Austin

I apologize for Falling behind in my reporting. It feels like we haven't had a moment.

We went off-route from Kerrville. Andrew was anxious to visit Fredericksburg, a town established by German immigrants. One of the ways the German heritage is maintained is through the presence of several craft beer breweries. Andrew and Steve wanted to test their products so we rode north about 25 miles to Fredericksburg. The place turned out to be charming. The old buildings have been carefully restored to house fashion, decor, and other tourist-oriented shops. Steve came closer than ever on this trip to completing his quest for the perfect chicken-fried steak, which he washed down with local beers.

Steve's father played a song about Luckenbach, Texas, on family road trips. Luckenbach has haunted Steve ever since, so we had to include a visit to Luckenbach. Luckenbach turned out to be a highlight of the ride! Luckenbach consists of one building, a combination general store/post office/bar. The post office sign announces the population as 3. Behind the building, there are some picnic tables arranged around a chair. The chair is commonly occupied by a country western singer, sometimes a legendary one. Jimmy Lee Jones was playing while we we there. There are acres of parking that fill up at night.

We reluctantly remounted our bikes to get to Blanco. Blanco has a courthouse in a plaza surrounded by old buildings. The courthouse was built about 1880. Within four years, the county voted to change the county seat to another town, so the courthouse was used as a store, an opera house, and then a hospital. We went to the edge of town to camp at Blanco State Park on the Blanco River. Michele and Andrew lured me into the swimming hole behind the dam where I promptly fell on my butt after slipping on the algae-covered rocks. The water was cool and refreshing. Michele asked the campground hosts about the possibility of mosquitos; a few minutes later, the hosts cruised by on their golf cart to hand us bottles of bug repellent.

Our routes diverged the next day. Steve branched off to ride directly to Austin. Michele, Andrew and I rode to Mountain City where Andrew's father lives. We are flopped at Les' house for a welcome two days of rest.

Les took us to the Salt Lick, a BBQ place outside Austin that has fed generations. It's the best BBQ I've ever had. You may recall that we met some other cycle tourists back in Sanderson and then lost them en route to Langtry; we ran into on pair at the Salt Lick. Yesterday Andrew drove us to Austin to pick up Steve. We visited Lance Armstrong's bike shop. We drove to San Antonio for puffed tacos and a visit to the San Antonio missions, the most famous of which is the Alamo. Les and his wife Cyndi drove down to meet us. We enjoyed the River Walk along the San Antonio River and dined at the edge of the river.

We had to say goodbye to Andrew this morning. He's flying home to Nicole and Ft. Belvoir. I think we'll explore Austin with Les this afternoon.