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Published: January 18th 2007
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Shawne was speeding.....
We need a radar detector.... Jo and Shawne say...
Mileage Today: 54.4
Total Mileage: 1604.05
Flats Today: 2
Total Flats: 44
Day 38
We rose early, knowing we really wanted to leave this strange place. Of course, Jo had a flat on her BOB trailer before we left. She took it apart, but couldn't find the hole anywhere, even after running the tube under the faucet. She put the tire back together and we finished packing. No luck, the tire was flat again by the time we were ready to leave.
An elderly woman approached with her little white dog. She explained that she'd rescued him, and told us this Fort was the best place and the country to retire. She was telling us about membership fees and the price of land, but used terms like "750" and "55", when she spoke of money, and we were never sure if she was talking about hundreds or thousands of dollars. Suddenly, her dog started running around and barking. When he hit the end of his leash, he nearly flipped himself over. We turned so see what was causing his excitement, and found a javelina running toward the woods. The javelina had been behind a tree only
Dam with beautiful waterfall...
We could see turtles swimming below! twenty yards away from us! The woman told her dog that he couldn't have the pig, and that the pig would really hurt him if she let him go. Nonetheless, the dog ran in circles and whined the rest of the visit, while Shawne patiently fixed Jo's tire for her.
Once the tire was patched and we were loaded up, we couldn't get this sweet woman to stop talking. She changed topics with nearly every sentence as we politely tried to escape. We even donned our helmets and mounted the bikes, but she just kept talking. Finally releasing us from her grasp, we headed into Bracketville to eat instead of eating at last night's restaurant. Riding was beginning to feel like a job, so we knew we needed to stop and take two days off in a row. We knew without a doubt that our break would not occur in Fort Clark Springs, Texas!
We found a little restaurant called the Krazy Chicken, and ordered Huevos Rancheros and an omelette. The waitress was very neglectful, and she didn't even flinch when we walked to her waitress station and helped ourselves to refills on coffee and cream. She sat down, her
Clear water
reminded us of Lake Tahoe girth spilling over the sides of her chair, and watched us while she stuck another cigarette into her wrinkled mouth. The tables were old and cheap, and the coffee cups were very small. The food was decent, though, and we hoped it would give us energy for this long day.
We headed up a long, slow uphill, and were surrounded by purple sage. Purple sage and asphalt didn't add any color to this overcast and gloomy day. We were so unmotivated that by noon we'd only gone ten miles. It was too cold to ride in just a long-sleeved shirt, but too hot to wear a sweatshirt. We made excuses to stop over and over again simply because we didn't feel much like riding.
The scenery finally changed, and small trees became the norm, eventually replaced by larger ones. We started seeing huge areas of land that had been cleared of nearly all the trees, and the trees themselves lay in giant piles scattered around the area. As the day wore on, we saw that grass had been planted in the now-empty fields, with small stands of trees remaining here and there.
Finally, we saw a completed piece of land. The grass was lush, and the tree stands were tidy. Each piece of land was hundreds of acres, and each was surrounded by a twelve foot wire fence topped with barbed wire. Deer by the hundreds were inside the fence, and we could see feeders placed throughout the field on stilts. Hunting blinds, also on stilts, nestled in the tree line.
Pickup trucks had been passing us for days, each with a quad in the back of the truck and a trailer behind the truck stacked with bags labeled 'Deer Corn'. We wondered out loud where the sport was in this. The deer are captive, and fed. Hunters sit in the blinds and pick off unsuspecting, well-fed deer. We decided it's much the same as having a fish finder on a boat. A guaranteed kill.
We stopped at our turn onto route 335 for a snack. A state trooper going the other direction stopped and turned around. He talked to us about the trip and said he always thought it would be a really fun thing to do. He said he's seen lots of cyclists over the years, but never stopped and visited with any of them. He verified that Fort Clark Springs is just a retirement community, not a cult. We talked to him about our love of Alpine, and he smiled knowingly. He said he'd grown up there, and loved it dearly.
He told us that the other day, he was in the nearby town of Uvalde, and there was a little old woman at the gas station. She had a $1.50 Sunday newspaper, and she was counting out change in front of the clerk.
"I'm afraid I don't have enough money," she told the clerk.
"Don't worry, I'll get it for her," the officer interrupted.
"Are you sure you want to do that, sir?" the clerk asked him.
"Yes, absolutely," he replied with certainty.
The little old woman thanked him profusely and left with her newspaper. The officer put his soda on the counter and gave the clerk a $20 bill. He received about $3.00 in change.
"I'm nice, but I'm not THAT nice," the officer told the clerk.
"But sir, she also had $14 in gas!" the clerk replied.
He laughed, and we laughed with him, then he went on his way, trooper cowboy hat in hand.
Meeting the state trooper broke up the monotony of the day. Lightheartedly, we traveled on. After that point, we saw very little land which wasn't surrounded by a twelve-foot fence. Shawne got a flat on his BOB, so we took another break, and Jo sang him "The Lollipop Tree" while he fixed it.
After what seemed like ages, we found Camp Wood, Texas. Just before town, we went over a bridge which gave us a glimpse of a breathtaking river. There was a small dam overflowing, and as we looked down from this high perch, we could see turtles swimming in the river! We marveled at it's clarity, and laughed like children with each turtle we spotted.
We checked out the campground, and it was $5 per night per person. The owner of the RV Park offered to drive us into town for groceries. Hoping we'd get adopted again since the forecast called for rain, we turned down his offer and rode back into town to the grocery store.
No one adopted us.
We came back to the RV Park, and we learned the owners were Chug and Sandi. Sandi gave us a stick of butter to use in our dinner of Au Gratin potatoes and burritos. The showers were hot and clean, and they let us use their washer and dryer for free. Chug even offered the use of his computer to work on the blog. We decided this was as close as we could get to being adopted without actually being adopted!
The campground was quiet, and we set up under a giant old tree between two cabins. There was a very nice picnic table constructed of new 2x4's, and there was fire ring. The campground ran alongside the Nueces River, which is the cleanest we've ever seen. The water is as clear as Lake Tahoe, and it runs both cool and deep. This was the river we'd seen from the bridge, and we were delighted to spend the night on it's banks.
Shawne went down to the river and gathered some wood. We knew that tomorrow morning we'd be exploring the area. He started a small fire, and we cooked dinner. We liked this place so much, we didn't even lock up our gear. We knew that this was the right place to take our two day break.
With our worries set aside, we fell into a sound sleep under the still-gloomy sky.
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Tot: 0.101s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 6; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0602s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
niki bird
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camp wood texas
Hi there you two bikers. We saw you in our neighborhood when you stayed @ Rocky River with Chug & Sandi. We live just across the river but you couldn't see us because we are hidden behind the huge oaks and pecan trees. We were saying "someday we ought to do that." I look forward to reading your other blogs as I'd googled Camp Wood and got this pleasant surprise. Happy Riding. Don & Niki