Texas Roads Are Bad for Biking

Thursday March 28, 2013  Day Off

   A day off in a beautiful part of the world, in a lovely old-style adobe lodge, with a fabulous restaurant right here in the peace and quiet of Fort Davis State Park is just about perfect. I am in The Lobby as they call the meeting room with heavy old wooden tables and chairs, huge treetrunks as support posts to hold up the wooden ceiling, varnished brown wood and gleaming wood floors, all built by the hundreds of Civilian Conservation Corps men whose group photos are hung along the wall in old black and white prints that remind me of my girls school photos with 700 plus girls neatly lined up and uniformed.
      Yesterday I set off to ride as much as I could on a long 90 miles day. The first part alongside I-10 on a wide shoulder was fine - ups and downs and distant views of low mountains, and a nice Sag stop for a snack and filling up our water at Exit 156. The next twenty miles were also fine and I was beginning to think this might be my big day when we turned off on a side road for lunch, this time prepared by our Super Chef Linda at a picnic spot. The road suddenly turned from smooth to bumpy and I was introduced to the notorious Texas Chipseal which is NOT asphalt or anything nice and smooth, but a mess of uneven gravel in stuff that makes riding it like riding over marbles embedded in cement. It's really hard to pedal, it's bumpy so you bike is rumbling and it makes everything very sloooooww.   I finally made the 8 miles uphill to lunch - and decided to van the rest. As did most of the others so we had a full van and a load of bikes on top.  When we realized two more were stuck, the Subaru Sag went  back to pick them up and we waited and relaxed at a picnic area by the Sag stop.
     The last part of the ride - the Really Hilly Part up and down serpentine bends - had great views but big climbs.  10 women finished - and the rest of us cheered them on. Amazing.
      We arrived at this beautiful adobe lodge and registered. I have a big shady room with a view of the mountains and the sky, heavy carved wooden carved furniture including a desk and chair in an alcove, a fireplace (not working) and a lovely bed with extra blankets for the cool nights. The buildings slope down the hillside, and the restaurant, run by Super Chef Connie Cornett, is just amazing. We had a wonderful dinner last night, a five choice fresh buffet breakfast this morning for which we had to pay, and most of us plan to eat here tonight and not go the four miles into the small town.  I got up today at about 8:30 a.m. which is about the time we're usually out on the road,
      It's in the 60s but the pool is closed. For me, just hanging out is fine.
      Javelinas are around. These are small black pigs that eat vegetation and are part of the ecology of this area. They are about the size of a beagle, look like pigs, snort and root around, and stay in their family groups and don't like people. I took a photo of some in the parking lot - which is apparently their favorite hangout, and no, they do not make good pets.
     For me, riding and visiting exploring is an enormously satisfying way of life because it is so simple. I have two books I am reading - one about the copper mines in Santa Rita AZ which is really interesting, and one I started on the plane about traveling in Arab countries - and my mind is having a hard time finishing them. I do have a crossword puzzle book and that is fun to do in the evening. People are sharing books but I don't need another one yet.
     We talk a lot and share our lives about our families, and our children and our grandchildren. Two women are expecting grandchildren in the near future. We are becoming a large family of women, and know each other's personalities and quirks, and love the bicycling and are challenged by it.
      I am looking forward to meeting my granddaughter and her fiancé in Bastrop Texas near Austin where they live. They plan to drive down because it's only an hour's drive away and it will be lovely to see them, since I don't see them often when I'm in Boulder. And now I am thinking about an afternoon nap.