Big Bend Road Trip - Day 4

Route:	Buda, TX -to- Sonora, TX
Miles Today:	220
Total Miles:	1,572

The first part of today is easy to describe - rain. Today was the first really wet part of the ride, but not too bad and not too long. The wet conditions produced the first cold ride, and the wind only made matters worse. We took a scenic ride through the Willow City Loop. I assumed that Texas was fairly flat throughout the state, but today's ride through the hill country proves me wrong. We are not talking about mountains here, but hilly nonetheless. This would have been a great place for snapshots, but the rain discouraged any such activity for me. Since I didn't take my camera out in the weather, I found a website with a lot of pictures of the area. A common wildflower in that part of the Texas is the Blue Bonnet and they were in very high concentration on the route. Of particular note during the ride was the following sign:

Even with proper warning, it was odd to see a black cow standing beside the road. To make matters worse, it was standing under a tree when I rode by it and fairly well hidden in the shadows. I did a quick double take when it moved and I noticed it.

We rode from central Texas and have clearly entered west Texas. Today was the largest change in terrain I have seen yet. The road opened up and we entered big country.

Today's edition of Things Seen From the Road:

• A large banner over the road in Buda, TX that announced the upcoming country fair and weiner dog races. I have two Dachshunds, and one would do well in competition if I could get him pointed in the right direction.
• I saw two different kinds of antelope today in fields beside the road. The first image below is an adult version of the juvenile Impala that I observed. The second, much larger antelope was a Texas Pronghorn. Both are hunted in Texas.
  

• I did not mention this yesterday, but since I saw it again, I will bring it up now. Looking into the cattle fields, I saw a white stork-like bird standing next to a cow. It wasn't doing much more than standing there, but looked odd to an Easterner like me. One of the riders, Don Williams said that the birds stand by the cows because grazing kicks up insects that the birds eat.
  
• Lastly, I am warming to Texas. Today I saw what might possibly be the most beautiful sight I have ever seen on an American highway. When we saw the image below, we were west bound and down.