La Grange to Richards (Mexico Hill Ranch) April 9 2012

He must be a pet as I walked over to take a picture of the longhorn and he came right over to be petted


The original Baylon University



A field of wild flowers

Breakfast was at the home of a friend of Bubba’s who lives in La Grange. It was at 6:30 Am as today was an 88 mile day plus a few bubba miles. Naturally the early risers were up at 4:30 Am opening and closing their zippers talking and tramping around shining their head lamps on your tent. My alarm was set for 6:10, but I was awake long before it went off.

I was actually on the road by 7:04 Am. It was perfect cycling temperature and there wasn’t a breath of wind. Unbelievably the road was quite smooth for the majority of the day. The first sag was in this very cute little town where the mayor and some other people came out and made us coffee and sweet rolls. I had a slice of pineapple upside down cake. It was really delicious. I was cruising most of the day with Liam who is our Irish rider. We had a lot of fun riding together. Lunch was in a town called Liberty and was in a park which had been the original site of Baylor University. There isn’t much left just some old columns. After lunch Liam and I caught up with another group of riders and we rode along together for quite a while, unfortunately I got a flat and they rode off. It must have taken me thirty minutes to fix the flat as it was one of those can’t find the cause flats so I took extra time looking for it. I still had about 28 miles to go so I rode on and skipped the last sag stop.

Tonight we are camped in a place called Mexico Hill Ranch. It is at least 20 miles from the nearest town. Not that is so bad but tomorrow is our day off. There is no shade what so ever, the tents are all jammed together into a tiny little space which was a cow pasture and is full of cow pies, the pool which was supposed to be the big attraction has been drained. I asked Bubba three times to move my tent to another area but was ignored. So finally I blew up at him. Then he got the boys to move my tent to another spot which isn’t in the cow pasture and isn’t on top of the early risers. What a dump to be stuck in for your day off!

Terry