Day 30: Kerrville to Blanco, Texas

Day 30: Kerrville to Blanco, Texas
Miles: 64.15 ------------ Total Mileage 1,633.19
Theme: The Pack is Back

Another day, but this one is different than all the other mornings this past month. Kate has been here the last 2 nights. This morning I will take off on my bike while Kate takes off for the airport --- to head back to Madison. It was great to have her here the last day and a half so that she could get to know a few of the people on the tour and better understand what I do day in and day out. And of course it was fabulous to catch up with one another, share stories of what has happened in each of our lives in the last month. Unfortunately she never got to experience any of Linda's amazing cooking, but other than that, she did get a good idea of the biking routine!

This morning after breakfast at the hotel (no hot coffee for the coffee drinkers - or let's say it took forever to get hot coffee), we did things like check our bikes, pump up tires, had a map meeting and packed up snacks. It is a "2 sider day" (the map sheet has directions on two sides of the paper). That means there are lots of possibilities to do bonus miles today! Everyone of course teases Nancy about this!

Once we had the directions down and snacks packed away it was time to say goodbye to those who had joined us at Kerrville. Kate came of course, as did Kathy (Eva's friend), Jack (Kathryn's husband), along with John (Kathryn's brother and my road doc!) and his wife. Lise's mother Jackie came as well as her good friend Ann. One other thing that had to be done was Tex had to put her flowers in the van so she (and the rest of us) could enjoy the beautiful bouquet she got from her husband (the real Tex). I forgot to mention that the flowers were delivered during dinner our first night in Kerrville.

As always for me, saying goodbye was hard. It was great to see Kate and soon we will meet up again at the end of the ride in St. Augustine, Florida. It is weird to think that the end really isn't that far off. I am not going to know what to do when this trip ends. I do believe it will definitely take some adjusting to get back to real life. But enough on that for now. On with more about the day!

We started out on beautiful roads. The riding was easy and life was good. Everyone was in good spirits and glad to get back on the road. Our riding pack was back! I love the early morning shadows of our bikes as we ride along. Mine of course is very different!

In very little time we were passed the 20 mile mark and in Comfort, Texas. What an interesting little town. Many of the originally buildings in town have been preserved. I had to stop and take photos --- and of course meet some of the people. I went into the Barber Shop - just because it was so authentic. And of course there was a coffee shop/bakery. I meet two very nice men there who were out for their Saturday morning ride. They are brothers and as I was in eating my oatmeal raisin cranberry cookie (very yummy!) they were intently looking at my bike. I decided I better go introduce myself. They asked where I was from, where I got my bike, what about those Packers... They were really nice guys and of course I had to take their photo. I have so enjoyed meeting people along the way. When they retire in 4 or 5 years, they hope to open a bike store in Phoenix. If they do and I was in the area, I would definitely go to them!

After a great break we started down the road again. All was good until we got to our favorite surface -- ah yes more of that Texas Chip Seal. We were in such beautiful countryside but I have to admit it was hard to appreciate it because of the road surface. Hills that normally would not be a problem at all, just made you tired. Twenty miles of C.S. today was a bit wearing! I have to admit other than the C.S., I have been throughly enjoying Texas. The drivers have been very considerate of bicyclists, the people have been extremely friendly and other than one or two days, I have enjoyed the variety of scenery and landscape. Texas was the one state that I originally dreaded, but I can say it has pleasantly surprised me!

We continued biking on small farm roads where there was little traffic and tree lined streets. There were many big ranches with long horn cattle, steers, horses, goats, sheep etc. The wildflowers by the side of the roads were magnificent as well. It was beautiful countryside to see, but not so nice on the seat! Oh well, can't have everything.

Slowly but surely we pedaled our way over the C.S. It feels like it takes about 3 times as much effort to ride over C.S., than a smooth surface. I think one of my engineering friends should do a study and see how much more effort it truly takes to ride on that nasty stuff! I am convinced the miles per galloon would go up substantially if Texans repaved their roads.

The last 5 or 6 miles of riding was fabulous. It consisted of smooth roads and a fair amount of downhill to the town of Blanco. Kathy, Tex, Greta and I stopped for a late lunch at the Red Bud. It was a health food restaurant that was packed. Greta and I decided to split a turkey sandwich. Unfortunately somehow our order got lost in the process, so we had to wait a quite a long time before for our sandwich. It seemed eveof longer since we had ridden over 60 miles. I have to admit, I got inpatient and went to the front and mentioned politely but firmly that we didn't get our sandwich though we ordered before our friends. Eventually we did get the sandwich. The waitress was very apologetic and brought us a cookie. Given that I had a cookie earlier in the day, I gave it to Tex to give to someone else. Ah - it was nice to be fed and the next order of business was a nice hot shower at our hotel. Turns out I have my own room tonight. It has been another great day. It is good to be back on the bike - and have the pack (my riding buddies) back together! I'll find out tonight who got to enjoy the cookie!