It didn’t occur to me to check the weather this morning. If I had, I’m told I would have known that it would be pouring for most of the day. Thankfully, I’m not the only one that puts their faith in the mostly sunny days of Austin. When Adam and I unloaded our bikes, pumped up the tires, and arrived at Porfirio’s Tacos in East Austin this morning at 11, there were at least 30 people already there — eating, hanging out, and ready to tour!

Adam adds green salsa to a bean and egg taco at Porfirios:

Mando, “El Rey de Tacos,” started off the day by taking a shot of Porfirio’s wonderful homemade salsa, we all ate some tacos and then Mando led the group to bike out to Taqueria Piedras Negras, stop #2.

The first group waits for made-to-order tacos at Taqueria Piedras Negras. Mando captured this magical moment on his camera and shared it via Twitpic:

I stayed back to lead the slower stragglers. And then, the rain came. The sky opened up and it was raining buckets. Protected from the rain inside Porfirios, I checked Twitter and glumly noted that the Statesman reported it was going to be raining hard until 2 p.m. Mando tweeted from Piedras Negras, “it’s raining tacos!”

Some of the taco tourers that got caught in the rain and drank beers and ate “surprisingly good tacos’ in this convenience store:

That same group ventured out in the rain again, only to duck into a laundromat to try to dry off. Sarah — did sitting inside of a dryer work for you?

Most of the stragglers (myself included), loaded our bikes back in the car and headed to meet the bikers at Marcelino Pan y Vino where we met up with six of the original bikers who had made the trip. A plate of tacos wait to be eaten. Favorites include the pork in green sauce, potatoes, migas, and incredible bacon and egg:

At Mi Madres, the fourth and final stop, about 25 of us got a big table in the back room. We ate tacos, chips, cafe de olla (coffee brewed with cinnamon and sugar), churros con cajeta, sopapillas with honey. Big respect goes to Curtis and Mike — the only two that actually biked the entire tour!

Stay tuned to Taco Journalism and Tasty Touring for another taco tour this summer — likely in South Austin. Please feel free to share your own experiences from the taco tour and/or tell us why you are glad/sad you didn’t join us today. Would also love recommendations for great taco eats in Austin anytime!

For more pics, click on the slideshow on http://www.tastytouring.com.