DAY 5 - SAN AUGUSTINE, TX TO BROADDUS, TX

Mileage - 29 5; Total Mileage - 192.5 miles

Margarita Count - 4 (Still!) 

I slept hard for about 10 hours last night and it was wonderful! I felt good getting up this morning and knew it would be a good ride day. 

it was warmer overnight because the wind is coming from the south and has brought us warmer weather. Like yesterday, we were mostly be headed south today and had a headwind the majority of the ride. 

We rolled out of camp at our standard time of 9:30. After not eating dinner last night I was finally hungry so I had my last two packets of oatmeal for breakfast. That's 6 oz. I won't have to carry the next two days..haha. We stopped at Valero on our way out of town because we wouldn't have any services until mile 26. Dave's supplies included 2 burritos - one for breakfast and one for the road!

We stayed last night at the Mission Dolores State Historical Park. Many of the RV spots are in use by guys working the fracking, or driving the trucks. That park is probably one of the best we have stayed at this tour. 

Most of our day was spent on quiet FM 1277. It was rolling terrain with a few longer climbs and the occasional steep section. We still had about 1,200 feet of climbing and that was enough.  Reba rode out with us again this morning for about 18 miles and then turned around to get her van. 

They have all the "dollars" locked up here!

Reba and Dave riding along. 

There is a lot of fracking going on around this area. We only saw a few sand trucks and water trucks for fracking operations today. Throughout the week we've seen a lot of them and tried to stay off the main roads they are using. 

You know you are moving slow on the bike when you get passed by a butterfly, and it leaves you in the dust! I've experienced that a couple of times this tour as I slowly climbed up some steeper hills. We had a couple of 8% and 9% sections today. With 45 pounds of gear on the bike and myself, that's a lot to carry up the hill.

Shady rest break beside a church. 

I have spent lots of time with "granny" this tour - like I do anytime there are hills. My granny gear is very low and I never think that I'd be better off without that super low gear!

Since today was a short day, we made it to the one town we would see today in time for a late lunch at the Dairy Mart. The food was good and it was nice to sit and eat in the AC. It was in the mid-80's today, which is quite a change from just a few days ago in the mid-60's. 

We rolled into camp a little before 4pm and were able to relax a little. The marina has a grill that closes at 5:30pm and we almost didn't get back over there in time to get dinner. We were able to get burgers and a grilled cheese which made a perfect dinner. 

We only saw one town today, Broaddus, TX, population 184. They didn't have a liquor store or any alcohol because it is a dry county here, so no luck with any margaritas tonight. I did give fair warning at the beginning that I wasn't sure I'd find many margarita opportunities.

Reba with Reggie and Ross in camp tonight. 

We are camped right by the lake and enjoyed the site of the sunset behind our tent. Tomorrow is our last day of riding, which is always bittersweet. We spend lots of time planning, dreaming and riding our bikes to be ready, and in a flash it is over. Now we'll have to start the process all over again for the next tour.