Riverwalk: Guadalupe River State Park, 5/29/08

We left Balmorhea at about 9:30 this morning knowing that we had a long, hot drive ahead of us. We were only about half-way thru western Texas and figured it would take 6 or so hours to reach our destination. Once again, we passed the time listening to “This American Life” and local country stations. We finally hit the hill country and were rewarded with lots of trees, some wildflowers and much prettier landscape. We decided to get off I-10 and explore some of the back roads. We took a spin thru Fredericksburg, a German touristy town. We were really close to LBJ’s boyhood home, but decided to take a turn right instead and meander to our night’s destination, Guadalupe River State Park. These country roads and small towns were small and really quite sweet. Some of the homes in this area are beautiful, built out of limestone and set far off the road. I really liked the towns of Sisterdale and Boerne. We pulled into the State Park at about 4ish and you guessed it, hopped on our bikes and went exploring. At the beach and picnic area, the river runs thru a small gorge and the water is quite warm. We couldn’t decide whether to swim tonight and head into San Antonio tomorrow or vice versa. The temp is pretty consistently in the mid-90’s and it’s very humid. We finally decided to head into San Antonio tonight (about a 30-45 min drive), take a stroll along the Riverwalk and eat at a restaurant in the cool of the evening. The mojitos and fajitas were a great way to relax as we did some serious people watching. (Photo is along the Riverwalk.) We also walked over to the Alamo and explored some of the Missions. I was all set to do the Mission Trail bike ride tomorrow, but Ned wanted to check it out tonight to see what we were getting into. Once again, I’m sticking with him. Turns out the “bike trail” was really city streets, not thru the greatest part of town. Instead, we drove to a couple of the missions and decided that was good enough. (I don’t think I could’ve done the ride in this humidity and heat, but don’t tell Ned.) We’ve been fortunate with the evenings cooling off to about 65 degrees, which makes it pleasant for sleeping. However, as soon as the sun comes up it immediately starts heating up. I think the plan tomorrow is to get in as much swimming as possible in the river. We are currently filling up the tank and as luck would have it, I’m able to pirate on another net connection. Sweet! (For the curious, we’ve been averaging a little over 20 mpg. The highest gas was in the middle of nowhere Texas at $4.19 and the cheapest has been $3.81 in San Antonio.)