Tuesday October 9 - The Further Adventures of Bonnie and Clyde

Tuesday October 9 - The Further Adventures of Bonnie and Clyde


So it is Saturday October 6, and we can't go back to our regular lair, somebody's throwing a party there. This town goes Longhorn crazy and Saturday was the day to do it with a vengeance. See, it's opening home game and a month ago they had a pre-season scrimmage and that was a party and a half. But today is the official thing and the radio stations are throwing their pre-game parties wherever they can. And wouldn't you know it, our abode got selected. So, we went out for the night. Never mind that this is the coldest night of the fall season so far, down to 41 degrees F. Now I know that to many of my friends and relatives up north 41 degrees ain't that cold. But try lying on the ground or hard pavement and the wind blowing at about 40 mph, you'll freeze your ass off, guaranteed.

So, rather than make our way back to the home, we made ourselves fed and wandered about until we found what seemed to be a relatively uninhabited park. This was just outside the downtown area, but to the southeast. There was a tree, nice and large, with branches that hung down to the ground at their ends, about 240 degrees of the circumference of it, and underneath was clean and dry. We got there about 5:30 P.M. and shifting a couple of times wound up with me seated, leaning against the tree, facing away from the road and Mary sitting between my legs, leaning back on my chest, and eventually we fell asleep.

About 11 P.M. I woke up, I look to my left and …"Oh shit", there about 50 yards away was a cop, mounted on horseback just standing there. The horse was grazing. I woke up Mary, "Shhh … be very quiet and don't move … There's a cop over there on horseback" … Then, the cavalry arrived. Three more mounted police riding all over the place. They began circling the park and us. It appeared as if they were looking for someone. There had been several homeless men who had wandered through earlier.

After circling us, about a dozen times and investigating various structures around the park, a couple of them congregated about the first cop and grazed their horses. A female mounted officer then approached us on horseback and from about 20 yards away said, "Sir, I'm sorry, but the park is closed, you'll have to go", I think she was smiling about the situation. "Yes Ma'am", I said and we gathered our things and walked towards down town.

Leaving Joan Wayne and her three John's, we headed toward downtown and 6th St.. Now remember, This is Texas, and things have a history of being a little wild, and Texans love to party and they are Longhorn football crazy, and this evening was the opening home game. They played West Virginia and there was a sizable West Virginia contingent, a hell of a lot of blue jerseys with the West Virginia WV mixed among the UT longhorn brown, white and black. But they had 6th St. turned into one massive party, with all the crossing streets blocked off for about 6 or 8 blocks. Mary and I tried to walk along the sidewalk, but no good, may as well get out in the middle of the street if you wanted to get anywhere.

Now, also remember, this is the coldest night of the fall season so far. Mary and I are dressed in our Yankee comfort ( such as it is) and still shivering. These kids (and most were, except for an occasional parent alumni) all hyped on booze, football and whatever, in Tee shirts and halter-tops. Appearance is much more important than common sense.

WE made our way from one end of 6th to the other and eventually turned up Congress and made it to a Subway sandwich shop, and sat and enjoyed a meal as civilized human beings.

Now we could not go back to our usual retreat, so we headed past the capital and down 12th St. As cold and windy as it was I figured hovering close to a building and absorbing its heat would be best bet for the time and I knew of such a spot, well hidden.

WE made it to our place for the night, a notched out corner of a parking garage that I had utilized several times prior. We huddled together as close a possible, but it was cold, I mean "witches tit" cold, and windy, 40 + mph windy, all through the night. And yes, it felt like our asses froze. And I might guess we could have experienced the effects of hypothermia. But we made it through and early in the morning moved on to a location in under a bridge along a creek side walk, after a security vehicle at the parking garage made its rounds. Fortunately, it was on the inside and we were hidden on the out, just frozen.

Under the bridge felt warmer, and lower so the wind was not as bad. When we arrived two other men had been standing around and decided to move on. We slept here for an hour or so and was in no hurry to move on as it was Sunday morning and traffic would be slight and the area mostly disserted. Eventually we made our way back to the ARCH, a bit worn, but alive and well.