Day 16: Del Rio to Camp Wood, TX

Pictures have been added.

Apologies - no pictures. We were initially told there was no internet here, then found out it exists, but it is so slow it does not load the pictures. The blog will be updated tomorrow, internet services permitting. 

Distance: 78.8 mi (126.8 km)

Cumulative Distance: 1,402.1 (2,256 km)

Average Speed: 14.2 mph (22.9 kph)

Climb: 3,503 ft (1,068 m)

Cumulative Climb: 73,984 ft (22,550 m)

Flats: 0

Cumulative Flats: 11

The day started out very promising - sunny skies, light winds, friendly terrain, and nice Texas ranch country. Our visions of a pleasant enjoyable ride were quickly dashed by the Texas highway department. We spent the entire day on brain pounding, shoulder shaking, neck aching, stomach churning, hand numbing, butt busting, @#%&*^!?*$!, Texas country roads - roads unfit for bike or bicyclist. Our bikes are taking a pounding and are making lots of previously unheard noises, computers are failing, and it will be a miracle if one of us doesn’t end up with a major bike repair problem if this continues. It has knocked 4 - 5 MPH off our average speed and years off our joints!

The scenery was not spectacular but pleasant - greener and less barren with an occasional indication of civilisation.

Along the way we met another group of bikers doing the cross country ride East to West. It is a group of eight who are tenting and taking turns driving. They assembled the group over the internet and didn’t know one another before meeting up for this ride. At one point the Dutch couple we had previously met had considered riding with this group, but decided not to because, at that time there were no women in the group. As it finally turned out, they had two women, including one Dutch woman, in their group.

This is a field of bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas.

Ranch country! Many of them have rather elegant gates - here is a typical one.

The Mercer River dam.

We ended the day at a motel in Camp Wood - actually pretty nice for this remote location. When we asked about restaurants, we were given a response which has become familiar and predictable - a Mexican Restaurant which is open on an irregular schedule (food not very good), a BBQ restaurant (good food), and the Two Sisters Restaurant which has everything - Chicken Fried Steak & Burgers! Since we had BBQ last night, we will try the Two Sisters tonight. Gaby’s healthy eating habits have been demolished on this trip.