Sunday, April 02, 2006
IBTT2k6: The Iowa Boy Texas Trek 2006
A little history: A group of guys from Iowa have been taking an annual spring break trip to Austin, TX for more than 10 years. I've been on the trip 6 times in the last 8 years. The itinerary always includes but two solid activities: disc golf and drinking Shiner Bock. Austin is home to some of the best golf you will find in the country. We have some over-planning, organized m-f'ers in the group and it showed this year. We used to make the trip by car, but 15 hours of straight driving no longer holds the appeal it once did.
The planning for this year's trip began in October 2005 (that's 6 months prior to the actual event). It's kind of like how Christmas season starts earlier and earlier every year. But, as I said, the planning paid off. We usually don't have a "theme" for our trips, but this year it was suggested that we try to hit some really good BBQ joints since we would be within the confluence of about 3 different approaches to preparing BBQ.
The Trip-
Wednesday, March 22: Clue, Neif and K (that's me) packed up the car and headed to KC around 3:00pm. We originally planned on hitting KC a bit early to play a round or two at WaterWorks Park. However, we were treated to about a 6-inch snowfall the week prior and were still dealing with cold temps, so we decided to forego the golf in KC. Once in KC, the plan was to find the Chartroose Caboose restaurant to partake in some cheesesteak goodness. Unfortunately, the CC that I had looked up on the internet was not where I thought it was. Neif had mentioned another place by the interstate that he always wanted to hit. So, we hit the All-you-can-eat shrimp special at the Jumpin' Catfish. After a 12-er of Fat Tire was obtained, we hit the Best Western by the airport where we were joined by Bej, who drove down from Nebraska.
Thursday, March 23: The 4 of us awoke early to make the 1 mile drive to the satellite parking lot at KCI airport. The first Shiner was cracked at roughly 6:30am and we partook of our traditional "First Shiner" ceremony in the shelter as we waited for the shuttle to the terminal. Check-in was uneventful and we began our aerial journey to DFW to meet up with G, who was flying in from Charlotte, NC. Through some sweet wrangling, we were able to get all 5 of us in the same row on the same plane from DFW to AUS. Unfortunately, the worst trainwreck of the trip ocurred as G's plane was delayed on the tarmac waiting for a plane to clear out from their gate. About 20-30 minutes were burned until they finally found a gate for them. The rest of us were waiting in the Cowtown Bar
right across from our gate as this unfolded. We waited as long as we could while G sprinted from his gate to ours, but he missed us by minutes. Turns out, he could have made it if we had known to talk to the flight attendants on the plane instead of the gate wench. As it turned out, G got a flight about an hour later and the rest of us acquired the rental van and found cheap Shiner at the C-store at the airport exit. Once we had all that, we only had 15-20 minutes to wait until G arrived and we picked him up at the terminal. Then Clue dropped his cell phone loading up G's gear. Luckily, we discovered it was gone as we pulled out of the airport. A quick call to the cell got us hooked up with the guy who had just found it and we mad arrangements to pick it up at the terminal. Elapsed time was about 5 mintes from loss to retrieval. Solid.
First stop was lunch at Sam's BBQ in a suspect part of east Austin.
This is an African American joint which serves up "wet" BBQ, meaning meat with sauce. We all went with combo plates that featured your choice of sausage, brisket, pork ribs and mutton. I went for the sausage and mutton. Good stuff, but probably not the most cleanliness in food prep.
Next stop, Pease Park and 2 rounds of golf. Special Guest: John Houck, who was gracious enough to play some holes with us.
Dinner was to be eaten at the House Park BBQ south of Pease. Unfortunately, it's only open for lunch, so we headed to Barton Springs Rd. and the Green Mesquite. It's not really strictly a BBQ joint, the 'Q was passable. The jambalaya was awesome, however.
Friday, March 24: Circle R Disc Golf Ranch - 2 rounds on Rolling Meadow course and 1 round on Circ Hill course. Abundant sunshine and light wind. Unbelievably great time.
Saturday, March 25:
Searight- a longtime favorite course with lots of ace-runs and some improvements to the course. Nice. Lunch was at Kreuz (pronounced- 'krites') Market in Lockhart. Probably the best german-style BBQ in the world. This is a dry-style of BBQ. There is no sauce to be found in this place. Just awesome meat that is available in pork ribs, beef brisket, beef shoulder clod (lean), sausage (regular or jalapeno). The jalapeno sausage is damn good. Kyle, TX has a new course that we decided to try on our way back to Austin. The locals are pretty excited about it, but we were a bit disappointed. Granted, it's new and not really broken in yet, but the flow of the course could be better and holes not quite so close to one another. I'll reserve final judgement intil it's better established. But, we probably won't be back. The annual visit to Chuy's did not disappoint. The Elvis Presley Memorial Combo was kickin'. 
Sunday, March 26: Circle C- This course used to be a trainwreck until a new bike path forced its redesign. I love it now. Lots of real golf shots in the cedars. Punishment for being off-line. We played it in doubles, but I'd love to play it in singles.
Another couple rounds at Circle R Meadow finished out the trip. No trip would be complete without a visit to the Taco Cabana for cheap mexican food.
Monday, March 27: Depart Austin. Tom Kite was on the plane. Grabbed another 12-er of Fat Tire for home. Tired, but not like 15-hours-on-the-road tired.
The planning for this year's trip began in October 2005 (that's 6 months prior to the actual event). It's kind of like how Christmas season starts earlier and earlier every year. But, as I said, the planning paid off. We usually don't have a "theme" for our trips, but this year it was suggested that we try to hit some really good BBQ joints since we would be within the confluence of about 3 different approaches to preparing BBQ.
The Trip-
Wednesday, March 22: Clue, Neif and K (that's me) packed up the car and headed to KC around 3:00pm. We originally planned on hitting KC a bit early to play a round or two at WaterWorks Park. However, we were treated to about a 6-inch snowfall the week prior and were still dealing with cold temps, so we decided to forego the golf in KC. Once in KC, the plan was to find the Chartroose Caboose restaurant to partake in some cheesesteak goodness. Unfortunately, the CC that I had looked up on the internet was not where I thought it was. Neif had mentioned another place by the interstate that he always wanted to hit. So, we hit the All-you-can-eat shrimp special at the Jumpin' Catfish. After a 12-er of Fat Tire was obtained, we hit the Best Western by the airport where we were joined by Bej, who drove down from Nebraska.
Thursday, March 23: The 4 of us awoke early to make the 1 mile drive to the satellite parking lot at KCI airport. The first Shiner was cracked at roughly 6:30am and we partook of our traditional "First Shiner" ceremony in the shelter as we waited for the shuttle to the terminal. Check-in was uneventful and we began our aerial journey to DFW to meet up with G, who was flying in from Charlotte, NC. Through some sweet wrangling, we were able to get all 5 of us in the same row on the same plane from DFW to AUS. Unfortunately, the worst trainwreck of the trip ocurred as G's plane was delayed on the tarmac waiting for a plane to clear out from their gate. About 20-30 minutes were burned until they finally found a gate for them. The rest of us were waiting in the Cowtown Bar
right across from our gate as this unfolded. We waited as long as we could while G sprinted from his gate to ours, but he missed us by minutes. Turns out, he could have made it if we had known to talk to the flight attendants on the plane instead of the gate wench. As it turned out, G got a flight about an hour later and the rest of us acquired the rental van and found cheap Shiner at the C-store at the airport exit. Once we had all that, we only had 15-20 minutes to wait until G arrived and we picked him up at the terminal. Then Clue dropped his cell phone loading up G's gear. Luckily, we discovered it was gone as we pulled out of the airport. A quick call to the cell got us hooked up with the guy who had just found it and we mad arrangements to pick it up at the terminal. Elapsed time was about 5 mintes from loss to retrieval. Solid.First stop was lunch at Sam's BBQ in a suspect part of east Austin.
This is an African American joint which serves up "wet" BBQ, meaning meat with sauce. We all went with combo plates that featured your choice of sausage, brisket, pork ribs and mutton. I went for the sausage and mutton. Good stuff, but probably not the most cleanliness in food prep.Next stop, Pease Park and 2 rounds of golf. Special Guest: John Houck, who was gracious enough to play some holes with us.
Dinner was to be eaten at the House Park BBQ south of Pease. Unfortunately, it's only open for lunch, so we headed to Barton Springs Rd. and the Green Mesquite. It's not really strictly a BBQ joint, the 'Q was passable. The jambalaya was awesome, however.
Friday, March 24: Circle R Disc Golf Ranch - 2 rounds on Rolling Meadow course and 1 round on Circ Hill course. Abundant sunshine and light wind. Unbelievably great time.
Saturday, March 25:
Searight- a longtime favorite course with lots of ace-runs and some improvements to the course. Nice. Lunch was at Kreuz (pronounced- 'krites') Market in Lockhart. Probably the best german-style BBQ in the world. This is a dry-style of BBQ. There is no sauce to be found in this place. Just awesome meat that is available in pork ribs, beef brisket, beef shoulder clod (lean), sausage (regular or jalapeno). The jalapeno sausage is damn good. Kyle, TX has a new course that we decided to try on our way back to Austin. The locals are pretty excited about it, but we were a bit disappointed. Granted, it's new and not really broken in yet, but the flow of the course could be better and holes not quite so close to one another. I'll reserve final judgement intil it's better established. But, we probably won't be back. The annual visit to Chuy's did not disappoint. The Elvis Presley Memorial Combo was kickin'. 
Sunday, March 26: Circle C- This course used to be a trainwreck until a new bike path forced its redesign. I love it now. Lots of real golf shots in the cedars. Punishment for being off-line. We played it in doubles, but I'd love to play it in singles.
Another couple rounds at Circle R Meadow finished out the trip. No trip would be complete without a visit to the Taco Cabana for cheap mexican food.Monday, March 27: Depart Austin. Tom Kite was on the plane. Grabbed another 12-er of Fat Tire for home. Tired, but not like 15-hours-on-the-road tired.
