Day 1. Sunday April 15 – San Antonio to Karnes City, Texas
Monday 16 April 2018
It was 47 Frigid degrees as we mounted our ponies and headed out of the sleeping town; strange to not see any traffic in the seventh largest city in the U.S. It took nearly an hour for the sun to creep above the buildings and treetops to offer us some hope of thawing our frozen appendages. We are sure, as the days go along, we will wish for these cool temps, but not this morning.
The highway outside of the city remained almost void of traffic and not much of anything else to see; we were just happy just to be back on tour. Of course, there was the occasional What in the World or Huh.
The two lane divided highway took us through the small town of Floresville,then over gently rolling hills and endless countryside
with gorgeous live oaks
with the occasional tractor trailer to interrupt the quiet. By 11:30 we really needed a seat break, so grabbed a lite lunch, a huge iced tea and then returned to the highway. Our previously spacious highway was under construction, so wide lanes were reduced to singles and the shoulder was gone. Thankfully, the Texas drivers were considerate of our slow speed and offered us space. After several miles we regained a nicely paved shoulder and could ease off the throttle (and tension). By early afternoon, we were really feeling our lack of long mileage training. The next town was only six miles away, but we thought it prudent to call it quits here. Our entrance into the small town of Karnes City was not encouraging,
though the Karnes County courthouse was impressive.
The town offered zero dinner choices on a Sunday (everything closed), but we quickly resolved a potentially miserable evening with a bottle of Bogle (from the gas station) and pizza delivery. Not fancy, but exactly what the doctor order after a 59 mile first day.