I have to be honest, before this biking adventure, I had never given the landscape of Texas much thought. I have always just thought of it as a wide, barren, hot expanse, connecting the green humid swamps of Louisiana to high, red mesas of New Mexico and plains to the north. Texas was only somewhere to drive through—with the air conditioning on. Well, I have learned the error of my ways.  For the last nine days, my husband, teenage son, and I have cycled 425 miles along the Transamerican Cycling Association’s Texas Hill Country route, performing a loop beginning and ending in Austin. We biked along ranch and farm roads, through wine country (who knew?), cattle land and desert, and I have learned that there is a whole lot more to Texas than I had reckoned. Texas is a land of extremes. In late April, the Hill Country temperatures reel between nearly 90 by day to 40 at night. The sky is pierced by the searing sun one moment, soft spritzing rain the next, and then with crescendos of towering cumulous clouds rising up majestically, rivaling the size of the enormous western sky. There are wild flowers covering the land. Blue Bonnets, of course, but also bright red and yellow-ringed Indian blankets, white tissue-paper like Texas prickly poppies whose blossoms rise up out of spiny, overly-protective leaves, brown-eyed Susans, purple asters and countless others. They bow, wave, quake, and salute along the roadsides and at times as far as the eye can see, demanding attention. Demanding one to slow down and notice. Then there are the fields with no flowers, only flattened grass and cactus—eaten to nubs by various herds. The fields are filled with long-horned cattle, horses, burros, sheep, and goats, all munching away at their leisure, not seeming to be remotely aware of their power, starting like kittens when we sped by. Wildlife abounds too, and we saw lizards and owls, deer and armadillos, coyotes and wild hogs, with which we enjoyed mutual staring contests at close range, one slow, lazy blink at a time. Of course there are ranches. Many of them looking like settings for the lifestyles of the rich and famous. They covered thousands of acres and had proud gated entrances along the road marked with their signature names—gold embossed. But, here and there nestle small towns along riverbanks—seeking the water, the green and the shade. In the Hill Country there is a strong German influence that rubs side by side with a Hispanic one. There are those that broadcast their politically conservative views with “Trump 2024” banners, and then there is the liberal artistic vibe of Austin. There are dammed lakes with cool welcoming water, that are the perfect balm after a long sweaty day of cycling. There are tall red rocks and mesas striped with limestone strata, orange granite and bright green juniper, mesquite, and live oak. Veritable rainbows. There are horribly ugly stretches of highway, subdivisions and ex-urban sprawl, but that can be found just about everywhere these days. Those areas were tempered by the miles and miles and miles of roads we rode on where we could ride no-handed, side-by-side, chatting for hours—nearly full days, without seeing another car or person, remembering who we are, what we love and how incredible this world can be. This part of Texas is neither barren nor flat—it is big, bold and hilly, my aching knees and saturated heart can attest to that. |
Fascinating insight into parts of Texas I never knew. Thanks for sharing and glad you three enjoyed your latest adventure.
omg bikemum! you all are such adventurers! i know you have been doing it for years. it’s so kool! thanks for your luvely telling and all the pics! wonderful.
so, red earth texas? even you have that question mark there. well, you found a lot there. that’s good enuff for me.
i spent quite a bit of time on texas rivers on oil tankers to and from refineries. one day, tied up to a dock a texas micro burst hit the ship and we parted lines. big texas weather. even the raindrops are big in texas. i remember that heat you describe. i used to joke about that old saying how “eveything is big in texas” and say, on the hot steel decks of the ship stepping on giant texas-sized cockroaches sounded like a bag of potato chips! i remember the hot breezeless nights on the rivers gliding along under twinkling refinery lights and the gas burnoffs roaring with fire up into the air. i remember thinking that at night, cutting thru on the dark rivers the wasteland of refineries is like oz and the emerald city. during the day, it’s what is see in your pictures.
ok, texas. i notice you keep politics out of it. i mean, you must have met texans, along the way. i guess all your stories on the bikemum blog are without those kinds of cultural observations. i take that back. you talked about rich texas ranches and some poorer towns.
what a trip you had! looking forward ur next post. hello to ur hubby, from me. ur fan, j.
Great you all biked the Hill loop! I agree, TX has a lot of variety! I biked the Southern Tier years ago, which goes across TX. A lady in our group brought up that we could ride the Hill country loop, as we got near it. I declined, seeing we had already done LOTS of hills already, and I didn’t want to do more. I said I could always come back another time to do it. Perhaps one day! Thanks for telling us about all you saw! 🙂 Great your husband joined you this time! 🙂
Parents lived outside of Austin for a while on Lake Travis in the Hill Country of which you speak. Lance Armstrong and other bikers training for France, Olympics, etc. used to train on those hills. Texas has a lot of beautiful country. Did most of my growing up in Texas and most of my family still lives there… But dont have a lot of positive things to say about that state right now. Hope you guys are vaccinated!
My wife and I traveled across Texas in 2007 from ElPaso to east Texas near the Louisiana border – 3 weeks. Same time of year, April and May. It was everything you say and more.
Politics aside, we met very kind people all over. The landscape has pretty much everything, mountains, desert, lush greenery, from hot and dry to hot and humid.
Thanks for bringing back fond memories.
You guys always amaze me. Thanks for sharing your adventures!
Thanks Randy!
Texas! Now you surprise me. And your force me to examine my negative mindset about the Lone Star State! What you describe paints a stunning picture. What made you decide to bike there?
There is a great loop that has wide shoulders, spring wild flowers and good camping…and it is warm. I try not to write about my political bents, but it is true that Texas seems to start pretty far from my own. It is a different world.
I have been loving your blog all along, but was really taken with this one. I just finished reading Tony Horwitz’s last book, Spying in the South. He followed the journey route of Frederick Law Olmstead, the landscape architect, through the south right be fore the Civil War. He writes about Olmstead’s reactions and what he ( Horwitz) experiences. Olmstead fell in love with the Hill Country and the Guadalupe River and considered moving there. Horwitz writes about the German settlers of 1848 (all new to me) and marvels at the scenery and, in a different way, marvels at the some of the people he meets. You don’t need to read the whole book, but you really would enjoy the Texas portion — from East Texas to the Mexican border including Austin and San Antonio.
Thank you! I did read the Tony Horowitz book a little while ago. Everything he says is true and it was really fun to see it all through that lease. Without reading his book, I would have been baffled by the German culture, but it was really prevalent-right down to the names of things and the food. I love his writing.