Texas Traffic

Forget about the interstates!  I'd much rather be riding my bicycle along a trail.

I'm not a big fan of the way the State of Texas handles interstate highways.

San Antonio's Salado Creek Greenway was a terrific trail.

The one-way frontage roads, also called feeders, act as on and off merges to the interstates.  They are just as much a racetrack as the interstates themselves, only you've got to contend with the drivers in the left lane who have slowed to make the merge.  

This turtle had slowed to a standstill on the bike trail.

Moreover, there are the turnabouts underneath the interstates that have you making a dedicated U-turn when all you really wanted to do was turn left onto the cross street.  Yikes!  As the navigator on-board the Dawntreader, I found it all very confusing!  

I'll take my curves on my cycle, thank you very much!

Still, we made it safely through Austin to the Lone Star RV Park (thankfully with pull-through campsites and no overhanging tree limbs) where we had reservations last weekend.

I'm not sure if this is a rattler.  I didn't stick around to listen for a telltale sound.

Then, let's talk about the traffic through Austin!  I'd almost rather tangle with a rattlesnake as tussle with the hustle of drivers around me, none of whom seemed to worry about the Dawntreader's braking distance as they cut in front of us. 

Ah, the open road with only Tim far ahead of me on his bike!

Perhaps if we'd ventured onto the city streets rather than using I-35 to get from the north end of Austin to the south, we would have found the traffic lighter.  Yet, even at 8:30 on a Sunday morning, we encountered bumper to bumper traffic on our way to church.  Hmmm!  Maybe I should confess my complaining to the Lord and just get over it.

We passed through three beautiful parks on the segment we cycled.

OK, moving on which is exactly what we did Tuesday morning!  We left the outskirts of Austin for an hour's trip to San Antonio, making a detour towards Sequin, TX and the Love's Country Store there on I-10.  The Dawntreader was hungry and needed a full tank of diesel fuel.

Salado Creek with its lily pads was never far from sight along the Greenway.

However, Tim exited I-10 an exit too soon.  He saw the landmark Love's tower and thought the frontage road would get us there.  (There's those darn frontage roads again!)  I'd told him that I didn't think the exit was the right one, but you've seen the Geico commercial with Tarzan and Jane, right?  That's very similar to what transpired between the two of us.  The only problem was the Guadalupe River ran between us and Love's which meant that the frontage road ended abruptly at a boat ramp to the river.

The serenity of Salado Creek was definitely soothing.

The Dawntreader can fly when the road is wide open, but it cannot swim.  Luckily, there was room to turn around without unhooking the Jeep.  Unluckily, there was a vast mud puddle in the middle of the turn.  Yikes!  When we dropped down into that mud puddle, I was sure we'd never get out of it.  After all, the Dawntreader is no lightweight!  But Tim steered through it while I prayed for deliverance, and we came out on the other side!  No need to call a tow truck and try to explain how we got into that predicament.  Whew!

The San Antonio KOA campground where we stayed was the only sign of civilization we saw.

So it was with pleasure that we arrived in San Antonio and found it well-served by three interstates that go in and around the city.  We have yet to be caught in its traffic, despite heading downtown to the Riverwalk during Tuesday evening's rush hour.  What a welcome change!  Maybe Texas turnpikes aren't so bad after all!