Last week I had about the perfect “goodbye to the Hill Country” day.
Got up early, cruised by Upper Crust for fuel. Picked up a co-conspirator and headed west. The
first rule is not to go directly from point A to point B. So two hours later, after some blue
highways and dead reckoning we found ourselves at Flat Rock Ranch, Comfort. The trail was in
fantastic shape, we neatly split the uprights between rain and heat. There was even some overcast
to fend off the bake. There were persimmons, or some sort of fruit all over parts of the trail. The
sickly sweet scent of fermenting sugars blended with the languid drone of cicadas. It felt lik
midsummer, but the temperature were quite pleasant. As Leo Kottke said, "Summer's growing old, her
smile is not so bold."
The riding out there was gooooooOOooOoOd. Didn't see anyone else on the trail and it just felt
really railable today. Cranked out the lower and upper loop. As usual I was ready for the upper loop
to be done two miles before it was. Bombed some singletrack, one of us got squeezed by a narrow gap
through trees. Played hide and seek with a cow. Exchanged really, really bad cow puns.
From there we headed into Comfort and had those superlative tacos from the Chevron station, then
crosscut north to Luckenbach and enjoyed several beers under the welcoming arms of one of the big
old oak trees out behind the saloon. There was a dog under arrest there. Apparently a
chicken-chasing rat terrier neighbor dog had been up to his usual malfeasance, so the proprietors
upended a racoon trap and let him stew in there. Both of us commented on the direct, no fuss
solution to the problem. No lawyers, no cops called in. Vigilante dog justice. A nice rainstorm
came through an it was pretty much perfect.
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