Day 17

This was one of our best days and nights. We rode from Bracketville to a town called Vanderpool. It was an 88 mile ride with no water or food source for the first 51 miles so we loaded our saddle bags with enough water to make it to the first town, Campwood. The riding conditions were great. No wind, no traffic and the scenery was spectacular. If there has been a surprise so far it has been the last few days of riding, I didn't expect this part of Texas to be so pretty. The area we are in now is considered the heart of the "Hill Country". The first 50 miles were constant but gentle rolling hills. We had lunch in Campwood and encountered some great but very challenging climbing after lunch. We had four distinct climbs over the next 25 miles that got both of our heart rates higher than they have been the entire trip. It didn't help that the temps exceeded 100 degrees again. But it wasn't too humid and the peacefulness of the surroundings made the
climbing enjoyable and worthwhile. When we got to the top of a climb you could see one plush green valley after another. To my surprise ,I kept thinking that the scenery reminded me of what I saw travelling across Ireland 20 years ago.

We finished the ride 3 miles north of Vanderpool. We were able to rent a cabin for the night. It was the perfect end to the day. The night cooled down, the stars were out in full force and, of course, we had a fire and a few cold ones. It was a nice contrast to most of the cheesey motels we have been staying in. We decided to make a concerted effort to look in each town we stay in to see if there are cabins as an option instead of hotel/motels. We start the next day with an extended 10% grade climb that will get us warmed up right away.

Day 16

Today was to be a day off but since we didn't quite make it to Del Rio we had to ride into Del Rio in the morning. Brad rode another 30 miles in flip flops without once complaining. It had to be tough. We got into Del Rio early, went to the bike shop to ship Darlas bike and to get a light tune on my bike as I was without my climbing gear for the previous day and a half. The mechanic at the only bike shop in town should be looking for another job. He wasn't much of a mechanic, in fact, my bike was in worse shape after he worked on it than before. I spent some time with it and was able to get the low end working but still had some issues in the middle gears, but an easier problem to work around while riding.

Darla headed for the airport to fly back to Denver.It was great having you join us Darla, again, thanks for taking the time to keep us motivated and focused for five days. Those were five tough days of riding and having you on the ride made it easier.

Brad and I decided not to take the rest of the day off and got a jump on the next days ride which was to be a little over 100 miles. So, we rode another 35 miles for a total of 65 miles of riding on a day that was to be an off day. No rest for the weary. We found a cool little hotel/park/golf course place to stay, in Bracketville, TX. It was an old Army Barracks. Apparently General Patton spent a considerable amount of time their in his early years. We had a another simple dinner and called it a night, knowing that we had a full day ahead of us.