint: it’s not just for breakfast, and it doesn’t have to be sweet even if it is. I like this piece the most because it goes into the technicals of flavor profiles and nutrition without getting heavy. It gives you ideas, reminds you of the versatility of oats, and slaps the crap out of all the lunatics who thing they have to avoid all grain because of gluten sensitivity (news flash, you probably need some fiber, which oats have).
And there’s also work
I also did a piece for pay, but it still hasn’t gone live for some reason. Being an event report, it usually goes live the day after I submit. When it’s live I’ll share a link, but you can also check the page at www.russbrown.com/blog to see if it’s gone live. It was about me hitting up the first Paradise Road Show in Austin.
I love the concept, and they’ve been doing it in Palm Springs, CA for a decade, so this didn’t suffer the many hiccups of a first-time or one-off event. In short, you get some old choppers and cars, park ’em at a classic motel (the proper motor lodges of the 1930’s to 1970’s) and invite everyone to hang out poolside. You scope some cool customs builds, ogle some tattooed trash in bikinis grabbing some sun, cruise a few vendors selling vintage clothes, jewelry, books, and sundry items, and have a beer.
And of course I grabbed some tacos.
This event was at the Austin Motel, strangely located right in Austin, on Congress Ave. It’s a real deal spot, 1938 built and 2017 remodeled to hold its original feel, you could walk around the show or go out on the street, as that part of Austin has restaurants, vendors, art murals, and people watching galore.
It was well attended but you’d want to get tickets in advance: the $40 at the gate day-of was way beyond an appropriate price for an event that had no live bands, $12 beer, and no local food trucks (the adjacent restaurant was adequate mind you, but you can eat there any day).
And now to the old country
What’s coming up is also not of huge interest. It should be, but I’ll be on the interstate, knocking out two 550-mile days, back-to-back. Then a few days in Lexington, where I’ll basically say hello, change my oil, and carry on northeast. The destination remains the same as I’ve been saying: The Maritimes.
You may know it as northeast Canada, but if you’re American you probably can’t even find that on a map. But up there past Maine there’s a HUGE amount of land in a very strange shape, and it’s full of a lot of the old-world charm of the US, with fewer big-ass cities screwing it all up. The Canadians but those more above the Great Lakes. They also have Newfoundland, which being a huge landmass makes it full of things to see, but being an island also means it has its own unique charm.
I’ll explore as much as possible, which means continuing to haul ass on the interstate until I get to the Main coast, and only then slowing down to explore properly. There’s a lot of crevices due to the many peninsulas and bays, and Nova Scotia itself is practically an island, with water on four sides and only a small isthmus connecting it to New Brunswick.
After seeing as much as I can of New Brunsick and Nova Scotia, I’ll explore as much as I can of Newfoundland, and hopefully also catch the Targa Newfoundland, a Canadian version of the Milga Millia (if you don’t know what that it, it’s okay, you just aren’t into motorsports). Either way, I need to make it to St Johns on the far side, also see the Viking Trail (they landed in North America a couple hundred years before Columbus), some old airplane wrecks, the first Marconi device to send and receive messages from Europe…and puffin.
Yeah it’s impossible. There’s so much to see, but I’ll see what I can see, and eat as much as I can eat. The food and history will get shared over are Ride>Eat>Repeat though, so I recommend you sign up for that mailing list. Same deal as here. It goes out only once a week and only if there’s new activity. The bulk of my effort is over there now too, so this blog is going to just get less and less active: eventually I hope to make this a place only to share professional updates about writing, racing, and photography.
RER will be where I share more musings, travel stories, and historical information about how the foods we eat became a part of who we are.