In the morning, we packed up our bicycles again, and said goodbye to Todd and Atticus.
He enjoyed being picked up...
at least for a little while...
The hills were rolling during the first part of the day, and we were in hill country proper.
Somewhere in the hills, we hit a stretch of road construction where it was completely gravel. Gross. Our bikes weren't meant to ride on stuff like this.
We also passed two other pairs of cyclists. The first was two guys who were about our age, and had lots of stuff. The second pair was a couple on recumbents. It's always exciting to see other bikers on the Southern Tier. It's like we are part of a secret club. We always wonder just how many people ride the Southern Tier each year.
Around the town of Comfort, we began following a river, which dramatically reduced the rolling hills. This road was nice, with smooth wide shoulders. Apparently we were slowly gaining elevation the whole time (see Garmin link in day total), but it certainly didn't feel like it.
About 10 miles from Kerrville, we stopped at a convenience store and found that they had two pints of ice cream for $3. What a good deal. And since we are on a bike ride, eating an entire pint of ice cream for a snack seems completely appropriate.
Once in Kerrville, we found the local bike shop and stopped for a visit. Due to lack of checking on my part, we arrived at 3:50pm when they close at 4pm. Luckily for us, they were still helpful and spent time lubricating Jake's shifting system and truing up the slight wobble in my rear wheel. This is the last significant bike shop for many, many miles.
We sat in the parking lot packing our bags after the bike shop stop when we were approached by a random guy. He asked if we were riding across the country, to which we replied 'one day at a time'. He was super nice, and quickly asked if we had a place to stay for the evening. I told him we made a reservation for a campsite, and he told us to cancel it because his guest house was open. Well, of course!
His name was Louis (Lou) and he drove us up the hill to his guest house, showed us around, chatted for a bit and simply told us to call him if we needed anything. What an awesome guy!
Oh yeah, to make this story even cooler...
Lou built this house, Lou's wife (Linda) is a K-State grad with cousins in Olathe, and Lou's nephew is the owner of Jazz in KC (and the Legends)! What a small awesome world.
Day 46 - 58.52 Miles
Trip to Date - 2488.12 miles
Coast to Coast - 1485.67 miles
i think you have a ghost rider with you who is dedicated to making this a great trip
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