DAY 2 - BASTROP, TX TO AUSTIN, TX

Mileage - 36.0; Total Mileage - 71.7 miles

Today was a good day on the bikes! We all slept well last night and managed to eat breakfast, pack up camp, and be on the road at 9:30am. That's a good time for us! We made a quick stop in downtown Bastrop on the way out for ice, gatorade, and a snack for me before hitting the road. 

There were a few busy roads getting out of Bastrop this morning but we were quickly on some beautiful rural roads. We had the occasional steep hill, but luckily they were short! And there were none that we had to walk. It was just pretty rolling countryside.

The wildflowers for today were the Pink Evening Primrose and the Drummond Phlox. There were a lot of patches alongside the roads but they were harder to see because the grass has gotten long. In the spring, many places don't mow the roadsides or other areas when the wildflowers are blooming. 

Pink Evening Primrose pictures:

Drummond Phlox pirctures:

At about 22 miles into the ride, it was time for lunch. We stopped at a combination Mexican supermarket, deli, bakery, and meat market. Reba and Dave got various meet tacos and I got enchiladas. For $9 I got 3 chicken enchiladas, with rice and beans. It was a huge plate!

There weren't any tables to eat at, so we sat on the sidewalk in front of the store to eat. We even had a very friendly dog as a lunch companion.  His eyes were begging but he was very polite and just waited for us to eat. Of course, all of us had more food than we could eat, so he was rewarded with a good lunch. 

We saw a couple touring today on a tandem pulling a trailer. We were going opposite directions. They were going downhill, and we were headed uphill so we passed in a flash and there wasn't anywhere to stop and chat with them. 

As we came into Austin, we passed right by the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) track (Formula 1 track). We could hear engines on the track and Dave went up a little into the complex and was able to see some super bikes on the track. 

It got a little warm this afternoon but we knew we had a possibiity of swimming at the park. After getting camp set up, Dave and I headed for the Upper Falls for a swim. Reba passed on the opportunity. The water was cool and 30 minutes of hanging out in the pool below the falls was wonderful! The water was a little low in Onion Creek so there wasn't a lot of water coming over but that didn't matter!

Random scenery pictures and tonight's campsite: