Day Twenty-Four: "Cactus Country" (25 January) 65 mi

Left this morning at a reasonable time after finally making a waffle that wasn't resembling scrambled eggs. Continued west on US 290 and immediately hit the hills again, good grief, but they weren't as bad this time around. One of the things I noticed yesterday after going through wine country was that cacti started to appear. Today they were everywhere, bushels and bunches of them and it really was incredible to see that change in the landscape. Also they sure do love their venison here in Texas. That being said I saw a young deer, a fawn, and we must've race together for a quarter of a mile. I was chasing her as she galloped along the fence unable to escape the road. It was a moment like that and many others with nature and wildlife that I'll really never forget. I finally reached the interstate (10) and I stayed on the service roads parallel. I did go on the interstate briefly just to give it a go and see if it if it was okay to ride on (it's legal to here, by the way). The traffic wasn't the problem: the debris on the shoulder was. So I took a back road that led me to Junction and got some great views along the way. So I'm spending the night in Junction on my way to Sonora, Tx tomorrow as I continue along the interstate. Probably going to stick to the service roads though.