Sunshine and a little bit of warmth In the Texas Hill Country

After my return from Guatemala a month ago things were a bit anti-climactic. On the Monday after my return I went for a bike ride in fairly chilly conditions in Lubbock, and during and after the ride I just didn't feel quite right; I ascribed it to the much lower temperatures and tried to shrug it off. But on Tuesday there was a scratchy throat, and then came a runny nose. For two days I tested negative, but then on Thursday the COVID test strip made it official that this was more than just a common cold. Immediately I started my five-day regimen of popping Paxlovid, with which I had traveled for the past year in case I should test positive while in the hinterlands of Mexico. But thanks to the Paxlovid, two days later, pretty much all the symptoms were gone, and on the following Monday I was back out riding—but the various dinner plans with friends during the Christmas period had been laid to rest.

Hill Country impressions from the Bandera area

New Year's came and went, and it was probably the least "exciting" end or beginning of a year that I can recall for the past 40+ years. With Lubbock's weather undulating between windy and sunny and cold, and windy and sunny and warm, and windy and cloudy and cold it was time to figure out how to preserve the little bit of cycling form that was still left from Chile, if there was any.

Leaving Lubbock on the Tahoka Highway

With a little bit of luck I managed to book on short notice a three-bedroom condo in a timeshare complex near Ingram, close to Kerrville in the Hill Country. Usually these timeshare rentals are sold out many months ahead of time, but in this particular instance the stars aligned and I had to spend only 6,500 of my annual 20,000 points (plus the mandatory "exchange" fee of $298) to secure my spot at WorldMark Hunt Stablewood Springs Resort. And so I loaded up the Z4 with all the essentials: Dutch oven, flour sifter, Bose Bluetooth speaker, and enough wine to last for a week. Of course, the Ritchey Outback (freshly cleaned after Chile) came along as well.

Nice digs at the WorldMark Hunt Stablewood Springs Resort 

I left on a Friday morning for the six-hour drive. It is so easy to forget how desolate the South Plains look in the winter: The cotton fields are barren after the harvest, there's hardly any winter wheat, and what used to be green ground cover at some point in the past year now is just brown shrubbery. I took the route via Big Spring, and that meant that the first 100 miles were essentially featureless. At least the sky was brilliantly blue, and halfway through the trip it had warmed up enough to drop the roof. Still, even once I made it down to Eden, Menard, and Junction, the colors didn't change much: Everything looked brown and lifeless. Many of the live oak looked as if they had been killed by that massive freeze two years ago, and other trees and shrubs were naturally without leaves.

I arrived at the resort right around 4:00 p.m., check-in time. My assigned unit was facing with its balcony and master bedroom to the north, and for me, the lover of sunlight, that was not acceptable. Fortunately, the friendly staff were able to accommodate me in a different building that received morning sun as well as some of the last rays in the day. Whew! The three-bedroom/two-bathroom unit was impeccably clean, with modern furniture and a large, open living/dining/kitchen area. This was by far the best RCI timeshare apartment I had ever seen. Kudos! Add to that the outstanding multiple pool and jacuzzi area, plus functioning gas grills and other amenities, and I truly had a winner on my hands.

After moving in and unpacking my stuff I drove to Kerrville to stock up on groceries for the week at the local HEB. Meanwhile, my friend Beth started her drive from Lubbock to Ingram; as a teacher she had to work until the afternoon and would not arrive until almost 10 p.m. Since Monday was MLK Day she was able to make this a three-day weekend, even if it involved two cars and lots more driving. The urge to get out of Lubbock can get pretty damn strong, let me tell you!

Unaltered and non-Photoshopped Texas skies

So, for the first two days I spent time hiking and exploring the area with Beth on foot (except for my ride to one of Kerrville's brewpubs on Saturday afternoon with a subsequent car shuttle back to the resort). We also took advantage of a (fairly lame) wine tasting in the resort's activity center, but hey, who says no to a few generous and free pours, right? Good tourists that we are, that evening we went to the (equally lame) star gazing party, hosted by an amateur astronomer who undoubtedly knew his constellations but had no idea how to share his knowledge in a meaningful way. But then, there's always that jacuzzi....

The entire Kerrville area features art projects ranging from murals on the side of local cafés to sculptures and small and large installations. One such point of interest is the interesting Stonehenge replica that came into being when a local rancher had a surplus limestone slab, left over after a back patio project. He gave it to his buddy, and from there history took its course when they decided to recreate a scaled-down version of the real Stonehenge. But it didn't end there: Inspired by a trip to Rapa Nui, one of them decided to create two 13-foot replicas of the well-known Easter Island heads. You gotta love Texans.

We checked out the Ingram Art and Cultural Center, visited the Hunt General Store (a bit underwhelming), and enjoyed the sounds of the Guadalupe river at the Hunt Crossing. (On my rides later in the week I would cross the Guadalupe dozens of times using similar crossings.) On Sunday Beth and I went for a long walk along the Guadalupe in Kerrville proper. The Kerrville River Trail, about six miles long, incorporates several parks as well as two cultural centers and features a well-maintained trail that is used by joggers, cyclists, families with kids, skaters, and anybody else who wants to enjoy nature. Thanks to Google Lens we identified Japanese Wild Ginger as well as the Egyptian Geese that populate the area, and Beth was pretty much taken by the prolific and not-so-wild deer population.

At the halfway point, on the Schreiner University campus, we enjoyed a tasty draft (Cosmic Echoes, a hazy IPA brewed by Austin's Meanwhile Brewing Company) while thinking, why can't Texas Tech be that civilized and have a taproom on campus? Leave it to a tiny university of fewer than 1,500 students. So, despite the overcast sky and a healthy breeze we had a damn fine day.

On Monday, with Beth driving back to Lubbock, it was time for me to start riding in earnest. My first two rides were on the longer side at 41 and 44 miles since it warmed up for a couple of days, allowing me to ride in shorts and short sleeves. Thoughts of spring overcame me, but the reality was that thanks to an extended drought practically all of the vegetation looked parched and brown. If it hadn't been for the evergreens, the blue skies, and the beautiful blue-greenish shades of the various rivers, it would have been very drab indeed. And even those rivers didn't carry much water, and many a creek bed was entirely devoid of running water.

Tuesday was my 67th birthday, and I celebrated with my longest ride of the trip that took me via Camp Verde (back in the day, site of the US Army's experiment to use camels instead of horses) to Bandera and then on tiny Upper Mason and Elm Pass roads back to my starting point. I sprang for a nice steak at HEB; grilled to perfection (as far as one can do that on a gas grill) it went well with my baked potato and the bottle of a Cameron Hughes Lot 400 2010 Napa Cabernet that I had brought along for the occasion. That's the way I like to celebrate: solid riding, tasty food, superb wine.

Pre-dinner birthday beer at Pint & Plow

My Wednesday and Thursday rides were somewhat shorter, still around 35 miles or so, but with temperatures falling from Monday's high of almost 80 degrees to the high 60s the impetus was gone to go for longer rides—the hot jacuzzi's pull was just too strong! Then high clouds moved in, and before Friday arrived I decided not to ride in the Comfort area on my way to Boerne where I was going to stay with Judy's nephew, Conner, and his family after checking out. We had been in contact before I had left for the Hill Country, and since I hadn't seen them in about two years (except for Conner's brief visit when I was in the hospital with my broken hip) I thought it'd be fun to extend this trip by another two days.

My oh my, how those boys have grown in such a short time! It was so nice to spend these 48 hours with Conner, Leslie, Carson, and Lyndon and see them in their family interactions. The boys are definitely teenagers, if you get my drift! Personalities have been developed, they're really into their respective sports, and their brains have obviously been usurped by aliens. I was invited to come along to Lyndon's flag football match on Saturday, and getting to meet some of his friends was at least as much fun as the game. And then the house got toilet papered after we got home, and that brought the best out of everyone!

Saturday afternoon I took the last ride of the trip. Upon Conner's advice I drove to the northern trailhead of the San Antonio Greenway Trail system right at the intersection of I-10 and Loop 1604. From there I followed the beautifully built and maintained trail to its southern trailhead at Military Drive, a distance of about 13 miles. As usual my thoughts revolved around the question why our city can't have the vision of joining different parts of town with a safe, multipurpose trail. The San Antonio system is still waiting for completion as there are some sections that need to be finished to create an uninterrupted complete loop around the city, but even where the dedicated motor-vehicle-free sections have not yet been established, bike route signs in the neighborhoods increase safety for two-wheelers.

I ended up riding 30 traffic-free miles on perfect pavement (either concrete or asphalt), among trees, along river beds, underneath 14-lane super-highways that—thanks to a well-planned trail—no longer are barriers like that stupid Loop 289 or the Marsha Sharp Freeway in Lubbock. People were out, mindful of the other trail users, and as is so common in such protected areas, there was wildlife to see. While riding I hatched a plan to one of these days just park my car at Conner's home and then embark on a multi-day tour through San Antonio and the area to the south of it.

As it turned out, I rode exactly 200 miles during my time in the Hill Country. Not bad for a week in January. Of course, since my return on Sunday evening I haven't been back on the bike. Late Monday night we were hit by a fairly massive snowstorm, and there's still plenty of the white stuff on the ground. This weekend will bring the first NICA race, so once again no riding. Oh well, I'm not training for the Tour, just trying to stave off the fat as much as possible. Still, I can't wait for spring!

Carpe diem!

Jürgen