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___ As luck would have it, we hit mile 1000 of our bike trip as we reached mid span, crossing the Pecos River. The Pecos has always marked where west Texas ends and the rest of Texas begins. We were happy to be leaving the desolate beauty behind and get into some greener pastures.
Here we are on the bridge crossing the Pecos River. Mile 1000.
A panorama of the Pecos River. Shortly after reaching this milestone, we ran into our good friends, Bill and Jane. Remember them from Van Horn? We had actually run in to them a few days before. They drove past and honked. A mile or so down the road they pulled off and let us catch up. Well this time, we were busy shopping for some groceries in a small store. When we came outside, we saw them pull up right out front. Jane was frantically waving at Bill to get him to stop. They hopped out and we had a happy reunion. We talked about our plans a bit and decided to meet up in Del Rio. We told them where we were staying and they said they’d come by and take us sight seeing.
Della, Bill, and Jane at our surprise reunion by the side of the road just past the Pecos River. Bill and Jane were actually out for the day on their way to see the Judge Roy Bean visitor center. We stayed a few days in an RV park in Del Rio. It had a much needed swimming pool. Unfortunately, we neglected to shower before jumping in the pool and we noticed lots of dirt floating around in the water afterwards. Maybe it was there before. We hadn’t showered in a few days. The pool felt wonderful.
Here we are enjoying a sunny day by the pool. Bill and Jane took us around town. We toured the old town area. Jane had a number of interesting brochures. One told about Dr. Brinkley, an old time doctor who made his fortune by implanting goat glands into men in an effort to cure sexual problems. We all got a huge yuck from hearing about the doc. Brinkley bought the only radio station in town (located in Mexico actually). Because it wasn’t in the US, it wasn’t under FCC regulations. So Brinkley cranked the wattage up and bombarded the nation with non stop radio which features one commercial, his ad for goat gland implants. Business was great for the guy. At one poin the was bringing in $25,000 a week. We also toured a local winery. We were impressed by the local vegetation.
A banana tree decorates the front yard of the winery.
Here we are taking a tour of the winery. We also visited a local museum which featured an old time general store. This store contained a bizarre collection of items, including an armadillo lamp!
Here’s a lamp you don’t see every day.
We also enjoyed the Polish chickens with their wacky feathers.
The museum also featured a huge nativity scene. Some lady spent fifty years collecting the pieces that went in to the scene. Her family built a special room on to their house for the set. It included a Tarzan looking woman and some fellow who was sleeping on top of a couple sheep. He had a bowl of fruit balanced on his head. Really bizarre. Well we soon had to leave Del Rio and say good bye to Bill and Jane. They were headed south to Brownsville for the winter. So we packed up and headed off into the Texas Hill Country.
On the way out of town, we passed by an Laughlin Air Force Base and were buzzed by many jets. We arrived at Fort Clark Springs just next to Bracketville. We hadn’t planned tos tay for long, but the folks there were so very nice that we took a few days off. We attended the local historical society meeting and learned all about the Durange Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. We also attended the local Halloween dance. We attempted to leave one day and got a few miles out of town. We were smacked down by a large rain shower. We spent the morning riding with a fellow we happened to run in to. His name is Dirk and he’s from Belgium. He impressed us by riding his bike, loaded down with gear, all while working his way through a pack of Marlboros.
Here’s Dirk, that wacky Belgian. Dirk was tougher than us. He rode on through the rain while we returned to the fort. There we were sheltered by two very friendly folks, Dennis and Mary Jane. It turns out that Mary Jane grew up maybe four miles away from where my mom grew up. It’s a small world after all.
The spring at Fort Clark Spring. Legend has it that crossing over this small river cleanses one of all sin.
Some pretty spider webs near where we camped at the fort.
A beautiful sunset at the fort.
Only in Texas can you find State of Texas noodles. There is just an awful lot of state pride going on in Texas.
The pool at the fort. A former commanding officer at the fort got this pool built by lying and saying that the fort needed a horse pond for cleaning the horses. The fort used to house over 10,000 horses. Someone ratted him out and he got shipped to the Phillipines and later ended up captured and in the Bhattan Death March. He lived but never built another swimming pool again.
Dennis and Mary Jane. We are very happy they were so kind as to offer up a nice dry place for us to stay. They also provided us with much good food and conversation. Dennis told us after I took this picture that they were smiling so much because they were happy they didn’t have to make such a long bike ride. We headed off into the thick of the Texas Hill Country. I cannot recommend it. Lots of narrow, steep, winding, steep, low visibility, steep roads. Did I mention that the roads were often steep? Beautiful scenery, but when you are gasping for air, trying to climb a big hill, you don’t really notice it.
Della prepares to cross the Natchez River after a heavy rain caused the waters to cover the road.
Here we are at a nice camp spot, working our way though the hill country.
An Emu! Eee Gads! Emus make good eating in these here parts. They taste like really, really big chicken.
Della riding along with many steep hills up ahead. The terrain looked like this for four days.
Here we are pausing for a break on our way through the hill country. All along the route, we saw lots of road kill. We considered fixing this deer skull to our handle bars but thought better of it. We figured it would be intimidating. We stopped off and spent the night near the Lost Maples State Park. Texas is very proud of their state parks. As such, they think it’s reasonable to charge $24 for the privledge of pitching a tent in one of these parks. Since the maples weren’t changing color quite yet, we elected to pitch our tent by the side of the road instead.
Here we are at the top of one of the many hills in the hill county. About to head down and visit Lost Maples State Park. We also encountered some frightening drivers in the hill country. This really just is not a good route to take by bike. We read an account from Lance Armstrong. He said he always knew that if he were to suffer an untimely death, it would be because he some ranchers truck ran headlong into him while he was biking in the hill country. Now we understand. It is no fun to be run off the road.
Here Della pushes here bike past a bale of hay that fell out of some ranchers truck. The pickup truck had passed us a few minutes before. It was a one ton truck, and the bale of hay looked like it weighed about two tons. I’ve never seen a bale of hay as big as this one. It filled the entire bed of the truck and was about six feet taller than the top of the pickup cab. It came rolling out of the truck as the rancher climbed a hill. Fortunately, we were no where nearby when it hit the road. What a mess! In Centre Pointe, we spent a bizarre night camped out on the lawn of this hippy named Dan. He built rock waterfalls and other landscaping items for a living. He built a two story rock climbing wall inside his house. Very nice fellow, but I felt like we were in the wrong decade hanging out with him.
In Blanco, we discovery Riley’s BBQ. This is the best BBQ place on earth. We both still dream about the place. If you’re ever in Blanco, Texas, give them a visit. Also in Blanco, we discovered some of the local sentiment about John Wayne. This must be Texas.
Some of the yard decorations in Texas Hill country. We even heard about one bed and breakfast nearby where you get to stay in a covered wagon for the night. This wasn’t it, but close enough.
Della flees from a cute little puppy. Somewhere in Texas.
Some more local flavor in decorating. This fellow set boots on each fence post. He must have had three hundred boots total.
Not all of the hill country was bad. We spent many hours riding along tree lined country lanes. Absolutely beautiful country. Here are some berries we saw lining the road. With the hill country at long last behind us, we entered Austin. We had a few good days in town. Robert got some much needed bike repairs done. He broke a spoke and a few other things along the way. With the time in town, we went and toured the capital building.
The Texas capital. We the capital we learned many interesting things. For example, the native Americans refered to Sam Houston as ‘the big drunk.’ He was also the only person to be governor of more than one state in his life. Tennessee and Texas.
Here is the floor decoration in the capital. It depicts the seals of the various nations which have governed Texas. Spain, France, The Republic of Texas, the Confederacy, and the U.S.
Looking up in the rotunda.
The Yellow Rose of Texas. One of the most interesting items we saw in the capital building was the battle flag from the battle of San Jacinto. This was the battle in which the Texans snuck up on the Mexican army during their siesta and got some revenge for the Alamo. We were luck enough to see the flag because it is only on display when the legislature is in session. They had just finished an emergency session.
Outside of Austin, we stayed a night in Bastrop. The RV park there had many burros that were extremely friendly.
Everything is bigger in Texas. Including spiders.
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