After 3000 kilometers driven, this sluggish, deadly boring automatic transmission of my car annoys me. Only now do I realize how important the experience of self-efficacy and the possibilities of expression of a manual transmission are for me.

Today begins the last day of my road trip through Texas. The Austin South Park Hotel is the nicest hotel I've stayed in in Texas - but also the most expensive. It took a bit of fiddling to stow all the purchases of the last few days in my only medium-sized suitcase. Because I bought a pair of cowboy boots in Amarillo, I now have to put my heavy hiking boots in my suitcase. They take up a lot of space. Also, yesterday I bought a large cool box for my brother at outdoor mall Cabela's. This is now my new hand luggage and replaces my backpack. Now the backpack has to be stowed away in the suitcase, too. Luckily, the cooler bag is the right size for me to fit my laptop in, upright and diagonally. And my narrow file folder with my documents also fits in. It's a nice coincidence that I now inevitably carry this cool bag with me, because I'll need some travel provisions for the next few days. Today I'm going to switch from car to train again and travel more than four days to the north-west corner of the USA. That's why I bought a lot of tin cans in the supermarket. I had small water bottles stashed in the trunk of my rental car at the beginning of my road trip and there are still a lot left.

Driving past three dozen proper burger joints and Mexican restaurants in San Antonio to grab a $17 "Texan Pizza" at 46th Street New York Style Pizzeria is the worst idea I can remember having on this trip to have. What a muck!

I've had my first perfect day on Samsosir, the idyllic island in Lake Toba. After a night of almost ten hours of sleep, I woke up at a quarter to nine in the morning. I probably slept properly for the first time after this sixth night. It is certainly due to my hike I did yesterday. It's no secret to me that I only sleep well if I've moved a bit during the day.