Monday, October 16, 2017

Day 36 - October 15, 2017 - 45.14 miles, 1,768 feet ascent, 2,251 feet descent

Fredericksburg, TX to Johnson City, TX

A little Texas drama in the middle of the night...

An altercation between a man and a woman resulted in her using her SUV as a weapon to threaten him, pushing the vehicle against the chair in which he was sitting, at approximately 0200.   I heard them yelling at each other, but I also heard Eileen's voice. I learned later that she was on the phone with 911, calling in that she felt in danger due to the ruckus.  The woman left with her SUV, but I was still awake, about ready to leave the tent to answer the call of nature.  In the midst of getting ready to exit the tent, the woman was back with the vehicle, weaving in between our tents!  I am surprised that she didn't hit any of them, especially guy lines.   Shortly, the Fredericksburg Police arrived, and took her into custody.  The male was still out there.  Several of us were outside our tents, having been rattled by this woman driving between us - including the tents of the geology students from the Texas University.  Since we were witnesses to this event, the LE officers asked for our ID, which we obtained from our tents.  It was mildly amusing when he returned them to us, calling them out by state - "Maryland, New York, Indiana, California, Arizona."  The male returned sometime during the night, as he was at his site adjacent to us while we were breaking camp.  Both the male and female were under the influence - if not alcohol, then meth or some other substance.  It was an unfortunate situation, but we all returned to our tents, and tried to get some sleep before the anticipated rains came.

As it turned out, the rain did not materialize until after we broke camp, and rode into Fredericksburg, as we were a few miles outside of town.  The rain was a mere mist, and did not get us wet!

Breakfast was at a popular German restaurant, then we were off to Johnson City.  I rode by myself for the entire route, as I went off route for a bit before leaving town to buy some supplies.  I was the last one into Johnsonville, again suffering from a runny nose and watering eyes on my left side, making the entire ride uncomfortable.  

I again rode through ranch country, coming across an agitated Texas Longhorn. He allowed me to take his photo, but not before stomping his feet and swings head back and forth. I did not linger! 

 Once in Johnson City, we dined at a local brew pub, and heard very loud country music every time the back door swung open.  Turns out they had live music in the "dance hall," a Quonset Hut type building added on to the back.  We watched for a bit after dinner, as the older locals danced to the homegrown country music.

Back at camp, we celebrated Tom R's birthday with a bottle of Ed's Special Red.   



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