Day #23 - 4/4/2011 - Uvalde, TX to Del Rio, TX - 58 of 72 miles

You can see our route from Uvalde, TX to Del Rio, TX here.

Until today's blog entry, any comments I might have had were being generated when I sat down to write the entry, currently a week late and becoming later...and, sadly, details fade.  So, rather than wait until the day I actually do a blog entry to write anything down about the events from a week ago, I'll try and get a few notes down first thing in the morning...like now...4:50am, just minutes after the usual alarm time and again later in the day.  Like a diary.  Why didn't I think of that earlier?  So, if you notice a change in the ratio of prose:photos, that's why.

I haven't said much about Uvalde, have I?  It's the county seat of Uvalde County and has a population of 14929 at last check.  The city's own web site let's visitors know that Uvalde is

"a place that's as close to far away as you'll ever be. A place where you can get reacquainted with the things that matter."

Did you know that Uvalde has the only known bottler of cactus juice products and that the demand is so great that you may have to wait for 30 days?

Okay, so maybe Lani and I didn't give Uvalde its due.  Maybe next time.  Probably not.

Lani just stepped outside to check the temperature...it's already warm.  Yesterday afternoon finished blazing hot, so the early start before sunrise helps.  We have a solid 72 miles today to get to Del Rio, trailing the U.S./Mexican border the entire time.  Del Rio will be our last "big city" in TX before we hit a long stretch where there are only minuscule towns and only places to camp.

We were out of Uvalde by 6am, making good time on US90, the main highway through Southern Texas.  After a short while, we were reminded that US90 draws very close to the Mexican border.  While Uvalde is 70 miles from the border, Del Rio - our next destination - is barely 5 miles.  The U.S. Border Patrol's presence became prominent.

The first Border Patrol outpost we saw, probably in Bracketville, TX.

With the wind calm, US90 was pretty decent in that the traffic was sparse.   Most of the traffic were truckers, nearly all of whom steered wide of us as we had no real shoulder to bike on.

Without a shoulder, we were pretty much biking in the highway.

Throughout our Texas journey, I remained impressed by the ranches, proudly demarcated by fences and gates, announcing that they were an outpost in what you thought was nowhere.

I'm not the only person fascinated by the ranch gates; the web site of Andrew Butler has a segment dedicated to the topic and includes this particular gate.

 We had our usual break after 2 hours, right across from the Arenosa D-K Ranch.

The Arenosa D-K Ranch is also pictured on Andrew Butler's web site.

 We stopped briefly in Brackettville, TX

Brackettville grew in the 19th Century due to its association with Fort Clark, the home for the famous Buffalo Soldiers.  Brackettville has a larger proportion of Black Seminoles (people of mixed African American and Seminole ancestry) than the rest of West Texas. Their language, Afro-Seminole Creole, is still spoken by some in Brackettville.

This is a wooden postcard Lani picked up at the Lost Maple Cafe in Utopia upon which she wrote a tome for my sister.

As long as Lani lives, the art of letter writing lives on.

 It was finally time to leave Brackettville.

Highway signs were sometimes a source of confusion.

We continued to cross paths with other bicyclists heading Eastbound on the Southern Tier Route.  We crossed paths with a large group of bikers on a supported tour, courtesy of Bubbas Pampered Pedalers.  They were all traveling light, mostly with the wind and looked pretty comfortable...as opposed to us.

This cyclist is supported in the sense that there is, somewhere, a vehicle carrying all of his essential gear.  I forgot his name...sorry.

The day's ride had started off promising; gentle rolling hills leaving Uvalde - nothing of consequence at this point - with a refreshing calm in the air.  We covered the first 25 miles in good time and were feeling pretty good about the 72 mile ride to Del Rio...and then the winds kicked in.  At first, they were from the North/Northwest, but within another hour, they were just pretty much in our face, sustained to 31mph and gusting to 41mph.  Combine 30mph winds and an uphill, and you're grinding away in a low gear at 6mph.  It was pretty unpleasant and all we could think was "When is Texas over?"

With Lani's encouragement, I started sticking out my hitchhiking thumb  when I could see trucks approaching in my mirror.  That went on for a pointless hour.   And while the wind remained relentless, we grew weary.  The wind would sometimes shift, making us wobble on our bikes.

Jedi may have The Force, and the Bene Gesserit  of Dune have The Voice, but they all pale next to Lani's pout.

Even worse, some severe right leg pain that had bothered me yesterday had returned.   Lani pulled over at one point to walk, then questioned her ability to go on....what to do...

We had gone 58 of 72 miles with the last 30 into a relentless head wind, sustained at 31mph and gusting to >40mph.  At our current speed of 8mph, we were looking at another 2 hours.   Did you know that Enterprise will pick you up?

 I thought of other supported cyclists we had met and the lifeline that was available to them.  Subjugating any notion of pride, the call was made.  We waited.

As we waited for the Enterprise  pick-up truck to retrieve us, a Border Patrol truck pulled up to us.
"How you guys doing on your bikes in this wind?  I wouldn't even ride my motorcycle in these winds!"  My guilt rapidly sublimated.

And then we were in Del Rio, Texas, proud with what we were able to do.