Herzlich Willkommen

Monday April 10th. Day 36. Ingram to Johnston City. 66 miles or 101 km. Day 13 in Texas.

Last night we looked at our map and found a few shortcuts that would decrease our mileage from 140 km to just over 100 km. A huge saving. We all agreed to try it out.

We were up early and quickly packed up our gear. We were on the road at 7.15 am. Our earliest departure yet. No rain overnight but it was very cloudy and again cool. My rain gear was close by just in case I needed it. We stopped at the Wallmart in Kerrville to stock up on some food. Don and Vicki wanted to stop at DQ in Fredericksburg about 50 km down the road. With this goal in mind, we chewed up the miles.

It quickly became clear that there was a trade off for cutting this route short. Lots of traffic, traffic lights, and noise. Unfortunately the noise stayed with us all day. The road surface was great though as well as a wide, mostly clean, shoulder for us to ride on.

The scenery interchanged between farm land, forest, and old fallen down or unoccupied buildings. Along the side of the road were fields of wild flowers. Pink, yellow, orange, and pale white flowers. Beautiful and so pleasant to look at. There were mainly rolling hills for us to climb. Nothing too strenuous. 

There were several vineyards along the way. They all had tasting rooms, patios, and restaurants. Very appealing and inviting. As we approached Fredericksburg the wineries became enormous. Each one more elaborate than the next one. Impressive buildings with beautiful gates and what I noticed that most of them had German names indicating that many Germans immigrated to this area. Clearly noticeable on the Fredericksburg welcome sign: "Willkommen"

Unfortunately, the DQ was still closed at 10 am so we went to McDonald's instead. Lucky me. An unexpected coffee. We took our time as we only had another 45 km to go till we would arrive in Johnston City. The rain held off and it looked promising for the afternoon as well. No rain gear needed.

Johnston City is a small town of just over 1650 people. But it has an interesting history:

Lyndon Baines Johnson often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States of America from 1963 to 1969. He previously served as the 37th vice president from 1961 to 1963 under President John F. Kennedy, and was sworn in shortly after Kennedy's assassination. 

Johnston City is also known for having a DQ which didn't go unnoticed by Vicki and Don. After the blizzard treats were consumed, we headed to our camping for the night. It is a bit noisy as our site is close to the main road but it will do for 1 night. At this point we can sleep just about anywhere. A few more kilometers and we are halfway our route.

Beautiful wineries- too bad you could not stop for tasting- pretty flowers ❤️- Poddy