As we were preparing for our full time RV life, we made lists of all the places and events we wanted to see.  While most of the places involved nature in some significant form, a few metropolitan areas definately made the cut, largely because they had some unique or interesting cultural aspect to them. one of those was Austin, which would be particularly great to visit since the owners of one of the RV blogs we follow, Eric and Brittany at RV Wanderlust, also run the biggest Austin social and cultural blog available, Austinot, so we would have had plenty of available online guidance.

In february, when both our budget and schedule plan fell victim to RV breakdowns and repairs, we reluctantly chose to skip Austin.  Primarily it was about the money: cool cities are a weakness, we tend to deny ourselves little, partaking of the restaurants, bars, cafes, stores, entertainment venues, etc.  New Orleans proved that, and we felt Austin would be another example.  “Skipping Austin” has become sort of code for avoiding a place in order to avoid temptation and keep our budget on track.

We “Skipped Austin” in Sedona, staying on the outskirts in a boondock site and only driving through the town in The Big Kahuna for a look see.  We “Skipped Austin” in Santa Fe, and we will do the same for San Diego for sure and likely a host of other fantastic cities in favor of national, state, and county parks in the wilderness with less monetary temptation.  So while we may slide right past Monterey, it’s not because we don’t love that town, but rather we need to save money for San Francisco and all the vinyards and associated wine tasting rooms heading north.