April 13, 2025
Day 8 - Kyle to Austin
We slept late this morning (OK - I slept late!) But we knew we had a short ride today and so we weren't too worried about it. We enjoyed the free breakfast at the hotel and rolled out a little after 10am.
Getting out of Kyle was pretty easy - there were several nice backroads that were quiet with little traffic. The best part was we were headed mostly north today, and the wind was blowing out of the south giving us a nice tailwind!
As we got closer to Buda, we had a nice sidewalk or shoulder all the way to Buda and through town. Buda is a cute town but was very busy today as it looked like they were having some type of festival today in the historic downtown. We went a block south and bypassed it as it was packed with cars coming and going.
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As we left Buda, we got on the Camino Real historic trail (called Old San Antonio Road). The El Camino Real de los Tejas was/is a network of paths/roads from Laredo, through San Antonio, Austin, and Nacogdoches that facilitated travel, trade, and communication between Mexico City and the easternmost regions of Spanish Texas (thanks, Wikipedia!). We were on this route from Buda to Austin.
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The closer we got to Austin the better the road infrastructure was for pedestrians and cyclists. This area is one of the exceptions to Texas' antipathy towards pedestrians and cyclists.
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Below are several examples of the bike and/or walking infrastructure in the Austin area. It made it so easy to get to McKinney Falls State Park just outside of Austin.
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Neither of us was very hungry at lunch time, so we stopped at Whataburger and had burgers for lunch before heading to the park.
After lunch, it was a short ride to camp. Of course, there was construction on the bike path and shoulder on the main road we needed to use, which meant we needed to take a detour through a neighborhood. Naturally, the detour included a healthy climb to the top of the hill above where we originally would have gone! At leadt it eas then downhill all the way to the park.
We stopped at a CVS store about a mile outside of camp for some camp snacks and beverages, plus a bag of ice to keep it cool. Big Dave carries the cooler, the ice, and the beverages to camp - am I a lucky woman, or what?!
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Right after leaving CVS with goodies, we had a bikepacker pass us on the sidewalk into camp. He had ridden his bike to Palmetto State Park on Friday night, did a gravel ride/race nearby, then rode home today. We chatted for a few minutes while riding, and then he "left us in the dust" for his last 5 miles home in Austin.
It was a great day on the road. We plan to stay here tomorrow to explore the park before heading back towards Houston. We've been here twice now but haven't had a chance to really see the park so decided it was a good time to do that!
Hopefully there's water over the falls and plenty of water for swimming!
Today's ride: 22 miles (35 km)
Total: 244 miles (393 km)
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