DAY 12
Destination: Austin, TX to Houston, TX
Date: 7.19.97 (Saturday)
Mileage: 21,342 to 21,512 (170 miles)
Bar(s): "B" Bistro
Imbibed: 2 Dos Equis
THE SMILING WOMAN YOU SEE HERE IS NAMED CATHY Plant. I hope Cathy's cool with me posting her photo here on my blog. If she's not and she angrily comes after me with a pack of lawyers I will be happy. Because it would mean Cathy is still alive.
For years after I returned from this adventure, I would literally think about some aspect of it every single day. A face. A conversation. A story. Something would inevitably pop into my head on a daily basis. And Cathy was one of those people who I'd periodically think about.
I wonder how that bartender in Houston is doing?
I met Cathy at the Houston bistro bar where I showed up for a meal and a few beers. Cathy was my smiling bartender, softening the blow from the oppressive heat I was dealing with. (Another night of mist machines, which I'd never seen until this trip.) It was surprisingly slow for a Saturday night, so she had a little time to chat.
Turns out Cathy was recovering from a bout of cancer. Breast cancer I believe it was. Her hair was just growing back from the chemo and she was remarkably upbeat and positive. Even after telling me how her boyfriend broke up with her a week after her diagnosis.
"He said he couldn't handle it," I remember Cathy telling me. "Just as well. I needed to be strong and positive. I didn't need that kind of energy around me."
I tried to find Cathy on Facebook today. All I came up with was a couple of neglected profiles with little activity and no profile photo. Plus a girl in England who most definitely isn't who we're looking for.
Hope you're alive and well out there, Cathy.
I wonder how long it would take to use the power of the internet — calling on all the social media big hitters and all my FB friends with a Texas connection — to find out if our Cathy Plant is still alive and blooming in Houston?
For years after I returned from this adventure, I would literally think about some aspect of it every single day. A face. A conversation. A story. Something would inevitably pop into my head on a daily basis. And Cathy was one of those people who I'd periodically think about.
I wonder how that bartender in Houston is doing?
I met Cathy at the Houston bistro bar where I showed up for a meal and a few beers. Cathy was my smiling bartender, softening the blow from the oppressive heat I was dealing with. (Another night of mist machines, which I'd never seen until this trip.) It was surprisingly slow for a Saturday night, so she had a little time to chat.
Turns out Cathy was recovering from a bout of cancer. Breast cancer I believe it was. Her hair was just growing back from the chemo and she was remarkably upbeat and positive. Even after telling me how her boyfriend broke up with her a week after her diagnosis.
"He said he couldn't handle it," I remember Cathy telling me. "Just as well. I needed to be strong and positive. I didn't need that kind of energy around me."
I tried to find Cathy on Facebook today. All I came up with was a couple of neglected profiles with little activity and no profile photo. Plus a girl in England who most definitely isn't who we're looking for.
Hope you're alive and well out there, Cathy.
I wonder how long it would take to use the power of the internet — calling on all the social media big hitters and all my FB friends with a Texas connection — to find out if our Cathy Plant is still alive and blooming in Houston?
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