Day 26 Austin, TX to Round Top, TX

June 4

Austin, TX to Round Top, TX

99.5 Miles
4320 ft of climbing

Map:


http://www.mapitpronto.com/index.cfm?fuseAction=routePlanner.viewDBRide&rideID=1833


Our day started with saying goodbye to Ash and Justin. We had a nice breakfast and then they took our picture and sent us off. They spent the rest of the day at the thrift shops on South Congress. Then I think they were going to Leakey to spend the night at the Frio Canyon Lodge. It would be cool if they did.

It was a hot, humid, and windy day. The wind was in our faces most of the day but it's true that the trees help break it up. In clearings you feel how much worse it could be were it not for the forest.

We often have people mention to us that it has been unseasonably hot by ten or more degrees since we arrived in Texas. It's comforting to hear the research was valid.

It has been hot!

The humidity is in the eighty five percent range with the temperature in the mid to high nineties. Wednesday was partly cloudy and that helped keep the sun off of us.

Chris is kind of fair and uses SPF 50 sunscreen. He reapplies it every hour and a half as recommended. The other day he actually started
foaming from all the sweat and sunscreen.

We thoroughly soak every item we're wearing within twenty minutes of starting. Our sweat rate is tremendous. When we are consuming water at a particularly high rate due to sweat loss (a liter and a half or more per hour) we supplement with electrolyte capsules containing Sodium, Potassium, Calcium, B-6, manganese, magnesium, and a couple of other compounds. We also tend to salt our food pretty heavily.

On a day we chalk up eight hours of riding we'll each go through as much as twelve liters of fluid.

We rode out of Austin to the Southeast and eventually made our way to Bastrop State Park. There, the map directed us to pay the entrance fee and ride in. It was thirteen miles of well maintained road through a beautiful pine and cedar forest. It's connected to Buescher State Park which we exited from. We saw a total of three cars in the thirteen miles and those were in the last couple. What a great route.

We rode down to La Grange, which is a town of forty seven hundred people or so. It was a kind of cool looking place complete with a train station. I hope we get to return to Santa Fe by train. That's our hope but the routing is going to be tricky. We'll see.

The ride from La Grange was more beautiful Texas hillside.

The antiques began around Winchester. Apparently this is a very hot area for antiquing with a giant annual festival centered in Round Top.

As we got close to Round Top it was a little before 8:00 PM and we decided to stop for dinner. We were feeling pretty good and thought we'd go a little further than our planned overnight stop there. We thought we'd head for Burton where there was an Inn listed on the map.

We had a good dinner at Klump's, a great family place, and actually got to have something pretty healthy. The positive of the chicken entree was more than made up for with our appetizers. Fried crawfish tails (I didn't expect them to be fried but boy were they good) and corn puffs which were essentially deep fried creamed corn (I did expect them to be fried and they were excellent).

Before we hit the road I thought it prudent to give the Inn at Burton a call. The phone was answered after several rings by a man who told me they he would like to accommodate us but he was out of town and the Inn was closed. As far as we could determine it was the only possibility in Burton. He told us our best bet was Round Top. We decided to stick to the original plan and find a place to stay in Round Top. Easier said than done.

I began calling numbers to have my calls picked up by answering machines. As we were striking out, a woman and her family came out of the restaurant. She asked about our ride and then about where we were planning to spend the night. She told us the accommodations in Round Top were exclusively Bed and Breakfasts and arrangements had to be made in advance because many of the owners don't live on the properties where they rent rooms or their businesses are hobbies.

She told us she was sleeping on the floor of her unfinished house and her brother was visiting and camping there. She apologized for not having a place to offer us. She made a recommendation or two but was not very hopeful. She directed us to a wine bar and cigar shop down the street where there might be some locals who knew of something.

We rode over and parked the bikes outside. We went in the wine bar and I asked the bartender if by chance he knew where we might find a room for the night. He said that there happened to be a woman who had just been there that operated a B&B and maybe we could catch her. He ran outside to find her sitting at a table, having a glass of wine, and briefly explained our situation.

She stood up and asked us a couple of questions. Where we were coming from, where we were going, how we ended up without a place to stay, things like that. She explained she had a place six miles outside of town called Outpost at Cedar Creek, (which it turns out is listed in the book of One Thousand Places to See Before You Die).

She said she could put us in a cabin if we liked. I felt bad interrupting her evening but she was happy to help us. I introduced us and she introduced herself as Lenore.

There was a fellow with her that assists with the B&B. He said he would go and get things ready. Not wanting there to be any confusion later I asked what the cost would be. She said, "I knew you were going to ask that. The rate is normally $175 a night but you can pay me what you want". The fellow with her, who later introduced himself as Danny, offered to put our bikes in his truck and give us a ride. We both appreciated it when he accepted and understood our desire to cover every inch on two wheels and in nothing with a motor. He went ahead to turn on lights and air conditioning. Lenore asked what time we'd like to have breakfast and gave us directions.

We have nice bright taillights and decent headlights but I brought a headmounted LED light that works very well for signs. As we headed out on the farmroad I was checking mileage and signage whenever we passed a road or driveway.

As I thought we were closing in on our turn, a motorcycle came down the road toward us. It slowed and we saw it was Danny. He turned the bike around and lead the way. It was a huge help. The last few hundred yards are dirt then gravel and his light was much better than ours.

Thanks Danny!

We got to the property and as we rode in I could see it was something special. Danny took us to the cabin and showed us the kitchen and TV room and gave us ice cold water. Instant comfort.

The cabin was fantastic. Beautifully decorated to the smallest detail. I understood Lenore to say she and Danny had been restoring it for the last fifteen years. I can absolutely believe it. It is a gorgeous and extremely comfortable place I could easily spend a couple of days. If you do the antiquing thing then there's no better place than Round top and no better place to stay than Outpost.

Lenore Prud'Homme you are our hero of the day!

Does my gratitude show?

More adventure tomorrow.

Oh, I think I called Judge Roy Bean the law West of the Mississippi. It was of course the Pecos. There is an example of the kind of things you think about when your riding. The more arcane the better.