Day 20 - Brackettville - Castroville
101 miles
Much better day. Much better.
Woke up an hour earlier, and got on the road an hour earlier. This was a huge help. So it didn't change the wind, I had head wind all the way to Uvalde, but it helped with the temperature. The temperature hasn't really been a problem, but it's easier to ride in '70s then high 80s.
The roads were much better! Nothing close to that rough stuff that I went over yesterday. That alone made today far nicer! So during the morning, there wasn't much from where I started to Uvalde. Just 40 mi. No towns.
In uvalde, I needed to make a stop. I road past the school. I saw the 21 crosses in in front of the school. What more can be said? Seeing something like that puts things into perspective. Yeah, yesterday was a hard day on the bike; but nothing compares to that. My little brief moment of pain is not even in the same dimension as the pain the families must have gone through.
After that I went to the town square, were they had reefs set up to commemorate those lost.
Seeing this, gives you a lot to think about.
Shifting gears, I have now hit civilization. After uvalde, there was basically a town every 10 to 15 mi. This means I was able to take more frequent breaks. Furthermore, my brakes could be a little bit shorter. I didn't have to load up as much food or water. Today I stopped at 2 dollar generals and a family Dollar. Dollar stores are where it's at! Most places let me bring my bike in. Can't ask for much more than that!
Taking these frequent stops let me stay up on my electrolyte and water intake.
Anyway, I got to my town Hondo. But there is no place to camp there. Like literally no place. I called everywhere. The RV parks in town, the chamber of commerce, and the Parks and rec department. Which I don't know why they have that department, cuz there's no parks in the whole town. Usually Texas is more efficient with their tax money!!
So I had to do an extra 17 mi to the next town. Castroville. Which if I had to do this yesterday would destroy me, but since I took more breaks today and was just not a better spot, it was pretty easy.
Once I got into town I went straight to the park, and it is beautiful. Vast green space. Blows the other town out of the water! Great camping can't really ask for much more. Just like yesterday I took a shower washed my clothes, and sat on the sun for a little bit. And then at some point I realized, why am I not in the rec room? So I packed everything up went into the air conditioned rec room for pretty much the rest of the day. Charged My stuff and watched some TV.
While there I made some new friends! Harrison, Justine, and their five kids! Thank you so much for the food! It was delicious, and just what I needed! Good people