October 20 - Kerrville to Blanco, TX

October 20 - Thursday; Kerrville to Blanco, TX; 61 miles.
It was 37 degrees this morning but warmed quickly as I made my way from Kerrville to Center Point where I had breakfast at a Mexican restaurant. The ride was along rural, wooded, flat blacktop road and was very relaxing and pretty. From Center Point I rode through Comfort and crossed I-10. Past Comfort the road turned a bit hilly. I stopped at the Waring General Store in the small town of Waring and had another snack before taking a short detour from the main route due to a bridge rebuilding project on the main route. Sisterdale was the next town and the group met up there for yet another snack. From Sisterdale to about 5 miles out of Blanco was very hilly; short, steep hills. A few of those take something out of you. I tend to go down as fast as I can and use the momentum to carry me as far up the other side as possible then crank like crazy to reach the top – only to see another hill just like the last one – then do it all again. The climbing aside, it was a nice ride today with views from the ridgeline back to where I had been; again pretty views and rewarding to see what I had done. I arrived in Blanco about 3:30 pm along with Dan, Gary and RJ. We sat at a Shell gas/convenience store sipping refreshments and telling lies for about an hour when the others called from the campground letting us know they had arrived. We’re camped at the Blanco SP which is very nice. At the Shell station we met another touring cyclist, Gary I believe his name was, from Salt Lake City who was doing a part of the Southern Tier from San Marco (off route a little) to Mesa, AZ. He had done San Diego to Mesa last year. He had toured in the past with his dog in a trailer and had done the Transcontinental and Northern Tier routes. He said he had toured over 15,000 miles with his dog but the dog had died a few months ago so he was alone on this ride. He also went to dinner and camped near us for the night. We ate at another Mexican restaurant. I’ve nearly reached my limit of Tex-Mex for a while. Tomorrow’s ride is 70 miles into Austin followed by a well-deserved rest day on Saturday. Susi sent me my laptop and some additional cool weather clothing which means; (1) I should be more consistent with blog updates and (2) it won’t be cold again and I’ll be carrying the extra gear for nothing!