Day 28 – January 7th

We have arrived!!!

Hello Austin, Texas 😊

Hello Ryan’s good friends 😊

Hello a couple weeks of vacation! 😊

It was hard to get out of the sleeping bag this morning, but once I saw these cuties again it suddenly became a fun task! I loved getting visited by kittens and enjoying their curiosity.

Our ride was swift and on a busy road with a nice wide shoulder, we made good time and our moods were elevated by the anticipation of the next couple weeks when we knew we’d be staying with friends in the city.

My mind was swimming with ideas of how to use this time off! Some of them: making pickled okra, working on illustrations, and checking out the thrift shops for a temporary fashion fix.

We made a pit stop at the Texas burger joint, Whataburger, and while it was tasty we agreed our oats would have been a more satisfying choice after all. Ahhh. How I love oatmeal. Like my dad says:

It’s my dog food.

Trace McCune

I could eat it for almost every meal and be very happy with life.

We saw some other neat animals today too besides the kittens!

It’s funny how the task at hand changes the way you see the world around you. When you need a place to sleep, every sight is judged based on that need.

A patch of trees? Maybe good cover for our tent!

A wide green pasture? Eh. Let’s keep moving and look elsewhere.

A beautiful sunset? Oh no!!! It’s getting dark!!

This evening however, Ryan’s friend Larry offered to give us a lift for the final 20 miles. We pedaled until the sun disappeared and I enjoyed a different set of eyes. Not feeling the usual pressure to find a camping spot, we were free to appreciate the golden hour lighting and look around without such serious intentions. I felt a lot more playful!

Finally we pulled off the road and hopped into Larry’s truck. So the break begins!

Route info for interested readers:

Continuing on the 159 for the morning, we made our way to the 71 which we took all the way to Bastrop, over 30 miles. From there it turned to the 21 and then we went right on 110. All good roads aside from a couple narrow spots in Bastrop.