This means driving east on Highway 290, which becomes Koenig Road when it crosses I-35, then Allandale Road when it crosses Burnet Road then Ranch Road 2222 when it crosses Mopac Freeway. The 13th Floor Elevators wrote a song about this drive called "Roller Coaster" on their 1st album. Members of the band used to drive up to Mount Bonnell to smoke pot so the Austin cops wouldn't bother them and this was the way to get there. It really IS like a roller coaster; I can't imagine making the drive while stoned. I drive it at 45mph, which is the fastest I feel comfortable making the hairpin turns going up and down the hills, and people fly past me like I'm standing still. I HOPE they're not stoned.....
It also means that they won't get to stand in the very spot where Austin Police shot Charles Whitman to death on August 1, 1966, when he decided to go up to the observation deck on the University of Texas Tower and start shooting people.
"There was a rumor about a tumor, nestled at the base of his brain".
- Kinky Friedman, "The Ballad of Charles Whitman"
I don't know about a tumor, but he was obviously crazy if you look at how he was dressed:
This was August in Texas, people......105 degrees outside, and this dingbat was wearing two sets of clothing. He probably welcomed getting killed by the police. Anyway, since my husband works in the Tower, we've been up on the Deck several times and it's always rather creepy, even with the beautiful view. Here's my feet standing in that same spot:
Notice that I was smart enough to wear only one pair of pants, plus I didn't have any pot, so cops were nowhere to be seen.
Why would you want to live anywhere else?
4 comments:
You can always stop along that hellacious drive at the BBQ joint and feed the turtles.
I think when we move, we're going to move NORTH. Like to one of the Dakotas. Someplace buried in snow and cold as shit all the time.
i love that you only wore one pair of pants!!..and that you weren't smoking pot.
And you're standing there almost exactly forty years after ol' Charlie's life blood went down that drain near your feet.
I used to take ballet in that tower... LOVED it!!! All spooky and stuff!
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