Kerrville, TX Day off Friday, April 2, 2010

Dave and I did some of the usual things for days off, but we had the luxury of having a vehicle to get to them!  We went to a laundromat to do laundry, a drug store for some moleskin, and we changed my duffel bags over to a rolling duffel and a small rolling suitcase.  Dave packed the things that I did not need anymore to take home for me.  I was very lucky to be able to do that!

Sue Hersman's friend, Bob, came down from Austin.  He also was planning to ride, so the four of us drove over to Blanco to drop Dave's car off, which took us about 90 minutes each way.

The place we stayed was the Y.O. Ranch Resort, and was amazing!  Dinner in their restaurant was a linen and crystal affair.  I have to admit it was nice to eat dinner at a table.  (The dinner was good, but I preferred Linda's cooking!)

We had a 65 mile day coming up, so we went to bed early.  The next morning we had a buffet breakfast with many choices.  It was a good way to start our 65 mile ride!

Vanderpool to Kerrville, TX (51 mi) Thurs. 4/1/10

We reluctantly left the Fox Fire cabins in Vanderpool and headed out toward Kerrville, and to a day off the next day.  I was especially looking forward to Kerrville because Dave was driving down from Minnesota to spend my day off with me!

Meanwhile, we were working on tackling those Hill Country roads.  Those "short-steeps" were a challenge!





































They were very beautiful, however, with the side of the roads scattered with wild flowers.  Spring has definitely sprung around here!  Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, had a ranch in Hill Country.  Lady Bird spend much time promoting the planting of wildflowers along the nation's highways, and Texas certainly has carried the ball on that one!

The Hill Country's rocky thin soil seems an unlikely place to find an apple orchard, but they grow a dwarf apple tree here.  The Love Creek Orchard in Medina has a cider mill, cafe and country store with many apple-themed gifts for sale.  I loved the building itself.  It was like a quaint little house and I liked the statement over the door.

We almost witnessed an accident on this trip.  Nine motorcyclists were riding the opposite direction.  They were in the middle of passing three men on bicycles, also riding opposite of our direction.  Suddenly, a deer jumped the fence and ran in front of the first motorcyclist!  The deer was only abut 6-8 feet from the motorcycle as he ran in front of us!  Mike Sandifur was in the lead, and she stopped to "try to get her heart started again!"  We were all lucky, especially the deer!  Mike said she wished she could get that guy to buy a lottery ticket if he was that lucky!

The last 20 miles finally flattened out as we near Kerrville.  I wanted to stop at the bicycle shop in Kerrville to replace my broken mirror.  As it happened, I became separated from Mike and Alayne, and the address of the bike shop was incorrect on our map.  I spent an hour trying to find it!  I called the number for the shop, but that was wrong, too!  I went into a gas station to ask for directions.  As I rolled in, I could not get unclipped from my pedals, and I fell over!  (I still have big bruises from that one!)
After asking several people, I finally located it.  Amy Derwinski, who was Sag Captain that day, drove up as I went in.  I was sure glad to see her!  Amy could tell I was frustrated and tired, and gave me a choice of going to a bar for a drink or to the deli for a sandwich.  It was tempting to go to the bar, but I opted for the food. After we ate, she gave me a lift the last three miles to the hotel. 

Dave got there right before dinner, and I have to say, I was VERY happy to see him!

Camp Wood, TX to Fox Fire Cabins in Vanderpool, TX (39 miles) 3/31/10

As of yesterday, I was not sure I really wanted to attack these hills with the problems I was having with the blisters on my toes and especially my knee.  After icing my knee on and off for hours the night before, and taking a prescription dose of Advil, by the morning I decided to take it one mile at a time.  As you can see by this elevation map above, the zig-zagging elevation profile looks like an electrocardiogram gone haywire!  The circled towns are where we stay, so this map shows two days' worth of climbs.  Even through between 54 and 55 looks downhill, it is a series of roads that reminds me of big roller coasters!

There is only one town we will pass through today, Leaky (pronounced "Lay' Key").  We passed by "The Hog Pen" Cafe (that is SO Texas!) in favor of a small coffee/latte shop.  About the only thing they sold was coffee and some knick knacks.  Amy, of course, could not pass of an opportunity to try on an Easter bonnet to match her jersey!

This part of Texas is call, "Hill Country," and our first short steeps were awaiting us.  Carol Wilder, our ride leader, makes the distinction between "short steeps" and "long pulls," but those 1.3 mile long short steeps make it both when you are only moving at 4 mph!  It is hard to tell the distance in a photo, but all of those hills are not our Iowa rollers!

Of course, with the uphills, come the downhills, and our downhills were great except for the chip/seal road surface of Texas.  Our hands got another workout on our brakes, especially when the roads were winding, and we couldn't see what was coming!  It was still fun!

Near our destination town of Vanderpool, the views were spectacular.  Up near the top, there was a bump-out with a covered picnic table overlooking the valley.  There was a very large motorcycle parked at the top, and a very large motorcycle rider sitting at the picnic table...reading his bible.  That is a lesson in "Don't judge a book by its cover!"  Where else would be such a wonderful inspiration for that! 

I took a photo looking down into the Vanderpool valley, but I was not bold enough to take one of the solitary biker.

I stopped to take pictures, so I became separated from my group.  However, it was not far from the Foxfire Cabins on the Sabinal River where we were to spend the night.  There were several cabins throughout the camp, and we were assigned in small groups to each of the little cabins.

Everything is green and peaceful here.  Each of the homey long cabins under the grove of trees housed three of us in two bedrooms with home made quilts, and a living room with a kitchen.  There was no television, no phone or cell service, no Internet.

One of the cabins invited everyone over for a nice afternoon of sitting in the warm sunshine with some wine, cheese and crackers, and some good bonding time.  I even found one of the resident kittys to curl up in my lap for a kitty fix. 

That night Linda Baldwin was able to cook in a regular kitchen, so in addition to a great stew, she was able to make some home made bread that we all inhaled!

We were all tired after a long pull up those hills, and we had a second day coming up of even more short-steeps and more miles, so we went to bed early.  I left the window open, and fell asleep to the sounds of the frogs and the doves.

Brackettville (Ft. Clark Springs) to Camp Wood, TX (49 mi) Tues. 3/30/10

We started out the day with sunshine and a mild wind.  The road is still taking its toll on bodies and bikes, however.  As we were rolling down the road, suddenly my rear view mirror, mounted on the top of my handlebar, flopped over and looked like a child's loose tooth!  After trying to fix it, I just put it in my bike bag.  Alayne loaned me her extra sunglasses mirror.

The flowers continued to cover fields, and the ride was filled with wonderful scents.  The birds were chirping, and there were fields filled with goats, sheep and cows.  There were also the ever-present Turkey Buzzards.  We usually see them soaring above us on the updrafts, look quite beautiful.  They are large birds, but really ugly up close!  There were many deer carcasses on the side of the road, and these bold birds feeding on a deer barely moved as we rumbled by.  I even stopped to take photos of them working on a deer, with about 20 perched in a tree above me.  (see below)

At mile 45, we rode across a high bridge across the Nueces River.  It is a newer bridge, with easy access to the water.  Mike, Alayne and I rode into a camp site to get a closer look.  It is a warm day, but we declined to wade into the river to cool off like some of the other riders did.  We were close to our destination, and after taking a few photos, we rode the rest of the way in.

The side of my foot where I had my surgery back when, has become quite aggravated with all the vibration caused by the road surface.  With my sore right knee and now my left foot, I am seriously considering taking a day break tomorrow.  We are headed for some steep hills (this is called "Hill Country") and I do not want to seriously damage either.

Our ride tomorrow is 39 miles...a sure sign of serious climbing, as in 10% grade.  And of course those chip/seal surface the entire way.

I will wait until tomorrow to decide.  We will not have Internet tomorrow in Vanderpool, so the update for tomorrow will be delayed until we get to Kerrville, TX on Thursday, April 1.

Del Rio to Brackettville, TX (43 miles) Monday, 3/29/10

In a vivid dream last night, I dreamed that I woke up an hour late. I woke up in time, but being the being late part was more of a premonition. The last thing I do is pump up my tires, and I discovered my back tire was flat! The valve stem had developed a leak! My Armadillo tires are practically guaranteed against 99% of the things on the road that would puncture a normal tire, so the Kevlar was intact. By the time it was repaired, the rest of the group had left, so we started out at the back of the pack today.

Of course, you can never tell what pitfalls there are on the road. Twelve miles out there was a WALMART!! Half the group stopped to shop, knowing that Linda and Carol, who were grocery shopping for us, would be there to haul their purchases to our next night stop. I think we were all sore from yesterday’s century ride, but we only had 42 miles to ride today.

Thinking it would be a breeze, we soon realized that the chip/seal surface was going to be especially rough for the next 30 miles! The road was only a 2-lane with lots of traffic, and Carol’s reminder to “STAY ON THE SHOULDER,” and “SAFETY, SAFETY, SAFETY!” we bounced our way toward Fort Clark.

We saw so many border patrol in their trucks!  We could not go very far without seeing one!  Our route has followed the Mexican/American border the entire route so far.

For those who don't know what chip seal is---it is really nasty material Texas uses for their roads.  It is cheap and easy to lay.  Essentially, it is made up of very large hunks of gravel pushed into tar, but only far enough so that it sticks.  It makes a very, very rough surface.  One feels like a jello jiggler after a day of riding on it.  The good news is that you can hear traffic coming up behind you from a very far distance.

Then there was the wind.  Lynn rolled in one day and said she needed poligrip on her behind just to say in the saddle--boy, did she hit the nail on the head.  Even an easy day of riding is difficult with chip seal and wind. Both really create hard work--more effort for less result.

It wasn't long before the hills began on the route.  Fortunately the hills weren’t too steep, but it really slowed us down in addition to all that chip/seal. We occasionally passed an entrance to a ranch, but the ranch houses are out of sight. Properties around here can be as large as ten to twenty sections in size. (One section is one square mile). The names can be creative, such as “BIG BUCK$ RANCH” with a dollar sign for the “S.”

Another was, “OI Ranch.” :) 

Many of us stopped in Brackettville for lunch at “Julie’s Restaurant.” 

(We loved the sign on their napkin holder…they knew there was a "u" in there some place!) 

Karen Cooper came in, sporting a new hairdo, created by her helmet! 

Sue Hersman stopped to talk to a girl at another table. The girl was in her early 30’s, a secondary teacher, who was riding self-contained, by herself, to study the organic farming around the country.

She has been riding in a circle route around the country, from farm to farm from August through June! She made the mistake of ordering the portabella burger, thinking it would be a big portabella mushroom in a bun, but, she did not take into account that we were in TEXAS! So being a vegetarian, all she could do was laugh! She ended up giving her lunch away to a group of men with cowboy hats, paid for it, and left to find another place to eat!  (Good luck with that, dear, this is Texas!)

Fort Clark, where we are staying, is a real Army fort, and we checked into rooms that were part of the fort’s barracks.

Fort Clark was established in 1852 and inactivated in 1946. It has an interesting history. It helped guard the border with Mexico, as well as rid the Indian menace from SW Texas. Seminole-Negro Indian Scouts were used from 1872-1914. From 1920-1941, the fort was home to a cavalry unit. During WW II more than 12,000 troops were stationed here, along with a German POW camp. Many famous officers served here, including George C. Marshall and George Patton.

There was a swimming pool that was created by damming up the flowing river.  It flows in one side and out the other!

 

Our dinner was in a large mess hall that echoed with our dinner conversation and laughter!