We rode into Del Rio and needed to go to the bike shop for extra spokes for Stacy's bike. We ended up waiting outside for 30-45 min (we were a little early and the guy opening the store was quite a bit late). We got spokes and then traveled to Bracketville and on to Montell. In Montell we stayed with yet another Rogers family. This time it was with Liz (Stacy has since dubbed Liz as "the West Texas cycle touring hospitality coordinator") and Steet's (both in past posts) mom, Freida. Also living there are Alice (Street and Liz's younger sister) and Anne Marie (hoping I spelled that right...Alice's daughter)
It was a little like a party at their house with neighbors and friends as well as two vagabond cyclists (that's us). We ate great food and were very entertained by all.
Pictured are: me, Stacy, Diane, Alice, Anne Marie, Claire, and David.
Positive development of the day: Since starting this trip we have had extensive trouble breaking spokes on Stacy's bike. It didn't make sense to me, as she is so small and the trailer helps to take a lot of weight off the rear wheel. Today I spoke by phone with a bike mechanic who told me that the spokes were likely of poor quality. We now think that we can replace the spokes with some of higher quality when in Austin and have a bike shop true the wheels to improve our chances of avoiding broken spokes. I now think that the spokes I have already replaced (around 12-15 of them) have only been helping our situation and will reduce the number we have to replace when we get to Austin.
Day 21, April 26: Montell, TX to Bandera ("Cowboy Capital of the World"), TX; ~88 miles
We made our start a little before 8 am and made a number of changes to our route today. About 25 miles into our ride we met Jon. We will have pictures of Jon in a later blog, but we don't have any right now. He is from Austin and was traveling by bike from Camp Wood back to Austin. He shared ideas about his route and convinced us to do the same (we were easily convinced when he told us the hills would be less drastic). We saw him a few times during the day, and then we lost him for a while after we took a wrong turn and went about 2 miles out of our way. He had gone swimming in the meantime, so he caught up to us again with about 40 miles left to get to Bandera. We rode and visited with him and ended up getting to eat dinner with him in Bandera. Also in Bandera we joined Jon at a country and western dance (I only observed, but Stacy shuffled in the sawdust with Jon a little). I now wish we had a picture of the event, but alas I forgot the camera yet again. Overall the day was great and tiring, but the highlight was easily meeting Jon (we are going to meet up with Jon again in Austin, so more will follow).
Day 22, April 27: Bandera, TX to Boerne (pronounced "Burny"), TX; ~25 miles
Today has been a new low point in the weather category. We got a decent start this AM, but the wind has been so strong directly into our faces that we decided the we could not make it the extra 40-50 miles to the next town of size. We are now staying in our first motel of the trip and using the computer here. It feels a little like cheating to me, but I'm married now, so apparently I'm allowed and even encouraged to do things a little different from what I am used to. I think the rest will be welcomed by our bodies. 
Stacy is excited.
We also tried to get to a church service today, but we were unable to find any with an evening service in Boerne. We were busy fighting the wind during the morning services. Maybe God was trying to tell us something.
TEXAS HILL COUNTRY PHOTO:
Quite a bit hillier than we expected, but very beautiful.
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