Sunday March 15, 2015

Camping for the first time in five months. It did get a little chilly during the night, but I enjoyed being under the stars again. I woke up at about 10:00 pm and looked at the stars were amazing. When you are in the middle of nowhere with no light pollution, the night skies are absolutely beautiful.

I first woke up at 7:00 am and it was still dark, due to the silly time change. The skies started to lighten up at 7:30 and we got up and started to pack our tent. Back in the routine Ralf packs up his stuff first while I go to the shower block. Then he goes to the shower block and I pack up my stuff.

It was cool morning, and we had to put our leggings and jackets on to stay warm. We had breakfast, and then packed our gear into the panniers and we were away for the days ride. I chatted to a couple of roadies who come to this area every year and ride the hills. Ralf chatted to one of our neighbours who rides the MS ride with a team from his work. The MS Ride is from Houston to Austin and is about 180 miles over a two day ride.

This is one of the reasons we like to camp, we chat to the locals.

We were leaving the State Park at 9:30, I knew we had some climbing today.

We had two big hills before Leakey, where we had lunch and one long hill after lunch. In Leakey we stopped at a Motorbike bar hoping that they had something to eat, but they only had meat plates.  I went in to the local grocery store and bought meat, cheese and buns, we made our own sandwiches and sat outside on the picnic bench. Of course we garnered attention and chatted to old boys who were interested in our ride.

As we came out of Leakey after lunch, I said to Ralf I have left my legs in Leakey. The hill coming out of Leakey started slow and then just continued, 6.3 kms and topped out at 2,197 feet (669 metres). Fortunately for me my legs caught up with me and I cycled to the top without having to get off. I felt very proud of myself.

Eventually the route levelled out and then went downhill.

We decided to stay in a hotel tonight, the weather is supposed to change and get colder and maybe rain. I also have the opportunity to update the blog. Plus the campsite is another 6.5 ks away.

As we came into Camp Woods, we spotted what looked like a guy walking a very large dog. Turned out the large dog was a little Shetland pony, he was walking it home so that it would “mow” the lawn for him. We had to stop and chat to him, he was hilarious. The things you see in small town US.