Day Twenty-two
I had a not-rushed morning at the Whispering Palms motel in Del Rio. I’d taken yesterday as a rest day and after the rain on Saturday, and a week on the road, there was gear to dry and clothes to clean. It took a while to get everything folded and stowed. I'm starting to get emails from other cyclists I've met, so I think there will be another kind of daily ritual that I'll be adding to my routine—responding to people who I want to keep track of.
Less than 1/2 a mile into the day's ride, I see a shop I cannot pass: River City Donuts. Do they have apple fritters? Yes! Not stopping was not an option.
On the way out of Del Rio, I pass under the approach pattern of Laughlin Air Force Base and have to make another stop to watch flight operations. I've crossed three deserts to find myself at the center of USAF fighter pilot training. Laughlin has a long history of training pilots, from Jimmy Doolittle to Neil Armstrong, and right into the current era. Before this trip I never heard of Del Rio, but to thousands of fighter pilots, it's where they earned their wings.
US 90 is not a good road for cycling. The road is actually fine, but today was my first experience of the trip of truly obnoxious drivers. Apparently, in this part of Texas, sharing the road is just too Left Coast for...I won't go in to aphorisms. The second time a vehicle behind laid on his horn, and wouldn't get off it, I let the bird fly. Along side pulled a cop, who was wagging his fat finger at me—actually scolding! In the next 1/2 hour, I say more local law enforcement on the this stretch of highway than I had seen in a week. Then a sheriff deputy pulled off in front me to have a "conversation". Apparently, their radios work, and the threat underlying “You are impeding traffic!”. I have no rights on the road here. Only motor vehicles have rights. I need to ride the shoulder. I usually do this as a courtesy, when the shoulder is clean and well maintained. Here it is not, so I was claiming my 3 feet next to the white line. But it seems that rule only applies throughout all of the rest of America, not Kinney County. After we exchanged thoughts on the matter, I was ordered to ride the shoulder for the next 30 miles of highway until I was out of Kinney County.
Friendly Law Enforcement
Border patrol checkpoint north of Brackettville.
The wind was pretty strong again, coming in at about 2 o'clock. I wanted to go fast, but I just wasn't able to. There was a low, thin cloud cover. I could hear airplanes above it practicing aerobatic maneuvers, student fight pilots practicing, no doubt.
Leaving Kinney County
Notice the difference in the road. The shoulder is clean and well maintained in Uvalde.
After fixing a rear flat, which as I've mentioned is a convoluted process, I get to a T in the road and turned left onto Texas Route 55. Left means north and north means tailwind. I covered the last 11 miles to Montell, Texas at a good clip, arriving at my destination for the night just after 7 pm.
My destination in Montell is Alice's house. Tonight is my first home visit using the Warm Showers program, which has a website and app to match up cyclists with home hosts. All the cyclists I've met who use Warm Showers rave about how great it is. Now I know why. I've had a wonderful evening with Alice and another cyclist who is heading west, Shane. Alice made dinner for us, I learned so much about Texas from a native Texan, and I get a—that's right—warm shower plus a bed for the night. And wi-fi, so I could write this. And a beer.
Alice works at the hospital in Uvalde, about 30 miles south from Montell on Route 55. She leaves early for work so I won't see her again. She just asked that I close the doors tight when I leave and don't worry if the dog follows me for a while. Or, if I prefer, take the dog, because it's a stray that just showed up a few months ago and adopted her.
Tomorrow's planned ride was to Kerrville, 92 miles. But everyone says the Texas Hill Country is hard riding, with lots of ups and downs. I may pull up shorter to Lost Maples State Park, at 51 miles. Today's 71, with my first taste of these ups and downs, was a lot of work, and there aren't many options for overnight stay between Lost Maples and Kerrville, whereas the options get closer and more numerous as I get closer to Austin. I'll sleep on it and see how I feel tomorrow morning.
Leaning back for a second and reflecting, the best part of today's ride was meeting Alice and finally getting into the Warm Showers community. It's a very fine thing and I'll sleep great tonight.
I’d love to hear from you. Donate to the ride and send along your words of encouragement and tell me why getting kids outside matters to you.
