Day 9 - Ingram to Highway 187

I bid goodbye to Mark and Ben. Mark offered two more cans of Coke. I took one and after having brunch at Whattaburger, set out for Lost Maples.

I did not regret opting for the new route along the Guadalupe. Here are some pictures:

Ingram's Stonehenge. I was taken aback to stumble upon this. It's only some local artist's capricious desire to create a stonehenge in Ingram. It's not a replica either. But it looked pretty.

Another victim of road rage.

Beyond this fence lay a beautiful section of the Guadalupe river. Notice what the sign reads. It boils my blood to see spots of natural beauty in Texas fenced off to the public. This is where they lost it- such spots must not be sold to private persons to begin with, and if they are, then they must be open to the public with some restrictions like in Scandinavia and Scotland.

What I thought would be my last view of Guadalupe

But I crossed the river several times

And then I entered Hunt- a quaint little town. One of the first buildings I saw was the fire department of Hunt run entirely by volunteers. I think I later crossed a ranch called the "World's End" and an eponymous road. Missed taking its picture.  

The red did not hurt my eyes. In fact, it became the barn.

Last admirable view of the Guadalupe

Bootie Fence

This was probably the last time I saw the Guadalupe in its gorgeous green hue. Not surprisingly, this too was private property.

The river started losing its beauty and its volume from this point. Not too far from the view immediately above this one.

 

 

Brownie did not pick up speed even after I had replaced the flat tube. I partly blamed the quality of the road from the outskirts of Ingram. Notice how the rugged road becomes smooth. Alas, only for a bit. I was surprised to see the road in such condition in the US.

This crossing of the Guadalupe was called the "Dry" crossing. The river was actually dry. Yet it had a flood gauge. I could not fathom why.

Ugh Guadalupe. Looks like nobody owned this part of the river.

 

How I love to see the sign "DIP"! Cruised smoothly with Brownie into and out of this DIP.

Lost Maples was still about 15 miles away. It was already 6pm. There were hills ahead. I was too tired to climb hills in the dark. I started looking for a place to spend the night. For the first time, I saw the gate of a ranch open. I had been hoping to spot a ranch or any large private property and ask the people there for permission to camp. I hung around the gate waiting for somebody to appear. Two guys drove in a truck from inside the ranch only to shut the gate. I mustered the courage to ask them. To strike a conversation, I asked how far Lost Maples was from there. The guy who had come out of the truck to shut the gate pretended like he could not understand anything I said. He passed the buck to the driver. The driver tried to be nice. He said it was 19 miles away. (I knew that that was the distance to Vanderpool- the city after Lost Maples.) But I pulled out an anguished face and asked him if I could spend the night in their ranch. He declined my request stating that his boss would not like that. He immediately stated the obvious, "But you can camp on the other side of the fence." That meant on the side of the road. He assured me that it would be safe, "Nobody will mess with ya!" He further suggested that I camp on the road 187 because there would not be much traffic there. I, too, thought 187 would be better. I wanted to ask him to let his boss know that eventually he would need about the same space as I had requested for- just six feet under. But as a traveller it would not have been prudent to pick a fight. I thanked him and pedalled on.

I spent the night at this spot within the first two miles of 187:

I had the leftover tortilla chips with marmalade for dinner. Quite liked that combination. I did not use the rain fly. I finished reading Peter Camenzind. I fell asleep looking at the stars through the mesh pondering the similarities between Peter Camenzind and me. I also remembered some childhood memories. One does not need ahyuasca to bring them back, I thought. I woke up in the middle of the night to find a thick layer of frost on the mesh! Yes, it was that cold!