Day 30 – “The Wall of Death”

Miles Completed: 48.0

Cumulative miles: 1580.5

Miles to St Augustine: 1478

Today we rode from Vanderpool to a KOA near Kerrville, TX. But first let’s talk about last night. We were expecting a storm overnight and boy did we get one. At about 10:45 last night a strong storm hit us. For about 30 minutes, it was windy, pouring rain, and lightning all around us. Tammy and Simona got to the camp rec center and sent a note that we could either go over there or ride it out in our tents. Only Togan ran to the rec center and the rest of us stayed in our tents. We were afraid our tents might blow away without our weight in there. Also we would have got soaked! When the storm was roaring, I put on my rain jacket and rain pants and shoes in the tent in case I would need to make a run for it. For the rest of the night it was off and on rain and my tent got some moisture that dripped on me a little, but nothing too serious. The rain stopped about 5:30am in time for setting up breakfast. Thank goodness. I put my wet tent in a garbage bag and dried it out after we completed today’s ride.

After the rain, it was very cloudy and foggy this morning, but we had no rain during today’s ride.

Early in today’s ride, we had a hill with the steepest grade of the tour yet. The steepest part was a 12-15% grade over about a half mile. This part of the ride is known as the “Wall of Death” and “The Widowmaker”. I was ready for it and it didn’t seem as bad as advertised. I survived the Wall of Death!

The Texas Hill Country has lots of hunting farms/ranches. Many have fences 8-10 feet high to keep the deer and other animals on their land. During my ride, I saw hunters in a special jeep with seats high up to see the animals. They pulled up to a gate that I believe they were entering. Then I saw about 6 bighorn sheep that the hunters were looking at. It doesn’t seem much like hunting when a guide drives you to an animal on a hunting ranch.

During the latter part of the ride, we rode along the Guadalupe River for about 20 miles. We crossed it several times and the river looked majestic with good water flow likely due to the recent rains. But on July 4 of this year, the river turned deadly when floodwaters overtook young campers at Camp Mystic, killing 25 children and 2 counselors. I rode by Camp Mystic today and it was very emotional seeing the memorials and the devastation to the area. I can’t fathom that kind of tragedy. My heart goes out to those kids and their families. It has much more impact seeing it in person than viewing it on the news. I will remember this day well after this adventure is over.