Day 8, Rock Springs, Tx to Martin Dies Jr SP, Tx

Last updated 10/22/09

Thursday morning was again bright and sunny, I'd really lucked out with the weather on this trip, (except for the snow and frigid temps earlier, but now that I look back it added a great sense of adventure to the trip).

I left out of Rock Springs heading north on US 377 through Junction, under I-10, and on to CR 29 where I turned east towards Llano. Passing through the small town of London, it appeared to me their educational priorities might not have been in the right place. London Pub located within the confines of London High School?

As I continued on through town it looked to me like graduates of the local high school had been involved in the remodeling of downtown.

And I think this might have been the high school principal's legs sticking out of the top of this barrel.

I wouldn't have been surprised to see a stagecoach pull up in downtown Mason. A lot of the little towns in Texas looked like this.

If you're looking for a bottle tree, this is the place.

Hwy 29 crosses the Colorado River at Buchanan Dam.

They are very liberal with the speed limits in this part of Texas. Almost every little cow path had a speed limit of at least 65 mph, some higher, but I wasn't complaining.

Continuing on CR 29 to Bertram, I discovered not only are they big fans of Oatmeal...

They're pretty big fans of Woodsmen as well....

Now that I was getting into civilization, I wanted to avoid the big population centers and their inherent traffic problems. I thought I was far enough north of Austin, skirting through Georgetown, but I was so wrong. While stopped for lunch, I vowed to not let that happen again. So I got the map out and detailed a route on a napkin that made use of numerous county roads and small throughways to keep me far north of Bryan, College Station, and Huntsville. By the time I emerged back onto 'normal' roads. I found myself on US 287 just outside of Woodville.

As it was getting late, and I was getting tired, I made a beeline for Martin Dies Jr State Park on the banks of the Neches River. I stopped in the Ranger Station and while signing up for a campsite, I met a nice couple on a Goldwing pulling a trailer. I'd see them later.

My Campsite: