Day 59: Leakey to Uvalde: Fat Tuesday - not just Mardi Gras but pig out at Bonnie's Bakery - Grampies Go South Spring 2014

March 4, 2014

Day 59: Leakey to Uvalde: Fat Tuesday - not just Mardi Gras but pig out at Bonnie's Bakery

Our cabin at Frio Springs was so much like a house that our time there was almost like having gone home briefly and restarted the tour.One added feature that also was reminiscent of home was the deer in the back yard in the morning. At home, though, we would send Dodie or Sandra out to chase them off the garden. But here, they are just cute.

Look Sandra and Marius, deer in the back yard.

Leakey is a real summertime tourist destination, and as we continued down US 83 we passed numerous cabin rentals, souvenir shops, and antique shops. Of these, the one that really grabbed our attention was Bonnie's Bakery. we had already cycled up to 5 km so of course we would be ready for some pastry power!

We are apparently following a cattle and pig trail

Behind the fence of a giant ranch, a nice buck

We normally are no photographing dead animals, but look at these wild turkey feathers

The door to Bonnie's was locked. How cruel! We pressed our noses up against the glass and noted that there were actually some baked goods in there. How doubly cruel! We were standing there absorbing this tragedy when Bonnie's daughter and son-in-law drove up. And they had the key! They let us in, but pointed out that the things in the case were leftover from the weekend. So what! The pastry power calories were probably still in there.

Tricia has commented in the Guestbook on the questionable nutrition of our 20 chocolate bar purchase yesterday, and I tried to deny that we would actually eat them all. However, Bonnie's put four turnovers, eight chocolate chip cookies, and six cinnamon buns into our packs. And yes, we are gonna eat them all!

As to the cost, they said we should pay Bonnie next time we came through. Since it is possible we may not make it back this way, if anyone reading this finds Bonnie, please pay her for us!

Bonnie's son-in-law opens the bakery for us

Not too far from Cancon we came upon a closed restaurant and cabins that displayed a number of signs indicating that they were biker friendly. Biker friendly is almost as good as bicyclist friendly, since a touring biker will often need a tent spot, may be cold and wet, and generally more of an adventurer than the four wheel motorist. The restaurant site had some words of wisdom on large signs, that we rather liked. Also there was a painting of a biker, giving the arm down greeting that we have become familiar with. We use this ourselves, when passing bikers.

What the Hill country looks like on the way to Uvalde

Poignant wording about a war we did not support

This bird may be speculating on how we are doing

Look Tricia, four flavours of Fanta. Note that since we are near Mexico, the bottles are bilingual.

The bat caves near here are apparently quite a sight, with millions of bats going in and out. With more time we would have gone off route to have a look at it

Camel, the main competitor for Marlborough

This gimmicky version allows you to choose the amount of menthol

Some of the last of the hills of the Hill Country. The little speck down there is Dodie

This bird, high on a wire, was seranading us as we passed.

Dodie shares her precious apple with this horse

When we reached the turn off for Utopia we rather unwisely continued on towards Uvalde. At this point we were still in the Hill Country. Fortunately, most of the hills involved could be viewed from the road, not ascended on the road. Well before we were done for the day, though, this would change dramatically. The hills magically disappeared, and were replaced first by some flat crop lands, and then by flat, treeless scrub.

I was just saying to Dodie that we needed to treasure the last few hills, for their exercise value, because it could just be easy going from here to Tucson. She assured me that there would still be some tough going ahead, and the truth is we are both glad to be done with the Hill Country. It was beautiful, alright, but not really a lot of vineyards, olive orchards, and bakeries jumped out at us. And, we can find more people with German backgrounds on our own farm, than we actually encountered here!

The hills are gone, and here are fields of hay

Something crumpled this long irrigator, but we could not figure out what

A much more familiar scene than the giant ranches were

oops, one more ranch, with a unique gate

The Hill country trees are replaced by scrub

The town of Uvalde surprised us with Hwy 83 becoming a broad street with sedate traffic and lined with interesting houses. At the intersection with US 90 we have the actual centre of town. We turned right (West) here Our plan is to follow 90 to Del Rio and beyond. We had planned to find a wild camp this night, but Dodie then voted for a motel, in which to plan the rest of our stops. When we failed to find any motel, we went back into wild camp mode.

We were in this mode when we passed the Uvalde police station, and dropped in to see where they might advise. The police officers were all of Mexican background, and so sweet. However they advised us against a wild camp in the immediate vicinity due to the intense activity of the Border Patrol. They declined our request to camp in their yard, but did tell us where the motels were. We cycled back downtown and took the left turn. Voila, scads of options there.

So here we sit, with Dodie plotting out our way forward. A big help is being Steve Wiersma's blog. We just missed Steve, as he departed Camp Wood today, presumably headed for Leakey, which we have just left. However his notes about what he encountered up our road are going to be invaluable.

We are now in a whole new eco-region, and soon will see the Rio Grande. Already there is an enhanced Mexican presence here, from the ethnic Mexican police officers to the many Taquerias. We are also looking forward to some flatter and faster riding, and maybe some more frequent services along the road, at least for a little while.

This park in Uvalde is just the sort of perfect place that the police advised us not to camp in. They say aside from the Border Patrol, this is a tough town and parks are not safe at night

Today's ride: 71 km (44 miles)
Total: 3,514 km (2,182 miles)

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