George: Wednesday, 27SEP’17 – Kerrville, TX to Bastrop, TX (no riding)

Don’t give up on us. We are still on a bike ride across America. However, the rains are not letting up in West Texas until the weekend. At breakfast, with a downpour forecast to last all day, we decided that riding today was not in the cards. Yesterday I had my rest day and Sara was not fighting the thought of a day off the bike.

We packed the bikes and drove to Bastrop. We will ride the next two days as planned out of Bastrop, hopefully without rain, and then we will backtrack to Kerrville to pick up the two days we eliminated by driving to Bastrop, sans precipitation. If you are confused, we are as well, and so are the hotel folks who have had repeated calls from us to cancel, change plans and move dates of arrival.

In spite of the fact that we were not riding today, it was a delightful one. The drive out of Kerrville was a wet one, as you know. We were going to drive the bike route all the way to Dripping Springs before making a beeline to Bastrop. Driving east took us out to the edge of the raincloud as we entered Fredericksburg to the signs pointing to Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park. She was not born in the city, nor did she live there. Why the park bearing her name is located here is a mystery to me. At Fredericksburg we picked up US 290 for the 30-mile drive to Johnson City. Halfway there we passed the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park, located on the banks of the Pedernales River. Yes it did have water in it. For the last hundred miles, named riverbeds have had water flowing in them. We continued on to Johnson City, an artsy little place that we did return to. Our bike route out of Johnson City took us on a rural 1-1/2 lane road passing the Pedernales Falls State Park. The road was hilly and very scenic. There were places where we had to ford flowing creeks. The route returned us to the main highway in the area, US 290, but instead of moving east toward Dripping Springs, we circled back to Johnson City. We found us a goldmine, a shop named “Stidham Outfitters & Custom Leather.” Fortunately for me, there was a large leather couch I used while Susan and Sara browsed the store. Boss Lady, a thirty-something real Texan from Georgetown was tending the store as the women shopped. I struck up a conversation with Jasmin asking her how the people of Johnson City feel about the city’s favorite son. Her articulate response indicated to me that she appreciated the accomplishments of our 36^th President, in spite of her political leanings. There are 100,000 visitors annually stopping in for a tour of the presidential site.

Before we visited Stidhams, we stopped for a fill up. While that necessity was being attended to, I asked an older woman at the next pump if she was a local. She was, so I asked about eateries. Without hesitation, she said there is a place a mile from here called the East Main Grill. We hopped in and headed for what turned out to be a great lunch stop.

With full bellies and empty wallets we headed for Bastrop and an evening of rest. We will be riding 88 miles tomorrow into the town of Navasota. Stay tuned.