Hope Outdoor Gallery/ Castle Hill Grafitti Park

While in Austin, we went on Saturday afternoon to the Hope Outdoor Gallery aka Castle Hill Graffiti Park.  Now I didn't know much about it then....  At the corner of 11th and Baylor, just off North Lamar.

As with the Treaty Oak in Austin, this place is a block off of a main street but you might miss it.  The neighborhood streets are called Castle Hill and it is a large hillside.  At one point, there was construction but for permitting reasons, it was halted.  Someone took action thereafter to make this area somewhat usable.

The concrete beams are exposed in a modular fashion. The levels are filled in with dirt so you can walk and climb on it.  In the modular areas, grafitti artists ply their trade.  I talked with one, Atomos, who said that what he had done would be painted over in a day or two.  He also said he was a registered artist there.

Not only was it a visual piece of art, but also it had physical aspect of walking through, climbing up and over.  It was a lot of fun.  For a beautiful day, there were many people there, all taking pictures and having fun.  All at no cost.


Very unique - definitely worth a trip.

New tire

Last Sunday as I was driving to go bike riding in Mission, I crossed the RR tracks at Business 83 and... the tire light came on.  When I pulled over to check, you could hear the air hissing out.  Fortunately they were run-flats.  I called John H to let him know the delay.  He suggested I drive the half-mile to his office and he would meet me in 5 minutes.

5 minutes later we were loading the bike into his truck.  Like in the military, the mission was paramount.  The car could stay there.  I was able to drive it home later.

When I went to Discount Tire the next morning, the first thing they asked for was the key for the wheel locks.  Whatchoo talkin' 'bout Willis?  Never heard or seen such a thing.  So the music stopped there.

I then drove to Bert Ogden BMW where my service advisor David and my personal mechanic Andrew removed the locked wheels, replaced the exact tire and got me a new set of locks and key for no key charge.  So that was last Monday morning.

Git R Done!