Concan, TX to Kerrville, TX

58 miles (Dave)
Loren is off the bike for about a week due to muscle pain and leg swelling.
Today our elevation chart showed a big climb at about mile 20, and a SAG stop right after that. Dave has gotten a prescription from his doctor which he was able to start right away last night, but we decided that it would be better to SAG to the rest stop and then bike after the rest stop. My calf has been really tight and painful, especially after I get up in the morning. The massage that I do on my leg used to help loosen everything up for several hours. Now it only loosens things up for about five minutes.
We were ready to bike but I looked down and noticed that my ankle was quite swollen. I've been keeping that in the back of my mind as the symptom that would be the critical one. Well, here it is. I ended by riding in a car for the rest of the day while Dave rode the rest of the days' ride.
We reached the mid-point of the ride today. About 1487 miles! I helped take pictures of other riders and got one of myself. Then Dave came in and we got one of both of us. Well, even though we've had some days of the bike, what we've done is still impressive.
I went to Urgent Care in Kerrville which luckily is quite a big town. The good news is that it is not a tendon tear which takes a long time to heal. The doc said there is some microscopic tearing of the calf muscle. The bad news is that I should be off the bike 5 to 7 days depending on pain level and swelling and ease back into it. In the meantime, ice, elevation, and prescription doses of ibuprofen. The weird thing is that it really doesn't hurt that much on the bike, especially after it warms up in the afternoon. But walking on it, especially in the early morning when it has stiffened up overnight, is the most difficult. So I'm supposed to limit my walking too! That's hard to do when camping. Well like Bubba said there will still be about 20 days of riding left when this is better. And I still have the whole summer too, I don't want to screw that up.
But I am majorly disappointed. You get into a routine of riding, coming into camp and socializing about the day's ride and just being a part of things...
Well Dave's day went really well so he's on the upswing after being really discourage about his hip. So we decided we are a tag team and between the two of us we are going to complete the ride!
We both enjoyed the route today. For Dave, there were hills, very scenic but not too difficult. He's going to have to do some photos on his biking days while I take some on my car riding days. I will still see people at the SAG stops, etc. and see the route.
Several of the ranches today had wild game. Some of the riders saw an elk running alongside the road, apparently escaped through a fence and made nervous by the bikes. He eventually found his way away from the bikes but not sure whether he went back where he came from.
Tonight we are at a town park which is really spacious. Chef Ann made us ribeye for our halfway celebration.
By the way, the fiddler last night was wonderful. Also one of our riders sang some hymns which brought many of us to tears. Today is Mandy Thursday and Cecil sang the song that he usually sings for his church; the spiritual, Were You There (when they crucified my Lord)?.

The halfway point at the "Boot Fence"

Bubba had to put the arrows on the smooth pavement because it wouldn't stick to the Texas chipseal! For some reason there was about 50 yards of smooth pavement here.