THE NEXT ADVENTURE - A SPRING WILDFLOWER TOUR

We are at it again! We are headed out next week for a short tour of the local area. We will be four this tour - Me (of course), Dave, our friend Elie that missed out on the Arkansas tour, and our friend Eve. Because of other commitments, namely Eve getting married a week after our return (woohoo!), it will be a 5 day, 4 night tour starting Monday, April 10.

This is a great time to tour and camp in Texas. The spring wildflowers are in bloom, and there have been a lot of wildflowers this year. The other great part is it is generally warm during the day (75 - 80ish) but is still cool at night (50's - 60's). The only hard part about touring this time of year is finding camping on the weekends. This is prime camping season here. We didn't have any problems finding spots since our overnights are all during the week.

Because of camping availability, the tour will be a loop starting and ending at Bluff Creek Ranch in Warda, TX. If you haven't heard of Warda, TX, I'm not surprised. It is a wide spot in the road half-way between LaGrange and Giddings. That probably still doesn't help some of you! It is about 100 miles northwest of Houston and 65 miles southeast of Austin. Bluff Creek Ranch is a working cattle ranch that has about 9 miles of great mountain bike trails. Trails are open to the public and they also sponsor some local mountain bike races. They also have a camping area for riders and racers.

Here is the general map of the route as planned. As most of you know by now, this is subject to change based on whatever comes up. We'll see how long we stay on route this tour!

We have been busy the last few days getting gear together and checking items off on the packing list. OK - it is only me checking items off on the packing list! It is Saturday afternoon now and we leave tomorrow for Warda. Both bikes have been loaded and everything packed and checked out. It appears we are ready. We will meet Elie and Eve at Warda sometime tomorrow afternoon/early evening. We're getting a start on the camping before the riding starts this time.

We have had a lot of rain in the area the last couple of days. The forecast for this week is looking better than it did a few days ago. The rain stopped early this morning and it looks like now we won't have much (if any) rain for the tour. Of course, we all know how accurate weather forecasts are - so who knows how it will really turn out!

My bike loaded and ready to go. The latest edition to my touring setup is a small, lightweight camp table that Dave got me for Christmas. It adds a couple of pounds but will be nice to have in camp. You can see it underneath my yellow dry bag on the back rack. 

Dave's bike loaded and ready to ride. He also got a new camp table that will be making its maiden voyage. 

Adventure and fun awaits!