Not South Padre, but it’s the right vibe.
Thursday
Tonight was a late start. I was hoping to see the closeout couple from the night before, to keep those good vibes going. They didn’t show up, but a golden turtle1(A’Tuin) and his crew came up to the line, wanting to take a ride.
It was a close ride and I wasn’t the first up, so I was just along for the ride myself. A’Tuin wanted his own cab and wanted the bright lights, so the local who used to ride back before motors got his own cab as well, and I got Matt and Cindy from South Padre. Matt and Cindy had a great vibe about them and invited me to hang in South Padre, but not in the just being polite way. You could tell Matt wasn’t fucking about, if he tells you he’s going to hook you up, he will.
After we dropped them off they wanted to get picked up, and since A’Tuin worked service and knew how to take care of people they got two of are numbers and we agreed to come back for them.
Once I got the “Please come” text I knew what to do, I rounded up bright light social cab and we headed over, (they didn’t mention if they wanted three cabs again, so we figured 2 of us could easily handle the 4).
He mentioned getting a text that said 20minutes, which ended up being the more accurate timeline, but when the people take care of you, a little wait is worth the time.
While we were waiting a random guy struck up a conversation with us and asked for strip club recommendations. Not being places I frequent, I let him know of a few I had heard of from other fares in the past. He was interested in heading to Red Rose, but he wasn’t interested in the pedicab. He was trying to save his money for the destination not the journey. I hadn’t heard of Red Rose, but for the old school Austin folks, it took the place of Exposé. I started to jam my knew bicycle playlist and put on this Norteño2 song I like, and random guy forgot what state he was in, and made the snide remark, “Your not going to get the good fares with that music. You should play some Indian music.” I acknowledged his not so subtle racism by pointing it out, and another cab mentioned if he wanted to ride he could have a say in the music. I did however give him a taste of a South Asian bike song, because it is a fun song.3 As if on cue, not even a minute into the song are crew walks out the door.
It was a fun ride to Cesar Chavez, and they got a couple more nights in town, but they’re also ready to get back to the beach, and I don’t blame them. It’s been too long since I’ve made down to South Padre Island and now I got a few friends to go visit, next time I go!
- Golden turtle – I didn’t catch is name, but a golden turtle hung around his neck and he was taking care of all of us, so maybe I’ll call him A’Tuin for now. (A’Tuin is from Terry Pratchett ) ↩︎
- La Bicicleta – Enigma Norteño ↩︎
- I have no idea if it has to do with a pedal bike, I don’t speak Telugu but it is a fun tune with bike in the title. Pulsar Bike – Dhamaka – Bheems Ceciroleo ↩︎