Day 28 & 29

March 19, 2018 to March 20, 2018

Texas Hill Country

sWe were most definitely off the grid for the last 48hr. No cell or wi-fi.

Today we arrived in Kerrville, Tx

Monday we rode from Camp Wood to Lost Maple State Nature Area which is near Vanderpool. It was our introduction to the real Texas Hill Country with many hills including 8 and 10% graded ones. Birthday Guy Tim,Donna and Abbey choose to ride as the hills were steep and we had to manage many switchbacks and winds that were variable with gusts to 20mph throughout the 40 miles. Elevation for the ride was 2800ft.

Here we camped in the state park, a little chilly or as Jeff would report, freezing . Maggie spent some time making a terrific birthday dinner topped off with Peanut Butter Pie, a family favorite . After dinner Jeff and Tim replaced the worn tires on Jeff's bike and changed a tube on Abby's bike.

flats for the day - 3

Part 2 of this entry was our trip today from Vanderpool to Kerrville, Tx. An early morning breakfast of pancakes followed by taking down and packing away tents, etc.It was still only 45 degrees with promises of mid 70's. All ready to go and Jeff could not find an essential part for his e-assist. The others left while he and I prepared to travel back to the place we'd stayed the day before but in disassembling our equipment we found it, yeah. we took off after the other riders and soon caught up as they had just finished a mile long climb which started right out of camp. Todays Texas Hill Country Trail was to have many of varying degrees of grade with one actually being 15%, darn I love my e-assist. We traveled Texas route 39 which paralleled the Guadalupe River and provided us with absolutely beautiful scenery, especially through Hunt and Ingram. Did you know there was a Stone Hedge II in Ingram, there is as well as other beautiful sculptures . Welcome Kerrville and a warm motel room and nice dinner. Paula tells me that some of the countries best rodeo riders come from Kerrville, disappointed that there isn't a rodeo for us to go to tonight.

A note about the water gauges found along the roadway. These are posted at most flood areas, there may or may not be a bridge there. These are marked in feet, not inches. A lot of the riverbeds are bare currently but like the Guadalupe River they can fill quickly during the rainy season and become a great danger

Flats: 0 Broken rear rack hardware - 1 Trip to the Kerrville bike shop was in order, new chain for Jeff's bike and new tubes and tires for George, Tim and Abby. Parts for by bike are to be in the Austin bike shop.

water flood gauge, these are at all low areas along the roadways

see the road way down in the background, we were once there before we rode all the way up to where I took this photo

we were once at the center of the Earth and now apparently we are at the end of the world , who knew!

cowboy boots stuck on fence posts, when asked why a local shop owner told me that it started one day with a few and the idea just caught on

Mountain Laurels are in full bloom here and smell wonderful

Today's ride: 90 miles (145 km)
Total: 1,274 miles (2,050 km)

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