March 8th

We made it from Kerrville, to Comfort to Blanco, TX with a lot of work. The creeks followed by hills with the intermittent headwinds made it a serious piece of riding.  The good part is that unlike the hundreds of arid dusty miles from El Paso to Junction, now there is evidence of more moisture in the air - there are more green things growing than the shades of brown and tanish grays of the desert.  Also, there is more wildlife and unfortunately more road carrion.

Here is the town I couldn't help but notice as we near the  half way point of our ride.

This is an example of the change in landscape. Farms like we may expect them to be.



Some folks put make believe metal displays in their pastures.

Then there are some real cattle, though these are the first Brahmans I  have seen.

Some of the ranches have pretty elaborate entrances. . .  

With sophisticated security to boot.

We ended the ride with another flat tire, this time the back tire for the second time.  Then, foul weather became a factor, as well as my seat, (anatomically speaking) so we headed for a bike shop and the pleasant confines of my sister-in-law in San Antonio where we last saw family and friends in January.

Who would have thought that between Austin and San Antonio all this wet weather would materialize and stay around for a while.

I had my bike fixed with a Slime Tube at the Action Bikes shop at Universal City, TX. I was telling the owner the purpose of the ride and how, when I am doing the difficult climbs with the wind in my face, I think of how difficult it is for burn survivors who have it so such more harder than us.  He spoke about our soldiers from the burn unit at the military hospital in San Antonio. After he fixed my bike, he said, "Let's just leave it at that!" And he offered his services for the burn survivors.

Here is Howard Smith at his bike shop pulling for me and more importantly, for the burn survivors.