Day 18-23: Checkpoint Harley, La Grange and Austin

At the Shepherd Sanctuary Peaches made a wonderfully large portion of spaghetti and had loaves upon loaves of fresh bread that I was able to feast on along with herself and the 2 other guests staying the night.  We sat around the table talking and eating and drinking beers until almost dark and then we started a fire and moved the party in that direction.

Just as we were doing this 2 other cyclists rolled into the campground area from a long days ride.  Bob was a retiree from Rochester who was traveling from Jacksonville, FL to Austin, TX and John was a fellow 27-year old who had started his trip in Virginia and had already travelled down the East Coast and was now going across to California and then eventually all of the way up the West Coast to Alaska... (And people thought my trip was out there...) After they also got filled up on the leftovers from dinner they both joined everyone at the fire and we had a great night listening to all of the stories being passed around the fire.

The next morning Bob, John and I all decided that we would end the night in Richards, TX ( a 68-mile ride) where there was another campground that was supposed to be really nice.  But, when we got there this place exceeded our expectations.  It was incredible.. Checkpoint Harley (a not-so-subtle tribute to Checkpoint Charlie between East and West Berlin) was once a Biker hangout that the owner had now repurposed for touring bicyclists.  It sat up on a hill in the countryside and had full facilities for showering, laundry and bike maintenance and even had wifi.  There were small little cottages and buildings for shelter and really blew us all away.  We opted for camping again and had a great night again.  

The next day Bob stayed back at Checkpoint Harley and John and I rode out into some pretty serious headwinds towards La Grange.  We fought the winds and some heavy traffic for most of the day and finally got to La Grange by about 6:30 p.m. that night completing an 88-mile day.  We had decided earlier in the day that we were going to do some "stealth camping" to save money and so after getting a delicious meal at a local Mexican Restaurant and eating way more than is acceptable to take of the free salsa and chips we were able to get down to a local park by the Colorado River (yes, Texas has a Colorado River that has nothing to do with the real Colorado River).  Besides the almost constant noise from the cars passing overhead on the bridge above us it was another great nights sleep... (And for Lisa Lindberg the first night of the entire trip that I did not get a shower..... THE FIRST!  I smell like roses god-damnit!)

April 1st marked Day 20 for my trip and after some talk with John about whether an April Fools Day Prank could be funny to pull on the people following our trips we decided against it and got back on the road en route to Austin.  

We had a really nice tailwind pushing us to Austin and did the 88-miles with relative ease.  The highlight of this day was our ride through Buescher State Park and Bastrop State Park where we saw the devastation caused by the wildfires that swept through the area back in 2011.  It was a hauntingly beautiful scene.  

On the outskirts of the center of Austin John and I parted ways so that I could go meet up with my folks and he could go to meet up with his friends that he was staying with and now I have the next 3 days off in Austin to check out what this city has got to offer and regroup before tackling the rough hills that are waiting for me after Austin and if all works out I might be doing some of that with John.

So far I must say that Texas and the people I have run into and met here have been really amazing and has definitely made me reevaluate my thoughts on this state as a whole.... I guess it ain't so bad, now all we need to do is turn it into a blue state.....

Shepherd Sanctuary and all of its quirky coolness:

Day 18 ride and pics from Checkpoint Harley:

La Grange Campsite and beginning of Austin: (Lone Wolf Ranch is Chuck Norris's home... Please forgive me sir for not asking your permission)