Okay, so we took a rest day on Friday after arriving in Blanco, TX on Thursday evening. The Blanco County Inn, owned/operated by Deborah and Ralph, was SO nice and comfortable. Nice small town and the thing that really cinched the deal on taking a rest day -- the Real Ale Brewing Company, located in Blanco, is ONLY open for tasting on Fridays from 2 to 5 p.m. So we HAD to stay and check that out.
It was a beautiful fall day, mid 70's, light breeze, sunshine. We hung out the morning around the room. Rick did bike maintenance, I relaxed on the internet then checked out the local thrift store (next door to Inn on one side, the liquor store on the other). Absolutely a blissful day. We hadn't had a total day off since Van Horn, TX (October 7). Then at 2 p.m., we headed down to the Real Ale Brewing Company, a short 1.2 miles away. Walking actually feels really good -- uses different muscles than cycling.
The brewery reminded me so much of what wineries used to be like in the Napa and Sonoma valleys (before wine got so popular). A fairly small operation, really down to earth people running it, and a tour by "the" brewmaster himself, Eric. And....FREE TASTING. (You don't get THAT at wineries anymore!) And taste we did!! They had a cask IPA on tap, as well as a high potency Scotch-type ale, a coffee porter (my favorite), and a couple of others. I tasted them all. After the tour, we sat out at a picnic table under a big oak tree and had a pleasant conversation with "Terry" (a guy from Houston who was delivering motorcycles somewhere; he dressed and talked like a foreign correspondent - khaki shorts, collared shirt with rolled up sleeves, and bandana knotted around his neck). Terry's two local friends, Patrick and Sylvia joined us, and we were surprised to find in this Republican bastion of Texas there were actually some lefty liberals. A good time was had by all and Patrick and Sylvia gave us a ride into town where we dined again at Papa Joey's, this time on pizza (which was very good).
We really enjoyed our rest day in this small town of Blanco, Texas. I find that I like the small towns better than the large ones, especially on a bicycle -- less traffic and for rest days, less distractions from resting.
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