Hondo, TX - Sat 3/17

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Today was rather uneventful.  We rode 45 miles through the green Texas countryside from Uvalde to Hondo.  We passed through some small towns including D'Hanis, where we took a picture of the country store and a very young cowboy.  He had been practicing for a rodeo all day and he and his father still had their spurs on.

The sign in the photo was erected in Hondo in 1930.

Miles: 46.8  Average: 9.2

Uvalde, TX - Fri 3/16

Green!  We cross a hill and now everything is green.  The trees, grass, and brush have been brown for so long.  Now there are flowers, farms and butterflies.  Even a funny farm, as seen in the photo.

Our rear tire blew out with a bang about halfway between towns.  Good thing we had a couple of spares.

We are now off the regular Southern tier route taking a direct route to San Antonio so we can see the Alamo.  Today's ride was warm with gentle hills and a slight headwind.  But after five days of riding we seem to be losing steam and slowing our pace.

Miles: 48.8  Average: 9.1

It's incredible how a long bike ride makes food taste delicious.

I forgot to mention yesterday that we met a cross country bike rider from England, named Ian.

The truth from Ruth:  We ate dinner at a restaurant that was inside a sports, gun, and ammunition store.  All around the room on the walls were stuffed animals, including huge elk heads, bears, antelope, and even a mountain lion.  The sales clerk said people brought them in to display there.  I've never seen anything like it outside a museum.  But hey, this is Texas!

Brackettville, TX - Thur 3/15

We left Del Rio about noon and stopped for groceries on the way out of town.  The wind was against us but the hills were gentle and the weather warm.  Best of all we only planned to ride about 32 miles.  All of the bike's squeaks are gone, which is really nice.

The ranches are greener now with many short trees.  We saw goats, sheep, cows and horses, but not many.

When we arrived at our current campground in Fort Springs outside of Brackettville we were impressed.  It is beautiful.  It was an army fort and the scene of a major Indian battle.  Now it is privately owned with a golf course, motel, swimming pool, RV park, theater, private homes, museum, etc.  There is a lot of green space, like an oasis in the Texan ranch country.

We had time to eat at the Subway and swim in the pool before dark.  It's been a really good day.

Miles: 42.6  Average 9.3

When I was imagining this trip before we left home, I pictured most of the days being just like today.  The weather was great, the ride not too long, and the campsite wonderful.  This Fort we're staying at is like a huge army base and beautiful campground combined.  The swimming pool is large and outdoors.  It is filled with water from a natural spring.
We decided last night to change our route.  Instead of following the southern tier route, we're going straight along highway 90 into San Antonio.  This is allowing us to ride fewer miles each day and still get to a church building by Sunday.  I'm very happy with this decision.

Del Rio, TX - Wed 3/14

Texas is really big with ranches that go on forever.  Today was a long succession of short, steep hills.  We had a strong headwind in the morning and a weak headwind in the afternoon.  The scrub brush gradually became greener until we crossed the Pecos River and came to the Amistad Reservoir.  The sight of all that water after a month of traveling through the desert was glorious!  But the headwind wore us out by the time we arrived in Del Rio.

We saw a few sheep and goats.  We baa and they look.  It's something to do.

The bike was squeaking pretty badly so we went straight to a bike shop and got it checked out and lubricated.  It didn't seem to be anything serious.

Miles: 67.1  Average: 8.1

The truth from Ruth:  The scenery at the Pecos River was beautiful.  I wish we could have taken a photo, but we were on a bridge without a shoulder and didn't want to stop.  The Amistad National Park is gorgeous too.  I'd like to come back and spend more time here.  Are we still in west Texas?

Langtry, TX - Tue 3/13

Carcass day.  We saw dozens of carcasses of deer and other animals along the route today.  The route from Sanderson to Langtry was warm, cloudy, long and lonely with lots of hills and a headwind the entire way.  We were glad to get out of our campground which had the train track on one side and a highway on the other.  All night long we heard a constant stream of trains and trucks.

We usually don't stop at the hundreds of historical markers we come to but we stopped at one today and found that it commemorated an attempted train robbery that occurred EXACTLY 100 years ago today.  The robbers were both killed and the hero honored.

We stopped to the picnic table by the highway to eat honey buns for lunch. 

We got to Langtry 15 minutes before the museum closed so we got to tour the saloon built by the famous judge Roy Bean.  He called himself "The Law West of the Pecos" and dispensed an unusual western style of justice.

There was a trailer for rent nearby so we called it a day, paid the 40 bucks and moved in.

Photos:
Judge Roy Bean 's saloon.
The bar where judge Roy Bean presided.
Historical marker commemorating train robbery attempt exactly 100 years ago.
Trailer we rented for tonight.  Note the building behind that is literally falling down.

Miles: 64  Average: 9.4  (yesterday 's average was 13.6)

The truth from Ruth:  Today Jeff wore a bandanna under his helmet to protect his neck from the sun.  I thought it made him look like a sheik.  Isn't he cute?  (See third photo.)

Sanderson, TX - Mon 3/12

Yesterday Mark Gregory drove 25 miles out of his way to pick us up and give us a ride to church, which was a district conference two hours away in Monahans.  Hey, this is Texas where the towns are small and far apart, but the folks are mighty friendly.  Thank you, Mark.

An interesting fact about Marathon Texas:  There are two ATMs in town, one at the bank and one at the pizza parlor.  They are both out of service and nobody knows when they will be fixed. 
There is also a museum with a big sign on the highway pointing the way to it, but it has no hours posted on the door and nobody in town knows when it is open.
Each small town has its own way of doing things.

Today we rode 58.1 miles through the desert to the next town, Sanderson, the "Cactus Capital of Texas".  Along the way we met two other long distance bikers heading west.  We swapped news about the route and the other bikers we've met.  There is reportedly a Swedish couple on the tandem one day ahead of us.  I hope we meet them.

Today was a deer day.  I think we saw more deer today then all the other days combined.

The truth from Ruth:  Today was a beautiful biking day.  The weather was perfect and so was the distance.  Then we got to town.  These small Texas towns seem so desolate.  There are so many buildings that are boarded up and falling into disrepair.  It makes me wonder if it is because of the recent recession, or if it has been this way for a long time.  Each cafe seemed to have two signs: one saying "Open" and the other "Closed."  If we hadn't spoken to those bikers on the way who said there were places to eat here, I would have been sure there was nothing.
We stopped at an RV park and set up our tent.  Jeff talked to someone there who said the restaurants open at 5:00, and it was still only 4 something.  We got a tourist booklet and found out that many of the shops are closed on Mondays also, and some Tuesdays as well.  I'm sure we will be heading out of here early tomorrow.  This place makes Marathon look like a fancy resort.

Photos:
Our tent in Sanderson
On the road to Sanderson
2 photos of habitats in La Loma del Chivo