Long days (Revised)

We had a 72 mile day today and will have a 74 mile day tomorrow. Then we will have a rest day on Wednesday and I'll catch up on the blog.
We will be in Texas hill country tomorrow. Already seeing more green and flowers.
My calf is getting better. Dave is, however, having hip pain and some lower back pain. He took today off and will also take tomorrow off as well. He got a massage today, which hopefully will help. We have a fantastic massage therapist, Margie. Prayers for Dave's healing, the prayers are working for me.

We left the Seminole Canyon State Park under cloudy skies which stayed cloudy all day offering relief from the heat of Sunday. Dave started off with me but only did a few miles before he realized the low back and hip pain that he started having the day before was worse. He didn't take much convincing to take a day off so I knew the pain was pretty bad. He is usually quite pain tolerant after living with arthritis for quite a few years.

I ended up biking alone for about 10 miles since I didn't go the same speed as the people that I saw on the way. When I got to the Amistad Resevoir bridge, some deputies were waiting to escort bikers in groups across the bridge. Apparently they saw Bubba's tour was coming through the area and wanted to ensure our safety since the bridge is a long, narrow two lane bridge. How nice to sail down the middle of the bridge without fear of traffic and without needing to look over the bridge to the river far below! After the bridge I latched on with Dean and Judy and rode the rest of the day with them, which greatly relieved Dave's anxious feelings about me riding alone.

In Del Rio we had a great lunch at Rudy's BBQ. I had some smoked beef brisket which was good, but actually wasn't quite as tender as the brisket that one of the fathers of a graduating senior made in Sanderson, TX! 

We did an en masse shopping trip to pick up some sundries and I met Dave again who had driven with one of the support staff. 

We finished the day at Fort Clark Springs. This is an old fort facility that has been re-done into a private association. People can build homes or have apartment style living. Within the extensive grounds there is a large campground that had a lot of greenspace around it. I'm afraid many of our overnight stays are not places I can appreciate much since we often roll in just before dinner time, shower, eat and get a few things organized and fall into bed only to get up the next day early and do it all over again! However the setting was very nice, clean with nice showers and a bathroom reasonably close, all appreciated.