Day 27(Sunday, May 15):Uvalde to Hondo, TX –44 miles

Greetings from Deep in the Heart of Texas…The land of Billy Bob, Big Trucks and Bar-B-Qs….
We are on the road once again in the dim light of predawn.  We see a police car and a border patrol, both parked on the side of the highway, seeing which scurrilous characters, including but not limited to transient bicyclists such as ourselves, try to slink out of town in the semidarkness.
We head directly east into the rising sun; the winds, too, come from the east. We stop. This does not feel like a 7mph headwind. It is not: the iPhone tells us the wind is 12mph; next stop the winds increase  to 15–always in our faces, always from the east.
Of the 4H quartet(heat,hills, humidity and headwinds), Joe most  dislikes the headwinds. Soon we will add a fifth H: Humanity.  I am not thrilled with the headwinds; however, the temperature at 67 is perfect for me, with little or no humidity. I feel alive and not in danger of wilting for the first time in days.  I ride in my sleeveless biking jersey; Joe keeps his coat on all day long. This is our coldest day of the trip!
We decide to stop in Hondo for the night and hope for better odds in the morning. We eat at the Hondo Cafe and are treated like celebrities.
People have seen us riding; they all want to know where we are from and where we are bound. One older gentleman grabs Joe’s leg and comments on how phenomenal his muscles are.

In another vein,  have you been following the news about the Morganza Spillway along the Mississippi River?  The Army Corps of Engineers opened it yesterday for the first time in 38 years in order to avert catastrophic flooding downriver in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.  In a week or so the ACA Route takes us from Morganza to Baton Rouge via St.Francisville. Joe’s son found out the ferry there is closed; however, somehow authorities are helping bicycles across. We now have a contact to find out the latest news each day. It will be interesting to watch the events of the next week unfold.  Ol’ Man Mississippi just keeps rolling along.
On a more humorous note, our venue of last night, Uvalde County, is dry.  However, one can obtain alcohol by purchasing a permit.  I am now the proud owner of the three day  Texas Uvalde County Alcohol Imbibition Permit #4229262  bought for the grand price of $3.00 USD.  Actually they call me a “temporary member “.    My extremely  generous glass of Chardonnay cost $2.00(such a great deal, I had two glasses!). Our kind server was Kelly, a three year transplant from downtown Chicago.  She misses Chicago dearly and Joe, in turn, commiserates with her.   Joe, in typical Libertarian Mode, rebels against the system, and refuses to participate and get himself a card.   C’est la vie. His loss,my gain.   I look on the card as yet another sociological experiment and yet one more  item to add to the daily description….
For every story we transcribe for you, dear readers, there are at least ten others left untold….

We have looked, but have not seen any Catholic churches in the vicinity; instead we say a private prayer on this Sunday giving thanks for another safe day.