I guess “asleep at the wheel” isn’t funny when discussing cycling and the roads. I seem to have been so busy lately a number of events have passed me by though.

Barton Springs Rd Bike Lanes
One major one is the start of the construction of the new bike lanes on Barton Springs Road, that will run up and under Loop-1 aka Mopac(by the way, why are they called loops when they clearly don’t?) and through Zilker Park.

Work started on June 30th and will progress east to west with rolling road closures, the project is supposed to complete in time for folks to cycle safely to the trail of lights. There will also be walkways set back from the road for pedestrians.

Lance Armstrong bikeway
Also, its worth noting the first part of the Lance Armstrong bikeway between Lamar Blvd and Veterans Blvd is now open. Theres still a gap at the bridge before Mopac and Shoal Creek isnt connected up yet, but this is all goodness and the various folks involved should be congratulated. More details on each of these can be found on the city’s website bicycle section. http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/bicycle/

Michael Argall
Finally I’d like to take a moment to remember Travis County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Argall. Michael was killed Sunday while out cycling. I never met Micahel, but he sounds like a great guy. The policelink website has an in-depth retrospective and I know he was a coach here in town for Rogue running, and lots of people will be deeply saddened both by his passing and the nature of it, not least his family.

Paula Craig was a promising age group triathlete in my club, training for the triathlon world championships in 2001, that I’d also qualified for. Just like Michael, Paula was a Police officer with a promising future. Paula was also struck from behind by a car driver who was “blinded by the sun”. Unlike Michael, Paula survived and although paralyzed from the waist down, went on to become a national role model for wheel chair athletes.

Next time the sun is directly in your eyes while driving, or worse still, you are overcome by sudden tiredness please take care, its not just you out there. Slow down, take the appropriate action, carefully watching out for ALL other road users.

I’d like to extend the sympathy’s of myself and the other Austin metroblog writers to the family of Michael Argall. He is mourned and will be missed by people who never met him, a great tribute for a great guy.

The city remains concerned about people ignoring, moving, climbing over and in other ways avoiding the barriers put up on the South 1st bridge over Town Lake. This is especially true at the North End, where the work is being done on Caezar Chavez and a new ramp from the bridge down to the trail is being built. The April 4th project managers report spells this out, and it’s mentioned in others. The reports are here.

The city hopes that the problem will ease with the opening of the trail again between Shoal Creek and Congress on the north side. However, my bet is the problem will continue. The problem is many people like the shorts loops between South 1st and Lamar footbridge, it’s a social distance for a walk, and it’s a good fast-run distance for beginners and there’s no access to the trail from the north east side. Either way what that means is there is no way to do loops without crossing the street, unless you step-it-up and go Lamar to Mopac.

While the works continue, I’ve seen some folks doing incredibly stupid things. Thursday last week I saw a guy running in the traffic lane on the west side of the bridge around 6.45pm, that was mad enough, but he was wearing a headset - No idea if cars were coming right behind him, and angering drivers who had to pull out. Then there are the bemused ones, having found themselves on the road at the north west corner of the bridge, then can’t work out what to do next. Like a Dear caught in headlights they make a last minute decision and run for it.

I spoke to the city project major Rick Colbrunn, he says it will be another 4-6 weeks before the new ramp with access to the trail is ready. Be careful out there…

[Update 12th June] Given the work was supposed to be finished at the end of May, then June 10th, I spoke to Rick today and asked “hows it going?” - Rick said they are having problems “sourcing material” for the retaining walls, and the project probably won’t be complete until the end of July 2008.

Lighten your heart and brighten the darkness this evening, at the twelfth annual luminarias trail of lights in Big Stacy Park. This is a wonderful family-scale alternative to the big trail of lights, with homemade music and neighborly conviviality just part of the pleasure. All that’s asked in return is that carolers bring an article of non-perishable food to donate. The Girl Scouts will see that it reaches the Capital Area Food Bank. There will be illuminated trails to walk and spirited singing back at the bonfire, and refreshments of hot chocolate and apple cider are promised. It all begins at around 6:30 (or dusk) this evening and will continue until 9 o’clock. The official address for Big Stacy Park is 700 East Side Drive. Begin near Travis Heights Elementary School on East Side Drive between Live Oak and Woodland, a little east from South Congress (see map one or map two). The goal is happy hearts and 650 pounds of donated food. Only a downpour will cause cancellation.

It’s such a small-town thing, to notice when Austin’s mentioned in a national context. People in New York don’t notice and don’t care about such things; neither do people in Chicago. Even in older cities sinking in the population rankings while Houston and Las Vegas rise, nobody cares (think Boston, Baltimore, and so on). But we stll notice, and we care at least a little. Here’s one I don’t understand at all: Newsweek has a “Checklist” feature in each issue and in this one the nation is told to “Go To Austin for the annnual Trail of Lights festival.”

I confess that it’s been a long time since I’ve paid attention to the trail of lights. As someone with an interest in hand-constructed and -painted displays I always did enjoy it. The older displays, as I recall, were pretty much made up during the course of the year as time permitted by the people who worked in the parks department sign shop. They were fun to see in the daylight for their folk-art qualities, and at night they were illuminated by low spotlights and embellished with colored Christmas-tree lights. It all started as Yule fest and then eventually went on to Greater Things, under another name.

These days, it’s all a Big Deal, with restricted access, a lot of corporate sponsorship, and much, much more “sophistication.” A bit of the old style can be seen in this display, where one of the figures brandishes a partly consumed turkey leg. The ‘dillo tableau is one of the earlier examples of more elaborate ones that I remember. What I’d really like to know is how the trail of lights made its way onto a Newsweek list and from how great a distance people will travel to Austin on that recommendation.

MSW wasn’t the only one at Trail of Lights last night. On a whim, I decided to try capturing the Austin holiday tradition of spinning under the Zilker Tree. I was pleasantly surprised at the results.

I took my fiance and a couple of our friends and their daughter to see the Trail of Lights last night, and we had a blast. I’ve seen the trail before, but the rest of my companions hadn’t, and our friends were particularly skeptical about the tree because they’d seen a lackluster report about the tree on a local news show. They were won over by the holiday spirit and the twinkly and festive lights. The crowds were thick, but the weather was perfectly cool, and we didn’t mind our leisurely stroll. Our token child, our friends’ one-year-old daughter, was more interested in people watching than admiring the lights, so the crowds were a great thing for her. We even managed to take a few photos, like this one of the entrance.

We entered the trail towards the end because we parked near Lake Austin Boulevard and walked along the Town Lake trail to get there. We found our way in at the Zilker Zephyr station and admired a few displays before taking a break at the Trails End Cafe for hot cocoa and coffee (and so I could take a look at the fire pit). We merged back into the flow of people to walk through the finale display and then up the hill to the tree. I insisted that we needed to see the tree from underneath, and no one was disappointed. I even convinced one of our friends to spin a little, but I think it made her dizzy. We then continued on, towards the official entrance to the trail, which I described as standing-still fireworks. The entrance and the exit are definitely my favorite displays. Make some time to see the trail this year. You won’t be disappointed!

Went last night to the Pete Yorn/Dixie Chicks concert at the Erwin Center and was completely blown away- while the Chicks may have had to cancel Texas shows outside of Austin but they received multiple standing ovations and came back for an encore. Of course the Chicks have Austin ties- four of their children were born here, they shot a very famous photo here at Austin Studios, etc. I went with Leah and Brandon, and since we’re all from east Texas/northwest Louisiana, so all the songs are about us. We came out in full force, bumpkins dressed in cosmopolitan clothing, as if we didn’t have a coutry bone in our body. Meanwhile the people next to us looked like they were at the symphony or something. Whatever. Highlights from the setlist included a rollicking “Sin Wagon”, a stunningly lush “Top of the World” and a wry, energetic “Goodbye Earl”- in between songs Natalie treated us to her thoughts on Britney and K-Fed and amusing quips about where the songs came from and what they meant. We were sitting in a top section but it felt like we were just hanging out in their living room.

They showed a trailer for their documentary Shut Up and Sing, and to think about what they’ve gone through for the things they’ve said and yet they’re still touring and singing…they’re so inspirational. Even my dad, who bought me Wide Open Spaces, sighed with disapproval when he found out I was going to the show. The times have changed for the Chicks, but they’ve weathered the political storms and fickle fans to grow as musicians and stand by their message. The Dixie Chicks are heroes. They put on a great and moving concert, and they rocked my face off.

The city holiday festivities kick into high gear this week. I missed the Chuy’s parade on Saturday: too many out-of-town guests to get everyone motivated. Maybe next year.

The annual KUT Holiday Sing-along with John Aielli and Capitol Tree Lighting is this coming Saturday at 6pm at the Capitol. Businesses up and down Congress Avenue are typically open with some special activites, follow the link for more info.

The Zilker Tree Lighting is this Sunday, Dec. 3rd, also at 6pm. The Trail of Lights will open the following Sunday, December 10th at 7pm and remain open until December 23rd. It’s open 7-10pm nightly.

Several of the city’s libraries are hosting holiday festivities, you can get a complete list here.

Lastly, if you’re planning on doing your holiday shopping at The Cadeau, you’d better get over there. They’re closing after 54 years. No raised rents or large corporations involved, owner Jeanette Nassour is closing both the location on North Lamar and location on The Drag in the wake of her husband and business partner’s death in August of this year. Another symbol of the Austin that existed when I moved here in 1989 slips away into the mists of time. They did quite well over the years, gradually expanding into neighboring storefronts as those around them vacated the space. I’m assuming it’ll be chopped up into multiple stores? Any word on what’s replacing it?

Photo by Patita Pirata

Even though I couldn’t quite call myself a ’struggling musician” or a “starving artist”, I still consider myself a “dirt broke workin’ girl.” Given that self-classification, I’m always on the hunt for good cheap entertainment. I can only afford the $12 tickets to the Alamo so often, and paying extreme cover charges to see live music puts quite a dent in my budget spreadsheet (which isn’t really a spreadsheet at all…its more of a running tab I keep in the corner of my brain).

Hence the reason I found myself, along with 3 other tight-for-cash friends, suiting up in heavy LED-ridden gear that smelled like the sticky fingers of greasy children. Lazer Tag. Or, more appropriately: BLAZER TAG!

Since Thursday night is 2-for-1 night for students, we all rifled through our respective junk drawers and old purses to find our more-than-expired student ids. After a quick pit stop at Dans Hamburgers (which, by the way, was of mediocre quality…but the quality of people watching more than compensated for any lack of burger wonder), we fought over 4 lanes of traffic to end up at Blazer Tag- an asymmetrical grey building with an ominously vacant parking lot on the south side of 290.
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It seems just like yesterday when I was walking down the sidewalk of my hometown dodging kids on bikes, American flags hanging from store fronts and plugging my ears from the sound of old farm tractors roaring through the blinking red light that was the center of town.
Now as I walk down the streets of my new city I’m hustled for change, sidestepping people in business suits talking into their phone with their head down, jaywalking and tripping over uneven sidewalks.
My beloved restaurant, Barney’s Kitchen, has been replaced with a Mexican food place with a name I couldn’t even begin to pronounce. My Dairy Queen has been replaced with Ben and Jerry’s and Papazonno’s Pizza has turned into a $30 Mangia pizza.
The internet is now wireless and
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