Day 30 - Kerrville to Johnson City TX

73.4 miles 2,833ft of climb

Today started early. James, Karen and I left early to get some miles in before the heat of the day. While going out of town, we hit an incline that was steeper, but shorter than yesterday's Wall of Death." Meh. We ground it out and went on our way.

We entered a rural area with white chip and seal, a road surface which is usually very rough and can be like riding on gravel. In this case, however, it was surprisingly smooth. The road was a farm road that was a little narrow, but had very little traffic. The terrain was rolling, but not hard to ride.

Road kill report: I saw a dead armadillo on the side of the road, the first one I had seen on this trip, and with it's grey coloring, looked all the world like unexploded ordinance. We also saw a vulture pecking away at a dead snake in the road. We didn't stop to determine if it were a poisonous one or not.

On the live animal front we say longhorn cattle, donkeys, sheep and a llama. What was glorious about the day were the flowers. Spring has arrived in the hill country and everywhere there were purples, yellow, reds and whites. It was one of those rare days in which all was right with the word and we were traveling through some sort of surreal utopia.

We went through Fredricksburg, one of the larger towns we've been to in a while. Admiral Nimitz of World War Two fame is from Fredricksburg and there is a museum here, too. It had a lively Main Street with several wineries and tasting opportunities. I also saw a kolache place on the way out of town. Had it been opened, I might have stopped. The previous country road had been more like a wide path than a country road and there had been almost no traffic. Now we were on a more traveled road, but still not much traffic.

We encountered a bike "bagger" going the other way. We chatted briefly - he appeared to have a German accent. Sharon had caught up with us and then the two women went on ahead of us at a faster pace. Both are very strong riders.

It was a wonderful 70 miles and then we turned into a headwind for the remainder of the trip. The last few miles were like a smack in the face. Nothing good lasts forever.

Here's our map meeting at Dairy Queen that was nice for a change Breakfast by headlamp and tonight's charging option.

A big shout out to my DCXGDev support team in the Philippines! Your support keeps me going!