On to Texas Hill Country

 

Moldering Away in Rural Texas

I have a special place in my heart for the Texas Hill Country. 

Starting from Navasota, for the next six hours I drove across central Texas, skirting Austin and continuing west through Johnson City and on into Fredericksburg.

Originally, about 15 years ago I took my first stab at visiting Texas based on Norman D. Ford’s book on the Hill Country and the Big Bend Areas. With one of my old minivans I headed down I-35 for a 2 week trip to see what Texas was all about.

Still Available Online as a Used Book

On that initial visit to Texas I first had stopped at Fredericksburg and camped at Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park. I participated for three days of "Hell Week" which was a large gathering of cyclists. This event had been going on annually nearly 20 years and as a result, there were scores of well documented bike routes. A cycling friend in Minneapolis had given me a folder full of cycling route maps from previous Hell Weeks and so I was already well prepared.

I wasn’t too interested in the hard pushing groups (we call them "Hammerheads" since they hammer away at the pedals) that I encountered there, but I found the countryside captivating and in its own way, it reminded me of Rural Wisconsin . There were so many quiet lovely low-traffic volume, paved roads that meandered over the countryside. Thousands of miles of these types of paved Ranch roads. So I enjoyed sampling this section of the Texas and linger there for four days.

Hill Country of Texas

Then, I had driven south west to the Big Bend area of Texas near Alpine and Marfa. There, I used the maps from the Norman Ford book and pedaled both on the roads with my road bike and also explored some well documented jeep trails that Ford had laid out in the book. This area was interesting as well and I have visited it on several subsequent trips.  Norman was a very interesting man and cyclist. I had several contacts with him by phone and email prior to his passing.  I wrote up an article about him at Crazyguyonabike .

10 years ago I started going on an annual group ride sponsored by the Twin Cities Bike Club out of Minnesota. Each year we would meet at Marble Falls  to the northeast of Fredricksburg and go on the rides of 45 to 55 miles. It was a pleasure to share these daily loops with good friends from the upper Midwest. After the original organizer withdrew, I went ahead and took over and organized rides out of Kerrville and Fredricksburg Texas, using a number of the old Hell Week maps that I had accumulated previously. This went on for another three years.

Typical Texas Hill County Rural Road

Since COVID hit Planet Earth in 2020, I’ve continued to go down to Texas by myself for the last two years in February and continue to ride those lovely rural bike routes on my own. Not having a roommate to share motel costs with, I’ve shifted back to using the tent sites at Lady Bird although I covertly sleep in my camper.  My sense is that this game is pretty obvious but the park management doesn't seem to care. (Frankly, there were no other tent campers the whole time during my visit.) I set up the tent only to satisfy the requirement for the tenting area. For this, I pay a daily $10 charge which gives me a pretty spot to set up my camp  along with luxurious showering and toilet facilities. Not a bad deal!

While I would prefer to ride with companions and enjoy sharing the views of the countryside and having good chats and camaraderie of friends, the virus has thrown everything up in the air and made it too difficult to bother with. So I dropped the idea of organizing group rides. While I am not anxious for my own health, I realize that other people have concerns and anxieties that I can't help them with, and so now I ride alone. Sigh.

Set Up at Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park

Now, in February of 2022, I had perfect weather for a week.  I hung around the area from February 9-15 and rode the bike every day.  It was good to get my legs limbered up and start to accumulate miles.

Then, on the 7th day, it clouded over a bit and cooled down, I decided it was time to head west and visit Arizona. While Texas is my preferred landscape, the weather here is not as stable as Southern Arizona.....   Last February 2021, I had a fine time in the Hill Country for about five days and rode favorite routes.  Then, I could tell by looking at the weather reports that it was time to head south and west. A cold front was pushing down from the north. Fortunately I got out of Dodge before the Storm of the Century Hit Texas. Freezing temperatures, burst pipes, electrical outages, and high winds made the Hill Country and much of Texas a bit of a basket case in February 2021.

Now in Middle February of 2022, I literally folded up my tent, said goodbye to Ladybird, and headed west.  My next destination, The Deserts of Arizona.