Saturday, March 31, 2012

Moving Along

An active rest day today, moving but not all day. We passed through Kerrville and other awesome small communities along the Guadalupe River. Even saw some teens swinging off a rope into the river! Summer is here. We are in Comfort, TX. Notice anything different about Josh in these pictures?

Friday, March 30, 2012

The Half-Way Point of The Tour

We made the 1500 mile mark today. We are 1/2 way through the Southern Tier route. Celebrated by wolfing down a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! We are camped just west of Kerrville, TX.

Classic Texas Hill Country

Wow, we've all heard about it. We've seen the pictures. Heard the stories. They are true. We've just had an out-of-this-world bike touring day of 90 miles through the Texas Hill country, flowers, Harley Hog rallys and all of it! I now know how a guy like Lance Armstrong trains here. One group of Harley riders said the road we were on was "the best road in Texas". Now that's a BIG statement in Texas.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Back in the Saddle Again

We took yesterday off in Del Rio, and it was nice to not be on the bike. As usual, however, the day was mostly occupied with chores like laundry, bike maintenance and checking in with the home base.
We got to observe a t-storm from the comfort of a Motel 6 and the locals said more rain fell in that one storm than all of last year!
Needless to say, the wildflowers are going crazy, hopefully I can get some good pictures, but we are feeling really fortunate to witness such a bloom. Another local told us that it's been over a year since any flowers have been out!
Anyway, we are dodging t-storms and have a nice campsite SW of Kerrville, TX near a town named Camp Wood.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Tough Going

Our luck with tail winds ended, we've been riding straight into Southeast headwinds (15-20 mph with higher gusts) for 3 solid days. Tough getting 50-60 miles in. But we are in Del Rio, TX and will give our bodies a rest tomorrow. I know I am obsessive about tracking things so here is how we did from El Paso:63,72,89,55,55,60&58. I think that is about 65 miles per day. Anyway, we are hoping for a change in the prevailing winds, otherwise we will have to push on! We have also noticed,( among many other changes in the landscape), that the humidity is high and we might start to have grass to sleep on when we camp and not dirt, gravel or rock! Yes!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Getting Ready to Cross the 100th Meridian

Noticing it getting more humid, still very dry and drought-like here. But the day after tomorrow we should start the real change in landscape as we enter into "reliable rain" country. Well see, I am not digging for the rain coat yet. And in case you are wondering, we haven't had a drop of rain on our tour yet, 22 days into it. I'd love to get my rain coat on and suffer through a few gully-washers for these folks down here!

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Marathon, TX

These pictures tell a lot about our camp site tonight. All I can say is, Texas continues to surprise us...

Free-Loading Green Plastic Spider Ring

Day to day life gets pretty simple on a long bike tour. Take for example, the picture with this post. I found a plastic spider ring on the side of the road, then Josh placed it around my front brake cable housing, this was on Day 2, and now each evening I check to make sure this little free loader survived the day's ups and downs. So, now I need a name for this ridiculist, any ideas out there?

Fort Davis, TX

West Texas is nothing we expected...I thought it would be more flatish, but no, the route took us through the Davis Mountains. Geographically, we've been informed this mountain range is the southern-dribs and drabs-what's left of the Rockies. From a bike tourer perspective, it was a pretty tough go. The locals say it hasn't rained here in. 2 years! The landscape shows it.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

The First 1000 Miles

Josh and I passed the 1000 mile mark today. It was worth a rest, a quiet moment, and a "thanks" to how fortunate we are. We are looking at the next 1000, and hoping for more tailwinds!
We've met another bike tourer and fellow pilgrim, Ian, from the UK going west. He started in Florida and has told us great stories from his own journey. We are camping in Van Horn, TX tonight. Great day today!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Gorgeous Day

Long and flat, tailwinds and big open views. This is borderland and we've noticed that Border Patrol is always present driving and flying around. We often wonder what it would be like to live in the Borderlands.
We are in Fort Hancock, TX.