Two days of riding, one right after the other – it’s that juxtaposition of a great day next to a not-so-great day that makes them appear grandly different although we are seeing subtle changes.
The rolling hills aren’t as meaty; they are softening. Instead of the 3-8% climbs, today’s were seldom more than 5%. Things are greening up and budding out as we ride east. We are seeing homes built on blocks and even changes in roadkill with very few deer and feral hogs and now more turtles. 😟 We even passed our first bayou today and experiencing our first mosquitoes tonight.
The route took us through the Sam Houston National Forest most of the day through towns with services (food, etc) spaced about every 20 miles which makes for well timed opportunities to take breaks.
We got to the campsite in Sam Houston National Forest fairly early and had time for a game Gin. The score is now tied at four games each.
Texas, it’s been a beautiful time and we are going to miss you but we are slowly leaving you behind.
What a peaceful way to start a morning… packing up the tent just outside the Community Center at the Colorado River Landing RV Park after having enjoyed fresh brewed coffee. It was a little overcast, birds were chirping, red bud trees are blooming. Then we hit the road with the fracking trucks. Ouch!
They are big, loud, intimidating and no matter where you stand on the issue of fracking, you probably don’t want to be riding a bicycle on a two lane country road with fracking trucks.
It was mentally and physically challenging as we rode with and gave way to the truckers by pulling off the road to give them room. Throw in a head wind, small shoulders and rough roads and it’s exhausting, maybe even a little aggravating. However it only lasted 25 miles. 😊
Our ride led us through small towns offering antiques, community churches and up and over so many PUDS (pointless/pretty ups and downs) we thought we’d returned to Hill Country. 😂
Once in Navasota, we came to the end of our fourth Southern Tier Map (yes we are still in Texas) and were trying to locate the local fire station where free primitive camping is available to cyclists. After loading the new map we realized we bypassed the station by almost two miles.
Instead of turning around we pushed on and checked in to a motel for hot showers and dinner at a steak house right next door.
Grateful for this journey everyday, even the tough ones. 🥰 Thanks so much for coming along!
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After saying our goodbyes in Bastrop we set our sites on the Texas town of La Grange. It was just a short 50 miles and we were looking forward to cycling through two state parks today: Bastrop State Park and Burscher State Park. They did not disappoint.
And they threw in some “short and steep” (not short and sweet) righteous hills to keep things spicy.
We started peddling in shorts and short sleeves today. Now when we take drink breaks we choose cold drinks instead of warm ones in stores and we seek shade instead of sun when we take rests. I think we have finally escaped the cold! Only took 34 days! 😂
And I even saw a new wildflower blooming!
Tonight we threw up our new tent in an RV park on the outskirts of La Grange. It’s a super nice place with an awesome shower. Ok not like Haley and Christian’s home or the Marriott Element in Austin but nice. After showers we walked two blocks into town and found Mexican for dinner. Yum! By the way here’s the size of my towel. Have to keep items to a minimum size while bike touring.
New tent, old poles. It works and we like it! And a campsite for $15 with all the essentials, wifi, shower, flusher and electricity. 👊🏻
Click on the image below to view more pics and vids. There was only one song to use for today’s video. ❤️🤍💙
Short ride today. Not because we weren’t feeling it or the wind was blowing (well it was, but not in our face all day) 😂 but instead we were headed to Haley and Christian’s home.
We met them back in Marathon, Texas at a coffee shop. They were in town with Haley’s extended family celebrating a birthday and planned to go down to Big Bend for a day of big hiking. Everything in Texas is BIG! ❤️🤍💙 That morning we dashed into town for a big cup of hot coffee.
We got to talking about bike touring and were fascinated to hear about Christian’s dad cycling across Australia some years ago. And no that’s not going to be our next trip. It sounded grueling.
Haley came out to see our bike set up, ask a few questions and said if we’d be anywhere close to their home in Bastrop they’d like to host us for a night.
I gave her a travel card and said our goodbyes. A few days later she emailed me and we figured out our route went right past their driveway. I kid you not. It was meant to be.
As we were peddling up their driveway today Haley came walking down with their littles in tow and all smiles. What a welcome reunion!
Their family lives on 22 acres outside of Bastrop. So peaceful and just lovely in every way.
Instead of Tom and I being on the cooking side of the kitchen counter, Haley and Christian prepared the tastiest meal (and plenty for second helpings) while wrangling little James and Charlie. It just felt like home as they opened theirs up to us and loved us BIG.
Conversation and a meal with a loving, faith filled family and hearing about their lives, their future while sharing about ours was one of the most soul satisfying evenings of this trip.
We have only a few days left in Texas and our visit with this sweet family is a heartfelt way to say good bye to a state we’ll miss.
And oh… guess who we met.
This is Bevo, their neighbor David’s longhorn that he received as a birthday present from his wife. I just think that is so cool!
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Some days play out as planned and others not so much. Today threw a couple surprises at us beginning with when Tom opened the tent and the zipper broke. Our Big Agnes tent has travelled with us thousands of miles and it’s old. Broken beyond a field repair and unwilling to sleep inside every night for the rest of the ride, we bought a new tent.
Lucky for us we cruised into Austin today where there is an REI store. Unlucky for us they didn’t have the bikepacking tent model (with shorter tent poles). So rather than wait a few days to have one shipped, we bought a new tent (same model) and are using our existing tent poles. We set the tent up in our room to verify it works. Yep!
Secondly, I couldn’t get the blog to upload pics or vids. Sometimes finding bandwidth is the issue but not this time. It was driving me nuts as I’m a former problem-solving, technology teacher hack. Finally figured it out. Just needed to buy more cloud storage. Cha-Ching… add that to the cost of buying a new tent today.💸
The mister has been keeping his hair covered with a helmet, stocking cap or ball cap just about every moment of every day because of his shaggy hair. Today was haircut day for Tom. Cycling down the road all of a sudden I saw a barber trailer. Boom! Best. Haircut. Ever.
As mentioned yesterday we are staying in an amazing Marriott property in downtown Austin. We think we have reached the halfway point of our ride. Look what our daughter Anne and her colleague, Mary at the Element had waiting for us in a our room. Thank you ladies. 😘
You know how people often say “you can’t go back; it isn’t the same.” Sometimes it’s better! In 2014, Tom and I ran the Austin Marathon.
Nine years later (almost to the day) 29 marathons, five weddings and seven grands later we’re back! It’s better this time because we didn’t have to run 26.2 miles. 😂 Note in the pic below the guy running in the cowboy hat is running barefoot. Back then and now, still keepin’ it weird in Austin.
In 2014 we pledged to return to Bangers Sausage and Beer House and made good on that promise to each other tonight.
This post is already long enough so I’m not going to mention that hill going into Austin that Tom called a little bump. (17% uphill grade). Done with that one. Let’s keep riding east!
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Made it to 7:45 Mass on time with room to spare for some coffee! We packed up in the dark and jumped on The Riverside Trail cycling it four miles into Kerrville. There must have been 15-20 deer grazing along the trail. What an asset to the city of Kerrville, the trail… not the deer necessarily. 😉
The route took us quickly out for a morning spin on a one lane, winding ranch road. It was scenic, quiet and the perfect way to kick off a Sunday morning ride while thinking about the homily, the liturgical music and how grateful we are for faith, family, friends and of course each other.
Hill Country is aptly named as there are well… wait for it… HILLS. It’s a lot of fun to see if we can peddle down fast enough to get up the next hill without much effort. It usually doesn’t work but it’s fun trying. These aren’t just little bumps; they have some meat to them and they are a lot of fun!
Shout out to our daughter Anne who scored a night at a Marriott property in Austin tomorrow night (at a friends and family discount). We love our tent, our cabin stays and little motel rooms but we really love it when we can indulge ourselves in luxury. Thank you Anne!
Chicken and tuna wraps for din din, a large bag of Lay’s chips, and a beef and cheese stick. Tomorrow we feast!
Every night includes a route rap for the following day. Tonight’s no different.
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As we left the town of Hunt, Texas we officially entered Texas Hill Country!
We had one of our last steep climbs out of Vanderpool within the first three miles today. Tom thinks it’s the longest hill at such a steep climb we’ve ever completed. However, it’s not nearly as tough as you may think because although we have traffic to contend with we are on pavement, and our tires always get traction. The rear tires don’t spin out as they do when trying to climb on dirt and gravel. On to the rolley polley Hill Country.
We share most every day what a remarkable ride this has been. Today’s no different. Although we only cycled a little under 60 miles, it was like 3-4 rides in one day with the early climb, trolling up and over the hills at the top, passing the cycling club riders, meeting Rory from Palm Beach riding ST westbound and following the Guadeloupe River through Hunt and then into Kerrville.
One day runs into another and if we didn’t spend the time to take and make the pics, vids and track data we’d forget so much.
I’m writing this in the middle of the night as 1) we finally got cell service. It was only AT & T for days out in ranch land and us Verizon users were out of luck, 2) After our ride, a stop at the bike store for a proper air fill, big burgers and bevvies at Brew Dawgs and setting up the tent, we went right to sleep and 3) It’s only getting down to 40 tonight and my texting fingers aren’t numb. Yay for warmth!
We’re camping four miles off route in a Kerrville City Park near some Boy Scouts (go Scouts!).
Really hoping to be able to get to 7:45am Mass tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Then we peddle east towards Fredericksburg with a stretch goal of Johnson City (which is just outside of Austin!) Lovin’ these days and this guy so much!
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We woke up in our Big Agnes tent toasty warm, got out and were greeted by a 30 degree morning that felt like 24 degrees. 🥶 Grabbing our gear and phones, we dashed over to the heated men’s room for bandwidth and to warm up.
It was only five miles to the town of Camp Wood where we planned on getting coffee and breakfast. Oh man, that was a cold five miles on bikes.
When we went to pay for our breakfast we learned the couple sitting next to us already paid for ours. Wow! What a nice bit of trail magic to start our day. The couple was scouting motorcycle routes in the area. That’s his retired gig. How much fun is that? I don’t know if he felt sorry for us that we slept in a tent last night, or that we were peddling up and over some of the three twisted sisters or he was just amazingly kind, but we sure appreciated their thoughtfulness. We didn’t even get their names but will pay it forward.
Today we rode high, not long. It was probably one of the most scenic days with the climbs, overlooks and descents. I looked down at my Garmin and realized we were climbing two to three miles at 9-10% grades, a few times getting up to 11%! And we are each hauling over well over 50 pounds of food, water and gear rolling on mountain bike tires. Couldn’t do that a month ago! I think I’m getting stronger. Tom already was 💪🏻
BTW, Tom’s top speed was 36mph. I like to use my brakes. A lot. 😬
Without cell service or Internet it was a challenge to figure out where to stay and if we should tent or hotel it. Soooo we had to stop at Gypsy Sally’s for lunch in Leakey. Not only were their hamburgs 💯, their tomato basil soup was as 👌🏻. And they had wi-fi. Tom scored another cabin just outside of Vanderpool for the night.
The adventure continues with one last “sister” to climb tomorrow morning.
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Today we said our goodbyes both to Highway 90 and Map #3 on the Southern Tier. As you may recall, Highway 90 started back in Van Horn some 340 miles or so ago. And we started the great state of Texas with Map #3 all the way back in El Paso some 475 miles and nine days ago.
Just outside Del Rio we passed Laughlin Air Force Base and stopped a few times to watch and listen to jets soar overhead.
We stopped in Bracketville to get a cup of coffee and met Frank. This man a had an unmistakable aura of joy about him. He explained he was heading to McAllen, Texas to do service work and wants to involve youth. The fact that he’s a double leg amputee wasn’t going to stop him. There’s no stopping Frank!
After our coffee stop we met westbound bike travelers from Cambridge, UK. Riders Luke and Emma are cycling Austin to San Diego and plan to take six weeks. We’ve seen just one other cyclist on tour and that was way back near Glamis and he was westbound also. We are definitely early birds on the Southern Tier as evidenced not only by lack of riders but the weather.
Finally back cycling in rural areas and away from semi trucks, we sailed up and down hills and even starting to see trees again!
Tom picked out a campground on the Nueces River. There isn’t anyone here but the caretaker, but Larry stopped by when he saw us roll in. He wondered if we knew what the overnight temps were going to be and asked us if we wanted to use his hot plate. 😂
Loved this campground! The property was so well kept and had so many offerings for families. It even had a driving range. 🏌️♂️
Tomorrow we venture onto new roads with a few steep hills thrown in for fun.
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The flags were a flying under a clear blue sky as we rolled out of Seminole Canyon State Park early this morning.
And we found our warm today in Del Rio, Texas. In fact they set a record temp for this day by two degrees.
We can’t think of a better state in which to use wind turbines than the windy state of Texas. Texas friends, I sure hope your energy costs are low ‘cause y’all have BIG wind here. We were awed by all of the blades being transported as we cycled east.
As we stomped on peddles most of the day trying to get above 9 miles an hour, there was little to do but cuss, cry or start wondering about things we saw along the road… like discarded tractor tires in the Border Patrol lane. We’d been seeing them for hundreds of miles. And they had chains on them. And there aren’t farmers out here; it’s mostly ranch land.
And the increase in heat made us ultra aware of an increase in dead deer on the side of the road. Why were the carcasses spray painted orange? These are things you might not notice going 75 miles an hour with your windows up and the AC on, but again, at 9mph in 95 degrees ya notice a lot of dead animals and you begin to wonder. 😂
As the head wind increased, so did our speed as we peddled our hearts out to get over the bridge spanning the Amistad Resevoir. Tom said he just wanted to stick his foot out and trip the semi truck that didn’t move over.🌬️🚴🏼♂️🚴🏼♀️😂
We know when to say when and we cut the ride short in Del Rio as the next possible place to camp or hotel it was almost 30 miles up the road. We had a lot of laughs over dinner about the day but it wasn’t much fun while riding.
But hey, we learned Border Patrol trucks hook those chained tires up to their pickup and drag the tires behind them to smooth the sandy road so footprints can be more easily detected.
And the spray painted deer carcasses? From what I learned, in an effort to improve public safety, statistics are kept on collisions involving wildlife. Marking the dead deer with paint ensures they aren’t double counted. Makes sense to me.
So we found our warm today with a side of headwind, and I’ll take 90 degree temps over 30 degrees any day! ☀️ Thank you, Texas! ❤️🤍💙
For the second graders:
We just read about sandstorms and Cole wants to know if you have seen any since you have been riding.
Hello from the beautiful state of Texas, Cole! 👋🏻 I think the closest thing we have seen to a sandstorm is when we crossed the Algodones Dunes near Glamis in the Sonoran Desert in California. It was a very windy day and sand was blowing across the street and dunes.
We covered our eyes, nose and mouth to keep the sand out.
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Keep Calm and Pedal On 