From downtown, Longhorn dam is simply one edge of the lake, but if you stand on the dam, you see the feral river coming out the other side, shallow and fast. Why don't I go down that way? That way, the river has a mind of its own is why. Down there, the river would take me somewhere.

Im a dog person. I grew up with dogs, worked at a kennel, did some dog training, volunteered at a dog shelter. I love dogs. Dog owners, though... 

I lived vicariously from a cubicle and demanded full descriptions over dinner. Their preferred mode of adventuring, especially in that awful summer, was on water. Usually, they paddled the West end of Town Lake, past Mopac where the city abruptly changes into cliffs and jungle, but that gets boring and so one day they put in at the youth hostel on the east side.

They say she persuaded a small airline to shuttle oil barons from Houston. Today the park is Butler Park, after that Austin power couple. The lake is Ladybird Lake, her nickname at last obliterating even that of her husband.

The river was a hot mess, meandering all over the place, mined for gravel and brick clay, which, by the looks of it involved scrapping the bejesus out of the river bed…