54 | SUNRAYS JANUARY 2014
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October 12: Kerrville to
Blanco (56 miles)
This day’s ride provided our first op-
portunity to get lost. Our plan of the
day gave complete instructions on where
and when to turn, but if you are travel-
ing through pretty countryside on back
roads, it’s easy to miss a turn.
October 13: Blanco to
Lockhart (56 miles)
As we came in to Blanco, we were pretty
certain our ride for the next day to Lock-
hart would be rained out. There were a
lot of low-water crossings in the area,
and reports were that everything was
going to be flooded, including our route
forward. We tentatively planned to have
a mass start at 8 a.m. from the town
square; however, the Blanco State Park
entrance (where many of us were stay-
ing) is a low-water crossing, which was a
torrent by morning. The ride to Lockhart
was accomplished, but viamotor vehicles.
October 14: Lockhart to
La Grange (54 miles)
As we rode out of Lockhart for the 54
miles to La Grange, the sky looked
ominous all around us. Some of us rode
prepared for rain; others decided they
wouldn’t dissolve and chose to travel
light without any rain gear. In the end,
I think we all got wet. At mile 20, Jan
and I joined Howard Hammerbeck in
front of a handy convenience store and
Unexpected challenges
My initial plan was to camp out in my trusty tent for half of the nights on
the ride, but it turned out to be a bit more challenging than I anticipated.
The first camping night was in Kerrville at Kerrville-Schreiner Park. This
was a peaceful, uneventful night—just as I hoped! The next night in Blanco
State Park, however, was quite the opposite. Heavy rain started at around
3-4 a.m. and continued at a heavy rate until after 7 a.m. Later, I learned that
Blanco had five inches of rain that night. No wonder the low-water bridge we
crossed during arrival became hidden under a raging river. I was high and
dry in my tent, but most of the campground was more like a shallow lake. I
walked in water about 10 inches deep to see fellow campers in their nearby
motorhome. The ranger said we would have to wait for the water to go down,
but Norm Middleton convinced him he could drive out on a narrow, windy
road—and he did. No one rode that day. Camping at Lockhart State Park
did not come to pass, as the water was too high to get to the campground. I
opted to move in with Judy Phillips and Sue Ahrend for the night. My last
planned night of camping was in La Grange, which went off without a hitch,
although this was the location where the ants decided to invade my pannier
to try to get to Navasota, but I foiled them before they ate any of my food!
— Jan Woolheater, N16
Continued from the previous page
Many of the riders as they prepared to leave the Social Center parking lot on October 9. Left to right: Judy Phillips, Jan
Woolheater, Howard Hammerbeck, Rufus Barnes, Pat Garcia (modeling the RAT Ride logo T-shirt she designed), Art
Garcia, Dave Marks, Sue Ahrend, Bill Lane and Bill McMillan (a trip organizer).
SUBMITTED BY JUDY PHILLIPS
