As we leave the house, my wife asks (again) if we would rather do something (anything) else for spring break. We assure her we are fine and we will call her later during the day. Besides, we are going a short distance and she knows our exact route. We will be fine. From the house, we stick to the back streets as we make our way across I-35 and onto the better part of highway 3009. For the first 7 miles (after we cross 35), we have a great wide shoulder to learn on, and we definitely take advantage of the time. After 7 miles, the road narrows but thankfully, the traffic eases up a little. We have even managed to develop a bit of a rhythm.
Unfortunately, this rhythm is destroyed each time we attempt a climb as the &^ing chain comes off and we are forced to stop and replace it. By about the ten-mile mark, I have almost exhausted my supply of colorful words, and I am damn near the point of tossing the bike in the ditch and thumbing a ride home. Who needs this kind of stress on a “vacation?” After a particularly annoying series of stops, my son suggests we actually calm down and fix the bike. “We knew there might be trouble, and we have the tools.” He was right (of course), we took a bit to study the problem and found an idler that was not aligned correctly. A few minutes of creative roadside repair and we were back in the saddle. We never had problems with the chain again. Smart kid!
We reached the campsite a little later (and a lot more tired) then I had expected. I am definitely in worse physical shape then I thought. Even though we were at the very outside of the “hill country”, we had plenty of hills to deal with! As for the Texas weather… Yuck! I don’t think I will ever get used to it. Today it was in the 80’s with 80% humidity. Have ya ever heard of seasons?