Notes from the road to Rio Nueces, 1/1/10

I am back on the road again and back on track I hope. Mother nature and I seem to have worked through our differences for the time being. Today was sunny and still, I covered 60miles of enjoyable riding in 5 1/2 hours.

I have set off towards what is known as the Texas Hill Country. I will arrive there tomorrow morning. The hill country is supposedly the most beautiful part of Texas, giving me something to look forward to.

Today picked up where I previously left off : Texas ranching country. The thick bush has been getting taller and thicker all day long .More and more trees have joined the throng. From time to time woodland would have been a better term to describe my surroundings than the now familliar bush.

The hunting season is in full swing. Men wearing foliage patterened clothing are ever present. Their play time is dusk and dawn. I see them in between, killing time at the road side or in coffeshops. They are an affable lot on the whole, often ready with a witty remark as I pass by.

The fences east of Del Rio have taken on a fortress like quality. They are 8 to 10 foot tall in places, new and well maintained. Their role is to keep the valuable animals inside I'm sure.

Today I rode by a heard of Blackbuck, a diminutive and very beautiful Antelope species. Blackbuck are native to the Indian sub-continent, the males have distinctive long tightly coiled horns. Only the dominant male of a herd has the eponymous black back, though pretenders to his throne will darken with age and standing.

These creatures were endangered in their natural habitiat when I was growing up, (I was something of an antelope buff at the time. Wonderful creatures you know, like 'birds of the plains': flocking together, elegant and beautiful, so many varieties, easy to see,etc,etc).

I don't know the blackbuck's situation now. The ones I saw may possibly be part of a world wide conservation programme. However they are also available to trophy hunters to shoot, I saw a sign that said so. A trophy hunder needn't fly to Africa and India to shoot the game he wants these days. He can just nip down to Texas where they stock a wide variety. That's globalisation for you.

The German was right about one thing, it is not easy to wild camp in this part of Texas. The fences are high, the roadside verges are trimmed and the locals are all out shooting things with guns. They are very hospitable people indeed but it would rather ruin their day to spend a morning creeping up on me only to find that

a. I am not a deer and
b. I have frightened off all the deer.

Hence despite all that inviting looking woodland almost crying out for someone to string up a hammock and make a camp fire, I don't sneak onto the hunting ranches. I do not think the hunters would accidentally shoot me but I don't want to repay kind Texan hospitality by getting in their way of their favourite pastimes.

As luck would have it after 60 miles of nowhere at all to hide, a clump of bushes came into view just as I was about ready to collapse. Even on this very quiet highway, there's no chance of a getting away with a fire this evening. Still there's a space behind the bushes to cook, flattish ground to sleep on and enough cover to go unnoticed

Back at low altitude evenings above freezing point are returning, there will be no need for a tent.

I'll be happy here for tonight.