Round Rock

We live in Round Rock, Texas. Situated just north of Austin along picturesque Interstate-35, this was a small dusty town until Michael Dell set up shop. Now, Round Rock is a bustling micropolis featuring world-class culture and dining opportunities like Chilis, Applebees, and TGI Fridays.

Quick aside: Ever notice that better restaurants have singular names, while lesser offerings have plural names?

We live in an area called Brushy Creek. It is a MUD. This is an unappealing sounding acronym for Municipal Utility District. Basically a MUD collects taxes and provides water, parks, police, and fire service for communities that are not within a true city limit. The main impact of this is that I receive expired registration sticker tickets from county sheriffs, not standard police officers.

Brushy Creek is a winding, shallow, high-volume mosquito factory that meanders through the area. This creek is brushy due to a large amount fiendish hell-pollen producing Mountain Cedar trees. I theorize that the cedar tree is a bio-terror weapon created in Claritin, Allegra, and Zyrtec corporate laboratories.

Back in the 1800's, travelers heading south through central Texas would run into Brushy Creek. One popular place to ford the creek was marked by a nearby landmark: a flat, round rock about 8 feet in diameter. It says something about our town that its most distinctive landmark is a small chunk of limestone in a shallow creek bed. That's just how we roll in Round Rock.