Road Magic

Can you believe that we haven't set up our tents for the last three nights? We have been cashing in on some travellin' karma we've racked up over the last six weeks (today's our anniversary by the way). After we reluctantly winded our way out of the Twisted J Ranch two days ago we headed toward Boerne, TX (pronounced "Bernie"--ya got me) with only a vague idea where we might stay the night. Sitting at a Chevron picnic table we started calling local hotels and motels (and yes, Holiday Inns) to see if we could find a cheap St. Patty's Day bed. Well Joe got on the phone with a local B and B booking agent and told him our whole deal. Turns out the guy, Mike, was also the owner of a really nice looking place called The Crescent Inn, which was right across the street from our picnic table, but by the look of it quite obviously out of our price range. Well it also turns out Mike's brother in law biked from Brooklyn to Cali, and a wave of the road-magic wand later and we're staying in a terrific room at a cool old western-type hotel for half-price. No tax and free breakfast to boot! I'll tell ya there may be something to that luck o' the Irish thing (everyone's Irish on March 17th, right?). We enjoyed a second night of great sleep in a row and rolled outta town at the crack o' noon today, absolutely sure we'd be bedding down in the ol' sleeping sack at some RV park this evening. And we were fine with that.

But Mr. Road Karma had other plans for us. As Joe came to a screeching halt halfway down a hill enroute to Wimberly this afternoon, I looked over to see an unexpected site. It was a sign for a Disc Golf Ranch. That's right kids an entire Ranch devoted to disc golf. Well we got to the gate and to our disappointment the ranch was closed for some revamping. But two golfers noticed us and came over to explain the situation. Turns out that they are both pros on the disc golf tour. And we didn't know it then, but Jay and Des turned out to be just about the coolest people you could hope to meet. They invited us back to their place for the night, and we enjoyed one of the best evenings of the trip, drinking a great locally brewed Porter and talking about everything from backpacking to BBQ. And of course disc golf. We will sleep in beds for a third night in a row, and we'll add another set of names to the list of incredibly friendly and generous people we've met on this trip--many of whom happen to live in West Texas.

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