Day 30: Bracketville, TX to Seminole Canyon State Park, TX

Daily Miles: 70.3 Total Miles: 1647.7

Off-road adventure before disaster struck

Today was an awesome day! I headed out of the hotel this morning around 9:45am and planned to meet up with Mary ~30 miles into the day in the Mexican border town of Del Rio, TX. Riding out of Bracketville on US 90, the road was once again terrible. I was slowly making my way along when I saw two other cyclists going in the opposite direction riding along the dirt road that paralleled US 90. These dirt roads seem to be used primarily by the hundreds of US Border Patrol vehicles that I saw yesterday and today (and will probably continue to see until I hit New Mexico). I yelled out and asked the cyclists how that dirt road was, and they said it was better than the road I was riding on. I decided to move on over and give it a try and for the most part, they were right. The road was sandy, so I had to exert more effort, but it was quite smooth. There was no head-bobbing or bone-rattling, and for the most part the ride was much more comfortable.

Photo-op with one of the VT grad recumbent cyclists

After about 3 miles, I may have gotten too comfortable, and forgot what I was doing, because before I knew it, this dirt road headed down towards a dry creek bed and I barreled down into it at over 15MPH. I hit the rocky creek bed, nearly snapped my wrists in two, and used all of my strength to stay on the bike. It's a miracle that I did not bust both of my tires and once I peddled back out of the creek bed unharmed, I decided it would be better to take my chances on the shoulder of US 90.

Mary raised suspicion at an Immigration Checkpoint

After about 19 miles the road quality improved dramatically and I was able to ride comfortably the last 11 miles in to Del Rio. I had to make a few turns to avoid the heaviest traffic areas, and as I was pulling back up to US 90, realizing that Mary was nowhere in sight, I pulled in to a Ramada Inn to call her. As I pulled up I saw three other cyclists also arriving. They were all riding recumbent bikes, and I stopped and chatted a good 15 minutes with the three of them. We traded shortcuts; they gave me the heads up on a good shortcut in West Texas that avoids some big climbs and cuts out some interstate riding (and also cuts out several miles).

Entering the Amistad Recreation Area

Finally near the end of the conversation I learned that two of them were Virginia Tech graduates! Small world. After a few minutes Mary arrived, we bid my fellow cyclists goodbye and then took advantage of the glorious strip mall environment of Del Rio and ate lunch at a Chili's. We have a feeling this will be the last place like this we see for many miles. After lunch I prepared to head on the ~30 miles more to Comstock, and before heading out it felt really warm, so I decided to check the temperature... 88 degrees and it would be rising to 94 as the afternoon continued. Ug.

Some of today's awesome scenery

Riding out of Del Rio I passed over the Amistad Recreation Area, a huge lake/reservoir that I think is shared between Mexico and the US. Amistad means friendship in Spanish, so that's why I'm thinking the two countries share this water. However, based on the extreme presence of border patrol, I don't think too many Mexican boaters get a very friendly reception if they venture into the US side of the reservoir. The lake area was really pretty and after passing through I once again began to climb. The terrain again was completely different today, and I thought it was very cool. A lot drier land and more rocky. As I continued on US 90 towards Comstock I was riding at a very good pace. I felt really good and strong and when I met up with Mary 10 miles from Comstock I told her I felt like riding on an additional 9 miles to the entrance of Seminole Canyon State Park. Those 19 miles flew by, and I finished up the last 5 miles of the day at a blazing 18.2 MPH pace. Yesterday I met another cross country cyclist named Jim and he told me that we should definitely try to visit the park. The canyon is supposed to be beautiful and there is also a hike that goes to well-preserved caves that were hand-painted by Native-Americans generations ago. Mary got the details while I was riding out, and at 10am each day there is a guided hike out to the painted caves. Our plan for tomorrow is to sleep in a little and then head up to the park for the hour long tour at 10am. After the tour I will bike on to Dryden, TX ~60 miles down US 90. Tonight we are staying in Comstock, a town of maybe 20 people, in a quite nice local hotel that caters to people visiting the Amistad Recreational Area. We had sandwiches at the only restaurant in town and are now in the hotel relaxing and looking forward to a new adventure tomorrow.