34 Water crossing

  Now you know why I couldn't finish a post with such beautiful scenery with this one image.  Yes it is the urinal in the bathroom,  use it, just don't drink the beer.   Koyote campground.  Unusual, just had to share.   I always feel strange taking pictures in the bathroom.

       That evening we received an email from our niece with an urgent message. "There are heavy rains predicted and Carla & JW said their camper site won't be accessible if the rainfall is too heavy, due to some low bridges on the way there.  Drive & Stay safe - we love you!!!!"    We had already noticed that road construction was much different in this part of the country than we were used to.  In Minnesota at the bottom of every gully or low lying ravine they put in a culvert or water way and then pave over it.  Here they just follow the contour of the terrain and if it happens to be a potential waterway they just put a flood gauge there.  And sometimes a warning. "Turn around, don't drown." 
     The ride today was going to be part of the Devils Backbone, ( nice name)   Compared to the three sisters it should have been a nice scenic ride.   It started out with a little mist, and we would skirt the rain all day.  It started out just fine.  We seen these longhorns resting in the prairie grass with their youngsters.  I thought it would be nice if Ruthie stood beside them to give people a comparison for size.  Well anyway they are huge.  It was 73 degrees and nice to ride without a jacket or gloves.   My goal was to head to Wimberly Texas and take FM 32 across the top to Blanco.   It was my fault, I had the GPS on shortest route on the way to Wimberly.   When I seen we were on Mail route road and then turned on a John Knox Road, I should have recalculated.  However the scenery was pleasant and the road was paved. 

     These signs may have been warning enough for most riders.   As you can see the yellow light was on but if they really wanted to warn us it should have been red.  And the barricade wasn't across the road.

We continued down the road, kind of neat isn't it? 

     Here is the local constable going back across the crossing.  He had came down to check the water depth.  He called it "Slime crossing"  so named because it is so slippery.  He said if we were on two wheels he would ask us to turn around.  No guarantees!

A local couple came by and stopped to talk to us.  It is called Indigo crossing but some call it "slippery crossing"   their favorite summer past time is sitting on the river playing dominos and wathcing motorcycles try and make it across the river.  Most fall right away,  others as they try and give it some gas to make the incline on the other side.  "Good Luck"  
Ruthie held the brake while I went down to give it a look see.

Committed now,  We had been warned not to give it any gas once we entered the water.  Just let it idle.  As we started across I knew our idle speed was not going to be enough to climb the other bank.  I twisted the throttle ever so slightly.  We were moving along I could feel the current playing with the front wheel.  I would discribe it as driving on wet ice.  Making the smoothest of steering corrections we danced our way across the crossing.  I couldn't imagine what would happen if we had slipped off of either side.  It seemed slanted toward the left side where the current was coming from.  As we reached the other side we both gave a sigh of relief.  I don't think we will be doing that again.

   Wimberly turned out to be a great little town.  A unique tourist stop, lots of little shops and places to eat and drink.  We ate at an outdoor cafe.  Ruthie is standing guard at a place that offered daddy day care.  Kind of neat, you just drop your husband off, they will watch after him and all you have to pay for are his drinks when you pick him up. 
 It was a pleasant ride back to our loaned camper on Madina lake.  It was going to be a little colder tonight.   We stopped by Bandera on the way home to stock up so we could stay home if the weather was bad.  But we didn't mind at least we could still ride and no snow to shovel.  And as we brushed our teeth outside, we thought not many in Minnesota are doing this tonight.