Day 27 - Rest Day - Del Rio
Not much to do in Del Rio as it is a classic border town so just a quiet day of laundry, bike maintenance and eating! We were tempted to head across the border into Ciudad Acunia, but will probably leave that until El Paso which has a much larger town on the Mexican side. We enjoyed the novelty of making our own waffels for breakfast at the Inn as well as the usual breakfast buffet delights.

Dave's decision of not shaving for the rest of the trip lasted all but a week when the itching got the better of him. The Bens thought that he was going to be fully shaven, but has skillfully left a dirty mostache and a few other trimmings so will see how long that lasts! Ben S is still sticking to the no shaving decision and is now supporting some pretty long designer stubble and is showing no sign of caving into the pressure of the razor! (like the hammer, it was left at home).

Plan for tonight is a sirloin steak buffet - we went in to have a look and it is intimidating! At least the oversize meals for little $ are well suited to the cycle tourer.


Day 26 -55km - Braketville - Del Rio
We originally thought that it would take 5 days riding to reach Del Rio, however a couple of bigger days & some mis-calulation meant that it was only 4, with the last day an easy 30 miles! When I say easy, it was the easiest ride of the whole trip - pretty much dead flat, with a strong tail wind, reasonable road surface & good shoulders! Now anyone who has ever ridden a road bike will know - when you get these sort of conditions you put the hammer down!! Hard to beat the sound & feeling of a bike when it is ripping along in its biggest gears with relatively low effort! For some reason Dave (who was at the front) wasnt feeling the need to make hay while the sun shines in the great conditions we had - however after a few derogatory comments from behind regarding his suspected personal features and sexuality, Dave sped the pace sped up, and we coasted into Del Rio at a good rate covering the 50 odd kms in well under two hours!!

All along the wide shoulders of the highway into Del Rio are graded dirt roads. We learned later that each day the US border patrol drag tyres behind their vehicles to groom these roads and come back later to check them for footprints so they can persue an 'illegal aliens' that have crossed the Rio Grande (termed 'wetbacks' over here!)

We are also now using the 'adventure cycling' maps - an organisation over here which publishes routes & guides cycle tours around the states. The reason for this is that civilisation (& water) starts to become a lot more spread out, and road choices become very important. Up till now we had chosen our own roads, but from Del Rio until the Grand Canyon we will be mainly sticking to these! And there are a lot of geographic features to 'experience' between here and there, making adequate water & food of vital importance...

Also of news is our story has apparently been published in the Greenville Banner-Herald!! We have not yet seen it, but Tracy (the reporter) sent through this photo taken at Camp Tomahawk which she was trying to get published with it. Unfortunately the photo got cut, but the story is in! Will try and get a copy up when we get hold of it (p.s. Libby I think there are some in the mail to you). International media superstars...

On arrival into Del Rio we checked into the La Quinta Inn (as included a buffet breakfast of course!) then quickly made a line for the pancake restaurant conveniently located next door to our accommodation. One word of warning about ordering pancakes over here. If you order a full stack of pancakes at one of these joints you will really be in for a decent feed! After literally rolling ourselves out of the restaurant Ben S went down to check out the gun selection at Walmart while Ben B and Dave headed to the bike shop to pick up some supplies. Conincidentally, while at the bike shop a NZ lady phoned to check whether she could pick up her daughter's bike. Once she learned about some NZder's in the shop she told the guy over the phone to wait as she wanted to meet us (apparently kiwis are hard to come by over here). Sure enough, 15 minuites later we were talking to one of our own who invited us around for a home cooked dinner. Carole (the Kiwi) picked up from the Inn and drove us to the Airforce Base for a look around (where her husband works - helicopter pilot who now trains jet pilots in planes that look like private jets! As could be expected the security at the base was very high and we were greeted by a lady brandishing an M-16!

At Carole and Todd's place we were treated to some of the best Pizza we had ever had. Todd had somehow come by the recipe for 'deep dish' pizzas from a famous restaurant chain in Chicago. The Pizza closely resembled a pie with cheese on the bottom and tomato and sausage on the top. If you have never tried one of these - we all thouroughly recommend it!! (not something you want to eat all the time though if you want to live more than 5 years into the future) After stuffing ourselves she announced that there was stilll dessert which was chocolate pudding which we had just to be polite of course!

Todd and Carole were such a nice couple and gave us some pointers about the terrain we will be facing in Arizona (big elevation gains!!). We also got to have a look at one of Todd's cars which was a flashed up Corvette Stingray which he uses for a few sunday drives!

Day 25 - 145km - Lost Maples to Fort Clark (Bracketville)

We rolled out early from the Campsite, the clouds still present & the air a bit nippy. 5 minutes into the ride we found out the hill country was going to have the last laugh on us - the first climb was at last as steep and gnarly as the one we had descended the night before & probably a bit longer too. The area description for the next 30-odd miles was 'very difficult' - while not get of your bike and walk type of stuff (will be a sad day for the first person to do that!), it was the hardest set of hills and hardest gradients we had encountered. The hills are really where you notice the extra weight on the bikes! We had two good hill ranges to cross in the first 20 miles, after which the weather cleared (hot) and we moved into flat(ish), dry, cactus-clad, dry river, sparsely populated land. I think the term used to describe it is 'scrub rangewood'.

The roads on the last leg narrowed, but were fairly quiet. The only exception was the large sized chip which seemed to tendarise our backsides so we were pretty glad to get off the bike at the end of the day!

We rolled into Bracketville to the news of a powercut - the supermarket was closed - a true calamity to the thirsty, tired cyclist! In fact we had all calculated to just run out of water when we arrived in Bracketville so the thought of not even being able to use a vending machine (uses power!) left us pretty shattered! The supermarket manager was extremely nice to us however, making available a tap for us to use & giving us some chilled water & some ice! Once the power came back up, we repaid the generousity by spending up in the store. Purchases included a gallon of chocolate milk - nothing quite hits the spot like that after a hot ride around here!

Tempting the devil, Ben B made the innocent remark that he had not had a flat on the journey today, the first day in a while. Half an hour later he went back to check the tire pressure for the day ahead - only to find that he infact did have a flat tyre - it had just been a slow leaker... out came the punture repair kit again (the boys will be restocking on patches in Del Rio - puncture count BB - 6, Dave - 4, BS - 0).

This was a big day for us - our hardest climbing day & our first real taste of the dry heat & extended plains of the west texas area. A massive range of difference over the range of 80-odd miles. We have even seen alot of Antelope in the fields in what seem like clips from an African documentary. Apparently some of them are even considered to be native!

Day 24 - 137km - Stonewall to Lost Maples State Park (near Vanderpool)

This day would have to rank as one of the best days riding I have had. After the strong winds and storms last night, we rose to mild conditions - no rain, but a good amount of low cloud with fluttering winds. The route today would take us over a bit of a plain and then through some hills, following the Gaudalupe river for a while and then along the top of a hill pass to the state park.

As we made our way along the plains the winds began to pick up and the clouds lowered & filled the sky. Soon we were strapping on the leg warmers & jackets and turning on the lights as the rain began to fall. And not just rain - we were in the middle of a thunderstorm! Lightning (sheet and fork) cracked across the sky & between the clouds and earth all around us (literally!) as we made our way along the flats. While not something you want to do everyday, this was an experience not to be missed - the touring kiwis as storm chasers, riding into the eye of the storm...

We entered the hills, stopping at a small town & lunch at probably the best chinese buffet ever - at least 60 dishes to chose from all for the low price of $5.99 - and while we were there the wind changed direction, disapating the storm into just normal, steady showers. We spent pretty much the next 1/3 of the journey following the Guad. River, a really nice ride, stopping to pick up dinner supplies (not many towns in these here hills) at Hunt. This was their first real rain in nearly 6 months!

Overall, the winter & spring in Texas has been unusually dry & hot - we are told that nomally the big plains like the ones we rode across on this morning are covered will blue bells and yellow/red flowers which are similar - however, this year the paddocks are covered with short grass & the blue bells can only be seen in the drains on the sides of roads.

We continued on, really starting to get into drier territory now. The river crossings from this point were mainly ford-like - they allowed the stream to trickle through a couple of small pipes, and were clearly made to allow the river to run over as it rose, with flood markers & warning signs on each one. Ranches became the norm and a lot more cactae (? -cactus') were evident. There are a lot of wild deer around these parts as well.

After a solid days riding through some good hills, our final decent was down a steep cut-rock road to the state park. The decent was quite steep, and we joked at the end that it was lucky we didnt have to ride up that way! (this was to prove a case of only fools count their eggs...).

Anyway, we had a relaxing evening at the park. There were a few other people there, including a group of girl guides on camp. We had to have a chackle at the games they play - not the sort of games we played as cubs/scouts!! At this stage the showers had reduced to a few spits.

Update on the flat tire count - Ben B 5, Dave 4, Ben S 0


Day 23 - 107km - Austin to Stonewall

Back on the road. Last night in Austin was fairly spectacular - an awesome electrical storm with some of the best fork and sheet lightning us group of tourers had seen. The morning brought with it a last breakfast with Doug - we went to a local breakfast/burger joint (a quality establishment - they even serve on non-disposable plates) and tucked into a feed of biscuits and gravy (sort of like a scone covered with a white sauce which has pepper and sausage added) and some breakfast tacos. I wouldn't really recommend the bicuits & gravy for the active sportsman as it is a meal which tends to sit in the stomach... We then parted with the busy student and clipped into our freshly serviced bikes.

We made a fairly smooth exit from Austin heading to Del Rio. For most of the exit we had a fairly good shoulder or light traffic. As we exited the city we slowly made our way into the so-called Texas Hill Country. A look at any contoured map of Texas will show that this is a reasonably large patch of hills in the middle of an otherwise flat (rolling/flat) state. The geography changed a lot from the other side of Austin, a lot drier, more rock and some big rolling hills! Weather for the day was hot, around 30 deg c.

Dave managed to strike another flat at an opportune time - he has the uncanny knack of punctering a tire whenever he needs a break (or wants to extend his break!). The flat and a few other stops meant we were running a bit behind target for the day, so we ended up pulling stumps at Stonewall - after a lady by the name of Connie offered us a place to stay beside the river which ran beside the town. She said that we could stay for free in a little cabin which was situated there. Connie is into breeding sheep and had a number of them at her property we were staying at. Out of pure coincidence (or to the cycnic maybe not) we were able to help out with a few jobs - the first was simply getting some hay out for the sheep which was easy enough; the second was piling up the branches of a tree which had been cut down, ready for burning - not quite so easy after a long day on the bike... 2-3 hours later we finally got to have a shower & some food! Dave was so polite when talking to Connie that he wouldn't even move when talking to her even though he was getting bitten over and over by fire ants!

Overall though it worked out for the best - that night there were some extremely strong winds and some more lightning - a night not to be camping! The dryness of the surrounding area was shown by the fact that when we awoke the bikes were covered in a milimetre of dust - which had blown through the nooks & crannies of the cabin! Good thing none of us have dust allergies or sensitive lungs!

Ben B made a fitting comment - up to now we have been experiencing the people & culture; now we are moving into experiencing the geography - and from my past experience anything to do with geography experiences or 'scenic' places involves big hills & mountains, so we will be 'experiencing' at a very slow speed!