Last Passport Road Trip

Last Saturday, November 12, was the last phase in my quest to visit all 41 of the Texas Harley Davidson dealerships participating in the Passport program. I started the 2nd week of the program in August and ends on November 20. Before I go any further, I would like to express my appreciation to my loving wife who was totally supportive in my efforts to go all over the State to get silly stamp in my passport. Perhaps she merely wanted me to spend more time out of town, but I choose to think it was just because she loves me.

Of course, as I have mentioned before, much of my dealership visits were made in conjunction with my business travels, but there were two or three trips made just for this purpose. Either way, Sharon was always behind me. I only had to endure a bit on good natured ribbing over the t-shirts I kept coming home with...I had to have a souvenir of my visits didn't I? Well, now I have a shirt for all occasions!

Now to the road trip. I started my day with three objectives in mind...1) be in Beaumont by the time the dealer there opened; 2) drive to Nacogdoches and have lunch after visiting there dealership; and 3) be home by early afternoon To go out on a date.

I left town at 6:20am headed south on Hwy 6...a road I have taken many times. I made good time in the dark and before long I was on the other side of Houston on I-10. The last time...and perhaps the only time in recent memory...I was on this stretch on interstate I was on my motorcycle coming home from Florida. The road definitely looks different from a car. Either way, there isn't much to see between Houston and Beaumont except miles and miles of open land...perhaps much of it low, marsh land.

 

 

It is 180 miles from College Station to Beaumont but it isn't a bad drive.  I crossed several rivers and creeks with names such as Goose Creek, Lost River (not sure where it went), Old River, Trinity River, Turtle Bayou and Taylors Bayou.  I also went through or by several interesting towns with names like Winnie, Wallisville, Anahuac (famous from the days of Texas fighting for their independence), Gator Junction and Hankamer.  Once I arrived in Beaumont, it was fairly easy to find the dealership. 

 

 

I arrived shortly after opening, did my thing and headed up Hwy 69 towards Nacogdoches.  Mostly there wasn't much to see that you can't see in most large cities in Texas, except for one establishment that I had seen advertised for several miles prior to hitting town...Starvin Marvin's.  Sounded like a good place to eat but I didn't have time to find out.

 

 

Hwy 69 between Beaumont and Nacogdoches is a part of Texas that I had never traveled before.  The 120 miles was much different than the road inbound to Beaumont...tree s, water, etc.  Again, it is so obvious to see the differences between east and west Texas.  I passed over several creeks and rivers like Cypress Creek, Sour Lake (that may be a town versus a lake...or both), Village Creek, Hickory Creek, Big Cypress Creek, Little Turkey Creek, Big Turkey Creek, Wolf Creek, Neches River, Angelina River and Shawnee Switch (anyone know what a switch is?).  I also went through some towns with interesting names, such as Woodville, Chester, Douchette, Colmesneil, Zavala (sounds like it should be in south Texas doesn't it), Jasper, Huntington (where the high school's teams are the Devils and the Devilettes), Shawnee Prairie and Lufkin. 

 

 

I also drove through some beautiful wooded areas, such as the Angelina Forest.  Logging is big business in this part of the state and I saw several small saw mills and  I passed the Woodville location of the Texas Forest Service...didn't even know there was one.

As I entered Nacogdoches from the south, the traffic began to get heavy.  I figured the relatively narrow street that goes by the SFA campus is always busy, especially around lunch time on a Saturday, but this was a little heavier than I anticipated.  I decided to go to the dealership in town and then hit the campus for a little reminiscing.  I drove around the loop a few miles and shortly after I passed over Hwy 21 I found the dealership...nothing exciting but adequate for my purposes.  The weather was pretty good and there were quite a few riders coming and going.

After getting my last passport stamp, I headed toward the university.  I wanted to see if I could find a nice polo shirt or something similar and then I would find a place to eat lunch...perhaps at one of the historic BBQ joints that Sharon and I used to eat at back in the '60's.  As I entered the campus, I noticed that almost every parking place was taken and that's when it hit me...it must be their annual preview days and probably a football game as well.  I was right on both counts as it turned out.

I found a parking place about 200 yards from the student center and hiked back to find the bookstore.  The student center is quite a bit different than it was when I was attending...even different than when Courtney graduated in '06.  There were several nice fast food restaurants...all totally filled with parents and prospective students.  I blocked out the hunger pains and headed for the bookstore...I assumed it was still in the same place...and it was. 

I was on the road home by 1:00pm...140 miles on pretty nice road that I had driven many times.  I passed through several very familiar towns like Douglas, Alto, Crockett, Madisonville and North Zulch, but then I noticed for the first time towns with not so familiar names, like Salem, Cold Springs, Weeping Mary, Grapeland, Mapletown and Sand Ridge.   As with the first two legs of the trip, I crossed several creeks and/or rivers, such as McLean Creek, Bracken Creek, Cedar Creek, Big Creek, Trinity River (again), Ivey Creek, Pooles Creek and the Navasota River.  Once past this river, I knew I was almost home.

 

 

Two very unique areas of interest were on this particular stretch of road.  First, the Davy Crockett National Forest...a beautiful piece of land with a nice lake near Crockett.  Second, the Caddo Indian Mound historic site.  If you haven't been to either, they are worth a day's drive to East Texas.

 

 

I made only one stop on the way home...Buckee's.  It's hard to resist stopping, especially if you're thirsty or need gas.  I hit the little boy's room, bought a coke and got back on Hwy 21 to home...only 30 more miles.

 

 

Once again, I offer my thanks to my beautiful wife for her understanding and encouragement for me to enter into the passport program...and to get all 41 of the participating Harley Davidson dealerships in this year's program.  I don't know if I'll ever do it again...unless next time I do it on my motorcycle...which I regret wasn't possible this time.

 

 

Well, until the next road trip, this is Papa Jax signing off.  Thanks for listening.

Road Trip - North Texas, etc.

After "passing through" College Station to drop off dirty clothes and get some fresh ones...and warmer ones...I hit the road to Richardson.  My plan was to spend the night there and leave early on Saturday morning, early enough to be in Paris by the time that dealership opened at 8am.

I arrived in Dallas around 5:30pm, just in time to catch the brunt of Friday afternoon's rush hour traffic.  Thinking I would miss the bulk of the traffic on Hwy 75, I took the exit for the Woodall Freeway to get over to I-35 and the Dallas North Toll road...big mistake!  The Woodall Freeway is under construction and packed cars.  I slowly made my way over to the right lane to be in position to exit onto I-35.  Fortunately for me, most of the traffic wanted over to the left lanes to go south on I-35, and most likely on to I-30 towards Fort Worth.

The traffic on I-35 was relatively light and I had no trouble getting on the toll road headed north...along with most of the traffic headed north for home.  I don't think I've ever seen that much, slow moving traffic.  I even had to come to a complete stop 3-4 times before I got north of I-635 and to an exit.  I eventually made it to Richardson and made myself comfortable for the night. 

I left the house on Saturday morning around 6am for the two hour drive to Paris...which I made in 1 1/2 hours.  I found a McDonald's close to the dealership and walked in to have a little breakfast while I waited for them to open.  I think the entire senior citizen population of Paris, Texas was there having breakfast.  It was definitely the place to be at 7:30 on a Saturday morning.

Driving over to Paris in the dark didn't allow much sightseeing...probably not much to look at anyway.  I could definitely tell I wasn't in West and/or South Texas anymore by the number of creeks I crossed going to Paris...Sister Grove Creek, Pilot Grove Creek, Desert Creek, Bos 'd Arc Creek, Bullard Creek and South Branch Pine Creek.  I also passed through or near several towns that I recognized and many that I had never heard of, such as, Melissa, Westminster, Desert, Trenton, Edhube, Bonham, Dodd City, Honey Grove, Maxey, Clarksville and Hugo to name a few.

After an exciting breakfast of oatmeal and sweet tea, I drove down to the Paris H-D dealership where they were still moving motorcycles and 4-wheelers out to the street for display, however, they were open for business.  One of the interesting things about this particular dealership was that it was not a Harley Davidson dealership by itself...they also had Honda's and Yamaha's...that was interesting.  I don't think I had ever seen that before.  It turns out that the dealership started out as a Honda dealership, then expanded to Harley's and Yamaha's later.  I did my business, looked around a little and headed to my second stop of the day...Wichita Falls.

Having lived in Wichita Falls many years ago, I was looking forward to visiting the base and some of the old familiar places...if they even still existed.  The road into town looked familiar, although there were several new things.  One of the places I wanted to get a picture of was the Scotland Park Motel...the place Sharon and I lived with our first Cocker Spaniel for a few weeks while house hunting.  It was cheap and fairly clean and close to a park where the dog could run.  I remember taking her out for a run...which she enjoyed immensely...after which we had to take her into the shower because she was so muddy...that was not an enjoyable shower for either of us.

Well, as you can tell from the picture, the motel has seen better days.  It looked to be abandoned and will probably be totally gone the next time I'm through.  I drove on to the front gate of Shepherd AFB and although it has been spruced up quite a bit, it was still familiar.  However, once past the gate, I recognized very little.  I made a quick stop at the BX and Clothing Sales and then drove out to the 80th Flying Training Wing...which I had to really look for.  The original building is still being used...and I recognized that...but there have been several new additions around it.  The most interesting change is that all the aircraft on the flight line are covered with shade structures.  Wish we could have had those back when I was an instructor there.

Following a tour of the base, I plugged the address on Lenore...our first house...into the GPS and drove off to see what the house/neighborhood looked like.  I probably could have found my way but it was much easier with the GPS.    In a few minutes, I was cruising down our old street and there on the left was 4118.  It didn't look that much different than it did back in 1974...perhaps a little more worn down...but the neighborhood has not fared well.  Either that or I just don't remember how bad it was when we lived there.  It was a good house at the time and easily met our needs.

Leaving the old neighborhood behind, I set off to find the Harley dealership...the reason I was in town, remember.  The address was on the Northeast Freeway...a name I never heard before...but I finally figured out it must be Hwy 287 and sure enough, shortly after I got on the highway heading west I saw the H-D sign.  The dealership was a nice new place...not the original location according to the girl behind the counter...with an interesting winged horse sculpture out front, perhaps paying homage to the air base.  I looked around, found a t-shirt and got my passport stamped and headed south to Abilene.

As far as I can remember, I have never traveled on that particular stretch of highway, but I found it easy driving...not too much traffic, just a few cops and fairly smooth road conditions.  There were few, if any, turns so I just set the cruise control, turned up the volume on the radio and let the car eat up the miles.

I neglected to mention that the highway between Paris and Wichita Falls was somewhat familiar and I saw a fair number of creeks...being in North Texas, but soon I would see very few, if any.  I crossed over creeks with names like Caney Creek, Choctaw Creek, Post Oak Creek, Elba Creek, Beaver Creek and  Mustang Creek and i crossed over 2 Tri's...whatever that is...Opossum Tri and Shawnee Tri.  I saw names of towns/cities that I had heard before, such as Sadler, Southmayd (where Sharon had her first real job teaching), Gainesville, Nocona and Muenster, as well as towns I have never heard of before, such as Savoy, Roxton, Tigertown, Ector, Ethel, Moss Lake, Illinois Bend, Spanish Fort, Petrolia and Myra.  Sad looking Nocona Boot Factory!

On the leg between Wichita Falls and Abilene, I rarely saw any creek/river and passed through or near some interestingly named cities, such as Kamay, Electra, Olney, Goree, Aspermont and Roby.  I did cross the Brazos River, however, that was it...I was definitely in West Texas again.  I also saw a lot of examples of Texas' two biggest cash crops...cotton and oil.

I arrived in Abilene about 3:45pm, plenty of time to find the dealership there, do my business and get to Arlington by dinner time.

I found the dealership without too much trouble...only had to double back on the highway once...and found a relatively new dealership, partially hidden on the corner of a shopping center.  No telling which came first, the dealership or the other shopping.  However, I accomplished my business quickly and was back on the road by 4:15pm.

As I headed east towards Arlington, I started noticing more creeks and green fields...leaving West Texas again.  I was making good time until I passed through Baird...not too far from Abilene...when I looked in my rear view mirror and saw an unmarked DPS car with all his lights on.  I recognized it as the car I had just passed so he got a good look at me coming and going.  I hit my turn signal and pulled over to the shoulder, really wondering if he was going to give me a speeding ticket for going 2 mph over the limit.  As it turned out, he had noticed that my front license plate was on the dashboard and not on the front of the car and the rear plate was partially covered by the license plate holder.  I suspected that the former was illegal and I knew the latter was.

I apologized profusely, told him I didn't know about the front license plate requirement and he only gave me a warning.  I promised him I'd take care of both problems that night in Arlington...which I did...and then we started discussing his possible future job with TEEX or one of the university police departments.  It will be really interesting some day if I should run into officer or Mr. Gary Hooper.

The rest of the trip to Arlington was uneventful...if you don't count the many miles of construction and lane closures...and the crazy people going 20-30 mph over the speed limit that kept trying to cut me off or hit me.  I finally...and safely...arrived at my destination and had a nice dinner with my oldest daughter, Courtney, her husband Ethan and my beautiful granddaughter, Ellasyn.

There are 41 dealerships participating in the passport program...I have now visited 39 of them...only 2 more to go!

Road Trip - South Texas

Once again, my trip to South Texas...Laredo and San Antonio...was not planned as a road trip, but rather a business trip to visit the university police departments at both locations.  Of course, why not visit some Harley dealerships if they're on the way. 

With that in mind, my first stop was in Victoria.  I had made a stop there only a week before I found out about the passport program and had not been back until now.  I couldn't very well bypass the opportunity since it wasn't that far out of the way.

I didn't need a t-shirt so I looked around a little and then got my passport signed...then hit Hwy 59 headed to Laredo.  I opted to skip lunch so I could have a nice dinner in Laredo...and to save a little time.  As it turned out, the detour to Victoria only cost me an extra 30 minutes over a normal drive to Laredo...not bad.

I had made the drive down to Victoria many times, but thinking about writing this blog I paid more attention to points of interest along the way...as sparse as that may be.  As I have found in my other road trips around the State, Texans are very creative when it comes to naming their towns, waterways and roads.  On the road to Victoria I passed through or near towns with names such as Ezzell, Schulenberg, Carmine, Roundtop, Yoakum and Inez.  I saw a lot of fertile green farmland...a drastically different sight than in West Texas.

The leg to Laredo wasn't much different, except the fertile farm land quickly gave way to acres and acres of ranch land covered with mesquite trees and scrub brush.  I only know much of the area was ranch land because I saw several large, gated entrances to ranches.  I'm not sure what they're "ranching" as I never saw any cattle or horses...or any other livestock for that matter. 

I crossed over the Guadalupe River, Munnehulla Creek, the San Antonio River, Medio Creek and the Nueces River.  The names of towns and roads were no less unique than those seen earlier in the day...Raisin, Colonge, Berclair, Deaf Smith Road, Third Road (and Second and First), Beeville, George West, Goynes Junction and Freer.  I also passed through the historic town of Goliad...population about 1,900. 

I took a short detour through the historic downtown of Goliad to see some interesting old buildings and the county courthouse...then back on the highway to my last stop of the day...Laredo H-D.

I hit the Laredo city limits at 3:30pm and followed Hwy 59 Business until I intercepted I-35 and turned north.  The dealership was about two miles further up the highway.  The dealership looks like it has been there a long time...the building is old and the sign is small...not like Odessa or Big Spring, but not like new dealerships either.  However, inside there was ample space for showroom, merchandise and parts.  The dealership's personnel were very friendly as well.

After getting my passport stamped, I drove on to my hotel near the university.  Tomorrow, I will visit the university police and saftey officer before headed to San Antonio.  On Friday, the plan is to take a short detour up I-10 to Boerne before heading home to College Station.  Once I get home, I will quickly switch cars, go by the house for fresh clothes...as necessary...and then drive to Richardson. 

Road Trip - West Texas, Day 2

Day 2 started very early...about 4am.  My alarm was set for a little later in the morning but as par for the course, I could not sleep any longer so I got up and started getting ready...moving very slowly.  I walked out of the hotel's front door at 5am and got on the road five minutes later.  My plan was to be in Odessa by 9am, then drive down I-20 to Big Spring and then head back to Canyon.  I was supposed to meet the WTAMU police chief at the southeast gate at the stadium at 4:30pm...game time was 6:00pm.

I traveled down I-27 in the dark...not seeing too many other vehicles...covering the same highway I had traveled the day before and wondering why I had not waited until today to go to the Lubbock dealership.  As it turned out, my original decision was a good one.

I made excellent time in the dark, passing through Lubbock on the interstate sooner than expected and headed for Lamesa where my GPS indicated I would head in a more southwesterly direction towards Odessa.  I reached Lamesa and made the turn...still in the dark.  I was beginning to wonder when the sun was going to peak its head up above the horizon...and believe me, there wasn't anything blocking my view of the horizon.

One of the problems with following my GPS is that it doesn't always take the same route as Google Maps does.  Today was no exception, however, since I wasn't familiar with this part of the State, I decided to follow the GPS.  Shortly after I made that decision I found myself heading due south on a farm-to-market road towards Stanton...which did not show on my Google map.

I knew I recognized the name "Stanton" but I couldn't remember why.  Not too long after, I realized that I had passed through Stanton on I-20 many times over the years when we used to drive between Dallas and Midland.  At the intersection of the Farm-to-Market road and I-20, I turned right and headed west toward Odessa...it was about 8am and the sun had been up for about 10-15 minutes.

I got some interesting pictures of wind generators and pump jacks in the dawn light...yes, I pulled over to take the pictures.  I just wish I had thought to take my good camera.  There were a few more cars on the road...going to and from work...but not too many.

I passed through Midland and arrived at my destination about 8:45...fifteen minutes early.   However, there was only one problem...no dealership!  I thought that I must have put in the wrong address so I got back on the interstate and continued to drive west until I passed the city limits sign for Odessa...next stop Monahans, then El Paso...I was definitely going the wrong direction.

I finally go so frustrated that I did something no self-respecting man rarely does...I called the dealership and asked for directions.  They were on Hwy 80 Business...which wasn't even an option on my GPS.  I should have known that Hwy 80 was replaced in most places by I-20 and perhaps I would have found the place sooner.  As it was I wasted 45 minutes driving in circles trying to find the place.  Once I did find it, I figured out right away why I had so much trouble.  First, it wasn't on a major highway...business 80 may have been a major highway once upon a time but not anymore...and second, they had one of the smallest signs out front that I've seen.

Because I had lost so much time already, my stay at Legacy H-D was very short.  I got my passport signed, visited the little boy's room and headed to the car.  I wondered if finding the Big Spring dealership was going to be equally difficult...perhaps more so...because I could tell by the address that it wasn't going to be found on a major highway.  I plugged the address into the GPS and hit the road.

I made good time on the interstate...just under an hour...and the GPS took me straight to the dealership...as it turns out, the oldest Harley dealership in Texas.  As I suspected, the dealership was not on a main road, rather downtown in a very old part of town.  Their sign was even smaller than Odessa's.  There were no motorcycles outside the building...as is the typical process at most of the other dealerships...and only one car.  I thought they must be closed for business.

I parked outside and walked up to the front doors and found them open.  Inside the metal building, I found a small but nice dealership...not many motorcycles or merchandise but I guess enough for the area.  I did my business but before leaving the area I wanted to find a certain Holiday Inn and Denny's where Sharon and I spent our 1-day honeymoon 40 years ago.  I went back over to the interstate and headed east along the access road, thinking I would find the hotel easily...back then it was one of the few places in town.

Well, over the years the city has changed a little and the hotel isn't a Holiday Inn anymore.  In fact, most of the original hotel has been torn down and replaced by a newer one.  However, the Denny's was still there and still doing business...although it had seen better days.  I guess they must be doing something right to have survived for over 40 years.

The drive back to Canyon was uneventful.  I drove all the way to Plainview...about 50 miles from Canyon...before eating lunch.  I found a descent looking Furr's cafeteria so I decided I'd have a nice meal and skip dinner.  It was about 2pm and the place was packed...I was totally surprised.  The guy in line in front of me asked for roast beef and thinking that sounded pretty good, I asked for the same thing.  OMG!  I got a huge plate of tasty roast beef, mashed potatos, green beans, cole slaw, a roll, and to top it all off, a piece of chocolate pie.  Needless to say, I wasn't hungry for several hours.  I left about 1/3 of the roast beef on the plate...but I finished the pie.

It was a good day, a bit tiring but good.  I saw some interesting places with interesting names...some I had heard before, most I had not.  Tahoka, Pitch Black, O'Donnell Draw, Klondike (isn't that in Alaska?), Big Spring (good memories), Spareberg, New Home, Ropesville and Shallowater.  I didn't see much water...very few creeks and/or rivers...mostly dry creek beds and the occassional livestock pond.  There were thousands of acres, many with only red dirt showing and others with cotton waiting to be gathered up.

I'm not a big fan of West Texas, but the area isn't too bad at certain times of the day...like at night and in the pre-dawn hours.

After a short rest at the hotel, I met the WTAMU officers at the football stadium and had a good evening watching the Buffalos win.  Sunday would be a travel day, flying from Amarillo, through Dallas and back to College Station.

I'll have two days at work...catching up...then it's off to South Texas...Laredo and San Antonio.

Road Trip - West Texas, Day 1

Arrived in AMA about noon on Friday after an uneventful flight from CS thru DFW...with a 3-hr layover in Dallas. I went down to the USA and made myself comfortable...been a long time since I was in a USO.

Found the rental car company, retrieved my bag nag headed to Tripp H-D in Amarillo before heading south. The dealership was right on I-40, not too far from the airport so it was easy to find.

A new styled dealership, Tripp was all spit and polish with a good number of new motorcycles to see and a large merchandise area. I found a t-shirt, got my passport stamped and headed down I-27 towards Lubbock...bypassing Canyon along the way. I figured since I had the time I should go ahead and make the round-trip and save time on Saturday...may have been a bad idea in retrospect.

If you haven't been to West Texas recently...or in the past 100 years, you may have forgotten how flat it is...sure is a drastic difference between here and the Hill Country where I was last weekend. One of the first things I noticed was that there are very few creeks and/or rivers...a few stock ponds only. Also a lot of grain elevators and cotton gins.

On the way to Lubbock I passed quite a few interestingly named towns, such as Tulia...where a coke cost me $1.89!...Kress, Hale Center New Deal...guess the old one wasn't any good anymore...and Shallowater.

I made good time and found myself on the outskirts of Lubbock in about 1 1/2 hours....everything had changed a lot since I had been here several years ago so I had to totally relay on my GPS, which thankfully took me right to the correct location.

The Wild West H-D dealership looked fairly new but it wasn't on a major thoroughfare like many others...you actually had to look for this one. After looking around some, I got yet another t-shirt, had my passport signed and headed north back the way I had come.

I arrived in Canyon about 1730, checked into the hotel and rested a bit before heading to dinner. I watched most of the 7th game of the World Series...until I couldn't stand it anymore...the went to bed early...Saturday was going to be a very long day so I needed my beauty sleep.

Twisted Sisters - Day 2

Before I get started with today's update, I wanted to tell everyone about two sights I saw yesterday that I forgot about...unfortunately, no pictures.  The first was a ranch on Hwy 16 near the ranch where I saw a herd of buffalo numbering about 3 dozen.  Then, on the same road just a few miles down the road, I saw several pieces of old rusty farm equipment, very neatly arranged in rows, and a sign above it all that read "Rust in Peace"...get it?

Day 2 started fairly early...meeting at the lodge at 8:00...however, since I was wide awake at 6am, it was easy to be on time.  By 7:45, the whole group was formed up and after a short briefing, we were off.

Out the gate of Koyote Ranch and on to Hwy 16, we headed south towards Utopia...yes, the same Utopia that was the subject of a recent Robert Duval movie titled 7 Days in Utopia.  It was a about 35 miles to town so after about 40 minutes we parked our bikes across the street from the Lost Maples Cafe and walked in.  We were expected so they put us in a room off to the side and even made up a special menu for us.

The service was good and the food was better.  I had a huge ham and cheese omelet, along with "real" potatoes, bacon and toast.  I was full for quite a while and really didn't need lunch, but that was not to be today.

Following breakfast, we rolled out to the bikes and loaded up.  Our next destination was two of the three Ranch Roads called the Twisted Sisters...Ranch Road 335 and 336, 336 first.  Leakey is a popular jumping off for motorcyclists riding these roads so we were by far not the only ones in town.  Since there were so many motorcycles, we decided to split into two groups...a "fast" one and a "slow" one...the fast group leaving first.  We would all meet up again back in Leakey for lunch.

I opted to go with the slower group since this was my first ride of the Twisted Sisters and I wanted to look around a little and not have to give 100% of my attention to the road...the theory really didn't pan out as the day played out.  You really don't have time to look around very much as the road...much less the riders in front of you...demand almost all of your attention.

Out of Leakey, we headed out on RR337 to Camp Wood where we took a quick bathroom break before going out to RR335, the first leg of the morning which turned out to be pretty nice for riding.  There were ups and downs and curves that were tight and seemingly never ending.  The scenery was very nice with panoramic views of mountains and valleys.

We  turned right on Hwy 41 where RR335 dead ended and headed to RR336.  A few miles down the highway, we turned right onto RR336 and the first thing that got my attention was a sign that warned of "roaming livestock ahead".   I wasn't even sure what that meant but soon after I noticed two or three cows grazing about 20 feet off the road...no fences!  I found out later that the entire area is open range...I didn't even know there was such a thing anymore.

I had been warned about all the cattle guards on this particular road so when the first one appeared, I was giving it my full attention when I noticed a couple of riders coming towards us from the opposite direction.  Almost simultaneously, I saw 4-5 deer streak across the road.  They weren't just trotting but rather they were running full out like something was chasing them.  Then came another smaller one chasing the first group...he tripped over the edge of the road and fell flat on the road bed, jumped up while still moving and ran off into the underbrush.

At first I thought that last deer might have hit one of the oncoming motorcycles but when I checked they were still coming towards us.  It looked like the deer had run right through the middle of our line of motorcycles.  Later I found out that the first 3-4 had run between the leaders of both groups but the last deer did, in fact, run/slide through our group.  Fortunately, there was a large gap between the first two motorcycles and the third one...very fortunate.

With that bit of excitement early on the second leg of the morning, the rest of the ride was fairly uneventful, save for the beautiful scenery.  We made one stop at one of the scenic pullouts and took some pictures...and talked about the close call we had earlier.

After taking some pictures and relaxing a bit, we finished the ride and ended up back in Leakey where we drove to the Frio Canyon Motorcycle Shop/Bent Rim Grill to eat lunch.   There were a lot of bikers there with the same idea as it took a while to get our orders and eat.  We had a good lunch with good conversation but all good things come to an end so we loaded up and headed back to the Koyote Ranch.

I was told our leader liked to eat and did so every 3 hours or so, so it wasn't too much of a surprise when we stopped in Medina at a nice little tourist trap that made wonderful apple turnovers and other tasty items.  I got a turnover and wasn't disappointed.

Finally, we were on the last leg back to the ranch.  We arrived around 4:30 and found the Aggie game on in the lodge so I had a coke and finished the game.  After watching the AggiesShafer and I walked back to the lodge for dinner...although neither of us was really hungry.  We ate light, talked a bit and then retired for the evening.  We were pretty tired and hoped we could sleep better to be ready for Day 3.

Twisted Sisters - Day 1

Last month at a meeting of the local Harley Owner's Group (HOG) it was announced that a group would be headed to the Hill Country in October so I signed up to go.  I have been to the Hill Country but never past Fredricksburg so I thought it was an excellent opportunity.  The trip was being planned to a place just south of Kerrville called Koyote Ranch...a series of cabins and camping sites...along with a restaurant/bar/outside club...a good jumping off place for riding the roads in the area...specifically what's called the "Twisted Sisters", a series of three  Ranch Roads that are very popular with motorcyclists of all types.

The plan was to leave on Friday and return on Sunday.  I took the day off and arrived at the appointed location at the appointed time...McDonalds, 8:45am, Friday, October 21st.  I arrived early...about 8:15...to find several people already there.  By 8:45, there were 15-16 motorcycles and about 20 people.  After a short briefing, we left the parking lot a little after 9:00...headed for the Hill Country.

This weekend wasn't all about the destination but the journey as well, thus, we did not take a direct route.  We went through Lexington, Noack and Round Rock...stopping for water and/or necessities...ending up in Marble Falls for lunch at the Riverside Cafe...great hamburgers!  It overlooks Marble Falls Lake...and I guess a river where it gets its name...although I'm not sure what river.

The weather was great...starting at about 50 in College Station warming up to the mid-80's by the middle of the afternoon.  I gave up trying to follow along with all the different roads we took but eventually we entered Johnson City and I finally knew where we were...for a while.  Out of Johnson City we headed to Fredricksburg and I figured we were headed to Luckenbach...can't go to the Hill Country and not stop in Luckenbach.  Well, I was right. 

When we arrived, the area was packed with people and motorcycles of all description.  As it turned out, it was the annual rally for  European and Classic motorcycles...ours didn't fit either description.  Many of the attendees had brought their motorcycles in by trailer and were camping nearby...it looked to be quite a weekend.  After we took some pictures, bought t-shirts...or whatever...and had something to drink, we were off to our final destination...Koyote Ranch.  On the map, it was located about 10 miles outside of Kerrville.

I almost forgot to mention that we took a little short cut between Johnson City and Luckenbach along Ranch Road 1, which parallels Hwy 290, crosses the Perdenales River and then runs along side of it and on the other side of the river we could see the LBJ Ranch.

As we left Luckenbach, we headed back up FM 1376 towards Hwy 290 so I thought we were going to go through Fredricksburg on the way to Kerrville and Koyote Ranch...boy was I wrong.  About half-way back to the highway, we turned left on Luckenbach City Road that merged into Old San Antonio Road, and then I lost track of where we were until we popped out on Hwy 16 that took us to Koyote Ranch.  There were many sharp turns, steep ups and downs, twists and turns...it was a very entertaining route.

We arrived at Koyote Ranch about 5:30pm, checked in and went off to find our cabin.  Dinner was at the ranch...fried catfish and chicken strips...followed by some local talent singing outside.  Us old guys went to bed about 8:30pm...tomorrow's going to be a long day.

Road Trip #5

Once again, today wasn't really a road trip in the traditional sense...I wasn't on the motorcycle and it wasn't a trip just to see East Texas or visit a few Harley dealerships.  The purpose of the trip was to get to Arkansas...Little Rock National Airport to be exact...to pick Sharon up.  She spent the week in Washington D.C. at a conference and is flying in to Little Rock so we can go on up to Melbourne to see our newest grandchild...being delivered on Friday, October 7.

Last night, after I got home, I packed up the dogs and took them to their Vet where they will be boarded for the next 10 days...hope they don't forget who we are.  After dinner with Cassidy, I went home and spent the rest of the night packing and gathering things I wanted to take to Arkansas.  I was in bed fairly early...about 11pm...but had a very restless night, waking up almost every hour throughout the night.  Finally, I got up about 4:15am, took a shower, finished loading the car and hit the road a little after 5am.  The plan had been to leave about 6:30am so as to arrive at the first stop in Nacogdoches a little before the opened at 9am.

Leaving home early threw my plan for the start of the day all off but I thought it best to head in the general direction of Arkansas rather than sit around home until 6am, so I changed the plan and headed for Tyler, the second stop on the original plan.  Nacogdoches would have to wait until another day.

I arrived in Tyler during the morning rush hour but the traffic wasn't too bad and by the time I found the dealership on the east side of the city, it was only 8:15 so I found a McDonalds and had a little breakfast to burn a little time.  The dealership did not look to promising from the outside, but once I went in I was impressed by the looks of the place...they had tons of motorcycles and merchandise.  This was obviously an older place but looks can be deceiving.  Unlike the newer dealerships, this one wasn't on a major highway either.

I got my passport stamped and headed for stop #2, Longview.  The distance between Tyler and Longview was only 40 miles or so and I was pulling up in front of the dealership in Longview in 35-40 minutes after leaving Tyler.  Once again, this was an older dealership and was not on a major highway, but rather on a side street.  Still, it was a nice dealership...smaller than many and with less merchandise, but still nice.  I got the passport stamped and headed to Texarkana, the 3rd and last stop for the day...or so I thought.

I almost forgot to tell you about the beautiful scenery along Hwy 59 on the way to Longview.  I saw a sign advertising a rest stop but it also said there was a scenic overlook, so I exited to find an amazing view...at least for Texas.  The place is called Love's Lookout and from the rest stop you can see out to the east miles and miles of wooded hills and valleys.  The lookout sits on top of a ridge than runs about 35 miles north and south along Hwy 59...or should I say Hwy 59 runs along the ridge.  On a clear day, which today was, you can see for 15-20 miles...maybe more.  The pictures I took don't do the view justice I'm afraid.  You will just have to make the trip yourself.

It was about 90 miles to Texarkana but I made good time.  Shortly before arriving at the dealership, which is prominently situated on I-30 on the west side of town, I stopped for gas and got some lunch....Grandy's chicken nuggets.  Whiskey River Harley Davidson...which is a relatively new name after the dealership was purchased by a new owner back in January...looks to be a new building and they are well stocked with parts, motorcycles and merchandise.  They are a little hard to get too but after driving around a little, you finally get to the parking lot...the entrance isn't off the access road but rather a road that parallels the access road and interstate that wraps around and eventually goes over the interstate and I believe it turns into University Blvd which goes to the new Texas A&M University - Texarkana campus.

In short order, I was in and out of the dealership and on the interstate headed east towards Little Rock and the airport.  The drive was going to take about three hours and it was 12:30pm...looked like I was going to be right on time.

Between Longview and Texarkana, I passed through the community of Jefferson, which is supposed to have an amazing display of Christmas lights and scenery in the old part of town.  I had also heard there were some good B&B's in town so I decided to follow the signs to the historic downtown area and see what it looked like.  As advertised, the downtown, with it's brick streets and old stores turned into tourist lures, was very quaint and something Sharon and I might like to visit again.  The area was hopping with motorcycles and at first I thought it was just because the weather was perfect for riding, until I noticed a flyer advertising the annual Boo Benefit Rally...a fundraiser for the childrens' burn center in Galveston.  The vendors were already setting up for the 3-day affair but I didn't have time to look around.

After making only one other short stop for a drink and a bathroom break, I passed the city limits sign for Texarkana about 3:00pm so when I saw a  billboard advertising Landers Harley Davidson in a couple of exits, I thought I should make a quick stop even if they weren't participating in the passport program...after all, it was on the way to the airport.

This dealership looked to have been here a long time, even though it was on the interstate, but it was still nice.  They had a 12 foot fence with barbed wire on top all the way around the place...must be a high crime area or something...with two large gates...one in front and another in back.  There was a biker bar and grill on the premises...across a breezeway from the dealership...that looked pretty good.  I was inside for a grand total of 15 minutes and back on the road to the airport.

Sharon's plane was scheduled to arrive at 3:30pm and I was 10 minutes early.  Right in front of the baggage claim area, there were metered parking spaces, good for 30 minutes, and one was open, so I took it.  I filled the meter with all the change I had, except for pennies, and went inside.  I checked the computer screen for arrival and her flight was on time, so I sat down and waited.

After only 5 minutes or so there was an annoucement on the loudspeaker that the light from Washington D.C. had arrived and the baggage would be coming out on the carousel right in front of me.  A few minutes later, here she came down the escalator.  By the time she made it to the baggage carousel area, the bags were already showing up...I've never seen bags come to the terminal so quickly, even in College Station.  We greeted each other, retrieved her bags, loaded the car and were pulling out of the airport parking lot before 4pm.

The drive to Melbourne went very quickly and we pulled up to the Jackson's house a little after 6pm to find Christopher and the kids in the driveway cleaning out their car.

Tomorrow is the big day...arrival of new Jackson baby.  Christopher and Merinda will leave the house about 4am to arrive at the hospital at 5am...surgery is scheduled for 7:45am.  Sharon and I will take the kids over around 9am to meet their new sibling...we don't know yet whether that will be a brother or sister.

There are no new road trips planned at this time...other than a visit to the dealership in Amarillo when I head out west to attend a football game at West Texas A&M in 2-3 weeks.  I had this great idea a couple of days ago that I'd keep the rental car and drive home by way of Lubbock, Odessa, Abilene and Arlington...visiting the dealerships in those cities along the way...until I realized that the day I would be leaving Amarillo/Canyon would be a Sunday and none of those dealerships are open on Sunday.  Just as well I guess because I'm getting tired of driving so many miles...I need to slow down a little.

Well, until next time, thanks for reading.