Time to Giddy-UpLet the tour begin. Over 7 days, we rode 293 miles with approximately 13,000' of climbing over hundreds of rolling verdant hills. The wildflowers were in glorious bloom this spring attributable to a very wet year following two consecutive drought years. The wet weather continued during our tour with showers and heavy rains falling 6 out of the 7 days. Fortunately, the temperatures were mild so riding in the rain was tolerable.
In spite of the less than ideal weather conditions, the tour was fantastic with gorgeous scenery, camaradarie of 47 fellow cyclists from 20 states and Canada, and the "beyond category" cooking of Kathy Jordan and Jack Turner.
Follow the trail
So where is the Hill Country? As the map shows, it right smack dab in the middle of the state. Austin is about in the center of the state and we made a big loop around the blue blob in the above map.
Let me first introduce the support staff of eight. The ACA support staff deserves the highest of accolades. They were very professional, organized, friendly and catered to our every need.The three above are Tammy Schurr, tour director; Sue Davendonis, lunch-stop support, and Tom Hester, mechanic
Chefs extraordanaires - Kathy Jordan and Jack Turner, fed us a full breakfast, lunch and gourmet dinners
Joe Lovista (middle) staffed the morning and afternoon rest-stops to keep our engines fueled to the end of the day.Peter Saucerman (CA) and Joe Golden (CT) to L & R of Joe
Jack Petty, loaded and hauled our gear in the Penske truck
Bob Kaphammer, the map guy, provided daily route briefings and informed us of any hazards or changes to the route.
Follow the orange markingsRemarkably, Bob would go out each day and mark every turn so we rarely had to refer to our maps. Some days we had over 40 turns so the road markings kept us on track. "CT" stands for Cycle Texas.
The following pics are scenes from the 7 day tour
Gourd bird houses. We found these in and around Austin.
Our tour started at McKinney Falls State Park, a beautiful state park in Austin
Spotting the first wildflowers
Carpet of Indian paintbrush (red) and TX blue bonnets
Gorgeous!
Close up of paintbrush
YIKES! TX has 10 poisonous snakes and they start coming out in April when it warms up.Thank goodness the weather was still cool.
Onion Creek flows through McKinney Falls State Park
Upper Falls
Gnarly cypress tress line Onion Creek
Lanquid Onion Creek
Peter at Lower Falls
Great swimming hole below Lower Falls
Peter riding across slick rock
Close up of TX blue bonnet, a small species of lupine, is the official state flower
Our campground at McKinney Falls
On the road
Tom working on Dan Pritchitt's (Ill) bike
Tammy mending "Crash" LaRue who fell twice on wet roads on the first day. Off to a good start, hey, Mike?
Finding something familiar (above and below)
Tower Drug seen better days
And they mean it!!
Descending into fog
First of many churches - a stately one
Christina and David Vandershaf with Mike at lunch rest stop
Sue staffing lunch stop with Allan Gauld (Truckee CA)
With Bike Friday in front of cool ACA van
TX shoe post
Wheat field - very green shoots
First of many creek crossings (above and below)
Crash staying upright
Neat old stone well and brick farm building
Beautiful riding along colorful roads
Peter and Mike powering up steep hill
Buccolic country scenes
Entering historic town of Gruene (pronounced Green)
Gruene Hall, the oldest music/dance hall in TX
Taking a break and listening to some foot-stomping country music
Crossing beautiful Guadalupe River, first major river
Shaggy moss covered tree
Mike following Guadalupe River Road
My homeless shelter at Mountain Breeze RV Campground near New Braunfels. Guess who had the only dry tent the next morning . . .
Dramatic limestone cliffs along Guadalupe River
Peter crossing Guadalupe River on our way to Blanco
Wildflowers below Canyon Lake Dam
Another quiet country road
Sac Pac taking a break at Devils Backbone Overlook which overlooks the Hill Country. Bob Pesowsky (white shirt) from Canada.
Meandering along another quiet road
Crossing Little Blanco River
Lunch stop
Two other Bike Fridays - Ted Swedalia (NY) and Jerry Newman (MD)
The Sacramento Small Wheel Society
A simple little country chapel
Passing many small dams on the Blanco River. These make for great swimming holes.
Taking no chances . . . walking bikes across creek
Our route followed picturesque one-lane country road . . .
. . . with scenes like this
Disaster strikes!
Leo from Utah rode his bike across creek and crashed. Ambulance took him to a San Antonio hospital. Unfortunate end of tour for Leo.
More buccolic scenes
Stone ranch house
Stately blooming yucca
Our next destination - Blanco State Park overlooking swimming hole on Blanco River
Campground patio overlooks Blanco River
Kathy posts dinner menu every afternoon. Her superb dinners put an already great tour over the top.
The buffet table
Another foggy overcast day - heading down the road to Fredericksburg
LBJ National Historic Park is on the route so we took a tour
The school house LBJ attended
Entering the LBJ Ranch
His parents home has been restored
LBJ's outhouse
Giant TX oak tree and tree hugger
The two larger tombstones are Lady Bird's and LBJ's markers along Johnson row
Range-free cattle on LBJ's Ranch
Riding through oak tunnel
Exhibits at LBJ Western White House Visitor Center
His hunting car
Amphi-car
We took a tour of the Western White House, his ranch home
Front of home
Peter and the Western White House
The Ranch fronts the Perdernales River where many BBQs were hosted
LBJ pointing the way to go . . .
More wildflowers
I think NOT! . . .
Two nights stay at the Oakwood RV Resort in Fredericksburg where we had shelter from the rain
Our campground at Oakwood
We had use of the RV Campground Dining Hall where we ate and had our daily briefings
The Sac Pac - Mike, Peter, Christina and David
Touring Main Street Fredericksburg on our layover day
Some nice stone buildings on Main
We spent all day touring the Admiral Nimitz National Museum of the Pacific War containing outstanding displays and history of WWII.
The Museum is brand new and well worth a visit
The Nimitz Hotel is part of the museum complex
The Japanese Peace and Friendship Garden is a component of the Museum
Stopping in at historic Lukenback, home of Willie and Waylon.Jim Ogrady from San Diego.
Peter bellying up to the bar
They made free coffee for us . . . what nice hospitality
Road 1320 outside of Johnson City was lined with spectacular color
More views along Rd. 1320
Dennis Johnson (ID) rides by on Rd. 1320
Fields of Prickly Poppy (white) and Blue Bonnets along Rd. 1320
Taking a pic of Kathy Jordan on Rd. 1320
The Johnson City Courthouse
Peter riding the final stretch to Perdernales State Park
Followed by Mike
Cooking dinner in the pouring rain
Eating dinner standing under cover. The heaviest rain came on the final day.
Mellow Yellow on the last day
One bugger of a steep hill
Lonely Hearts ClubA serendipitous encounter with two lads who lost their wives in the past year - Dan Pritchitt (ILL) and Phil Taylor (MO). Ironically, all three is us were married to our high school sweethearts for 40+/- years. Now what are the chances . . .
Dan found this poem with a powerful and up-lifting message on a fence and made copies for us:
You can shed a tear that I'm gone,
or you can smile because I lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that I come back,
or you can open your eyes and see all I have left.
Your heart can be empty because you can't see me,
or you can be full of the love we shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember me only that I am gone,
or you can cherish my memory and let it live on.
You can cry and be empty,
or you can do what I'd want - smile, open your eyes, love, and go on.
Author unknown
Keep turning those pedals my dear friends. Time is your friend and eventually your melancholy will fade and you will laugh and live again.
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