We woke to our second morning of cloudy skies  . . . really cloudy, but no rain predicted the way we were going. Yesterday, the same thing happened and by noon it was crystal clear blue sky. We’ll see what today brings. We said good by to Bob & Sam at the Whispering Palms and to the other 30,000 Del Rioan’s as we headed out of town. Here was an interesting shop just down the block from our motel.

Right out of town was Laughlin Air Force base. Built in 1942 it became a training ground for the B-26, ‘Marauder’ bomber crews. Today . . . top secret!!!

The front entrance didn’t look to inviting to guest . . .

. . . and of course there is a LOT more to it than you can see from the road (red X is where i took the photo).

We are starting to see more splashes of colors along the road as we head east . . . spring is springing!

Rural subdivision . . . TX style!

Saw this memorial on the side of the road for soldiers committing suicide during, or after their tours. Not sure what the gorilla is all about?

Trying to figure out what this is . . . looks like a rolling shooting platform. Let’s safari!!!!

For Gina . . . .

The BP are still busy checking for illegal activity from last night . . .

. . . finally saw the device they use to ‘drag’ the trail to set it up for footprint detection.

More color along the way . . .

Soon we had 32 miles under our belts and we were at Brackettville for an early lunch. The only town along our route today . . .

. . . so much to B’ville they needed an annex!!!!

We FINALLY turned off Hwy 90 that we have been following for four days. There was an almost instant change to the topography and the flora and fauna . . . beautiful riding, well it would have been if the road surface wasn’t made out of ‘boulders’!!!!

It felt like riding on rumble strips for the next 32 miles . . . everybody was sore by the time we left Kinney County . . .

Here were some turkey vulture’s . . . maybe waiting for a bike with a tummy full of broasted chicken. They didn’t fly away!!!! We no more left Brackettville and the sky started breaking up, right on cue. Within 1 hour the sky was clear and the temps were climbing!!!

Spring is coming . . . waiting for the birds to return!!!

More local color . . .

Every ranch we went by seems to have an 8 foot fence around it and are members of the Texas Wildlife Association.

Here was an interesting river crossing . . . no culverts, I guess the river, when it does flow, goes right over the road!!!

We FINALLY see our first dead armadillo!!!

This is too funny! Are they serious? With the advent of social media, I think some cattle rustler’s would get a kick out of being posted online!!!!

Lambing time . . . every mom had two. VERY cute!!!! And they were curious and didn’t run away!!!

We FINALLY hit the Kinney County line and there was a definite change in the road texture. You can see the change in the pavement. 50% better for the next 20 miles . . . not that important when you are in a car . . . but on a bike at 15 mph. VERY important!

The Kinney County on the left, Uvalde County on the right!

Charlie, this one is for you. We see this kind of stuff all along the ride. I always wonder what happened that someone parked a rig like this years ago and never came back. Did they die? go out of business? what happened . . . .

More color . . . nice to bike by . . .

Linda was along the way with water and painting with water colors. Watch out which container you take water from!!! A retired art teacher she is VERY talented!!!!

Here she is painting a water color postcard she already has addressed to her man, Tim.

We were soon on State Hwy 55 where they were getting ready to DESTROY the road . . .

. . . we were all glad we weren’t coming through here a month from now when they will be spreading all this rock!!!

Nice scene as we rolled into Camp Wood, (funny name for a town?!)

A great little country church . . .

Yippee . . . more water right outside of Camp Wood!!!

Was this our place . . . no, we are at the Woodbine Inn!!

Gina went out for a smoke house brisket, Dan went for pizza and Tom, Linda and Margie and I went to the local burger place. When I saw the ‘JuJu (one of my favorite words) Burger’ I had to have one. So did Linda and Margie . . .

Yum! We needed it after today’s ride. Tomorrow, it’s another 80+ mile day with big two climbs, too!