Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Mother nature does not like us

Woke up to 31 degrees in my tent this morning.  Couldn't get the tent zipper to open as it was frozen shut.  Slept with 2 pair of pants, 3 shirts and a down jacket.   And gloves and wool hat.  Still was cold.


Two days ago we had a 72 mile ride - started at 40 degrees and never got above 48.  Another 15-20 mph headwind.  Climbed about 2000 feet of rolling hills.  Luckily that night we were in a gym (with heat).

We had a talk from a local person at night - Bill McArthur.....

Bill Bio

Pretty interesting discussion on his time in the Space Lab and his space walks.  Smuggled Blue Bell ice cream onto the shuttle.  He rode the ride with us yesterday.  Saw him once as he is really still in shape and fast.

Yesterday we had a 88 mile ride that started at 38 degrees and never got above 45 degrees.  Thankfullt there was only a 7-10 mile per hour wind.  But we had 3500 feet of climbing and it took me 7 hours to ride (8 hours including stops). 
 
Got to see my first long horn steer. (another 4 days left in Texas to ride) ....


I asked a local farmer what do you do with long horn cattle and his response was "not much".  You don't eat them - people raise them for the horns or to ride them in rodeos....



At mile 60 we stopped for a break in a little town that was the home town to Frank Hammer,  the Texas Ranger that hunted down and killed Bonnie and Clyde.  A statue stands in the town square.  


Bonnie was the first woman that he every killed.  

Just outside of town we passed Chuck Norris's ranch and water bottling operation.....


CForce water by Chuck Norris

Chuck is now 79.  His ranch is called Lone Wolf - which was his first movie.  One of the riders said they saw him.  Who knows?

Last night we stayed in a ranch way out in the middle of nowhere.  This might be Bubba's definition of "pampered" but not mine.  Check out one of two toilets....


This really sucks!

We have a rest day today and of course the sun is out and the temp is going to be in the 70's.  Tomorrow we ride again and the starting temps are going to drop into the low 40's.  Worst,the forecast is now calling for 4-5 days of thunderstorms.  

We can't catch a break.  

Can't wait to get out of Texas.



No comments: