Afternoon Run

Texas winter part 2?

Fun fact: Mt Monadnock (NH) is the second most hiked mountain IN THE WORLD

24 HOUR ADVENTURE, feat. Agustin and… Simon?!?!?

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Before I tell the story, just know that I accidentally stepped in wet cement at Lion’s park on this run, permanently leaving my mark there

Spending Valentine’s alone? Just demolish your friend’s Valentine’s date plans and fly him across the country for a 24 hour adventure. 

DISCLAIMER: she blocked him on EVERYTHING (they’d been hanging out for months)

I got Friday and Saturday off (although I’m always on call) which was cool since we work Sunday and Monday (what better way to celebrate National engineer’s week than by working 6 or 7 days straight?). I checked the surf report at the gulf and lone behold— 3-4 ft and conditions looked good. More out of curiosity than anything, I checked flights from Boston to Austin. There was one at 7 pm that hadn’t increased in price. Too good to be true. I began calling everyone I knew that was remotely near Boston, promising an all expenses paid 24 hour adventure in Texas. I’ll cover the flight, the food, the gas, I’ve got a couch to crash on, and you won’t miss a day of work. Too good to be true?

Well everyone had plans either in celebration of that day or to forget about it. That is, until I got ahold of Simon. Simon’s phone is broken so I contacted him through Andrew while they went gym. He gave me the typical Simon hemming and hawing, “oh I can’t because of this, I can’t just that, blah blah blah…” I simply out logiced him and then he said “well I can’t cancel my plans until I’m back home at 5, so I’ll call you around then.”

5:00 came around, and he called. He was on the fence, and I successfully convinced him that a once in a lifetime 24 hour adventure with one of the boys was more valuable than any girl. He said “alright I guess I’ll start to pack”. While this is happening, I’m playing around with the flights to see if I could get him one a bit later for a similar price (he takes a million years to get out the door). Well, I clicked one too far. Just as I hit “purchase” he goes “idk man, I feel bad for Lily…”. With that one minuscule movement of my index finger I both destroyed his situationship and committed to the largest gamble I’ve ever made: betting that Simon could prepare to leave the house in less than 30 minutes. “Bro, you’re going. I actually bought it you’re going now you have to”

It took him an hour to get ready. He was all excuses and trying to back out. He was concerned because without his phone he didn’t think he could navigate the airport. I’ve spent a lot of time in airports so I explained and even typed up exactly what he had to do and where to go and what it would look like. He goes outside and says “my car won’t start. It’s over”. I responded with “try it AGAIN”. It started. By the time Simon left, he’d have 30 minutes to figure out parking, get his boarding pass, get through security, and find his terminal, all assuming he doesn’t miss an exit on his way there, or he’d miss his flight.

He had no way to contact me until he could get his laptop on WiFi. Silence.


The mad lad actually did it.

His flight kept getting delayed so I had to stay awake. At 2:30 I called my coworker who was interested in coming. He was half asleep. I convinced him to wake up and head to the airport with me. We picked Simon up at 4 am. I continued driving all the way down to Aransas Pass while the two of them slept. 

When we arrived at Aransas Pass it was incredibly foggy. You could barely make out the silhouettes of palm trees nearby. Think Silent Hill. I pulled into Walmart so the two of them could buy swim trunks. Simon stepped out of the car in his trench coat with a black knit hat, dazed and confused, and said “where are we? What time is it?” He literally had no idea.

Port Aransas is actually a sand bar island only accessible by ferry. It was pretty cool and very beautiful in the early hours of the morning. We went to this old school diner for breakfast, which seemed like the move since none of us had really slept. It was pretty good. Shortly after we went to the surf shop, got our rentals, and with them sticking out the open trunk we made our way down to the water.

The Gulf of America 🇺🇸 🦅🗣️ was truly beautiful in that early morning fog. I’ll have to visit again next time it’s the Gulf of Mexico so I can say I’ve been to both. The waves got bigger throughout the day, but they also got choppier. We rented longboards but no wetsuits because they don’t even carry them down there. The water was in the mid 60’s, which is warmer (or as warm) as it ever gets in New England. I thought it was the warmest I’ve felt the ocean to be honest. People were looking at us like we were insane as they shuffled past in their winter gear. It was 70 degrees out. Once the fog lifted it became sunny too. What was really cool was the pass for the big cargo ships was nearby and there were tons of them waiting their turn. They were absolutely massive, and got fairly close once they came in. You actually just drive on the beach down there which was cool. The whipping wind had a constant stream of sand blowing which formed a dune behind my car. It also filled every square inch of that rental car with sand. It was impressive. 

After surfing for hours, taking a beach car nap, and checking out the boardwalk, digging ourselves out (of the sand in the car), and returning the rentals, we made our way to Austin. I hadn’t really slept since noon the day before so I drove for an hour or so and had Agustin drive the rest of the way

When we got to Austin, we had two missions: one was to bring Simon to experience a Texas steakhouse. The other was to meet up with his friend. Since Simon didn’t have a phone he had communicated with her through his laptop. His laptop died. We scavenged the parking garage for an outlet and attempted to meetup with the girl, but then Simon decided “eh, I’ll just meet her in Montreal this summer. Fuck this”. For the second time on Valenweekend, Simon stood up a girl.

Every steakhouse required reservations so we were trying every one. One had a weird secret entrance and in leaving that we stumbled upon this underground jazz club? It was really cool but we didn’t have tickets so they kicked us out after a minute. The band had a female singer and a bass player in the spotlight, but the song was just starting. The place was fancy, and so was the dress code— it felt like we stepped 100 years into the past. Anyway the steak hunt continued. One of those epic bars that you pedal around the city went by and they were living it up. I wondered if they’d let me on if I started breakdancing. Eventually we found a very nice establishment and spent 2 hours there. They gave us roses at the end for Valentine’s Day. I proposed that instead of throwing them out, we could give them away while we were on 6th st and make someone’s night (who doesn’t like roses?). Off to 6th we went.

We went to a few different places with live music on 6th st. Some funny bits happened but I’m sick of typing so they’ll live in our memories. After this we went back to the hotel because my coworker was working 1st shift Sunday (I’m on 2nd). 

Anyway at hour 22 of the 24 hour adventure, we snoozed (mistake!!!) and left for our hour drive to the airport at hour 25.5 of the 24 hour adventure with an ETA of when Simon was supposed to board the plane. I shaved 15 minutes off the drive driving like a maniac. Will he return? …it’s in God’s hands now

Update: not only did he make it but he was back in time to get a good night’s rest before work Monday

Update 2: he also managed to smooth it over with the girl (bros before… you know how the saying goes). It’s a situationship anyway so if I’d destroyed the relationship he refused to acknowledge as one, I’d be doing them both a favor

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Eric Nowak

24 HOUR ADVENTURE, feat. Agustin and… Simon?!?!?

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Afternoon Run

Texas winter part 2?

Fun fact: Mt Monadnock (NH) is the second most hiked mountain IN THE WORLD

24 HOUR ADVENTURE, feat. Agustin and… Simon?!?!?

Sales pitch

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