Oh my goodness..Hill Country!

Tues Feb 27

We left the Faust Hotel in a light drizzle (again) and (again) we thought we had a pleasant day of riding. We mounted up in good spirits and headed out with no sense of urgency…we need to learn to read maps. We followed the Guadalupe River, obviously a busy river for “toobing”…their term, not ours. The banks of the river were packed with little stores, cabins, tube rental sheds and bars. Miles and miles of river recreation all brown and dreary in the off season rain, but we enjoyed the winding road and view of the river.

Once we reached the Canyon River Dam we stopped for a leisurly lunch at the BBQ shack.

Sitting under a canopy, protected from the rain, we checked over our cycling maps as we often do when not riding. The maps we use have so much information, points of interest, locations for food and water, mileages, and most importantly the topography of the route. We took our time thinking we were ahead of schedule and happy to be able to dilly dally, our favorite thing. Ugh, once again we found we had misread the mileage (how does this happen??) and we had 30 miles more than we had planned. We had no choice this time but to ride it. Which was fine, but just not planned.

Once we headed out after lunch and passing the Canyon River Dam the real Texas hill country began. The traffic thinned out, but the hills were relentless, absolutely no flat road. The wind picked up so it was hard pedaling even down the hills. The landscape was gray and monotonous, no Texas bluebonnets in sight.

turkey vultures waiting to pick my bones

I would get to the top of a huge rise and see miles and miles of hills in front of me. Dear Mike was so patient, he would wait at the top of each crest and say “tell me when you are ready, honey”. Honestly, I went over many mountains last year, but I found this brutal. My whole body was shaking , the humidity was 90 percent, the constant drizzle. Wow. Even Mike was struggling.

About five pm, still riding in a drizzle we found the little cabin we had reserved on the Blanco River.