YES! TEXAS HAS HILL COUNTRY!!!

April 9, Campwood to Vanderpool --36 Miles Straight Up!!
Today was a straight up bike riding day...straight up the Texas Hills! You can bet we got our share of walking in. The Adventure Cycling map describes this section as "After Camp Wood the next 36 miles are difficult. The steep climbs and descents and sharp curves of shoulder less Farm Rd. 337 go through thick forests." We were grateful for the cool misty rain as we put our shoulder to the wheel and were determined to conquer those steep grades. (Yes, we were singing that song.) At one of our rest stops we looked back and saw two bike riders fully loaded attacking the climb. They were inspirational! (and they were old! Like us!) They stopped to chat and share war stories. They live in Wisconsin and started the Southern Tier ride in San Diego. They said that in Wisconsin these would be called mountains, not hills!!! There had been three of them but one took a different route for San Antonio at Bracketville. Georgia had noticed that sign too and thought it would be an easier route. She mentioned that to the other bikers and one of them said to her "well, you're in the Hill Country now, Honey, so enjoy it." He was right. There was no getting out of it. Actually it had been something Georgia had been looking forward to doing again but she didn't remember it being so hard last time...well, it wasn't.
After lunch in Leakey we began climbing again...three climbs that looked like they were the highway to heaven! On one of the climbs during a another rest stop we were passed again by the two riders we had met earlier. They had stopped for a leisurely lunch and then caught up and passed us. Hey, no ego problems here. One said "How many more days of this do we have?"
It is sooo gorgeously breathtaking and green like something out of a scenic photo coffee table book! When Rusty was asked what he thought of the ride itself he said "A mean and nasty climb, but gorgeous scenery.!"
While eating lunch earlier on in Leakey before the real climb began a local mentioned the weather forecast for thunderstorms in the mountains that night and thought we should consider staying in Leakey for the night. We decided to ride on after calling a cabin listed on the map to see if they had a vacancy in case we decided not to camp. This is an interesting situation to be in. One of us really hates to haul 90lbs or so of equipment up those hills and then not use it but the other one of us says "we will." (guess which says which)
Upon arriving at a grocery store in Lost Maples, outside of Vanderpool we checked out the weather again. Decided to stay in the cabin and as it turned out there was rain and quite a bit of wind in the night. Again, we slept while the wind blew.
Visiting with the owner of the cabin about our ride, Rusty was asked "What is this? A Man against Nature thing?" We figured that was a different way of asking "are you crazy?"

We're thinking of having T-shirts made that say: "I SURVIVED THE LEAKEY TO VANDERPOOL RIDE"

Side note: we loved the cabin! Listed as Orchard Inn in Vanderpool. Fireplace, no TV, Quilt wall hanging, washer & dryer, picnic table, shady trees. Very peaceful, quiet and dark at night. If you're in that neighborhood be sure to stay and tell John Scotty the owner "Hi" for the crazy tandem bikers from Oregon.