7
What could I say r
“No, Mr. Editor, I won’t go to
Austin on an expense-paid
story assignment to ferret out
the hot spots and generally
party down and get loose so
that I can write some story for
At Ease about what a blast it
was so all the Aggies who go to
Austin for the t.u game will
know where they can go to kill a
few extra brain cells after the
game.”
What would you say?
“Sorry, I’ve got to study?”
It sounded too good to be
true. Turns out it was too good
to be true. This was supposed
to be a serious journalism jaunt
and any partying cash would
have to come out of the
offending journalists’ pockets.
Oh, what the hell, it still
sounded like a pretty good
assignment. But time was
limited. There was only one
thing this trip could be. It would
have to be a lightning thrust at
the partying heart of Austin —
Sixth Street — with a short visit
Road tripping to
Austin
Story by Tony Cornett
Photos by John Makely
to “the drag” (Guadalupe
Street) another Austin cultural
center.
Could John and I, two agents
of adventure, carry off this
assignment with the dignity and
integrity that our personal codes
of good journalism demanded?
We doubted it.
As with any halfway
organized road trip, there are
some basic questions that have
to be answered before setting
out.
Who’s driving? Where’s
headquarters when we get
there? Are we really going to be
paid for this? How soon can we
eave r Is there any way we
work this deal so that we can
skip some classes?
But as journalists on
assignment, there are a few
more questions that have to be
answered.
Are the batteries for the flash
and the recorder charged? Is
there plenty of the right kind of
film? Pens? Notepad? Hipflask?
Five minutes later and this trip
was planned.
The unlooked-for boon was
that John knew some Austin
“party guides” who could dired
us to some of the hotter spots.
After that, we needed only to
check our wallets for flowing
cash — the final crucial
ingredient.
Saturday afternoon at 2:30
John and I tried to leave town:
We almost never got out of the
city limits. We only had to go
back to his house once for junk
we’d forgotten. Then there was
one stop at McDonald’s for
java, another stop for gas and a
final stop for batteries for the
If long lines mean anything, Hall’s is definitely one of the places to hang out in Austin.