This was another day of climbing hills and facing the wind in West Texas. A major change after 430 miles of riding on I-10, we left at milepost 477 to continue riding hills on Highway 290 to Fredericksburg.
Another discovery after leaving the freeway was that the shoulders became to rough to ride or disappeared entirely. Because of sparse traffic I found myself most of the day riding on one of the lanes of the 4-lane highway. Today was the first day since El Paso that I have viewed cultivated fields, even though it was quite marginal.
This area is mainly cattle, sheep and goat ranching along with private hunting ranches. This is BIG hunting country -- deer, wild turkeys, and wild birds. One of the most unique things that we see at all the local lumber and hardware stores are feeders for wild game, and blinds to sit in and shoot the wild game (as seen below). Every community also sports at least one taxidermy and game processing place of business. An amazing discovery is that even during the actual hunting season it is permissible to feed the game, which is also where the blinds are located.
We are staying in Fredericksburg, Texas a good-sized city that is a major tourist attraction. It hosts much German culture as they settled in this area over a hundred years ago. The town in very unique with shops, bakeries, restaurants and literally hundreds of B & B's in the old homes. They have maintained the originally architecture of the area using local stone for most of the buildings.
After a stop at the local bicycle shop to purchase more inner tubes and supplies, we were informed that after about 100 more miles of hill country Texas would flatten out. It is my hope that my legs will sustain me for another 100 miles of uphill into the wind.
Miles Traveled Today = 71 miles
Total Miles Traveled = 1,388
Are these buzzards waiting for a tasty Washington cyclist?
Trivia = Dead buzzards exceeded all other dead critters along the road. Spotted my first armadillo!
2 comments:
Glad you are staying over in Fredericksburg. We had a great time there. We were interested to learn about the vast number of immigrants that originally came through the east Texas coast, some of whom settled in Fredericksburg. The Germans brought the custom of blind-hunting with them, as that was the practice in the Black Forest. You may spot some oast houses in the area. They are round or hexagonal buildings that were originally used to dry grains and hops. They have all been converted to other uses. Be sure to ride through the LBJ Ranch as it is on your path.
Roger and Mary;
Keep on keeping on, 100 miles and then some flat country! Just keep telling your legs and brain, 100 miles is only 1/10 of what you have done so far and just like the final push from the false summit of Adams, this to is attainable.
Rinda
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