Day 23 - Leakey

Eagle Pass to Leakey with a stop in Uvalde for church - 93 miles. The Uvalde to Leakey leg with a new crew member - priceless!

We were up before dawn and heading to Uvalde by 7 a.m.

We wanted to finish the 55-mile trip in time for church. We did that, walking in the door just as it started at 11:15. At the end of the service Pastor Jerry Scott told the congregation about our project and several of them came up to make a donation afterwards. It was a wonderful show of support that we weren't really expecting. Thanks, brothers and sisters of Uvalde. Your welcome was warm.

Now, I knew we were going to see Cheryl Newberry, an old college friend of ours, but I had no idea she was living in Uvalde. She had told me on Facebook she was just 40 miles from Leakey, but she didn't say in which direction. It just so happens we got to the second service at First Baptist Church of Uvalde and she had gone to the first service. We didn't figure any of this out until we called just after we got out. We went by her house, ate a big lunch, and off we went toward Leakey at around 3 p.m. This time Jon got to ride for a while because Cheryl was driving. All together he rode about 15 miles of the 40-mile trip with me. We sang theme songs from old tv shows when we weren't out of breath. That was fun.

We rolled into the Rio Frio Baptist Encampment at around 6:30 p.m. and found out there wasn't a cabin for us because they didn't accept drop-ins. Oh well. We had been considering staying the night with Cheryl anyway, since we were going to have to take her back to Uvalde anyway, so we rearranged the Clampett-mobile (I'll include a picture and you'll understand why. All we're lacking is a rocking chair on top with granny in it) and managed to get the three of us in it. Not far down the road two of the t-shirt boxes went flying off the top and we had to pick up the Z to OKC t-shirts scattered along the road. Jon and Cheryl worked their magic and we were off again, making it all the way back to Uvalde without any flying orange t-shirts. We're really going to have to sell some t-shirts. The six boxes we picked up in Eagle Pass don't even fit inside the car. We had to put four boxes on top.

Today (Sept. 21) we're heading toward Junction, TX. We'll drive back to Leakey, where we left off, and start there. Hope the t-shirts stay put.

Thanks, Cheryl, for making the Uvalde to Leakey leg so enjoyable. You're hired for next year!